The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 30

to the power of the religion of Christ. All who sincerely believe will oxperlenco its renewing, delivering, and quickening power. Ver. li.-7'7at ftetD rig~teoomess. The apostle W88 j11stl6.od In hie bOllstlng In tho goarel, bec~nse of the high end it ,vas the menns of securing-nothing les9 than the snl· ntion of men. Tbis s:\lvation it is his aim, in this Epistle, to set in its truo light. It is s moral, a spiritual deli'l"ernnce; sn enfranchisement of the soul; an opening of the prison doors; a healing rndical, thorough, and lastini, A righteous God cnn only be r('('{lnciled with sinful, disobedient men by corumunicatmg to them his own righteousness. Tbe inner nature, the spiritual being, the morn\ character, is the sphere of tho great sa.lva- tion which Christ brings, which the gospel announces. There are in this verse three ideas. I. FAITH. Like his Divine Master, Paul insisted strenuously upon the importance, the neces..qty, of faith. This is a sign of the spirituality of our religion, whioh begins with the heart, and works from within outwardly. But Scripture gives no countenance to the mystical doctrine that faith is a mere sentiment, having no definite object. On the contrary, it re'\"eals God and his promises, and especially his Son and the truth relating to him, as the objects of faith. Paul's aim, like that of every Christian teacher, WBS to awaken faith; and to this end he made known the glad tidings, that those· who heard them might have an appropriate object upon which to place their confidence. If we are to believe, we must have something worthy of belief; if we are to trust, it must be in One who has a jnst claim upon our trust. Christianity responds to this requirement, and satisfies the desire of the soul for a sufficient ground and a suitable object for faith, in offering salvation through the Divine mercy extended through the redemption which is in Christ .Jesns. IL RrGHTEO~"ESS. This Epistle may be said to be chiefly concerned with two thcmes--sin and righteousness; the sin being man's, and the righteousness God's. It shows us how the Divine righteousness becomes man's. It is faith which is the link that attaches the human soul to the just and holy Lord; the wing by which man soars from the foul atmosphere of sin into the clear and upper air of fellowship with God. The gospel, says the text, reveals the righteonsness of God. It does this, first, by making known the perfect obedience of Christ, who " fulfilled all righteousness," and was "obedient unto death." It does this, further, by declaring the reason of Christ's unmerit.ed sufferings and death. These, which, superficially regarded, seem rather opposed to the belief in the justice of God's government, are, to the Christian's mind, the highest illustration of that justice. Though innocent and holy, our Lord, becoming the Representative and Redeemer of the race whose nature he assumed, submitted for our sake to the pa.ins and the death he did not deserve. He thus displayed, not merely the heinorumess of human sin, which brought him to the shameful cross; not only the magnitude of the world's sin, the penalty of which he thus accepted and endured; but the righteousness of God, which, in the very act of providing for the pardon of the sinner, most signally and effectively condemned the sin itself. Nowhere does sin appear so sinful as in the cross of Christ, where righteousness stands in striking and auhlime contrast with iniquity, revealing in all its enormity the evil which it van- quishll!l and slays. Christ not only revealed, he also imparted, the righteousness of God. And this in two ways--by righteously forgiving, acquitting, and accepting the penitent believer in his Son; and by infusing into him a new principle of righteous- ness. Thus Christianity at once provides that man may be right and just with God, and that he may possess the righteousness of impulse, habit, and principle, which will produce righteousness of action in his relations with his fellow-men. III. LI.FE. •• The just by faith "-1iuch is the teachi•g alike of the prophet and of the apostle-" shall live" 'l'hi.s life is opposed to spiritual death; it is the special gift of God in Chrut; it is the effective principle of renawed and hallowed activity. It includes within itself the fulness of all spiritual blessings. It is the beginning and the earnest of immortality; it is "the eternal life." PucricAL LE88-0NS. 1. The highest good must be sought from God, and from him only; in him alone are righteowmeBB and life. 2. To the revelation of God in o.nd by Chrut mUBt correspond tbe approach of the 11oul to him by faith. This is the way of God's own appointment, m,rked by God's wisdom, and proved by actual experience to be divinely efilcacioue. Olit. t. 1-a2.J TBE EPiitlTLE 01!' PA..Ut TO THE ROMANS. 23