YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE LIBRARY OF THE
DIVINITY SCHOOL

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION

EPISTLE OP PAUL TO THE ROMANS.

" Cum epistola haec Pauli ad Eomanos, unica totius Scripture sit me-
thodus, et absolutissima epitome Novi Testamenti, seu Evangelii, quod ipsa
certe, vel sola breviter et purissime tradit ; dignam sane existimo, quae non
modo ab omnibus Christianis imbibatur a teneris, edidiscaturque ad verbum,
sed et qu£e assidua et perpetua meditatione, ceu ruminata et concocta, haud
aliter atque probe digestus cibus, in intima animi viscera trajiciatur. Tam
dives autem hsec epistola est spiritualium opum thesaurus, et ceu opulentis-
simum quoddam copise cornu, ut millies perlegenti semper occurrat novum
aliquid; adeo ut ha3C lectio longe omnium utilissima, quod in eruditione
rerum sacrarum, cognitione Christi, discenda natura fidei, omnium spiritu
alium affectuum vi cognoscenda, altius provehat, subinde tibi inter manus
crescat, semperque major, jucundior, preciosior, opulentior seipsa fiat." —
Luthekus, Prsef. in Ep. ad Rom.
" Subtilis est Paulus, ingeniosus, sententiisque abundans, sed parcus ssepe
verborum ; et conjuncta in eo est summa sententiarum varietas et crebritas,
et cum disputationis concitatione, qua? abundantium et ferventium Scrip-
torum propria est ; et cum orationis ubertate quam eloquentia gignit, ex
animi commotione et pietate nata." — Fkitzsche. The following character of
Varro by Cicero might seem intended for Paul : — " Prjeceps quaedam, et
cum idcirco obscura quia peracuta, turn rapida et celeritate caecata oratio :
sed neque verbis aptiorem cito alium dixerim, neque sententiis crebriorem."
—Brut., 76.

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION

THE EPISTLE OF PAUL THE APOSTLE

THE EOMANS.

BY JOHN MOWN, D.D.,
SENIOR MINISTER OF THE UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION, BROUOHTON
PLACE, EDINBURGH, AND PROFESSOR OF EXEGETICAL THEOLOGY
TO THK UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

At tvrttrToTiMi tov Uotv^ov 7ruevf^Qt,rQg ilai f^irahXa, xcci TTYiycti' frLrot.'h.'hcx.
fi&iv, on %pvo~iov 7Tix.vr6g rt^ctarspov qpitv ira.pk^fivoi tt'Kqvtov' •jTYiyal Be, on
ovbiiroTS tttTittwovat' «aa' ogou a.v KSt/aaYjg tx.s7fatit roaovroej kcu 7roAAp taIo^,
intppel 'ra.'htv. — Chrysostom.

NEW YORK :
ROBERT CARTER AND BROTHERS, 530, BROADWAY.
1857.

" He that would have an enlarged view of true Christianity, would do
well to study the Epistle to the Romans." — Locke.

" If in things which are not directly of faith, I could cease to be a sceptic,
I should give St Paul, for head' and heart, that throne in heaven which is
placed next to Jesus Christ." — Lord Bkook.

MURRAY AND G1BU, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.

TO
THE VERY REV. JOHN LEE,
D.D., M.D., LL.D., SS.T.P., VP.E.S.E.,
PRINCIPAL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, DEAN OF THE CHAPEL ROVAL,
Mr Dear Principal,
This Dedication, ivhile expressive of high
respect for your remarkable endowments and acquirements, for the dis
tinguished station these have won for you, and for the exemplary manner
in which you perform its duties, is chiefly meant by me, as I believe
it will be chiefly valued by you, as a token of personal regard from one
of your oldest friends.
It is just about sixty years since we first met, as felloiv-students,
in the halls of that University over which you now preside. Though
necessarily a good deal separated by the widely different spheres of duty
we have been called to fill, we have never, during that long period, lost
sight of each other, nor ever looked towards each other with any feeling
but respect and good will ; and now, at its close, we are so happy as to
find, amid the shipwrecks of many literary and ecclesiastical friendships
on all sides, that in our case the liking of youth has ripened into the
esteem of age — to be perfected, let us hope, in the friendship of heaven.
Believe me to be,
Mr Dear Principal,
Yours respectfully and affectionately,
JOHN BROWN.

