The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 256

our anguish. "A man epareth hiaown IOD. that serveth him" all needless toil but the grandest service mny entail the severeet labour. "Though he were a &m, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect he [)P.,carne the Author of eternal salvn.tion." ' II. Tm: ARGUMENT WHIOH TIIIB TRUTH IS USED TO ENFORCE. IC God bestows such a gift, what will he withhold? 1. When we were enemies he 8'Uf'Tendend his ,'Jon on our behalf; how 'ITVUCh will he not do for ua now we arefrienas, The mediation of Christ bath restored us to a covenant position. 2. Jesus Ghrist is the sum of all good gifts, inestimable, unspeakable. Nothing more precious in the eyes of God than his dear Son I It is absurd to suppose that he will refuse us a lesser gift. All good is em bodied in Christ; other blessings are fruits of his tree of life. He is the Sun; other brightness is but beams from that Sun. 3. The gift of Ghrist was for the e:xpre~ purpose of opening a door through which all other good things might pau to m. He is the great Charter of Christian privilege, the Preacher of peace, the Ambassador of reconciliation, the Channel of Divine grace. "All things are yours." 4. As we did nothing to deserve the gift of (Jhrist, so the lesser.blessings to enrich om lives are bestowed. not according to our deserts, but according to God's free bounty. He gives abundantly "without money and without price." 5. The one condition is to receive Christ. These gifts are to be had "with Christ," or not at all What is to be said for him who can treat lightly this stupendous boon? If God spared not his own Son, what must the impenitent expect who refuse to obey the will of God. and harden themselves in unbelief? Turn to him in prayer, and employ the persuasive petition. "for Christ's sake."-S. R. A. Ver. 35.-VictorioUB love. This chapter is like a stream that gathers strength and volume as it flows. Beginning with the Christian's state as one of freedom from condemnation, it ends by placing him on the summit of victory, radiant with the love of God. It is a chapter full of Christ. Christ in humiliation and triumph ; Christ as the Sacrifice in whom sin was condemned, and, as the risen Redeemer, the Firstbom of many brethren; Christ as the present Strength of his people by his indwelling Spirit, and, as seated upon the throne, the perfect Son of God. to whose lineage all the sons are to be conformed. The earnest rhetoric of the apostle leads him to summon e.ll adversaries- to the bar, and challenge them to prove their ability to upset his reasonings and destroy the hopes of the followers of Christ. Who or what shall sever the tie that binds them to their Lord? I. THE BIGNIFIOANOE OF THE OHALLENGE. "Who shall separate ns from the love of Christ?" The passage requires us to understand the expression as referring rather to Christ's love for us than to our response to his love. See the parallelism with ver. 37, "through him that loved us." And ver. 39 speaks of" the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This interpretn.tion loses no shade of meaning, since Christ's affection involves our love in return, as its natural outcome. The expression is, in truth, a description of our religion. To be severed from Christ's love means utter loss. 1. Ghristianity is founded ttpon the love of Ghrist. This looked down pityingly upon our do.rk and helpless world. It shone through all the symbols of the Law, pointing the worshippers to the coming Saviour. It nerved him to endure his anguish in the garden and on the cross. It has provided for man a day of grace, and the endowment of the Spirit to renew and sanctify. 2. The MW life is depende11t on the continued manifestation of this love. Remove the sunlight, and the plant sickens and dies. Let the supply of the air above be stopped, and the diver cannot breathe. Without the love ot' Christ opemting on the heart, the sweetest ordinances lose their savour, communion by reading and prayer is eclipsed, no rainbow brightens the tears of penitence. The love of Christ shed abroad is the root of obedience. From it we draw our most lnfluentio.l motives to holiness and servioe. The lustre of our deeds is marred unless encircled by this golden band. 3. The low Qj Christ i.s the lo1.1e of Gad MNin revealed. Christ is the Horn of ~lenty by whioh the Father would pour into the lap of his children all good things. '.l:o be sundered from this love must signify, therefore, our estrangement from all that lifts us heavenward. Could this happen, Christianity wore stilled into a frozen sea., the ripples and wo.ves remaining in form, but not in motion and might-" waste of desert ioe. The query ia not merely oratorical. Endeavoun 254 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO TIIE ROMANi'S, [ott. vm. 1-39.