The Pulpit Commentary — Hebrews — Section 300

regard the text as the statement of a general truth of the Christian life, as St. Paul use9 lt in Rom. i. 17; Gal. iii. 11. Thus viewe<l, H presents to our notice- I. THE 0HARA0TER BPECIFIED. This is marked by two lea<lin" features. I. Righteousness. "The just," or righteous. 'fhe righteousness of the Chri~tiim is (1) in character. He possesses the forgiveness of sins, and is accepted by God through Jesus Christ, The apostle of the Gentiles sets forth this righteousness: "That I may aait1 Christ, and be foun<l in him, not having a righteousness of mine own," etc. (Phil. iit 9). 'l'he righteousness of the Christian is (2) in conduct. "He that doeth righteousness, i,i righteous" (1 John iii. 7, 10). 2. Religi=sness. The Revised Version gives our text thus: "But my righteous one shall live by faith." This we regard as thfl c•'rrect text. It sets before us one who is godly as well as just, whose righteousness is joined with reverence, and is ex:alted by the union. A man cannot he righteous towards God without being religious. Unless we worship and love and obey him, we do him injus- tice. In the Christian character piety and principle, righteousness and reverence, must go hand in hand. IT. THE LIFE lllENTIONED. We are not acquainted with a satisfactory definition of life. The things of deepest significance and greatest importance defy our powers of definition. So we cannot set forth adequately in a sentence the life spoken of in the text. It is far more than physical and intellectual ex:istence and activity. "Know- ledge, truth, love, beauty, goodness, faith, alone can give vitality to the mechanism of ex:istence." The life of true personal religion is that which our text speaks or. It is the life of supreme love to God, the life of Christ in man. "Christ," says Ca.non Liddon, "is the quickening Spirit of Christian humanity; he lives in Christians ; he thinks in Christians; he acts through Christians and with Christians; he is indissolubly associated with every movement of the Christian's deepest life. 'I live,' exclaims the apostle; 'yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' This felt presence of Christ it is which gives both its form and its force to the sincere Christian life. That life is a loyal homage of the intellect, of the heart, and of the will, to a Divine King, with whom will, heart, and intellect are in close and constant communion, and from whom there flows forth, through the Spirit and the sacraments, that supply of light, of love, and of resolve which enriches and ennobles the Christian soul." III. THE lllEANB OF THIS LIFE. " Shall live by faith." Brief consideration of two points is essential. 1. The nature of this faith. It is far more than the assent of the reason, or apprehension by the reason. It is a moral rather than an intellectual act. "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." "When the soul in very truth responds to the message of God, the complete responsive act of faith is threefold. This act proceeds simultaneously from the intelligence, from the heart, and from the will of the believer. His intelligence recognizes the unseen object as a fact. His heart embraces the object thus present to his understanding; his heart opens instinctively and unhesitatingly to receive a ray of heavenly light. And his will too resigns itself to the truth before it; it places the soul at the disposal of the object which thus rivets its eye and conquers its affections." 1 2. The Object of this faith. Our Lord Jesus Obrist him- self is the grand Object of the faith of the Christian. We accept him in the three great relationships which he sus,l;ains to his true disciples. As our Prophet we exercise faith in him, He claimed to be " the Truth." On all questions of morality and religion, of sin and salvation, of life and death, we bow to him as our infallible Teacher, and unhesi- tatingly accept his Word. We believe in him as our Priest. He has made full atone- ment for sins; he is our perfect Representative with the Father; he is our tender, com- passionate Saviour. To him the heart turns in its sins for forgiveness, in its sorrows for consolation. We loyally accept him also as our King. He is the Sovereign of ou~ will and the Lord of our life. We believe in him as our moral Master, whose authority 1s supreme. 'fhus Christ is the Object of the Christian's faith. "By faith the soul is to be moving ever towards Christ, resting ever upon Christ, living ever in Christ. Christ ls to be the end, the support, the very atmosphere of its life." He who thus believes in him she.II have eternal life (John iii. 16; Eph. ii. 8).-W. J. Ver. 1.-The Law, its service and ie, limits. I. TnE AIM OF Goo. To make men perfect. All God's revelations and the powers belonging to them have this for their 1 • The Divinity of our Lord,' by Canon Liddon. HEBREWS. u  290 THE EPISTLE TO THE HEDREWS, [CH, X, 1-39,