The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 198

(eh. iii. 14); of Stephen (eh. vii. 62); and of Anani&s In the special quotation ol Paul now (ver. H). These testimonies are noticeable for the directness of their language, IIfor the epecial identification of Christ as II this just Man," or " th&t just M&n," or the Just One," and for the chl\re.cter in each case of thOBe who uttered them. II. TBE DEEPER SIGNIFIOA.NOE OF THE SAME EPITHET A.B APPLIED TO OHRIBT, 1. Christ is the perfectly " righteous" One, and the only perfectly righteous One. .dll others ha.ve sinned and f&llen sho1t of God's glory. No other has kept the Law entirely- kept it in deed, in word, in thought, in aifoction, in zeal. 2. Christ's perfect righteoUB- neSB is the qualification of the Mediator, that real, solemn, thrilling relationship which he sustained as between God and ma.n. 3. Christ's perfect righteousness constituted the essential ~ualifica.tion of the propitiatory Sllcrifice. He "suffered for sins, the just for the unjust (1 Pet. iii. 18). The " .Advocate with the Father, and the Propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world, is Jesus Cllrist the Righteous" (1 John ii. 2). 4. Christ's perfect righteousness constitutes the per- fection of his fitness to be Teacher and Exemplar to men on earth. 6. Christ's perfect righteousness is the stability of his throne of judgment, to be ere very long beheld and approached by every ma.n who is or ever has been. He is "the Lord, '1ie righteous Judge" (2 Tim. iv. 8).-B. Vers. 14, 15.-The rolling and the gifts of God. The apostle himself elsewhere speaks (Rom. xi. 29) of " the gifts and the calling of God ; " and of them he says that they II are without repentance." The glorious occasion to which he gives prominence in the words of these verses exhibits the " calling " first, and the " gifts" next. At the same time, this same passage describes the calling of God (sepa.ra.te and sovereign act though it be in itself) 88 introductory to responsibilities, privileges, and gifts that followed upon it. There is not such a thing as a calling of God, to lie dormant. There is not such a thing 88 a calling of God, to terminate in the mere use or enjoy- ment of the person called. .A calling of God infers a co=ission consequent upon it-nay, nothing less than involved in it under a.ny circumstances. Here, however, it is not implied only, it is e:xpcessed as well, and tha.t in a very significant mode, For immediate upon the mention of the calling or choosing comes that of- L A GREAT QUALIFICATION. 1. The Christian apostle, minister, teacher, must be one who " knows the will " of God. 2. He must be one who knows it very directly from the fountain-head. Hearsay will not suffice, imagination will not suffice, reason will not suffice. IL A GR.lt..lID PRIVILEGE IN OONNECTION WITH TRA.T QUA.LIFIOATION. Though Paul "was as one born out of due season," these things a.re vouchsafed to him, namely, to " see " and to II hear" the " Just One." Some think Saul had seen Christ in the flesh. This passage may contribute something confessedly inconclusive to the disadvantage of the supposition. It is overwhelmingly improbable, in tha.t Paul never speaks of it, as surely he would have done if it had been the case, even as he speaks of having seen Stephen and assisted at his martyrdom. Thie. great grace, howeve", is now vouch- safed to Saul, that with vision of thousandfold force he ie given to eee the very Jesus ascended, and that with a keenneBB to hear beyond anything tha.t he ha.d experienced before he is granted to hear the own voice of the glorified Man Jesus. It ie not that Saul had earned the gift-nay, it is not that to the end of a. devoted life of fullest self- surrender he will ever be able to ea.rn the gift. Paul is the disclaimer of merit. Nor is all the grace for Paul. How many lesser successors to him have taken their share of benefit, and the whole Church its share, when these have recalled that Jesus teaches : 1. How near a connection is necessary between himself and his servant- pioneers of the truth and heralds of salvation. 2. To this end how near he ie willing to condescend t.o come to those servants. 8 . .And how he would embolden them to draw near to him in moat believing faith and most loving trust of the heart, when the times should be each that he would no longer come in vision to them. ill A VAST RESPONSIBILITY. It needs an angel intellect and an archangel heart t.o set an estimate at all equal to the truth upon the work committed into human hands when the ministry of Christ is accepted by them. They are then "witnesses for Christ to men." Alld three featurea of their great respom,ibility are here shadowed forth. 1, OIi, llIL 1-30.] THE AO'fB OF THE APOSTLES. 205