The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 356

Vers. ~ - G r @ e afld gifts. It is prosumed that every member not only refre.i.ns from disparaging or envying the offices of fellow-members, but fulfils his own office. And it is also presumed that, as there is no member in the human body without a function, so, in Christian society, the Creator and Lord has a.ssigned to every individual a pla.ce to fill, a work to do, and service to render as well as to receive. In this com- prehensive passage several great principles are explicitly or implicitly presented, I. GoD's G&ACE ACOOtn."TS FOR BUJU.N GIFl'S, We spee.k. of our fellow-creatures' "gift.."," and say of some that they are " gifted," that they "have talents; " but what is involved in this la.ngne.,,ue does not always come before our minds. Yet, if from the Father of lights cometh down every good gift and every perfect boon, surely the gifts of intellect and heart, the gifts of sympathy and ministration, are as truly and really from above, as are those we term the gifts of Providence. The risen and glorified Redeemer bestows gifts upon men. The Holy Spirit is given, and that Spirit's presence imparts moral power and adaptation a.nd influence. Freely, and not of constraint, or because of our desert, is the Spirit given. It is ours to receive with gratitude, and to use with fidelity; bnt our receiving and employing a.re only possible through Divine grace and liberality. II. GoD'6 I:!!.""FD."TrE RESOURCEB SUPPLY JU.N's MANIFOLD NEED. We may well admire the goodness of our Father in heaven, in the bestowal of his gifts; his bounty, manifest in the universal diffusion of those gifts; and his wisdom, conspicuous in their endless variety. God has created man with m.a.ny wants, and has so constituted human society that "no man liveth unto himself;" that we are mutually dependent one upon another for all our knowledge, happiness, and means of usefulness, Every co~aregation of Christians may be regarded as a collection of spiritual, as well as of more obvious and physical, necessitie.~. The young need to be taught a.nd trained; the misled need to be recovered; the feeble need to be confirmed; the sorrowful need to be comforted; the presnmptuoue need to be repressed; the petulant and quarrelsome need to be corrected; the inexperienced need to be advised. These, and other cases, can only be met by a provision inexhaustible in quantity and exquisitely adapted in character. In this a.nd parallel passages the apostle takes pleasure in dwelling upon the vastness and variety of the resources which the Lord of all places at the disposal of hiB people. It is indeed a delightful thought : "All things are yours," etc. III. THE WORK OF CHRISTUNB IN THIS WORLD IB THE FULFILLING A TRUST FBOM Gon. We live, not certainly to seek our own pleasure, not certainly to respond to every passing axial impulse, not even merely to develop our own nature and cultivate our own powers. We are summoned to take a higher view of life a.nd its opportunities. As St. Peter expresses it, " According as each hath received a gift, ministering it among yourselves, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God," It is good for the young and unformed to come under the control of a superior human mind and will, and ISO to shape life a.e to secure approval and commendation from a master, a leader, How much better for UB all to live as those whose fidelity the Master in heaven is testing, and who are held reepon.sible to him! When we read of God's gifts, we are not to infer that we possess them absolutely, in such a sense that it is in our option either to nse or neglect them, that we are at liberty to treat them otherwise than as a Bncrcd trw1t. On the contrary, "every one of ue must give an account of himself to God." '1'11: talent.a the Lord h.u entnated to his servants are for them eo to employ thot, wl..l!ll he comes in judgment, they may give in their account with joy and not with gritf. l V. EVERY CJUUi!'l'U.1" U1 CALLZD ·.ro UIIE IUI! Oll"T8 iron TIIE DENEl'l'!' 011' UIS on, xu.1-21,] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 8M