(4) God declares that He imputes the fulfilment of the law's claims by Christ to those who accept Him as their representative. That is to say, these things which Christ has to spare are handed over to such, and regarded by God as on their behalf? That is the act of Justification by faith, the acceptance of Christ as our repre-
ROMANS in. 23, 24 281
sentative, His righteousness reckoned to us, our penalty paid in Him, God declaring that He accepts this Substitution in the case of all those who thus trust His Son. " Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." 1
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning,
If I lack'd anything.
" A guest," I answer 'd, " worthy to be here : "
Love said, " You shall be he." " I, the unkind, ungrateful ? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee." Love took my hand, and smiling, did reply,
" Who made the eyes but I ? "
"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve." " And know you not," says Love, " who bore the blame ? "
"My dear, then I will serve." " You must sit down," says Love, " and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.2
1 C. New ■ Christopher Harvey.
The Harvest of the Justified.
283
Literature.
Armitage (W. J.), The Fruit of the Spirit, 27.
Armstrong (W.), Five-Minute Sermons to Children, 186.
Bourdillon (F.), Our Possessions, 48.
Broadus (J. A.), in The World's Great Sermons, ix. 21.
Burrell (D. J.), The Cloister Booh, 92.
Dewhurst (E. M.), The King and His Servants, 230.
Gould (S. Baring), Our Parish Church, 32.
Hoare (E.), Great Principles of Divine Truth, 195.
How (W. W.), Plain Words, i. 109.
Jackson (G.), Memoranda Paulina, 13.
Macgilvray (W.), The Ministry of the Word, 340.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions of Holy Scripture : Romans, 61, 67, 77.
Maurice (F. D.), Lincoln's Inn Sermons, ii. 1.
Newman (J. H.), Parochial and Plain Sermons, iv. 133.
Robinson (C. S.), Studies in the New Testament, 1.
Rogers (J. H.), The " Verily Verilys " of Christ, 1.
Selbie (W. B.), Aspects of Christ, 199.
Sinclair (W. M.), The Christian Life, 80.
Vaughan (C. R.), Sermons, 244.
Warfield (B. B.), The Power of God unto Salvation, 57.
Wilson (S. Law), Helpful Words for Daily Life, 242.
Biblical World, ii. 57.
Christian World Pulpit, xxxv. 355 (Goodrich) ; lv. 44 (Selbie).
Expositor, 2nd Ser., i. 387 (Beet).
Homiletic Review, li. 212 (Fairbairn).
Thinker, iii. 316 (Beet), 507 (Escott).
Treasury (New York), xiv. 561 (Hallock).
384
The Harvest of the Justified.
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. — Rom. v. I, 2.
1. The Epistle to the Eomans is the first treatise in Christian theology, and the mother of all others. But it is very far from being merely a theological treatise. Its spirit is not scholastic, but experimental, and the problems it deals with are not mere men of straw, but vital to the religious life of him who wrote it, and of those for whom it was first written. This may seem, perhaps, to make it less relevant to the needs of men to-day, and it is quite true that we cannot but be daunted by the obscurity of many of its references, and by the unfamiliar form in which its teaching is cast. But, for all that, we may easily discover that the questions it deals with, under Jewish form, are live questions still, and have an intimate bearing on the spiritual experience of Christians to-day. This is notably the case with the great subject of justification — the central theme at once of this Epistle and the whole Pauline theology. Paul's insight into human nature was never more clearly shown than when he fixed upon this as the very centre of man's needs in relation to God. And the question as to how a man can be justified before God is still the question on which religious men need to think clearly and believe strongly if they would attain that peace which the world cannot give.
2. The text mentions two things which follow upon justifica- tion. These two things are Peace and Glory. The one is present, the other future. The one is to be realized as the immediate result of our justification ; the other is to be looked forward to as its consummation. Both are sure. Yet both have to be made sure. For we are always responsible for the exercise of faith, that
channel along which these and all other gifts of Christ are sent to
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286 THE HARVEST OF THE JUSTIFIED
us. Let us therefore, being justified by faith, have peace with God and keep it; and let us exult in the sure hope of future glory. Perhaps the clearest way of explaining the text will be to take its clauses separately and in their own order.