The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 173

thoae who believe on f/WJ Lord JeB'll,B shall Uve with him /fJ'T ll1llf'f', "I am the Resurrec- tion, and the Life : he that believeth in me, though ~e were dead, yet SQall he liv~" (John xi, 25), And here the apostle says, "Now 1f we be dead witb Cbrist, we believe that we shall also live with him" (ver. 8). Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He bas satisfied the yearning of the human heart for a life beyond the present-a yearning so strong that one of the greatest thinkers of our own time, though the logical conclusion of his system is universal death, nevertheless tries to avoid or overcome this dreary prospect by the suggestion that out of this death another life may spring. Our poet-laureate has expressed that yearning thus. Speaking of love, he says- " He seeks at last Upon the last and sharpest height Before the spirits fade away, Some landing-place, to clasp and say, 'Farewell I We lose ourselves in light I'" Yes, it is when the grave is near, it is when our loved ones are ruddenly taken from us by death, that we learn what a precieus truth the resurrection of Jesus is to rest on. III. TrrE PBAOTIOAL LESSONS WHIOH IT CONVEYS, "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (ver. 4); "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (ver. 12). Elsewhere the apostle expresses the same truth. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God " (Col. iii. 1). This is the practical power of the fact and doctrine of the Resurrection. If we have in our hehrts the hope of being with Christ, what a transforming influence that hope should exercise upon our lives ! We should "yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (ver. 13). Thus the risen life of Christ enters into and becomes part of the present life of his people. Thus their life enters into and becomes part of his, "Our life is hid with Christ in God."-C. H. L Vers, 15-23.-The two services and their rewards. In the closing part of the fifth chapter, and throughout this chapter, the apostle is contrasting the operation of two great principles. The one is tbe principle of sin; the other is the principle of righteousness. He compares them to two kings reigning in the world, controlling men's lives, and influencing men in certain directions and to certain actions. Sin reigns unto death. That has been its operation all through hum3,n history. But 3, new power has entered to dispute its influence. That power is the free grace of God, exhibited in Christ, God's Son. That power operates in righteousness. It provides a righteousness/or men by the blood of Christ. It produces a righteousness in men. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abour..d: that as sin bath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." And now in these immediate verses St. Paul is making an appeal to his readers. He has set beforo them the two great principles. He has contrasted them in their opero.tion and their results. Now he makes th4 matter persrmal. He enforces his appeal by the question of the sixteenth verse," Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" And then be says, "As ye he1ve yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (ver, 19). I. EvEnY LIFK IS A SERVIOE OP' SOME SORT, 1, 8oTM are Slll'Va11ts of the love of money. Of money and how to make it they are always thinking; for the sake of it they will go through many risks and toils and hardships. Their first question about everything is, "Will it pay?" and all their money-gl'l\8ping does not pay them in the end. They may have much goods lnid up for m!\Ily years; they may have g,,od 1ecuritios for their investments; but they have made no provision for tht'ir imm,,rtal souls; thoy ho.ve laid up no tronsure that will be of use to them beyoud the grnve. 'l'ho.t is a poor service for a boing who mUllt soon go into tho prosence of the eternal 170 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [on. VI, 1-28,