The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 212

J'or ye reoeived not the apirit of b1J11dage our being as yet in these m'lrlal b'lrlie3 that again unto fear; but ye reoeived the Spirit is the ceuso of our present sufferin"' · but ho of adoption, wherein we ory, Abba, :rather. o.leo was in the body,and he ale,, so "'a~flered • The Spirit itself beareth witneee with onr and our sharing in his sutforiD"3 really spirit, that we are children of God: and if unites us the more to him, and the more children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint- ensure~ our final. in~~ritance with him (cf. heirs with Christ ; if so be that we euffer 2 Cor. 1. 5, 7; Phil. Ill. 10). with him, that we may be also glorified with him. In ver. H: is introduced a further ground The apostle introduces next a deep o.nd for the assertion in ver. 13, (11rr,rr8, ; viz. suggestive view, both in explanation or om the felt Bonship to God of those who have so received his Spirit as to be led (i.e. practi- now being subject to suffering, and in con- cally actuated) by it. We say "felt" because, firmation of our expectation of future glory though Jn this verse the sonship is alleged notwithstanding, He point.a to nature o-ene- as a fact, yet, in the following verses (15, 16) the inward experience of true Christians is a: rally, to Go(l'S whole creation, so far it iii under om view in this mundane sphere, as appealed to as evidence of such sonship. Then, in ver. 17, the thought is carried out, being at present "subject to vanity," and. that sOnBhip implies inheritance, and hence as it were, groaning under some power of a share in the glorified eternal life of Christ. evil, which is at variance with our ideal (Thie conclusion makes further evident what of what it should be, and from which there we.a meant to be implied above in the ex- is a general and instinctive yearning for pression (11rr•rr8e.) "When, after your con- deliverance. Our present sufferings-all version," the apostle would say, "ye received the Spirit, it did not inspire yon with the those drawbacka to the full enjoyment of fear of slaves, but with filial love and trust. our spiritual life-are dne to our being at And this yon know also is the feeling that present in the body, and so forming part of we give vent to in the congregation, when the present system of things. But that we cry out [,cpd(oµev, denoting emotional general yearning is in itself significant of 11 utterance], Abba., Father," This last ex- pression is given by St. Mark as our Lord's deliverance; and so the sympathetic witness own in the garden of Gethsemane (xiv. 86). of nature confirms the hope of om higher We may conclude that the Aramaic word spiritual yearnings, and enconni.ges 1Ill to l,.fJfJa. was the one used by him, and heard endure and wait. Such is the genera.I drift by St. Peter, who is said to have been St. of the passage, continued to the end of ver. Mark's informant in the composition of his Gospel; the equivalent Greek word, 6 1ra:rl1p, 25. Particular thoughts and expressions having been added originally by the evange- will be noticed in the course of it. list in explanation (of. Mark v. 41 and vii. 84 for similar instances of St. Mark Vere. 18, 19.-l!'or I reckon that the giving Christ's own expressions, with their suffering& of this present time are not Greek equivalents). Afterwards it may be worthy to be oompared with the glory further supposed tho.t the Greek-speaking whioh shall be revealed to us-ward. (So, Christians came to use the whole phrase, as as in the Revised Version, or upon 11a, a.;i it had been delivered to them, in their own Tyndale and Cranmer, rather than 111 us, devotions, as representing our Lord's own as in the Authorized Version. The ex- mode of addressing the Fo.ther, o.nd so us ex- pression is «< 11µiis, and the idea is of pressing peculiarly their union with Christ, Obrist appearing in glory, and shedding ;i.nd their filial relation to God in him. It his glory on us, of. I John iii 2.) For the is probable nlso, from tho way St. Paul elll'nest expeotation of the oreature (or, here intmduoes the expression (,cpJ:(oµ,v, creation) wai.teth for the revelation of the oho.nging from the second to the first person sons of God. "Revelatur gloriR : et tlllll pluro.l), thnt it wns in ouetomo.ry use, perhaps revolantur etinm filii Dai" (Bengel). God's n.t some epecio.l ports of the servioo, in con- sons will bo revealed o.s being such, and gregutiono.l worship. It occurs onco more glorified (of. I Cor. iv. 5; Rlso I John iii. 2). in o. pusso.ge closely corresponding with the 'H ,c-r{cm, in this verse and afterwards, has one before us, and which should be studiod been vnriously understood. The word pro- in connection with it (Gul. iv. 6). It is to perly meaus actcu c-reatio11is, Rnd is so ust.>d bc observed how, in vor. 17, the idea of our rn oh. i. 20; but usually iu the New Testa- sonship now, 11\lld coueequontly of our being ment denotes what has been created, as, in ioint-heira with Christ, loads up to a resump- En"'lish, on,ation. Sometimes, where the tion of the now prevailing thought of our context limits its application, it dL'notes present condition in the mortt\l body being mankind, as MRrk xvi. 15 Rnd Col. i. 23 : no bll,l' to our fin11l inheritnuou of lifo. It is or it u1ny be used for nn individu,\I BOlilAlill, l' 21(1 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL 'l'O THE ROMANS. [011, vm. 1-8!!,