last seems most consistent with Paul's use of the word ; see 2 Cor. 2 : 9, "That I may know the proof (evidence) of you; whether ye be obe- dient," &c.; Phil. 2: 22, "Ye know the proof of him," &c. This sense suits the context also. ' Tribulation calls forth the exercise of pa- tience ; and the exercise of this patience or constancy affords evidence of our being in the favour of God, and therefore produces hope.'
(5) And hope maketh not ashamed. The hope which true believers entertain, founded on the very nature of pious exercises, shall never dis- appoint them, Ps. 22 : 5. The ground of this assurance, however, is not the strength of our purpose, or confidence in our own goodness, but the love of God. The latter clause of the verse assigns the reason why the Christian's hope shall not be found delusive ; it is because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us. ' The love of God' is his love to us, and not ours to him, as appears from the following verses, in which the apostle illustrates the greatness and freeness of this love by a reference to the unworthiness of its objects. To shed abroad is to communicate abundantly, and hence to evince clearly. Acts 2 : 17. 10 : 45. Tit. 3 : 6. This manifestation of divine love is not any external revelation of it in the works of providence, or even in redemption, but it is in our hearts. And this inward persuasion that we are the objects of the love of God is not the mere result of the examination of evidence, nor is it a vain illusion, but it is produced by the Holy Ghost. " The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God," Rom. 8:16. 2 Cor. 1 : 21, 22. Eph. 1 : 14. As, however, the Spirit never contradicts himself, he never bears wit- ness that " the children of the devil" are the children of God ; that is, that the unholy, the disobedient, the proud, or malicious, are the objects of the divine favour. Any reference, therefore, by the immoral, to the witness of the Spirit in their favour must be vain and delusive.
(6) For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. This and the following verses to the 11th contain an illustration of the freeness and greatness of the love of God, designed to prove the certainty of the salvation of believers. The for either con- nects this verse with the close of the fifth, as introducing the illustra- tion of the love there spoken of; or the logical connexion is with the declaration of the 2d, " we rejoice in hope of the glory of God ;" and of the 5th, "hope maketh not ashamed." This latter, from the context of the passage, seems the more natural. When we were without strength, or weak. The word thus translated may mean destitute of resources or miserable ; see Prov. 22 : 22. 31 : 5, 9, where the Greek word used by Paul is used in this sense by the LXX. Or it may mean morally weak, i. e. wicked. In favour of this latter interpretation is the context. The weak are the ungodly of this verse, and the sinners of verse 8. It is probable both ideas were in the apostle's mind, and that he intended to express, by the word, the weakness and misery consequent on sin, or our helplessness as sinners. In due' time, i.e. at the appointed and