o u.r/u.7.r,T0i ijficoi/ clteXipos TLctv7\QS ku-to. tvji/ eevr^ oofcioav ooQiocv
'iypa.-tyi Cfilv . . "hccXoiy . . . 7repi rolnruv fv oi$ tori ovovoyiTk Ttvu.. —
Her. 'Et. AgVT. T. is, /$-'•
" No doubt Paul's writings do contain ' things hard to be understood ; '
but that is a reason why Christians should take the more pains to understand
them, and why those who are commissioned by the chief Shepherd for that
purpose, should the more diligently explain them to their flocks." — Whatelt.
Essays on the Writings of St Paul, Ess. ii. sect. 2.

PREFACE.

The interpretation of ancient writings, such as the
Phaedo of Plato, the Poetics of Aristotle, the Cato
Major of Cicero, or the Epistle to the Romans of Paul,
is necessarily a work of some complexity and difficulty.
To its right performance, it is requisite to be so ac
quainted with the language in which the work is writ
ten, as to be familiar with the principles of its con
struction, and the meaning of its words and phrases ;
to know the peculiar circumstances and habits of
thought of the writer, and of those for whom his
work was primarily intended, both of which are likely,
in some degree, to have influenced him in his use
of the language ; and, moreover, to be able to de
termine, on sound principles, the subject and method
of the work, the object which the writer has in view,
and the means which he employs for gaining it.
We are warranted, then, to expect, in an expositor, a

PREFACE.

competent knowledge of Grammar, of History, and of
Logic, as without these he cannot rightly perform his
functions ; and to hold that an exposition, of any of
the sacred books, to be thoroughly satisfactory, must
be at once Grammatical, Historical, and Logical. This •
is requisite, whether the main object be the unfolding
of principles or the illustration of the influence of these
principles, in moulding the character and guiding the
conduct ; whether the exposition be intended to be
doctrinal, or experimental, or practical, or, as it should
be, all these combined.
To produce such an Exposition of the Epistle to
the Romans would be to bestow, on the church and on
the world, a boon of inappreciable value. Such a
work remains to be executed ; and its accomplishment
may well be an object of ambition to Christian scholars
of the highest abilities, and the most extensive attain
ments. Much, indeed, that is valuable, has been
written on this marvellous book ; but a complete
Exposition of it is still a desideratum. " Multum
adhuc restat operis, multumque restabit."1
It is more than forty years since the Epistle to the
Romans became to me an object of peculiar interest,
and the subject of critical study. At that time T
\ Seneca, Ep. (j4.

PREFACE. ix
wrote considerably ample illustrations of it, with such
helps as were within my reach. These were compara
tively scanty. In addition to my Greek Testament,
Lexicon, and Concordance, Poli Synopsis, a book
which it would be difficult to praise beyond its merits,
Bengel's Gnomon, and Koppe's Annotations, with
Whitby, Locke, and Taylor, formed my principal
critical apparatus. Since that time, many Exege
tical works, of great and varied merit, have appeared,
having for their object the Exposition of this Epistle.
Besides those most valuable helps to the study of
the New Testament generally — Robinson's Lexicon,
Winer's Grammar of the New Testament Idioms, and
Davidson's Introduction to the JSfew Testament — I
need only mention the works of Tholuck, Bohme,
Fritzsche, Olshausen, Stuart, Hodge, Turner, Barnes,
and Alford. These works, and an endless variety
of illustrations of particular passages in the Epistle,
in the Opuscula of German Exegetes, many of them of
great value, have been carefully consulted by me ; and
my illustrations, corrected and enlarged by an increas
ing acquaintance with the inexhaustible subject, have,
in substance, been repeatedly, though in different forms,
presented to Christian congregations, and to classes of
Theological Students.
Under the impression that I might be able to shed

