The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 393

tioulnr, though tl10 lnstcmoes of tmnegrossion "the Lor<l delllycth his Cl)ming," anrl ma.y tluit follow 1uo from the Dece.Iogno. 'fhe still dela.y it, yet to each of us at least this idtio. of tho po.ss11ge is but a co.rrying out present world is fast pasRing A.way, and th'l of our Lord's so.ying, Mo.tt. u:ii. 89, 40. Wo find it o.lso in Go.I. v. 14 more shortly Lord may be close a.t ha.n,t to ca.11 llR out expressed. J'or this, Thon shalt not oom- of it. The dnty of watchfulness and pre- mit adnltery, Thon shalt not kill, Thon paredness remains nnchanged. The Par- aha.It not steal, Thon shalt not bear false ousia, or, as it is called in the pastoral witness, Thon ahalt not oovet ; and if there Epistles, the Epiphany (in 2 TheBs. ii. 8, be any other oommandment, it is briefly l1r,rpave(c, T71r ,rapourr/ar) of Chrlet is here, as oomprehended (or, summed up) in this saying, namely, Thon ahalt love thy neighbour as elsewhere, presented nnder the fign:re of the thyself, Love worketh no ill to his neigh- day appearing (cf. 1 Cor. iii. 13; Eph. v. bour; therefore love is the fnlfilling of law. 14; 1 Thess. v. 4; Heh. x. 25; 2 Pet. i. 19), the previons ages of the world being re- ·vers. 11-14.-There is now interposed garded as the time of night. The fignre among;the partionlar admonitions a call to is found in the prophets with reference to wo.tchfulness, with a view to holiness in all that day-the coming day of the Lord (cf. relations of life, on the ground that the day e.g. Isa. ix. 2; lx. 1-3; Mai. iv. 2). But ia at hand. There can be little, if any, though the day has not yet come, Christians donbt that the apostle had in view the are viewed as already in the radiance of it.a second coming of Christ, which he with dawn, in which they can walk as children others supposed might be close at hand, of the day, and be on the watch, and not Our Lord had so.id that of that day none be surprised asleep, or doing the deed3 of knew but the Father (Matt, xxiv. 36; Mark darkness, when the full daylight bursts xiii. 32; cf. Acts i. 7), and that it wonld upon them. For in the first advent of come unexpectedly (Matt. xxiv. 27, 37--44; Christ the day dawned, thongh, to those Mark xiii. 86). Further, in the same who loved darkness rather than light, but addresses to the disciples before his death as a light that shineth in darkness, and the in which these things were ea.id, he seems darkness comprehended it not (John i 5, to have disclosed a vista of the future, seq. ; iii. 19, ,eq. ; cf. 2 Pet. i 19; 1 John after the manner of the ancient prophets, ii. 8; and also Luke i 78, seq_. ; ii 32). in which more immediate and more distant fulfilments of the prophetio vision were not Vers. 11, 12.-And that (for a similar nse clearly distinguished; so that words which of 1<al Toii-ro, or ,cc,l Taiin, cf. 1 Cor. n. S; we now perceive to have pointed to the Eph. ii. 8; Phil. i. 28 ; Heb. :i:. 25 ; :i:i. destruction of Jerusalem, which was typical 12), knowing that it is high time for yon to awake out of sleep (more literally, that of the final judgments, might easily have it is the hour for you to be already roused out been understood o.s referring to the latter. of sleep); for now is our 1111.lvation nearer Such are, " This generation shall not pass (or, now is salvation nearer to us. The till a.11 these things be fulfilled" (Matt. 1alvati011 here meant is "the re;titution of xxiv. 34; Mark xiii. SO; of. also John xxi. all things" (.A.cts iii. 21), the "manifesta- tion of the sons of God" (eh. viii. 19), •· the 22, 23). Hence it was natura.J that the regeneration" (M11tt. m. 2S), the ,; gather- a.postolio Church should regard the seoond ing together in one of llll things in Christ:" a.dvent o.s probably imminent. We find in (Eph. i. 10), which is yet to come) than the apostolic Epistles several intimations of when we believed ( i.e. than tchen u·e Jirst this expeotation (cf. 1 These. iv. 13, seq.; became belieti81'B ; cf. Acts xi:s:. 2; 1 Cor. iii. 5; xv. 2; Gal. ii. 16. Time has been 2 Cor. Y. 2-5; Phil. iv. 5; Heh. x. 25; gradually advancing since then, bringing 1 Pet. iv. 7; 1 John ii. 18, 28; Rev. xxii. the consummation we look for ever ne=r). 20); and though it wns not re111ized in the The night iB far spent, the day is at hud ; event, the authority of the apostles as let us therefore put off the works of inspired teachers is not thus dispamged, darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Fcrmor habits of lifo are hL'n-, this being the very thing which Ohrist h11d as elsewhere, re!?ll?de,l as clothing ouco snid must rem11in unknown to a.JI. Nor worn-a ml\n'a h,iliitual invest:nent, though docs their tenohing, enforced by this ex- not port of hi~ re~~ solf-"'.1:1.ic~ is to _be p"t pootation, lose its force to us; for, though off (of. Eph. lT, -2; Col. w. ~. 9); !Ilstclld  391 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [on. mt.1-H.