diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:58:01 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:58:01 -0700 |
| commit | 047f6aaca87aabf52b06b9ae0fb6f5e077745b12 (patch) | |
| tree | 3cdfdc16d67eaa4d06546d08bc36563f0dd36d27 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673-8.txt | 7551 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 158240 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 168565 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673-h/32673-h.htm | 9860 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673.txt | 7551 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 32673.zip | bin | 0 -> 158217 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
9 files changed, 24978 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32673-8.txt b/32673-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f700fce --- /dev/null +++ b/32673-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7551 @@ +Project Gutenberg's St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I, by Charles Gore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I + A Practical Exposition + +Author: Charles Gore + +Release Date: June 3, 2010 [EBook #32673] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +_St. Paul's_ + +_Epistle to the Romans_ + + +_A Practical Exposition_ + + + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER + + + +VOL. I + +(CHAPTERS I-VIII) + + + +LONDON + +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + +1902 + + + + + FIRST EDITION . _February_, 1899. + _Reprinted . . . . . March_, 1900. + _Reprinted . . . September_, 1900. + _Reprinted . . . . October_, 1902. + + + +OXFORD + +HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +A good excuse is needed for adding to the large number of excellent +commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans which already exist. But I +think there is such an excuse. These commentaries are not of the sort +which readers who are educated but not scholarly find it easy to +master; so that in fact this epistle is at the present day very much +misunderstood or ignored by such people. And again, partly owing to +its interpretation at the period of the Reformation and by some +Evangelicals of later date, it is still practically to a great extent +viewed with discomfort and neglected by those who most value the name +of Catholic. My excuse, then, for adding to the expositions of the +Romans lies in these facts. One who is necessarily immersed in the +practical work of the Christian ministry, and is yet struggling to keep +himself in some sense in line with biblical scholarship, if his life +involves special disadvantages, may yet hope to be useful in +interpreting to ordinary Christians {vi} the results of the scholars. +And I am persuaded that it requires one who enters thoroughly into the +spirit of churchmanship, or the obligation of the one body, to +interpret with any completeness the mind of St. Paul. + +This volume has practically no more connexion with lectures delivered +in Westminster Abbey last Lent, than is implied in its being an +exposition of the same epistle by the same person. + +The method of exposition in this volume is the same as that pursued in +its predecessor on the Epistle to the Ephesians. After a general +introduction, each section of the Revised Version is taken, or in some +cases two sections are taken together, and prefaced by an analysis or +paraphrase, as seems most useful, and followed by further explanation +of the main ideas or phrases which each section contains. + +The 'appended notes' I have been obliged to defer to the end of the +second volume--which, I hope, will appear within a year--with a view of +approximately equalizing the size of the two volumes. + +CHARLES GORE. + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY, + _Conversion of St. Paul_, 1899. + + + + +{vii} + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + PAGE +INTRODUCTION. + + (i) Origin and circumstances of the epistle . . . . . . . . 1 + (ii) 'Justification by works' or 'by faith' . . . . . . . . 6 + (iii) Justification, sanctification, and Church membership . 25 + (iv) St. Paul's doctrine and modern spiritual needs . . . . 41 + + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. + +CHAPTER + + I. 1-7 SALUTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 + 8-17 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 + + +DIVISION I _Universality of sin and condemnation_ . . . . . . . 63 + + 18-32 § 1 Judgement on the Gentile world . . . . . . . . 66 + II. § 2 Judgement on the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 + III. 1-8 § 3 Jewish objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 + 9-20 § 4 Sin and condemnation universal . . . . . . . . 121 + + +DIVISION II _Justification by faith only_. + + 21-31 § 1 Christ our propitiation . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 + IV. § 2 The true seed of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + + +{viii} + +DIVISION III _The accepted life or the moral consequences + of justification_. + + V. 1-11 § 1 The holy confidence of the justified . . . . . 175 + 12-21 § 2 The second Adam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 + + VI. 1-14 § 3 The Christian life a living by dying . . . . . 204 + 15-23 § 4 The perfect freedom in God's service . . . . . 225 + + VII. 1-6 § 5 Freedom from the law by union with Christ . . 236 + 7-25 § 6 The function and failure of the law . . . . . 245 + + VIII. 1-11 § 7 Life in the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 + 12-17 § 8 The life of sonship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 + 18-30 § 9 The hope of the creation . . . . . . . . . . . 298 + 31-39 § 10 Christian assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 + + + + +{1} + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS + + +_Introduction._ + +i. + +St. Paul's great Epistle to the Romans was written, as may be quite +confidently asserted, from Corinth, during the second visit to Greece +recorded in the Acts[1], i.e. in the beginning of the year commonly +reckoned 58, but perhaps more correctly 56 A.D.--the year following the +writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians. The reasons for this +confident statement, and indeed for all that needs to be said about the +circumstances under which St. Paul wrote and the conditions of +Christianity at Rome, become apparent chiefly in connexion with the +later parts of the epistle which are not included in this volume. They +{2} shall therefore be omitted here, and we will content ourselves for +the moment with a very brief statement of the results in which scholars +are now finding, as it would seem, final agreement. + +The existence of Christians at Rome was due not to any apostolic +founding, for no apostle appears yet to have visited Rome, but to the +sort of 'quiet and fortuitous filtration[2]' of Christians from various +parts of the empire to its great centre which must naturally have taken +place; for from all quarters there was a tendency to Rome. 'Some from +Palestine, some from Corinth, some from Ephesus and other parts of +Proconsular Asia, possibly some from Tarsus, and more from the Syrian +Antioch, there was in the first instance, as we may believe, nothing +concerted in their going; but when once they arrived in the metropolis, +the freemasonry common among Christians would soon make them known to +each other, and they would form, not exactly an organized Church'--that +may well have been the result of the later presence of St. Paul and St. +Peter--'but such a fortuitous assemblage of Christians as was {3} only +waiting for the advent of an apostle to constitute one[3].' Among this +assemblage of Christians it appears evident from St. Paul's language[4] +that there must have been Jews as well as Gentiles; but the dominant +character of the church was Gentile[5]. It is perhaps only putting +this in another way to say that there would have been among the Roman +Christians elements of hostility to St. Paul and his teaching, but +Christianity as St. Paul taught it would have been in the ascendant. +And probably St. Paul's special informants about affairs there would +have been his special friends, Prisca and Aquila[6]. + +The character of the epistle written to these Christians of the capital +is marked. It has beyond any other of St. Paul's epistles the +character of an ordered theological treatise. Of course it assumes the +existence of accepted Christian principles--the rudimentary instruction +or Christian 'tradition'--in the minds of those to whom it was +addressed[7]. But it takes certain of these principles of the +Christian {4} religion and develops them systematically and +argumentatively; though again, it must be explained, the argument is +very far from being barely logical, but is full of the deepest feeling, +showing itself in passages of memorable eloquence which live in the +hearts of all of us. + +Why this particular epistle should have this character of a systematic +treatise is not hard to see. St. Paul was reaching the end of his +great controversy for the catholicity of the Gospel, against the +Judaizers--that is, for the equal position of Gentiles and Jews in the +Church, and against the obligation upon the Gentiles of circumcision +and the ceremonial law. That controversy was the occasion of the +apostolic conference at Jerusalem, which is described both by St. Luke +in the Acts[8] and, from the point of view of St. Paul's own 'apology,' +in the Epistle to the Galatians[9]. It is felt at its whitest heat in +that intensely concentrated and passionate epistle. But by the time +that the Epistle to the Romans came to be written the controversy was +quieting down. The victory of Catholicism over Judaism was as good as +won. The great principle of justification by faith, not by works of +the law, had developed itself lucidly {5} and clearly in St. Paul's +mind, and flowed out in our epistle in an ordered sequence of thought, +rich, profound, and mature. + +And there were special reasons why it should have been expressed in +writing at this moment, and to the Roman Christians. Though the heat +of the conflict inside the Church was over, the fierce hostility of +many of the Jews, both within and without the Church, to St. Paul +personally was by no means past. Now St. Paul was on his way up to +Jerusalem with the money collected in the Gentile churches for the poor +brethren there. He attached great importance to this expression of +Gentile goodwill, and almost more importance to its acceptance at his +hands by the Jerusalem Christians[10]. It was to be a link of mutual, +practical love to bind the divergent elements in the Church together. +But he felt, and as experience showed rightly, that his enterprise +would be attended with great peril to his life. This epistle +therefore, like his speech at Miletus, has something of the character +of 'last words[11].' He is in writing it committing to the future the +fruits of his labours, so far as they can be expressed in a doctrine, +at a moment when he feels that their continuance is being {6} seriously +imperilled. And this summary of his life's teaching in its most +characteristic aspect is most fitly addressed to the Christians of the +great city which was the centre of the then world. St. Paul already +conceived of Christianity as, in prospect at least, the religion of the +empire. It was vastly important, therefore, that the capital should +know it and hold it in its full glory and richness. He himself, if he +escaped safe through the visit to Jerusalem, was bent on immediately +going thither and securing this great end by his personal ministry[12]. +But he could not depend on the future. He must seize the golden +moment--buying up the opportunity at least by a letter. + +This, in very brief words, is an account of the circumstances and +conditions under which the Epistle to the Romans was written, and it +must suffice for the moment till some of the details are presented to +us in its later chapters. + + +ii. + +There are men of whom it is especially true that their teaching is the +outcome of their own {7} personal experience. If a man's teaching is +to have any real force this must be in a measure true in any case. But +in some men the personal experience has set an exceptionally strong +impress upon the intellectual convictions, and so upon the teaching. +Such men--otherwise very different from one another--are Augustine, +Dante, Luther, Bunyan, Newman. Such an one was St. Paul. His +intellectual theory is on fire with the emotions bred of a personal +experience, both bitter and sweet, but always intense. And if there is +professedly more of autobiography in the Epistle to the Galatians, yet +in fact we know St. Paul's interior life, both before and after his +'conversion,' so far as we know it at all, mainly through the +generalized account of it in the Epistle to the Romans. For the +doctrine of justification by faith, not by works of the law, developed +in this epistle, is the record of his personal experience reduced to a +general principle. St. Paul had, on the lines of his Pharisaic +education, in the first half of his life zealously sought to be +justified by works, and had found out his mistake. + +What is the real meaning of this phrase? Ordinarily we Englishmen find +it natural to appropriate St. James' 'common sense' language {8} about +justification rather than St. Paul's[13], and say that faith is surely +of no moral value without works or good actions, and that we can be +justified by nothing else except our conduct. Or if the Pharisees are +pointed to with their rigid ecclesiastical observances as types of men +seeking to be justified before God by the merits of their works, then, +in this sense of works, we feel that the idea of justification by such +means, apart from deeper moral effort, is one which has passed out of +our horizon. Yet if we get to the moral essence of the Pharisaic idea, +we may still find it lying very close at hand to us, even though we do +not know what a phylactery means, and are at a safe distance from +fasting twice in the week, or giving tithes of all that we acquire. A +well-to-do Englishman, of whatever class, has a strong sense of +respectability. He has a code of duty and honour which he is at pains +to observe. A soldier, a gentleman, a woman of fashion, a peasant's +wife, a schoolboy, and an undergraduate, representing not more than the +average moral levels of their different classes, will all of them make +really great sacrifices to fulfil the requirements of their respective +codes. Their conscience requires {9} this of them, and they would be +miserable in falling short of it. But their conscience is also limited +to it. They resent the claim of a progressive morality. Conscientious +within the region of the traditional and the expected, they are often +almost impenetrable to light from beyond. They are nervously afraid of +the very idea of subjecting their life to a fundamental revision in the +light of Christ's claim, or to the idea of surrender to the divine +light wherever it may lead. But this frame of mind--conscientiousness +within a limited and well-established area accepted by public opinion, +coupled with resentment at whatever completer and diviner claim may +interfere to disconcert one's self-satisfaction, and bid one begin +afresh on a truer basis--is that very attempt to be justified by works +which appeared in the case of the Pharisees, only dressed in very +different guise to that in which the conditions of modern England +clothe it. + +For the Pharisees of the Gospels were the later representatives of the +Hasidaeans, i.e. Chasidim or 'pious' folk, whom we hear of in the Books +of Maccabees[14]. The later religious development of Israel lay along +the lines of {10} rigid reverence for the law. In days then of general +laxity and a general prevalence of Greek customs, these pious +Israelites united themselves to promote the devout observance of their +law. Their relation to Maccabaean heroes and rulers varied, as +religious or political motives were uppermost in the Maccabaean house. +They themselves pursued one consistent aim. They came to be known as +the Pharisees, the separated or the separatists, the party who kept +aloof from everything common or unclean. As such they represented the +religious nation in its later development. They had the bulk of the +people, and especially the women, with them. They had consequently, as +Josephus tells us, an irresistible influence upon public affairs, and +especially upon religious affairs, and they held the social position +befitting the legitimate religious leaders of God's own people. + +This position, with its accompanying reputation, they doubtless +deserved by their zeal for the law, and for the 'traditions of the +fathers' which hedged about or interpreted the law. But according to +the solemn witness of Christ and St. Paul, a disastrous lowering of the +best moral standard of the Old Testament scriptures had taken place +among them. The Mosaic law was, {11} of course, a matter mainly of +outward observance, and therefore would become a matter of rigid social +requirement within the area of such a body as the Pharisees. Nowhere +does public opinion act more strongly than in a close religious circle. +But the social requirement according to tradition came to be +substituted for that deeper spiritual relation of the 'holy nation' and +the individuals composing it to God and His will, which is the real +moral essence of the Old Testament. 'How can ye believe,' our Lord +said to them, 'which receive glory one of another, and the glory that +cometh from the only God ye seek not[15]?' This is the central moral +weakness of the Pharisaic position. A social or ecclesiastical +tradition had taken the place of the will of God. This social +tradition was rigid and stern in respect of the 'tradition of the +elders,' but it did not revise itself constantly or at all in the light +of the mind of God, and therefore its moral standard became debased. +It 'made void the word of God because of the tradition.' It 'tithed +mint and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the +law, judgement, and mercy, and faith.' It 'strained out the gnat, and +swallowed the camel[16].' It {12} came to be almost purely external +and consistent with even the grossest spiritual hypocrisy, as both St. +Paul and our Lord Himself assure us. Above all, it was completely +satisfied with itself. 'We have Abraham to our Father.' 'I thank thee +that I am not as other men are.' That is the characteristic tone of +Pharisees and of all who, however unlike them otherwise, are living by +a strong social standard and priding themselves on belonging to a +respectable and dignified class. This it is that St. Paul calls +seeking to be justified or commended to God by 'works' or 'works of the +law'--not, we must observe, 'good works,' such as are the fruit of a +right disposition towards God, of which St. Paul never spoke with any +disparagement. + +It is the characteristic of the Pharisaic attitude that a man holds by +a strict code enforced by the public opinion of his church or circle; a +code which he diligently and even painfully obeys. But it is +characteristic of this attitude also that it resents new light, and +tacitly claims independence even of God, provided that 'the law' is +kept or the accepted standard maintained. Thus the Pharisees resented +the Christ, when renewing the voice of the old prophets, without +respect of persons, He exposed the {13} moral weaknesses of these +religious leaders, and bade them, in effect, begin again and think +afresh what God's will really meant: when He warned them that the one +unpardonable sin is to be self-satisfied in one's own eyes, and to +repudiate as an impertinent intruder the fresh divine light. The story +is very familiar. They resented and rejected the Christ because He +made the unlimited divine claim upon them: because He spoke to them as +God to the human soul, and not as the representative of 'the +tradition.' 'Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did +not subject themselves to the righteousness of God[17].' + +Now we understand what it is to seek to be justified by works. It is +to have a social or ecclesiastical code, and to claim acceptance in +God's sight because we perform it, meanwhile making 'the law' under +which we act, believed to be divine, a substitute for the living and +personal God, and resenting any fresh and immediate claim of God on the +human soul. + +In this mixture of subservience and independence, of religious humility +and human pride, Saul of Tarsus had been brought up 'at the feet of +Gamaliel in Jerusalem.' His was not {14} one of those slack +consciences which enable men to take the lowest line which respectable +public opinion will allow. In every ecclesiastical system the strict +law comes to be mitigated by various dispensations and +compensations--generally substitutions of the easier ceremonial for the +harder moral requirement. But young Saul no doubt took the law in its +fullest sense as the thing to be kept, with all its accompanying +traditions. So taken, it constituted no doubt what St. Peter calls +it[18]--an intolerable yoke. A strict Jew must have had a very +difficult life of it. But it was not this yoke of specific outward +requirements that staggered St. Paul. What he found crushing was the +inward claim--'Thou shall not covet[19].' He who had determined to +appear before God at the last with a clear record as one who had kept +the law, found himself confronted by an inner and searching claim of +the divine righteousness, to which no blamelessness in outward conduct +enabled him to correspond. He could not help feeling himself a sinner +in the eye of God; and the sacrificial system plainly gave his +conscience no relief at all. He does not even allude to it in this +connexion. Meanwhile, as he moved {15} about in Jewish society of the +empire at Tarsus and elsewhere, he found that it required no spiritual +microscope to discover that the law in many of its plainest moral +injunctions was in fact not being observed at all. He seemed to see +that instead of the law being really the means of justification, it in +effect put 'the righteous nation' simply in the position of condemned +sinners, and himself among them, as fully as if they were simply +without a divinely given law, like the 'sinners of the Gentiles.' + +We know well how, when the way of God had been learnt more perfectly, +this earlier moral experience of the effect of the law on himself and +others worked itself out in St. Paul's mind into a deep theory of the +function, not of 'the law' only, that is the Mosaic law, but of law +altogether--of 'the letter' of any body of external enactments. Law, +he found, could enlighten the conscience, but it could never reach deep +enough to the springs of will to strengthen and purify them. God must +become more intimate to man than any external law can make Him. A law +of ordinances can only be a preparatory discipline, intended by the +very falsity of the assumption on which it is based to teach men that +they are not what they fancied themselves. {16} They fancied +themselves beings sufficiently independent to stand on their own basis +and enter into a covenant with God, to make a compact with Him to +observe a law and to abide by the result. It is the function of such a +compact as between independent parties to convince men that any such +relation between God, the Creator and Giver, and man, the creature and +simply the receiver--still more between God the Holy and man the +defiled and weakened--is simply contrary to fundamental facts[20]. + +As yet, however, St. Paul was only rendered miserable by his experience +under the law. To feel himself a sinner alienated from God was a +profound humiliation to his spiritual pride. He was fired no doubt by +the lofty ideal of the righteous nation, standing before God in virtue +of its righteousness, of its performance of the divine law, and +therefore making its claim on God to vindicate it before the whole +world. He threw himself zealously into rigid observance: only, +however, to find himself humiliated and perplexed. + +Meanwhile, he was becoming conscious of the {17} claim of Jesus of +Nazareth to be the Christ. Under what conditions that claim began to +confront him we do not in the least know. But he must have known in +the period before his conversion that the severest attack on the +spiritual position of the Pharisees ever delivered had been delivered +by Him who claimed to be the Christ; that the Pharisees in consequence +had thrown all their influence into the rejection of His claim, and if +they had not been the most direct instruments of His death, yet had +encouraged and sanctioned it. Thus the more dissatisfied he became in +his own conscience, the more zealous he grew for the Pharisaic +position, and the more fanatical, therefore, against the followers of +the crucified Jesus. At what point it began to dawn upon his +conscience that perhaps Jesus was right and not the Pharisees; that +perhaps it was in His teaching that his own restless heart was to find +repose, we can only wonder. Some struggle such as this dawning +consciousness would involve he certainly passed through. 'It was hard +for him to kick against the goad[21].' At last, and at a definite +moment, God 'triumphed over him' in Christ, and he gave in his {18} +allegiance to Jesus as the Christ on the road to Damascus. Many a man +has thus after a struggle surrendered to God at discretion: many a man +has shown the will, as Faber calls it, + + 'to lose my will in His, + And by that loss be free.' + + +But to no man can it ever have involved a completer sacrifice of his +own pride and prejudice--of his own personal comfort and safety--than +it did to St. Paul: and, therefore, in no man did it ever involve a +vaster increase of spiritual illumination. Hitherto he had stood on +the basis which his pride in his religious position gave him and, +starting thence, had sought to erect the spiritual fabric of a life +acceptable to God. But the more he had known of God and the more he +had struggled, the less satisfied he had become. God seemed to be in +no other attitude towards him than that of a dissatisfied taskmaster. +Now he had surrendered at discretion into God's hands. He had no +position of his own to maintain. He had put himself in God's hands. +In His sight he was content to be treated as a sinner, just like one of +the Gentiles--to be forgiven of His pure and unmerited love, and of His +pure and unmerited love endued with a spiritual power for which {19} he +could take no credit to himself, for it was simply a gift. Once more, +he had henceforth no prejudices and recognized no limitation on what he +might be required to bear or do. His life was handed over to be +controlled from above. Thus when St. Paul sets justification by faith +and faith only in opposition to justification by works of the law, he +is contrasting two different attitudes towards God and duty, which in +the two halves of his own sharply sundered life he had himself +conspicuously represented. The contrast may be expressed perhaps in +four ways. + +1. The man under the law of works is mainly concerned about external +conduct and observances--the making clean of the outside of the cup and +the platter: the man of faith is concerned almost altogether with the +relation of his heart to God at the springs of action. Faith is a +disposition of the heart which indeed results in a certain kind of +outward conduct, but which has its value already, prior to the outward +conduct, because of what it inwardly is. Faith, as Calvin said, +pregnant with good works, justifies before they are brought forth. +This distinction between faith and works underlies St. Paul's teaching +in parts, but is never very prominent. {20} It accounts, however, for +St. Paul's shrinking from any insistence upon outward observances in +the Church, such as do not necessarily convey any spiritual meaning or +power. 'Why,' he cries to the Colossians, 'do ye subject yourselves to +ordinances; handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to +perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?[22]' + +2. Inasmuch as 'the law' was a national thing, so 'works of the law' +were a supposed means of justification confined to Israel, and an +occasion of contempt for other nations. Faith, on the other hand, the +mere capacity to feel our own wants and to take God at His word, is a +universal quality and belongs, or may belong, to all men. Thus +justification by faith is opposed to justification by works of the law, +as the universal or catholic to the merely Jewish or national, and in +this aspect the contrast occupies a great place in St. Paul's thought +and teaching. + +3. But it is not in the things it is occupied about, or in the range +of its activity, that faith is most centrally contrasted with works. +It is in the attitude of man towards God which it represents. The +'worker' for justification always {21} retains his own independence +towards God. He works upon the basis of a definite covenant by which +God is bound as well as himself. He has the right to resent additional +claims. Faith, on the other hand, means an entire abandonment of +independence. It is self-committal, self-surrender. 'I know him whom +I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which +I have committed unto him against that day[23].' The man of faith +throws all the responsibility for life on God, and says simply and +continually, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' + +It is of the utmost importance to notice that this is the only attitude +of man towards God which corresponds with the ultimate facts of human +nature, as science and philosophy are bound to represent them. Man is, +in fact, an absolutely dependent being, physically and spiritually. +His virtue must lie, not in originativeness, but in correspondence. +Supposing him a free agent in God's universe, his freedom can only +consist in a power to correspond with divine forces and laws +intelligently and voluntarily; or on the other hand to disturb the +divine order of creation in a measure by {22} wilfulness and sin. Now +faith is simply the faculty of loving correspondence with God. +'Justification by faith' is the only conception of justification which +is possible in the light of the root facts of human nature. But of +course the practical appeal of this conclusion to the heart and will is +immensely increased, if men can be shown to have acted as if they were +independent and to have found it a failure; if life lived in +independence of God, with God as it were withdrawn from the actual +scene of life to its far-off horizon, is found to have resulted in +havoc, weakness and despair. So, in fact, St. Paul's doctrine of the +true means of justification is based on an appeal, not so much to the +ultimate constitution of our human nature as to the experienced results +of our independence of God, to the facts of sin, whether among Gentiles +or Jews. + +4. Finally, the principle of justification by faith is contrasted with +that of justification by works of the law in the view which it involves +of the character of God. The law, as St. Paul interprets it, views God +as a lord and taskmaster. Faith presents Him as the Father of our +spirits, always waiting upon us with His eternal, unchangeable love; +bearing with us; {23} dealing with us even on a false basis which by +our sins we have forced upon Him, in order to bring us to a recognition +of the true; anyway acting or withholding action, if by any means we +can be won to recognize His true character and our true life. + +These are the broad contrasts between the alternative methods of +justification by faith or by 'works of the law.' The law, and the +attitude towards God which the law suggested, are, in St. Paul's view, +the main characteristic of the Old Testament. This is a point of view +which we should expect in one trained by the Pharisees. We may +possibly feel that St. Paul tends to identify with the Old Testament as +a whole one particular element in it which specially characterized one +particular period. But at least the element was there, and occupied +there a highly important place in the whole development; and if St. +Paul in his idealizing manner sometimes speaks as if it was the whole +of the older covenant, as if he had forgotten all the teaching of +prophet and psalmist, yet he is not really forgetful. Law is to him +the characteristic of the old covenant. But behind the law God's +dealings with Abraham are for ever in his imagination witnessing +against the law's {24} limitation, and a similar witness is kept up all +along: so that St. Paul can take out of one of the books of Moses his +very central statement of the principle of faith[24]. + +In what has just been said justifying faith has been treated as if it +were simply, as it is really, faith in God; whereas in St. Paul's +language the object of justifying faith is constantly 'Jesus[25].' The +explanation of this is that in Jesus Christ God has manifested His +character as Father, and has come near to men, 'reconciling the world +unto Himself,' by the atonement wrought through His incarnate Son, and +giving conspicuous evidence of His saving power by raising Him from the +dead[26]. Thus, if Jesus is the proximate object of justifying faith, +it is Jesus as manifesting the Father, Jesus as God incarnate; and St. +Peter is strictly interpreting St. Paul when he represents the object +of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection in the phrase, 'that your faith +and hope might be in God[27].' The faith of the Christian is the old +faith of Abraham and Habakkuk, the faith in the Lord {25} Jehovah only +now made manifest in a new and completer manner, in a more intimate +relation to human life, and with a more winning appeal to the human +heart. + + +iii. + +Now that we have gained a general idea of what St. Paul meant by +justification by faith, as opposed to justification by works of law, we +are in a position to deal with a number of questions which have been +famous in ecclesiastical history. Does justification mean being made +righteous, or being reckoned for righteous? if it means the latter, how +can God reckon us as being what in fact we are not? Again, what is the +relation of this justification to sanctification? are these two stages, +of which the first is over before the second can begin? Again, what is +the relation of justification to Church membership? is justification a +purely individual process or fact, of which membership in the Church +or, what comes to the same thing, reception of the sacraments, is a +merely secondary and strictly unessential consequence? + +The answers to these questions are all connected with one another. +Justification, to begin with, is a judicial or, as it is called, +'forensic' {26} word. It expresses the verdict of acquittal. The use +of the word in the Bible made this quite indisputable[28]. Thus God +justifies whenever He refuses to condemn--when, whatever may have been +our sins, He ignores them, and therefore positively admits us into the +accepted people. And He declares His willingness to do this simply +because a man believes in Jesus Christ. Let a man believe, or take God +in Jesus Christ at His gracious word, and the value of this act of +trust or allegiance is such that God reckons it for righteousness, and +admits a man into the accepted people, as if he were already fit for +such fellowship in his actual habits or character. There is +'imputation' here, but it is the right sort of imputation. It is +dealing with us not as we are, nor exactly as we are not, but as we are +becoming in virtue of a new attachment under which our life has passed: +and this, as the engrossing modern conception of development makes it +easy for us to perceive, is the only true and profound way of regarding +anything. Not the standard already reached, but the movement, +direction, or vitality is the important matter. Faith, then, is +'reckoned for righteousness' because it puts us upon the right {27} +basis and in the right relation to God; and therefore is a root out of +which, provided it continues to subsist, all righteousness can +healthily grow; whereas the most brilliant efforts or 'works' on a +wrong basis may have neither sound root nor principle of progress in +them. To believe in Jesus is to have the root of the matter in +oneself. Therefore, when a man first believes, God can ignore all his +previous life, and deal with him simply on the new basis, in hope. Of +course this preliminary acquittal or acceptance is provisional. As the +servant[29] who had been forgiven his debts found them rolled back upon +him when he behaved in a manner utterly inconsistent with the position +of a forgiven man, so our preliminary justification may be promptly +cancelled by our future conduct if we behave as one who has 'forgotten +the cleansing from his old sins[30].' The prodigal son, after he has +been welcomed home, may go back again to the 'far country.' But it +remains the fact:--of such infinite value and fruitfulness is faith in +God, as He has shown Himself in Jesus, that when a man first +believes--aye, whenever, over and over again, he returns to believe--he +is in God's sight on a new basis, however dark be the {28} background +of his previous sins; and he can be dealt with simply on the new basis, +according to the movement of the Father's heart of love which his faith +has set free. + +Now the justifying faith of the conscience-stricken sinner, whose case +St. Paul always has in the foreground of his imagination, means first +of all and most obviously that he consciously takes God at His word as +being ready to forgive his sins, and accept him for Jesus' sake in whom +he believes. It is belief in God as forgiving, or in Jesus as--he does +not stop to inquire how--obtaining and giving him forgiveness. And St. +Paul laid great stress on this simple acceptance of the gift of pardon, +as the gate of the new life and the first act of faith, because the +readiness to be treated as a sinner and merely forgiven in spite 'f our +sins is, as he knew full well in his own case, the final overthrow of +spiritual pride. But this simple 'reliance on the merits of Christ,' +and acceptance of forgiveness at His hands and for His sake, is a +profound movement of the heart--of the spring of human actions--which +involves much more than appears. Luther was hopelessly wrong and +unlike St. Paul when he isolated this mere reliance on another's +merits, and, setting it apart from all {29} deeper movement of will or +love, would have it, and it only, concerned with our justification. To +St. Paul even the first movement of faith is a surrender of +independence, and a recognition in intellect, and much more in will, of +the lordship of Jesus. It is, in other words, a change of allegiance, +and this is the important thing about it. And the absolved man, in +thanking God for his forgiveness, finds himself, as it were, inevitably +and without any fresh act, embarked on a new service. If he does not +find this, he is not a man of faith at all. Faith is so deep a +principle that, though it shows itself first as the mere acceptance of +an undeserved boon from the divine bounty, it involves such hanging +upon God as necessarily enlists the will to choose and serve Him, the +intellect to know and worship Him with a growing perception as He is +revealed in Jesus, and the affections to desire and love Him. The life +of justification thus proceeds 'from faith to faith'--from faith in +Christ 'for us' to faith in Christ 'in us.' The justified man, +accepted into the 'body of Christ' by baptism and made a participator +of the life of Christ, receives the continual gifts of the divine +bounty in their appointed channels, and his faith exercising its +natural {30} faculty of correspondence, absorbs and appropriates the +divine gifts--intellectually, so that the eyes of the understanding are +opened in increasing knowledge--practically, so that 'Christ dwells in +the heart by faith,' and it is no longer the bare human self which +lives, but Christ which lives in the renewed man, with a continual +display of moral power. + +The first justification or acceptance is therefore a preliminary step: +it is acceptance for admission into the divine household, or city of +God, or life in Christ. It is a means to an end, and that end the +fellowship of Christ, and continually developing assimilation to Him. +Does this mean, then, that justification and sanctification are +processes following the one on the other, of which the former is over +before the latter begins? Such a statement must be repudiated so far +as its latter clause is concerned. You cannot thus logically sever a +vital process. They are two parts of one vital process; and the man +who is not on the way to being made like Christ (however far off it he +may be at the moment) is by that very fact shown to be not in a state +of justification or acceptance with God. At any stage of spiritual +life there must be movement in order to make forgiveness {31} possible. +Grant this however and it becomes true that justification, as meaning +acquittal, is a preliminary to sanctification, that is, the being made +like Christ. The having our 'heart set at liberty' is a preliminary to +'running the way of God's commandments.' But even so we must recognize +that St. Paul never exactly uses this language. When he describes the +stages of God's dealings with the soul he passes from justification to +glorification, or (final) deliverance from sin and wrath[31]. Or, on +one occasion, he mentions sanctification before justification[32]. + +This is in part accounted for by the fact that the word translated +'sanctify' or 'sanctification' means rather 'consecrate' (as to +priesthood) or 'consecration.' And though this consecration involves +'sanctity' (in our sense) because of the character of God to whom we +are dedicated, yet it may precede it; and we are in fact consecrated +and hallowed at the moment when we are accepted into the 'priestly +body' and anointed with the divine unction[33]. This exact meaning of +the term sanctification in part accounts for St. Paul not speaking of +sanctification and justification as successive stages of the spiritual +life. When he {32} is speaking about justification he is answering the +question, What is the attitude of the human soul towards God which sets +God free, so to speak, to accept it and work upon it? And the answer +is, The attitude of faith. When he speaks of sanctification, or rather +consecration, he is answering the implied question, How is the +individual to be thought of when he has been admitted by baptism into +the Christian community? And the answer is, He is to be thought of as +consecrated, or as sharing the life of a consecrated people[34]. St. +Paul's language in one place would suggest that if 'justification' +qualifies for admission into the life in Christ, the result of this +admission is again a justification, not now merely of our persons, but +of our whole moral being--a 'justification of life[35].' But this is, +at least, not his usual use of the word. + +And now we approach the question of the relation of our individual +justification to membership in the Church and all that goes with that. +To put the question in a rough controversial way--Is the Epistle to the +Romans, as it has been {33} frequently held to be, a thoroughly +Protestant work? + +The Prophet Ezekiel first clearly discerned and expressed the truth +that the new covenant of God with man must be based upon the conversion +of individual wills and hearts. So it was realized. The basis of the +Church was a profound movement of individual faith and love and +allegiance, in the apostles and first disciples. And that on which it +is based is that by which it must progress--the real assent and +correspondence of individual wills and hearts. They that receive the +testimony must set to their seals that God is true. Thus one cannot +possibly exaggerate the importance in Christianity of the individual +spiritual life, or of individual conversion and faith, if he does not +isolate it. He cannot possibly exaggerate the stress laid in the +Epistle to the Romans on individual faith and its results, if he does +not forget its context. But what is meant by this proviso? This +simply. St. Paul, in his doctrine of justification by faith, is +describing the basis of the new covenant of God with man which is, as +truly as the old, a covenant with a community, an Israel of God. The +faith which justifies, therefore, means the faith which qualifies for +the community as truly {34} as it admits into the favour of God. The +very evidence that God accepts the first movement of faith is that the +believing man is admitted by baptism into the body of Christ. The idea +of a faith in Jesus which does not seek admission into 'the body,' or +disparages it even while it accepts it, does not even present itself to +St. Paul's mind. A faith which is content to remain outside Christ is +no faith at all, and the act of being 'baptized into Christ' is an act +by which 'in one spirit we are baptized into one body.' Again, the +conception impressed upon the institution of the Eucharist is that +Christ's atoning sacrifice is the basis of a new covenant with a +society which is to share His life[36]. + +Elsewhere St. Paul expresses this by saying that what Christ bought for +Himself was a Church, a new Israel[37]. What His sacrifice purchased +was a new _community_. There is the less necessity to insist upon this +truth because it is now being very generally perceived. The most +powerful influence in recent German Protestant theology is that of +Albrecht Ritschl, and through him the truth has come back, through +unexpected channels, that the object {35} of the sacrificial death of +Christ, and therefore of the divine justification, is not the +individual but the Church[38]; or, if we may venture to modify the +phrase, the object of divine justification is the individual only as +becoming and remaining (so far as His will is concerned) a member of +the Church. In fact, 'justification' may be rendered, without any +false idea being attached to it, 'acceptance for membership in the +sacred people, the Israel of God.' And where any one has become a +member of the Church without even the rudimentary faith which can +render him acceptable in God's sight, there the awakening of such faith +is the condition of profitable or 'saving' membership. + +From this point of view it is not difficult to see the relation of our +epistle, broadly, to Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestantism was +a reaction against one-sided ecclesiasticism. The Church is the +household of God, the home of His people. She guides and disciplines +their souls. She feeds them with the bread of life. But her +representatives may suffer her to lose the spiritual characteristics of +the new covenant {36} and fall back upon those of the old. She may +come to be characterized by a mere authoritativeness. The spirit of +'the law of ordinances' may come to prevail again. The sacraments may +be treated as charms; or, in other words, all moral and spiritual +requirement may be summed up in mere obedience, or in doing this and +that. So, in fact, it happened to a great extent in the popular +mediaeval system; and Protestantism was a reaction. It was a reaction +based on truth, as Luther seemed to himself to re-discover it in the +epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. But the reaction broke up +the communion of Christians. It thus impaired the sense of the one +body, and very often resulted in obliterating the perception of any +obligation to the visible body of Christ at all. It became +individualist, and disparaged the sacraments which are at once both the +outward means of union with Christ and the bonds of cohesion for His +body, the Church. But as we now look back upon the matter, we can see +as clearly as it is possible to see anything, that both mediaeval +Catholicism and Lutheran Protestantism (or modern English +Protestantism) represent one-sided developments in which thoughtful men +cannot permanently acquiesce. The preliminary justifying {37} faith of +the individual does but warrant his admission into the body of Christ, +the divine society, by baptism. And once admitted into the body, and +instructed in her tradition, faith finds its function intellectually in +meditating upon and appropriating the full meaning of the mystery of +God, and spiritually in appropriating and digesting the powers of that +divine and human life into which baptism admits us, and in which the +sacramental feast and sacrifice continually makes us anew +participators. The Church with its sacramental gifts, and the personal +faith of the converted heart, are no more to be set in antithesis than +food and digestion, or the 'virtue which went out of Christ' and the +faith in Him which made men whole. The sacraments certainly do not +save us without conversion and faith, and faith which leaves us +voluntarily isolated from the visible communion of the one body is not +what St. Paul meant by 'justifying faith.' + +'Ah, yet consider it again!' is what we are continually tempted to +exclaim to some of our modern controversialists who appear to be still +repeating the watchwords of the sixteenth century. For in fact the +famous controversial positions of the period of the Reformation were +{38} intensely one-sided, and have been antiquated by completer and +maturer study--not least in the matter of justification. + +Thus Calvin's position on the subject was based upon and permeated by a +conception of God as predestinating and creating and internally +constraining some men to eternal life, and equally predestinating and +creating and abandoning other men, without possibility of recovery, to +eternal misery. Such a conception is utterly abhorrent to modern +consciences: and we shall have occasion to observe with how little +reason any conception of God predestinating man to eternal misery has +been attributed to St. Paul[39]. + +Luther again, who identified himself, as no other teacher has ever +done, with St. Paul's epistles of justification, was so zealous to +separate the faith in virtue of which God justifies us from all idea of +merit, that he represented it as a bare acceptance of the divine offer +without any moral quality at all--a bare believing ourselves to be +saved, without any moral reason in it. Thus, accepting an existing +scholastic distinction between an 'informed' faith, i.e. a faith +ensouled {39} by love, and a 'formless' or bare faith, he held the +faith on account of which God justifies us to be rigidly of the +formless kind; and while fully recognizing the richer sort of faith as +the God-given quality of those already justified, declared that it had +nothing to do with their justification. But this conception of two +separate sorts of faith, of which only the loveless sort, that involves +no moral worth, has to do with our acceptance with God, is not only a +high road to moral laxity or antinomianism, but is also utterly alien +to the spirit of St. Paul, in whom the whole life of faith is one and +continuous[40]. It could only have arisen at a particular moment of +theological controversy which is past and gone. And the same must be +said of the allied doctrine of the total depravity of our fallen +nature, which drove men to violent misinterpretations alike of +scripture and of their moral instincts. + +And what of the Tridentine theology? No doubt in its general view of +our fallen human nature it is far more reasonable and Pauline than the +Lutheran; and it is also truer to St. Paul in laying the main stress on +a divine righteousness {40} actually imparted to us, and not on +Christ's merits imputed and not imparted; or, in other words, in +recognizing that forgiveness is only a prelude to the development of a +new life of holiness. But on the other hand it puts itself hopelessly +out of relation to St. Paul's language and thought by interpreting +justification as the being made righteous, and accordingly speaking of +baptism as the instrument by which we are justified, whereas to St. +Paul justification means our preliminary acceptance without regard to +what we have been, and the initial faith which enables men to be thus +accepted would normally, in those he is thinking about, have preceded +baptism, as in his own case, or that of Cornelius, or of the eunuch. +Who can doubt that the faith of St. Paul's conversion is what enabled +God to accept him, though it remained for him, as for other men, to +'wash away his sins' by being 'baptized into Christ[41]?' + +May we not truly say that deeper and maturer study of St. Paul has for +us undercut and antiquated the theological standing-grounds of the {41} +sixteenth century, and substituted for them something both truer, +completer, and freer? + + +iv. + +It only remains to make more emphatic what has been already suggested, +that the Pauline doctrine of justification is of much more than +antiquarian interest. We do not, as has been already shown, get rid of +the 'danger of thinking to be saved by works' because we are not, like +the Pharisees, abandoned to ecclesiastical observances. All moral +codes or standards, sanctioned by a society or class and involving no +more than a limited liability, come under the moral category of 'works +of a law.' They all are apt to leave men as independent of God as the +Pharisees, and as resentful of the fuller light. The late Master of +Balliol expresses a characteristic opinion that the notions of 'legal +righteousness,' or of 'the pride of human nature,' or 'the tendency to +rebel against the will of God, or to attach an undue value to good +works[42],' are 'fictions as applied to our own time[43].' But {42} +this is surely lamentably untrue. Men all round us dread the idea of +committing themselves to God. They do not know how far it will carry +them. They are like would-be soldiers who should refuse to enlist till +they had had some assurance as to the extremest risk that their service +might involve. Thus, because they cannot get this assurance, they will +make no beginning of the life of real faith. They live by a limited +code which retains their independence for them. If they are also +ecclesiastically minded, the 'legal righteousness' always involved in +this sort of morality becomes even outwardly more like that of the +Pharisees, and it is not very uncommon among churchmen. But the whole +habit of mind, inside or outside the area of professed churchmanship, +has its root in what is properly and profoundly human pride and the +false clinging to independence of God. This 'pride of life' seems to +be almost more dangerous and, in fact, disastrous than even 'the lust +of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.' Thus if we can only get St. +Paul's doctrine of the necessity of faith rightly understood, there is +no teaching more necessary for these times. + +And, on the other hand, where men are really ready to follow the light +and do God's will, they {43} need--they need exceedingly for the good +of the whole body--to realize St. Paul's teaching about justification, +that is, about God's constant attitude towards men, in order to obtain +that peace which is meant to be, not the far-off goal of Christian +life, but its basis and foundation. When a person is continuously +apprehensive and excited about his spiritual state, he is not in the +temper of mind in which he can best serve God or work out his own or +other men's salvation. 'Peace must go before as well as follow after; +a peace, too, not to be found in the necessity of law (as philosophy +has sometimes held), but in the sense of the love of God to His +creatures. He has no right to this peace, and yet he has it.' In +these words of the same writer whom we just now were obliged to +criticize we may find a simple expression of the truth. 'Wherefore, +being accepted of God simply because we take Him at His word, let us +have and hold peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ[44].' Then +we can throw ourselves without embarrassments into the life of love and +sacrifice, the life which has the love of God in Christ for its motive, +and reflects it among men. + +No doubt we must admit that St. Paul's {44} doctrine of justification +has not been generally appreciated in the Church--the fact is strange, +but it is indisputable. No doubt also we must admit that those who +have chiefly been identified with it have often even disastrously +distorted it. No doubt, as a result both of this neglect and of this +distortion, the ordinary religious Englishman of the present day is +disposed to pass it by as having little meaning for him. Nevertheless +it remains true that no revival of religion can ever attain to any +ripeness or richness unless this central doctrine of St. Paul's gospel +resumes its central place with us also. For, as St. Paul preached it, +it means this above all else--personal devotion to Jesus Christ as our +redeemer. This personal devotion begins by accepting from Him the +unmerited boon of forgiveness of our sins, and (what is only the other +side of such forgiveness) inheritance in the consecrated body. But the +consciousness of what we have received from Christ, and the price it +cost Him to put it at our disposal, gives to the whole subsequent life +the character of a devotion based on gratitude. This is the Christian +life according to St. Paul--personal devotion to Christ and personal +service based on gratitude for what He has done for us. 'For the love +of Christ {45} constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died +for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live +should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes +died and rose again.' + + + +[1] Acts xx. 23. + +[2] Hort's _Prolegomena to Romans and Ephesians_ (Macmillan, 1895), p. +9. + +[3] Sanday and Headlam's _Commentary_ (T. & T. Clark, 1895), p. xxviii. +This commentary is henceforth referred to as S. & H. + +[4] See Rom. ii. 17; iii. 9, &c. + +[5] See Rom. i. 13; xi. 13-32; xv. 14-21. + +[6] Rom. xvi. 3. + +[7] See Rom. vi. 17, and remarks p. 234; cf. S. & H., p. xli. + +[8] Acts xv. 1-35. + +[9] Gal. ii. 1-10. + +[10] Rom. xv. 25-32. + +[11] Hort, l.c., p. 44. + +[12] Rom. i. 10, 11; xv. 22-24. + +[13] On the relation between the two, see later, p. 168. + +[14] 1 Macc. ii. 42; vii. 13 ff. + +[15] John v. 44. + +[16] Matt. xv. 6; xxiii. 23. + +[17] Rom. x. 3. + +[18] Acts xv. 10. + +[19] Rom. vii. 7. + +[20] See the argument of Gal. iii. 15-22. 'God is one' in a sense +which excludes the idea of any relatively independent contracting party +over against Him. + +[21] Acts xxvi. 14. + +[22] Col. ii. 20-22. + +[23] 2 Tim. i. 12. + +[24] Rom. x. 5-8. + +[25] Cf. iii. 22, 26, &c. + +[26] 2 Cor. v. 19; Rom. iv. 25. + +[27] 1 Pet. i. 21. It is of course the case that the name God in the +New Testament is _generally_ reserved for the Father, though the proper +divinity of Son and Spirit is constantly implied. + +[28] See below, p. 124. + +[29] Matt. xviii. 23-35. + +[30] 2 Pet. i. 9. + +[31] Rom. v. 9-11. + +[32] 1 Cor. vi. 11. + +[33] Cf. Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_ (Macmillan, 1898), p. 70. + +[34] It is noticeable that St. Paul never uses the verb translated 'to +be sanctified' of persons in the present tense. It always describes an +already existing state rather than a process. + +[35] Rom. v. 18, but cf. later, p. 202. + +[36] Hort, l.c., p. 24. + +[37] Eph. v. 25; Tit. ii. 14; cf. Acts xx. 28. + +[38] Ritschl, _Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung_, ii. p. 217 ff. Cf. S. & +H., p. 122; and Orr, _Ritschlian Theology_ (Hodder and Stoughton, 1898) +p. 169 ff. + +[39] The subject comes forward especially in connexion with chapters +ix-xi. + +[40] I know that any brief statement about Luther's doctrine may be +disputed, for his own statements vary considerably. But I think the +tendency of his teaching is fairly represented above. + +[41] 'Acceptance' is already acquittal; but only in view of the new +life of the body of Christ which is to emancipate man from the power of +sin. Thus it is only as incorporated into Christ that he finds his +former sin 'put away.' 'I believe in one baptism for the remission of +sins.' + +[42] He should say, if he would represent St. Paul, 'works,' not 'good +works.' + +[43] Essay on 'Righteousness by Faith,' in _Epistles of St. Paul_ +(Murray, 1894), vol. ii. p. 264. The whole essay is very +characteristic and very interesting, but not very Pauline. + +[44] Rom. v. 1. + + + + +{46} + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS + + +CHAPTER I. 1-7. + +_Salutation._ + +It was the custom in the days of the Romans to begin a letter with a +brief indication from whom it came and to whom it was addressed, in the +form of a complimentary salutation, thus--to take an example from the +New Testament--'Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix, +greeting[1].' We are familiar in our day with the like forms for +beginning and ending letters, serving the same purpose and generally no +other. St. Paul then accepts the epistolary form of his day, but pours +into it an increasing wealth of personal meaning[2]. Thus in this +place the necessary address--'Paul the apostle {47} to the believers in +Jesus Christ which are in Rome, greeting'--is expanded into a +salutation extraordinarily full of meaning, explaining (1) who it is +who writes the letter; (2) with what justification; (3) to whom; and +(4) with what greeting. + +(1) It is Paul who is writing, and he describes himself both personally +and officially. Personally, since the day when he surrendered himself +on the road to Damascus, he has been 'the slave of Jesus Christ,' bound +in all things to do His will, and exulting all the time in the moral +liberty which that bondage gave him. Officially, he has received a +commission and an office equal to that of the older apostles in the +kingdom of Christ: he has been 'called to be an apostle, separated to +proclaim the good tidings of God.' + +(2) It is then this glorious commission that justifies his writing. +These good tidings of God are the fulfilment of an age-long promise for +which the world had been waiting. Of ancient days there were +'prophets,' men commissioned to speak for God, whose writings remained +after them and are held in highest reverence as 'holy scriptures.' +These men foretold good days from God that were to come to His people +in the {48} coming of the divinely anointed king, the Christ. And now +they are come. God has sent to redeem men not a servant, but His own +Son. True, He came as man among men: as one of the royal house of +David, the house from which the Christ was promised; yet simply man in +outward nature and appearance, or 'according to the flesh.' But +besides that ordinary seeming manhood, there was in Him something +higher--a sacred spiritual nature. And this higher nature it was that +finally determined the estimate in which He was to be held. If +'according to the flesh' He was a man of David's house, according to +this 'spirit of holiness' He was decisively designated by God's own act +as Son of God in miraculous power, and that especially when He was made +the example of a resurrection from the dead. Thenceforth 'Jesus' of +Nazareth is 'Christ' and 'the Lord' of Christians. It is He through +whom St. Paul and his fellows received the outpouring of the divine +bounty for their own lives, and their apostolic commission on behalf of +the name of Christ to bring all the nations of the earth to the +obedience of faith. And this commission extends as far as the Roman +Christians and justifies St. Paul in writing to them. + +{49} + +(3) To all the Christians at Rome, then, 'called to be saints,' i.e. +called into the consecrated body and to the consecrated life, St. Paul +is writing. He does not say 'to the church which is at Rome,' as in +the other epistles of this date he writes 'to the church at Corinth' +and to 'the churches of Galatia.' And though this might be accidental, +yet probably it is due to the fact that St. Paul thought of the Roman +Christians as individuals who, many of them, had been converted +elsewhere and for various reasons had come to be living at Rome; so +that in fact they had hardly yet attained the consistency of a single +ordered church. + +(4) And to these Christians he gives his greeting by wishing for them +those gifts which may be taken as summing up the blessings of Christ +about which this epistle is to say so much--'grace,' which is God's +love to us in actual operation, and 'peace,' which is the state of mind +of one who realizes God's love--from the Father and the Son. This +benediction is, however, but a Christian form of that of Aaron, 'The +Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the +Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace[3].' + + +{50} + +Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called _to be_ an apostle, separated +unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the +holy scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David +according to the flesh, who was declared _to be_ the Son of God with +power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the +dead; _even_ Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and +apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his +name's sake: among whom are ye also, called _to be_ Jesus Christ's: to +all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called _to be_ saints: Grace to +you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. + + +There is, I believe, nothing in the above analysis which is not implied +at least in the original language of this salutation. And it is a +remarkable summary of the grounds of St. Paul's Christian belief, more +exact and explicit than the 'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the +dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel[4].' There are some +points in it which require further notice:-- + +1. The use of 'spirit of holiness' in connexion with Christ (in ver. +4). Here it is put in antithesis to 'the flesh,' i.e. Christ as He +appeared to the outward eye in His natural manhood; and describes, +vaguely and without further definition, the higher nature of which, +behind {51} His visible manhood, men became conscious[5]. Elsewhere +'spirit' is more exactly used to describe (1) the human spirit in us or +in Christ[6]; (2) disembodied persons or angels or devils[7]; (3) the +Holy Ghost[8]; (4) the being of God[9]; (5) generally what has will and +consciousness, as opposed to the merely external, the 'flesh' or the +'letter[10].' Sometimes, as in 2 Cor. iii. 17, it is hard to feel sure +about the exact shade of meaning. + +2. We have here, in a very brief compass, St. Paul's conception of +'Christian evidences.' He begins from Christ, 'according to the +flesh.' 'And why,' asks Chrysostom, 'did he not begin from the higher +side? Because Matthew also, Luke and Mark, begin from the lower. One +who would lead others upwards must begin from below. And this was in +fact the divine method. First they saw Him (Christ) as man on the +earth, and then perceived Him to be God.' It was, in other words, +through the {52} experience of His manhood that they arrived at His +Godhead. And the evidence of His divine sonship was in part +miraculous; but it was not mere miracle. It was miracle 'according to +a spirit of holiness.' It was miracle filled with spiritual and moral +meaning. It was a resurrection vindicating perfect righteousness. + +3. The phrase 'the resurrection of the dead' is translated more +exactly by Wiclif 'agenrisynge of dead _men_! Christ's resurrection is +the great example of what is to be general. + +4. The obedience of faith exactly describes the human faculty as it +showed itself in St. Paul himself at his conversion. With him to +believe was, without any possibility of question, to obey Him whom he +believed, and St. Paul knows no faith which does not involve a like +obedience; cf. xv. 18; xvi. 26; 1 Pet. i. 2. + + + +[1] Acts xxiii. 26. + +[2] The salutation of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the +earliest epistle, is the most nearly formal. Those to the Romans and +to Titus are the fullest and richest. + +[3] Num. vi. 25, 26; see Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 25. + +[4] 2 Tim. ii. 8. + +[5] Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16, 'justified in the spirit,' where the use is +approximately the same. + +[6] See 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Cor. v. 5; James ii. 26; Matt. v. 3; xxvi. +41; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Mark viii. 12. + +[7] Luke xxiv. 39; Heb. xii. 23; i. 14; Matt. viii. 16, &c. + +[8] Matt. iii. 16; Luke x. 21, R.V. &c. + +[9] John iv. 24. + +[10] John vi. 63; Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 6. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER I. 8-17. + +_St. Paul's introduction._ + +The salutation is immediately followed by a passage in which St. Paul +introduces himself specially to the Christians at Rome. He had a +delicate task to perform. The Roman Christians had been gathered +probably from many parts of the empire, because Rome was the centre of +all the world's movements, and adherents of whatever was going on in +the empire were sure by force of circumstances to find their way to +Rome. Thus, though no apostle had yet preached at Rome, Christians had +gathered there. Many of them had not seen St. Paul's face. But they +had heard of him, no doubt, in Jewish circles as a very dangerous man +who was upheaving and subverting established traditions and principles. +He was a man to be looked at askance. He must introduce himself +therefore carefully. It was of the greatest importance {54} to him, +the Apostle of the Gentiles, that he should gain full recognition among +these Christians at Rome, the centre of the Gentile world. We observe +then in this introduction what a gentleman, if I may say so, in the +very deepest sense of the term, St. Paul shows himself to be. He +speaks indeed with an admirable mixture of tact and candour. We can +hardly conceive any better address in a delicate situation than this +address of St. Paul with which he makes his approach to the Roman +Christians. + +He begins with what is pleasant for them to hear, namely, that the +report of their faith throughout all the world is a good one. 'I thank +my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is proclaimed +throughout the whole world.' Then he goes on to add, as is usual in +his introductions, that he continually prays for them. It was a remark +of General Gordon's that it makes a great difference in our feeling +towards a stranger if before we meet him we have prayed for him. And +we may with equal truth say that it makes a great difference in the +feelings of others towards us if they have reason to believe that we +have prayed for them. St. Paul therefore gives himself this advantage. +He says, 'God is my witness, whom I worship in my {55} spirit in the +gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my +prayers.' Then he goes on to tell them that he not only prays for +their welfare, but prays that he may have the advantage of seeing them +face to face and knowing them. And here he puts his desire to see them +on the true ground. He wants to visit them because he has something of +the utmost value to give them--that he may 'impart unto them some +spiritual gift.' + +Whatever may be the exact nature of the 'spiritual gift' St. Paul is +thinking of, it is clearly something for which his bodily presence is +necessary. There is some divine power which he as an apostle can +communicate to them only when he comes among them. In this sense he +means that 'when he comes to them he will come in the fulness of the +blessing of Christ[1].' He implies that the Roman Christians needed +him and must wait for him to supply their deficiencies. But we observe +that with beautiful tact he at once balances this assertion of a divine +power entrusted to him for their good, by representing his own need of +them. He does not speak _de haut en bas_ as if he had everything to +give and nothing to receive. {56} No: as the people depend on the +apostle for spiritual gifts, so he depends on the people for spiritual +encouragement. He must live by the experience of their spiritual +growth. 'I desire,' he says, 'to come to you that I may impart unto +you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be established' (built +up and made strong in the faith). And then he interprets:--that is 'in +order that I with you may be encouraged[2] among you, each of us by the +other's faith, both yours and mine.' + +Then he goes on to tell them why he in particular is bound to come to +them, though hitherto he had been hindered by circumstances. It is +because he is 'a debtor.' St. Paul was the Apostle, not of the Jews, +but of the Gentiles. Therefore he is in debt to all the Gentiles till +he has given them the gospel, and more particularly to the centre of +the Gentile world, to Rome. And he would owe no man anything. He +would have no unsatisfied creditors. He will pay his debt therefore to +the Roman Christians. 'I am a debtor,' he says, 'both to Greeks and to +barbarians'--that is to all the Gentiles, whether they were of Greek +race or not. And {57} the Greeks were so identified with civilization +or education that this leads him on to say, 'I am a debtor both to the +educated and to the uneducated.' This general debt includes Rome. It +was natural to include the dwellers at Rome under the head of Greeks, +for it was through the medium of Greek that St. Paul made his appeal to +them. And, in fact, the Christians at Rome were, for the first two +hundred and fifty years or more of the Church's life, a Greek-speaking +people--a Greek colony in the Latin city. Only towards the end of the +third century did the Roman Church become latinized in language and +spirit. St. Paul then is a debtor to these Greek-speaking dwellers at +Rome. 'So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you +also that are in Rome.' + +But the name of Rome was, as he thought of it, a name of awe. It +brought in upon his mind the tremendous undertaking that lay before him +and before the Christian Church as they found themselves confronted +with this vast imperial organization, which might at any time lay its +iron hand upon them to stop their progress. Therefore he adds that, +even in view of Rome, he has courage in his heart: 'for I am not +ashamed of the gospel,' even under the shadow {58} of the mighty name, +and though it was 'to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks +foolishness.' And why? Because he knows what the gospel means. It is +not mere words; it is a power. It is a 'power of God,' a divine force, +which, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth, and which nothing can +stop. It is a power of God. It is a power of God 'unto salvation,' a +power that is to work men's deliverance, and that in the deepest sense. +Roman emperors not very long after St. Paul's time are commemorated in +public inscriptions as 'saviours of the world[3].' That is in the +sense of maintaining peace and civil order. But Christ's salvation was +of a deeper sort. It was salvation from the bondage of sin, a +salvation which enabled people to be truly and eternally free. It is a +power of God unto salvation, and that 'to every one that believeth,' on +the mere basis of the simple willingness to take God at His word; 'to +the Jew first and also to the Greek.' 'For'--and here St. Paul reaches +the great text of his whole epistle--'therein' (that is, in the gospel) +'is disclosed,' or revealed here and now in the world, {59} 'a +righteousness of God.' By this phrase it will appear that he means +both a righteousness which is God's own, and also a righteousness which +God gives to men; for the gift of God is real moral and spiritual +fellowship with His own life. This is what is now offered to men. A +righteousness of God is revealed, starting from faith and at every +stage moving on upon the support of faith, 'a righteousness of God by +faith unto faith'; and that not in repudiation of the old covenant, but +in fulfilment of its vital principle: 'as it is written.' For the +words of Habakkuk may be interpreted to express the central spirit of +the Old Testament--'the righteous shall live by faith[4].' + + +First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith +is proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom +I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make +mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if by any means +now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you. +For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, +to the end ye may be established; that is, that I with you may be +comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. +And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed +to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some +fruit in you also, even {60} as in the rest of the Gentiles. I am +debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the +foolish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to +you also that are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it +is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the +Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a +righteousness of God by faith unto faith: as it is written, But the +righteous shall live by faith. + + +1. Origen's comment on the words 'through Jesus Christ' (at the +beginning of this section) is very interesting. 'To give God thanks is +to offer a sacrifice of praise, and therefore he adds "through Jesus +Christ," as through the great high priest.' Indeed, the doctrine of +the high priesthood of Christ, if it is not mentioned in St. Paul's own +epistles, is implied there from the first. + +2. St. Paul, we notice, expresses his intention to come to Rome with +reserve, 'if by any means by the will of God' ... 'so much as lies in +me.' And this reserve was no matter of mere words. He was going up to +Jerusalem with an offering of money, about which he felt the greatest +anxiety, and he knew not how he would be received, or what would befall +him[5]. + +3. It is not possible to decide what sort of {61} 'spiritual gift' St. +Paul is thinking of. We know that as an apostle he was qualified to +impart the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and that certain +'gifts' frequently accompanied His inward presence. Thus, 'when Paul +had laid his hands upon some men at Ephesus, the Holy Ghost came on +them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied.' We know, further, +that the Corinthian Church, whence St. Paul was writing this letter, +was specially rich in 'spiritual gifts,' such as 'tongues and +prophecy.' On the other hand, the Roman Christians had not yet +received an apostolic visit and they may have been lacking in such +endowments, while the reception of them would be calculated to +encourage them and strengthen their faith. + +It is possible, therefore, that he refers to a gift of this kind, and +the exact language he uses certainly suggests some definite endowment, +for the bestowal of which his bodily presence was necessary. The +thought of the miraculous power working through him, 'the power of +signs and wonders, the power of the Holy Ghost[6],' was not far from +his mind when he wrote this epistle. + +Origen's comment on this passage also is {62} interesting. 'First of +all we ought to learn that it is an apostolic work to long to see our +brethren, but for no other reason than that we may confer on them +something in the way of a spiritual gift if we can, and if we cannot, +that we may receive in the same kind from them. Otherwise, the longing +to go about among the brethren is not to be approved.' + + +We cannot doubt, I think, that when St. Paul's letter was read at Rome +this introduction, so full of tact, would have given him access to many +hearts inclined at starting to be prejudiced against him. + + + +[1] Rom. xv. 29. + +[2] 'To encourage' and 'encouragement' are probably the best words to +translate what in our Bible is rendered by 'comfort.' + +[3] Hadrian and Trajan: see _C.I.G._ vol. ii. p. 1068, No. 2349 m.; +vol. iii. p. 170, No. 4339, p. 191, No. 4380. These references I owe +to Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, of New College. + +[4] Hab. ii. 4; cf. app. note A on meanings of the word 'faith.' + +[5] Rom. xv. 25 ff.; Acts xx. 22. + +[6] Rom. xv. 19. + + + + +{63} + +DIVISION I. (CHAPTERS I. 18-III. 20.) + +_The universality of sin and condemnation._ + +St. Paul has enunciated his great thesis. There has arrived into the +world a new and divine force making for man's fullest salvation: the +disclosure of a real fellowship in the moral being of God, which is +open to all men, Jew and Gentile equally, on the simple terms of taking +God at His word. This word of good tidings St. Paul is to expand and +justify in his epistle; but first he must pause and explain its +antecedents. Why was such a disclosure needed at this moment of the +world's history? Why has St. Paul spoken of 'salvation,' or why does +he elsewhere speak of 'redemption,' instead of expressing such ideas as +are most popular among ourselves to-day--development or progress? It +is because, to St. Paul's mind, man as he is is held in a bondage which +he ought to find intolerable, and the first step to freedom lies in the +recognition of this. Again, why does St. Paul {64} lay such emphasis +on faith, mere faith, only faith--why is he to insist so zealously on +the exclusion of any merit or independent power on man's part? It is +not only because faith, the faculty of mere reception and +correspondence, represents the normal and rational relation of man to +God, his Creator, Sustainer, Father. It is also, and with special +emphasis, because there has been a great revolt, a great assertion of +false independence on man's part; and what is needed first of all is +the submission of the rebel, or much rather the return of the prodigal +son, simply to throw himself on the mercy of his Father and acknowledge +his utter dependence upon Him for the forgiveness of his disloyalty and +his outrages, as well as for the fellowship which he seeks in the +divine life. The fuller statement therefore of St. Paul's gospel must +be postponed to the uncloaking of what man is without it. The note of +severity must be struck before the message of joy. We must be brought +to acknowledge ourselves to be not men only, but corrupt men--men under +the divine wrath--doomed men powerless to deliver ourselves, and ready +therefore to welcome in simple gratitude the large offer of God's +liberal and almost unconditional love. + +{65} + +It is to produce this acknowledgement that St. Paul now addresses +himself. This argument of the first part of the epistle is a very +simple one. It elucidates two plain propositions:-- + +1. that the wrath of God is, and is necessarily according to eternal +and unalterable principles of moral government, and in the case of +every man without any possibility of exception, upon sin. + +2. that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are held in sin, and therefore lie +under the divine wrath. + +Thus St. Paul immediately follows up his initial statement of the +revelation of a divine righteousness with the assertion of another +'revelation' made plain to the consciences of men. 'The wrath of God +is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and +unrighteousness of men,' and he proceeds to demonstrate the prevalence +of sin first of all in the heathen world and to lay bare its meaning. + + + + +{66} + +DIVISION I. § I. (CHAPTER I. 18-32). + +_Judgement on the Gentile world._ + +Before we read this passage certain points should be plain to our minds. + +1. By sin St. Paul means essentially wilfulness--wilful disobedience. +There is such a thing as an inheritance of moral weakness or perversity +which passes to men without their fault and without their knowledge. +This, the real existence of which hardly any one can deny, is what is +called original sin; and later on we shall find St. Paul speaking of +it. But it is not what is most properly called sin. God is absolutely +equitable. 'Sin is not reckoned' as sin in His sight, apart from +knowledge and will. Sin, most properly speaking, begins and ends where +wilful disobedience begins and ends. St. Paul on this matter is +completely at one with St. John {67} when he makes sin and lawlessness +identical as realities in the world. 'Sin is lawlessness[1].' And we +cannot even make a beginning of advance along St. Paul's line of +thought till we recognize the real existence of sin as something +different in kind from ignorance or weakness or lack of development, +and as an incomparably greater evil than those. Sin is the created +will setting itself against the divine will. It is, as a state or an +act, the refusal of God. And the recognition of the awful existence of +this refusal of God is the main clue to understanding the miseries of +the present world. + +2. Sin therefore, involving as it does _wilful_ disobedience, can only +be spoken of as prevalent over the heathen world because, not merely +one chosen race, but all men in general have had the opportunity of the +knowledge of God. St. Paul indeed elsewhere modifies the general +assertion of the fact which he makes in this place, by broadly +recognizing that there are states of human existence which are low in +their moral standard, but are rendered comparatively guiltless by the +absence of moral knowledge--states of life where sin exists but is not +reckoned {68} as sin[2]. For 'sin,' he says, 'is not reckoned' as sin +where there is no enlightening law and no consequent condemnation of +conscience. But in this passage, looking at humanity in general, he +asserts, like the author of the Book of Wisdom or the perhaps +contemporary Jewish author of the Apocalypse of Baruch[3], that all men +have had the opportunity of knowing God from His works in nature, and +that their present state is the result of a wilful refusal of Him. +They are 'without excuse.' The sources of the natural knowledge of God +are indeed twofold, for there is the moral conscience, individual and +social, of which St. Paul speaks later; but here it is the evidence of +nature alone of which St. Paul speaks: the witness of the creatures to +'the {69} invisible things' or attributes of their creator, that is to +say, to His power and (generally) His divinity. + +3. Assuming then the opportunity of the knowledge of God as lying +behind human records, St. Paul traces the history of sin. It had its +roots in the refusal of the human will to recognize God and give Him +the homage of gratitude and service due to Him. Men 'held down the +truth in unrighteousness,' that is, restrained it from having free +course in their hearts and in the world because of the painful moral +obligations which it involves. Knowing God, they refused to +acknowledge Him with thankfulness or 'give Him the glory.' Rather they +would themselves 'be as gods.' They 'refused to have God in their +knowledge.' Then from this root in the rebel will sin passed to the +obscuring of the understanding, as is shown in the ridiculous +aberrations of idolatry. 'They became vain in their reasonings, and +their senseless heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise,' +the nations in their worship showed themselves fools. Idolatry had +long ago appeared simply ridiculous to Isaiah: he pointed the finger of +scorn at the idolaters. 'They know not,' he cried, 'neither do they +{70} consider: the Lord hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and +their hearts that they cannot understand. And none calleth to mind, +neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part +of the wood in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals +thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the +residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a +tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, +that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my +right hand[4]?' Isaiah's language and thought had been elaborated and +developed in the Book of Wisdom[5], and St. Paul appropriates it. To +mistake creatures for the Creator, or to think of the glorious and +spiritual God as if He were in the form of the corruptible body of man +or beast or bird or reptile--so St. Paul alludes to the man worship of +Greece and the animal worship of Egypt--is simple blindness and folly; +blindness and folly in which St. Paul sees the just punishment of {71} +the rebellious will in the region of the intellect. But it has another +punishment in the region of the appetites or passions. As men +deliberately 'repudiated' the knowledge and obedience of God, God +'repudiated' men in penal retribution. He gave them up to become vile +in their own eyes and to find out their impotence to control their own +lusts. They ran riot even in all sorts of unnatural and lawless ways, +so that the world became full of sins of all kinds; sins against God +and sins against man; antisocial sins of all sorts, the sins which +destroy the state and friendship and commerce and the home: and at the +last the very ideal of righteousness had come to be lost. St. Paul, we +notice, makes the lowest moral stage of all to consist, not in merely +doing these wicked things, but in abandoning all distaste for +them--consenting unrestrainedly to those who do them; and this +profoundly true remark explains the moral impotence of much that is +from other points of view excellent in Greek literature. + +4. For the punishment of all this sin St. Paul is not content to look +to the 'day of judgement,' though that is to be the final and +characteristic expression of divine wrath, and that 'day of wrath' he +still probably anticipated in the more {72} immediate future; but he +sees already in the actual world of human society as he knows it the +manifold evidence of the divine wrath here and now. Men are receiving +in themselves the fitting reward of their perversity. Their life has +found its own punishment. The divine wrath is actually disclosed in +the facts of experience. 'Look,' St. Paul seems to say, 'at the way +men are living, and ask yourselves if there is any interpretation but +one of the facts you see. There is but one conclusion possible. God +has condemned and is showing His wrath on the human nature which He +made.' Just in the same way in an earlier epistle St. Paul speaks of +the Jews, even before the destruction of Jerusalem, as already judged, +already the subject of the divine wrath[6]. And God's method of +judgement is this. The punishment lies in the natural consequences of +the lawless actions. The wages of sin is also its fruit[7]. And +further, this punishment of sin involves the increased liability to sin +again. One sin 'gives us over' to another, as one good action +facilitates another. This idea was familiar to Jewish teachers. Among +the 'sayings of the Fathers' we find, 'Every fulfilment of duty is +rewarded by another, {73} and every transgression is punished by +another[8].' St. Paul, in fact, in this chapter, may be said to be +concentrating for the Christian Church all that is best and deepest in +the moral philosophy of Judaism. + +Now we are in a position to read the first section of St. Paul's +argument without perhaps finding any single idea to the interpretation +of which we have not a clue. + + +For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness +and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; +because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God +manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the +creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the +things that are made, _even_ his everlasting power and divinity; that +they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified +him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their +reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing +themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the +incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and +of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. + +Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto +uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves: +for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and +served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. +Amen. + +{74} + +For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women +changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise +also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their +lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and +receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. + +And even as they refused to have God in _their_ knowledge, God gave +them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not +fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, +covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, +malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, +boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without +understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, +unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they which practise +such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent +with them that practise them. + + +1. Perhaps the first question which arises in our minds when reading +this passage is, whether St. Paul's general account of the heathen +world is not unjustifiably severe. Does he not paint it too black? In +fact, the account he gives coincides with the account given by other +Jews of the Gentile world as in their experience they found it; and +this, we must remember, means the Gentile world of the great cities of +the empire. They thought, as they moved about the world and saw what +they could not but {75} see, that God had forsaken the Gentiles because +they refused to acknowledge His law. There was sin enough in Israel, +but it was remediable. The sin of the Gentiles was irremediable. God +had forsaken them[9]. This last idea is of course one entirely alien +to St. Paul's mind. To him all God's judgements, at least in this +world, have one intention--to awaken men to recognize the truth and to +stir them to conversion, 'that he may have mercy upon all.' But +otherwise St. Paul's view of the Gentile world, as he experienced it in +the cities of mixed Greek and Asiatic population of the Roman Empire, +and especially in the notoriously wicked Corinth where he was +writing[10], was the ordinary Jewish view. And a contemporary Stoic +philosopher, who wrote at Ephesus under the name of Heracleitus, gives +a picture of society in that city fully as black[11]. + +At the same time, if we are to be fair, we must recognize that the +account, while true, is not complete. The Gentile life was not without +its 'salt.' There was a great deal of virtue, both domestic and +philosophical, in the {76} empire--more perhaps in the country, of +which St. Paul knew little, than in the towns. And the existence of +this salt he acknowledges when, in the second chapter of this epistle, +he speaks of Gentiles which have no revealed law but do by nature the +things of law, being a law unto themselves, and having the effect of +the law written in their hearts, and a witnessing conscience, +individual and social, to help them[12]: and again, when he intimates +that there is an uncircumcision which puts the circumcision to shame by +keeping the law[13]. But it is not St. Paul's way to exactly correlate +the different aspects of his subject as a modern writer would do. He +is a prophet and preacher, not a formally systematic writer. It is +enough for him that the sin which he is describing is a reality: that +its tendencies are what he describes them to be: that, whatever other +counter tendency there may be, sin is so dominant in the world that its +results are as he represents them, and that the conscience and +experience of those to whom he writes will respond to his indictment. + +Nor, if we give its metaphorical meaning to 'idolatry,' is there a word +which St. Paul says in this chapter which would not be true of our {77} +modern civilization in London or Paris or New York. With us indeed +Christianity has been sufficiently vigorous to provide a counteracting +force, of infinitely stronger power than existed in the Roman world, to +resist corruption. The agencies of divine strength and recovery, the +centres of health and light, are infinitely more numerous, stronger, +more constant, more progressive. But the world of sin is still what it +was: and always there lies upon it the same stamp of the divine +condemnation. We look around on the life of our city, with its selfish +and disgusting lusts, with its drunkenness, with its enervating luxury, +with its selfish wealth, with its reckless and immoral gambling, with +its dishonest commerce, with its grasping avarice so neglectful of the +lives of those whom it makes its instruments: we look round, I say, not +on the whole life, but on the sinful life of our city, and we see what +human nature is plainly meant not to be, either in its characteristics +or in its miserable issues. And by the interval between what we see +life to be and what we know it was meant to be, we can measure the +reality of the divine judgement. The facts press upon us the truth +which St. Paul would teach. The sinful life is a condemned life. Here +is an {78} actual disclosure of the wrath of God upon all +unrighteousness and sin. + +2. But what will 'science' say to St. Paul's account of human +degeneracy and degradation? Does not St. Paul seem to talk, as +moralists in general have been disposed to talk, as if the course of +the world's history had been a downward course? and is not this the +religious view? and is it not directly opposed to the scientific view +of a gradual process of development and advance? This is a very common +form of question to suggest itself to our minds. And the answer to it +appears to be this[14]:--The biblical view of the world is not by any +means that as a whole it has gone from bad to worse. It recognizes +periods and areas of degradation, and suggests periods and areas of +stagnation. And this is what anthropology and history equally suggest. +But its main concern is with the history of one particular line of +human advancement under divine guidance through Abraham and Moses and +prophets and kings, through Christ and His Church: an advancement which +is to be finally world-wide, and even more than world-wide, in its +effects. Other lines of progress in civilization and knowledge {79} +the Bible recognizes but is not largely concerned with. But it is in +its general effect thoroughly in accord with science, which suggests +not general and equable advance over the whole region of humanity, but +advance in special departments along the line of select races, +continually impeded in its progress by counter tendencies, by periods +and areas of degradation, and still more of stagnation[15]. Science, +indeed, utters no word of promise at all as to the ultimate result of +all this evolution[16]. It is faith, of whatsoever sort, not science, +that can make us optimistic as to the issue of human history. + +But no doubt the Bible does throughout postulate the existence of sin; +and it claims that sin everywhere, and from the first, has been a cause +of degradation in the individual and the race. Now here is the real +point at issue in the relations of religion and science. The {80} main +question is not about human origins or a primaeval fall. It is simply +on the comparatively easy field of actual human existence. Is human +freedom--freedom within limits to choose and act--a reality? Can man +therefore misuse this freedom to do what he need not have done and +ought not to have done? And has he, in fact, constantly been doing +morally wrong things, wilfully and knowingly, which he need not have +done? Does, therefore, the area of human history present at every +stage a result or product which human wilfulness and lawlessness, that +is, sin, has contributed to spoil and to degrade below its natural +level? Now it is this--the real existence of countless human actions +which need not have been and ought not to have been--which contemporary +science, with a necessitarian bias, is largely occupied in denying. +Granted the reality within limits--limits which have no doubt often +been grossly exaggerated, but granted the reality within due limits--of +human freedom, and therefore the possibility and reality of actual sin +and guilt and degradation which need not have been, I do not believe +there remains any serious conflict in the moral region between religion +and science. The conflict, I say, is continually {81} being taken back +into the region of original sin or the original fall. But this is a +quite secondary area of debate, in which I believe there can be no +serious disagreement, if there is agreement in the primary area of +actual human sin. The universal moral consciousness and common sense +of man bears witness to the fact that we can do and do do what we ought +and need not. It recognizes, moreover, the moral truth of St. Paul's +idea that this lawlessness of the will has its perverting effects on +the intelligence and on the passions. The human conscience then +responds to St. Paul's account of the origin and history of human sin, +and of its fruits both in the individual and in society. And if +psychological science is inclined to deny the very existence of any +faculty of free choice such as makes sin possible, it will be found on +examination to be going very far beyond what it can prove. For the +reality of guilt and sin, and the degradation which results from it, we +have the human consciousness; against it we have no positive evidence: +nothing in fact but the habitual unwillingness of specialist science, +physical or theological, to recognize its limits. + +3. St. Paul finds the root of sin in the refusal {82} of man in +general to recognize God. He asserts that they might have known Him, +or rather did know Him, but declined to act on that knowledge. Now it +is noticeable that he does not ascribe this knowledge of God, which he +declares to have been possible to man everywhere, to an original +revelation, nor even in this place to the moral conscience, but to the +evidence of nature. In this, as in his ridicule of idolatry, he is in +accordance, not only with Jewish thought, but with contemporary Greek +philosophy. The argument from design had become habitual in the +schools, having been stated first of all with transparent simplicity by +Xenophon in his account of the reasoning of Socrates. St. Paul then +finds in this instinctive inference from nature up to nature's God, 'a +testimony of the soul naturally Christian.' He is able, at Lystra and +Athens, to assume that men will respond to it. + +It is another question, into which St. Paul does not specifically +enter, how far back in human history the appreciation of this reasoning +goes. But it is worth noticing that among our contemporary +investigators of the history of religion, some at least of the most +acute have been coming back to what we may call a modified {83} form of +the doctrine of an original monotheism[17]. They think that even +savage religions generally bear traces, that are plainly independent, +of a belief in one great and mostly good God; and that there is no +evidence that this higher belief was developed out of the lower belief +in manifold spirits of more ambiguous characters. They see no reason +to suppose that the higher belief has been gradually arrived at within +any period into which the human mind can penetrate with its +investigations or its well-grounded conjectures. Humanity appears to +them to have been haunted from its origins with this belief in the one +God; and they regard all the higher religious movements as attempts not +so much to arrive at, as to retain hold on, a belief which is +continually in danger of being overlaid and forgotten. It does not +appear that anthropological science is at all likely to disprove such a +view which on the other hand has a great deal of evidence to justify +it. At least, the {84} evidences of deterioration in the history of +religion are manifold and conspicuous. The lowest view of God and man +is not by any means always the oldest. And the recognition of such +facts is quite consonant with the doctrine of the evolution of religion +in its more reasonable forms. + +Meanwhile, every one is in sufficient harmony with St. Paul's argument +who recognizes the universal facts of sin and guilt and needless moral +deterioration among men; and who recognizes also that the secret of sin +is the wilful refusal on men's part to know God as they might have +known Him, and obey Him as they might have obeyed Him. + +4. Besides these difficult questions, we should mark what is both +plain and instructive, that St. Paul regards man as necessarily living +either above himself or below himself. Man's true nature is to be in +dependence upon God. Therein is his true liberty and dignity of +sonship. When he tries to be independent, to be his own master simply, +he loses the true principle of self-government and becomes the victim +of his own passions. God 'gave men up,' handed them over as slaves to +dishonouring passions. This theory of human nature is intimately bound +up with all St. Paul's {85} teaching about grace and redemption, and we +shall hear more of it. + +5. We shall do well to notice, finally, one consequence which follows +from recognizing that the lowest stage of moral degradation lies, not +merely in doing what is wrong, but in having ceased to disapprove of +it. That is to say, the lowest moral stage carries with it a complete +loss of ideal, or absence of the standard of right and wrong; and this +lowest stage is anticipated before it is reached. It follows, +therefore, and we must not forget it, that the actual conscience of the +individual, or of the society, at any particular moment affords no +adequate standard of right and wrong. The moral conscience, like the +intelligence in general, requires enlightenment. It supplies no +trustworthy information, except so far as we are at pains to keep it +enlightened. More than this, its capacity to keep us admonished +depends on our habitually observing its injunctions. To disobey +conscience is to dull it, and finally to make it obdurate and +insensitive. The absence of conscientious objection to a particular +course of action may therefore be due either to our having neglected to +enlighten our conscience or to having refused to obey it. The duty of +an {86} individual to himself is not only to obey his conscience, but +also take pains to enlighten it. And the duty of the individual to +society is to make continual efforts to keep the corporate conscience +up to standard. + + + +[1] 1 John iii. 4. The Greek phrase implies exactly that all sin is +lawlessness, and all lawlessness is sin. + +[2] Rom. v. 13, 14. + +[3] Cf. Wisd. xiii. 1-9: 'For verily all men by nature were but vain +who had no perception of God, and from the good things that are seen +they gained not power to know him that is, neither by giving heed to +the works did they recognize the artificer.... For from the greatness +of the beauty even of created things in like proportion does man form +the image of their first maker.... But again even they are not to be +excused. For if they had power to know so much ... how is it that they +did not sooner find the Sovereign Lord of these his works?' Apoc. Bar. +liv. 17, 18: 'From time to time ye have rejected the understanding of +the Most High. For his works have not taught you, nor has the skill of +his creation which is at all times persuaded you.' + +[4] Isa. xliv. 18-20. + +[5] Wisd. xi. 15; xiii, xiv, xv. St. Paul's debt to the Book of Wisdom +is apparent (1) in the kinds of idols he mentions; (2) in the way in +which the thought of idolatry leads on to that of uncleanness and +sexual immorality; and (3) in the idea of retribution by the natural +law of results. + + +[6] 1 Thess. ii. 16. + +[7] Butler's _Analogy_, part i. ch. 2. + +[8] _Pirqé Aboth_, iv. 2 (cited by S. and H.). + +[9] S. and H. p. 49. + +[10] He implies, as Dr. Farrar points out, 1 Cor. v. 9-10, that pure +society did not exist in Corinth. + +[11] See my _Ephesians_, pp. 91, 92, 255. + +[12] Rom. ii. 13-15. + +[13] Rom. ii. 26. + +[14] See also app. note E on physical science and the fall. + +[15] Cf. F. B. Jevons, _Introd. to the Hist. of Religion_ (Methuen), +pp. 394, 395: 'Everywhere it is the many who lapse: the few who hold +right on. The progressive peoples of the earth are in a minority.' +'Though evolution is universal, progress is exceptional.' + +[16] Cf. Huxley, _Evolution and Ethics_ (Romanes Lecture, 1893, +Macmillan), p. 36: 'The theory of evolution encourages no millennial +anticipations. If, for millions of years, our globe has taken the +upward road, yet, some time, the summit will be reached, and the +downward route will be commenced.' + +[17] The allusion is to (1) Jevons (_op. cit._ cap. xxv), who seems to +think some 'amorphous' form of monotheism may very probably lie behind +totemism. He strongly repudiates the notion that the lower form is +necessarily the older. (2) Andrew Lang, _Making of Religion_ +(Longmans, 1898), chaps. ix and xv. Cp. also Orr's _Christian view of +God and the World_ (Elliot, 1893), pp. 212 ff., and notes E, F, G. + + + + +{87} + +DIVISION I. § 2. CHAPTER II. 1-29. + +_Judgement on the Jews._ + +St. Paul in his judgement of the Gentile world is but repeating, with +more of moral discernment, what he would have learned in his Jewish +training. But the strict Jews who had taught St. Paul, though some +among them must have been good men, ready to enter into the deeply +penitential spirit of their psalmists and prophets, do not seem as a +rule to have liked to think of their own people as liable to divine +condemnation. They chose to suppose that the Gentile world alone was +the area upon which divine vengeance would light, while the Jews were +to appear as the instruments of God's judgements, or at least +themselves exempt from them. They had forgotten all the superabundant +warnings against such a spirit which the prophets from Amos to John the +Baptist had let fall. This frame of mind--censorious when {88} it +looks without, lenient to the point of blindness when it looks +within--sometimes appears when one thinks of things in the abstract as +almost impossible, in the form at least in which St. Paul here proceeds +to attribute it to the Jews. We can hardly believe that any +responsible beings could be so blind as St. Paul implies that his pious +fellow-countrymen were. But it needs only experience to convince us +that even in its grosser forms this frame of mind is extraordinarily +common in individuals, in nations, and in churches. Certainly the +nation of England is not, and the representatives of religious England +too often are not, exempt from the common failing. And in the case of +the Jews we have also the witness of our Lord. He represents the +religious Jewish world as honeycombed with hypocrisy of a plain and +gross sort. They are to Him very types of the men who behold the mote +that is in their brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in +their own eyes. St. Paul's witness then is only the same as the +Christ's. + +Here then St. Paul turns abruptly upon a Jew who may be supposed to +have been listening to the indictment of the Gentiles with expressions +of sympathy, and bids him look {89} within and recognize that the Jew +also falls under the same indictment and on the same grounds. And he +proceeds sternly to cut away any possible ground of confidence which he +might derive from the thought that he had 'Abraham to his father.' +God's judgement is directed by an absolutely impartial 'truth' or +estimate of the facts in their inner reality. If in any particular +case of persistent sin His judgement seems to linger, it is not that He +has forgotten or will overlook; it is only that He is merciful and +forbearing, and gives long space for repentance[1]. But, meanwhile, if +the opportunity is not taken, if the heart is hard and impenitent, a +store is being laid up against the offender in the place of judgement, +which will break out in the great day in manifested wrath. God's +principle of judgement is absolutely free from partiality. There are +men {90} who have steadily in view the true aim of human life, its +imperishable glory, its final and permanent honour, and, therefore, +preferring eternal to temporal things, patiently go on doing good; they +may be Jews or Greeks, but in either case indifferently, the reward +that they have sought will be theirs with the accompaniment of inward +peace. There are other men who are contentious, and refusing the +leading of the truth, make themselves servants to unrighteousness. +They may be Jews or Gentiles, but the divine wrath, showing itself in +outward suffering and inward anguish, will be upon them all equally. +For God judges men impartially in the light of their opportunities. +Those who have the advantage of a revealed law shall be judged and +acquitted according as they have, not listened to it merely, but obeyed +it. For a law known and not kept, so far from commending us to God, is +but the instrument of our judgement. And those who have not this +advantage are yet not without an inward light in the natural moral +consciousness of mankind. Those who have sinned against this light +shall find nothing else was needed to bring them to their ruin. And +those, on the other hand, who by its help keep the moral law in effect, +without {91} any assistance from a revealed law, are their own law for +themselves. They have the law in its practical result written in their +hearts as their conduct shows, and their natural conscience bears its +accompanying witness. For conscience, both individual and social, +reflecting on all human actions to condemn, or, more rarely, to acquit, +anticipates the final divine judgement which, as St. Paul continually +announces, it will be the office of Jesus the Christ to pass unerringly +upon things secret as well as open in the 'day of the Lord.' + +The specially revealed law on which the Jew relied, which it is his +boast to have received from God, and in virtue of which he could +rightly claim to have a knowledge of divine things which other men had +not, and to be the teacher of the nations, the interpreter to other men +of the divine will--this law finds its first application to those +themselves to whom it is given. How can they preach the commandments, +whether it be the eighth or the seventh or the second that is in +question, so long as they have so bad a reputation for keeping them? +They cannot deny that as of old, so now, their moral conduct causes the +heathen to blaspheme their religion, instead of {92} being drawn +towards it. To have received circumcision in physical fact is of no +profit at all, unless it be accompanied by the obedience of which the +mark in the flesh is but the symbol. Disobedience is in God's sight +uncircumcision. And where the obedience is, God will reckon it as if +the symbol were there also. The morally obedient Gentile will sit in +judgement on the morally disobedient Jew. For that is the divine +principle. God everywhere and always looks to the spiritual reality as +it is seated in heart and will, and is satisfied never by outward +distinctions. Jew (Judah) means 'praise.' But if the Jew is to merit +his name, he must not be satisfied with the applause of men. He must +commend himself to God who sees the heart. + + +Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that +judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for +thou that judgest dost practise the same things. And we know that the +judgement of God is according to truth against them that practise such +things. And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise +such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgement +of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance +and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to +repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up +for thyself wrath in the {93} day of wrath and revelation of the +righteous judgement of God; who will render to every man according to +his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and +honour and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, +and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, _shall be_ wrath and +indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that +worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and +honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and +also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God. For as +many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as +many as have sinned under law shall be judged by law; for not the +hearers of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be +justified: for when Gentiles which have no law do by nature the things +of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; in that +they shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience +bearing witness therewith[2], and their thoughts one with another +accusing or else excusing _them_; in the day when God shall judge the +secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. + +But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and +gloriest in God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that +are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that +thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in +darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the +law the form of knowledge and of the truth; thou therefore that +teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man +should not steal, dost thou steal? {94} thou that sayest a man should +not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest +idols, dost thou rob temples? thou who gloriest in the law, through thy +transgression of the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is +blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. +For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if +thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become +uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of +the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? and +shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, +judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of +the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that +circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is +one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not +in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. + + +1. As at the end of the first chapter we asked whether St. Paul was +fair to the Gentile world, so now we ask whether he is fair to those of +his own race whose religious tendencies he had known so well from +inside. And the answer again is that he undoubtedly represents aright +the dominant tendency and temper among them. The prophets had always +had to fight against the natural but false idea of divine election, +which held the Jewish race secure in the favour of Jehovah, simply +because He was their God and they were His people. They bring to bear +{95} all the activities of an inspired intelligence and heart to make +their fellow-countrymen perceive that they are only secure in God's +favour so long as they are like Him in character. Now down to the +period of the Captivity, the prophets could also denounce the people +because they were constantly false to Jehovah in matters of worship as +well as of morality. After the Captivity, however, the tendency to +idolatry is gone for ever. After the Maccabean period the exclusive +and legitimate worship of Jehovah becomes a matter of passionate +enthusiasm in the Jewish race. Henceforth therefore their danger from +the false idea of election passes into a new phase. We must be in the +favour of God, they now could plead, because we have Abraham to our +father, and because we keep to the worship of our God with an +irreproachable zeal for His law. Against this sort of strengthened +pleading John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, aims his bare +moral teaching. God's wrath is just about to fall upon His people he +declares, because it lacks in real moral righteousness. Repent ye, be +changed, get you a new heart--is his one word of preaching. This +keynote passes intensified into the teachings and the denunciations of +Christ. Nothing {96} more surely stamps the narrative of 'the woman +taken in adultery' as historically genuine[3], than its profound truth +to the moral attitude of Christ in face of Scribes and Pharisees. The +point of His reply to their trial question is that they who would +enforce a divine law, and thus stand for God before the world, must +themselves be morally sound. 'He that is without sin among you, let +him first cast a stone at her.' It is moral conformity, not merely +orthodoxy, which qualifies us to act for God. It is then precisely +this attitude of Christ towards the Jews zealous for the law, which St. +Paul is reproducing in the passage which we have just read. + +He suggests also in its last words--where he is playing on the meaning +of the name of Judah--another deep element in Christ's depreciation of +the religious spirit of the Jews. Their religion was a matter of +public opinion--with all the stagnancy which belongs to the public +opinion of a compact society--not a matter which lived with ever fresh +life in the inner relation of the conscience to God. 'How can ye +believe which receive glory one of another, and the glory which cometh +from the only God ye seek not?' {97} St. Paul then is certainly right +in his estimate of Jewish religion. One indeed who describes with as +vivid reality as he does the pride of a Jew in his religious +privileges--one who had all the reason that Saul of Tarsus had for +knowing what it was to feel this emotion from within--could hardly have +been wrong in his estimate of its weaknesses. + +And if the particular moral defects which St. Paul attributes to the +religious Jew are surprisingly grave--theft, adultery, and +temple-robbery--here too what he says out of his own experience is +confirmed from other quarters. Avarice was a notorious sin of Jews. +Our Lord accuses the Scribes of 'devouring widows' houses[4]' under +cloak of religion, and denounces the Pharisees also for leaving their +outwardly purified cups and platters inwardly full of 'extortion.' It +is only a subtler form of theft that He alludes to when He denounces +them for sanctioning the practice of dedicating property as a 'corban' +to the purposes of religion in order to evade the righteous claims of +parents. The story of Susanna, the brief but stern words of our Lord +about the seventh commandment in His Sermon on the Mount, and His {98} +significant language on the occasion already alluded to of the woman +taken in adultery, interpret St. Paul's language as to sins of the +flesh. And the language of the town clerk at Ephesus in exculpating +St. Paul and his company, suggests that 'temple-robbery' was a not +unfamiliar imputation upon Jews. It appears that with all their horror +of idols--and though everything connected with an idol was expressly +declared to be 'an abomination,' unless it had been already desecrated +by Gentiles[5]--they could not always resist the opportunity of +appropriating the rich stores of the temples. The 'religious' Scribes +and Pharisees (though not of course the best of them) were, in fact, as +a body truly hypocrites, as our Lord summarily said they were. + +And there lies in the moral failure of the Jews a very much needed +warning to us nineteenth-century Christians against censoriousness. +'Judging' occupies so large a part in our ordinary conversation. In +the religious world, we condemn so freely--Romanists, Dissenters, those +who are of a different party to ourselves: in the social world--those +of a different class, those who employ us, or whom we employ, {99} +those whom in any way we do not like or who go contrary to us. We are +always judging. But to judge, we are taught, is a great +responsibility. With what judgement we judge, we shall be judged. It +is of the utmost consequence that before we judge others we should have +judged ourselves. And to have done that truthfully has a tendency to +make us charitable in our estimate of others, because we are deeply +conscious of our own need of merciful and lenient consideration. + +2. What St. Paul teaches about the moral consciousness, and +possibility of moral goodness, among the Gentiles has not a Jewish +sound at all. The Jewish teachers generally would not have admitted +any goodness acceptable to God in the heathen world. In fact, St. Paul +is here, as in his speech at Athens, accepting the principle of a +universal presence and operation of God in the human heart, outside the +limit of any special revelation, and he accepts it in terms largely +derived from current Stoic philosophy. + +The Stoics, arising when the Greek city life was decaying, contemplated +man as an individual, and undertook to show him how to lead a good +life. A good life means a 'life according {100} to nature,' or +'according to reason': the reason of the individual being a part of the +universal reason or God. And as a help in living according to reason, +the Stoics laid stress upon the conscience in each man, i.e. a faculty +lying behind his ordinary surface self, passing judgement according to +reason upon his actions, and 'making cowards of us all,' inasmuch as we +all do wrong. + +'No one,' said Seneca, St. Paul's contemporary, 'will be found who can +acquit himself; and any man calling himself innocent has regard to the +human witness, not to his own conscience.' He quotes an 'admirable +saying of Epicurus,' 'The beginning of safety is the knowledge of sin.' +He inculcates the duty of strict self-examination, and tells us how he +performed it himself at night: 'when the light is removed, and my wife, +who is by this time aware of my practice, is now silent, I pass the +whole of my day under examination.' Then he 'opens out his conscience +to the gods.' And this conscience is to every man a sort of inward +God[6]. It is in fact the representative in each man of the universal, +immutable, and divine moral law, the {101} law of nature, in conformity +with which is the only true freedom and citizenship of the world. 'For +this' (the world of the moral order), said another contemporary of St. +Paul, also a philosopher, 'is the common home of all, and its law is no +written document (letter), but God. And if a man transgresses what the +law imposes, he will be impious; or rather he will not dare transgress, +for he could not escape. Justice has many furies, watch-dogs for +sins[7].' There is in Cicero's _Republic_ a magnificent expression of +the principle of the law of nature: 'There is a true law which is right +reason, agreeable to nature, diffused among all men, constant, eternal, +which calls us to duty by its injunctions, and by its prohibitions +deters us from wrong; which upon the good lays neither injunction nor +prohibition in vain; while for the bad, neither its injunctions nor its +prohibitions avail at all. This law admits neither of addition nor +subtraction nor abrogation. The vote of neither senate nor people can +discharge us from our obligation to it. We are not to look for some +other person to expound or interpret it; nor will there be one law for +Rome and another for Athens, nor {102} one at this date and another +later on; but one law shall embrace all races over all time, eternal +and immortal; and there shall be hereby one common master and commander +of all--God, who originated this law and proposed it and arbitrates +concerning it; and if any one obeys it not, he shall play false to +himself and shall do despite to the nature of man, and by this very +fact shall pay the greatest penalties, even if he should escape all +else that is reckoned punishment.' It is of interest to notice that +the words cited by St. Paul before the Areopagus[8], 'We are also God's +offspring,' occur in a hymn of the Stoic Cleanthes, full of the thought +of man's relation through his reason to the universal and divine law. + +Of this type of thought and language then St. Paul avails himself, in +spite of the immense differences which disclose themselves below the +surface between the Stoic and the Christian ideas of God. He avails +himself of Stoic phraseology about men being God's offspring in his +speech at Athens, as being in accordance with what he, the Christian +apostle, had to teach. And here he adopts in substance the Stoic +language with regard to conscience. As by inference from {103} nature +all men can know of God's power and divine attributes, so, St. Paul +says, from the witness of conscience they may know the principles of +His moral government[9]. St. Paul, however, rightly refuses to be +satisfied with the individual conscience. The social judgement--the +social verdicts of condemnation or acquittal continually being +passed--co-operate with it to anticipate the judgements of God. And in +virtue of the inward light of reason, and the conscience[10] both +individual and social, he held that men who lie outside the region of +special revelation can possess the moral law in effect in their hearts, +and, it is implied, can keep it. + +St. Paul is mainly occupied in this epistle in contrasting the +Christian Church, as a region where spiritual power is given in +response to faith to enable a man to fulfil the divine law, both with +the heathen world, plunged in moral wickedness, and with the Jewish +Church in its failure to attain to divine righteousness by the law of +works--of which more hereafter. {104} But there were among the Jews +true sons of Abraham: and there were among the Gentiles good men +acceptable to God, like righteous Job. St. Paul does not theorize +about this. But there is at least no reason to deny that he would have +declared these righteous men to be justified by faith and sanctified by +grace, i.e. justified by that degree of truthful correspondence with +God which was possible for them; and kept in harmony with the will of +God by His Spirit. There is no reason to believe that St. Paul would +not have admitted some action of faith and grace among the +non-christian Gentiles, as he undoubtedly does among the prae-christian +Jews who lived under or before the law. When he says of the good +heathen that they do '_by nature_ the things contained in the law,' he +uses the expression not as equivalent to 'by their own unassisted +powers, without the help of God,' but simply to mean 'without the help +of any special revelation[11].' + +{105} + +Universally then, according to St. Paul, two sources of the knowledge +of God exist; nature, with its evidences of the divine power and other +similar attributes, and conscience, with its witness to divine +righteousness. And, though the sciences of nature and man have grown +since St. Paul's day past recognition, nothing (we may boldly say) has +really weakened either element of this double witness. It is, and +remains true, that the only reasonable argument from the universal +order of nature is to a universal reason or mind: and that the method +by which the moral conscience may be believed to have developed out of +'animal intelligence,' makes no difference as to the cogency of its +witness to a divine righteousness, in response to which alone it could +have developed as in fact it has done. It is worth notice also before +we leave this part of our subject, that St. Paul's line of thought +affords a true explanation of the double fact that, on the one hand, +the actual moral standards with which the conscience of different +individuals, races, and generations is satisfied, greatly varies; and, +on the other hand, that all the standards tend towards unity in a +common idea of righteousness. The tendency towards unity St. Paul +would attribute to the divine righteousness {106} which lies behind +conscience and which it exists to reflect. The variations would be due +to the different degrees of development reached; or still more to the +different degrees of faithfulness or unfaithfulness, attention or +inattention, with which the conscience of the race or the individual +has responded to the light. The conscience, like the speculative +reason, is an instrument for coming to the truth; but an instrument +capable of every variety of racial or individual error or obtuseness. + +3. It appears clearly enough in this chapter, that St. Paul's +doctrines of free grace and justification by faith must be grossly and +carelessly misconceived unless they are viewed upon a deep background +of what we commonly call 'natural religion,' that is (practically) the +religion that appeals straight off to the conscience of almost all +honest and civilized men. It is 'natural religion' to believe that God +will judge men with absolute power and insight and impartiality +according to their conduct and their characters: that there can be no +'making believe,' no substitute for a good character, and no escaping +with a bad one. The prophets are full of this principle. Our Lord +reasserts it. It is emphasized by St. James, whose plain {107} point +is that we are justified not by right belief (which is what he means by +'faith'), but by a good life. But no one could assert the principle +more simply and absolutely as the basis of all his special evangelical +teaching than St. Paul. And whatever is true about free grace and +justification by faith only, is true because, and only because, this +free grace and this justifying faith are necessary means or steps +towards the realization of actual righteousness. So St. Paul states +it--'that the requirement of the (divine) law might be fulfilled in us +who walk[12]' according to the principles of the 'gospel of the grace +of God.' The doctrine of grace is rooted and based upon the truths of +natural religion, and leads up to their realization. It has been then +a most perilous mistake when missionaries have preached the doctrines +of grace and redemption in regions where there had been no preparatory +training in natural religion--in the truth of the unity and power and +moral character of God: of the reality of our responsibility towards +Him: of His inexorable holiness: of His inaccessibility to any kind of +bribe or attempt to find some substitute for moral obedience. Men must +have known what {108} it is to tremble in the recesses of their being +'as guilty men surprised' before God's awful righteousness; to +'tremble,' like Felix, at the message of 'righteousness, temperance, +and judgement to come,' before they can safely learn the lesson of His +grace and pardon. + +And there are two minor elements in natural religion, as commonly +understood, for which St. Paul here makes himself responsible. It has +been generally understood that all men instinctively desire their own +happiness, and that this is natural and right; and that as we should +reasonably prefer our more permanent and deeper good to what is only +transitory and superficial, so we should strive for the happiness and +satisfaction which is eternal--the eternal reward, which only the stern +pursuit of virtue can obtain for us. This deep desire for our own +substantial happiness our Lord sanctions and continually suggests as a +principal motive for right living. The love of others does not +annihilate it. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour _as thyself_.' So then +St. Paul also, following his Master, recognizes it as lying at the +heart of what is right and true in mankind, that we should 'seek' for +ourselves 'glory, honour, and incorruption'--the glory and honour which +abide {109} eternally. It is plain that he would have us pay no heed +to that truly unnatural modern altruism which would disparage and +depreciate this motive of a right self-love, and which would treat the +desire for eternal happiness, and fear of eternal loss, as a base and +unworthy element in religion. No doubt it is not the only motive. It +is not even the characteristically Christian motive. But it is a +natural and legitimate motive all the same. It is an inextinguishable +consciousness in us that we were meant for blessedness. + +But, once more, the only true happiness is moral happiness: it is a +'glory and honour' springing out of the man's character and belonging +to it: it is a happiness that is in this sense deserved. True, the +servant of God in heaven will always feel that what he is receiving is +infinitely beyond his deserts, and that his deserts are what God has +wrought in him, not he himself. None the less the reward springs out +of and belongs to what God has actually made him to be. Heaven is not +a happy place in such a sense that we could be made happy by being 'put +there' by an arbitrary fiat of God. It is fellowship with God, the +All-holy; and God's holiness is intolerable, it is 'devouring fire and +{110} everlasting burnings,' to those who are not morally like Him. +Here lies the reason why a heaven is not possible to moral beings +without the accompanying possibilities of a hell. For the moral +possibility of acquiring the holy character involves the opposite moral +possibility: and it does not lie in the moral nature of things that the +bad character should receive anything except what it deserves--the +'indignation and wrath' which God, because He is God, must express +towards the sinful, wilful character, and which to the character itself +means 'tribulation and anguish.' This, St. Paul says positively, must +be the lot of 'every soul of man that doeth evil.' It is this +inevitably two-sided law that a large part of the kindly-disposed world +to-day are trying to get rid of, or to forget, on its severe and dark +side. But it is in fact a law that works even more necessarily and +inexorably than physical laws, inasmuch as it is the expression of +God's necessary moral being. God cannot 'let us off' the punishment of +our sins, which is only their inevitable fruit. Nor does He disclose +to us any necessary limit to the ruin which we may work in our being. +This stern principle of natural religion is taken up into, and indeed +intensified in, the gospel. {111} St. Paul, however, neither here nor +elsewhere uses 'immortality' to describe the future state of those whom +God condemns. He uses it only of God and of those who enjoy the vision +of God. The 'immortality of the soul'--the idea that every soul as +such necessarily and consciously exists to all eternity--is an idea +which the language of Scripture does not seem to warrant. + +4. There are also two less prominent points in the second chapter that +we must not entirely pass over. + +St. Paul, we should find, if we were to investigate the matter, is +wholly true in his interpretation of the Old Testament in general. He +interprets its spirit and meaning with perfect insight. But he is not +always what we should call critically exact, any more than the other +interpreters of his day, in his use of particular texts. Thus, in this +chapter he gives to some words of Isaiah[13] a meaning which is indeed +to be found elsewhere in the prophets[14], but does not really belong +to the original of this particular passage. Isaiah is saying that +God's name is being blasphemed _by the oppressors of {112} +Israel_--'Continually all day long my name is blasphemed.' But the +Greek version of the Bible inserted the words 'through you' (the +Jews[15]); and St. Paul interprets this insertion to mean that it was +the moral inconsistency of the chosen people themselves which caused +God's name to be blasphemed. Perhaps the fact that he uses the formula +of quotation 'as it is written' after the words referred to, is a sign +that he had employed the words in his own sense before he became +conscious that they were in fact a quotation. But in any case he shows +no anxiety to follow critically the original meaning of a particular +passage which he cites. + +At the end of this passage occurs the antithesis familiar in modern +language of 'the letter and the spirit.' In its modern sense it is +used as equivalent to the literal and the metaphorical, or the definite +and the vague. But this is not at all its sense in St. Paul. With him +'the letter' means the written law, and 'spirit' means, in this +connexion, what we may broadly describe as vital moral energy. Thus, +{113} in its most characteristic use with St. Paul, the antithesis +distinguishes the mere external information as to God's will, which was +all the written law ('the letter') could give the Jews, from the +activity of the Holy Spirit or the spiritual power of moral freedom +which, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we enjoy under the gospel. +In this passage the antithesis is similar, but not the same. It +contrasts the merely physical state of circumcision according to the +written law--'with the letter and circumcision' means 'having the +written law and being accordingly circumcised'--with what the Old +Testament had called 'the circumcised heart,' i.e. the really obedient +will or 'spirit' which may exist independently of the outward rite. +'Spirit,' we observe, may refer to the activity of either the Holy +Spirit of God, or of the human will, or of both without discrimination. + + + +[1] Cf. Eccles. viii. 11: 'Because sentence against an evil work is not +executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is emboldened +to do evil.' Ps. x. 11: 'He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten.' +Wisd. xi. 23: 'Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' Ecclus. v. 4: 'Say not, I sinned, and what happened unto me? +For the Lord is longsuffering.' 2 Pet. iii. 9: 'The Lord is not slack +concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering +to youward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should +come to repentance.' Cf. also Isa. lvii. 11. + +[2] Or rather 'their own conscience bearing witness with them and, in +their mutual relations, their reflections accusing or even excusing +them.' + +[3] It is certainly misplaced as it stands (John vii. 53-viii. 11). + +[4] Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47; Matt. xxiii. 25. + +[5] Cf. S. and H. _in loc._ + +[6] See for Seneca, Lightfoot, _Philippians_, 'St. Paul and Seneca,' +pp. 278-280. + +[7] See _Pseudo-Heracleitus_, Letter ix, p. 91 (Bernays). + +[8] Acts xvii. 28. + +[9] See Rom. i. 32 as well as Rom. ii. 14. + +[10] 'Conscience,' as used by St. Paul's contemporaries and by himself, +is not a repository for positive moral guidance, but rather a faculty +for reflecting upon our own already accomplished actions. See further, +app. note B, on the idea of conscience. + +[11] See on this subject _Life and Letters of Dr. Hort_ (Macmillan), +vol. ii. p. 337: 'Faith itself, not being an intellectual assent to +propositions, but an attitude of heart and mind, is present in a more +or less rudimentary state in every upward effort or aspiration of man.' +Also Gibson, _Thirty-Nine Articles_ (Methuen), ii. p. 420. + +[12] Rom. viii. 4. + +[13] Isa. lii. 5. + +[14] See in Ezek. xxxvi. 22: 'My holy name, which ye have profaned +among the nations, whither ye went.' + +[15] Dr. Gifford suggests that the LXX was subsequently modified by St. +Paul's citation (as in the next chapter, iii. 10-18), instead of his +citation being moulded by the LXX. Is there any evidence in support of +this view? + + + + +{114} + +DIVISION I. § 3. CHAPTER III. 1-8. + +_Jewish objections._ + +This passage is interesting as showing us, what is more often the case +than appears on the surface, that St. Paul has in mind as he reasons +the familiar objections of an opponent--his own objections, perhaps in +part, before he was a Christian. St. Paul, that is to say, very +frequently writes controversially, and argues _ad hominem_: and his own +reasoning is only rightly understood when we have clearly in view what +he is opposing. It of course very frequently happens in literature +generally that a saying is completely misunderstood, because that with +which it is contrasted is overlooked. Thus, John the Baptist's advice +to the soldiers to 'be content with their wages' is commonly +interpreted to mean--'Be satisfied with your wages {115} as they are, +and do not ask for more.' This might have been good advice or bad +advice to give to the soldiers, but it is not John the Baptist's. He +means, 'Be satisfied with your pay and do not supplement it by robbery +and unauthorized exaction.' Here then the implied contrast is +necessary to enable us to interpret aright the positive advice. +Similarly in the case of St. Paul, his doctrine of the absoluteness of +the divine election, as stated later in this epistle[1], has been +misunderstood, because it has been supposed that he is asserting the +divine absoluteness as against the claim of man to moral freedom, and +to equitable judgement in accordance with responsibility. But in fact +this is what he is indirectly vindicating. What he is arguing against +is the claim of the Jews that God was bound to their race. It is +against this claim--this immoral claim to perpetual privilege on the +part of one race, however they might behave--that St. Paul exalts the +absolute freedom of God to choose or reject as He sees fit. It is of +great importance then, especially with a writer so frequently +controversial as St. Paul, to watch continually to see which is the +phase of thought or feeling that {116} he is opposing. Frequently, as +I say, it hardly appears on the surface of St. Paul's writing that he +really has a definite opponent in view. Sometimes, as in the passage +now to be considered, it becomes apparent, and the argument is best +exhibited in the form of a dialogue (though to let the dialogue appear +clearly, missing links have to be supplied) thus-- + +_Jewish Objector._ But if all this is true--if Jews are no better off +than Gentiles--of what use is it to be a Jew? What is the value of our +circumcision and the position into which it initiates us? (ver. 1) + +_St. Paul._ Its value is manifold. To take one point first[2], it +lies in the fact that the oracles of God--His teaching and +promises--were entrusted to our race (ver. 2). + +_J. O._ But if God thus of old gave special promises to us as His +special people, and if now we are simply like the heathen under His +wrath, the conclusion is that He has been false to His promises +(argument implied in ver. 3). + +_S. P._ No: that is not to be thought of. It is not God who has +played false, it is man: it is our race. The Jews refused to believe: +not however all of them, but some. If there is {117} a trial between +God and His people as to which has been true, it is God who must be +vindicated as the Psalmist says[3] (vers. 3, 4). + +_J. O._ But if, as your teaching proves, all our unrighteousness is +made to serve as a background on which God makes His righteousness all +the more evident--that is enough. Our wrong-doing serves its purpose +in this way. God has no right both to use our wrong-doing for His own +purposes, and then, besides this, to visit His wrath upon us (ver. 5a). + +_S. P._ Such thoughts our human nature suggests (ver. 5b). But we +know they are false. God is the judge of the world, and His action +necessarily supplies the standard of all judicial righteousness (ver. +6). + +J. O. But do consider my point. If the result of my playing false to +God is that His fidelity is only thrown into higher relief and the +whole process ministers to His glory, why am I, the unconscious +instrument of His glory, treated as an offender? and why should I not +resolve to go on freely doing wrong (as you yourself are sometimes +accused of teaching), so as to give God more abundant opportunities to +overrule my action for the greater good? (vers. 7, 8a.) + +{118} + +_S. P._ A man stands justly condemned in the very using of such an +argument (ver. 8b). + + +What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of +circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted +with the oracles of God. For what if some were without faith? shall +their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? God +forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is +written, + +That thou mightest be justified in thy words, + +And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgement. But if our +unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? +Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner +of men.) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? But if +the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also +still judged as a sinner? and why not (as we be slanderously reported, +and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? +whose condemnation is just. + + +What is of interest here is to notice that St. Paul reproduces the +argument of his Jewish opponent with great sympathetic force. It had +clearly been weighed in his own mind. It was urged, no doubt, against +his own teaching, that it gave an excuse for sinning by suggesting that +the greatness of the sin only glorified the super-abundant greatness of +the pardoning love. It is only too probable that some of his followers +were persuaded by some such argument or acted as {119} if they were. +Thus St. Paul states it with vigour, but thereby only makes all the +more apparent the meagreness of his reply. Not that the argument is +such as makes reply difficult. In a slightly different form St. Paul +deals with it elaborately in chapters ix-xi. But here he clearly +treats it as contemptible when its true character has once been +disclosed. And why? Because it is professedly an explanation of the +ways of God with man, which is at the same time an excuse for +immorality. It is an intellectual exercise at the expense of +conscience. And St. Paul shows, by the very contempt with which he +treats it, that a man who will play false with his conscience, and then +proceed to find intellectual justifications, is not to be met in the +intellectual region at all. He has been condemned already. + +St. Paul then, we find, will not argue with one who reasons at the +expense of his conscience; and this is an important principle. When +the intellect is acting purely, it must be free, and must be dealt with +seriously on its own ground. But the conscience must be followed first +of all. Its light is clearer than the light of intellect, and must be +left supreme. Whatever be the bewilderment of my intellect, I am +self-condemned, {120} God-condemned, if I play false to the moral +light. And arguments to the contrary, however clever-sounding or +philosophical, are in fact sophistry. There is, we must confess, a +good deal of such sophistry to-day in the use of arguments drawn from +the current philosophy of necessitarianism and the idea of heredity. + + + +[1] Chapters ix-xi. + +[2] The points are resumed in ix. 1. + +[3] Ps. xxxii. + + + + +{121} + +DIVISION I. § 4. CHAPTER III. 9-20. + +_Sin and condemnation universal._ + +At this point the direct argument with an opponent is dropped; and St. +Paul restates what he has so far been occupied in proving. It is not +that Jews are in a worse position than Gentiles. It is that all +together are involved in the same moral failure. To deepen the +impression that this is a true statement, St. Paul culls from various +psalms and from Isaiah a series of passages describing a general state +of depravity, moral blindness, apathy, failure, unprofitableness, +falsity, hatred, and outrage against God and man. These utterances of +the book of 'the law' (here used for the Old Testament scriptures +generally) are meant for those first to whom this law belonged. They +condemn Jews as well as Gentiles. They show all equally to be under +{122} divine judgement. They prove that if the written law could teach +men God's will, it could not, by the works that it enjoined, enable him +to satisfy God. It had its function only in teaching him to know his +sinfulness by contrast to his plainly declared duty. The conclusion is +then that all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, are involved in sin, are +under the wrath of a holy God, and are in utter need of a deliverance +which they are incapable of procuring for themselves. + + +What then? are we in worse case than they? No, in no wise: for we +before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all +under sin; as it is written, + + There is none righteous, no, not one; + There is none that understandeth, + There is none that seeketh after God; + They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; + There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one: + Their throat is an open sepulchre; + With their tongues they have used deceit: + The poison of asps is under their lips: + Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: + Their feet are swift to shed blood; + Destruction and misery are in their ways; + And the way of peace have they not known: + There is no fear of God before their eyes. + +Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them +that are under the law; that every {123} mouth may be stopped, and all +the world may be brought under the judgement of God: because by the +works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for through +the law _cometh_ the knowledge of sin. + + +1. The 'Scripture proof' which St. Paul here offers of universal human +corruption is, according to a recognized Hebrew practice, made up by +stringing together a number of separate texts,--Ps. xiv. 1-3, v. 9, +cxl. 3, x. 7, Isa. lix. 7, 8, Ps. xxxvi. 1. They represent the +impression made by human wickedness upon the righteous observer. The +estimate covers Israel as well as, indirectly, the world at large[1]. +It is thus an authoritative rebuke to Jewish self-complacency. It is +as if an English preacher were to rebuke similar self-complacency in +Englishmen by a collection of passages from standard English +authorities, in which our nation was judged, in common with others, in +a manner most humiliating to its pride. It is this, though, inasmuch +as the psalmists and prophets were and are believed to have spoken +under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, it is also something more. + +It is well known that, as the quotations in {124} the New Testament +have frequently affected the Greek text of the Old, so here this +conglomerate of quotations came to be attached altogether to Ps. xiv in +some Greek MSS., increasing it by four verses. Thence they passed into +the later Latin Vulgate. Thence into Coverdale's Bible and into the +Great Bible, and so into the Prayer Book version of the Psalms. But +our present Bible version remains true to the Hebrew original. + +2. 'To be justified,' in ver. 20, means to be acquitted, or proved +righteous, or reckoned righteous in the trial before God. This, and +not to _make_ righteous, is the meaning of the word 'to justify,' both +in the Old and New Testament and elsewhere. There is scarcely an +exception. It is a forensic word, that is, a word derived from +processes of law, and it describes the favourable verdict after a +trial. It is used of vindicating God's character to His people[2], or +of vindicating one's own character; of God's judicial acceptance of men +or men's judicial acceptance of one another[3]. And so far as real +righteousness is necessary for judicial {125} acquittal, the word +implies real righteousness, but it does not primarily mean it. + +3. Here we find briefly stated St. Paul's apparently wholly original +view of 'the law,' as given simply to enlighten the conscience by +keeping men informed as to their duty, without supplying them with any +moral assistance in performing it. Thus the ultimate aim of the law +was to make man know his own sinfulness; to convince him that his +attempted independence was a failure, and that he could not save +himself; and so to prepare him to cry out for the gift of grace, and to +welcome it when it was given. 'The law was given,' as St. Augustine is +fond of saying, 'that grace might be sought, and grace was given that +the law might be kept.' This antithesis is thoroughly after St. Paul's +mind. + + +This first division of our epistle gives us as a whole a great deal to +think about. There are, we may say, two spiritual evils conspicuous +to-day. People with consciences in any degree awakened are apt to be +nervous, anxious, despondent, complaining, sullen. The second division +of our epistle supplies the antidote to this error by consolidating the +awakened conscience in divine peace. But there is another, {126} and +perhaps more conspicuous, spiritual evil of our day which this first +division is calculated to meet--the habit of excusing oneself--the +absence of the sense of sin. + + Hold thou the good: define it well: + For fear divine philosophy + Should push beyond her mark, and be + Procuress to the lords of hell. + +Because philosophy and science have been bringing into prominence the +influence of heredity and physical environment on character, we use +this consideration, and often with little enough knowledge of real +science, to obliterate the sense of sin. We are apt to regard sin as +it appears in the world at large as a result of ignorance, or social +conditions--as in one way or another a form of misfortune. And so +viewing it in the world, we view it in ourselves. We make excuses for +ourselves. We have largely lost the sense that sin is wilfulness; that +it is an inexcusable offence against God; that it does, and necessarily +does, bring us under God's indignation; that necessarily, because God +is what He is, the consequences of sin in this life, and much more +beyond this life, are inconceivably terrible. It is this sense of sin +that St. Paul must help to restore in us. We must believe {127} that +God is holy, and we must learn to tremble under His necessary holiness, +before we can in any right sense realize that He is loving. We must +learn once again to be really penitent; to confess our sins in general +and in particular with utter humiliation; to expect the divine +judgement upon them; to use with reality the stern language about sin +of the Bible and the Prayer Book. And learning this for ourselves with +regard to our own personal sins, we must learn also to feel, like +Daniel, what our church and nation deserve in God's sight. We must +confess our own sins and the sins of church and nation[4]--aye, of the +human race. Only through such a restoration of evangelical severity +can there be a restoration of evangelical joy. The deepened sense of +personal sin is the needful step to spiritual progress. Certainly no +more in our case than in that of the Jews will orthodoxy, or ritual +accuracy, or frequent services, or superior education, or philanthropic +zeal, be accepted as a substitute for moral severity, for the spirit of +penitence and the readiness for penance. Let us judge ourselves, +brethren, that we be not judged of the Lord. + +And it is all-important what our standard of {128} judgement is. The +Jews failed because they judged themselves by a mainly external and +therefore easy standard. So do most respectable Englishmen. We are +satisfied if we do nothing discreditable. But the religious sense of +sin, as it is experienced by the psalmists, or St. Paul, or Luther, or +John Keble, arises from the intense perception of a personal relation +to the All-Holy. The 'falling short,' or rather 'experienced need[5],' +of which St. Paul goes on to speak, is the experienced need of +something very lofty, to which it is possible for men to be quite +insensible--'the glory of God.' God's divine brightness, the eternal +light, streams forth into nature. 'The whole earth is full of His +glory.' Man also in his natural and moral being is meant to have +fellowship with God. He is meant for the divine glory also. It is in +proportion as he realizes what he was meant for, and becomes conscious +in himself of a capacity for God, that his present actual pollution and +sinfulness becomes a reality to his consciousness. It is in the light +of God, {129} and in aspiration after the glory of God, that the sense +of sin really awakens. 