The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 55

'l'he Jew g(lt the offer first, and then was it given to the Greek; but Jew and Greek alike experienced salvation through simply bcliedng it. 4-. This gospel is in addition • rel'eianon of God's right«msne..-sfrom.fat'.th to faith. For the gospel is not a promise merely, but also an act of judgment. It is God declaring from his throne that he ia prepared to pronounce the sinner righteous, and to accept him as if he had faithfully kept his Law, because of what Jesns has done and suffered in the sinner's room. It is the pronunciation of II reprieve and the utterance of an invit.ation to fellowship all in one. It is God's public way of burying our imperfect past and receivin" us into immediate favour. It is only faith, of course, which oan take such a revelation''in. 'l.'he condition of the soul in sin leads sight to suppose that God's righteousness must be always ~"&inst the sinner; but the proclamation of the gospel leads faith to infer that God's righteousness is now for him; that God somehow can maintain his oharacter for justice &11d at the same time be gracious to the sinner. The proclamation is, of course, based upon the satisfaction made by our blessed Saviour on our behalf. "God oa.n be just," as we sha.11 subsequer,tly see, "and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." 5. TM sinner so Justified lives by his faith. Here we have the grand con- summation. The faith, which simply receives God's offer of justification, becomes the organ of life. We assure ourselves that we shell never perish out of the Father's hand, but coctinue through his mercy unto life eternal. Just as, under the old covenant, life was attached to obedience, so, under the new, life is attached to justification, which in its turn comes through faith. A1i Paul subsequently asserts, " Being justified by his blood. we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life" (eh. v. 9, 10).1 The practical bearing of this subject is clear. Have we received the gracious message by simple faith, "the hand of the heart," or have we put it once more from us? May our reply be satisfactory !-R. M. E. Vers. lS-32.-God's wrath as revealed am,qn,g the Genti1,es. In last homily we saw that the gospel Panl meant to preach at Rome, if he ever got there, was a "revelation of justice" on the pa.rt of God. By his covenant arrangements "God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." He can proclaim the sinner just on the ground of Christ's atonement. But now we a.re introduced to another "revelation" made in the constitution of the world-a. revelation which is also grounded on justice, but it.s ma.nifestation is "wrath." The present section dee.ls with this wrath as mani- fested among the Gentiles, while the subsequent chapter deals with it as manifested among the Jew&. .As we have seen that the heathen element constituted the major part of the Church at Rome, and that the Epistle was likely to touch at its very centre toe heathenism of the world. we can understand Paul's purpose in placing the discussion of the condition of the heathen in the foreground. L THE ST.A.TB OF HE.ATIIEli' BELIGIOJ!l' A.8 LAID BEFORE UB BEBE BY PAUL. (Vere. 21-23.) In these verses the apostle sketches in a very masterly manner the religious situe.tion of heathendom. And here we remark: 1. The heathen deities 0/1'8 degradatims. In some cases they are "corruptible men," e.s the polytheism of Greece and of Rome was the worship of man, and the apotheosis of hie evil propensities, The inhabitants of Olympus and of the Pantheon wtlre a "free-and-easy lot." In other cases, as in Egypt and the East, they worshipped animals of all sorts,-" birds, fourfooted beasts, and creepin" thitJgs." 2. Every heathen reUgion has its rationale. The devotees imagined tb;t they had the best of reasons for_ their worship. They professed to be wiBf: in the arrangement. and would have repudiated all charge of folly. The lowest !ol'IIl.!I of fetichiBm can give some account of itself, and thinks that it rests on reason. JI. THE BT.A.TE OF KOR.A.LS IB DEGRADED IN PBOPORTION TO TBB DEGRADATION 01' RELIGION. (Vers. 24-3L) It is a natural transition from the deification of human or animal p81!Biona to the practice of the most frightful immoralities. Hence in connection with these degraded religiona we find : 1. LicentiousMas '1M,(U reUgious. Oourteea.ne thror,ged the temple1, of Venus u her priestesses, just as the "nautch-glrle" in India • Of. Li.ddon'• • Un.iverllity SerIDOllll,' 2nd series, for a good dllcU88ion of vor. 10; o.lso MoorhollMB'~ • Nature a.nd BevelatimL,' p. 60; and .Ualdwin Brown'• 'Divlno Life In Mau,' pp. Sf~l.88. on. 1. 1-32.J 'J'HE EPH.l'J'LE OF PAUL TO THE RUMANS. 49