In the light of this, it is not difficult to under- stand why, after urging Christians to ' serve right- eousness' (in 6'^'- ), he instinctively varies the ]ilirase : ' now that you are set free from sin, now that you have passed into the service of God ' (this is another way of stating what he means by justification or the possession of ' God's righteousness '), ' your gain iscon.secration {ayiaaiJ.6s), and the end of that is life eternal. Sin's wage is death, hut God's gift is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord.' The life which the practice of SiKaioirvvr) produces is ultimately a Divine gift. Even in this sphere, where the human will is active, where a man is bidden co-operate witli all his powers, tlie notion of merit is carefully excluded. A man gets something out of the service of sin, and he has himself to thank for it ! He also gets something out of the service of righteousness (i.e. out of his devotion to the character which God approves), but be has God to thank for this. The fact that St. Paul uses biKaiouvvi] in this definite sense of character, so soon after he has just used it to denote a religious standing or relationsliip to God, is noticeable ; it confirms our interpretation of the latter as implying a positive experience of life, and it illustrates at the same time the common basis of both in the grace of God, mediated through Jesus Christ. Not only justification but the service of SiKaioavvri depends upon man's relation to Him, since the latter means a life lived for Him (2 Co 5'-') or in Him (Ro 6"). In both senses of the term, Siraiotrui'T) means life (Ro 5'-' 6^), and whether this life is viewed as a standing before God or a calling it is equally dependent upon Him. St. Paul could have conceived acquittal apart from moral renewal as little as he could have conceived moral renewal apart from acquittal (Sokolowski, Die Begrijfe vun Geistund LebenbeiPaulus,)). 14); the one involved the other, and, as both implied the mediation of life through Jesus Christ, the intrusion of merit or .self-righteousness was definitely eliminated. In Ph 3"'- we have both aspects and senses of Sixaio- aurq held together ; the gift is a task, and the very task is itself a gift, depending for its inspira- tion as well as for its reward upon the Lord. In Ro 6'°'-, the conception of faith, which elsewhere reveals the nexus between the so-called forensic and ethical sides of righteousne.ss, is conspicuous by its absence, but the second lialf of the chapter re.sts on tlie thought of the first half, viz. the identification of the Christian with Christ in His new life of power over the flesh and sin, and there- fore the Apostle's language about the duty of devotion to SiKaioiruvri as the religious ideal could not be misunderstood, as if it implied that in this career of goodness a man was somehow less depend- ent upon God than in the initial crisis of justifica- tion. The juridical associations of ' righteousness ' and 'justify' made it more easy for the Apostle to bring out tlie absolute indebtedness of ni;in to God for forgiveness and fellowship at the outset of the
Christian experience. 'I'hey did not suggest so naturally tlie same exclusion of merit in the state- ment of the new career of iiKcaoavvq ; in fact, their terminology did not lend itself so readily * to the expression of this positive and living content in justification at all, for we cannot assume that he ever used the verb 'justify' (apart from the quota- tion in 3*) of God in any sense ex(!ept that of pro- nouncing a verdict. l>ut when believers were 'counted riglilecms,' because they believed in Christ who had died for their sins, this involved their possession by God ; they were now His, for His own purposes, and His ])ur])Ose was life. Through their organic union with Christ, this life is repro- duced in their experience, and consummated. ' He glorifies those whom he has justified' (Ro 8*"). Probably it was to avoid any possible misapprehen- siou that St. Paul never spoke of God 'making' men righteous ; he reserved Sikoiow strictly for the verdict of acquittal, which altered once and for all the standing of the sinner before his God. In- stead of using the same term for the process of making the justified man ' righteous ' in the moral sense of the term, he employed other words (e.g. Ro 7'') and metaphors. Nevertheless the acquittal was a creative act, and even 'righteousness' is used in connexion, e.g., with life, which shows what was in the writer's mind. Allusions like those in 2 Co 5" and Ro 8'" (whatever view is taken of this clause ; cf. above, p. 372) indicate what he regarded as implicit in the initial verdict of 'justi- fied,' and what prompted him for once to employ SiKaioavvrt as he does in Ro 6""'.
Finally, a word upon the idea of rewards and punishments being meted out to Christians at the end. Bunyan pointed out that the village of Morality lay off the straight, safe road to the Celestial City ; he also recalled how Mr. Honest in his lifetime had appointed 'one (Jood-conscience' to help him over the Kiver of Death, and how ' the last words of Mr. Honest were, Grille reigns.' So with St. Paul. He warns the Christian oil' ' works of the law' (Mr. Legality is the leading inhabitant of the village of Morality !), and also warns him not to meet the end without a good conscience, without a moral record which will bear the most searching scrutiny. For such a scrutiny awaits even the justified, even those 'for whom there is now no condemnation ' ; they will he taken to account before the Divine tribunal for what they have made of their life. The emphasis set liy St. Paul on the moral transformation of the believing man is shown by this striking fact that he retains the conception of judgment being passed on the works even of Christians at the end, although logically it seems incompatible with the truth that Christians were already free from doom and assured of salvation. Various explanations of this have been offered. The Apostle's stress ujion reconijiense is excused as a remnant of his traditional Pharisaic theology, which he did not reconcile with his evangelical principle of justification by faith ; the two are left side by side as parallel lines, religious and ethical ; or, the doctrine of judgment on works is taken to refer to the degrees of glory in whi<:li Christians are to stand, all being saved as believers in Christ, but with varying records. The latter view t is ingenious, hut it has to be read into St.