The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 358

Yet tbel'C' is a nist amount of tet1ching power in many Christian congroge.tioua, whioh needs to lx> rnlled out, S.'\nctified, 1md employed in tho holy cause of roliglon, 8, By erhortation, or con~le.tion. T,•achin.,. appeals to tho uuderstauding; exhortation to the heart, the conscience., the will. We are reminded that human uature is reached in various ways. Teaching alone is apt to become dull and mechanical; exhortation, unless based upon sound, sober instruction, is vapid and unpmctioal. It is in the, oombination of the two that a spiritual ministry reaches its perfection. II. GIFTS PRA.OTIOAL A.KD ADllI?-.STRA.TIVE, 1. By mini.stry seems to be meant all practical Rlrvice. The d011oons or ministers of the early Churches were no doubt entrusted with the charge of the poor, and the administration of the secular affairs of the Christian community; yet their service seems to have been varied and general, and was limited only by their own powers and the several opportunities of their lives. The apostle here specifies several forms of ministry, as samples of the rest, and as of peculiar interest and value. 2. These gifts may ta.ke tho practical form of government. Rule is a Divine idea, just as is teaching; and without rule, in some form and to some extent, no society of imperfect human beings can be held together. There is order and rule in the Church, which fails to answer its Founder's ends, and fails to produce a right impression upon the world, unless decency and order and harmony are maintained. There must be rule in the State, which is an organism in which the head must needs direct and control the members. And there should be order and la.w in the household, which should be the Church in miniature. 3. Some possess the gift, and are entrusted with the privilege of giving, of liberality. It is obvious that there is propriety in regarding this as a proper consequence of receiving from Heaven. "Freely ye have received; freely give." Gifts may be either for the relief of the poor a.nd needy, or for the promotion of evangelization. In any case, we a.re here taught that giving should be with simplicity, without ostent.ation, and with a. single eye to the glory of Gou, 4. Closely allied to this gift is that of showing mercy. Whother in ministrations to the aged, the sick, and the dying, in the release or ransom of captives, in the instruc- tion of the young, or in the recovery of the degraded a.nd the lost, there has ever been, and there still is, abundant room in sinful human society for the showing of mercy. We are admonished that this gift-that of compassion and kindness-should be exercised with cheerfulness. There should be a. sense of the dignity a.nd privilege of being called to so Christ-like, so God-like, a. vocation. N~t grudgingly, not even from a. constra.ining sense of duty, merely; but with the spirit of the Divine Physician, the Divine Liberator, should the followers of Jesus engage in these sacred and beautiful minis- trations. Vera. 9, 10.-" Low unfeigned." Church-life is very important; but human life is wider a.nd more important still In the first a.ge, and when Christian communities were few a.nd small and persecuted, the life the followers of J esue led was very much a. life in common, and very distinct from that of the world a.round. We cannot wonder that so many of the a.post.olic coUilBOls and injunctions referred to the conduct of Church-members towards one auother, and towards one another as connected with act~y existing societies. Still, many admonitions were given to Christiane as men and women moving more or less in genera.I society. They were bidden to "honour all men," to "walk in wisdom towards those without." So, in this practical chapter, when Paul has instructed the Roman Christians in their mutual duties as members of a society, and ha.s shown how each ministry is to be discharged, how ea.eh office is to be filled, and how each gift is to be employed, he proceeds to more genera.I counsels. He describes the spirit which is to be displayed in the common intercourse of lifo, both amongst themselves and in their association with the unchristian world. First and foremost among his exhortations is this to brotherly love and kindness. For all pre• cept.s beside are merely the unfolding of that Divine law of charity which is designated "the bond of perfectneBB." L Oonsider THE Dmn: PRIIITOIPLE AND MOTIVE 01' CmnBTIA.N BENl!lVOLENOE AND UlvE. We are sometimes told that mutual good will is evolved in settled society, beir,g found advante.aeous to all, and preferable to sUBpicion, distrust, and ma.levolonce. But the fa.et is tha.t°tbiB is very much a matter of individual character, and tha.t in very primitiv~ eocietiee there &l'e found Christiane who a.re euporior to the malice and 011, xu.1-21.] TlIE EP1STLE OF PA.UL TO THE ROMANS. 357