The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 51

It is to found the Church of God upon no other baele than that or the rlaen Jeeue. It is to be a witness of Christ's resurrection, and of all which this oardlnal fact and doctrine is to men. A mighty office, surely I And notice how singular and dlstlnot Paul ~tands. The Jews receive twelve apostles, but the Gentiles only one; yet Paul is wort.h all the others put t-0gether so far as the world's conversion is concerned. Like Darid, he WM worth ten thousand oommon soldiers. Ill. PAUL's 8UBSEQUE1'"T OAREBR. He began preaching Christ at once, just to try bis hand; but it was not intended he should pass at once from the publicity of persecution to the publicity of the apostolic office. He passes into the quiet of Arabia. and is for about seven years in an unobtrusive sphere of probation. It is not meant that he spent seven years in silence; doubt.less, wherever he was, he made his neighbours feel his presence and know his doctrine. But he was prepa1·ing, by earnest meditation and communion with his Master, for his tremendous mission. To all in haste to enter the ministerial office, Paul's patient preparation is surely a significant lesson I But next we find him spending fourteen years in missionary labours. Into the details of hie journeys we cannot here ent.er; but they were wise seizing of great centres, that from these the light of the gospel might go abroad. And lastly, Paul spent from five to seven years-we cannot be quite certain-in captivity at Cesarea and Rome, enjoying, perhaps, a short respite between the two Roman captivities, but ending his career by martyrdom. It is believed he was liom about the year 7 of our era; was converted when thirty years of age; and died when about si.xty.1 Now, it was as "apostle of the Gentiles " that he wrote this Epistle to the R-Omans. He wrote it, as is apparent from its contents, before be had visited the Church. He wrote it from Corinth, to lay before the Church occupying the metropolis of the world "the gospel of God." He was not ashamed of that gospel, notwithstanding the philosophy and culture of Greece or Rome. He knew the world's philosophy, and he felt that he had found in the gospel something finer far. Bnt we must not anticipate. Meanwhile let Paul's conversion and apostleship speak to tli! of personal dealing with the Lord Jesus, and of personal labour for him. It has been said that the apostolic race is like a lost species. Yet have we not bad, even in our own time, men of zeal who might even be named along with the apostles? David Livingstone, William Chalmers Burns, George Au,,austns Selwyn, John Patteson, and many others have exhibited the long-lost apostolic spirit. We want it to come again; and why should it not, in ourselves? Not that we would coun.sel one another to ambition, but, as Monod so well puts it, to fidelity.s Let tli! humble ourselves, as Paul did on the way to Damascus, through a sense of sin and shortcoming; let us accept of pardon through the Lamb's precious blood; and let our cry be, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " and the Saviour will give each of us a mission, as he gave Paul, and own us as true servants in the accomplishment of his gracions designs.-R. M. E. Ven. 2-7.-Tl.e (Jhwrch at Jlome. We have already got some conception of the author of this Epistle, of his origin, training, conversion, and subsequent career. And now we advance to the second natural inquiry-Who were the people composing the Church at Rome? Let us fancy, then, a great city with, we shall suppose, about half the population of London-two millions of people crowded, of course, into much smaller space than in the modem city. Of tht.ae, the half were slaves, the other half citizens. But the really influential or ruling class were a small minority. The ele.ves catered for their masters, so that the opportunities of making a livelihood were nothing like so numeroll6 as in our modem civilization. A large proportion of the citizens must have been "hangers-on" to the great, and recipients of public charity. A large city, there- fore, with vice and pauperism and a thousand evils, while the ameliorations of_ Chris- tianity were not as yet generally or widely known-such was Rome. But, berng the -.t of government and the metropolis of the world, it naturally attracted many from the cooqnered. provinces, and among these there would be a goodly number of Jews. With these would associate "proselytes," men and women of Gentile extraction, who ,..ere anxious t.o join the Jewish faith and p!·ofit by the Jewish forwa. Anu now lot u look at our tint fact. 1 Of. God.et, ut ,u,pra tome I. pp. 74, 75. • lrlaaod's • 8ermom,1al •UfWa, p. 168. on. r. 1-82.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 45