PREFACE.

some new light on the general design of the Epistle,
and on some of the more important and obscure
passages in it, I, at one time, entertained the de
sign of either publishing, or leaving for publication,
an Exposition which might have some claim to the
threefold appellation of a Grammatical, Historical, and
Logical Commentary. The work is still, however,
so far from being what I think it ought to be, that,
at my advanced period of life, I cannot reasonably
expect to be able to complete it, in the way that
could be desired, and I have, therefore, given up,
not without a struggle, this long and fondly cherished
expectation. Yet I am unwilling to go hence without leaving
some traces of the labour I have bestowed on this
master-work of the apostle — without contributing
some assistance, however limited, toward the produc
tion of what, whenever produced, will mark an era in
the history of Scriptural Exegesis — a Complete Expo
sition of the Epistle to the Romans. Forbidden to
build the temple, I would yet do what I can to furnish
materials to him who shall be honoured to raise it.
For the last twelve months, my principal occupation
has been, so to condense and remodel my work, as to
present, in the fewest and plainest words, what appears
to me the true meaning and force of the statements,

PREFACE.

contained in this Epistle, of the doctrine and law of
Christ, and of the arguments in support of the one,
and the motives to comply with the other ; and to do
this, in such a form as to convey, so far as possible,
to the mind of the general reader, unacquainted with
any but the vernacular language, the evidence on
which I rest my conviction, that such is the import of
the apostle's words.
In carrying out this plan, I have, as a matter of
course, confined myself chiefly £o what may be termed
Logical or Analytical Exposition. To the unlearned,
grammatical interpretation can only, within narrow
limits, be made intelligible, and within still narrower
bounds, interesting ; and the force of evidence by
which a particular conclusion is come to, on gram
matical principles, they can scarcely at all appre
ciate. From similar causes, they can derive but little
advantage, even from what is termed Historical inter
pretation. But, among this class, there are to be found not a
few who, in the exercise of a sound mind, are equally
good judges as the learned, as to the clearness of a
statement, the appositeness of an illustration, the
point of an antithesis, the weight of an argument,
and the force of a motive ; and when they are made
to see that, without using undue freedom with the

PREFACE.

words of the inspired author, in a translation which
they have reason to think upon the whole faithful,
the book is made to appear to have one grand object
successfully prosecuted by a set of appropriate means ;
that, while a considerably complicated, it is a singu
larly harmonious, piece of thought ; they not only
obtain a clearer view of the meaning, but a deeper
conviction that this must be the meaning of the in
spired writer, than could be produced on such minds
in any other way. And this is a result earnestly to
be desired — carefully sought for — for it is of infinite
importance, not only that such minds should be
brought in contact with what is the mind of God in
His word, but into conscious contact with it, so as
that they may know and be sure that this is the
meaning of the revelation made to them.
This logical or analytical exposition has, in the pre
sent instance, been erected on the basis of a carefully
conducted grammatical and historical interpretation.
Without this it would be a mere castle in the air.
The analysis was not first made from a superficial
view of the text, or borrowed from some previous expo
sition, and then the Epistle made to suit the analysis ;
but, after ascertaining, as far as possible, the meaning
of the separate words and phrases, by grammar and
history, there has been an honest attempt to bring out

PREFACE.