'Thou requirest truth in the inward parts,' +says the Psalmist. 'Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.' 'If +thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who +may abide it?'[6] + + + +[1] Dr. King (The Psalms in Three Collections, &c.: Cambridge, 1898) +has remarked that Ps. xiv. 1-3 closely resembles the general +condemnation of 'all flesh upon the earth' in Gen. vi. 5, 12. + +[2] Cf. above ver. 4, from Ps. xxxii. + +[3] See Ps. li. 4; Job xxxii. 2; Prov. xvii. 15; Isa. v. 23; Matt. xi. +19; Luke vii. 29; x. 29; xvi. 15. + +[4] Cf. Dan. ix. 4-20. + +[5] The word for 'fall short' in ver. 23 is a 'middle' verb, and +apparently implies not only failure in point of fact, but conscious +failure. Thus in Luke xv. 14, the prodigal son begins to _feel_ his +destitution (middle). But in Matt. xix. 20, the rich young man asks, +'What, as a matter of fact, is wanting to me' (active)? See Gifford, +or S. and H. _in loc._ + +[6] Cf. app. note C, on recent reactions from the teaching about hell. + + + + +{130} + +DIVISION II. CHAPTERS III. 21-IV. 25. + +_Justification by faith only._ + +§ 1. (III. 21-31.) + +_Christ our propitiation._ + +Now we have been brought to recognize the true state of the case as +between ourselves and God--the facts about ourselves as we are in God's +sight. We were meant for fellowship in the divine glory. 'The glory +of God,' says an old Father, 'is the living man: the life of man is the +vision of God.' But, meant for fellowship in the divine glory, we have +fallen short of it and have come to appreciate our failure. We have +sinned, and that universally and wilfully. We are such that God cannot +accept us as we are: the 'day of His appearing' could be for us but a +'day of wrath.' And in this dire situation we are helpless. We can +supply no remedy. 'Can the Ethiopian change his {131} skin, or the +leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do +evil[1].' But to acknowledge this--to abandon the claim so dear to the +human heart, that we can be independent and manage our own life +successfully: to repudiate all our false pride, and to come before God +all of us on the same level, confessing our failure and our sin--this +is to let man's necessity be God's opportunity, and to open the +flood-gates of the divine righteousness. God is righteous in all the +richest meaning of that word, and that righteousness of His He is now +extending to us and giving us admittance into it. And this He does +purely and simply as His gift. On His side it is pure and gratuitous +giving, on our side simple and unmeritorious receiving. We contribute +nothing. No distinctions are admitted between those inside the law and +those outside it. The gift is quite apart from the law, though law and +prophets bore witness to it. No questions are admitted as to what we +have done or what we have left undone. Purely and simply out of the +freedom of His love, who is our Creator and our Father, now, when a +bitter experience has taught us again our true attitude towards Him, He +offers us {132} admission into His righteousness, all on the same +level, if we will simply believe in Jesus Christ His Son, that is, take +Him at His word and believe His promises (vers. 21-24). + +And what is this offer? It is, first of all, what befits the captives +of sin: it is redemption. God, who of old bought His people out of +captivity in Egypt, without any co-operation of theirs, by a pure act +of His power, has now again, without any co-operation of ours, but by a +manifestation this time of self-sacrificing love, in the person of +Jesus Christ, bought our freedom from sin. And this redemption He +offers to us first of all in the form which befits sinners conscious of +sin and guilt, as the mere gift of forgiveness, the mere power to break +with the past, the mere right to stand and face the future with a clean +record. For as the brazen serpent was lifted up before the eyes of +rebellious Israel, bitten of the fiery serpents, and those who looked +unto it lived, so upon the open stage of history God set forth Jesus +Christ shedding His life-blood--obedient, that is, to God and +righteousness unto death, even the death of the cross. And this +sacrificial shedding of the life-blood of the Son of God--to which we +{133} contributed nothing[2]--is accepted by the Father as +propitiatory, that is, as something which enables Him to show His true +character of righteousness, and to acquit or accept among the +righteous, irrespective of what he has done or been, every one who has +faith in Jesus (vers. 24-26). + +And why (we in our age are disposed to ask) did not God simply declare +His forgiveness? why this roundabout method of a propitiatory +sacrifice? It was (St. Paul's language suggests) to prove or vindicate +His righteousness, which means both holiness and mercy. All the long +ages past of the times of ignorance, God had been 'overlooking' or +'passing over' sins in His forbearance, never 'suffering His whole +displeasure to arise,' but allowing all nations to walk in their own +ways and to find out their own mistakes and helplessness[3]. The +result of their being thus left to themselves was that men did indeed +become conscious of their misery {134} and need, but also came to +entertain all sorts of slack or unworthy ideas about God. A mere +declaration of forgiveness might have left men with an impression of an +easy-going or 'good-natured' God who would make light of sin. But the +awful burden laid upon Jesus on account of human sin, the awful +sacrifice of His life which He readily offered, restores the sterner +element to our thoughts about God, just at that crisis or opportunity +in the divine dealings, when by God's declaration of free forgiveness +we are made to feel His love. God does forgive us, but it costs Him +much. And no one who under these conditions comes and takes at the +hand of Jesus the gift of pardon can fail to receive with it the awful +impression of the divine holiness and of the severity of the divine +requirements. All the former 'passing over of the sins done aforetime' +was made morally possible because God had in view that 'now at the +present season,' or opportunity, He would 'show,' or prove, His whole +righteousness, and be before men's eyes the righteous being that He is +in fact (righteous rather than merely 'just'); and be able, without the +danger of a great misunderstanding, to give His righteousness full +scope by admitting into {135} it, by a pure act of pardon, every one +who comes simply taking Jesus at His word[4]. + +Here then there is no room for pride or glorying. It is utterly +excluded because there is here no consideration of human merit. It is +a pure and unmerited boon of the divine bounty bestowed, without +reference to any law known or observed, simply on those who, utterly +confessing their need, accept in faith the offer of love. Again there +is no reference to any chosen race. Jew and Gentile, circumcision and +uncircumcision, are all in the same case. All have the same need. God +is the same, with the same offer, for all alike. He will accept the +Jew because he believes, and He will accept the Gentile with no other +equipment but his faith. Yet this principle of faith involves no +repudiation of the principle of law; rather, it realizes the very end +which law was intended to serve (vers. 27-31). + + +But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, +being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of +God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there +{136} is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the +glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the +redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth _to be_ a +propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to shew his righteousness, +because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the +forbearance of God; for the shewing, _I say_, of his righteousness at +this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier +of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is +excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of +faith. We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from +the works of the law. Or is God _the God_ of Jews only? is he not _the +God_ of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: if so be that God is +one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the +uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make the law of none effect +through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. + + +i. + +For our understanding of this famous passage a good deal depends on our +fixing, as exactly as possible, what the 'righteousness of God' here +spoken of means. Beyond all question it means in part God's own moral +character. This is quite certain, as in the Bible generally, so in +this very chapter[5]. But it is also certain that God's character is, +especially in this epistle, viewed as revealed to us in such a sense +that we can take hold of it and become identified with it. {137} Thus +(especially in i. 17) _human_ faith is spoken of as the starting-point +or region for revealing divine righteousness. It extends to and +embraces the believers[6]. It is a righteousness communicated to us +from God on the basis of faith[7]. The 'righteousness of God' is what +we men are to become[8]. This transition of meaning from what God is +in Himself to what we are by the gift of God is of course thoroughly +natural. The grand idea of the Bible is that of a moral fellowship +between man and God. The grand idea of the New Testament is, further, +that of a disclosure and communication to us of the divine life. + +And what is this moral quality described by 'righteousness' which +belongs to God and is communicated to us? Righteousness is a term +belonging primarily to man. A righteous man, in the Old Testament, is +one who fulfils all that is expected of him, one who is +blameless--towards man, but especially towards God. But if God expects +such and such conduct in men it is because of what He Himself is. His +requirements express His character. God Himself therefore is believed +to be righteous, incorruptibly and awfully righteous. But a great +{138} strain is put upon this belief in the 'wild and irregular scene' +of this world, the Governor of which appears so often indifferent to +the sufferings of His most faithful servants. Thus the righteous cry +out to God to vindicate Himself, and God's righteousness is, in the Old +Testament, largely identified with God's vindication of His own +character by righteous acts or judgements accomplished in the past or +expected in the future; acts of such a character as that in them the +wicked and insolent are put to confusion, and the meek and holy +justified and exalted. Such righteous judgement is expected to +characterize the kingdom of the Christ. Of course, in the general +lowering of moral ideals among the Pharisaic Jews, the idea of +righteousness suffered with all else. The righteous came to mean those +who strictly keep the outward Jewish law; and God's righteousness was +identified with His expected vindication of those who keep the law, +i.e. the pious Jew, at the coming of the Messiah[9]. Our Lord, and His +disciples after Him, were engaged in nothing so much as in deepening +the idea of righteousness again. Especially it is something much more +than the mere observance of outward ordinances. {139} It was, in fact, +the fundamental error of the Jews to confuse the two. Righteousness in +man must be real likeness to God, and God's righteousness is His holy +character which He is now once more manifesting in the gospel of His +Son; a character which is still shown in acts of justice[10], in +punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous, but which manifests +itself also more especially as love, and by gracious promises of +forgiveness and acceptance[11]. Thus, in Rom. i. 17, 18, the present +'revelation of divine righteousness' is a gracious manifestation which +is put in contrast to the 'revelation of divine wrath,' the place of +which it is intended to take. And yet, though the quality of mercy is +made emphatic, it is not isolated. God's righteousness is not mere +good nature. It would not be rightly revealed by any mere ignoring or +passing over of sin. God's mercy is inseparable from His holiness, and +His righteousness includes both[12]. It needed the severe requirement +of the atoning sacrifice, as well as {140} the free gift of forgiveness +and new life, to prove or exhibit it. + +And if God's righteousness shows itself first of all in a simple act of +justification of sinners--in simply forgiving men or pronouncing them +righteous, irrespective of what they are in themselves at the moment, +if only they will take God at His word--three points have to be borne +in mind. First, that the mere offer of forgiveness is put in the +forefront because this readiness on our part to be treated as helpless +sinners is the annihilation of the one great obstacle to our +reconciliation with God--the proud independence which led the Jews, and +has led men since their day, to resent being dealt with by mere mercy, +and to want to justify themselves. If the Christian character is to +grow aright, it must have its root in an utter acknowledgement that we +owe to God our power even to make a beginning in His service: that we +can run the way of His commandments, because, and only because, He by +His own act has set our hearts at liberty. + + Just as I am, without one plea + But that Thy blood was shed for me, + And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +{141} + +To many really good Christians this sort of language has come to have +an unreal sound because they have been surfeited with it, and because +it has been associated with a very one-sided Christianity. But, for +all that, the moral necessity remains that we should dig out of its +last refuges the claim of human independence, if the Christian +character is to grow healthily. In other words, the only root of +Christian thankfulness and progress is the recognition that our +spiritual life rests at its basis on a pure act of the divine bounty in +accomplishing our redemption from sin and giving us the forgiveness of +all our sins. + +Secondly, it must be borne in mind that our forgiveness through the +sacrifice is only the first step towards fellowship with God. It is +only the removal of the preliminary obstacle which guilt had raised +against actual admittance into the life of God. The language of the +New Testament refuses to allow us to separate the forgiveness of our +sins from our admission into the 'body of Christ' by baptism[13], or, +in other words, our incorporation into the life of the redeemed people, +the new Israel. For the faith {142} which accepts forgiveness is the +same identical quality which corresponds with all the later movement of +the new life. God's free gift of grace is not forgiveness only, but +forgiveness and new life; it is 'forgiveness of sins and an inheritance +among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ[14].' St. +Paul does not contemplate, or contemplates only to repudiate, a faith +which accepts forgiveness and stops there--indifferent to actual +holiness or baptismal incorporation. For it would be no real faith at +all. The preliminary justification or acquittal is simply and solely +to serve as a basis for the life of consecration and glory. The stages +of justification and sanctification are separable in idea but not in +fact. The refusal to proceed from the threshold of the acquittal into +the palace of the new life would expel even from the threshold; even as +the failure of the unthankful servant to behave as one should behave +who has been excused the debt he could not pay, cancelled all his +acquittal and left him with the weight of the old debt rolled back upon +him to his destruction. + +Lastly, and in one word, it must never be left out of sight that even +the initial movement of {143} faith, the taking Christ at His word and +believing His promises, involves the element of moral allegiance. His +gracious person and character attract even while the boon is being +accepted, and a new motive enters into life. Justifying faith at its +very root is a faith which yields allegiance to its object. + + +ii. + +To a Jew, and to almost all races when St. Paul wrote, the idea of an +expiatory sacrifice for sin seemed natural and obvious. But for the +special Christian doctrine of expiation the basis is to be found in the +memorable chapter liii of the 'later Isaiah.' That great prophet of +the captivity is assuring Israel of their restoration to their own +land. This restoration is to follow on the due punishment of her +sins--'She hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins.' +And the restored people is to be, before all else, a righteous +people--'all righteous'--a people of God's favour, because they are +living according to God. But there is so much sin still remaining in +them as to make it necessary that the new life of the recovered people +should be based on a great act of {144} propitiation. The Righteous +Servant of Jehovah, who is, at starting, the idealized people itself, +but who comes to be represented as an individual acting for the people +while repudiated by them, offers his life a willing sacrifice for their +sins. The chastisement of their iniquities falls on him, and he +accepts the burden, and is obedient unto death. Dying he makes his +soul a guilt offering: and, living through death exalted and powerful, +he becomes an intercessor accepted with God, the head of a new seed +whom he 'justifies' before God by the intimate knowledge of God's mind +and character which in his voluntary humiliation he has won. This +wonderful prophetic picture represents a vast advance in moral teaching +on what had gone before. It is not only that the self-sacrifice of a +perfect human will is substituted for the animal victims to which the +enlightened conscience of God's people already refused to allow any +real efficacy; but also that the idea of propitiation is put in a +context where it is made plain that it can only be the prelude to a +state of actual righteousness in those who are to be justified by it. +It occurs as part of the answer to the question, not--How is Israel to +escape punishment? but, How is Israel to {145} become the really +righteous nation, living in the likeness of God? + +In the later books of the Maccabees we have this idea of the expiatory +sacrifice and intercession of the ideal Israelite still retained, but +degraded, probably under Greek influences. 'And I, as my brethren,' +says the Maccabean martyr, 'give up both body and soul for the laws of +our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to +the nation ... and that in me and my brethren may be stayed the wrath +of the Almighty, which hath been justly brought upon our whole +race[15].' 'Be propitious to my race,' prays Eleazar, in another +Alexandrian version of the story, 'being satisfied with our punishment +on their behalf. Make my blood a propitiation for them, and receive my +life as a substitute for theirs[16].' These passages are on a lower +moral level than Isaiah's, because in them the prominent idea of +propitiation is that it is a means of procuring from God exemption from +further punishment, not a step to the restoration to holiness. The +idea both of what God desires and of what man desires is lower. And +indeed all conceptions of propitiation may be distinguished into true +{146} or false, according as righteousness or exemption from punishment +is the end which is specially in view. + +Thus when we pass on into the New Testament we find in Caiaphas' +saying, 'It is expedient for you that one man should die for the +people, and that the whole nation perish not[17],' the typical +expression of the quite immoral notion[18] of the forcible sacrifice of +an innocent person in order to exempt a guilty race from punishment. +In our Lord's teaching, on the other hand, we find the doctrine of +atonement raised to its highest moral power. As the Forerunner had +revived the teaching of the later Isaiah by pointing to Him as 'the +Lamb of God who taketh away (i.e. taketh up and expiateth) the sin of +the world[19],' so Christ Himself spoke unmistakeably of the new +covenant which He came to inaugurate, as to be based upon the +sacrificial offering of His body and the outpouring of His blood[20]: +spoke also of 'the remission of sins' as the benefit to be expected +{147} from His expiation. But no teacher in the world ever made it so +plain that God can be satisfied with nothing that any other can do for +us--with nothing but actual likeness to Him in ourselves. No teacher +ever made it so plain that what we are to desire is not to be let off +punishment, but to be actually freed from sin. He left no room for +doubt that only by following His steps, even to the cross and surrender +of our lives, can we share His fellowship. The very life which is +offered in sacrifice to lay the foundation of the new covenant is a +life or spirit which we are to share. We are to eat and drink His +sacrificed flesh and blood--the blood which is the life--and so to be +one with Him and He with us. He sacrificed Himself, in other words, in +order to make possible, through His life and Spirit, a new covenanted +society, in which men should have perfect fellowship with God and with +one another. He did not reject the idea of a propitiation won for man +by His vicarious sacrifice--the truth is far from that--but He keeps it +in inseparable connexion with the life which is to be based upon it; +and in the eucharist He brought back the idea of sacrifice to what had +been its starting-point in all primitive usages. 'The one point,' says +{148} Professor Robertson-Smith, 'that comes out clear and strong (from +the examination of ancient sacrificial customs), is that the +fundamental idea of ancient sacrifice is sacramental communion, and +that all atoning rites are ultimately to be regarded as owing their +efficacy to a communication of divine life to the worshipper, and to +the establishment or confirmation of a living bond between them and +their God[21].' + +Still Christ's sacrifice of propitiation, to which we contribute +nothing, in which we do not share, remains a necessary prelude to the +establishment of the new life. It is in virtue of this that we are +justified and accepted and allowed to start afresh. This fact the New +Testament in general takes for granted, and offers no explanation of +it; as indeed the human heart has in general accepted the benefit in +all thankfulness and asked no questions. But the speculative modern +intellect has found a difficulty in the matter--in the matter at least +as commonly represented--and we have noticed that a suggestion of +explanation is made by St. Paul in this passage. God had long gone on +'passing over' sin all over the world in loving forbearance, bearing +with all men's sinfulness, {149} till they had thoroughly learnt the +lesson of their own need of God and inability to save themselves. But +this very forbearance rendered God's character liable to complete +misunderstanding. He might have been supposed to be kind indeed, but +indifferent to sin. 'These things hast thou done and I kept silence: +thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself[22].' +Thus the severity manifested in the claim of the 'righteous Father' +upon the Son of Man, His claim of an obedience unto the shedding of His +blood, and the ready response to His claim on the part of the Son of +Man gladly rendering up His life in homage to the Father--these taken +together, the claim of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son, +vindicated within the area of the Christian faith the true character of +God, and forced the believer in Jesus to hold the severity and the love +in their inseparable unity as making up the divine righteousness. + +Does not this thought open at least an intelligible vista into the +mystery of the Atonement? Christ is the Son of Man. He is to +inaugurate the true manhood. But first He must deal with the manhood +that has gone {150} astray, and make an act of reparation to the Father +for all the outrage that our sins have done Him. Thus in contrast to +all our self-pleasing, self-indulgence, self-excusing, in contrast to +all our clamorous insolence towards God and indifference to His laws, +we behold the Son of Man recognizing the Father's strict requirements, +and lifting before His eyes, in the name of the manhood which He +represents, the great reparation of an unshrinking obedience and +loyalty unto death. The Father spared not His only Son the natural +consequences of obedience in a world of sin. The Son spared not +Himself, but shed His blood--the 'blood which is the life'--at the +Father's will. This is the one full, perfect, and sufficient +sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. +It is the sacrifice offered in the power of nothing less than 'eternal +spirit.' Henceforth, then, no man can come to God in faith in Jesus, +in the faith which even at its root is moral allegiance, and think +lightly either of God's holiness or of his own or others' sin. God +forgives him his sin, but it cost Him much to forgive it. The Cross is +the measure of the antipathy between God and sin. + +And it is well to notice how the great {151} thought of this passage is +made intelligible to the ordinary English reader again, only by the +Revised Version. In the old Bible the word signifying 'passing over' +of sins is translated 'remission'--the very thing with which it is in +fact contrasted. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in this and +very many places of the epistles, the Revised Version for the first +time renders the thought of the apostles again intelligible to the +English reader. And if the Revised Version is not popular, as the +booksellers tell us it is not, this is, I fear, only a sign that the +majority of English Christians do not really care to _understand_ the +meaning of the message with which, as a matter of words, they are so +familiar. + + +iii. + +The metaphor of 'redemption' and the metaphor of 'propitiation' +complete and check one another. As in the parables it is only the +exact point of comparison between the earthly and the heavenly which +can be pressed for the spiritual lesson, so it is with these +metaphorical words, which are in fact parables compressed. The word +'redemption' is meant to suggest a price paid by God, or by Christ, for +our being {152} made free; it is the price of the Son's death. He +'gives His life a ransom for many.' The word 'propitiation' again is +meant to suggest that the offering of the life in sacrifice was the +means to win for us forgiveness from God. So far, both metaphorical +words have their clear and harmonious meaning. But in old days the +metaphor of redemption was worked out by Origen and others beyond the +exact point of the original suggestion. The price, they argued, must +have been paid to the enemy who held us captive; i.e. Christ's life was +offered as a price to the devil in order that his claim might be +satisfied and we might be justly set free. But this extension of the +scope of the metaphor is wholly alien to the New Testament. On the +other hand, the idea of propitiation has suggested at many periods the +horrible notion that the Son wrung from the angry Father the pardon +which He was unwilling to give. Such a notion is again wholly alien to +the New Testament. But in fact the two metaphors are mutually +corrective; and each tends to exclude the misuse of the other. The +idea that Christ offered anything to the devil is corrected by the +notion inherent in the phrase 'propitiation (of the Father).' What the +Son offered was a sacrifice {153} directed to the Father only. On the +other hand, the idea that the mind of the Father needed to be changed +towards us, is corrected by the suggestion inherent in the other +metaphor of redemption; for it is He who, because He loved us, gave up +His own Son to buy us out of the slavery of sin. Each metaphor +suggests a single idea--each complementary of the other, and corrective +of its misuse--and both combine to tell us of the one inseparable love +of the Father and the Son, uniting in a sacrificial act which is +ascribed to both, to redeem us from the tyranny of sin and to set the +pardoning love free to work upon us, without obscuring the true +hatefulness of sin or the true character of God. + + +If, especially recently, the doctrine of the atonement[23] has involved +intellectual difficulty, on the other hand it has proved itself, as the +popular Christian literature of all ages sufficiently shows, widely and +deeply welcome to the human heart. This wide welcome which it has +received shows that it contains a deep truth. And from this point of +view, from the point of view of our practical spiritual needs, we do +well to meditate {154} much and deeply upon this doctrine. We can +depend upon it, that if we are to go on patiently doing good in a world +like this, so full of disappointments and anxieties and moral failures +and torturing scruples, we must have peace at the heart. And this is +what the really evangelical doctrine is capable of giving us. It bids +us continually look out of ourselves up to God, and assures us that His +love, manifested in the sacrifice of His Son, is there continually, +unchangeably. It is there, waiting till first we turn to Him, to give +us the assurance of entire absolution and admission into the divine +fellowship, wholly irrespective of what we have been or done; and it is +there continually, however often we fall, with the same large and +liberal hand to pour out continual forgivenesses, and never wearies of +restoring us again and again to the solid foundation of the peace and +grace which are by Jesus Christ. We are not meant to be miserably +anxious or morbidly introspective. We must confess our sins, and that +with exactness, without self-sparing, without self-excusing, in utter +humility and truth; but 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and +just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all +unrighteousness.' + + + +[1] Jer. xiii. 33. + +[2] Except the sins which slew Him. + +[3] I have combined this passage with the illustrative passages in St. +Paul's speeches to the heathen. Acts xiv. 16: 'Who in the generations +gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways.' Acts +xvii. 30: 'The times of ignorance God overlooked (winked at); but now +he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.' Wisd. xl. +23: 'Thou overlookest (winkest at) the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' + +[4] This paragraph gives distinctness to a somewhat latent thought in +vers. 25, 26. But I feel convinced that this, and nothing else, is the +thought. + +[5] Verses 5, 25, 26. + +[6] Rom. iii. 22. + +[7] Phil. iii. 9. + +[8] 2 Cor. v. 21. + +[9] Rom. ix. 31. + +[10] Rom. ii. 5. + +[11] Cf. 1 John i. 9: 'Faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.' + +[12] Joseph, the 'righteous' man in Matt. i. 19, is kindly. But his +kindliness has still the elements of moral severity. And it must be +remembered that in Rom. v. 7 'righteous' is still put in contrast to +'good.' + +[13] See Acts ii. 38: 'Be baptized ... unto the remission of your +sins.' xxii. 16: 'Be baptized and wash away thy sins.' + +[14] Acts xxvi. 18, i.e. forgiveness and fellowship in the consecrated +body, the new Israel; cf. xx. 33. + +[15] 2 Macc. vii. 37. + +[16] 4 Macc. vi. 28, 29. + +[17] John xi. 50. + +[18] None the less immoral as Caiaphas intended it, because, as St. +John perceives, a divine truth uttered itself through his lips (John +xi. 51). + +[19] John i. 29. + +[20] Matt. xxvi. 28; Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 24. + +[21] Robertson-Smith, _Religion of the Semites_ (Black, 1889), p. 418. + +[22] Ps. l. 21; cf. Eccles. viii. 11. + +[23] On some of the difficulties felt about the doctrine of the +Atonement, see app. note D. + + + + +{155} + +DIVISION II. § 2. CHAPTER IV. + +_The true seed of Abraham._ + +St. Paul has been repudiating the principle of justification by works +of the law. To those with whom he had been brought up, this was in the +highest degree to dishonour the Jewish law, and indeed the principle of +divinely-given law at all. But in the last words of the previous +chapter he refuses to admit this inference. 'God forbid that we should +make law of none effect. Nay, we establish law.' + +This idea of the Gospel, rightly understood, establishing the law even +while it superseded it, is with St. Paul a very favourite one, and he +elaborates it in different ways. Sometimes he shows how the function +of the written law, or 'the letter,' is only to awaken the conscience +and make men know their sinfulness. It can give men no help in +corresponding to the moral requirement which it expresses. Having +{156} convicted the conscience of sin, it has done its work, and must +yield its place to a more effective spiritual agency. The letter +killeth, in order that the Spirit may give life to those whom it has +killed. And, on the other hand, the one object of this new spiritual +agency, this life-giving Spirit, is to infuse the power of moral +obedience, which the law could not give, into men's lives, 'that the +requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk after the +Spirit.' In this place, however, St. Paul only alludes to this +argument and in the main adopts another. He shows from the Book of the +Law, that the father of the faithful, himself the typical instance of a +justified man, was justified, not by works which he had done, but +simply because he believed; not upon the basis of any law or covenant, +but as a man simply and not as a circumcised man; and again, that +David, the man after God's own heart, living under the law, would have +us rest our hopes of blessedness, not on our merits as having kept the +law, but simply on the forgiving bounty of divine grace. + +Let us inquire, he says, into the case of Abraham, whom we Jews are +proud to own for our national ancestor. What are we to say of him? If +Abraham approached God in virtue {157} of his merits in having kept a +law, and so was accepted by God because of what he had done of himself, +there is something for him to boast of. But this in fact is not his +relation to God according to the scripture at all. There-- + + 'merit lives from man to man, + But not from man, O Lord, to thee.' + +The whole initiation is God's. He simply makes a promise of His own +pure goodwill--'Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven'--and Abraham +simply believed Him; and this, and nothing but this, was 'counted to +him for righteousness[1].' The two suggested relations of Abraham to +God are broadly contrasted and can be generally applied. In the one +case you have a compact between God who imposes, and man who accepts, +an allotted task with a payment attached to its fulfilment. If the man +fulfils it, his payment can be classed as due to him under the compact. +In the other case you have nothing done, no claim alleged, but a pure +act of God, accepting one of our sinful race, as he is, simply because +he takes God at His word. And this is how David also views our +relation to God. You find him[2] opening his mouth to tell {158} us +what sort of man is truly blessed, truly to be congratulated. And he +thinks not of one who claims a reward because of his merit, but of one +who has found no comfort or resource except in penitent confession of +his sins, and whose sins God has forgiven and has consented to treat as +if they did not exist. It is the unmerited act of the divine bounty, +it is God justifying the sinful, which is the source of blessedness +(vers. 1-8). + +Now we go back to the case of Abraham to inquire whether the blessing +of divine acceptance was pronounced upon him because he was the head of +the chosen race marked out by circumcision--which was, so to speak, the +first part of the law. No, it was before he was circumcised. The +token of circumcision came afterwards[3], as the seal or external +confirmation of what he had already received simply as a believing man; +so that he might have for his true sons believers, whether +uncircumcised or circumcised, and they might share his acceptance +simply by believing God as he believed Him (vers. 9-12). + +Plainly when God made Abraham the promise that he should be the heir of +the world[4], no law {159} was introduced into the relationship. It +was purely a matter of God promising and Abraham taking God at His +word. Indeed it could not have been otherwise. Introduce law, and you +introduce a compact between God and man which annuls the relationship +of God simply promising and man simply believing--a compact which +throws a strain on man's independent powers, which they are not able to +bear. The one inevitable result of the law is to put man in the +position, in which apart from law he cannot find himself, of a +defaulter who knows himself, as a defaulter, under the divine wrath. +The true relationship leaves matters in the hands of God, who purely +promises of His good favour--man simply in faith receiving (vers. +13-16a). This resting everything on God's promise and man's faith +gives security for the fulfilment of the promise to 'all the seed.' +And the 'seed to whom the promise was made' includes, not only the race +chosen later to receive the law, but believers of all races; Abraham +being in this sense 'a father of many nations,' as he stands under the +eyes of God whom he believed in--God who had power to make His promise +good, even by recalling to life again the dead faculties of Abraham's +old age, and summoning children {160} which did not yet exist as if +they were already there. Here is the point: Abraham believed that God +had the power to be as good as His word, in spite of all obvious +reasons to the contrary. Therefore he looked the facts steadily in the +face--his own and Sarah's great age. But he did not suffer this to +weigh in the balance against God's promise. He made quite sure that +God would do as He promised, and glorified God by this strong act of +faith. This it is that was reckoned to him for righteousness, i.e. +this it is that enabled God to accept him as righteous without any +consideration of deeds done. And the record of this acceptance is made +for our sakes to-day. God is still taking men into the number of the +righteous, and He still does it on the same principle. He will reckon +us for righteous if we will take Him at His word, and believe in His +power to do as He has promised. And in our case He has given us fresh +ground for such confident belief; for Jesus, on whom as Lord our hopes +rest and who died to make atonement for our sins, He has by His power +raised up from the dead, that by faith in Him, dead and yet alive +again, we might be taken like Abraham without more ado into the number +of the righteous. + +{161} + +What then shall we say[5] that Abraham, our forefather according to the +flesh, hath found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath +whereof to glory; but not toward God. For what saith the scripture? +And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for +righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as +of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth +on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for +righteousness. Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, +unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, _saying_, + + Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, + And whose sins are covered. + Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. + +Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the +uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for +righteousness. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, +or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: and +he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of +the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be +the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, +that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; and the father of +circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also +walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in +uncircumcision. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or +to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, but through the +righteousness of faith. For if they which are {162} of the law be +heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: for +the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there +transgression. For this cause _it is_ of faith, that _it may be_ +according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the +seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is +of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, +A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, +_even_ God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth the things that are +not, as though they were. Who in hope believed against hope, to the +end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that +which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. And without being +weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he +being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb: +yea, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, +but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully +assured that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. +Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Now it was +not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; but for +our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that +raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our +trespasses, and was raised for our justification. + + +1. No doubt, on the text of Gen. xv. 6, St. Paul is right. It was +Abraham's _faith_ that is declared to have been reckoned to his account +by God as equivalent to righteousness. But when we get beyond a mere +text, is it not, we are inclined to ask, more true to the general {163} +spirit of scripture to say, with the author of the First Book of the +Maccabees, 'Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was +reckoned unto him for righteousness[6]?' or with St. James, 'Was not +Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his +son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and +by works was faith made perfect[7].' No doubt certain Rabbis state the +principle pedantically when they speak of Abraham having kept the whole +Mosaic law by anticipation[8], but is it not true to say that Abraham +was accepted by God, and on the whole is represented in the Bible as so +accepted, _not_ only because he believed, but also because he 'was +found faithful in temptation,' and did good works, or acted as a good +man? + +Now, if by 'accepted' is meant 'finally accepted,' St. Paul would say +this as of Abraham, so of every other accepted man. He must be finally +judged and must receive according to his works or character. As we +shall see, there is no real discrepancy between St. Paul and St. James +on this matter. And St. Paul never disparages 'good works' which are +the fruit of {164} faith, only 'works' or 'works of the law' which +represent a false attitude of man to God. But the question which he is +here asking is, What is the ground of acceptance for a man _at +starting_? What is it puts him at starting in the right relation to +God? In other words, What is the root of real righteousness? And his +answer to this question is, it is only self-surrendering faith which +brought Abraham, or which brings any other man, into acceptance. + +In giving this answer St. Paul had in view another attitude with which +he had been long familiar, and which he calls 'seeking to be justified +by works of the law.' It was the attitude of the Jews, especially as +they appear in St. John's Gospel. They were proud of their divine law +and of belonging to the chosen people, the children of Abraham and +Moses. They knew how to make good their standing-ground with God. By +keeping the law, as the law had come to be understood among themselves, +they could accumulate merits altogether out of proportion to their +failures or demerits. They could even be helped by the merits of the +old saints[9]. Thus they could {165} stand before God on the basis of +a certain engagement or covenant, into which God had entered with His +people, and claim their due reward. + +This utterly demoralizing attitude--leading as it does to formalism and +hypocrisy, or, at the best, unprogressive stagnation--this attitude, +which left out of sight all the higher and infinite elements in the Old +Testament, was the actual attitude of contemporary Pharisaic Jews. The +characteristics with which it endowed them were pride in the law; a +sense of personal merit coupled with a contempt for 'sinners of the +Gentiles,' or the common 'people which knew not the law'; a +self-satisfied stagnation which made them utterly resent the new light +of the gospel; a regard for the public opinion of their class, which +made them slaves to convention; and moral hollowness and rottenness +within. It was because this was their attitude that they rejected the +Christ. 'Going about to establish their own righteousness, they did +not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.' It was because St. +Paul had been brought up in the school of the Pharisees, but had come +to perceive its moral rottenness and to accept Jesus as the Christ, +that he bases all his {166} doctrine on the substitution of +justification by faith for justification by works. + +By 'works' or 'works of the law' he means an attitude towards God which +left a man largely independent of Him. Under the divine covenant the +man of the covenant has a certain task to do, a certain law to keep: +that kept, especially in its external requirements as contemporary +authority enforces it, he is his own master. He is entitled to resent +any further claims upon him. This religious ideal means, as we have +seen, pride, stagnation, conventionalism, hypocrisy. And the more it +is considered the more unnatural it appears. For + +(1) It ignores the fundamental relation of man to God, viz. that, as a +creature, he depends absolutely and at every stage on God. He has no +initiative in himself. Thus the only attitude towards God which +expresses the reality is one in which God is recognized as continually +supplying, or promising, or offering, or claiming, and man is +continually accepting, or believing, or corresponding, or obeying. + +(2) It ignores the ineradicable taint of sin in man, and the +accumulated guilt of particular sins. A man may gloss over his inward +sinfulness, and cloak and ignore his secret sins; he {167} may live +outwardly in high reputation; but if he comes to know himself, he knows +himself as a sinner, who depends, at starting, absolutely on God for +forgiveness and 'deliverance from coming wrath.' + +(3) It is quite contented to leave all mankind, except a small elect +body, out of the conditions of acceptance with God. + +In substituting 'faith' for works of the law, then, as the principle of +justification, St. Paul was really 'returning to nature'; he was +realizing facts, and supplying a basis for a morality both progressive +and universal. Further, he was true to all the highest teaching of the +Old Testament, which continually finds the source and ground of sin and +failure in man's independence of God; which is averse to nothing so +conspicuously as to substituting external conformity for moral +character; which is heavy with the consciousness of sin; which humbly +expects a fuller, wider, and richer disclosure of the kingdom of God. +Finally, he was true to that deep and summary teaching of our Lord to +the Jews, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath +sent.' No doubt it may still be said St. Paul argues in an +'uncritical' manner on the basis of a particular {168} text. But in +doing this he was doing as his Jewish contemporaries did; and if the +particular text is used to prove a real or true principle, who shall +complain of it? + +2. And now to conciliate St. Paul and St. James. It is a satisfactory +task, for the statements which appear so contradictory admit, when they +are examined, of an easy harmony. + +Let us suppose, what is highly probable, that the report of St. Paul's +teaching reached St. James at Jerusalem at second-hand, in a +fragmentary and perverted manner--perhaps as illustrated by unfortunate +specimens of its influence where it was wilfully misunderstood. 'Men +are justified before God by faith without consideration of works.' St. +James' holy and beautiful, but no doubt somewhat unphilosophical mind, +was alarmed and scandalized. By faith he understood an intellectual +quality--the acceptance of the divine truth revealed; and he points out +with the simplicity of moral common sense, that never in the Old +Testament is right belief represented as the ground of acceptance with +God without the right conduct which is its natural sequence. Who can +deny that the devils have a 'right belief' in the existence of God? +Faith, in fact, without {169} works--orthodox belief without moral +obedience--is a lifeless form, a body without spirit[10]. + +To all this St. Paul would of course have agreed, in St. James' sense +of the word faith. In fact, St. James' faith, i.e. bare orthodox +belief, is closely akin to, and apt to keep company with, formal +ecclesiastical observance, which is part of what St. Paul means by +'works.' Both were characteristic of the Pharisaic Jews. St. Paul and +St. James would have been at one in saying, 'There must be life in this +dead shell of orthodox belief, if it is to have value with God; and +what alone can give it life is the real spirit of moral obedience to +the will of the holy and good God'--which is what St. James means by +'works.' The disagreement between them is then, so far, only verbal. +But St. Paul goes deeper, into a region where St. James does not follow +him, and asks what is the real starting-ground of the truest +obedience--the real root of the moral life? And he finds this +starting-ground, this fundamental establishment of the right relation +to God, in what he called faith; that is, no mere orthodoxy of +intellect, but a fundamental relationship of man towards God--the +utterly receptive faculty, {170} the profound quality of the +self-surrendering will. + +3. There is a young philosophical inquirer in Plato's Dialogue of the +_Republic_ who is so anxious to get at the ultimate principle of +justice, as distinct from its consequences and secondary qualities, +that Socrates laughingly tells him he is 'scrubbing and polishing it +like a statue.' Now St. Paul has the philosopher's instinct to get at +a principle in its pure simplicity. He scrubs faith clean of all +extraneous accidents. He is most anxious that we should disengage its +activity from all the other closely-interconnected elements in human +nature; and so perceive that, whatever a man has been or is in race or +conduct or antecedents, once let him exhibit faith, the faith which +takes God at His word, and by that very fact and no other, all the +obstacles to God's acceptance of him are overcome. The true relation +of the man to God is restored in its elementary principle. And nothing +but this, however elaborate its apparent performances, can restore the +fundamental relationship. It is faith only, and not works, however +splendid, which justifies or enables God to take a man, place him +amongst the righteous, and work upon and in him. But this elemental +{171} act of simply abandoning independence, trampling on pride and +taking God at His word, is an act or attitude of the whole man which +necessarily (granted that it be not withdrawn) becomes correspondence +of the whole being with God, a lifelong obedience, an allegiance and +homage of every faculty of will, and emotion, and intellect. 'Faith,' +then, as Calvin once said, 'is pregnant with good works, but it +justifies before they are brought forth.' + +That the rudimentary justifying faith, on which St. Paul is here +insisting, is a developing thing, a living and germinating principle, +the basis of a life which grows--but always 'from faith to faith,' from +one stage of faith to another--will appear clearly enough as we go on. +But even here, in this chapter, it appears already that faith is +something quite inconsistent with remaining as we are. Faith looks to +a divine promise--a promise of astounding change--and believes that God +is able to realize it in us. Such was Abraham's faith. Such, we may +add, was the faith of those in the Gospels who came to be healed, and +to whom it was said, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' Our +faith then also must expect and desire some amazing transformation of +our human nature, {172} according to a divine promise--nothing less +than power out of impotence, life out of death. + +And it is from this point of view that the Resurrection is apparently +regarded in this chapter, as holding the place it does in the 'scheme' +of our justification by faith. We are to believe that God is able to +bring life morally out of death. He makes that act of faith possible +or easier for us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This evidence of +God's power in the case of Jesus, the person on whom our divine faith +is to rest, gives an adequate support and reasonable security to our +faith. 'He was designated as the Son of God with power, by the +resurrection from the dead,' and thus becomes the natural object for +such a faith in the power of God to carry out His promises as is +necessary for our justification. This is probably the meaning of the +particular words with which the fourth chapter closes--'Who died for +our sins (that is, in order that, in virtue of His atoning sacrifice, +our sins might be forgiven) and rose again for our justification' (i.e. +in order that our faith might have in the risen Lord an adequate +object). But of course the relation of faith to the risen Lord is by +no means exhausted in this thought. + +{173} + +4. We Englishmen are possessed with the idea that there is nothing so +alien to our characters as the temper of the Pharisees or the doctrine +of the merit of good works. But if we can look at the matter below the +surface, we can hardly fail to realize that the spirit which St. Paul +so mightily repudiates lies in some respects very close to our natural +instincts. The Englishman has a standard, of his class, his college, +his profession, which it is his pride not to fall short of; but he is +intensely alarmed at any claim upon his moral independence over and +above this allowed standard; he is inclined to turn his back completely +upon the idea of fundamental surrender to the unknown and infinite +claim of God; he is contented with himself and his standard, and +occupies himself in comparing it favourably with the standards of other +classes, or still more of other nations. But what is this spirit but, +for good or for evil, the spirit of Pharisaism under a wholly different +dress? 'They going about to establish their own righteousness, have +not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.' 'How can ye +believe which seek glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from +the only God ye seek not?' 'They measuring themselves by {174} +themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves are not wise.' +Here are typical condemnations of the self-satisfied Pharisaic temper +so expressed as to prevent us from supposing that we shall escape +condemnation with the Pharisees merely because we do not say long +prayers in public places, or distinguish ourselves by a careful +ritualism. + + + +[1] Gen. xv. 5, 6. + +[2] Ps. xxxii. + +[3] Gen. xvii. + +[4] None of the promises are verbally to this effect. But this is the +substantial outcome of them. + +[5] Or 'of Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh' (margin). + +[6] 1 Macc. ii. 52; cf. Ecclus. xliv. 20. + +[7] James ii. 21, 22. + +[8] Cf. S. and H. p. 101. + +[9] There is contemporary evidence for this illustration of their +position; see _Ephesians_, app. note C. + +[10] James ii. 14-26. + + + + +{175} + +DIVISION III. CHAPTERS V-VIII. + +_The accepted life or the moral consequences of justification._ + +§ 1. CHAPTER V. 1-11. + +_The holy confidence of the justified._ + +Peace is a fundamental spiritual need of the human soul. But the peace +that is God's gift comes only through the breaking up of the peace of +soul which comes from ignoring God. The Pharisee on the temple steps +was at peace when he thanked God that he was not as other men are--at +peace in his misplaced pride. The mass of men in heathen Corinth, +where St. Paul was writing, were at peace in their sins. And St. Paul +has set himself with all his might, as in his preaching generally, so +in this particular letter, to break up this false peace of conscience. +Like the prophet of old he spurns those who would 'heal the hurt of the +daughter of God's {176} people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when +there is no peace.' Thus he has been arousing the conscience of +Gentiles and Jews equally, and forcing upon them the conviction that +their present life is a condemned life, under the doom of a righteous +God. But when the conviction is driven home, when the wound is fairly +recognized and probed, comes in due course the healing remedy. It lies +in the recognition of what God really is--of the sort of character +which He is manifesting now in His Son Jesus Christ. For behold! +wholly apart from any question of what we are or have been, God is +found waiting for us with the offer of His love, which is also the +power to accomplish what He offers. It is pardon and new life He +offers to us. It is for us simply to take Him at His word, and without +any delay or reckoning up of accounts, to be acquitted and accepted for +righteous simply because we have believed His word. + +The secure ground of peace in the soul, therefore, lies in the frank +and severe recognition of our own sinfulness, but also, and even more, +in looking away from ourselves and simply fixing our whole +consideration on the character of God, who in certain acts has shown +His {177} good-will toward us, and His power to make His goodwill +effectual. All hope for us starts simply from God and His mind of love +toward us. 'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his +Son.' + +Thus we find St. Paul, in the passage we are now to consider, beginning +a fresh appeal to believers in Christ on this basis, which he has +already made so secure. Seeing, he says, that we have now been +accepted simply because we believed, let us enter into that heritage of +peace which our Lord Jesus Christ by His redemption has won for us. +For what is our present condition? Through His redeeming sacrifice we +have received an introduction, at no other cost than that of believing, +into a new standing-ground before God, a new state in which the whole +atmosphere is one of grace or divine favour. We can therefore enjoy a +solid peace in the present based on the sure consideration of the +divine goodwill, and we can make it our boast that we have a +well-grounded hope of future restoration to that highest fruition of +which our nature is capable--fellowship in the divine glory. And while +we enjoy these present privileges of ours, let us show that we really +value them by making {178} the outward hardships which accompany them a +matter of boasting also. For we know that only such hardships, bravely +encountered, can give to our characters the quality of steadfastness; +and steadfastness through the experience of life makes of us men of +approved moral metal; and this process of probation, in which we are +tried and not found wanting, again generates hope in us--the same hope +in God's love which accompanied the beginning of our justification, +only now confirmed in us by our own experience. And this divine hope +has nothing treacherous about it[1]. It is grounded on what God has +already done. He has already given us His Holy Spirit, and by that +gift poured forth His love into our hearts: He would not have done this +in order to cheat us at the last. + +We can indeed test and measure the mind of God toward us by human +comparisons. In our experience of men we might perhaps find some one +brave enough even to die for another, if that other was, I do not say +merely an upright man, but a good and loveable one. But what is the +fact in God's dealings with us? It was {179} when we were sinful and +helpless in our sinfulness--nay rather, when we were living in flat +antagonism to God--that He proved His own pure love toward us by taking +advantage of the divine opportunity to give His Son to die for us. And +He, thus dying on our behalf, won for us by the shedding of His blood a +reconciliation with God, which lay altogether outside anything which +our state naturally suggested. Well then, God would not, so to speak, +have gone out of His way to make this beginning, unless He had intended +to carry the work through, so as finally to save us out from under the +divine wrath, or, in other words, into the divine fellowship. +Certainly, accepted as we have been in virtue of Christ's +blood-shedding, and thus reconciled to God when our natural state was +hostility to Him, we can trust Him, now that He has made us His +friends, to accomplish our deliverance, not by any further +blood-shedding, but by admitting us into the life of Christ risen from +death. But, to end where we began, it is not only the hope of a future +deliverance that makes us glad. We also make our boast of our present +relation and friendship with God through His Son. + +{180} + +Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through +our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by +faith into this grace wherein we stand; and let us rejoice in hope of +the glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice in our +tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, +probation; and probation, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because +the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy +Ghost which was given unto us. For while we were yet weak, in due +season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man +will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even +dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while +we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now +justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath _of God_ +through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God +through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be +saved by his life; and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through +our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the +reconciliation. + + +1. We feel in this passage, and in those which follow, that a great +transition is being accomplished, or has been accomplished, in the +argument, we hardly know how: the transition from the thought of our +preliminary justification or acceptance with God for Christ's sake, to +that of our sanctification, or the life consecrated in Christ: the +transition from the thought of Christ's work _for us_ to that of +Christ's work _in us_: from {181} the gift of acquittal to the gift of +the Spirit (ver. 5), and the life of the baptized (vi. 3). St. Paul is +not conscious of the transition, as modern theologians or Christians +acquainted with theological controversy cannot but be, because the two +stages are to his mind absolutely inseparable. Those to whom he wrote +had like himself come, with whatever of struggle, to believe in Christ; +believing, they had been baptized into Christ, and had received by the +laying on of hands the gift of the Holy Ghost. This fellowship in +Christ's life, this possession of the Spirit, constituted Christianity. +To enjoy these things was to be a Christian. The idea of a +Christianity which stopped short of incorporation into Christ, or which +claimed this incorporation outside His body which is the Church, and +apart from the visible sacramental means of union, did not occur to St. +Paul. A Christianity which did not own allegiance to the Church was +not in question. But his entire present aim is to convince the heart +and reason of Christians that the whole privilege of their new 'state +of grace' belongs to them simply in virtue of faith. As he asks the +Galatians: 'Received ye the Spirit,' i.e. did ye become Christians, 'by +the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?' That is his point. +{182} They were not made Christians because they had done anything to +deserve it. They were simply helpless sinners, and it was the +gratuitous mercy of God which looked upon them and provided a means of +forgiveness for them, and justified them or set them upon a new basis +of acceptance, without any consideration of what they were or had done, +purely and simply because He loved them and meant that the mere +spectacle of His unmerited love and bounty should inspire their +gratitude and win their hearts. Therefore he lays such emphasis on +their initial need of forgiveness: on their helplessness to get rid of +their own sins: on their dependence for forgiveness on a sacrifice to +which they could contribute nothing: on their being justified by simply +receiving in trust the offer of God. But the offer when it is listened +to is found to consist in forgiveness indeed--but forgiveness as a step +toward new life in the body of Christ. Thus what Christ won for man, +what becomes available for each man in virtue of believing the message, +is here described as 'our introduction' (rather than 'access') 'into +this grace wherein we stand'--an introduction into a spiritual region +where God's favour is the prevailing atmosphere, or, to use a later +phrase, into 'a state of grace'; a {183} district of security out of +which, however, men may fall again by deliberate unfaithfulness, as St. +Paul warns the Galatians[2]: 'Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would +be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.' + +And St. Paul's language does not let us suppose that the whole of what +he means by our 'salvation' is included in our preliminary +acceptance[3]. That is simply our first introduction into a permanent +state. Our 'salvation' is here, as elsewhere, spoken of as equivalent +to deliverance from wrath in the day of judgement, which means that our +whole moral being has become such as can bear the scrutiny of the +divine righteousness and the fellowship of the divine glory. + +2. Where the Revised Version above[4] reads 'rejoice,' it is important +to remember that the word is that used for the illegitimate 'glorying' +or 'boasting' of iii. 27 and iv. 2. Christians have something to boast +of, but it is not their own; it is God's gift. Therefore they are +especially delighted when God's strength is shown in their weakness, +and they will more particularly 'boast of their weaknesses' (cf. 2 Cor. +xi. 30). + +{184} + +3. St. Paul's argument that the Christian hope is fundamentally +trustworthy is based, we may notice, on a twofold appeal. First (ver. +5), he appeals to the gift of the Spirit which at a definite time[5] +each Christian received, doubtless by the laying on of hands. This +gift is in itself an outpouring of the divine love and an 'earnest' of +future glory (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5). No doubt almost all the Christians +had more or less intensely _felt_ the reality of the divine love in the +indwelling Spirit. But St. Paul lays stress rather on the fact than on +the feeling. Secondly (vers. 6 ff.), he appeals to the great +redemptive act of God. God had gone out of His way to make a great +sacrifice in order to reconcile us when we were enemies, and therefore +may be trusted to carry out the preliminary reconciliation into full +spiritual deliverance or salvation by Christ's life. The greater +effort carries with it the less. + + + +[1] Isa. xxviii. 16: 'He that believeth shall not be put to shame' +(Greek version). + +[2] Gal. v. 4. + +[3] Cf. also p. 310. + +[4] verses 2, 3, 11. + +[5] The tense is an aorist, 'the Holy Ghost which was given' at a +definite past moment; not as in the unrevised Bible 'is given.' + + + + +{185} + +DIVISION III. § 2. CHAPTER V. 12-21. + +_The Second Adam._ + +St. Paul had spoken, at the end of the passage we have just been +reading, of our being 'saved by (or 'in') Christ's life.' And this +brings him to what is truly the central point of his theology--the life +in Christ by the Spirit: the thought that the glorified Man, with all +the power of the divine life at work in Him, though He is hidden from +sight, is still perpetuating His life by His Spirit in that society +which He has established to be His body. It stands to reason that if +real fellowship in the life of Christ is the privilege of the +Christian, this must be a greater thing by far than any preparatory +gift of acquittal or justification, which indeed has its value simply +in virtue of that to which it admits us. St. Paul then loves to +contrast the new {186} manhood of believers in Christ, the life in +Christ, in all its moral characteristics, with the old manhood, +enslaved to sin, as it existed substantially identical in its bondage +under the outwardly differing conditions of Gentile and Jewish society. +And as that old life of our race had a unity which St. Paul believed +was due to a common origin in the first man Adam, so he thought of +Christ as a second Adam--the 'last Adam'--a spiritual progenitor from +whom was to be derived another human race by spiritual generation with +a better unity of its own; or rather a new spiritual progenitor from +whom the whole of the old race might gradually derive, by spiritual +regeneration, a new life, which should penetrate and spread, and oust +the corruption of the old manhood, till the whole was redeemed and +ushered into the glory for which it had been originally destined. + +And here, in the passage we are now to read, St. Paul develops the +thought of the influence of Adam and his sin upon the human race, and +draws from it an argument for the deeper and greater influence of the +New Man upon the same race, reconstituted under a new head. + +Adam's sin--the disobedience of the one man--had a disastrous effect +upon his race as a {187} whole. It introduced sin, and through sin its +penalty, death; and it passed to all mankind--the penalty, because also +the sin. All men sinned in fact, and all died. This can be stated +without exception. It is quite true that where there is no special law +to instruct men, they may sin ignorantly, and therefore without its +being imputed to them as guilt; yet the sin is there all the same, and +its presence, before the Mosaic law was given to enlighten men, was +marked by the reign of death, even in the case of persons innocent of +any actual sin like Adam's. Sin then, as marked by death, exists +universally, apart from any knowledge of it or even any actual offence, +as the effect of Adam's transgression upon his whole race. But to Adam +corresponds in the divine purpose Christ. He is the new head of the +race--to transmit the free gift of life, as Adam transmitted the +penalty of death. His life was one summary obedience: one perfectly +acceptable object to the eyes of God. And there flows from it an +abundant river of the good favour of God--which is also the good favour +of the man Jesus Christ--and of the gift by which that good favour +shows itself, the gift of righteousness extending on into an eternal +life. Therefore we may argue {188} _a fortiori_[1] from the influence +of Adam to the influence of Christ--[_a fortiori_, because, though God +has been, so to speak, constrained to punish us, His whole desire is to +do us good; and the method of diffusion which He has allowed to operate +for evil, we can be much more sure He will set to work for good][2]. +We see the trespass of the one generating universal death, and we are +sure that the counter influence of Christ is as universally diffusive +and incomparably more powerful. We see the one man's offence appealing +to God for judgement and producing a condemned race; but we see, on the +other hand, a multitude of sins appealing to the divine compassion to +let loose the free gift which shall make for acquittal. If the +consequence of the transgression was inevitable, and a reign of death +followed, so much more certainly must the divine gift, abundant as it +is, bring about the triumph of eternal life. If the one fault diffused +itself in universal condemnation, so the one act which meets the divine +approval must diffuse itself to produce {189} universally an accepted +life. One disobedience made the whole race sinners: one obedience +shall make the whole race righteous. The law came in parenthetically +to the world of sin and death to let actual sin, like Adam's, have its +full and fatal scope. But the greatness of the sin only magnifies +still more the greatness of the remedy which divine goodness supplies, +that the sovereignty of sin in a world of death might be swallowed up +in the sovereignty of divine goodwill working through righteousness +unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. + + +Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death +through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all +sinned:--for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed +when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until +Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's +transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. But not as the +trespass, so also _is_ the free gift. For if by the trespass of the +one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the +grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. And not as +through one that sinned, _so_ is the gift: for the judgement _came_ of +one unto condemnation, but the free gift _came_ of many trespasses unto +justification. For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned +through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of +grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, +_even_ Jesus Christ. So then as through one trespass _the judgement +came_ unto all men to {190} condemnation; even so through one act of +righteousness _the free gift came_ unto all men to justification of +life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made +sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be +made righteous. And the law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: +that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through +righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. + + +1. St. Paul in this section, as also in part in his speech at Athens, +teaches, as matter which can be assumed and need not be emphasized, +that God made 'of one' (Adam) 'every nation of men[3]'; that Adam, by +actual transgression of a divine commandment, introduced sin, and with +sin death which is its punishment, into the world of man; and that as a +result all men sinned. This universal sin he would, no doubt--as in +chapter i, so here--ascribe in part to men's own wills. In this very +chapter he asserts that what finally 'abounded' was actual +'transgression' like Adam's[4]. But this is not the whole account of +the matter. Prior to all question of actual sins; prior to all +question of knowledge or consequent responsibility, death was +universal, and death marked the inward reign {191} of sin. Men in the +mass were, through Adam's sin, constituted sinners[5]. + +St. Paul then, assuming here as elsewhere[6] the narrative of Gen. iii +as true in substance if not in form, teaches (1) the unity of our race +as derived from Adam; (2) the original transgression of Adam, as being +partly the example of subsequent sins and partly the source of a moral +corruption, which since his fall has been inherent in our race +independently of any actual sins; and (3) the introduction of death +_into the human race_ as the punishment of sin. + +On the other hand, the common idea of an imputation of Adam's guilt to +his descendants he expressly does not teach. Sin is not imputed or +reckoned as guilt to the individual apart from the knowledge necessary +to constitute responsibility[7]. It is extraordinary how the idea of +imputed _guilt_ can have come to be ascribed to St. Paul when he +expressly guards against it. What the descendants of Adam inherit is +an actual inherent weakness or sinfulness. Again, St. Paul does not +attempt to analyze the actual sin of the world so as to discriminate +between the factors of inherited {192} weakness on the one hand and +reiterated acts of rebellion on the other; but he recognizes both. His +language indeed here, and in chapter vii, would be satisfied by a very +moderate doctrine of the effects of original sin, that is, of the +transmitted effect of sin, considered apart from its repetition. There +is no warrant whatever in St. Paul for the idea that one man's sin +resulted in the total depravity of human nature. Once more he is +content, as usual, to teach generally and without exactness. Thus he +does not consider the exceptions to the universal law of death recorded +in the Old Testament--Enoch and Elijah--though he, no doubt, recognized +them. That in spite of these exceptions he still states the law with +such universality: 'Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them +that had not sinned[8]' is a warning not to understand St. Paul's +universal propositions with an exactness only applicable to those of a +schoolman or a modern man of science. + +2. So much for the substance of St. Paul's teaching; and now what is +to be said as to its sources? St. Paul states his doctrine of original +sin as if it were a commonplace which he could {193} assume and argue +from. Now the Book of Genesis certainly spoke of a primaeval +disobedience in our first parents, and of the infliction on them, as a +penalty for their disobedience, of conditions of strife and pain and +death. But the idea of the transmission of _sinfulness_ does not seem +to be suggested. Moreover, this narrative made remarkably little +impression on the Old Testament literature as a whole[9]. The +doctrine, however, of the introduction of _death_ through the +temptation and sin of Adam and Eve is found again in the apocryphal +literature: thus, 'God created man for incorruption, ... but by the +envy of the devil death entered into the world[10].' From a woman was +the beginning of sin; and because of her we all die[11].' Unto Adam +thou gavest thy one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately +thou appointedst death for him and in his generations; and there were +born of him nations and tribes, peoples {194} and kindreds, out of +number[12].' 'Adam sinned, and death was decreed against those who +should be born[13].' This was also the prevalent doctrine of the +Rabbis represented in the Talmud. The idea of an inheritance of +_moral_ corruption--but not specially associated with Adam's fall--may +be found in the cry of the Psalmist, 'In sin hath my mother conceived +me!' perhaps also in other passages of the Old Testament, and in our +Lord's teaching, as recorded both by the Synoptists and in St. John's +Gospel[14]; but as connected with Adam's sin it does not, so far as can +be ascertained, appear for certain in Jewish literature till we get to +the Second Book of Esdras, a Jewish Apocalypse later than St. Paul. +There it is taught that there was originally a seed of evil, 'a wicked +heart,' in Adam as he was created, side by side with the good in him, +and that he by his sin gave it preponderance in the race[15]--a form of +teaching not by any means identical with St. Paul's. On the whole, +then, it remains a matter of some doubt what exactly was the source +{195} whence St. Paul got the certainty and completeness of his +doctrine of 'the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that +naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam.' + +3. The more important question for us, however, is not whence St. Paul +derived the materials for his teaching, but whether it is true--whether +it can hold in the light of modern anthropology. And to this question +only a partial answer--the answer that appears to be most +necessary--will be attempted here[16]. + +We are in our generation rightly anxious if we are asked to accept any +professedly historical statement for which we feel the evidence is +doubtful. We know that from the point of view of history the origin of +our human species is lost in dense obscurity and uncertainty. And it +relieves many consciences to realize that, if St. Paul states his +argument in a form which implies the historical character of the +narrative in Genesis iii, all that is necessary for his argument is to +assume (1) that the human race is organically one, and can be dealt +with as one; (2) that sin is universal in our race; (3) that at least +the sting or curse or bondage of death is due to sin. If we realize +that this is all that {196} need be allowed in order to give us full +fellowship in St. Paul's religious teaching, we shall be able to +investigate the further truth of his teaching, from a scientific and +historical point of view, with a free mind. + +And the three propositions stated above are not reasonably open to +doubt, (1) That our race is one species, and derived from one source, +is the conclusion of the modern ethnologist as much as of St. Paul[17]. +The general theory of evolution has effectively counteracted the +previous tendency to postulate the existence of various independent +races of men. + +(2) There are many professors of psychology who deny the existence of +moral freedom and consequently of sin in St. Paul's sense at all. As I +have already pointed out, this is the real battle-ground between +theology and science. But granted the reality of moral freedom and of +{197} sin, i.e. of something which need not and ought not to have been +committed, it is impossible to deny that, below the innumerable sins of +which human history is full, there exists deep in our nature an +'ineradicable taint'--a morbid tendency to do wrong--a bias or +propensity to evil--which is the heritage of our race; which indeed men +may become unconscious of by acquiescing in sin, but of which they +become painfully conscious again as soon as they are awakened to a +moral ideal. The late Dr. Mozley collected a remarkable series of +passages from what he calls 'worldly philosophers and poets'--notably +Byron and Shelley--testifying to the belief in universal sin[18]. This +of course we may say is only the inheritance of animal tendencies from +an animal ancestry; but if so, it is exactly what our higher spiritual +nature might and ought to have subdued long ago and brought into +subjection. Its presence with us and in us now is the result of sins +innumerable--innumerable wilful preferences of the lower to the higher +nature, which have let it loose and given it force. It is, in the +strictest sense, the inheritance of sin in the race. + +(3) The New Testament frequently reiterates {198} the assertion that +Christ has robbed death of its sting or delivered men from its bondage. +And this is also expressed (both by St. Paul and by our Lord Himself, +as reported by St. John) by saying that Christ has 'abolished +death[19]' or that the believer shall never die[20]. But if Christ has +abolished death, then there is at least a certain sense in which sin +has been the cause of death. The essence of death, according to this +use of the word, lies not in the physical transition from one state of +existence to another, which is no more death than it is birth. Death +means destruction, ruin and collapse. And what is called death--the +death of the present body--has only gathered about it such terrible +associations because men have become corrupt, and godless and therefore +short-sighted in their estimate of life. In the moral sense then in +which Christ abolished death, sin certainly introduced it for man. + +Now there is, I think, reason to believe more exactly with St. Paul +than is involved in these three positions[21]. But I feel sure that +any one who accepts these three positions--no one of which any believer +in God and morality can well {199} reject--may find himself in complete +practical fellowship with St. Paul's religious thought and with the +whole argument of this epistle. + +Humanity, in spite of all its racial differences, is a great unity: it +is, if not 'of one' individual, yet 'of one blood,' and it is as a +whole infected with sin; this is in effect the doctrine of the 'old +Adam.' And because it is one, and universally tainted, therefore +Christ can deal with it as one, in order to accomplish its restoration. +And all St. Paul's argument holds good. God has made humanity one, and +so one that what each does tends to affect all. Thus it has come about +that the force of sin--the wilful refusal of the higher life and choice +of the lower--has passed in its effects into the moral fibre of our +race, and weakened and corrupted the whole. God tolerates this, for +man must be, and must be dealt with as being, one and free. But God +desires the well-being of man. He hates sin. It has all but baffled +His purpose for man. Therefore, if He has tolerated the use which sin +has made of the organic unity of the human race, He can much more be +trusted to use that same unity for the purpose of good. As man is one +in sin, so we can be one in righteousness: as the old Adam has been +{200} universal, so can the new. As sin has been propagated +physically, so Christ can spiritually propagate the new manhood. The +forces of recovery shall spread and permeate more radically than the +forces of evil, and shall finally triumph. + +Of course, in view of all the deep racial differences between, for +instance, Europeans, Chinamen, and the races of India, to believe in +the unity of humanity in any real sense at all is a great act of faith. +But it is an act of faith in which science encourages us, and not least +the comparative study of religions. Our religious instincts and +faculties are found in very different degrees of development, but they +are fundamentally the same. And it is an act of faith to which Christ +and Christianity fundamentally commit us, though it is probably true to +say that since New Testament times the brotherhood of men has been +practically found to be the most difficult of Christian dogmas. + +4. It is not inopportune, in view of recent controversy, to call +attention in this connexion to the fact that St. Paul's doctrine of +Christ as the second Adam of necessity involves in some form His +miraculous birth. St. Paul indeed says nothing about Christ's nativity +of {201} the Virgin as an event in history; but he conceives of the +Christ as a fresh start in manhood, a new man, who yet drew the +substance of His manhood from the old stock, for He was 'born of a +woman,' and 'of the seed of David.' There is thus physical continuity +between the old Adam and Christ, and yet, from the moral point of view, +the break is complete. The inheritance of sin which has followed, and +must according to natural law follow, physical descent, is quite cut +off. Christ is man of our old substance and yet new man, wholly free +from any taint of sin. This involves a new creative act upon the +manhood of Christ in its source. It involves something strictly +miraculous conditioning the continuity of His descent from David. +There is continuity, and yet a break in continuity. And this is +exactly what the strongly-attested fact of the Virgin birth--whatever +be the physiological account which is to be given of it--is calculated +to supply. It presents us with a Christ born of a woman, of the +substance of our nature, and yet only so constituted by a new creative +act of God. + +5. It will of course be noticed that the drift of St. Paul's argument +in this passage is directly towards universal salvation, for 'the many' +{202} means 'the whole mass.' This is the case in other places where +he is considering what we may call the natural tendency and scope of +the gospel, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.' But there are passages of a different tendency in St. Paul's +epistles, where he is considering the human attitude towards the +purpose of God; and there he appears to emphasize strongly the power of +the human will to refuse the light and turn God's blessing into a +curse. If the 'savour' of the apostle's preaching is to 'those who are +being saved a savour proceeding from life and tending to life,' even +eternal life, it is for the wilful who are perishing in their +wilfulness 'a savour as from death and tending to death': for they +shall 'suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the +Lord, and from the glory of his might[22].' What this eternal +destruction means, and how it is to be harmonized with the vision of +unity, we cannot precisely tell. Verily, 'we know' but 'in part.' But +at least we must recognize that St. Paul asserts both sides of the +picture: and that the 'terror' and the hope are not dissociable. + +6. We must also notice, before we leave the {203} passage, that the +application of the word justification receives a certain extension. As +the 'grace' of God is associated with a 'gift of righteousness[23],' +that is to say, of real fellowship in the life of God, so the +preliminary 'justification of sinners,' in which the divine grace first +of all conspicuously shows itself, is to pass into a 'justification of +life' (or 'a justification taking effect in life'); that is to say, the +actual life is to become acceptable. God begins with accepting sinners +and dealing with them as if they were righteous if only they will +believe. But it is in view of a moral process which is to produce a +new life, and is to end in making acceptable not themselves only, in +spite of their lives, but their life itself. The object of the +justifying faith is, and must be, as we saw, a living person. It is +Christ who was 'raised again for our justification.' And the living +Christ can be satisfied with nothing short of a living fellowship +between us and Himself in His own life and spirit. + + + +[1] An _a fortiori_ argument means an argument with a 'still more' in +it:--If something is so then _still more_ something else. + +[2] The words in brackets are the suppressed premise in the +argument--suppressed, but none the less evident. + +[3] Acts xvii. 26. + +[4] ver. 20. + +[5] ver. 13, 14, 19. + +[6] 1 Cor. xi. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 13-15. + +[7] Rom. iv. 15; v. 13. + +[8] Much more (the argument implies) after the law had been given and +sin could be 'imputed' as sin again. + +[9] The references in Hos. vi. 7, Isa. xliii. 27, Job xxxi. 33, are not +certainly, or even probably, to Adam. There is an obscure but +interesting reference in Ezek. xxviii. 14-16, in which 'the fall' seems +to be treated as representative of Tyre's fall, and presumably +therefore of all situations in which divine gifts and vocations are +squandered and lost. + +[10] Wisd. ii. 23, 24; cf. Rom. v. 12. + +[11] Ecclus. xxv. 24. The first clause need not mean more than 'she +was the first to sin.' + +[12] 2 Esdras iii. 7. + +[13] _Apoc. Baruch_ xxiii. 4, and elsewhere. In parts of this book the +penalty of Adam's sin is regarded as being not death, but _premature_ +death: see liv. 15, lvi. 6, and Mr. Charles' notes. + +[14] See Matt. vii. 11; John ii. 25; iii. 3, &c. + +[15] 2 Esdras iii. 21, 22; iv. 30; vii. 48. + +[16] The matter is to be dealt with more at length in app. note E. + +[17] See E. B. Tylor in _Encycl. Brit._ ii, _s.v._ ANTHROPOLOGY, p. +114: 'The polygenist view (i.e. the doctrine of a plurality of origins) +till a few years since was gaining ground. Two modern views, however +(i.e. the belief in the antiquity of man and the development of +species), have tended to restore, though under a new aspect, the +doctrine of a single human stock.' Cf. Darwin, _Descent of Man_ (2nd +ed.), p. 176: 'Those naturalists who admit the principle of evolution +... will feel no doubt that all the races of men are descended from a +single primitive stock.' See also Keane in app. note E. + +[18] Mozley's _Lectures and Theol. Papers_ (Longmans), pp. 157 ff. + +[19] 2 Tim. i. 10. + +[20] John vi. 50; viii. 51. + +[21] See app. note E. + +[22] 2 Thess. i. 7-10; 2 Cor. ii. 16. + +[23] ver. 17. + + + + +{204} + +DIVISION III. § 3. CHAPTER VI. 1-14. + +_The Christian life a living by dying._ + +It has now been made apparent that belief in Christ introduces a man +into a new sphere of 'life in Christ' or 'state of grace'--a state, +that is, in which the divine grace or goodwill is the atmosphere and +motive force. And just as with his natural life he inherited all the +taint and curse attaching to sin in the unredeemed manhood, so now in +his new state he receives from Christ all the bountiful outpouring, not +of acquittal only, but of divine life. What he is called to witness is +the triumph of the divine goodwill over the old forces and tendencies +of sin in himself and in the world. + +But now a monstrous suggestion presents itself, akin to that attempt of +the Jew (of which we heard in chapter iii) to claim exemption from the +divine judgement on his own sins on the ground that Jewish +unfaithfulness had but given {205} God a background upon which to +reveal Himself and His righteousness more effectively. St. Paul, we +saw, indignantly crushed that attempt to use logic against conscience. +Now, however, a similar suggestion makes itself heard, only from the +side not of Jewish factiousness, but of Gentile lawlessness. Would it +not give divine grace a still better opportunity to show its quality +if, now that we are Christians, we go on living our old life of sin? +The more it has got to forgive in us, the more superabundant will its +mercy appear. Shall we not then continue in sin that grace may abound? +We have other reasons, besides this passage, for believing that St. +Paul's teaching about divine grace and justifying faith not only +admitted of being misunderstood, but was misunderstood, in his own +time[1] as at later periods, in such a way as to cut the roots of moral +effort. 'Unlearned and unstable men were wresting his words to their +own destruction.' And to any lawless suggestions based upon the misuse +of God's free grace, St. Paul had already given the easiest answer when +he had laid it down {206} as an absolutely universal truth that God +will at last 'render to every man according to his works ... to them +that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness, +wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man +that worketh evil'; or when he had met the developed logic of the +self-excusing Jew with the sharp and final rejoinder--'whose +condemnation is just.' + +Here however St. Paul gives not the easiest answer to the antinomian +suggestion, but a deep, fruitful, and decisive one. He demonstrates +the absolute incompatibility of principle between the life of sin and +the Christian state. By the very nature of the case no man can belong +to both. As St. John said, 'he that is begotten of God' in the new +life in Christ 'cannot sin' without thereby abandoning his new +standing-ground. At the moment when we became Christians by the act of +baptism, we said good-bye to the old life of sin as completely as a +dying man says good-bye to the familiar scenes and passes over to +'yonder side.' We were admitted by baptism into Christ Jesus; that is, +we were admitted into a certain sort of human life with a certain law +or character. What is then the character and law of Christ's life? +'We believe that {207} Jesus died and rose again[2].' That is the +central and summary fact about Him. He passed to life through death. +And this physical death of His on the cross was not merely a fact in +history, it was a fact with a moral significance[3]. While He had been +in this sinful world of ours He had borne its sin, but had no part in +it. He was in the sinful world, but not of it. He was to sin and all +its motives as one dead. And by His physical death upon the cross He +gave summary expression to this moral alienation. He made a final and +outward breach with sin, and passed out of its range, for evermore +'separated from sinners.' 'He died to sin once for all.' And the +glory of the Father[4] broke forth from its customary concealment and +vindicated the Christ by raising Him from the dead, because of what His +death had morally meant. + +Thus the 'likeness,' or moral counterpart, of Christ's death is to be, +like Him, dead to sin. And if we are not called to be physically +crucified, we are called to its moral counterpart. We must become +morally 'of one growth' with {208} Christ's death[5], like the slip +with the tree it is grafted into. Only so can we share the new life of +His resurrection. This is represented in the very ceremony of our +baptism. It was impressed upon us by all its outward symbolism that to +become a Christian we must die to the old life. We were brought to the +margin of the water as to a death, and descended, bowed beneath the +waves, as into the tomb with Christ: in order so, and only so, as +having died and been buried, to emerge again into the new life under +the conditions of which henceforth we are to conduct ourselves[6]. And +this new life is not only an actual present fellowship in the risen +Christ (ver. 4): it expects to become so (ver. 5) in a fuller and +completer measure, but always on the basis of one and the same clear +conviction, which we may express thus--When Christ was nailed to the +cross, our old sinful manhood was nailed there with Him, so that +henceforth our animal nature, hitherto the haunt and stronghold of sin, +might be paralyzed and rendered as powerless as any crucified criminal, +and we, set free to become new men, might no longer be sin's slaves. +That old sinful self of {209} ours was put to death, and we passed, as +new men, into another life. Henceforth the tyrant sin has no claim on +us, for death closes all scores and acquits of all claims. 'The man is +dead' is a summary and final plea against all claimants, and that is +our plea against the claim of sin. We have died to it once and for +all. Therefore, and only therefore, we can hope to share the deathless +glory of Christ's resurrection. He died once, and passed henceforth +altogether out of death's control. For the death that He died was to +make an end with sin, and that was done once for all. Henceforth there +is nothing left but life, and that life in the eternal God. This +therefore is the view we are to take of ourselves as now included in +Christ: we are, in regard to sin, dead men who are no longer responsive +to its impulses or alive to its interests: and therefore, in regard to +God, we are alive in Christ to whom we are united. + +And (ver. 12) the practical duty which follows from this is plain. +Christians must not acknowledge a tyrant whose strength and power is +gone for ever, by letting sin still reign in the lower part of their +nature--the body still subject to physical death--and so bring their +higher nature into an unnatural subjection to its appetites: they must +{210} not leave the limbs of their redeemed selves at the disposal of +the dethroned king Sin, to be used as weapons for the warfare of +iniquity. No: they must correspond to the privileges of the new life +in God into which they have passed, by making an offering of +themselves[7] to God, with all the free will which befits those who +were dead and are alive again; and an offering also of their limbs, now +restored to their own control, as weapons for God's warfare of +righteousness. Sin shall no longer be their lord. That despotism +belonged to the days when they were under the law. Now it is not the +law they are under, but the sovereignty of the divine goodwill. + + +What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may +abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live +therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ +Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him +through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the +dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness +of life. For if we have become united with the likeness of his death, +we shall be also with the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, +that our old man was crucified with _him_, that the body of {211} sin +might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; +for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with +Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that +Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath +dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: +but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye +also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. + +Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey +the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments +of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the +dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For +sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but +under grace. + + +1. In the analysis of the passage given above, the order of the ideas +has been somewhat altered, and their meaning expanded, with the +intention of rendering the real argument more intelligible; while I +believe that no idea is suggested that is foreign to the original. The +passage, however, is extraordinarily condensed, and is full of some of +the most characteristic of St. Paul's thoughts--amongst them that of +the life in Christ as being a living by dying, or a life out of death. + +It is impossible to try to lead a human life under any standard that +can be called moral without knowing that it involves some sort of +'mortification' of selfish and sensual appetites. There {212} is that +in human nature which, as moralists generally must recognize and in +fact have in a measure recognized, must be 'done to death.' It was +this principle that was expressed with such terrible vigour by our Lord +when He bade us pluck out the offending eye and cut off the offending +hand. But the novelty in Christianity was the emphasis which it laid +rather on the living than on the dying; it was its teaching as to the +infusion into human life of a new and positive spiritual force, which +was to overcome evil with good and swallow up death in victory. It was +by their belief in a gift of the Spirit imparted to them, and by their +resulting power to think and act freely according to God, that the +Christians were distinguished from the rest of the world. It is this +upon which their apostolic teachers continually insist. 'I have +written unto you young men, because ye are strong.' 'As many as are +lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' It is only as it +were in the second place that it appears that this living in the new +life will involve dying to an old one. Thus the dying is always made +to appear to be in order to a living. The end is always the life. 'I +came that they may have life,' our Lord had said, 'and have it +abundantly.' + +{213} + +The phrases about dying in order to live have their root in our Lord's +teaching, as St. John represents it[8], but belong most +characteristically to St. Paul. The principle which they enforce +belongs only to a fallen world, for it is only the sin within us and +about us that has to be put to death, or to which we have to die. But +it finds its highest exemplification in the case of Christ who, sinless +Himself, came into a world of sin and lived under its conditions. +Therefore He had to 'die' to sin and selfishness in the world in order +to 'live' in His own proper life to God. And this dying to sin--this +refusing it and repudiating it--is summarily represented in His death +upon the cross. The worldly world killed Him because He would have +none of its selfishness and sin. He, by voluntarily dying sooner than +surrender to the demands of this world, made a final separation of +Himself from sin. Thus He lived His life to God at the cost of dying. +And this law of Christ's life is to be the law of ours. We must die to +sin--not on a visible cross, but by a repudiation of it as thorough and +real: nor to sin outside us only, but to sin in ourselves. It is only +to express this attitude toward sin in ourselves in other {214} words, +to say that we have to mortify and crucify our own carnal and selfish +selves. + +And just as Christ summed up His attitude towards the world by His +death upon the cross, so the Christian's attitude to the world was +summed up in his baptism. At that moment he died to the world of +sin[9]. This state of deadness to sin has to be constantly renewed, or +again and again recovered. But it was in that sacramental moment +realized in principle and symbolically represented. The convert who +was immersed beneath the baptismal waters and emerged again, realized +easily that this 'bath of regeneration' was, what the early Christians +called it, 'his grave and his mother.' All the circumstances of his +baptism forced it upon him that he had passed out of an old life into a +new--that he died to one state of things and came to life in another. +The Christians of St. Paul's churches, like newly-made Christians in +Central Africa or India to-day, were very often highly imperfect; but +they knew--they could not but know--that they had passed under a new +allegiance; that like the just-converted Frankish {215} idolater, they +must 'burn what they had adored, and adore what they had burned[10].' + +We in our generation, and in a country where Christianity has become +traditional, realize this much less easily. It is not only that we +have, in our Church and country, almost wholly lost the symbolism which +belongs to baptism by immersion[11]; though that is as great a loss as +any symbolic action, not necessary to the administration of a +sacrament, can be. It is not only that we are as a general rule +baptized in infancy, for that under right conditions[12] embodies a +fundamental Christian principle and comes down from the origin of +Christianity. It is much more that Christianity has been allowed to +become conventional and cheap. It requires no effort or moral courage +to own, in a formal sense, the name of Christ. The result is that +masses of {216} men belong to the Church who are in practice living +purely worldly lives, and that the Church and the world are fused +together. Hence it follows again that what the majority of Christians +do is supposed to represent a tolerable manner of life for an ordinary +Christian, who does not profess to be better than his neighbours. +Under these circumstances there is nothing which is more important than +to reassert the law of life through death as the only Christian law of +living. The 'old man' is as vigorous as ever. The world is still +gratifying its sensual appetites and grasping after wealth without +regard to the law of God. Malice, jealousy, and hatred are alive and +flourishing. God is still being ignored, refused, blasphemed. That is +to say, the world of sin is still what it always was. It is still +under the same unchangeable wrath of God; and still therefore to live +to God is only possible for one who will, and that deliberately and +persistently, die to the world. The renunciation must be conscious and +deliberate. The mortification and crucifixion of the 'old man' and +'the body of sin' must be painful, at times even agonizing. A +reasonable Christian will be indeed surprised if something painful is +not being continually required of him. And a reasonable Christian +{217} rejoices to purchase, even by great sacrifices, the pearl of +great price, which is fellowship with Christ:--'that he may know him +and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his +sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.' This is the point. +It is not enough for us to be baptized. Our baptism is evacuated of +all meaning unless we are also 'being converted,' or 'turning' from the +world to God; unless we are turning our back upon its lawless lusts, +its worldly ambitions, its graspings after money, its refusals of pain, +its selfish and unloving life. Nay: all this renunciation was already +involved in the Name spoken over us at our baptism. The Christian name +pledges us to the Christian law of living by dying, progress by +conversion. You cannot refuse the dying without repudiating the Name. +'Die and re-exist,' said Goethe, 'for so long as this is not +accomplished thou art but a troubled guest upon an earth of gloom[13].' + +'Reckon ye, therefore, yourselves to be dead unto sin.' This phrase, +addressed to common Christians, supplies a magnificent instance of St. +Paul's idealism, that is to say, of his love of {218} considering +things, and his desire that others should consider things, in the light +of their central and dominant idea or principle--as they ought to be +rather than as they are. This is his continual practice: to idealize +not in the sense of thinking unreally of things, but in the sense of +thinking of them in the light of that which is most fundamental in +them. It is in this way that he thinks of 'the world,' or godless +human society, and seems to represent it as worse than it sometimes +appears, because its governing principle is radically evil. It is in +this way that he thinks of the Church, and speaks of it in terms of +glory not justified by the facts simply as they appear; because it has +that at work within it which is capable of transforming it until it not +only is, but looks like, the body of Christ, or the city of God. This +idealizing method is naturally distasteful to English common sense in +most departments of thinking, and perhaps particularly in the region of +religion. But we suffer from an over-close adhesion to the 'matters of +fact' or 'the things which do appear.' We do not think of our life, +ourselves, our church according to the divine principle which they +embody, or 'according to the pattern shown to us in the mount.' Thus +{219} we are never uplifted, enlarged, ennobled by the vision of + + ... The gleam, + The light that never was on sea or land. + +That light never was or is manifest on the surface of actual +experience, and yet it is always latent--the touch of glory in common +things, the radiance in even our dim world, 'the master light of all +our seeing.' We have almost all of us got to learn the practical power +of the Christian imagination, disciplined and spiritually enlightened, +to enrich and ennoble actual life. The objects which our imagination +should reflect are realities, but realities not yet developed. What +our imagination should do for us is to teach us to see things not as +they are, but as they are coming to be. + +2. 'Life in Christ Jesus,' 'Christ living in me'--there can be no +question that these beautiful phrases which, if St. John's witness be +true, represent the teaching of Christ Himself[14], express also what +is most central in St. Paul's idea of Christianity. It was the great +merit of Matthew Arnold's _St. Paul and Protestantism_[15] that it +{220} recalled the fact to notice in ordinary educated circles. Recent +scientific study of St. Paul has gone in the same direction. The +doctrines of atonement and justification are essential to St. Paul's +theology, but not central: the doctrine of life in Christ, spiritual +and moral identification with Christ, is both essential and central. +The maintenance of this life of union is again, as Matthew Arnold +teaches us, the final and most developed function of faith--'that +Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith'; for faith is, or grows to be, +such devotion to Christ's person as desires to lose itself and its +selfish aims in Him and His work. But Matthew Arnold strangely leaves +out of sight the two-sidedness of this relation: we abide in Christ by +faith, {221} because Christ first of all abides in us by His +loving-kindness and grace. It is His love, always beforehand with +us--not merely to forgive us our sins, but to pour itself out in the +communicated Spirit--that takes us up within the circle of His own +life; it is the act of God incorporating us into Christ which evokes +and makes possible the response of our faith to realize His indwelling +and make the adhesion mutual. God's gift is prior to our response and +the ground of it; and moreover God's gift is permanent and abiding. It +would indeed be a thought of despair if the bond between Christ and us +depended upon the continuous energy of our faith to maintain it. Nay, +it is always there--unintermittent through all our broken efforts and +vicissitudes of will--always there for us to recur to. We are to +reckon ourselves 'dead to sin and alive to righteousness,' because and +only because we are also to reckon ourselves 'in Christ.' That is our +permanent state, and it is the function of faith not to create, but to +realize it. + +It is St. Paul's clear and vivid perception of a divine gift given, a +relationship to God established by God's act, not ours, and that at a +particular time, which is closely connected with his {222} sacramental +teaching. If a divine gift is to be given (1) definite at a definite +time, (2) to men of body as well as spirit in a world not only +spiritual but material, (3) publicly as to members of a social +organization--it is most natural that the gift should be embodied in an +outward rite and outward vehicle. So St. Paul appears to think. There +is no shrinking about his sacramental language. It can be said with +justice that certain forms of sacerdotal or ecclesiastical government +which have appeared in Church history would to his mind have savoured, +or more than savoured, of bondage to men and bondage to the 'beggarly +rudiments' of ceremonial observances. St. Paul is very jealous of +maintaining what we may call spiritual individuality and personal +liberty. But there is no justification to be found in St. Paul's +epistles for saying that he connects sacramentalism--i.e. the idea of +necessary spiritual gifts divinely promised on the occasion, and +through the medium, of certain outward religious rites of a +community--with that 'bondage' to 'beggarly rudiments' of which he has +so great a dread. St. Paul's language does not admit of our supposing +that he knew of any other way of admission 'into Christ' except through +the gate {223} of baptism, or any other means of communion in Christ's +body and blood except 'the breaking of the bread.' + +3. It will be necessary before we leave this great passage to give +some special attention to three phrases. + +'_Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father_.' In the +New Testament the sacrifice of Christ, the atonement won by Christ, is +continually ascribed to the Father, acting through and in the Son--'God +was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.' So also the +resurrection is uniformly ascribed to the Father's power acting in the +case of the Son[16]. Our current Christian language has in both cases +departed too widely from apostolic practice. The doctrine of the Holy +Trinity would be more intelligently held, and the worship of the Church +more normally offered in the Spirit through the Son to the Father, if +we had not fallen into the habit of so speaking of the action of the +Son in dying and rising as habitually to leave out of sight the truth +that His action, as Son, is and {224} must always be the Father's +action through Him; and that reversely our worship of the Son must +always be really, and ought to be in our habitual consciousness, the +worship of the Father through Him. + +'_Our old man was crucified with him_.' As Shelley said that, when +Adonais died, ''tis death is dead, not he,' so in an infinitely deeper +sense St. Paul says that what was killed upon the cross was (he does +not say 'instead of Christ,' but 'with Christ') sin and the 'old man.' +The 'old man' means the old way of living, or rather the old way of +living considered as having been appropriated by the sinful individual +and thus made his own self. Thus it was the old self that was put to +death on the cross, and a new self came to life, which was the same in +unchanged personality and yet so practically different in all its +relationships, that it could assert and claim exemptions from the +obligations contracted by the 'old man.' + +'_That the body of sin might be done away_.' The identification of sin +with the individual had been specially with his body. His bodily +appetites and impulses and parts had been so used to the ways of sin as +to become a 'body of sin,' and this, St. Paul says, has to be 'done +away' or {225} annulled. It is not that we are to harm the body +itself: for the body itself is good, and is to be offered, with all its +members, to become the weapon of Christian warfare. There is indeed no +material thing as such that is evil. The 'body of sin' means exactly +'the body considered as having become the receptacle of sin': as when +our Lord speaks of the 'mammon of unrighteousness[17],' He means money +which has become the instrument of unrighteousness, but which the +children of light are to convert to profitable uses. 'To annul the +body of sin' means, therefore, almost the same as 'to annul sin in the +body' and leave the body free; but it emphasizes the fact that sin has +got such hold of the body that to annul sin involves annulling the +body: as St. Paul says elsewhere, 'I buffet' (or 'distress') 'my body +and bring it into bondage[18].' + + + +[1] See Gal. v. 13: 'Only use not your freedom for an occasion of the +flesh.' Cf. 2 Pet. iii. 16, and the implications of St. James' Epistle. + +[2] 1 Thess. iv. 14. + +[3] The meaning of ver. 4 is interpreted in vers. 10, 11. + +[4] Ver. 4; cf. John xi. 40. 'The glory of God' is specially manifest +in the resurrection of the dead. + +[5] This is the original suggestion of the word 'united' in ver. 5. + +[6] Cf. Col. ii. 12. + +[7] The Greek words represented by 'leave at the disposal of,' 'make an +offering to,' are different parts of the same verb. 'The tense of the +former expresses continuance, habit; ... of the latter, a single +irrevocable act of surrender' (Vaughan, _in loc._). + +[8] John xii. 24, 25. + +[9] It is one gain of the R.V. that for 'ye are dead' (Col. iii. 3, ii. +20), 'we are dead' (Rom. vi. 2, 8), &c., we read 'ye died,' 'we died,' +i.e. at the definite moment of baptism. + +[10] Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Franc._ ii. 31: 'To whom (Chlovis) as he +enters the font to be baptized, the holy man of God (Remigius) thus +eloquently spoke--"Meekly bow thy neck, Sigambrian: adore what thou +hast burnt; burn what thou hast adored."' + +[11] Baptism by 'affusion' began within the first century, but as the +exception, not the rule. See app. note F. + +[12] By infant baptism under right conditions, I mean the baptism of +infants when there is some real security provided, through their +parents or proper sponsors, for their Christian education, according to +the intention of the Church. On the primitive origin of infant +baptism, see _Ephesians_, pp. 230, 231. + +[13] 'Stirb und werde! + Denn so lang du das nicht hast, + Bist du nur ein trüber Gast + Auf der dunkeln Erde' (quoted by M. Arnold). + +[14] John vi. 53-58; xiv. 19, 20; xv. 1-10; xvii. 21-23. + +[15] P. 81 (2nd ed.): 'The three essential terms of Pauline theology +are not, therefore, as popular theology makes them--_calling, +justification, sanctification_: they are rather these--_dying with +Christ, resurrection from the dead, growing into Christ_.' Cf. p. 76: +'How did Paul's faith, working through love, help him [to control +appetite and self-will]? It enabled him to reinforce duty by +affection. In the central need of his nature, the desire to govern +these motives of unrighteousness, it enabled him to say: _Die to them_! +_Christ did_. If any man be in Christ, said St. Paul--that is, if any +man identifies himself with Christ by attachment, so that he enters +into His feelings and lives with His life--he is a new creature; he can +do, and does, what Christ did.' It would be truer, surely, to say in +the first of these two passages not 'the three _essential_,' &c., but +'the three _central_.' Nothing can be more truly essential to Pauline +theology than the terms, calling, justification, atonement; but the two +last of them at least do not belong to the central region of religion, +but have to do with the removal of preliminary obstacles to our +entrance upon it. + +[16] The apparent exception is John x. 18; but even there the word +rendered 'take' would perhaps be better rendered 'receive.' Christ had +the right to lay down His own life and the right to receive it again +from the Father. So Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, pp. 34, 84. + +[17] Luke xvi. 9. + +[18] 1 Cor. ix. 27. + + + + +{226} + +DIVISION III. § 4. CHAPTER VI. 15-23. + +_The perfect freedom is God's service._ + +The reiterated mention of the deliverance of the Christian from the +yoke of the law--'Ye are not under law, but under grace'--brings up the +excuse for licentious living in a new form:--'This very abolition of +the strict power of the law in favour of a system of which the ruling +principle is God's goodness, at least makes one willing to contemplate +any particular act of sin[1], with a good hope of escaping punishment.' +St. Paul meets the suggestion with a 'God forbid,' and then gives a +deep reason for repudiating it, a reason however which is but a version +of our Lord's saying, 'Every one that committeth sin is the slave of +sin[2].' Every man is always acting under obedience. What he {227} +does in a particular case represents an act of obedience to some +master; that is to say, a taking service with him. Moreover it appears +on reflection that it must be with one of two masters and cannot be +with both, for 'no man can serve two masters.' It is either with sin, +whose service ends in spiritual as well as physical death, or with Him +to whom obedience is properly due, whose service ends in righteousness. +What gives St. Paul reason for thankfulness in thinking of the +conversion of the Christians at Rome, is not that those who became +Christians became thereby exempt from obedience, but that they changed +their allegiance from sin to Christ. At their conversion they gladly +submitted to a pattern or standard of teaching--the teaching of +Christ--to which they were handed over for the fashioning of their +lives--that is to say, they were made free from sin only to become +slaves to righteousness. He uses the word slavery because so long as +their weak flesh shrinks from divine obedience, they must recognize +that the life which is really liberty must be accepted even as a +bondage, till it cease to seem so. In old days they offered their +limbs as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, and the result was a +lawless life. {228} Now they must yield their limbs as slaves to +righteousness with a view to a consecrated life. And the change of +allegiance is surely matter for congratulation. They can recall the +days when they were free from the service of righteousness, as being +slaves of sin, and they can remember what fruit they enjoyed as the +result of experiences which they now blush to bring to mind. Of such +experiences death, moral no less than physical, is the result. Now, +set free from sin's slavery and made God's slaves, they enjoy the +present fruit of consecration to God and the ultimate prospect of +eternal life. So long as Sin was their master he would pay them their +wages, and the wages which Sin pays is always death. But now that they +are surrendered into God's hands, and simply dependent on His +loving-kindness, there is no question of wages, but the gift of His +bounty is eternal life, in Him whose life includes their own, Jesus +Christ their Lord. + + +What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? +God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves _as_ +servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of +sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to +God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the +heart to that form of teaching {229} whereunto ye were delivered; and +being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak +after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as +ye presented your members _as_ servants to uncleanness and to iniquity +unto iniquity, even so now present your members _as_ servants to +righteousness unto sanctification. For when ye were servants of sin, +ye were free in regard of righteousness. What fruit then had ye at +that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of +those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become +servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end +eternal life. For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God +is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. + + +1. St. Paul is here expounding the real meaning of human liberty. It +is generally regarded as the power 'to do as one pleases' or a state of +independence. But such a state does not exist. There is indeed such a +thing as the absence of external control up to a certain point. That +is an element of liberty, but it reaches but a little way. The true +liberty is the power to realize one's nature and make the best of +oneself--the power to be what one ought to be or is meant to be. The +instinct of language, as applied to man, recognizes this. When we see +a drunkard, we recognize a man the balance of whose nature is upset. +The higher part of his nature is being dragged at the chariot-wheels of +his lower. So, {230} be he never so free a citizen, we call him a +slave--a slave of drink. On the same principle we speak of the slaves +of lust or the slaves of money or the slaves of fashion or the slaves +of popularity. By these phrases we describe various moral states in +which some external or purely animal force dominates a man, and he +loses his self-control, and his whole nature becomes disordered. The +true order of human nature is that a man's body should be controlled by +his will. Then he is self-determined. His whole life is the +expression of a rational principle. He makes the best of himself. He +is free to be a real man, according to the proper idea of manhood. + +But how can this be? Can this reason or rational will in man stand and +work of itself? Is it so constructed as to be independent? No. Just +as truly as a man's bodily forces are drawn from sources outside +himself, so his spiritual being depends on sources and motives beyond +himself. + +What does man's 'freedom of will' consist of? Speaking exactly, it +consists of a power to _direct_ a certain amount of physical force +which passes into one's bodily frame, and to let it go out in one or +another form of action, deed or word or {231} thought, more or less +moral or immoral, spiritual or carnal. And this liberty of direction, +when more closely examined, is found to consist in a power which the +will has to choose between motives which present themselves as ideas to +the mind and to hand itself over to one or the other. Some of these +motives are derived from physical or worldly appetites; some are +derived through the conscience or faculty of spiritual apprehension. +If, in cases where the lower motives conflict with the higher, a man +still yields himself to the latter, his life is spiritual; and it is so +because it is determined by motives and reinforced by influences which +come from beyond himself, and are in fact the motives and forces of the +Spirit of God. But in neither case is he independent and free from +obedience. He stands at a meeting-point of the spiritual and material +world, and must be governed by one or the other. In either case man's +life is played upon and dominated by motive-forces, infinitely vaster +and mightier than himself. Let him try (as he has tried) to forget his +necessary dependence--to detach himself from the higher obedience and +to 'be as God,' independent--and he falls necessarily under the +dominion of the lower forces, of his flesh or of the world. If he is +to cease {232} to live below himself, he must consent to surrender to +what is above himself. He must yield his spirit to the divine Spirit, +which is its natural master. So he ceases to be carnal, or governed by +the flesh, and becomes spiritual, or governed by the divine Spirit. +And that is liberty. 'That man,' said Leo the Great, 'has true peace +and liberty whose flesh is controlled by the judgement of his mind, as +his mind is directed by the government of God[3].' God's service, and +that only, is perfect freedom. + +Man then is so constructed that he can only cease to fall below himself +by being raised above himself. His life cannot fail to be stamped with +the impress of sin unless it is stamped with the impress of God. The +state of the Christian, surrendered to the fashioning of God, is that +true dependence which is the true liberty. Independent of God, man +stands at last over against God to get what his independent action has +merited; and that is penal death, the inevitable outcome of misused +faculties, enslaved to sin. Surrendered to God in faith, on the other +hand, he receives into his nature, through all its open portals, the +inflooding tide of divine love; and enters, enriched and uplifted, into +the life that {233} is eternal, the life which he shares with Jesus, +the life that is truly human and really divine. + +It is of great practical importance that we should get a just idea of +what our freedom consists in. There are men who, under the impulse of +a purely materialist science, declare the sense of moral freedom to be +an illusion. This is of course a gross error. But what has largely +played into the hands of this error is the exaggerated idea of human +freedom which is ordinarily current, an idea which can only be held by +ignoring our true and necessary dependence and limitation. It is this +that we need to have brought home to us. There is an admirable story +among George Crabbe's Tales, called 'The Gentleman Farmer.' The hero +starts in life resolved that he will not put up with any bondage. The +orthodox clergyman, the orthodox physician, and orthodox matrimony--all +these alike represent social bondage in different forms, and he will +have none of them. So he starts on a career of 'unchartered freedom,' + + 'To prove that _he alone was king of him_.' + +And the last scene of all represents him the weak slave of his +mistress, a quack doctor, and a revivalist--'which things are an +allegory.' + +{234} + +2. The phrase 'a form' or 'pattern of teaching,' is interesting. It +suggests the idea of the Church as holding a 'pattern of sound +words[4],' a definite body of instruction, which is to form the life of +each person who gives himself over to her loving discipline. Christian +faith is not a formless impulse; it is self-surrender to a corporate +life ruled on a definite model of religious and moral teaching. What +St. Paul has here chiefly in mind is moral teaching. But the moral +teaching was inseparable from religious facts and motives. Nor is it +difficult to ascertain from the allusions of the New Testament what the +subjects were in which the first Christians were orally instructed, or, +in other words, what constituted 'the tradition' which lies behind the +written books of the New Testament. It comprised instruction in (1) +the facts of our Lord's life, death, and resurrection[5]; (2) the +meaning of sacred rites--baptism, laying on of hands, +eucharist[6]--including the Lord's Prayer[7]; (3) the moral duties of +'the way,' and the doctrine 'of the resurrection of {235} the dead and +of eternal judgement[8]'; (4) the meaning of 'the Name of the Father, +and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[9].' On all these subjects the +books of the New Testament do not give the primary instruction, but +imply that it has been already given. + +3. The word rendered 'sanctification' (vers. 19, 22) is one which +needs to have its primitive force restored to it[10]. The 'saint' is +the person set apart for the worship and service of God. What is here +translated 'sanctification' means literally (1) 'the process of being +made fit for such worship and service,' that is, consecration as of a +priest; or (2) by a slight transition of meaning, the result of such +consecration, i.e. 'holiness.' + + + +[1] The tense of the verb in 'shall we sin' appears to indicate an act, +not a habit of sin. + +[2] John viii. 34. + +[3] _Serm._ xxxix. 2. + +[4] 2 Tim. i. 13. + +[5] Cf. Luke i. 1-4; 1 Cor. xi. 23; xv. 3, 4. + +[6] Cf. Rom. vi. 3; Heb. vi. 1-6; 1 Cor. x. 15, 16; xi. 23 ff.; Acts +ii. 38. + +[7] _Didaché_, 8; cf. below, p. 293. + +[8] Heb. vi. 1, 2; 1 Thess. iv. 1, 2; v. 2. + +[9] See Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 18, for the fact that 'a +recognized belief or idea [of the threefold Name] seems to be +everywhere presupposed.' + +[10] Cf. above, pp. 31, 32. + + + + +{236} + +DIVISION III. § 5. CHAPTER VII. 1-6. + +_Freedom from the law by union with Christ._ + +St. Paul is full of two thoughts. The first is that of life out of +death, living by dying. He had lived an old life in which 'those +multitudinous motions of appetite and self-will which reason and +conscience disapproved, reason and conscience could yet not govern, and +had to yield to them. This, as we shall see, is what drove Paul almost +to despair[1].' He had passed to a new life in which he found in +actual, blessed experience that he could do the thing that he would. +He could do all things--through Christ that strengthened him. For it +was Christ who had been the means of transferring him from the old life +to the new, and that by His own way of dying to live. Christ Himself +had lived 'by the Spirit' deliberately and always. He {237} had never +failed morally to do the thing that He would. But so violent was the +antagonism between His life of divine obedience (with the claims that +it involved upon other men) and 'the sinful, wilful, weak world around, +that the world could not tolerate His presence in it; and it came to +this--that He could only live by the Spirit at the cost of dying to the +world, i.e. choosing to be put to death sooner than give up obedience +to His Father. He chose to die, and thus dying He lived through death +in the life of the Spirit, and was raised again from death in body +also. Now Christ had brought St. Paul--as He would bring all men--into +union with His new life, and by the same method. St. Paul had had to +die to the sinful world in order to live to God. But he, being not +only a man but a sinner, was obliged not only, like Christ, to die to +sin in the world--he had also to die to sin in himself. In other +words, he had to 'crucify his flesh with its affections and +lusts'--that is, 'his old man' or old way of living. He had, by the +help of Christ's Spirit, to assert his inner self or personality +against a false self--a false way of life--which had appropriated him +and held him captive. Only by being emancipated from the {238} 'old +man' could he come to live 'in Christ.' It is this transference from +the 'old man,' or old way of life, to the new, by means of a death that +St. Paul here describes under the figure of a second marriage. The +man's true self was as a wife married to 'the old man.' The old man +was nailed to Christ's cross (vi. 6)--that is, the old way of life was +put an end to, even with violence. Thus the wife, the human +personality, is, according to the law of marriage, free to contract a +second union with Christ, the second Man. This is one of the main +thoughts in St. Paul's mind. + +But it is entangled with a second. The 'old man' was closely +associated with 'the law'--the law which had awakened it out of its +life of moral apathy by its stern reminders of the will of God. The +law had reminded, instructed, enlightened; but it could not give the +inward power needed to obey its requirements. It served but to bring +to light the tyranny of sin which made man incapable of yielding +obedience to the will of God; it even augmented its power by +stimulating it to opposition. The law therefore belonged purely and +simply to the old condition of moral impotence--the life 'in the flesh' +and not 'in the Spirit.' It fulfilled the {239} only function it could +fulfil in awaking the consciousness of sin. Thus to pass from 'the +life of the flesh' to 'the life in the Spirit' was to pass out of its +dominion. This is the other thought with which St. Paul is occupied in +the passage we are just going to read. This too he expresses with the +help of the figure of death. Human law only regards a living man. +Death acquits him from law by taking him out of the region where it +applies. Therefore, when a man dies with Christ to the 'old man,' he +passes out of the reach of the law which threatened the old man but had +no function beyond that. + +Each of these two thoughts is quite distinct and clear; but they are +fused in the present passage. St. Paul begins with the second, to show +that the 'dead' Christian is free from the law (ver. 1; cf. vi. 7). +But marriage law is taken as an example of law, and by this link we +pass from the second thought to the first. But the second thought +requires the man's _self_ to die with Christ to escape from the region +of law. The first thought, on the other hand, requires the 'old man,' +or old mode of life, to die, to leave the man's real self free to be +married to Christ; and this change of subject {240} introduces +confusion into the passage. The attempts to show that there is no +confusion are not successful. In ver. 1 the idea plainly is that the +self dies, as in vi. 7. In ver. 4 the main idea plainly is that the +'old man' is dead, and has left the self free to contract a new +marriage. But the other idea is still sufficiently dominant to cause +St. Paul to say 'ye died to the law,' instead of 'your old man was +crucified.' Morally, of course, the two phrases mean the same thing; +and one who, like St. Paul, is _dictating_ a letter, is specially +liable to verbal confusions even when his thought is clear. + +After these explanations the analysis shall be made as brief as +possible. St. Paul, having, in the latter part of the sixth chapter, +shown that the abolition of the power of the law is no excuse for sin, +recurs to and develops the principles which he has now guarded from +abuse, viz. that the power of the law is past for the Christian. He is +writing, he says, to men, whether themselves Jews or not, who +understand what law means, and that its dominion over a man ends with +his death. It has no jurisdiction beyond the grave. He takes the +marriage law ('the law of or {241} 'concerning the husband,' ver. 2) as +an illustration. Without noticing the exceptions in the way of +possibilities of divorce which the Jewish law admitted, he lays it down +generally that 'the law of the husband' binds the wife till death, but +death dissolves its power. When her husband is dead she is +'discharged' and free to be married again. (Here we have passed from +the idea of a man escaping by death out of the dominion of law to that +of his death dissolving the force of law in the interests of another, +viz. his wife.) That is the state of the Christian's real self. +Christ's body, St. Paul says, was nailed to the cross, and you were put +to death there with Him; or rather, your 'old man' was put to death +there, and you were left, like wives discharged from the marriage law +by the intervention of death, free to be united to the risen Christ, +and to see fruits of your new union such as God can approve. There +were fruits from the former union with the 'old man,' in the days when +you were still under the power of the flesh. The body was subject to +feelings and emotions which, under the provocation of the law, became +the instruments of sin; and these all at work in our limbs +(constituting the 'old man,' and having {242} ourselves for the +subject-wife) brought forth the fruits of actions fit only for a +kingdom of death. But now we are discharged from the law, like the +wife whose husband is dead, having died to that in which we were held +captive, and come to life in a new region; so that we can be +slaves--that, as we have seen in the last chapter, we must always be, +so far as yielding a complete obedience is concerned--only no longer +under the old bondage of a written law, but in the new freedom of the +empowering Spirit. + + +Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), +how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he +liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the +husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from +the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be +joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the +husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, +though she be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also +were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be +joined to another, _even_ to him who was raised from the dead, that we +might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the +sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to +bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the +law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we serve in +newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. + +{243} + +1. If we ask ourselves what is practically meant by St. Paul's idea of +the marriage of the redeemed soul to Christ, which supplements his +thought of the whole Church as the bride of Christ[2], the answer seems +to be that it is made up of a moral and a theological factor. The +moral factor is the idea of the devotion of the believer to Christ--'as +a young man marrieth a virgin.' The theological idea is that of the +risen Christ making the soul of the believer fruitful in good works by +infusing into it His own Spirit or life. + +2. The conception of the freedom of the redeemed from the moral and +ceremonial law is very easily realized by reference to our ideas of +civic freedom in connexion with the criminal law. The criminal law +exists, and the policemen are among its administrative officers, but +the respectable citizen is free in his relation to the criminal law, +and passes the policeman without any sense of alarm--not because he is +at liberty to break the law, but because he has become accustomed to a +way of living with which the agents of the law are not called upon to +interfere. It is in a sense like this that St. Paul conceives the +Christians to have escaped from the bondage of the Mosaic law. + +{244} + +3. What is the meaning of the common phrase our 'passions'? It refers +to those feelings which we experience without any action of our will. +It may be a mere neutral sensation of smell. It may be a feeling of +hunger, thirst, desire, anger. These are our 'passions' as opposed to +our actions. These appeal to the will as motives, and it appertains to +the will to determine whether it will yield to them and so translate +passions into voluntary actions. When the will is weak, and passion is +allowed to pass into action uncontrolled, the man becomes the slave of +sin, and his passions, in themselves innocent or only constituting the +material of temptation, become the 'sinful passions' of which St. Paul +speaks in this place. + + + +[1] Matthew Arnold, _St. Paul and Protestantism_, p. 76. + +[2] Eph. v. 22. + + + + +{245} + +DIVISION III. § 6. CHAPTER VII. 7-25. + +_The function and failure of the law._ + +The somewhat confused passage just dealt with, in which several moral +ideas and metaphors are struggling for the mastery, is followed by a +famous passage of luminous power in which St. Paul expounds, with a +profound insight into human nature, the function and failure of law. + +The close alliance into which St. Paul constantly puts 'the law' with +the reign of sin, an alliance hardly suggested by any other New +Testament teacher, suggests inevitably the idea that St. Paul, like the +later Gnostics, regarded the law itself as 'sin,' that is, as owing its +origin to the power of evil and working for its ends. Such an idea he +of course repudiates. But all the same it is law, written or +proclaimed, and law only, which both awakens the sense of sin in man +and stimulates sin itself to put {246} forth its power. Let me take +myself, we may imagine St. Paul as saying (for the 'I' of this passage +is very far from being strictly autobiographical), as representing man +in his moral history. I was alive apart from any law once. That is to +say, I lived as suited me best, according to my instincts, asking no +moral questions and troubled by no scruples. And all this time sin, +considered as a moral tyrant, was as if dead. I had no defined moral +ideal and consequently no struggle and no failure. Then comes the law +with its 'Thou shalt not covet' (or do this or that). It imposes +limits in the name of God on my life of instinct. It cries 'Hands +off!' At once I find opposition between me and the law. I do covet +this and that which the law says I must not have. I find myself in the +eye of the moral law a transgressor. And there is something more than +my own lawless desire in opposition to the law. I become conscious of +a great power of sin at work in the world and in me--something greater +than myself, which intervenes in the struggle and reinforces the +opposition to the law. The tyrant Sin rouses himself on the pretext +afforded by the hostile commandment, and exercises his power both by +stimulating my desires, like Eve's (ver. 8), and {247} deceiving my +intelligence, like hers, to believe that good is evil (ver. 11), and so +brings me by means of the commandment into a state of flat disobedience +to the law, which is death. For the law was given for life--'This do, +and thou shalt live'; but there is the necessary converse--'This +transgress, and thou shalt die' (vers. 7-11). + +The law then, it is quite plain, is the expression of the will of God. +And the particular commandment is holy and righteous and good. Is the +good then my poison? No. But what has happened is this--the +expression of the good in the law has brought the tyranny of sin out +into the light. It had me in its power before, but I did not know it +and I did not struggle. But as soon as the law aroused in me the +beginning of moral consciousness, sin used the commandment as its knife +to kill me; and so showed its hideous character--which indeed it was +the divine intention to uncloak by means of the law (12-13). + +For this it is that we must recognize as the true state of the case. +On the one hand a spiritual law proclaimed over me. On the other hand +a man who in virtue of my fleshly nature have been sold to be a slave +of sin, and who as a slave {248} find myself doing acts by force of +circumstances, the true nature of which I do not understand, and which, +so far from choosing, I hate (vers. 14, 15). For I am not only of this +fleshly nature; I have also a conscience which responds to the claim of +the law and recognizes it as right. But my wish to obey the law is not +strong enough to carry my flesh with it. Thus my actual practice is in +flat contradiction to the ideal of my choice. But henceforth my will +is on the side of the law, and myself is in my will[1]. What runs so +uncontrollably to evil is, it appears, not myself at all, but the alien +tyranny of sin which has taken possession of me and made my flesh its +haunt and instrument--the haunt and instrument of evil only and not of +good. So I can only wish good and practise evil, and become more and +more conscious that I am not my own master. The law of God, accepted +by my will, becomes the law of my mind or inner being; but when I seek +to impose it on my limbs and act accordingly, I find another law--the +law of the tyrant Sin--holding sway in my lower nature; my authority is +defied and {249} I myself am dragged in humiliating captivity to sin in +my lower nature (vers. 16-23). My body has become the death of my +spirit. It is my prison-house. I cry out in my misery for +deliverance. And it is this deliverance which I praise God for having +given me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (By union with Him my higher +self is reinforced, and I can control my lower nature and become my own +master.) But in my isolated, unassisted self, the best that I can get +to is a flat contradiction between the service of the law of God in my +mind and the service of sin in my flesh (vers. 24, 25). + + +What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had +not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, +except the law had said, Thou shall not covet: but sin, finding +occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: +for apart from the law sin is dead. And I was alive apart from the law +once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the +commandment, which was unto life, this I found _to be_ unto death: for +sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through +it slew me. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and +righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death unto me? +God forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by working +death to me through that which is good;--that through the commandment +sin might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is +spiritual: but I am carnal, {250} sold under sin. For that which I do +I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, +that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law +that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which +dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth +no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is +good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I +would not, that I practise. But if what I would not, that I do, it is +no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the +law[2], that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight +in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my +members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into +captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man +that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank +God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind +serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. + + +i. + +St. Paul, as has been said, is constantly in his epistles of this +period stating briefly or alluding to the failure of 'the law' to +supply man with the moral strength needed to live a good life at peace +with God. Thus: 'The power of sin is the law.' 'As many as are of the +works of the law are under a curse.' 'The letter (the written law) +killeth.' 'Through the law cometh the {251} knowledge of sin.' 'The +law worketh wrath.' 'The law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound[3].' The first of these sayings, occurring as it does +altogether out of apparent connexion with the context, shows us as +clearly as anything could how full of the idea his mind was. But only +here, in this chapter, does he open his heart to us to show us the +experience on which such a strange and original conclusion was based. + +We can imagine a youth of intensely susceptible moral and religious +nature like Saul of Tarsus passing out of the home of his boyhood into +the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem. The one subject of instruction +there was 'the law'--the divine law which was the pride of Israel's +race--in all the grand severity of its moral requirement and in all the +complexity of its ritual regulations. It was the one topic. And all +about him he saw the Pharisees building up the fabric of a meritorious +life before God out of their observances. Now, no doubt the most +easily self-satisfied Pharisees made much of the principle of +compensation--that 'obedience to certain laws' (e.g. the law of the +sabbath or 'the law of fringes') 'was as good as obedience to the {252} +whole[4].' The Pharisee of our Lord's parable who went up to the +temple to pray, satisfied himself because he observed certain practices +beyond the requirements of the law. Our Lord bears witness that the +Scribes and Pharisees paid tithe of mint and anise and +cummin--traditional extensions of the law--and omitted the weightier +matters, judgement, mercy, and faith, yet were righteous in their own +eyes. On the other hand, the maxim of St. James, 'Whosoever shall keep +the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of +all,' was a commonplace of the Jewish schools. + +There can be no doubt that it must have been the severer teaching that +fastened upon young Saul's mind. He acknowledged himself a 'debtor to +keep the whole law[5].' And in ritual detail, though no doubt the +effort required was immense, he managed to be 'blameless[6].' But in +the weightier and deeper matters it was not so. The moral law, +enforced and commented upon, continually confronting him with its 'Thou +shalt not,' brought to light in him the fact of sin--in desire, we +should gather, rather than in act or word. The law said 'Thou shalt +not covet' (or {253} lust). And Saul said, 'But I do lust after this +and that and the other. My heart and my desires are not in harmony +with the law. Nay, the very fact that the law prohibits it seems to +make my wrong desire stronger.' So the whole Pharisaic idea of a moral +life--the standing over against God and building up a fabric of +merits--seemed to be unsatisfactory. The fabric in his own case was +full of internal rottenness. It would not bear severe examination. +Moreover he could not but observe the lives of those around him who +were so well satisfied with their moral edifices, and he recognized +that their satisfaction was due to nothing but hypocrisy or +shallowness. As he went later to Jewish settlements in various +centres, he saw always the picture of a life fair in its own eyes and +rotten in fact. His general experience of Jewish life is summed up +strongly enough in the second chapter of this epistle. Thus he drew +the conclusion that the law could not be really kept--it was only +possible to keep it by means of evasions and compensations which made +it worse than useless. + +Meanwhile there was forming itself in Saul's mind the conviction that +the whole attitude of the Pharisees towards God was false. They lived +as if God had made a contract or covenant with {254} them, and within +the terms of this covenant man could deal with God on an independent +basis. God must keep to His covenant and not augment it or change it. +And on their side the people of God under the covenant had nothing to +do but to keep their part of the bargain and claim their reward with a +conscious and proper pride in the merits of their race and of +themselves. This was exactly the spirit in which they rejected Jesus +as the Christ, as it was also exactly this spirit which He had chosen +for His sternest denunciations. But all this idea of merits, all this +boasting, must have come to seem to Saul's mind monstrously untrue to +the real fundamental relation of man to God. For who maketh thee to +differ? and what hast thou, O Jew, that thou didst not receive? And if +thou didst receive it, why dost thou boast thyself as if thou hadst not +received it? Thus St. Paul's training must not only have made him feel +that he could not satisfy himself in keeping the whole law; but it must +also have convinced him that law itself as a principle, law as +understood and represented among the orthodox Jews, was fundamentally +and permanently incompatible with the real relation of man to God. +There were many elements in the Old Testament, {255} notably in the +Psalms, in which a quite different relation of man to God was +indicated--a relation of meek trust as of a son to a father, and of +penitence and dependence and peace. But in the teaching St. Paul had +received, the law, the legal covenant of man and God, which suggested a +quite different moral attitude, was the essential element; and that, we +must suppose, he felt increasingly sure was a foundation on which he +could not stand. + +No doubt these deep questionings about the law, and the growing misery +accompanying them, made him at first all the more zealous for it. No +doubt they explain his fanaticism against the Christians. No doubt his +'kicking against the goad' represents the rebellion of his heart +against anything which seemed to threaten the position of the law of +his fathers, and especially against the utter upheaval of foundations +involved in accepting for Christ Him whom the leaders of his people had +rejected and caused to be crucified. But when he had effected the +great transition, when he had found in Jesus Christ all that satisfied +his deepest instincts about God and his deepest desires for union with +Him, his old experience of the law took shape in a profound theory of +its place in the divine {256} education of the human race. Ultimately +man is meant to be in such close and harmonious relations to the divine +Spirit that he should both know what is right and do it by an inner +light and power. But an outward written law was a necessary prelude to +this; and that in the main because sin--individual sins and the long +tradition of sin--had hardened men's consciences and blinded their +eyes, and the divine law as proclaimed through the conscience had +become in consequence either utterly inadequate or had even been +silenced altogether. A written law therefore, peremptory and explicit, +and announcing its sanction in definite penalties, was needed to teach +men anew what God really required. It was given in such a mode as +threw men on their own independent moral strength, and by that very +fact convinced the best among them of their inward weakness and sin; +while to many more it appeared rather as involving an impossible +effort--as 'a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to +bear.' In either case it was their 'tutor to bring them to +Christ'--with His teaching of God, not as a taskmaster, but as a +Father, righteous indeed, but still more loving. And if there were +others again, shallow or worthless men, whom the law simply hardened +{257} in the superficial self-righteousness of mere 'observances,' or +the worst sort of religious hypocrisy, that was only another way of +demonstrating its inadequacy. It left the world to choose between the +Pharisees and Christ as representing real righteousness. + +This 'doctrine of the law' involves both its necessary function and its +failure. There can be indeed to no thoughtful mind any doubt as to its +necessary function. Conscience, individual and social, is continually +going to sleep. It may be taken quite for certain that if Christ were +amongst us in manifest power by His Spirit to-day--as He ought to be in +the Church--our society as a whole would be smitten anew with a sense +of sin, and not least of social sin[7]. Our familiar excuses for our +selfish indulgence of our lusts, for our weak surrenders to passion and +impulse, for our commercial dishonesties, for our failures to carry +righteousness into politics, for our social injustices, for our +selfishness and {258} luxury, for our scamped and half-hearted +work--the familiar pleas of commercial or physical necessity, or +political exigencies, or lack of knowledge, or absence of +responsibility, or the influence of heredity--would dry up and wither +on our lips under the powerful glare of the divine 'letter'--Thou +shalt, Thou shalt not. God hath not 'given any man license to sin,' He +hath given no man exemption from the trouble or the suffering or the +loss involved in doing right. The obligation is peremptory to be just, +to be merciful, to be honest, to be self-denying, to be pure. And if +we do not care to take the trouble to be so, the only alternative is to +have Christ for our adversary, and find at last the horrible depth of +meaning which His words contain--'Thus and thus have ye made void the +word of God by your tradition.' 'Inasmuch as ye did it not, depart, ye +cursed, into eternal fire!' 