The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 450

ill. CHRIST RECEIVES MEN nn>ARTIALLY, making no invidious distinctions, 'l'hie Wl\6 Pet.er's argument for the admission of the Gentiles (Acts xi. 17; xv, 9), One presentro at court may demand the countenance of any ambassador; for whom the s,,rerei!{D bath receirro, all her servants must honour. Whom Obrist bath admitted t-0 his grace we are bound to acknowledge. The Saviour on earth demanded sincerity in would- be followers. This is the explanation of any apparent sternness. He would have none enter on a Christian career without counting the cost, and showing a whole- hearted r011diness t-0 obey, Feeble faith, if genuine, he never refused to bless. Hypo- crisy, delusion, he pitilessly unmasked; but trembling seekers he smiled upon with Dinue encouragement. Why distrust his magnanimity now? Why fear a scornful rejection of your prayers and service? IT. CHRIST REGARDS IN ALL THINGS THE GLORY OF GoD. Note his constant reference t.o the Father's will. He preached that misunderstandings respecting God might be cleared away. He relieved and cheered the suffering that they might know and praise the mercy of God. He gave his life that the dark shadow of human guilt might no longer eclipse the glory of the Di'l'ine government. The end cometh, when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to the Father, having subjected all things to God. And through him the same principle actuates his disciples. It is men who have some noble end in view that can rise above petty meannesses and jealousies, caring no longer for personal rank and power, content to be abased if thereby the kingdom of God may be advanced. The zeal of God's house consumes the fleshly, ease-loving, envious "me," and substitutes a bright blaze of pure, affectionate solicitude for God and man. 'l'here are doubtless seasons when individual dignity must be asserted; there is no season when it is not in place to consider the glory of God. That glory includes our own highest good. It is no car of J uggemaut trampling on the devotees; any contradiction is on the surface merely, and in the future life a lasting reconciliation shall be seen established between man's satisfaction and the authority of his Ma.ker.-S. R. A. Ver. 13.-Hopefulness prayed for. The sense of a passage is clearer if the connection with the context be ascertained. The Revised Version, by translating the same root- worc. in the same manner, enables the reader to take up the thread of thought from the twelfth veISe.. Goests introduced to the same host are placed on terms of fellowship with each other.· So Jew and Gentile had been received by Jesus Christ, in whom the veracity of God towards the Jews had been confirmed, and his mercy displayed towards the Gentiles. Thus both conld unite in praising God, as had been predicted by the Law, the Psalms, and the prophets. "In him shall the Gentiles hope." And this leads the apostle to utter the supplication of the text. L THE TITLE GIVEN TO Gon. " The God of hope." The names of God in the Scrip- tures emphasize his personality and close relationship with his creatures more than any designations in philosophy or mythology. He has established a plan of salvation which is the substantial warrant for hope, and, besides this objective provision, does him.self inspire hope subjectively in his people. The bestowment of every grace is attributed to him. Naturally does the apostle, in his anxiety for the hopefulness of Christians invoke a blessing from the God of hope. Our prayers are fashioned according to our con~ption of the Hearer of prayer. Hope concerns two things-what we desire, and. what we anticipate. When either of these characteristics is absent, hope fails. And we are not to imagine that hope belongs only to us limited beings ; for though to the omniscient eye the future is visible, G~, l~e our~el_ves, cherishes confident e~pec!a- tions. He, too, welcomes the era when h!B fair dom1Inons shall not be defiled with sm. He is as much delighted with the prospect of triumphant grace as any of us can be. If we wonder why the period is not hastened, the solution is to be found in the nature of man. Forcibly to overcome man's power of resistance would be to destroy the plant in the moment of its flowering, or to crush the drowning in the very act of rescue. The trophie6 of redemption are to be monuments of moral suasion. 'l'ho kingdoin spreads Lot by sword aod garments rolled in blood, but by the kindling of the fuel of love in tht heart of man. What an idea of the patience of the Almighty is prescnt,•.d in the myriad 8.f!:e5 through which this earth has been slowly prepared for the residence ot mari ! We are like children, w4o caon,;>t wait ch.cerfullr for tile 0OIJling feast; we loso heart if the cliariot delay■. • oa. xv. 1-33.J THE EPlS'l'LE OF PAUL TO 'l'HE ROMANS. 449