by analysis, satisfactory proof that these words and
phrases embody a closely connected discussion of one
great subject, that there runs through the Epistle a
deep, strong, clear, stream of connected thought —
that the statements are perspicuous — the illustrations
apposite — the argument sound — and the motives ap
propriate and cogent.
I am not unaware that, from the fact that the human
mind is itself logical, there is a hazard of an analytical
expositor creating, instead of discovering, order. But
I trust there will not be found much of this kind of
paralogism in the following work ; for I am sure I have
guarded against such a tendency ; and I have a deep
and solemn conviction that there is no worse or more
dangerous way of " adding to the words of this
Book," than by first putting into the text, and then
bringing out of it, our own preconceived notions, and
that he who consciously does so, does it at a tremen
dous risk.
While the leading character of the exposition is in
tentionally analytical, I have by no means scrupulously
avoided either grammatical or historical remark, where
it seemed requisite to subserve my main purpose ;
and I shall be seriously disappointed if those who study
the Epistle, that they may become " wise unto salva
tion," have reason to complain of the work as but little

PREFACE.

fitted to guide them in the exercises of the inner life,
or to minister motives to the duties, and support
and consolation amid the trials and sorrows of the
outward life.
The growing study of the writings of the Apostle
Paul, and especially of the Epistle to the Romans, ap
pears to me one of the most promising signs of our
times. " His labours," as Archbishop Whately says,
" can never be effectually frustrated, except by their
being kept out of sight. Whatever brings Paul into
notice will ultimately bring him into triumph." I
rejoice in the great accession that has, since I first
began to study his writings, been made to the means of
understanding him, in the elaborate and acute, though
doctrinally very unsound, grammatical commentary by
Fritzsche, as well as in the safer illustrations of Tho-
liick and Olshausen, Stuart and Hodge, Peile and
Alford ; and I cannot altogether regret that the sug
gestion of the able writer just quoted, that there
might be more undesirable things than " a plausible
attack on Paul's writings," has been realized.
Oxford has had the credit, or discredit, of giving
origin to a work of this description, distinguished by
considerable ability of various kinds, but betraying,
on the part of the author, an incapacity of forming a
just judgment equally of the apostle and of himself, I

PREFACE.

have no doubt that important and salutary results will
spring out of Professor Jowett's most unseemly attack
on Paul, as an apostle, as a thinker, as a writer, and
as a man. Paul's enemies " may assail him" (I again
avail myself of Dr Whately's words), " but they will
not only assail him in vain, but will lead, in the end,
to the perfecting of his glory and the extension of his
Gospel. They may scourge him uncondemned, like
the Roman magistrates at Philippi ; they may inflict
on him the lashes of calumnious censure, but they
cannot silence him ; they may thrust him, as it were,
into a dungeon, and fetter him with their strained
interpretations ; but his voice will be raised, even at
the midnight of anti-Christian darkness, and will be
heard effectually ; his prison doors will burst open as
with an earthquake, and the fetters will fall from his
hands ; and even strangers to Gospel truth, will fall
down at the feet of him, even Paul, to make that mo
mentous inquiry, ' What shall I do to be saved ? ' "
The following work is not written in a polemical
spirit, nor for sectarian objects. It is quite possible,
however, that some portions of it may provoke ani
madversion, and lead to controversy. At my age, it
would be absurd to give a pledge, which could scarcely
have been wisely given at any stage of life, of replying
to any such animadversions, however deserving in

XVI PREFACE.

themselves of such notice ; but, in all good faith, 1
promise that 1 will carefully read and consider any
suggestions which may expose the deficiencies and
mistakes which, I have no doubt, are to be found in the
book — count myself, in no common measure, a debtor
to him who enables me to supply the one, and correct
the other, and take care that, should these illustra
tions ever be presented to the world in a re-impres
sion, such favours shall be at once improved and ac
knowledged. It would be injustice to my own sense of obligation,
to conclude this Preface without acknowledging the
kind and valuable assistance of my esteemed friend,
the Reverend Peter Davidson, in carrying this work
through the press. The omission of such a recog
nition would be the less pardonable, as this is not
the first, nor the second time, that he has, in this
way, been " my helper."
JOHN BROWN.