'It is good for thee to enter into the +kingdom of God maimed or halt or with one eye, rather than having two +hands or feet or eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm dieth not +and the fire is not quenched.' These and the like words are +metaphorical--but metaphors which are intended to teach the heart only +the more vividly because they are metaphorical. + +{259} + +Indeed, in each age, and therefore in ours, most fertile of excuses, we +need the letter to kill us; the stern, outward, unmistakable +announcement of God's will to assure us that God does not change with +our whims or feelings, and cannot accommodate Himself to immoral +necessities. In each age, and therefore in ours, most capable of moral +self-deception, we need continual and forcible reminders that a quiet +conscience is no adequate guarantee of agreement with God, unless we +have taken pains to keep our conscience enlightened by meditating on +the divine word. + +And if St. Paul's account of the function of 'the law' is true, so also +is his account of its necessary failure. It is obviously true if you +confine 'the law' to meaning what in the tradition of the Pharisees it +had come to mean, or what in his ideal way of thinking St. Paul defined +it to mean--that is, not the whole Old Testament with its anticipations +in prophecy and psalm of the temper of sonship and its evangelical +forecasts of the new covenant, but bare precept, expressing externally +and unmistakably the will of God. Mere law, instructing men truly and +searchingly as to God's requirement in thought as well as word and +deed, instructing {260} men and challenging them, and doing nothing +more, is so manifestly incomplete an expression of God's relation to +man, quite apart from all question of its ritual elements, that it can +in the nature of things serve only a temporary purpose in the +conscience, by leading us to a truer knowledge of Him who terrifies +indeed, but only in order to reassure, and kills but only in order to +raise to life again. + + +ii. + +At this point it is necessary to answer the two much-disputed +questions--and it is possible to do it briefly--Is St. Paul, in giving +this summary of moral experience, speaking 'of himself or of some other +man'? and--Is the struggle described in verses 14-24 to be regarded as +occurring without or within the frontiers of the regenerate state? + +There is no doubt that St. Paul must be in part really describing an +experience through which he passed. He was really, we may imagine, +'alive without the law once' in the sense that he was brought up a +happy Jewish child, under the law but not deeply feeling the terror of +its claims, until he was growing towards {261} the 'independent' period +of life and found himself confronted with its requirements in detail. +There need be no doubt that he is speaking of some experience of his +own when he alludes, here as elsewhere, to the deceitfulness of sin; +and when he describes the two stages of moral progress--the first, in +which the conscience of the man is awakened to recognize that his +habitual practice is not in any full sense controlled by his reason and +will; and the second, in which the will is deliberately enlisted on the +side of good, and the man only made thereby the more conscious that his +will is in no real control of his actions, but that he is the captive +of the alien power of sin. In some sense, though St. Paul does not +give us the materials for saying exactly in what sense, he must have +passed through these stages of experience. He must have really felt +himself the slave of sin, though the sin was of a sort which left him, +'as touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.' He +must have felt that he could not do what he ought; and the bitterness +of his persecuting zeal may have been in part the reflection of this +sense of impotence. + +And so far as St. Paul is speaking of himself, there can be no shadow +of doubt that the state {262} of conflict lay almost wholly outside his +conversion and regeneration. It was 'prevenient grace'--God's dealing +with him before he acknowledged Christ--that set his will so strongly +to desire and approve the right; and his new personal faith in Jesus, +and the might of the Spirit of Jesus to whom he became united, gave him +the power to do what he had so long and so ineffectually been willing. +This was his experience, and he bears witness to it. Even though he +would have made no claim to sinlessness after his conversion, yet the +sense of sin which possessed him so strongly, which made him call +himself 'not worthy to be called an apostle,' 'less than the least of +all saints,' and 'chief of sinners,' was in the main a memory of what +was past. The present sense was the consciousness of power in Christ. +It is inconceivable that St. Paul should describe himself, while a +Christian, as 'sold under sin.' And it was an idea of human corruption +quite different from St. Paul's which prevented Augustine and Calvin +from recognizing that either a pious Jew, or a Gentile which had not +the law, could be moved by the divine Spirit to 'rejoice in the law of +God after the inner man' (ver. 22), quite independently of any +knowledge of Christ. + +{263} + +But if St. Paul is in a real measure autobiographical in this passage, +there is no reasonable doubt that he is not merely so. He has +generalized his experiences to represent the moral experiences of the +race. The 'I' is the human individual in general. Thus 'alive without +the law,' if it can in a certain sense describe what St. Paul had once +been, describes much better the state of men--Greeks and Romans, or men +all the world over 'before the law came'--who had an easy social +standard and lived natural lives without any troublesome moral ideals, +and were wholly unvisited by conscientious scruples or the terrors of +the divine holiness. Upon such men comes the severer knowledge of the +righteousness of God through the teaching of some prophet or founder of +religion. It may come to men collectively in a nation or group, and +result in some general movement of conscience. Or it may come to an +individual through some circumstance which confronts him with a higher +moral claim than he has ever faced before--through the example of a +friend, through a book or a sermon. To many in St. Paul's day the +synagogues, where 'Moses had in every city them that preached him,' had +been the means of their awakening to the moral {264} claim of God. And +whenever men are thus confronted with the divine law of righteousness, +in a more or less perfect form and with more or less of impressiveness +laying its prohibitions upon them--'Thou shalt not do this or that'--if +they do not harden their hearts to it, they pass through the stages of +experience which St. Paul has so admirably idealized. There is that in +them which the prohibitions of the divine law stimulates into +antagonism. They become conscious of a power which beguiles or cheats +them into breaking the law; they awake to the sense of sin and failure +to do God's will, and find that they are not their own masters, but are +drifting under the impulse of what is not themselves. There awakens in +them the conscience and will to approve and choose what is right, and +with that a 'self-contempt bitterer to drink than blood,' as they +realize that though they approve and choose the right they cannot do +it. Thus the conviction is strengthened that their true selves are on +the side of God and right, and that which holds them captive is an +alien tyranny which has got its lodgement in their lower nature. + +This is the psychological moment for the arrival of the gospel. The +man who simply {265} desires the right and is paralyzed by his own +impotence to realize it in his own strength, out of the depth of his +despair learns that God is not a taskmaster and judge, but a Father; +that He is not his adversary, but is on his side; that if he will +simply surrender himself to the divine love, as it is made evident in +Christ, all his past failures and sins are as if they had never been, +and for the future God will not teach him from outside and leave him to +struggle alone, but will work in him to will and to do His good +pleasure. Then the sense of moral impotence may pass into the sense of +power in Christ. And in proportion as any man's actual life-history, +or the history of any group of men, corresponds to this ideal sketch, +the period of moral struggle and failure may fall in the main outside +the regeneration and new life in Christ. + +But, almost from the beginnings of Christianity, and increasingly as +Christianity has become popular, men have been 'christened' in infancy +or in mature life without the moral issue having been defined or the +moral will awakened. An ordinary Englishman, for example, is baptized +in infancy. This means that he is actually regenerate and introduced +into {266} the body of Christ. In rare cases he is so brought up as to +realize this, and corresponds so willingly with the teaching that he +lives the life of the regenerate from the first, and never, except in a +very refined form, knows the sense of impotence or passes through the +period of hopeless struggle. He has never found God's commandments +grievous. But in most cases there is no such pains taken to enlighten +the young conscience, or no such readiness of correspondence. The man +lives as his surroundings suggest--a decent enough life, very likely, +and more or less honourable, but never in face of the full divine law. +And such an one is 'alive without the law.' For him all the +experiences St. Paul describes are still to come, inside the circle of +his actual regeneration. And they may be very gradual and slow, and +may repeat themselves, more or less, innumerable times. St. Paul's is +an ideal picture; but the intended issue is always the same. When we +find ourselves saying, 'To will is present with me, but to do that +which is good is not,' we may be quite certain that we are not +realizing the power of our new birth. We are as men whom God has as +yet only externally visited. We are conscious of our own weakness and +of the {267} strength of evil; but not of the third force, stronger +than either ourselves or the power of evil, which is at our disposal if +we will draw upon it. What is needed is a deliberate and whole-hearted +realization that we are in Christ and Christ is in us by His Spirit; an +unconditional surrender of faith to Him: a practice, which grows more +natural by exercise, of remembering and deliberately drawing by faith +upon His strength in the moments of temptation and not merely upon our +own resources. 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I will do thus +and thus.' So we too may form like St. Paul the habit of victory. We +too may cry in sober earnest 'It is no longer I that live (in my naked +self), but Christ that liveth in me.' 'I thank God through Jesus +Christ our Lord.' + +When that sense of struggle or failure which St. Paul describes occurs, +as is generally the case with us traditional Christians, in the process +of our awakening to the knowledge of the new birth, we may in a sense +say that the struggle is part of the process of regeneration[8]; but +the word 'regeneration' best describes, not a process, but a single +divine act upon us and in {268} us[9], and this single divine act is +consistently identified in the New Testament with our baptism, though +it is only realized by our moral conversion when we awake to claim the +privileges of our new life. + + +iii. + +There are two smaller points which claim notice. + +We are reminded by the way in which St. Paul speaks of sin, in this and +other passages--as a force or power greater than the individual man, +which possesses him and dominates him through his lower nature--and +especially by the consciousness which he betrays of its 'beguiling' +power, that he believed in personal agencies of evil. 'Our wrestling +is not against flesh and blood (merely), but against the +principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this +darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly +places[10].' Particularly it is in the deceitfulness of sin that St. +Paul realizes what one must call the personal character of the evil +power[11]. He is profoundly conscious that {269} there makes itself +heard in temptation a voice as of a person which lies to us, as it lied +to Eve, as to the true character of the suggested action; and when we +have been deceived and seduced, and have done the deed, and its real +character has become apparent, 'the tempter' turns round upon us with +the grin of unmasked malevolence. Is there any one who can really +dissociate from his own spiritual experience this idea of the tempter +and the deceiver? + +We do well to remember in reading this passage the meaning of the +recurring word 'law.' In modern English it has come to mean the +principle or method observable in anything. Such and such a thing, we +say, exhibits such and such a law, i.e. acts constantly in such and +such a way. It is natural therefore for us to read this meaning into +the word in verse 21, as in the Authorized Version, 'I find then a law, +that, when I would do good, evil is present with me,' i.e. I find that +this is what constantly happens. But the Greek word, as used in the +Old and New Testaments, does not bear any meaning like this[12]. It +means always the {270} injunction or set of injunctions imposed by a +law-giver. In this passage it is used seven times of the divine +(Mosaic) law. When the will accepts this law and would impose it on +the lower nature, it becomes 'the law of the mind,' i.e. the law which +the mind enjoins (verse 23). With this conflicts 'the law of sin,' +'the different law,' which sin or the evil one would impose and which +has gained actual sway 'in our members.' We must then interpret verse +21 in harmony with this use, and taking the sentence to be a broken +one, translate, as the margin of the Revised Version, 'I find then, in +regard of the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.' + + + +[1] 'I was myself in both [flesh and spirit], but more myself in what I +approved than in what I disapproved.'--Augustine, _Confessions_, viii. +5. + +[2] Rather, as margin, 'I find then in regard of the law': see below, +p. 269. + +[3] Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 56; Gal. iii. 10; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Rom. iii. 20; iv. +15; v. 20. + +[4] See J. B. Mayor in _The Epistle of St. James_ (ii. 10), p. 86. + +[5] Gal. v. 3. + +[6] Phil. iii. 6. + +[7] It is disappointing, I think, that the grave appeal to the Church +as regards social duty, made by the bishops assembled at Lambeth last +year in commending to the notice of us all the report of their +Committee on Industrial Problems, has received such scant attention, +except from a certain group of Churchmen who were already occupied with +the problem. It might have been expected that this solemn appeal would +have vastly widened the area of attention. + +[8] 'Inter regenerandum.' St. John will not speak of a wilful sinner +as truly 'begotten of God,' 1 John iii. 9; v. 18, &c. + +[9] See Dale, quoted in Ephesians, p. 86. + +[10] Eph. vi. 12. + +[11] Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 9-11: 'The working of Satan with all ... deceit +of unrighteousness ... a working of error, that they should believe a +lie.' 2 Cor. xi. 14: 'Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of +light.' 1 Tim. ii. 14: 'The woman being beguiled hath fallen into +transgression.' Cf. Heb. iii. 13: 'The deceitfulness of sin.' + +[12] It never appears to be used, as in classical Greek, for 'custom,' +either in LXX or N.T. + + + + +{271} + +DIVISION III. § 7. CHAPTER VIII. 1-11. + +_Life in the Spirit._ + +If we were to represent the Epistle to the Romans as a _bas relief_, +there would be two passages which would have to stand in the highest +relief--the end of the third chapter, in which St. Paul speaks of that +free justification which is given to all men on the equal basis of +faith in Christ the propitiation for their sins; and this eighth +chapter, in which he speaks of the triumph which belongs to the life of +the justified, lived in the power of Christ's Spirit. + +The note of this chapter is struck in the words 'no condemnation' at +the beginning--'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are +in Christ Jesus.' St. Paul knew so well what it was to be conscious of +being under condemnation. He had never been what we should call a +sinner. He had always been a man who, according to the standards of +the {272} Pharisaic righteousness, was pre-eminently righteous; he had +always been a man who did much for religion. But he had known, in a +form in which it is known to very few of us, what it was to be +conscious of being under God's condemnation. God had been to him as a +taskmaster over against him, breaking in upon his life with continual +and searching warnings as to the divine requirements, with continual +threatenings and continual terrors; and he had been as one standing +over against God with the consciousness that, do as he might, he could +never satisfy, or climb up to the level of, the requirements of the +righteous God. There was always the haunting sense that he fell +short--always the haunting sense that he was on his trial, and on that +trial was condemned. But now all had been changed; and that by a +process which in a certain sense was as simple as possible, but than +which nothing could be more fundamental and deep. All was changed +because the relation had begun at the other end. No longer was there a +climbing up of man to God, no longer the effort of a Saul to commend +himself to God. The relationship had begun at the other end, at God's +end. Or rather, what had begun was the realization on the man's {273} +part of the true order. For God had been beforehand with Saul all +along. All the time that he was striving, working, slaving to commend +himself to a God whose righteousness he could never attain to, God was +waiting there for him to find out his mistake--waiting to reveal +Himself as no hard taskmaster, but as the Creator, the Father of his +spirit. The process had now begun anew from the other side. God had +simply of His own pure initiative manifested His love. He had sent His +Son out of His own essential being into this world as it was, not +asking whether it was a fit world for the Son to enter into; but taking +it simply as it was, because it appealed to the divine compassion by +the very multitude of its sins and the very vastness of its need, God +had sent forth His only begotten Son out of the bosom of His love and +of His pure initiative; had sent Him to take this nature of ours upon +Him, in it to make atonement for us with God, and in it, raised from +death and glorified, to be the source of a new and spiritual life, such +as should triumph over sin in all who will believe in Him. That is the +great point. It was all purely God's doing: a pure disclosure and act +of God, who showed Himself ready to take {274} men as they were, to +forgive them and entrust them with the divine Spirit, if they would +only trust Him. God is no longer the taskmaster over against men, with +His threats and His terrors. He is the Father who has given His Son, +who has given men a sacrifice whereby He can forgive their sins, and +has given them the Spirit of His Son into their hearts. God is on +their side, and they are on God's side. That is the great change. And +the object of it all is that what formerly seemed so unattainable might +now be the very thing that proved itself practicable--to live according +to God; that the requirement of the law might be no longer an +impossible claim over us, terrorizing us with its perpetual threats, +but that by the power of the new life in which we live, 'the +righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after +the flesh, but after the spirit.' + +The following is a paraphrase of the passage we are now to study:-- + +The result then of all that has been said is that the divine verdict of +guilty, which went forth over men on account of their sins--that +'disclosure of divine wrath' which St. Paul had so profoundly felt and +interpreted--hangs no longer over those who have passed into the new +{275} life in Christ Jesus. In the old life, sin with its attendant +death held sway over us and gave the law to our actions. But we were +freed from that despotism in passing under a new and stronger +authority. It is the divine Spirit, by whom we have been brought into +the life in Christ, who now controls us. Of old the Mosaic law was +powerless to help us. It could inform us of God's will, but it could +not enable our poor weak human nature to keep His requirements. But +God has provided an effective remedy for this state of things. He has +sent His own Son to take our nature upon Him, and come in among our +sinful race without any apparent difference between us and Him. He put +Him simply among us and in our position, to be the sacrifice for sin; +and thereby did for us what we had so failed to do for +ourselves--passed effective sentence of condemnation on sin, and that +in our own nature. [Do we ask how sin was condemned? The answer is, +it stood condemned by the perfect sacrifice of reparation for sin, +which the sinless Man made to the divine character on our behalf, when +at the requirement of obedience He shed His blood. It stood condemned, +still more fully, by the fact that God raised Him from the dead and +exalted {276} Him far beyond the reach of sin, to the glory of His +right hand, and made Him the head of a redeemed manhood, and poured +forth His Spirit to be the new life of all that believe in Him][1]. +And the object of this mission of the Son, and this judgement on sin in +His person, was the creation of that new humanity to which we belong, +which lives not under the control of human appetite, but under the +control of Spirit: and because it so lives, in the life of Another, +succeeds in the one point where man had hitherto failed, in keeping the +righteous requirements of the divine law. Our new way of life, +therefore, is contrasted with the old in its whole tone. For just as, +if we live in fact under the control of our weak manhood with its wants +and appetites, our mind and conscious aim is directed to minister to +its purposes, so in the same way if our life is in fact controlled by +Spirit, our conscious aim also is directed to spiritual purposes. And +the two lives are contrasted no less markedly in their prospects. +{277} The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of +death, temporal and eternal. The mind controlled by the Spirit is in a +state of life, so far as concerns itself, and of peace towards God. +The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of death +because it is at war with God. It does not, it cannot, keep His +commandments. Those therefore who so live in their own strength +merely, cannot please Him. But that is not now our state. We now live +in the power of Spirit, since the Spirit of God and Christ--that is, +Christ Himself--dwells in us. To have Him is the very meaning of being +a Christian. Not to have Christ's Spirit, that is Himself, dwelling in +us, is not to belong to Him. But if He does dwell in us, then, though +the body must still pay the debt of death, because of sin to which it +has belonged--nay though it is already as good as dead--yet the Spirit +within us is a superior principle of life, because of the divine +righteousness which it bestows upon us. And this life shall triumph +over death in our case, as in Christ's. For God, who raised up Christ +from the dead, shall also by the working of the divine Spirit which +dwells in us, give life again even to our bodies, though now they are +subject to death. + +{278} + +There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ +Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free +from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in +that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the +likeness of sinful flesh and _as an offering_ for sin, condemned sin in +the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who +walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are +after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are +after the spirit the things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh +is death; but the mind of the spirit is life and peace: because the +mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh +cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if +so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not +the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the +body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of +righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the +dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead +shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth +in you. + + +1. St. Paul declares that the Father sent His own Son to redeem us in +'the likeness of the flesh of sin.' The word 'likeness' is the same as +that used in the similar passage[2], where we are told that the eternal +Son in love for us 'emptied Himself' so far as to take the 'form,' +{279} or essential characteristics, of our servile human nature; nor +only its essential characteristics, but also the outward conditions or +'likeness' of common men as they are. The point is that Christ, who +Himself as man 'knew no sin[3],' appeared amongst us under all the +circumstances of sin, and with no outward or apparent difference +between us and Him--'in all points like as we are' with the single +exception of sin in the will or in the nature. + +2. In verse 3 the Authorized Version, and the margin of the Revised, +translating the Greek literally, give us, 'God sending His own Son ... +_for sin_.' But the phrase 'for sin' is continually used in the Greek +of the Old Testament for the sin-offering, and in the New Testament +always has the sacrificial meaning attached to it[4]; and accordingly +its meaning here must be so defined. + +3. The flesh of man, considered as a material thing, is not evil. It +was that which the Son took, and it was 'in the flesh' so assumed that +He pronounced sentence on sin--in that very flesh which was sin's +domain; as, in the Epistle {280} to the Ephesians[5]. He is said to +have 'abolished the enmity in his flesh.' The flesh as such then is +not evil; but when, as in our fallen state, the proper order of our +complex manhood has been reversed, and the flesh has become the +predominant partner, having the mastery of the spirit, then it becomes +a 'flesh of sin.' To live 'in the flesh,' or 'according to the flesh,' +is to let the flesh have its way and be the master instead of the +slave. Then the whole life becomes carnal--a carrying out 'the works +of the flesh'--and even the rational faculty becomes a 'carnal mind.' +What our redemption effects is to restore the right order and make the +flesh again the instrument of the spirit--of the human spirit, that is, +empowered by the divine Spirit, without which it cannot hold its +ground. Then the whole life, with all its bodily faculties, becomes +spiritual and carries into effect 'the works of the Spirit.' + +In the passage we have been considering, the Revised Version +distinguishes, by the use of capital letters, between the divine +Spirit[6] and the human[7], or spirit in general; but the fact that the +divine Spirit is what liberates and restores the human spirit is so +much in St. Paul's {281} mind that it seems better to make the primary +reference to the divine Spirit throughout. + +It is of the greatest practical moment to grasp that, to St. Paul, the +change in human life which comes about through our conversion and new +birth is a change in order. What was managed from below is now +controlled from above. That is the point on which we need to examine +ourselves. Where do we begin from? Are we in the position of men +struggling to manage their own lives, and commend themselves according +to some standard more or less right, which either their personal pride +or their social circle or the divine law has set up? If so, God is +over against us, our taskmaster, our adversary, our stern judge, and +our life is 'according to the flesh.' It is managed from below. It is +ruled on its own level, and it fails. But there is another life which +begins at once from the thought of God. God has made us, and therefore +He is responsible for us. He has made me because He loves me. +Therefore He is bound to make the best of me. If I will only put +myself into His hands He is pledged, simply because He created me, +therefore to redeem me, to save me, to glorify me. He takes that +responsibility upon Himself. He has shown His {282} love by the +sending and the sacrifice of His Son and by the gift of His Spirit. +And His Spirit I have received. At a definite moment He came upon me. +He entered into my life, as into those first Christians to whom St. +Paul wrote, at baptism and by the laying-on of hands. This is the fact +then. God is on my side. He makes Himself responsible for my being. +If I will only entrust myself to Him with the cordial return of +trustful love, then all that He has ever breathed into my heart of +human possibility He will realize and bring to perfection. The +requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us who walk not after the +flesh but after the Spirit.--This is a point of view upon which it is +worth while reflecting deeply, and over and over again. Unless we are +continually practising ourselves in this conception of life, we find +ourselves falling back again into the attitude of one standing over +against God with God for his taskmaster. And that is the false and +always ruinous idea. + +We must also take careful note of what St. Paul means by 'spiritual' +and 'carnal.' 'Carnal' does not mean made of flesh, and 'spiritual' +does not mean immaterial. That is carnal which is ruled by the flesh, +ruled from {283} below. That life is carnal in which our spirit, meant +for God, is dragged at the chariot-wheels of our lower life; and that +is spiritual which is ruled and mastered by the Spirit. We must not +suppose that we shall make our religion spiritual by disparaging +external acts or bodily exercises of worship. No; that is spiritual +which is ruled by the Spirit. The worship in 'spirit and in truth,' +for us men who belong to the religion of the Incarnation, must be a +worship in body. But it will be spiritual if it is full of spiritual +intention. Secular business again is spiritual if it is ruled by the +divine Spirit according to the law of righteousness. Politics are +spiritual, commercial and municipal life are spiritual, art and science +are spiritual, and everything that develops our faculties is spiritual, +if we will allow the divine Spirit to rule in all according to the law +of righteousness, truth, and beauty. For the whole of our being, with +all its sum of faculties, is made by God and meant for God. What a +mistake it is then, when people speak, as they so often do, as if sin +were really natural, as if lust and worldliness were natural, and as if +spirituality were something unnatural, belonging to another world. It +is exactly the opposite. The only _natural_ position for us is when +our {284} flesh is ruled by the spirit. It is an unnatural usurpation +when the spirit is dragged at the chariot-wheels of the flesh, when our +life is dominated by lusts or appetites. That is the very overthrow of +nature. And grace does but restore to us the true order of our being, +when the flesh and all the faculties of our body are again controlled +by the spirit, so that our whole being expresses a spiritual purpose +and obeys a spiritual law. The same external acts are spiritual or +carnal, natural or unnatural, according as they express or do not +express the mind of the Spirit. The same physical facts are the basis +of true married love, and of the wildest licentiousness. In the latter +case they are carnal because they express no spiritual purpose; in the +other case they are spiritual because, consecrated in the family life, +they become the organ and the vehicle of the divine Spirit. God will +be responsible for our whole life, our politics, our commerce, our +marriage, the workings of our intellect, the workings of our emotions, +all the parts of our nature. He will raise our nature up through +death; He will consecrate it to life immortal in the divine city; He +will sanctify it here and now: if only, and in all things, we will +believe that He who made our {285} life is capable of making the best +of it, and show ourselves ready to entrust it to His disposal. + +4. We must notice what is implied in this passage about the Holy +Trinity. St. Paul speaks[8] of 'the Spirit of God' (the Father), 'the +Spirit of Christ,' 'Christ,' and then again, the 'Spirit of Him that +raised up Christ,' as if all these expressions were identical; as +elsewhere[9] he prays that the Father will strengthen men by His +Spirit, in order that Christ may dwell in their hearts, and they be +filled with the fullness of God. All which language means that where +the Spirit is, Christ is, and where Christ is, God the Father is. So +in St. John, our Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as 'another' advocate +who is to come 'in his name' from the Father; and yet adds that in the +Spirit's coming He Himself will come; and with Him the Father--'we will +come[10].' The sacred 'persons' are spoken of as distinct--personally +distinct--and yet as so mutually involved in the action one of another +that the coming of one is the coming of all. So truly is God one in +three. We find something like this in human personalities under the +influence of love. Each single personality is not {286} self-contained +and exclusive. Love, to a real degree, fuses persons; and thus the +husband and wife and child (to take the highest example) may be said to +live and act in one another and through one another's influence. But +this is only to a limited extent. We are also mutually exclusive. Our +responsibility and actions remain individual and impermeable. What I +am doing, I am doing, and not another. But with God the mutual +interpenetration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is represented in the +inspired language as far more complete. The Godhead is a fellowship +and relationship of perfect love 'in three persons.' But God is not +three separate individuals. What each 'person' does the others do. +The action of one involves all. God is inseparably one in His being +and in His action. If the Father creates, He creates through the Son +and by the Spirit. If the Son redeems, the redemption proceeds from +the Father and is effected in the Spirit. If the Spirit sanctifies, it +is from and in the Father and the Son. Thus when the Spirit came forth +at Pentecost out of the uplifted manhood of the Son to impart to us all +His richness, He came not merely to supply His absence, but to +accomplish His presence. He makes Christ present within us, and also +the {287} Father: so that God, three in one, dwells in the hearts of +His people. + +5. 'The requirement of the law is to be fulfilled in us.' Do we ask +how we are to keep the whole of that terrible law? It is by obeying +the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves, in which the whole +law is 'briefly comprehended[11].' + +6. If in the last verse of this passage we read 'through His Spirit,' +and not (as the margin) 'because of His Spirit,' then the Holy Spirit +is expressly spoken of as the agent of our resurrection and, by +implication, of the resurrection of Christ. And this is the natural +function for the 'Giver of Life': indeed 'Spirit' means nothing else +than 'breath'--the 'breath of life from God[12].' + + + +[1] The passage in brackets expands the sense in which St. Paul +conceives the Father to have passed sentence of condemnation on sin, in +the person and through the sacrifice of Christ, in accordance with such +passages as vers. 21-24; iv. 25; Phil. ii. 8-10; Eph. i. 15 ff. + +[2] Phil. ii. 7. + +[3] 2 Cor. v. 21. + +[4] See Heb. x. 6, cf. 18, 26; xiii. 11; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 2; +iv. 10. + +[5] ii. 15. + +[6] Verses 2, 9, 11. + +[7] Verses 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. + +[8] Verses 9-11. + +[9] Eph. iii. 14-19. + +[10] John xiv. 16, 18, 23, 26. + +[11] Rom. xiii. 9. + +[12] Ezek. xxxvii. 9; Rev. xi. 11. + + + + +{288} + +DIVISION III. § 8. CHAPTER VIII. 12-17. + +_The life of sonship._ + +We are now in the Spirit. The divine Spirit dwells within us, and +restores our nature to its proper balance by giving us control over our +lower nature. The moral meaning and obligations of such a condition +are plain, and St. Paul proceeds to enforce them. When our impulses +and appetites solicit us to let them have their own way, we must give +them to understand that they are making a claim which we cannot +recognize and which, if we did, would lead us the way of death. On the +contrary, it is these merely physical tendencies--the practices of the +body when left to itself--that we must put to death by the power of the +Spirit. And if we do this we are on the way of life. Why so +certainly? Because we are sons of God--nothing less. Those who thus +act under the Spirit's guidance are all of them sons of God. Further, +{289} if we ask ourselves what sort of spirit we received when we +became Christians, we know that it was not a spirit appropriate to +slaves and calculated to bring us again into a condition of terror +under a law. It was a spirit appropriate to those who have been +adopted for sons of God, and it is in the power of that spirit that we +cry out to God by the name of Abba, Father, in our familiar +supplication. We have thus in our own spirits the sense that we are +sons; and behind that and reinforcing it, the divine Spirit, by putting +the word Father into our lips, bears the same witness. Well then, if +we are thus children of God, we have the child's prospect of entering +into our inheritance. Christ, our elder brother, has already entered +into it, and we shall enter into it with Him, if we are content to take +the Christian maxim for true, and suffer with Him on this side of +death, that we may share His glory beyond. + + +So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the +flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the +spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as +are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received +not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit +of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The {290} Spirit himself +beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if +children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so +be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with _him_. + + +There are several phrases in this passage which we shall do well to +notice. + +1. _If by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live_. +Mortification is absolutely necessary, and at every stage of the +Christian life. It is the carrying into effect in detail of the +fundamental law of our new life--the law which the baptismal ritual was +intended to teach--life by means of death. For the body had gained the +upper hand: it had come to control the weakened spirit. Therefore the +reinvigorated spirit must react upon the body and its impulses. It +must make its government felt, and the physical tendencies must be +checked, pruned, cut back. This is the Christian circumcision. And as +Christ was first born, then circumcised the eighth day; so each new +birth in Christ must be followed by a like circumcision of the +luxuriance of animal appetites. We learn the lesson when we are +children: we expect to be restrained and curbed: and unless we are very +foolish we learn the lesson only more deeply in later life. There +{291} is no single faculty or function of our being which can escape +this law. No friendship can be cemented without mutual self-denial. +No marriage, however founded on affection, can be blessed without the +mutual pain of self-repression and concession. No art or science can +be mastered by mere intelligence without moral discipline. No gift can +be consecrated in its natural luxuriance. 'Every branch in Christ that +beareth fruit, He pruneth it that it may bring forth more fruit.' + +2. _As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God_. +The New Testament language would have us regard all the baptized as +regenerate and sons of God, but it will not let us mistake the meaning +of this teaching. In any effective sense it is they, and only they, +who are really _controlled by_ the divine Spirit who can call +themselves sons. As St. John says, freedom from sin is the only test +of divine birth[1]. And the best way to make our new birth effective +is to meditate on the gift which we, when we became Christians, did +actually receive. We who, like the first Christians, received baptism +with the laying-on of hands, did then and there receive (such is the +implication {292} of St. Paul's language)[2] a spirit proper not to +slaves but to sons of God, qualifying us to call on God as our father, +and to co-operate in the purposes of His kingdom. It remains for us to +claim these powers and privileges of our sonship, and to claim them to +the full. Yet how many anxious-minded Christians of our day would +appear to have received nothing more nor less than the spirit of +slaves! They realize their religion as a restraint, a responsibility, +a cause of fear. And such a servile religion is no doubt better than a +hypocritical sense of sonship unaccompanied by the fear of sin. The +wise man remarks that 'a servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule +over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part in the inheritance +among the brethren[3].' But the spirit of the slave is not what we are +called to. If we had more religion, if we would give it freer course, +if we would consent to think less of our circumstances and more of God +and His gifts, there would be less fear and more joy both in our work +and our prayer. + +3. _Abba, Father_. Our Lord, speaking in {293} Aramaic, the +vernacular of Palestine, is recorded by St. Mark in His hour of agony +to have said _Abba_. And even in the Greek-speaking churches of St. +Paul's day, that sacred word was still used side by side with its Greek +equivalent, according to the witness of this and the parallel passage, +Gal. iv. 6. St. Paul appears to be referring to some occasion on which +the Church was in the habit of calling on God with the Aramaic and +Greek words side by side, and it is more than likely[4] that he is +making a definite reference to the Lord's Prayer, as recited by the +Roman and Galatian Christians in the form prescribed for us in St. +Luke's version[5], beginning 'Father.' The retention by Greek +Christians of an Aramaic word in a familiar religious formula, is like +the later retention by the Latins of the Greek prayer, _Kyrie eleison_, +or the retention by us of the names _Te Deum, Magnificat_, &c. St. +Paul's meaning would come home to us better if we were to +read--'whereby we cry _Our Father_.' + +4. '_The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are +children of God_.' This is a very {294} important passage for showing +that St. Paul did not in any way confuse the divine Spirit and the +human, and that in his belief the divine indwelling did not in any way +annihilate the human personality. Even in the closest union God +remains God and man man. But the passage is at least as important as +opening up a special avenue of insight into St. Paul's conception of +Christian worship and spiritual life generally. He speaks first of a +witness of the individual spirits of Christians to the fact of their +divine sonship; and he distinguishes from it something greater, a +witness of the divine Spirit, supporting the human. What exactly does +he mean by this witness of the divine Spirit as distinct from the +consciousness which--under the leading of the divine Spirit--Christians +are led themselves to form? How are we to distinguish the Spirit's +witness from the witness of our own hearts inspired by Him? Is it +merely[6] that the 'consciousness (of the individual) is analyzed, and +its _data_ are referred partly to the man himself, partly to the Spirit +of God moving and prompting him?' I do not think that a closer +examination will lead us to be satisfied with this. + +{295} + +The witness of the divine Spirit is apparently fixed by the context to +consist in the supply to us of the phrase 'Abba, Father[7]'. It is the +Spirit 'in whom we cry' (or, as the passage in the Galatians says, 'who +Himself comes into our hearts crying) Abba, Father,' who thus, by +suggesting this cry to us, bears witness with our own spirits that we +are sons of God. Thus the supporting witness of the Spirit lies +especially in a certain mode of address to God or formula of prayer +which He supplies. But this 'cry' or prayer the Spirit supplies to the +hearts of the Church as a whole. The whole Church, and not the +individual soul only, is the Spirit's home. 'Know ye not that ye are +(corporately) a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in +you'[8]? The witness of the Spirit is thus a witness borne in the +whole Church, which supports and sustains the witness of the individual +soul. This is a thought full of consolation. The life of the +individual Christian reposes upon, and is infolded by, the larger life +of the whole body. Behind his own spiritual consciousness, with all +its vicissitudes, lies the inspired consciousness of the whole body, +the witness of the Spirit; and this in part expresses itself in +inspired {296} formulas--the Lord's Prayer, the psalms, the creeds of +the divine name, the Church's worship; and these formulas, representing +our best self, are to sustain us in our fluctuations of feeling, and +carry us over our periods of dryness and insensibility. 'The Spirit +Himself beareth witness with our spirit.' + +5. 'The inheritance' of the children of God, which in the Old +Testament begins by meaning the Holy Land, was spiritualized into +meaning the kingdom of the Messiah. 'They shall inherit the land for +ever[9]': 'the meek shall inherit the earth[10].' And this kingdom of +the Messiah is an eternal kingdom: 'they shall inherit eternal +life[11]'--that is to be our inheritance as the chosen people of the +Lord. And it is an inheritance not only incorruptible but +inexhaustible: all share in it to the full of their capacities, and the +abundance of those who share diminishes nothing from the richness that +remains. + +And into that inheritance Christ is 'the way.' His life shows the law +by which it is to be won. It was a current Christian saying--'a +faithful saying'--'if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if +we endure, we shall also reign {297} with Him[12].' And whenever we +are inclined to complain at anything we may have to suffer, there is +one thought capable at once of quenching all murmuring, because of its +indisputable reasonableness--'It is enough for the disciple that he be +as his Master.' + + + +[1] 1 John iii. 9. + +[2] 'Ye received' (at a particular time), not 'ye have received'; cf. +above, p. 214, note 1. + +[3] Prov. xvii. 2. + +[4] See Chase, _Lord's Prayer in the Early Church_ ('Texts and +Studies,' Cambridge), p. 23. Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. i. 17. + +[5] xi. 2. + +[6] S. and H., _in loc._ + +[7] Cf. Vaughan and Gifford, _in loc._ + +[8] 1 Cor. iii. 16. + +[9] Isa. lx. 21. + +[10] Matt. v. 5. + +[11] Matt. xix. 29. + +[12] 2 Tim. ii. 11. + + + + +{298} + +DIVISION III. § 9. CHAPTER VIII. 18-30. + +_The hope of the creation._ + +St. Paul has touched upon the familiar topic of Christian suffering, +and he ends his great argument with a splendid encouragement to +believers to suffer gladly, and that for a manifold reason. First +(18-25), that the suffering is altogether inconsiderable by comparison +with the glory to which it leads, and is in itself only a part of the +universal travail-pang through which created nature as a whole is to +produce a glorious new earth to be the habitation of righteousness. +Secondly (26-30), that we are not alone in our sufferings. We have the +support, within us and around us, of the Holy Spirit as our effective +intercessor, and the consciousness of an eternal and infallible purpose +of divine love which is taking effect stage by stage in the case of +each one of us whom God has made members of His elect body. The +following is a paraphrase. + +{299} + +The sufferings in which this present situation involves us Christians +are quite inconsiderable by comparison with the heavenly glory which is +destined to be disclosed and to include us. The sense of this glorious +future pervades the whole creation. Nature is like some on-looker at a +spectacle craning the neck to see what is coming. She is waiting for +the final disclosure of the children of God in their true position; +knowing that she too--as a new heaven and a new earth--will share that +glorious future. At present her powers are continually frustrated; +failure is everywhere; the law of corruption is upon her like a +bondage. This curse she was subjected to, through no will of her own, +by the simple fiat of her Creator--but not for ever: she was left to +hope for deliverance from this bondage into a state of freedom--a +share, that is, in the freedom which is to belong to the final glory of +the children of God. With this in mind we can bear the universal +spectacle of pain. What we have always heard hitherto, wherever we +have lent our ear all through nature, has been groans; but they are the +groans as of a woman in travail: and in these groans we, God's chosen +people, though we already possess the first instalment of the divine +Spirit, {300} the pledge of what is yet to come--in these groans we +bear our part, and also in the hope that accompanies the groaning. We +groan expecting to realize our sonship, as that can only be realized +when body as well as soul is redeemed from all evil. Hope is thus the +very condition on which we received our spiritual deliverance when we +became Christ's. And hope means nothing else than a condition of +expecting good things not yet in sight. It means the readiness to +endure till they come. + +And there is another reason why we should be glad to bear our present +sufferings. It is because, though we are weak in ourselves, we are not +left alone. Of ourselves we should be bewildered and not know even +what we ought to ask God to give us. But we have in the Spirit who +dwells in us a divine advocate and intercessor. His intercession makes +itself perceptible to us in groaning desires after a better condition, +desires which cannot be put into words, but which are intelligible +enough to God. He who searches the hearts interprets the longings we +cannot express--understands, that is, the Spirit's meaning; for He is +God's own Spirit, and the intercessions He makes for us, the +consecrated people, express God's own {301} intention. And what that +intention is towards us we know. We know that it is an intention of +good which cannot fail for those who love God; or, in other words, for +those who are the subjects of the divine purpose and call--an intention +of good to which everything, even seeming evils, must minister. For +God's purpose reaches from eternity to eternity, and cannot be baffled +from without or fail by the way. Those whom in eternity He designated +beforehand as instruments of His will, those He also eternally destined +for the highest human perfection--for the blessed lot of being made +like His own Son, as He should be hereafter incarnate, so that He might +be an elder brother in a great human family: and those who were thus +appointed beforehand for this high destiny, in due course He called +into the elect body. And those whom He thus called He acquitted and +accepted for righteous: and whom He thus accepted He crowned with glory. + + +For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to +be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the +earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the +sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own +will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation +itself also shall be delivered from the bondage {302} of corruption +into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that +the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. +And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the +Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for _our_ +adoption, _to wit_, the redemption of our body. For by hope were we +saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which +he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, _then_ do we with +patience wait for it. + +And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know +not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession +for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth +the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh +intercession for the saints according to _the will of_ God. And we +know that to them that love God all things work together for good, +_even_ to them that are called according to _his_ purpose. For whom he +foreknew, he also foreordained _to be_ conformed to the image of his +Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he +foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also +justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. + + +i. + +There are passages in the New Testament which are unique. Such is the +passage in St. Peter's epistle about Christ preaching in His +disembodied human spirit to other spirits in Hades--a passage vaguely +suggestive of wide thoughts and hopes, and leading us to suppose {303} +that the ideas which it contained were familiar in the apostolic +circle, but standing alone, with practically nothing to elucidate it +from outside. And the passage just read about the groaning of creation +in travail-pains is unique, not because there is not a good deal to +elucidate it in other parts of the Bible, but because St. Paul in his +treatment of common material strikes a note of sympathy with nature +from nature's point of view, which is heard nowhere else in the Bible. + +In Genesis we read that 'the ground was cursed[1]' because of man's +sin, in the sense apparently that, as the penalty of his sin, nature +was to be made a rougher home for him, and he was to extract his food +from it only with pain and sweat. Isaiah is perhaps interpreting this +primitive lesson in more modern tones when he cries that 'the earth is +polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed +the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the ever-lasting covenant. +Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell +therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are +burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine +languisheth[2].' In this sense certainly, if not in some more +recondite {304} sense also, the ground is stricken with a curse as a +result of human sin. And there are parts of the world where no lesson +seems more patent. At any rate, whatever be the interpretation given +to it, it was part of the common Jewish teaching that 'though all +things were made very good, yet when the first man sinned they were +corrupted, and shall return no more to their proper state until the son +of Pherez[3] shall come[4].' For the curse was not to be for ever. +There was a good time to come--a new heaven, a new earth, wherein +righteousness should dwell--'A restoration of all things,' and not +merely of man[5], which should accompany the coming of the Messiah. +This was a most popular idea in Jewish hearts. 'I will transform the +heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light. And I will transform +the earth and make it a blessing and cause mine elect ones to dwell +upon it: but the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon[6].' + +Here then we have the common belief which St. Paul inherits and uses. +He lays indeed very little stress upon the connexion of the earth's +present condition with human sin, if he {305} even alludes to it. He +only says it was 'subjected to vanity' by the decree of the Creator, +and that with a glorious prospect. It is upon the present aspect of +the creation and its great prospect that his eyes are set. And his +superiority to contemporary Jewish thought is shown by the fact that in +his vision of the future he is catholic and cosmic. What he is +contemplating is not a world renovated in order that one chosen race +may be happy and glorious, but a renovated world for a perfected +humanity. And in his representation of the present aspects of nature +he strikes an extraordinarily modern note by exhibiting, as it were +unintentionally, a deep and real sympathy with nature in her pain from +her own point of view. The Psalms can supply examples of a real +sympathetic fellowship in the happiness of creation--a happiness which +modern pessimists strangely ignore. But here we have, as nowhere else +in the Bible--perhaps nowhere in ancient literature--a man who feels +with the pain of creation[7]. He notes how much 'vanity' there is in +nature--how much that is ineffective and disappointing, how much waste +and sadness--by reason of the omnipresent law of corruption, {306} +dissolution and decay under which she is laid. He feels this as from +nature's own heart. And he has an ear for the universal cry of +positive pain, pain as of a woman in travail, which is one at least of +the most unmistakeable voices of nature. But he has got an explanation +of this universal pain which makes it tolerable to him. It is the pain +which accompanies a birth. The pain, as in the case of the woman, is +to be justified by the issue. Nature 'eagerly expects' as well as +'groans': and will doubtless 'remember no more the anguish, for joy' of +that which is the fruit of her agony. For there is a destiny for the +whole material world which includes man. As man is to be perfected and +spiritualized in body no less than in mind; so the whole man, perfected +in glory, is to have his place in a world emancipated in like manner +from failure and pain. + +Perhaps the most important consideration to be derived from this +passage is that St. Paul's thought is equally alien to a one-sided +spiritualism and a one-sided materialism. A one-sided spiritualism, +such as is represented to-day by (most falsely-called) 'Christian +Science,' either disbelieves in the reality of matter altogether, or +regards it with its attendant qualities of weakness and pain as evil +and a thing to be ignored. The religion of {307} the Incarnation, on +the other hand, as represented by St. Paul, recognizes it as God's +creation and the temple of His presence. In our manhood, as scientific +investigation assures us, we can exercise no activity of spirit except +as parts of a material world, through the senses and by the +instrumentality of the bodily organs. Spirit and matter are in us so +linked together that the real difficulty to a thinking Christian is to +conceive at all of a 'disembodied' state of the personal human spirit +after death which is in any sense a living state. But such a +'disembodied' state--if the word really represents the truth--is +unnatural and temporary. The perfected human spirit is to have an +embodiment which is to be material, as being truly a body, but also +spiritual, because it is to be the fitting organ of the perfected +spirit, in no way embarrassing or clogging its activity by any +grossness or corruption. This is the Christian hope, definite in +principle, if quite unaccompanied by any anticipated knowledge of +method or details. And this destiny of the human body cannot be +separated from the destiny of the material universe as a whole. Matter +as a whole is to have an unending development like spirit, and a +development with a justifying purpose of glory in it. + +{308} + +And St. Paul is equally opposed to the materialism which gives to +matter a substantive existence apart from spirit. Metaphysical inquiry +assures us that we can have no conception of a material object, or of +matter in general, except as related to a consciousness or spirit; or, +in other words, except as an adjunct to some sort of personality. Such +metaphysical inquiry did not lie in St. Paul's way. But he is in +harmony with its results when he contemplates a glorified nature as +still relative to glorified personalities. Nature is to share the +revelation of the glory of the _sons_ of God. + +We cannot help wondering, as we read these verses, whether St. Paul had +in mind that occasion when, before the chosen witnesses, Christ was +bodily transfigured on the holy mount by an anticipation of the glory +destined for His sonship; and the apostles felt their hearts thereby +encouraged to believe more surely in the teaching of the prophets about +the general glory that was to accompany the final manifestation of the +Christ[8]. + +When St. Paul talks of nature 'groaning' and (still more) 'eagerly +expecting,' is it merely a poetical personification, as Chrysostom and +most {309} commentators suppose, like that of the Psalmist when he +makes 'the floods clap their hands'? It may be so. George Crabbe, in +his _Delay is Dangerous_, draws a singularly beautiful picture of a +late autumn morning as it appeared to a dejected man, and he ends the +description with the lines:-- + + These things were sad in nature, or they took + Sadness from him, the likeness of his look. + +Is the latter the true explanation? Is there no sadness or eager +desire in nature independently--I will not say of spirit, but of the +human spirit? It is sometimes very difficult to believe this. And may +not the Christian belief about angels make the fancy legitimate, that +every created thing has some accompanying intelligence--higher or +lower--which consciously realizes its beauty and its joy, and also its +pain and its hope? If this be so, then there is not merely deficiency +and pain, but the consciousness of this deficiency and pain, a real +groaning and a real expectation, in the great fabric of nature. We may +legitimately imagine this; but we have probably no right to attribute +such an imperfectly-based speculation to St. Paul[9]. + +{310} + +ii. + +It is very interesting to notice the various points of view from which +St. Paul contemplates the great ideas of 'redemption,' 'adoption,' +'salvation.' Christ redeemed us by the shedding of His blood, and we +entered into the redeemed state individually and were adopted as sons +when we became Christians. This is, beyond all question, St. Paul's +belief. But when he contemplates the outward conditions of the +redeemed man, and finds them quite incongruous with freedom and +sonship, so wholly unashamed is he to require that these outward +conditions shall be transformed, and body as well as spirit shall be +redeemed, that he speaks as if the great hope were still unrealized and +we were still only expecting to be redeemed and adopted--'waiting for +our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' He thus retains the +intensely Jewish language of what we may call Christ's own Apocalypse, +when He bids His disciples, as the Day of the Lord approaches, to 'look +up and lift up their heads: because their redemption draweth nigh.' + +The uses of the words 'saved' and 'salvation' are still more +remarkable. If we are {311} contemplating the finished work of Christ, +we are led to say, 'By grace have we been saved[10].' If we are +considering our own individual entrances into this great salvation at +the time of our believing or becoming Christians in baptism, we say, +'It was upon a basis of hope that we were saved[11].' If we are +considering the progressive life of the believer, we say, 'He is being +saved[12].' If we are looking to the great and final hope, we say, 'We +shall be saved.' 'Our salvation is nearer than when we became +believers[13].' This simple set of facts about New Testament language +throws a great light on the popular revivalist question--'Are you +saved?' + + +iii. + +Our Lord once asked one who came to Him to be healed--'What wilt thou +that I should do unto thee?' and a very devout modern writer[14] builds +upon this an argument that we ought to learn continually to pray with +more definiteness and detail. Probably it is true to say {312} that +the advanced Christian learns to pray more definitely for spiritual +things, as he grows in spiritual discernment and sees more distinctly +what God's moral will is for himself and others. But there is no +similar growth to be expected in the knowledge of what outward gifts +will really help or hinder us and others. And it is with his eye +chiefly on the outward conditions of the Christian's life that St. Paul +here says--'We know not what we should pray for as we ought'; and +teaches us that 'The Spirit makes intercession for the saints according +to God.' We must be content to recognize, even while we +half-ignorantly pray for what we think we need, that '_all_ (outward) +things work together for good to them that love God.' St. Paul had +learnt that lesson when he himself 'besought the Lord thrice' that his +great physical trouble might be removed from him, and was refused[15]. +The Son of Man Himself prayed only 'Father, _if it be possible_, let +this cup pass from me,' and learned in experience that it was not +possible. These lessons may suffice to humble any one who grows +over-confident that he knows what outward circumstances are best for +himself or his friends or the Church. + +{313} + +We all feel deeply the imperfection of our prayers: how weak, how +ignorant they are! And St. Paul consoles us with the belief in an +intercession--perfect, all-knowing, divine--which supports and sustains +and, we may say, includes ours. The 'intercession of the Spirit' in +our behalf, carried on, it is implied, 'in the hearts' of the saints +which only God searches, is mentioned nowhere in the New Testament but +here. But it is not to be separated from the intercession of Christ +which is mentioned just below[16]. Christ's intercession is 'at the +right hand of God,' but also He has by the Spirit taken us up into His +own life. He dwells in us by His Spirit. By His Spirit we are knit +into one and made His body. Doubtless, then, dwelling thus by the +Spirit in the body, Christ intercedes for us. This is the intercession +of the Spirit, which is also the intercession of Christ--an +intercession gathering up into one, and sustaining and connecting and +perfecting, all the imperfect prayers of all the saints. + +This interceding Spirit is in Himself perfectly conscious of God's mind +and purpose, and God is perfectly conscious of His. He intercedes +'according to God.' This intercession {314} is but a form of the +perfect divine life. But in the heart of the Church this desire of the +Spirit can make itself felt only in groanings for the divine +manifestations which, like the aspirations which music suggests or +expresses, are too deep to admit of articulate utterance. St. Paul, +when he speaks of groanings which cannot be put into words, is perhaps +thinking of the 'tongues' in which the spiritual emotion of the first +Christian churches found expression. And we should think of some +earnest act of corporate Christian worship when, under the workings of +the one Spirit, the strong desire after what is holiest and highest +possesses men, and binds them together with a sense of longing for the +divine manifestation which could not be put into definite words. + +St. Paul speaks of the groaning of suffering nature (ver. 22), and the +groaning of the individual Christians (ver. 23), and also the groaning +of the divine Spirit in the Church (ver. 26). No word could express +more powerfully the intense desire after the manifestation of the +divine kingdom which, in St. Paul's mind, should lie at the heart of +true Christian prayer. + +And the true prayer of the Spirit--the prayer which is according to +God--is described (ver. 27) {315} as 'on behalf of saints[17]'--on +behalf of a separated and consecrated body. It follows, that is to +say, the lines of Christ's own prayer--'I pray not for the world, but +for those whom thou hast given me.' It is through the sanctified life +that the divine influences are to spread over the world: and by praying +for the consecrated body we are praying that that life may be exhibited +more and more perfectly amongst men so as to strike their consciences +and move them to conversion; that through our good works which they now +behold they may glorify God in the day when they themselves are +visited. The New Testament method of praying for the world is thus in +great part indirect. But the direct method is also enjoined. We are +also to pray directly 'for all men[18].' + + +iv. + +There is, I think, no point on which St. Paul has been more +misrepresented than on his teaching about predestination. He teaches +plainly that it is God's purpose to 'have mercy upon all': that He +'willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the +{316} truth[19].' But He works towards this universal end through a +method of selected human instruments--through an elect body. Such an +elect body had been the Jewish nation--selected, we cannot tell why, +but very possibly in part because of its capacity for coherence and +toughness, coupled with a singular aptitude for simple religious +ideas--qualities which in themselves of course were the gift of God. +This nation might have expanded, as was intended, into a catholic +church. But, as it refused to correspond with its vocation in this +respect, in fact the catholic Church appears in history as taking its +place, even while it was developed out of it--an elect body gathered +out of 'every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.' The +election of this catholic body to be the heirs of salvation and to bear +the name of God in the world was, it would have been held, a +self-evident fact. St. Paul reasons not up to this fact but from it. +He uses the admitted fact to strengthen its individual members under +stress of trial. They must bear earthly troubles because they form the +appointed discipline for the individuals who form the select body. Let +men but love God, and then all outward things {317} whatsoever work +together for good for them. The fact that they love God is the +sufficient evidence of their election. Those who love God are also +those who are 'called according to His purpose.' But, we ask, Have +none received the call and rejected it? were none called, who do not +love God? is it not true, that 'Many are called and few chosen'? St. +Paul says not a word to the contrary. But that is not the question he +is considering. The members of the Christian Church, devoted to God, +to whom he is writing _have_ been called. This call of which they have +become the subject is, St. Paul assures them, no afterthought, no +momentary act of God, which as it came into being in a moment so may +pass away. It is not a being taken up by God and then perhaps dropped +again. His gifts and calling are without repentance on His side, +because they represent an eternal will. In the eternal mind God +'foreknew' this chosen body. To 'know' as used of God (in contexts +where it is implied that others are not 'known') means to 'take +knowledge of or mark out for a divine purpose, as God said of the Jews, +'You only have I known of all the families of the earth[20],' that is, +your {318} nation only have I singled out or designated[21]. This +divine marking out then was an eternal act. God eternally marked out +certain persons, those presumably whom a certain preparatory discipline +and moral education, Jewish or heathen, should have made apt for His +purpose, such aptitude being of course again His gift. Anyway, for +reasons which we cannot probe, God did eternally foreknow or mark out +beforehand a body of men to be His catholic church. And those so +marked out were in the eternal counsels appointed for a high spiritual +vocation, to be made like the divine Son, who was to be made man, so +that, with Christ as heir and elder brother, they together might +represent in the world the divine ideal for man. And upon those so +marked out and foreordained, in due time the divine call came by the +apostolic preaching. And, at the first movement of corresponsive +faith, they had been acquitted of all their old sins and planted all at +once upon a new basis in Christ Jesus. And those thus set upon the new +basis God also had already in His divine counsels clothed with glory, +their share in the glory of the divine Son which is only waiting to be +fully manifested. Every {319} Christian therefore who has felt a +movement of God in his heart, under which he has become a Christian, +knows that he is in God's keeping. God will not fail him. He who has +begun the good work will perform it. Trouble and anxiety within or +without need not alarm him. He has but to keep himself, joyful and +confident, in God's hands. The movement of God upon him and within +him, as it proceeds out of the eternal mind, so it passes securely on +into the eternal issue. No doubt St. Paul would say they might tear +themselves by utter wilfulness out of the divine hand, as for the time +at least the Jews had mostly done. But short of that they are safe. +The movement of God, the protection of God, the purpose of God, is upon +them and around them, and goes before them preparing their way, +individually and corporately. + +This is the moral use St. Paul makes of the doctrine of predestination. +And it is to do egregious violence to his general teaching to suggest +that he entertained the idea of persons created with an opposite +predestination--to eternal misery. St. Paul is dealing here only with +what God has already shown of His purpose in the actual vocation of +some. Ultimately {320} he assures us all men share the divine purpose +for good[22]. But, on the other hand, he never suggests that they may +not resist it, or allows us to say that so far as concerns themselves +they may not defeat it. + + + +[1] iii. 17-19; v. 29. + +[2] xxiv. 5-7. + +[3] i.e. Messiah, son of David, son of Pherez (Ruth iv. 18). + +[4] _Bereshith Rabbah_, xii. 5. + +[5] Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; cf. 2 Pet. iii. 13; Rev. xxi. 1; Acts iii. +21. + +[6] _Book of Enoch_, xlv. 4, 5. + +[7] St. Paul's word 'creation' (verses 30-22) is used in St. Paul's +sense in Wisd. xvi. 34, xix. 6. + +[8] 2 Pet. i. 16-19. + +[9] Cf. Latham, _Service of Angels_ (Cambridge, 1894). + +[10] Eph. ii. 5. + +[11] Rom. viii. 24. + +[12] 1 Cor. xv. 2; 2 Cor. ii. 15. (The present tense in both cases.) + +[13] Rom. v. 9, 10; xiii. 11: cf. 1 Tim. iv. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 18. + +[14] Andrew Murray's _With Christ in the School of Prayer_ (Nisbet +1891), p. 71. + +[15] 2 Cor. xii. 8: cf. Phil. i. 22, 'What I shall choose I wot not.' + +[16] Verse 34. + +[17] Not 'the saints' in the Greek. + +[18] 1 Tim. ii. 1. + +[19] Rom. xi. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4. + +[20] Amos iii. 2: cf. Ps. i. 6; Hos. xiii. 5; Matt. vii. 23. + +[21] Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. pp. 19, 80. + +[22] See especially Rom. xi. 29-33. + + + + +{321} + +DIVISION III. § 10. CHAPTER VIII. 31-39. + +_Christian assurance._ + +St. Paul has brought his great argument to an end. And before he +passes to its manifold application in the later parts of his epistle, +he applies it in words which spring glowing from a heart on fire with +the gospel he loves, to reassure disheartened and nervous Christians. +It was a natural feature of the apostolic age that the disciples should +lose their first courage and become afraid, when the hard experience +they were to expect became plain to them. The Epistle to the Hebrews +is written full in face of this failure of courage among Jewish +Christians. For the Gentiles whom St. Paul has more particularly in +view there were manifold causes of alarm--fears derived from their own +weakness, from spiritual uncertainty, and from their precarious +position. It was not only that outward calamity--famine and +pestilence--might {322} come on them like other people. They plainly +felt--St. Paul plainly felt, as he thought of the bitter hostility of +the Jews actually ready to break out upon the Church, and of the +jealousy of the Empire, not yet hostile but easily capable of becoming +so--that times of persecution were at hand: that the Christians were +truly in the world as 'lambs in the midst of wolves.' Therefore he +would have them realize the whole secret of that invincible strength, +that power to endure and triumph, which ought to be theirs. + +What is to be our practical conclusion, he asks, from all this +theology, from all this consideration of revealed facts and truths? +The sum of it all is that God is not our taskmaster and critical judge. +He is altogether on our side. And if this be so, whose hostility can +by comparison come into consideration at all? God showed His mind +toward us by the greatest possible act of self-sacrifice, the giving up +of His own divine Son to die for us. And, plainly, if of His free love +He gave us His greatest gift, He will not fail to accompany it with +everything that love can suggest. Or, to put the matter in another +way, if God, in full knowledge of what we were thought proper to take +us for His chosen {323} people and to put us in a position of +acceptance with Him, who can with any hope of success bring a charge +against us or pass condemnation on us? For we know the mind of the +only judge. Or, once again, what can be so reassuring as to consider +the person of our advocate or mediator? It is Christ Jesus, God's own +Son in our nature, who died a sacrifice for our sins, but so far from +being conquered by death, was raised from among the dead, and exalted +to the right hand of God, and there is occupied in presenting Himself +before the Father in intercession for us--covering all our approach to +God with His acceptableness. Out of the protecting power of this love +of Christ, then, who shall tear us? It is quite true that troubles may +beat upon us--outward affliction, or inward trouble, or persecution, or +famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. We may find that only the +words of the Psalmist[1] suit our case, 'For thy sake are we being put +to death the whole day: the estimate formed of us is that of sheep +meant for slaughter.' But in all these contingencies the love of +Christ can supply us with a more than victorious power. For this is +St. Paul's conviction, that no conceivable power {324} of life or of +death, or of the angelic hierarchy, nothing in present circumstances or +future destiny, no possible force, neither the highest height of +heavens or the deepest depth of hell, no possible creation of God other +than what we now know to exist, shall be able to tear us from that +which holds us in a grasp stronger than the strongest--the love of God +which is in Christ Jesus, who is our Lord. + + +What then shall we say to these things? If God _is_ for us, who _is_ +against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for +us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who +shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that +justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that +died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right +hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate +us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or +persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it +is written, + + For thy sake we are killed all the day long; + We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. + +Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that +loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor +powers, 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. + + +There is not much that needs comment in these verses. We may notice +the contrast {325} between the tone of the Psalmist quoted by St. +Paul--weighed down, like many a servant of the older covenant, with the +unintelligible experience of the persecution of God's faithful +people--and the exultant faith of St. Paul which finds no difficulty in +the experience at all. Again, we do well to observe that among the +forces enumerated by St. Paul which cannot tear us out of the hand of +God, he does not include our own wills, and we could not even conceive +him so including them. Once again, we take note how 'the love of +Christ' (ver. 35) is resolved (ver. 39) into the 'love of God in Christ +Jesus.' Christ's love is God's love, as Christ is truly proper and +essential to the being of God, His own very Son. + +These words, I say, need very little comment, but they thrill our souls +as hardly any other words of St. Paul. They are the real summary of +this epistle, and show us how the glorious apostle of Christian liberty +would have us view our life. We are not to build the edifice of a life +which at the top is to be within sight of God. We are to start from +God who from eternity and all along has been beforehand with us: in His +external personal love predestinating, creating, calling, pardoning, +holding, and keeping us {326} in continual growth for eternal glory. +And the one power of religion is therefore faith, that faculty by which +we look continually out of ourselves, and starting from God, committing +ourselves wholly to God, raise the fabric of life, in the community of +a true human brotherhood, upon the secure basis of the love of Him who +created us, and will satisfy utterly the being which He has given us. +This is the summary lesson of the great epistle. + + + +[1] Ps. xliv. 22. + + + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + + + +_A Series of Simple Expositions_ + +_of_ + +_Portions of the New Testament_, + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D., + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. + +_Crown 8vo, Green Cloth, 3s. 6d. each volume._ + + THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. + THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. + THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. + Vol. I. cap. i-viii. + Vol. II. cap. ix-xvi, with Appendices. + + + + +OTHER WORKS + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. + + +_Crown 8vo 2s. 6d._ + +THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. Four Lectures delivered in the Cathedral +Church of St. Asaph. + +CONTENTS:--I. The Mission of the Church.--II. Unity within the Church +of England.--III. The Relation of the Church to Independent and +Hostile Opinion.--IV. The Mission of the Church in Society.--Appended +Notes. + +'It is a twofold work--to sanctify what can be hallowed, to pass +judgement on that which must be condemned. From this point of view the +interest of Mr. Gore's new book is great.'--_Church Quarterly_. + + +_8vo, 7s. 6d._ + +THE BAMPTON LECTURES, 1891; The Incarnation of the Son of God. + + +_8vo, 7s. 6d._ + +DISSERTATIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE INCARNATION. + + +_Crown 8vo, 5s. net._ + +ESSAYS ON CHURCH REFORM. Eleven Essays on the Present and Future +Position of the Church of England. By the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, +D.D.; and other eminent British, Colonial, and American writers. + + +_Crown 8vo, 6s._ + +LUX MUNDI. A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. By +Various Writers. Edited by the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + + +LONDON: + +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. +I, by Charles Gore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + +***** This file should be named 32673-8.txt or 32673-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/7/32673/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32673-8.zip b/32673-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c958190 --- /dev/null +++ b/32673-8.zip diff --git a/32673-h.zip b/32673-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4330b78 --- /dev/null +++ b/32673-h.zip diff --git a/32673-h/32673-h.htm b/32673-h/32673-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8b1c321 --- /dev/null +++ b/32673-h/32673-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9860 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<HTML> +<HEAD> + +<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> + +<TITLE> +The Project Gutenberg E-text of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Vol. I), +by Charles Gore +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.footnote {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 80%; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.block {text-indent: 4% ; + font-size: 85%; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 5% } + +P.block2 {text-indent: 0% ; + font-size: 85%; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 5% } + +P.transnote {text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: 90% ; + text-indent: -5% ; + margin-left: 5% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +.pagenum { position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: 80%; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I, by Charles Gore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I + A Practical Exposition + +Author: Charles Gore + +Release Date: June 3, 2010 [EBook #32673] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +<I>St. Paul's</I> +<BR> +<I>Epistle to the Romans</I> +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +<I>A Practical Exposition</I> +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +VOL. I +<BR> +(CHAPTERS I-VIII) +</H3> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON +<BR> +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. +<BR> +1902 +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +FIRST EDITION . <I>February</I>, 1899.<BR> +<I>Reprinted . . . . . March</I>, 1900.<BR> +<I>Reprinted . . . September</I>, 1900.<BR> +<I>Reprinted . . . . October</I>, 1902.<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +OXFORD +<BR> +HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pv"></A>v}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE +</H3> + +<P> +A good excuse is needed for adding to the large number of excellent +commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans which already exist. But I +think there is such an excuse. These commentaries are not of the sort +which readers who are educated but not scholarly find it easy to +master; so that in fact this epistle is at the present day very much +misunderstood or ignored by such people. And again, partly owing to +its interpretation at the period of the Reformation and by some +Evangelicals of later date, it is still practically to a great extent +viewed with discomfort and neglected by those who most value the name +of Catholic. My excuse, then, for adding to the expositions of the +Romans lies in these facts. One who is necessarily immersed in the +practical work of the Christian ministry, and is yet struggling to keep +himself in some sense in line with biblical scholarship, if his life +involves special disadvantages, may yet hope to be useful in +interpreting to ordinary Christians +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvi"></A>vi}</SPAN> +the results of the scholars. +And I am persuaded that it requires one who enters thoroughly into the +spirit of churchmanship, or the obligation of the one body, to +interpret with any completeness the mind of St. Paul. +</P> + +<P> +This volume has practically no more connexion with lectures delivered +in Westminster Abbey last Lent, than is implied in its being an +exposition of the same epistle by the same person. +</P> + +<P> +The method of exposition in this volume is the same as that pursued in +its predecessor on the Epistle to the Ephesians. After a general +introduction, each section of the Revised Version is taken, or in some +cases two sections are taken together, and prefaced by an analysis or +paraphrase, as seems most useful, and followed by further explanation +of the main ideas or phrases which each section contains. +</P> + +<P> +The 'appended notes' I have been obliged to defer to the end of the +second volume—which, I hope, will appear within a year—with a view of +approximately equalizing the size of the two volumes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CHARLES GORE. +<BR><BR> +WESTMINSTER ABBEY,<BR> + <I>Conversion of St. Paul</I>, 1899.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pvii"></A>vii}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +TABLE OF CONTENTS +</H2> + +<PRE> + PAGE +INTRODUCTION. + + (i) Origin and circumstances of the epistle . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P1">1</A> + (ii) 'Justification by works' or 'by faith' . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P6">6</A> + (iii) Justification, sanctification, and Church membership . <A HREF="#P25">25</A> + (iv) St. Paul's doctrine and modern spiritual needs . . . . <A HREF="#P41">41</A> + + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. + +CHAPTER + + I. 1-7 SALUTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P46">46</A> + 8-17 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P53">53</A> + + +DIVISION I <I>Universality of sin and condemnation</I> . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P63">63</A> + + 18-32 § 1 Judgement on the Gentile world . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P66">66</A> + II. § 2 Judgement on the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P87">87</A> + III. 1-8 § 3 Jewish objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P114">114</A> + 9-20 § 4 Sin and condemnation universal . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P121">121</A> + + +DIVISION II <I>Justification by faith only</I>. + + 21-31 § 1 Christ our propitiation . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P130">130</A> + IV. § 2 The true seed of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P155">155</A> + +</PRE> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pviii"></A>viii}</SPAN> + +<PRE> +DIVISION III <I>The accepted life or the moral consequences + of justification</I>. + + V. 1-11 § 1 The holy confidence of the justified . . . . . <A HREF="#P175">175</A> + 12-21 § 2 The second Adam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P185">185</A> + + VI. 1-14 § 3 The Christian life a living by dying . . . . . <A HREF="#P204">204</A> + 15-23 § 4 The perfect freedom in God's service . . . . . <A HREF="#P225">225</A> + + VII. 1-6 § 5 Freedom from the law by union with Christ . . <A HREF="#P236">236</A> + 7-25 § 6 The function and failure of the law . . . . . <A HREF="#P245">245</A> + + VIII. 1-11 § 7 Life in the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P271">271</A> + 12-17 § 8 The life of sonship . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P288">288</A> + 18-30 § 9 The hope of the creation . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P298">298</A> + 31-39 § 10 Christian assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . <A HREF="#P321">321</A> +</PRE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00b"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Introduction.</I> +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +i. +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul's great Epistle to the Romans was written, as may be quite +confidently asserted, from Corinth, during the second visit to Greece +recorded in the Acts[<A NAME="chap00bfn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn1">1</A>], i.e. in the beginning of the year commonly +reckoned 58, but perhaps more correctly 56 A.D.—the year following the +writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians. The reasons for this +confident statement, and indeed for all that needs to be said about the +circumstances under which St. Paul wrote and the conditions of +Christianity at Rome, become apparent chiefly in connexion with the +later parts of the epistle which are not included in this volume. They +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +shall therefore be omitted here, and we will content ourselves for +the moment with a very brief statement of the results in which scholars +are now finding, as it would seem, final agreement. +</P> + +<P> +The existence of Christians at Rome was due not to any apostolic +founding, for no apostle appears yet to have visited Rome, but to the +sort of 'quiet and fortuitous filtration[<A NAME="chap00bfn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn2">2</A>]' of Christians from various +parts of the empire to its great centre which must naturally have taken +place; for from all quarters there was a tendency to Rome. 'Some from +Palestine, some from Corinth, some from Ephesus and other parts of +Proconsular Asia, possibly some from Tarsus, and more from the Syrian +Antioch, there was in the first instance, as we may believe, nothing +concerted in their going; but when once they arrived in the metropolis, +the freemasonry common among Christians would soon make them known to +each other, and they would form, not exactly an organized Church'—that +may well have been the result of the later presence of St. Paul and St. +Peter—'but such a fortuitous assemblage of Christians as was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +only +waiting for the advent of an apostle to constitute one[<A NAME="chap00bfn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn3">3</A>].' Among this +assemblage of Christians it appears evident from St. Paul's language[<A NAME="chap00bfn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn4">4</A>] +that there must have been Jews as well as Gentiles; but the dominant +character of the church was Gentile[<A NAME="chap00bfn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn5">5</A>]. It is perhaps only putting +this in another way to say that there would have been among the Roman +Christians elements of hostility to St. Paul and his teaching, but +Christianity as St. Paul taught it would have been in the ascendant. +And probably St. Paul's special informants about affairs there would +have been his special friends, Prisca and Aquila[<A NAME="chap00bfn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn6">6</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +The character of the epistle written to these Christians of the capital +is marked. It has beyond any other of St. Paul's epistles the +character of an ordered theological treatise. Of course it assumes the +existence of accepted Christian principles—the rudimentary instruction +or Christian 'tradition'—in the minds of those to whom it was +addressed[<A NAME="chap00bfn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn7">7</A>]. But it takes certain of these principles of the +Christian +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +religion and develops them systematically and +argumentatively; though again, it must be explained, the argument is +very far from being barely logical, but is full of the deepest feeling, +showing itself in passages of memorable eloquence which live in the +hearts of all of us. +</P> + +<P> +Why this particular epistle should have this character of a systematic +treatise is not hard to see. St. Paul was reaching the end of his +great controversy for the catholicity of the Gospel, against the +Judaizers—that is, for the equal position of Gentiles and Jews in the +Church, and against the obligation upon the Gentiles of circumcision +and the ceremonial law. That controversy was the occasion of the +apostolic conference at Jerusalem, which is described both by St. Luke +in the Acts[<A NAME="chap00bfn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn8">8</A>] and, from the point of view of St. Paul's own 'apology,' +in the Epistle to the Galatians[<A NAME="chap00bfn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn9">9</A>]. It is felt at its whitest heat in +that intensely concentrated and passionate epistle. But by the time +that the Epistle to the Romans came to be written the controversy was +quieting down. The victory of Catholicism over Judaism was as good as +won. The great principle of justification by faith, not by works of +the law, had developed itself lucidly +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> +and clearly in St. Paul's +mind, and flowed out in our epistle in an ordered sequence of thought, +rich, profound, and mature. +</P> + +<P> +And there were special reasons why it should have been expressed in +writing at this moment, and to the Roman Christians. Though the heat +of the conflict inside the Church was over, the fierce hostility of +many of the Jews, both within and without the Church, to St. Paul +personally was by no means past. Now St. Paul was on his way up to +Jerusalem with the money collected in the Gentile churches for the poor +brethren there. He attached great importance to this expression of +Gentile goodwill, and almost more importance to its acceptance at his +hands by the Jerusalem Christians[<A NAME="chap00bfn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn10">10</A>]. It was to be a link of mutual, +practical love to bind the divergent elements in the Church together. +But he felt, and as experience showed rightly, that his enterprise +would be attended with great peril to his life. This epistle +therefore, like his speech at Miletus, has something of the character +of 'last words[<A NAME="chap00bfn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn11">11</A>].' He is in writing it committing to the future the +fruits of his labours, so far as they can be expressed in a doctrine, +at a moment when he feels that their continuance is being +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +seriously +imperilled. And this summary of his life's teaching in its most +characteristic aspect is most fitly addressed to the Christians of the +great city which was the centre of the then world. St. Paul already +conceived of Christianity as, in prospect at least, the religion of the +empire. It was vastly important, therefore, that the capital should +know it and hold it in its full glory and richness. He himself, if he +escaped safe through the visit to Jerusalem, was bent on immediately +going thither and securing this great end by his personal ministry[<A NAME="chap00bfn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn12">12</A>]. +But he could not depend on the future. He must seize the golden +moment—buying up the opportunity at least by a letter. +</P> + +<P> +This, in very brief words, is an account of the circumstances and +conditions under which the Epistle to the Romans was written, and it +must suffice for the moment till some of the details are presented to +us in its later chapters. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ii. +</H4> + +<P> +There are men of whom it is especially true that their teaching is the +outcome of their own +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +personal experience. If a man's teaching is +to have any real force this must be in a measure true in any case. But +in some men the personal experience has set an exceptionally strong +impress upon the intellectual convictions, and so upon the teaching. +Such men—otherwise very different from one another—are Augustine, +Dante, Luther, Bunyan, Newman. Such an one was St. Paul. His +intellectual theory is on fire with the emotions bred of a personal +experience, both bitter and sweet, but always intense. And if there is +professedly more of autobiography in the Epistle to the Galatians, yet +in fact we know St. Paul's interior life, both before and after his +'conversion,' so far as we know it at all, mainly through the +generalized account of it in the Epistle to the Romans. For the +doctrine of justification by faith, not by works of the law, developed +in this epistle, is the record of his personal experience reduced to a +general principle. St. Paul had, on the lines of his Pharisaic +education, in the first half of his life zealously sought to be +justified by works, and had found out his mistake. +</P> + +<P> +What is the real meaning of this phrase? Ordinarily we Englishmen find +it natural to appropriate St. James' 'common sense' language +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +about +justification rather than St. Paul's[<A NAME="chap00bfn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn13">13</A>], and say that faith is surely +of no moral value without works or good actions, and that we can be +justified by nothing else except our conduct. Or if the Pharisees are +pointed to with their rigid ecclesiastical observances as types of men +seeking to be justified before God by the merits of their works, then, +in this sense of works, we feel that the idea of justification by such +means, apart from deeper moral effort, is one which has passed out of +our horizon. Yet if we get to the moral essence of the Pharisaic idea, +we may still find it lying very close at hand to us, even though we do +not know what a phylactery means, and are at a safe distance from +fasting twice in the week, or giving tithes of all that we acquire. A +well-to-do Englishman, of whatever class, has a strong sense of +respectability. He has a code of duty and honour which he is at pains +to observe. A soldier, a gentleman, a woman of fashion, a peasant's +wife, a schoolboy, and an undergraduate, representing not more than the +average moral levels of their different classes, will all of them make +really great sacrifices to fulfil the requirements of their respective +codes. Their conscience requires +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> +this of them, and they would be +miserable in falling short of it. But their conscience is also limited +to it. They resent the claim of a progressive morality. Conscientious +within the region of the traditional and the expected, they are often +almost impenetrable to light from beyond. They are nervously afraid of +the very idea of subjecting their life to a fundamental revision in the +light of Christ's claim, or to the idea of surrender to the divine +light wherever it may lead. But this frame of mind—conscientiousness +within a limited and well-established area accepted by public opinion, +coupled with resentment at whatever completer and diviner claim may +interfere to disconcert one's self-satisfaction, and bid one begin +afresh on a truer basis—is that very attempt to be justified by works +which appeared in the case of the Pharisees, only dressed in very +different guise to that in which the conditions of modern England +clothe it. +</P> + +<P> +For the Pharisees of the Gospels were the later representatives of the +Hasidaeans, i.e. Chasidim or 'pious' folk, whom we hear of in the Books +of Maccabees[<A NAME="chap00bfn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn14">14</A>]. The later religious development of Israel lay along +the lines of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +rigid reverence for the law. In days then of general +laxity and a general prevalence of Greek customs, these pious +Israelites united themselves to promote the devout observance of their +law. Their relation to Maccabaean heroes and rulers varied, as +religious or political motives were uppermost in the Maccabaean house. +They themselves pursued one consistent aim. They came to be known as +the Pharisees, the separated or the separatists, the party who kept +aloof from everything common or unclean. As such they represented the +religious nation in its later development. They had the bulk of the +people, and especially the women, with them. They had consequently, as +Josephus tells us, an irresistible influence upon public affairs, and +especially upon religious affairs, and they held the social position +befitting the legitimate religious leaders of God's own people. +</P> + +<P> +This position, with its accompanying reputation, they doubtless +deserved by their zeal for the law, and for the 'traditions of the +fathers' which hedged about or interpreted the law. But according to +the solemn witness of Christ and St. Paul, a disastrous lowering of the +best moral standard of the Old Testament scriptures had taken place +among them. The Mosaic law was, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> +of course, a matter mainly of +outward observance, and therefore would become a matter of rigid social +requirement within the area of such a body as the Pharisees. Nowhere +does public opinion act more strongly than in a close religious circle. +But the social requirement according to tradition came to be +substituted for that deeper spiritual relation of the 'holy nation' and +the individuals composing it to God and His will, which is the real +moral essence of the Old Testament. 'How can ye believe,' our Lord +said to them, 'which receive glory one of another, and the glory that +cometh from the only God ye seek not[<A NAME="chap00bfn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn15">15</A>]?' This is the central moral +weakness of the Pharisaic position. A social or ecclesiastical +tradition had taken the place of the will of God. This social +tradition was rigid and stern in respect of the 'tradition of the +elders,' but it did not revise itself constantly or at all in the light +of the mind of God, and therefore its moral standard became debased. +It 'made void the word of God because of the tradition.' It 'tithed +mint and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the +law, judgement, and mercy, and faith.' It 'strained out the gnat, and +swallowed the camel[<A NAME="chap00bfn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn16">16</A>].' It +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +came to be almost purely external +and consistent with even the grossest spiritual hypocrisy, as both St. +Paul and our Lord Himself assure us. Above all, it was completely +satisfied with itself. 'We have Abraham to our Father.' 'I thank thee +that I am not as other men are.' That is the characteristic tone of +Pharisees and of all who, however unlike them otherwise, are living by +a strong social standard and priding themselves on belonging to a +respectable and dignified class. This it is that St. Paul calls +seeking to be justified or commended to God by 'works' or 'works of the +law'—not, we must observe, 'good works,' such as are the fruit of a +right disposition towards God, of which St. Paul never spoke with any +disparagement. +</P> + +<P> +It is the characteristic of the Pharisaic attitude that a man holds by +a strict code enforced by the public opinion of his church or circle; a +code which he diligently and even painfully obeys. But it is +characteristic of this attitude also that it resents new light, and +tacitly claims independence even of God, provided that 'the law' is +kept or the accepted standard maintained. Thus the Pharisees resented +the Christ, when renewing the voice of the old prophets, without +respect of persons, He exposed the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +moral weaknesses of these +religious leaders, and bade them, in effect, begin again and think +afresh what God's will really meant: when He warned them that the one +unpardonable sin is to be self-satisfied in one's own eyes, and to +repudiate as an impertinent intruder the fresh divine light. The story +is very familiar. They resented and rejected the Christ because He +made the unlimited divine claim upon them: because He spoke to them as +God to the human soul, and not as the representative of 'the +tradition.' 'Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did +not subject themselves to the righteousness of God[<A NAME="chap00bfn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn17">17</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +Now we understand what it is to seek to be justified by works. It is +to have a social or ecclesiastical code, and to claim acceptance in +God's sight because we perform it, meanwhile making 'the law' under +which we act, believed to be divine, a substitute for the living and +personal God, and resenting any fresh and immediate claim of God on the +human soul. +</P> + +<P> +In this mixture of subservience and independence, of religious humility +and human pride, Saul of Tarsus had been brought up 'at the feet of +Gamaliel in Jerusalem.' His was not +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +one of those slack +consciences which enable men to take the lowest line which respectable +public opinion will allow. In every ecclesiastical system the strict +law comes to be mitigated by various dispensations and +compensations—generally substitutions of the easier ceremonial for the +harder moral requirement. But young Saul no doubt took the law in its +fullest sense as the thing to be kept, with all its accompanying +traditions. So taken, it constituted no doubt what St. Peter calls +it[<A NAME="chap00bfn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn18">18</A>]—an intolerable yoke. A strict Jew must have had a very +difficult life of it. But it was not this yoke of specific outward +requirements that staggered St. Paul. What he found crushing was the +inward claim—'Thou shall not covet[<A NAME="chap00bfn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn19">19</A>].' He who had determined to +appear before God at the last with a clear record as one who had kept +the law, found himself confronted by an inner and searching claim of +the divine righteousness, to which no blamelessness in outward conduct +enabled him to correspond. He could not help feeling himself a sinner +in the eye of God; and the sacrificial system plainly gave his +conscience no relief at all. He does not even allude to it in this +connexion. Meanwhile, as he moved +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> +about in Jewish society of the +empire at Tarsus and elsewhere, he found that it required no spiritual +microscope to discover that the law in many of its plainest moral +injunctions was in fact not being observed at all. He seemed to see +that instead of the law being really the means of justification, it in +effect put 'the righteous nation' simply in the position of condemned +sinners, and himself among them, as fully as if they were simply +without a divinely given law, like the 'sinners of the Gentiles.' +</P> + +<P> +We know well how, when the way of God had been learnt more perfectly, +this earlier moral experience of the effect of the law on himself and +others worked itself out in St. Paul's mind into a deep theory of the +function, not of 'the law' only, that is the Mosaic law, but of law +altogether—of 'the letter' of any body of external enactments. Law, +he found, could enlighten the conscience, but it could never reach deep +enough to the springs of will to strengthen and purify them. God must +become more intimate to man than any external law can make Him. A law +of ordinances can only be a preparatory discipline, intended by the +very falsity of the assumption on which it is based to teach men that +they are not what they fancied themselves. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> +They fancied +themselves beings sufficiently independent to stand on their own basis +and enter into a covenant with God, to make a compact with Him to +observe a law and to abide by the result. It is the function of such a +compact as between independent parties to convince men that any such +relation between God, the Creator and Giver, and man, the creature and +simply the receiver—still more between God the Holy and man the +defiled and weakened—is simply contrary to fundamental facts[<A NAME="chap00bfn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn20">20</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +As yet, however, St. Paul was only rendered miserable by his experience +under the law. To feel himself a sinner alienated from God was a +profound humiliation to his spiritual pride. He was fired no doubt by +the lofty ideal of the righteous nation, standing before God in virtue +of its righteousness, of its performance of the divine law, and +therefore making its claim on God to vindicate it before the whole +world. He threw himself zealously into rigid observance: only, +however, to find himself humiliated and perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, he was becoming conscious of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +claim of Jesus of +Nazareth to be the Christ. Under what conditions that claim began to +confront him we do not in the least know. But he must have known in +the period before his conversion that the severest attack on the +spiritual position of the Pharisees ever delivered had been delivered +by Him who claimed to be the Christ; that the Pharisees in consequence +had thrown all their influence into the rejection of His claim, and if +they had not been the most direct instruments of His death, yet had +encouraged and sanctioned it. Thus the more dissatisfied he became in +his own conscience, the more zealous he grew for the Pharisaic +position, and the more fanatical, therefore, against the followers of +the crucified Jesus. At what point it began to dawn upon his +conscience that perhaps Jesus was right and not the Pharisees; that +perhaps it was in His teaching that his own restless heart was to find +repose, we can only wonder. Some struggle such as this dawning +consciousness would involve he certainly passed through. 'It was hard +for him to kick against the goad[<A NAME="chap00bfn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn21">21</A>].' At last, and at a definite +moment, God 'triumphed over him' in Christ, and he gave in his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +allegiance to Jesus as the Christ on the road to Damascus. Many a man +has thus after a struggle surrendered to God at discretion: many a man +has shown the will, as Faber calls it, +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">'to lose my will in His,</SPAN><BR> +And by that loss be free.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But to no man can it ever have involved a completer sacrifice of his +own pride and prejudice—of his own personal comfort and safety—than +it did to St. Paul: and, therefore, in no man did it ever involve a +vaster increase of spiritual illumination. Hitherto he had stood on +the basis which his pride in his religious position gave him and, +starting thence, had sought to erect the spiritual fabric of a life +acceptable to God. But the more he had known of God and the more he +had struggled, the less satisfied he had become. God seemed to be in +no other attitude towards him than that of a dissatisfied taskmaster. +Now he had surrendered at discretion into God's hands. He had no +position of his own to maintain. He had put himself in God's hands. +In His sight he was content to be treated as a sinner, just like one of +the Gentiles—to be forgiven of His pure and unmerited love, and of His +pure and unmerited love endued with a spiritual power for which +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +he +could take no credit to himself, for it was simply a gift. Once more, +he had henceforth no prejudices and recognized no limitation on what he +might be required to bear or do. His life was handed over to be +controlled from above. Thus when St. Paul sets justification by faith +and faith only in opposition to justification by works of the law, he +is contrasting two different attitudes towards God and duty, which in +the two halves of his own sharply sundered life he had himself +conspicuously represented. The contrast may be expressed perhaps in +four ways. +</P> + +<P> +1. The man under the law of works is mainly concerned about external +conduct and observances—the making clean of the outside of the cup and +the platter: the man of faith is concerned almost altogether with the +relation of his heart to God at the springs of action. Faith is a +disposition of the heart which indeed results in a certain kind of +outward conduct, but which has its value already, prior to the outward +conduct, because of what it inwardly is. Faith, as Calvin said, +pregnant with good works, justifies before they are brought forth. +This distinction between faith and works underlies St. Paul's teaching +in parts, but is never very prominent. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> +It accounts, however, for +St. Paul's shrinking from any insistence upon outward observances in +the Church, such as do not necessarily convey any spiritual meaning or +power. 'Why,' he cries to the Colossians, 'do ye subject yourselves to +ordinances; handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to +perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?[<A NAME="chap00bfn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn22">22</A>]' +</P> + +<P> +2. Inasmuch as 'the law' was a national thing, so 'works of the law' +were a supposed means of justification confined to Israel, and an +occasion of contempt for other nations. Faith, on the other hand, the +mere capacity to feel our own wants and to take God at His word, is a +universal quality and belongs, or may belong, to all men. Thus +justification by faith is opposed to justification by works of the law, +as the universal or catholic to the merely Jewish or national, and in +this aspect the contrast occupies a great place in St. Paul's thought +and teaching. +</P> + +<P> +3. But it is not in the things it is occupied about, or in the range +of its activity, that faith is most centrally contrasted with works. +It is in the attitude of man towards God which it represents. The +'worker' for justification always +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> +retains his own independence +towards God. He works upon the basis of a definite covenant by which +God is bound as well as himself. He has the right to resent additional +claims. Faith, on the other hand, means an entire abandonment of +independence. It is self-committal, self-surrender. 'I know him whom +I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which +I have committed unto him against that day[<A NAME="chap00bfn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn23">23</A>].' The man of faith +throws all the responsibility for life on God, and says simply and +continually, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' +</P> + +<P> +It is of the utmost importance to notice that this is the only attitude +of man towards God which corresponds with the ultimate facts of human +nature, as science and philosophy are bound to represent them. Man is, +in fact, an absolutely dependent being, physically and spiritually. +His virtue must lie, not in originativeness, but in correspondence. +Supposing him a free agent in God's universe, his freedom can only +consist in a power to correspond with divine forces and laws +intelligently and voluntarily; or on the other hand to disturb the +divine order of creation in a measure by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> +wilfulness and sin. Now +faith is simply the faculty of loving correspondence with God. +'Justification by faith' is the only conception of justification which +is possible in the light of the root facts of human nature. But of +course the practical appeal of this conclusion to the heart and will is +immensely increased, if men can be shown to have acted as if they were +independent and to have found it a failure; if life lived in +independence of God, with God as it were withdrawn from the actual +scene of life to its far-off horizon, is found to have resulted in +havoc, weakness and despair. So, in fact, St. Paul's doctrine of the +true means of justification is based on an appeal, not so much to the +ultimate constitution of our human nature as to the experienced results +of our independence of God, to the facts of sin, whether among Gentiles +or Jews. +</P> + +<P> +4. Finally, the principle of justification by faith is contrasted with +that of justification by works of the law in the view which it involves +of the character of God. The law, as St. Paul interprets it, views God +as a lord and taskmaster. Faith presents Him as the Father of our +spirits, always waiting upon us with His eternal, unchangeable love; +bearing with us; +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +dealing with us even on a false basis which by +our sins we have forced upon Him, in order to bring us to a recognition +of the true; anyway acting or withholding action, if by any means we +can be won to recognize His true character and our true life. +</P> + +<P> +These are the broad contrasts between the alternative methods of +justification by faith or by 'works of the law.' The law, and the +attitude towards God which the law suggested, are, in St. Paul's view, +the main characteristic of the Old Testament. This is a point of view +which we should expect in one trained by the Pharisees. We may +possibly feel that St. Paul tends to identify with the Old Testament as +a whole one particular element in it which specially characterized one +particular period. But at least the element was there, and occupied +there a highly important place in the whole development; and if St. +Paul in his idealizing manner sometimes speaks as if it was the whole +of the older covenant, as if he had forgotten all the teaching of +prophet and psalmist, yet he is not really forgetful. Law is to him +the characteristic of the old covenant. But behind the law God's +dealings with Abraham are for ever in his imagination witnessing +against the law's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +limitation, and a similar witness is kept up all +along: so that St. Paul can take out of one of the books of Moses his +very central statement of the principle of faith[<A NAME="chap00bfn24text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn24">24</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +In what has just been said justifying faith has been treated as if it +were simply, as it is really, faith in God; whereas in St. Paul's +language the object of justifying faith is constantly 'Jesus[<A NAME="chap00bfn25text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn25">25</A>].' The +explanation of this is that in Jesus Christ God has manifested His +character as Father, and has come near to men, 'reconciling the world +unto Himself,' by the atonement wrought through His incarnate Son, and +giving conspicuous evidence of His saving power by raising Him from the +dead[<A NAME="chap00bfn26text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn26">26</A>]. Thus, if Jesus is the proximate object of justifying faith, +it is Jesus as manifesting the Father, Jesus as God incarnate; and St. +Peter is strictly interpreting St. Paul when he represents the object +of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection in the phrase, 'that your faith +and hope might be in God[<A NAME="chap00bfn27text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn27">27</A>].' The faith of the Christian is the old +faith of Abraham and Habakkuk, the faith in the Lord +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +Jehovah only +now made manifest in a new and completer manner, in a more intimate +relation to human life, and with a more winning appeal to the human +heart. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iii. +</H4> + +<P> +Now that we have gained a general idea of what St. Paul meant by +justification by faith, as opposed to justification by works of law, we +are in a position to deal with a number of questions which have been +famous in ecclesiastical history. Does justification mean being made +righteous, or being reckoned for righteous? if it means the latter, how +can God reckon us as being what in fact we are not? Again, what is the +relation of this justification to sanctification? are these two stages, +of which the first is over before the second can begin? Again, what is +the relation of justification to Church membership? is justification a +purely individual process or fact, of which membership in the Church +or, what comes to the same thing, reception of the sacraments, is a +merely secondary and strictly unessential consequence? +</P> + +<P> +The answers to these questions are all connected with one another. +Justification, to begin with, is a judicial or, as it is called, +'forensic' +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +word. It expresses the verdict of acquittal. The use +of the word in the Bible made this quite indisputable[<A NAME="chap00bfn28text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn28">28</A>]. Thus God +justifies whenever He refuses to condemn—when, whatever may have been +our sins, He ignores them, and therefore positively admits us into the +accepted people. And He declares His willingness to do this simply +because a man believes in Jesus Christ. Let a man believe, or take God +in Jesus Christ at His gracious word, and the value of this act of +trust or allegiance is such that God reckons it for righteousness, and +admits a man into the accepted people, as if he were already fit for +such fellowship in his actual habits or character. There is +'imputation' here, but it is the right sort of imputation. It is +dealing with us not as we are, nor exactly as we are not, but as we are +becoming in virtue of a new attachment under which our life has passed: +and this, as the engrossing modern conception of development makes it +easy for us to perceive, is the only true and profound way of regarding +anything. Not the standard already reached, but the movement, +direction, or vitality is the important matter. Faith, then, is +'reckoned for righteousness' because it puts us upon the right +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> +basis and in the right relation to God; and therefore is a root out of +which, provided it continues to subsist, all righteousness can +healthily grow; whereas the most brilliant efforts or 'works' on a +wrong basis may have neither sound root nor principle of progress in +them. To believe in Jesus is to have the root of the matter in +oneself. Therefore, when a man first believes, God can ignore all his +previous life, and deal with him simply on the new basis, in hope. Of +course this preliminary acquittal or acceptance is provisional. As the +servant[<A NAME="chap00bfn29text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn29">29</A>] who had been forgiven his debts found them rolled back upon +him when he behaved in a manner utterly inconsistent with the position +of a forgiven man, so our preliminary justification may be promptly +cancelled by our future conduct if we behave as one who has 'forgotten +the cleansing from his old sins[<A NAME="chap00bfn30text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn30">30</A>].' The prodigal son, after he has +been welcomed home, may go back again to the 'far country.' But it +remains the fact:—of such infinite value and fruitfulness is faith in +God, as He has shown Himself in Jesus, that when a man first +believes—aye, whenever, over and over again, he returns to believe—he +is in God's sight on a new basis, however dark be the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +background +of his previous sins; and he can be dealt with simply on the new basis, +according to the movement of the Father's heart of love which his faith +has set free. +</P> + +<P> +Now the justifying faith of the conscience-stricken sinner, whose case +St. Paul always has in the foreground of his imagination, means first +of all and most obviously that he consciously takes God at His word as +being ready to forgive his sins, and accept him for Jesus' sake in whom +he believes. It is belief in God as forgiving, or in Jesus as—he does +not stop to inquire how—obtaining and giving him forgiveness. And St. +Paul laid great stress on this simple acceptance of the gift of pardon, +as the gate of the new life and the first act of faith, because the +readiness to be treated as a sinner and merely forgiven in spite 'f our +sins is, as he knew full well in his own case, the final overthrow of +spiritual pride. But this simple 'reliance on the merits of Christ,' +and acceptance of forgiveness at His hands and for His sake, is a +profound movement of the heart—of the spring of human actions—which +involves much more than appears. Luther was hopelessly wrong and +unlike St. Paul when he isolated this mere reliance on another's +merits, and, setting it apart from all +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +deeper movement of will or +love, would have it, and it only, concerned with our justification. To +St. Paul even the first movement of faith is a surrender of +independence, and a recognition in intellect, and much more in will, of +the lordship of Jesus. It is, in other words, a change of allegiance, +and this is the important thing about it. And the absolved man, in +thanking God for his forgiveness, finds himself, as it were, inevitably +and without any fresh act, embarked on a new service. If he does not +find this, he is not a man of faith at all. Faith is so deep a +principle that, though it shows itself first as the mere acceptance of +an undeserved boon from the divine bounty, it involves such hanging +upon God as necessarily enlists the will to choose and serve Him, the +intellect to know and worship Him with a growing perception as He is +revealed in Jesus, and the affections to desire and love Him. The life +of justification thus proceeds 'from faith to faith'—from faith in +Christ 'for us' to faith in Christ 'in us.' The justified man, +accepted into the 'body of Christ' by baptism and made a participator +of the life of Christ, receives the continual gifts of the divine +bounty in their appointed channels, and his faith exercising its +natural +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> +faculty of correspondence, absorbs and appropriates the +divine gifts—intellectually, so that the eyes of the understanding are +opened in increasing knowledge—practically, so that 'Christ dwells in +the heart by faith,' and it is no longer the bare human self which +lives, but Christ which lives in the renewed man, with a continual +display of moral power. +</P> + +<P> +The first justification or acceptance is therefore a preliminary step: +it is acceptance for admission into the divine household, or city of +God, or life in Christ. It is a means to an end, and that end the +fellowship of Christ, and continually developing assimilation to Him. +Does this mean, then, that justification and sanctification are +processes following the one on the other, of which the former is over +before the latter begins? Such a statement must be repudiated so far +as its latter clause is concerned. You cannot thus logically sever a +vital process. They are two parts of one vital process; and the man +who is not on the way to being made like Christ (however far off it he +may be at the moment) is by that very fact shown to be not in a state +of justification or acceptance with God. At any stage of spiritual +life there must be movement in order to make forgiveness +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +possible. +Grant this however and it becomes true that justification, as meaning +acquittal, is a preliminary to sanctification, that is, the being made +like Christ. The having our 'heart set at liberty' is a preliminary to +'running the way of God's commandments.' But even so we must recognize +that St. Paul never exactly uses this language. When he describes the +stages of God's dealings with the soul he passes from justification to +glorification, or (final) deliverance from sin and wrath[<A NAME="chap00bfn31text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn31">31</A>]. Or, on +one occasion, he mentions sanctification before justification[<A NAME="chap00bfn32text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn32">32</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +This is in part accounted for by the fact that the word translated +'sanctify' or 'sanctification' means rather 'consecrate' (as to +priesthood) or 'consecration.' And though this consecration involves +'sanctity' (in our sense) because of the character of God to whom we +are dedicated, yet it may precede it; and we are in fact consecrated +and hallowed at the moment when we are accepted into the 'priestly +body' and anointed with the divine unction[<A NAME="chap00bfn33text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn33">33</A>]. This exact meaning of +the term sanctification in part accounts for St. Paul not speaking of +sanctification and justification as successive stages of the spiritual +life. When he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +is speaking about justification he is answering the +question, What is the attitude of the human soul towards God which sets +God free, so to speak, to accept it and work upon it? And the answer +is, The attitude of faith. When he speaks of sanctification, or rather +consecration, he is answering the implied question, How is the +individual to be thought of when he has been admitted by baptism into +the Christian community? And the answer is, He is to be thought of as +consecrated, or as sharing the life of a consecrated people[<A NAME="chap00bfn34text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn34">34</A>]. St. +Paul's language in one place would suggest that if 'justification' +qualifies for admission into the life in Christ, the result of this +admission is again a justification, not now merely of our persons, but +of our whole moral being—a 'justification of life[<A NAME="chap00bfn35text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn35">35</A>].' But this is, +at least, not his usual use of the word. +</P> + +<P> +And now we approach the question of the relation of our individual +justification to membership in the Church and all that goes with that. +To put the question in a rough controversial way—Is the Epistle to the +Romans, as it has been +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> +frequently held to be, a thoroughly +Protestant work? +</P> + +<P> +The Prophet Ezekiel first clearly discerned and expressed the truth +that the new covenant of God with man must be based upon the conversion +of individual wills and hearts. So it was realized. The basis of the +Church was a profound movement of individual faith and love and +allegiance, in the apostles and first disciples. And that on which it +is based is that by which it must progress—the real assent and +correspondence of individual wills and hearts. They that receive the +testimony must set to their seals that God is true. Thus one cannot +possibly exaggerate the importance in Christianity of the individual +spiritual life, or of individual conversion and faith, if he does not +isolate it. He cannot possibly exaggerate the stress laid in the +Epistle to the Romans on individual faith and its results, if he does +not forget its context. But what is meant by this proviso? This +simply. St. Paul, in his doctrine of justification by faith, is +describing the basis of the new covenant of God with man which is, as +truly as the old, a covenant with a community, an Israel of God. The +faith which justifies, therefore, means the faith which qualifies for +the community as truly +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> +as it admits into the favour of God. The +very evidence that God accepts the first movement of faith is that the +believing man is admitted by baptism into the body of Christ. The idea +of a faith in Jesus which does not seek admission into 'the body,' or +disparages it even while it accepts it, does not even present itself to +St. Paul's mind. A faith which is content to remain outside Christ is +no faith at all, and the act of being 'baptized into Christ' is an act +by which 'in one spirit we are baptized into one body.' Again, the +conception impressed upon the institution of the Eucharist is that +Christ's atoning sacrifice is the basis of a new covenant with a +society which is to share His life[<A NAME="chap00bfn36text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn36">36</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +Elsewhere St. Paul expresses this by saying that what Christ bought for +Himself was a Church, a new Israel[<A NAME="chap00bfn37text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn37">37</A>]. What His sacrifice purchased +was a new <I>community</I>. There is the less necessity to insist upon this +truth because it is now being very generally perceived. The most +powerful influence in recent German Protestant theology is that of +Albrecht Ritschl, and through him the truth has come back, through +unexpected channels, that the object +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +of the sacrificial death of +Christ, and therefore of the divine justification, is not the +individual but the Church[<A NAME="chap00bfn38text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn38">38</A>]; or, if we may venture to modify the +phrase, the object of divine justification is the individual only as +becoming and remaining (so far as His will is concerned) a member of +the Church. In fact, 'justification' may be rendered, without any +false idea being attached to it, 'acceptance for membership in the +sacred people, the Israel of God.' And where any one has become a +member of the Church without even the rudimentary faith which can +render him acceptable in God's sight, there the awakening of such faith +is the condition of profitable or 'saving' membership. +</P> + +<P> +From this point of view it is not difficult to see the relation of our +epistle, broadly, to Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestantism was +a reaction against one-sided ecclesiasticism. The Church is the +household of God, the home of His people. She guides and disciplines +their souls. She feeds them with the bread of life. But her +representatives may suffer her to lose the spiritual characteristics of +the new covenant +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +and fall back upon those of the old. She may +come to be characterized by a mere authoritativeness. The spirit of +'the law of ordinances' may come to prevail again. The sacraments may +be treated as charms; or, in other words, all moral and spiritual +requirement may be summed up in mere obedience, or in doing this and +that. So, in fact, it happened to a great extent in the popular +mediaeval system; and Protestantism was a reaction. It was a reaction +based on truth, as Luther seemed to himself to re-discover it in the +epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. But the reaction broke up +the communion of Christians. It thus impaired the sense of the one +body, and very often resulted in obliterating the perception of any +obligation to the visible body of Christ at all. It became +individualist, and disparaged the sacraments which are at once both the +outward means of union with Christ and the bonds of cohesion for His +body, the Church. But as we now look back upon the matter, we can see +as clearly as it is possible to see anything, that both mediaeval +Catholicism and Lutheran Protestantism (or modern English +Protestantism) represent one-sided developments in which thoughtful men +cannot permanently acquiesce. The preliminary justifying +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +faith of +the individual does but warrant his admission into the body of Christ, +the divine society, by baptism. And once admitted into the body, and +instructed in her tradition, faith finds its function intellectually in +meditating upon and appropriating the full meaning of the mystery of +God, and spiritually in appropriating and digesting the powers of that +divine and human life into which baptism admits us, and in which the +sacramental feast and sacrifice continually makes us anew +participators. The Church with its sacramental gifts, and the personal +faith of the converted heart, are no more to be set in antithesis than +food and digestion, or the 'virtue which went out of Christ' and the +faith in Him which made men whole. The sacraments certainly do not +save us without conversion and faith, and faith which leaves us +voluntarily isolated from the visible communion of the one body is not +what St. Paul meant by 'justifying faith.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah, yet consider it again!' is what we are continually tempted to +exclaim to some of our modern controversialists who appear to be still +repeating the watchwords of the sixteenth century. For in fact the +famous controversial positions of the period of the Reformation were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> +intensely one-sided, and have been antiquated by completer and +maturer study—not least in the matter of justification. +</P> + +<P> +Thus Calvin's position on the subject was based upon and permeated by a +conception of God as predestinating and creating and internally +constraining some men to eternal life, and equally predestinating and +creating and abandoning other men, without possibility of recovery, to +eternal misery. Such a conception is utterly abhorrent to modern +consciences: and we shall have occasion to observe with how little +reason any conception of God predestinating man to eternal misery has +been attributed to St. Paul[<A NAME="chap00bfn39text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn39">39</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +Luther again, who identified himself, as no other teacher has ever +done, with St. Paul's epistles of justification, was so zealous to +separate the faith in virtue of which God justifies us from all idea of +merit, that he represented it as a bare acceptance of the divine offer +without any moral quality at all—a bare believing ourselves to be +saved, without any moral reason in it. Thus, accepting an existing +scholastic distinction between an 'informed' faith, i.e. a faith +ensouled +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> +by love, and a 'formless' or bare faith, he held the +faith on account of which God justifies us to be rigidly of the +formless kind; and while fully recognizing the richer sort of faith as +the God-given quality of those already justified, declared that it had +nothing to do with their justification. But this conception of two +separate sorts of faith, of which only the loveless sort, that involves +no moral worth, has to do with our acceptance with God, is not only a +high road to moral laxity or antinomianism, but is also utterly alien +to the spirit of St. Paul, in whom the whole life of faith is one and +continuous[<A NAME="chap00bfn40text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn40">40</A>]. It could only have arisen at a particular moment of +theological controversy which is past and gone. And the same must be +said of the allied doctrine of the total depravity of our fallen +nature, which drove men to violent misinterpretations alike of +scripture and of their moral instincts. +</P> + +<P> +And what of the Tridentine theology? No doubt in its general view of +our fallen human nature it is far more reasonable and Pauline than the +Lutheran; and it is also truer to St. Paul in laying the main stress on +a divine righteousness +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +actually imparted to us, and not on +Christ's merits imputed and not imparted; or, in other words, in +recognizing that forgiveness is only a prelude to the development of a +new life of holiness. But on the other hand it puts itself hopelessly +out of relation to St. Paul's language and thought by interpreting +justification as the being made righteous, and accordingly speaking of +baptism as the instrument by which we are justified, whereas to St. +Paul justification means our preliminary acceptance without regard to +what we have been, and the initial faith which enables men to be thus +accepted would normally, in those he is thinking about, have preceded +baptism, as in his own case, or that of Cornelius, or of the eunuch. +Who can doubt that the faith of St. Paul's conversion is what enabled +God to accept him, though it remained for him, as for other men, to +'wash away his sins' by being 'baptized into Christ[<A NAME="chap00bfn41text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn41">41</A>]?' +</P> + +<P> +May we not truly say that deeper and maturer study of St. Paul has for +us undercut and antiquated the theological standing-grounds of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +sixteenth century, and substituted for them something both truer, +completer, and freer? +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iv. +</H4> + +<P> +It only remains to make more emphatic what has been already suggested, +that the Pauline doctrine of justification is of much more than +antiquarian interest. We do not, as has been already shown, get rid of +the 'danger of thinking to be saved by works' because we are not, like +the Pharisees, abandoned to ecclesiastical observances. All moral +codes or standards, sanctioned by a society or class and involving no +more than a limited liability, come under the moral category of 'works +of a law.' They all are apt to leave men as independent of God as the +Pharisees, and as resentful of the fuller light. The late Master of +Balliol expresses a characteristic opinion that the notions of 'legal +righteousness,' or of 'the pride of human nature,' or 'the tendency to +rebel against the will of God, or to attach an undue value to good +works[<A NAME="chap00bfn42text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn42">42</A>],' +are 'fictions as applied to our own time[<A NAME="chap00bfn43text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn43">43</A>].' But +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +this is surely lamentably untrue. Men all round us dread the idea of +committing themselves to God. They do not know how far it will carry +them. They are like would-be soldiers who should refuse to enlist till +they had had some assurance as to the extremest risk that their service +might involve. Thus, because they cannot get this assurance, they will +make no beginning of the life of real faith. They live by a limited +code which retains their independence for them. If they are also +ecclesiastically minded, the 'legal righteousness' always involved in +this sort of morality becomes even outwardly more like that of the +Pharisees, and it is not very uncommon among churchmen. But the whole +habit of mind, inside or outside the area of professed churchmanship, +has its root in what is properly and profoundly human pride and the +false clinging to independence of God. This 'pride of life' seems to +be almost more dangerous and, in fact, disastrous than even 'the lust +of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.' Thus if we can only get St. +Paul's doctrine of the necessity of faith rightly understood, there is +no teaching more necessary for these times. +</P> + +<P> +And, on the other hand, where men are really ready to follow the light +and do God's will, they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +need—they need exceedingly for the good +of the whole body—to realize St. Paul's teaching about justification, +that is, about God's constant attitude towards men, in order to obtain +that peace which is meant to be, not the far-off goal of Christian +life, but its basis and foundation. When a person is continuously +apprehensive and excited about his spiritual state, he is not in the +temper of mind in which he can best serve God or work out his own or +other men's salvation. 'Peace must go before as well as follow after; +a peace, too, not to be found in the necessity of law (as philosophy +has sometimes held), but in the sense of the love of God to His +creatures. He has no right to this peace, and yet he has it.' In +these words of the same writer whom we just now were obliged to +criticize we may find a simple expression of the truth. 'Wherefore, +being accepted of God simply because we take Him at His word, let us +have and hold peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ[<A NAME="chap00bfn44text"></A><A HREF="#chap00bfn44">44</A>].' Then +we can throw ourselves without embarrassments into the life of love and +sacrifice, the life which has the love of God in Christ for its motive, +and reflects it among men. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt we must admit that St. Paul's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> +doctrine of justification +has not been generally appreciated in the Church—the fact is strange, +but it is indisputable. No doubt also we must admit that those who +have chiefly been identified with it have often even disastrously +distorted it. No doubt, as a result both of this neglect and of this +distortion, the ordinary religious Englishman of the present day is +disposed to pass it by as having little meaning for him. Nevertheless +it remains true that no revival of religion can ever attain to any +ripeness or richness unless this central doctrine of St. Paul's gospel +resumes its central place with us also. For, as St. Paul preached it, +it means this above all else—personal devotion to Jesus Christ as our +redeemer. This personal devotion begins by accepting from Him the +unmerited boon of forgiveness of our sins, and (what is only the other +side of such forgiveness) inheritance in the consecrated body. But the +consciousness of what we have received from Christ, and the price it +cost Him to put it at our disposal, gives to the whole subsequent life +the character of a devotion based on gratitude. This is the Christian +life according to St. Paul—personal devotion to Christ and personal +service based on gratitude for what He has done for us. 'For the love +of Christ +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died +for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live +should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes +died and rose again.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn1text">1</A>] Acts xx. 23. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn2text">2</A>] Hort's <I>Prolegomena to Romans and Ephesians</I> (Macmillan, 1895), p. +9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn3text">3</A>] Sanday and Headlam's <I>Commentary</I> (T. & T. Clark, 1895), p. xxviii. +This commentary is henceforth referred to as S. & H. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn4text">4</A>] See Rom. ii. 17; iii. 9, &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn5text">5</A>] See Rom. i. 13; xi. 13-32; xv. 14-21. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn6text">6</A>] Rom. xvi. 3. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn7text">7</A>] See Rom. vi. 17, and remarks p. 234; cf. S. & H., p. xli. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn8text">8</A>] Acts xv. 1-35. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn9text">9</A>] Gal. ii. 1-10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn10text">10</A>] Rom. xv. 25-32. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn11text">11</A>] Hort, l.c., p. 44. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn12text">12</A>] Rom. i. 10, 11; xv. 22-24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn13text">13</A>] On the relation between the two, see later, p. <A HREF="#P168">168</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn14text">14</A>] 1 Macc. ii. 42; vii. 13 ff. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn15text">15</A>] John v. 44. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn16text">16</A>] Matt. xv. 6; xxiii. 23. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn17text">17</A>] Rom. x. 3. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn18text">18</A>] Acts xv. 10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn19text">19</A>] Rom. vii. 7. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn20text">20</A>] See the argument of Gal. iii. 15-22. 'God is one' in a sense +which excludes the idea of any relatively independent contracting party +over against Him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn21text">21</A>] Acts xxvi. 14. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn22text">22</A>] Col. ii. 20-22. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn23text">23</A>] 2 Tim. i. 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn24"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn24text">24</A>] Rom. x. 5-8. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn25"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn25text">25</A>] Cf. iii. 22, 26, &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn26"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn26text">26</A>] 2 Cor. v. 19; Rom. iv. 25. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn27"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn27text">27</A>] 1 Pet. i. 21. It is of course the case that the name God in the +New Testament is <I>generally</I> reserved for the Father, though the proper +divinity of Son and Spirit is constantly implied. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn28"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn28text">28</A>] See below, p. <A HREF="#P124">124</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn29"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn29text">29</A>] Matt. xviii. 23-35. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn30"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn30text">30</A>] 2 Pet. i. 9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn31"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn31text">31</A>] Rom. v. 9-11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn32"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn32text">32</A>] 1 Cor. vi. 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn33"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn33text">33</A>] Cf. Hort, <I>First Ep. of Peter</I> (Macmillan, 1898), p. 70. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn34"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn34text">34</A>] It is noticeable that St. Paul never uses the verb translated 'to +be sanctified' of persons in the present tense. It always describes an +already existing state rather than a process. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn35"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn35text">35</A>] Rom. v. 18, but cf. later, p. <A HREF="#P202">202</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn36"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn36text">36</A>] Hort, l.c., p. 24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn37"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn37text">37</A>] Eph. v. 25; Tit. ii. 14; cf. Acts xx. 28. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn38"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn38text">38</A>] Ritschl, <I>Rechtfertigung und Versöhnung</I>, ii. p. 217 ff. Cf. S. & +H., p. 122; and Orr, <I>Ritschlian Theology</I> (Hodder and Stoughton, 1898) +p. 169 ff. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn39"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn39text">39</A>] The subject comes forward especially in connexion with chapters +ix-xi. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn40"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn40text">40</A>] I know that any brief statement about Luther's doctrine may be +disputed, for his own statements vary considerably. But I think the +tendency of his teaching is fairly represented above. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn41"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn41text">41</A>] 'Acceptance' is already acquittal; but only in view of the new +life of the body of Christ which is to emancipate man from the power of +sin. Thus it is only as incorporated into Christ that he finds his +former sin 'put away.' 'I believe in one baptism for the remission of +sins.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn42"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn42text">42</A>] He should say, if he would represent St. Paul, 'works,' not 'good +works.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn43"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn43text">43</A>] Essay on 'Righteousness by Faith,' in <I>Epistles of St. Paul</I> +(Murray, 1894), vol. ii. p. 264. The whole essay is very +characteristic and very interesting, but not very Pauline. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap00bfn44"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap00bfn44text">44</A>] Rom. v. 1. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0101"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. 1-7. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Salutation.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +It was the custom in the days of the Romans to begin a letter with a +brief indication from whom it came and to whom it was addressed, in the +form of a complimentary salutation, thus—to take an example from the +New Testament—'Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix, +greeting[<A NAME="chap0101fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn1">1</A>].' We are familiar in our day with the like forms for +beginning and ending letters, serving the same purpose and generally no +other. St. Paul then accepts the epistolary form of his day, but pours +into it an increasing wealth of personal meaning[<A NAME="chap0101fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn2">2</A>]. Thus in this +place the necessary address—'Paul the apostle +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> +to the believers in +Jesus Christ which are in Rome, greeting'—is expanded into a +salutation extraordinarily full of meaning, explaining (1) who it is +who writes the letter; (2) with what justification; (3) to whom; and +(4) with what greeting. +</P> + +<P> +(1) It is Paul who is writing, and he describes himself both personally +and officially. Personally, since the day when he surrendered himself +on the road to Damascus, he has been 'the slave of Jesus Christ,' bound +in all things to do His will, and exulting all the time in the moral +liberty which that bondage gave him. Officially, he has received a +commission and an office equal to that of the older apostles in the +kingdom of Christ: he has been 'called to be an apostle, separated to +proclaim the good tidings of God.' +</P> + +<P> +(2) It is then this glorious commission that justifies his writing. +These good tidings of God are the fulfilment of an age-long promise for +which the world had been waiting. Of ancient days there were +'prophets,' men commissioned to speak for God, whose writings remained +after them and are held in highest reverence as 'holy scriptures.' +These men foretold good days from God that were to come to His people +in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +coming of the divinely anointed king, the Christ. And now +they are come. God has sent to redeem men not a servant, but His own +Son. True, He came as man among men: as one of the royal house of +David, the house from which the Christ was promised; yet simply man in +outward nature and appearance, or 'according to the flesh.' But +besides that ordinary seeming manhood, there was in Him something +higher—a sacred spiritual nature. And this higher nature it was that +finally determined the estimate in which He was to be held. If +'according to the flesh' He was a man of David's house, according to +this 'spirit of holiness' He was decisively designated by God's own act +as Son of God in miraculous power, and that especially when He was made +the example of a resurrection from the dead. Thenceforth 'Jesus' of +Nazareth is 'Christ' and 'the Lord' of Christians. It is He through +whom St. Paul and his fellows received the outpouring of the divine +bounty for their own lives, and their apostolic commission on behalf of +the name of Christ to bring all the nations of the earth to the +obedience of faith. And this commission extends as far as the Roman +Christians and justifies St. Paul in writing to them. