The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 158

for through these we reach the power of patient endurance (r,,,.oµwf,), and through the power of patient endurance we reach experience (5o,uµ.~, which means the rmdt af the probation, as well as tbe "probation" itself, and the former gives here, notwithetandin.,. the Revisers, the better sense); land through experience we reach hope-the hope of heavenly glory, since as its earnest there ie shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost a consciousness that we are the objects of the Divine love. The hope can never be disappointed. We have a " present heaven" in our happy assurance of God's love. We have passed out of the gloom into the gladness, and beyond us and awaiting ns there lies the glory. Thus our tribulations conduct us to assurances of Divine love such ae we could not otherwise enjoy. II. THE NATURAL mBTOBY OJ!' TB& DIVINE LOVE. (Vere. 6-10.) The apostle, to confirm believers in the assurance of God's love, proceeds to exhibit its history. 1. And he shows its sovereign character. That is to say, it was when we were without strength, when we were helpless and hopeless in our guilt, that God gave love's greatest proof in Christ dying for the ungodly. It was, therefore, no reason in us, bnt solely the exercise of God's sovereign love, which led to the death of Jesus for the ungodly. 2. The death of Jesus is the great dem<>nstratiM of Gorl's me. Men have occasionally sacrificed their lives for good men, never for a merely just one; but God in Christ sacrificed his life for those who are yet sinners. No mightier demonstration of Divine love can be imagined than this dying of God's Son for sinners. And it is well here to notice that as a" trinitarian transaction," as Shedd has happily put it, God in Christ's death exhibits "hie own love" (Revised Version). Through the unity of Father and Son in the Divine essence, the death of Jesns is really the self-sacrifice of God. It is, therefore, the most marvellous of all exhibitions of love. 3. The re.mrredi<m-life of Jesus is the great guarantee of our salvation from Divine 'IDTaih. Jesus died to secure our justification. We are justified by his blood. In this God ha.s reconciled us to himself. The resurrection of Jesus is accordingly the proof that God is satisfied with his own self-sacrifice in Jesus Christ, and so his wrath is turned a.way from us through the spectacle of a risen Saviour. "The highest form of love," says Shedd. "that, namely, of self-sacrifice, prompts the triune God to satisfy his own justice, in the room and place of the sinner who has incurred the penalty of jnstice. In the work of vicarious e.tonemeut, God himself is both the offended and the propitiating party. Thie i~ taught in 2 Cor. v. 18, 'God hath reconciled ns to himself;' CoL i. 20, 'To reconcile all things to himself.' God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, is Judge, Priest, e.nd Sacrifice, all in one Being. The common objections to the doctrine of the pro- pitiation of the Divine anger rest upon the unitarinn idea. of the Deity. According to this view, which denies personal distinctions in the essence, God, if propitiated, most be propitillted by another being than God. Christ is merely a creature. The influence of the atonement upon God is, therefore, a foreign influence from the sphere of the finite. But, according to the trinitarian idea of the Supreme Being, it is God who propitiates God. Both the oiigin e.nd the influence of the atonement are persona.I, and not foreign, to the Deity. The transaction is wholly in the Divine Essence. The satisfaction of justice, or the propitiation of anger (whichever terms be employed, and both a.re employed in Scripture) is required by God, and made by God." It is a risen Saviour, living and reigning, who saves us from fear of Divine wrath and assures us of acceptance. III. Joy TIIROUGB RECEIVING TB& RECONCILIATION. (Ver. 11.) Now, when we appreciate God's wondrous love in providing n reconcilintiou, then we receive it by faith, and find ourselves constrained to rejoice in God who could so provide for us. Moreover, it is clear from the term "received" ( llt..dfJoµ..,,) that the "reconciliation" (itcz'Talt..lt..a-r¾,) ie not something paid by the sinner, but something divinely provided which he.a to be ncoepted. It is an additional obligation imposed, not a price pa.id. God is so regal ns to "reconcile himself," nnd then ask us to receive the benefit thereot: We ought to rejoice in such n God. Verily his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor his ways our wnys. The justified hM·e every reason to be joyful in their King.-R. M. E. Vore. 12-21.-R';llresentative responsibility. In ll\st section we saw the blesse.i ate.to into whioh the JUstified boliovor comes-I\ state of pence, of gmcious acceptance. 1 See Shedd, ,n loo. 154 TIIE EPIBTLE OF PA.UL TO 'l'HE ROM.ic\.NB. [oH, v.1-21,