The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 58

ority to the moss of monklnd, e.nd would be be to.ken ea implied. It was, we may anpj'.)')8'3_ lilrnly to resent their own inclusion in the in the writer'e mi1 id, anrl afterwarrJ.~, in eh. general condemnation. Note.bly the Si;oics, vii., where the int..er consciousness ,,f ,,ven whose philosophy wus e.t the.t time, llB welt the best is analyzed, the missing liuk of the as that of the Epicureans, extensively pro- argument is snpplied. fessed by educa.ted Romans. Seneca we.a • contemporary of Bt Pe.ul. The Stoica Vere. 1, 2.-Therefore thou art iuexc-~- might be suitably designated os ol 1<pl11011Tes: able, 0 man, whosoever thou a.rt that judge3t: for they e.Jfected to look: down from e. posi• for wherein thou judgest another, thou con- demneBt thysel!; for thou doest (rather tion of calm philosophical superiority on do,t practue; the word is ..-p&nrreir, see ~;-,'. those who followed their mere natural im- i. 32) the so.me things. But we know the1t pulses, professing to be themselves guided the judgment of God is according to tr;itil by right reason, e.ud superior to the pe.ssions agawt them whloh commit (or, practi<e. as of ordinary humanity. It was e. home-thrust before) such things. As he.a been observed above, the fact that 1riis 6 1<pi11"'" "'does : :,e e.t them to ask-Are you, who thus judge same thing;i," is not proved; it is incai,«ole others, as exempt e.s you profess to be from of patent proof, and so the argument takes the vices you condemn? If the accounts the form of an appeal to the consciences of that have come down to ns of Seneca's own such persons. "Porro quia ipsos interiorfa life be true, he certainly we.s not a pare.gen impuritatis insimulat, qum ut hnmanos oculos latet, redargui couvinciqae nequeat of virtue. Now, be it observed the.t the sort humanis testimoniis, ad Dei judicinm provo- of people now addressed a.re not concluded cat, cui nee tenebrm ipam sunt abscondit::e, to be sunk into all the depths of Bin spoken et oujus sensu t.aagi peccatoribus, velint no- of a.hove; their very affecting to judge others lint, necesse est" (Calvin). On ,cciri a.\.,\- 6<1a.I11 in ver. 2, Calvin also remark3," Verit.as implies, at e.ny rate, theoretic e.pprove.l of the right. Nor does St. Pe.ul anywhere suggest porro ham judicil in duobus con.sistit: quod sine peraonarum respectu delictum puniet, the.t there is no difference between me.n in quocunque deprehenderit homine; deiude and me.n with regard to more.I worth before quod extemam speciem non moratur, nee God; ne.y, in this very chapter he forcibly opere ipso contentns est nisi e. vera. Binceri- deole.res the moral excellence of some, with- te.te e.nimi prodee.t." out the Law e.s well as with the Law, and Vers. 3, 4.-And thinkest thou this, 0 me.n, that judgest them which practise sucll eternal life as its reward (vers. 7, 10, 14, 15). things, and doest the same, that thou ( rrl,, All he implies or necessity is that none emphatic) she.It escape the judgment of whatever e.re so exempt from sin as to be God 1 Or despisest thou the riches of his in e. position to judge others: and it is the goodness and forbee.re.nce and long-suffer- judgment of others that he here especio.lly ing; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repent&noe 1 Two possible attacks, as increasing, rather than exempt- ing from, condemnation. For it involves in mente.l attitudes of d -,c,,.,. a.re supposed- that of ree.lly calculating (l\.O"f((r,) on es- itself the sin of presumption, unless those caping the judgment, or that of obdumtion. the.t judge are sinless. But it may be consequent on God's long forbee.re.nce to- ■aid that the universe.I sinfulness of man- wards him, in the.t •• sentence is not executed speedily." (For a similar view of God's kind is still not proved. For (1) it is not merciful purpose in delaying the fint\l judg- actually demonstrated that all of those who ment, and of man's abuse of his forbearanoe, judge "do the same things." The answer of. 2 Pet. iii. 9.) to this objection is, the.t this does not admit Ver. 5.-But after thy hardness and im- of rigid proof, and the.t therefore the apostle penitent heart tree.surest up 'Ullto thyself wrath in the cloy of wmth and revelation of deems it enough to oppenl to the oonsoienoes the righteollll judgment of God. Th<! " d11y of the judgers themselves as to how the of wrath" is the d,\y of judgment. ths lin,u nmtter stands with thow. But it may be disploy of eterul\l rightrousuoss, when tho suid (2) the.t the sinfulness of such persons "forbeamuoe" will bo on,r; ever re pre• as nre spoken of in vors. 7, 10, 14, 15, 29- seutt-d, notwithstau,liu~ the world's re- demption, under I\ terr<ible aspect for \.h,3 suoh, namely, ns sincerely strive ofter good persistently impenitent (ef. 2 Thess. i. 9). without setting themselves up nB judges-is It way be hero obsern'<-i ~"1\in tlmt it ia still unprovod, So it is in this ollllptor; 6 ,cp{,,..,, ogaillllt whow tiles' in,ligne.u* and, for logio!ll oumplotonoss, the proof must denuuoiotious are h1uled, aud this 011 Uie  52 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [ou. n, 1-29,