The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 111

esrecl11.lly for Jews who had the Law, In order that every mouth miaht be stopped, and al the world brought in guiHy before God. By the deeds of the Law, CQnsequently, no flesh need expect to be justified in God's sight. One unvarying tale it bll.s been of guilt and condemn11.tion. All notion of merit must, consequently, be cast to the wintls. Now, this ie the greatest service which can be rendered to any soul. If we compare Phil. iii. 7, 8, we shall see that the idea of merit cost the Apostle Paul many painfo.l years. He was going about to establish his own righteousneBB, by B88erting his pure Jewish descent and his ceremonial obedience and his headlong zeal; and he was under the delusion that by such a record he could claim as a just right acceptance and hono,1r before God. But the moment he met his risen Saviour on the way to Damascus, he saw that all these self-righteous years were lost, and that" merit" had only kept him away from Christ. In the very same way, anxious souls are kept oftentimes away from Christ by the delusion that they cau render themselves, somehow, more acceptable unto him. Let us bless God when he annihilates our delusions and leads us clear of all fancied merit. It is down in the dust of guilt and felt unworthiness that we are sure to receive our gracious exaltation. IV. BY THE LAW IS THE KNOWLEDGE OF BIN. (Ver. 20.) The Jews took the cere- monial law as a Jaw of life, and by keeping little rites and ceremonies-the more, they imagined, the better-they thought they could earn the Divine favour and glory. Had they looked into the ceremonies with proper care, they woulrl have seen in those given by Moses a constant note of condemnation. The moral Law, besides, with its magnifi- cent idea.I and standard, ouly intensified the sense of guilt in the soul of the thou~htful worshipper. In consequence of human sin, the Law ceases to be a way of life, and becomes a tremendous indictment and condemnation. It is this use of the Law which we are to recognize. It is, then, a most wholesome revealer of our real and lost con- dition. It drives us out of our refuges of lies and fancied merit, that we may betake ourselves to Christ alone. It is the light which exposes the dark chambers of our souls, and brings us to conviction and repentance. Let us make the proper use of the Law, and it will, as a schoolmaster, bring us to Christ, that we may be justified. by faith. It will lead us to see that until Christ came there was no real merit in the world on which God could look with complacency. Only when Jesus allied himself with the race was the outlook on humanity in any wise redeemed.-R. M. E. Vere. 21-31.-Just{ncation through faith in Christ. The design of the Law, to intensify our sense of sin, having been made plain, the apostle, in the present para,,"l'aph, proceeds to show where justification comes from. It does not come from the Law; for the Law can only give us condemnation. It comes from a source foretold in " the Law and the prophets "-from Jesus Christ, our Propitiation. And more than justification. as we shall now see, proceeds from this marvellous source. Three leading thoughts are presented in this passage. I. ANTE-OHRISTIAN BIN WAS JUSTLY PASSED BY ON THE GROUND OF CHRIST'S PROMISED PROPITIATION. The picture the apostle gives us of the universal depranty and guilt of mankind suggests the inquiry-How did God deal with it? And one undeniable fact was that in Old Testament times man's wickedness was in ms.nv cases "pass11d by." Instead of executing speedy vengeance on human sin, God only· fl.ame,l forth upon it occasionally, and during the intervening periods, or in the other places he seemed to "wink at" the wickedness, and passed it over in silence. The result iu many cases was this, that because sentence &,,"llinst an evil work was not executed BP,eedilr• therefore the heart of the sons of men was fully set in them to do evil (Eccles. viii. 11 . If such was the result in some cases, how can we \'"indic:\te Gud's pl\.>c~ure? Now, t. e apostle's position in this passage is this-that the "passing by" of sin, just is well as the pardon of sin, has its justificntiou iu the atonement of Christ. It will be well for us to consider for a moment what is secured by the passing by of ante- Ohristinn sin. When we look into ante-Christian history, we see that, though G,,,l passed by o. good lll'I\I of sin, ho did not pass it ru.l by. 'l'he Doluge, the wug~a:•~e takon on Sodom nnd Gomorrah, the trinls of the chil,lrt>u of hmel iu tho gl't'l\t an,l l1owling wildorness, the perils in the oonquest of Caunnu, the Egyptian nud Baby\,,ni:\n invnsious of Pnlostine, not to mention other instnuces, showt'd th:\t G·od Cl'uld, when he pleased, exoouto fiorco vcngonnco upon mau for his sius. llut a vast nmoWlt of siu 106 nm EPISTLE QF PAUI. 'l'O Tµ,B ROMANS. [en. Ill. 1-3,1.