Arthur Lodge,
July 1857.

CONTENTS.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS.
sion of the Epistle,

Design and Plan of the Work. Divi-

Page

PART FIRST.
INTRODUCTORY, Chap. i. 1-17,
Section First — Salutation, Chap. i. 1-7, .
Section Second— Introduction Proper, Chap. i. 8-17, .
PART SECOND.
DOCTRINAL, Chap. i. 18-xi. 36, ....
Section First — Of the Necessity op the Divine Method op
Justification, from the Universal State op
Condemnation and Moral Helplessness op
Fallen Man, Chap. i. 18— iii. 20,
Section Second — Op the Righteousness op God, or, the Divine
Method of Justification, Chap. iii. 21-xi. 36,
§ I. A General Account op the Divine Method op Justifica
tion, Chap. iii. 21-31, .....
Statement 1. The Divine Method of Justification is " without
the Law," Chap. iii. 21, .
2. The Divine Method of Justification is " witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets," Chap. iii. 21,
3. The Divine Method of Justification is " by the
Faith of Christ," Chap. iii. 22,
4. The Divine Method of Justification is " Mani
fested to all," Chap. iii. 21, 22,
5. The Divine Method of Justification takes effect
" on all that believe," Chap. iii. 22, .
6. The Divine Method of Justification treats all Men
as on a Level, Chap. iii. 22, .
7. In reference to Man, the Character of the Divine
Method of Justification is " Gratuitousness,"
Chap. iii. 23, 24, ...
8. In reference to God, the Character of the Divine
Method of Justification is " Graciousness,"
Chap. iii. 24, .

11

11

24

25

27

30

31

33

34

34

35

Sfi

XVlll CONTENTS. Page
Statement 9. The Divine Method of Justification is " through
the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus," Chap.
iii. 24-26, ..... 36
Conclusion 1. That the Divine Method of Justification excludes
Boasting, Chap. iii. 27, 39
„ 2. That an Interest in the Divine Method of Justifi-
tion can be obtained by Faith, without the
Works of the Law, and can only be thus ob
tained, Chap. iii. 28, . . . .40
., 3. That the Divine Method of Justification is equally
Necessary, equally Suitable, equally Sufficient,
for all Men, whether Jews or Gentiles, Chap.
iii. 29, 30, . . . . .41
„ 4. That the Divine Method of Justification does not
make Void, but Establishes the Law, Chap. iii.
31, . . . . . .41
§ II. The Divine Method of Justification, as "without Law,"
" by Faith," " the Faith of Christ" — " witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets," Chap. iv. 1-25, . . 46
§ III. The Blessings Secured by the Divine Method op Justi
fication, " Free," " by God's Grace," " through the
Redemption that is by Christ Jesus," Chap. v. 1-21, 63
§ IV. The Bearing of the Divine Method of Justification on
Spiritual Transformation, Chap. vi. 1-viii. 17 — , . 85
A. Justification is necessary to Sanctification, and se
cures it, Chap. vi. 1-viii. 4, . . . .85
1. The Union with Christ, in His Death and Life, implied in
the Divine Method of Justification, secures that the Jus
tified Man shall not continue in Sin, Chap. vi. 1-13, . 88
2. The Freedom from Law, and the Subjection to Grace, im
plied in the Divine Method of Justification, secures that
the Justified Person shall not continue in Sin, Chap. vi.
14— viii. 4, ...... 102
(1.) General Illustration of the Argument, Chap. vi. 14, 105
(2.) Popular Illustration of the Incompatibility of a state of
Justification, and a state of Subjection to the Domi
nant Power of Sin, Chap. vi. 1 5-23, . . 107
(3.) More particular Illustration of the Argument, Chap.
vii. 1-viii. 4,  ng
a. " Sin shall not have Dominion over you, for ye are not
under the Law," Chap. vii. 1-24, . . .121
1. The Divine Method of Justification delivers from
Law, Chap. vii. 1-4, . . . 12i
2. This Deliverance from Law is necessary in order to
Sanctification, Chap. vii. 5-24, . 134