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> + +<P> +(3) To all the Christians at Rome, then, 'called to be saints,' i.e. +called into the consecrated body and to the consecrated life, St. Paul +is writing. He does not say 'to the church which is at Rome,' as in +the other epistles of this date he writes 'to the church at Corinth' +and to 'the churches of Galatia.' And though this might be accidental, +yet probably it is due to the fact that St. Paul thought of the Roman +Christians as individuals who, many of them, had been converted +elsewhere and for various reasons had come to be living at Rome; so +that in fact they had hardly yet attained the consistency of a single +ordered church. +</P> + +<P> +(4) And to these Christians he gives his greeting by wishing for them +those gifts which may be taken as summing up the blessings of Christ +about which this epistle is to say so much—'grace,' which is God's +love to us in actual operation, and 'peace,' which is the state of mind +of one who realizes God's love—from the Father and the Son. This +benediction is, however, but a Christian form of that of Aaron, 'The +Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the +Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace[<A NAME="chap0101fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn3">3</A>].' +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called <I>to be</I> an apostle, separated +unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the +holy scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David +according to the flesh, who was declared <I>to be</I> the Son of God with +power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the +dead; <I>even</I> Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and +apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his +name's sake: among whom are ye also, called <I>to be</I> Jesus Christ's: to +all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called <I>to be</I> saints: Grace to +you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There is, I believe, nothing in the above analysis which is not implied +at least in the original language of this salutation. And it is a +remarkable summary of the grounds of St. Paul's Christian belief, more +exact and explicit than the 'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the +dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel[<A NAME="chap0101fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn4">4</A>].' There are some +points in it which require further notice:— +</P> + +<P> +1. The use of 'spirit of holiness' in connexion with Christ (in ver. +4). Here it is put in antithesis to 'the flesh,' i.e. Christ as He +appeared to the outward eye in His natural manhood; and describes, +vaguely and without further definition, the higher nature of which, +behind +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +His visible manhood, men became conscious[<A NAME="chap0101fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn5">5</A>]. Elsewhere +'spirit' is more exactly used to describe (1) the human spirit in us or +in Christ[<A NAME="chap0101fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn6">6</A>]; (2) disembodied persons or angels or devils[<A NAME="chap0101fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn7">7</A>]; (3) the +Holy Ghost[<A NAME="chap0101fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn8">8</A>]; +(4) the being of God[<A NAME="chap0101fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn9">9</A>]; (5) generally what has will and +consciousness, as opposed to the merely external, the 'flesh' or the +'letter[<A NAME="chap0101fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0101fn10">10</A>].' Sometimes, as in 2 Cor. iii. 17, it is hard to feel sure +about the exact shade of meaning. +</P> + +<P> +2. We have here, in a very brief compass, St. Paul's conception of +'Christian evidences.' He begins from Christ, 'according to the +flesh.' 'And why,' asks Chrysostom, 'did he not begin from the higher +side? Because Matthew also, Luke and Mark, begin from the lower. One +who would lead others upwards must begin from below. And this was in +fact the divine method. First they saw Him (Christ) as man on the +earth, and then perceived Him to be God.' It was, in other words, +through the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +experience of His manhood that they arrived at His +Godhead. And the evidence of His divine sonship was in part +miraculous; but it was not mere miracle. It was miracle 'according to +a spirit of holiness.' It was miracle filled with spiritual and moral +meaning. It was a resurrection vindicating perfect righteousness. +</P> + +<P> +3. The phrase 'the resurrection of the dead' is translated more +exactly by Wiclif 'agenrisynge of dead <I>men</I>! Christ's resurrection is +the great example of what is to be general. +</P> + +<P> +4. The obedience of faith exactly describes the human faculty as it +showed itself in St. Paul himself at his conversion. With him to +believe was, without any possibility of question, to obey Him whom he +believed, and St. Paul knows no faith which does not involve a like +obedience; cf. xv. 18; xvi. 26; 1 Pet. i. 2. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn1text">1</A>] Acts xxiii. 26. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn2text">2</A>] The salutation of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the +earliest epistle, is the most nearly formal. Those to the Romans and +to Titus are the fullest and richest. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn3text">3</A>] Num. vi. 25, 26; see Hort, <I>First Ep. of Peter</I>, p. 25. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn4text">4</A>] 2 Tim. ii. 8. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn5text">5</A>] Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16, 'justified in the spirit,' where the use is +approximately the same. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn6text">6</A>] See 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Cor. v. 5; James ii. 26; Matt. v. 3; xxvi. +41; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Mark viii. 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn7text">7</A>] Luke xxiv. 39; Heb. xii. 23; i. 14; Matt. viii. 16, &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn8text">8</A>] Matt. iii. 16; Luke x. 21, R.V. &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn9text">9</A>] John iv. 24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0101fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0101fn10text">10</A>] John vi. 63; Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 6. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0108"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. 8-17. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>St. Paul's introduction.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +The salutation is immediately followed by a passage in which St. Paul +introduces himself specially to the Christians at Rome. He had a +delicate task to perform. The Roman Christians had been gathered +probably from many parts of the empire, because Rome was the centre of +all the world's movements, and adherents of whatever was going on in +the empire were sure by force of circumstances to find their way to +Rome. Thus, though no apostle had yet preached at Rome, Christians had +gathered there. Many of them had not seen St. Paul's face. But they +had heard of him, no doubt, in Jewish circles as a very dangerous man +who was upheaving and subverting established traditions and principles. +He was a man to be looked at askance. He must introduce himself +therefore carefully. It was of the greatest importance +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> +to him, +the Apostle of the Gentiles, that he should gain full recognition among +these Christians at Rome, the centre of the Gentile world. We observe +then in this introduction what a gentleman, if I may say so, in the +very deepest sense of the term, St. Paul shows himself to be. He +speaks indeed with an admirable mixture of tact and candour. We can +hardly conceive any better address in a delicate situation than this +address of St. Paul with which he makes his approach to the Roman +Christians. +</P> + +<P> +He begins with what is pleasant for them to hear, namely, that the +report of their faith throughout all the world is a good one. 'I thank +my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is proclaimed +throughout the whole world.' Then he goes on to add, as is usual in +his introductions, that he continually prays for them. It was a remark +of General Gordon's that it makes a great difference in our feeling +towards a stranger if before we meet him we have prayed for him. And +we may with equal truth say that it makes a great difference in the +feelings of others towards us if they have reason to believe that we +have prayed for them. St. Paul therefore gives himself this advantage. +He says, 'God is my witness, whom I worship in my +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +spirit in the +gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my +prayers.' Then he goes on to tell them that he not only prays for +their welfare, but prays that he may have the advantage of seeing them +face to face and knowing them. And here he puts his desire to see them +on the true ground. He wants to visit them because he has something of +the utmost value to give them—that he may 'impart unto them some +spiritual gift.' +</P> + +<P> +Whatever may be the exact nature of the 'spiritual gift' St. Paul is +thinking of, it is clearly something for which his bodily presence is +necessary. There is some divine power which he as an apostle can +communicate to them only when he comes among them. In this sense he +means that 'when he comes to them he will come in the fulness of the +blessing of Christ[<A NAME="chap0108fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn1">1</A>].' He implies that the Roman Christians needed +him and must wait for him to supply their deficiencies. But we observe +that with beautiful tact he at once balances this assertion of a divine +power entrusted to him for their good, by representing his own need of +them. He does not speak <I>de haut en bas</I> as if he had everything to +give and nothing to receive. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> +No: as the people depend on the +apostle for spiritual gifts, so he depends on the people for spiritual +encouragement. He must live by the experience of their spiritual +growth. 'I desire,' he says, 'to come to you that I may impart unto +you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be established' (built +up and made strong in the faith). And then he interprets:—that is 'in +order that I with you may be encouraged[<A NAME="chap0108fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn2">2</A>] among you, each of us by the +other's faith, both yours and mine.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he goes on to tell them why he in particular is bound to come to +them, though hitherto he had been hindered by circumstances. It is +because he is 'a debtor.' St. Paul was the Apostle, not of the Jews, +but of the Gentiles. Therefore he is in debt to all the Gentiles till +he has given them the gospel, and more particularly to the centre of +the Gentile world, to Rome. And he would owe no man anything. He +would have no unsatisfied creditors. He will pay his debt therefore to +the Roman Christians. 'I am a debtor,' he says, 'both to Greeks and to +barbarians'—that is to all the Gentiles, whether they were of Greek +race or not. And +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +the Greeks were so identified with civilization +or education that this leads him on to say, 'I am a debtor both to the +educated and to the uneducated.' This general debt includes Rome. It +was natural to include the dwellers at Rome under the head of Greeks, +for it was through the medium of Greek that St. Paul made his appeal to +them. And, in fact, the Christians at Rome were, for the first two +hundred and fifty years or more of the Church's life, a Greek-speaking +people—a Greek colony in the Latin city. Only towards the end of the +third century did the Roman Church become latinized in language and +spirit. St. Paul then is a debtor to these Greek-speaking dwellers at +Rome. 'So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you +also that are in Rome.' +</P> + +<P> +But the name of Rome was, as he thought of it, a name of awe. It +brought in upon his mind the tremendous undertaking that lay before him +and before the Christian Church as they found themselves confronted +with this vast imperial organization, which might at any time lay its +iron hand upon them to stop their progress. Therefore he adds that, +even in view of Rome, he has courage in his heart: 'for I am not +ashamed of the gospel,' even under the shadow +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> +of the mighty name, +and though it was 'to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks +foolishness.' And why? Because he knows what the gospel means. It is +not mere words; it is a power. It is a 'power of God,' a divine force, +which, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth, and which nothing can +stop. It is a power of God. It is a power of God 'unto salvation,' a +power that is to work men's deliverance, and that in the deepest sense. +Roman emperors not very long after St. Paul's time are commemorated in +public inscriptions as 'saviours of the world[<A NAME="chap0108fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn3">3</A>].' That is in the +sense of maintaining peace and civil order. But Christ's salvation was +of a deeper sort. It was salvation from the bondage of sin, a +salvation which enabled people to be truly and eternally free. It is a +power of God unto salvation, and that 'to every one that believeth,' on +the mere basis of the simple willingness to take God at His word; 'to +the Jew first and also to the Greek.' 'For'—and here St. Paul reaches +the great text of his whole epistle—'therein' (that is, in the gospel) +'is disclosed,' or revealed here and now in the world, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +'a +righteousness of God.' By this phrase it will appear that he means +both a righteousness which is God's own, and also a righteousness which +God gives to men; for the gift of God is real moral and spiritual +fellowship with His own life. This is what is now offered to men. A +righteousness of God is revealed, starting from faith and at every +stage moving on upon the support of faith, 'a righteousness of God by +faith unto faith'; and that not in repudiation of the old covenant, but +in fulfilment of its vital principle: 'as it is written.' For the +words of Habakkuk may be interpreted to express the central spirit of +the Old Testament—'the righteous shall live by faith[<A NAME="chap0108fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn4">4</A>].' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith +is proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom +I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make +mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if by any means +now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you. +For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, +to the end ye may be established; that is, that I with you may be +comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. +And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed +to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some +fruit in you also, even +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +as in the rest of the Gentiles. I am +debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the +foolish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to +you also that are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it +is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the +Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a +righteousness of God by faith unto faith: as it is written, But the +righteous shall live by faith. +</P> + +<BR> +<P> +1. Origen's comment on the words 'through Jesus Christ' (at the +beginning of this section) is very interesting. 'To give God thanks is +to offer a sacrifice of praise, and therefore he adds "through Jesus +Christ," as through the great high priest.' Indeed, the doctrine of +the high priesthood of Christ, if it is not mentioned in St. Paul's own +epistles, is implied there from the first. +</P> + +<P> +2. St. Paul, we notice, expresses his intention to come to Rome with +reserve, 'if by any means by the will of God' ... 'so much as lies in +me.' And this reserve was no matter of mere words. He was going up to +Jerusalem with an offering of money, about which he felt the greatest +anxiety, and he knew not how he would be received, or what would befall +him[<A NAME="chap0108fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn5">5</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +3. It is not possible to decide what sort of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +'spiritual gift' St. +Paul is thinking of. We know that as an apostle he was qualified to +impart the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and that certain +'gifts' frequently accompanied His inward presence. Thus, 'when Paul +had laid his hands upon some men at Ephesus, the Holy Ghost came on +them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied.' We know, further, +that the Corinthian Church, whence St. Paul was writing this letter, +was specially rich in 'spiritual gifts,' such as 'tongues and +prophecy.' On the other hand, the Roman Christians had not yet +received an apostolic visit and they may have been lacking in such +endowments, while the reception of them would be calculated to +encourage them and strengthen their faith. +</P> + +<P> +It is possible, therefore, that he refers to a gift of this kind, and +the exact language he uses certainly suggests some definite endowment, +for the bestowal of which his bodily presence was necessary. The +thought of the miraculous power working through him, 'the power of +signs and wonders, the power of the Holy Ghost[<A NAME="chap0108fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0108fn6">6</A>],' was not far from +his mind when he wrote this epistle. +</P> + +<P> +Origen's comment on this passage also is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +interesting. 'First of +all we ought to learn that it is an apostolic work to long to see our +brethren, but for no other reason than that we may confer on them +something in the way of a spiritual gift if we can, and if we cannot, +that we may receive in the same kind from them. Otherwise, the longing +to go about among the brethren is not to be approved.' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We cannot doubt, I think, that when St. Paul's letter was read at Rome +this introduction, so full of tact, would have given him access to many +hearts inclined at starting to be prejudiced against him. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn1text">1</A>] Rom. xv. 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn2text">2</A>] 'To encourage' and 'encouragement' are probably the best words to +translate what in our Bible is rendered by 'comfort.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn3text">3</A>] Hadrian and Trajan: see <I>C.I.G.</I> vol. ii. p. 1068, No. 2349 m.; +vol. iii. p. 170, No. 4339, p. 191, No. 4380. These references I owe +to Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, of New College. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn4text">4</A>] Hab. ii. 4; cf. app. note A on meanings of the word 'faith.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn5text">5</A>] Rom. xv. 25 ff.; Acts xx. 22. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0108fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0108fn6text">6</A>] Rom. xv. 19. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0118"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION I. (CHAPTERS I. 18-III. 20.) +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The universality of sin and condemnation.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul has enunciated his great thesis. There has arrived into the +world a new and divine force making for man's fullest salvation: the +disclosure of a real fellowship in the moral being of God, which is +open to all men, Jew and Gentile equally, on the simple terms of taking +God at His word. This word of good tidings St. Paul is to expand and +justify in his epistle; but first he must pause and explain its +antecedents. Why was such a disclosure needed at this moment of the +world's history? Why has St. Paul spoken of 'salvation,' or why does +he elsewhere speak of 'redemption,' instead of expressing such ideas as +are most popular among ourselves to-day—development or progress? It +is because, to St. Paul's mind, man as he is is held in a bondage which +he ought to find intolerable, and the first step to freedom lies in the +recognition of this. Again, why does St. Paul +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +lay such emphasis +on faith, mere faith, only faith—why is he to insist so zealously on +the exclusion of any merit or independent power on man's part? It is +not only because faith, the faculty of mere reception and +correspondence, represents the normal and rational relation of man to +God, his Creator, Sustainer, Father. It is also, and with special +emphasis, because there has been a great revolt, a great assertion of +false independence on man's part; and what is needed first of all is +the submission of the rebel, or much rather the return of the prodigal +son, simply to throw himself on the mercy of his Father and acknowledge +his utter dependence upon Him for the forgiveness of his disloyalty and +his outrages, as well as for the fellowship which he seeks in the +divine life. The fuller statement therefore of St. Paul's gospel must +be postponed to the uncloaking of what man is without it. The note of +severity must be struck before the message of joy. We must be brought +to acknowledge ourselves to be not men only, but corrupt men—men under +the divine wrath—doomed men powerless to deliver ourselves, and ready +therefore to welcome in simple gratitude the large offer of God's +liberal and almost unconditional love. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> + +<P> +It is to produce this acknowledgement that St. Paul now addresses +himself. This argument of the first part of the epistle is a very +simple one. It elucidates two plain propositions:— +</P> + +<P> +1. that the wrath of God is, and is necessarily according to eternal +and unalterable principles of moral government, and in the case of +every man without any possibility of exception, upon sin. +</P> + +<P> +2. that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are held in sin, and therefore lie +under the divine wrath. +</P> + +<P> +Thus St. Paul immediately follows up his initial statement of the +revelation of a divine righteousness with the assertion of another +'revelation' made plain to the consciences of men. 'The wrath of God +is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and +unrighteousness of men,' and he proceeds to demonstrate the prevalence +of sin first of all in the heathen world and to lay bare its meaning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0132"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION I. § I. (CHAPTER I. 18-32). +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Judgement on the Gentile world.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +Before we read this passage certain points should be plain to our minds. +</P> + +<P> +1. By sin St. Paul means essentially wilfulness—wilful disobedience. +There is such a thing as an inheritance of moral weakness or perversity +which passes to men without their fault and without their knowledge. +This, the real existence of which hardly any one can deny, is what is +called original sin; and later on we shall find St. Paul speaking of +it. But it is not what is most properly called sin. God is absolutely +equitable. 'Sin is not reckoned' as sin in His sight, apart from +knowledge and will. Sin, most properly speaking, begins and ends where +wilful disobedience begins and ends. St. Paul on this matter is +completely at one with St. John +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +when he makes sin and lawlessness +identical as realities in the world. 'Sin is lawlessness[<A NAME="chap0132fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn1">1</A>].' And we +cannot even make a beginning of advance along St. Paul's line of +thought till we recognize the real existence of sin as something +different in kind from ignorance or weakness or lack of development, +and as an incomparably greater evil than those. Sin is the created +will setting itself against the divine will. It is, as a state or an +act, the refusal of God. And the recognition of the awful existence of +this refusal of God is the main clue to understanding the miseries of +the present world. +</P> + +<P> +2. Sin therefore, involving as it does <I>wilful</I> disobedience, can only +be spoken of as prevalent over the heathen world because, not merely +one chosen race, but all men in general have had the opportunity of the +knowledge of God. St. Paul indeed elsewhere modifies the general +assertion of the fact which he makes in this place, by broadly +recognizing that there are states of human existence which are low in +their moral standard, but are rendered comparatively guiltless by the +absence of moral knowledge—states of life where sin exists but is not +reckoned +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> +as sin[<A NAME="chap0132fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn2">2</A>]. For 'sin,' he says, 'is not reckoned' as sin +where there is no enlightening law and no consequent condemnation of +conscience. But in this passage, looking at humanity in general, he +asserts, like the author of the Book of Wisdom or the perhaps +contemporary Jewish author of the Apocalypse of Baruch[<A NAME="chap0132fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn3">3</A>], that all men +have had the opportunity of knowing God from His works in nature, and +that their present state is the result of a wilful refusal of Him. +They are 'without excuse.' The sources of the natural knowledge of God +are indeed twofold, for there is the moral conscience, individual and +social, of which St. Paul speaks later; but here it is the evidence of +nature alone of which St. Paul speaks: the witness of the creatures to +'the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> +invisible things' or attributes of their creator, that is to +say, to His power and (generally) His divinity. +</P> + +<P> +3. Assuming then the opportunity of the knowledge of God as lying +behind human records, St. Paul traces the history of sin. It had its +roots in the refusal of the human will to recognize God and give Him +the homage of gratitude and service due to Him. Men 'held down the +truth in unrighteousness,' that is, restrained it from having free +course in their hearts and in the world because of the painful moral +obligations which it involves. Knowing God, they refused to +acknowledge Him with thankfulness or 'give Him the glory.' Rather they +would themselves 'be as gods.' They 'refused to have God in their +knowledge.' Then from this root in the rebel will sin passed to the +obscuring of the understanding, as is shown in the ridiculous +aberrations of idolatry. 'They became vain in their reasonings, and +their senseless heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise,' +the nations in their worship showed themselves fools. Idolatry had +long ago appeared simply ridiculous to Isaiah: he pointed the finger of +scorn at the idolaters. 'They know not,' he cried, 'neither do they +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> +consider: the Lord hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and +their hearts that they cannot understand. And none calleth to mind, +neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part +of the wood in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals +thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the +residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a +tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, +that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my +right hand[<A NAME="chap0132fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn4">4</A>]?' Isaiah's language and thought had been elaborated and +developed in the Book of Wisdom[<A NAME="chap0132fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn5">5</A>], and St. Paul appropriates it. To +mistake creatures for the Creator, or to think of the glorious and +spiritual God as if He were in the form of the corruptible body of man +or beast or bird or reptile—so St. Paul alludes to the man worship of +Greece and the animal worship of Egypt—is simple blindness and folly; +blindness and folly in which St. Paul sees the just punishment of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +the rebellious will in the region of the intellect. But it has another +punishment in the region of the appetites or passions. As men +deliberately 'repudiated' the knowledge and obedience of God, God +'repudiated' men in penal retribution. He gave them up to become vile +in their own eyes and to find out their impotence to control their own +lusts. They ran riot even in all sorts of unnatural and lawless ways, +so that the world became full of sins of all kinds; sins against God +and sins against man; antisocial sins of all sorts, the sins which +destroy the state and friendship and commerce and the home: and at the +last the very ideal of righteousness had come to be lost. St. Paul, we +notice, makes the lowest moral stage of all to consist, not in merely +doing these wicked things, but in abandoning all distaste for +them—consenting unrestrainedly to those who do them; and this +profoundly true remark explains the moral impotence of much that is +from other points of view excellent in Greek literature. +</P> + +<P> +4. For the punishment of all this sin St. Paul is not content to look +to the 'day of judgement,' though that is to be the final and +characteristic expression of divine wrath, and that 'day of wrath' he +still probably anticipated in the more +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +immediate future; but he +sees already in the actual world of human society as he knows it the +manifold evidence of the divine wrath here and now. Men are receiving +in themselves the fitting reward of their perversity. Their life has +found its own punishment. The divine wrath is actually disclosed in +the facts of experience. 'Look,' St. Paul seems to say, 'at the way +men are living, and ask yourselves if there is any interpretation but +one of the facts you see. There is but one conclusion possible. God +has condemned and is showing His wrath on the human nature which He +made.' Just in the same way in an earlier epistle St. Paul speaks of +the Jews, even before the destruction of Jerusalem, as already judged, +already the subject of the divine wrath[<A NAME="chap0132fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn6">6</A>]. And God's method of +judgement is this. The punishment lies in the natural consequences of +the lawless actions. The wages of sin is also its fruit[<A NAME="chap0132fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn7">7</A>]. And +further, this punishment of sin involves the increased liability to sin +again. One sin 'gives us over' to another, as one good action +facilitates another. This idea was familiar to Jewish teachers. Among +the 'sayings of the Fathers' we find, 'Every fulfilment of duty is +rewarded by another, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +and every transgression is punished by +another[<A NAME="chap0132fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn8">8</A>].' St. Paul, in fact, in this chapter, may be said to be +concentrating for the Christian Church all that is best and deepest in +the moral philosophy of Judaism. +</P> + +<P> +Now we are in a position to read the first section of St. Paul's +argument without perhaps finding any single idea to the interpretation +of which we have not a clue. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness +and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; +because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God +manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the +creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the +things that are made, <I>even</I> his everlasting power and divinity; that +they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified +him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their +reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing +themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the +incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and +of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto +uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves: +for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and +served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. +Amen. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women +changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise +also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their +lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and +receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +And even as they refused to have God in <I>their</I> knowledge, God gave +them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not +fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, +covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, +malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, +boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without +understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, +unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they which practise +such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent +with them that practise them. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. Perhaps the first question which arises in our minds when reading +this passage is, whether St. Paul's general account of the heathen +world is not unjustifiably severe. Does he not paint it too black? In +fact, the account he gives coincides with the account given by other +Jews of the Gentile world as in their experience they found it; and +this, we must remember, means the Gentile world of the great cities of +the empire. They thought, as they moved about the world and saw what +they could not but +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +see, that God had forsaken the Gentiles because +they refused to acknowledge His law. There was sin enough in Israel, +but it was remediable. The sin of the Gentiles was irremediable. God +had forsaken them[<A NAME="chap0132fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn9">9</A>]. This last idea is of course one entirely alien +to St. Paul's mind. To him all God's judgements, at least in this +world, have one intention—to awaken men to recognize the truth and to +stir them to conversion, 'that he may have mercy upon all.' But +otherwise St. Paul's view of the Gentile world, as he experienced it in +the cities of mixed Greek and Asiatic population of the Roman Empire, +and especially in the notoriously wicked Corinth where he was +writing[<A NAME="chap0132fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn10">10</A>], was the ordinary Jewish view. And a contemporary Stoic +philosopher, who wrote at Ephesus under the name of Heracleitus, gives +a picture of society in that city fully as black[<A NAME="chap0132fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn11">11</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +At the same time, if we are to be fair, we must recognize that the +account, while true, is not complete. The Gentile life was not without +its 'salt.' There was a great deal of virtue, both domestic and +philosophical, in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN> +empire—more perhaps in the country, of +which St. Paul knew little, than in the towns. And the existence of +this salt he acknowledges when, in the second chapter of this epistle, +he speaks of Gentiles which have no revealed law but do by nature the +things of law, being a law unto themselves, and having the effect of +the law written in their hearts, and a witnessing conscience, +individual and social, to help them[<A NAME="chap0132fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn12">12</A>]: and again, when he intimates +that there is an uncircumcision which puts the circumcision to shame by +keeping the law[<A NAME="chap0132fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn13">13</A>]. But it is not St. Paul's way to exactly correlate +the different aspects of his subject as a modern writer would do. He +is a prophet and preacher, not a formally systematic writer. It is +enough for him that the sin which he is describing is a reality: that +its tendencies are what he describes them to be: that, whatever other +counter tendency there may be, sin is so dominant in the world that its +results are as he represents them, and that the conscience and +experience of those to whom he writes will respond to his indictment. +</P> + +<P> +Nor, if we give its metaphorical meaning to 'idolatry,' is there a word +which St. Paul says in this chapter which would not be true of our +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +modern civilization in London or Paris or New York. With us indeed +Christianity has been sufficiently vigorous to provide a counteracting +force, of infinitely stronger power than existed in the Roman world, to +resist corruption. The agencies of divine strength and recovery, the +centres of health and light, are infinitely more numerous, stronger, +more constant, more progressive. But the world of sin is still what it +was: and always there lies upon it the same stamp of the divine +condemnation. We look around on the life of our city, with its selfish +and disgusting lusts, with its drunkenness, with its enervating luxury, +with its selfish wealth, with its reckless and immoral gambling, with +its dishonest commerce, with its grasping avarice so neglectful of the +lives of those whom it makes its instruments: we look round, I say, not +on the whole life, but on the sinful life of our city, and we see what +human nature is plainly meant not to be, either in its characteristics +or in its miserable issues. And by the interval between what we see +life to be and what we know it was meant to be, we can measure the +reality of the divine judgement. The facts press upon us the truth +which St. Paul would teach. The sinful life is a condemned life. Here +is an +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +actual disclosure of the wrath of God upon all +unrighteousness and sin. +</P> + +<P> +2. But what will 'science' say to St. Paul's account of human +degeneracy and degradation? Does not St. Paul seem to talk, as +moralists in general have been disposed to talk, as if the course of +the world's history had been a downward course? and is not this the +religious view? and is it not directly opposed to the scientific view +of a gradual process of development and advance? This is a very common +form of question to suggest itself to our minds. And the answer to it +appears to be this[<A NAME="chap0132fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn14">14</A>]:—The biblical view of the world is not by any +means that as a whole it has gone from bad to worse. It recognizes +periods and areas of degradation, and suggests periods and areas of +stagnation. And this is what anthropology and history equally suggest. +But its main concern is with the history of one particular line of +human advancement under divine guidance through Abraham and Moses and +prophets and kings, through Christ and His Church: an advancement which +is to be finally world-wide, and even more than world-wide, in its +effects. Other lines of progress in civilization and knowledge +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +the Bible recognizes but is not largely concerned with. But it is in +its general effect thoroughly in accord with science, which suggests +not general and equable advance over the whole region of humanity, but +advance in special departments along the line of select races, +continually impeded in its progress by counter tendencies, by periods +and areas of degradation, and still more of stagnation[<A NAME="chap0132fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn15">15</A>]. Science, +indeed, utters no word of promise at all as to the ultimate result of +all this evolution[<A NAME="chap0132fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn16">16</A>]. It is faith, of whatsoever sort, not science, +that can make us optimistic as to the issue of human history. +</P> + +<P> +But no doubt the Bible does throughout postulate the existence of sin; +and it claims that sin everywhere, and from the first, has been a cause +of degradation in the individual and the race. Now here is the real +point at issue in the relations of religion and science. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> +main +question is not about human origins or a primaeval fall. It is simply +on the comparatively easy field of actual human existence. Is human +freedom—freedom within limits to choose and act—a reality? Can man +therefore misuse this freedom to do what he need not have done and +ought not to have done? And has he, in fact, constantly been doing +morally wrong things, wilfully and knowingly, which he need not have +done? Does, therefore, the area of human history present at every +stage a result or product which human wilfulness and lawlessness, that +is, sin, has contributed to spoil and to degrade below its natural +level? Now it is this—the real existence of countless human actions +which need not have been and ought not to have been—which contemporary +science, with a necessitarian bias, is largely occupied in denying. +Granted the reality within limits—limits which have no doubt often +been grossly exaggerated, but granted the reality within due limits—of +human freedom, and therefore the possibility and reality of actual sin +and guilt and degradation which need not have been, I do not believe +there remains any serious conflict in the moral region between religion +and science. The conflict, I say, is continually +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> +being taken back +into the region of original sin or the original fall. But this is a +quite secondary area of debate, in which I believe there can be no +serious disagreement, if there is agreement in the primary area of +actual human sin. The universal moral consciousness and common sense +of man bears witness to the fact that we can do and do do what we ought +and need not. It recognizes, moreover, the moral truth of St. Paul's +idea that this lawlessness of the will has its perverting effects on +the intelligence and on the passions. The human conscience then +responds to St. Paul's account of the origin and history of human sin, +and of its fruits both in the individual and in society. And if +psychological science is inclined to deny the very existence of any +faculty of free choice such as makes sin possible, it will be found on +examination to be going very far beyond what it can prove. For the +reality of guilt and sin, and the degradation which results from it, we +have the human consciousness; against it we have no positive evidence: +nothing in fact but the habitual unwillingness of specialist science, +physical or theological, to recognize its limits. +</P> + +<P> +3. St. Paul finds the root of sin in the refusal +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> +of man in +general to recognize God. He asserts that they might have known Him, +or rather did know Him, but declined to act on that knowledge. Now it +is noticeable that he does not ascribe this knowledge of God, which he +declares to have been possible to man everywhere, to an original +revelation, nor even in this place to the moral conscience, but to the +evidence of nature. In this, as in his ridicule of idolatry, he is in +accordance, not only with Jewish thought, but with contemporary Greek +philosophy. The argument from design had become habitual in the +schools, having been stated first of all with transparent simplicity by +Xenophon in his account of the reasoning of Socrates. St. Paul then +finds in this instinctive inference from nature up to nature's God, 'a +testimony of the soul naturally Christian.' He is able, at Lystra and +Athens, to assume that men will respond to it. +</P> + +<P> +It is another question, into which St. Paul does not specifically +enter, how far back in human history the appreciation of this reasoning +goes. But it is worth noticing that among our contemporary +investigators of the history of religion, some at least of the most +acute have been coming back to what we may call a modified +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> +form of +the doctrine of an original monotheism[<A NAME="chap0132fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0132fn17">17</A>]. They think that even +savage religions generally bear traces, that are plainly independent, +of a belief in one great and mostly good God; and that there is no +evidence that this higher belief was developed out of the lower belief +in manifold spirits of more ambiguous characters. They see no reason +to suppose that the higher belief has been gradually arrived at within +any period into which the human mind can penetrate with its +investigations or its well-grounded conjectures. Humanity appears to +them to have been haunted from its origins with this belief in the one +God; and they regard all the higher religious movements as attempts not +so much to arrive at, as to retain hold on, a belief which is +continually in danger of being overlaid and forgotten. It does not +appear that anthropological science is at all likely to disprove such a +view which on the other hand has a great deal of evidence to justify +it. At least, the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> +evidences of deterioration in the history of +religion are manifold and conspicuous. The lowest view of God and man +is not by any means always the oldest. And the recognition of such +facts is quite consonant with the doctrine of the evolution of religion +in its more reasonable forms. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile, every one is in sufficient harmony with St. Paul's argument +who recognizes the universal facts of sin and guilt and needless moral +deterioration among men; and who recognizes also that the secret of sin +is the wilful refusal on men's part to know God as they might have +known Him, and obey Him as they might have obeyed Him. +</P> + +<P> +4. Besides these difficult questions, we should mark what is both +plain and instructive, that St. Paul regards man as necessarily living +either above himself or below himself. Man's true nature is to be in +dependence upon God. Therein is his true liberty and dignity of +sonship. When he tries to be independent, to be his own master simply, +he loses the true principle of self-government and becomes the victim +of his own passions. God 'gave men up,' handed them over as slaves to +dishonouring passions. This theory of human nature is intimately bound +up with all St. Paul's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> +teaching about grace and redemption, and we +shall hear more of it. +</P> + +<P> +5. We shall do well to notice, finally, one consequence which follows +from recognizing that the lowest stage of moral degradation lies, not +merely in doing what is wrong, but in having ceased to disapprove of +it. That is to say, the lowest moral stage carries with it a complete +loss of ideal, or absence of the standard of right and wrong; and this +lowest stage is anticipated before it is reached. It follows, +therefore, and we must not forget it, that the actual conscience of the +individual, or of the society, at any particular moment affords no +adequate standard of right and wrong. The moral conscience, like the +intelligence in general, requires enlightenment. It supplies no +trustworthy information, except so far as we are at pains to keep it +enlightened. More than this, its capacity to keep us admonished +depends on our habitually observing its injunctions. To disobey +conscience is to dull it, and finally to make it obdurate and +insensitive. The absence of conscientious objection to a particular +course of action may therefore be due either to our having neglected to +enlighten our conscience or to having refused to obey it. The duty of +an +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +individual to himself is not only to obey his conscience, but +also take pains to enlighten it. And the duty of the individual to +society is to make continual efforts to keep the corporate conscience +up to standard. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn1text">1</A>] 1 John iii. 4. The Greek phrase implies exactly that all sin is +lawlessness, and all lawlessness is sin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn2text">2</A>] Rom. v. 13, 14. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn3text">3</A>] Cf. Wisd. xiii. 1-9: 'For verily all men by nature were but vain +who had no perception of God, and from the good things that are seen +they gained not power to know him that is, neither by giving heed to +the works did they recognize the artificer.... For from the greatness +of the beauty even of created things in like proportion does man form +the image of their first maker.... But again even they are not to be +excused. For if they had power to know so much ... how is it that they +did not sooner find the Sovereign Lord of these his works?' Apoc. Bar. +liv. 17, 18: 'From time to time ye have rejected the understanding of +the Most High. For his works have not taught you, nor has the skill of +his creation which is at all times persuaded you.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn4text">4</A>] Isa. xliv. 18-20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn5text">5</A>] Wisd. xi. 15; xiii, xiv, xv. St. Paul's debt to the Book of Wisdom +is apparent (1) in the kinds of idols he mentions; (2) in the way in +which the thought of idolatry leads on to that of uncleanness and +sexual immorality; and (3) in the idea of retribution by the natural +law of results. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn6text">6</A>] 1 Thess. ii. 16. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn7text">7</A>] Butler's <I>Analogy</I>, part i. ch. 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn8text">8</A>] <I>Pirqé Aboth</I>, iv. 2 (cited by S. and H.). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn9text">9</A>] S. and H. p. 49. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn10text">10</A>] He implies, as Dr. Farrar points out, 1 Cor. v. 9-10, that pure +society did not exist in Corinth. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn11text">11</A>] See my <I>Ephesians</I>, pp. 91, 92, 255. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn12text">12</A>] Rom. ii. 13-15. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn13text">13</A>] Rom. ii. 26. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn14text">14</A>] See also app. note E on physical science and the fall. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn15text">15</A>] Cf. F. B. Jevons, <I>Introd. to the Hist. of Religion</I> (Methuen), +pp. 394, 395: 'Everywhere it is the many who lapse: the few who hold +right on. The progressive peoples of the earth are in a minority.' +'Though evolution is universal, progress is exceptional.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn16text">16</A>] Cf. Huxley, <I>Evolution and Ethics</I> (Romanes Lecture, 1893, +Macmillan), p. 36: 'The theory of evolution encourages no millennial +anticipations. If, for millions of years, our globe has taken the +upward road, yet, some time, the summit will be reached, and the +downward route will be commenced.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0132fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0132fn17text">17</A>] The allusion is to (1) Jevons (<I>op. cit.</I> cap. xxv), who seems to +think some 'amorphous' form of monotheism may very probably lie behind +totemism. He strongly repudiates the notion that the lower form is +necessarily the older. (2) Andrew Lang, <I>Making of Religion</I> +(Longmans, 1898), chaps. ix and xv. Cp. also Orr's <I>Christian view of +God and the World</I> (Elliot, 1893), pp. 212 ff., and notes E, F, G. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0201"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION I. § 2. CHAPTER II. 1-29. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Judgement on the Jews.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul in his judgement of the Gentile world is but repeating, with +more of moral discernment, what he would have learned in his Jewish +training. But the strict Jews who had taught St. Paul, though some +among them must have been good men, ready to enter into the deeply +penitential spirit of their psalmists and prophets, do not seem as a +rule to have liked to think of their own people as liable to divine +condemnation. They chose to suppose that the Gentile world alone was +the area upon which divine vengeance would light, while the Jews were +to appear as the instruments of God's judgements, or at least +themselves exempt from them. They had forgotten all the superabundant +warnings against such a spirit which the prophets from Amos to John the +Baptist had let fall. This frame of mind—censorious when +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> +it +looks without, lenient to the point of blindness when it looks +within—sometimes appears when one thinks of things in the abstract as +almost impossible, in the form at least in which St. Paul here proceeds +to attribute it to the Jews. We can hardly believe that any +responsible beings could be so blind as St. Paul implies that his pious +fellow-countrymen were. But it needs only experience to convince us +that even in its grosser forms this frame of mind is extraordinarily +common in individuals, in nations, and in churches. Certainly the +nation of England is not, and the representatives of religious England +too often are not, exempt from the common failing. And in the case of +the Jews we have also the witness of our Lord. He represents the +religious Jewish world as honeycombed with hypocrisy of a plain and +gross sort. They are to Him very types of the men who behold the mote +that is in their brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in +their own eyes. St. Paul's witness then is only the same as the +Christ's. +</P> + +<P> +Here then St. Paul turns abruptly upon a Jew who may be supposed to +have been listening to the indictment of the Gentiles with expressions +of sympathy, and bids him look +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> +within and recognize that the Jew +also falls under the same indictment and on the same grounds. And he +proceeds sternly to cut away any possible ground of confidence which he +might derive from the thought that he had 'Abraham to his father.' +God's judgement is directed by an absolutely impartial 'truth' or +estimate of the facts in their inner reality. If in any particular +case of persistent sin His judgement seems to linger, it is not that He +has forgotten or will overlook; it is only that He is merciful and +forbearing, and gives long space for repentance[<A NAME="chap0201fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn1">1</A>]. But, meanwhile, if +the opportunity is not taken, if the heart is hard and impenitent, a +store is being laid up against the offender in the place of judgement, +which will break out in the great day in manifested wrath. God's +principle of judgement is absolutely free from partiality. There are +men +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +who have steadily in view the true aim of human life, its +imperishable glory, its final and permanent honour, and, therefore, +preferring eternal to temporal things, patiently go on doing good; they +may be Jews or Greeks, but in either case indifferently, the reward +that they have sought will be theirs with the accompaniment of inward +peace. There are other men who are contentious, and refusing the +leading of the truth, make themselves servants to unrighteousness. +They may be Jews or Gentiles, but the divine wrath, showing itself in +outward suffering and inward anguish, will be upon them all equally. +For God judges men impartially in the light of their opportunities. +Those who have the advantage of a revealed law shall be judged and +acquitted according as they have, not listened to it merely, but obeyed +it. For a law known and not kept, so far from commending us to God, is +but the instrument of our judgement. And those who have not this +advantage are yet not without an inward light in the natural moral +consciousness of mankind. Those who have sinned against this light +shall find nothing else was needed to bring them to their ruin. And +those, on the other hand, who by its help keep the moral law in effect, +without +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +any assistance from a revealed law, are their own law for +themselves. They have the law in its practical result written in their +hearts as their conduct shows, and their natural conscience bears its +accompanying witness. For conscience, both individual and social, +reflecting on all human actions to condemn, or, more rarely, to acquit, +anticipates the final divine judgement which, as St. Paul continually +announces, it will be the office of Jesus the Christ to pass unerringly +upon things secret as well as open in the 'day of the Lord.' +</P> + +<P> +The specially revealed law on which the Jew relied, which it is his +boast to have received from God, and in virtue of which he could +rightly claim to have a knowledge of divine things which other men had +not, and to be the teacher of the nations, the interpreter to other men +of the divine will—this law finds its first application to those +themselves to whom it is given. How can they preach the commandments, +whether it be the eighth or the seventh or the second that is in +question, so long as they have so bad a reputation for keeping them? +They cannot deny that as of old, so now, their moral conduct causes the +heathen to blaspheme their religion, instead of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +being drawn +towards it. To have received circumcision in physical fact is of no +profit at all, unless it be accompanied by the obedience of which the +mark in the flesh is but the symbol. Disobedience is in God's sight +uncircumcision. And where the obedience is, God will reckon it as if +the symbol were there also. The morally obedient Gentile will sit in +judgement on the morally disobedient Jew. For that is the divine +principle. God everywhere and always looks to the spiritual reality as +it is seated in heart and will, and is satisfied never by outward +distinctions. Jew (Judah) means 'praise.' But if the Jew is to merit +his name, he must not be satisfied with the applause of men. He must +commend himself to God who sees the heart. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that +judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for +thou that judgest dost practise the same things. And we know that the +judgement of God is according to truth against them that practise such +things. And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise +such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgement +of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance +and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to +repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up +for thyself wrath in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +day of wrath and revelation of the +righteous judgement of God; who will render to every man according to +his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and +honour and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, +and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, <I>shall be</I> wrath and +indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that +worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and +honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and +also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God. For as +many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as +many as have sinned under law shall be judged by law; for not the +hearers of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be +justified: for when Gentiles which have no law do by nature the things +of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; in that +they shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience +bearing witness therewith[<A NAME="chap0201fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn2">2</A>], and their thoughts one with another +accusing or else excusing <I>them</I>; in the day when God shall judge the +secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and +gloriest in God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that +are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that +thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in +darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the +law the form of knowledge and of the truth; thou therefore that +teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man +should not steal, dost thou steal? +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +thou that sayest a man should +not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest +idols, dost thou rob temples? thou who gloriest in the law, through thy +transgression of the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is +blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. +For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if +thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become +uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of +the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? and +shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, +judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of +the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that +circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is +one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not +in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. As at the end of the first chapter we asked whether St. Paul was +fair to the Gentile world, so now we ask whether he is fair to those of +his own race whose religious tendencies he had known so well from +inside. And the answer again is that he undoubtedly represents aright +the dominant tendency and temper among them. The prophets had always +had to fight against the natural but false idea of divine election, +which held the Jewish race secure in the favour of Jehovah, simply +because He was their God and they were His people. They bring to bear +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +all the activities of an inspired intelligence and heart to make +their fellow-countrymen perceive that they are only secure in God's +favour so long as they are like Him in character. Now down to the +period of the Captivity, the prophets could also denounce the people +because they were constantly false to Jehovah in matters of worship as +well as of morality. After the Captivity, however, the tendency to +idolatry is gone for ever. After the Maccabean period the exclusive +and legitimate worship of Jehovah becomes a matter of passionate +enthusiasm in the Jewish race. Henceforth therefore their danger from +the false idea of election passes into a new phase. We must be in the +favour of God, they now could plead, because we have Abraham to our +father, and because we keep to the worship of our God with an +irreproachable zeal for His law. Against this sort of strengthened +pleading John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, aims his bare +moral teaching. God's wrath is just about to fall upon His people he +declares, because it lacks in real moral righteousness. Repent ye, be +changed, get you a new heart—is his one word of preaching. This +keynote passes intensified into the teachings and the denunciations of +Christ. Nothing +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> +more surely stamps the narrative of 'the woman +taken in adultery' as historically genuine[<A NAME="chap0201fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn3">3</A>], than its profound truth +to the moral attitude of Christ in face of Scribes and Pharisees. The +point of His reply to their trial question is that they who would +enforce a divine law, and thus stand for God before the world, must +themselves be morally sound. 'He that is without sin among you, let +him first cast a stone at her.' It is moral conformity, not merely +orthodoxy, which qualifies us to act for God. It is then precisely +this attitude of Christ towards the Jews zealous for the law, which St. +Paul is reproducing in the passage which we have just read. +</P> + +<P> +He suggests also in its last words—where he is playing on the meaning +of the name of Judah—another deep element in Christ's depreciation of +the religious spirit of the Jews. Their religion was a matter of +public opinion—with all the stagnancy which belongs to the public +opinion of a compact society—not a matter which lived with ever fresh +life in the inner relation of the conscience to God. 'How can ye +believe which receive glory one of another, and the glory which cometh +from the only God ye seek not?' +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> +St. Paul then is certainly right +in his estimate of Jewish religion. One indeed who describes with as +vivid reality as he does the pride of a Jew in his religious +privileges—one who had all the reason that Saul of Tarsus had for +knowing what it was to feel this emotion from within—could hardly have +been wrong in his estimate of its weaknesses. +</P> + +<P> +And if the particular moral defects which St. Paul attributes to the +religious Jew are surprisingly grave—theft, adultery, and +temple-robbery—here too what he says out of his own experience is +confirmed from other quarters. Avarice was a notorious sin of Jews. +Our Lord accuses the Scribes of 'devouring widows' houses[<A NAME="chap0201fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn4">4</A>]' under +cloak of religion, and denounces the Pharisees also for leaving their +outwardly purified cups and platters inwardly full of 'extortion.' It +is only a subtler form of theft that He alludes to when He denounces +them for sanctioning the practice of dedicating property as a 'corban' +to the purposes of religion in order to evade the righteous claims of +parents. The story of Susanna, the brief but stern words of our Lord +about the seventh commandment in His Sermon on the Mount, and His +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> +significant language on the occasion already alluded to of the woman +taken in adultery, interpret St. Paul's language as to sins of the +flesh. And the language of the town clerk at Ephesus in exculpating +St. Paul and his company, suggests that 'temple-robbery' was a not +unfamiliar imputation upon Jews. It appears that with all their horror +of idols—and though everything connected with an idol was expressly +declared to be 'an abomination,' unless it had been already desecrated +by Gentiles[<A NAME="chap0201fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn5">5</A>]—they could not always resist the opportunity of +appropriating the rich stores of the temples. The 'religious' Scribes +and Pharisees (though not of course the best of them) were, in fact, as +a body truly hypocrites, as our Lord summarily said they were. +</P> + +<P> +And there lies in the moral failure of the Jews a very much needed +warning to us nineteenth-century Christians against censoriousness. +'Judging' occupies so large a part in our ordinary conversation. In +the religious world, we condemn so freely—Romanists, Dissenters, those +who are of a different party to ourselves: in the social world—those +of a different class, those who employ us, or whom we employ, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> +those whom in any way we do not like or who go contrary to us. We are +always judging. But to judge, we are taught, is a great +responsibility. With what judgement we judge, we shall be judged. It +is of the utmost consequence that before we judge others we should have +judged ourselves. And to have done that truthfully has a tendency to +make us charitable in our estimate of others, because we are deeply +conscious of our own need of merciful and lenient consideration. +</P> + +<P> +2. What St. Paul teaches about the moral consciousness, and +possibility of moral goodness, among the Gentiles has not a Jewish +sound at all. The Jewish teachers generally would not have admitted +any goodness acceptable to God in the heathen world. In fact, St. Paul +is here, as in his speech at Athens, accepting the principle of a +universal presence and operation of God in the human heart, outside the +limit of any special revelation, and he accepts it in terms largely +derived from current Stoic philosophy. +</P> + +<P> +The Stoics, arising when the Greek city life was decaying, contemplated +man as an individual, and undertook to show him how to lead a good +life. A good life means a 'life according +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +to nature,' or +'according to reason': the reason of the individual being a part of the +universal reason or God. And as a help in living according to reason, +the Stoics laid stress upon the conscience in each man, i.e. a faculty +lying behind his ordinary surface self, passing judgement according to +reason upon his actions, and 'making cowards of us all,' inasmuch as we +all do wrong. +</P> + +<P> +'No one,' said Seneca, St. Paul's contemporary, 'will be found who can +acquit himself; and any man calling himself innocent has regard to the +human witness, not to his own conscience.' He quotes an 'admirable +saying of Epicurus,' 'The beginning of safety is the knowledge of sin.' +He inculcates the duty of strict self-examination, and tells us how he +performed it himself at night: 'when the light is removed, and my wife, +who is by this time aware of my practice, is now silent, I pass the +whole of my day under examination.' Then he 'opens out his conscience +to the gods.' And this conscience is to every man a sort of inward +God[<A NAME="chap0201fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn6">6</A>]. It is in fact the representative in each man of the universal, +immutable, and divine moral law, the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +law of nature, in conformity +with which is the only true freedom and citizenship of the world. 'For +this' (the world of the moral order), said another contemporary of St. +Paul, also a philosopher, 'is the common home of all, and its law is no +written document (letter), but God. And if a man transgresses what the +law imposes, he will be impious; or rather he will not dare transgress, +for he could not escape. Justice has many furies, watch-dogs for +sins[<A NAME="chap0201fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn7">7</A>].' There is in Cicero's <I>Republic</I> a magnificent expression of +the principle of the law of nature: 'There is a true law which is right +reason, agreeable to nature, diffused among all men, constant, eternal, +which calls us to duty by its injunctions, and by its prohibitions +deters us from wrong; which upon the good lays neither injunction nor +prohibition in vain; while for the bad, neither its injunctions nor its +prohibitions avail at all. This law admits neither of addition nor +subtraction nor abrogation. The vote of neither senate nor people can +discharge us from our obligation to it. We are not to look for some +other person to expound or interpret it; nor will there be one law for +Rome and another for Athens, nor +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> +one at this date and another +later on; but one law shall embrace all races over all time, eternal +and immortal; and there shall be hereby one common master and commander +of all—God, who originated this law and proposed it and arbitrates +concerning it; and if any one obeys it not, he shall play false to +himself and shall do despite to the nature of man, and by this very +fact shall pay the greatest penalties, even if he should escape all +else that is reckoned punishment.' It is of interest to notice that +the words cited by St. Paul before the Areopagus[<A NAME="chap0201fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn8">8</A>], 'We are also God's +offspring,' occur in a hymn of the Stoic Cleanthes, full of the thought +of man's relation through his reason to the universal and divine law. +</P> + +<P> +Of this type of thought and language then St. Paul avails himself, in +spite of the immense differences which disclose themselves below the +surface between the Stoic and the Christian ideas of God. He avails +himself of Stoic phraseology about men being God's offspring in his +speech at Athens, as being in accordance with what he, the Christian +apostle, had to teach. And here he adopts in substance the Stoic +language with regard to conscience. As by inference from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> +nature +all men can know of God's power and divine attributes, so, St. Paul +says, from the witness of conscience they may know the principles of +His moral government[<A NAME="chap0201fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn9">9</A>]. St. Paul, however, rightly refuses to be +satisfied with the individual conscience. The social judgement—the +social verdicts of condemnation or acquittal continually being +passed—co-operate with it to anticipate the judgements of God. And in +virtue of the inward light of reason, and the conscience[<A NAME="chap0201fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn10">10</A>] both +individual and social, he held that men who lie outside the region of +special revelation can possess the moral law in effect in their hearts, +and, it is implied, can keep it. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul is mainly occupied in this epistle in contrasting the +Christian Church, as a region where spiritual power is given in +response to faith to enable a man to fulfil the divine law, both with +the heathen world, plunged in moral wickedness, and with the Jewish +Church in its failure to attain to divine righteousness by the law of +works—of which more hereafter. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +But there were among the Jews +true sons of Abraham: and there were among the Gentiles good men +acceptable to God, like righteous Job. St. Paul does not theorize +about this. But there is at least no reason to deny that he would have +declared these righteous men to be justified by faith and sanctified by +grace, i.e. justified by that degree of truthful correspondence with +God which was possible for them; and kept in harmony with the will of +God by His Spirit. There is no reason to believe that St. Paul would +not have admitted some action of faith and grace among the +non-christian Gentiles, as he undoubtedly does among the prae-christian +Jews who lived under or before the law. When he says of the good +heathen that they do '<I>by nature</I> the things contained in the law,' he +uses the expression not as equivalent to 'by their own unassisted +powers, without the help of God,' but simply to mean 'without the help +of any special revelation[<A NAME="chap0201fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn11">11</A>].' +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> + +<P> +Universally then, according to St. Paul, two sources of the knowledge +of God exist; nature, with its evidences of the divine power and other +similar attributes, and conscience, with its witness to divine +righteousness. And, though the sciences of nature and man have grown +since St. Paul's day past recognition, nothing (we may boldly say) has +really weakened either element of this double witness. It is, and +remains true, that the only reasonable argument from the universal +order of nature is to a universal reason or mind: and that the method +by which the moral conscience may be believed to have developed out of +'animal intelligence,' makes no difference as to the cogency of its +witness to a divine righteousness, in response to which alone it could +have developed as in fact it has done. It is worth notice also before +we leave this part of our subject, that St. Paul's line of thought +affords a true explanation of the double fact that, on the one hand, +the actual moral standards with which the conscience of different +individuals, races, and generations is satisfied, greatly varies; and, +on the other hand, that all the standards tend towards unity in a +common idea of righteousness. The tendency towards unity St. Paul +would attribute to the divine righteousness +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +which lies behind +conscience and which it exists to reflect. The variations would be due +to the different degrees of development reached; or still more to the +different degrees of faithfulness or unfaithfulness, attention or +inattention, with which the conscience of the race or the individual +has responded to the light. The conscience, like the speculative +reason, is an instrument for coming to the truth; but an instrument +capable of every variety of racial or individual error or obtuseness. +</P> + +<P> +3. It appears clearly enough in this chapter, that St. Paul's +doctrines of free grace and justification by faith must be grossly and +carelessly misconceived unless they are viewed upon a deep background +of what we commonly call 'natural religion,' that is (practically) the +religion that appeals straight off to the conscience of almost all +honest and civilized men. It is 'natural religion' to believe that God +will judge men with absolute power and insight and impartiality +according to their conduct and their characters: that there can be no +'making believe,' no substitute for a good character, and no escaping +with a bad one. The prophets are full of this principle. Our Lord +reasserts it. It is emphasized by St. James, whose plain +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> +point +is that we are justified not by right belief (which is what he means by +'faith'), but by a good life. But no one could assert the principle +more simply and absolutely as the basis of all his special evangelical +teaching than St. Paul. And whatever is true about free grace and +justification by faith only, is true because, and only because, this +free grace and this justifying faith are necessary means or steps +towards the realization of actual righteousness. So St. Paul states +it—'that the requirement of the (divine) law might be fulfilled in us +who walk[<A NAME="chap0201fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn12">12</A>]' according to the principles of the 'gospel of the grace +of God.' The doctrine of grace is rooted and based upon the truths of +natural religion, and leads up to their realization. It has been then +a most perilous mistake when missionaries have preached the doctrines +of grace and redemption in regions where there had been no preparatory +training in natural religion—in the truth of the unity and power and +moral character of God: of the reality of our responsibility towards +Him: of His inexorable holiness: of His inaccessibility to any kind of +bribe or attempt to find some substitute for moral obedience. Men must +have known what +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> +it is to tremble in the recesses of their being +'as guilty men surprised' before God's awful righteousness; to +'tremble,' like Felix, at the message of 'righteousness, temperance, +and judgement to come,' before they can safely learn the lesson of His +grace and pardon. +</P> + +<P> +And there are two minor elements in natural religion, as commonly +understood, for which St. Paul here makes himself responsible. It has +been generally understood that all men instinctively desire their own +happiness, and that this is natural and right; and that as we should +reasonably prefer our more permanent and deeper good to what is only +transitory and superficial, so we should strive for the happiness and +satisfaction which is eternal—the eternal reward, which only the stern +pursuit of virtue can obtain for us. This deep desire for our own +substantial happiness our Lord sanctions and continually suggests as a +principal motive for right living. The love of others does not +annihilate it. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour <I>as thyself</I>.' So then +St. Paul also, following his Master, recognizes it as lying at the +heart of what is right and true in mankind, that we should 'seek' for +ourselves 'glory, honour, and incorruption'—the glory and honour which +abide +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +eternally. It is plain that he would have us pay no heed +to that truly unnatural modern altruism which would disparage and +depreciate this motive of a right self-love, and which would treat the +desire for eternal happiness, and fear of eternal loss, as a base and +unworthy element in religion. No doubt it is not the only motive. It +is not even the characteristically Christian motive. But it is a +natural and legitimate motive all the same. It is an inextinguishable +consciousness in us that we were meant for blessedness. +</P> + +<P> +But, once more, the only true happiness is moral happiness: it is a +'glory and honour' springing out of the man's character and belonging +to it: it is a happiness that is in this sense deserved. True, the +servant of God in heaven will always feel that what he is receiving is +infinitely beyond his deserts, and that his deserts are what God has +wrought in him, not he himself. None the less the reward springs out +of and belongs to what God has actually made him to be. Heaven is not +a happy place in such a sense that we could be made happy by being 'put +there' by an arbitrary fiat of God. It is fellowship with God, the +All-holy; and God's holiness is intolerable, it is 'devouring fire and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> +everlasting burnings,' to those who are not morally like Him. +Here lies the reason why a heaven is not possible to moral beings +without the accompanying possibilities of a hell. For the moral +possibility of acquiring the holy character involves the opposite moral +possibility: and it does not lie in the moral nature of things that the +bad character should receive anything except what it deserves—the +'indignation and wrath' which God, because He is God, must express +towards the sinful, wilful character, and which to the character itself +means 'tribulation and anguish.' This, St. Paul says positively, must +be the lot of 'every soul of man that doeth evil.' It is this +inevitably two-sided law that a large part of the kindly-disposed world +to-day are trying to get rid of, or to forget, on its severe and dark +side. But it is in fact a law that works even more necessarily and +inexorably than physical laws, inasmuch as it is the expression of +God's necessary moral being. God cannot 'let us off' the punishment of +our sins, which is only their inevitable fruit. Nor does He disclose +to us any necessary limit to the ruin which we may work in our being. +This stern principle of natural religion is taken up into, and indeed +intensified in, the gospel. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> +St. Paul, however, neither here nor +elsewhere uses 'immortality' to describe the future state of those whom +God condemns. He uses it only of God and of those who enjoy the vision +of God. The 'immortality of the soul'—the idea that every soul as +such necessarily and consciously exists to all eternity—is an idea +which the language of Scripture does not seem to warrant. +</P> + +<P> +4. There are also two less prominent points in the second chapter that +we must not entirely pass over. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul, we should find, if we were to investigate the matter, is +wholly true in his interpretation of the Old Testament in general. He +interprets its spirit and meaning with perfect insight. But he is not +always what we should call critically exact, any more than the other +interpreters of his day, in his use of particular texts. Thus, in this +chapter he gives to some words of Isaiah[<A NAME="chap0201fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn13">13</A>] a meaning which is indeed +to be found elsewhere in the prophets[<A NAME="chap0201fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn14">14</A>], but does not really belong +to the original of this particular passage. Isaiah is saying that +God's name is being blasphemed <I>by the oppressors of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN> + +Israel</I>—'Continually all day long my name is blasphemed.' But the +Greek version of the Bible inserted the words 'through you' (the +Jews[<A NAME="chap0201fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0201fn15">15</A>]); and St. Paul interprets this insertion to mean that it was +the moral inconsistency of the chosen people themselves which caused +God's name to be blasphemed. Perhaps the fact that he uses the formula +of quotation 'as it is written' after the words referred to, is a sign +that he had employed the words in his own sense before he became +conscious that they were in fact a quotation. But in any case he shows +no anxiety to follow critically the original meaning of a particular +passage which he cites. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of this passage occurs the antithesis familiar in modern +language of 'the letter and the spirit.' In its modern sense it is +used as equivalent to the literal and the metaphorical, or the definite +and the vague. But this is not at all its sense in St. Paul. With him +'the letter' means the written law, and 'spirit' means, in this +connexion, what we may broadly describe as vital moral energy. Thus, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> +in its most characteristic use with St. Paul, the antithesis +distinguishes the mere external information as to God's will, which was +all the written law ('the letter') could give the Jews, from the +activity of the Holy Spirit or the spiritual power of moral freedom +which, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we enjoy under the gospel. +In this passage the antithesis is similar, but not the same. It +contrasts the merely physical state of circumcision according to the +written law—'with the letter and circumcision' means 'having the +written law and being accordingly circumcised'—with what the Old +Testament had called 'the circumcised heart,' i.e. the really obedient +will or 'spirit' which may exist independently of the outward rite. +'Spirit,' we observe, may refer to the activity of either the Holy +Spirit of God, or of the human will, or of both without discrimination. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn1text">1</A>] Cf. Eccles. viii. 11: 'Because sentence against an evil work is not +executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is emboldened +to do evil.' Ps. x. 11: 'He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten.' +Wisd. xi. 23: 'Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' Ecclus. v. 4: 'Say not, I sinned, and what happened unto me? +For the Lord is longsuffering.' 2 Pet. iii. 9: 'The Lord is not slack +concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering +to youward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should +come to repentance.' Cf. also Isa. lvii. 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn2text">2</A>] Or rather 'their own conscience bearing witness with them and, in +their mutual relations, their reflections accusing or even excusing +them.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn3text">3</A>] It is certainly misplaced as it stands (John vii. 53-viii. 11). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn4text">4</A>] Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47; Matt. xxiii. 25. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn5text">5</A>] Cf. S. and H. <I>in loc.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn6text">6</A>] See for Seneca, Lightfoot, <I>Philippians</I>, 'St. Paul and Seneca,' +pp. 278-280. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn7text">7</A>] See <I>Pseudo-Heracleitus</I>, Letter ix, p. 91 (Bernays). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn8text">8</A>] Acts xvii. 28. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn9text">9</A>] See Rom. i. 32 as well as Rom. ii. 14. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn10text">10</A>] 'Conscience,' as used by St. Paul's contemporaries and by himself, +is not a repository for positive moral guidance, but rather a faculty +for reflecting upon our own already accomplished actions. See further, +app. note B, on the idea of conscience. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn11text">11</A>] See on this subject <I>Life and Letters of Dr. Hort</I> (Macmillan), +vol. ii. p. 337: 'Faith itself, not being an intellectual assent to +propositions, but an attitude of heart and mind, is present in a more +or less rudimentary state in every upward effort or aspiration of man.' +Also Gibson, <I>Thirty-Nine Articles</I> (Methuen), ii. p. 420. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn12text">12</A>] Rom. viii. 4. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn13text">13</A>] Isa. lii. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn14text">14</A>] See in Ezek. xxxvi. 22: 'My holy name, which ye have profaned +among the nations, whither ye went.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0201fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0201fn15text">15</A>] Dr. Gifford suggests that the LXX was subsequently modified by St. +Paul's citation (as in the next chapter, iii. 10-18), instead of his +citation being moulded by the LXX. Is there any evidence in support of +this view? +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0301"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION I. § 3. CHAPTER III. 1-8. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Jewish objections.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +This passage is interesting as showing us, what is more often the case +than appears on the surface, that St. Paul has in mind as he reasons +the familiar objections of an opponent—his own objections, perhaps in +part, before he was a Christian. St. Paul, that is to say, very +frequently writes controversially, and argues <I>ad hominem</I>: and his own +reasoning is only rightly understood when we have clearly in view what +he is opposing. It of course very frequently happens in literature +generally that a saying is completely misunderstood, because that with +which it is contrasted is overlooked. Thus, John the Baptist's advice +to the soldiers to 'be content with their wages' is commonly +interpreted to mean—'Be satisfied with your wages +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN> +as they are, +and do not ask for more.' This might have been good advice or bad +advice to give to the soldiers, but it is not John the Baptist's. He +means, 'Be satisfied with your pay and do not supplement it by robbery +and unauthorized exaction.' Here then the implied contrast is +necessary to enable us to interpret aright the positive advice. +Similarly in the case of St. Paul, his doctrine of the absoluteness of +the divine election, as stated later in this epistle[<A NAME="chap0301fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0301fn1">1</A>], has been +misunderstood, because it has been supposed that he is asserting the +divine absoluteness as against the claim of man to moral freedom, and +to equitable judgement in accordance with responsibility. But in fact +this is what he is indirectly vindicating. What he is arguing against +is the claim of the Jews that God was bound to their race. It is +against this claim—this immoral claim to perpetual privilege on the +part of one race, however they might behave—that St. Paul exalts the +absolute freedom of God to choose or reject as He sees fit. It is of +great importance then, especially with a writer so frequently +controversial as St. Paul, to watch continually to see which is the +phase of thought or feeling that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN> +he is opposing. Frequently, as +I say, it hardly appears on the surface of St. Paul's writing that he +really has a definite opponent in view. Sometimes, as in the passage +now to be considered, it becomes apparent, and the argument is best +exhibited in the form of a dialogue (though to let the dialogue appear +clearly, missing links have to be supplied) thus— +</P> + +<P> +<I>Jewish Objector.</I> But if all this is true—if Jews are no better off +than Gentiles—of what use is it to be a Jew? What is the value of our +circumcision and the position into which it initiates us? (ver. 1) +</P> + +<P> +<I>St. Paul.</I> Its value is manifold. To take one point first[<A NAME="chap0301fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0301fn2">2</A>], it +lies in the fact that the oracles of God—His teaching and +promises—were entrusted to our race (ver. 2). +</P> + +<P> +<I>J. O.</I> But if God thus of old gave special promises to us as His +special people, and if now we are simply like the heathen under His +wrath, the conclusion is that He has been false to His promises +(argument implied in ver. 3). +</P> + +<P> +<I>S. P.</I> No: that is not to be thought of. It is not God who has +played false, it is man: it is our race. The Jews refused to believe: +not however all of them, but some. If there is +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN> +a trial between +God and His people as to which has been true, it is God who must be +vindicated as the Psalmist says[<A NAME="chap0301fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0301fn3">3</A>] (vers. 3, 4). +</P> + +<P> +<I>J. O.</I> But if, as your teaching proves, all our unrighteousness is +made to serve as a background on which God makes His righteousness all +the more evident—that is enough. Our wrong-doing serves its purpose +in this way. God has no right both to use our wrong-doing for His own +purposes, and then, besides this, to visit His wrath upon us (ver. 5a). +</P> + +<P> +<I>S. P.</I> Such thoughts our human nature suggests (ver. 5b). But we +know they are false. God is the judge of the world, and His action +necessarily supplies the standard of all judicial righteousness (ver. +6). +</P> + +<P> +J. O. But do consider my point. If the result of my playing false to +God is that His fidelity is only thrown into higher relief and the +whole process ministers to His glory, why am I, the unconscious +instrument of His glory, treated as an offender? and why should I not +resolve to go on freely doing wrong (as you yourself are sometimes +accused of teaching), so as to give God more abundant opportunities to +overrule my action for the greater good? (vers. 7, 8a.) +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN> + +<P> +<I>S. P.</I> A man stands justly condemned in the very using of such an +argument (ver. 8b). +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of +circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted +with the oracles of God. For what if some were without faith? shall +their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? God +forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is +written, +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +That thou mightest be justified in thy words, +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgement. But if our +unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? +Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner +of men.) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? But if +the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also +still judged as a sinner? and why not (as we be slanderously reported, +and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? +whose condemnation is just. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +What is of interest here is to notice that St. Paul reproduces the +argument of his Jewish opponent with great sympathetic force. It had +clearly been weighed in his own mind. It was urged, no doubt, against +his own teaching, that it gave an excuse for sinning by suggesting that +the greatness of the sin only glorified the super-abundant greatness of +the pardoning love. It is only too probable that some of his followers +were persuaded by some such argument or acted as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN> +if they were. +Thus St. Paul states it with vigour, but thereby only makes all the +more apparent the meagreness of his reply. Not that the argument is +such as makes reply difficult. In a slightly different form St. Paul +deals with it elaborately in chapters ix-xi. But here he clearly +treats it as contemptible when its true character has once been +disclosed. And why? Because it is professedly an explanation of the +ways of God with man, which is at the same time an excuse for +immorality. It is an intellectual exercise at the expense of +conscience. And St. Paul shows, by the very contempt with which he +treats it, that a man who will play false with his conscience, and then +proceed to find intellectual justifications, is not to be met in the +intellectual region at all. He has been condemned already. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul then, we find, will not argue with one who reasons at the +expense of his conscience; and this is an important principle. When +the intellect is acting purely, it must be free, and must be dealt with +seriously on its own ground. But the conscience must be followed first +of all. Its light is clearer than the light of intellect, and must be +left supreme. Whatever be the bewilderment of my intellect, I am +self-condemned, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN> +God-condemned, if I play false to the moral +light. And arguments to the contrary, however clever-sounding or +philosophical, are in fact sophistry. There is, we must confess, a +good deal of such sophistry to-day in the use of arguments drawn from +the current philosophy of necessitarianism and the idea of heredity. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0301fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0301fn1text">1</A>] Chapters ix-xi. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0301fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0301fn2text">2</A>] The points are resumed in ix. 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0301fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0301fn3text">3</A>] Ps. xxxii. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0309"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION I. § 4. CHAPTER III. 9-20. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Sin and condemnation universal.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +At this point the direct argument with an opponent is dropped; and St. +Paul restates what he has so far been occupied in proving. It is not +that Jews are in a worse position than Gentiles. It is that all +together are involved in the same moral failure. To deepen the +impression that this is a true statement, St. Paul culls from various +psalms and from Isaiah a series of passages describing a general state +of depravity, moral blindness, apathy, failure, unprofitableness, +falsity, hatred, and outrage against God and man. These utterances of +the book of 'the law' (here used for the Old Testament scriptures +generally) are meant for those first to whom this law belonged. They +condemn Jews as well as Gentiles. They show all equally to be under +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN> +divine judgement. They prove that if the written law could teach +men God's will, it could not, by the works that it enjoined, enable him +to satisfy God. It had its function only in teaching him to know his +sinfulness by contrast to his plainly declared duty. The conclusion is +then that all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, are involved in sin, are +under the wrath of a holy God, and are in utter need of a deliverance +which they are incapable of procuring for themselves. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What then? are we in worse case than they? No, in no wise: for we +before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all +under sin; as it is written, +</P> + +<P CLASS="block2" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +There is none righteous, no, not one;<BR> +There is none that understandeth,<BR> +There is none that seeketh after God;<BR> +They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable;<BR> +There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one:<BR> +Their throat is an open sepulchre;<BR> +With their tongues they have used deceit:<BR> +The poison of asps is under their lips:<BR> +Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:<BR> +Their feet are swift to shed blood;<BR> +Destruction and misery are in their ways;<BR> +And the way of peace have they not known:<BR> +There is no fear of God before their eyes.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them +that are under the law; that every +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN> +mouth may be stopped, and all +the world may be brought under the judgement of God: because by the +works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for through +the law <I>cometh</I> the knowledge of sin. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. The 'Scripture proof' which St. Paul here offers of universal human +corruption is, according to a recognized Hebrew practice, made up by +stringing together a number of separate texts,—Ps. xiv. 1-3, v. 9, +cxl. 3, x. 7, Isa. lix. 7, 8, Ps. xxxvi. 1. They represent the +impression made by human wickedness upon the righteous observer. The +estimate covers Israel as well as, indirectly, the world at large[<A NAME="chap0309fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn1">1</A>]. +It is thus an authoritative rebuke to Jewish self-complacency. It is +as if an English preacher were to rebuke similar self-complacency in +Englishmen by a collection of passages from standard English +authorities, in which our nation was judged, in common with others, in +a manner most humiliating to its pride. It is this, though, inasmuch +as the psalmists and prophets were and are believed to have spoken +under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, it is also something more. +</P> + +<P> +It is well known that, as the quotations in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN> +the New Testament +have frequently affected the Greek text of the Old, so here this +conglomerate of quotations came to be attached altogether to Ps. xiv in +some Greek MSS., increasing it by four verses. Thence they passed into +the later Latin Vulgate. Thence into Coverdale's Bible and into the +Great Bible, and so into the Prayer Book version of the Psalms. But +our present Bible version remains true to the Hebrew original. +</P> + +<P> +2. 'To be justified,' in ver. 20, means to be acquitted, or proved +righteous, or reckoned righteous in the trial before God. This, and +not to <I>make</I> righteous, is the meaning of the word 'to justify,' both +in the Old and New Testament and elsewhere. There is scarcely an +exception. It is a forensic word, that is, a word derived from +processes of law, and it describes the favourable verdict after a +trial. It is used of vindicating God's character to His people[<A NAME="chap0309fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn2">2</A>], or +of vindicating one's own character; of God's judicial acceptance of men +or men's judicial acceptance of one another[<A NAME="chap0309fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn3">3</A>]. And so far as real +righteousness is necessary for judicial +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN> +acquittal, the word +implies real righteousness, but it does not primarily mean it. +</P> + +<P> +3. Here we find briefly stated St. Paul's apparently wholly original +view of 'the law,' as given simply to enlighten the conscience by +keeping men informed as to their duty, without supplying them with any +moral assistance in performing it. Thus the ultimate aim of the law +was to make man know his own sinfulness; to convince him that his +attempted independence was a failure, and that he could not save +himself; and so to prepare him to cry out for the gift of grace, and to +welcome it when it was given. 'The law was given,' as St. Augustine is +fond of saying, 'that grace might be sought, and grace was given that +the law might be kept.' This antithesis is thoroughly after St. Paul's +mind. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This first division of our epistle gives us as a whole a great deal to +think about. There are, we may say, two spiritual evils conspicuous +to-day. People with consciences in any degree awakened are apt to be +nervous, anxious, despondent, complaining, sullen. The second division +of our epistle supplies the antidote to this error by consolidating the +awakened conscience in divine peace. But there is another, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN> +and +perhaps more conspicuous, spiritual evil of our day which this first +division is calculated to meet—the habit of excusing oneself—the +absence of the sense of sin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Hold thou the good: define it well:<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For fear divine philosophy</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Should push beyond her mark, and be</SPAN><BR> +Procuress to the lords of hell.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Because philosophy and science have been bringing into prominence the +influence of heredity and physical environment on character, we use +this consideration, and often with little enough knowledge of real +science, to obliterate the sense of sin. We are apt to regard sin as +it appears in the world at large as a result of ignorance, or social +conditions—as in one way or another a form of misfortune. And so +viewing it in the world, we view it in ourselves. We make excuses for +ourselves. We have largely lost the sense that sin is wilfulness; that +it is an inexcusable offence against God; that it does, and necessarily +does, bring us under God's indignation; that necessarily, because God +is what He is, the consequences of sin in this life, and much more +beyond this life, are inconceivably terrible. It is this sense of sin +that St. Paul must help to restore in us. We must believe +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN> +that +God is holy, and we must learn to tremble under His necessary holiness, +before we can in any right sense realize that He is loving. We must +learn once again to be really penitent; to confess our sins in general +and in particular with utter humiliation; to expect the divine +judgement upon them; to use with reality the stern language about sin +of the Bible and the Prayer Book. And learning this for ourselves with +regard to our own personal sins, we must learn also to feel, like +Daniel, what our church and nation deserve in God's sight. We must +confess our own sins and the sins of church and nation[<A NAME="chap0309fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn4">4</A>]—aye, of the +human race. Only through such a restoration of evangelical severity +can there be a restoration of evangelical joy. The deepened sense of +personal sin is the needful step to spiritual progress. Certainly no +more in our case than in that of the Jews will orthodoxy, or ritual +accuracy, or frequent services, or superior education, or philanthropic +zeal, be accepted as a substitute for moral severity, for the spirit of +penitence and the readiness for penance. Let us judge ourselves, +brethren, that we be not judged of the Lord. +</P> + +<P> +And it is all-important what our standard of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN> +judgement is. The +Jews failed because they judged themselves by a mainly external and +therefore easy standard. So do most respectable Englishmen. We are +satisfied if we do nothing discreditable. But the religious sense of +sin, as it is experienced by the psalmists, or St. Paul, or Luther, or +John Keble, arises from the intense perception of a personal relation +to the All-Holy. The 'falling short,' or rather 'experienced need[<A NAME="chap0309fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn5">5</A>],' +of which St. Paul goes on to speak, is the experienced need of +something very lofty, to which it is possible for men to be quite +insensible—'the glory of God.' God's divine brightness, the eternal +light, streams forth into nature. 'The whole earth is full of His +glory.' Man also in his natural and moral being is meant to have +fellowship with God. He is meant for the divine glory also. It is in +proportion as he realizes what he was meant for, and becomes conscious +in himself of a capacity for God, that his present actual pollution and +sinfulness becomes a reality to his consciousness. It is in the light +of God, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN> +and in aspiration after the glory of God, that the sense +of sin really awakens. 'Thou requirest truth in the inward parts,' +says the Psalmist. 'Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.' 'If +thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who +may abide it?'[<A NAME="chap0309fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0309fn6">6</A>] +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn1text">1</A>] Dr. King (The Psalms in Three Collections, &c.: Cambridge, 1898) +has remarked that Ps. xiv. 1-3 closely resembles the general +condemnation of 'all flesh upon the earth' in Gen. vi. 5, 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn2text">2</A>] Cf. above ver. 4, from Ps. xxxii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn3text">3</A>] See Ps. li. 4; Job xxxii. 2; Prov. xvii. 15; Isa. v. 23; Matt. xi. +19; Luke vii. 29; x. 29; xvi. 15. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn4text">4</A>] Cf. Dan. ix. 4-20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn5text">5</A>] The word for 'fall short' in ver. 23 is a 'middle' verb, and +apparently implies not only failure in point of fact, but conscious +failure. Thus in Luke xv. 14, the prodigal son begins to <I>feel</I> his +destitution (middle). But in Matt. xix. 20, the rich young man asks, +'What, as a matter of fact, is wanting to me' (active)? See Gifford, +or S. and H. <I>in loc.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0309fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0309fn6text">6</A>] Cf. app. note C, on recent reactions from the teaching about hell. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0321"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION II. CHAPTERS III. 21-IV. 25. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Justification by faith only.</I> +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +§ 1. (III. 21-31.) +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Christ our propitiation.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +Now we have been brought to recognize the true state of the case as +between ourselves and God—the facts about ourselves as we are in God's +sight. We were meant for fellowship in the divine glory. 'The glory +of God,' says an old Father, 'is the living man: the life of man is the +vision of God.' But, meant for fellowship in the divine glory, we have +fallen short of it and have come to appreciate our failure. We have +sinned, and that universally and wilfully. We are such that God cannot +accept us as we are: the 'day of His appearing' could be for us but a +'day of wrath.' And in this dire situation we are helpless. We can +supply no remedy. 'Can the Ethiopian change his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN> +skin, or the +leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do +evil[<A NAME="chap0321fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn1">1</A>].' But to acknowledge this—to abandon the claim so dear to the +human heart, that we can be independent and manage our own life +successfully: to repudiate all our false pride, and to come before God +all of us on the same level, confessing our failure and our sin—this +is to let man's necessity be God's opportunity, and to open the +flood-gates of the divine righteousness. God is righteous in all the +richest meaning of that word, and that righteousness of His He is now +extending to us and giving us admittance into it. And this He does +purely and simply as His gift. On His side it is pure and gratuitous +giving, on our side simple and unmeritorious receiving. We contribute +nothing. No distinctions are admitted between those inside the law and +those outside it. The gift is quite apart from the law, though law and +prophets bore witness to it. No questions are admitted as to what we +have done or what we have left undone. Purely and simply out of the +freedom of His love, who is our Creator and our Father, now, when a +bitter experience has taught us again our true attitude towards Him, He +offers us +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN> +admission into His righteousness, all on the same +level, if we will simply believe in Jesus Christ His Son, that is, take +Him at His word and believe His promises (vers. 21-24). +</P> + +<P> +And what is this offer? It is, first of all, what befits the captives +of sin: it is redemption. God, who of old bought His people out of +captivity in Egypt, without any co-operation of theirs, by a pure act +of His power, has now again, without any co-operation of ours, but by a +manifestation this time of self-sacrificing love, in the person of +Jesus Christ, bought our freedom from sin. And this redemption He +offers to us first of all in the form which befits sinners conscious of +sin and guilt, as the mere gift of forgiveness, the mere power to break +with the past, the mere right to stand and face the future with a clean +record. For as the brazen serpent was lifted up before the eyes of +rebellious Israel, bitten of the fiery serpents, and those who looked +unto it lived, so upon the open stage of history God set forth Jesus +Christ shedding His life-blood—obedient, that is, to God and +righteousness unto death, even the death of the cross. And this +sacrificial shedding of the life-blood of the Son of God—to which we +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN> +contributed nothing[<A NAME="chap0321fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn2">2</A>]—is accepted by the Father as +propitiatory, that is, as something which enables Him to show His true +character of righteousness, and to acquit or accept among the +righteous, irrespective of what he has done or been, every one who has +faith in Jesus (vers. 24-26). +</P> + +<P> +And why (we in our age are disposed to ask) did not God simply declare +His forgiveness? why this roundabout method of a propitiatory +sacrifice? It was (St. Paul's language suggests) to prove or vindicate +His righteousness, which means both holiness and mercy. All the long +ages past of the times of ignorance, God had been 'overlooking' or +'passing over' sins in His forbearance, never 'suffering His whole +displeasure to arise,' but allowing all nations to walk in their own +ways and to find out their own mistakes and helplessness[<A NAME="chap0321fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn3">3</A>]. The +result of their being thus left to themselves was that men did indeed +become conscious of their misery +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +and need, but also came to +entertain all sorts of slack or unworthy ideas about God. A mere +declaration of forgiveness might have left men with an impression of an +easy-going or 'good-natured' God who would make light of sin. But the +awful burden laid upon Jesus on account of human sin, the awful +sacrifice of His life which He readily offered, restores the sterner +element to our thoughts about God, just at that crisis or opportunity +in the divine dealings, when by God's declaration of free forgiveness +we are made to feel His love. God does forgive us, but it costs Him +much. And no one who under these conditions comes and takes at the +hand of Jesus the gift of pardon can fail to receive with it the awful +impression of the divine holiness and of the severity of the divine +requirements. All the former 'passing over of the sins done aforetime' +was made morally possible because God had in view that 'now at the +present season,' or opportunity, He would 'show,' or prove, His whole +righteousness, and be before men's eyes the righteous being that He is +in fact (righteous rather than merely 'just'); and be able, without the +danger of a great misunderstanding, to give His righteousness full +scope by admitting into +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN> +it, by a pure act of pardon, every one +who comes simply taking Jesus at His word[<A NAME="chap0321fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn4">4</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +Here then there is no room for pride or glorying. It is utterly +excluded because there is here no consideration of human merit. It is +a pure and unmerited boon of the divine bounty bestowed, without +reference to any law known or observed, simply on those who, utterly +confessing their need, accept in faith the offer of love. Again there +is no reference to any chosen race. Jew and Gentile, circumcision and +uncircumcision, are all in the same case. All have the same need. God +is the same, with the same offer, for all alike. He will accept the +Jew because he believes, and He will accept the Gentile with no other +equipment but his faith. Yet this principle of faith involves no +repudiation of the principle of law; rather, it realizes the very end +which law was intended to serve (vers. 27-31). +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, +being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of +God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN> +is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the +glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the +redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth <I>to be</I> a +propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to shew his righteousness, +because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the +forbearance of God; for the shewing, <I>I say</I>, of his righteousness at +this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier +of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is +excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of +faith. We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from +the works of the law. Or is God <I>the God</I> of Jews only? is he not <I>the +God</I> of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: if so be that God is +one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the +uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make the law of none effect +through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +i. +</H4> + +<P> +For our understanding of this famous passage a good deal depends on our +fixing, as exactly as possible, what the 'righteousness of God' here +spoken of means. Beyond all question it means in part God's own moral +character. This is quite certain, as in the Bible generally, so in +this very chapter[<A NAME="chap0321fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn5">5</A>]. But it is also certain that God's character is, +especially in this epistle, viewed as revealed to us in such a sense +that we can take hold of it and become identified with it. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN> +Thus +(especially in i. 17) <I>human</I> faith is spoken of as the starting-point +or region for revealing divine righteousness. It extends to and +embraces the believers[<A NAME="chap0321fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn6">6</A>]. It is a righteousness communicated to us +from God on the basis of faith[<A NAME="chap0321fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn7">7</A>]. The 'righteousness of God' is what +we men are to become[<A NAME="chap0321fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn8">8</A>]. This transition of meaning from what God is +in Himself to what we are by the gift of God is of course thoroughly +natural. The grand idea of the Bible is that of a moral fellowship +between man and God. The grand idea of the New Testament is, further, +that of a disclosure and communication to us of the divine life. +</P> + +<P> +And what is this moral quality described by 'righteousness' which +belongs to God and is communicated to us? Righteousness is a term +belonging primarily to man. A righteous man, in the Old Testament, is +one who fulfils all that is expected of him, one who is +blameless—towards man, but especially towards God. But if God expects +such and such conduct in men it is because of what He Himself is. His +requirements express His character. God Himself therefore is believed +to be righteous, incorruptibly and awfully righteous. But a great +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN> +strain is put upon this belief in the 'wild and irregular scene' +of this world, the Governor of which appears so often indifferent to +the sufferings of His most faithful servants. Thus the righteous cry +out to God to vindicate Himself, and God's righteousness is, in the Old +Testament, largely identified with God's vindication of His own +character by righteous acts or judgements accomplished in the past or +expected in the future; acts of such a character as that in them the +wicked and insolent are put to confusion, and the meek and holy +justified and exalted. Such righteous judgement is expected to +characterize the kingdom of the Christ. Of course, in the general +lowering of moral ideals among the Pharisaic Jews, the idea of +righteousness suffered with all else. The righteous came to mean those +who strictly keep the outward Jewish law; and God's righteousness was +identified with His expected vindication of those who keep the law, +i.e. the pious Jew, at the coming of the Messiah[<A NAME="chap0321fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn9">9</A>]. Our Lord, and His +disciples after Him, were engaged in nothing so much as in deepening +the idea of righteousness again. Especially it is something much more +than the mere observance of outward ordinances. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN> +It was, in fact, +the fundamental error of the Jews to confuse the two. Righteousness in +man must be real likeness to God, and God's righteousness is His holy +character which He is now once more manifesting in the gospel of His +Son; a character which is still shown in acts of justice[<A NAME="chap0321fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn10">10</A>], in +punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous, but which manifests +itself also more especially as love, and by gracious promises of +forgiveness and acceptance[<A NAME="chap0321fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn11">11</A>]. Thus, in Rom. i. 17, 18, the present +'revelation of divine righteousness' is a gracious manifestation which +is put in contrast to the 'revelation of divine wrath,' the place of +which it is intended to take. And yet, though the quality of mercy is +made emphatic, it is not isolated. God's righteousness is not mere +good nature. It would not be rightly revealed by any mere ignoring or +passing over of sin. God's mercy is inseparable from His holiness, and +His righteousness includes both[<A NAME="chap0321fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn12">12</A>]. It needed the severe requirement +of the atoning sacrifice, as well as +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN> +the free gift of forgiveness +and new life, to prove or exhibit it. +</P> + +<P> +And if God's righteousness shows itself first of all in a simple act of +justification of sinners—in simply forgiving men or pronouncing them +righteous, irrespective of what they are in themselves at the moment, +if only they will take God at His word—three points have to be borne +in mind. First, that the mere offer of forgiveness is put in the +forefront because this readiness on our part to be treated as helpless +sinners is the annihilation of the one great obstacle to our +reconciliation with God—the proud independence which led the Jews, and +has led men since their day, to resent being dealt with by mere mercy, +and to want to justify themselves. If the Christian character is to +grow aright, it must have its root in an utter acknowledgement that we +owe to God our power even to make a beginning in His service: that we +can run the way of His commandments, because, and only because, He by +His own act has set our hearts at liberty. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Just as I am, without one plea<BR> +But that Thy blood was shed for me,<BR> +And that Thou bidst me come to Thee,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">O Lamb of God, I come!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN> + +<P> +To many really good Christians this sort of language has come to have +an unreal sound because they have been surfeited with it, and because +it has been associated with a very one-sided Christianity. But, for +all that, the moral necessity remains that we should dig out of its +last refuges the claim of human independence, if the Christian +character is to grow healthily. In other words, the only root of +Christian thankfulness and progress is the recognition that our +spiritual life rests at its basis on a pure act of the divine bounty in +accomplishing our redemption from sin and giving us the forgiveness of +all our sins. +</P> + +<P> +Secondly, it must be borne in mind that our forgiveness through the +sacrifice is only the first step towards fellowship with God. It is +only the removal of the preliminary obstacle which guilt had raised +against actual admittance into the life of God. The language of the +New Testament refuses to allow us to separate the forgiveness of our +sins from our admission into the 'body of Christ' by baptism[<A NAME="chap0321fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn13">13</A>], or, +in other words, our incorporation into the life of the redeemed people, +the new Israel. For the faith +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN> +which accepts forgiveness is the +same identical quality which corresponds with all the later movement of +the new life. God's free gift of grace is not forgiveness only, but +forgiveness and new life; it is 'forgiveness of sins and an inheritance +among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ[<A NAME="chap0321fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn14">14</A>].' St. +Paul does not contemplate, or contemplates only to repudiate, a faith +which accepts forgiveness and stops there—indifferent to actual +holiness or baptismal incorporation. For it would be no real faith at +all. The preliminary justification or acquittal is simply and solely +to serve as a basis for the life of consecration and glory. The stages +of justification and sanctification are separable in idea but not in +fact. The refusal to proceed from the threshold of the acquittal into +the palace of the new life would expel even from the threshold; even as +the failure of the unthankful servant to behave as one should behave +who has been excused the debt he could not pay, cancelled all his +acquittal and left him with the weight of the old debt rolled back upon +him to his destruction. +</P> + +<P> +Lastly, and in one word, it must never be left out of sight that even +the initial movement of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN> +faith, the taking Christ at His word and +believing His promises, involves the element of moral allegiance. His +gracious person and character attract even while the boon is being +accepted, and a new motive enters into life. Justifying faith at its +very root is a faith which yields allegiance to its object. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ii. +</H4> + +<P> +To a Jew, and to almost all races when St. Paul wrote, the idea of an +expiatory sacrifice for sin seemed natural and obvious. But for the +special Christian doctrine of expiation the basis is to be found in the +memorable chapter liii of the 'later Isaiah.' That great prophet of +the captivity is assuring Israel of their restoration to their own +land. This restoration is to follow on the due punishment of her +sins—'She hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins.' +And the restored people is to be, before all else, a righteous +people—'all righteous'—a people of God's favour, because they are +living according to God. But there is so much sin still remaining in +them as to make it necessary that the new life of the recovered people +should be based on a great act of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN> +propitiation. The Righteous +Servant of Jehovah, who is, at starting, the idealized people itself, +but who comes to be represented as an individual acting for the people +while repudiated by them, offers his life a willing sacrifice for their +sins. The chastisement of their iniquities falls on him, and he +accepts the burden, and is obedient unto death. Dying he makes his +soul a guilt offering: and, living through death exalted and powerful, +he becomes an intercessor accepted with God, the head of a new seed +whom he 'justifies' before God by the intimate knowledge of God's mind +and character which in his voluntary humiliation he has won. This +wonderful prophetic picture represents a vast advance in moral teaching +on what had gone before. It is not only that the self-sacrifice of a +perfect human will is substituted for the animal victims to which the +enlightened conscience of God's people already refused to allow any +real efficacy; but also that the idea of propitiation is put in a +context where it is made plain that it can only be the prelude to a +state of actual righteousness in those who are to be justified by it. +It occurs as part of the answer to the question, not—How is Israel to +escape punishment? but, How is Israel to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN> +become the really +righteous nation, living in the likeness of God? +</P> + +<P> +In the later books of the Maccabees we have this idea of the expiatory +sacrifice and intercession of the ideal Israelite still retained, but +degraded, probably under Greek influences. 'And I, as my brethren,' +says the Maccabean martyr, 'give up both body and soul for the laws of +our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to +the nation ... and that in me and my brethren may be stayed the wrath +of the Almighty, which hath been justly brought upon our whole +race[<A NAME="chap0321fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn15">15</A>].' 'Be propitious to my race,' prays Eleazar, in another +Alexandrian version of the story, 'being satisfied with our punishment +on their behalf. Make my blood a propitiation for them, and receive my +life as a substitute for theirs[<A NAME="chap0321fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn16">16</A>].' These passages are on a lower +moral level than Isaiah's, because in them the prominent idea of +propitiation is that it is a means of procuring from God exemption from +further punishment, not a step to the restoration to holiness. The +idea both of what God desires and of what man desires is lower. And +indeed all conceptions of propitiation may be distinguished into true +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN> +or false, according as righteousness or exemption from punishment +is the end which is specially in view. +</P> + +<P> +Thus when we pass on into the New Testament we find in Caiaphas' +saying, 'It is expedient for you that one man should die for the +people, and that the whole nation perish not[<A NAME="chap0321fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn17">17</A>],' the typical +expression of the quite immoral notion[<A NAME="chap0321fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn18">18</A>] of the forcible sacrifice of +an innocent person in order to exempt a guilty race from punishment. +In our Lord's teaching, on the other hand, we find the doctrine of +atonement raised to its highest moral power. As the Forerunner had +revived the teaching of the later Isaiah by pointing to Him as 'the +Lamb of God who taketh away (i.e. taketh up and expiateth) the sin of +the world[<A NAME="chap0321fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn19">19</A>],' so Christ Himself spoke unmistakeably of the new +covenant which He came to inaugurate, as to be based upon the +sacrificial offering of His body and the outpouring of His blood[<A NAME="chap0321fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn20">20</A>]: +spoke also of 'the remission of sins' as the benefit to be expected +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN> +from His expiation. But no teacher in the world ever made it so +plain that God can be satisfied with nothing that any other can do for +us—with nothing but actual likeness to Him in ourselves. No teacher +ever made it so plain that what we are to desire is not to be let off +punishment, but to be actually freed from sin. He left no room for +doubt that only by following His steps, even to the cross and surrender +of our lives, can we share His fellowship. The very life which is +offered in sacrifice to lay the foundation of the new covenant is a +life or spirit which we are to share. We are to eat and drink His +sacrificed flesh and blood—the blood which is the life—and so to be +one with Him and He with us. He sacrificed Himself, in other words, in +order to make possible, through His life and Spirit, a new covenanted +society, in which men should have perfect fellowship with God and with +one another. He did not reject the idea of a propitiation won for man +by His vicarious sacrifice—the truth is far from that—but He keeps it +in inseparable connexion with the life which is to be based upon it; +and in the eucharist He brought back the idea of sacrifice to what had +been its starting-point in all primitive usages. 'The one point,' says +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN> +Professor Robertson-Smith, 'that comes out clear and strong (from +the examination of ancient sacrificial customs), is that the +fundamental idea of ancient sacrifice is sacramental communion, and +that all atoning rites are ultimately to be regarded as owing their +efficacy to a communication of divine life to the worshipper, and to +the establishment or confirmation of a living bond between them and +their God[<A NAME="chap0321fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn21">21</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +Still Christ's sacrifice of propitiation, to which we contribute +nothing, in which we do not share, remains a necessary prelude to the +establishment of the new life. It is in virtue of this that we are +justified and accepted and allowed to start afresh. This fact the New +Testament in general takes for granted, and offers no explanation of +it; as indeed the human heart has in general accepted the benefit in +all thankfulness and asked no questions. But the speculative modern +intellect has found a difficulty in the matter—in the matter at least +as commonly represented—and we have noticed that a suggestion of +explanation is made by St. Paul in this passage. God had long gone on +'passing over' sin all over the world in loving forbearance, bearing +with all men's sinfulness, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN> +till they had thoroughly learnt the +lesson of their own need of God and inability to save themselves. But +this very forbearance rendered God's character liable to complete +misunderstanding. He might have been supposed to be kind indeed, but +indifferent to sin. 'These things hast thou done and I kept silence: +thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself[<A NAME="chap0321fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn22">22</A>].' +Thus the severity manifested in the claim of the 'righteous Father' +upon the Son of Man, His claim of an obedience unto the shedding of His +blood, and the ready response to His claim on the part of the Son of +Man gladly rendering up His life in homage to the Father—these taken +together, the claim of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son, +vindicated within the area of the Christian faith the true character of +God, and forced the believer in Jesus to hold the severity and the love +in their inseparable unity as making up the divine righteousness. +</P> + +<P> +Does not this thought open at least an intelligible vista into the +mystery of the Atonement? Christ is the Son of Man. He is to +inaugurate the true manhood. But first He must deal with the manhood +that has gone +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P150"></A>150}</SPAN> +astray, and make an act of reparation to the Father +for all the outrage that our sins have done Him. Thus in contrast to +all our self-pleasing, self-indulgence, self-excusing, in contrast to +all our clamorous insolence towards God and indifference to His laws, +we behold the Son of Man recognizing the Father's strict requirements, +and lifting before His eyes, in the name of the manhood which He +represents, the great reparation of an unshrinking obedience and +loyalty unto death. The Father spared not His only Son the natural +consequences of obedience in a world of sin. The Son spared not +Himself, but shed His blood—the 'blood which is the life'—at the +Father's will. This is the one full, perfect, and sufficient +sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. +It is the sacrifice offered in the power of nothing less than 'eternal +spirit.' Henceforth, then, no man can come to God in faith in Jesus, +in the faith which even at its root is moral allegiance, and think +lightly either of God's holiness or of his own or others' sin. God +forgives him his sin, but it cost Him much to forgive it. The Cross is +the measure of the antipathy between God and sin. +</P> + +<P> +And it is well to notice how the great +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P151"></A>151}</SPAN> +thought of this passage is +made intelligible to the ordinary English reader again, only by the +Revised Version. In the old Bible the word signifying 'passing over' +of sins is translated 'remission'—the very thing with which it is in +fact contrasted. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in this and +very many places of the epistles, the Revised Version for the first +time renders the thought of the apostles again intelligible to the +English reader. And if the Revised Version is not popular, as the +booksellers tell us it is not, this is, I fear, only a sign that the +majority of English Christians do not really care to <I>understand</I> the +meaning of the message with which, as a matter of words, they are so +familiar. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iii. +</H4> + +<P> +The metaphor of 'redemption' and the metaphor of 'propitiation' +complete and check one another. As in the parables it is only the +exact point of comparison between the earthly and the heavenly which +can be pressed for the spiritual lesson, so it is with these +metaphorical words, which are in fact parables compressed. The word +'redemption' is meant to suggest a price paid by God, or by Christ, for +our being +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P152"></A>152}</SPAN> +made free; it is the price of the Son's death. He +'gives His life a ransom for many.' The word 'propitiation' again is +meant to suggest that the offering of the life in sacrifice was the +means to win for us forgiveness from God. So far, both metaphorical +words have their clear and harmonious meaning. But in old days the +metaphor of redemption was worked out by Origen and others beyond the +exact point of the original suggestion. The price, they argued, must +have been paid to the enemy who held us captive; i.e. Christ's life was +offered as a price to the devil in order that his claim might be +satisfied and we might be justly set free. But this extension of the +scope of the metaphor is wholly alien to the New Testament. On the +other hand, the idea of propitiation has suggested at many periods the +horrible notion that the Son wrung from the angry Father the pardon +which He was unwilling to give. Such a notion is again wholly alien to +the New Testament. But in fact the two metaphors are mutually +corrective; and each tends to exclude the misuse of the other. The +idea that Christ offered anything to the devil is corrected by the +notion inherent in the phrase 'propitiation (of the Father).' What the +Son offered was a sacrifice +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P153"></A>153}</SPAN> +directed to the Father only. On the +other hand, the idea that the mind of the Father needed to be changed +towards us, is corrected by the suggestion inherent in the other +metaphor of redemption; for it is He who, because He loved us, gave up +His own Son to buy us out of the slavery of sin. Each metaphor +suggests a single idea—each complementary of the other, and corrective +of its misuse—and both combine to tell us of the one inseparable love +of the Father and the Son, uniting in a sacrificial act which is +ascribed to both, to redeem us from the tyranny of sin and to set the +pardoning love free to work upon us, without obscuring the true +hatefulness of sin or the true character of God. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If, especially recently, the doctrine of the atonement[<A NAME="chap0321fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0321fn23">23</A>] has involved +intellectual difficulty, on the other hand it has proved itself, as the +popular Christian literature of all ages sufficiently shows, widely and +deeply welcome to the human heart. This wide welcome which it has +received shows that it contains a deep truth. And from this point of +view, from the point of view of our practical spiritual needs, we do +well to meditate +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P154"></A>154}</SPAN> +much and deeply upon this doctrine. We can +depend upon it, that if we are to go on patiently doing good in a world +like this, so full of disappointments and anxieties and moral failures +and torturing scruples, we must have peace at the heart. And this is +what the really evangelical doctrine is capable of giving us. It bids +us continually look out of ourselves up to God, and assures us that His +love, manifested in the sacrifice of His Son, is there continually, +unchangeably. It is there, waiting till first we turn to Him, to give +us the assurance of entire absolution and admission into the divine +fellowship, wholly irrespective of what we have been or done; and it is +there continually, however often we fall, with the same large and +liberal hand to pour out continual forgivenesses, and never wearies of +restoring us again and again to the solid foundation of the peace and +grace which are by Jesus Christ. We are not meant to be miserably +anxious or morbidly introspective. We must confess our sins, and that +with exactness, without self-sparing, without self-excusing, in utter +humility and truth; but 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and +just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all +unrighteousness.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn1text">1</A>] Jer. xiii. 33. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn2text">2</A>] Except the sins which slew Him. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn3text">3</A>] I have combined this passage with the illustrative passages in St. +Paul's speeches to the heathen. Acts xiv. 16: 'Who in the generations +gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways.' Acts +xvii. 30: 'The times of ignorance God overlooked (winked at); but now +he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.' Wisd. xl. +23: 'Thou overlookest (winkest at) the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn4text">4</A>] This paragraph gives distinctness to a somewhat latent thought in +vers. 25, 26. But I feel convinced that this, and nothing else, is the +thought. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn5text">5</A>] Verses 5, 25, 26. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn6text">6</A>] Rom. iii. 22. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn7text">7</A>] Phil. iii. 9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn8text">8</A>] 2 Cor. v. 21. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn9text">9</A>] Rom. ix. 31. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn10text">10</A>] Rom. ii. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn11text">11</A>] Cf. 1 John i. 9: 'Faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn12text">12</A>] Joseph, the 'righteous' man in Matt. i. 19, is kindly. But his +kindliness has still the elements of moral severity. And it must be +remembered that in Rom. v. 7 'righteous' is still put in contrast to +'good.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn13text">13</A>] See Acts ii. 38: 'Be baptized ... unto the remission of your +sins.' xxii. 16: 'Be baptized and wash away thy sins.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn14text">14</A>] Acts xxvi. 18, i.e. forgiveness and fellowship in the consecrated +body, the new Israel; cf. xx. 33. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn15text">15</A>] 2 Macc. vii. 37. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn16text">16</A>] 4 Macc. vi. 28, 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn17text">17</A>] John xi. 50. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn18text">18</A>] None the less immoral as Caiaphas intended it, because, as St. +John perceives, a divine truth uttered itself through his lips (John +xi. 51). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn19text">19</A>] John i. 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn20text">20</A>] Matt. xxvi. 28; Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn21text">21</A>] Robertson-Smith, <I>Religion of the Semites</I> (Black, 1889), p. 418. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn22text">22</A>] Ps. l. 21; cf. Eccles. viii. 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0321fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0321fn23text">23</A>] On some of the difficulties felt about the doctrine of the +Atonement, see app. note D. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P155"></A>155}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION II. § 2. CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The true seed of Abraham.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul has been repudiating the principle of justification by works +of the law. To those with whom he had been brought up, this was in the +highest degree to dishonour the Jewish law, and indeed the principle of +divinely-given law at all. But in the last words of the previous +chapter he refuses to admit this inference. 'God forbid that we should +make law of none effect. Nay, we establish law.' +</P> + +<P> +This idea of the Gospel, rightly understood, establishing the law even +while it superseded it, is with St. Paul a very favourite one, and he +elaborates it in different ways. Sometimes he shows how the function +of the written law, or 'the letter,' is only to awaken the conscience +and make men know their sinfulness. It can give men no help in +corresponding to the moral requirement which it expresses. Having +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P156"></A>156}</SPAN> +convicted the conscience of sin, it has done its work, and must +yield its place to a more effective spiritual agency. The letter +killeth, in order that the Spirit may give life to those whom it has +killed. And, on the other hand, the one object of this new spiritual +agency, this life-giving Spirit, is to infuse the power of moral +obedience, which the law could not give, into men's lives, 'that the +requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk after the +Spirit.' In this place, however, St. Paul only alludes to this +argument and in the main adopts another. He shows from the Book of the +Law, that the father of the faithful, himself the typical instance of a +justified man, was justified, not by works which he had done, but +simply because he believed; not upon the basis of any law or covenant, +but as a man simply and not as a circumcised man; and again, that +David, the man after God's own heart, living under the law, would have +us rest our hopes of blessedness, not on our merits as having kept the +law, but simply on the forgiving bounty of divine grace. +</P> + +<P> +Let us inquire, he says, into the case of Abraham, whom we Jews are +proud to own for our national ancestor. What are we to say of him? If +Abraham approached God in virtue +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P157"></A>157}</SPAN> +of his merits in having kept a +law, and so was accepted by God because of what he had done of himself, +there is something for him to boast of. But this in fact is not his +relation to God according to the scripture at all. There— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">'merit lives from man to man,</SPAN><BR> +But not from man, O Lord, to thee.'<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +The whole initiation is God's. He simply makes a promise of His own +pure goodwill—'Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven'—and Abraham +simply believed Him; and this, and nothing but this, was 'counted to +him for righteousness[<A NAME="chap04fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn1">1</A>].' The two suggested relations of Abraham to +God are broadly contrasted and can be generally applied. In the one +case you have a compact between God who imposes, and man who accepts, +an allotted task with a payment attached to its fulfilment. If the man +fulfils it, his payment can be classed as due to him under the compact. +In the other case you have nothing done, no claim alleged, but a pure +act of God, accepting one of our sinful race, as he is, simply because +he takes God at His word. And this is how David also views our +relation to God. You find him[<A NAME="chap04fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn2">2</A>] opening his mouth to tell +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P158"></A>158}</SPAN> +us +what sort of man is truly blessed, truly to be congratulated. And he +thinks not of one who claims a reward because of his merit, but of one +who has found no comfort or resource except in penitent confession of +his sins, and whose sins God has forgiven and has consented to treat as +if they did not exist. It is the unmerited act of the divine bounty, +it is God justifying the sinful, which is the source of blessedness +(vers. 1-8). +</P> + +<P> +Now we go back to the case of Abraham to inquire whether the blessing +of divine acceptance was pronounced upon him because he was the head of +the chosen race marked out by circumcision—which was, so to speak, the +first part of the law. No, it was before he was circumcised. The +token of circumcision came afterwards[<A NAME="chap04fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn3">3</A>], as the seal or external +confirmation of what he had already received simply as a believing man; +so that he might have for his true sons believers, whether +uncircumcised or circumcised, and they might share his acceptance +simply by believing God as he believed Him (vers. 9-12). +</P> + +<P> +Plainly when God made Abraham the promise that he should be the heir of +the world[<A NAME="chap04fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn4">4</A>], no law +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P159"></A>159}</SPAN> +was introduced into the relationship. It +was purely a matter of God promising and Abraham taking God at His +word. Indeed it could not have been otherwise. Introduce law, and you +introduce a compact between God and man which annuls the relationship +of God simply promising and man simply believing—a compact which +throws a strain on man's independent powers, which they are not able to +bear. The one inevitable result of the law is to put man in the +position, in which apart from law he cannot find himself, of a +defaulter who knows himself, as a defaulter, under the divine wrath. +The true relationship leaves matters in the hands of God, who purely +promises of His good favour—man simply in faith receiving (vers. +13-16a). This resting everything on God's promise and man's faith +gives security for the fulfilment of the promise to 'all the seed.' +And the 'seed to whom the promise was made' includes, not only the race +chosen later to receive the law, but believers of all races; Abraham +being in this sense 'a father of many nations,' as he stands under the +eyes of God whom he believed in—God who had power to make His promise +good, even by recalling to life again the dead faculties of Abraham's +old age, and summoning children +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P160"></A>160}</SPAN> +which did not yet exist as if +they were already there. Here is the point: Abraham believed that God +had the power to be as good as His word, in spite of all obvious +reasons to the contrary. Therefore he looked the facts steadily in the +face—his own and Sarah's great age. But he did not suffer this to +weigh in the balance against God's promise. He made quite sure that +God would do as He promised, and glorified God by this strong act of +faith. This it is that was reckoned to him for righteousness, i.e. +this it is that enabled God to accept him as righteous without any +consideration of deeds done. And the record of this acceptance is made +for our sakes to-day. God is still taking men into the number of the +righteous, and He still does it on the same principle. He will reckon +us for righteous if we will take Him at His word, and believe in His +power to do as He has promised. And in our case He has given us fresh +ground for such confident belief; for Jesus, on whom as Lord our hopes +rest and who died to make atonement for our sins, He has by His power +raised up from the dead, that by faith in Him, dead and yet alive +again, we might be taken like Abraham without more ado into the number +of the righteous. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P161"></A>161}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What then shall we say[<A NAME="chap04fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn5">5</A>] that Abraham, our forefather according to the +flesh, hath found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath +whereof to glory; but not toward God. For what saith the scripture? +And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for +righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as +of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth +on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for +righteousness. Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, +unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, <I>saying</I>, +</P> + +<P CLASS="block2" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> +Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,<BR> +And whose sins are covered.<BR> +Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the +uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for +righteousness. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, +or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: and +he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of +the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be +the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, +that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; and the father of +circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also +walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in +uncircumcision. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or +to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, but through the +righteousness of faith. For if they which are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P162"></A>162}</SPAN> +of the law be +heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: for +the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there +transgression. For this cause <I>it is</I> of faith, that <I>it may be</I> +according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the +seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is +of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, +A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, +<I>even</I> God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth the things that are +not, as though they were. Who in hope believed against hope, to the +end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that +which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. And without being +weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he +being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb: +yea, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, +but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully +assured that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. +Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Now it was +not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; but for +our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that +raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our +trespasses, and was raised for our justification. