The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 66

must be saved upon the same terms-terms honoumblo to God, and beneficial to human nature nnd human society. IV. Tum PURPOSE AND USE Oll' Gon's LONG-BUFFERING. After all that has been said, it must yet be insisted upon that the attribute of Deity here referred to by the o.po~tle is o. glorious and blessed o.ttribute, and that we cannot be sufficiently grateful to God for its exercise towo.rds us, who stand so sorely in need of it. How ehall we so use it that it may be for our truest and eternal advantage? 1. Believe it, as o. truth harmonizing with Divine righteousness. 2. Submit to it, as an influence inducing to repentance. 8. Act upon it, as affording opportunity for practical reformation, Ver. 11.-Divine impartiality. The apostle's immediate intention in thus stating the perfect equity of the Divine government, and the utter absence of partiality from his nature and from his administration, we.e to remove from the mind of any Jewish hearer or reader the belief that his descent from Abraham could be of any avail in God's sight if moral and spiritual qualifications were lacking. But, as is so ofren the case, especially in St. Paul's writings, local and temporary references gave occasion for the utterance of broad, general, and eternal principles. The simplicity and grandeur of this assertion must appeal to the moral nature of every reader of the Epistle. I. DIVINE IMPARTIALITY CONTRASTS WITH HUJUN PARTIALITY. However it mav be with God and his government, certain it is that, both in private and in public !if~, men's treatment of their fellow-men has usually been marked by personal farnuriti;im. No one can read those passages in the Old Testament referring to "gifts," i.e. bribes, and to "regarding the face" or the person of suitors, without perceiving how general was judicial corruption in the Oriental world. And there are allnsions in the New Testa- ment which prove to us that even the great Roman officials were not free from this taint. The prevalence of the practice of bribery, corruption, and favouritism must have suggested to the minds of ordinary men the possibility that the Judge of all regarded men's persons. II. DrvnlE IMPARTIALITY JS SUPPORTED BY CONVINCING EVIDENCE. 1. There is the testimony of the unsophisticated conscience of man. Crime, no doubt, exists and flourishes in society ; and men's interests induce them to connive at its presence. But, explain it how we may, the fact is undeniable that the inner voice of reason :i.nd conscience bears witness to the justice and impartiality of God. Idolatry is indeed e.ssocie.ted with beliefs and expedients based upon the unfairness and corruptibility 6f the deities held in honour or in dread. But let the idea of one supreme God take possession of men's souls, and the moral nature with which they are endowed refuses to be satisfied except by a conviction that this Being is far above what :i.re felt to be human infirmities and faults. If there be a God, that God is just. 2. Revelation supports this conviction. There are passages of Scripture which may seem to conflict with it, but these he.ve been misunderstood e.nd misinterpreted, or they would have been seen to be in consistency with what is the general tenor e.nd the express teaching of the Word of God. How many a.re the passages in which the offerings of the insincere are indignantly rejected, in which we are taught that external circumstances nnd hypocritical pretences o.re valueless in the sight of him who "searcheth the heo.rt, and trieth the reins of the children of men" I 3. The ministry of Christ is especially emphatic upon this point. It is sufficient to refer to our Lord's rebuke of those who boasted that they were Abmhe.m's seed; he bade them reflect upon God's ability to raise up even from the very stones of the fields children unto Abraham. And be con- stro.ined the o.cknowledgment from his enemies that" he regarded not the person of man." Ill. DIVINE IMPARTlALITl!' IS EXHIBITED IN CERTAIN STRIKING PABTICl'LARS. 1. In judgment God is just to all. There is one law by which all are judged. In ths application of that standard a righteous regard is had to the opportunities of knowledgo and enlightenment afforded by circumstances; but no other consideration is allowed to onter. 2. 'rhe nlvation which is by Obrist Jesus is providcll for all alike. God is the " Saviour of o.ll men, specially of them that believe." Christ died, not for :,ny clnse, but for the ungodly, i.11. for nil mankind, who alike needed redemption and &\\va- t.ion. And the heroJ.da of the crose prenched the Saviour to Jew auJ. Geutile aliku.  'tHE ErISTLE OF PAUL 'tO 'l'HE ROMANS. [oR. u. 1-21),