The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 448

,el'8. 3, 4-.-Unselfi-shness. That alliance is beneficial which lends tho aid or the strong to bear the burdens of the weak. Sympathy renders this possible by its real participation in another's distress. Sometimes the infirmities of others are succoured by ~-ielding up our own gratification, or by restricting our own liberty in order not to shock the scruples of the less enlightened. What is our guide in such cases? 'l'he reply is-To live in the spirit of Christ, to walk as he walked. l. CHRIST HAS Th"TBODUCEn Th"'I'O MORALS A BEAUTIFUL MODEL AND A POWERFUL MOTIT'E. His pattern life is best appreciated by comparing it with ancient heathen manners. The impossibility of inventing such an ideal is the proof of the genuineness of the Gospel narratives. The story is vivid and consistent because a record of fact. An ~ample instructs more than any prolixity of statement or precept. Lecturers know this by their illustrations and experiments. It is one thing to hear of truth, goodness, be.auty, from the lips of Plato; quite another to see it live and breathe before our eyes. Cicero could describe the "perfect man" according to his conceptions of perfection; Christ alone exemplified it. And the relationship of Christ to his followers, as not only Teacher but Saviour, imparts tenfold force to his example. He has definite claims upon our obedience, and dearest links of love bind us to the imitation of our Master. His life on earth has been a stream irrigating the parched desert, and has taught us how to make ca.nals of philanthropic benevolence, deriving their idea and element from the river of his love. In fanatical Jerusalem and luxurious Antioch, in philosophic Athens and pleasure-loving Corinth, in colonial Philippi and imperial Rome, this river of grace proved its power to fertilize and beautify. And to-day we trace a likeness to Christ in the missionary, content to dwell in malarial swamps, and yield his life for the ea.lvation of the degraded ; in the tired mother cheerfully continuing at her household toil whilst she uplifts her thoughts to the Redeemer; and in the Church officer leaving Lis comfortable fireside after his day's work is done to minister to a brother in sickness. In the repression of a hasty word and biting sarcasm, in the gift un.ostent.ationsly placed in the hands of the poor, we behold reflected the self-sacrifice of Christ. II. 7HE FEATURE OF C,'inusT'S LIFE ON WBICH STRESS IS HERE LAID. He was unselfish; he ,. pleased not himself." Thie does not imply that he felt no personal pleasure in his mission of mercy. "I delight to do thy will, 0 my God." But: 1. ~ IIOU{Jht Mt to promote hui QW11, ease and comf<>rt, but the edification of otl,ers. Ho would not pander to vitiated taste; he taught what men most needed to know, not what gratified the vanity of his hearers, though he, thereby aroused their enmity and created the storm which bnrst in wrath upon his head. At great cost of physical labonr and spiritual weariness he performed works of love. See him asleep from fatigue in the heaving vessel, and fainting under the load of his cross. 2. Ee glorified not l,imJJel,f, but the work he came to accumpluh. He might have summoned angels to his Birie, he n.igbt have led an uprising of the populace, have overawed the rulers, and selected the wisest and wealthiest as his companions and disciples. But the truth was more than all to him. His meat and drink were to do the will of his Father. He bad left for this the splendour of the upper realms, and stooped to.the form of a. servant, and the obedience of a shameful, agonizing death. IIL To FOLLOW (,'JIB.18'1' IS TO HAKE THE OLD TESTAMENT A WELLSPRING OJI' PATIE~CE AND HOPE. 'rhe persecution which Christ met with showed him treading in the steps of Scripture berot:s. The l~nguaP.~ of t_he psalmil!t is quoted b_y the apostle 11e typically exprClll!ing the lot of Cbnst. lbe clucf pangs of a. devoted life are ~11.usod r,y the opposition c,f an ungodly world. Our Lord exposed the hollow pretensions of the Ji:witiu religior,iBts by declaring that true love tu God in the heart would listen to the U::ac:Ling~ .,f Lie Son, would acknowledge in him the promised MeBBinh, and would r ~ iD his dt:OOB the echo of the Scriptures. It fortifies Cbristiau sufferers to CH, xv.1-38.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS.