The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 247

expiRtion, and the effectiveness of the finished sRcrifice. IC Raised for [i.e. becauso of] our ju~tificat.ion" (eh. iv. 26). (3) The eXRltation, as the resurrection completed la the c,,mplet-ing of the guarantee that we are accepted in him. And he is our Fdre- nmner. (4) 'l'he intercession, as the work of the exalted High Priest, ia the continuous applic.at-i0n of the atoning work, in itself for ever finished and for ever guaranteed. F,,r returning prodigals, and for us with our frailties who have believed, he "ever lh·et.h to make intercession," and is therefore IC able to se.ve unto the uttermost." Oh, then, whether we look to God who has chosen and justified us, or to him whom God hat-h set forth as a Propitiation, and again declared to be his Son, well-pleasing and beloved, by the raising from the dead; whether we r~cre.rd God in Christ as the &urce of our salvation, e.s the Eff'ecter of salvation, or e.s the Manifester of salvation; whether we think of the past, the present, or the future in Christ ;-in any case we can take up the triumphant challenge given us by Paul, " It is God that justifieth; who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ Jesus," etc.-T. F. L. Vers. SS-89.-7'1.e great persuasion. This second special question which Paul asks has reference to that final glorifying of believers by God, that perfect conformation to the image of his Son, which is the import of his purpose concerning them, the goal of all his working. The "love of Christ," or the "love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," is represented as laying hold of them with a firm grasp, to rescue them from death, and t.o raise them to perfect newness of life ; and the apostle asks, in view of all possible evils which might seem to threaten the accomplishment of such purpose, assuming, of course, their own continued loyalty of heart, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? " and, as he recapitulates all actual or imagined perils, the ready an._<:Wu still breaks forth from his lips," Nought, nought shall separate us from the love oi God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" We have, then, here for our consideration -love; love's hindrances ; love's triumph. L Lovx. The great truth, great beyond all others, fande.mental to all others ; the truth to which all the revelations were designed to lead, and in which they culminate; the troth set forth so wondrously in the life and death of Christ, is this, that "God is lo-n."' This love was manifest in man's creation, and in the rich resources of man's world, furnished for man's sake with such liberal lavishment; it was manifest yet more in man's redemption, and in the rich resources of man's spiritual world, prepared and furnished for man with infinite tenderness. And how has it not been ma.nifest to each of the called ones, laying hold of them, lifting them from the depths, setting them even now in heavenly places, and destining them, as joint-heirs with Christ, to all the blessedness of an immortal future I II. LoVE's HINDII.A11CES. But this love has its seeming hindrances; shall they obstruct the accomplishment of its designs? 1. Death a'fld life. (1) Death was no fancied evil then; for, as he tells us, it was only too true that "for God's sake they were killed all the de.y long, accounted as sheep for the slaughter." And in another place he speaks of being, as it were, "appointed to death" (1 Cor. iv. 9). And again (1 Cor, xv. 31) he aays," I die daily." Not mere talk, for we know how in reality this was the seal of their witneu-bearing. The Boman Christia.as, in after-times-in what terrors was not death arrayed t.o them? AB under Nero. And so whenever the beast-the brute power of ungodliree• has made war with the saints (Rev. xiii. 7). And even now in the forefront of the conflict there is death for Christ's sake; and to all there is the dread dying that sooner or later must end this mortal strife. (2) But the life itself is filled with jeopardy. Perhaps really more trying test than any martyrdom: latter once for all, and glory round ii; former protracted and commonplace. (a) Positively: dangers ar,d difficulties of circnmetance a.ad event ; moral difficulties, as world's reproach, and opposing one's self to stream of CUBtom; and difficulties relating t.o one's own patient cr,otinuance in well-doing. (b) Negatively: the allurements of temptation; repetition c,f primal fall. Thus life perpetually tries us. 2. .Angel, and principalitie11. Eph. vL upens our eyes to the tremendo'IIJI forces arrayed against us. Bo Bunyan's allegory no fictiur,. There is a real, objective opposition of" spiritual wickedneBB" against us, and of what strength and subtlety who shall ll!IY? And through the medium of the strongth ar,,i autl,ority of the "powers" of this wodd ; 1111 Roman emperor■. 8. Heiglit anll depth. Great exaltation, of thi, life or of the spiritual life, ha• its besetting tompta- 011. vm. l-89.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 246