(3) But St. Paul always regards life as a present possession of the believer. As such, it is the direct result of the indwelling
1 T. R. Williams.
4oo THE CARNAL AND THE SPIRITUAL
of the Holy Spirit, and may even be termed the actual presence of the Spirit in the human personality. Most typical instances are : Eom. viii. 2, " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death " ; viii. 6, " The mind of the spirit is life and peace " (the present text) ; and viii. 10, " If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness."
3. The new life is a renewal of the old from its very foundations. It is a renewal not of one part, but of the whole. It embraces the physical as well as the ethical or religious. For St. Paul, the sum of the believer's experiences is a unity. Life included the totality of his energies. It cannot be divided up into provinces, of which one may be contrasted with another. Its only contrast lies in Death. Death for the Apostle means the ruin of the whole personality. Life means its triumphant continuance in the power of the Spirit beyond the barriers of earth and time, in conformity with the nature of the glorified Christ, who is the image of the invisible God.
Spirit! whose various energies
By dew and flame denoted are, By rain from the world-covering skies,
By rushing and by whispering air;
Be Thou to us, O gentlest one,
The brimful river of sweet peace, Sunshine of the celestial sun
Eestoring air of sacred ease.
Life of our life, since life of Him
By whom we live eternally, Our heart is faint, our eye is dim,
Till Thou our spirit purify.
The purest airs are strongest too,
Strong to enliven and to heal: O Spirit purer than the dew,
Thine holiness in strength reveal.
Felt art Thou, and the heavy heart
Grows cheerful and makes bright the eyes;
Up from the dust the enfeebled start, Armed and re-nerved for victories:
ROMANS viii. 6 401
Felt art Thou, and relieving tears
Fall, nourishing our young resolves : -
Felt art Thou, and our icy fears The sunny smile of love dissolves.
0 Spirit, when Thy mighty wind
The entombing rocks of sin hath rent,
Lead shuddering forth the awakened mind In still voice whispering Thine intent.
As to the sacred light of day
The stranger soul shall trembling come,
Say, " These thy friends," and " This thy way," And "Yonder thy celestial home."1
iv. Peace.
St. Paul never begins an epistle without a salutation con- taining the word "peace." And in the body of his teaching " peace " plays a conspicuous part. God is a " God of peace." The Christian has "peace with God." "To be spiritually minded is life and peace." It is obvious that he lays much stress on the possession of this golden treasure of inward peace. With him it implies the removal of the guilt that separated us from God, the assurance of pardon, and the conformity of our will to His.
The peace which the Apostle has in mind consists of two elements : (1) the state of reconciliation with God ; and (2) the sense of that reconciliation, which diffuses a feeling of harmony and tranquillity over the whole man.
1. Reconciliation. When the merit of Christ's atoning sacrifice becomes ours, peace, sweet, satisfying, eternal peace, floods the soul. This is Christ's promise. " Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you ; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." The world's peace is the peace of compromise ; Christ's is the peace of reconciliation. It is the peace of recon- ciliation that is musical. It is a song that can be sung only in sight of Calvary's bloodstained cross, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. Without an altar of atone- ment there can be no song of reconciliation.
1 T. T. Lynch, The Rivulet, 1. ACTS & ROM. — 26
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I sought for Peace, but could not find ;
I sought it in the city, But they were of another mind, —
The more's the pity. I sought for Peace of country swain,
But yet I could not find; So I, returning home again,
Left Peace behind. Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell ? said I ; —
Methought a voice was given, " Peace dwelt not here, long since did fly
To God in heaven." Thought I, this echo is but vain,
To folly 'tis of kin; Anon, I heard it tell me plain,
'Twas killed by sin. Then I believed the former voice,
And rested well content ; Lay down and slept, rose, did rejoice,
And then to Heaven went. There I enquired for Peace, and found it true: — An heavenly plant it was, and sweetly grew.
2. Tranquillity. There are certain elements in this peace of mind of which we can speak with some confidence.
(1) First we may be sure that it is the peace that comes of love, of love to God and man, free and abounding. What has peace to do with love, do you ask ? Surely a great deal to do with it. For why are men so often not at rest within ? Why do so many things trouble them and vex them ? Why is there so much distraction of mind, so much bitterness of heart ? Most certainly it is, in no small measure, because their love is so limited. There is no full stream that flows out from them towards all around them. That explains their unrest. It is the man who loves without stint that has learned the secret of the deepest peace.