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. No doubt, on the text of Gen. xv. 6, St. Paul is right. It was +Abraham's <I>faith</I> that is declared to have been reckoned to his account +by God as equivalent to righteousness. But when we get beyond a mere +text, is it not, we are inclined to ask, more true to the general +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P163"></A>163}</SPAN> +spirit of scripture to say, with the author of the First Book of the +Maccabees, 'Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was +reckoned unto him for righteousness[<A NAME="chap04fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn6">6</A>]?' or with St. James, 'Was not +Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his +son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and +by works was faith made perfect[<A NAME="chap04fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn7">7</A>].' No doubt certain Rabbis state the +principle pedantically when they speak of Abraham having kept the whole +Mosaic law by anticipation[<A NAME="chap04fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn8">8</A>], but is it not true to say that Abraham +was accepted by God, and on the whole is represented in the Bible as so +accepted, <I>not</I> only because he believed, but also because he 'was +found faithful in temptation,' and did good works, or acted as a good +man? +</P> + +<P> +Now, if by 'accepted' is meant 'finally accepted,' St. Paul would say +this as of Abraham, so of every other accepted man. He must be finally +judged and must receive according to his works or character. As we +shall see, there is no real discrepancy between St. Paul and St. James +on this matter. And St. Paul never disparages 'good works' which are +the fruit of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P164"></A>164}</SPAN> +faith, only 'works' or 'works of the law' which +represent a false attitude of man to God. But the question which he is +here asking is, What is the ground of acceptance for a man <I>at +starting</I>? What is it puts him at starting in the right relation to +God? In other words, What is the root of real righteousness? And his +answer to this question is, it is only self-surrendering faith which +brought Abraham, or which brings any other man, into acceptance. +</P> + +<P> +In giving this answer St. Paul had in view another attitude with which +he had been long familiar, and which he calls 'seeking to be justified +by works of the law.' It was the attitude of the Jews, especially as +they appear in St. John's Gospel. They were proud of their divine law +and of belonging to the chosen people, the children of Abraham and +Moses. They knew how to make good their standing-ground with God. By +keeping the law, as the law had come to be understood among themselves, +they could accumulate merits altogether out of proportion to their +failures or demerits. They could even be helped by the merits of the +old saints[<A NAME="chap04fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn9">9</A>]. Thus they could +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P165"></A>165}</SPAN> +stand before God on the basis of +a certain engagement or covenant, into which God had entered with His +people, and claim their due reward. +</P> + +<P> +This utterly demoralizing attitude—leading as it does to formalism and +hypocrisy, or, at the best, unprogressive stagnation—this attitude, +which left out of sight all the higher and infinite elements in the Old +Testament, was the actual attitude of contemporary Pharisaic Jews. The +characteristics with which it endowed them were pride in the law; a +sense of personal merit coupled with a contempt for 'sinners of the +Gentiles,' or the common 'people which knew not the law'; a +self-satisfied stagnation which made them utterly resent the new light +of the gospel; a regard for the public opinion of their class, which +made them slaves to convention; and moral hollowness and rottenness +within. It was because this was their attitude that they rejected the +Christ. 'Going about to establish their own righteousness, they did +not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.' It was because St. +Paul had been brought up in the school of the Pharisees, but had come +to perceive its moral rottenness and to accept Jesus as the Christ, +that he bases all his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P166"></A>166}</SPAN> +doctrine on the substitution of +justification by faith for justification by works. +</P> + +<P> +By 'works' or 'works of the law' he means an attitude towards God which +left a man largely independent of Him. Under the divine covenant the +man of the covenant has a certain task to do, a certain law to keep: +that kept, especially in its external requirements as contemporary +authority enforces it, he is his own master. He is entitled to resent +any further claims upon him. This religious ideal means, as we have +seen, pride, stagnation, conventionalism, hypocrisy. And the more it +is considered the more unnatural it appears. For +</P> + +<P> +(1) It ignores the fundamental relation of man to God, viz. that, as a +creature, he depends absolutely and at every stage on God. He has no +initiative in himself. Thus the only attitude towards God which +expresses the reality is one in which God is recognized as continually +supplying, or promising, or offering, or claiming, and man is +continually accepting, or believing, or corresponding, or obeying. +</P> + +<P> +(2) It ignores the ineradicable taint of sin in man, and the +accumulated guilt of particular sins. A man may gloss over his inward +sinfulness, and cloak and ignore his secret sins; he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P167"></A>167}</SPAN> +may live +outwardly in high reputation; but if he comes to know himself, he knows +himself as a sinner, who depends, at starting, absolutely on God for +forgiveness and 'deliverance from coming wrath.' +</P> + +<P> +(3) It is quite contented to leave all mankind, except a small elect +body, out of the conditions of acceptance with God. +</P> + +<P> +In substituting 'faith' for works of the law, then, as the principle of +justification, St. Paul was really 'returning to nature'; he was +realizing facts, and supplying a basis for a morality both progressive +and universal. Further, he was true to all the highest teaching of the +Old Testament, which continually finds the source and ground of sin and +failure in man's independence of God; which is averse to nothing so +conspicuously as to substituting external conformity for moral +character; which is heavy with the consciousness of sin; which humbly +expects a fuller, wider, and richer disclosure of the kingdom of God. +Finally, he was true to that deep and summary teaching of our Lord to +the Jews, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath +sent.' No doubt it may still be said St. Paul argues in an +'uncritical' manner on the basis of a particular +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P168"></A>168}</SPAN> +text. But in +doing this he was doing as his Jewish contemporaries did; and if the +particular text is used to prove a real or true principle, who shall +complain of it? +</P> + +<P> +2. And now to conciliate St. Paul and St. James. It is a satisfactory +task, for the statements which appear so contradictory admit, when they +are examined, of an easy harmony. +</P> + +<P> +Let us suppose, what is highly probable, that the report of St. Paul's +teaching reached St. James at Jerusalem at second-hand, in a +fragmentary and perverted manner—perhaps as illustrated by unfortunate +specimens of its influence where it was wilfully misunderstood. 'Men +are justified before God by faith without consideration of works.' St. +James' holy and beautiful, but no doubt somewhat unphilosophical mind, +was alarmed and scandalized. By faith he understood an intellectual +quality—the acceptance of the divine truth revealed; and he points out +with the simplicity of moral common sense, that never in the Old +Testament is right belief represented as the ground of acceptance with +God without the right conduct which is its natural sequence. Who can +deny that the devils have a 'right belief' in the existence of God? +Faith, in fact, without +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P169"></A>169}</SPAN> +works—orthodox belief without moral +obedience—is a lifeless form, a body without spirit[<A NAME="chap04fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap04fn10">10</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +To all this St. Paul would of course have agreed, in St. James' sense +of the word faith. In fact, St. James' faith, i.e. bare orthodox +belief, is closely akin to, and apt to keep company with, formal +ecclesiastical observance, which is part of what St. Paul means by +'works.' Both were characteristic of the Pharisaic Jews. St. Paul and +St. James would have been at one in saying, 'There must be life in this +dead shell of orthodox belief, if it is to have value with God; and +what alone can give it life is the real spirit of moral obedience to +the will of the holy and good God'—which is what St. James means by +'works.' The disagreement between them is then, so far, only verbal. +But St. Paul goes deeper, into a region where St. James does not follow +him, and asks what is the real starting-ground of the truest +obedience—the real root of the moral life? And he finds this +starting-ground, this fundamental establishment of the right relation +to God, in what he called faith; that is, no mere orthodoxy of +intellect, but a fundamental relationship of man towards God—the +utterly receptive faculty, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P170"></A>170}</SPAN> +the profound quality of the +self-surrendering will. +</P> + +<P> +3. There is a young philosophical inquirer in Plato's Dialogue of the +<I>Republic</I> who is so anxious to get at the ultimate principle of +justice, as distinct from its consequences and secondary qualities, +that Socrates laughingly tells him he is 'scrubbing and polishing it +like a statue.' Now St. Paul has the philosopher's instinct to get at +a principle in its pure simplicity. He scrubs faith clean of all +extraneous accidents. He is most anxious that we should disengage its +activity from all the other closely-interconnected elements in human +nature; and so perceive that, whatever a man has been or is in race or +conduct or antecedents, once let him exhibit faith, the faith which +takes God at His word, and by that very fact and no other, all the +obstacles to God's acceptance of him are overcome. The true relation +of the man to God is restored in its elementary principle. And nothing +but this, however elaborate its apparent performances, can restore the +fundamental relationship. It is faith only, and not works, however +splendid, which justifies or enables God to take a man, place him +amongst the righteous, and work upon and in him. But this elemental +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P171"></A>171}</SPAN> +act of simply abandoning independence, trampling on pride and +taking God at His word, is an act or attitude of the whole man which +necessarily (granted that it be not withdrawn) becomes correspondence +of the whole being with God, a lifelong obedience, an allegiance and +homage of every faculty of will, and emotion, and intellect. 'Faith,' +then, as Calvin once said, 'is pregnant with good works, but it +justifies before they are brought forth.' +</P> + +<P> +That the rudimentary justifying faith, on which St. Paul is here +insisting, is a developing thing, a living and germinating principle, +the basis of a life which grows—but always 'from faith to faith,' from +one stage of faith to another—will appear clearly enough as we go on. +But even here, in this chapter, it appears already that faith is +something quite inconsistent with remaining as we are. Faith looks to +a divine promise—a promise of astounding change—and believes that God +is able to realize it in us. Such was Abraham's faith. Such, we may +add, was the faith of those in the Gospels who came to be healed, and +to whom it was said, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' Our +faith then also must expect and desire some amazing transformation of +our human nature, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P172"></A>172}</SPAN> +according to a divine promise—nothing less +than power out of impotence, life out of death. +</P> + +<P> +And it is from this point of view that the Resurrection is apparently +regarded in this chapter, as holding the place it does in the 'scheme' +of our justification by faith. We are to believe that God is able to +bring life morally out of death. He makes that act of faith possible +or easier for us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This evidence of +God's power in the case of Jesus, the person on whom our divine faith +is to rest, gives an adequate support and reasonable security to our +faith. 'He was designated as the Son of God with power, by the +resurrection from the dead,' and thus becomes the natural object for +such a faith in the power of God to carry out His promises as is +necessary for our justification. This is probably the meaning of the +particular words with which the fourth chapter closes—'Who died for +our sins (that is, in order that, in virtue of His atoning sacrifice, +our sins might be forgiven) and rose again for our justification' (i.e. +in order that our faith might have in the risen Lord an adequate +object). But of course the relation of faith to the risen Lord is by +no means exhausted in this thought. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P173"></A>173}</SPAN> + +<P> +4. We Englishmen are possessed with the idea that there is nothing so +alien to our characters as the temper of the Pharisees or the doctrine +of the merit of good works. But if we can look at the matter below the +surface, we can hardly fail to realize that the spirit which St. Paul +so mightily repudiates lies in some respects very close to our natural +instincts. The Englishman has a standard, of his class, his college, +his profession, which it is his pride not to fall short of; but he is +intensely alarmed at any claim upon his moral independence over and +above this allowed standard; he is inclined to turn his back completely +upon the idea of fundamental surrender to the unknown and infinite +claim of God; he is contented with himself and his standard, and +occupies himself in comparing it favourably with the standards of other +classes, or still more of other nations. But what is this spirit but, +for good or for evil, the spirit of Pharisaism under a wholly different +dress? 'They going about to establish their own righteousness, have +not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.' 'How can ye +believe which seek glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from +the only God ye seek not?' 'They measuring themselves by +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P174"></A>174}</SPAN> + +themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves are not wise.' +Here are typical condemnations of the self-satisfied Pharisaic temper +so expressed as to prevent us from supposing that we shall escape +condemnation with the Pharisees merely because we do not say long +prayers in public places, or distinguish ourselves by a careful +ritualism. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn1text">1</A>] Gen. xv. 5, 6. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn2text">2</A>] Ps. xxxii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn3text">3</A>] Gen. xvii. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn4text">4</A>] None of the promises are verbally to this effect. But this is the +substantial outcome of them. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn5text">5</A>] Or 'of Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh' (margin). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn6text">6</A>] 1 Macc. ii. 52; cf. Ecclus. xliv. 20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn7text">7</A>] James ii. 21, 22. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn8text">8</A>] Cf. S. and H. p. 101. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn9text">9</A>] There is contemporary evidence for this illustration of their +position; see <I>Ephesians</I>, app. note C. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap04fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap04fn10text">10</A>] James ii. 14-26. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0501"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P175"></A>175}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. CHAPTERS V-VIII. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The accepted life or the moral consequences of justification.</I> +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +§ 1. CHAPTER V. 1-11. +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The holy confidence of the justified.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +Peace is a fundamental spiritual need of the human soul. But the peace +that is God's gift comes only through the breaking up of the peace of +soul which comes from ignoring God. The Pharisee on the temple steps +was at peace when he thanked God that he was not as other men are—at +peace in his misplaced pride. The mass of men in heathen Corinth, +where St. Paul was writing, were at peace in their sins. And St. Paul +has set himself with all his might, as in his preaching generally, so +in this particular letter, to break up this false peace of conscience. +Like the prophet of old he spurns those who would 'heal the hurt of the +daughter of God's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P176"></A>176}</SPAN> +people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when +there is no peace.' Thus he has been arousing the conscience of +Gentiles and Jews equally, and forcing upon them the conviction that +their present life is a condemned life, under the doom of a righteous +God. But when the conviction is driven home, when the wound is fairly +recognized and probed, comes in due course the healing remedy. It lies +in the recognition of what God really is—of the sort of character +which He is manifesting now in His Son Jesus Christ. For behold! +wholly apart from any question of what we are or have been, God is +found waiting for us with the offer of His love, which is also the +power to accomplish what He offers. It is pardon and new life He +offers to us. It is for us simply to take Him at His word, and without +any delay or reckoning up of accounts, to be acquitted and accepted for +righteous simply because we have believed His word. +</P> + +<P> +The secure ground of peace in the soul, therefore, lies in the frank +and severe recognition of our own sinfulness, but also, and even more, +in looking away from ourselves and simply fixing our whole +consideration on the character of God, who in certain acts has shown +His +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P177"></A>177}</SPAN> +good-will toward us, and His power to make His goodwill +effectual. All hope for us starts simply from God and His mind of love +toward us. 'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his +Son.' +</P> + +<P> +Thus we find St. Paul, in the passage we are now to consider, beginning +a fresh appeal to believers in Christ on this basis, which he has +already made so secure. Seeing, he says, that we have now been +accepted simply because we believed, let us enter into that heritage of +peace which our Lord Jesus Christ by His redemption has won for us. +For what is our present condition? Through His redeeming sacrifice we +have received an introduction, at no other cost than that of believing, +into a new standing-ground before God, a new state in which the whole +atmosphere is one of grace or divine favour. We can therefore enjoy a +solid peace in the present based on the sure consideration of the +divine goodwill, and we can make it our boast that we have a +well-grounded hope of future restoration to that highest fruition of +which our nature is capable—fellowship in the divine glory. And while +we enjoy these present privileges of ours, let us show that we really +value them by making +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P178"></A>178}</SPAN> +the outward hardships which accompany them a +matter of boasting also. For we know that only such hardships, bravely +encountered, can give to our characters the quality of steadfastness; +and steadfastness through the experience of life makes of us men of +approved moral metal; and this process of probation, in which we are +tried and not found wanting, again generates hope in us—the same hope +in God's love which accompanied the beginning of our justification, +only now confirmed in us by our own experience. And this divine hope +has nothing treacherous about it[<A NAME="chap0501fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0501fn1">1</A>]. It is grounded on what God has +already done. He has already given us His Holy Spirit, and by that +gift poured forth His love into our hearts: He would not have done this +in order to cheat us at the last. +</P> + +<P> +We can indeed test and measure the mind of God toward us by human +comparisons. In our experience of men we might perhaps find some one +brave enough even to die for another, if that other was, I do not say +merely an upright man, but a good and loveable one. But what is the +fact in God's dealings with us? It was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P179"></A>179}</SPAN> +when we were sinful and +helpless in our sinfulness—nay rather, when we were living in flat +antagonism to God—that He proved His own pure love toward us by taking +advantage of the divine opportunity to give His Son to die for us. And +He, thus dying on our behalf, won for us by the shedding of His blood a +reconciliation with God, which lay altogether outside anything which +our state naturally suggested. Well then, God would not, so to speak, +have gone out of His way to make this beginning, unless He had intended +to carry the work through, so as finally to save us out from under the +divine wrath, or, in other words, into the divine fellowship. +Certainly, accepted as we have been in virtue of Christ's +blood-shedding, and thus reconciled to God when our natural state was +hostility to Him, we can trust Him, now that He has made us His +friends, to accomplish our deliverance, not by any further +blood-shedding, but by admitting us into the life of Christ risen from +death. But, to end where we began, it is not only the hope of a future +deliverance that makes us glad. We also make our boast of our present +relation and friendship with God through His Son. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P180"></A>180}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through +our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by +faith into this grace wherein we stand; and let us rejoice in hope of +the glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice in our +tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, +probation; and probation, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because +the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy +Ghost which was given unto us. For while we were yet weak, in due +season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man +will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even +dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while +we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now +justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath <I>of God</I> +through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God +through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be +saved by his life; and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through +our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the +reconciliation. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. We feel in this passage, and in those which follow, that a great +transition is being accomplished, or has been accomplished, in the +argument, we hardly know how: the transition from the thought of our +preliminary justification or acceptance with God for Christ's sake, to +that of our sanctification, or the life consecrated in Christ: the +transition from the thought of Christ's work <I>for us</I> to that of +Christ's work <I>in us</I>: from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P181"></A>181}</SPAN> +the gift of acquittal to the gift of +the Spirit (ver. 5), and the life of the baptized (vi. 3). St. Paul is +not conscious of the transition, as modern theologians or Christians +acquainted with theological controversy cannot but be, because the two +stages are to his mind absolutely inseparable. Those to whom he wrote +had like himself come, with whatever of struggle, to believe in Christ; +believing, they had been baptized into Christ, and had received by the +laying on of hands the gift of the Holy Ghost. This fellowship in +Christ's life, this possession of the Spirit, constituted Christianity. +To enjoy these things was to be a Christian. The idea of a +Christianity which stopped short of incorporation into Christ, or which +claimed this incorporation outside His body which is the Church, and +apart from the visible sacramental means of union, did not occur to St. +Paul. A Christianity which did not own allegiance to the Church was +not in question. But his entire present aim is to convince the heart +and reason of Christians that the whole privilege of their new 'state +of grace' belongs to them simply in virtue of faith. As he asks the +Galatians: 'Received ye the Spirit,' i.e. did ye become Christians, 'by +the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?' That is his point. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P182"></A>182}</SPAN> +They were not made Christians because they had done anything to +deserve it. They were simply helpless sinners, and it was the +gratuitous mercy of God which looked upon them and provided a means of +forgiveness for them, and justified them or set them upon a new basis +of acceptance, without any consideration of what they were or had done, +purely and simply because He loved them and meant that the mere +spectacle of His unmerited love and bounty should inspire their +gratitude and win their hearts. Therefore he lays such emphasis on +their initial need of forgiveness: on their helplessness to get rid of +their own sins: on their dependence for forgiveness on a sacrifice to +which they could contribute nothing: on their being justified by simply +receiving in trust the offer of God. But the offer when it is listened +to is found to consist in forgiveness indeed—but forgiveness as a step +toward new life in the body of Christ. Thus what Christ won for man, +what becomes available for each man in virtue of believing the message, +is here described as 'our introduction' (rather than 'access') 'into +this grace wherein we stand'—an introduction into a spiritual region +where God's favour is the prevailing atmosphere, or, to use a later +phrase, into 'a state of grace'; a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P183"></A>183}</SPAN> +district of security out of +which, however, men may fall again by deliberate unfaithfulness, as St. +Paul warns the Galatians[<A NAME="chap0501fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0501fn2">2</A>]: 'Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would +be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.' +</P> + +<P> +And St. Paul's language does not let us suppose that the whole of what +he means by our 'salvation' is included in our preliminary +acceptance[<A NAME="chap0501fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0501fn3">3</A>]. That is simply our first introduction into a permanent +state. Our 'salvation' is here, as elsewhere, spoken of as equivalent +to deliverance from wrath in the day of judgement, which means that our +whole moral being has become such as can bear the scrutiny of the +divine righteousness and the fellowship of the divine glory. +</P> + +<P> +2. Where the Revised Version above[<A NAME="chap0501fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0501fn4">4</A>] reads 'rejoice,' it is important +to remember that the word is that used for the illegitimate 'glorying' +or 'boasting' of iii. 27 and iv. 2. Christians have something to boast +of, but it is not their own; it is God's gift. Therefore they are +especially delighted when God's strength is shown in their weakness, +and they will more particularly 'boast of their weaknesses' (cf. 2 Cor. +xi. 30). +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P184"></A>184}</SPAN> + +<P> +3. St. Paul's argument that the Christian hope is fundamentally +trustworthy is based, we may notice, on a twofold appeal. First (ver. +5), he appeals to the gift of the Spirit which at a definite time[<A NAME="chap0501fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0501fn5">5</A>] +each Christian received, doubtless by the laying on of hands. This +gift is in itself an outpouring of the divine love and an 'earnest' of +future glory (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5). No doubt almost all the Christians +had more or less intensely <I>felt</I> the reality of the divine love in the +indwelling Spirit. But St. Paul lays stress rather on the fact than on +the feeling. Secondly (vers. 6 ff.), he appeals to the great +redemptive act of God. God had gone out of His way to make a great +sacrifice in order to reconcile us when we were enemies, and therefore +may be trusted to carry out the preliminary reconciliation into full +spiritual deliverance or salvation by Christ's life. The greater +effort carries with it the less. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0501fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0501fn1text">1</A>] Isa. xxviii. 16: 'He that believeth shall not be put to shame' +(Greek version). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0501fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0501fn2text">2</A>] Gal. v. 4. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0501fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0501fn3text">3</A>] Cf. also p. <A HREF="#P310">310</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0501fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0501fn4text">4</A>] verses 2, 3, 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0501fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0501fn5text">5</A>] The tense is an aorist, 'the Holy Ghost which was given' at a +definite past moment; not as in the unrevised Bible 'is given.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0512"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P185"></A>185}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 2. CHAPTER V. 12-21. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The Second Adam.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul had spoken, at the end of the passage we have just been +reading, of our being 'saved by (or 'in') Christ's life.' And this +brings him to what is truly the central point of his theology—the life +in Christ by the Spirit: the thought that the glorified Man, with all +the power of the divine life at work in Him, though He is hidden from +sight, is still perpetuating His life by His Spirit in that society +which He has established to be His body. It stands to reason that if +real fellowship in the life of Christ is the privilege of the +Christian, this must be a greater thing by far than any preparatory +gift of acquittal or justification, which indeed has its value simply +in virtue of that to which it admits us. St. Paul then loves to +contrast the new +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P186"></A>186}</SPAN> +manhood of believers in Christ, the life in +Christ, in all its moral characteristics, with the old manhood, +enslaved to sin, as it existed substantially identical in its bondage +under the outwardly differing conditions of Gentile and Jewish society. +And as that old life of our race had a unity which St. Paul believed +was due to a common origin in the first man Adam, so he thought of +Christ as a second Adam—the 'last Adam'—a spiritual progenitor from +whom was to be derived another human race by spiritual generation with +a better unity of its own; or rather a new spiritual progenitor from +whom the whole of the old race might gradually derive, by spiritual +regeneration, a new life, which should penetrate and spread, and oust +the corruption of the old manhood, till the whole was redeemed and +ushered into the glory for which it had been originally destined. +</P> + +<P> +And here, in the passage we are now to read, St. Paul develops the +thought of the influence of Adam and his sin upon the human race, and +draws from it an argument for the deeper and greater influence of the +New Man upon the same race, reconstituted under a new head. +</P> + +<P> +Adam's sin—the disobedience of the one man—had a disastrous effect +upon his race as a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P187"></A>187}</SPAN> +whole. It introduced sin, and through sin its +penalty, death; and it passed to all mankind—the penalty, because also +the sin. All men sinned in fact, and all died. This can be stated +without exception. It is quite true that where there is no special law +to instruct men, they may sin ignorantly, and therefore without its +being imputed to them as guilt; yet the sin is there all the same, and +its presence, before the Mosaic law was given to enlighten men, was +marked by the reign of death, even in the case of persons innocent of +any actual sin like Adam's. Sin then, as marked by death, exists +universally, apart from any knowledge of it or even any actual offence, +as the effect of Adam's transgression upon his whole race. But to Adam +corresponds in the divine purpose Christ. He is the new head of the +race—to transmit the free gift of life, as Adam transmitted the +penalty of death. His life was one summary obedience: one perfectly +acceptable object to the eyes of God. And there flows from it an +abundant river of the good favour of God—which is also the good favour +of the man Jesus Christ—and of the gift by which that good favour +shows itself, the gift of righteousness extending on into an eternal +life. Therefore we may argue +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P188"></A>188}</SPAN> +<I>a fortiori</I>[<A NAME="chap0512fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn1">1</A>] from the influence +of Adam to the influence of Christ—[<I>a fortiori</I>, because, though God +has been, so to speak, constrained to punish us, His whole desire is to +do us good; and the method of diffusion which He has allowed to operate +for evil, we can be much more sure He will set to work for good][<A NAME="chap0512fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn2">2</A>]. +We see the trespass of the one generating universal death, and we are +sure that the counter influence of Christ is as universally diffusive +and incomparably more powerful. We see the one man's offence appealing +to God for judgement and producing a condemned race; but we see, on the +other hand, a multitude of sins appealing to the divine compassion to +let loose the free gift which shall make for acquittal. If the +consequence of the transgression was inevitable, and a reign of death +followed, so much more certainly must the divine gift, abundant as it +is, bring about the triumph of eternal life. If the one fault diffused +itself in universal condemnation, so the one act which meets the divine +approval must diffuse itself to produce +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P189"></A>189}</SPAN> +universally an accepted +life. One disobedience made the whole race sinners: one obedience +shall make the whole race righteous. The law came in parenthetically +to the world of sin and death to let actual sin, like Adam's, have its +full and fatal scope. But the greatness of the sin only magnifies +still more the greatness of the remedy which divine goodness supplies, +that the sovereignty of sin in a world of death might be swallowed up +in the sovereignty of divine goodwill working through righteousness +unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death +through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all +sinned:—for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed +when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until +Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's +transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. But not as the +trespass, so also <I>is</I> the free gift. For if by the trespass of the +one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the +grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. And not as +through one that sinned, <I>so</I> is the gift: for the judgement <I>came</I> of +one unto condemnation, but the free gift <I>came</I> of many trespasses unto +justification. For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned +through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of +grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, +<I>even</I> Jesus Christ. So then as through one trespass <I>the judgement +came</I> unto all men to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P190"></A>190}</SPAN> +condemnation; even so through one act of +righteousness <I>the free gift came</I> unto all men to justification of +life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made +sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be +made righteous. And the law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: +that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through +righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. St. Paul in this section, as also in part in his speech at Athens, +teaches, as matter which can be assumed and need not be emphasized, +that God made 'of one' (Adam) 'every nation of men[<A NAME="chap0512fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn3">3</A>]'; that Adam, by +actual transgression of a divine commandment, introduced sin, and with +sin death which is its punishment, into the world of man; and that as a +result all men sinned. This universal sin he would, no doubt—as in +chapter i, so here—ascribe in part to men's own wills. In this very +chapter he asserts that what finally 'abounded' was actual +'transgression' like Adam's[<A NAME="chap0512fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn4">4</A>]. But this is not the whole account of +the matter. Prior to all question of actual sins; prior to all +question of knowledge or consequent responsibility, death was +universal, and death marked the inward reign +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P191"></A>191}</SPAN> +of sin. Men in the +mass were, through Adam's sin, constituted sinners[<A NAME="chap0512fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn5">5</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul then, assuming here as elsewhere[<A NAME="chap0512fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn6">6</A>] the narrative of Gen. iii +as true in substance if not in form, teaches (1) the unity of our race +as derived from Adam; (2) the original transgression of Adam, as being +partly the example of subsequent sins and partly the source of a moral +corruption, which since his fall has been inherent in our race +independently of any actual sins; and (3) the introduction of death +<I>into the human race</I> as the punishment of sin. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand, the common idea of an imputation of Adam's guilt to +his descendants he expressly does not teach. Sin is not imputed or +reckoned as guilt to the individual apart from the knowledge necessary +to constitute responsibility[<A NAME="chap0512fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn7">7</A>]. It is extraordinary how the idea of +imputed <I>guilt</I> can have come to be ascribed to St. Paul when he +expressly guards against it. What the descendants of Adam inherit is +an actual inherent weakness or sinfulness. Again, St. Paul does not +attempt to analyze the actual sin of the world so as to discriminate +between the factors of inherited +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P192"></A>192}</SPAN> +weakness on the one hand and +reiterated acts of rebellion on the other; but he recognizes both. His +language indeed here, and in chapter vii, would be satisfied by a very +moderate doctrine of the effects of original sin, that is, of the +transmitted effect of sin, considered apart from its repetition. There +is no warrant whatever in St. Paul for the idea that one man's sin +resulted in the total depravity of human nature. Once more he is +content, as usual, to teach generally and without exactness. Thus he +does not consider the exceptions to the universal law of death recorded +in the Old Testament—Enoch and Elijah—though he, no doubt, recognized +them. That in spite of these exceptions he still states the law with +such universality: 'Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them +that had not sinned[<A NAME="chap0512fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn8">8</A>]' is a warning not to understand St. Paul's +universal propositions with an exactness only applicable to those of a +schoolman or a modern man of science. +</P> + +<P> +2. So much for the substance of St. Paul's teaching; and now what is +to be said as to its sources? St. Paul states his doctrine of original +sin as if it were a commonplace which he could +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P193"></A>193}</SPAN> +assume and argue +from. Now the Book of Genesis certainly spoke of a primaeval +disobedience in our first parents, and of the infliction on them, as a +penalty for their disobedience, of conditions of strife and pain and +death. But the idea of the transmission of <I>sinfulness</I> does not seem +to be suggested. Moreover, this narrative made remarkably little +impression on the Old Testament literature as a whole[<A NAME="chap0512fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn9">9</A>]. The +doctrine, however, of the introduction of <I>death</I> through the +temptation and sin of Adam and Eve is found again in the apocryphal +literature: thus, 'God created man for incorruption, ... but by the +envy of the devil death entered into the world[<A NAME="chap0512fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn10">10</A>].' From a woman was +the beginning of sin; and because of her we all die[<A NAME="chap0512fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn11">11</A>].' Unto Adam +thou gavest thy one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately +thou appointedst death for him and in his generations; and there were +born of him nations and tribes, peoples +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P194"></A>194}</SPAN> +and kindreds, out of +number[<A NAME="chap0512fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn12">12</A>].' 'Adam sinned, and death was decreed against those who +should be born[<A NAME="chap0512fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn13">13</A>].' This was also the prevalent doctrine of the +Rabbis represented in the Talmud. The idea of an inheritance of +<I>moral</I> corruption—but not specially associated with Adam's fall—may +be found in the cry of the Psalmist, 'In sin hath my mother conceived +me!' perhaps also in other passages of the Old Testament, and in our +Lord's teaching, as recorded both by the Synoptists and in St. John's +Gospel[<A NAME="chap0512fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn14">14</A>]; but as connected with Adam's sin it does not, so far as can +be ascertained, appear for certain in Jewish literature till we get to +the Second Book of Esdras, a Jewish Apocalypse later than St. Paul. +There it is taught that there was originally a seed of evil, 'a wicked +heart,' in Adam as he was created, side by side with the good in him, +and that he by his sin gave it preponderance in the race[<A NAME="chap0512fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn15">15</A>]—a form of +teaching not by any means identical with St. Paul's. On the whole, +then, it remains a matter of some doubt what exactly was the source +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P195"></A>195}</SPAN> +whence St. Paul got the certainty and completeness of his +doctrine of 'the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that +naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam.' +</P> + +<P> +3. The more important question for us, however, is not whence St. Paul +derived the materials for his teaching, but whether it is true—whether +it can hold in the light of modern anthropology. And to this question +only a partial answer—the answer that appears to be most +necessary—will be attempted here[<A NAME="chap0512fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn16">16</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +We are in our generation rightly anxious if we are asked to accept any +professedly historical statement for which we feel the evidence is +doubtful. We know that from the point of view of history the origin of +our human species is lost in dense obscurity and uncertainty. And it +relieves many consciences to realize that, if St. Paul states his +argument in a form which implies the historical character of the +narrative in Genesis iii, all that is necessary for his argument is to +assume (1) that the human race is organically one, and can be dealt +with as one; (2) that sin is universal in our race; (3) that at least +the sting or curse or bondage of death is due to sin. If we realize +that this is all that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P196"></A>196}</SPAN> +need be allowed in order to give us full +fellowship in St. Paul's religious teaching, we shall be able to +investigate the further truth of his teaching, from a scientific and +historical point of view, with a free mind. +</P> + +<P> +And the three propositions stated above are not reasonably open to +doubt, (1) That our race is one species, and derived from one source, +is the conclusion of the modern ethnologist as much as of St. Paul[<A NAME="chap0512fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn17">17</A>]. +The general theory of evolution has effectively counteracted the +previous tendency to postulate the existence of various independent +races of men. +</P> + +<P> +(2) There are many professors of psychology who deny the existence of +moral freedom and consequently of sin in St. Paul's sense at all. As I +have already pointed out, this is the real battle-ground between +theology and science. But granted the reality of moral freedom and of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P197"></A>197}</SPAN> +sin, i.e. of something which need not and ought not to have been +committed, it is impossible to deny that, below the innumerable sins of +which human history is full, there exists deep in our nature an +'ineradicable taint'—a morbid tendency to do wrong—a bias or +propensity to evil—which is the heritage of our race; which indeed men +may become unconscious of by acquiescing in sin, but of which they +become painfully conscious again as soon as they are awakened to a +moral ideal. The late Dr. Mozley collected a remarkable series of +passages from what he calls 'worldly philosophers and poets'—notably +Byron and Shelley—testifying to the belief in universal sin[<A NAME="chap0512fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn18">18</A>]. This +of course we may say is only the inheritance of animal tendencies from +an animal ancestry; but if so, it is exactly what our higher spiritual +nature might and ought to have subdued long ago and brought into +subjection. Its presence with us and in us now is the result of sins +innumerable—innumerable wilful preferences of the lower to the higher +nature, which have let it loose and given it force. It is, in the +strictest sense, the inheritance of sin in the race. +</P> + +<P> +(3) The New Testament frequently reiterates +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P198"></A>198}</SPAN> +the assertion that +Christ has robbed death of its sting or delivered men from its bondage. +And this is also expressed (both by St. Paul and by our Lord Himself, +as reported by St. John) by saying that Christ has 'abolished +death[<A NAME="chap0512fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn19">19</A>]' or that the believer shall never die[<A NAME="chap0512fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn20">20</A>]. But if Christ has +abolished death, then there is at least a certain sense in which sin +has been the cause of death. The essence of death, according to this +use of the word, lies not in the physical transition from one state of +existence to another, which is no more death than it is birth. Death +means destruction, ruin and collapse. And what is called death—the +death of the present body—has only gathered about it such terrible +associations because men have become corrupt, and godless and therefore +short-sighted in their estimate of life. In the moral sense then in +which Christ abolished death, sin certainly introduced it for man. +</P> + +<P> +Now there is, I think, reason to believe more exactly with St. Paul +than is involved in these three positions[<A NAME="chap0512fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn21">21</A>]. But I feel sure that +any one who accepts these three positions—no one of which any believer +in God and morality can well +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P199"></A>199}</SPAN> +reject—may find himself in complete +practical fellowship with St. Paul's religious thought and with the +whole argument of this epistle. +</P> + +<P> +Humanity, in spite of all its racial differences, is a great unity: it +is, if not 'of one' individual, yet 'of one blood,' and it is as a +whole infected with sin; this is in effect the doctrine of the 'old +Adam.' And because it is one, and universally tainted, therefore +Christ can deal with it as one, in order to accomplish its restoration. +And all St. Paul's argument holds good. God has made humanity one, and +so one that what each does tends to affect all. Thus it has come about +that the force of sin—the wilful refusal of the higher life and choice +of the lower—has passed in its effects into the moral fibre of our +race, and weakened and corrupted the whole. God tolerates this, for +man must be, and must be dealt with as being, one and free. But God +desires the well-being of man. He hates sin. It has all but baffled +His purpose for man. Therefore, if He has tolerated the use which sin +has made of the organic unity of the human race, He can much more be +trusted to use that same unity for the purpose of good. As man is one +in sin, so we can be one in righteousness: as the old Adam has been +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P200"></A>200}</SPAN> +universal, so can the new. As sin has been propagated +physically, so Christ can spiritually propagate the new manhood. The +forces of recovery shall spread and permeate more radically than the +forces of evil, and shall finally triumph. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, in view of all the deep racial differences between, for +instance, Europeans, Chinamen, and the races of India, to believe in +the unity of humanity in any real sense at all is a great act of faith. +But it is an act of faith in which science encourages us, and not least +the comparative study of religions. Our religious instincts and +faculties are found in very different degrees of development, but they +are fundamentally the same. And it is an act of faith to which Christ +and Christianity fundamentally commit us, though it is probably true to +say that since New Testament times the brotherhood of men has been +practically found to be the most difficult of Christian dogmas. +</P> + +<P> +4. It is not inopportune, in view of recent controversy, to call +attention in this connexion to the fact that St. Paul's doctrine of +Christ as the second Adam of necessity involves in some form His +miraculous birth. St. Paul indeed says nothing about Christ's nativity +of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P201"></A>201}</SPAN> +the Virgin as an event in history; but he conceives of the +Christ as a fresh start in manhood, a new man, who yet drew the +substance of His manhood from the old stock, for He was 'born of a +woman,' and 'of the seed of David.' There is thus physical continuity +between the old Adam and Christ, and yet, from the moral point of view, +the break is complete. The inheritance of sin which has followed, and +must according to natural law follow, physical descent, is quite cut +off. Christ is man of our old substance and yet new man, wholly free +from any taint of sin. This involves a new creative act upon the +manhood of Christ in its source. It involves something strictly +miraculous conditioning the continuity of His descent from David. +There is continuity, and yet a break in continuity. And this is +exactly what the strongly-attested fact of the Virgin birth—whatever +be the physiological account which is to be given of it—is calculated +to supply. It presents us with a Christ born of a woman, of the +substance of our nature, and yet only so constituted by a new creative +act of God. +</P> + +<P> +5. It will of course be noticed that the drift of St. Paul's argument +in this passage is directly towards universal salvation, for 'the many' +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P202"></A>202}</SPAN> +means 'the whole mass.' This is the case in other places where +he is considering what we may call the natural tendency and scope of +the gospel, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.' But there are passages of a different tendency in St. Paul's +epistles, where he is considering the human attitude towards the +purpose of God; and there he appears to emphasize strongly the power of +the human will to refuse the light and turn God's blessing into a +curse. If the 'savour' of the apostle's preaching is to 'those who are +being saved a savour proceeding from life and tending to life,' even +eternal life, it is for the wilful who are perishing in their +wilfulness 'a savour as from death and tending to death': for they +shall 'suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the +Lord, and from the glory of his might[<A NAME="chap0512fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn22">22</A>].' What this eternal +destruction means, and how it is to be harmonized with the vision of +unity, we cannot precisely tell. Verily, 'we know' but 'in part.' But +at least we must recognize that St. Paul asserts both sides of the +picture: and that the 'terror' and the hope are not dissociable. +</P> + +<P> +6. We must also notice, before we leave the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P203"></A>203}</SPAN> +passage, that the +application of the word justification receives a certain extension. As +the 'grace' of God is associated with a 'gift of righteousness[<A NAME="chap0512fn23text"></A><A HREF="#chap0512fn23">23</A>],' +that is to say, of real fellowship in the life of God, so the +preliminary 'justification of sinners,' in which the divine grace first +of all conspicuously shows itself, is to pass into a 'justification of +life' (or 'a justification taking effect in life'); that is to say, the +actual life is to become acceptable. God begins with accepting sinners +and dealing with them as if they were righteous if only they will +believe. But it is in view of a moral process which is to produce a +new life, and is to end in making acceptable not themselves only, in +spite of their lives, but their life itself. The object of the +justifying faith is, and must be, as we saw, a living person. It is +Christ who was 'raised again for our justification.' And the living +Christ can be satisfied with nothing short of a living fellowship +between us and Himself in His own life and spirit. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn1text">1</A>] An <I>a fortiori</I> argument means an argument with a 'still more' in +it:—If something is so then <I>still more</I> something else. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn2text">2</A>] The words in brackets are the suppressed premise in the +argument—suppressed, but none the less evident. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn3text">3</A>] Acts xvii. 26. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn4text">4</A>] ver. 20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn5text">5</A>] ver. 13, 14, 19. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn6text">6</A>] 1 Cor. xi. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 13-15. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn7text">7</A>] Rom. iv. 15; v. 13. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn8text">8</A>] Much more (the argument implies) after the law had been given and +sin could be 'imputed' as sin again. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn9text">9</A>] The references in Hos. vi. 7, Isa. xliii. 27, Job xxxi. 33, are not +certainly, or even probably, to Adam. There is an obscure but +interesting reference in Ezek. xxviii. 14-16, in which 'the fall' seems +to be treated as representative of Tyre's fall, and presumably +therefore of all situations in which divine gifts and vocations are +squandered and lost. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn10text">10</A>] Wisd. ii. 23, 24; cf. Rom. v. 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn11text">11</A>] Ecclus. xxv. 24. The first clause need not mean more than 'she +was the first to sin.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn12text">12</A>] 2 Esdras iii. 7. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn13text">13</A>] <I>Apoc. Baruch</I> xxiii. 4, and elsewhere. In parts of this book the +penalty of Adam's sin is regarded as being not death, but <I>premature</I> +death: see liv. 15, lvi. 6, and Mr. Charles' notes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn14text">14</A>] See Matt. vii. 11; John ii. 25; iii. 3, &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn15text">15</A>] 2 Esdras iii. 21, 22; iv. 30; vii. 48. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn16text">16</A>] The matter is to be dealt with more at length in app. note E. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn17text">17</A>] See E. B. Tylor in <I>Encycl. Brit.</I> ii, <I>s.v.</I> ANTHROPOLOGY, p. +114: 'The polygenist view (i.e. the doctrine of a plurality of origins) +till a few years since was gaining ground. Two modern views, however +(i.e. the belief in the antiquity of man and the development of +species), have tended to restore, though under a new aspect, the +doctrine of a single human stock.' Cf. Darwin, <I>Descent of Man</I> (2nd +ed.), p. 176: 'Those naturalists who admit the principle of evolution +... will feel no doubt that all the races of men are descended from a +single primitive stock.' See also Keane in app. note E. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn18text">18</A>] Mozley's <I>Lectures and Theol. Papers</I> (Longmans), pp. 157 ff. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn19text">19</A>] 2 Tim. i. 10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn20text">20</A>] John vi. 50; viii. 51. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn21text">21</A>] See app. note E. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn22text">22</A>] 2 Thess. i. 7-10; 2 Cor. ii. 16. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0512fn23"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0512fn23text">23</A>] ver. 17. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0601"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P204"></A>204}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 3. CHAPTER VI. 1-14. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The Christian life a living by dying.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +It has now been made apparent that belief in Christ introduces a man +into a new sphere of 'life in Christ' or 'state of grace'—a state, +that is, in which the divine grace or goodwill is the atmosphere and +motive force. And just as with his natural life he inherited all the +taint and curse attaching to sin in the unredeemed manhood, so now in +his new state he receives from Christ all the bountiful outpouring, not +of acquittal only, but of divine life. What he is called to witness is +the triumph of the divine goodwill over the old forces and tendencies +of sin in himself and in the world. +</P> + +<P> +But now a monstrous suggestion presents itself, akin to that attempt of +the Jew (of which we heard in chapter iii) to claim exemption from the +divine judgement on his own sins on the ground that Jewish +unfaithfulness had but given +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P205"></A>205}</SPAN> +God a background upon which to +reveal Himself and His righteousness more effectively. St. Paul, we +saw, indignantly crushed that attempt to use logic against conscience. +Now, however, a similar suggestion makes itself heard, only from the +side not of Jewish factiousness, but of Gentile lawlessness. Would it +not give divine grace a still better opportunity to show its quality +if, now that we are Christians, we go on living our old life of sin? +The more it has got to forgive in us, the more superabundant will its +mercy appear. Shall we not then continue in sin that grace may abound? +We have other reasons, besides this passage, for believing that St. +Paul's teaching about divine grace and justifying faith not only +admitted of being misunderstood, but was misunderstood, in his own +time[<A NAME="chap0601fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn1">1</A>] as at later periods, in such a way as to cut the roots of moral +effort. 'Unlearned and unstable men were wresting his words to their +own destruction.' And to any lawless suggestions based upon the misuse +of God's free grace, St. Paul had already given the easiest answer when +he had laid it down +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P206"></A>206}</SPAN> +as an absolutely universal truth that God +will at last 'render to every man according to his works ... to them +that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness, +wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man +that worketh evil'; or when he had met the developed logic of the +self-excusing Jew with the sharp and final rejoinder—'whose +condemnation is just.' +</P> + +<P> +Here however St. Paul gives not the easiest answer to the antinomian +suggestion, but a deep, fruitful, and decisive one. He demonstrates +the absolute incompatibility of principle between the life of sin and +the Christian state. By the very nature of the case no man can belong +to both. As St. John said, 'he that is begotten of God' in the new +life in Christ 'cannot sin' without thereby abandoning his new +standing-ground. At the moment when we became Christians by the act of +baptism, we said good-bye to the old life of sin as completely as a +dying man says good-bye to the familiar scenes and passes over to +'yonder side.' We were admitted by baptism into Christ Jesus; that is, +we were admitted into a certain sort of human life with a certain law +or character. What is then the character and law of Christ's life? +'We believe that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P207"></A>207}</SPAN> +Jesus died and rose again[<A NAME="chap0601fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn2">2</A>].' That is the +central and summary fact about Him. He passed to life through death. +And this physical death of His on the cross was not merely a fact in +history, it was a fact with a moral significance[<A NAME="chap0601fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn3">3</A>]. While He had been +in this sinful world of ours He had borne its sin, but had no part in +it. He was in the sinful world, but not of it. He was to sin and all +its motives as one dead. And by His physical death upon the cross He +gave summary expression to this moral alienation. He made a final and +outward breach with sin, and passed out of its range, for evermore +'separated from sinners.' 'He died to sin once for all.' And the +glory of the Father[<A NAME="chap0601fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn4">4</A>] broke forth from its customary concealment and +vindicated the Christ by raising Him from the dead, because of what His +death had morally meant. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the 'likeness,' or moral counterpart, of Christ's death is to be, +like Him, dead to sin. And if we are not called to be physically +crucified, we are called to its moral counterpart. We must become +morally 'of one growth' with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P208"></A>208}</SPAN> +Christ's death[<A NAME="chap0601fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn5">5</A>], like the slip +with the tree it is grafted into. Only so can we share the new life of +His resurrection. This is represented in the very ceremony of our +baptism. It was impressed upon us by all its outward symbolism that to +become a Christian we must die to the old life. We were brought to the +margin of the water as to a death, and descended, bowed beneath the +waves, as into the tomb with Christ: in order so, and only so, as +having died and been buried, to emerge again into the new life under +the conditions of which henceforth we are to conduct ourselves[<A NAME="chap0601fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn6">6</A>]. And +this new life is not only an actual present fellowship in the risen +Christ (ver. 4): it expects to become so (ver. 5) in a fuller and +completer measure, but always on the basis of one and the same clear +conviction, which we may express thus—When Christ was nailed to the +cross, our old sinful manhood was nailed there with Him, so that +henceforth our animal nature, hitherto the haunt and stronghold of sin, +might be paralyzed and rendered as powerless as any crucified criminal, +and we, set free to become new men, might no longer be sin's slaves. +That old sinful self of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P209"></A>209}</SPAN> +ours was put to death, and we passed, as +new men, into another life. Henceforth the tyrant sin has no claim on +us, for death closes all scores and acquits of all claims. 'The man is +dead' is a summary and final plea against all claimants, and that is +our plea against the claim of sin. We have died to it once and for +all. Therefore, and only therefore, we can hope to share the deathless +glory of Christ's resurrection. He died once, and passed henceforth +altogether out of death's control. For the death that He died was to +make an end with sin, and that was done once for all. Henceforth there +is nothing left but life, and that life in the eternal God. This +therefore is the view we are to take of ourselves as now included in +Christ: we are, in regard to sin, dead men who are no longer responsive +to its impulses or alive to its interests: and therefore, in regard to +God, we are alive in Christ to whom we are united. +</P> + +<P> +And (ver. 12) the practical duty which follows from this is plain. +Christians must not acknowledge a tyrant whose strength and power is +gone for ever, by letting sin still reign in the lower part of their +nature—the body still subject to physical death—and so bring their +higher nature into an unnatural subjection to its appetites: they must +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P210"></A>210}</SPAN> +not leave the limbs of their redeemed selves at the disposal of +the dethroned king Sin, to be used as weapons for the warfare of +iniquity. No: they must correspond to the privileges of the new life +in God into which they have passed, by making an offering of +themselves[<A NAME="chap0601fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn7">7</A>] to God, with all the free will which befits those who +were dead and are alive again; and an offering also of their limbs, now +restored to their own control, as weapons for God's warfare of +righteousness. Sin shall no longer be their lord. That despotism +belonged to the days when they were under the law. Now it is not the +law they are under, but the sovereignty of the divine goodwill. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may +abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live +therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ +Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him +through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the +dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness +of life. For if we have become united with the likeness of his death, +we shall be also with the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, +that our old man was crucified with <I>him</I>, that the body of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P211"></A>211}</SPAN> +sin +might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; +for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with +Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that +Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath +dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: +but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye +also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey +the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments +of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the +dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For +sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but +under grace. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. In the analysis of the passage given above, the order of the ideas +has been somewhat altered, and their meaning expanded, with the +intention of rendering the real argument more intelligible; while I +believe that no idea is suggested that is foreign to the original. The +passage, however, is extraordinarily condensed, and is full of some of +the most characteristic of St. Paul's thoughts—amongst them that of +the life in Christ as being a living by dying, or a life out of death. +</P> + +<P> +It is impossible to try to lead a human life under any standard that +can be called moral without knowing that it involves some sort of +'mortification' of selfish and sensual appetites. There +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P212"></A>212}</SPAN> +is that +in human nature which, as moralists generally must recognize and in +fact have in a measure recognized, must be 'done to death.' It was +this principle that was expressed with such terrible vigour by our Lord +when He bade us pluck out the offending eye and cut off the offending +hand. But the novelty in Christianity was the emphasis which it laid +rather on the living than on the dying; it was its teaching as to the +infusion into human life of a new and positive spiritual force, which +was to overcome evil with good and swallow up death in victory. It was +by their belief in a gift of the Spirit imparted to them, and by their +resulting power to think and act freely according to God, that the +Christians were distinguished from the rest of the world. It is this +upon which their apostolic teachers continually insist. 'I have +written unto you young men, because ye are strong.' 'As many as are +lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' It is only as it +were in the second place that it appears that this living in the new +life will involve dying to an old one. Thus the dying is always made +to appear to be in order to a living. The end is always the life. 'I +came that they may have life,' our Lord had said, 'and have it +abundantly.' +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P213"></A>213}</SPAN> + +<P> +The phrases about dying in order to live have their root in our Lord's +teaching, as St. John represents it[<A NAME="chap0601fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn8">8</A>], but belong most +characteristically to St. Paul. The principle which they enforce +belongs only to a fallen world, for it is only the sin within us and +about us that has to be put to death, or to which we have to die. But +it finds its highest exemplification in the case of Christ who, sinless +Himself, came into a world of sin and lived under its conditions. +Therefore He had to 'die' to sin and selfishness in the world in order +to 'live' in His own proper life to God. And this dying to sin—this +refusing it and repudiating it—is summarily represented in His death +upon the cross. The worldly world killed Him because He would have +none of its selfishness and sin. He, by voluntarily dying sooner than +surrender to the demands of this world, made a final separation of +Himself from sin. Thus He lived His life to God at the cost of dying. +And this law of Christ's life is to be the law of ours. We must die to +sin—not on a visible cross, but by a repudiation of it as thorough and +real: nor to sin outside us only, but to sin in ourselves. It is only +to express this attitude toward sin in ourselves in other +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P214"></A>214}</SPAN> +words, +to say that we have to mortify and crucify our own carnal and selfish +selves. +</P> + +<P> +And just as Christ summed up His attitude towards the world by His +death upon the cross, so the Christian's attitude to the world was +summed up in his baptism. At that moment he died to the world of +sin[<A NAME="chap0601fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn9">9</A>]. This state of deadness to sin has to be constantly renewed, or +again and again recovered. But it was in that sacramental moment +realized in principle and symbolically represented. The convert who +was immersed beneath the baptismal waters and emerged again, realized +easily that this 'bath of regeneration' was, what the early Christians +called it, 'his grave and his mother.' All the circumstances of his +baptism forced it upon him that he had passed out of an old life into a +new—that he died to one state of things and came to life in another. +The Christians of St. Paul's churches, like newly-made Christians in +Central Africa or India to-day, were very often highly imperfect; but +they knew—they could not but know—that they had passed under a new +allegiance; that like the just-converted Frankish +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P215"></A>215}</SPAN> +idolater, they +must 'burn what they had adored, and adore what they had burned[<A NAME="chap0601fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn10">10</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +We in our generation, and in a country where Christianity has become +traditional, realize this much less easily. It is not only that we +have, in our Church and country, almost wholly lost the symbolism which +belongs to baptism by immersion[<A NAME="chap0601fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn11">11</A>]; though that is as great a loss as +any symbolic action, not necessary to the administration of a +sacrament, can be. It is not only that we are as a general rule +baptized in infancy, for that under right conditions[<A NAME="chap0601fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn12">12</A>] embodies a +fundamental Christian principle and comes down from the origin of +Christianity. It is much more that Christianity has been allowed to +become conventional and cheap. It requires no effort or moral courage +to own, in a formal sense, the name of Christ. The result is that +masses of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P216"></A>216}</SPAN> +men belong to the Church who are in practice living +purely worldly lives, and that the Church and the world are fused +together. Hence it follows again that what the majority of Christians +do is supposed to represent a tolerable manner of life for an ordinary +Christian, who does not profess to be better than his neighbours. +Under these circumstances there is nothing which is more important than +to reassert the law of life through death as the only Christian law of +living. The 'old man' is as vigorous as ever. The world is still +gratifying its sensual appetites and grasping after wealth without +regard to the law of God. Malice, jealousy, and hatred are alive and +flourishing. God is still being ignored, refused, blasphemed. That is +to say, the world of sin is still what it always was. It is still +under the same unchangeable wrath of God; and still therefore to live +to God is only possible for one who will, and that deliberately and +persistently, die to the world. The renunciation must be conscious and +deliberate. The mortification and crucifixion of the 'old man' and +'the body of sin' must be painful, at times even agonizing. A +reasonable Christian will be indeed surprised if something painful is +not being continually required of him. And a reasonable Christian +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P217"></A>217}</SPAN> +rejoices to purchase, even by great sacrifices, the pearl of +great price, which is fellowship with Christ:—'that he may know him +and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his +sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.' This is the point. +It is not enough for us to be baptized. Our baptism is evacuated of +all meaning unless we are also 'being converted,' or 'turning' from the +world to God; unless we are turning our back upon its lawless lusts, +its worldly ambitions, its graspings after money, its refusals of pain, +its selfish and unloving life. Nay: all this renunciation was already +involved in the Name spoken over us at our baptism. The Christian name +pledges us to the Christian law of living by dying, progress by +conversion. You cannot refuse the dying without repudiating the Name. +'Die and re-exist,' said Goethe, 'for so long as this is not +accomplished thou art but a troubled guest upon an earth of gloom[<A NAME="chap0601fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn13">13</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +'Reckon ye, therefore, yourselves to be dead unto sin.' This phrase, +addressed to common Christians, supplies a magnificent instance of St. +Paul's idealism, that is to say, of his love of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P218"></A>218}</SPAN> +considering +things, and his desire that others should consider things, in the light +of their central and dominant idea or principle—as they ought to be +rather than as they are. This is his continual practice: to idealize +not in the sense of thinking unreally of things, but in the sense of +thinking of them in the light of that which is most fundamental in +them. It is in this way that he thinks of 'the world,' or godless +human society, and seems to represent it as worse than it sometimes +appears, because its governing principle is radically evil. It is in +this way that he thinks of the Church, and speaks of it in terms of +glory not justified by the facts simply as they appear; because it has +that at work within it which is capable of transforming it until it not +only is, but looks like, the body of Christ, or the city of God. This +idealizing method is naturally distasteful to English common sense in +most departments of thinking, and perhaps particularly in the region of +religion. But we suffer from an over-close adhesion to the 'matters of +fact' or 'the things which do appear.' We do not think of our life, +ourselves, our church according to the divine principle which they +embody, or 'according to the pattern shown to us in the mount.' Thus +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P219"></A>219}</SPAN> +we are never uplifted, enlarged, ennobled by the vision of +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">... The gleam,</SPAN><BR> +The light that never was on sea or land.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +That light never was or is manifest on the surface of actual +experience, and yet it is always latent—the touch of glory in common +things, the radiance in even our dim world, 'the master light of all +our seeing.' We have almost all of us got to learn the practical power +of the Christian imagination, disciplined and spiritually enlightened, +to enrich and ennoble actual life. The objects which our imagination +should reflect are realities, but realities not yet developed. What +our imagination should do for us is to teach us to see things not as +they are, but as they are coming to be. +</P> + +<P> +2. 'Life in Christ Jesus,' 'Christ living in me'—there can be no +question that these beautiful phrases which, if St. John's witness be +true, represent the teaching of Christ Himself[<A NAME="chap0601fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn14">14</A>], express also what +is most central in St. Paul's idea of Christianity. It was the great +merit of Matthew Arnold's <I>St. Paul and Protestantism</I>[<A NAME="chap0601fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn15">15</A>] that it +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P220"></A>220}</SPAN> +recalled the fact to notice in ordinary educated circles. Recent +scientific study of St. Paul has gone in the same direction. The +doctrines of atonement and justification are essential to St. Paul's +theology, but not central: the doctrine of life in Christ, spiritual +and moral identification with Christ, is both essential and central. +The maintenance of this life of union is again, as Matthew Arnold +teaches us, the final and most developed function of faith—'that +Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith'; for faith is, or grows to be, +such devotion to Christ's person as desires to lose itself and its +selfish aims in Him and His work. But Matthew Arnold strangely leaves +out of sight the two-sidedness of this relation: we abide in Christ by +faith, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P221"></A>221}</SPAN> +because Christ first of all abides in us by His +loving-kindness and grace. It is His love, always beforehand with +us—not merely to forgive us our sins, but to pour itself out in the +communicated Spirit—that takes us up within the circle of His own +life; it is the act of God incorporating us into Christ which evokes +and makes possible the response of our faith to realize His indwelling +and make the adhesion mutual. God's gift is prior to our response and +the ground of it; and moreover God's gift is permanent and abiding. It +would indeed be a thought of despair if the bond between Christ and us +depended upon the continuous energy of our faith to maintain it. Nay, +it is always there—unintermittent through all our broken efforts and +vicissitudes of will—always there for us to recur to. We are to +reckon ourselves 'dead to sin and alive to righteousness,' because and +only because we are also to reckon ourselves 'in Christ.' That is our +permanent state, and it is the function of faith not to create, but to +realize it. +</P> + +<P> +It is St. Paul's clear and vivid perception of a divine gift given, a +relationship to God established by God's act, not ours, and that at a +particular time, which is closely connected with his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P222"></A>222}</SPAN> +sacramental +teaching. If a divine gift is to be given (1) definite at a definite +time, (2) to men of body as well as spirit in a world not only +spiritual but material, (3) publicly as to members of a social +organization—it is most natural that the gift should be embodied in an +outward rite and outward vehicle. So St. Paul appears to think. There +is no shrinking about his sacramental language. It can be said with +justice that certain forms of sacerdotal or ecclesiastical government +which have appeared in Church history would to his mind have savoured, +or more than savoured, of bondage to men and bondage to the 'beggarly +rudiments' of ceremonial observances. St. Paul is very jealous of +maintaining what we may call spiritual individuality and personal +liberty. But there is no justification to be found in St. Paul's +epistles for saying that he connects sacramentalism—i.e. the idea of +necessary spiritual gifts divinely promised on the occasion, and +through the medium, of certain outward religious rites of a +community—with that 'bondage' to 'beggarly rudiments' of which he has +so great a dread. St. Paul's language does not admit of our supposing +that he knew of any other way of admission 'into Christ' except through +the gate +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P223"></A>223}</SPAN> +of baptism, or any other means of communion in Christ's +body and blood except 'the breaking of the bread.' +</P> + +<P> +3. It will be necessary before we leave this great passage to give +some special attention to three phrases. +</P> + +<P> +'<I>Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father</I>.' In the +New Testament the sacrifice of Christ, the atonement won by Christ, is +continually ascribed to the Father, acting through and in the Son—'God +was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.' So also the +resurrection is uniformly ascribed to the Father's power acting in the +case of the Son[<A NAME="chap0601fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn16">16</A>]. Our current Christian language has in both cases +departed too widely from apostolic practice. The doctrine of the Holy +Trinity would be more intelligently held, and the worship of the Church +more normally offered in the Spirit through the Son to the Father, if +we had not fallen into the habit of so speaking of the action of the +Son in dying and rising as habitually to leave out of sight the truth +that His action, as Son, is and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P224"></A>224}</SPAN> +must always be the Father's +action through Him; and that reversely our worship of the Son must +always be really, and ought to be in our habitual consciousness, the +worship of the Father through Him. +</P> + +<P> +'<I>Our old man was crucified with him</I>.' As Shelley said that, when +Adonais died, ''tis death is dead, not he,' so in an infinitely deeper +sense St. Paul says that what was killed upon the cross was (he does +not say 'instead of Christ,' but 'with Christ') sin and the 'old man.' +The 'old man' means the old way of living, or rather the old way of +living considered as having been appropriated by the sinful individual +and thus made his own self. Thus it was the old self that was put to +death on the cross, and a new self came to life, which was the same in +unchanged personality and yet so practically different in all its +relationships, that it could assert and claim exemptions from the +obligations contracted by the 'old man.' +</P> + +<P> +'<I>That the body of sin might be done away</I>.' The identification of sin +with the individual had been specially with his body. His bodily +appetites and impulses and parts had been so used to the ways of sin as +to become a 'body of sin,' and this, St. Paul says, has to be 'done +away' or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P225"></A>225}</SPAN> +annulled. It is not that we are to harm the body +itself: for the body itself is good, and is to be offered, with all its +members, to become the weapon of Christian warfare. There is indeed no +material thing as such that is evil. The 'body of sin' means exactly +'the body considered as having become the receptacle of sin': as when +our Lord speaks of the 'mammon of unrighteousness[<A NAME="chap0601fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn17">17</A>],' He means money +which has become the instrument of unrighteousness, but which the +children of light are to convert to profitable uses. 'To annul the +body of sin' means, therefore, almost the same as 'to annul sin in the +body' and leave the body free; but it emphasizes the fact that sin has +got such hold of the body that to annul sin involves annulling the +body: as St. Paul says elsewhere, 'I buffet' (or 'distress') 'my body +and bring it into bondage[<A NAME="chap0601fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0601fn18">18</A>].' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn1text">1</A>] See Gal. v. 13: 'Only use not your freedom for an occasion of the +flesh.' Cf. 2 Pet. iii. 16, and the implications of St. James' Epistle. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn2text">2</A>] 1 Thess. iv. 14. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn3text">3</A>] The meaning of ver. 4 is interpreted in vers. 10, 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn4text">4</A>] Ver. 4; cf. John xi. 40. 'The glory of God' is specially manifest +in the resurrection of the dead. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn5text">5</A>] This is the original suggestion of the word 'united' in ver. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn6text">6</A>] Cf. Col. ii. 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn7text">7</A>] The Greek words represented by 'leave at the disposal of,' 'make an +offering to,' are different parts of the same verb. 'The tense of the +former expresses continuance, habit; ... of the latter, a single +irrevocable act of surrender' (Vaughan, <I>in loc.</I>). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn8text">8</A>] John xii. 24, 25. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn9text">9</A>] It is one gain of the R.V. that for 'ye are dead' (Col. iii. 3, ii. +20), 'we are dead' (Rom. vi. 2, 8), &c., we read 'ye died,' 'we died,' +i.e. at the definite moment of baptism. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn10text">10</A>] Gregory of Tours, <I>Hist. Franc.</I> ii. 31: 'To whom (Chlovis) as he +enters the font to be baptized, the holy man of God (Remigius) thus +eloquently spoke—"Meekly bow thy neck, Sigambrian: adore what thou +hast burnt; burn what thou hast adored."' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn11text">11</A>] Baptism by 'affusion' began within the first century, but as the +exception, not the rule. See app. note F. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn12text">12</A>] By infant baptism under right conditions, I mean the baptism of +infants when there is some real security provided, through their +parents or proper sponsors, for their Christian education, according to +the intention of the Church. On the primitive origin of infant +baptism, see <I>Ephesians</I>, pp. 230, 231. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn13text">13</A>] 'Stirb und werde!<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Denn so lang du das nicht hast,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Bist du nur ein trüber Gast</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">Auf der dunkeln Erde' (quoted by M. Arnold).</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn14text">14</A>] John vi. 53-58; xiv. 19, 20; xv. 1-10; xvii. 21-23. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn15text">15</A>] P. 81 (2nd ed.): 'The three essential terms of Pauline theology +are not, therefore, as popular theology makes them—<I>calling, +justification, sanctification</I>: they are rather these—<I>dying with +Christ, resurrection from the dead, growing into Christ</I>.' Cf. p. 76: +'How did Paul's faith, working through love, help him [to control +appetite and self-will]? It enabled him to reinforce duty by +affection. In the central need of his nature, the desire to govern +these motives of unrighteousness, it enabled him to say: <I>Die to them</I>! +<I>Christ did</I>. If any man be in Christ, said St. Paul—that is, if any +man identifies himself with Christ by attachment, so that he enters +into His feelings and lives with His life—he is a new creature; he can +do, and does, what Christ did.' It would be truer, surely, to say in +the first of these two passages not 'the three <I>essential</I>,' &c., but +'the three <I>central</I>.' Nothing can be more truly essential to Pauline +theology than the terms, calling, justification, atonement; but the two +last of them at least do not belong to the central region of religion, +but have to do with the removal of preliminary obstacles to our +entrance upon it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn16text">16</A>] The apparent exception is John x. 18; but even there the word +rendered 'take' would perhaps be better rendered 'receive.' Christ had +the right to lay down His own life and the right to receive it again +from the Father. So Hort, <I>First Ep. of Peter</I>, pp. 34, 84. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn17text">17</A>] Luke xvi. 9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0601fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0601fn18text">18</A>] 1 Cor. ix. 27. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0615"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P226"></A>226}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 4. CHAPTER VI. 15-23. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The perfect freedom is God's service.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +The reiterated mention of the deliverance of the Christian from the +yoke of the law—'Ye are not under law, but under grace'—brings up the +excuse for licentious living in a new form:—'This very abolition of +the strict power of the law in favour of a system of which the ruling +principle is God's goodness, at least makes one willing to contemplate +any particular act of sin[<A NAME="chap0615fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn1">1</A>], with a good hope of escaping punishment.' +St. Paul meets the suggestion with a 'God forbid,' and then gives a +deep reason for repudiating it, a reason however which is but a version +of our Lord's saying, 'Every one that committeth sin is the slave of +sin[<A NAME="chap0615fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn2">2</A>].' Every man is always acting under obedience. What he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P227"></A>227}</SPAN> +does in a particular case represents an act of obedience to some +master; that is to say, a taking service with him. Moreover it appears +on reflection that it must be with one of two masters and cannot be +with both, for 'no man can serve two masters.' It is either with sin, +whose service ends in spiritual as well as physical death, or with Him +to whom obedience is properly due, whose service ends in righteousness. +What gives St. Paul reason for thankfulness in thinking of the +conversion of the Christians at Rome, is not that those who became +Christians became thereby exempt from obedience, but that they changed +their allegiance from sin to Christ. At their conversion they gladly +submitted to a pattern or standard of teaching—the teaching of +Christ—to which they were handed over for the fashioning of their +lives—that is to say, they were made free from sin only to become +slaves to righteousness. He uses the word slavery because so long as +their weak flesh shrinks from divine obedience, they must recognize +that the life which is really liberty must be accepted even as a +bondage, till it cease to seem so. In old days they offered their +limbs as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, and the result was a +lawless life. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P228"></A>228}</SPAN> +Now they must yield their limbs as slaves to +righteousness with a view to a consecrated life. And the change of +allegiance is surely matter for congratulation. They can recall the +days when they were free from the service of righteousness, as being +slaves of sin, and they can remember what fruit they enjoyed as the +result of experiences which they now blush to bring to mind. Of such +experiences death, moral no less than physical, is the result. Now, +set free from sin's slavery and made God's slaves, they enjoy the +present fruit of consecration to God and the ultimate prospect of +eternal life. So long as Sin was their master he would pay them their +wages, and the wages which Sin pays is always death. But now that they +are surrendered into God's hands, and simply dependent on His +loving-kindness, there is no question of wages, but the gift of His +bounty is eternal life, in Him whose life includes their own, Jesus +Christ their Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? +God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves <I>as</I> +servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of +sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to +God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the +heart to that form of teaching +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P229"></A>229}</SPAN> +whereunto ye were delivered; and +being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak +after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as +ye presented your members <I>as</I> servants to uncleanness and to iniquity +unto iniquity, even so now present your members <I>as</I> servants to +righteousness unto sanctification. For when ye were servants of sin, +ye were free in regard of righteousness. What fruit then had ye at +that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of +those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become +servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end +eternal life. For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God +is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. St. Paul is here expounding the real meaning of human liberty. It +is generally regarded as the power 'to do as one pleases' or a state of +independence. But such a state does not exist. There is indeed such a +thing as the absence of external control up to a certain point. That +is an element of liberty, but it reaches but a little way. The true +liberty is the power to realize one's nature and make the best of +oneself—the power to be what one ought to be or is meant to be. The +instinct of language, as applied to man, recognizes this. When we see +a drunkard, we recognize a man the balance of whose nature is upset. +The higher part of his nature is being dragged at the chariot-wheels of +his lower. So, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P230"></A>230}</SPAN> +be he never so free a citizen, we call him a +slave—a slave of drink. On the same principle we speak of the slaves +of lust or the slaves of money or the slaves of fashion or the slaves +of popularity. By these phrases we describe various moral states in +which some external or purely animal force dominates a man, and he +loses his self-control, and his whole nature becomes disordered. The +true order of human nature is that a man's body should be controlled by +his will. Then he is self-determined. His whole life is the +expression of a rational principle. He makes the best of himself. He +is free to be a real man, according to the proper idea of manhood. +</P> + +<P> +But how can this be? Can this reason or rational will in man stand and +work of itself? Is it so constructed as to be independent? No. Just +as truly as a man's bodily forces are drawn from sources outside +himself, so his spiritual being depends on sources and motives beyond +himself. +</P> + +<P> +What does man's 'freedom of will' consist of? Speaking exactly, it +consists of a power to <I>direct</I> a certain amount of physical force +which passes into one's bodily frame, and to let it go out in one or +another form of action, deed or word or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P231"></A>231}</SPAN> +thought, more or less +moral or immoral, spiritual or carnal. And this liberty of direction, +when more closely examined, is found to consist in a power which the +will has to choose between motives which present themselves as ideas to +the mind and to hand itself over to one or the other. Some of these +motives are derived from physical or worldly appetites; some are +derived through the conscience or faculty of spiritual apprehension. +If, in cases where the lower motives conflict with the higher, a man +still yields himself to the latter, his life is spiritual; and it is so +because it is determined by motives and reinforced by influences which +come from beyond himself, and are in fact the motives and forces of the +Spirit of God. But in neither case is he independent and free from +obedience. He stands at a meeting-point of the spiritual and material +world, and must be governed by one or the other. In either case man's +life is played upon and dominated by motive-forces, infinitely vaster +and mightier than himself. Let him try (as he has tried) to forget his +necessary dependence—to detach himself from the higher obedience and +to 'be as God,' independent—and he falls necessarily under the +dominion of the lower forces, of his flesh or of the world. If he is +to cease +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P232"></A>232}</SPAN> +to live below himself, he must consent to surrender to +what is above himself. He must yield his spirit to the divine Spirit, +which is its natural master. So he ceases to be carnal, or governed by +the flesh, and becomes spiritual, or governed by the divine Spirit. +And that is liberty. 'That man,' said Leo the Great, 'has true peace +and liberty whose flesh is controlled by the judgement of his mind, as +his mind is directed by the government of God[<A NAME="chap0615fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn3">3</A>].' God's service, and +that only, is perfect freedom. +</P> + +<P> +Man then is so constructed that he can only cease to fall below himself +by being raised above himself. His life cannot fail to be stamped with +the impress of sin unless it is stamped with the impress of God. The +state of the Christian, surrendered to the fashioning of God, is that +true dependence which is the true liberty. Independent of God, man +stands at last over against God to get what his independent action has +merited; and that is penal death, the inevitable outcome of misused +faculties, enslaved to sin. Surrendered to God in faith, on the other +hand, he receives into his nature, through all its open portals, the +inflooding tide of divine love; and enters, enriched and uplifted, into +the life that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P233"></A>233}</SPAN> +is eternal, the life which he shares with Jesus, +the life that is truly human and really divine. +</P> + +<P> +It is of great practical importance that we should get a just idea of +what our freedom consists in. There are men who, under the impulse of +a purely materialist science, declare the sense of moral freedom to be +an illusion. This is of course a gross error. But what has largely +played into the hands of this error is the exaggerated idea of human +freedom which is ordinarily current, an idea which can only be held by +ignoring our true and necessary dependence and limitation. It is this +that we need to have brought home to us. There is an admirable story +among George Crabbe's Tales, called 'The Gentleman Farmer.' The hero +starts in life resolved that he will not put up with any bondage. The +orthodox clergyman, the orthodox physician, and orthodox matrimony—all +these alike represent social bondage in different forms, and he will +have none of them. So he starts on a career of 'unchartered freedom,' +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +'To prove that <I>he alone was king of him</I>.'<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +And the last scene of all represents him the weak slave of his +mistress, a quack doctor, and a revivalist—'which things are an +allegory.' +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P234"></A>234}</SPAN> + +<P> +2. The phrase 'a form' or 'pattern of teaching,' is interesting. It +suggests the idea of the Church as holding a 'pattern of sound +words[<A NAME="chap0615fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn4">4</A>],' a definite body of instruction, which is to form the life of +each person who gives himself over to her loving discipline. Christian +faith is not a formless impulse; it is self-surrender to a corporate +life ruled on a definite model of religious and moral teaching. What +St. Paul has here chiefly in mind is moral teaching. But the moral +teaching was inseparable from religious facts and motives. Nor is it +difficult to ascertain from the allusions of the New Testament what the +subjects were in which the first Christians were orally instructed, or, +in other words, what constituted 'the tradition' which lies behind the +written books of the New Testament. It comprised instruction in (1) +the facts of our Lord's life, death, and resurrection[<A NAME="chap0615fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn5">5</A>]; (2) the +meaning of sacred rites—baptism, laying on of hands, +eucharist[<A NAME="chap0615fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn6">6</A>]—including the Lord's Prayer[<A NAME="chap0615fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn7">7</A>]; (3) the moral duties of +'the way,' and the doctrine 'of the resurrection of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P235"></A>235}</SPAN> +the dead and +of eternal judgement[<A NAME="chap0615fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn8">8</A>]'; (4) the meaning of 'the Name of the Father, +and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[<A NAME="chap0615fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn9">9</A>].' On all these subjects the +books of the New Testament do not give the primary instruction, but +imply that it has been already given. +</P> + +<P> +3. The word rendered 'sanctification' (vers. 19, 22) is one which +needs to have its primitive force restored to it[<A NAME="chap0615fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0615fn10">10</A>]. The 'saint' is +the person set apart for the worship and service of God. What is here +translated 'sanctification' means literally (1) 'the process of being +made fit for such worship and service,' that is, consecration as of a +priest; or (2) by a slight transition of meaning, the result of such +consecration, i.e. 'holiness.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn1text">1</A>] The tense of the verb in 'shall we sin' appears to indicate an act, +not a habit of sin. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn2text">2</A>] John viii. 34. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn3text">3</A>] <I>Serm.</I> xxxix. 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn4text">4</A>] 2 Tim. i. 13. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn5text">5</A>] Cf. Luke i. 1-4; 1 Cor. xi. 23; xv. 3, 4. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn6text">6</A>] Cf. Rom. vi. 3; Heb. vi. 1-6; 1 Cor. x. 15, 16; xi. 23 ff.; Acts +ii. 38. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn7text">7</A>] <I>Didaché</I>, 8; cf. below, p. <A HREF="#P293">293</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn8text">8</A>] Heb. vi. 1, 2; 1 Thess. iv. 1, 2; v. 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn9text">9</A>] See Hort, <I>First Ep. of Peter</I>, p. 18, for the fact that 'a +recognized belief or idea [of the threefold Name] seems to be +everywhere presupposed.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0615fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0615fn10text">10</A>] Cf. above, pp. 31, 32. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0701"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P236"></A>236}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 5. CHAPTER VII. 1-6. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Freedom from the law by union with Christ.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul is full of two thoughts. The first is that of life out of +death, living by dying. He had lived an old life in which 'those +multitudinous motions of appetite and self-will which reason and +conscience disapproved, reason and conscience could yet not govern, and +had to yield to them. This, as we shall see, is what drove Paul almost +to despair[<A NAME="chap0701fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0701fn1">1</A>].' He had passed to a new life in which he found in +actual, blessed experience that he could do the thing that he would. +He could do all things—through Christ that strengthened him. For it +was Christ who had been the means of transferring him from the old life +to the new, and that by His own way of dying to live. Christ Himself +had lived 'by the Spirit' deliberately and always. He +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P237"></A>237}</SPAN> +had never +failed morally to do the thing that He would. But so violent was the +antagonism between His life of divine obedience (with the claims that +it involved upon other men) and 'the sinful, wilful, weak world around, +that the world could not tolerate His presence in it; and it came to +this—that He could only live by the Spirit at the cost of dying to the +world, i.e. choosing to be put to death sooner than give up obedience +to His Father. He chose to die, and thus dying He lived through death +in the life of the Spirit, and was raised again from death in body +also. Now Christ had brought St. Paul—as He would bring all men—into +union with His new life, and by the same method. St. Paul had had to +die to the sinful world in order to live to God. But he, being not +only a man but a sinner, was obliged not only, like Christ, to die to +sin in the world—he had also to die to sin in himself. In other +words, he had to 'crucify his flesh with its affections and +lusts'—that is, 'his old man' or old way of living. He had, by the +help of Christ's Spirit, to assert his inner self or personality +against a false self—a false way of life—which had appropriated him +and held him captive. Only by being emancipated from the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P238"></A>238}</SPAN> +'old +man' could he come to live 'in Christ.' It is this transference from +the 'old man,' or old way of life, to the new, by means of a death that +St. Paul here describes under the figure of a second marriage. The +man's true self was as a wife married to 'the old man.' The old man +was nailed to Christ's cross (vi. 6)—that is, the old way of life was +put an end to, even with violence. Thus the wife, the human +personality, is, according to the law of marriage, free to contract a +second union with Christ, the second Man. This is one of the main +thoughts in St. Paul's mind. +</P> + +<P> +But it is entangled with a second. The 'old man' was closely +associated with 'the law'—the law which had awakened it out of its +life of moral apathy by its stern reminders of the will of God. The +law had reminded, instructed, enlightened; but it could not give the +inward power needed to obey its requirements. It served but to bring +to light the tyranny of sin which made man incapable of yielding +obedience to the will of God; it even augmented its power by +stimulating it to opposition. The law therefore belonged purely and +simply to the old condition of moral impotence—the life 'in the flesh' +and not 'in the Spirit.' It fulfilled the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P239"></A>239}</SPAN> +only function it could +fulfil in awaking the consciousness of sin. Thus to pass from 'the +life of the flesh' to 'the life in the Spirit' was to pass out of its +dominion. This is the other thought with which St. Paul is occupied in +the passage we are just going to read. This too he expresses with the +help of the figure of death. Human law only regards a living man. +Death acquits him from law by taking him out of the region where it +applies. Therefore, when a man dies with Christ to the 'old man,' he +passes out of the reach of the law which threatened the old man but had +no function beyond that. +</P> + +<P> +Each of these two thoughts is quite distinct and clear; but they are +fused in the present passage. St. Paul begins with the second, to show +that the 'dead' Christian is free from the law (ver. 1; cf. vi. 7). +But marriage law is taken as an example of law, and by this link we +pass from the second thought to the first. But the second thought +requires the man's <I>self</I> to die with Christ to escape from the region +of law. The first thought, on the other hand, requires the 'old man,' +or old mode of life, to die, to leave the man's real self free to be +married to Christ; and this change of subject +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P240"></A>240}</SPAN> +introduces +confusion into the passage. The attempts to show that there is no +confusion are not successful. In ver. 1 the idea plainly is that the +self dies, as in vi. 7. In ver. 4 the main idea plainly is that the +'old man' is dead, and has left the self free to contract a new +marriage. But the other idea is still sufficiently dominant to cause +St. Paul to say 'ye died to the law,' instead of 'your old man was +crucified.' Morally, of course, the two phrases mean the same thing; +and one who, like St. Paul, is <I>dictating</I> a letter, is specially +liable to verbal confusions even when his thought is clear. +</P> + +<P> +After these explanations the analysis shall be made as brief as +possible. St. Paul, having, in the latter part of the sixth chapter, +shown that the abolition of the power of the law is no excuse for sin, +recurs to and develops the principles which he has now guarded from +abuse, viz. that the power of the law is past for the Christian. He is +writing, he says, to men, whether themselves Jews or not, who +understand what law means, and that its dominion over a man ends with +his death. It has no jurisdiction beyond the grave. He takes the +marriage law ('the law of or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P241"></A>241}</SPAN> +'concerning the husband,' ver. 2) as +an illustration. Without noticing the exceptions in the way of +possibilities of divorce which the Jewish law admitted, he lays it down +generally that 'the law of the husband' binds the wife till death, but +death dissolves its power. When her husband is dead she is +'discharged' and free to be married again. (Here we have passed from +the idea of a man escaping by death out of the dominion of law to that +of his death dissolving the force of law in the interests of another, +viz. his wife.) That is the state of the Christian's real self. +Christ's body, St. Paul says, was nailed to the cross, and you were put +to death there with Him; or rather, your 'old man' was put to death +there, and you were left, like wives discharged from the marriage law +by the intervention of death, free to be united to the risen Christ, +and to see fruits of your new union such as God can approve. There +were fruits from the former union with the 'old man,' in the days when +you were still under the power of the flesh. The body was subject to +feelings and emotions which, under the provocation of the law, became +the instruments of sin; and these all at work in our limbs +(constituting the 'old man,' and having +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P242"></A>242}</SPAN> +ourselves for the +subject-wife) brought forth the fruits of actions fit only for a +kingdom of death. But now we are discharged from the law, like the +wife whose husband is dead, having died to that in which we were held +captive, and come to life in a new region; so that we can be +slaves—that, as we have seen in the last chapter, we must always be, +so far as yielding a complete obedience is concerned—only no longer +under the old bondage of a written law, but in the new freedom of the +empowering Spirit. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), +how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he +liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the +husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from +the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be +joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the +husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, +though she be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also +were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be +joined to another, <I>even</I> to him who was raised from the dead, that we +might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the +sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to +bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the +law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we serve in +newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P243"></A>243}</SPAN> + +<P> +1. If we ask ourselves what is practically meant by St. Paul's idea of +the marriage of the redeemed soul to Christ, which supplements his +thought of the whole Church as the bride of Christ[<A NAME="chap0701fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0701fn2">2</A>], the answer seems +to be that it is made up of a moral and a theological factor. The +moral factor is the idea of the devotion of the believer to Christ—'as +a young man marrieth a virgin.' The theological idea is that of the +risen Christ making the soul of the believer fruitful in good works by +infusing into it His own Spirit or life. +</P> + +<P> +2. The conception of the freedom of the redeemed from the moral and +ceremonial law is very easily realized by reference to our ideas of +civic freedom in connexion with the criminal law. The criminal law +exists, and the policemen are among its administrative officers, but +the respectable citizen is free in his relation to the criminal law, +and passes the policeman without any sense of alarm—not because he is +at liberty to break the law, but because he has become accustomed to a +way of living with which the agents of the law are not called upon to +interfere. It is in a sense like this that St. Paul conceives the +Christians to have escaped from the bondage of the Mosaic law. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P244"></A>244}</SPAN> + +<P> +3. What is the meaning of the common phrase our 'passions'? It refers +to those feelings which we experience without any action of our will. +It may be a mere neutral sensation of smell. It may be a feeling of +hunger, thirst, desire, anger. These are our 'passions' as opposed to +our actions. These appeal to the will as motives, and it appertains to +the will to determine whether it will yield to them and so translate +passions into voluntary actions. When the will is weak, and passion is +allowed to pass into action uncontrolled, the man becomes the slave of +sin, and his passions, in themselves innocent or only constituting the +material of temptation, become the 'sinful passions' of which St. Paul +speaks in this place. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0701fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0701fn1text">1</A>] Matthew Arnold, <I>St. Paul and Protestantism</I>, p. 76. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0701fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0701fn2text">2</A>] Eph. v. 22. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0707"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P245"></A>245}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 6. CHAPTER VII. 7-25. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The function and failure of the law.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +The somewhat confused passage just dealt with, in which several moral +ideas and metaphors are struggling for the mastery, is followed by a +famous passage of luminous power in which St. Paul expounds, with a +profound insight into human nature, the function and failure of law. +</P> + +<P> +The close alliance into which St. Paul constantly puts 'the law' with +the reign of sin, an alliance hardly suggested by any other New +Testament teacher, suggests inevitably the idea that St. Paul, like the +later Gnostics, regarded the law itself as 'sin,' that is, as owing its +origin to the power of evil and working for its ends. Such an idea he +of course repudiates. But all the same it is law, written or +proclaimed, and law only, which both awakens the sense of sin in man +and stimulates sin itself to put +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P246"></A>246}</SPAN> +forth its power. Let me take +myself, we may imagine St. Paul as saying (for the 'I' of this passage +is very far from being strictly autobiographical), as representing man +in his moral history. I was alive apart from any law once. That is to +say, I lived as suited me best, according to my instincts, asking no +moral questions and troubled by no scruples. And all this time sin, +considered as a moral tyrant, was as if dead. I had no defined moral +ideal and consequently no struggle and no failure. Then comes the law +with its 'Thou shalt not covet' (or do this or that). It imposes +limits in the name of God on my life of instinct. It cries 'Hands +off!' At once I find opposition between me and the law. I do covet +this and that which the law says I must not have. I find myself in the +eye of the moral law a transgressor. And there is something more than +my own lawless desire in opposition to the law. I become conscious of +a great power of sin at work in the world and in me—something greater +than myself, which intervenes in the struggle and reinforces the +opposition to the law. The tyrant Sin rouses himself on the pretext +afforded by the hostile commandment, and exercises his power both by +stimulating my desires, like Eve's (ver. 8), and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P247"></A>247}</SPAN> +deceiving my +intelligence, like hers, to believe that good is evil (ver. 11), and so +brings me by means of the commandment into a state of flat disobedience +to the law, which is death. For the law was given for life—'This do, +and thou shalt live'; but there is the necessary converse—'This +transgress, and thou shalt die' (vers. 7-11). +</P> + +<P> +The law then, it is quite plain, is the expression of the will of God. +And the particular commandment is holy and righteous and good. Is the +good then my poison? No. But what has happened is this—the +expression of the good in the law has brought the tyranny of sin out +into the light. It had me in its power before, but I did not know it +and I did not struggle. But as soon as the law aroused in me the +beginning of moral consciousness, sin used the commandment as its knife +to kill me; and so showed its hideous character—which indeed it was +the divine intention to uncloak by means of the law (12-13). +</P> + +<P> +For this it is that we must recognize as the true state of the case. +On the one hand a spiritual law proclaimed over me. On the other hand +a man who in virtue of my fleshly nature have been sold to be a slave +of sin, and who as a slave +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P248"></A>248}</SPAN> +find myself doing acts by force of +circumstances, the true nature of which I do not understand, and which, +so far from choosing, I hate (vers. 14, 15). For I am not only of this +fleshly nature; I have also a conscience which responds to the claim of +the law and recognizes it as right. But my wish to obey the law is not +strong enough to carry my flesh with it. Thus my actual practice is in +flat contradiction to the ideal of my choice. But henceforth my will +is on the side of the law, and myself is in my will[<A NAME="chap0707fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn1">1</A>]. What runs so +uncontrollably to evil is, it appears, not myself at all, but the alien +tyranny of sin which has taken possession of me and made my flesh its +haunt and instrument—the haunt and instrument of evil only and not of +good. So I can only wish good and practise evil, and become more and +more conscious that I am not my own master. The law of God, accepted +by my will, becomes the law of my mind or inner being; but when I seek +to impose it on my limbs and act accordingly, I find another law—the +law of the tyrant Sin—holding sway in my lower nature; my authority is +defied and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P249"></A>249}</SPAN> +I myself am dragged in humiliating captivity to sin in +my lower nature (vers. 16-23). My body has become the death of my +spirit. It is my prison-house. I cry out in my misery for +deliverance. And it is this deliverance which I praise God for having +given me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (By union with Him my higher +self is reinforced, and I can control my lower nature and become my own +master.) But in my isolated, unassisted self, the best that I can get +to is a flat contradiction between the service of the law of God in my +mind and the service of sin in my flesh (vers. 24, 25). +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had +not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, +except the law had said, Thou shall not covet: but sin, finding +occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: +for apart from the law sin is dead. And I was alive apart from the law +once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the +commandment, which was unto life, this I found <I>to be</I> unto death: for +sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through +it slew me. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and +righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death unto me? +God forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by working +death to me through that which is good;—that through the commandment +sin might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is +spiritual: but I am carnal, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P250"></A>250}</SPAN> +sold under sin. For that which I do +I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, +that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law +that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which +dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth +no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is +good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I +would not, that I practise. But if what I would not, that I do, it is +no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the +law[<A NAME="chap0707fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn2">2</A>], that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight +in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my +members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into +captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man +that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank +God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind +serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +i. +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul, as has been said, is constantly in his epistles of this +period stating briefly or alluding to the failure of 'the law' to +supply man with the moral strength needed to live a good life at peace +with God. Thus: 'The power of sin is the law.' 'As many as are of the +works of the law are under a curse.' 'The letter (the written law) +killeth.' 'Through the law cometh the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P251"></A>251}</SPAN> +knowledge of sin.' 'The +law worketh wrath.' 'The law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound[<A NAME="chap0707fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn3">3</A>].' The first of these sayings, occurring as it does +altogether out of apparent connexion with the context, shows us as +clearly as anything could how full of the idea his mind was. But only +here, in this chapter, does he open his heart to us to show us the +experience on which such a strange and original conclusion was based. +</P> + +<P> +We can imagine a youth of intensely susceptible moral and religious +nature like Saul of Tarsus passing out of the home of his boyhood into +the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem. The one subject of instruction +there was 'the law'—the divine law which was the pride of Israel's +race—in all the grand severity of its moral requirement and in all the +complexity of its ritual regulations. It was the one topic. And all +about him he saw the Pharisees building up the fabric of a meritorious +life before God out of their observances. Now, no doubt the most +easily self-satisfied Pharisees made much of the principle of +compensation—that 'obedience to certain laws' (e.g. the law of the +sabbath or 'the law of fringes') 'was as good as obedience to the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P252"></A>252}</SPAN> +whole[<A NAME="chap0707fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn4">4</A>].' The Pharisee of our Lord's parable who went up to the +temple to pray, satisfied himself because he observed certain practices +beyond the requirements of the law. Our Lord bears witness that the +Scribes and Pharisees paid tithe of mint and anise and +cummin—traditional extensions of the law—and omitted the weightier +matters, judgement, mercy, and faith, yet were righteous in their own +eyes. On the other hand, the maxim of St. James, 'Whosoever shall keep +the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of +all,' was a commonplace of the Jewish schools. +</P> + +<P> +There can be no doubt that it must have been the severer teaching that +fastened upon young Saul's mind. He acknowledged himself a 'debtor to +keep the whole law[<A NAME="chap0707fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn5">5</A>].' And in ritual detail, though no doubt the +effort required was immense, he managed to be 'blameless[<A NAME="chap0707fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn6">6</A>].' But in +the weightier and deeper matters it was not so. The moral law, +enforced and commented upon, continually confronting him with its 'Thou +shalt not,' brought to light in him the fact of sin—in desire, we +should gather, rather than in act or word. The law said 'Thou shalt +not covet' (or +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P253"></A>253}</SPAN> +lust). And Saul said, 'But I do lust after this +and that and the other. My heart and my desires are not in harmony +with the law. Nay, the very fact that the law prohibits it seems to +make my wrong desire stronger.' So the whole Pharisaic idea of a moral +life—the standing over against God and building up a fabric of +merits—seemed to be unsatisfactory. The fabric in his own case was +full of internal rottenness. It would not bear severe examination. +Moreover he could not but observe the lives of those around him who +were so well satisfied with their moral edifices, and he recognized +that their satisfaction was due to nothing but hypocrisy or +shallowness. As he went later to Jewish settlements in various +centres, he saw always the picture of a life fair in its own eyes and +rotten in fact. His general experience of Jewish life is summed up +strongly enough in the second chapter of this epistle. Thus he drew +the conclusion that the law could not be really kept—it was only +possible to keep it by means of evasions and compensations which made +it worse than useless. +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile there was forming itself in Saul's mind the conviction that +the whole attitude of the Pharisees towards God was false. They lived +as if God had made a contract or covenant with +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P254"></A>254}</SPAN> +them, and within +the terms of this covenant man could deal with God on an independent +basis. God must keep to His covenant and not augment it or change it. +And on their side the people of God under the covenant had nothing to +do but to keep their part of the bargain and claim their reward with a +conscious and proper pride in the merits of their race and of +themselves. This was exactly the spirit in which they rejected Jesus +as the Christ, as it was also exactly this spirit which He had chosen +for His sternest denunciations. But all this idea of merits, all this +boasting, must have come to seem to Saul's mind monstrously untrue to +the real fundamental relation of man to God. For who maketh thee to +differ? and what hast thou, O Jew, that thou didst not receive? And if +thou didst receive it, why dost thou boast thyself as if thou hadst not +received it? Thus St. Paul's training must not only have made him feel +that he could not satisfy himself in keeping the whole law; but it must +also have convinced him that law itself as a principle, law as +understood and represented among the orthodox Jews, was fundamentally +and permanently incompatible with the real relation of man to God. +There were many elements in the Old Testament, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P255"></A>255}</SPAN> +notably in the +Psalms, in which a quite different relation of man to God was +indicated—a relation of meek trust as of a son to a father, and of +penitence and dependence and peace. But in the teaching St. Paul had +received, the law, the legal covenant of man and God, which suggested a +quite different moral attitude, was the essential element; and that, we +must suppose, he felt increasingly sure was a foundation on which he +could not stand. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt these deep questionings about the law, and the growing misery +accompanying them, made him at first all the more zealous for it. No +doubt they explain his fanaticism against the Christians. No doubt his +'kicking against the goad' represents the rebellion of his heart +against anything which seemed to threaten the position of the law of +his fathers, and especially against the utter upheaval of foundations +involved in accepting for Christ Him whom the leaders of his people had +rejected and caused to be crucified. But when he had effected the +great transition, when he had found in Jesus Christ all that satisfied +his deepest instincts about God and his deepest desires for union with +Him, his old experience of the law took shape in a profound theory of +its place in the divine +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P256"></A>256}</SPAN> +education of the human race. Ultimately +man is meant to be in such close and harmonious relations to the divine +Spirit that he should both know what is right and do it by an inner +light and power. But an outward written law was a necessary prelude to +this; and that in the main because sin—individual sins and the long +tradition of sin—had hardened men's consciences and blinded their +eyes, and the divine law as proclaimed through the conscience had +become in consequence either utterly inadequate or had even been +silenced altogether. A written law therefore, peremptory and explicit, +and announcing its sanction in definite penalties, was needed to teach +men anew what God really required. It was given in such a mode as +threw men on their own independent moral strength, and by that very +fact convinced the best among them of their inward weakness and sin; +while to many more it appeared rather as involving an impossible +effort—as 'a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to +bear.' In either case it was their 'tutor to bring them to +Christ'—with His teaching of God, not as a taskmaster, but as a +Father, righteous indeed, but still more loving. And if there were +others again, shallow or worthless men, whom the law simply hardened +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P257"></A>257}</SPAN> +in the superficial self-righteousness of mere 'observances,' or +the worst sort of religious hypocrisy, that was only another way of +demonstrating its inadequacy. It left the world to choose between the +Pharisees and Christ as representing real righteousness. +</P> + +<P> +This 'doctrine of the law' involves both its necessary function and its +failure. There can be indeed to no thoughtful mind any doubt as to its +necessary function. Conscience, individual and social, is continually +going to sleep. It may be taken quite for certain that if Christ were +amongst us in manifest power by His Spirit to-day—as He ought to be in +the Church—our society as a whole would be smitten anew with a sense +of sin, and not least of social sin[<A NAME="chap0707fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn7">7</A>]. Our familiar excuses for our +selfish indulgence of our lusts, for our weak surrenders to passion and +impulse, for our commercial dishonesties, for our failures to carry +righteousness into politics, for our social injustices, for our +selfishness and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P258"></A>258}</SPAN> +luxury, for our scamped and half-hearted +work—the familiar pleas of commercial or physical necessity, or +political exigencies, or lack of knowledge, or absence of +responsibility, or the influence of heredity—would dry up and wither +on our lips under the powerful glare of the divine 'letter'—Thou +shalt, Thou shalt not. God hath not 'given any man license to sin,' He +hath given no man exemption from the trouble or the suffering or the +loss involved in doing right. The obligation is peremptory to be just, +to be merciful, to be honest, to be self-denying, to be pure. And if +we do not care to take the trouble to be so, the only alternative is to +have Christ for our adversary, and find at last the horrible depth of +meaning which His words contain—'Thus and thus have ye made void the +word of God by your tradition.' 'Inasmuch as ye did it not, depart, ye +cursed, into eternal fire!' 'It is good for thee to enter into the +kingdom of God maimed or halt or with one eye, rather than having two +hands or feet or eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm dieth not +and the fire is not quenched.' These and the like words are +metaphorical—but metaphors which are intended to teach the heart only +the more vividly because they are metaphorical. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P259"></A>259}</SPAN> + +<P> +Indeed, in each age, and therefore in ours, most fertile of excuses, we +need the letter to kill us; the stern, outward, unmistakable +announcement of God's will to assure us that God does not change with +our whims or feelings, and cannot accommodate Himself to immoral +necessities. In each age, and therefore in ours, most capable of moral +self-deception, we need continual and forcible reminders that a quiet +conscience is no adequate guarantee of agreement with God, unless we +have taken pains to keep our conscience enlightened by meditating on +the divine word. +</P> + +<P> +And if St. Paul's account of the function of 'the law' is true, so also +is his account of its necessary failure. It is obviously true if you +confine 'the law' to meaning what in the tradition of the Pharisees it +had come to mean, or what in his ideal way of thinking St. Paul defined +it to mean—that is, not the whole Old Testament with its anticipations +in prophecy and psalm of the temper of sonship and its evangelical +forecasts of the new covenant, but bare precept, expressing externally +and unmistakably the will of God. Mere law, instructing men truly and +searchingly as to God's requirement in thought as well as word and +deed, instructing +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P260"></A>260}</SPAN> +men and challenging them, and doing nothing +more, is so manifestly incomplete an expression of God's relation to +man, quite apart from all question of its ritual elements, that it can +in the nature of things serve only a temporary purpose in the +conscience, by leading us to a truer knowledge of Him who terrifies +indeed, but only in order to reassure, and kills but only in order to +raise to life again. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ii. +</H4> + +<P> +At this point it is necessary to answer the two much-disputed +questions—and it is possible to do it briefly—Is St. Paul, in giving +this summary of moral experience, speaking 'of himself or of some other +man'? and—Is the struggle described in verses 14-24 to be regarded as +occurring without or within the frontiers of the regenerate state? +</P> + +<P> +There is no doubt that St. Paul must be in part really describing an +experience through which he passed. He was really, we may imagine, +'alive without the law once' in the sense that he was brought up a +happy Jewish child, under the law but not deeply feeling the terror of +its claims, until he was growing towards +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P261"></A>261}</SPAN> +the 'independent' period +of life and found himself confronted with its requirements in detail. +There need be no doubt that he is speaking of some experience of his +own when he alludes, here as elsewhere, to the deceitfulness of sin; +and when he describes the two stages of moral progress—the first, in +which the conscience of the man is awakened to recognize that his +habitual practice is not in any full sense controlled by his reason and +will; and the second, in which the will is deliberately enlisted on the +side of good, and the man only made thereby the more conscious that his +will is in no real control of his actions, but that he is the captive +of the alien power of sin. In some sense, though St. Paul does not +give us the materials for saying exactly in what sense, he must have +passed through these stages of experience. He must have really felt +himself the slave of sin, though the sin was of a sort which left him, +'as touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.' He +must have felt that he could not do what he ought; and the bitterness +of his persecuting zeal may have been in part the reflection of this +sense of impotence. +</P> + +<P> +And so far as St. Paul is speaking of himself, there can be no shadow +of doubt that the state +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P262"></A>262}</SPAN> +of conflict lay almost wholly outside his +conversion and regeneration. It was 'prevenient grace'—God's dealing +with him before he acknowledged Christ—that set his will so strongly +to desire and approve the right; and his new personal faith in Jesus, +and the might of the Spirit of Jesus to whom he became united, gave him +the power to do what he had so long and so ineffectually been willing. +This was his experience, and he bears witness to it. Even though he +would have made no claim to sinlessness after his conversion, yet the +sense of sin which possessed him so strongly, which made him call +himself 'not worthy to be called an apostle,' 'less than the least of +all saints,' and 'chief of sinners,' was in the main a memory of what +was past. The present sense was the consciousness of power in Christ. +It is inconceivable that St. Paul should describe himself, while a +Christian, as 'sold under sin.' And it was an idea of human corruption +quite different from St. Paul's which prevented Augustine and Calvin +from recognizing that either a pious Jew, or a Gentile which had not +the law, could be moved by the divine Spirit to 'rejoice in the law of +God after the inner man' (ver. 22), quite independently of any +knowledge of Christ. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P263"></A>263}</SPAN> + +<P> +But if St. Paul is in a real measure autobiographical in this passage, +there is no reasonable doubt that he is not merely so. He has +generalized his experiences to represent the moral experiences of the +race. The 'I' is the human individual in general. Thus 'alive without +the law,' if it can in a certain sense describe what St. Paul had once +been, describes much better the state of men—Greeks and Romans, or men +all the world over 'before the law came'—who had an easy social +standard and lived natural lives without any troublesome moral ideals, +and were wholly unvisited by conscientious scruples or the terrors of +the divine holiness. Upon such men comes the severer knowledge of the +righteousness of God through the teaching of some prophet or founder of +religion. It may come to men collectively in a nation or group, and +result in some general movement of conscience. Or it may come to an +individual through some circumstance which confronts him with a higher +moral claim than he has ever faced before—through the example of a +friend, through a book or a sermon. To many in St. Paul's day the +synagogues, where 'Moses had in every city them that preached him,' had +been the means of their awakening to the moral +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P264"></A>264}</SPAN> +claim of God. And +whenever men are thus confronted with the divine law of righteousness, +in a more or less perfect form and with more or less of impressiveness +laying its prohibitions upon them—'Thou shalt not do this or that'—if +they do not harden their hearts to it, they pass through the stages of +experience which St. Paul has so admirably idealized. There is that in +them which the prohibitions of the divine law stimulates into +antagonism. They become conscious of a power which beguiles or cheats +them into breaking the law; they awake to the sense of sin and failure +to do God's will, and find that they are not their own masters, but are +drifting under the impulse of what is not themselves. There awakens in +them the conscience and will to approve and choose what is right, and +with that a 'self-contempt bitterer to drink than blood,' as they +realize that though they approve and choose the right they cannot do +it. Thus the conviction is strengthened that their true selves are on +the side of God and right, and that which holds them captive is an +alien tyranny which has got its lodgement in their lower nature. +</P> + +<P> +This is the psychological moment for the arrival of the gospel. The +man who simply +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P265"></A>265}</SPAN> +desires the right and is paralyzed by his own +impotence to realize it in his own strength, out of the depth of his +despair learns that God is not a taskmaster and judge, but a Father; +that He is not his adversary, but is on his side; that if he will +simply surrender himself to the divine love, as it is made evident in +Christ, all his past failures and sins are as if they had never been, +and for the future God will not teach him from outside and leave him to +struggle alone, but will work in him to will and to do His good +pleasure. Then the sense of moral impotence may pass into the sense of +power in Christ. And in proportion as any man's actual life-history, +or the history of any group of men, corresponds to this ideal sketch, +the period of moral struggle and failure may fall in the main outside +the regeneration and new life in Christ. +</P> + +<P> +But, almost from the beginnings of Christianity, and increasingly as +Christianity has become popular, men have been 'christened' in infancy +or in mature life without the moral issue having been defined or the +moral will awakened. An ordinary Englishman, for example, is baptized +in infancy. This means that he is actually regenerate and introduced +into +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P266"></A>266}</SPAN> +the body of Christ. In rare cases he is so brought up as to +realize this, and corresponds so willingly with the teaching that he +lives the life of the regenerate from the first, and never, except in a +very refined form, knows the sense of impotence or passes through the +period of hopeless struggle. He has never found God's commandments +grievous. But in most cases there is no such pains taken to enlighten +the young conscience, or no such readiness of correspondence. The man +lives as his surroundings suggest—a decent enough life, very likely, +and more or less honourable, but never in face of the full divine law. +And such an one is 'alive without the law.' For him all the +experiences St. Paul describes are still to come, inside the circle of +his actual regeneration. And they may be very gradual and slow, and +may repeat themselves, more or less, innumerable times. St. Paul's is +an ideal picture; but the intended issue is always the same. When we +find ourselves saying, 'To will is present with me, but to do that +which is good is not,' we may be quite certain that we are not +realizing the power of our new birth. We are as men whom God has as +yet only externally visited. We are conscious of our own weakness and +of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P267"></A>267}</SPAN> +strength of evil; but not of the third force, stronger +than either ourselves or the power of evil, which is at our disposal if +we will draw upon it. What is needed is a deliberate and whole-hearted +realization that we are in Christ and Christ is in us by His Spirit; an +unconditional surrender of faith to Him: a practice, which grows more +natural by exercise, of remembering and deliberately drawing by faith +upon His strength in the moments of temptation and not merely upon our +own resources. 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I will do thus +and thus.' So we too may form like St. Paul the habit of victory. We +too may cry in sober earnest 'It is no longer I that live (in my naked +self), but Christ that liveth in me.' 'I thank God through Jesus +Christ our Lord.' +</P> + +<P> +When that sense of struggle or failure which St. Paul describes occurs, +as is generally the case with us traditional Christians, in the process +of our awakening to the knowledge of the new birth, we may in a sense +say that the struggle is part of the process of regeneration[<A NAME="chap0707fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn8">8</A>]; but +the word 'regeneration' best describes, not a process, but a single +divine act upon us and in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P268"></A>268}</SPAN> +us[<A NAME="chap0707fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn9">9</A>], and this single divine act is +consistently identified in the New Testament with our baptism, though +it is only realized by our moral conversion when we awake to claim the +privileges of our new life. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iii. +</H4> + +<P> +There are two smaller points which claim notice. +</P> + +<P> +We are reminded by the way in which St. Paul speaks of sin, in this and +other passages—as a force or power greater than the individual man, +which possesses him and dominates him through his lower nature—and +especially by the consciousness which he betrays of its 'beguiling' +power, that he believed in personal agencies of evil. 'Our wrestling +is not against flesh and blood (merely), but against the +principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this +darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly +places[<A NAME="chap0707fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn10">10</A>].' Particularly it is in the deceitfulness of sin that St. +Paul realizes what one must call the personal character of the evil +power[<A NAME="chap0707fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn11">11</A>]. He is profoundly conscious that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P269"></A>269}</SPAN> +there makes itself +heard in temptation a voice as of a person which lies to us, as it lied +to Eve, as to the true character of the suggested action; and when we +have been deceived and seduced, and have done the deed, and its real +character has become apparent, 'the tempter' turns round upon us with +the grin of unmasked malevolence. Is there any one who can really +dissociate from his own spiritual experience this idea of the tempter +and the deceiver? +</P> + +<P> +We do well to remember in reading this passage the meaning of the +recurring word 'law.' In modern English it has come to mean the +principle or method observable in anything. Such and such a thing, we +say, exhibits such and such a law, i.e. acts constantly in such and +such a way. It is natural therefore for us to read this meaning into +the word in verse 21, as in the Authorized Version, 'I find then a law, +that, when I would do good, evil is present with me,' i.e. I find that +this is what constantly happens. But the Greek word, as used in the +Old and New Testaments, does not bear any meaning like this[<A NAME="chap0707fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0707fn12">12</A>]. It +means always the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P270"></A>270}</SPAN> +injunction or set of injunctions imposed by a +law-giver. In this passage it is used seven times of the divine +(Mosaic) law. When the will accepts this law and would impose it on +the lower nature, it becomes 'the law of the mind,' i.e. the law which +the mind enjoins (verse 23). With this conflicts 'the law of sin,' +'the different law,' which sin or the evil one would impose and which +has gained actual sway 'in our members.' We must then interpret verse +21 in harmony with this use, and taking the sentence to be a broken +one, translate, as the margin of the Revised Version, 'I find then, in +regard of the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn1text">1</A>] 'I was myself in both [flesh and spirit], but more myself in what I +approved than in what I disapproved.'—Augustine, <I>Confessions</I>, viii. +5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn2text">2</A>] Rather, as margin, 'I find then in regard of the law': see below, +p. <A HREF="#P269">269</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn3text">3</A>] Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 56; Gal. iii. 10; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Rom. iii. 20; iv. +15; v. 20. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn4text">4</A>] See J. B. Mayor in <I>The Epistle of St. James</I> (ii. 10), p. 86. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn5text">5</A>] Gal. v. 3. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn6text">6</A>] Phil. iii. 6. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn7text">7</A>] It is disappointing, I think, that the grave appeal to the Church +as regards social duty, made by the bishops assembled at Lambeth last +year in commending to the notice of us all the report of their +Committee on Industrial Problems, has received such scant attention, +except from a certain group of Churchmen who were already occupied with +the problem. It might have been expected that this solemn appeal would +have vastly widened the area of attention. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn8text">8</A>] 'Inter regenerandum.' St. John will not speak of a wilful sinner +as truly 'begotten of God,' 1 John iii. 9; v. 18, &c. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn9text">9</A>] See Dale, quoted in Ephesians, p. 86. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn10text">10</A>] Eph. vi. 12. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn11text">11</A>] Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 9-11: 'The working of Satan with all ... deceit +of unrighteousness ... a working of error, that they should believe a +lie.' 2 Cor. xi. 14: 'Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of +light.' 1 Tim. ii. 14: 'The woman being beguiled hath fallen into +transgression.' Cf. Heb. iii. 13: 'The deceitfulness of sin.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0707fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0707fn12text">12</A>] It never appears to be used, as in classical Greek, for 'custom,' +either in LXX or N.T. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0801"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P271"></A>271}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 7. CHAPTER VIII. 1-11. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Life in the Spirit.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +If we were to represent the Epistle to the Romans as a <I>bas relief</I>, +there would be two passages which would have to stand in the highest +relief—the end of the third chapter, in which St. Paul speaks of that +free justification which is given to all men on the equal basis of +faith in Christ the propitiation for their sins; and this eighth +chapter, in which he speaks of the triumph which belongs to the life of +the justified, lived in the power of Christ's Spirit. +</P> + +<P> +The note of this chapter is struck in the words 'no condemnation' at +the beginning—'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are +in Christ Jesus.' St. Paul knew so well what it was to be conscious of +being under condemnation. He had never been what we should call a +sinner. He had always been a man who, according to the standards of +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P272"></A>272}</SPAN> +Pharisaic righteousness, was pre-eminently righteous; he had +always been a man who did much for religion. But he had known, in a +form in which it is known to very few of us, what it was to be +conscious of being under God's condemnation. God had been to him as a +taskmaster over against him, breaking in upon his life with continual +and searching warnings as to the divine requirements, with continual +threatenings and continual terrors; and he had been as one standing +over against God with the consciousness that, do as he might, he could +never satisfy, or climb up to the level of, the requirements of the +righteous God. There was always the haunting sense that he fell +short—always the haunting sense that he was on his trial, and on that +trial was condemned. But now all had been changed; and that by a +process which in a certain sense was as simple as possible, but than +which nothing could be more fundamental and deep. All was changed +because the relation had begun at the other end. No longer was there a +climbing up of man to God, no longer the effort of a Saul to commend +himself to God. The relationship had begun at the other end, at God's +end. Or rather, what had begun was the realization on the man's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P273"></A>273}</SPAN> +part of the true order. For God had been beforehand with Saul all +along. All the time that he was striving, working, slaving to commend +himself to a God whose righteousness he could never attain to, God was +waiting there for him to find out his mistake—waiting to reveal +Himself as no hard taskmaster, but as the Creator, the Father of his +spirit. The process had now begun anew from the other side. God had +simply of His own pure initiative manifested His love. He had sent His +Son out of His own essential being into this world as it was, not +asking whether it was a fit world for the Son to enter into; but taking +it simply as it was, because it appealed to the divine compassion by +the very multitude of its sins and the very vastness of its need, God +had sent forth His only begotten Son out of the bosom of His love and +of His pure initiative; had sent Him to take this nature of ours upon +Him, in it to make atonement for us with God, and in it, raised from +death and glorified, to be the source of a new and spiritual life, such +as should triumph over sin in all who will believe in Him. That is the +great point. It was all purely God's doing: a pure disclosure and act +of God, who showed Himself ready to take +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P274"></A>274}</SPAN> +men as they were, to +forgive them and entrust them with the divine Spirit, if they would +only trust Him. God is no longer the taskmaster over against men, with +His threats and His terrors. He is the Father who has given His Son, +who has given men a sacrifice whereby He can forgive their sins, and +has given them the Spirit of His Son into their hearts. God is on +their side, and they are on God's side. That is the great change. And +the object of it all is that what formerly seemed so unattainable might +now be the very thing that proved itself practicable—to live according +to God; that the requirement of the law might be no longer an +impossible claim over us, terrorizing us with its perpetual threats, +but that by the power of the new life in which we live, 'the +righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after +the flesh, but after the spirit.' +</P> + +<P> +The following is a paraphrase of the passage we are now to study:— +</P> + +<P> +The result then of all that has been said is that the divine verdict of +guilty, which went forth over men on account of their sins—that +'disclosure of divine wrath' which St. Paul had so profoundly felt and +interpreted—hangs no longer over those who have passed into the new +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P275"></A>275}</SPAN> +life in Christ Jesus. In the old life, sin with its attendant +death held sway over us and gave the law to our actions. But we were +freed from that despotism in passing under a new and stronger +authority. It is the divine Spirit, by whom we have been brought into +the life in Christ, who now controls us. Of old the Mosaic law was +powerless to help us. It could inform us of God's will, but it could +not enable our poor weak human nature to keep His requirements. But +God has provided an effective remedy for this state of things. He has +sent His own Son to take our nature upon Him, and come in among our +sinful race without any apparent difference between us and Him. He put +Him simply among us and in our position, to be the sacrifice for sin; +and thereby did for us what we had so failed to do for +ourselves—passed effective sentence of condemnation on sin, and that +in our own nature. [Do we ask how sin was condemned? The answer is, +it stood condemned by the perfect sacrifice of reparation for sin, +which the sinless Man made to the divine character on our behalf, when +at the requirement of obedience He shed His blood. It stood condemned, +still more fully, by the fact that God raised Him from the dead and +exalted +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P276"></A>276}</SPAN> +Him far beyond the reach of sin, to the glory of His +right hand, and made Him the head of a redeemed manhood, and poured +forth His Spirit to be the new life of all that believe in Him][<A NAME="chap0801fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn1">1</A>]. +And the object of this mission of the Son, and this judgement on sin in +His person, was the creation of that new humanity to which we belong, +which lives not under the control of human appetite, but under the +control of Spirit: and because it so lives, in the life of Another, +succeeds in the one point where man had hitherto failed, in keeping the +righteous requirements of the divine law. Our new way of life, +therefore, is contrasted with the old in its whole tone. For just as, +if we live in fact under the control of our weak manhood with its wants +and appetites, our mind and conscious aim is directed to minister to +its purposes, so in the same way if our life is in fact controlled by +Spirit, our conscious aim also is directed to spiritual purposes. And +the two lives are contrasted no less markedly in their prospects. