The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 17

rlgbt.eouenesa Imputed to man Is spoken Ver. 111--0h. ii. 29.-(1) Ali mankffld of; the Idea still being tbnt of the Divine Uable to aixr• 'IM"ath. righteonsness embracing mnn. It is not Ver~. 18-82.-(a) TM heatMn u,arT.d m olear ln what exaot sense l1t ,r(u.-•.,, .;, ,r(u.-w is to be understood. Most commen- general. tat.ors, taking ll11ta.,ou61111 to denot.e man's Ver. 18.-:ror the wra.th of God is revealed imputed righteousness, connect l1t ,r/uno,r from heaven against a.11 ungodliness and with it, as if ,;, l,c hnd been written (as e.g. unrighteouaneBB of men, who hold back the '.n eh. x. 6), But the absence of ,;,, llS well truth in unrighteoumesa. Here the argu- as the colfooation of words, seems rather to mentation of the Epistle begins. the first l)nnect it with l,.,ro1taJ1.6-n:.-• .-a.,. It may be position to be established being that all meant to express the subjective condition mankind without exception is guilty of sin for me.n'e apprehension, and appropriation, before God, and therefore unable of it.self to of God's righteoueness. The revelation of put in a plea of ri{Jhleoium,,M. This bein.,. it 11> man's own soul is said to be l1t ,r{u.-•.,,, proved, the need of the revelation of God'; while .ls ,r(u.-,11 expresses the result; viz. Tighteoumess, announced in ver. 17, appears. faith unto salvation. A like use of the pre- "The wrath of God" is an expression with position eis is found in eh. vi. 19 ; 2 Cor. ii. which we a.re familiar in the Bible, being 15, 1G; iii. 18. In the last of these po.ssages one of those in which human emotions are o\,rl, a&{'ls els llo(a.v has a close resemblance attributed to God in accommodation to the to the expression before us. The quotation exigencies of human thought. It denotes from Ha.b. ii. 4 seems mainly meant to his essential holiness, his a.ntagonism to illustrate what hru! been said concerning sin, to which punishment is dne. It ex- faith, though the word lii1ta.10s, which occurs presses an idea. as esaential to our conception in it in connection with faith, may have of the Divine righteousness as do the words, also suggested it as apposite, o.s is evidently "love" and "mercy." Wrath, or indignation, the case in Gal. iii. 11, where St. Paul quotes against evil is as necessary to our ideal of a it in proof of the position that ,,, v&µq, ovliEls perfect h!J1111an being as is love of good ; and l111ta.1oiJ.-a.1 ,ra.pa .-ij, 0erj. The prophet had therefore we attribute wrath to the perfect in immediate view the trials of faith pecnlio.r Divine Being, using of necessity hnman to his own time, and ho.d cried, " LoBD, how terms for expressing our conception of the long?" But he had stood upon his watch to Divine attributes. Wben the Name of the look out for what the LoRD would ee.y unto LoBD was proclaimed before Moses (Exod. 1 him ; and an answer hnd come to him to xxxiv. 5, etc.), it wo.s of One not only the effect that, in spite of appearances, his "merciful and gracions, long-suffering, and prophetic vision would ere long be realized, nbunda.nt in goodness and truth." but a.I.so God's promieesto the faithful would certainly "that will by no meang clear the guilty." he fulfilled, e.nd that faith meanwhile must This last attribute is the same as what we be their sustaining principle-" The just shall mean by the Divine wmth. This "wrath live by his faith." So in the Hebrew. The of God" is ea.id in the Yerse before ns to be LXX. has 'O Ii~ l111ta.1&s µ.ou l1t ,r(O"l'e01s (f,<Te.-a., "revealed from heo.ven.'' How so? Tu it (A), or 'o ll~ lll1ta.1os '" ,r(O"l'•01s"µ.ou (f,ue.-a., in the gospel, as is God'g righteousne~ (ver. (B). The vo.ria.tions do not affect the general 18) ? Against this view is the change of sense of the passage. Now some, supposing expression-a,r' ovpa.voi! instead of,,, airr~ St. Paul to connect l1t ,r{O"Te01s with lll1ta.1os, as well as tho fe.ct tho.t the gospel is not in as po.rt of the subject of the sentenoe, would it.self a revelation of wrath, but the very oocuse him of giving the quotation a mee.n- opposite. ls it in the Old Testament? ing not intended by the prophet, who evi- Possibly in p6l"t; but the marked repetition dently meant '" ,r/(T'l'ews to go with (fiu•.-a.,, of l,..,,.01<a..\m•Ta.1 in the pre,;ent telll:e s ~ 1111 part of the predicate. But there is no to point to some obvious revelation nou,; N>,a,son for attributing this intention to St. o.nd, further, the first part of the proof, to Paul, except on the supposition that he had the end of the second chnpter, does not rest previously conneoted '" .,,.[u.-• .,, with ll11ta.1- on the Old Testament. Tu it what the 00"61171, in the sense of ,;, l1t ,r/O"T•01s. But we apostle proceeds so foroibly to draw attention lia.ve seen renson for concluding that this to-the existing, and at that time notorions, was not so. The quotation, in the sense moral degradation of heathen sooiety, which intended by the prophet, is suffioiently he rego.rds 11B evidence of Divine judgment? opposite, For it ell~resses tho.t faith le the This may hnve been before his view; and. life-principle of Gods righteous ones, while as he goes on at ouce to speak of it, it prob- the whole ·pn~sago at tho end of which it ably wna so prominently. But the revela- ooours cfoolo.rod the enlvntion of prophetio tion of Divine wn\th ~ninst sin Set'DlB to vision to bo ontiroly , if God, to be wait~d imply woro tlum this ,~ lh,· ,ugumeut goes for nnd approhendod by mnn through faith, on, viz. the evi,lont guilt before God of nil uot brought about by his own doings. IDI\Ukind alike, nud not only of degraded  lo THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TDE ROMANS, [OR, r.1--311