1. Peace with God is the result of that system of religion alone, which, by providing at once for the satisfaction of divine justice and the sanctification of the human heart, is suited to the character of God and the nature of man. All history shows that no system other than the gospel has ever produced this peace, v. 1.
2. All the peculiar blessings of redemption are inseparably connected and grow out of each other. Those who are justified have peace with God, access to his presence, joy under the most adverse circumstances, assurance of God's love, and certainty of final salvation ; see the whole section, and compare ch. 3 : 30.
3. The Holy Ghost has intimate access to the human soul, controlling its exercises, exciting its emotions, and leading it into the knowledge of the truth, v. 5.
4. The assurance of hope is founded on the consciousness of pious affections, and the witness of the Holy Spirit ; and is a grace to which believers may and ought to attain, vs. 4, 5.
5. The perseverance of the saints is to be attributed not to the strength of their love to God, nor to any thing else in themselves, but solely to the free and infinite love of God in Christ Jesus. The praise is, therefore, no more due to them, than commendation to a helpless infant for its mother's sleepless care. " Can a woman forget her sucking child," &c. vs. 6—10.
6. Redemption is not by truth or moral influence, but by blood, vs. 9, 10.
7. The primary object of the death of Christ was to render God propi- tious, to satisfy his justice ; and not to influence human conduct, or dis- play the divine character for the sake of the moral effect of that exhibi- tion. Among its infinitely diversified results, all of which were designed, some of the most important, no doubt, are the sanctification of men, the display of the divine perfections, the prevention of sin, the happiness of the universe, &c. &c. But the object of a sacrifice, as such, is to propi- tiate, vs. 9, 10. Heb. 2 : 17.
8. All we have or hope for, we owe to Jesus Christ; peace, commu- nion with God, joy, hope, eternal life; see the whole section, and the whole Bible.