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P277"></A>277}</SPAN> +The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of +death, temporal and eternal. The mind controlled by the Spirit is in a +state of life, so far as concerns itself, and of peace towards God. +The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of death +because it is at war with God. It does not, it cannot, keep His +commandments. Those therefore who so live in their own strength +merely, cannot please Him. But that is not now our state. We now live +in the power of Spirit, since the Spirit of God and Christ—that is, +Christ Himself—dwells in us. To have Him is the very meaning of being +a Christian. Not to have Christ's Spirit, that is Himself, dwelling in +us, is not to belong to Him. But if He does dwell in us, then, though +the body must still pay the debt of death, because of sin to which it +has belonged—nay though it is already as good as dead—yet the Spirit +within us is a superior principle of life, because of the divine +righteousness which it bestows upon us. And this life shall triumph +over death in our case, as in Christ's. For God, who raised up Christ +from the dead, shall also by the working of the divine Spirit which +dwells in us, give life again even to our bodies, though now they are +subject to death. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P278"></A>278}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ +Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free +from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in +that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the +likeness of sinful flesh and <I>as an offering</I> for sin, condemned sin in +the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who +walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are +after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are +after the spirit the things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh +is death; but the mind of the spirit is life and peace: because the +mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh +cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if +so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not +the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the +body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of +righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the +dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead +shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth +in you. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +1. St. Paul declares that the Father sent His own Son to redeem us in +'the likeness of the flesh of sin.' The word 'likeness' is the same as +that used in the similar passage[<A NAME="chap0801fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn2">2</A>], where we are told that the eternal +Son in love for us 'emptied Himself' so far as to take the 'form,' +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P279"></A>279}</SPAN> +or essential characteristics, of our servile human nature; nor +only its essential characteristics, but also the outward conditions or +'likeness' of common men as they are. The point is that Christ, who +Himself as man 'knew no sin[<A NAME="chap0801fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn3">3</A>],' appeared amongst us under all the +circumstances of sin, and with no outward or apparent difference +between us and Him—'in all points like as we are' with the single +exception of sin in the will or in the nature. +</P> + +<P> +2. In verse 3 the Authorized Version, and the margin of the Revised, +translating the Greek literally, give us, 'God sending His own Son ... +<I>for sin</I>.' But the phrase 'for sin' is continually used in the Greek +of the Old Testament for the sin-offering, and in the New Testament +always has the sacrificial meaning attached to it[<A NAME="chap0801fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn4">4</A>]; and accordingly +its meaning here must be so defined. +</P> + +<P> +3. The flesh of man, considered as a material thing, is not evil. It +was that which the Son took, and it was 'in the flesh' so assumed that +He pronounced sentence on sin—in that very flesh which was sin's +domain; as, in the Epistle +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P280"></A>280}</SPAN> +to the Ephesians[<A NAME="chap0801fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn5">5</A>]. He is said to +have 'abolished the enmity in his flesh.' The flesh as such then is +not evil; but when, as in our fallen state, the proper order of our +complex manhood has been reversed, and the flesh has become the +predominant partner, having the mastery of the spirit, then it becomes +a 'flesh of sin.' To live 'in the flesh,' or 'according to the flesh,' +is to let the flesh have its way and be the master instead of the +slave. Then the whole life becomes carnal—a carrying out 'the works +of the flesh'—and even the rational faculty becomes a 'carnal mind.' +What our redemption effects is to restore the right order and make the +flesh again the instrument of the spirit—of the human spirit, that is, +empowered by the divine Spirit, without which it cannot hold its +ground. Then the whole life, with all its bodily faculties, becomes +spiritual and carries into effect 'the works of the Spirit.' +</P> + +<P> +In the passage we have been considering, the Revised Version +distinguishes, by the use of capital letters, between the divine +Spirit[<A NAME="chap0801fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn6">6</A>] and the human[<A NAME="chap0801fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn7">7</A>], or spirit in general; but the fact that the +divine Spirit is what liberates and restores the human spirit is so +much in St. Paul's +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P281"></A>281}</SPAN> +mind that it seems better to make the primary +reference to the divine Spirit throughout. +</P> + +<P> +It is of the greatest practical moment to grasp that, to St. Paul, the +change in human life which comes about through our conversion and new +birth is a change in order. What was managed from below is now +controlled from above. That is the point on which we need to examine +ourselves. Where do we begin from? Are we in the position of men +struggling to manage their own lives, and commend themselves according +to some standard more or less right, which either their personal pride +or their social circle or the divine law has set up? If so, God is +over against us, our taskmaster, our adversary, our stern judge, and +our life is 'according to the flesh.' It is managed from below. It is +ruled on its own level, and it fails. But there is another life which +begins at once from the thought of God. God has made us, and therefore +He is responsible for us. He has made me because He loves me. +Therefore He is bound to make the best of me. If I will only put +myself into His hands He is pledged, simply because He created me, +therefore to redeem me, to save me, to glorify me. He takes that +responsibility upon Himself. He has shown His +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P282"></A>282}</SPAN> +love by the +sending and the sacrifice of His Son and by the gift of His Spirit. +And His Spirit I have received. At a definite moment He came upon me. +He entered into my life, as into those first Christians to whom St. +Paul wrote, at baptism and by the laying-on of hands. This is the fact +then. God is on my side. He makes Himself responsible for my being. +If I will only entrust myself to Him with the cordial return of +trustful love, then all that He has ever breathed into my heart of +human possibility He will realize and bring to perfection. The +requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us who walk not after the +flesh but after the Spirit.—This is a point of view upon which it is +worth while reflecting deeply, and over and over again. Unless we are +continually practising ourselves in this conception of life, we find +ourselves falling back again into the attitude of one standing over +against God with God for his taskmaster. And that is the false and +always ruinous idea. +</P> + +<P> +We must also take careful note of what St. Paul means by 'spiritual' +and 'carnal.' 'Carnal' does not mean made of flesh, and 'spiritual' +does not mean immaterial. That is carnal which is ruled by the flesh, +ruled from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P283"></A>283}</SPAN> +below. That life is carnal in which our spirit, meant +for God, is dragged at the chariot-wheels of our lower life; and that +is spiritual which is ruled and mastered by the Spirit. We must not +suppose that we shall make our religion spiritual by disparaging +external acts or bodily exercises of worship. No; that is spiritual +which is ruled by the Spirit. The worship in 'spirit and in truth,' +for us men who belong to the religion of the Incarnation, must be a +worship in body. But it will be spiritual if it is full of spiritual +intention. Secular business again is spiritual if it is ruled by the +divine Spirit according to the law of righteousness. Politics are +spiritual, commercial and municipal life are spiritual, art and science +are spiritual, and everything that develops our faculties is spiritual, +if we will allow the divine Spirit to rule in all according to the law +of righteousness, truth, and beauty. For the whole of our being, with +all its sum of faculties, is made by God and meant for God. What a +mistake it is then, when people speak, as they so often do, as if sin +were really natural, as if lust and worldliness were natural, and as if +spirituality were something unnatural, belonging to another world. It +is exactly the opposite. The only <I>natural</I> position for us is when +our +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P284"></A>284}</SPAN> +flesh is ruled by the spirit. It is an unnatural usurpation +when the spirit is dragged at the chariot-wheels of the flesh, when our +life is dominated by lusts or appetites. That is the very overthrow of +nature. And grace does but restore to us the true order of our being, +when the flesh and all the faculties of our body are again controlled +by the spirit, so that our whole being expresses a spiritual purpose +and obeys a spiritual law. The same external acts are spiritual or +carnal, natural or unnatural, according as they express or do not +express the mind of the Spirit. The same physical facts are the basis +of true married love, and of the wildest licentiousness. In the latter +case they are carnal because they express no spiritual purpose; in the +other case they are spiritual because, consecrated in the family life, +they become the organ and the vehicle of the divine Spirit. God will +be responsible for our whole life, our politics, our commerce, our +marriage, the workings of our intellect, the workings of our emotions, +all the parts of our nature. He will raise our nature up through +death; He will consecrate it to life immortal in the divine city; He +will sanctify it here and now: if only, and in all things, we will +believe that He who made our +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P285"></A>285}</SPAN> +life is capable of making the best +of it, and show ourselves ready to entrust it to His disposal. +</P> + +<P> +4. We must notice what is implied in this passage about the Holy +Trinity. St. Paul speaks[<A NAME="chap0801fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn8">8</A>] of 'the Spirit of God' (the Father), 'the +Spirit of Christ,' 'Christ,' and then again, the 'Spirit of Him that +raised up Christ,' as if all these expressions were identical; as +elsewhere[<A NAME="chap0801fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn9">9</A>] he prays that the Father will strengthen men by His +Spirit, in order that Christ may dwell in their hearts, and they be +filled with the fullness of God. All which language means that where +the Spirit is, Christ is, and where Christ is, God the Father is. So +in St. John, our Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as 'another' advocate +who is to come 'in his name' from the Father; and yet adds that in the +Spirit's coming He Himself will come; and with Him the Father—'we will +come[<A NAME="chap0801fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn10">10</A>].' The sacred 'persons' are spoken of as distinct—personally +distinct—and yet as so mutually involved in the action one of another +that the coming of one is the coming of all. So truly is God one in +three. We find something like this in human personalities under the +influence of love. Each single personality is not +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P286"></A>286}</SPAN> +self-contained +and exclusive. Love, to a real degree, fuses persons; and thus the +husband and wife and child (to take the highest example) may be said to +live and act in one another and through one another's influence. But +this is only to a limited extent. We are also mutually exclusive. Our +responsibility and actions remain individual and impermeable. What I +am doing, I am doing, and not another. But with God the mutual +interpenetration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is represented in the +inspired language as far more complete. The Godhead is a fellowship +and relationship of perfect love 'in three persons.' But God is not +three separate individuals. What each 'person' does the others do. +The action of one involves all. God is inseparably one in His being +and in His action. If the Father creates, He creates through the Son +and by the Spirit. If the Son redeems, the redemption proceeds from +the Father and is effected in the Spirit. If the Spirit sanctifies, it +is from and in the Father and the Son. Thus when the Spirit came forth +at Pentecost out of the uplifted manhood of the Son to impart to us all +His richness, He came not merely to supply His absence, but to +accomplish His presence. He makes Christ present within us, and also +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P287"></A>287}</SPAN> +Father: so that God, three in one, dwells in the hearts of +His people. +</P> + +<P> +5. 'The requirement of the law is to be fulfilled in us.' Do we ask +how we are to keep the whole of that terrible law? It is by obeying +the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves, in which the whole +law is 'briefly comprehended[<A NAME="chap0801fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn11">11</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +6. If in the last verse of this passage we read 'through His Spirit,' +and not (as the margin) 'because of His Spirit,' then the Holy Spirit +is expressly spoken of as the agent of our resurrection and, by +implication, of the resurrection of Christ. And this is the natural +function for the 'Giver of Life': indeed 'Spirit' means nothing else +than 'breath'—the 'breath of life from God[<A NAME="chap0801fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0801fn12">12</A>].' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn1text">1</A>] The passage in brackets expands the sense in which St. Paul +conceives the Father to have passed sentence of condemnation on sin, in +the person and through the sacrifice of Christ, in accordance with such +passages as vers. 21-24; iv. 25; Phil. ii. 8-10; Eph. i. 15 ff. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn2text">2</A>] Phil. ii. 7. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn3text">3</A>] 2 Cor. v. 21. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn4text">4</A>] See Heb. x. 6, cf. 18, 26; xiii. 11; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 2; +iv. 10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn5text">5</A>] ii. 15. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn6text">6</A>] Verses 2, 9, 11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn7text">7</A>] Verses 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn8text">8</A>] Verses 9-11. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn9text">9</A>] Eph. iii. 14-19. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn10text">10</A>] John xiv. 16, 18, 23, 26. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn11text">11</A>] Rom. xiii. 9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0801fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0801fn12text">12</A>] Ezek. xxxvii. 9; Rev. xi. 11. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0812"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P288"></A>288}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 8. CHAPTER VIII. 12-17. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The life of sonship.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +We are now in the Spirit. The divine Spirit dwells within us, and +restores our nature to its proper balance by giving us control over our +lower nature. The moral meaning and obligations of such a condition +are plain, and St. Paul proceeds to enforce them. When our impulses +and appetites solicit us to let them have their own way, we must give +them to understand that they are making a claim which we cannot +recognize and which, if we did, would lead us the way of death. On the +contrary, it is these merely physical tendencies—the practices of the +body when left to itself—that we must put to death by the power of the +Spirit. And if we do this we are on the way of life. Why so +certainly? Because we are sons of God—nothing less. Those who thus +act under the Spirit's guidance are all of them sons of God. Further, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P289"></A>289}</SPAN> +if we ask ourselves what sort of spirit we received when we +became Christians, we know that it was not a spirit appropriate to +slaves and calculated to bring us again into a condition of terror +under a law. It was a spirit appropriate to those who have been +adopted for sons of God, and it is in the power of that spirit that we +cry out to God by the name of Abba, Father, in our familiar +supplication. We have thus in our own spirits the sense that we are +sons; and behind that and reinforcing it, the divine Spirit, by putting +the word Father into our lips, bears the same witness. Well then, if +we are thus children of God, we have the child's prospect of entering +into our inheritance. Christ, our elder brother, has already entered +into it, and we shall enter into it with Him, if we are content to take +the Christian maxim for true, and suffer with Him on this side of +death, that we may share His glory beyond. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the +flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the +spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as +are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received +not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit +of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P290"></A>290}</SPAN> +Spirit himself +beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if +children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so +be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with <I>him</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There are several phrases in this passage which we shall do well to +notice. +</P> + +<P> +1. <I>If by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live</I>. +Mortification is absolutely necessary, and at every stage of the +Christian life. It is the carrying into effect in detail of the +fundamental law of our new life—the law which the baptismal ritual was +intended to teach—life by means of death. For the body had gained the +upper hand: it had come to control the weakened spirit. Therefore the +reinvigorated spirit must react upon the body and its impulses. It +must make its government felt, and the physical tendencies must be +checked, pruned, cut back. This is the Christian circumcision. And as +Christ was first born, then circumcised the eighth day; so each new +birth in Christ must be followed by a like circumcision of the +luxuriance of animal appetites. We learn the lesson when we are +children: we expect to be restrained and curbed: and unless we are very +foolish we learn the lesson only more deeply in later life. There + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P291"></A>291}</SPAN> +is no single faculty or function of our being which can escape +this law. No friendship can be cemented without mutual self-denial. +No marriage, however founded on affection, can be blessed without the +mutual pain of self-repression and concession. No art or science can +be mastered by mere intelligence without moral discipline. No gift can +be consecrated in its natural luxuriance. 'Every branch in Christ that +beareth fruit, He pruneth it that it may bring forth more fruit.' +</P> + +<P> +2. <I>As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God</I>. +The New Testament language would have us regard all the baptized as +regenerate and sons of God, but it will not let us mistake the meaning +of this teaching. In any effective sense it is they, and only they, +who are really <I>controlled by</I> the divine Spirit who can call +themselves sons. As St. John says, freedom from sin is the only test +of divine birth[<A NAME="chap0812fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn1">1</A>]. And the best way to make our new birth effective +is to meditate on the gift which we, when we became Christians, did +actually receive. We who, like the first Christians, received baptism +with the laying-on of hands, did then and there receive (such is the +implication +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P292"></A>292}</SPAN> +of St. Paul's language)[<A NAME="chap0812fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn2">2</A>] a spirit proper not to +slaves but to sons of God, qualifying us to call on God as our father, +and to co-operate in the purposes of His kingdom. It remains for us to +claim these powers and privileges of our sonship, and to claim them to +the full. Yet how many anxious-minded Christians of our day would +appear to have received nothing more nor less than the spirit of +slaves! They realize their religion as a restraint, a responsibility, +a cause of fear. And such a servile religion is no doubt better than a +hypocritical sense of sonship unaccompanied by the fear of sin. The +wise man remarks that 'a servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule +over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part in the inheritance +among the brethren[<A NAME="chap0812fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn3">3</A>].' But the spirit of the slave is not what we are +called to. If we had more religion, if we would give it freer course, +if we would consent to think less of our circumstances and more of God +and His gifts, there would be less fear and more joy both in our work +and our prayer. +</P> + +<P> +3. <I>Abba, Father</I>. Our Lord, speaking in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P293"></A>293}</SPAN> +Aramaic, the +vernacular of Palestine, is recorded by St. Mark in His hour of agony +to have said <I>Abba</I>. And even in the Greek-speaking churches of St. +Paul's day, that sacred word was still used side by side with its Greek +equivalent, according to the witness of this and the parallel passage, +Gal. iv. 6. St. Paul appears to be referring to some occasion on which +the Church was in the habit of calling on God with the Aramaic and +Greek words side by side, and it is more than likely[<A NAME="chap0812fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn4">4</A>] that he is +making a definite reference to the Lord's Prayer, as recited by the +Roman and Galatian Christians in the form prescribed for us in St. +Luke's version[<A NAME="chap0812fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn5">5</A>], beginning 'Father.' The retention by Greek +Christians of an Aramaic word in a familiar religious formula, is like +the later retention by the Latins of the Greek prayer, <I>Kyrie eleison</I>, +or the retention by us of the names <I>Te Deum, Magnificat</I>, &c. St. +Paul's meaning would come home to us better if we were to +read—'whereby we cry <I>Our Father</I>.' +</P> + +<P> +4. '<I>The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are +children of God</I>.' This is a very +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P294"></A>294}</SPAN> +important passage for showing +that St. Paul did not in any way confuse the divine Spirit and the +human, and that in his belief the divine indwelling did not in any way +annihilate the human personality. Even in the closest union God +remains God and man man. But the passage is at least as important as +opening up a special avenue of insight into St. Paul's conception of +Christian worship and spiritual life generally. He speaks first of a +witness of the individual spirits of Christians to the fact of their +divine sonship; and he distinguishes from it something greater, a +witness of the divine Spirit, supporting the human. What exactly does +he mean by this witness of the divine Spirit as distinct from the +consciousness which—under the leading of the divine Spirit—Christians +are led themselves to form? How are we to distinguish the Spirit's +witness from the witness of our own hearts inspired by Him? Is it +merely[<A NAME="chap0812fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn6">6</A>] that the 'consciousness (of the individual) is analyzed, and +its <I>data</I> are referred partly to the man himself, partly to the Spirit +of God moving and prompting him?' I do not think that a closer +examination will lead us to be satisfied with this. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P295"></A>295}</SPAN> + +<P> +The witness of the divine Spirit is apparently fixed by the context to +consist in the supply to us of the phrase 'Abba, Father[<A NAME="chap0812fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn7">7</A>]'. It is the +Spirit 'in whom we cry' (or, as the passage in the Galatians says, 'who +Himself comes into our hearts crying) Abba, Father,' who thus, by +suggesting this cry to us, bears witness with our own spirits that we +are sons of God. Thus the supporting witness of the Spirit lies +especially in a certain mode of address to God or formula of prayer +which He supplies. But this 'cry' or prayer the Spirit supplies to the +hearts of the Church as a whole. The whole Church, and not the +individual soul only, is the Spirit's home. 'Know ye not that ye are +(corporately) a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in +you'[<A NAME="chap0812fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn8">8</A>]? The witness of the Spirit is thus a witness borne in the +whole Church, which supports and sustains the witness of the individual +soul. This is a thought full of consolation. The life of the +individual Christian reposes upon, and is infolded by, the larger life +of the whole body. Behind his own spiritual consciousness, with all +its vicissitudes, lies the inspired consciousness of the whole body, +the witness of the Spirit; and this in part expresses itself in +inspired +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P296"></A>296}</SPAN> +formulas—the Lord's Prayer, the psalms, the creeds of +the divine name, the Church's worship; and these formulas, representing +our best self, are to sustain us in our fluctuations of feeling, and +carry us over our periods of dryness and insensibility. 'The Spirit +Himself beareth witness with our spirit.' +</P> + +<P> +5. 'The inheritance' of the children of God, which in the Old +Testament begins by meaning the Holy Land, was spiritualized into +meaning the kingdom of the Messiah. 'They shall inherit the land for +ever[<A NAME="chap0812fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn9">9</A>]': 'the meek shall inherit the earth[<A NAME="chap0812fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn10">10</A>].' And this kingdom of +the Messiah is an eternal kingdom: 'they shall inherit eternal +life[<A NAME="chap0812fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn11">11</A>]'—that is to be our inheritance as the chosen people of the +Lord. And it is an inheritance not only incorruptible but +inexhaustible: all share in it to the full of their capacities, and the +abundance of those who share diminishes nothing from the richness that +remains. +</P> + +<P> +And into that inheritance Christ is 'the way.' His life shows the law +by which it is to be won. It was a current Christian saying—'a +faithful saying'—'if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if +we endure, we shall also reign +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P297"></A>297}</SPAN> +with Him[<A NAME="chap0812fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0812fn12">12</A>].' And whenever we +are inclined to complain at anything we may have to suffer, there is +one thought capable at once of quenching all murmuring, because of its +indisputable reasonableness—'It is enough for the disciple that he be +as his Master.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn1text">1</A>] 1 John iii. 9. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn2text">2</A>] 'Ye received' (at a particular time), not 'ye have received'; cf. +above, p. 214, note 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn3text">3</A>] Prov. xvii. 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn4text">4</A>] See Chase, <I>Lord's Prayer in the Early Church</I> ('Texts and +Studies,' Cambridge), p. 23. Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. i. 17. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn5text">5</A>] xi. 2. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn6text">6</A>] S. and H., <I>in loc.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn7text">7</A>] Cf. Vaughan and Gifford, <I>in loc.</I> +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn8text">8</A>] 1 Cor. iii. 16. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn9text">9</A>] Isa. lx. 21. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn10text">10</A>] Matt. v. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn11text">11</A>] Matt. xix. 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0812fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0812fn12text">12</A>] 2 Tim. ii. 11. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0818"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P298"></A>298}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 9. CHAPTER VIII. 18-30. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>The hope of the creation.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul has touched upon the familiar topic of Christian suffering, +and he ends his great argument with a splendid encouragement to +believers to suffer gladly, and that for a manifold reason. First +(18-25), that the suffering is altogether inconsiderable by comparison +with the glory to which it leads, and is in itself only a part of the +universal travail-pang through which created nature as a whole is to +produce a glorious new earth to be the habitation of righteousness. +Secondly (26-30), that we are not alone in our sufferings. We have the +support, within us and around us, of the Holy Spirit as our effective +intercessor, and the consciousness of an eternal and infallible purpose +of divine love which is taking effect stage by stage in the case of +each one of us whom God has made members of His elect body. The +following is a paraphrase. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P299"></A>299}</SPAN> + +<P> +The sufferings in which this present situation involves us Christians +are quite inconsiderable by comparison with the heavenly glory which is +destined to be disclosed and to include us. The sense of this glorious +future pervades the whole creation. Nature is like some on-looker at a +spectacle craning the neck to see what is coming. She is waiting for +the final disclosure of the children of God in their true position; +knowing that she too—as a new heaven and a new earth—will share that +glorious future. At present her powers are continually frustrated; +failure is everywhere; the law of corruption is upon her like a +bondage. This curse she was subjected to, through no will of her own, +by the simple fiat of her Creator—but not for ever: she was left to +hope for deliverance from this bondage into a state of freedom—a +share, that is, in the freedom which is to belong to the final glory of +the children of God. With this in mind we can bear the universal +spectacle of pain. What we have always heard hitherto, wherever we +have lent our ear all through nature, has been groans; but they are the +groans as of a woman in travail: and in these groans we, God's chosen +people, though we already possess the first instalment of the divine +Spirit, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P300"></A>300}</SPAN> +the pledge of what is yet to come—in these groans we +bear our part, and also in the hope that accompanies the groaning. We +groan expecting to realize our sonship, as that can only be realized +when body as well as soul is redeemed from all evil. Hope is thus the +very condition on which we received our spiritual deliverance when we +became Christ's. And hope means nothing else than a condition of +expecting good things not yet in sight. It means the readiness to +endure till they come. +</P> + +<P> +And there is another reason why we should be glad to bear our present +sufferings. It is because, though we are weak in ourselves, we are not +left alone. Of ourselves we should be bewildered and not know even +what we ought to ask God to give us. But we have in the Spirit who +dwells in us a divine advocate and intercessor. His intercession makes +itself perceptible to us in groaning desires after a better condition, +desires which cannot be put into words, but which are intelligible +enough to God. He who searches the hearts interprets the longings we +cannot express—understands, that is, the Spirit's meaning; for He is +God's own Spirit, and the intercessions He makes for us, the +consecrated people, express God's own +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P301"></A>301}</SPAN> +intention. And what that +intention is towards us we know. We know that it is an intention of +good which cannot fail for those who love God; or, in other words, for +those who are the subjects of the divine purpose and call—an intention +of good to which everything, even seeming evils, must minister. For +God's purpose reaches from eternity to eternity, and cannot be baffled +from without or fail by the way. Those whom in eternity He designated +beforehand as instruments of His will, those He also eternally destined +for the highest human perfection—for the blessed lot of being made +like His own Son, as He should be hereafter incarnate, so that He might +be an elder brother in a great human family: and those who were thus +appointed beforehand for this high destiny, in due course He called +into the elect body. And those whom He thus called He acquitted and +accepted for righteous: and whom He thus accepted He crowned with glory. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to +be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the +earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the +sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own +will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation +itself also shall be delivered from the bondage +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P302"></A>302}</SPAN> +of corruption +into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that +the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. +And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the +Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for <I>our</I> +adoption, <I>to wit</I>, the redemption of our body. For by hope were we +saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which +he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, <I>then</I> do we with +patience wait for it. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block"> +And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know +not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession +for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth +the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh +intercession for the saints according to <I>the will of</I> God. And we +know that to them that love God all things work together for good, +<I>even</I> to them that are called according to <I>his</I> purpose. For whom he +foreknew, he also foreordained <I>to be</I> conformed to the image of his +Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he +foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also +justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +i. +</H4> + +<P> +There are passages in the New Testament which are unique. Such is the +passage in St. Peter's epistle about Christ preaching in His +disembodied human spirit to other spirits in Hades—a passage vaguely +suggestive of wide thoughts and hopes, and leading us to suppose +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P303"></A>303}</SPAN> +that the ideas which it contained were familiar in the apostolic +circle, but standing alone, with practically nothing to elucidate it +from outside. And the passage just read about the groaning of creation +in travail-pains is unique, not because there is not a good deal to +elucidate it in other parts of the Bible, but because St. Paul in his +treatment of common material strikes a note of sympathy with nature +from nature's point of view, which is heard nowhere else in the Bible. +</P> + +<P> +In Genesis we read that 'the ground was cursed[<A NAME="chap0818fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn1">1</A>]' because of man's +sin, in the sense apparently that, as the penalty of his sin, nature +was to be made a rougher home for him, and he was to extract his food +from it only with pain and sweat. Isaiah is perhaps interpreting this +primitive lesson in more modern tones when he cries that 'the earth is +polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed +the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the ever-lasting covenant. +Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell +therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are +burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine +languisheth[<A NAME="chap0818fn2text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn2">2</A>].' In this sense certainly, if not in some more +recondite +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P304"></A>304}</SPAN> +sense also, the ground is stricken with a curse as a +result of human sin. And there are parts of the world where no lesson +seems more patent. At any rate, whatever be the interpretation given +to it, it was part of the common Jewish teaching that 'though all +things were made very good, yet when the first man sinned they were +corrupted, and shall return no more to their proper state until the son +of Pherez[<A NAME="chap0818fn3text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn3">3</A>] shall come[<A NAME="chap0818fn4text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn4">4</A>].' For the curse was not to be for ever. +There was a good time to come—a new heaven, a new earth, wherein +righteousness should dwell—'A restoration of all things,' and not +merely of man[<A NAME="chap0818fn5text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn5">5</A>], which should accompany the coming of the Messiah. +This was a most popular idea in Jewish hearts. 'I will transform the +heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light. And I will transform +the earth and make it a blessing and cause mine elect ones to dwell +upon it: but the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon[<A NAME="chap0818fn6text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn6">6</A>].' +</P> + +<P> +Here then we have the common belief which St. Paul inherits and uses. +He lays indeed very little stress upon the connexion of the earth's +present condition with human sin, if he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P305"></A>305}</SPAN> +even alludes to it. He +only says it was 'subjected to vanity' by the decree of the Creator, +and that with a glorious prospect. It is upon the present aspect of +the creation and its great prospect that his eyes are set. And his +superiority to contemporary Jewish thought is shown by the fact that in +his vision of the future he is catholic and cosmic. What he is +contemplating is not a world renovated in order that one chosen race +may be happy and glorious, but a renovated world for a perfected +humanity. And in his representation of the present aspects of nature +he strikes an extraordinarily modern note by exhibiting, as it were +unintentionally, a deep and real sympathy with nature in her pain from +her own point of view. The Psalms can supply examples of a real +sympathetic fellowship in the happiness of creation—a happiness which +modern pessimists strangely ignore. But here we have, as nowhere else +in the Bible—perhaps nowhere in ancient literature—a man who feels +with the pain of creation[<A NAME="chap0818fn7text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn7">7</A>]. He notes how much 'vanity' there is in +nature—how much that is ineffective and disappointing, how much waste +and sadness—by reason of the omnipresent law of corruption, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P306"></A>306}</SPAN> +dissolution and decay under which she is laid. He feels this as from +nature's own heart. And he has an ear for the universal cry of +positive pain, pain as of a woman in travail, which is one at least of +the most unmistakeable voices of nature. But he has got an explanation +of this universal pain which makes it tolerable to him. It is the pain +which accompanies a birth. The pain, as in the case of the woman, is +to be justified by the issue. Nature 'eagerly expects' as well as +'groans': and will doubtless 'remember no more the anguish, for joy' of +that which is the fruit of her agony. For there is a destiny for the +whole material world which includes man. As man is to be perfected and +spiritualized in body no less than in mind; so the whole man, perfected +in glory, is to have his place in a world emancipated in like manner +from failure and pain. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps the most important consideration to be derived from this +passage is that St. Paul's thought is equally alien to a one-sided +spiritualism and a one-sided materialism. A one-sided spiritualism, +such as is represented to-day by (most falsely-called) 'Christian +Science,' either disbelieves in the reality of matter altogether, or +regards it with its attendant qualities of weakness and pain as evil +and a thing to be ignored. The religion of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P307"></A>307}</SPAN> +the Incarnation, on +the other hand, as represented by St. Paul, recognizes it as God's +creation and the temple of His presence. In our manhood, as scientific +investigation assures us, we can exercise no activity of spirit except +as parts of a material world, through the senses and by the +instrumentality of the bodily organs. Spirit and matter are in us so +linked together that the real difficulty to a thinking Christian is to +conceive at all of a 'disembodied' state of the personal human spirit +after death which is in any sense a living state. But such a +'disembodied' state—if the word really represents the truth—is +unnatural and temporary. The perfected human spirit is to have an +embodiment which is to be material, as being truly a body, but also +spiritual, because it is to be the fitting organ of the perfected +spirit, in no way embarrassing or clogging its activity by any +grossness or corruption. This is the Christian hope, definite in +principle, if quite unaccompanied by any anticipated knowledge of +method or details. And this destiny of the human body cannot be +separated from the destiny of the material universe as a whole. Matter +as a whole is to have an unending development like spirit, and a +development with a justifying purpose of glory in it. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P308"></A>308}</SPAN> + +<P> +And St. Paul is equally opposed to the materialism which gives to +matter a substantive existence apart from spirit. Metaphysical inquiry +assures us that we can have no conception of a material object, or of +matter in general, except as related to a consciousness or spirit; or, +in other words, except as an adjunct to some sort of personality. Such +metaphysical inquiry did not lie in St. Paul's way. But he is in +harmony with its results when he contemplates a glorified nature as +still relative to glorified personalities. Nature is to share the +revelation of the glory of the <I>sons</I> of God. +</P> + +<P> +We cannot help wondering, as we read these verses, whether St. Paul had +in mind that occasion when, before the chosen witnesses, Christ was +bodily transfigured on the holy mount by an anticipation of the glory +destined for His sonship; and the apostles felt their hearts thereby +encouraged to believe more surely in the teaching of the prophets about +the general glory that was to accompany the final manifestation of the +Christ[<A NAME="chap0818fn8text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn8">8</A>]. +</P> + +<P> +When St. Paul talks of nature 'groaning' and (still more) 'eagerly +expecting,' is it merely a poetical personification, as Chrysostom and +most +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P309"></A>309}</SPAN> +commentators suppose, like that of the Psalmist when he +makes 'the floods clap their hands'? It may be so. George Crabbe, in +his <I>Delay is Dangerous</I>, draws a singularly beautiful picture of a +late autumn morning as it appeared to a dejected man, and he ends the +description with the lines:— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +These things were sad in nature, or they took<BR> +Sadness from him, the likeness of his look.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Is the latter the true explanation? Is there no sadness or eager +desire in nature independently—I will not say of spirit, but of the +human spirit? It is sometimes very difficult to believe this. And may +not the Christian belief about angels make the fancy legitimate, that +every created thing has some accompanying intelligence—higher or +lower—which consciously realizes its beauty and its joy, and also its +pain and its hope? If this be so, then there is not merely deficiency +and pain, but the consciousness of this deficiency and pain, a real +groaning and a real expectation, in the great fabric of nature. We may +legitimately imagine this; but we have probably no right to attribute +such an imperfectly-based speculation to St. Paul[<A NAME="chap0818fn9text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn9">9</A>]. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P310"></A>310}</SPAN> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +ii. +</H4> + +<P> +It is very interesting to notice the various points of view from which +St. Paul contemplates the great ideas of 'redemption,' 'adoption,' +'salvation.' Christ redeemed us by the shedding of His blood, and we +entered into the redeemed state individually and were adopted as sons +when we became Christians. This is, beyond all question, St. Paul's +belief. But when he contemplates the outward conditions of the +redeemed man, and finds them quite incongruous with freedom and +sonship, so wholly unashamed is he to require that these outward +conditions shall be transformed, and body as well as spirit shall be +redeemed, that he speaks as if the great hope were still unrealized and +we were still only expecting to be redeemed and adopted—'waiting for +our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' He thus retains the +intensely Jewish language of what we may call Christ's own Apocalypse, +when He bids His disciples, as the Day of the Lord approaches, to 'look +up and lift up their heads: because their redemption draweth nigh.' +</P> + +<P> +The uses of the words 'saved' and 'salvation' are still more +remarkable. If we are +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P311"></A>311}</SPAN> +contemplating the finished work of Christ, +we are led to say, 'By grace have we been saved[<A NAME="chap0818fn10text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn10">10</A>].' If we are +considering our own individual entrances into this great salvation at +the time of our believing or becoming Christians in baptism, we say, +'It was upon a basis of hope that we were saved[<A NAME="chap0818fn11text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn11">11</A>].' If we are +considering the progressive life of the believer, we say, 'He is being +saved[<A NAME="chap0818fn12text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn12">12</A>].' If we are looking to the great and final hope, we say, 'We +shall be saved.' 'Our salvation is nearer than when we became +believers[<A NAME="chap0818fn13text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn13">13</A>].' This simple set of facts about New Testament language +throws a great light on the popular revivalist question—'Are you +saved?' +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iii. +</H4> + +<P> +Our Lord once asked one who came to Him to be healed—'What wilt thou +that I should do unto thee?' and a very devout modern writer[<A NAME="chap0818fn14text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn14">14</A>] builds +upon this an argument that we ought to learn continually to pray with +more definiteness and detail. Probably it is true to say +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P312"></A>312}</SPAN> +that +the advanced Christian learns to pray more definitely for spiritual +things, as he grows in spiritual discernment and sees more distinctly +what God's moral will is for himself and others. But there is no +similar growth to be expected in the knowledge of what outward gifts +will really help or hinder us and others. And it is with his eye +chiefly on the outward conditions of the Christian's life that St. Paul +here says—'We know not what we should pray for as we ought'; and +teaches us that 'The Spirit makes intercession for the saints according +to God.' We must be content to recognize, even while we +half-ignorantly pray for what we think we need, that '<I>all</I> (outward) +things work together for good to them that love God.' St. Paul had +learnt that lesson when he himself 'besought the Lord thrice' that his +great physical trouble might be removed from him, and was refused[<A NAME="chap0818fn15text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn15">15</A>]. +The Son of Man Himself prayed only 'Father, <I>if it be possible</I>, let +this cup pass from me,' and learned in experience that it was not +possible. These lessons may suffice to humble any one who grows +over-confident that he knows what outward circumstances are best for +himself or his friends or the Church. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P313"></A>313}</SPAN> + +<P> +We all feel deeply the imperfection of our prayers: how weak, how +ignorant they are! And St. Paul consoles us with the belief in an +intercession—perfect, all-knowing, divine—which supports and sustains +and, we may say, includes ours. The 'intercession of the Spirit' in +our behalf, carried on, it is implied, 'in the hearts' of the saints +which only God searches, is mentioned nowhere in the New Testament but +here. But it is not to be separated from the intercession of Christ +which is mentioned just below[<A NAME="chap0818fn16text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn16">16</A>]. Christ's intercession is 'at the +right hand of God,' but also He has by the Spirit taken us up into His +own life. He dwells in us by His Spirit. By His Spirit we are knit +into one and made His body. Doubtless, then, dwelling thus by the +Spirit in the body, Christ intercedes for us. This is the intercession +of the Spirit, which is also the intercession of Christ—an +intercession gathering up into one, and sustaining and connecting and +perfecting, all the imperfect prayers of all the saints. +</P> + +<P> +This interceding Spirit is in Himself perfectly conscious of God's mind +and purpose, and God is perfectly conscious of His. He intercedes +'according to God.' This intercession +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P314"></A>314}</SPAN> +is but a form of the +perfect divine life. But in the heart of the Church this desire of the +Spirit can make itself felt only in groanings for the divine +manifestations which, like the aspirations which music suggests or +expresses, are too deep to admit of articulate utterance. St. Paul, +when he speaks of groanings which cannot be put into words, is perhaps +thinking of the 'tongues' in which the spiritual emotion of the first +Christian churches found expression. And we should think of some +earnest act of corporate Christian worship when, under the workings of +the one Spirit, the strong desire after what is holiest and highest +possesses men, and binds them together with a sense of longing for the +divine manifestation which could not be put into definite words. +</P> + +<P> +St. Paul speaks of the groaning of suffering nature (ver. 22), and the +groaning of the individual Christians (ver. 23), and also the groaning +of the divine Spirit in the Church (ver. 26). No word could express +more powerfully the intense desire after the manifestation of the +divine kingdom which, in St. Paul's mind, should lie at the heart of +true Christian prayer. +</P> + +<P> +And the true prayer of the Spirit—the prayer which is according to +God—is described (ver. 27) +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P315"></A>315}</SPAN> +as 'on behalf of saints[<A NAME="chap0818fn17text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn17">17</A>]'—on +behalf of a separated and consecrated body. It follows, that is to +say, the lines of Christ's own prayer—'I pray not for the world, but +for those whom thou hast given me.' It is through the sanctified life +that the divine influences are to spread over the world: and by praying +for the consecrated body we are praying that that life may be exhibited +more and more perfectly amongst men so as to strike their consciences +and move them to conversion; that through our good works which they now +behold they may glorify God in the day when they themselves are +visited. The New Testament method of praying for the world is thus in +great part indirect. But the direct method is also enjoined. We are +also to pray directly 'for all men[<A NAME="chap0818fn18text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn18">18</A>].' +</P> + +<BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +iv. +</H4> + +<P> +There is, I think, no point on which St. Paul has been more +misrepresented than on his teaching about predestination. He teaches +plainly that it is God's purpose to 'have mercy upon all': that He +'willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P316"></A>316}</SPAN> +truth[<A NAME="chap0818fn19text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn19">19</A>].' But He works towards this universal end through a +method of selected human instruments—through an elect body. Such an +elect body had been the Jewish nation—selected, we cannot tell why, +but very possibly in part because of its capacity for coherence and +toughness, coupled with a singular aptitude for simple religious +ideas—qualities which in themselves of course were the gift of God. +This nation might have expanded, as was intended, into a catholic +church. But, as it refused to correspond with its vocation in this +respect, in fact the catholic Church appears in history as taking its +place, even while it was developed out of it—an elect body gathered +out of 'every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.' The +election of this catholic body to be the heirs of salvation and to bear +the name of God in the world was, it would have been held, a +self-evident fact. St. Paul reasons not up to this fact but from it. +He uses the admitted fact to strengthen its individual members under +stress of trial. They must bear earthly troubles because they form the +appointed discipline for the individuals who form the select body. Let +men but love God, and then all outward things +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P317"></A>317}</SPAN> +whatsoever work +together for good for them. The fact that they love God is the +sufficient evidence of their election. Those who love God are also +those who are 'called according to His purpose.' But, we ask, Have +none received the call and rejected it? were none called, who do not +love God? is it not true, that 'Many are called and few chosen'? St. +Paul says not a word to the contrary. But that is not the question he +is considering. The members of the Christian Church, devoted to God, +to whom he is writing <I>have</I> been called. This call of which they have +become the subject is, St. Paul assures them, no afterthought, no +momentary act of God, which as it came into being in a moment so may +pass away. It is not a being taken up by God and then perhaps dropped +again. His gifts and calling are without repentance on His side, +because they represent an eternal will. In the eternal mind God +'foreknew' this chosen body. To 'know' as used of God (in contexts +where it is implied that others are not 'known') means to 'take +knowledge of or mark out for a divine purpose, as God said of the Jews, +'You only have I known of all the families of the earth[<A NAME="chap0818fn20text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn20">20</A>],' that is, +your +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P318"></A>318}</SPAN> +nation only have I singled out or designated[<A NAME="chap0818fn21text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn21">21</A>]. This +divine marking out then was an eternal act. God eternally marked out +certain persons, those presumably whom a certain preparatory discipline +and moral education, Jewish or heathen, should have made apt for His +purpose, such aptitude being of course again His gift. Anyway, for +reasons which we cannot probe, God did eternally foreknow or mark out +beforehand a body of men to be His catholic church. And those so +marked out were in the eternal counsels appointed for a high spiritual +vocation, to be made like the divine Son, who was to be made man, so +that, with Christ as heir and elder brother, they together might +represent in the world the divine ideal for man. And upon those so +marked out and foreordained, in due time the divine call came by the +apostolic preaching. And, at the first movement of corresponsive +faith, they had been acquitted of all their old sins and planted all at +once upon a new basis in Christ Jesus. And those thus set upon the new +basis God also had already in His divine counsels clothed with glory, +their share in the glory of the divine Son which is only waiting to be +fully manifested. Every +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P319"></A>319}</SPAN> +Christian therefore who has felt a +movement of God in his heart, under which he has become a Christian, +knows that he is in God's keeping. God will not fail him. He who has +begun the good work will perform it. Trouble and anxiety within or +without need not alarm him. He has but to keep himself, joyful and +confident, in God's hands. The movement of God upon him and within +him, as it proceeds out of the eternal mind, so it passes securely on +into the eternal issue. No doubt St. Paul would say they might tear +themselves by utter wilfulness out of the divine hand, as for the time +at least the Jews had mostly done. But short of that they are safe. +The movement of God, the protection of God, the purpose of God, is upon +them and around them, and goes before them preparing their way, +individually and corporately. +</P> + +<P> +This is the moral use St. Paul makes of the doctrine of predestination. +And it is to do egregious violence to his general teaching to suggest +that he entertained the idea of persons created with an opposite +predestination—to eternal misery. St. Paul is dealing here only with +what God has already shown of His purpose in the actual vocation of +some. Ultimately +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P320"></A>320}</SPAN> +he assures us all men share the divine purpose +for good[<A NAME="chap0818fn22text"></A><A HREF="#chap0818fn22">22</A>]. But, on the other hand, he never suggests that they may +not resist it, or allows us to say that so far as concerns themselves +they may not defeat it. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn1text">1</A>] iii. 17-19; v. 29. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn2"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn2text">2</A>] xxiv. 5-7. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn3"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn3text">3</A>] i.e. Messiah, son of David, son of Pherez (Ruth iv. 18). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn4"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn4text">4</A>] <I>Bereshith Rabbah</I>, xii. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn5"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn5text">5</A>] Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; cf. 2 Pet. iii. 13; Rev. xxi. 1; Acts iii. +21. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn6"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn6text">6</A>] <I>Book of Enoch</I>, xlv. 4, 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn7"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn7text">7</A>] St. Paul's word 'creation' (verses 30-22) is used in St. Paul's +sense in Wisd. xvi. 34, xix. 6. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn8"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn8text">8</A>] 2 Pet. i. 16-19. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn9"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn9text">9</A>] Cf. Latham, <I>Service of Angels</I> (Cambridge, 1894). +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn10"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn10text">10</A>] Eph. ii. 5. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn11"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn11text">11</A>] Rom. viii. 24. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn12"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn12text">12</A>] 1 Cor. xv. 2; 2 Cor. ii. 15. (The present tense in both cases.) +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn13"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn13text">13</A>] Rom. v. 9, 10; xiii. 11: cf. 1 Tim. iv. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 18. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn14"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn14text">14</A>] Andrew Murray's <I>With Christ in the School of Prayer</I> (Nisbet +1891), p. 71. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn15"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn15text">15</A>] 2 Cor. xii. 8: cf. Phil. i. 22, 'What I shall choose I wot not.' +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn16"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn16text">16</A>] Verse 34. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn17"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn17text">17</A>] Not 'the saints' in the Greek. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn18"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn18text">18</A>] 1 Tim. ii. 1. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn19"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn19text">19</A>] Rom. xi. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn20"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn20text">20</A>] Amos iii. 2: cf. Ps. i. 6; Hos. xiii. 5; Matt. vii. 23. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn21"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn21text">21</A>] Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. pp. 19, 80. +</P> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0818fn22"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0818fn22text">22</A>] See especially Rom. xi. 29-33. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap0831"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P321"></A>321}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +DIVISION III. § 10. CHAPTER VIII. 31-39. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Christian assurance.</I> +</H4> + +<P> +St. Paul has brought his great argument to an end. And before he +passes to its manifold application in the later parts of his epistle, +he applies it in words which spring glowing from a heart on fire with +the gospel he loves, to reassure disheartened and nervous Christians. +It was a natural feature of the apostolic age that the disciples should +lose their first courage and become afraid, when the hard experience +they were to expect became plain to them. The Epistle to the Hebrews +is written full in face of this failure of courage among Jewish +Christians. For the Gentiles whom St. Paul has more particularly in +view there were manifold causes of alarm—fears derived from their own +weakness, from spiritual uncertainty, and from their precarious +position. It was not only that outward calamity—famine and +pestilence—might +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P322"></A>322}</SPAN> +come on them like other people. They plainly +felt—St. Paul plainly felt, as he thought of the bitter hostility of +the Jews actually ready to break out upon the Church, and of the +jealousy of the Empire, not yet hostile but easily capable of becoming +so—that times of persecution were at hand: that the Christians were +truly in the world as 'lambs in the midst of wolves.' Therefore he +would have them realize the whole secret of that invincible strength, +that power to endure and triumph, which ought to be theirs. +</P> + +<P> +What is to be our practical conclusion, he asks, from all this +theology, from all this consideration of revealed facts and truths? +The sum of it all is that God is not our taskmaster and critical judge. +He is altogether on our side. And if this be so, whose hostility can +by comparison come into consideration at all? God showed His mind +toward us by the greatest possible act of self-sacrifice, the giving up +of His own divine Son to die for us. And, plainly, if of His free love +He gave us His greatest gift, He will not fail to accompany it with +everything that love can suggest. Or, to put the matter in another +way, if God, in full knowledge of what we were thought proper to take +us for His chosen +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P323"></A>323}</SPAN> +people and to put us in a position of +acceptance with Him, who can with any hope of success bring a charge +against us or pass condemnation on us? For we know the mind of the +only judge. Or, once again, what can be so reassuring as to consider +the person of our advocate or mediator? It is Christ Jesus, God's own +Son in our nature, who died a sacrifice for our sins, but so far from +being conquered by death, was raised from among the dead, and exalted +to the right hand of God, and there is occupied in presenting Himself +before the Father in intercession for us—covering all our approach to +God with His acceptableness. Out of the protecting power of this love +of Christ, then, who shall tear us? It is quite true that troubles may +beat upon us—outward affliction, or inward trouble, or persecution, or +famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. We may find that only the +words of the Psalmist[<A NAME="chap0831fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap0831fn1">1</A>] suit our case, 'For thy sake are we being put +to death the whole day: the estimate formed of us is that of sheep +meant for slaughter.' But in all these contingencies the love of +Christ can supply us with a more than victorious power. For this is +St. Paul's conviction, that no conceivable power +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P324"></A>324}</SPAN> +of life or of +death, or of the angelic hierarchy, nothing in present circumstances or +future destiny, no possible force, neither the highest height of +heavens or the deepest depth of hell, no possible creation of God other +than what we now know to exist, shall be able to tear us from that +which holds us in a grasp stronger than the strongest—the love of God +which is in Christ Jesus, who is our Lord. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +What then shall we say to these things? If God <I>is</I> for us, who <I>is</I> +against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for +us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who +shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that +justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that +died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right +hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate +us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or +persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it +is written, +</P> + +<P CLASS="block2" STYLE="margin-left: 10%"> + For thy sake we are killed all the day long;<BR> + We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. +</P> + +<P CLASS="block2"> +Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that +loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor +powers, 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. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There is not much that needs comment in these verses. We may notice +the contrast +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P325"></A>325}</SPAN> +between the tone of the Psalmist quoted by St. +Paul—weighed down, like many a servant of the older covenant, with the +unintelligible experience of the persecution of God's faithful +people—and the exultant faith of St. Paul which finds no difficulty in +the experience at all. Again, we do well to observe that among the +forces enumerated by St. Paul which cannot tear us out of the hand of +God, he does not include our own wills, and we could not even conceive +him so including them. Once again, we take note how 'the love of +Christ' (ver. 35) is resolved (ver. 39) into the 'love of God in Christ +Jesus.' Christ's love is God's love, as Christ is truly proper and +essential to the being of God, His own very Son. +</P> + +<P> +These words, I say, need very little comment, but they thrill our souls +as hardly any other words of St. Paul. They are the real summary of +this epistle, and show us how the glorious apostle of Christian liberty +would have us view our life. We are not to build the edifice of a life +which at the top is to be within sight of God. We are to start from +God who from eternity and all along has been beforehand with us: in His +external personal love predestinating, creating, calling, pardoning, +holding, and keeping us +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P326"></A>326}</SPAN> +in continual growth for eternal glory. +And the one power of religion is therefore faith, that faculty by which +we look continually out of ourselves, and starting from God, committing +ourselves wholly to God, raise the fabric of life, in the community of +a true human brotherhood, upon the secure basis of the love of Him who +created us, and will satisfy utterly the being which He has given us. +This is the summary lesson of the great epistle. +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap0831fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap0831fn1text">1</A>] Ps. xliv. 22. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +END OF VOL. I +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>A Series of Simple Expositions</I> +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +<I>of</I> +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Portions of the New Testament</I>, +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D., +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. +</H4> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Crown 8vo, Green Cloth, 3s. 6d. each volume.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.<BR> +THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS.<BR> +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Vol. I. cap. i-viii.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Vol. II. cap. ix-xvi, with Appendices.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +OTHER WORKS +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +BY THE +</H4> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. +</H4> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Crown 8vo 2s. 6d.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. Four Lectures delivered in the Cathedral +Church of St. Asaph. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +CONTENTS:—I. The Mission of the Church.—II. Unity within the Church +of England.—III. The Relation of the Church to Independent and +Hostile Opinion.—IV. The Mission of the Church in Society.—Appended +Notes. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'It is a twofold work—to sanctify what can be hallowed, to pass +judgement on that which must be condemned. From this point of view the +interest of Mr. Gore's new book is great.'—<I>Church Quarterly</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>8vo, 7s. 6d.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE BAMPTON LECTURES, 1891; The Incarnation of the Son of God. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>8vo, 7s. 6d.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +DISSERTATIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE INCARNATION. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Crown 8vo, 5s. net.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +ESSAYS ON CHURCH REFORM. Eleven Essays on the Present and Future +Position of the Church of England. By the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, +D.D.; and other eminent British, Colonial, and American writers. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Crown 8vo, 6s.</I> +</H5> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +LUX MUNDI. A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. By +Various Writers. Edited by the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, D.D. +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +LONDON: +<BR> +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. +I, by Charles Gore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + +***** This file should be named 32673-h.htm or 32673-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/7/32673/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</BODY> + +</HTML> + diff --git a/32673.txt b/32673.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..651e951 --- /dev/null +++ b/32673.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7551 @@ +Project Gutenberg's St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I, by Charles Gore + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. I + A Practical Exposition + +Author: Charles Gore + +Release Date: June 3, 2010 [EBook #32673] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +_St. Paul's_ + +_Epistle to the Romans_ + + +_A Practical Exposition_ + + + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER + + + +VOL. I + +(CHAPTERS I-VIII) + + + +LONDON + +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + +1902 + + + + + FIRST EDITION . _February_, 1899. + _Reprinted . . . . . March_, 1900. + _Reprinted . . . September_, 1900. + _Reprinted . . . . October_, 1902. + + + +OXFORD + +HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY + + + + +{v} + +PREFACE + +A good excuse is needed for adding to the large number of excellent +commentaries on the Epistle to the Romans which already exist. But I +think there is such an excuse. These commentaries are not of the sort +which readers who are educated but not scholarly find it easy to +master; so that in fact this epistle is at the present day very much +misunderstood or ignored by such people. And again, partly owing to +its interpretation at the period of the Reformation and by some +Evangelicals of later date, it is still practically to a great extent +viewed with discomfort and neglected by those who most value the name +of Catholic. My excuse, then, for adding to the expositions of the +Romans lies in these facts. One who is necessarily immersed in the +practical work of the Christian ministry, and is yet struggling to keep +himself in some sense in line with biblical scholarship, if his life +involves special disadvantages, may yet hope to be useful in +interpreting to ordinary Christians {vi} the results of the scholars. +And I am persuaded that it requires one who enters thoroughly into the +spirit of churchmanship, or the obligation of the one body, to +interpret with any completeness the mind of St. Paul. + +This volume has practically no more connexion with lectures delivered +in Westminster Abbey last Lent, than is implied in its being an +exposition of the same epistle by the same person. + +The method of exposition in this volume is the same as that pursued in +its predecessor on the Epistle to the Ephesians. After a general +introduction, each section of the Revised Version is taken, or in some +cases two sections are taken together, and prefaced by an analysis or +paraphrase, as seems most useful, and followed by further explanation +of the main ideas or phrases which each section contains. + +The 'appended notes' I have been obliged to defer to the end of the +second volume--which, I hope, will appear within a year--with a view of +approximately equalizing the size of the two volumes. + +CHARLES GORE. + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY, + _Conversion of St. Paul_, 1899. + + + + +{vii} + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + PAGE +INTRODUCTION. + + (i) Origin and circumstances of the epistle . . . . . . . . 1 + (ii) 'Justification by works' or 'by faith' . . . . . . . . 6 + (iii) Justification, sanctification, and Church membership . 25 + (iv) St. Paul's doctrine and modern spiritual needs . . . . 41 + + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. + +CHAPTER + + I. 1-7 SALUTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 + 8-17 INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 + + +DIVISION I _Universality of sin and condemnation_ . . . . . . . 63 + + 18-32 Sec. 1 Judgement on the Gentile world . . . . . . . . 66 + II. Sec. 2 Judgement on the Jews . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 + III. 1-8 Sec. 3 Jewish objections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 + 9-20 Sec. 4 Sin and condemnation universal . . . . . . . . 121 + + +DIVISION II _Justification by faith only_. + + 21-31 Sec. 1 Christ our propitiation . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 + IV. Sec. 2 The true seed of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . 155 + + +{viii} + +DIVISION III _The accepted life or the moral consequences + of justification_. + + V. 1-11 Sec. 1 The holy confidence of the justified . . . . . 175 + 12-21 Sec. 2 The second Adam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 + + VI. 1-14 Sec. 3 The Christian life a living by dying . . . . . 204 + 15-23 Sec. 4 The perfect freedom in God's service . . . . . 225 + + VII. 1-6 Sec. 5 Freedom from the law by union with Christ . . 236 + 7-25 Sec. 6 The function and failure of the law . . . . . 245 + + VIII. 1-11 Sec. 7 Life in the Spirit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271 + 12-17 Sec. 8 The life of sonship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288 + 18-30 Sec. 9 The hope of the creation . . . . . . . . . . . 298 + 31-39 Sec. 10 Christian assurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321 + + + + +{1} + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS + + +_Introduction._ + +i. + +St. Paul's great Epistle to the Romans was written, as may be quite +confidently asserted, from Corinth, during the second visit to Greece +recorded in the Acts[1], i.e. in the beginning of the year commonly +reckoned 58, but perhaps more correctly 56 A.D.--the year following the +writing of the Epistles to the Corinthians. The reasons for this +confident statement, and indeed for all that needs to be said about the +circumstances under which St. Paul wrote and the conditions of +Christianity at Rome, become apparent chiefly in connexion with the +later parts of the epistle which are not included in this volume. They +{2} shall therefore be omitted here, and we will content ourselves for +the moment with a very brief statement of the results in which scholars +are now finding, as it would seem, final agreement. + +The existence of Christians at Rome was due not to any apostolic +founding, for no apostle appears yet to have visited Rome, but to the +sort of 'quiet and fortuitous filtration[2]' of Christians from various +parts of the empire to its great centre which must naturally have taken +place; for from all quarters there was a tendency to Rome. 'Some from +Palestine, some from Corinth, some from Ephesus and other parts of +Proconsular Asia, possibly some from Tarsus, and more from the Syrian +Antioch, there was in the first instance, as we may believe, nothing +concerted in their going; but when once they arrived in the metropolis, +the freemasonry common among Christians would soon make them known to +each other, and they would form, not exactly an organized Church'--that +may well have been the result of the later presence of St. Paul and St. +Peter--'but such a fortuitous assemblage of Christians as was {3} only +waiting for the advent of an apostle to constitute one[3].' Among this +assemblage of Christians it appears evident from St. Paul's language[4] +that there must have been Jews as well as Gentiles; but the dominant +character of the church was Gentile[5]. It is perhaps only putting +this in another way to say that there would have been among the Roman +Christians elements of hostility to St. Paul and his teaching, but +Christianity as St. Paul taught it would have been in the ascendant. +And probably St. Paul's special informants about affairs there would +have been his special friends, Prisca and Aquila[6]. + +The character of the epistle written to these Christians of the capital +is marked. It has beyond any other of St. Paul's epistles the +character of an ordered theological treatise. Of course it assumes the +existence of accepted Christian principles--the rudimentary instruction +or Christian 'tradition'--in the minds of those to whom it was +addressed[7]. But it takes certain of these principles of the +Christian {4} religion and develops them systematically and +argumentatively; though again, it must be explained, the argument is +very far from being barely logical, but is full of the deepest feeling, +showing itself in passages of memorable eloquence which live in the +hearts of all of us. + +Why this particular epistle should have this character of a systematic +treatise is not hard to see. St. Paul was reaching the end of his +great controversy for the catholicity of the Gospel, against the +Judaizers--that is, for the equal position of Gentiles and Jews in the +Church, and against the obligation upon the Gentiles of circumcision +and the ceremonial law. That controversy was the occasion of the +apostolic conference at Jerusalem, which is described both by St. Luke +in the Acts[8] and, from the point of view of St. Paul's own 'apology,' +in the Epistle to the Galatians[9]. It is felt at its whitest heat in +that intensely concentrated and passionate epistle. But by the time +that the Epistle to the Romans came to be written the controversy was +quieting down. The victory of Catholicism over Judaism was as good as +won. The great principle of justification by faith, not by works of +the law, had developed itself lucidly {5} and clearly in St. Paul's +mind, and flowed out in our epistle in an ordered sequence of thought, +rich, profound, and mature. + +And there were special reasons why it should have been expressed in +writing at this moment, and to the Roman Christians. Though the heat +of the conflict inside the Church was over, the fierce hostility of +many of the Jews, both within and without the Church, to St. Paul +personally was by no means past. Now St. Paul was on his way up to +Jerusalem with the money collected in the Gentile churches for the poor +brethren there. He attached great importance to this expression of +Gentile goodwill, and almost more importance to its acceptance at his +hands by the Jerusalem Christians[10]. It was to be a link of mutual, +practical love to bind the divergent elements in the Church together. +But he felt, and as experience showed rightly, that his enterprise +would be attended with great peril to his life. This epistle +therefore, like his speech at Miletus, has something of the character +of 'last words[11].' He is in writing it committing to the future the +fruits of his labours, so far as they can be expressed in a doctrine, +at a moment when he feels that their continuance is being {6} seriously +imperilled. And this summary of his life's teaching in its most +characteristic aspect is most fitly addressed to the Christians of the +great city which was the centre of the then world. St. Paul already +conceived of Christianity as, in prospect at least, the religion of the +empire. It was vastly important, therefore, that the capital should +know it and hold it in its full glory and richness. He himself, if he +escaped safe through the visit to Jerusalem, was bent on immediately +going thither and securing this great end by his personal ministry[12]. +But he could not depend on the future. He must seize the golden +moment--buying up the opportunity at least by a letter. + +This, in very brief words, is an account of the circumstances and +conditions under which the Epistle to the Romans was written, and it +must suffice for the moment till some of the details are presented to +us in its later chapters. + + +ii. + +There are men of whom it is especially true that their teaching is the +outcome of their own {7} personal experience. If a man's teaching is +to have any real force this must be in a measure true in any case. But +in some men the personal experience has set an exceptionally strong +impress upon the intellectual convictions, and so upon the teaching. +Such men--otherwise very different from one another--are Augustine, +Dante, Luther, Bunyan, Newman. Such an one was St. Paul. His +intellectual theory is on fire with the emotions bred of a personal +experience, both bitter and sweet, but always intense. And if there is +professedly more of autobiography in the Epistle to the Galatians, yet +in fact we know St. Paul's interior life, both before and after his +'conversion,' so far as we know it at all, mainly through the +generalized account of it in the Epistle to the Romans. For the +doctrine of justification by faith, not by works of the law, developed +in this epistle, is the record of his personal experience reduced to a +general principle. St. Paul had, on the lines of his Pharisaic +education, in the first half of his life zealously sought to be +justified by works, and had found out his mistake. + +What is the real meaning of this phrase? Ordinarily we Englishmen find +it natural to appropriate St. James' 'common sense' language {8} about +justification rather than St. Paul's[13], and say that faith is surely +of no moral value without works or good actions, and that we can be +justified by nothing else except our conduct. Or if the Pharisees are +pointed to with their rigid ecclesiastical observances as types of men +seeking to be justified before God by the merits of their works, then, +in this sense of works, we feel that the idea of justification by such +means, apart from deeper moral effort, is one which has passed out of +our horizon. Yet if we get to the moral essence of the Pharisaic idea, +we may still find it lying very close at hand to us, even though we do +not know what a phylactery means, and are at a safe distance from +fasting twice in the week, or giving tithes of all that we acquire. A +well-to-do Englishman, of whatever class, has a strong sense of +respectability. He has a code of duty and honour which he is at pains +to observe. A soldier, a gentleman, a woman of fashion, a peasant's +wife, a schoolboy, and an undergraduate, representing not more than the +average moral levels of their different classes, will all of them make +really great sacrifices to fulfil the requirements of their respective +codes. Their conscience requires {9} this of them, and they would be +miserable in falling short of it. But their conscience is also limited +to it. They resent the claim of a progressive morality. Conscientious +within the region of the traditional and the expected, they are often +almost impenetrable to light from beyond. They are nervously afraid of +the very idea of subjecting their life to a fundamental revision in the +light of Christ's claim, or to the idea of surrender to the divine +light wherever it may lead. But this frame of mind--conscientiousness +within a limited and well-established area accepted by public opinion, +coupled with resentment at whatever completer and diviner claim may +interfere to disconcert one's self-satisfaction, and bid one begin +afresh on a truer basis--is that very attempt to be justified by works +which appeared in the case of the Pharisees, only dressed in very +different guise to that in which the conditions of modern England +clothe it. + +For the Pharisees of the Gospels were the later representatives of the +Hasidaeans, i.e. Chasidim or 'pious' folk, whom we hear of in the Books +of Maccabees[14]. The later religious development of Israel lay along +the lines of {10} rigid reverence for the law. In days then of general +laxity and a general prevalence of Greek customs, these pious +Israelites united themselves to promote the devout observance of their +law. Their relation to Maccabaean heroes and rulers varied, as +religious or political motives were uppermost in the Maccabaean house. +They themselves pursued one consistent aim. They came to be known as +the Pharisees, the separated or the separatists, the party who kept +aloof from everything common or unclean. As such they represented the +religious nation in its later development. They had the bulk of the +people, and especially the women, with them. They had consequently, as +Josephus tells us, an irresistible influence upon public affairs, and +especially upon religious affairs, and they held the social position +befitting the legitimate religious leaders of God's own people. + +This position, with its accompanying reputation, they doubtless +deserved by their zeal for the law, and for the 'traditions of the +fathers' which hedged about or interpreted the law. But according to +the solemn witness of Christ and St. Paul, a disastrous lowering of the +best moral standard of the Old Testament scriptures had taken place +among them. The Mosaic law was, {11} of course, a matter mainly of +outward observance, and therefore would become a matter of rigid social +requirement within the area of such a body as the Pharisees. Nowhere +does public opinion act more strongly than in a close religious circle. +But the social requirement according to tradition came to be +substituted for that deeper spiritual relation of the 'holy nation' and +the individuals composing it to God and His will, which is the real +moral essence of the Old Testament. 'How can ye believe,' our Lord +said to them, 'which receive glory one of another, and the glory that +cometh from the only God ye seek not[15]?' This is the central moral +weakness of the Pharisaic position. A social or ecclesiastical +tradition had taken the place of the will of God. This social +tradition was rigid and stern in respect of the 'tradition of the +elders,' but it did not revise itself constantly or at all in the light +of the mind of God, and therefore its moral standard became debased. +It 'made void the word of God because of the tradition.' It 'tithed +mint and anise and cummin, and left undone the weightier matters of the +law, judgement, and mercy, and faith.' It 'strained out the gnat, and +swallowed the camel[16].' It {12} came to be almost purely external +and consistent with even the grossest spiritual hypocrisy, as both St. +Paul and our Lord Himself assure us. Above all, it was completely +satisfied with itself. 'We have Abraham to our Father.' 'I thank thee +that I am not as other men are.' That is the characteristic tone of +Pharisees and of all who, however unlike them otherwise, are living by +a strong social standard and priding themselves on belonging to a +respectable and dignified class. This it is that St. Paul calls +seeking to be justified or commended to God by 'works' or 'works of the +law'--not, we must observe, 'good works,' such as are the fruit of a +right disposition towards God, of which St. Paul never spoke with any +disparagement. + +It is the characteristic of the Pharisaic attitude that a man holds by +a strict code enforced by the public opinion of his church or circle; a +code which he diligently and even painfully obeys. But it is +characteristic of this attitude also that it resents new light, and +tacitly claims independence even of God, provided that 'the law' is +kept or the accepted standard maintained. Thus the Pharisees resented +the Christ, when renewing the voice of the old prophets, without +respect of persons, He exposed the {13} moral weaknesses of these +religious leaders, and bade them, in effect, begin again and think +afresh what God's will really meant: when He warned them that the one +unpardonable sin is to be self-satisfied in one's own eyes, and to +repudiate as an impertinent intruder the fresh divine light. The story +is very familiar. They resented and rejected the Christ because He +made the unlimited divine claim upon them: because He spoke to them as +God to the human soul, and not as the representative of 'the +tradition.' 'Seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did +not subject themselves to the righteousness of God[17].' + +Now we understand what it is to seek to be justified by works. It is +to have a social or ecclesiastical code, and to claim acceptance in +God's sight because we perform it, meanwhile making 'the law' under +which we act, believed to be divine, a substitute for the living and +personal God, and resenting any fresh and immediate claim of God on the +human soul. + +In this mixture of subservience and independence, of religious humility +and human pride, Saul of Tarsus had been brought up 'at the feet of +Gamaliel in Jerusalem.' His was not {14} one of those slack +consciences which enable men to take the lowest line which respectable +public opinion will allow. In every ecclesiastical system the strict +law comes to be mitigated by various dispensations and +compensations--generally substitutions of the easier ceremonial for the +harder moral requirement. But young Saul no doubt took the law in its +fullest sense as the thing to be kept, with all its accompanying +traditions. So taken, it constituted no doubt what St. Peter calls +it[18]--an intolerable yoke. A strict Jew must have had a very +difficult life of it. But it was not this yoke of specific outward +requirements that staggered St. Paul. What he found crushing was the +inward claim--'Thou shall not covet[19].' He who had determined to +appear before God at the last with a clear record as one who had kept +the law, found himself confronted by an inner and searching claim of +the divine righteousness, to which no blamelessness in outward conduct +enabled him to correspond. He could not help feeling himself a sinner +in the eye of God; and the sacrificial system plainly gave his +conscience no relief at all. He does not even allude to it in this +connexion. Meanwhile, as he moved {15} about in Jewish society of the +empire at Tarsus and elsewhere, he found that it required no spiritual +microscope to discover that the law in many of its plainest moral +injunctions was in fact not being observed at all. He seemed to see +that instead of the law being really the means of justification, it in +effect put 'the righteous nation' simply in the position of condemned +sinners, and himself among them, as fully as if they were simply +without a divinely given law, like the 'sinners of the Gentiles.' + +We know well how, when the way of God had been learnt more perfectly, +this earlier moral experience of the effect of the law on himself and +others worked itself out in St. Paul's mind into a deep theory of the +function, not of 'the law' only, that is the Mosaic law, but of law +altogether--of 'the letter' of any body of external enactments. Law, +he found, could enlighten the conscience, but it could never reach deep +enough to the springs of will to strengthen and purify them. God must +become more intimate to man than any external law can make Him. A law +of ordinances can only be a preparatory discipline, intended by the +very falsity of the assumption on which it is based to teach men that +they are not what they fancied themselves. {16} They fancied +themselves beings sufficiently independent to stand on their own basis +and enter into a covenant with God, to make a compact with Him to +observe a law and to abide by the result. It is the function of such a +compact as between independent parties to convince men that any such +relation between God, the Creator and Giver, and man, the creature and +simply the receiver--still more between God the Holy and man the +defiled and weakened--is simply contrary to fundamental facts[20]. + +As yet, however, St. Paul was only rendered miserable by his experience +under the law. To feel himself a sinner alienated from God was a +profound humiliation to his spiritual pride. He was fired no doubt by +the lofty ideal of the righteous nation, standing before God in virtue +of its righteousness, of its performance of the divine law, and +therefore making its claim on God to vindicate it before the whole +world. He threw himself zealously into rigid observance: only, +however, to find himself humiliated and perplexed. + +Meanwhile, he was becoming conscious of the {17} claim of Jesus of +Nazareth to be the Christ. Under what conditions that claim began to +confront him we do not in the least know. But he must have known in +the period before his conversion that the severest attack on the +spiritual position of the Pharisees ever delivered had been delivered +by Him who claimed to be the Christ; that the Pharisees in consequence +had thrown all their influence into the rejection of His claim, and if +they had not been the most direct instruments of His death, yet had +encouraged and sanctioned it. Thus the more dissatisfied he became in +his own conscience, the more zealous he grew for the Pharisaic +position, and the more fanatical, therefore, against the followers of +the crucified Jesus. At what point it began to dawn upon his +conscience that perhaps Jesus was right and not the Pharisees; that +perhaps it was in His teaching that his own restless heart was to find +repose, we can only wonder. Some struggle such as this dawning +consciousness would involve he certainly passed through. 'It was hard +for him to kick against the goad[21].' At last, and at a definite +moment, God 'triumphed over him' in Christ, and he gave in his {18} +allegiance to Jesus as the Christ on the road to Damascus. Many a man +has thus after a struggle surrendered to God at discretion: many a man +has shown the will, as Faber calls it, + + 'to lose my will in His, + And by that loss be free.' + + +But to no man can it ever have involved a completer sacrifice of his +own pride and prejudice--of his own personal comfort and safety--than +it did to St. Paul: and, therefore, in no man did it ever involve a +vaster increase of spiritual illumination. Hitherto he had stood on +the basis which his pride in his religious position gave him and, +starting thence, had sought to erect the spiritual fabric of a life +acceptable to God. But the more he had known of God and the more he +had struggled, the less satisfied he had become. God seemed to be in +no other attitude towards him than that of a dissatisfied taskmaster. +Now he had surrendered at discretion into God's hands. He had no +position of his own to maintain. He had put himself in God's hands. +In His sight he was content to be treated as a sinner, just like one of +the Gentiles--to be forgiven of His pure and unmerited love, and of His +pure and unmerited love endued with a spiritual power for which {19} he +could take no credit to himself, for it was simply a gift. Once more, +he had henceforth no prejudices and recognized no limitation on what he +might be required to bear or do. His life was handed over to be +controlled from above. Thus when St. Paul sets justification by faith +and faith only in opposition to justification by works of the law, he +is contrasting two different attitudes towards God and duty, which in +the two halves of his own sharply sundered life he had himself +conspicuously represented. The contrast may be expressed perhaps in +four ways. + +1. The man under the law of works is mainly concerned about external +conduct and observances--the making clean of the outside of the cup and +the platter: the man of faith is concerned almost altogether with the +relation of his heart to God at the springs of action. Faith is a +disposition of the heart which indeed results in a certain kind of +outward conduct, but which has its value already, prior to the outward +conduct, because of what it inwardly is. Faith, as Calvin said, +pregnant with good works, justifies before they are brought forth. +This distinction between faith and works underlies St. Paul's teaching +in parts, but is never very prominent. {20} It accounts, however, for +St. Paul's shrinking from any insistence upon outward observances in +the Church, such as do not necessarily convey any spiritual meaning or +power. 'Why,' he cries to the Colossians, 'do ye subject yourselves to +ordinances; handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to +perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men?[22]' + +2. Inasmuch as 'the law' was a national thing, so 'works of the law' +were a supposed means of justification confined to Israel, and an +occasion of contempt for other nations. Faith, on the other hand, the +mere capacity to feel our own wants and to take God at His word, is a +universal quality and belongs, or may belong, to all men. Thus +justification by faith is opposed to justification by works of the law, +as the universal or catholic to the merely Jewish or national, and in +this aspect the contrast occupies a great place in St. Paul's thought +and teaching. + +3. But it is not in the things it is occupied about, or in the range +of its activity, that faith is most centrally contrasted with works. +It is in the attitude of man towards God which it represents. The +'worker' for justification always {21} retains his own independence +towards God. He works upon the basis of a definite covenant by which +God is bound as well as himself. He has the right to resent additional +claims. Faith, on the other hand, means an entire abandonment of +independence. It is self-committal, self-surrender. 'I know him whom +I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which +I have committed unto him against that day[23].' The man of faith +throws all the responsibility for life on God, and says simply and +continually, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.' + +It is of the utmost importance to notice that this is the only attitude +of man towards God which corresponds with the ultimate facts of human +nature, as science and philosophy are bound to represent them. Man is, +in fact, an absolutely dependent being, physically and spiritually. +His virtue must lie, not in originativeness, but in correspondence. +Supposing him a free agent in God's universe, his freedom can only +consist in a power to correspond with divine forces and laws +intelligently and voluntarily; or on the other hand to disturb the +divine order of creation in a measure by {22} wilfulness and sin. Now +faith is simply the faculty of loving correspondence with God. +'Justification by faith' is the only conception of justification which +is possible in the light of the root facts of human nature. But of +course the practical appeal of this conclusion to the heart and will is +immensely increased, if men can be shown to have acted as if they were +independent and to have found it a failure; if life lived in +independence of God, with God as it were withdrawn from the actual +scene of life to its far-off horizon, is found to have resulted in +havoc, weakness and despair. So, in fact, St. Paul's doctrine of the +true means of justification is based on an appeal, not so much to the +ultimate constitution of our human nature as to the experienced results +of our independence of God, to the facts of sin, whether among Gentiles +or Jews. + +4. Finally, the principle of justification by faith is contrasted with +that of justification by works of the law in the view which it involves +of the character of God. The law, as St. Paul interprets it, views God +as a lord and taskmaster. Faith presents Him as the Father of our +spirits, always waiting upon us with His eternal, unchangeable love; +bearing with us; {23} dealing with us even on a false basis which by +our sins we have forced upon Him, in order to bring us to a recognition +of the true; anyway acting or withholding action, if by any means we +can be won to recognize His true character and our true life. + +These are the broad contrasts between the alternative methods of +justification by faith or by 'works of the law.' The law, and the +attitude towards God which the law suggested, are, in St. Paul's view, +the main characteristic of the Old Testament. This is a point of view +which we should expect in one trained by the Pharisees. We may +possibly feel that St. Paul tends to identify with the Old Testament as +a whole one particular element in it which specially characterized one +particular period. But at least the element was there, and occupied +there a highly important place in the whole development; and if St. +Paul in his idealizing manner sometimes speaks as if it was the whole +of the older covenant, as if he had forgotten all the teaching of +prophet and psalmist, yet he is not really forgetful. Law is to him +the characteristic of the old covenant. But behind the law God's +dealings with Abraham are for ever in his imagination witnessing +against the law's {24} limitation, and a similar witness is kept up all +along: so that St. Paul can take out of one of the books of Moses his +very central statement of the principle of faith[24]. + +In what has just been said justifying faith has been treated as if it +were simply, as it is really, faith in God; whereas in St. Paul's +language the object of justifying faith is constantly 'Jesus[25].' The +explanation of this is that in Jesus Christ God has manifested His +character as Father, and has come near to men, 'reconciling the world +unto Himself,' by the atonement wrought through His incarnate Son, and +giving conspicuous evidence of His saving power by raising Him from the +dead[26]. Thus, if Jesus is the proximate object of justifying faith, +it is Jesus as manifesting the Father, Jesus as God incarnate; and St. +Peter is strictly interpreting St. Paul when he represents the object +of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection in the phrase, 'that your faith +and hope might be in God[27].' The faith of the Christian is the old +faith of Abraham and Habakkuk, the faith in the Lord {25} Jehovah only +now made manifest in a new and completer manner, in a more intimate +relation to human life, and with a more winning appeal to the human +heart. + + +iii. + +Now that we have gained a general idea of what St. Paul meant by +justification by faith, as opposed to justification by works of law, we +are in a position to deal with a number of questions which have been +famous in ecclesiastical history. Does justification mean being made +righteous, or being reckoned for righteous? if it means the latter, how +can God reckon us as being what in fact we are not? Again, what is the +relation of this justification to sanctification? are these two stages, +of which the first is over before the second can begin? Again, what is +the relation of justification to Church membership? is justification a +purely individual process or fact, of which membership in the Church +or, what comes to the same thing, reception of the sacraments, is a +merely secondary and strictly unessential consequence? + +The answers to these questions are all connected with one another. +Justification, to begin with, is a judicial or, as it is called, +'forensic' {26} word. It expresses the verdict of acquittal. The use +of the word in the Bible made this quite indisputable[28]. Thus God +justifies whenever He refuses to condemn--when, whatever may have been +our sins, He ignores them, and therefore positively admits us into the +accepted people. And He declares His willingness to do this simply +because a man believes in Jesus Christ. Let a man believe, or take God +in Jesus Christ at His gracious word, and the value of this act of +trust or allegiance is such that God reckons it for righteousness, and +admits a man into the accepted people, as if he were already fit for +such fellowship in his actual habits or character. There is +'imputation' here, but it is the right sort of imputation. It is +dealing with us not as we are, nor exactly as we are not, but as we are +becoming in virtue of a new attachment under which our life has passed: +and this, as the engrossing modern conception of development makes it +easy for us to perceive, is the only true and profound way of regarding +anything. Not the standard already reached, but the movement, +direction, or vitality is the important matter. Faith, then, is +'reckoned for righteousness' because it puts us upon the right {27} +basis and in the right relation to God; and therefore is a root out of +which, provided it continues to subsist, all righteousness can +healthily grow; whereas the most brilliant efforts or 'works' on a +wrong basis may have neither sound root nor principle of progress in +them. To believe in Jesus is to have the root of the matter in +oneself. Therefore, when a man first believes, God can ignore all his +previous life, and deal with him simply on the new basis, in hope. Of +course this preliminary acquittal or acceptance is provisional. As the +servant[29] who had been forgiven his debts found them rolled back upon +him when he behaved in a manner utterly inconsistent with the position +of a forgiven man, so our preliminary justification may be promptly +cancelled by our future conduct if we behave as one who has 'forgotten +the cleansing from his old sins[30].' The prodigal son, after he has +been welcomed home, may go back again to the 'far country.' But it +remains the fact:--of such infinite value and fruitfulness is faith in +God, as He has shown Himself in Jesus, that when a man first +believes--aye, whenever, over and over again, he returns to believe--he +is in God's sight on a new basis, however dark be the {28} background +of his previous sins; and he can be dealt with simply on the new basis, +according to the movement of the Father's heart of love which his faith +has set free. + +Now the justifying faith of the conscience-stricken sinner, whose case +St. Paul always has in the foreground of his imagination, means first +of all and most obviously that he consciously takes God at His word as +being ready to forgive his sins, and accept him for Jesus' sake in whom +he believes. It is belief in God as forgiving, or in Jesus as--he does +not stop to inquire how--obtaining and giving him forgiveness. And St. +Paul laid great stress on this simple acceptance of the gift of pardon, +as the gate of the new life and the first act of faith, because the +readiness to be treated as a sinner and merely forgiven in spite 'f our +sins is, as he knew full well in his own case, the final overthrow of +spiritual pride. But this simple 'reliance on the merits of Christ,' +and acceptance of forgiveness at His hands and for His sake, is a +profound movement of the heart--of the spring of human actions--which +involves much more than appears. Luther was hopelessly wrong and +unlike St. Paul when he isolated this mere reliance on another's +merits, and, setting it apart from all {29} deeper movement of will or +love, would have it, and it only, concerned with our justification. To +St. Paul even the first movement of faith is a surrender of +independence, and a recognition in intellect, and much more in will, of +the lordship of Jesus. It is, in other words, a change of allegiance, +and this is the important thing about it. And the absolved man, in +thanking God for his forgiveness, finds himself, as it were, inevitably +and without any fresh act, embarked on a new service. If he does not +find this, he is not a man of faith at all. Faith is so deep a +principle that, though it shows itself first as the mere acceptance of +an undeserved boon from the divine bounty, it involves such hanging +upon God as necessarily enlists the will to choose and serve Him, the +intellect to know and worship Him with a growing perception as He is +revealed in Jesus, and the affections to desire and love Him. The life +of justification thus proceeds 'from faith to faith'--from faith in +Christ 'for us' to faith in Christ 'in us.' The justified man, +accepted into the 'body of Christ' by baptism and made a participator +of the life of Christ, receives the continual gifts of the divine +bounty in their appointed channels, and his faith exercising its +natural {30} faculty of correspondence, absorbs and appropriates the +divine gifts--intellectually, so that the eyes of the understanding are +opened in increasing knowledge--practically, so that 'Christ dwells in +the heart by faith,' and it is no longer the bare human self which +lives, but Christ which lives in the renewed man, with a continual +display of moral power. + +The first justification or acceptance is therefore a preliminary step: +it is acceptance for admission into the divine household, or city of +God, or life in Christ. It is a means to an end, and that end the +fellowship of Christ, and continually developing assimilation to Him. +Does this mean, then, that justification and sanctification are +processes following the one on the other, of which the former is over +before the latter begins? Such a statement must be repudiated so far +as its latter clause is concerned. You cannot thus logically sever a +vital process. They are two parts of one vital process; and the man +who is not on the way to being made like Christ (however far off it he +may be at the moment) is by that very fact shown to be not in a state +of justification or acceptance with God. At any stage of spiritual +life there must be movement in order to make forgiveness {31} possible. +Grant this however and it becomes true that justification, as meaning +acquittal, is a preliminary to sanctification, that is, the being made +like Christ. The having our 'heart set at liberty' is a preliminary to +'running the way of God's commandments.' But even so we must recognize +that St. Paul never exactly uses this language. When he describes the +stages of God's dealings with the soul he passes from justification to +glorification, or (final) deliverance from sin and wrath[31]. Or, on +one occasion, he mentions sanctification before justification[32]. + +This is in part accounted for by the fact that the word translated +'sanctify' or 'sanctification' means rather 'consecrate' (as to +priesthood) or 'consecration.' And though this consecration involves +'sanctity' (in our sense) because of the character of God to whom we +are dedicated, yet it may precede it; and we are in fact consecrated +and hallowed at the moment when we are accepted into the 'priestly +body' and anointed with the divine unction[33]. This exact meaning of +the term sanctification in part accounts for St. Paul not speaking of +sanctification and justification as successive stages of the spiritual +life. When he {32} is speaking about justification he is answering the +question, What is the attitude of the human soul towards God which sets +God free, so to speak, to accept it and work upon it? And the answer +is, The attitude of faith. When he speaks of sanctification, or rather +consecration, he is answering the implied question, How is the +individual to be thought of when he has been admitted by baptism into +the Christian community? And the answer is, He is to be thought of as +consecrated, or as sharing the life of a consecrated people[34]. St. +Paul's language in one place would suggest that if 'justification' +qualifies for admission into the life in Christ, the result of this +admission is again a justification, not now merely of our persons, but +of our whole moral being--a 'justification of life[35].' But this is, +at least, not his usual use of the word. + +And now we approach the question of the relation of our individual +justification to membership in the Church and all that goes with that. +To put the question in a rough controversial way--Is the Epistle to the +Romans, as it has been {33} frequently held to be, a thoroughly +Protestant work? + +The Prophet Ezekiel first clearly discerned and expressed the truth +that the new covenant of God with man must be based upon the conversion +of individual wills and hearts. So it was realized. The basis of the +Church was a profound movement of individual faith and love and +allegiance, in the apostles and first disciples. And that on which it +is based is that by which it must progress--the real assent and +correspondence of individual wills and hearts. They that receive the +testimony must set to their seals that God is true. Thus one cannot +possibly exaggerate the importance in Christianity of the individual +spiritual life, or of individual conversion and faith, if he does not +isolate it. He cannot possibly exaggerate the stress laid in the +Epistle to the Romans on individual faith and its results, if he does +not forget its context. But what is meant by this proviso? This +simply. St. Paul, in his doctrine of justification by faith, is +describing the basis of the new covenant of God with man which is, as +truly as the old, a covenant with a community, an Israel of God. The +faith which justifies, therefore, means the faith which qualifies for +the community as truly {34} as it admits into the favour of God. The +very evidence that God accepts the first movement of faith is that the +believing man is admitted by baptism into the body of Christ. The idea +of a faith in Jesus which does not seek admission into 'the body,' or +disparages it even while it accepts it, does not even present itself to +St. Paul's mind. A faith which is content to remain outside Christ is +no faith at all, and the act of being 'baptized into Christ' is an act +by which 'in one spirit we are baptized into one body.' Again, the +conception impressed upon the institution of the Eucharist is that +Christ's atoning sacrifice is the basis of a new covenant with a +society which is to share His life[36]. + +Elsewhere St. Paul expresses this by saying that what Christ bought for +Himself was a Church, a new Israel[37]. What His sacrifice purchased +was a new _community_. There is the less necessity to insist upon this +truth because it is now being very generally perceived. The most +powerful influence in recent German Protestant theology is that of +Albrecht Ritschl, and through him the truth has come back, through +unexpected channels, that the object {35} of the sacrificial death of +Christ, and therefore of the divine justification, is not the +individual but the Church[38]; or, if we may venture to modify the +phrase, the object of divine justification is the individual only as +becoming and remaining (so far as His will is concerned) a member of +the Church. In fact, 'justification' may be rendered, without any +false idea being attached to it, 'acceptance for membership in the +sacred people, the Israel of God.' And where any one has become a +member of the Church without even the rudimentary faith which can +render him acceptable in God's sight, there the awakening of such faith +is the condition of profitable or 'saving' membership. + +From this point of view it is not difficult to see the relation of our +epistle, broadly, to Protestantism and Catholicism. Protestantism was +a reaction against one-sided ecclesiasticism. The Church is the +household of God, the home of His people. She guides and disciplines +their souls. She feeds them with the bread of life. But her +representatives may suffer her to lose the spiritual characteristics of +the new covenant {36} and fall back upon those of the old. She may +come to be characterized by a mere authoritativeness. The spirit of +'the law of ordinances' may come to prevail again. The sacraments may +be treated as charms; or, in other words, all moral and spiritual +requirement may be summed up in mere obedience, or in doing this and +that. So, in fact, it happened to a great extent in the popular +mediaeval system; and Protestantism was a reaction. It was a reaction +based on truth, as Luther seemed to himself to re-discover it in the +epistles to the Romans and the Galatians. But the reaction broke up +the communion of Christians. It thus impaired the sense of the one +body, and very often resulted in obliterating the perception of any +obligation to the visible body of Christ at all. It became +individualist, and disparaged the sacraments which are at once both the +outward means of union with Christ and the bonds of cohesion for His +body, the Church. But as we now look back upon the matter, we can see +as clearly as it is possible to see anything, that both mediaeval +Catholicism and Lutheran Protestantism (or modern English +Protestantism) represent one-sided developments in which thoughtful men +cannot permanently acquiesce. The preliminary justifying {37} faith of +the individual does but warrant his admission into the body of Christ, +the divine society, by baptism. And once admitted into the body, and +instructed in her tradition, faith finds its function intellectually in +meditating upon and appropriating the full meaning of the mystery of +God, and spiritually in appropriating and digesting the powers of that +divine and human life into which baptism admits us, and in which the +sacramental feast and sacrifice continually makes us anew +participators. The Church with its sacramental gifts, and the personal +faith of the converted heart, are no more to be set in antithesis than +food and digestion, or the 'virtue which went out of Christ' and the +faith in Him which made men whole. The sacraments certainly do not +save us without conversion and faith, and faith which leaves us +voluntarily isolated from the visible communion of the one body is not +what St. Paul meant by 'justifying faith.' + +'Ah, yet consider it again!' is what we are continually tempted to +exclaim to some of our modern controversialists who appear to be still +repeating the watchwords of the sixteenth century. For in fact the +famous controversial positions of the period of the Reformation were +{38} intensely one-sided, and have been antiquated by completer and +maturer study--not least in the matter of justification. + +Thus Calvin's position on the subject was based upon and permeated by a +conception of God as predestinating and creating and internally +constraining some men to eternal life, and equally predestinating and +creating and abandoning other men, without possibility of recovery, to +eternal misery. Such a conception is utterly abhorrent to modern +consciences: and we shall have occasion to observe with how little +reason any conception of God predestinating man to eternal misery has +been attributed to St. Paul[39]. + +Luther again, who identified himself, as no other teacher has ever +done, with St. Paul's epistles of justification, was so zealous to +separate the faith in virtue of which God justifies us from all idea of +merit, that he represented it as a bare acceptance of the divine offer +without any moral quality at all--a bare believing ourselves to be +saved, without any moral reason in it. Thus, accepting an existing +scholastic distinction between an 'informed' faith, i.e. a faith +ensouled {39} by love, and a 'formless' or bare faith, he held the +faith on account of which God justifies us to be rigidly of the +formless kind; and while fully recognizing the richer sort of faith as +the God-given quality of those already justified, declared that it had +nothing to do with their justification. But this conception of two +separate sorts of faith, of which only the loveless sort, that involves +no moral worth, has to do with our acceptance with God, is not only a +high road to moral laxity or antinomianism, but is also utterly alien +to the spirit of St. Paul, in whom the whole life of faith is one and +continuous[40]. It could only have arisen at a particular moment of +theological controversy which is past and gone. And the same must be +said of the allied doctrine of the total depravity of our fallen +nature, which drove men to violent misinterpretations alike of +scripture and of their moral instincts. + +And what of the Tridentine theology? No doubt in its general view of +our fallen human nature it is far more reasonable and Pauline than the +Lutheran; and it is also truer to St. Paul in laying the main stress on +a divine righteousness {40} actually imparted to us, and not on +Christ's merits imputed and not imparted; or, in other words, in +recognizing that forgiveness is only a prelude to the development of a +new life of holiness. But on the other hand it puts itself hopelessly +out of relation to St. Paul's language and thought by interpreting +justification as the being made righteous, and accordingly speaking of +baptism as the instrument by which we are justified, whereas to St. +Paul justification means our preliminary acceptance without regard to +what we have been, and the initial faith which enables men to be thus +accepted would normally, in those he is thinking about, have preceded +baptism, as in his own case, or that of Cornelius, or of the eunuch. +Who can doubt that the faith of St. Paul's conversion is what enabled +God to accept him, though it remained for him, as for other men, to +'wash away his sins' by being 'baptized into Christ[41]?' + +May we not truly say that deeper and maturer study of St. Paul has for +us undercut and antiquated the theological standing-grounds of the {41} +sixteenth century, and substituted for them something both truer, +completer, and freer? + + +iv. + +It only remains to make more emphatic what has been already suggested, +that the Pauline doctrine of justification is of much more than +antiquarian interest. We do not, as has been already shown, get rid of +the 'danger of thinking to be saved by works' because we are not, like +the Pharisees, abandoned to ecclesiastical observances. All moral +codes or standards, sanctioned by a society or class and involving no +more than a limited liability, come under the moral category of 'works +of a law.' They all are apt to leave men as independent of God as the +Pharisees, and as resentful of the fuller light. The late Master of +Balliol expresses a characteristic opinion that the notions of 'legal +righteousness,' or of 'the pride of human nature,' or 'the tendency to +rebel against the will of God, or to attach an undue value to good +works[42],' are 'fictions as applied to our own time[43].' But {42} +this is surely lamentably untrue. Men all round us dread the idea of +committing themselves to God. They do not know how far it will carry +them. They are like would-be soldiers who should refuse to enlist till +they had had some assurance as to the extremest risk that their service +might involve. Thus, because they cannot get this assurance, they will +make no beginning of the life of real faith. They live by a limited +code which retains their independence for them. If they are also +ecclesiastically minded, the 'legal righteousness' always involved in +this sort of morality becomes even outwardly more like that of the +Pharisees, and it is not very uncommon among churchmen. But the whole +habit of mind, inside or outside the area of professed churchmanship, +has its root in what is properly and profoundly human pride and the +false clinging to independence of God. This 'pride of life' seems to +be almost more dangerous and, in fact, disastrous than even 'the lust +of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.' Thus if we can only get St. +Paul's doctrine of the necessity of faith rightly understood, there is +no teaching more necessary for these times. + +And, on the other hand, where men are really ready to follow the light +and do God's will, they {43} need--they need exceedingly for the good +of the whole body--to realize St. Paul's teaching about justification, +that is, about God's constant attitude towards men, in order to obtain +that peace which is meant to be, not the far-off goal of Christian +life, but its basis and foundation. When a person is continuously +apprehensive and excited about his spiritual state, he is not in the +temper of mind in which he can best serve God or work out his own or +other men's salvation. 'Peace must go before as well as follow after; +a peace, too, not to be found in the necessity of law (as philosophy +has sometimes held), but in the sense of the love of God to His +creatures. He has no right to this peace, and yet he has it.' In +these words of the same writer whom we just now were obliged to +criticize we may find a simple expression of the truth. 'Wherefore, +being accepted of God simply because we take Him at His word, let us +have and hold peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ[44].' Then +we can throw ourselves without embarrassments into the life of love and +sacrifice, the life which has the love of God in Christ for its motive, +and reflects it among men. + +No doubt we must admit that St. Paul's {44} doctrine of justification +has not been generally appreciated in the Church--the fact is strange, +but it is indisputable. No doubt also we must admit that those who +have chiefly been identified with it have often even disastrously +distorted it. No doubt, as a result both of this neglect and of this +distortion, the ordinary religious Englishman of the present day is +disposed to pass it by as having little meaning for him. Nevertheless +it remains true that no revival of religion can ever attain to any +ripeness or richness unless this central doctrine of St. Paul's gospel +resumes its central place with us also. For, as St. Paul preached it, +it means this above all else--personal devotion to Jesus Christ as our +redeemer. This personal devotion begins by accepting from Him the +unmerited boon of forgiveness of our sins, and (what is only the other +side of such forgiveness) inheritance in the consecrated body. But the +consciousness of what we have received from Christ, and the price it +cost Him to put it at our disposal, gives to the whole subsequent life +the character of a devotion based on gratitude. This is the Christian +life according to St. Paul--personal devotion to Christ and personal +service based on gratitude for what He has done for us. 'For the love +of Christ {45} constraineth us; because we thus judge, that one died +for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live +should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him who for their sakes +died and rose again.' + + + +[1] Acts xx. 23. + +[2] Hort's _Prolegomena to Romans and Ephesians_ (Macmillan, 1895), p. +9. + +[3] Sanday and Headlam's _Commentary_ (T. & T. Clark, 1895), p. xxviii. +This commentary is henceforth referred to as S. & H. + +[4] See Rom. ii. 17; iii. 9, &c. + +[5] See Rom. i. 13; xi. 13-32; xv. 14-21. + +[6] Rom. xvi. 3. + +[7] See Rom. vi. 17, and remarks p. 234; cf. S. & H., p. xli. + +[8] Acts xv. 1-35. + +[9] Gal. ii. 1-10. + +[10] Rom. xv. 25-32. + +[11] Hort, l.c., p. 44. + +[12] Rom. i. 10, 11; xv. 22-24. + +[13] On the relation between the two, see later, p. 168. + +[14] 1 Macc. ii. 42; vii. 13 ff. + +[15] John v. 44. + +[16] Matt. xv. 6; xxiii. 23. + +[17] Rom. x. 3. + +[18] Acts xv. 10. + +[19] Rom. vii. 7. + +[20] See the argument of Gal. iii. 15-22. 'God is one' in a sense +which excludes the idea of any relatively independent contracting party +over against Him. + +[21] Acts xxvi. 14. + +[22] Col. ii. 20-22. + +[23] 2 Tim. i. 12. + +[24] Rom. x. 5-8. + +[25] Cf. iii. 22, 26, &c. + +[26] 2 Cor. v. 19; Rom. iv. 25. + +[27] 1 Pet. i. 21. It is of course the case that the name God in the +New Testament is _generally_ reserved for the Father, though the proper +divinity of Son and Spirit is constantly implied. + +[28] See below, p. 124. + +[29] Matt. xviii. 23-35. + +[30] 2 Pet. i. 9. + +[31] Rom. v. 9-11. + +[32] 1 Cor. vi. 11. + +[33] Cf. Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_ (Macmillan, 1898), p. 70. + +[34] It is noticeable that St. Paul never uses the verb translated 'to +be sanctified' of persons in the present tense. It always describes an +already existing state rather than a process. + +[35] Rom. v. 18, but cf. later, p. 202. + +[36] Hort, l.c., p. 24. + +[37] Eph. v. 25; Tit. ii. 14; cf. Acts xx. 28. + +[38] Ritschl, _Rechtfertigung und Versoehnung_, ii. p. 217 ff. Cf. S. & +H., p. 122; and Orr, _Ritschlian Theology_ (Hodder and Stoughton, 1898) +p. 169 ff. + +[39] The subject comes forward especially in connexion with chapters +ix-xi. + +[40] I know that any brief statement about Luther's doctrine may be +disputed, for his own statements vary considerably. But I think the +tendency of his teaching is fairly represented above. + +[41] 'Acceptance' is already acquittal; but only in view of the new +life of the body of Christ which is to emancipate man from the power of +sin. Thus it is only as incorporated into Christ that he finds his +former sin 'put away.' 'I believe in one baptism for the remission of +sins.' + +[42] He should say, if he would represent St. Paul, 'works,' not 'good +works.' + +[43] Essay on 'Righteousness by Faith,' in _Epistles of St. Paul_ +(Murray, 1894), vol. ii. p. 264. The whole essay is very +characteristic and very interesting, but not very Pauline. + +[44] Rom. v. 1. + + + + +{46} + +THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS + + +CHAPTER I. 1-7. + +_Salutation._ + +It was the custom in the days of the Romans to begin a letter with a +brief indication from whom it came and to whom it was addressed, in the +form of a complimentary salutation, thus--to take an example from the +New Testament--'Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix, +greeting[1].' We are familiar in our day with the like forms for +beginning and ending letters, serving the same purpose and generally no +other. St. Paul then accepts the epistolary form of his day, but pours +into it an increasing wealth of personal meaning[2]. Thus in this +place the necessary address--'Paul the apostle {47} to the believers in +Jesus Christ which are in Rome, greeting'--is expanded into a +salutation extraordinarily full of meaning, explaining (1) who it is +who writes the letter; (2) with what justification; (3) to whom; and +(4) with what greeting. + +(1) It is Paul who is writing, and he describes himself both personally +and officially. Personally, since the day when he surrendered himself +on the road to Damascus, he has been 'the slave of Jesus Christ,' bound +in all things to do His will, and exulting all the time in the moral +liberty which that bondage gave him. Officially, he has received a +commission and an office equal to that of the older apostles in the +kingdom of Christ: he has been 'called to be an apostle, separated to +proclaim the good tidings of God.' + +(2) It is then this glorious commission that justifies his writing. +These good tidings of God are the fulfilment of an age-long promise for +which the world had been waiting. Of ancient days there were +'prophets,' men commissioned to speak for God, whose writings remained +after them and are held in highest reverence as 'holy scriptures.' +These men foretold good days from God that were to come to His people +in the {48} coming of the divinely anointed king, the Christ. And now +they are come. God has sent to redeem men not a servant, but His own +Son. True, He came as man among men: as one of the royal house of +David, the house from which the Christ was promised; yet simply man in +outward nature and appearance, or 'according to the flesh.' But +besides that ordinary seeming manhood, there was in Him something +higher--a sacred spiritual nature. And this higher nature it was that +finally determined the estimate in which He was to be held. If +'according to the flesh' He was a man of David's house, according to +this 'spirit of holiness' He was decisively designated by God's own act +as Son of God in miraculous power, and that especially when He was made +the example of a resurrection from the dead. Thenceforth 'Jesus' of +Nazareth is 'Christ' and 'the Lord' of Christians. It is He through +whom St. Paul and his fellows received the outpouring of the divine +bounty for their own lives, and their apostolic commission on behalf of +the name of Christ to bring all the nations of the earth to the +obedience of faith. And this commission extends as far as the Roman +Christians and justifies St. Paul in writing to them. + +{49} + +(3) To all the Christians at Rome, then, 'called to be saints,' i.e. +called into the consecrated body and to the consecrated life, St. Paul +is writing. He does not say 'to the church which is at Rome,' as in +the other epistles of this date he writes 'to the church at Corinth' +and to 'the churches of Galatia.' And though this might be accidental, +yet probably it is due to the fact that St. Paul thought of the Roman +Christians as individuals who, many of them, had been converted +elsewhere and for various reasons had come to be living at Rome; so +that in fact they had hardly yet attained the consistency of a single +ordered church. + +(4) And to these Christians he gives his greeting by wishing for them +those gifts which may be taken as summing up the blessings of Christ +about which this epistle is to say so much--'grace,' which is God's +love to us in actual operation, and 'peace,' which is the state of mind +of one who realizes God's love--from the Father and the Son. This +benediction is, however, but a Christian form of that of Aaron, 'The +Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the +Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace[3].' + + +{50} + +Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called _to be_ an apostle, separated +unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the +holy scriptures, concerning his Son, who was born of the seed of David +according to the flesh, who was declared _to be_ the Son of God with +power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the +dead; _even_ Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we received grace and +apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his +name's sake: among whom are ye also, called _to be_ Jesus Christ's: to +all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called _to be_ saints: Grace to +you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. + + +There is, I believe, nothing in the above analysis which is not implied +at least in the original language of this salutation. And it is a +remarkable summary of the grounds of St. Paul's Christian belief, more +exact and explicit than the 'Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the +dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel[4].' There are some +points in it which require further notice:-- + +1. The use of 'spirit of holiness' in connexion with Christ (in ver. +4). Here it is put in antithesis to 'the flesh,' i.e. Christ as He +appeared to the outward eye in His natural manhood; and describes, +vaguely and without further definition, the higher nature of which, +behind {51} His visible manhood, men became conscious[5]. Elsewhere +'spirit' is more exactly used to describe (1) the human spirit in us or +in Christ[6]; (2) disembodied persons or angels or devils[7]; (3) the +Holy Ghost[8]; (4) the being of God[9]; (5) generally what has will and +consciousness, as opposed to the merely external, the 'flesh' or the +'letter[10].' Sometimes, as in 2 Cor. iii. 17, it is hard to feel sure +about the exact shade of meaning. + +2. We have here, in a very brief compass, St. Paul's conception of +'Christian evidences.' He begins from Christ, 'according to the +flesh.' 'And why,' asks Chrysostom, 'did he not begin from the higher +side? Because Matthew also, Luke and Mark, begin from the lower. One +who would lead others upwards must begin from below. And this was in +fact the divine method. First they saw Him (Christ) as man on the +earth, and then perceived Him to be God.' It was, in other words, +through the {52} experience of His manhood that they arrived at His +Godhead. And the evidence of His divine sonship was in part +miraculous; but it was not mere miracle. It was miracle 'according to +a spirit of holiness.' It was miracle filled with spiritual and moral +meaning. It was a resurrection vindicating perfect righteousness. + +3. The phrase 'the resurrection of the dead' is translated more +exactly by Wiclif 'agenrisynge of dead _men_! Christ's resurrection is +the great example of what is to be general. + +4. The obedience of faith exactly describes the human faculty as it +showed itself in St. Paul himself at his conversion. With him to +believe was, without any possibility of question, to obey Him whom he +believed, and St. Paul knows no faith which does not involve a like +obedience; cf. xv. 18; xvi. 26; 1 Pet. i. 2. + + + +[1] Acts xxiii. 26. + +[2] The salutation of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the +earliest epistle, is the most nearly formal. Those to the Romans and +to Titus are the fullest and richest. + +[3] Num. vi. 25, 26; see Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 25. + +[4] 2 Tim. ii. 8. + +[5] Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16, 'justified in the spirit,' where the use is +approximately the same. + +[6] See 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Cor. v. 5; James ii. 26; Matt. v. 3; xxvi. +41; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Mark viii. 12. + +[7] Luke xxiv. 39; Heb. xii. 23; i. 14; Matt. viii. 16, &c. + +[8] Matt. iii. 16; Luke x. 21, R.V. &c. + +[9] John iv. 24. + +[10] John vi. 63; Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 6. + + + + +{53} + +CHAPTER I. 8-17. + +_St. Paul's introduction._ + +The salutation is immediately followed by a passage in which St. Paul +introduces himself specially to the Christians at Rome. He had a +delicate task to perform. The Roman Christians had been gathered +probably from many parts of the empire, because Rome was the centre of +all the world's movements, and adherents of whatever was going on in +the empire were sure by force of circumstances to find their way to +Rome. Thus, though no apostle had yet preached at Rome, Christians had +gathered there. Many of them had not seen St. Paul's face. But they +had heard of him, no doubt, in Jewish circles as a very dangerous man +who was upheaving and subverting established traditions and principles. +He was a man to be looked at askance. He must introduce himself +therefore carefully. It was of the greatest importance {54} to him, +the Apostle of the Gentiles, that he should gain full recognition among +these Christians at Rome, the centre of the Gentile world. We observe +then in this introduction what a gentleman, if I may say so, in the +very deepest sense of the term, St. Paul shows himself to be. He +speaks indeed with an admirable mixture of tact and candour. We can +hardly conceive any better address in a delicate situation than this +address of St. Paul with which he makes his approach to the Roman +Christians. + +He begins with what is pleasant for them to hear, namely, that the +report of their faith throughout all the world is a good one. 'I thank +my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is proclaimed +throughout the whole world.' Then he goes on to add, as is usual in +his introductions, that he continually prays for them. It was a remark +of General Gordon's that it makes a great difference in our feeling +towards a stranger if before we meet him we have prayed for him. And +we may with equal truth say that it makes a great difference in the +feelings of others towards us if they have reason to believe that we +have prayed for them. St. Paul therefore gives himself this advantage. +He says, 'God is my witness, whom I worship in my {55} spirit in the +gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you always in my +prayers.' Then he goes on to tell them that he not only prays for +their welfare, but prays that he may have the advantage of seeing them +face to face and knowing them. And here he puts his desire to see them +on the true ground. He wants to visit them because he has something of +the utmost value to give them--that he may 'impart unto them some +spiritual gift.' + +Whatever may be the exact nature of the 'spiritual gift' St. Paul is +thinking of, it is clearly something for which his bodily presence is +necessary. There is some divine power which he as an apostle can +communicate to them only when he comes among them. In this sense he +means that 'when he comes to them he will come in the fulness of the +blessing of Christ[1].' He implies that the Roman Christians needed +him and must wait for him to supply their deficiencies. But we observe +that with beautiful tact he at once balances this assertion of a divine +power entrusted to him for their good, by representing his own need of +them. He does not speak _de haut en bas_ as if he had everything to +give and nothing to receive. {56} No: as the people depend on the +apostle for spiritual gifts, so he depends on the people for spiritual +encouragement. He must live by the experience of their spiritual +growth. 'I desire,' he says, 'to come to you that I may impart unto +you some spiritual gift, to the end that ye may be established' (built +up and made strong in the faith). And then he interprets:--that is 'in +order that I with you may be encouraged[2] among you, each of us by the +other's faith, both yours and mine.' + +Then he goes on to tell them why he in particular is bound to come to +them, though hitherto he had been hindered by circumstances. It is +because he is 'a debtor.' St. Paul was the Apostle, not of the Jews, +but of the Gentiles. Therefore he is in debt to all the Gentiles till +he has given them the gospel, and more particularly to the centre of +the Gentile world, to Rome. And he would owe no man anything. He +would have no unsatisfied creditors. He will pay his debt therefore to +the Roman Christians. 'I am a debtor,' he says, 'both to Greeks and to +barbarians'--that is to all the Gentiles, whether they were of Greek +race or not. And {57} the Greeks were so identified with civilization +or education that this leads him on to say, 'I am a debtor both to the +educated and to the uneducated.' This general debt includes Rome. It +was natural to include the dwellers at Rome under the head of Greeks, +for it was through the medium of Greek that St. Paul made his appeal to +them. And, in fact, the Christians at Rome were, for the first two +hundred and fifty years or more of the Church's life, a Greek-speaking +people--a Greek colony in the Latin city. Only towards the end of the +third century did the Roman Church become latinized in language and +spirit. St. Paul then is a debtor to these Greek-speaking dwellers at +Rome. 'So as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you +also that are in Rome.' + +But the name of Rome was, as he thought of it, a name of awe. It +brought in upon his mind the tremendous undertaking that lay before him +and before the Christian Church as they found themselves confronted +with this vast imperial organization, which might at any time lay its +iron hand upon them to stop their progress. Therefore he adds that, +even in view of Rome, he has courage in his heart: 'for I am not +ashamed of the gospel,' even under the shadow {58} of the mighty name, +and though it was 'to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks +foolishness.' And why? Because he knows what the gospel means. It is +not mere words; it is a power. It is a 'power of God,' a divine force, +which, like the wind, bloweth where it listeth, and which nothing can +stop. It is a power of God. It is a power of God 'unto salvation,' a +power that is to work men's deliverance, and that in the deepest sense. +Roman emperors not very long after St. Paul's time are commemorated in +public inscriptions as 'saviours of the world[3].' That is in the +sense of maintaining peace and civil order. But Christ's salvation was +of a deeper sort. It was salvation from the bondage of sin, a +salvation which enabled people to be truly and eternally free. It is a +power of God unto salvation, and that 'to every one that believeth,' on +the mere basis of the simple willingness to take God at His word; 'to +the Jew first and also to the Greek.' 'For'--and here St. Paul reaches +the great text of his whole epistle--'therein' (that is, in the gospel) +'is disclosed,' or revealed here and now in the world, {59} 'a +righteousness of God.' By this phrase it will appear that he means +both a righteousness which is God's own, and also a righteousness which +God gives to men; for the gift of God is real moral and spiritual +fellowship with His own life. This is what is now offered to men. A +righteousness of God is revealed, starting from faith and at every +stage moving on upon the support of faith, 'a righteousness of God by +faith unto faith'; and that not in repudiation of the old covenant, but +in fulfilment of its vital principle: 'as it is written.' For the +words of Habakkuk may be interpreted to express the central spirit of +the Old Testament--'the righteous shall live by faith[4].' + + +First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith +is proclaimed throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom +I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, how unceasingly I make +mention of you, always in my prayers making request, if by any means +now at length I may be prospered by the will of God to come unto you. +For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, +to the end ye may be established; that is, that I with you may be +comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine. +And I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed +to come unto you (and was hindered hitherto), that I might have some +fruit in you also, even {60} as in the rest of the Gentiles. I am +debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the +foolish. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to +you also that are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it +is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the +Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a +righteousness of God by faith unto faith: as it is written, But the +righteous shall live by faith. + + +1. Origen's comment on the words 'through Jesus Christ' (at the +beginning of this section) is very interesting. 'To give God thanks is +to offer a sacrifice of praise, and therefore he adds "through Jesus +Christ," as through the great high priest.' Indeed, the doctrine of +the high priesthood of Christ, if it is not mentioned in St. Paul's own +epistles, is implied there from the first. + +2. St. Paul, we notice, expresses his intention to come to Rome with +reserve, 'if by any means by the will of God' ... 'so much as lies in +me.' And this reserve was no matter of mere words. He was going up to +Jerusalem with an offering of money, about which he felt the greatest +anxiety, and he knew not how he would be received, or what would befall +him[5]. + +3. It is not possible to decide what sort of {61} 'spiritual gift' St. +Paul is thinking of. We know that as an apostle he was qualified to +impart the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and that certain +'gifts' frequently accompanied His inward presence. Thus, 'when Paul +had laid his hands upon some men at Ephesus, the Holy Ghost came on +them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied.' We know, further, +that the Corinthian Church, whence St. Paul was writing this letter, +was specially rich in 'spiritual gifts,' such as 'tongues and +prophecy.' On the other hand, the Roman Christians had not yet +received an apostolic visit and they may have been lacking in such +endowments, while the reception of them would be calculated to +encourage them and strengthen their faith. + +It is possible, therefore, that he refers to a gift of this kind, and +the exact language he uses certainly suggests some definite endowment, +for the bestowal of which his bodily presence was necessary. The +thought of the miraculous power working through him, 'the power of +signs and wonders, the power of the Holy Ghost[6],' was not far from +his mind when he wrote this epistle. + +Origen's comment on this passage also is {62} interesting. 'First of +all we ought to learn that it is an apostolic work to long to see our +brethren, but for no other reason than that we may confer on them +something in the way of a spiritual gift if we can, and if we cannot, +that we may receive in the same kind from them. Otherwise, the longing +to go about among the brethren is not to be approved.' + + +We cannot doubt, I think, that when St. Paul's letter was read at Rome +this introduction, so full of tact, would have given him access to many +hearts inclined at starting to be prejudiced against him. + + + +[1] Rom. xv. 29. + +[2] 'To encourage' and 'encouragement' are probably the best words to +translate what in our Bible is rendered by 'comfort.' + +[3] Hadrian and Trajan: see _C.I.G._ vol. ii. p. 1068, No. 2349 m.; +vol. iii. p. 170, No. 4339, p. 191, No. 4380. These references I owe +to Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, of New College. + +[4] Hab. ii. 4; cf. app. note A on meanings of the word 'faith.' + +[5] Rom. xv. 25 ff.; Acts xx. 22. + +[6] Rom. xv. 19. + + + + +{63} + +DIVISION I. (CHAPTERS I. 18-III. 20.) + +_The universality of sin and condemnation._ + +St. Paul has enunciated his great thesis. There has arrived into the +world a new and divine force making for man's fullest salvation: the +disclosure of a real fellowship in the moral being of God, which is +open to all men, Jew and Gentile equally, on the simple terms of taking +God at His word. This word of good tidings St. Paul is to expand and +justify in his epistle; but first he must pause and explain its +antecedents. Why was such a disclosure needed at this moment of the +world's history? Why has St. Paul spoken of 'salvation,' or why does +he elsewhere speak of 'redemption,' instead of expressing such ideas as +are most popular among ourselves to-day--development or progress? It +is because, to St. Paul's mind, man as he is is held in a bondage which +he ought to find intolerable, and the first step to freedom lies in the +recognition of this. Again, why does St. Paul {64} lay such emphasis +on faith, mere faith, only faith--why is he to insist so zealously on +the exclusion of any merit or independent power on man's part? It is +not only because faith, the faculty of mere reception and +correspondence, represents the normal and rational relation of man to +God, his Creator, Sustainer, Father. It is also, and with special +emphasis, because there has been a great revolt, a great assertion of +false independence on man's part; and what is needed first of all is +the submission of the rebel, or much rather the return of the prodigal +son, simply to throw himself on the mercy of his Father and acknowledge +his utter dependence upon Him for the forgiveness of his disloyalty and +his outrages, as well as for the fellowship which he seeks in the +divine life. The fuller statement therefore of St. Paul's gospel must +be postponed to the uncloaking of what man is without it. The note of +severity must be struck before the message of joy. We must be brought +to acknowledge ourselves to be not men only, but corrupt men--men under +the divine wrath--doomed men powerless to deliver ourselves, and ready +therefore to welcome in simple gratitude the large offer of God's +liberal and almost unconditional love. + +{65} + +It is to produce this acknowledgement that St. Paul now addresses +himself. This argument of the first part of the epistle is a very +simple one. It elucidates two plain propositions:-- + +1. that the wrath of God is, and is necessarily according to eternal +and unalterable principles of moral government, and in the case of +every man without any possibility of exception, upon sin. + +2. that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are held in sin, and therefore lie +under the divine wrath. + +Thus St. Paul immediately follows up his initial statement of the +revelation of a divine righteousness with the assertion of another +'revelation' made plain to the consciences of men. 'The wrath of God +is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and +unrighteousness of men,' and he proceeds to demonstrate the prevalence +of sin first of all in the heathen world and to lay bare its meaning. + + + + +{66} + +DIVISION I. Sec. I. (CHAPTER I. 18-32). + +_Judgement on the Gentile world._ + +Before we read this passage certain points should be plain to our minds. + +1. By sin St. Paul means essentially wilfulness--wilful disobedience. +There is such a thing as an inheritance of moral weakness or perversity +which passes to men without their fault and without their knowledge. +This, the real existence of which hardly any one can deny, is what is +called original sin; and later on we shall find St. Paul speaking of +it. But it is not what is most properly called sin. God is absolutely +equitable. 'Sin is not reckoned' as sin in His sight, apart from +knowledge and will. Sin, most properly speaking, begins and ends where +wilful disobedience begins and ends. St. Paul on this matter is +completely at one with St. John {67} when he makes sin and lawlessness +identical as realities in the world. 