The Pulpit Commentary — Acts — Volume 2 — Section 264

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 8.-Tlie crei.i"buity of the resurrection. If it be an incredible doctrine, it must be so because to raise men from the dead is physically impossible or morally unlikely in a very high degree. But- 1 I. IT IS NOT PHYSICALLY DlPOSSIBLE. l. The continuance of the spirit in existence after death is certainly not impossible; indeed, it is the discontinuance which has seemed so impossible that to many thinkers its permanency appears to be a nece,~sity. The difficulty, to many minds, is to understand how a spirit can be dissolved and destroyed. 2. Its reassociation with a human body of some kind is also possible, and to almighty power and wisdom easy of execution. The same Divine strength and skill which cre<lted and fashioned man as he is can sUiely continue his existence aild his powers under similar conditions to the present ones. He who has made us what we are can make us again, more or less closely associated with the bodily frame which is our present home and organ. Il. To RAISE HIS OWN SoN FROM TBE DEAD IN ORDER TO ASSURE THE WORLD OF HIS DIVTh"ITY, and of the heavenly origin of the faith he taught, is credible enough. Granted that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and Saviour of the world, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so far from being incredible or even improbable, is positively demanded. Ill. To RAISE FROII THE DEAD THE FOLLOWERS OF A RISEN AND ASCENDED SAVIOUR is perfectly credible. Granted what we have assumed, and that, therefore, Jesus Christ is Saviour, Lord, and FrieJl!d of believing, loving, and faithful disciples, it follows that he would exert his Diivine power and raise them to his heavenly kingdom, that they might sha.re his honoUI and his blessedness. 'l'he real difficulty is not in the resurrection of Jesus Chrilit .or in that of his disciples; it is in the assumption which lies behind-the assumption that Jesus Christ was one who came down from heaven to redeem a fallen race. That granted, everything else follows necessarily. We maintain that- IV. A Drvnra BEDEltPl'Iali D A CBEDmLE AND NOT .AN INOBEDmLE IDEA. There is much within us and around .us that points to the presence of a holy and living Father of spirit11. If we make our appeal to our own hearts-and there is nothing higher than a liiving human heart from which to argue to the Divine-we shall conclude that to restore his fallen children by the sacrifice of himself was just that very thing which the i!l.fu:Lite Father would do,. There is nothing more probable, more credible than that. l. Redeeming love is a well-attested fact. 2. 'l'he resurrection of Christ is involved in that fact. 8. The resUirection of man is an inference from that. (I) Regard it as a certainty. ;(2) Prepare for it aa an event in which we have all the deepest pereonal ilrterest.--C. :. Vera. 9, 10.-Gradation, in guiU. The old notion that, as sin is committed against au infinite God, it must itself he au infinite evil, and that, therefore, all sins are eqi::d!y heinous a.ud offensive, is held no longer. Its logic is unsound, and our moral sense con- tradict.& the theory. 'l'he fact is that the degrees of human guilt in the multitude of 8111tions men perform, under a :vast variety of conditions, are indefinitely numerous. Only t.he Omniecient cui po1111lbly discriminate and compute them. But there ar@ ffi, XXVI, 1-32.] TUE AC'fS OF THE APOSTLES. 271