The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 40

he? Tbe Gc,oo One-the light., the joy, the song of his crcntion. So man !ms blotted out his 0wn h('Rn'll", nnd the earth thereby has h)st its lustro nnd its grnco. (2) But the et1tmu;C'\i God is a condemning God. He may not abdicate his essential relntiouship t0 the world as God, and if the love be lost it is replaced by wrath I So me.n's con- i:cience testifies: stricken, 1,0ro, and bleeding. 2. A gospol c1uries the implication of a desire to have the want supplied, the sorrow and the loss removed. So man's sin has n0t hopelessly ruined him, else there could be no salvation. Room for God to work, imd God does work. (1) The historical preparation: God teaching the world to desire sal'l"'!ltion. The Jews by direct dealings, a positive discipline; the Gentiles by indirect, R ne~tive discipline. So, "the desire of all nations." (2) The individual preparation: G,_-,d's Spirit in the heart. Only the grace of God can bring us to God. And uow God's gospel means, in general, that the condemning God will pardon, and the estranged God be a Father and a Friend again; that the yearnings towards himself which he has called forth shall thus find their full satisfaction, which is nothicg other than the peace of forgiveness and the joy of adopting love. II. ITS oo~'"Tfil."TS. But this general message has special terms. God's love is mani- festoo, prove.cl., accomplished, in his Son. 1. "His Son." For it is God's own love, hia other self, which stoops to save us. Let us hold fast to this, for herein is the supreme pledge of our salvation. 2. His Son becomes "Jesus Christ our Lord." (1) By the assumption of human nature. "Born of the seed of David e.ccording to the flesh." That it may be one of ourselves who saves us. (a) A Man, making atonement to God for men; (b) a human High Priest and Captain of salvation, himself "perfect through sufferings," and therefore " touched with the feeling of our infirmities "-the onenesa with human-kind necessary for both the Godward and the manward aspects of the reieeming work. A Son of David, according to mere historical lineage and local appearance: "for salvation is of the Jews." But, grander and more royal than this, a Son of man-the Son of man, in his true human fashioning and for his world-wide work (Heb. iL 14). (2) By the glorification of human nature. "Declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the <lead." A Redeemer of men must assert their redemption in his own Person first. " We ree not yet all things pot under him [i.e. man]. But we see Jesus . . . crowned with glory and honour" (Heb. ii. 8, 9), the archetypal Man. His resurrection, which the apoi;tle here li.Dks on to its world-wide correlative and consequence," the resurrection af the dead," demonstrates the redemptive power of Jesus, who is therefore the Christ, our Lord, and therefore Son of God; for only he who has life in himself can give life t.o dying men-life from the death of sin, life from all death which sin has more indirectly wrought. Oh, let us hearken t.o soch a gospel I God's good news to a dyicg world, spoken forth with a.ll the power of One who waa God's very Son, and with all the tender sympathy of One who is our very Brother. And for a proper hearkening to this good news may God, in hia love, prepare our he.a.rte 1-T. F. L. Vera. ~15.-Ministerial sympathy. The apostolic commission has been presented; in thi8 section it is interfused with the sympathy and service of ·a brother. He is still prt,-~minently the preacher of the gospel (ver. 15), but he speaks as to those whose faith is one with his own, and who are therefore brethren in a most sacred brotherhood. We may con.sider, u in 10me sort distinct though mutually involved-his prayers, and hia purpose. L His PRAYEBII.. Does Paul for one moment here strike a happy comparison between his wurk and that of the priestly intercessor in the elder covenant? For the "service n of which he speaks now is the service as of a temple, and it is as though he said, "In tb.e gospel. ae under the Law, there is a holy of holies, and worshipful inter- cession there. 'l'he holy of holies is the shrine of the innermost spirit, where converse is b.eld with God, and the priiietly worship is the pleading for brethren in Obrist, o.nd concerning the things that touch the kingdom of God," Yes, he "serves" God "in bis spirit in the goapel of his Son." 1. .A th.vnlcsyivmg. "'l'bat your faith is pro- claimed throughout the whole world." It was fitting that be should use euoh langungo 8E tb.il!, hyperbolical though It wa1, t.o those who lived in the world's metropolis, Wherever he went he heard of their good name, and he thanlted God for it. He thaukod OB. 1. 1-32.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 88