'Sin is lawlessness[1].' And we +cannot even make a beginning of advance along St. Paul's line of +thought till we recognize the real existence of sin as something +different in kind from ignorance or weakness or lack of development, +and as an incomparably greater evil than those. Sin is the created +will setting itself against the divine will. It is, as a state or an +act, the refusal of God. And the recognition of the awful existence of +this refusal of God is the main clue to understanding the miseries of +the present world. + +2. Sin therefore, involving as it does _wilful_ disobedience, can only +be spoken of as prevalent over the heathen world because, not merely +one chosen race, but all men in general have had the opportunity of the +knowledge of God. St. Paul indeed elsewhere modifies the general +assertion of the fact which he makes in this place, by broadly +recognizing that there are states of human existence which are low in +their moral standard, but are rendered comparatively guiltless by the +absence of moral knowledge--states of life where sin exists but is not +reckoned {68} as sin[2]. For 'sin,' he says, 'is not reckoned' as sin +where there is no enlightening law and no consequent condemnation of +conscience. But in this passage, looking at humanity in general, he +asserts, like the author of the Book of Wisdom or the perhaps +contemporary Jewish author of the Apocalypse of Baruch[3], that all men +have had the opportunity of knowing God from His works in nature, and +that their present state is the result of a wilful refusal of Him. +They are 'without excuse.' The sources of the natural knowledge of God +are indeed twofold, for there is the moral conscience, individual and +social, of which St. Paul speaks later; but here it is the evidence of +nature alone of which St. Paul speaks: the witness of the creatures to +'the {69} invisible things' or attributes of their creator, that is to +say, to His power and (generally) His divinity. + +3. Assuming then the opportunity of the knowledge of God as lying +behind human records, St. Paul traces the history of sin. It had its +roots in the refusal of the human will to recognize God and give Him +the homage of gratitude and service due to Him. Men 'held down the +truth in unrighteousness,' that is, restrained it from having free +course in their hearts and in the world because of the painful moral +obligations which it involves. Knowing God, they refused to +acknowledge Him with thankfulness or 'give Him the glory.' Rather they +would themselves 'be as gods.' They 'refused to have God in their +knowledge.' Then from this root in the rebel will sin passed to the +obscuring of the understanding, as is shown in the ridiculous +aberrations of idolatry. 'They became vain in their reasonings, and +their senseless heart was darkened; professing themselves to be wise,' +the nations in their worship showed themselves fools. Idolatry had +long ago appeared simply ridiculous to Isaiah: he pointed the finger of +scorn at the idolaters. 'They know not,' he cried, 'neither do they +{70} consider: the Lord hath shut their eyes that they cannot see, and +their hearts that they cannot understand. And none calleth to mind, +neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part +of the wood in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals +thereof; I have roasted flesh and eaten it: and shall I make the +residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a +tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, +that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my +right hand[4]?' Isaiah's language and thought had been elaborated and +developed in the Book of Wisdom[5], and St. Paul appropriates it. To +mistake creatures for the Creator, or to think of the glorious and +spiritual God as if He were in the form of the corruptible body of man +or beast or bird or reptile--so St. Paul alludes to the man worship of +Greece and the animal worship of Egypt--is simple blindness and folly; +blindness and folly in which St. Paul sees the just punishment of {71} +the rebellious will in the region of the intellect. But it has another +punishment in the region of the appetites or passions. As men +deliberately 'repudiated' the knowledge and obedience of God, God +'repudiated' men in penal retribution. He gave them up to become vile +in their own eyes and to find out their impotence to control their own +lusts. They ran riot even in all sorts of unnatural and lawless ways, +so that the world became full of sins of all kinds; sins against God +and sins against man; antisocial sins of all sorts, the sins which +destroy the state and friendship and commerce and the home: and at the +last the very ideal of righteousness had come to be lost. St. Paul, we +notice, makes the lowest moral stage of all to consist, not in merely +doing these wicked things, but in abandoning all distaste for +them--consenting unrestrainedly to those who do them; and this +profoundly true remark explains the moral impotence of much that is +from other points of view excellent in Greek literature. + +4. For the punishment of all this sin St. Paul is not content to look +to the 'day of judgement,' though that is to be the final and +characteristic expression of divine wrath, and that 'day of wrath' he +still probably anticipated in the more {72} immediate future; but he +sees already in the actual world of human society as he knows it the +manifold evidence of the divine wrath here and now. Men are receiving +in themselves the fitting reward of their perversity. Their life has +found its own punishment. The divine wrath is actually disclosed in +the facts of experience. 'Look,' St. Paul seems to say, 'at the way +men are living, and ask yourselves if there is any interpretation but +one of the facts you see. There is but one conclusion possible. God +has condemned and is showing His wrath on the human nature which He +made.' Just in the same way in an earlier epistle St. Paul speaks of +the Jews, even before the destruction of Jerusalem, as already judged, +already the subject of the divine wrath[6]. And God's method of +judgement is this. The punishment lies in the natural consequences of +the lawless actions. The wages of sin is also its fruit[7]. And +further, this punishment of sin involves the increased liability to sin +again. One sin 'gives us over' to another, as one good action +facilitates another. This idea was familiar to Jewish teachers. Among +the 'sayings of the Fathers' we find, 'Every fulfilment of duty is +rewarded by another, {73} and every transgression is punished by +another[8].' St. Paul, in fact, in this chapter, may be said to be +concentrating for the Christian Church all that is best and deepest in +the moral philosophy of Judaism. + +Now we are in a position to read the first section of St. Paul's +argument without perhaps finding any single idea to the interpretation +of which we have not a clue. + + +For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness +and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; +because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God +manifested it unto them. For the invisible things of him since the +creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the +things that are made, _even_ his everlasting power and divinity; that +they may be without excuse: because that, knowing God, they glorified +him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their +reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing +themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the +incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and +of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. + +Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto +uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves: +for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and +served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. +Amen. + +{74} + +For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women +changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise +also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their +lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and +receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. + +And even as they refused to have God in _their_ knowledge, God gave +them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not +fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, +covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, +malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, +boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without +understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, +unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they which practise +such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent +with them that practise them. + + +1. Perhaps the first question which arises in our minds when reading +this passage is, whether St. Paul's general account of the heathen +world is not unjustifiably severe. Does he not paint it too black? In +fact, the account he gives coincides with the account given by other +Jews of the Gentile world as in their experience they found it; and +this, we must remember, means the Gentile world of the great cities of +the empire. They thought, as they moved about the world and saw what +they could not but {75} see, that God had forsaken the Gentiles because +they refused to acknowledge His law. There was sin enough in Israel, +but it was remediable. The sin of the Gentiles was irremediable. God +had forsaken them[9]. This last idea is of course one entirely alien +to St. Paul's mind. To him all God's judgements, at least in this +world, have one intention--to awaken men to recognize the truth and to +stir them to conversion, 'that he may have mercy upon all.' But +otherwise St. Paul's view of the Gentile world, as he experienced it in +the cities of mixed Greek and Asiatic population of the Roman Empire, +and especially in the notoriously wicked Corinth where he was +writing[10], was the ordinary Jewish view. And a contemporary Stoic +philosopher, who wrote at Ephesus under the name of Heracleitus, gives +a picture of society in that city fully as black[11]. + +At the same time, if we are to be fair, we must recognize that the +account, while true, is not complete. The Gentile life was not without +its 'salt.' There was a great deal of virtue, both domestic and +philosophical, in the {76} empire--more perhaps in the country, of +which St. Paul knew little, than in the towns. And the existence of +this salt he acknowledges when, in the second chapter of this epistle, +he speaks of Gentiles which have no revealed law but do by nature the +things of law, being a law unto themselves, and having the effect of +the law written in their hearts, and a witnessing conscience, +individual and social, to help them[12]: and again, when he intimates +that there is an uncircumcision which puts the circumcision to shame by +keeping the law[13]. But it is not St. Paul's way to exactly correlate +the different aspects of his subject as a modern writer would do. He +is a prophet and preacher, not a formally systematic writer. It is +enough for him that the sin which he is describing is a reality: that +its tendencies are what he describes them to be: that, whatever other +counter tendency there may be, sin is so dominant in the world that its +results are as he represents them, and that the conscience and +experience of those to whom he writes will respond to his indictment. + +Nor, if we give its metaphorical meaning to 'idolatry,' is there a word +which St. Paul says in this chapter which would not be true of our {77} +modern civilization in London or Paris or New York. With us indeed +Christianity has been sufficiently vigorous to provide a counteracting +force, of infinitely stronger power than existed in the Roman world, to +resist corruption. The agencies of divine strength and recovery, the +centres of health and light, are infinitely more numerous, stronger, +more constant, more progressive. But the world of sin is still what it +was: and always there lies upon it the same stamp of the divine +condemnation. We look around on the life of our city, with its selfish +and disgusting lusts, with its drunkenness, with its enervating luxury, +with its selfish wealth, with its reckless and immoral gambling, with +its dishonest commerce, with its grasping avarice so neglectful of the +lives of those whom it makes its instruments: we look round, I say, not +on the whole life, but on the sinful life of our city, and we see what +human nature is plainly meant not to be, either in its characteristics +or in its miserable issues. And by the interval between what we see +life to be and what we know it was meant to be, we can measure the +reality of the divine judgement. The facts press upon us the truth +which St. Paul would teach. The sinful life is a condemned life. Here +is an {78} actual disclosure of the wrath of God upon all +unrighteousness and sin. + +2. But what will 'science' say to St. Paul's account of human +degeneracy and degradation? Does not St. Paul seem to talk, as +moralists in general have been disposed to talk, as if the course of +the world's history had been a downward course? and is not this the +religious view? and is it not directly opposed to the scientific view +of a gradual process of development and advance? This is a very common +form of question to suggest itself to our minds. And the answer to it +appears to be this[14]:--The biblical view of the world is not by any +means that as a whole it has gone from bad to worse. It recognizes +periods and areas of degradation, and suggests periods and areas of +stagnation. And this is what anthropology and history equally suggest. +But its main concern is with the history of one particular line of +human advancement under divine guidance through Abraham and Moses and +prophets and kings, through Christ and His Church: an advancement which +is to be finally world-wide, and even more than world-wide, in its +effects. Other lines of progress in civilization and knowledge {79} +the Bible recognizes but is not largely concerned with. But it is in +its general effect thoroughly in accord with science, which suggests +not general and equable advance over the whole region of humanity, but +advance in special departments along the line of select races, +continually impeded in its progress by counter tendencies, by periods +and areas of degradation, and still more of stagnation[15]. Science, +indeed, utters no word of promise at all as to the ultimate result of +all this evolution[16]. It is faith, of whatsoever sort, not science, +that can make us optimistic as to the issue of human history. + +But no doubt the Bible does throughout postulate the existence of sin; +and it claims that sin everywhere, and from the first, has been a cause +of degradation in the individual and the race. Now here is the real +point at issue in the relations of religion and science. The {80} main +question is not about human origins or a primaeval fall. It is simply +on the comparatively easy field of actual human existence. Is human +freedom--freedom within limits to choose and act--a reality? Can man +therefore misuse this freedom to do what he need not have done and +ought not to have done? And has he, in fact, constantly been doing +morally wrong things, wilfully and knowingly, which he need not have +done? Does, therefore, the area of human history present at every +stage a result or product which human wilfulness and lawlessness, that +is, sin, has contributed to spoil and to degrade below its natural +level? Now it is this--the real existence of countless human actions +which need not have been and ought not to have been--which contemporary +science, with a necessitarian bias, is largely occupied in denying. +Granted the reality within limits--limits which have no doubt often +been grossly exaggerated, but granted the reality within due limits--of +human freedom, and therefore the possibility and reality of actual sin +and guilt and degradation which need not have been, I do not believe +there remains any serious conflict in the moral region between religion +and science. The conflict, I say, is continually {81} being taken back +into the region of original sin or the original fall. But this is a +quite secondary area of debate, in which I believe there can be no +serious disagreement, if there is agreement in the primary area of +actual human sin. The universal moral consciousness and common sense +of man bears witness to the fact that we can do and do do what we ought +and need not. It recognizes, moreover, the moral truth of St. Paul's +idea that this lawlessness of the will has its perverting effects on +the intelligence and on the passions. The human conscience then +responds to St. Paul's account of the origin and history of human sin, +and of its fruits both in the individual and in society. And if +psychological science is inclined to deny the very existence of any +faculty of free choice such as makes sin possible, it will be found on +examination to be going very far beyond what it can prove. For the +reality of guilt and sin, and the degradation which results from it, we +have the human consciousness; against it we have no positive evidence: +nothing in fact but the habitual unwillingness of specialist science, +physical or theological, to recognize its limits. + +3. St. Paul finds the root of sin in the refusal {82} of man in +general to recognize God. He asserts that they might have known Him, +or rather did know Him, but declined to act on that knowledge. Now it +is noticeable that he does not ascribe this knowledge of God, which he +declares to have been possible to man everywhere, to an original +revelation, nor even in this place to the moral conscience, but to the +evidence of nature. In this, as in his ridicule of idolatry, he is in +accordance, not only with Jewish thought, but with contemporary Greek +philosophy. The argument from design had become habitual in the +schools, having been stated first of all with transparent simplicity by +Xenophon in his account of the reasoning of Socrates. St. Paul then +finds in this instinctive inference from nature up to nature's God, 'a +testimony of the soul naturally Christian.' He is able, at Lystra and +Athens, to assume that men will respond to it. + +It is another question, into which St. Paul does not specifically +enter, how far back in human history the appreciation of this reasoning +goes. But it is worth noticing that among our contemporary +investigators of the history of religion, some at least of the most +acute have been coming back to what we may call a modified {83} form of +the doctrine of an original monotheism[17]. They think that even +savage religions generally bear traces, that are plainly independent, +of a belief in one great and mostly good God; and that there is no +evidence that this higher belief was developed out of the lower belief +in manifold spirits of more ambiguous characters. They see no reason +to suppose that the higher belief has been gradually arrived at within +any period into which the human mind can penetrate with its +investigations or its well-grounded conjectures. Humanity appears to +them to have been haunted from its origins with this belief in the one +God; and they regard all the higher religious movements as attempts not +so much to arrive at, as to retain hold on, a belief which is +continually in danger of being overlaid and forgotten. It does not +appear that anthropological science is at all likely to disprove such a +view which on the other hand has a great deal of evidence to justify +it. At least, the {84} evidences of deterioration in the history of +religion are manifold and conspicuous. The lowest view of God and man +is not by any means always the oldest. And the recognition of such +facts is quite consonant with the doctrine of the evolution of religion +in its more reasonable forms. + +Meanwhile, every one is in sufficient harmony with St. Paul's argument +who recognizes the universal facts of sin and guilt and needless moral +deterioration among men; and who recognizes also that the secret of sin +is the wilful refusal on men's part to know God as they might have +known Him, and obey Him as they might have obeyed Him. + +4. Besides these difficult questions, we should mark what is both +plain and instructive, that St. Paul regards man as necessarily living +either above himself or below himself. Man's true nature is to be in +dependence upon God. Therein is his true liberty and dignity of +sonship. When he tries to be independent, to be his own master simply, +he loses the true principle of self-government and becomes the victim +of his own passions. God 'gave men up,' handed them over as slaves to +dishonouring passions. This theory of human nature is intimately bound +up with all St. Paul's {85} teaching about grace and redemption, and we +shall hear more of it. + +5. We shall do well to notice, finally, one consequence which follows +from recognizing that the lowest stage of moral degradation lies, not +merely in doing what is wrong, but in having ceased to disapprove of +it. That is to say, the lowest moral stage carries with it a complete +loss of ideal, or absence of the standard of right and wrong; and this +lowest stage is anticipated before it is reached. It follows, +therefore, and we must not forget it, that the actual conscience of the +individual, or of the society, at any particular moment affords no +adequate standard of right and wrong. The moral conscience, like the +intelligence in general, requires enlightenment. It supplies no +trustworthy information, except so far as we are at pains to keep it +enlightened. More than this, its capacity to keep us admonished +depends on our habitually observing its injunctions. To disobey +conscience is to dull it, and finally to make it obdurate and +insensitive. The absence of conscientious objection to a particular +course of action may therefore be due either to our having neglected to +enlighten our conscience or to having refused to obey it. The duty of +an {86} individual to himself is not only to obey his conscience, but +also take pains to enlighten it. And the duty of the individual to +society is to make continual efforts to keep the corporate conscience +up to standard. + + + +[1] 1 John iii. 4. The Greek phrase implies exactly that all sin is +lawlessness, and all lawlessness is sin. + +[2] Rom. v. 13, 14. + +[3] Cf. Wisd. xiii. 1-9: 'For verily all men by nature were but vain +who had no perception of God, and from the good things that are seen +they gained not power to know him that is, neither by giving heed to +the works did they recognize the artificer.... For from the greatness +of the beauty even of created things in like proportion does man form +the image of their first maker.... But again even they are not to be +excused. For if they had power to know so much ... how is it that they +did not sooner find the Sovereign Lord of these his works?' Apoc. Bar. +liv. 17, 18: 'From time to time ye have rejected the understanding of +the Most High. For his works have not taught you, nor has the skill of +his creation which is at all times persuaded you.' + +[4] Isa. xliv. 18-20. + +[5] Wisd. xi. 15; xiii, xiv, xv. St. Paul's debt to the Book of Wisdom +is apparent (1) in the kinds of idols he mentions; (2) in the way in +which the thought of idolatry leads on to that of uncleanness and +sexual immorality; and (3) in the idea of retribution by the natural +law of results. + + +[6] 1 Thess. ii. 16. + +[7] Butler's _Analogy_, part i. ch. 2. + +[8] _Pirqe Aboth_, iv. 2 (cited by S. and H.). + +[9] S. and H. p. 49. + +[10] He implies, as Dr. Farrar points out, 1 Cor. v. 9-10, that pure +society did not exist in Corinth. + +[11] See my _Ephesians_, pp. 91, 92, 255. + +[12] Rom. ii. 13-15. + +[13] Rom. ii. 26. + +[14] See also app. note E on physical science and the fall. + +[15] Cf. F. B. Jevons, _Introd. to the Hist. of Religion_ (Methuen), +pp. 394, 395: 'Everywhere it is the many who lapse: the few who hold +right on. The progressive peoples of the earth are in a minority.' +'Though evolution is universal, progress is exceptional.' + +[16] Cf. Huxley, _Evolution and Ethics_ (Romanes Lecture, 1893, +Macmillan), p. 36: 'The theory of evolution encourages no millennial +anticipations. If, for millions of years, our globe has taken the +upward road, yet, some time, the summit will be reached, and the +downward route will be commenced.' + +[17] The allusion is to (1) Jevons (_op. cit._ cap. xxv), who seems to +think some 'amorphous' form of monotheism may very probably lie behind +totemism. He strongly repudiates the notion that the lower form is +necessarily the older. (2) Andrew Lang, _Making of Religion_ +(Longmans, 1898), chaps. ix and xv. Cp. also Orr's _Christian view of +God and the World_ (Elliot, 1893), pp. 212 ff., and notes E, F, G. + + + + +{87} + +DIVISION I. Sec. 2. CHAPTER II. 1-29. + +_Judgement on the Jews._ + +St. Paul in his judgement of the Gentile world is but repeating, with +more of moral discernment, what he would have learned in his Jewish +training. But the strict Jews who had taught St. Paul, though some +among them must have been good men, ready to enter into the deeply +penitential spirit of their psalmists and prophets, do not seem as a +rule to have liked to think of their own people as liable to divine +condemnation. They chose to suppose that the Gentile world alone was +the area upon which divine vengeance would light, while the Jews were +to appear as the instruments of God's judgements, or at least +themselves exempt from them. They had forgotten all the superabundant +warnings against such a spirit which the prophets from Amos to John the +Baptist had let fall. This frame of mind--censorious when {88} it +looks without, lenient to the point of blindness when it looks +within--sometimes appears when one thinks of things in the abstract as +almost impossible, in the form at least in which St. Paul here proceeds +to attribute it to the Jews. We can hardly believe that any +responsible beings could be so blind as St. Paul implies that his pious +fellow-countrymen were. But it needs only experience to convince us +that even in its grosser forms this frame of mind is extraordinarily +common in individuals, in nations, and in churches. Certainly the +nation of England is not, and the representatives of religious England +too often are not, exempt from the common failing. And in the case of +the Jews we have also the witness of our Lord. He represents the +religious Jewish world as honeycombed with hypocrisy of a plain and +gross sort. They are to Him very types of the men who behold the mote +that is in their brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in +their own eyes. St. Paul's witness then is only the same as the +Christ's. + +Here then St. Paul turns abruptly upon a Jew who may be supposed to +have been listening to the indictment of the Gentiles with expressions +of sympathy, and bids him look {89} within and recognize that the Jew +also falls under the same indictment and on the same grounds. And he +proceeds sternly to cut away any possible ground of confidence which he +might derive from the thought that he had 'Abraham to his father.' +God's judgement is directed by an absolutely impartial 'truth' or +estimate of the facts in their inner reality. If in any particular +case of persistent sin His judgement seems to linger, it is not that He +has forgotten or will overlook; it is only that He is merciful and +forbearing, and gives long space for repentance[1]. But, meanwhile, if +the opportunity is not taken, if the heart is hard and impenitent, a +store is being laid up against the offender in the place of judgement, +which will break out in the great day in manifested wrath. God's +principle of judgement is absolutely free from partiality. There are +men {90} who have steadily in view the true aim of human life, its +imperishable glory, its final and permanent honour, and, therefore, +preferring eternal to temporal things, patiently go on doing good; they +may be Jews or Greeks, but in either case indifferently, the reward +that they have sought will be theirs with the accompaniment of inward +peace. There are other men who are contentious, and refusing the +leading of the truth, make themselves servants to unrighteousness. +They may be Jews or Gentiles, but the divine wrath, showing itself in +outward suffering and inward anguish, will be upon them all equally. +For God judges men impartially in the light of their opportunities. +Those who have the advantage of a revealed law shall be judged and +acquitted according as they have, not listened to it merely, but obeyed +it. For a law known and not kept, so far from commending us to God, is +but the instrument of our judgement. And those who have not this +advantage are yet not without an inward light in the natural moral +consciousness of mankind. Those who have sinned against this light +shall find nothing else was needed to bring them to their ruin. And +those, on the other hand, who by its help keep the moral law in effect, +without {91} any assistance from a revealed law, are their own law for +themselves. They have the law in its practical result written in their +hearts as their conduct shows, and their natural conscience bears its +accompanying witness. For conscience, both individual and social, +reflecting on all human actions to condemn, or, more rarely, to acquit, +anticipates the final divine judgement which, as St. Paul continually +announces, it will be the office of Jesus the Christ to pass unerringly +upon things secret as well as open in the 'day of the Lord.' + +The specially revealed law on which the Jew relied, which it is his +boast to have received from God, and in virtue of which he could +rightly claim to have a knowledge of divine things which other men had +not, and to be the teacher of the nations, the interpreter to other men +of the divine will--this law finds its first application to those +themselves to whom it is given. How can they preach the commandments, +whether it be the eighth or the seventh or the second that is in +question, so long as they have so bad a reputation for keeping them? +They cannot deny that as of old, so now, their moral conduct causes the +heathen to blaspheme their religion, instead of {92} being drawn +towards it. To have received circumcision in physical fact is of no +profit at all, unless it be accompanied by the obedience of which the +mark in the flesh is but the symbol. Disobedience is in God's sight +uncircumcision. And where the obedience is, God will reckon it as if +the symbol were there also. The morally obedient Gentile will sit in +judgement on the morally disobedient Jew. For that is the divine +principle. God everywhere and always looks to the spiritual reality as +it is seated in heart and will, and is satisfied never by outward +distinctions. Jew (Judah) means 'praise.' But if the Jew is to merit +his name, he must not be satisfied with the applause of men. He must +commend himself to God who sees the heart. + + +Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that +judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for +thou that judgest dost practise the same things. And we know that the +judgement of God is according to truth against them that practise such +things. And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them that practise +such things, and doest the same, that thou shall escape the judgement +of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance +and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to +repentance? but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up +for thyself wrath in the {93} day of wrath and revelation of the +righteous judgement of God; who will render to every man according to +his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and +honour and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, +and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, _shall be_ wrath and +indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that +worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and +honour and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and +also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God. For as +many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as +many as have sinned under law shall be judged by law; for not the +hearers of a law are just before God, but the doers of a law shall be +justified: for when Gentiles which have no law do by nature the things +of the law, these, having no law, are a law unto themselves; in that +they shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience +bearing witness therewith[2], and their thoughts one with another +accusing or else excusing _them_; in the day when God shall judge the +secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. + +But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and +gloriest in God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that +are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that +thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in +darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the +law the form of knowledge and of the truth; thou therefore that +teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man +should not steal, dost thou steal? {94} thou that sayest a man should +not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest +idols, dost thou rob temples? thou who gloriest in the law, through thy +transgression of the law dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is +blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. +For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if +thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become +uncircumcision. If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of +the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? and +shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, +judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of +the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that +circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is +one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not +in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. + + +1. As at the end of the first chapter we asked whether St. Paul was +fair to the Gentile world, so now we ask whether he is fair to those of +his own race whose religious tendencies he had known so well from +inside. And the answer again is that he undoubtedly represents aright +the dominant tendency and temper among them. The prophets had always +had to fight against the natural but false idea of divine election, +which held the Jewish race secure in the favour of Jehovah, simply +because He was their God and they were His people. They bring to bear +{95} all the activities of an inspired intelligence and heart to make +their fellow-countrymen perceive that they are only secure in God's +favour so long as they are like Him in character. Now down to the +period of the Captivity, the prophets could also denounce the people +because they were constantly false to Jehovah in matters of worship as +well as of morality. After the Captivity, however, the tendency to +idolatry is gone for ever. After the Maccabean period the exclusive +and legitimate worship of Jehovah becomes a matter of passionate +enthusiasm in the Jewish race. Henceforth therefore their danger from +the false idea of election passes into a new phase. We must be in the +favour of God, they now could plead, because we have Abraham to our +father, and because we keep to the worship of our God with an +irreproachable zeal for His law. Against this sort of strengthened +pleading John the Baptist, the last of the prophets, aims his bare +moral teaching. God's wrath is just about to fall upon His people he +declares, because it lacks in real moral righteousness. Repent ye, be +changed, get you a new heart--is his one word of preaching. This +keynote passes intensified into the teachings and the denunciations of +Christ. Nothing {96} more surely stamps the narrative of 'the woman +taken in adultery' as historically genuine[3], than its profound truth +to the moral attitude of Christ in face of Scribes and Pharisees. The +point of His reply to their trial question is that they who would +enforce a divine law, and thus stand for God before the world, must +themselves be morally sound. 'He that is without sin among you, let +him first cast a stone at her.' It is moral conformity, not merely +orthodoxy, which qualifies us to act for God. It is then precisely +this attitude of Christ towards the Jews zealous for the law, which St. +Paul is reproducing in the passage which we have just read. + +He suggests also in its last words--where he is playing on the meaning +of the name of Judah--another deep element in Christ's depreciation of +the religious spirit of the Jews. Their religion was a matter of +public opinion--with all the stagnancy which belongs to the public +opinion of a compact society--not a matter which lived with ever fresh +life in the inner relation of the conscience to God. 'How can ye +believe which receive glory one of another, and the glory which cometh +from the only God ye seek not?' {97} St. Paul then is certainly right +in his estimate of Jewish religion. One indeed who describes with as +vivid reality as he does the pride of a Jew in his religious +privileges--one who had all the reason that Saul of Tarsus had for +knowing what it was to feel this emotion from within--could hardly have +been wrong in his estimate of its weaknesses. + +And if the particular moral defects which St. Paul attributes to the +religious Jew are surprisingly grave--theft, adultery, and +temple-robbery--here too what he says out of his own experience is +confirmed from other quarters. Avarice was a notorious sin of Jews. +Our Lord accuses the Scribes of 'devouring widows' houses[4]' under +cloak of religion, and denounces the Pharisees also for leaving their +outwardly purified cups and platters inwardly full of 'extortion.' It +is only a subtler form of theft that He alludes to when He denounces +them for sanctioning the practice of dedicating property as a 'corban' +to the purposes of religion in order to evade the righteous claims of +parents. The story of Susanna, the brief but stern words of our Lord +about the seventh commandment in His Sermon on the Mount, and His {98} +significant language on the occasion already alluded to of the woman +taken in adultery, interpret St. Paul's language as to sins of the +flesh. And the language of the town clerk at Ephesus in exculpating +St. Paul and his company, suggests that 'temple-robbery' was a not +unfamiliar imputation upon Jews. It appears that with all their horror +of idols--and though everything connected with an idol was expressly +declared to be 'an abomination,' unless it had been already desecrated +by Gentiles[5]--they could not always resist the opportunity of +appropriating the rich stores of the temples. The 'religious' Scribes +and Pharisees (though not of course the best of them) were, in fact, as +a body truly hypocrites, as our Lord summarily said they were. + +And there lies in the moral failure of the Jews a very much needed +warning to us nineteenth-century Christians against censoriousness. +'Judging' occupies so large a part in our ordinary conversation. In +the religious world, we condemn so freely--Romanists, Dissenters, those +who are of a different party to ourselves: in the social world--those +of a different class, those who employ us, or whom we employ, {99} +those whom in any way we do not like or who go contrary to us. We are +always judging. But to judge, we are taught, is a great +responsibility. With what judgement we judge, we shall be judged. It +is of the utmost consequence that before we judge others we should have +judged ourselves. And to have done that truthfully has a tendency to +make us charitable in our estimate of others, because we are deeply +conscious of our own need of merciful and lenient consideration. + +2. What St. Paul teaches about the moral consciousness, and +possibility of moral goodness, among the Gentiles has not a Jewish +sound at all. The Jewish teachers generally would not have admitted +any goodness acceptable to God in the heathen world. In fact, St. Paul +is here, as in his speech at Athens, accepting the principle of a +universal presence and operation of God in the human heart, outside the +limit of any special revelation, and he accepts it in terms largely +derived from current Stoic philosophy. + +The Stoics, arising when the Greek city life was decaying, contemplated +man as an individual, and undertook to show him how to lead a good +life. A good life means a 'life according {100} to nature,' or +'according to reason': the reason of the individual being a part of the +universal reason or God. And as a help in living according to reason, +the Stoics laid stress upon the conscience in each man, i.e. a faculty +lying behind his ordinary surface self, passing judgement according to +reason upon his actions, and 'making cowards of us all,' inasmuch as we +all do wrong. + +'No one,' said Seneca, St. Paul's contemporary, 'will be found who can +acquit himself; and any man calling himself innocent has regard to the +human witness, not to his own conscience.' He quotes an 'admirable +saying of Epicurus,' 'The beginning of safety is the knowledge of sin.' +He inculcates the duty of strict self-examination, and tells us how he +performed it himself at night: 'when the light is removed, and my wife, +who is by this time aware of my practice, is now silent, I pass the +whole of my day under examination.' Then he 'opens out his conscience +to the gods.' And this conscience is to every man a sort of inward +God[6]. It is in fact the representative in each man of the universal, +immutable, and divine moral law, the {101} law of nature, in conformity +with which is the only true freedom and citizenship of the world. 'For +this' (the world of the moral order), said another contemporary of St. +Paul, also a philosopher, 'is the common home of all, and its law is no +written document (letter), but God. And if a man transgresses what the +law imposes, he will be impious; or rather he will not dare transgress, +for he could not escape. Justice has many furies, watch-dogs for +sins[7].' There is in Cicero's _Republic_ a magnificent expression of +the principle of the law of nature: 'There is a true law which is right +reason, agreeable to nature, diffused among all men, constant, eternal, +which calls us to duty by its injunctions, and by its prohibitions +deters us from wrong; which upon the good lays neither injunction nor +prohibition in vain; while for the bad, neither its injunctions nor its +prohibitions avail at all. This law admits neither of addition nor +subtraction nor abrogation. The vote of neither senate nor people can +discharge us from our obligation to it. We are not to look for some +other person to expound or interpret it; nor will there be one law for +Rome and another for Athens, nor {102} one at this date and another +later on; but one law shall embrace all races over all time, eternal +and immortal; and there shall be hereby one common master and commander +of all--God, who originated this law and proposed it and arbitrates +concerning it; and if any one obeys it not, he shall play false to +himself and shall do despite to the nature of man, and by this very +fact shall pay the greatest penalties, even if he should escape all +else that is reckoned punishment.' It is of interest to notice that +the words cited by St. Paul before the Areopagus[8], 'We are also God's +offspring,' occur in a hymn of the Stoic Cleanthes, full of the thought +of man's relation through his reason to the universal and divine law. + +Of this type of thought and language then St. Paul avails himself, in +spite of the immense differences which disclose themselves below the +surface between the Stoic and the Christian ideas of God. He avails +himself of Stoic phraseology about men being God's offspring in his +speech at Athens, as being in accordance with what he, the Christian +apostle, had to teach. And here he adopts in substance the Stoic +language with regard to conscience. As by inference from {103} nature +all men can know of God's power and divine attributes, so, St. Paul +says, from the witness of conscience they may know the principles of +His moral government[9]. St. Paul, however, rightly refuses to be +satisfied with the individual conscience. The social judgement--the +social verdicts of condemnation or acquittal continually being +passed--co-operate with it to anticipate the judgements of God. And in +virtue of the inward light of reason, and the conscience[10] both +individual and social, he held that men who lie outside the region of +special revelation can possess the moral law in effect in their hearts, +and, it is implied, can keep it. + +St. Paul is mainly occupied in this epistle in contrasting the +Christian Church, as a region where spiritual power is given in +response to faith to enable a man to fulfil the divine law, both with +the heathen world, plunged in moral wickedness, and with the Jewish +Church in its failure to attain to divine righteousness by the law of +works--of which more hereafter. {104} But there were among the Jews +true sons of Abraham: and there were among the Gentiles good men +acceptable to God, like righteous Job. St. Paul does not theorize +about this. But there is at least no reason to deny that he would have +declared these righteous men to be justified by faith and sanctified by +grace, i.e. justified by that degree of truthful correspondence with +God which was possible for them; and kept in harmony with the will of +God by His Spirit. There is no reason to believe that St. Paul would +not have admitted some action of faith and grace among the +non-christian Gentiles, as he undoubtedly does among the prae-christian +Jews who lived under or before the law. When he says of the good +heathen that they do '_by nature_ the things contained in the law,' he +uses the expression not as equivalent to 'by their own unassisted +powers, without the help of God,' but simply to mean 'without the help +of any special revelation[11].' + +{105} + +Universally then, according to St. Paul, two sources of the knowledge +of God exist; nature, with its evidences of the divine power and other +similar attributes, and conscience, with its witness to divine +righteousness. And, though the sciences of nature and man have grown +since St. Paul's day past recognition, nothing (we may boldly say) has +really weakened either element of this double witness. It is, and +remains true, that the only reasonable argument from the universal +order of nature is to a universal reason or mind: and that the method +by which the moral conscience may be believed to have developed out of +'animal intelligence,' makes no difference as to the cogency of its +witness to a divine righteousness, in response to which alone it could +have developed as in fact it has done. It is worth notice also before +we leave this part of our subject, that St. Paul's line of thought +affords a true explanation of the double fact that, on the one hand, +the actual moral standards with which the conscience of different +individuals, races, and generations is satisfied, greatly varies; and, +on the other hand, that all the standards tend towards unity in a +common idea of righteousness. The tendency towards unity St. Paul +would attribute to the divine righteousness {106} which lies behind +conscience and which it exists to reflect. The variations would be due +to the different degrees of development reached; or still more to the +different degrees of faithfulness or unfaithfulness, attention or +inattention, with which the conscience of the race or the individual +has responded to the light. The conscience, like the speculative +reason, is an instrument for coming to the truth; but an instrument +capable of every variety of racial or individual error or obtuseness. + +3. It appears clearly enough in this chapter, that St. Paul's +doctrines of free grace and justification by faith must be grossly and +carelessly misconceived unless they are viewed upon a deep background +of what we commonly call 'natural religion,' that is (practically) the +religion that appeals straight off to the conscience of almost all +honest and civilized men. It is 'natural religion' to believe that God +will judge men with absolute power and insight and impartiality +according to their conduct and their characters: that there can be no +'making believe,' no substitute for a good character, and no escaping +with a bad one. The prophets are full of this principle. Our Lord +reasserts it. It is emphasized by St. James, whose plain {107} point +is that we are justified not by right belief (which is what he means by +'faith'), but by a good life. But no one could assert the principle +more simply and absolutely as the basis of all his special evangelical +teaching than St. Paul. And whatever is true about free grace and +justification by faith only, is true because, and only because, this +free grace and this justifying faith are necessary means or steps +towards the realization of actual righteousness. So St. Paul states +it--'that the requirement of the (divine) law might be fulfilled in us +who walk[12]' according to the principles of the 'gospel of the grace +of God.' The doctrine of grace is rooted and based upon the truths of +natural religion, and leads up to their realization. It has been then +a most perilous mistake when missionaries have preached the doctrines +of grace and redemption in regions where there had been no preparatory +training in natural religion--in the truth of the unity and power and +moral character of God: of the reality of our responsibility towards +Him: of His inexorable holiness: of His inaccessibility to any kind of +bribe or attempt to find some substitute for moral obedience. Men must +have known what {108} it is to tremble in the recesses of their being +'as guilty men surprised' before God's awful righteousness; to +'tremble,' like Felix, at the message of 'righteousness, temperance, +and judgement to come,' before they can safely learn the lesson of His +grace and pardon. + +And there are two minor elements in natural religion, as commonly +understood, for which St. Paul here makes himself responsible. It has +been generally understood that all men instinctively desire their own +happiness, and that this is natural and right; and that as we should +reasonably prefer our more permanent and deeper good to what is only +transitory and superficial, so we should strive for the happiness and +satisfaction which is eternal--the eternal reward, which only the stern +pursuit of virtue can obtain for us. This deep desire for our own +substantial happiness our Lord sanctions and continually suggests as a +principal motive for right living. The love of others does not +annihilate it. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour _as thyself_.' So then +St. Paul also, following his Master, recognizes it as lying at the +heart of what is right and true in mankind, that we should 'seek' for +ourselves 'glory, honour, and incorruption'--the glory and honour which +abide {109} eternally. It is plain that he would have us pay no heed +to that truly unnatural modern altruism which would disparage and +depreciate this motive of a right self-love, and which would treat the +desire for eternal happiness, and fear of eternal loss, as a base and +unworthy element in religion. No doubt it is not the only motive. It +is not even the characteristically Christian motive. But it is a +natural and legitimate motive all the same. It is an inextinguishable +consciousness in us that we were meant for blessedness. + +But, once more, the only true happiness is moral happiness: it is a +'glory and honour' springing out of the man's character and belonging +to it: it is a happiness that is in this sense deserved. True, the +servant of God in heaven will always feel that what he is receiving is +infinitely beyond his deserts, and that his deserts are what God has +wrought in him, not he himself. None the less the reward springs out +of and belongs to what God has actually made him to be. Heaven is not +a happy place in such a sense that we could be made happy by being 'put +there' by an arbitrary fiat of God. It is fellowship with God, the +All-holy; and God's holiness is intolerable, it is 'devouring fire and +{110} everlasting burnings,' to those who are not morally like Him. +Here lies the reason why a heaven is not possible to moral beings +without the accompanying possibilities of a hell. For the moral +possibility of acquiring the holy character involves the opposite moral +possibility: and it does not lie in the moral nature of things that the +bad character should receive anything except what it deserves--the +'indignation and wrath' which God, because He is God, must express +towards the sinful, wilful character, and which to the character itself +means 'tribulation and anguish.' This, St. Paul says positively, must +be the lot of 'every soul of man that doeth evil.' It is this +inevitably two-sided law that a large part of the kindly-disposed world +to-day are trying to get rid of, or to forget, on its severe and dark +side. But it is in fact a law that works even more necessarily and +inexorably than physical laws, inasmuch as it is the expression of +God's necessary moral being. God cannot 'let us off' the punishment of +our sins, which is only their inevitable fruit. Nor does He disclose +to us any necessary limit to the ruin which we may work in our being. +This stern principle of natural religion is taken up into, and indeed +intensified in, the gospel. {111} St. Paul, however, neither here nor +elsewhere uses 'immortality' to describe the future state of those whom +God condemns. He uses it only of God and of those who enjoy the vision +of God. The 'immortality of the soul'--the idea that every soul as +such necessarily and consciously exists to all eternity--is an idea +which the language of Scripture does not seem to warrant. + +4. There are also two less prominent points in the second chapter that +we must not entirely pass over. + +St. Paul, we should find, if we were to investigate the matter, is +wholly true in his interpretation of the Old Testament in general. He +interprets its spirit and meaning with perfect insight. But he is not +always what we should call critically exact, any more than the other +interpreters of his day, in his use of particular texts. Thus, in this +chapter he gives to some words of Isaiah[13] a meaning which is indeed +to be found elsewhere in the prophets[14], but does not really belong +to the original of this particular passage. Isaiah is saying that +God's name is being blasphemed _by the oppressors of {112} +Israel_--'Continually all day long my name is blasphemed.' But the +Greek version of the Bible inserted the words 'through you' (the +Jews[15]); and St. Paul interprets this insertion to mean that it was +the moral inconsistency of the chosen people themselves which caused +God's name to be blasphemed. Perhaps the fact that he uses the formula +of quotation 'as it is written' after the words referred to, is a sign +that he had employed the words in his own sense before he became +conscious that they were in fact a quotation. But in any case he shows +no anxiety to follow critically the original meaning of a particular +passage which he cites. + +At the end of this passage occurs the antithesis familiar in modern +language of 'the letter and the spirit.' In its modern sense it is +used as equivalent to the literal and the metaphorical, or the definite +and the vague. But this is not at all its sense in St. Paul. With him +'the letter' means the written law, and 'spirit' means, in this +connexion, what we may broadly describe as vital moral energy. Thus, +{113} in its most characteristic use with St. Paul, the antithesis +distinguishes the mere external information as to God's will, which was +all the written law ('the letter') could give the Jews, from the +activity of the Holy Spirit or the spiritual power of moral freedom +which, through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we enjoy under the gospel. +In this passage the antithesis is similar, but not the same. It +contrasts the merely physical state of circumcision according to the +written law--'with the letter and circumcision' means 'having the +written law and being accordingly circumcised'--with what the Old +Testament had called 'the circumcised heart,' i.e. the really obedient +will or 'spirit' which may exist independently of the outward rite. +'Spirit,' we observe, may refer to the activity of either the Holy +Spirit of God, or of the human will, or of both without discrimination. + + + +[1] Cf. Eccles. viii. 11: 'Because sentence against an evil work is not +executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is emboldened +to do evil.' Ps. x. 11: 'He saith in his heart, God hath forgotten.' +Wisd. xi. 23: 'Thou overlookest the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' Ecclus. v. 4: 'Say not, I sinned, and what happened unto me? +For the Lord is longsuffering.' 2 Pet. iii. 9: 'The Lord is not slack +concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering +to youward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should +come to repentance.' Cf. also Isa. lvii. 11. + +[2] Or rather 'their own conscience bearing witness with them and, in +their mutual relations, their reflections accusing or even excusing +them.' + +[3] It is certainly misplaced as it stands (John vii. 53-viii. 11). + +[4] Mark xii. 40; Luke xx. 47; Matt. xxiii. 25. + +[5] Cf. S. and H. _in loc._ + +[6] See for Seneca, Lightfoot, _Philippians_, 'St. Paul and Seneca,' +pp. 278-280. + +[7] See _Pseudo-Heracleitus_, Letter ix, p. 91 (Bernays). + +[8] Acts xvii. 28. + +[9] See Rom. i. 32 as well as Rom. ii. 14. + +[10] 'Conscience,' as used by St. Paul's contemporaries and by himself, +is not a repository for positive moral guidance, but rather a faculty +for reflecting upon our own already accomplished actions. See further, +app. note B, on the idea of conscience. + +[11] See on this subject _Life and Letters of Dr. Hort_ (Macmillan), +vol. ii. p. 337: 'Faith itself, not being an intellectual assent to +propositions, but an attitude of heart and mind, is present in a more +or less rudimentary state in every upward effort or aspiration of man.' +Also Gibson, _Thirty-Nine Articles_ (Methuen), ii. p. 420. + +[12] Rom. viii. 4. + +[13] Isa. lii. 5. + +[14] See in Ezek. xxxvi. 22: 'My holy name, which ye have profaned +among the nations, whither ye went.' + +[15] Dr. Gifford suggests that the LXX was subsequently modified by St. +Paul's citation (as in the next chapter, iii. 10-18), instead of his +citation being moulded by the LXX. Is there any evidence in support of +this view? + + + + +{114} + +DIVISION I. Sec. 3. CHAPTER III. 1-8. + +_Jewish objections._ + +This passage is interesting as showing us, what is more often the case +than appears on the surface, that St. Paul has in mind as he reasons +the familiar objections of an opponent--his own objections, perhaps in +part, before he was a Christian. St. Paul, that is to say, very +frequently writes controversially, and argues _ad hominem_: and his own +reasoning is only rightly understood when we have clearly in view what +he is opposing. It of course very frequently happens in literature +generally that a saying is completely misunderstood, because that with +which it is contrasted is overlooked. Thus, John the Baptist's advice +to the soldiers to 'be content with their wages' is commonly +interpreted to mean--'Be satisfied with your wages {115} as they are, +and do not ask for more.' This might have been good advice or bad +advice to give to the soldiers, but it is not John the Baptist's. He +means, 'Be satisfied with your pay and do not supplement it by robbery +and unauthorized exaction.' Here then the implied contrast is +necessary to enable us to interpret aright the positive advice. +Similarly in the case of St. Paul, his doctrine of the absoluteness of +the divine election, as stated later in this epistle[1], has been +misunderstood, because it has been supposed that he is asserting the +divine absoluteness as against the claim of man to moral freedom, and +to equitable judgement in accordance with responsibility. But in fact +this is what he is indirectly vindicating. What he is arguing against +is the claim of the Jews that God was bound to their race. It is +against this claim--this immoral claim to perpetual privilege on the +part of one race, however they might behave--that St. Paul exalts the +absolute freedom of God to choose or reject as He sees fit. It is of +great importance then, especially with a writer so frequently +controversial as St. Paul, to watch continually to see which is the +phase of thought or feeling that {116} he is opposing. Frequently, as +I say, it hardly appears on the surface of St. Paul's writing that he +really has a definite opponent in view. Sometimes, as in the passage +now to be considered, it becomes apparent, and the argument is best +exhibited in the form of a dialogue (though to let the dialogue appear +clearly, missing links have to be supplied) thus-- + +_Jewish Objector._ But if all this is true--if Jews are no better off +than Gentiles--of what use is it to be a Jew? What is the value of our +circumcision and the position into which it initiates us? (ver. 1) + +_St. Paul._ Its value is manifold. To take one point first[2], it +lies in the fact that the oracles of God--His teaching and +promises--were entrusted to our race (ver. 2). + +_J. O._ But if God thus of old gave special promises to us as His +special people, and if now we are simply like the heathen under His +wrath, the conclusion is that He has been false to His promises +(argument implied in ver. 3). + +_S. P._ No: that is not to be thought of. It is not God who has +played false, it is man: it is our race. The Jews refused to believe: +not however all of them, but some. If there is {117} a trial between +God and His people as to which has been true, it is God who must be +vindicated as the Psalmist says[3] (vers. 3, 4). + +_J. O._ But if, as your teaching proves, all our unrighteousness is +made to serve as a background on which God makes His righteousness all +the more evident--that is enough. Our wrong-doing serves its purpose +in this way. God has no right both to use our wrong-doing for His own +purposes, and then, besides this, to visit His wrath upon us (ver. 5a). + +_S. P._ Such thoughts our human nature suggests (ver. 5b). But we +know they are false. God is the judge of the world, and His action +necessarily supplies the standard of all judicial righteousness (ver. +6). + +J. O. But do consider my point. If the result of my playing false to +God is that His fidelity is only thrown into higher relief and the +whole process ministers to His glory, why am I, the unconscious +instrument of His glory, treated as an offender? and why should I not +resolve to go on freely doing wrong (as you yourself are sometimes +accused of teaching), so as to give God more abundant opportunities to +overrule my action for the greater good? (vers. 7, 8a.) + +{118} + +_S. P._ A man stands justly condemned in the very using of such an +argument (ver. 8b). + + +What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of +circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were intrusted +with the oracles of God. For what if some were without faith? shall +their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? God +forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is +written, + +That thou mightest be justified in thy words, + +And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgement. But if our +unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? +Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner +of men.) God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? But if +the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also +still judged as a sinner? and why not (as we be slanderously reported, +and as some affirm that we say), Let us do evil, that good may come? +whose condemnation is just. + + +What is of interest here is to notice that St. Paul reproduces the +argument of his Jewish opponent with great sympathetic force. It had +clearly been weighed in his own mind. It was urged, no doubt, against +his own teaching, that it gave an excuse for sinning by suggesting that +the greatness of the sin only glorified the super-abundant greatness of +the pardoning love. It is only too probable that some of his followers +were persuaded by some such argument or acted as {119} if they were. +Thus St. Paul states it with vigour, but thereby only makes all the +more apparent the meagreness of his reply. Not that the argument is +such as makes reply difficult. In a slightly different form St. Paul +deals with it elaborately in chapters ix-xi. But here he clearly +treats it as contemptible when its true character has once been +disclosed. And why? Because it is professedly an explanation of the +ways of God with man, which is at the same time an excuse for +immorality. It is an intellectual exercise at the expense of +conscience. And St. Paul shows, by the very contempt with which he +treats it, that a man who will play false with his conscience, and then +proceed to find intellectual justifications, is not to be met in the +intellectual region at all. He has been condemned already. + +St. Paul then, we find, will not argue with one who reasons at the +expense of his conscience; and this is an important principle. When +the intellect is acting purely, it must be free, and must be dealt with +seriously on its own ground. But the conscience must be followed first +of all. Its light is clearer than the light of intellect, and must be +left supreme. Whatever be the bewilderment of my intellect, I am +self-condemned, {120} God-condemned, if I play false to the moral +light. And arguments to the contrary, however clever-sounding or +philosophical, are in fact sophistry. There is, we must confess, a +good deal of such sophistry to-day in the use of arguments drawn from +the current philosophy of necessitarianism and the idea of heredity. + + + +[1] Chapters ix-xi. + +[2] The points are resumed in ix. 1. + +[3] Ps. xxxii. + + + + +{121} + +DIVISION I. Sec. 4. CHAPTER III. 9-20. + +_Sin and condemnation universal._ + +At this point the direct argument with an opponent is dropped; and St. +Paul restates what he has so far been occupied in proving. It is not +that Jews are in a worse position than Gentiles. It is that all +together are involved in the same moral failure. To deepen the +impression that this is a true statement, St. Paul culls from various +psalms and from Isaiah a series of passages describing a general state +of depravity, moral blindness, apathy, failure, unprofitableness, +falsity, hatred, and outrage against God and man. These utterances of +the book of 'the law' (here used for the Old Testament scriptures +generally) are meant for those first to whom this law belonged. They +condemn Jews as well as Gentiles. They show all equally to be under +{122} divine judgement. They prove that if the written law could teach +men God's will, it could not, by the works that it enjoined, enable him +to satisfy God. It had its function only in teaching him to know his +sinfulness by contrast to his plainly declared duty. The conclusion is +then that all men, Jews and Gentiles alike, are involved in sin, are +under the wrath of a holy God, and are in utter need of a deliverance +which they are incapable of procuring for themselves. + + +What then? are we in worse case than they? No, in no wise: for we +before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all +under sin; as it is written, + + There is none righteous, no, not one; + There is none that understandeth, + There is none that seeketh after God; + They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; + There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one: + Their throat is an open sepulchre; + With their tongues they have used deceit: + The poison of asps is under their lips: + Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: + Their feet are swift to shed blood; + Destruction and misery are in their ways; + And the way of peace have they not known: + There is no fear of God before their eyes. + +Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them +that are under the law; that every {123} mouth may be stopped, and all +the world may be brought under the judgement of God: because by the +works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for through +the law _cometh_ the knowledge of sin. + + +1. The 'Scripture proof' which St. Paul here offers of universal human +corruption is, according to a recognized Hebrew practice, made up by +stringing together a number of separate texts,--Ps. xiv. 1-3, v. 9, +cxl. 3, x. 7, Isa. lix. 7, 8, Ps. xxxvi. 1. They represent the +impression made by human wickedness upon the righteous observer. The +estimate covers Israel as well as, indirectly, the world at large[1]. +It is thus an authoritative rebuke to Jewish self-complacency. It is +as if an English preacher were to rebuke similar self-complacency in +Englishmen by a collection of passages from standard English +authorities, in which our nation was judged, in common with others, in +a manner most humiliating to its pride. It is this, though, inasmuch +as the psalmists and prophets were and are believed to have spoken +under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, it is also something more. + +It is well known that, as the quotations in {124} the New Testament +have frequently affected the Greek text of the Old, so here this +conglomerate of quotations came to be attached altogether to Ps. xiv in +some Greek MSS., increasing it by four verses. Thence they passed into +the later Latin Vulgate. Thence into Coverdale's Bible and into the +Great Bible, and so into the Prayer Book version of the Psalms. But +our present Bible version remains true to the Hebrew original. + +2. 'To be justified,' in ver. 20, means to be acquitted, or proved +righteous, or reckoned righteous in the trial before God. This, and +not to _make_ righteous, is the meaning of the word 'to justify,' both +in the Old and New Testament and elsewhere. There is scarcely an +exception. It is a forensic word, that is, a word derived from +processes of law, and it describes the favourable verdict after a +trial. It is used of vindicating God's character to His people[2], or +of vindicating one's own character; of God's judicial acceptance of men +or men's judicial acceptance of one another[3]. And so far as real +righteousness is necessary for judicial {125} acquittal, the word +implies real righteousness, but it does not primarily mean it. + +3. Here we find briefly stated St. Paul's apparently wholly original +view of 'the law,' as given simply to enlighten the conscience by +keeping men informed as to their duty, without supplying them with any +moral assistance in performing it. Thus the ultimate aim of the law +was to make man know his own sinfulness; to convince him that his +attempted independence was a failure, and that he could not save +himself; and so to prepare him to cry out for the gift of grace, and to +welcome it when it was given. 'The law was given,' as St. Augustine is +fond of saying, 'that grace might be sought, and grace was given that +the law might be kept.' This antithesis is thoroughly after St. Paul's +mind. + + +This first division of our epistle gives us as a whole a great deal to +think about. There are, we may say, two spiritual evils conspicuous +to-day. People with consciences in any degree awakened are apt to be +nervous, anxious, despondent, complaining, sullen. The second division +of our epistle supplies the antidote to this error by consolidating the +awakened conscience in divine peace. But there is another, {126} and +perhaps more conspicuous, spiritual evil of our day which this first +division is calculated to meet--the habit of excusing oneself--the +absence of the sense of sin. + + Hold thou the good: define it well: + For fear divine philosophy + Should push beyond her mark, and be + Procuress to the lords of hell. + +Because philosophy and science have been bringing into prominence the +influence of heredity and physical environment on character, we use +this consideration, and often with little enough knowledge of real +science, to obliterate the sense of sin. We are apt to regard sin as +it appears in the world at large as a result of ignorance, or social +conditions--as in one way or another a form of misfortune. And so +viewing it in the world, we view it in ourselves. We make excuses for +ourselves. We have largely lost the sense that sin is wilfulness; that +it is an inexcusable offence against God; that it does, and necessarily +does, bring us under God's indignation; that necessarily, because God +is what He is, the consequences of sin in this life, and much more +beyond this life, are inconceivably terrible. It is this sense of sin +that St. Paul must help to restore in us. We must believe {127} that +God is holy, and we must learn to tremble under His necessary holiness, +before we can in any right sense realize that He is loving. We must +learn once again to be really penitent; to confess our sins in general +and in particular with utter humiliation; to expect the divine +judgement upon them; to use with reality the stern language about sin +of the Bible and the Prayer Book. And learning this for ourselves with +regard to our own personal sins, we must learn also to feel, like +Daniel, what our church and nation deserve in God's sight. We must +confess our own sins and the sins of church and nation[4]--aye, of the +human race. Only through such a restoration of evangelical severity +can there be a restoration of evangelical joy. The deepened sense of +personal sin is the needful step to spiritual progress. Certainly no +more in our case than in that of the Jews will orthodoxy, or ritual +accuracy, or frequent services, or superior education, or philanthropic +zeal, be accepted as a substitute for moral severity, for the spirit of +penitence and the readiness for penance. Let us judge ourselves, +brethren, that we be not judged of the Lord. + +And it is all-important what our standard of {128} judgement is. The +Jews failed because they judged themselves by a mainly external and +therefore easy standard. So do most respectable Englishmen. We are +satisfied if we do nothing discreditable. But the religious sense of +sin, as it is experienced by the psalmists, or St. Paul, or Luther, or +John Keble, arises from the intense perception of a personal relation +to the All-Holy. The 'falling short,' or rather 'experienced need[5],' +of which St. Paul goes on to speak, is the experienced need of +something very lofty, to which it is possible for men to be quite +insensible--'the glory of God.' God's divine brightness, the eternal +light, streams forth into nature. 'The whole earth is full of His +glory.' Man also in his natural and moral being is meant to have +fellowship with God. He is meant for the divine glory also. It is in +proportion as he realizes what he was meant for, and becomes conscious +in himself of a capacity for God, that his present actual pollution and +sinfulness becomes a reality to his consciousness. It is in the light +of God, {129} and in aspiration after the glory of God, that the sense +of sin really awakens. 'Thou requirest truth in the inward parts,' +says the Psalmist. 'Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned.' 'If +thou, Lord, shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amiss, Lord, who +may abide it?'[6] + + + +[1] Dr. King (The Psalms in Three Collections, &c.: Cambridge, 1898) +has remarked that Ps. xiv. 1-3 closely resembles the general +condemnation of 'all flesh upon the earth' in Gen. vi. 5, 12. + +[2] Cf. above ver. 4, from Ps. xxxii. + +[3] See Ps. li. 4; Job xxxii. 2; Prov. xvii. 15; Isa. v. 23; Matt. xi. +19; Luke vii. 29; x. 29; xvi. 15. + +[4] Cf. Dan. ix. 4-20. + +[5] The word for 'fall short' in ver. 23 is a 'middle' verb, and +apparently implies not only failure in point of fact, but conscious +failure. Thus in Luke xv. 14, the prodigal son begins to _feel_ his +destitution (middle). But in Matt. xix. 20, the rich young man asks, +'What, as a matter of fact, is wanting to me' (active)? See Gifford, +or S. and H. _in loc._ + +[6] Cf. app. note C, on recent reactions from the teaching about hell. + + + + +{130} + +DIVISION II. CHAPTERS III. 21-IV. 25. + +_Justification by faith only._ + +Sec. 1. (III. 21-31.) + +_Christ our propitiation._ + +Now we have been brought to recognize the true state of the case as +between ourselves and God--the facts about ourselves as we are in God's +sight. We were meant for fellowship in the divine glory. 'The glory +of God,' says an old Father, 'is the living man: the life of man is the +vision of God.' But, meant for fellowship in the divine glory, we have +fallen short of it and have come to appreciate our failure. We have +sinned, and that universally and wilfully. We are such that God cannot +accept us as we are: the 'day of His appearing' could be for us but a +'day of wrath.' And in this dire situation we are helpless. We can +supply no remedy. 'Can the Ethiopian change his {131} skin, or the +leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do +evil[1].' But to acknowledge this--to abandon the claim so dear to the +human heart, that we can be independent and manage our own life +successfully: to repudiate all our false pride, and to come before God +all of us on the same level, confessing our failure and our sin--this +is to let man's necessity be God's opportunity, and to open the +flood-gates of the divine righteousness. God is righteous in all the +richest meaning of that word, and that righteousness of His He is now +extending to us and giving us admittance into it. And this He does +purely and simply as His gift. On His side it is pure and gratuitous +giving, on our side simple and unmeritorious receiving. We contribute +nothing. No distinctions are admitted between those inside the law and +those outside it. The gift is quite apart from the law, though law and +prophets bore witness to it. No questions are admitted as to what we +have done or what we have left undone. Purely and simply out of the +freedom of His love, who is our Creator and our Father, now, when a +bitter experience has taught us again our true attitude towards Him, He +offers us {132} admission into His righteousness, all on the same +level, if we will simply believe in Jesus Christ His Son, that is, take +Him at His word and believe His promises (vers. 21-24). + +And what is this offer? It is, first of all, what befits the captives +of sin: it is redemption. God, who of old bought His people out of +captivity in Egypt, without any co-operation of theirs, by a pure act +of His power, has now again, without any co-operation of ours, but by a +manifestation this time of self-sacrificing love, in the person of +Jesus Christ, bought our freedom from sin. And this redemption He +offers to us first of all in the form which befits sinners conscious of +sin and guilt, as the mere gift of forgiveness, the mere power to break +with the past, the mere right to stand and face the future with a clean +record. For as the brazen serpent was lifted up before the eyes of +rebellious Israel, bitten of the fiery serpents, and those who looked +unto it lived, so upon the open stage of history God set forth Jesus +Christ shedding His life-blood--obedient, that is, to God and +righteousness unto death, even the death of the cross. And this +sacrificial shedding of the life-blood of the Son of God--to which we +{133} contributed nothing[2]--is accepted by the Father as +propitiatory, that is, as something which enables Him to show His true +character of righteousness, and to acquit or accept among the +righteous, irrespective of what he has done or been, every one who has +faith in Jesus (vers. 24-26). + +And why (we in our age are disposed to ask) did not God simply declare +His forgiveness? why this roundabout method of a propitiatory +sacrifice? It was (St. Paul's language suggests) to prove or vindicate +His righteousness, which means both holiness and mercy. All the long +ages past of the times of ignorance, God had been 'overlooking' or +'passing over' sins in His forbearance, never 'suffering His whole +displeasure to arise,' but allowing all nations to walk in their own +ways and to find out their own mistakes and helplessness[3]. The +result of their being thus left to themselves was that men did indeed +become conscious of their misery {134} and need, but also came to +entertain all sorts of slack or unworthy ideas about God. A mere +declaration of forgiveness might have left men with an impression of an +easy-going or 'good-natured' God who would make light of sin. But the +awful burden laid upon Jesus on account of human sin, the awful +sacrifice of His life which He readily offered, restores the sterner +element to our thoughts about God, just at that crisis or opportunity +in the divine dealings, when by God's declaration of free forgiveness +we are made to feel His love. God does forgive us, but it costs Him +much. And no one who under these conditions comes and takes at the +hand of Jesus the gift of pardon can fail to receive with it the awful +impression of the divine holiness and of the severity of the divine +requirements. All the former 'passing over of the sins done aforetime' +was made morally possible because God had in view that 'now at the +present season,' or opportunity, He would 'show,' or prove, His whole +righteousness, and be before men's eyes the righteous being that He is +in fact (righteous rather than merely 'just'); and be able, without the +danger of a great misunderstanding, to give His righteousness full +scope by admitting into {135} it, by a pure act of pardon, every one +who comes simply taking Jesus at His word[4]. + +Here then there is no room for pride or glorying. It is utterly +excluded because there is here no consideration of human merit. It is +a pure and unmerited boon of the divine bounty bestowed, without +reference to any law known or observed, simply on those who, utterly +confessing their need, accept in faith the offer of love. Again there +is no reference to any chosen race. Jew and Gentile, circumcision and +uncircumcision, are all in the same case. All have the same need. God +is the same, with the same offer, for all alike. He will accept the +Jew because he believes, and He will accept the Gentile with no other +equipment but his faith. Yet this principle of faith involves no +repudiation of the principle of law; rather, it realizes the very end +which law was intended to serve (vers. 27-31). + + +But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, +being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of +God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there +{136} is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the +glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the +redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth _to be_ a +propitiation, through faith, by his blood, to shew his righteousness, +because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the +forbearance of God; for the shewing, _I say_, of his righteousness at +this present season: that he might himself be just, and the justifier +of him that hath faith in Jesus. Where then is the glorying? It is +excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of +faith. We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from +the works of the law. Or is God _the God_ of Jews only? is he not _the +God_ of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: if so be that God is +one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the +uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make the law of none effect +through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. + + +i. + +For our understanding of this famous passage a good deal depends on our +fixing, as exactly as possible, what the 'righteousness of God' here +spoken of means. Beyond all question it means in part God's own moral +character. This is quite certain, as in the Bible generally, so in +this very chapter[5]. But it is also certain that God's character is, +especially in this epistle, viewed as revealed to us in such a sense +that we can take hold of it and become identified with it. {137} Thus +(especially in i. 17) _human_ faith is spoken of as the starting-point +or region for revealing divine righteousness. It extends to and +embraces the believers[6]. It is a righteousness communicated to us +from God on the basis of faith[7]. The 'righteousness of God' is what +we men are to become[8]. This transition of meaning from what God is +in Himself to what we are by the gift of God is of course thoroughly +natural. The grand idea of the Bible is that of a moral fellowship +between man and God. The grand idea of the New Testament is, further, +that of a disclosure and communication to us of the divine life. + +And what is this moral quality described by 'righteousness' which +belongs to God and is communicated to us? Righteousness is a term +belonging primarily to man. A righteous man, in the Old Testament, is +one who fulfils all that is expected of him, one who is +blameless--towards man, but especially towards God. But if God expects +such and such conduct in men it is because of what He Himself is. His +requirements express His character. God Himself therefore is believed +to be righteous, incorruptibly and awfully righteous. But a great +{138} strain is put upon this belief in the 'wild and irregular scene' +of this world, the Governor of which appears so often indifferent to +the sufferings of His most faithful servants. Thus the righteous cry +out to God to vindicate Himself, and God's righteousness is, in the Old +Testament, largely identified with God's vindication of His own +character by righteous acts or judgements accomplished in the past or +expected in the future; acts of such a character as that in them the +wicked and insolent are put to confusion, and the meek and holy +justified and exalted. Such righteous judgement is expected to +characterize the kingdom of the Christ. Of course, in the general +lowering of moral ideals among the Pharisaic Jews, the idea of +righteousness suffered with all else. The righteous came to mean those +who strictly keep the outward Jewish law; and God's righteousness was +identified with His expected vindication of those who keep the law, +i.e. the pious Jew, at the coming of the Messiah[9]. Our Lord, and His +disciples after Him, were engaged in nothing so much as in deepening +the idea of righteousness again. Especially it is something much more +than the mere observance of outward ordinances. {139} It was, in fact, +the fundamental error of the Jews to confuse the two. Righteousness in +man must be real likeness to God, and God's righteousness is His holy +character which He is now once more manifesting in the gospel of His +Son; a character which is still shown in acts of justice[10], in +punishing the wicked and rewarding the righteous, but which manifests +itself also more especially as love, and by gracious promises of +forgiveness and acceptance[11]. Thus, in Rom. i. 17, 18, the present +'revelation of divine righteousness' is a gracious manifestation which +is put in contrast to the 'revelation of divine wrath,' the place of +which it is intended to take. And yet, though the quality of mercy is +made emphatic, it is not isolated. God's righteousness is not mere +good nature. It would not be rightly revealed by any mere ignoring or +passing over of sin. God's mercy is inseparable from His holiness, and +His righteousness includes both[12]. It needed the severe requirement +of the atoning sacrifice, as well as {140} the free gift of forgiveness +and new life, to prove or exhibit it. + +And if God's righteousness shows itself first of all in a simple act of +justification of sinners--in simply forgiving men or pronouncing them +righteous, irrespective of what they are in themselves at the moment, +if only they will take God at His word--three points have to be borne +in mind. First, that the mere offer of forgiveness is put in the +forefront because this readiness on our part to be treated as helpless +sinners is the annihilation of the one great obstacle to our +reconciliation with God--the proud independence which led the Jews, and +has led men since their day, to resent being dealt with by mere mercy, +and to want to justify themselves. If the Christian character is to +grow aright, it must have its root in an utter acknowledgement that we +owe to God our power even to make a beginning in His service: that we +can run the way of His commandments, because, and only because, He by +His own act has set our hearts at liberty. + + Just as I am, without one plea + But that Thy blood was shed for me, + And that Thou bidst me come to Thee, + O Lamb of God, I come! + +{141} + +To many really good Christians this sort of language has come to have +an unreal sound because they have been surfeited with it, and because +it has been associated with a very one-sided Christianity. But, for +all that, the moral necessity remains that we should dig out of its +last refuges the claim of human independence, if the Christian +character is to grow healthily. In other words, the only root of +Christian thankfulness and progress is the recognition that our +spiritual life rests at its basis on a pure act of the divine bounty in +accomplishing our redemption from sin and giving us the forgiveness of +all our sins. + +Secondly, it must be borne in mind that our forgiveness through the +sacrifice is only the first step towards fellowship with God. It is +only the removal of the preliminary obstacle which guilt had raised +against actual admittance into the life of God. The language of the +New Testament refuses to allow us to separate the forgiveness of our +sins from our admission into the 'body of Christ' by baptism[13], or, +in other words, our incorporation into the life of the redeemed people, +the new Israel. For the faith {142} which accepts forgiveness is the +same identical quality which corresponds with all the later movement of +the new life. God's free gift of grace is not forgiveness only, but +forgiveness and new life; it is 'forgiveness of sins and an inheritance +among them that are sanctified by faith that is in Christ[14].' St. +Paul does not contemplate, or contemplates only to repudiate, a faith +which accepts forgiveness and stops there--indifferent to actual +holiness or baptismal incorporation. For it would be no real faith at +all. The preliminary justification or acquittal is simply and solely +to serve as a basis for the life of consecration and glory. The stages +of justification and sanctification are separable in idea but not in +fact. The refusal to proceed from the threshold of the acquittal into +the palace of the new life would expel even from the threshold; even as +the failure of the unthankful servant to behave as one should behave +who has been excused the debt he could not pay, cancelled all his +acquittal and left him with the weight of the old debt rolled back upon +him to his destruction. + +Lastly, and in one word, it must never be left out of sight that even +the initial movement of {143} faith, the taking Christ at His word and +believing His promises, involves the element of moral allegiance. His +gracious person and character attract even while the boon is being +accepted, and a new motive enters into life. Justifying faith at its +very root is a faith which yields allegiance to its object. + + +ii. + +To a Jew, and to almost all races when St. Paul wrote, the idea of an +expiatory sacrifice for sin seemed natural and obvious. But for the +special Christian doctrine of expiation the basis is to be found in the +memorable chapter liii of the 'later Isaiah.' That great prophet of +the captivity is assuring Israel of their restoration to their own +land. This restoration is to follow on the due punishment of her +sins--'She hath received of the Lord's hands double for all her sins.' +And the restored people is to be, before all else, a righteous +people--'all righteous'--a people of God's favour, because they are +living according to God. But there is so much sin still remaining in +them as to make it necessary that the new life of the recovered people +should be based on a great act of {144} propitiation. The Righteous +Servant of Jehovah, who is, at starting, the idealized people itself, +but who comes to be represented as an individual acting for the people +while repudiated by them, offers his life a willing sacrifice for their +sins. The chastisement of their iniquities falls on him, and he +accepts the burden, and is obedient unto death. Dying he makes his +soul a guilt offering: and, living through death exalted and powerful, +he becomes an intercessor accepted with God, the head of a new seed +whom he 'justifies' before God by the intimate knowledge of God's mind +and character which in his voluntary humiliation he has won. This +wonderful prophetic picture represents a vast advance in moral teaching +on what had gone before. It is not only that the self-sacrifice of a +perfect human will is substituted for the animal victims to which the +enlightened conscience of God's people already refused to allow any +real efficacy; but also that the idea of propitiation is put in a +context where it is made plain that it can only be the prelude to a +state of actual righteousness in those who are to be justified by it. +It occurs as part of the answer to the question, not--How is Israel to +escape punishment? but, How is Israel to {145} become the really +righteous nation, living in the likeness of God? + +In the later books of the Maccabees we have this idea of the expiatory +sacrifice and intercession of the ideal Israelite still retained, but +degraded, probably under Greek influences. 'And I, as my brethren,' +says the Maccabean martyr, 'give up both body and soul for the laws of +our fathers, calling upon God that he may speedily become gracious to +the nation ... and that in me and my brethren may be stayed the wrath +of the Almighty, which hath been justly brought upon our whole +race[15].' 'Be propitious to my race,' prays Eleazar, in another +Alexandrian version of the story, 'being satisfied with our punishment +on their behalf. Make my blood a propitiation for them, and receive my +life as a substitute for theirs[16].' These passages are on a lower +moral level than Isaiah's, because in them the prominent idea of +propitiation is that it is a means of procuring from God exemption from +further punishment, not a step to the restoration to holiness. The +idea both of what God desires and of what man desires is lower. And +indeed all conceptions of propitiation may be distinguished into true +{146} or false, according as righteousness or exemption from punishment +is the end which is specially in view. + +Thus when we pass on into the New Testament we find in Caiaphas' +saying, 'It is expedient for you that one man should die for the +people, and that the whole nation perish not[17],' the typical +expression of the quite immoral notion[18] of the forcible sacrifice of +an innocent person in order to exempt a guilty race from punishment. +In our Lord's teaching, on the other hand, we find the doctrine of +atonement raised to its highest moral power. As the Forerunner had +revived the teaching of the later Isaiah by pointing to Him as 'the +Lamb of God who taketh away (i.e. taketh up and expiateth) the sin of +the world[19],' so Christ Himself spoke unmistakeably of the new +covenant which He came to inaugurate, as to be based upon the +sacrificial offering of His body and the outpouring of His blood[20]: +spoke also of 'the remission of sins' as the benefit to be expected +{147} from His expiation. But no teacher in the world ever made it so +plain that God can be satisfied with nothing that any other can do for +us--with nothing but actual likeness to Him in ourselves. No teacher +ever made it so plain that what we are to desire is not to be let off +punishment, but to be actually freed from sin. He left no room for +doubt that only by following His steps, even to the cross and surrender +of our lives, can we share His fellowship. The very life which is +offered in sacrifice to lay the foundation of the new covenant is a +life or spirit which we are to share. We are to eat and drink His +sacrificed flesh and blood--the blood which is the life--and so to be +one with Him and He with us. He sacrificed Himself, in other words, in +order to make possible, through His life and Spirit, a new covenanted +society, in which men should have perfect fellowship with God and with +one another. He did not reject the idea of a propitiation won for man +by His vicarious sacrifice--the truth is far from that--but He keeps it +in inseparable connexion with the life which is to be based upon it; +and in the eucharist He brought back the idea of sacrifice to what had +been its starting-point in all primitive usages. 'The one point,' says +{148} Professor Robertson-Smith, 'that comes out clear and strong (from +the examination of ancient sacrificial customs), is that the +fundamental idea of ancient sacrifice is sacramental communion, and +that all atoning rites are ultimately to be regarded as owing their +efficacy to a communication of divine life to the worshipper, and to +the establishment or confirmation of a living bond between them and +their God[21].' + +Still Christ's sacrifice of propitiation, to which we contribute +nothing, in which we do not share, remains a necessary prelude to the +establishment of the new life. It is in virtue of this that we are +justified and accepted and allowed to start afresh. This fact the New +Testament in general takes for granted, and offers no explanation of +it; as indeed the human heart has in general accepted the benefit in +all thankfulness and asked no questions. But the speculative modern +intellect has found a difficulty in the matter--in the matter at least +as commonly represented--and we have noticed that a suggestion of +explanation is made by St. Paul in this passage. God had long gone on +'passing over' sin all over the world in loving forbearance, bearing +with all men's sinfulness, {149} till they had thoroughly learnt the +lesson of their own need of God and inability to save themselves. But +this very forbearance rendered God's character liable to complete +misunderstanding. He might have been supposed to be kind indeed, but +indifferent to sin. 'These things hast thou done and I kept silence: +thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself[22].' +Thus the severity manifested in the claim of the 'righteous Father' +upon the Son of Man, His claim of an obedience unto the shedding of His +blood, and the ready response to His claim on the part of the Son of +Man gladly rendering up His life in homage to the Father--these taken +together, the claim of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son, +vindicated within the area of the Christian faith the true character of +God, and forced the believer in Jesus to hold the severity and the love +in their inseparable unity as making up the divine righteousness. + +Does not this thought open at least an intelligible vista into the +mystery of the Atonement? Christ is the Son of Man. He is to +inaugurate the true manhood. But first He must deal with the manhood +that has gone {150} astray, and make an act of reparation to the Father +for all the outrage that our sins have done Him. Thus in contrast to +all our self-pleasing, self-indulgence, self-excusing, in contrast to +all our clamorous insolence towards God and indifference to His laws, +we behold the Son of Man recognizing the Father's strict requirements, +and lifting before His eyes, in the name of the manhood which He +represents, the great reparation of an unshrinking obedience and +loyalty unto death. The Father spared not His only Son the natural +consequences of obedience in a world of sin. The Son spared not +Himself, but shed His blood--the 'blood which is the life'--at the +Father's will. This is the one full, perfect, and sufficient +sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. +It is the sacrifice offered in the power of nothing less than 'eternal +spirit.' Henceforth, then, no man can come to God in faith in Jesus, +in the faith which even at its root is moral allegiance, and think +lightly either of God's holiness or of his own or others' sin. God +forgives him his sin, but it cost Him much to forgive it. The Cross is +the measure of the antipathy between God and sin. + +And it is well to notice how the great {151} thought of this passage is +made intelligible to the ordinary English reader again, only by the +Revised Version. In the old Bible the word signifying 'passing over' +of sins is translated 'remission'--the very thing with which it is in +fact contrasted. It is not an exaggeration to say that, in this and +very many places of the epistles, the Revised Version for the first +time renders the thought of the apostles again intelligible to the +English reader. And if the Revised Version is not popular, as the +booksellers tell us it is not, this is, I fear, only a sign that the +majority of English Christians do not really care to _understand_ the +meaning of the message with which, as a matter of words, they are so +familiar. + + +iii. + +The metaphor of 'redemption' and the metaphor of 'propitiation' +complete and check one another. As in the parables it is only the +exact point of comparison between the earthly and the heavenly which +can be pressed for the spiritual lesson, so it is with these +metaphorical words, which are in fact parables compressed. The word +'redemption' is meant to suggest a price paid by God, or by Christ, for +our being {152} made free; it is the price of the Son's death. He +'gives His life a ransom for many.' The word 'propitiation' again is +meant to suggest that the offering of the life in sacrifice was the +means to win for us forgiveness from God. So far, both metaphorical +words have their clear and harmonious meaning. But in old days the +metaphor of redemption was worked out by Origen and others beyond the +exact point of the original suggestion. The price, they argued, must +have been paid to the enemy who held us captive; i.e. Christ's life was +offered as a price to the devil in order that his claim might be +satisfied and we might be justly set free. But this extension of the +scope of the metaphor is wholly alien to the New Testament. On the +other hand, the idea of propitiation has suggested at many periods the +horrible notion that the Son wrung from the angry Father the pardon +which He was unwilling to give. Such a notion is again wholly alien to +the New Testament. But in fact the two metaphors are mutually +corrective; and each tends to exclude the misuse of the other. The +idea that Christ offered anything to the devil is corrected by the +notion inherent in the phrase 'propitiation (of the Father).' What the +Son offered was a sacrifice {153} directed to the Father only. On the +other hand, the idea that the mind of the Father needed to be changed +towards us, is corrected by the suggestion inherent in the other +metaphor of redemption; for it is He who, because He loved us, gave up +His own Son to buy us out of the slavery of sin. Each metaphor +suggests a single idea--each complementary of the other, and corrective +of its misuse--and both combine to tell us of the one inseparable love +of the Father and the Son, uniting in a sacrificial act which is +ascribed to both, to redeem us from the tyranny of sin and to set the +pardoning love free to work upon us, without obscuring the true +hatefulness of sin or the true character of God. + + +If, especially recently, the doctrine of the atonement[23] has involved +intellectual difficulty, on the other hand it has proved itself, as the +popular Christian literature of all ages sufficiently shows, widely and +deeply welcome to the human heart. This wide welcome which it has +received shows that it contains a deep truth. And from this point of +view, from the point of view of our practical spiritual needs, we do +well to meditate {154} much and deeply upon this doctrine. We can +depend upon it, that if we are to go on patiently doing good in a world +like this, so full of disappointments and anxieties and moral failures +and torturing scruples, we must have peace at the heart. And this is +what the really evangelical doctrine is capable of giving us. It bids +us continually look out of ourselves up to God, and assures us that His +love, manifested in the sacrifice of His Son, is there continually, +unchangeably. It is there, waiting till first we turn to Him, to give +us the assurance of entire absolution and admission into the divine +fellowship, wholly irrespective of what we have been or done; and it is +there continually, however often we fall, with the same large and +liberal hand to pour out continual forgivenesses, and never wearies of +restoring us again and again to the solid foundation of the peace and +grace which are by Jesus Christ. We are not meant to be miserably +anxious or morbidly introspective. We must confess our sins, and that +with exactness, without self-sparing, without self-excusing, in utter +humility and truth; but 'if we confess our sins, he is faithful and +just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all +unrighteousness.' + + + +[1] Jer. xiii. 33. + +[2] Except the sins which slew Him. + +[3] I have combined this passage with the illustrative passages in St. +Paul's speeches to the heathen. Acts xiv. 16: 'Who in the generations +gone by suffered all the nations to walk in their own ways.' Acts +xvii. 30: 'The times of ignorance God overlooked (winked at); but now +he commandeth men that they should all everywhere repent.' Wisd. xl. +23: 'Thou overlookest (winkest at) the sins of men to the end they may +repent.' + +[4] This paragraph gives distinctness to a somewhat latent thought in +vers. 25, 26. But I feel convinced that this, and nothing else, is the +thought. + +[5] Verses 5, 25, 26. + +[6] Rom. iii. 22. + +[7] Phil. iii. 9. + +[8] 2 Cor. v. 21. + +[9] Rom. ix. 31. + +[10] Rom. ii. 5. + +[11] Cf. 1 John i. 9: 'Faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins.' + +[12] Joseph, the 'righteous' man in Matt. i. 19, is kindly. But his +kindliness has still the elements of moral severity. And it must be +remembered that in Rom. v. 7 'righteous' is still put in contrast to +'good.' + +[13] See Acts ii. 38: 'Be baptized ... unto the remission of your +sins.' xxii. 16: 'Be baptized and wash away thy sins.' + +[14] Acts xxvi. 18, i.e. forgiveness and fellowship in the consecrated +body, the new Israel; cf. xx. 33. + +[15] 2 Macc. vii. 37. + +[16] 4 Macc. vi. 28, 29. + +[17] John xi. 50. + +[18] None the less immoral as Caiaphas intended it, because, as St. +John perceives, a divine truth uttered itself through his lips (John +xi. 51). + +[19] John i. 29. + +[20] Matt. xxvi. 28; Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 24. + +[21] Robertson-Smith, _Religion of the Semites_ (Black, 1889), p. 418. + +[22] Ps. l. 21; cf. Eccles. viii. 11. + +[23] On some of the difficulties felt about the doctrine of the +Atonement, see app. note D. + + + + +{155} + +DIVISION II. Sec. 2. CHAPTER IV. + +_The true seed of Abraham._ + +St. Paul has been repudiating the principle of justification by works +of the law. To those with whom he had been brought up, this was in the +highest degree to dishonour the Jewish law, and indeed the principle of +divinely-given law at all. But in the last words of the previous +chapter he refuses to admit this inference. 'God forbid that we should +make law of none effect. Nay, we establish law.' + +This idea of the Gospel, rightly understood, establishing the law even +while it superseded it, is with St. Paul a very favourite one, and he +elaborates it in different ways. Sometimes he shows how the function +of the written law, or 'the letter,' is only to awaken the conscience +and make men know their sinfulness. It can give men no help in +corresponding to the moral requirement which it expresses. Having +{156} convicted the conscience of sin, it has done its work, and must +yield its place to a more effective spiritual agency. The letter +killeth, in order that the Spirit may give life to those whom it has +killed. And, on the other hand, the one object of this new spiritual +agency, this life-giving Spirit, is to infuse the power of moral +obedience, which the law could not give, into men's lives, 'that the +requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk after the +Spirit.' In this place, however, St. Paul only alludes to this +argument and in the main adopts another. He shows from the Book of the +Law, that the father of the faithful, himself the typical instance of a +justified man, was justified, not by works which he had done, but +simply because he believed; not upon the basis of any law or covenant, +but as a man simply and not as a circumcised man; and again, that +David, the man after God's own heart, living under the law, would have +us rest our hopes of blessedness, not on our merits as having kept the +law, but simply on the forgiving bounty of divine grace. + +Let us inquire, he says, into the case of Abraham, whom we Jews are +proud to own for our national ancestor. What are we to say of him? If +Abraham approached God in virtue {157} of his merits in having kept a +law, and so was accepted by God because of what he had done of himself, +there is something for him to boast of. But this in fact is not his +relation to God according to the scripture at all. There-- + + 'merit lives from man to man, + But not from man, O Lord, to thee.' + +The whole initiation is God's. He simply makes a promise of His own +pure goodwill--'Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven'--and Abraham +simply believed Him; and this, and nothing but this, was 'counted to +him for righteousness[1].' The two suggested relations of Abraham to +God are broadly contrasted and can be generally applied. In the one +case you have a compact between God who imposes, and man who accepts, +an allotted task with a payment attached to its fulfilment. If the man +fulfils it, his payment can be classed as due to him under the compact. +In the other case you have nothing done, no claim alleged, but a pure +act of God, accepting one of our sinful race, as he is, simply because +he takes God at His word. And this is how David also views our +relation to God. You find him[2] opening his mouth to tell {158} us +what sort of man is truly blessed, truly to be congratulated. And he +thinks not of one who claims a reward because of his merit, but of one +who has found no comfort or resource except in penitent confession of +his sins, and whose sins God has forgiven and has consented to treat as +if they did not exist. It is the unmerited act of the divine bounty, +it is God justifying the sinful, which is the source of blessedness +(vers. 1-8). + +Now we go back to the case of Abraham to inquire whether the blessing +of divine acceptance was pronounced upon him because he was the head of +the chosen race marked out by circumcision--which was, so to speak, the +first part of the law. No, it was before he was circumcised. The +token of circumcision came afterwards[3], as the seal or external +confirmation of what he had already received simply as a believing man; +so that he might have for his true sons believers, whether +uncircumcised or circumcised, and they might share his acceptance +simply by believing God as he believed Him (vers. 9-12). + +Plainly when God made Abraham the promise that he should be the heir of +the world[4], no law {159} was introduced into the relationship. It +was purely a matter of God promising and Abraham taking God at His +word. Indeed it could not have been otherwise. Introduce law, and you +introduce a compact between God and man which annuls the relationship +of God simply promising and man simply believing--a compact which +throws a strain on man's independent powers, which they are not able to +bear. The one inevitable result of the law is to put man in the +position, in which apart from law he cannot find himself, of a +defaulter who knows himself, as a defaulter, under the divine wrath. +The true relationship leaves matters in the hands of God, who purely +promises of His good favour--man simply in faith receiving (vers. +13-16a). This resting everything on God's promise and man's faith +gives security for the fulfilment of the promise to 'all the seed.' +And the 'seed to whom the promise was made' includes, not only the race +chosen later to receive the law, but believers of all races; Abraham +being in this sense 'a father of many nations,' as he stands under the +eyes of God whom he believed in--God who had power to make His promise +good, even by recalling to life again the dead faculties of Abraham's +old age, and summoning children {160} which did not yet exist as if +they were already there. Here is the point: Abraham believed that God +had the power to be as good as His word, in spite of all obvious +reasons to the contrary. Therefore he looked the facts steadily in the +face--his own and Sarah's great age. But he did not suffer this to +weigh in the balance against God's promise. He made quite sure that +God would do as He promised, and glorified God by this strong act of +faith. This it is that was reckoned to him for righteousness, i.e. +this it is that enabled God to accept him as righteous without any +consideration of deeds done. And the record of this acceptance is made +for our sakes to-day. God is still taking men into the number of the +righteous, and He still does it on the same principle. He will reckon +us for righteous if we will take Him at His word, and believe in His +power to do as He has promised. And in our case He has given us fresh +ground for such confident belief; for Jesus, on whom as Lord our hopes +rest and who died to make atonement for our sins, He has by His power +raised up from the dead, that by faith in Him, dead and yet alive +again, we might be taken like Abraham without more ado into the number +of the righteous. + +{161} + +What then shall we say[5] that Abraham, our forefather according to the +flesh, hath found? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath +whereof to glory; but not toward God. For what saith the scripture? +And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for +righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as +of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth +on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for +righteousness. Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, +unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, _saying_, + + Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, + And whose sins are covered. + Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. + +Is this blessing then pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the +uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham his faith was reckoned for +righteousness. How then was it reckoned? when he was in circumcision, +or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision: and +he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of +the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be +the father of all them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision, +that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; and the father of +circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also +walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in +uncircumcision. For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or +to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, but through the +righteousness of faith. For if they which are {162} of the law be +heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect: for +the law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there +transgression. For this cause _it is_ of faith, that _it may be_ +according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the +seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is +of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, +A father of many nations have I made thee) before him whom he believed, +_even_ God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth the things that are +not, as though they were. Who in hope believed against hope, to the +end that he might become a father of many nations, according to that +which had been spoken, So shall thy seed be. And without being +weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he +being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb: +yea, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, +but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully +assured that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. +Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Now it was +not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned unto him; but for +our sake also, unto whom it shall be reckoned, who believe on him that +raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our +trespasses, and was raised for our justification. + + +1. No doubt, on the text of Gen. xv. 6, St. Paul is right. It was +Abraham's _faith_ that is declared to have been reckoned to his account +by God as equivalent to righteousness. But when we get beyond a mere +text, is it not, we are inclined to ask, more true to the general {163} +spirit of scripture to say, with the author of the First Book of the +Maccabees, 'Was not Abraham found faithful in temptation, and it was +reckoned unto him for righteousness[6]?' or with St. James, 'Was not +Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his +son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and +by works was faith made perfect[7].' No doubt certain Rabbis state the +principle pedantically when they speak of Abraham having kept the whole +Mosaic law by anticipation[8], but is it not true to say that Abraham +was accepted by God, and on the whole is represented in the Bible as so +accepted, _not_ only because he believed, but also because he 'was +found faithful in temptation,' and did good works, or acted as a good +man? + +Now, if by 'accepted' is meant 'finally accepted,' St. Paul would say +this as of Abraham, so of every other accepted man. He must be finally +judged and must receive according to his works or character. As we +shall see, there is no real discrepancy between St. Paul and St. James +on this matter. And St. Paul never disparages 'good works' which are +the fruit of {164} faith, only 'works' or 'works of the law' which +represent a false attitude of man to God. But the question which he is +here asking is, What is the ground of acceptance for a man _at +starting_? What is it puts him at starting in the right relation to +God? In other words, What is the root of real righteousness? And his +answer to this question is, it is only self-surrendering faith which +brought Abraham, or which brings any other man, into acceptance. + +In giving this answer St. Paul had in view another attitude with which +he had been long familiar, and which he calls 'seeking to be justified +by works of the law.' It was the attitude of the Jews, especially as +they appear in St. John's Gospel. They were proud of their divine law +and of belonging to the chosen people, the children of Abraham and +Moses. They knew how to make good their standing-ground with God. By +keeping the law, as the law had come to be understood among themselves, +they could accumulate merits altogether out of proportion to their +failures or demerits. They could even be helped by the merits of the +old saints[9]. Thus they could {165} stand before God on the basis of +a certain engagement or covenant, into which God had entered with His +people, and claim their due reward. + +This utterly demoralizing attitude--leading as it does to formalism and +hypocrisy, or, at the best, unprogressive stagnation--this attitude, +which left out of sight all the higher and infinite elements in the Old +Testament, was the actual attitude of contemporary Pharisaic Jews. The +characteristics with which it endowed them were pride in the law; a +sense of personal merit coupled with a contempt for 'sinners of the +Gentiles,' or the common 'people which knew not the law'; a +self-satisfied stagnation which made them utterly resent the new light +of the gospel; a regard for the public opinion of their class, which +made them slaves to convention; and moral hollowness and rottenness +within. It was because this was their attitude that they rejected the +Christ. 'Going about to establish their own righteousness, they did +not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.' It was because St. +Paul had been brought up in the school of the Pharisees, but had come +to perceive its moral rottenness and to accept Jesus as the Christ, +that he bases all his {166} doctrine on the substitution of +justification by faith for justification by works. + +By 'works' or 'works of the law' he means an attitude towards God which +left a man largely independent of Him. Under the divine covenant the +man of the covenant has a certain task to do, a certain law to keep: +that kept, especially in its external requirements as contemporary +authority enforces it, he is his own master. He is entitled to resent +any further claims upon him. This religious ideal means, as we have +seen, pride, stagnation, conventionalism, hypocrisy. And the more it +is considered the more unnatural it appears. For + +(1) It ignores the fundamental relation of man to God, viz. that, as a +creature, he depends absolutely and at every stage on God. He has no +initiative in himself. Thus the only attitude towards God which +expresses the reality is one in which God is recognized as continually +supplying, or promising, or offering, or claiming, and man is +continually accepting, or believing, or corresponding, or obeying. + +(2) It ignores the ineradicable taint of sin in man, and the +accumulated guilt of particular sins. A man may gloss over his inward +sinfulness, and cloak and ignore his secret sins; he {167} may live +outwardly in high reputation; but if he comes to know himself, he knows +himself as a sinner, who depends, at starting, absolutely on God for +forgiveness and 'deliverance from coming wrath.' + +(3) It is quite contented to leave all mankind, except a small elect +body, out of the conditions of acceptance with God. + +In substituting 'faith' for works of the law, then, as the principle of +justification, St. Paul was really 'returning to nature'; he was +realizing facts, and supplying a basis for a morality both progressive +and universal. Further, he was true to all the highest teaching of the +Old Testament, which continually finds the source and ground of sin and +failure in man's independence of God; which is averse to nothing so +conspicuously as to substituting external conformity for moral +character; which is heavy with the consciousness of sin; which humbly +expects a fuller, wider, and richer disclosure of the kingdom of God. +Finally, he was true to that deep and summary teaching of our Lord to +the Jews, 'This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath +sent.' No doubt it may still be said St. Paul argues in an +'uncritical' manner on the basis of a particular {168} text. But in +doing this he was doing as his Jewish contemporaries did; and if the +particular text is used to prove a real or true principle, who shall +complain of it? + +2. And now to conciliate St. Paul and St. James. It is a satisfactory +task, for the statements which appear so contradictory admit, when they +are examined, of an easy harmony. + +Let us suppose, what is highly probable, that the report of St. Paul's +teaching reached St. James at Jerusalem at second-hand, in a +fragmentary and perverted manner--perhaps as illustrated by unfortunate +specimens of its influence where it was wilfully misunderstood. 'Men +are justified before God by faith without consideration of works.' St. +James' holy and beautiful, but no doubt somewhat unphilosophical mind, +was alarmed and scandalized. By faith he understood an intellectual +quality--the acceptance of the divine truth revealed; and he points out +with the simplicity of moral common sense, that never in the Old +Testament is right belief represented as the ground of acceptance with +God without the right conduct which is its natural sequence. Who can +deny that the devils have a 'right belief' in the existence of God? +Faith, in fact, without {169} works--orthodox belief without moral +obedience--is a lifeless form, a body without spirit[10]. + +To all this St. Paul would of course have agreed, in St. James' sense +of the word faith. In fact, St. James' faith, i.e. bare orthodox +belief, is closely akin to, and apt to keep company with, formal +ecclesiastical observance, which is part of what St. Paul means by +'works.' Both were characteristic of the Pharisaic Jews. St. Paul and +St. James would have been at one in saying, 'There must be life in this +dead shell of orthodox belief, if it is to have value with God; and +what alone can give it life is the real spirit of moral obedience to +the will of the holy and good God'--which is what St. James means by +'works.' The disagreement between them is then, so far, only verbal. +But St. Paul goes deeper, into a region where St. James does not follow +him, and asks what is the real starting-ground of the truest +obedience--the real root of the moral life? And he finds this +starting-ground, this fundamental establishment of the right relation +to God, in what he called faith; that is, no mere orthodoxy of +intellect, but a fundamental relationship of man towards God--the +utterly receptive faculty, {170} the profound quality of the +self-surrendering will. + +3. There is a young philosophical inquirer in Plato's Dialogue of the +_Republic_ who is so anxious to get at the ultimate principle of +justice, as distinct from its consequences and secondary qualities, +that Socrates laughingly tells him he is 'scrubbing and polishing it +like a statue.' Now St. Paul has the philosopher's instinct to get at +a principle in its pure simplicity. He scrubs faith clean of all +extraneous accidents. He is most anxious that we should disengage its +activity from all the other closely-interconnected elements in human +nature; and so perceive that, whatever a man has been or is in race or +conduct or antecedents, once let him exhibit faith, the faith which +takes God at His word, and by that very fact and no other, all the +obstacles to God's acceptance of him are overcome. The true relation +of the man to God is restored in its elementary principle. And nothing +but this, however elaborate its apparent performances, can restore the +fundamental relationship. It is faith only, and not works, however +splendid, which justifies or enables God to take a man, place him +amongst the righteous, and work upon and in him. But this elemental +{171} act of simply abandoning independence, trampling on pride and +taking God at His word, is an act or attitude of the whole man which +necessarily (granted that it be not withdrawn) becomes correspondence +of the whole being with God, a lifelong obedience, an allegiance and +homage of every faculty of will, and emotion, and intellect. 'Faith,' +then, as Calvin once said, 'is pregnant with good works, but it +justifies before they are brought forth.' + +That the rudimentary justifying faith, on which St. Paul is here +insisting, is a developing thing, a living and germinating principle, +the basis of a life which grows--but always 'from faith to faith,' from +one stage of faith to another--will appear clearly enough as we go on. +But even here, in this chapter, it appears already that faith is +something quite inconsistent with remaining as we are. Faith looks to +a divine promise--a promise of astounding change--and believes that God +is able to realize it in us. Such was Abraham's faith. Such, we may +add, was the faith of those in the Gospels who came to be healed, and +to whom it was said, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' Our +faith then also must expect and desire some amazing transformation of +our human nature, {172} according to a divine promise--nothing less +than power out of impotence, life out of death. + +And it is from this point of view that the Resurrection is apparently +regarded in this chapter, as holding the place it does in the 'scheme' +of our justification by faith. We are to believe that God is able to +bring life morally out of death. He makes that act of faith possible +or easier for us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This evidence of +God's power in the case of Jesus, the person on whom our divine faith +is to rest, gives an adequate support and reasonable security to our +faith. 'He was designated as the Son of God with power, by the +resurrection from the dead,' and thus becomes the natural object for +such a faith in the power of God to carry out His promises as is +necessary for our justification. This is probably the meaning of the +particular words with which the fourth chapter closes--'Who died for +our sins (that is, in order that, in virtue of His atoning sacrifice, +our sins might be forgiven) and rose again for our justification' (i.e. +in order that our faith might have in the risen Lord an adequate +object). But of course the relation of faith to the risen Lord is by +no means exhausted in this thought. + +{173} + +4. We Englishmen are possessed with the idea that there is nothing so +alien to our characters as the temper of the Pharisees or the doctrine +of the merit of good works. But if we can look at the matter below the +surface, we can hardly fail to realize that the spirit which St. Paul +so mightily repudiates lies in some respects very close to our natural +instincts. The Englishman has a standard, of his class, his college, +his profession, which it is his pride not to fall short of; but he is +intensely alarmed at any claim upon his moral independence over and +above this allowed standard; he is inclined to turn his back completely +upon the idea of fundamental surrender to the unknown and infinite +claim of God; he is contented with himself and his standard, and +occupies himself in comparing it favourably with the standards of other +classes, or still more of other nations. But what is this spirit but, +for good or for evil, the spirit of Pharisaism under a wholly different +dress? 'They going about to establish their own righteousness, have +not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.' 'How can ye +believe which seek glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from +the only God ye seek not?' 'They measuring themselves by {174} +themselves and comparing themselves amongst themselves are not wise.' +Here are typical condemnations of the self-satisfied Pharisaic temper +so expressed as to prevent us from supposing that we shall escape +condemnation with the Pharisees merely because we do not say long +prayers in public places, or distinguish ourselves by a careful +ritualism. + + + +[1] Gen. xv. 5, 6. + +[2] Ps. xxxii. + +[3] Gen. xvii. + +[4] None of the promises are verbally to this effect. But this is the +substantial outcome of them. + +[5] Or 'of Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh' (margin). + +[6] 1 Macc. ii. 52; cf. Ecclus. xliv. 20. + +[7] James ii. 21, 22. + +[8] Cf. S. and H. p. 101. + +[9] There is contemporary evidence for this illustration of their +position; see _Ephesians_, app. note C. + +[10] James ii. 14-26. + + + + +{175} + +DIVISION III. CHAPTERS V-VIII. + +_The accepted life or the moral consequences of justification._ + +Sec. 1. CHAPTER V. 1-11. + +_The holy confidence of the justified._ + +Peace is a fundamental spiritual need of the human soul. But the peace +that is God's gift comes only through the breaking up of the peace of +soul which comes from ignoring God. The Pharisee on the temple steps +was at peace when he thanked God that he was not as other men are--at +peace in his misplaced pride. The mass of men in heathen Corinth, +where St. Paul was writing, were at peace in their sins. And St. Paul +has set himself with all his might, as in his preaching generally, so +in this particular letter, to break up this false peace of conscience. +Like the prophet of old he spurns those who would 'heal the hurt of the +daughter of God's {176} people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when +there is no peace.' Thus he has been arousing the conscience of +Gentiles and Jews equally, and forcing upon them the conviction that +their present life is a condemned life, under the doom of a righteous +God. But when the conviction is driven home, when the wound is fairly +recognized and probed, comes in due course the healing remedy. It lies +in the recognition of what God really is--of the sort of character +which He is manifesting now in His Son Jesus Christ. For behold! +wholly apart from any question of what we are or have been, God is +found waiting for us with the offer of His love, which is also the +power to accomplish what He offers. It is pardon and new life He +offers to us. It is for us simply to take Him at His word, and without +any delay or reckoning up of accounts, to be acquitted and accepted for +righteous simply because we have believed His word. + +The secure ground of peace in the soul, therefore, lies in the frank +and severe recognition of our own sinfulness, but also, and even more, +in looking away from ourselves and simply fixing our whole +consideration on the character of God, who in certain acts has shown +His {177} good-will toward us, and His power to make His goodwill +effectual. All hope for us starts simply from God and His mind of love +toward us. 'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his +Son.' + +Thus we find St. Paul, in the passage we are now to consider, beginning +a fresh appeal to believers in Christ on this basis, which he has +already made so secure. Seeing, he says, that we have now been +accepted simply because we believed, let us enter into that heritage of +peace which our Lord Jesus Christ by His redemption has won for us. +For what is our present condition? Through His redeeming sacrifice we +have received an introduction, at no other cost than that of believing, +into a new standing-ground before God, a new state in which the whole +atmosphere is one of grace or divine favour. We can therefore enjoy a +solid peace in the present based on the sure consideration of the +divine goodwill, and we can make it our boast that we have a +well-grounded hope of future restoration to that highest fruition of +which our nature is capable--fellowship in the divine glory. And while +we enjoy these present privileges of ours, let us show that we really +value them by making {178} the outward hardships which accompany them a +matter of boasting also. For we know that only such hardships, bravely +encountered, can give to our characters the quality of steadfastness; +and steadfastness through the experience of life makes of us men of +approved moral metal; and this process of probation, in which we are +tried and not found wanting, again generates hope in us--the same hope +in God's love which accompanied the beginning of our justification, +only now confirmed in us by our own experience. And this divine hope +has nothing treacherous about it[1]. It is grounded on what God has +already done. He has already given us His Holy Spirit, and by that +gift poured forth His love into our hearts: He would not have done this +in order to cheat us at the last. + +We can indeed test and measure the mind of God toward us by human +comparisons. In our experience of men we might perhaps find some one +brave enough even to die for another, if that other was, I do not say +merely an upright man, but a good and loveable one. But what is the +fact in God's dealings with us? It was {179} when we were sinful and +helpless in our sinfulness--nay rather, when we were living in flat +antagonism to God--that He proved His own pure love toward us by taking +advantage of the divine opportunity to give His Son to die for us. And +He, thus dying on our behalf, won for us by the shedding of His blood a +reconciliation with God, which lay altogether outside anything which +our state naturally suggested. Well then, God would not, so to speak, +have gone out of His way to make this beginning, unless He had intended +to carry the work through, so as finally to save us out from under the +divine wrath, or, in other words, into the divine fellowship. +Certainly, accepted as we have been in virtue of Christ's +blood-shedding, and thus reconciled to God when our natural state was +hostility to Him, we can trust Him, now that He has made us His +friends, to accomplish our deliverance, not by any further +blood-shedding, but by admitting us into the life of Christ risen from +death. But, to end where we began, it is not only the hope of a future +deliverance that makes us glad. We also make our boast of our present +relation and friendship with God through His Son. + +{180} + +Being therefore justified by faith, let us have peace with God through +our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by +faith into this grace wherein we stand; and let us rejoice in hope of +the glory of God. And not only so, but let us also rejoice in our +tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, +probation; and probation, hope: and hope putteth not to shame; because +the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy +Ghost which was given unto us. For while we were yet weak, in due +season Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man +will one die: for peradventure for the good man some one would even +dare to die. But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while +we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now +justified by his blood, shall we be saved from the wrath _of God_ +through him. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God +through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be +saved by his life; and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through +our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the +reconciliation. + + +1. We feel in this passage, and in those which follow, that a great +transition is being accomplished, or has been accomplished, in the +argument, we hardly know how: the transition from the thought of our +preliminary justification or acceptance with God for Christ's sake, to +that of our sanctification, or the life consecrated in Christ: the +transition from the thought of Christ's work _for us_ to that of +Christ's work _in us_: from {181} the gift of acquittal to the gift of +the Spirit (ver. 5), and the life of the baptized (vi. 3). St. Paul is +not conscious of the transition, as modern theologians or Christians +acquainted with theological controversy cannot but be, because the two +stages are to his mind absolutely inseparable. Those to whom he wrote +had like himself come, with whatever of struggle, to believe in Christ; +believing, they had been baptized into Christ, and had received by the +laying on of hands the gift of the Holy Ghost. This fellowship in +Christ's life, this possession of the Spirit, constituted Christianity. +To enjoy these things was to be a Christian. The idea of a +Christianity which stopped short of incorporation into Christ, or which +claimed this incorporation outside His body which is the Church, and +apart from the visible sacramental means of union, did not occur to St. +Paul. A Christianity which did not own allegiance to the Church was +not in question. But his entire present aim is to convince the heart +and reason of Christians that the whole privilege of their new 'state +of grace' belongs to them simply in virtue of faith. As he asks the +Galatians: 'Received ye the Spirit,' i.e. did ye become Christians, 'by +the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?' That is his point. +{182} They were not made Christians because they had done anything to +deserve it. They were simply helpless sinners, and it was the +gratuitous mercy of God which looked upon them and provided a means of +forgiveness for them, and justified them or set them upon a new basis +of acceptance, without any consideration of what they were or had done, +purely and simply because He loved them and meant that the mere +spectacle of His unmerited love and bounty should inspire their +gratitude and win their hearts. Therefore he lays such emphasis on +their initial need of forgiveness: on their helplessness to get rid of +their own sins: on their dependence for forgiveness on a sacrifice to +which they could contribute nothing: on their being justified by simply +receiving in trust the offer of God. But the offer when it is listened +to is found to consist in forgiveness indeed--but forgiveness as a step +toward new life in the body of Christ. Thus what Christ won for man, +what becomes available for each man in virtue of believing the message, +is here described as 'our introduction' (rather than 'access') 'into +this grace wherein we stand'--an introduction into a spiritual region +where God's favour is the prevailing atmosphere, or, to use a later +phrase, into 'a state of grace'; a {183} district of security out of +which, however, men may fall again by deliberate unfaithfulness, as St. +Paul warns the Galatians[2]: 'Ye are severed from Christ, ye who would +be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.' + +And St. Paul's language does not let us suppose that the whole of what +he means by our 'salvation' is included in our preliminary +acceptance[3]. That is simply our first introduction into a permanent +state. Our 'salvation' is here, as elsewhere, spoken of as equivalent +to deliverance from wrath in the day of judgement, which means that our +whole moral being has become such as can bear the scrutiny of the +divine righteousness and the fellowship of the divine glory. + +2. Where the Revised Version above[4] reads 'rejoice,' it is important +to remember that the word is that used for the illegitimate 'glorying' +or 'boasting' of iii. 27 and iv. 2. Christians have something to boast +of, but it is not their own; it is God's gift. Therefore they are +especially delighted when God's strength is shown in their weakness, +and they will more particularly 'boast of their weaknesses' (cf. 2 Cor. +xi. 30). + +{184} + +3. St. Paul's argument that the Christian hope is fundamentally +trustworthy is based, we may notice, on a twofold appeal. First (ver. +5), he appeals to the gift of the Spirit which at a definite time[5] +each Christian received, doubtless by the laying on of hands. This +gift is in itself an outpouring of the divine love and an 'earnest' of +future glory (2 Cor. i. 22, v. 5). No doubt almost all the Christians +had more or less intensely _felt_ the reality of the divine love in the +indwelling Spirit. But St. Paul lays stress rather on the fact than on +the feeling. Secondly (vers. 6 ff.), he appeals to the great +redemptive act of God. God had gone out of His way to make a great +sacrifice in order to reconcile us when we were enemies, and therefore +may be trusted to carry out the preliminary reconciliation into full +spiritual deliverance or salvation by Christ's life. The greater +effort carries with it the less. + + + +[1] Isa. xxviii. 16: 'He that believeth shall not be put to shame' +(Greek version). + +[2] Gal. v. 4. + +[3] Cf. also p. 310. + +[4] verses 2, 3, 11. + +[5] The tense is an aorist, 'the Holy Ghost which was given' at a +definite past moment; not as in the unrevised Bible 'is given.' + + + + +{185} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 2. CHAPTER V. 12-21. + +_The Second Adam._ + +St. Paul had spoken, at the end of the passage we have just been +reading, of our being 'saved by (or 'in') Christ's life.' And this +brings him to what is truly the central point of his theology--the life +in Christ by the Spirit: the thought that the glorified Man, with all +the power of the divine life at work in Him, though He is hidden from +sight, is still perpetuating His life by His Spirit in that society +which He has established to be His body. It stands to reason that if +real fellowship in the life of Christ is the privilege of the +Christian, this must be a greater thing by far than any preparatory +gift of acquittal or justification, which indeed has its value simply +in virtue of that to which it admits us. St. Paul then loves to +contrast the new {186} manhood of believers in Christ, the life in +Christ, in all its moral characteristics, with the old manhood, +enslaved to sin, as it existed substantially identical in its bondage +under the outwardly differing conditions of Gentile and Jewish society. +And as that old life of our race had a unity which St. Paul believed +was due to a common origin in the first man Adam, so he thought of +Christ as a second Adam--the 'last Adam'--a spiritual progenitor from +whom was to be derived another human race by spiritual generation with +a better unity of its own; or rather a new spiritual progenitor from +whom the whole of the old race might gradually derive, by spiritual +regeneration, a new life, which should penetrate and spread, and oust +the corruption of the old manhood, till the whole was redeemed and +ushered into the glory for which it had been originally destined. + +And here, in the passage we are now to read, St. Paul develops the +thought of the influence of Adam and his sin upon the human race, and +draws from it an argument for the deeper and greater influence of the +New Man upon the same race, reconstituted under a new head. + +Adam's sin--the disobedience of the one man--had a disastrous effect +upon his race as a {187} whole. It introduced sin, and through sin its +penalty, death; and it passed to all mankind--the penalty, because also +the sin. All men sinned in fact, and all died. This can be stated +without exception. It is quite true that where there is no special law +to instruct men, they may sin ignorantly, and therefore without its +being imputed to them as guilt; yet the sin is there all the same, and +its presence, before the Mosaic law was given to enlighten men, was +marked by the reign of death, even in the case of persons innocent of +any actual sin like Adam's. Sin then, as marked by death, exists +universally, apart from any knowledge of it or even any actual offence, +as the effect of Adam's transgression upon his whole race. But to Adam +corresponds in the divine purpose Christ. He is the new head of the +race--to transmit the free gift of life, as Adam transmitted the +penalty of death. His life was one summary obedience: one perfectly +acceptable object to the eyes of God. And there flows from it an +abundant river of the good favour of God--which is also the good favour +of the man Jesus Christ--and of the gift by which that good favour +shows itself, the gift of righteousness extending on into an eternal +life. Therefore we may argue {188} _a fortiori_[1] from the influence +of Adam to the influence of Christ--[_a fortiori_, because, though God +has been, so to speak, constrained to punish us, His whole desire is to +do us good; and the method of diffusion which He has allowed to operate +for evil, we can be much more sure He will set to work for good][2]. +We see the trespass of the one generating universal death, and we are +sure that the counter influence of Christ is as universally diffusive +and incomparably more powerful. We see the one man's offence appealing +to God for judgement and producing a condemned race; but we see, on the +other hand, a multitude of sins appealing to the divine compassion to +let loose the free gift which shall make for acquittal. If the +consequence of the transgression was inevitable, and a reign of death +followed, so much more certainly must the divine gift, abundant as it +is, bring about the triumph of eternal life. If the one fault diffused +itself in universal condemnation, so the one act which meets the divine +approval must diffuse itself to produce {189} universally an accepted +life. One disobedience made the whole race sinners: one obedience +shall make the whole race righteous. The law came in parenthetically +to the world of sin and death to let actual sin, like Adam's, have its +full and fatal scope. But the greatness of the sin only magnifies +still more the greatness of the remedy which divine goodness supplies, +that the sovereignty of sin in a world of death might be swallowed up +in the sovereignty of divine goodwill working through righteousness +unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord. + + +Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death +through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all +sinned:--for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed +when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until +Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's +transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come. But not as the +trespass, so also _is_ the free gift. For if by the trespass of the +one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the +grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many. And not as +through one that sinned, _so_ is the gift: for the judgement _came_ of +one unto condemnation, but the free gift _came_ of many trespasses unto +justification. For if, by the trespass of the one, death reigned +through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of +grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, +_even_ Jesus Christ. So then as through one trespass _the judgement +came_ unto all men to {190} condemnation; even so through one act of +righteousness _the free gift came_ unto all men to justification of +life. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made +sinners, even so through the obedience of the one shall the many be +made righteous. And the law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly: +that, as sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through +righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. + + +1. St. Paul in this section, as also in part in his speech at Athens, +teaches, as matter which can be assumed and need not be emphasized, +that God made 'of one' (Adam) 'every nation of men[3]'; that Adam, by +actual transgression of a divine commandment, introduced sin, and with +sin death which is its punishment, into the world of man; and that as a +result all men sinned. This universal sin he would, no doubt--as in +chapter i, so here--ascribe in part to men's own wills. In this very +chapter he asserts that what finally 'abounded' was actual +'transgression' like Adam's[4]. But this is not the whole account of +the matter. Prior to all question of actual sins; prior to all +question of knowledge or consequent responsibility, death was +universal, and death marked the inward reign {191} of sin. Men in the +mass were, through Adam's sin, constituted sinners[5]. + +St. Paul then, assuming here as elsewhere[6] the narrative of Gen. iii +as true in substance if not in form, teaches (1) the unity of our race +as derived from Adam; (2) the original transgression of Adam, as being +partly the example of subsequent sins and partly the source of a moral +corruption, which since his fall has been inherent in our race +independently of any actual sins; and (3) the introduction of death +_into the human race_ as the punishment of sin. + +On the other hand, the common idea of an imputation of Adam's guilt to +his descendants he expressly does not teach. Sin is not imputed or +reckoned as guilt to the individual apart from the knowledge necessary +to constitute responsibility[7]. It is extraordinary how the idea of +imputed _guilt_ can have come to be ascribed to St. Paul when he +expressly guards against it. What the descendants of Adam inherit is +an actual inherent weakness or sinfulness. Again, St. Paul does not +attempt to analyze the actual sin of the world so as to discriminate +between the factors of inherited {192} weakness on the one hand and +reiterated acts of rebellion on the other; but he recognizes both. His +language indeed here, and in chapter vii, would be satisfied by a very +moderate doctrine of the effects of original sin, that is, of the +transmitted effect of sin, considered apart from its repetition. There +is no warrant whatever in St. Paul for the idea that one man's sin +resulted in the total depravity of human nature. Once more he is +content, as usual, to teach generally and without exactness. Thus he +does not consider the exceptions to the universal law of death recorded +in the Old Testament--Enoch and Elijah--though he, no doubt, recognized +them. That in spite of these exceptions he still states the law with +such universality: 'Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them +that had not sinned[8]' is a warning not to understand St. Paul's +universal propositions with an exactness only applicable to those of a +schoolman or a modern man of science. + +2. So much for the substance of St. Paul's teaching; and now what is +to be said as to its sources? St. Paul states his doctrine of original +sin as if it were a commonplace which he could {193} assume and argue +from. Now the Book of Genesis certainly spoke of a primaeval +disobedience in our first parents, and of the infliction on them, as a +penalty for their disobedience, of conditions of strife and pain and +death. But the idea of the transmission of _sinfulness_ does not seem +to be suggested. Moreover, this narrative made remarkably little +impression on the Old Testament literature as a whole[9]. The +doctrine, however, of the introduction of _death_ through the +temptation and sin of Adam and Eve is found again in the apocryphal +literature: thus, 'God created man for incorruption, ... but by the +envy of the devil death entered into the world[10].' From a woman was +the beginning of sin; and because of her we all die[11].' Unto Adam +thou gavest thy one commandment, which he transgressed, and immediately +thou appointedst death for him and in his generations; and there were +born of him nations and tribes, peoples {194} and kindreds, out of +number[12].' 