The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 38

will eee no unraimess in a mnn suffering if he disregards or violates the well-known laws of nature. Fire will burn, water will drown, pitch will defile, bnd air will poison, If a man acts in defiance of these natural and elementary laws, he suffers tho coneo- quence. No one sees any unfairness in it. Why should there be any more tt,ifairne.,s in suffering a8 the result of disregarding and defying moral laws, On the contrary, is it not or more importance that a moral law should be vindicated, that men should learn t.o obey a moral law, than that even a natural law should be vindicated P Dut here, at any rate, is the fact, written clearly in God's Word, written over and over again on the page of hist.ory-light ,·e}~ted means wrath revealed. Was it not so with ancient Israel? Has it not been so with France and Spain? Was it not so with Saul and Bel- shazzar? It is a terrible thing when men so harden themselves against God's Word, so shut their eyes R,..01\inst the light of his commandments, yes, even against the light of the cross, that God says, "Ephraim is joined to idols : let him 11.lone." Let him alone I Light granted. Light rejected. Wrath revealed. "Without excuse." Such is St. Paul's description of the ancient heathen world. To a world in such a state Jesus came. He came to reveal the righteousness of God in contrast to the abominable deities of heathenism. He came also to reveal the mercy of God. The trumpet-note of judg- ment is loud and terrible. But the trumpet-note of mercy is equally loud. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."-C. H. I. Vera. 1, 5-7.-Paul'sfirst contact wi'th the metropolis of the world. But its empire and splendour and wealth are forgotten in the absorbing interest of bis mission. For he is the messenger of a Diviner empire, and his message is one which makes the i;plendour a.nd wealth of the world seem worthless things. They may be few and poor, :md he but a travelling tent-maker; but they are Christ's people, o.nd he is Christ's servant; there will, therefore, be words spoken to which angels might hearken. But first he introduces himself, addresses them, and gives them his greetiDg. We have, therefore, in these opening words, the man, the Church, the message. L THE: .KAN. 1. We have called him the man, for as such he steps frankly into the foregroUDd: "Paul" The necessity for sympathetic helpfulness in the work of mau's salrntion. Not a voice from afar, but a fellow-helper by our side. So the Captain of our salvation: "taken from among men." And so the tru6 rai;:iister-a man first, one of the sinful. struggling mass of men, and saved with the common salvation. 2. But this brings ns naturally to the second characteristic: "A servant of Jesus Christ." The word is literally, "bond-servant." And though the expression is to be applied very cautiously, lest the ba!1lber suggestions should mislead us, yet there are elements of meaning which are full of force. Absolute proprietorship on the one hand, and obliga- toriness of service on the other; but the relationship transfused with blessedness, for the claims are claims of love, and the service is a service of love. All true Christians, like Paul. bear about with them the marks of the Lord Jesus (Gal. vi, 17 ; 2 Cor. iv. 10), and the brand-mark is this, "He died for me" (see 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; vii. 22, 23). 3. Christ's service is manifold, aus to all departments the true introduction is by "call." What dignity this throws over the humblest work I For the meanest toil that is sanc- tified by Christian motives is a service of Christ, and to that service the toiler is "called" by Chrillt. The labourer in the field, and the hard worked· wife in household cares aa well a.s the man of letters, the statesman, or the prince, is "called or Goel." But ~bile such are called to a service which is the exemplification of Christian principle in the conduct of common life, others, nay, all, are called to service, more or lees, which beal'S directly on the extension of the kingdom of God, And to some the call is an exclnsive one; their life is to be spent in the fulfilment of this mission from heaven. Such a one wa.s Paul Called to Christian service, in common with all his brethren; called to exclusive service, in common with many of his brethren; celled furthermore tu apostolic service, in common with a few selected ones, who led the van of the new faith, and tel!tified authoritatively of the crucified and risen Obrist. "By call an ar,.111tle." The distinctive call was made in conm,ction with one special crisis of his life-the Dama.scus journey, and the voice from hr•aven. Dut was this, with its ratifi- cation of Acts xiii. 2, the only "separation unto the gospel" of which Paul goes on to 6L,cak? Nay, we are rather led to think of tbE, phrase in Gal. i. 15, "separated ••• ea, 1.1-82.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMA:N'S. 81