CONTENTS. xix
Page
(1.) Law cannot make a Bad Man Good, Chap. vii.
5-13,  124
(2.) Law cannot make a Good Man Better, Chap. vii.
14-24,  155
/S. " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are
under grace," Chap. vii. 25-viii. 4, . . 180
1. Grace furnishes a. Justifying Righteousness, Chap.
™i. 1, . . . . . .183
2. Grace furnishes Regenerating and Sanctifying
Influence, Chap. viii. 2, . . .185
3. How Grace furnishes a Justifying Righteousness
and Sanctifying Influence, Chap. viii. 3, 4, 187
B. Sanctification is the Evidence op Justification, Chap.
viii. 5-17—, ...... 200
§ V. The Afflictions to which, in the present state, the
Justified are exposed, are not inconsistent with the
reality and permanence of that Special Divine Fa
vour which, as Justified, they enjoy, Chap. viii. — 17-37, 220
1. They " Suffer with Christ," and "that they may be Glori
fied together with Him," Chap. viii. — 17, . . . 222
2. There is an immeasurable disproportion between the present
Suffering and the coming Glory, Chap. viii. 18-25, . 225
3. Suitable Spiritual Aids are furnished under Affliction, Chap.
viii. 26, 27, . . . . . . 240
4. All things shall work together for their good, Chap. viii.
28-30, ....... 246
5. Nothing can be wanting to their welfare for whom God has
given His Son, Chap. viii. 31, 32, ... 254
6. The Author and ground of Justification secure the final
happiness of the Justified, Chap. viii. 33, 34, . . 259
7. Conclusion of the argument, Chap. viii. 35-39, . . 263
§ VI. The Relation op the Manifested Divine Method of Jus
tification to the Israelites, and to the other Nations
of Mankind, Chap, ix., x., xi., .... 279
1. The Divine Procedure, in excluding the unbelieving Jews
from the benefits of the Divine Method of Justification,
and punishing them for rejecting it, Vindicated, Chap. ix.
1-29, ....... 286
a.. The Apostle's deep sorrow for his unbelieving Brethren,
Chap. ix. 1-5, . . ... 286
/3. The Blessings from which the unbelieving Jews were ex
cluded were never promised to them, Chap. ix. 6-29, . 307
y. The Blessings from which the unbelieving Jews were ex
cluded, were Free Gifts, bestowed, in Sovereign Grace,
on those who, in Sovereign Grace, were chosen to receive
them, Chap. ix. 11-24, .... 324

XX CONTENTS. Page
i. The Evils inflicted on the unbelieving Jews were the j ust
Punishment of obstinate Transgression, richly deserved,
long deferred, Chap. ix. 1 7, 22, . . - • 332
f. Objection stated and answered, Chap. ix. 19-24, . . 341
2. Particular Statement of the Relations, Present and Future,
of Mankind, as divided into Israel and the other Nations,
to the Manifested Divine Method of Justification, Chap.
ix. 30-xi. 36, . . . . . .356
a. Present Relations — Gentiles believing, obtain Justification
— Israel, generally seeking Justification not by believing,
but " as it were by the works of the law," do not, and
cannot, obtain it, Chap. ix. 30-xi. 10, . . . 357
,3. Future Relations — The great body of both Jews and Gen
tiles are to embrace the Gospel, and enjoy the benefits of
the Divine Method of Justification, Chap. xi. 11-36, . 389
PART THIRD.
PRACTICAL, Chap. xii. 1-xv. 13, . . . . .429
Section First. — General Exhortation to Christian Duty,
Chap. xii. 1, 2, . . . . 430
Section Second. — Exhortation to Office-bearers, Chap. xii.
3-8, . . . . . .439
Section Third. — Exhortations to Particular Christian Duties,
Chap. xii. 9-xiii. 14, . . . . 455
Section Fourth. — On Terms op Communion, Chap. xiv. 1-xv. 13, 507
PART FOURTH.
CONCLUDING,  561
Section First. — Apology, Chap. xv. 14-21, . . . 562
Section Second. — Notices op Intended Journeys, Chap. xv.
22-29, . . . . . .572
Section Third. — Request for an Interest in the Prayers of
the Roman Christians, Chap. xv. 30-33, . 576
Section Fourth. — Certificate to the Bearer of the Epistle,
Chap. xvi. 1, 2, . . . . 5g2
Section Fifth. — Salutations from the Apostle to Christians
at Rome, Chap. xvi. 3-16, . . , 587
Section Sixth. — Warning against those who cause Divisions
Chap. xvi. 17-20, . g03
Section Seventh. — Salutations from Christians with the
Apostle to Christians at Rome, Chap. xvi.
21-24. ¦ • • ¦ . . ' 609
Section Eighth. — Concluding Doxology and Benediction
Chap. xvi. 25-27, . gjg