'Adam sinned, and death was decreed against those who +should be born[13].' This was also the prevalent doctrine of the +Rabbis represented in the Talmud. The idea of an inheritance of +_moral_ corruption--but not specially associated with Adam's fall--may +be found in the cry of the Psalmist, 'In sin hath my mother conceived +me!' perhaps also in other passages of the Old Testament, and in our +Lord's teaching, as recorded both by the Synoptists and in St. John's +Gospel[14]; but as connected with Adam's sin it does not, so far as can +be ascertained, appear for certain in Jewish literature till we get to +the Second Book of Esdras, a Jewish Apocalypse later than St. Paul. +There it is taught that there was originally a seed of evil, 'a wicked +heart,' in Adam as he was created, side by side with the good in him, +and that he by his sin gave it preponderance in the race[15]--a form of +teaching not by any means identical with St. Paul's. On the whole, +then, it remains a matter of some doubt what exactly was the source +{195} whence St. Paul got the certainty and completeness of his +doctrine of 'the fault and corruption of the nature of every man that +naturally is ingendered of the offspring of Adam.' + +3. The more important question for us, however, is not whence St. Paul +derived the materials for his teaching, but whether it is true--whether +it can hold in the light of modern anthropology. And to this question +only a partial answer--the answer that appears to be most +necessary--will be attempted here[16]. + +We are in our generation rightly anxious if we are asked to accept any +professedly historical statement for which we feel the evidence is +doubtful. We know that from the point of view of history the origin of +our human species is lost in dense obscurity and uncertainty. And it +relieves many consciences to realize that, if St. Paul states his +argument in a form which implies the historical character of the +narrative in Genesis iii, all that is necessary for his argument is to +assume (1) that the human race is organically one, and can be dealt +with as one; (2) that sin is universal in our race; (3) that at least +the sting or curse or bondage of death is due to sin. If we realize +that this is all that {196} need be allowed in order to give us full +fellowship in St. Paul's religious teaching, we shall be able to +investigate the further truth of his teaching, from a scientific and +historical point of view, with a free mind. + +And the three propositions stated above are not reasonably open to +doubt, (1) That our race is one species, and derived from one source, +is the conclusion of the modern ethnologist as much as of St. Paul[17]. +The general theory of evolution has effectively counteracted the +previous tendency to postulate the existence of various independent +races of men. + +(2) There are many professors of psychology who deny the existence of +moral freedom and consequently of sin in St. Paul's sense at all. As I +have already pointed out, this is the real battle-ground between +theology and science. But granted the reality of moral freedom and of +{197} sin, i.e. of something which need not and ought not to have been +committed, it is impossible to deny that, below the innumerable sins of +which human history is full, there exists deep in our nature an +'ineradicable taint'--a morbid tendency to do wrong--a bias or +propensity to evil--which is the heritage of our race; which indeed men +may become unconscious of by acquiescing in sin, but of which they +become painfully conscious again as soon as they are awakened to a +moral ideal. The late Dr. Mozley collected a remarkable series of +passages from what he calls 'worldly philosophers and poets'--notably +Byron and Shelley--testifying to the belief in universal sin[18]. This +of course we may say is only the inheritance of animal tendencies from +an animal ancestry; but if so, it is exactly what our higher spiritual +nature might and ought to have subdued long ago and brought into +subjection. Its presence with us and in us now is the result of sins +innumerable--innumerable wilful preferences of the lower to the higher +nature, which have let it loose and given it force. It is, in the +strictest sense, the inheritance of sin in the race. + +(3) The New Testament frequently reiterates {198} the assertion that +Christ has robbed death of its sting or delivered men from its bondage. +And this is also expressed (both by St. Paul and by our Lord Himself, +as reported by St. John) by saying that Christ has 'abolished +death[19]' or that the believer shall never die[20]. But if Christ has +abolished death, then there is at least a certain sense in which sin +has been the cause of death. The essence of death, according to this +use of the word, lies not in the physical transition from one state of +existence to another, which is no more death than it is birth. Death +means destruction, ruin and collapse. And what is called death--the +death of the present body--has only gathered about it such terrible +associations because men have become corrupt, and godless and therefore +short-sighted in their estimate of life. In the moral sense then in +which Christ abolished death, sin certainly introduced it for man. + +Now there is, I think, reason to believe more exactly with St. Paul +than is involved in these three positions[21]. But I feel sure that +any one who accepts these three positions--no one of which any believer +in God and morality can well {199} reject--may find himself in complete +practical fellowship with St. Paul's religious thought and with the +whole argument of this epistle. + +Humanity, in spite of all its racial differences, is a great unity: it +is, if not 'of one' individual, yet 'of one blood,' and it is as a +whole infected with sin; this is in effect the doctrine of the 'old +Adam.' And because it is one, and universally tainted, therefore +Christ can deal with it as one, in order to accomplish its restoration. +And all St. Paul's argument holds good. God has made humanity one, and +so one that what each does tends to affect all. Thus it has come about +that the force of sin--the wilful refusal of the higher life and choice +of the lower--has passed in its effects into the moral fibre of our +race, and weakened and corrupted the whole. God tolerates this, for +man must be, and must be dealt with as being, one and free. But God +desires the well-being of man. He hates sin. It has all but baffled +His purpose for man. Therefore, if He has tolerated the use which sin +has made of the organic unity of the human race, He can much more be +trusted to use that same unity for the purpose of good. As man is one +in sin, so we can be one in righteousness: as the old Adam has been +{200} universal, so can the new. As sin has been propagated +physically, so Christ can spiritually propagate the new manhood. The +forces of recovery shall spread and permeate more radically than the +forces of evil, and shall finally triumph. + +Of course, in view of all the deep racial differences between, for +instance, Europeans, Chinamen, and the races of India, to believe in +the unity of humanity in any real sense at all is a great act of faith. +But it is an act of faith in which science encourages us, and not least +the comparative study of religions. Our religious instincts and +faculties are found in very different degrees of development, but they +are fundamentally the same. And it is an act of faith to which Christ +and Christianity fundamentally commit us, though it is probably true to +say that since New Testament times the brotherhood of men has been +practically found to be the most difficult of Christian dogmas. + +4. It is not inopportune, in view of recent controversy, to call +attention in this connexion to the fact that St. Paul's doctrine of +Christ as the second Adam of necessity involves in some form His +miraculous birth. St. Paul indeed says nothing about Christ's nativity +of {201} the Virgin as an event in history; but he conceives of the +Christ as a fresh start in manhood, a new man, who yet drew the +substance of His manhood from the old stock, for He was 'born of a +woman,' and 'of the seed of David.' There is thus physical continuity +between the old Adam and Christ, and yet, from the moral point of view, +the break is complete. The inheritance of sin which has followed, and +must according to natural law follow, physical descent, is quite cut +off. Christ is man of our old substance and yet new man, wholly free +from any taint of sin. This involves a new creative act upon the +manhood of Christ in its source. It involves something strictly +miraculous conditioning the continuity of His descent from David. +There is continuity, and yet a break in continuity. And this is +exactly what the strongly-attested fact of the Virgin birth--whatever +be the physiological account which is to be given of it--is calculated +to supply. It presents us with a Christ born of a woman, of the +substance of our nature, and yet only so constituted by a new creative +act of God. + +5. It will of course be noticed that the drift of St. Paul's argument +in this passage is directly towards universal salvation, for 'the many' +{202} means 'the whole mass.' This is the case in other places where +he is considering what we may call the natural tendency and scope of +the gospel, 'As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made +alive.' But there are passages of a different tendency in St. Paul's +epistles, where he is considering the human attitude towards the +purpose of God; and there he appears to emphasize strongly the power of +the human will to refuse the light and turn God's blessing into a +curse. If the 'savour' of the apostle's preaching is to 'those who are +being saved a savour proceeding from life and tending to life,' even +eternal life, it is for the wilful who are perishing in their +wilfulness 'a savour as from death and tending to death': for they +shall 'suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the +Lord, and from the glory of his might[22].' What this eternal +destruction means, and how it is to be harmonized with the vision of +unity, we cannot precisely tell. Verily, 'we know' but 'in part.' But +at least we must recognize that St. Paul asserts both sides of the +picture: and that the 'terror' and the hope are not dissociable. + +6. We must also notice, before we leave the {203} passage, that the +application of the word justification receives a certain extension. As +the 'grace' of God is associated with a 'gift of righteousness[23],' +that is to say, of real fellowship in the life of God, so the +preliminary 'justification of sinners,' in which the divine grace first +of all conspicuously shows itself, is to pass into a 'justification of +life' (or 'a justification taking effect in life'); that is to say, the +actual life is to become acceptable. God begins with accepting sinners +and dealing with them as if they were righteous if only they will +believe. But it is in view of a moral process which is to produce a +new life, and is to end in making acceptable not themselves only, in +spite of their lives, but their life itself. The object of the +justifying faith is, and must be, as we saw, a living person. It is +Christ who was 'raised again for our justification.' And the living +Christ can be satisfied with nothing short of a living fellowship +between us and Himself in His own life and spirit. + + + +[1] An _a fortiori_ argument means an argument with a 'still more' in +it:--If something is so then _still more_ something else. + +[2] The words in brackets are the suppressed premise in the +argument--suppressed, but none the less evident. + +[3] Acts xvii. 26. + +[4] ver. 20. + +[5] ver. 13, 14, 19. + +[6] 1 Cor. xi. 3; 1 Tim. ii. 13-15. + +[7] Rom. iv. 15; v. 13. + +[8] Much more (the argument implies) after the law had been given and +sin could be 'imputed' as sin again. + +[9] The references in Hos. vi. 7, Isa. xliii. 27, Job xxxi. 33, are not +certainly, or even probably, to Adam. There is an obscure but +interesting reference in Ezek. xxviii. 14-16, in which 'the fall' seems +to be treated as representative of Tyre's fall, and presumably +therefore of all situations in which divine gifts and vocations are +squandered and lost. + +[10] Wisd. ii. 23, 24; cf. Rom. v. 12. + +[11] Ecclus. xxv. 24. The first clause need not mean more than 'she +was the first to sin.' + +[12] 2 Esdras iii. 7. + +[13] _Apoc. Baruch_ xxiii. 4, and elsewhere. In parts of this book the +penalty of Adam's sin is regarded as being not death, but _premature_ +death: see liv. 15, lvi. 6, and Mr. Charles' notes. + +[14] See Matt. vii. 11; John ii. 25; iii. 3, &c. + +[15] 2 Esdras iii. 21, 22; iv. 30; vii. 48. + +[16] The matter is to be dealt with more at length in app. note E. + +[17] See E. B. Tylor in _Encycl. Brit._ ii, _s.v._ ANTHROPOLOGY, p. +114: 'The polygenist view (i.e. the doctrine of a plurality of origins) +till a few years since was gaining ground. Two modern views, however +(i.e. the belief in the antiquity of man and the development of +species), have tended to restore, though under a new aspect, the +doctrine of a single human stock.' Cf. Darwin, _Descent of Man_ (2nd +ed.), p. 176: 'Those naturalists who admit the principle of evolution +... will feel no doubt that all the races of men are descended from a +single primitive stock.' See also Keane in app. note E. + +[18] Mozley's _Lectures and Theol. Papers_ (Longmans), pp. 157 ff. + +[19] 2 Tim. i. 10. + +[20] John vi. 50; viii. 51. + +[21] See app. note E. + +[22] 2 Thess. i. 7-10; 2 Cor. ii. 16. + +[23] ver. 17. + + + + +{204} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 3. CHAPTER VI. 1-14. + +_The Christian life a living by dying._ + +It has now been made apparent that belief in Christ introduces a man +into a new sphere of 'life in Christ' or 'state of grace'--a state, +that is, in which the divine grace or goodwill is the atmosphere and +motive force. And just as with his natural life he inherited all the +taint and curse attaching to sin in the unredeemed manhood, so now in +his new state he receives from Christ all the bountiful outpouring, not +of acquittal only, but of divine life. What he is called to witness is +the triumph of the divine goodwill over the old forces and tendencies +of sin in himself and in the world. + +But now a monstrous suggestion presents itself, akin to that attempt of +the Jew (of which we heard in chapter iii) to claim exemption from the +divine judgement on his own sins on the ground that Jewish +unfaithfulness had but given {205} God a background upon which to +reveal Himself and His righteousness more effectively. St. Paul, we +saw, indignantly crushed that attempt to use logic against conscience. +Now, however, a similar suggestion makes itself heard, only from the +side not of Jewish factiousness, but of Gentile lawlessness. Would it +not give divine grace a still better opportunity to show its quality +if, now that we are Christians, we go on living our old life of sin? +The more it has got to forgive in us, the more superabundant will its +mercy appear. Shall we not then continue in sin that grace may abound? +We have other reasons, besides this passage, for believing that St. +Paul's teaching about divine grace and justifying faith not only +admitted of being misunderstood, but was misunderstood, in his own +time[1] as at later periods, in such a way as to cut the roots of moral +effort. 'Unlearned and unstable men were wresting his words to their +own destruction.' And to any lawless suggestions based upon the misuse +of God's free grace, St. Paul had already given the easiest answer when +he had laid it down {206} as an absolutely universal truth that God +will at last 'render to every man according to his works ... to them +that are factious and obey not the truth but obey unrighteousness, +wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man +that worketh evil'; or when he had met the developed logic of the +self-excusing Jew with the sharp and final rejoinder--'whose +condemnation is just.' + +Here however St. Paul gives not the easiest answer to the antinomian +suggestion, but a deep, fruitful, and decisive one. He demonstrates +the absolute incompatibility of principle between the life of sin and +the Christian state. By the very nature of the case no man can belong +to both. As St. John said, 'he that is begotten of God' in the new +life in Christ 'cannot sin' without thereby abandoning his new +standing-ground. At the moment when we became Christians by the act of +baptism, we said good-bye to the old life of sin as completely as a +dying man says good-bye to the familiar scenes and passes over to +'yonder side.' We were admitted by baptism into Christ Jesus; that is, +we were admitted into a certain sort of human life with a certain law +or character. What is then the character and law of Christ's life? +'We believe that {207} Jesus died and rose again[2].' That is the +central and summary fact about Him. He passed to life through death. +And this physical death of His on the cross was not merely a fact in +history, it was a fact with a moral significance[3]. While He had been +in this sinful world of ours He had borne its sin, but had no part in +it. He was in the sinful world, but not of it. He was to sin and all +its motives as one dead. And by His physical death upon the cross He +gave summary expression to this moral alienation. He made a final and +outward breach with sin, and passed out of its range, for evermore +'separated from sinners.' 'He died to sin once for all.' And the +glory of the Father[4] broke forth from its customary concealment and +vindicated the Christ by raising Him from the dead, because of what His +death had morally meant. + +Thus the 'likeness,' or moral counterpart, of Christ's death is to be, +like Him, dead to sin. And if we are not called to be physically +crucified, we are called to its moral counterpart. We must become +morally 'of one growth' with {208} Christ's death[5], like the slip +with the tree it is grafted into. Only so can we share the new life of +His resurrection. This is represented in the very ceremony of our +baptism. It was impressed upon us by all its outward symbolism that to +become a Christian we must die to the old life. We were brought to the +margin of the water as to a death, and descended, bowed beneath the +waves, as into the tomb with Christ: in order so, and only so, as +having died and been buried, to emerge again into the new life under +the conditions of which henceforth we are to conduct ourselves[6]. And +this new life is not only an actual present fellowship in the risen +Christ (ver. 4): it expects to become so (ver. 5) in a fuller and +completer measure, but always on the basis of one and the same clear +conviction, which we may express thus--When Christ was nailed to the +cross, our old sinful manhood was nailed there with Him, so that +henceforth our animal nature, hitherto the haunt and stronghold of sin, +might be paralyzed and rendered as powerless as any crucified criminal, +and we, set free to become new men, might no longer be sin's slaves. +That old sinful self of {209} ours was put to death, and we passed, as +new men, into another life. Henceforth the tyrant sin has no claim on +us, for death closes all scores and acquits of all claims. 'The man is +dead' is a summary and final plea against all claimants, and that is +our plea against the claim of sin. We have died to it once and for +all. Therefore, and only therefore, we can hope to share the deathless +glory of Christ's resurrection. He died once, and passed henceforth +altogether out of death's control. For the death that He died was to +make an end with sin, and that was done once for all. Henceforth there +is nothing left but life, and that life in the eternal God. This +therefore is the view we are to take of ourselves as now included in +Christ: we are, in regard to sin, dead men who are no longer responsive +to its impulses or alive to its interests: and therefore, in regard to +God, we are alive in Christ to whom we are united. + +And (ver. 12) the practical duty which follows from this is plain. +Christians must not acknowledge a tyrant whose strength and power is +gone for ever, by letting sin still reign in the lower part of their +nature--the body still subject to physical death--and so bring their +higher nature into an unnatural subjection to its appetites: they must +{210} not leave the limbs of their redeemed selves at the disposal of +the dethroned king Sin, to be used as weapons for the warfare of +iniquity. No: they must correspond to the privileges of the new life +in God into which they have passed, by making an offering of +themselves[7] to God, with all the free will which befits those who +were dead and are alive again; and an offering also of their limbs, now +restored to their own control, as weapons for God's warfare of +righteousness. Sin shall no longer be their lord. That despotism +belonged to the days when they were under the law. Now it is not the +law they are under, but the sovereignty of the divine goodwill. + + +What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may +abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live +therein? Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ +Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him +through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the +dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness +of life. For if we have become united with the likeness of his death, +we shall be also with the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, +that our old man was crucified with _him_, that the body of {211} sin +might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; +for he that hath died is justified from sin. But if we died with +Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; knowing that +Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death no more hath +dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died unto sin once: +but the life that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Even so reckon ye +also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. + +Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey +the lusts thereof: neither present your members unto sin as instruments +of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the +dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For +sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but +under grace. + + +1. In the analysis of the passage given above, the order of the ideas +has been somewhat altered, and their meaning expanded, with the +intention of rendering the real argument more intelligible; while I +believe that no idea is suggested that is foreign to the original. The +passage, however, is extraordinarily condensed, and is full of some of +the most characteristic of St. Paul's thoughts--amongst them that of +the life in Christ as being a living by dying, or a life out of death. + +It is impossible to try to lead a human life under any standard that +can be called moral without knowing that it involves some sort of +'mortification' of selfish and sensual appetites. There {212} is that +in human nature which, as moralists generally must recognize and in +fact have in a measure recognized, must be 'done to death.' It was +this principle that was expressed with such terrible vigour by our Lord +when He bade us pluck out the offending eye and cut off the offending +hand. But the novelty in Christianity was the emphasis which it laid +rather on the living than on the dying; it was its teaching as to the +infusion into human life of a new and positive spiritual force, which +was to overcome evil with good and swallow up death in victory. It was +by their belief in a gift of the Spirit imparted to them, and by their +resulting power to think and act freely according to God, that the +Christians were distinguished from the rest of the world. It is this +upon which their apostolic teachers continually insist. 'I have +written unto you young men, because ye are strong.' 'As many as are +lead by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.' It is only as it +were in the second place that it appears that this living in the new +life will involve dying to an old one. Thus the dying is always made +to appear to be in order to a living. The end is always the life. 'I +came that they may have life,' our Lord had said, 'and have it +abundantly.' + +{213} + +The phrases about dying in order to live have their root in our Lord's +teaching, as St. John represents it[8], but belong most +characteristically to St. Paul. The principle which they enforce +belongs only to a fallen world, for it is only the sin within us and +about us that has to be put to death, or to which we have to die. But +it finds its highest exemplification in the case of Christ who, sinless +Himself, came into a world of sin and lived under its conditions. +Therefore He had to 'die' to sin and selfishness in the world in order +to 'live' in His own proper life to God. And this dying to sin--this +refusing it and repudiating it--is summarily represented in His death +upon the cross. The worldly world killed Him because He would have +none of its selfishness and sin. He, by voluntarily dying sooner than +surrender to the demands of this world, made a final separation of +Himself from sin. Thus He lived His life to God at the cost of dying. +And this law of Christ's life is to be the law of ours. We must die to +sin--not on a visible cross, but by a repudiation of it as thorough and +real: nor to sin outside us only, but to sin in ourselves. It is only +to express this attitude toward sin in ourselves in other {214} words, +to say that we have to mortify and crucify our own carnal and selfish +selves. + +And just as Christ summed up His attitude towards the world by His +death upon the cross, so the Christian's attitude to the world was +summed up in his baptism. At that moment he died to the world of +sin[9]. This state of deadness to sin has to be constantly renewed, or +again and again recovered. But it was in that sacramental moment +realized in principle and symbolically represented. The convert who +was immersed beneath the baptismal waters and emerged again, realized +easily that this 'bath of regeneration' was, what the early Christians +called it, 'his grave and his mother.' All the circumstances of his +baptism forced it upon him that he had passed out of an old life into a +new--that he died to one state of things and came to life in another. +The Christians of St. Paul's churches, like newly-made Christians in +Central Africa or India to-day, were very often highly imperfect; but +they knew--they could not but know--that they had passed under a new +allegiance; that like the just-converted Frankish {215} idolater, they +must 'burn what they had adored, and adore what they had burned[10].' + +We in our generation, and in a country where Christianity has become +traditional, realize this much less easily. It is not only that we +have, in our Church and country, almost wholly lost the symbolism which +belongs to baptism by immersion[11]; though that is as great a loss as +any symbolic action, not necessary to the administration of a +sacrament, can be. It is not only that we are as a general rule +baptized in infancy, for that under right conditions[12] embodies a +fundamental Christian principle and comes down from the origin of +Christianity. It is much more that Christianity has been allowed to +become conventional and cheap. It requires no effort or moral courage +to own, in a formal sense, the name of Christ. The result is that +masses of {216} men belong to the Church who are in practice living +purely worldly lives, and that the Church and the world are fused +together. Hence it follows again that what the majority of Christians +do is supposed to represent a tolerable manner of life for an ordinary +Christian, who does not profess to be better than his neighbours. +Under these circumstances there is nothing which is more important than +to reassert the law of life through death as the only Christian law of +living. The 'old man' is as vigorous as ever. The world is still +gratifying its sensual appetites and grasping after wealth without +regard to the law of God. Malice, jealousy, and hatred are alive and +flourishing. God is still being ignored, refused, blasphemed. That is +to say, the world of sin is still what it always was. It is still +under the same unchangeable wrath of God; and still therefore to live +to God is only possible for one who will, and that deliberately and +persistently, die to the world. The renunciation must be conscious and +deliberate. The mortification and crucifixion of the 'old man' and +'the body of sin' must be painful, at times even agonizing. A +reasonable Christian will be indeed surprised if something painful is +not being continually required of him. And a reasonable Christian +{217} rejoices to purchase, even by great sacrifices, the pearl of +great price, which is fellowship with Christ:--'that he may know him +and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his +sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.' This is the point. +It is not enough for us to be baptized. Our baptism is evacuated of +all meaning unless we are also 'being converted,' or 'turning' from the +world to God; unless we are turning our back upon its lawless lusts, +its worldly ambitions, its graspings after money, its refusals of pain, +its selfish and unloving life. Nay: all this renunciation was already +involved in the Name spoken over us at our baptism. The Christian name +pledges us to the Christian law of living by dying, progress by +conversion. You cannot refuse the dying without repudiating the Name. +'Die and re-exist,' said Goethe, 'for so long as this is not +accomplished thou art but a troubled guest upon an earth of gloom[13].' + +'Reckon ye, therefore, yourselves to be dead unto sin.' This phrase, +addressed to common Christians, supplies a magnificent instance of St. +Paul's idealism, that is to say, of his love of {218} considering +things, and his desire that others should consider things, in the light +of their central and dominant idea or principle--as they ought to be +rather than as they are. This is his continual practice: to idealize +not in the sense of thinking unreally of things, but in the sense of +thinking of them in the light of that which is most fundamental in +them. It is in this way that he thinks of 'the world,' or godless +human society, and seems to represent it as worse than it sometimes +appears, because its governing principle is radically evil. It is in +this way that he thinks of the Church, and speaks of it in terms of +glory not justified by the facts simply as they appear; because it has +that at work within it which is capable of transforming it until it not +only is, but looks like, the body of Christ, or the city of God. This +idealizing method is naturally distasteful to English common sense in +most departments of thinking, and perhaps particularly in the region of +religion. But we suffer from an over-close adhesion to the 'matters of +fact' or 'the things which do appear.' We do not think of our life, +ourselves, our church according to the divine principle which they +embody, or 'according to the pattern shown to us in the mount.' Thus +{219} we are never uplifted, enlarged, ennobled by the vision of + + ... The gleam, + The light that never was on sea or land. + +That light never was or is manifest on the surface of actual +experience, and yet it is always latent--the touch of glory in common +things, the radiance in even our dim world, 'the master light of all +our seeing.' We have almost all of us got to learn the practical power +of the Christian imagination, disciplined and spiritually enlightened, +to enrich and ennoble actual life. The objects which our imagination +should reflect are realities, but realities not yet developed. What +our imagination should do for us is to teach us to see things not as +they are, but as they are coming to be. + +2. 'Life in Christ Jesus,' 'Christ living in me'--there can be no +question that these beautiful phrases which, if St. John's witness be +true, represent the teaching of Christ Himself[14], express also what +is most central in St. Paul's idea of Christianity. It was the great +merit of Matthew Arnold's _St. Paul and Protestantism_[15] that it +{220} recalled the fact to notice in ordinary educated circles. Recent +scientific study of St. Paul has gone in the same direction. The +doctrines of atonement and justification are essential to St. Paul's +theology, but not central: the doctrine of life in Christ, spiritual +and moral identification with Christ, is both essential and central. +The maintenance of this life of union is again, as Matthew Arnold +teaches us, the final and most developed function of faith--'that +Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith'; for faith is, or grows to be, +such devotion to Christ's person as desires to lose itself and its +selfish aims in Him and His work. But Matthew Arnold strangely leaves +out of sight the two-sidedness of this relation: we abide in Christ by +faith, {221} because Christ first of all abides in us by His +loving-kindness and grace. It is His love, always beforehand with +us--not merely to forgive us our sins, but to pour itself out in the +communicated Spirit--that takes us up within the circle of His own +life; it is the act of God incorporating us into Christ which evokes +and makes possible the response of our faith to realize His indwelling +and make the adhesion mutual. God's gift is prior to our response and +the ground of it; and moreover God's gift is permanent and abiding. It +would indeed be a thought of despair if the bond between Christ and us +depended upon the continuous energy of our faith to maintain it. Nay, +it is always there--unintermittent through all our broken efforts and +vicissitudes of will--always there for us to recur to. We are to +reckon ourselves 'dead to sin and alive to righteousness,' because and +only because we are also to reckon ourselves 'in Christ.' That is our +permanent state, and it is the function of faith not to create, but to +realize it. + +It is St. Paul's clear and vivid perception of a divine gift given, a +relationship to God established by God's act, not ours, and that at a +particular time, which is closely connected with his {222} sacramental +teaching. If a divine gift is to be given (1) definite at a definite +time, (2) to men of body as well as spirit in a world not only +spiritual but material, (3) publicly as to members of a social +organization--it is most natural that the gift should be embodied in an +outward rite and outward vehicle. So St. Paul appears to think. There +is no shrinking about his sacramental language. It can be said with +justice that certain forms of sacerdotal or ecclesiastical government +which have appeared in Church history would to his mind have savoured, +or more than savoured, of bondage to men and bondage to the 'beggarly +rudiments' of ceremonial observances. St. Paul is very jealous of +maintaining what we may call spiritual individuality and personal +liberty. But there is no justification to be found in St. Paul's +epistles for saying that he connects sacramentalism--i.e. the idea of +necessary spiritual gifts divinely promised on the occasion, and +through the medium, of certain outward religious rites of a +community--with that 'bondage' to 'beggarly rudiments' of which he has +so great a dread. St. Paul's language does not admit of our supposing +that he knew of any other way of admission 'into Christ' except through +the gate {223} of baptism, or any other means of communion in Christ's +body and blood except 'the breaking of the bread.' + +3. It will be necessary before we leave this great passage to give +some special attention to three phrases. + +'_Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father_.' In the +New Testament the sacrifice of Christ, the atonement won by Christ, is +continually ascribed to the Father, acting through and in the Son--'God +was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.' So also the +resurrection is uniformly ascribed to the Father's power acting in the +case of the Son[16]. Our current Christian language has in both cases +departed too widely from apostolic practice. The doctrine of the Holy +Trinity would be more intelligently held, and the worship of the Church +more normally offered in the Spirit through the Son to the Father, if +we had not fallen into the habit of so speaking of the action of the +Son in dying and rising as habitually to leave out of sight the truth +that His action, as Son, is and {224} must always be the Father's +action through Him; and that reversely our worship of the Son must +always be really, and ought to be in our habitual consciousness, the +worship of the Father through Him. + +'_Our old man was crucified with him_.' As Shelley said that, when +Adonais died, ''tis death is dead, not he,' so in an infinitely deeper +sense St. Paul says that what was killed upon the cross was (he does +not say 'instead of Christ,' but 'with Christ') sin and the 'old man.' +The 'old man' means the old way of living, or rather the old way of +living considered as having been appropriated by the sinful individual +and thus made his own self. Thus it was the old self that was put to +death on the cross, and a new self came to life, which was the same in +unchanged personality and yet so practically different in all its +relationships, that it could assert and claim exemptions from the +obligations contracted by the 'old man.' + +'_That the body of sin might be done away_.' The identification of sin +with the individual had been specially with his body. His bodily +appetites and impulses and parts had been so used to the ways of sin as +to become a 'body of sin,' and this, St. Paul says, has to be 'done +away' or {225} annulled. It is not that we are to harm the body +itself: for the body itself is good, and is to be offered, with all its +members, to become the weapon of Christian warfare. There is indeed no +material thing as such that is evil. The 'body of sin' means exactly +'the body considered as having become the receptacle of sin': as when +our Lord speaks of the 'mammon of unrighteousness[17],' He means money +which has become the instrument of unrighteousness, but which the +children of light are to convert to profitable uses. 'To annul the +body of sin' means, therefore, almost the same as 'to annul sin in the +body' and leave the body free; but it emphasizes the fact that sin has +got such hold of the body that to annul sin involves annulling the +body: as St. Paul says elsewhere, 'I buffet' (or 'distress') 'my body +and bring it into bondage[18].' + + + +[1] See Gal. v. 13: 'Only use not your freedom for an occasion of the +flesh.' Cf. 2 Pet. iii. 16, and the implications of St. James' Epistle. + +[2] 1 Thess. iv. 14. + +[3] The meaning of ver. 4 is interpreted in vers. 10, 11. + +[4] Ver. 4; cf. John xi. 40. 'The glory of God' is specially manifest +in the resurrection of the dead. + +[5] This is the original suggestion of the word 'united' in ver. 5. + +[6] Cf. Col. ii. 12. + +[7] The Greek words represented by 'leave at the disposal of,' 'make an +offering to,' are different parts of the same verb. 'The tense of the +former expresses continuance, habit; ... of the latter, a single +irrevocable act of surrender' (Vaughan, _in loc._). + +[8] John xii. 24, 25. + +[9] It is one gain of the R.V. that for 'ye are dead' (Col. iii. 3, ii. +20), 'we are dead' (Rom. vi. 2, 8), &c., we read 'ye died,' 'we died,' +i.e. at the definite moment of baptism. + +[10] Gregory of Tours, _Hist. Franc._ ii. 31: 'To whom (Chlovis) as he +enters the font to be baptized, the holy man of God (Remigius) thus +eloquently spoke--"Meekly bow thy neck, Sigambrian: adore what thou +hast burnt; burn what thou hast adored."' + +[11] Baptism by 'affusion' began within the first century, but as the +exception, not the rule. See app. note F. + +[12] By infant baptism under right conditions, I mean the baptism of +infants when there is some real security provided, through their +parents or proper sponsors, for their Christian education, according to +the intention of the Church. On the primitive origin of infant +baptism, see _Ephesians_, pp. 230, 231. + +[13] 'Stirb und werde! + Denn so lang du das nicht hast, + Bist du nur ein trueber Gast + Auf der dunkeln Erde' (quoted by M. Arnold). + +[14] John vi. 53-58; xiv. 19, 20; xv. 1-10; xvii. 21-23. + +[15] P. 81 (2nd ed.): 'The three essential terms of Pauline theology +are not, therefore, as popular theology makes them--_calling, +justification, sanctification_: they are rather these--_dying with +Christ, resurrection from the dead, growing into Christ_.' Cf. p. 76: +'How did Paul's faith, working through love, help him [to control +appetite and self-will]? It enabled him to reinforce duty by +affection. In the central need of his nature, the desire to govern +these motives of unrighteousness, it enabled him to say: _Die to them_! +_Christ did_. If any man be in Christ, said St. Paul--that is, if any +man identifies himself with Christ by attachment, so that he enters +into His feelings and lives with His life--he is a new creature; he can +do, and does, what Christ did.' It would be truer, surely, to say in +the first of these two passages not 'the three _essential_,' &c., but +'the three _central_.' Nothing can be more truly essential to Pauline +theology than the terms, calling, justification, atonement; but the two +last of them at least do not belong to the central region of religion, +but have to do with the removal of preliminary obstacles to our +entrance upon it. + +[16] The apparent exception is John x. 18; but even there the word +rendered 'take' would perhaps be better rendered 'receive.' Christ had +the right to lay down His own life and the right to receive it again +from the Father. So Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, pp. 34, 84. + +[17] Luke xvi. 9. + +[18] 1 Cor. ix. 27. + + + + +{226} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 4. CHAPTER VI. 15-23. + +_The perfect freedom is God's service._ + +The reiterated mention of the deliverance of the Christian from the +yoke of the law--'Ye are not under law, but under grace'--brings up the +excuse for licentious living in a new form:--'This very abolition of +the strict power of the law in favour of a system of which the ruling +principle is God's goodness, at least makes one willing to contemplate +any particular act of sin[1], with a good hope of escaping punishment.' +St. Paul meets the suggestion with a 'God forbid,' and then gives a +deep reason for repudiating it, a reason however which is but a version +of our Lord's saying, 'Every one that committeth sin is the slave of +sin[2].' Every man is always acting under obedience. What he {227} +does in a particular case represents an act of obedience to some +master; that is to say, a taking service with him. Moreover it appears +on reflection that it must be with one of two masters and cannot be +with both, for 'no man can serve two masters.' It is either with sin, +whose service ends in spiritual as well as physical death, or with Him +to whom obedience is properly due, whose service ends in righteousness. +What gives St. Paul reason for thankfulness in thinking of the +conversion of the Christians at Rome, is not that those who became +Christians became thereby exempt from obedience, but that they changed +their allegiance from sin to Christ. At their conversion they gladly +submitted to a pattern or standard of teaching--the teaching of +Christ--to which they were handed over for the fashioning of their +lives--that is to say, they were made free from sin only to become +slaves to righteousness. He uses the word slavery because so long as +their weak flesh shrinks from divine obedience, they must recognize +that the life which is really liberty must be accepted even as a +bondage, till it cease to seem so. In old days they offered their +limbs as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, and the result was a +lawless life. {228} Now they must yield their limbs as slaves to +righteousness with a view to a consecrated life. And the change of +allegiance is surely matter for congratulation. They can recall the +days when they were free from the service of righteousness, as being +slaves of sin, and they can remember what fruit they enjoyed as the +result of experiences which they now blush to bring to mind. Of such +experiences death, moral no less than physical, is the result. Now, +set free from sin's slavery and made God's slaves, they enjoy the +present fruit of consecration to God and the ultimate prospect of +eternal life. So long as Sin was their master he would pay them their +wages, and the wages which Sin pays is always death. But now that they +are surrendered into God's hands, and simply dependent on His +loving-kindness, there is no question of wages, but the gift of His +bounty is eternal life, in Him whose life includes their own, Jesus +Christ their Lord. + + +What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? +God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye present yourselves _as_ +servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of +sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But thanks be to +God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the +heart to that form of teaching {229} whereunto ye were delivered; and +being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. I speak +after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as +ye presented your members _as_ servants to uncleanness and to iniquity +unto iniquity, even so now present your members _as_ servants to +righteousness unto sanctification. For when ye were servants of sin, +ye were free in regard of righteousness. What fruit then had ye at +that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of +those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become +servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end +eternal life. For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God +is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. + + +1. St. Paul is here expounding the real meaning of human liberty. It +is generally regarded as the power 'to do as one pleases' or a state of +independence. But such a state does not exist. There is indeed such a +thing as the absence of external control up to a certain point. That +is an element of liberty, but it reaches but a little way. The true +liberty is the power to realize one's nature and make the best of +oneself--the power to be what one ought to be or is meant to be. The +instinct of language, as applied to man, recognizes this. When we see +a drunkard, we recognize a man the balance of whose nature is upset. +The higher part of his nature is being dragged at the chariot-wheels of +his lower. So, {230} be he never so free a citizen, we call him a +slave--a slave of drink. On the same principle we speak of the slaves +of lust or the slaves of money or the slaves of fashion or the slaves +of popularity. By these phrases we describe various moral states in +which some external or purely animal force dominates a man, and he +loses his self-control, and his whole nature becomes disordered. The +true order of human nature is that a man's body should be controlled by +his will. Then he is self-determined. His whole life is the +expression of a rational principle. He makes the best of himself. He +is free to be a real man, according to the proper idea of manhood. + +But how can this be? Can this reason or rational will in man stand and +work of itself? Is it so constructed as to be independent? No. Just +as truly as a man's bodily forces are drawn from sources outside +himself, so his spiritual being depends on sources and motives beyond +himself. + +What does man's 'freedom of will' consist of? Speaking exactly, it +consists of a power to _direct_ a certain amount of physical force +which passes into one's bodily frame, and to let it go out in one or +another form of action, deed or word or {231} thought, more or less +moral or immoral, spiritual or carnal. And this liberty of direction, +when more closely examined, is found to consist in a power which the +will has to choose between motives which present themselves as ideas to +the mind and to hand itself over to one or the other. Some of these +motives are derived from physical or worldly appetites; some are +derived through the conscience or faculty of spiritual apprehension. +If, in cases where the lower motives conflict with the higher, a man +still yields himself to the latter, his life is spiritual; and it is so +because it is determined by motives and reinforced by influences which +come from beyond himself, and are in fact the motives and forces of the +Spirit of God. But in neither case is he independent and free from +obedience. He stands at a meeting-point of the spiritual and material +world, and must be governed by one or the other. In either case man's +life is played upon and dominated by motive-forces, infinitely vaster +and mightier than himself. Let him try (as he has tried) to forget his +necessary dependence--to detach himself from the higher obedience and +to 'be as God,' independent--and he falls necessarily under the +dominion of the lower forces, of his flesh or of the world. If he is +to cease {232} to live below himself, he must consent to surrender to +what is above himself. He must yield his spirit to the divine Spirit, +which is its natural master. So he ceases to be carnal, or governed by +the flesh, and becomes spiritual, or governed by the divine Spirit. +And that is liberty. 'That man,' said Leo the Great, 'has true peace +and liberty whose flesh is controlled by the judgement of his mind, as +his mind is directed by the government of God[3].' God's service, and +that only, is perfect freedom. + +Man then is so constructed that he can only cease to fall below himself +by being raised above himself. His life cannot fail to be stamped with +the impress of sin unless it is stamped with the impress of God. The +state of the Christian, surrendered to the fashioning of God, is that +true dependence which is the true liberty. Independent of God, man +stands at last over against God to get what his independent action has +merited; and that is penal death, the inevitable outcome of misused +faculties, enslaved to sin. Surrendered to God in faith, on the other +hand, he receives into his nature, through all its open portals, the +inflooding tide of divine love; and enters, enriched and uplifted, into +the life that {233} is eternal, the life which he shares with Jesus, +the life that is truly human and really divine. + +It is of great practical importance that we should get a just idea of +what our freedom consists in. There are men who, under the impulse of +a purely materialist science, declare the sense of moral freedom to be +an illusion. This is of course a gross error. But what has largely +played into the hands of this error is the exaggerated idea of human +freedom which is ordinarily current, an idea which can only be held by +ignoring our true and necessary dependence and limitation. It is this +that we need to have brought home to us. There is an admirable story +among George Crabbe's Tales, called 'The Gentleman Farmer.' The hero +starts in life resolved that he will not put up with any bondage. The +orthodox clergyman, the orthodox physician, and orthodox matrimony--all +these alike represent social bondage in different forms, and he will +have none of them. So he starts on a career of 'unchartered freedom,' + + 'To prove that _he alone was king of him_.' + +And the last scene of all represents him the weak slave of his +mistress, a quack doctor, and a revivalist--'which things are an +allegory.' + +{234} + +2. The phrase 'a form' or 'pattern of teaching,' is interesting. It +suggests the idea of the Church as holding a 'pattern of sound +words[4],' a definite body of instruction, which is to form the life of +each person who gives himself over to her loving discipline. Christian +faith is not a formless impulse; it is self-surrender to a corporate +life ruled on a definite model of religious and moral teaching. What +St. Paul has here chiefly in mind is moral teaching. But the moral +teaching was inseparable from religious facts and motives. Nor is it +difficult to ascertain from the allusions of the New Testament what the +subjects were in which the first Christians were orally instructed, or, +in other words, what constituted 'the tradition' which lies behind the +written books of the New Testament. It comprised instruction in (1) +the facts of our Lord's life, death, and resurrection[5]; (2) the +meaning of sacred rites--baptism, laying on of hands, +eucharist[6]--including the Lord's Prayer[7]; (3) the moral duties of +'the way,' and the doctrine 'of the resurrection of {235} the dead and +of eternal judgement[8]'; (4) the meaning of 'the Name of the Father, +and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost[9].' On all these subjects the +books of the New Testament do not give the primary instruction, but +imply that it has been already given. + +3. The word rendered 'sanctification' (vers. 19, 22) is one which +needs to have its primitive force restored to it[10]. The 'saint' is +the person set apart for the worship and service of God. What is here +translated 'sanctification' means literally (1) 'the process of being +made fit for such worship and service,' that is, consecration as of a +priest; or (2) by a slight transition of meaning, the result of such +consecration, i.e. 'holiness.' + + + +[1] The tense of the verb in 'shall we sin' appears to indicate an act, +not a habit of sin. + +[2] John viii. 34. + +[3] _Serm._ xxxix. 2. + +[4] 2 Tim. i. 13. + +[5] Cf. Luke i. 1-4; 1 Cor. xi. 23; xv. 3, 4. + +[6] Cf. Rom. vi. 3; Heb. vi. 1-6; 1 Cor. x. 15, 16; xi. 23 ff.; Acts +ii. 38. + +[7] _Didache_, 8; cf. below, p. 293. + +[8] Heb. vi. 1, 2; 1 Thess. iv. 1, 2; v. 2. + +[9] See Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 18, for the fact that 'a +recognized belief or idea [of the threefold Name] seems to be +everywhere presupposed.' + +[10] Cf. above, pp. 31, 32. + + + + +{236} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 5. CHAPTER VII. 1-6. + +_Freedom from the law by union with Christ._ + +St. Paul is full of two thoughts. The first is that of life out of +death, living by dying. He had lived an old life in which 'those +multitudinous motions of appetite and self-will which reason and +conscience disapproved, reason and conscience could yet not govern, and +had to yield to them. This, as we shall see, is what drove Paul almost +to despair[1].' He had passed to a new life in which he found in +actual, blessed experience that he could do the thing that he would. +He could do all things--through Christ that strengthened him. For it +was Christ who had been the means of transferring him from the old life +to the new, and that by His own way of dying to live. Christ Himself +had lived 'by the Spirit' deliberately and always. He {237} had never +failed morally to do the thing that He would. But so violent was the +antagonism between His life of divine obedience (with the claims that +it involved upon other men) and 'the sinful, wilful, weak world around, +that the world could not tolerate His presence in it; and it came to +this--that He could only live by the Spirit at the cost of dying to the +world, i.e. choosing to be put to death sooner than give up obedience +to His Father. He chose to die, and thus dying He lived through death +in the life of the Spirit, and was raised again from death in body +also. Now Christ had brought St. Paul--as He would bring all men--into +union with His new life, and by the same method. St. Paul had had to +die to the sinful world in order to live to God. But he, being not +only a man but a sinner, was obliged not only, like Christ, to die to +sin in the world--he had also to die to sin in himself. In other +words, he had to 'crucify his flesh with its affections and +lusts'--that is, 'his old man' or old way of living. He had, by the +help of Christ's Spirit, to assert his inner self or personality +against a false self--a false way of life--which had appropriated him +and held him captive. Only by being emancipated from the {238} 'old +man' could he come to live 'in Christ.' It is this transference from +the 'old man,' or old way of life, to the new, by means of a death that +St. Paul here describes under the figure of a second marriage. The +man's true self was as a wife married to 'the old man.' The old man +was nailed to Christ's cross (vi. 6)--that is, the old way of life was +put an end to, even with violence. Thus the wife, the human +personality, is, according to the law of marriage, free to contract a +second union with Christ, the second Man. This is one of the main +thoughts in St. Paul's mind. + +But it is entangled with a second. The 'old man' was closely +associated with 'the law'--the law which had awakened it out of its +life of moral apathy by its stern reminders of the will of God. The +law had reminded, instructed, enlightened; but it could not give the +inward power needed to obey its requirements. It served but to bring +to light the tyranny of sin which made man incapable of yielding +obedience to the will of God; it even augmented its power by +stimulating it to opposition. The law therefore belonged purely and +simply to the old condition of moral impotence--the life 'in the flesh' +and not 'in the Spirit.' It fulfilled the {239} only function it could +fulfil in awaking the consciousness of sin. Thus to pass from 'the +life of the flesh' to 'the life in the Spirit' was to pass out of its +dominion. This is the other thought with which St. Paul is occupied in +the passage we are just going to read. This too he expresses with the +help of the figure of death. Human law only regards a living man. +Death acquits him from law by taking him out of the region where it +applies. Therefore, when a man dies with Christ to the 'old man,' he +passes out of the reach of the law which threatened the old man but had +no function beyond that. + +Each of these two thoughts is quite distinct and clear; but they are +fused in the present passage. St. Paul begins with the second, to show +that the 'dead' Christian is free from the law (ver. 1; cf. vi. 7). +But marriage law is taken as an example of law, and by this link we +pass from the second thought to the first. But the second thought +requires the man's _self_ to die with Christ to escape from the region +of law. The first thought, on the other hand, requires the 'old man,' +or old mode of life, to die, to leave the man's real self free to be +married to Christ; and this change of subject {240} introduces +confusion into the passage. The attempts to show that there is no +confusion are not successful. In ver. 1 the idea plainly is that the +self dies, as in vi. 7. In ver. 4 the main idea plainly is that the +'old man' is dead, and has left the self free to contract a new +marriage. But the other idea is still sufficiently dominant to cause +St. Paul to say 'ye died to the law,' instead of 'your old man was +crucified.' Morally, of course, the two phrases mean the same thing; +and one who, like St. Paul, is _dictating_ a letter, is specially +liable to verbal confusions even when his thought is clear. + +After these explanations the analysis shall be made as brief as +possible. St. Paul, having, in the latter part of the sixth chapter, +shown that the abolition of the power of the law is no excuse for sin, +recurs to and develops the principles which he has now guarded from +abuse, viz. that the power of the law is past for the Christian. He is +writing, he says, to men, whether themselves Jews or not, who +understand what law means, and that its dominion over a man ends with +his death. It has no jurisdiction beyond the grave. He takes the +marriage law ('the law of or {241} 'concerning the husband,' ver. 2) as +an illustration. Without noticing the exceptions in the way of +possibilities of divorce which the Jewish law admitted, he lays it down +generally that 'the law of the husband' binds the wife till death, but +death dissolves its power. When her husband is dead she is +'discharged' and free to be married again. (Here we have passed from +the idea of a man escaping by death out of the dominion of law to that +of his death dissolving the force of law in the interests of another, +viz. his wife.) That is the state of the Christian's real self. +Christ's body, St. Paul says, was nailed to the cross, and you were put +to death there with Him; or rather, your 'old man' was put to death +there, and you were left, like wives discharged from the marriage law +by the intervention of death, free to be united to the risen Christ, +and to see fruits of your new union such as God can approve. There +were fruits from the former union with the 'old man,' in the days when +you were still under the power of the flesh. The body was subject to +feelings and emotions which, under the provocation of the law, became +the instruments of sin; and these all at work in our limbs +(constituting the 'old man,' and having {242} ourselves for the +subject-wife) brought forth the fruits of actions fit only for a +kingdom of death. But now we are discharged from the law, like the +wife whose husband is dead, having died to that in which we were held +captive, and come to life in a new region; so that we can be +slaves--that, as we have seen in the last chapter, we must always be, +so far as yielding a complete obedience is concerned--only no longer +under the old bondage of a written law, but in the new freedom of the +empowering Spirit. + + +Or are ye ignorant, brethren (for I speak to men that know the law), +how that the law hath dominion over a man for so long time as he +liveth? For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the +husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from +the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be +joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if the +husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, +though she be joined to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also +were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be +joined to another, _even_ to him who was raised from the dead, that we +might bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the +sinful passions, which were through the law, wrought in our members to +bring forth fruit unto death. But now we have been discharged from the +law, having died to that wherein we were holden; so that we serve in +newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. + +{243} + +1. If we ask ourselves what is practically meant by St. Paul's idea of +the marriage of the redeemed soul to Christ, which supplements his +thought of the whole Church as the bride of Christ[2], the answer seems +to be that it is made up of a moral and a theological factor. The +moral factor is the idea of the devotion of the believer to Christ--'as +a young man marrieth a virgin.' The theological idea is that of the +risen Christ making the soul of the believer fruitful in good works by +infusing into it His own Spirit or life. + +2. The conception of the freedom of the redeemed from the moral and +ceremonial law is very easily realized by reference to our ideas of +civic freedom in connexion with the criminal law. The criminal law +exists, and the policemen are among its administrative officers, but +the respectable citizen is free in his relation to the criminal law, +and passes the policeman without any sense of alarm--not because he is +at liberty to break the law, but because he has become accustomed to a +way of living with which the agents of the law are not called upon to +interfere. It is in a sense like this that St. Paul conceives the +Christians to have escaped from the bondage of the Mosaic law. + +{244} + +3. What is the meaning of the common phrase our 'passions'? It refers +to those feelings which we experience without any action of our will. +It may be a mere neutral sensation of smell. It may be a feeling of +hunger, thirst, desire, anger. These are our 'passions' as opposed to +our actions. These appeal to the will as motives, and it appertains to +the will to determine whether it will yield to them and so translate +passions into voluntary actions. When the will is weak, and passion is +allowed to pass into action uncontrolled, the man becomes the slave of +sin, and his passions, in themselves innocent or only constituting the +material of temptation, become the 'sinful passions' of which St. Paul +speaks in this place. + + + +[1] Matthew Arnold, _St. Paul and Protestantism_, p. 76. + +[2] Eph. v. 22. + + + + +{245} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 6. CHAPTER VII. 7-25. + +_The function and failure of the law._ + +The somewhat confused passage just dealt with, in which several moral +ideas and metaphors are struggling for the mastery, is followed by a +famous passage of luminous power in which St. Paul expounds, with a +profound insight into human nature, the function and failure of law. + +The close alliance into which St. Paul constantly puts 'the law' with +the reign of sin, an alliance hardly suggested by any other New +Testament teacher, suggests inevitably the idea that St. Paul, like the +later Gnostics, regarded the law itself as 'sin,' that is, as owing its +origin to the power of evil and working for its ends. Such an idea he +of course repudiates. But all the same it is law, written or +proclaimed, and law only, which both awakens the sense of sin in man +and stimulates sin itself to put {246} forth its power. Let me take +myself, we may imagine St. Paul as saying (for the 'I' of this passage +is very far from being strictly autobiographical), as representing man +in his moral history. I was alive apart from any law once. That is to +say, I lived as suited me best, according to my instincts, asking no +moral questions and troubled by no scruples. And all this time sin, +considered as a moral tyrant, was as if dead. I had no defined moral +ideal and consequently no struggle and no failure. Then comes the law +with its 'Thou shalt not covet' (or do this or that). It imposes +limits in the name of God on my life of instinct. It cries 'Hands +off!' At once I find opposition between me and the law. I do covet +this and that which the law says I must not have. I find myself in the +eye of the moral law a transgressor. And there is something more than +my own lawless desire in opposition to the law. I become conscious of +a great power of sin at work in the world and in me--something greater +than myself, which intervenes in the struggle and reinforces the +opposition to the law. The tyrant Sin rouses himself on the pretext +afforded by the hostile commandment, and exercises his power both by +stimulating my desires, like Eve's (ver. 8), and {247} deceiving my +intelligence, like hers, to believe that good is evil (ver. 11), and so +brings me by means of the commandment into a state of flat disobedience +to the law, which is death. For the law was given for life--'This do, +and thou shalt live'; but there is the necessary converse--'This +transgress, and thou shalt die' (vers. 7-11). + +The law then, it is quite plain, is the expression of the will of God. +And the particular commandment is holy and righteous and good. Is the +good then my poison? No. But what has happened is this--the +expression of the good in the law has brought the tyranny of sin out +into the light. It had me in its power before, but I did not know it +and I did not struggle. But as soon as the law aroused in me the +beginning of moral consciousness, sin used the commandment as its knife +to kill me; and so showed its hideous character--which indeed it was +the divine intention to uncloak by means of the law (12-13). + +For this it is that we must recognize as the true state of the case. +On the one hand a spiritual law proclaimed over me. On the other hand +a man who in virtue of my fleshly nature have been sold to be a slave +of sin, and who as a slave {248} find myself doing acts by force of +circumstances, the true nature of which I do not understand, and which, +so far from choosing, I hate (vers. 14, 15). For I am not only of this +fleshly nature; I have also a conscience which responds to the claim of +the law and recognizes it as right. But my wish to obey the law is not +strong enough to carry my flesh with it. Thus my actual practice is in +flat contradiction to the ideal of my choice. But henceforth my will +is on the side of the law, and myself is in my will[1]. What runs so +uncontrollably to evil is, it appears, not myself at all, but the alien +tyranny of sin which has taken possession of me and made my flesh its +haunt and instrument--the haunt and instrument of evil only and not of +good. So I can only wish good and practise evil, and become more and +more conscious that I am not my own master. The law of God, accepted +by my will, becomes the law of my mind or inner being; but when I seek +to impose it on my limbs and act accordingly, I find another law--the +law of the tyrant Sin--holding sway in my lower nature; my authority is +defied and {249} I myself am dragged in humiliating captivity to sin in +my lower nature (vers. 16-23). My body has become the death of my +spirit. It is my prison-house. I cry out in my misery for +deliverance. And it is this deliverance which I praise God for having +given me through Jesus Christ our Lord. (By union with Him my higher +self is reinforced, and I can control my lower nature and become my own +master.) But in my isolated, unassisted self, the best that I can get +to is a flat contradiction between the service of the law of God in my +mind and the service of sin in my flesh (vers. 24, 25). + + +What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit, I had +not known sin, except through the law: for I had not known coveting, +except the law had said, Thou shall not covet: but sin, finding +occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting: +for apart from the law sin is dead. And I was alive apart from the law +once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died; and the +commandment, which was unto life, this I found _to be_ unto death: for +sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through +it slew me. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and +righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death unto me? +God forbid. But sin, that it might be shewn to be sin, by working +death to me through that which is good;--that through the commandment +sin might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is +spiritual: but I am carnal, {250} sold under sin. For that which I do +I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, +that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law +that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which +dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth +no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is +good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I +would not, that I practise. But if what I would not, that I do, it is +no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the +law[2], that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight +in the law of God after the inward man: but I see a different law in my +members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into +captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man +that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank +God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I myself with the mind +serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. + + +i. + +St. Paul, as has been said, is constantly in his epistles of this +period stating briefly or alluding to the failure of 'the law' to +supply man with the moral strength needed to live a good life at peace +with God. Thus: 'The power of sin is the law.' 'As many as are of the +works of the law are under a curse.' 'The letter (the written law) +killeth.' 'Through the law cometh the {251} knowledge of sin.' 'The +law worketh wrath.' 'The law came in beside, that the trespass might +abound[3].' The first of these sayings, occurring as it does +altogether out of apparent connexion with the context, shows us as +clearly as anything could how full of the idea his mind was. But only +here, in this chapter, does he open his heart to us to show us the +experience on which such a strange and original conclusion was based. + +We can imagine a youth of intensely susceptible moral and religious +nature like Saul of Tarsus passing out of the home of his boyhood into +the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem. The one subject of instruction +there was 'the law'--the divine law which was the pride of Israel's +race--in all the grand severity of its moral requirement and in all the +complexity of its ritual regulations. It was the one topic. And all +about him he saw the Pharisees building up the fabric of a meritorious +life before God out of their observances. Now, no doubt the most +easily self-satisfied Pharisees made much of the principle of +compensation--that 'obedience to certain laws' (e.g. the law of the +sabbath or 'the law of fringes') 'was as good as obedience to the {252} +whole[4].' The Pharisee of our Lord's parable who went up to the +temple to pray, satisfied himself because he observed certain practices +beyond the requirements of the law. Our Lord bears witness that the +Scribes and Pharisees paid tithe of mint and anise and +cummin--traditional extensions of the law--and omitted the weightier +matters, judgement, mercy, and faith, yet were righteous in their own +eyes. On the other hand, the maxim of St. James, 'Whosoever shall keep +the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of +all,' was a commonplace of the Jewish schools. + +There can be no doubt that it must have been the severer teaching that +fastened upon young Saul's mind. He acknowledged himself a 'debtor to +keep the whole law[5].' And in ritual detail, though no doubt the +effort required was immense, he managed to be 'blameless[6].' But in +the weightier and deeper matters it was not so. The moral law, +enforced and commented upon, continually confronting him with its 'Thou +shalt not,' brought to light in him the fact of sin--in desire, we +should gather, rather than in act or word. The law said 'Thou shalt +not covet' (or {253} lust). And Saul said, 'But I do lust after this +and that and the other. My heart and my desires are not in harmony +with the law. Nay, the very fact that the law prohibits it seems to +make my wrong desire stronger.' So the whole Pharisaic idea of a moral +life--the standing over against God and building up a fabric of +merits--seemed to be unsatisfactory. The fabric in his own case was +full of internal rottenness. It would not bear severe examination. +Moreover he could not but observe the lives of those around him who +were so well satisfied with their moral edifices, and he recognized +that their satisfaction was due to nothing but hypocrisy or +shallowness. As he went later to Jewish settlements in various +centres, he saw always the picture of a life fair in its own eyes and +rotten in fact. His general experience of Jewish life is summed up +strongly enough in the second chapter of this epistle. Thus he drew +the conclusion that the law could not be really kept--it was only +possible to keep it by means of evasions and compensations which made +it worse than useless. + +Meanwhile there was forming itself in Saul's mind the conviction that +the whole attitude of the Pharisees towards God was false. They lived +as if God had made a contract or covenant with {254} them, and within +the terms of this covenant man could deal with God on an independent +basis. God must keep to His covenant and not augment it or change it. +And on their side the people of God under the covenant had nothing to +do but to keep their part of the bargain and claim their reward with a +conscious and proper pride in the merits of their race and of +themselves. This was exactly the spirit in which they rejected Jesus +as the Christ, as it was also exactly this spirit which He had chosen +for His sternest denunciations. But all this idea of merits, all this +boasting, must have come to seem to Saul's mind monstrously untrue to +the real fundamental relation of man to God. For who maketh thee to +differ? and what hast thou, O Jew, that thou didst not receive? And if +thou didst receive it, why dost thou boast thyself as if thou hadst not +received it? Thus St. Paul's training must not only have made him feel +that he could not satisfy himself in keeping the whole law; but it must +also have convinced him that law itself as a principle, law as +understood and represented among the orthodox Jews, was fundamentally +and permanently incompatible with the real relation of man to God. +There were many elements in the Old Testament, {255} notably in the +Psalms, in which a quite different relation of man to God was +indicated--a relation of meek trust as of a son to a father, and of +penitence and dependence and peace. But in the teaching St. Paul had +received, the law, the legal covenant of man and God, which suggested a +quite different moral attitude, was the essential element; and that, we +must suppose, he felt increasingly sure was a foundation on which he +could not stand. + +No doubt these deep questionings about the law, and the growing misery +accompanying them, made him at first all the more zealous for it. No +doubt they explain his fanaticism against the Christians. No doubt his +'kicking against the goad' represents the rebellion of his heart +against anything which seemed to threaten the position of the law of +his fathers, and especially against the utter upheaval of foundations +involved in accepting for Christ Him whom the leaders of his people had +rejected and caused to be crucified. But when he had effected the +great transition, when he had found in Jesus Christ all that satisfied +his deepest instincts about God and his deepest desires for union with +Him, his old experience of the law took shape in a profound theory of +its place in the divine {256} education of the human race. Ultimately +man is meant to be in such close and harmonious relations to the divine +Spirit that he should both know what is right and do it by an inner +light and power. But an outward written law was a necessary prelude to +this; and that in the main because sin--individual sins and the long +tradition of sin--had hardened men's consciences and blinded their +eyes, and the divine law as proclaimed through the conscience had +become in consequence either utterly inadequate or had even been +silenced altogether. A written law therefore, peremptory and explicit, +and announcing its sanction in definite penalties, was needed to teach +men anew what God really required. It was given in such a mode as +threw men on their own independent moral strength, and by that very +fact convinced the best among them of their inward weakness and sin; +while to many more it appeared rather as involving an impossible +effort--as 'a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to +bear.' In either case it was their 'tutor to bring them to +Christ'--with His teaching of God, not as a taskmaster, but as a +Father, righteous indeed, but still more loving. And if there were +others again, shallow or worthless men, whom the law simply hardened +{257} in the superficial self-righteousness of mere 'observances,' or +the worst sort of religious hypocrisy, that was only another way of +demonstrating its inadequacy. It left the world to choose between the +Pharisees and Christ as representing real righteousness. + +This 'doctrine of the law' involves both its necessary function and its +failure. There can be indeed to no thoughtful mind any doubt as to its +necessary function. Conscience, individual and social, is continually +going to sleep. It may be taken quite for certain that if Christ were +amongst us in manifest power by His Spirit to-day--as He ought to be in +the Church--our society as a whole would be smitten anew with a sense +of sin, and not least of social sin[7]. Our familiar excuses for our +selfish indulgence of our lusts, for our weak surrenders to passion and +impulse, for our commercial dishonesties, for our failures to carry +righteousness into politics, for our social injustices, for our +selfishness and {258} luxury, for our scamped and half-hearted +work--the familiar pleas of commercial or physical necessity, or +political exigencies, or lack of knowledge, or absence of +responsibility, or the influence of heredity--would dry up and wither +on our lips under the powerful glare of the divine 'letter'--Thou +shalt, Thou shalt not. God hath not 'given any man license to sin,' He +hath given no man exemption from the trouble or the suffering or the +loss involved in doing right. The obligation is peremptory to be just, +to be merciful, to be honest, to be self-denying, to be pure. And if +we do not care to take the trouble to be so, the only alternative is to +have Christ for our adversary, and find at last the horrible depth of +meaning which His words contain--'Thus and thus have ye made void the +word of God by your tradition.' 'Inasmuch as ye did it not, depart, ye +cursed, into eternal fire!' 'It is good for thee to enter into the +kingdom of God maimed or halt or with one eye, rather than having two +hands or feet or eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm dieth not +and the fire is not quenched.' These and the like words are +metaphorical--but metaphors which are intended to teach the heart only +the more vividly because they are metaphorical. + +{259} + +Indeed, in each age, and therefore in ours, most fertile of excuses, we +need the letter to kill us; the stern, outward, unmistakable +announcement of God's will to assure us that God does not change with +our whims or feelings, and cannot accommodate Himself to immoral +necessities. In each age, and therefore in ours, most capable of moral +self-deception, we need continual and forcible reminders that a quiet +conscience is no adequate guarantee of agreement with God, unless we +have taken pains to keep our conscience enlightened by meditating on +the divine word. + +And if St. Paul's account of the function of 'the law' is true, so also +is his account of its necessary failure. It is obviously true if you +confine 'the law' to meaning what in the tradition of the Pharisees it +had come to mean, or what in his ideal way of thinking St. Paul defined +it to mean--that is, not the whole Old Testament with its anticipations +in prophecy and psalm of the temper of sonship and its evangelical +forecasts of the new covenant, but bare precept, expressing externally +and unmistakably the will of God. Mere law, instructing men truly and +searchingly as to God's requirement in thought as well as word and +deed, instructing {260} men and challenging them, and doing nothing +more, is so manifestly incomplete an expression of God's relation to +man, quite apart from all question of its ritual elements, that it can +in the nature of things serve only a temporary purpose in the +conscience, by leading us to a truer knowledge of Him who terrifies +indeed, but only in order to reassure, and kills but only in order to +raise to life again. + + +ii. + +At this point it is necessary to answer the two much-disputed +questions--and it is possible to do it briefly--Is St. Paul, in giving +this summary of moral experience, speaking 'of himself or of some other +man'? and--Is the struggle described in verses 14-24 to be regarded as +occurring without or within the frontiers of the regenerate state? + +There is no doubt that St. Paul must be in part really describing an +experience through which he passed. He was really, we may imagine, +'alive without the law once' in the sense that he was brought up a +happy Jewish child, under the law but not deeply feeling the terror of +its claims, until he was growing towards {261} the 'independent' period +of life and found himself confronted with its requirements in detail. +There need be no doubt that he is speaking of some experience of his +own when he alludes, here as elsewhere, to the deceitfulness of sin; +and when he describes the two stages of moral progress--the first, in +which the conscience of the man is awakened to recognize that his +habitual practice is not in any full sense controlled by his reason and +will; and the second, in which the will is deliberately enlisted on the +side of good, and the man only made thereby the more conscious that his +will is in no real control of his actions, but that he is the captive +of the alien power of sin. In some sense, though St. Paul does not +give us the materials for saying exactly in what sense, he must have +passed through these stages of experience. He must have really felt +himself the slave of sin, though the sin was of a sort which left him, +'as touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.' He +must have felt that he could not do what he ought; and the bitterness +of his persecuting zeal may have been in part the reflection of this +sense of impotence. + +And so far as St. Paul is speaking of himself, there can be no shadow +of doubt that the state {262} of conflict lay almost wholly outside his +conversion and regeneration. It was 'prevenient grace'--God's dealing +with him before he acknowledged Christ--that set his will so strongly +to desire and approve the right; and his new personal faith in Jesus, +and the might of the Spirit of Jesus to whom he became united, gave him +the power to do what he had so long and so ineffectually been willing. +This was his experience, and he bears witness to it. Even though he +would have made no claim to sinlessness after his conversion, yet the +sense of sin which possessed him so strongly, which made him call +himself 'not worthy to be called an apostle,' 'less than the least of +all saints,' and 'chief of sinners,' was in the main a memory of what +was past. The present sense was the consciousness of power in Christ. +It is inconceivable that St. Paul should describe himself, while a +Christian, as 'sold under sin.' And it was an idea of human corruption +quite different from St. Paul's which prevented Augustine and Calvin +from recognizing that either a pious Jew, or a Gentile which had not +the law, could be moved by the divine Spirit to 'rejoice in the law of +God after the inner man' (ver. 22), quite independently of any +knowledge of Christ. + +{263} + +But if St. Paul is in a real measure autobiographical in this passage, +there is no reasonable doubt that he is not merely so. He has +generalized his experiences to represent the moral experiences of the +race. The 'I' is the human individual in general. Thus 'alive without +the law,' if it can in a certain sense describe what St. Paul had once +been, describes much better the state of men--Greeks and Romans, or men +all the world over 'before the law came'--who had an easy social +standard and lived natural lives without any troublesome moral ideals, +and were wholly unvisited by conscientious scruples or the terrors of +the divine holiness. Upon such men comes the severer knowledge of the +righteousness of God through the teaching of some prophet or founder of +religion. It may come to men collectively in a nation or group, and +result in some general movement of conscience. Or it may come to an +individual through some circumstance which confronts him with a higher +moral claim than he has ever faced before--through the example of a +friend, through a book or a sermon. To many in St. Paul's day the +synagogues, where 'Moses had in every city them that preached him,' had +been the means of their awakening to the moral {264} claim of God. And +whenever men are thus confronted with the divine law of righteousness, +in a more or less perfect form and with more or less of impressiveness +laying its prohibitions upon them--'Thou shalt not do this or that'--if +they do not harden their hearts to it, they pass through the stages of +experience which St. Paul has so admirably idealized. There is that in +them which the prohibitions of the divine law stimulates into +antagonism. They become conscious of a power which beguiles or cheats +them into breaking the law; they awake to the sense of sin and failure +to do God's will, and find that they are not their own masters, but are +drifting under the impulse of what is not themselves. There awakens in +them the conscience and will to approve and choose what is right, and +with that a 'self-contempt bitterer to drink than blood,' as they +realize that though they approve and choose the right they cannot do +it. Thus the conviction is strengthened that their true selves are on +the side of God and right, and that which holds them captive is an +alien tyranny which has got its lodgement in their lower nature. + +This is the psychological moment for the arrival of the gospel. The +man who simply {265} desires the right and is paralyzed by his own +impotence to realize it in his own strength, out of the depth of his +despair learns that God is not a taskmaster and judge, but a Father; +that He is not his adversary, but is on his side; that if he will +simply surrender himself to the divine love, as it is made evident in +Christ, all his past failures and sins are as if they had never been, +and for the future God will not teach him from outside and leave him to +struggle alone, but will work in him to will and to do His good +pleasure. Then the sense of moral impotence may pass into the sense of +power in Christ. And in proportion as any man's actual life-history, +or the history of any group of men, corresponds to this ideal sketch, +the period of moral struggle and failure may fall in the main outside +the regeneration and new life in Christ. + +But, almost from the beginnings of Christianity, and increasingly as +Christianity has become popular, men have been 'christened' in infancy +or in mature life without the moral issue having been defined or the +moral will awakened. An ordinary Englishman, for example, is baptized +in infancy. This means that he is actually regenerate and introduced +into {266} the body of Christ. In rare cases he is so brought up as to +realize this, and corresponds so willingly with the teaching that he +lives the life of the regenerate from the first, and never, except in a +very refined form, knows the sense of impotence or passes through the +period of hopeless struggle. He has never found God's commandments +grievous. But in most cases there is no such pains taken to enlighten +the young conscience, or no such readiness of correspondence. The man +lives as his surroundings suggest--a decent enough life, very likely, +and more or less honourable, but never in face of the full divine law. +And such an one is 'alive without the law.' For him all the +experiences St. Paul describes are still to come, inside the circle of +his actual regeneration. And they may be very gradual and slow, and +may repeat themselves, more or less, innumerable times. St. Paul's is +an ideal picture; but the intended issue is always the same. When we +find ourselves saying, 'To will is present with me, but to do that +which is good is not,' we may be quite certain that we are not +realizing the power of our new birth. We are as men whom God has as +yet only externally visited. We are conscious of our own weakness and +of the {267} strength of evil; but not of the third force, stronger +than either ourselves or the power of evil, which is at our disposal if +we will draw upon it. What is needed is a deliberate and whole-hearted +realization that we are in Christ and Christ is in us by His Spirit; an +unconditional surrender of faith to Him: a practice, which grows more +natural by exercise, of remembering and deliberately drawing by faith +upon His strength in the moments of temptation and not merely upon our +own resources. 'In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I will do thus +and thus.' So we too may form like St. Paul the habit of victory. We +too may cry in sober earnest 'It is no longer I that live (in my naked +self), but Christ that liveth in me.' 'I thank God through Jesus +Christ our Lord.' + +When that sense of struggle or failure which St. Paul describes occurs, +as is generally the case with us traditional Christians, in the process +of our awakening to the knowledge of the new birth, we may in a sense +say that the struggle is part of the process of regeneration[8]; but +the word 'regeneration' best describes, not a process, but a single +divine act upon us and in {268} us[9], and this single divine act is +consistently identified in the New Testament with our baptism, though +it is only realized by our moral conversion when we awake to claim the +privileges of our new life. + + +iii. + +There are two smaller points which claim notice. + +We are reminded by the way in which St. Paul speaks of sin, in this and +other passages--as a force or power greater than the individual man, +which possesses him and dominates him through his lower nature--and +especially by the consciousness which he betrays of its 'beguiling' +power, that he believed in personal agencies of evil. 'Our wrestling +is not against flesh and blood (merely), but against the +principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this +darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly +places[10].' Particularly it is in the deceitfulness of sin that St. +Paul realizes what one must call the personal character of the evil +power[11]. He is profoundly conscious that {269} there makes itself +heard in temptation a voice as of a person which lies to us, as it lied +to Eve, as to the true character of the suggested action; and when we +have been deceived and seduced, and have done the deed, and its real +character has become apparent, 'the tempter' turns round upon us with +the grin of unmasked malevolence. Is there any one who can really +dissociate from his own spiritual experience this idea of the tempter +and the deceiver? + +We do well to remember in reading this passage the meaning of the +recurring word 'law.' In modern English it has come to mean the +principle or method observable in anything. Such and such a thing, we +say, exhibits such and such a law, i.e. acts constantly in such and +such a way. It is natural therefore for us to read this meaning into +the word in verse 21, as in the Authorized Version, 'I find then a law, +that, when I would do good, evil is present with me,' i.e. I find that +this is what constantly happens. But the Greek word, as used in the +Old and New Testaments, does not bear any meaning like this[12]. It +means always the {270} injunction or set of injunctions imposed by a +law-giver. In this passage it is used seven times of the divine +(Mosaic) law. When the will accepts this law and would impose it on +the lower nature, it becomes 'the law of the mind,' i.e. the law which +the mind enjoins (verse 23). With this conflicts 'the law of sin,' +'the different law,' which sin or the evil one would impose and which +has gained actual sway 'in our members.' We must then interpret verse +21 in harmony with this use, and taking the sentence to be a broken +one, translate, as the margin of the Revised Version, 'I find then, in +regard of the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.' + + + +[1] 'I was myself in both [flesh and spirit], but more myself in what I +approved than in what I disapproved.'--Augustine, _Confessions_, viii. +5. + +[2] Rather, as margin, 'I find then in regard of the law': see below, +p. 269. + +[3] Cf. 1 Cor. xv. 56; Gal. iii. 10; 2 Cor. iii. 6; Rom. iii. 20; iv. +15; v. 20. + +[4] See J. B. Mayor in _The Epistle of St. James_ (ii. 10), p. 86. + +[5] Gal. v. 3. + +[6] Phil. iii. 6. + +[7] It is disappointing, I think, that the grave appeal to the Church +as regards social duty, made by the bishops assembled at Lambeth last +year in commending to the notice of us all the report of their +Committee on Industrial Problems, has received such scant attention, +except from a certain group of Churchmen who were already occupied with +the problem. It might have been expected that this solemn appeal would +have vastly widened the area of attention. + +[8] 'Inter regenerandum.' St. John will not speak of a wilful sinner +as truly 'begotten of God,' 1 John iii. 9; v. 18, &c. + +[9] See Dale, quoted in Ephesians, p. 86. + +[10] Eph. vi. 12. + +[11] Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 9-11: 'The working of Satan with all ... deceit +of unrighteousness ... a working of error, that they should believe a +lie.' 2 Cor. xi. 14: 'Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of +light.' 1 Tim. ii. 14: 'The woman being beguiled hath fallen into +transgression.' Cf. Heb. iii. 13: 'The deceitfulness of sin.' + +[12] It never appears to be used, as in classical Greek, for 'custom,' +either in LXX or N.T. + + + + +{271} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 7. CHAPTER VIII. 1-11. + +_Life in the Spirit._ + +If we were to represent the Epistle to the Romans as a _bas relief_, +there would be two passages which would have to stand in the highest +relief--the end of the third chapter, in which St. Paul speaks of that +free justification which is given to all men on the equal basis of +faith in Christ the propitiation for their sins; and this eighth +chapter, in which he speaks of the triumph which belongs to the life of +the justified, lived in the power of Christ's Spirit. + +The note of this chapter is struck in the words 'no condemnation' at +the beginning--'There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are +in Christ Jesus.' St. Paul knew so well what it was to be conscious of +being under condemnation. He had never been what we should call a +sinner. He had always been a man who, according to the standards of +the {272} Pharisaic righteousness, was pre-eminently righteous; he had +always been a man who did much for religion. But he had known, in a +form in which it is known to very few of us, what it was to be +conscious of being under God's condemnation. God had been to him as a +taskmaster over against him, breaking in upon his life with continual +and searching warnings as to the divine requirements, with continual +threatenings and continual terrors; and he had been as one standing +over against God with the consciousness that, do as he might, he could +never satisfy, or climb up to the level of, the requirements of the +righteous God. There was always the haunting sense that he fell +short--always the haunting sense that he was on his trial, and on that +trial was condemned. But now all had been changed; and that by a +process which in a certain sense was as simple as possible, but than +which nothing could be more fundamental and deep. All was changed +because the relation had begun at the other end. No longer was there a +climbing up of man to God, no longer the effort of a Saul to commend +himself to God. The relationship had begun at the other end, at God's +end. Or rather, what had begun was the realization on the man's {273} +part of the true order. For God had been beforehand with Saul all +along. All the time that he was striving, working, slaving to commend +himself to a God whose righteousness he could never attain to, God was +waiting there for him to find out his mistake--waiting to reveal +Himself as no hard taskmaster, but as the Creator, the Father of his +spirit. The process had now begun anew from the other side. God had +simply of His own pure initiative manifested His love. He had sent His +Son out of His own essential being into this world as it was, not +asking whether it was a fit world for the Son to enter into; but taking +it simply as it was, because it appealed to the divine compassion by +the very multitude of its sins and the very vastness of its need, God +had sent forth His only begotten Son out of the bosom of His love and +of His pure initiative; had sent Him to take this nature of ours upon +Him, in it to make atonement for us with God, and in it, raised from +death and glorified, to be the source of a new and spiritual life, such +as should triumph over sin in all who will believe in Him. That is the +great point. It was all purely God's doing: a pure disclosure and act +of God, who showed Himself ready to take {274} men as they were, to +forgive them and entrust them with the divine Spirit, if they would +only trust Him. God is no longer the taskmaster over against men, with +His threats and His terrors. He is the Father who has given His Son, +who has given men a sacrifice whereby He can forgive their sins, and +has given them the Spirit of His Son into their hearts. God is on +their side, and they are on God's side. That is the great change. And +the object of it all is that what formerly seemed so unattainable might +now be the very thing that proved itself practicable--to live according +to God; that the requirement of the law might be no longer an +impossible claim over us, terrorizing us with its perpetual threats, +but that by the power of the new life in which we live, 'the +righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after +the flesh, but after the spirit.' + +The following is a paraphrase of the passage we are now to study:-- + +The result then of all that has been said is that the divine verdict of +guilty, which went forth over men on account of their sins--that +'disclosure of divine wrath' which St. Paul had so profoundly felt and +interpreted--hangs no longer over those who have passed into the new +{275} life in Christ Jesus. In the old life, sin with its attendant +death held sway over us and gave the law to our actions. But we were +freed from that despotism in passing under a new and stronger +authority. It is the divine Spirit, by whom we have been brought into +the life in Christ, who now controls us. Of old the Mosaic law was +powerless to help us. It could inform us of God's will, but it could +not enable our poor weak human nature to keep His requirements. But +God has provided an effective remedy for this state of things. He has +sent His own Son to take our nature upon Him, and come in among our +sinful race without any apparent difference between us and Him. He put +Him simply among us and in our position, to be the sacrifice for sin; +and thereby did for us what we had so failed to do for +ourselves--passed effective sentence of condemnation on sin, and that +in our own nature. [Do we ask how sin was condemned? The answer is, +it stood condemned by the perfect sacrifice of reparation for sin, +which the sinless Man made to the divine character on our behalf, when +at the requirement of obedience He shed His blood. It stood condemned, +still more fully, by the fact that God raised Him from the dead and +exalted {276} Him far beyond the reach of sin, to the glory of His +right hand, and made Him the head of a redeemed manhood, and poured +forth His Spirit to be the new life of all that believe in Him][1]. +And the object of this mission of the Son, and this judgement on sin in +His person, was the creation of that new humanity to which we belong, +which lives not under the control of human appetite, but under the +control of Spirit: and because it so lives, in the life of Another, +succeeds in the one point where man had hitherto failed, in keeping the +righteous requirements of the divine law. Our new way of life, +therefore, is contrasted with the old in its whole tone. For just as, +if we live in fact under the control of our weak manhood with its wants +and appetites, our mind and conscious aim is directed to minister to +its purposes, so in the same way if our life is in fact controlled by +Spirit, our conscious aim also is directed to spiritual purposes. And +the two lives are contrasted no less markedly in their prospects. +{277} The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of +death, temporal and eternal. The mind controlled by the Spirit is in a +state of life, so far as concerns itself, and of peace towards God. +The mind controlled by human appetites is under the doom of death +because it is at war with God. It does not, it cannot, keep His +commandments. Those therefore who so live in their own strength +merely, cannot please Him. But that is not now our state. We now live +in the power of Spirit, since the Spirit of God and Christ--that is, +Christ Himself--dwells in us. To have Him is the very meaning of being +a Christian. Not to have Christ's Spirit, that is Himself, dwelling in +us, is not to belong to Him. But if He does dwell in us, then, though +the body must still pay the debt of death, because of sin to which it +has belonged--nay though it is already as good as dead--yet the Spirit +within us is a superior principle of life, because of the divine +righteousness which it bestows upon us. And this life shall triumph +over death in our case, as in Christ's. For God, who raised up Christ +from the dead, shall also by the working of the divine Spirit which +dwells in us, give life again even to our bodies, though now they are +subject to death. + +{278} + +There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ +Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free +from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, in +that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the +likeness of sinful flesh and _as an offering_ for sin, condemned sin in +the flesh: that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who +walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For they that are +after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are +after the spirit the things of the spirit. For the mind of the flesh +is death; but the mind of the spirit is life and peace: because the +mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the +law of God, neither indeed can it be: and they that are in the flesh +cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if +so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not +the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ is in you, the +body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of +righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the +dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead +shall quicken also your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth +in you. + + +1. St. Paul declares that the Father sent His own Son to redeem us in +'the likeness of the flesh of sin.' The word 'likeness' is the same as +that used in the similar passage[2], where we are told that the eternal +Son in love for us 'emptied Himself' so far as to take the 'form,' +{279} or essential characteristics, of our servile human nature; nor +only its essential characteristics, but also the outward conditions or +'likeness' of common men as they are. The point is that Christ, who +Himself as man 'knew no sin[3],' appeared amongst us under all the +circumstances of sin, and with no outward or apparent difference +between us and Him--'in all points like as we are' with the single +exception of sin in the will or in the nature. + +2. In verse 3 the Authorized Version, and the margin of the Revised, +translating the Greek literally, give us, 'God sending His own Son ... +_for sin_.' But the phrase 'for sin' is continually used in the Greek +of the Old Testament for the sin-offering, and in the New Testament +always has the sacrificial meaning attached to it[4]; and accordingly +its meaning here must be so defined. + +3. The flesh of man, considered as a material thing, is not evil. It +was that which the Son took, and it was 'in the flesh' so assumed that +He pronounced sentence on sin--in that very flesh which was sin's +domain; as, in the Epistle {280} to the Ephesians[5]. He is said to +have 'abolished the enmity in his flesh.' The flesh as such then is +not evil; but when, as in our fallen state, the proper order of our +complex manhood has been reversed, and the flesh has become the +predominant partner, having the mastery of the spirit, then it becomes +a 'flesh of sin.' To live 'in the flesh,' or 'according to the flesh,' +is to let the flesh have its way and be the master instead of the +slave. Then the whole life becomes carnal--a carrying out 'the works +of the flesh'--and even the rational faculty becomes a 'carnal mind.' +What our redemption effects is to restore the right order and make the +flesh again the instrument of the spirit--of the human spirit, that is, +empowered by the divine Spirit, without which it cannot hold its +ground. Then the whole life, with all its bodily faculties, becomes +spiritual and carries into effect 'the works of the Spirit.' + +In the passage we have been considering, the Revised Version +distinguishes, by the use of capital letters, between the divine +Spirit[6] and the human[7], or spirit in general; but the fact that the +divine Spirit is what liberates and restores the human spirit is so +much in St. Paul's {281} mind that it seems better to make the primary +reference to the divine Spirit throughout. + +It is of the greatest practical moment to grasp that, to St. Paul, the +change in human life which comes about through our conversion and new +birth is a change in order. What was managed from below is now +controlled from above. That is the point on which we need to examine +ourselves. Where do we begin from? Are we in the position of men +struggling to manage their own lives, and commend themselves according +to some standard more or less right, which either their personal pride +or their social circle or the divine law has set up? If so, God is +over against us, our taskmaster, our adversary, our stern judge, and +our life is 'according to the flesh.' It is managed from below. It is +ruled on its own level, and it fails. But there is another life which +begins at once from the thought of God. God has made us, and therefore +He is responsible for us. He has made me because He loves me. +Therefore He is bound to make the best of me. If I will only put +myself into His hands He is pledged, simply because He created me, +therefore to redeem me, to save me, to glorify me. He takes that +responsibility upon Himself. He has shown His {282} love by the +sending and the sacrifice of His Son and by the gift of His Spirit. +And His Spirit I have received. At a definite moment He came upon me. +He entered into my life, as into those first Christians to whom St. +Paul wrote, at baptism and by the laying-on of hands. This is the fact +then. God is on my side. He makes Himself responsible for my being. +If I will only entrust myself to Him with the cordial return of +trustful love, then all that He has ever breathed into my heart of +human possibility He will realize and bring to perfection. The +requirement of the law shall be fulfilled in us who walk not after the +flesh but after the Spirit.--This is a point of view upon which it is +worth while reflecting deeply, and over and over again. Unless we are +continually practising ourselves in this conception of life, we find +ourselves falling back again into the attitude of one standing over +against God with God for his taskmaster. And that is the false and +always ruinous idea. + +We must also take careful note of what St. Paul means by 'spiritual' +and 'carnal.' 'Carnal' does not mean made of flesh, and 'spiritual' +does not mean immaterial. That is carnal which is ruled by the flesh, +ruled from {283} below. That life is carnal in which our spirit, meant +for God, is dragged at the chariot-wheels of our lower life; and that +is spiritual which is ruled and mastered by the Spirit. We must not +suppose that we shall make our religion spiritual by disparaging +external acts or bodily exercises of worship. No; that is spiritual +which is ruled by the Spirit. The worship in 'spirit and in truth,' +for us men who belong to the religion of the Incarnation, must be a +worship in body. But it will be spiritual if it is full of spiritual +intention. Secular business again is spiritual if it is ruled by the +divine Spirit according to the law of righteousness. Politics are +spiritual, commercial and municipal life are spiritual, art and science +are spiritual, and everything that develops our faculties is spiritual, +if we will allow the divine Spirit to rule in all according to the law +of righteousness, truth, and beauty. For the whole of our being, with +all its sum of faculties, is made by God and meant for God. What a +mistake it is then, when people speak, as they so often do, as if sin +were really natural, as if lust and worldliness were natural, and as if +spirituality were something unnatural, belonging to another world. It +is exactly the opposite. The only _natural_ position for us is when +our {284} flesh is ruled by the spirit. It is an unnatural usurpation +when the spirit is dragged at the chariot-wheels of the flesh, when our +life is dominated by lusts or appetites. That is the very overthrow of +nature. And grace does but restore to us the true order of our being, +when the flesh and all the faculties of our body are again controlled +by the spirit, so that our whole being expresses a spiritual purpose +and obeys a spiritual law. The same external acts are spiritual or +carnal, natural or unnatural, according as they express or do not +express the mind of the Spirit. The same physical facts are the basis +of true married love, and of the wildest licentiousness. In the latter +case they are carnal because they express no spiritual purpose; in the +other case they are spiritual because, consecrated in the family life, +they become the organ and the vehicle of the divine Spirit. God will +be responsible for our whole life, our politics, our commerce, our +marriage, the workings of our intellect, the workings of our emotions, +all the parts of our nature. He will raise our nature up through +death; He will consecrate it to life immortal in the divine city; He +will sanctify it here and now: if only, and in all things, we will +believe that He who made our {285} life is capable of making the best +of it, and show ourselves ready to entrust it to His disposal. + +4. We must notice what is implied in this passage about the Holy +Trinity. St. Paul speaks[8] of 'the Spirit of God' (the Father), 'the +Spirit of Christ,' 'Christ,' and then again, the 'Spirit of Him that +raised up Christ,' as if all these expressions were identical; as +elsewhere[9] he prays that the Father will strengthen men by His +Spirit, in order that Christ may dwell in their hearts, and they be +filled with the fullness of God. All which language means that where +the Spirit is, Christ is, and where Christ is, God the Father is. So +in St. John, our Lord speaks of the Holy Spirit as 'another' advocate +who is to come 'in his name' from the Father; and yet adds that in the +Spirit's coming He Himself will come; and with Him the Father--'we will +come[10].' The sacred 'persons' are spoken of as distinct--personally +distinct--and yet as so mutually involved in the action one of another +that the coming of one is the coming of all. So truly is God one in +three. We find something like this in human personalities under the +influence of love. Each single personality is not {286} self-contained +and exclusive. Love, to a real degree, fuses persons; and thus the +husband and wife and child (to take the highest example) may be said to +live and act in one another and through one another's influence. But +this is only to a limited extent. We are also mutually exclusive. Our +responsibility and actions remain individual and impermeable. What I +am doing, I am doing, and not another. But with God the mutual +interpenetration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is represented in the +inspired language as far more complete. The Godhead is a fellowship +and relationship of perfect love 'in three persons.' But God is not +three separate individuals. What each 'person' does the others do. +The action of one involves all. God is inseparably one in His being +and in His action. If the Father creates, He creates through the Son +and by the Spirit. If the Son redeems, the redemption proceeds from +the Father and is effected in the Spirit. If the Spirit sanctifies, it +is from and in the Father and the Son. Thus when the Spirit came forth +at Pentecost out of the uplifted manhood of the Son to impart to us all +His richness, He came not merely to supply His absence, but to +accomplish His presence. He makes Christ present within us, and also +the {287} Father: so that God, three in one, dwells in the hearts of +His people. + +5. 'The requirement of the law is to be fulfilled in us.' Do we ask +how we are to keep the whole of that terrible law? It is by obeying +the commandment to love our neighbours as ourselves, in which the whole +law is 'briefly comprehended[11].' + +6. If in the last verse of this passage we read 'through His Spirit,' +and not (as the margin) 'because of His Spirit,' then the Holy Spirit +is expressly spoken of as the agent of our resurrection and, by +implication, of the resurrection of Christ. And this is the natural +function for the 'Giver of Life': indeed 'Spirit' means nothing else +than 'breath'--the 'breath of life from God[12].' + + + +[1] The passage in brackets expands the sense in which St. Paul +conceives the Father to have passed sentence of condemnation on sin, in +the person and through the sacrifice of Christ, in accordance with such +passages as vers. 21-24; iv. 25; Phil. ii. 8-10; Eph. i. 15 ff. + +[2] Phil. ii. 7. + +[3] 2 Cor. v. 21. + +[4] See Heb. x. 6, cf. 18, 26; xiii. 11; 1 Pet. iii. 18; 1 John ii. 2; +iv. 10. + +[5] ii. 15. + +[6] Verses 2, 9, 11. + +[7] Verses 4, 5, 6, 9, 10. + +[8] Verses 9-11. + +[9] Eph. iii. 14-19. + +[10] John xiv. 16, 18, 23, 26. + +[11] Rom. xiii. 9. + +[12] Ezek. xxxvii. 9; Rev. xi. 11. + + + + +{288} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 8. CHAPTER VIII. 12-17. + +_The life of sonship._ + +We are now in the Spirit. The divine Spirit dwells within us, and +restores our nature to its proper balance by giving us control over our +lower nature. The moral meaning and obligations of such a condition +are plain, and St. Paul proceeds to enforce them. When our impulses +and appetites solicit us to let them have their own way, we must give +them to understand that they are making a claim which we cannot +recognize and which, if we did, would lead us the way of death. On the +contrary, it is these merely physical tendencies--the practices of the +body when left to itself--that we must put to death by the power of the +Spirit. And if we do this we are on the way of life. Why so +certainly? Because we are sons of God--nothing less. Those who thus +act under the Spirit's guidance are all of them sons of God. Further, +{289} if we ask ourselves what sort of spirit we received when we +became Christians, we know that it was not a spirit appropriate to +slaves and calculated to bring us again into a condition of terror +under a law. It was a spirit appropriate to those who have been +adopted for sons of God, and it is in the power of that spirit that we +cry out to God by the name of Abba, Father, in our familiar +supplication. We have thus in our own spirits the sense that we are +sons; and behind that and reinforcing it, the divine Spirit, by putting +the word Father into our lips, bears the same witness. Well then, if +we are thus children of God, we have the child's prospect of entering +into our inheritance. Christ, our elder brother, has already entered +into it, and we shall enter into it with Him, if we are content to take +the Christian maxim for true, and suffer with Him on this side of +death, that we may share His glory beyond. + + +So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the +flesh: for if ye live after the flesh, ye must die; but if by the +spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as +are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye received +not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit +of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The {290} Spirit himself +beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: and if +children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so +be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with _him_. + + +There are several phrases in this passage which we shall do well to +notice. + +1. _If by the spirit ye mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live_. +Mortification is absolutely necessary, and at every stage of the +Christian life. It is the carrying into effect in detail of the +fundamental law of our new life--the law which the baptismal ritual was +intended to teach--life by means of death. For the body had gained the +upper hand: it had come to control the weakened spirit. Therefore the +reinvigorated spirit must react upon the body and its impulses. It +must make its government felt, and the physical tendencies must be +checked, pruned, cut back. This is the Christian circumcision. And as +Christ was first born, then circumcised the eighth day; so each new +birth in Christ must be followed by a like circumcision of the +luxuriance of animal appetites. We learn the lesson when we are +children: we expect to be restrained and curbed: and unless we are very +foolish we learn the lesson only more deeply in later life. There +{291} is no single faculty or function of our being which can escape +this law. No friendship can be cemented without mutual self-denial. +No marriage, however founded on affection, can be blessed without the +mutual pain of self-repression and concession. No art or science can +be mastered by mere intelligence without moral discipline. No gift can +be consecrated in its natural luxuriance. 'Every branch in Christ that +beareth fruit, He pruneth it that it may bring forth more fruit.' + +2. _As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God_. +The New Testament language would have us regard all the baptized as +regenerate and sons of God, but it will not let us mistake the meaning +of this teaching. In any effective sense it is they, and only they, +who are really _controlled by_ the divine Spirit who can call +themselves sons. As St. John says, freedom from sin is the only test +of divine birth[1]. And the best way to make our new birth effective +is to meditate on the gift which we, when we became Christians, did +actually receive. We who, like the first Christians, received baptism +with the laying-on of hands, did then and there receive (such is the +implication {292} of St. Paul's language)[2] a spirit proper not to +slaves but to sons of God, qualifying us to call on God as our father, +and to co-operate in the purposes of His kingdom. It remains for us to +claim these powers and privileges of our sonship, and to claim them to +the full. Yet how many anxious-minded Christians of our day would +appear to have received nothing more nor less than the spirit of +slaves! They realize their religion as a restraint, a responsibility, +a cause of fear. And such a servile religion is no doubt better than a +hypocritical sense of sonship unaccompanied by the fear of sin. The +wise man remarks that 'a servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule +over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part in the inheritance +among the brethren[3].' But the spirit of the slave is not what we are +called to. If we had more religion, if we would give it freer course, +if we would consent to think less of our circumstances and more of God +and His gifts, there would be less fear and more joy both in our work +and our prayer. + +3. _Abba, Father_. Our Lord, speaking in {293} Aramaic, the +vernacular of Palestine, is recorded by St. Mark in His hour of agony +to have said _Abba_. And even in the Greek-speaking churches of St. +Paul's day, that sacred word was still used side by side with its Greek +equivalent, according to the witness of this and the parallel passage, +Gal. iv. 6. St. Paul appears to be referring to some occasion on which +the Church was in the habit of calling on God with the Aramaic and +Greek words side by side, and it is more than likely[4] that he is +making a definite reference to the Lord's Prayer, as recited by the +Roman and Galatian Christians in the form prescribed for us in St. +Luke's version[5], beginning 'Father.' The retention by Greek +Christians of an Aramaic word in a familiar religious formula, is like +the later retention by the Latins of the Greek prayer, _Kyrie eleison_, +or the retention by us of the names _Te Deum, Magnificat_, &c. St. +Paul's meaning would come home to us better if we were to +read--'whereby we cry _Our Father_.' + +4. '_The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are +children of God_.' This is a very {294} important passage for showing +that St. Paul did not in any way confuse the divine Spirit and the +human, and that in his belief the divine indwelling did not in any way +annihilate the human personality. Even in the closest union God +remains God and man man. But the passage is at least as important as +opening up a special avenue of insight into St. Paul's conception of +Christian worship and spiritual life generally. He speaks first of a +witness of the individual spirits of Christians to the fact of their +divine sonship; and he distinguishes from it something greater, a +witness of the divine Spirit, supporting the human. What exactly does +he mean by this witness of the divine Spirit as distinct from the +consciousness which--under the leading of the divine Spirit--Christians +are led themselves to form? How are we to distinguish the Spirit's +witness from the witness of our own hearts inspired by Him? Is it +merely[6] that the 'consciousness (of the individual) is analyzed, and +its _data_ are referred partly to the man himself, partly to the Spirit +of God moving and prompting him?' I do not think that a closer +examination will lead us to be satisfied with this. + +{295} + +The witness of the divine Spirit is apparently fixed by the context to +consist in the supply to us of the phrase 'Abba, Father[7]'. It is the +Spirit 'in whom we cry' (or, as the passage in the Galatians says, 'who +Himself comes into our hearts crying) Abba, Father,' who thus, by +suggesting this cry to us, bears witness with our own spirits that we +are sons of God. Thus the supporting witness of the Spirit lies +especially in a certain mode of address to God or formula of prayer +which He supplies. But this 'cry' or prayer the Spirit supplies to the +hearts of the Church as a whole. The whole Church, and not the +individual soul only, is the Spirit's home. 'Know ye not that ye are +(corporately) a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in +you'[8]? The witness of the Spirit is thus a witness borne in the +whole Church, which supports and sustains the witness of the individual +soul. This is a thought full of consolation. The life of the +individual Christian reposes upon, and is infolded by, the larger life +of the whole body. Behind his own spiritual consciousness, with all +its vicissitudes, lies the inspired consciousness of the whole body, +the witness of the Spirit; and this in part expresses itself in +inspired {296} formulas--the Lord's Prayer, the psalms, the creeds of +the divine name, the Church's worship; and these formulas, representing +our best self, are to sustain us in our fluctuations of feeling, and +carry us over our periods of dryness and insensibility. 'The Spirit +Himself beareth witness with our spirit.' + +5. 'The inheritance' of the children of God, which in the Old +Testament begins by meaning the Holy Land, was spiritualized into +meaning the kingdom of the Messiah. 'They shall inherit the land for +ever[9]': 'the meek shall inherit the earth[10].' And this kingdom of +the Messiah is an eternal kingdom: 'they shall inherit eternal +life[11]'--that is to be our inheritance as the chosen people of the +Lord. And it is an inheritance not only incorruptible but +inexhaustible: all share in it to the full of their capacities, and the +abundance of those who share diminishes nothing from the richness that +remains. + +And into that inheritance Christ is 'the way.' His life shows the law +by which it is to be won. It was a current Christian saying--'a +faithful saying'--'if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him; if +we endure, we shall also reign {297} with Him[12].' And whenever we +are inclined to complain at anything we may have to suffer, there is +one thought capable at once of quenching all murmuring, because of its +indisputable reasonableness--'It is enough for the disciple that he be +as his Master.' + + + +[1] 1 John iii. 9. + +[2] 'Ye received' (at a particular time), not 'ye have received'; cf. +above, p. 214, note 1. + +[3] Prov. xvii. 2. + +[4] See Chase, _Lord's Prayer in the Early Church_ ('Texts and +Studies,' Cambridge), p. 23. Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. i. 17. + +[5] xi. 2. + +[6] S. and H., _in loc._ + +[7] Cf. Vaughan and Gifford, _in loc._ + +[8] 1 Cor. iii. 16. + +[9] Isa. lx. 21. + +[10] Matt. v. 5. + +[11] Matt. xix. 29. + +[12] 2 Tim. ii. 11. + + + + +{298} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 9. CHAPTER VIII. 18-30. + +_The hope of the creation._ + +St. Paul has touched upon the familiar topic of Christian suffering, +and he ends his great argument with a splendid encouragement to +believers to suffer gladly, and that for a manifold reason. First +(18-25), that the suffering is altogether inconsiderable by comparison +with the glory to which it leads, and is in itself only a part of the +universal travail-pang through which created nature as a whole is to +produce a glorious new earth to be the habitation of righteousness. +Secondly (26-30), that we are not alone in our sufferings. We have the +support, within us and around us, of the Holy Spirit as our effective +intercessor, and the consciousness of an eternal and infallible purpose +of divine love which is taking effect stage by stage in the case of +each one of us whom God has made members of His elect body. The +following is a paraphrase. + +{299} + +The sufferings in which this present situation involves us Christians +are quite inconsiderable by comparison with the heavenly glory which is +destined to be disclosed and to include us. The sense of this glorious +future pervades the whole creation. Nature is like some on-looker at a +spectacle craning the neck to see what is coming. She is waiting for +the final disclosure of the children of God in their true position; +knowing that she too--as a new heaven and a new earth--will share that +glorious future. At present her powers are continually frustrated; +failure is everywhere; the law of corruption is upon her like a +bondage. This curse she was subjected to, through no will of her own, +by the simple fiat of her Creator--but not for ever: she was left to +hope for deliverance from this bondage into a state of freedom--a +share, that is, in the freedom which is to belong to the final glory of +the children of God. With this in mind we can bear the universal +spectacle of pain. What we have always heard hitherto, wherever we +have lent our ear all through nature, has been groans; but they are the +groans as of a woman in travail: and in these groans we, God's chosen +people, though we already possess the first instalment of the divine +Spirit, {300} the pledge of what is yet to come--in these groans we +bear our part, and also in the hope that accompanies the groaning. We +groan expecting to realize our sonship, as that can only be realized +when body as well as soul is redeemed from all evil. Hope is thus the +very condition on which we received our spiritual deliverance when we +became Christ's. And hope means nothing else than a condition of +expecting good things not yet in sight. It means the readiness to +endure till they come. + +And there is another reason why we should be glad to bear our present +sufferings. It is because, though we are weak in ourselves, we are not +left alone. Of ourselves we should be bewildered and not know even +what we ought to ask God to give us. But we have in the Spirit who +dwells in us a divine advocate and intercessor. His intercession makes +itself perceptible to us in groaning desires after a better condition, +desires which cannot be put into words, but which are intelligible +enough to God. He who searches the hearts interprets the longings we +cannot express--understands, that is, the Spirit's meaning; for He is +God's own Spirit, and the intercessions He makes for us, the +consecrated people, express God's own {301} intention. And what that +intention is towards us we know. We know that it is an intention of +good which cannot fail for those who love God; or, in other words, for +those who are the subjects of the divine purpose and call--an intention +of good to which everything, even seeming evils, must minister. For +God's purpose reaches from eternity to eternity, and cannot be baffled +from without or fail by the way. Those whom in eternity He designated +beforehand as instruments of His will, those He also eternally destined +for the highest human perfection--for the blessed lot of being made +like His own Son, as He should be hereafter incarnate, so that He might +be an elder brother in a great human family: and those who were thus +appointed beforehand for this high destiny, in due course He called +into the elect body. And those whom He thus called He acquitted and +accepted for righteous: and whom He thus accepted He crowned with glory. + + +For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to +be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the +earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the +sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own +will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation +itself also shall be delivered from the bondage {302} of corruption +into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that +the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. +And not only so, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the +Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for _our_ +adoption, _to wit_, the redemption of our body. For by hope were we +saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which +he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, _then_ do we with +patience wait for it. + +And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know +not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession +for us with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth +the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh +intercession for the saints according to _the will of_ God. And we +know that to them that love God all things work together for good, +_even_ to them that are called according to _his_ purpose. For whom he +foreknew, he also foreordained _to be_ conformed to the image of his +Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren: and whom he +foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also +justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. + + +i. + +There are passages in the New Testament which are unique. Such is the +passage in St. Peter's epistle about Christ preaching in His +disembodied human spirit to other spirits in Hades--a passage vaguely +suggestive of wide thoughts and hopes, and leading us to suppose {303} +that the ideas which it contained were familiar in the apostolic +circle, but standing alone, with practically nothing to elucidate it +from outside. And the passage just read about the groaning of creation +in travail-pains is unique, not because there is not a good deal to +elucidate it in other parts of the Bible, but because St. Paul in his +treatment of common material strikes a note of sympathy with nature +from nature's point of view, which is heard nowhere else in the Bible. + +In Genesis we read that 'the ground was cursed[1]' because of man's +sin, in the sense apparently that, as the penalty of his sin, nature +was to be made a rougher home for him, and he was to extract his food +from it only with pain and sweat. Isaiah is perhaps interpreting this +primitive lesson in more modern tones when he cries that 'the earth is +polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed +the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the ever-lasting covenant. +Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell +therein are found guilty: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are +burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine +languisheth[2].' In this sense certainly, if not in some more +recondite {304} sense also, the ground is stricken with a curse as a +result of human sin. And there are parts of the world where no lesson +seems more patent. At any rate, whatever be the interpretation given +to it, it was part of the common Jewish teaching that 'though all +things were made very good, yet when the first man sinned they were +corrupted, and shall return no more to their proper state until the son +of Pherez[3] shall come[4].' For the curse was not to be for ever. +There was a good time to come--a new heaven, a new earth, wherein +righteousness should dwell--'A restoration of all things,' and not +merely of man[5], which should accompany the coming of the Messiah. +This was a most popular idea in Jewish hearts. 'I will transform the +heaven and make it an eternal blessing and light. And I will transform +the earth and make it a blessing and cause mine elect ones to dwell +upon it: but the sinners and evil-doers shall not set foot thereon[6].' + +Here then we have the common belief which St. Paul inherits and uses. +He lays indeed very little stress upon the connexion of the earth's +present condition with human sin, if he {305} even alludes to it. He +only says it was 'subjected to vanity' by the decree of the Creator, +and that with a glorious prospect. It is upon the present aspect of +the creation and its great prospect that his eyes are set. And his +superiority to contemporary Jewish thought is shown by the fact that in +his vision of the future he is catholic and cosmic. What he is +contemplating is not a world renovated in order that one chosen race +may be happy and glorious, but a renovated world for a perfected +humanity. And in his representation of the present aspects of nature +he strikes an extraordinarily modern note by exhibiting, as it were +unintentionally, a deep and real sympathy with nature in her pain from +her own point of view. The Psalms can supply examples of a real +sympathetic fellowship in the happiness of creation--a happiness which +modern pessimists strangely ignore. But here we have, as nowhere else +in the Bible--perhaps nowhere in ancient literature--a man who feels +with the pain of creation[7]. He notes how much 'vanity' there is in +nature--how much that is ineffective and disappointing, how much waste +and sadness--by reason of the omnipresent law of corruption, {306} +dissolution and decay under which she is laid. He feels this as from +nature's own heart. And he has an ear for the universal cry of +positive pain, pain as of a woman in travail, which is one at least of +the most unmistakeable voices of nature. But he has got an explanation +of this universal pain which makes it tolerable to him. It is the pain +which accompanies a birth. The pain, as in the case of the woman, is +to be justified by the issue. Nature 'eagerly expects' as well as +'groans': and will doubtless 'remember no more the anguish, for joy' of +that which is the fruit of her agony. For there is a destiny for the +whole material world which includes man. As man is to be perfected and +spiritualized in body no less than in mind; so the whole man, perfected +in glory, is to have his place in a world emancipated in like manner +from failure and pain. + +Perhaps the most important consideration to be derived from this +passage is that St. Paul's thought is equally alien to a one-sided +spiritualism and a one-sided materialism. A one-sided spiritualism, +such as is represented to-day by (most falsely-called) 'Christian +Science,' either disbelieves in the reality of matter altogether, or +regards it with its attendant qualities of weakness and pain as evil +and a thing to be ignored. The religion of {307} the Incarnation, on +the other hand, as represented by St. Paul, recognizes it as God's +creation and the temple of His presence. In our manhood, as scientific +investigation assures us, we can exercise no activity of spirit except +as parts of a material world, through the senses and by the +instrumentality of the bodily organs. Spirit and matter are in us so +linked together that the real difficulty to a thinking Christian is to +conceive at all of a 'disembodied' state of the personal human spirit +after death which is in any sense a living state. But such a +'disembodied' state--if the word really represents the truth--is +unnatural and temporary. The perfected human spirit is to have an +embodiment which is to be material, as being truly a body, but also +spiritual, because it is to be the fitting organ of the perfected +spirit, in no way embarrassing or clogging its activity by any +grossness or corruption. This is the Christian hope, definite in +principle, if quite unaccompanied by any anticipated knowledge of +method or details. And this destiny of the human body cannot be +separated from the destiny of the material universe as a whole. Matter +as a whole is to have an unending development like spirit, and a +development with a justifying purpose of glory in it. + +{308} + +And St. Paul is equally opposed to the materialism which gives to +matter a substantive existence apart from spirit. Metaphysical inquiry +assures us that we can have no conception of a material object, or of +matter in general, except as related to a consciousness or spirit; or, +in other words, except as an adjunct to some sort of personality. Such +metaphysical inquiry did not lie in St. Paul's way. But he is in +harmony with its results when he contemplates a glorified nature as +still relative to glorified personalities. Nature is to share the +revelation of the glory of the _sons_ of God. + +We cannot help wondering, as we read these verses, whether St. Paul had +in mind that occasion when, before the chosen witnesses, Christ was +bodily transfigured on the holy mount by an anticipation of the glory +destined for His sonship; and the apostles felt their hearts thereby +encouraged to believe more surely in the teaching of the prophets about +the general glory that was to accompany the final manifestation of the +Christ[8]. + +When St. Paul talks of nature 'groaning' and (still more) 'eagerly +expecting,' is it merely a poetical personification, as Chrysostom and +most {309} commentators suppose, like that of the Psalmist when he +makes 'the floods clap their hands'? It may be so. George Crabbe, in +his _Delay is Dangerous_, draws a singularly beautiful picture of a +late autumn morning as it appeared to a dejected man, and he ends the +description with the lines:-- + + These things were sad in nature, or they took + Sadness from him, the likeness of his look. + +Is the latter the true explanation? Is there no sadness or eager +desire in nature independently--I will not say of spirit, but of the +human spirit? It is sometimes very difficult to believe this. And may +not the Christian belief about angels make the fancy legitimate, that +every created thing has some accompanying intelligence--higher or +lower--which consciously realizes its beauty and its joy, and also its +pain and its hope? If this be so, then there is not merely deficiency +and pain, but the consciousness of this deficiency and pain, a real +groaning and a real expectation, in the great fabric of nature. We may +legitimately imagine this; but we have probably no right to attribute +such an imperfectly-based speculation to St. Paul[9]. + +{310} + +ii. + +It is very interesting to notice the various points of view from which +St. Paul contemplates the great ideas of 'redemption,' 'adoption,' +'salvation.' Christ redeemed us by the shedding of His blood, and we +entered into the redeemed state individually and were adopted as sons +when we became Christians. This is, beyond all question, St. Paul's +belief. But when he contemplates the outward conditions of the +redeemed man, and finds them quite incongruous with freedom and +sonship, so wholly unashamed is he to require that these outward +conditions shall be transformed, and body as well as spirit shall be +redeemed, that he speaks as if the great hope were still unrealized and +we were still only expecting to be redeemed and adopted--'waiting for +our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' He thus retains the +intensely Jewish language of what we may call Christ's own Apocalypse, +when He bids His disciples, as the Day of the Lord approaches, to 'look +up and lift up their heads: because their redemption draweth nigh.' + +The uses of the words 'saved' and 'salvation' are still more +remarkable. If we are {311} contemplating the finished work of Christ, +we are led to say, 'By grace have we been saved[10].' If we are +considering our own individual entrances into this great salvation at +the time of our believing or becoming Christians in baptism, we say, +'It was upon a basis of hope that we were saved[11].' If we are +considering the progressive life of the believer, we say, 'He is being +saved[12].' If we are looking to the great and final hope, we say, 'We +shall be saved.' 'Our salvation is nearer than when we became +believers[13].' This simple set of facts about New Testament language +throws a great light on the popular revivalist question--'Are you +saved?' + + +iii. + +Our Lord once asked one who came to Him to be healed--'What wilt thou +that I should do unto thee?' and a very devout modern writer[14] builds +upon this an argument that we ought to learn continually to pray with +more definiteness and detail. Probably it is true to say {312} that +the advanced Christian learns to pray more definitely for spiritual +things, as he grows in spiritual discernment and sees more distinctly +what God's moral will is for himself and others. But there is no +similar growth to be expected in the knowledge of what outward gifts +will really help or hinder us and others. And it is with his eye +chiefly on the outward conditions of the Christian's life that St. Paul +here says--'We know not what we should pray for as we ought'; and +teaches us that 'The Spirit makes intercession for the saints according +to God.' We must be content to recognize, even while we +half-ignorantly pray for what we think we need, that '_all_ (outward) +things work together for good to them that love God.' St. Paul had +learnt that lesson when he himself 'besought the Lord thrice' that his +great physical trouble might be removed from him, and was refused[15]. +The Son of Man Himself prayed only 'Father, _if it be possible_, let +this cup pass from me,' and learned in experience that it was not +possible. These lessons may suffice to humble any one who grows +over-confident that he knows what outward circumstances are best for +himself or his friends or the Church. + +{313} + +We all feel deeply the imperfection of our prayers: how weak, how +ignorant they are! And St. Paul consoles us with the belief in an +intercession--perfect, all-knowing, divine--which supports and sustains +and, we may say, includes ours. The 'intercession of the Spirit' in +our behalf, carried on, it is implied, 'in the hearts' of the saints +which only God searches, is mentioned nowhere in the New Testament but +here. But it is not to be separated from the intercession of Christ +which is mentioned just below[16]. Christ's intercession is 'at the +right hand of God,' but also He has by the Spirit taken us up into His +own life. He dwells in us by His Spirit. By His Spirit we are knit +into one and made His body. Doubtless, then, dwelling thus by the +Spirit in the body, Christ intercedes for us. This is the intercession +of the Spirit, which is also the intercession of Christ--an +intercession gathering up into one, and sustaining and connecting and +perfecting, all the imperfect prayers of all the saints. + +This interceding Spirit is in Himself perfectly conscious of God's mind +and purpose, and God is perfectly conscious of His. He intercedes +'according to God.' This intercession {314} is but a form of the +perfect divine life. But in the heart of the Church this desire of the +Spirit can make itself felt only in groanings for the divine +manifestations which, like the aspirations which music suggests or +expresses, are too deep to admit of articulate utterance. St. Paul, +when he speaks of groanings which cannot be put into words, is perhaps +thinking of the 'tongues' in which the spiritual emotion of the first +Christian churches found expression. And we should think of some +earnest act of corporate Christian worship when, under the workings of +the one Spirit, the strong desire after what is holiest and highest +possesses men, and binds them together with a sense of longing for the +divine manifestation which could not be put into definite words. + +St. Paul speaks of the groaning of suffering nature (ver. 22), and the +groaning of the individual Christians (ver. 23), and also the groaning +of the divine Spirit in the Church (ver. 26). No word could express +more powerfully the intense desire after the manifestation of the +divine kingdom which, in St. Paul's mind, should lie at the heart of +true Christian prayer. + +And the true prayer of the Spirit--the prayer which is according to +God--is described (ver. 27) {315} as 'on behalf of saints[17]'--on +behalf of a separated and consecrated body. It follows, that is to +say, the lines of Christ's own prayer--'I pray not for the world, but +for those whom thou hast given me.' It is through the sanctified life +that the divine influences are to spread over the world: and by praying +for the consecrated body we are praying that that life may be exhibited +more and more perfectly amongst men so as to strike their consciences +and move them to conversion; that through our good works which they now +behold they may glorify God in the day when they themselves are +visited. The New Testament method of praying for the world is thus in +great part indirect. But the direct method is also enjoined. We are +also to pray directly 'for all men[18].' + + +iv. + +There is, I think, no point on which St. Paul has been more +misrepresented than on his teaching about predestination. He teaches +plainly that it is God's purpose to 'have mercy upon all': that He +'willeth that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the +{316} truth[19].' But He works towards this universal end through a +method of selected human instruments--through an elect body. Such an +elect body had been the Jewish nation--selected, we cannot tell why, +but very possibly in part because of its capacity for coherence and +toughness, coupled with a singular aptitude for simple religious +ideas--qualities which in themselves of course were the gift of God. +This nation might have expanded, as was intended, into a catholic +church. But, as it refused to correspond with its vocation in this +respect, in fact the catholic Church appears in history as taking its +place, even while it was developed out of it--an elect body gathered +out of 'every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.' The +election of this catholic body to be the heirs of salvation and to bear +the name of God in the world was, it would have been held, a +self-evident fact. St. Paul reasons not up to this fact but from it. +He uses the admitted fact to strengthen its individual members under +stress of trial. They must bear earthly troubles because they form the +appointed discipline for the individuals who form the select body. Let +men but love God, and then all outward things {317} whatsoever work +together for good for them. The fact that they love God is the +sufficient evidence of their election. Those who love God are also +those who are 'called according to His purpose.' But, we ask, Have +none received the call and rejected it? were none called, who do not +love God? is it not true, that 'Many are called and few chosen'? St. +Paul says not a word to the contrary. But that is not the question he +is considering. The members of the Christian Church, devoted to God, +to whom he is writing _have_ been called. This call of which they have +become the subject is, St. Paul assures them, no afterthought, no +momentary act of God, which as it came into being in a moment so may +pass away. It is not a being taken up by God and then perhaps dropped +again. His gifts and calling are without repentance on His side, +because they represent an eternal will. In the eternal mind God +'foreknew' this chosen body. To 'know' as used of God (in contexts +where it is implied that others are not 'known') means to 'take +knowledge of or mark out for a divine purpose, as God said of the Jews, +'You only have I known of all the families of the earth[20],' that is, +your {318} nation only have I singled out or designated[21]. This +divine marking out then was an eternal act. God eternally marked out +certain persons, those presumably whom a certain preparatory discipline +and moral education, Jewish or heathen, should have made apt for His +purpose, such aptitude being of course again His gift. Anyway, for +reasons which we cannot probe, God did eternally foreknow or mark out +beforehand a body of men to be His catholic church. And those so +marked out were in the eternal counsels appointed for a high spiritual +vocation, to be made like the divine Son, who was to be made man, so +that, with Christ as heir and elder brother, they together might +represent in the world the divine ideal for man. And upon those so +marked out and foreordained, in due time the divine call came by the +apostolic preaching. And, at the first movement of corresponsive +faith, they had been acquitted of all their old sins and planted all at +once upon a new basis in Christ Jesus. And those thus set upon the new +basis God also had already in His divine counsels clothed with glory, +their share in the glory of the divine Son which is only waiting to be +fully manifested. Every {319} Christian therefore who has felt a +movement of God in his heart, under which he has become a Christian, +knows that he is in God's keeping. God will not fail him. He who has +begun the good work will perform it. Trouble and anxiety within or +without need not alarm him. He has but to keep himself, joyful and +confident, in God's hands. The movement of God upon him and within +him, as it proceeds out of the eternal mind, so it passes securely on +into the eternal issue. No doubt St. Paul would say they might tear +themselves by utter wilfulness out of the divine hand, as for the time +at least the Jews had mostly done. But short of that they are safe. +The movement of God, the protection of God, the purpose of God, is upon +them and around them, and goes before them preparing their way, +individually and corporately. + +This is the moral use St. Paul makes of the doctrine of predestination. +And it is to do egregious violence to his general teaching to suggest +that he entertained the idea of persons created with an opposite +predestination--to eternal misery. St. Paul is dealing here only with +what God has already shown of His purpose in the actual vocation of +some. Ultimately {320} he assures us all men share the divine purpose +for good[22]. But, on the other hand, he never suggests that they may +not resist it, or allows us to say that so far as concerns themselves +they may not defeat it. + + + +[1] iii. 17-19; v. 29. + +[2] xxiv. 5-7. + +[3] i.e. Messiah, son of David, son of Pherez (Ruth iv. 18). + +[4] _Bereshith Rabbah_, xii. 5. + +[5] Isa. lxv. 17, lxvi. 22; cf. 2 Pet. iii. 13; Rev. xxi. 1; Acts iii. +21. + +[6] _Book of Enoch_, xlv. 4, 5. + +[7] St. Paul's word 'creation' (verses 30-22) is used in St. Paul's +sense in Wisd. xvi. 34, xix. 6. + +[8] 2 Pet. i. 16-19. + +[9] Cf. Latham, _Service of Angels_ (Cambridge, 1894). + +[10] Eph. ii. 5. + +[11] Rom. viii. 24. + +[12] 1 Cor. xv. 2; 2 Cor. ii. 15. (The present tense in both cases.) + +[13] Rom. v. 9, 10; xiii. 11: cf. 1 Tim. iv. 16; 2 Tim. iv. 18. + +[14] Andrew Murray's _With Christ in the School of Prayer_ (Nisbet +1891), p. 71. + +[15] 2 Cor. xii. 8: cf. Phil. i. 22, 'What I shall choose I wot not.' + +[16] Verse 34. + +[17] Not 'the saints' in the Greek. + +[18] 1 Tim. ii. 1. + +[19] Rom. xi. 32; 1 Tim. ii. 4. + +[20] Amos iii. 2: cf. Ps. i. 6; Hos. xiii. 5; Matt. vii. 23. + +[21] Cf. Hort on 1 Pet. pp. 19, 80. + +[22] See especially Rom. xi. 29-33. + + + + +{321} + +DIVISION III. Sec. 10. CHAPTER VIII. 31-39. + +_Christian assurance._ + +St. Paul has brought his great argument to an end. And before he +passes to its manifold application in the later parts of his epistle, +he applies it in words which spring glowing from a heart on fire with +the gospel he loves, to reassure disheartened and nervous Christians. +It was a natural feature of the apostolic age that the disciples should +lose their first courage and become afraid, when the hard experience +they were to expect became plain to them. The Epistle to the Hebrews +is written full in face of this failure of courage among Jewish +Christians. For the Gentiles whom St. Paul has more particularly in +view there were manifold causes of alarm--fears derived from their own +weakness, from spiritual uncertainty, and from their precarious +position. It was not only that outward calamity--famine and +pestilence--might {322} come on them like other people. They plainly +felt--St. Paul plainly felt, as he thought of the bitter hostility of +the Jews actually ready to break out upon the Church, and of the +jealousy of the Empire, not yet hostile but easily capable of becoming +so--that times of persecution were at hand: that the Christians were +truly in the world as 'lambs in the midst of wolves.' Therefore he +would have them realize the whole secret of that invincible strength, +that power to endure and triumph, which ought to be theirs. + +What is to be our practical conclusion, he asks, from all this +theology, from all this consideration of revealed facts and truths? +The sum of it all is that God is not our taskmaster and critical judge. +He is altogether on our side. And if this be so, whose hostility can +by comparison come into consideration at all? God showed His mind +toward us by the greatest possible act of self-sacrifice, the giving up +of His own divine Son to die for us. And, plainly, if of His free love +He gave us His greatest gift, He will not fail to accompany it with +everything that love can suggest. Or, to put the matter in another +way, if God, in full knowledge of what we were thought proper to take +us for His chosen {323} people and to put us in a position of +acceptance with Him, who can with any hope of success bring a charge +against us or pass condemnation on us? For we know the mind of the +only judge. Or, once again, what can be so reassuring as to consider +the person of our advocate or mediator? It is Christ Jesus, God's own +Son in our nature, who died a sacrifice for our sins, but so far from +being conquered by death, was raised from among the dead, and exalted +to the right hand of God, and there is occupied in presenting Himself +before the Father in intercession for us--covering all our approach to +God with His acceptableness. Out of the protecting power of this love +of Christ, then, who shall tear us? It is quite true that troubles may +beat upon us--outward affliction, or inward trouble, or persecution, or +famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword. We may find that only the +words of the Psalmist[1] suit our case, 'For thy sake are we being put +to death the whole day: the estimate formed of us is that of sheep +meant for slaughter.' But in all these contingencies the love of +Christ can supply us with a more than victorious power. For this is +St. Paul's conviction, that no conceivable power {324} of life or of +death, or of the angelic hierarchy, nothing in present circumstances or +future destiny, no possible force, neither the highest height of +heavens or the deepest depth of hell, no possible creation of God other +than what we now know to exist, shall be able to tear us from that +which holds us in a grasp stronger than the strongest--the love of God +which is in Christ Jesus, who is our Lord. + + +What then shall we say to these things? If God _is_ for us, who _is_ +against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for +us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? Who +shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that +justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus that +died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right +hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate +us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or +persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it +is written, + + For thy sake we are killed all the day long; + We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. + +Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that +loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor +powers, 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. + + +There is not much that needs comment in these verses. We may notice +the contrast {325} between the tone of the Psalmist quoted by St. +Paul--weighed down, like many a servant of the older covenant, with the +unintelligible experience of the persecution of God's faithful +people--and the exultant faith of St. Paul which finds no difficulty in +the experience at all. Again, we do well to observe that among the +forces enumerated by St. Paul which cannot tear us out of the hand of +God, he does not include our own wills, and we could not even conceive +him so including them. Once again, we take note how 'the love of +Christ' (ver. 35) is resolved (ver. 39) into the 'love of God in Christ +Jesus.' Christ's love is God's love, as Christ is truly proper and +essential to the being of God, His own very Son. + +These words, I say, need very little comment, but they thrill our souls +as hardly any other words of St. Paul. They are the real summary of +this epistle, and show us how the glorious apostle of Christian liberty +would have us view our life. We are not to build the edifice of a life +which at the top is to be within sight of God. We are to start from +God who from eternity and all along has been beforehand with us: in His +external personal love predestinating, creating, calling, pardoning, +holding, and keeping us {326} in continual growth for eternal glory. +And the one power of religion is therefore faith, that faculty by which +we look continually out of ourselves, and starting from God, committing +ourselves wholly to God, raise the fabric of life, in the community of +a true human brotherhood, upon the secure basis of the love of Him who +created us, and will satisfy utterly the being which He has given us. +This is the summary lesson of the great epistle. + + + +[1] Ps. xliv. 22. + + + + +END OF VOL. I + + + + + + +_A Series of Simple Expositions_ + +_of_ + +_Portions of the New Testament_, + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D., + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. + +_Crown 8vo, Green Cloth, 3s. 6d. each volume._ + + THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT. + THE EPISTLE TO THE EPHESIANS. + THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS. + Vol. I. cap. i-viii. + Vol. II. cap. ix-xvi, with Appendices. + + + + +OTHER WORKS + +BY THE + +RIGHT REV. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + +LORD BISHOP OF WORCESTER. + + +_Crown 8vo 2s. 6d._ + +THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH. Four Lectures delivered in the Cathedral +Church of St. Asaph. + +CONTENTS:--I. The Mission of the Church.--II. Unity within the Church +of England.--III. The Relation of the Church to Independent and +Hostile Opinion.--IV. The Mission of the Church in Society.--Appended +Notes. + +'It is a twofold work--to sanctify what can be hallowed, to pass +judgement on that which must be condemned. From this point of view the +interest of Mr. Gore's new book is great.'--_Church Quarterly_. + + +_8vo, 7s. 6d._ + +THE BAMPTON LECTURES, 1891; The Incarnation of the Son of God. + + +_8vo, 7s. 6d._ + +DISSERTATIONS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE INCARNATION. + + +_Crown 8vo, 5s. net._ + +ESSAYS ON CHURCH REFORM. Eleven Essays on the Present and Future +Position of the Church of England. By the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, +D.D.; and other eminent British, Colonial, and American writers. + + +_Crown 8vo, 6s._ + +LUX MUNDI. A Series of Studies in the Religion of the Incarnation. By +Various Writers. Edited by the Right Rev. CHARLES GORE, D.D. + + +LONDON: + +JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Vol. +I, by Charles Gore + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, VOL. I *** + +***** This file should be named 32673.txt or 32673.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/6/7/32673/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/32673.zip b/32673.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a031e83 --- /dev/null +++ b/32673.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d753f1f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #32673 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32673) |