INDEX, .... 62S

ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS —DESIGN OF THE WORK — DIVISION
OF THE EPISTLE.
The Epistle to the Romans is the nearest approach of any
thing in the inspired volume to a systematic view of Christi
anity. The design of the following work is to present, with
as much conciseness as is compatible with perspicuity, such
a view of the statements and illustrations, of the doctrine and
law of Christ, contained in that remarkable composition, as
may at once induce the conviction that, apart from its un
doubted claims to Divine inspiration, it deserves to be regarded
as a piece of deep and close thinking instinct with appropriate
emotion, on the most important subjects which can occupy
the human faculties ; and, at the same time, lead, on the
part of Christians at large, to the devotement of a measure of
attention to its study, in some degree proportioned to its doc
trinal and practical value.
Such a study of this Divine book, were it to become gene
ral, would not only soon tell powerfully on the improvement
of individual character, but, through this best of channels,
would lead to the attainment of the great purposes of Christi
anity, both within the pale of the Church and beyond it. It
was what Paul believed and felt that made him what he was :

2 DESIGN OF THE TREATISE.
in the degree in which men believe and feel that, they will be
like him ; and when men are generally like Paul, there will
be little to wish for the Church or for the world.
The Prolegomena, usually prefixed to commentaries, would
be here out of place. The reader may be amply furnished
with the information he may wish, as to the author, origin,
authenticity, inspiration, and literature of the Epistle, in the
commentaries of Tholuck, Stuart, and Hodge, and in the In
troductions to the New Testament by Michaelis, Hug, Schott,
Home, and Dr Samuel Davidson; which last work contains a
full and accurate statement of the results of the latest inquiries
on these subjects. Rambach's " Introductio Historico-Theolo-
gica in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos," to which is appended
Luther's truly " Aurea Prefatio," is warmly recommended to
the student. Its matter and spirit are equally admirable ; the
latter, especially, furnishing a striking contrast to that of some
of the later German interpreters,1 whose acuteness and learn
ing we would gladly secure at any price short of the taking along
with them their unduly high estimate of themselves, and their
unduly low estimate of the sacred books and their authors.
The Epistle to the Romans, in its general plan, resembles
the other Pauline epistles. After the Salutation and a few
introductory statements, we have a set of doctrinal discussions,
followed by a number of practical exhortations, and the Epistle
is concluded by a variety of miscellaneous remarks. The
parts of the Epistle, then, are four — Introductory, Doc
trinal, Practical, and Concluding.
The introductory part occupies the first seventeen verses of
the first chapter ; — the doctrinal reaches from the eighteenth
verse of the first chapter, down to the end of the eleventh
chapter ;— the practical begins with the twelfth chapter, and
ends with the thirteenth verse of the fifteenth chapter;— and
the concluding portion occupies the rest of the Epistle. Each
of these parts naturally resolves itself into a variety of sub
divisions. ' Riickert and Fritzsche may be considered as favourable specimens of
the class of exegetes referred to.

PART I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The Salutation and the Introduction proper are the two sec
tions of the first division ; the Salutation being included in the
first seven verses, and the Introduction in the following ten
verses.
SECTION I.
SALUTATION.
Chaptbk i. 1-7. — Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an
apostle, separated unto the gospel of God (which he had promised afore
by his prophets in the holy Scriptures) concerning his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead ; by whom we have received
grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his
name ; among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ j to all that
be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints : Grace to you, and peace,
from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the salutation the writer describes himself by his name
" Paul," and by his office " a servant of Jesus Christ,1 called2
to be an apostle,3 separated," ' set apart " to" declare " the
1 Jos. i. 1 ; Jud. ii. 8 ; Psal. cxxxii. 10.
2 xhyros may be construed either by itself as if it were a substantive,
or in construction with dmnrohog. In the first case it would correspond
with "grace" (ver. 5), in the other with "apostleship."
3 See article Apostle in Kitto's Cyclopaedia.

4 INTRODUCTORY. [PART I.
Gospel of God"1 — good news which come from God,2 which
He had announced, as to be proclaimed at a future season, by
His prophets in the sacred writings,3 and which have for their
great subject " His Son Jesus Christ our Lord," who, as to
His human nature, was a descendant of David ; * but who as
to His higher nature — the Divine—" the Spirit of Holiness"6
was, and, " by the resurrection from the dead," 6 was clearly
proved7 to be, " the Son of God." 8
Having stated that from Him he had received what he ac
counted " a grace" — no common favour,9 the office of " apostle
ship" — an office the object of which was to bring mankind of
all nations, Romans among the rest, to believe the truth re
specting this illustrious person, and yield to Him the obedience
due to that name above every name, which he had " obtained
by inheritance," " Lord of all ;" 10 he, in the exercise of the
authority connected with that office, addresses this letter to the
Society of Christians, which, by means with which we are
not acquainted, had been formed in Rome,11 the capital of
the Gentile world, describing them as "called of Christ
Jesus, beloved of God, and called to be saints"; 12 and invokes
on them all heavenly and spiritual blessings — " grace and peace
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ,"18 the
love of God and of Christ, in its manifestations and effects.
1 si/ay- &iou- ©• is the gen. aiictoris, not subjecti, as is plain from what
follows irtpl x.T.Tv.
2 Ver. 1. 3 yer 2. 4 Ver. 3.
5 The antithesis between x,xrx trapxx and x.arx wtvij.a. oeyiaav-
vyis fixes both the reference and the meaning. 1 Tim. iii. 16 ; Heb. ix.
14; 1 Pet. iii. 18.
6 Matt. xxii. 31 ; Acts xvii. 32, xxiv. 21, xxvi. 23 ; 1 Cor. xv. 12, 13,
21, 42; Heb. vi. 2. }» omitted causa euphonies.
1 Theophylact explains 6pia6hros as = M^ttlu-jcUmos, fii^ettaiiurtts, x.pi-
8hro$. 8 Ver. 4. 9 Eph. iii. 8. io Ver. 5. " Ver. 6.
12 The appellations given to Christians are borrowed from those given
to the old peoulium of God, the Israelitish people. Comp. Exod. xix. 6
with 1 Pet. ii. 9 ; Num. xvi. 3 ; Deut. xiv. 1, 2, with 1 Tim. iii. 15 ;
Deut. xxxii. 19: xxxiii. 3 with Phil. ii. 15; 1 John iii 1 2 10 ¦ v 1
™ Ver. 7. ' ' '

SECT. II. J INTRODUCTION PROPER. 5
SECTION II.
INTRODUCTION PROPER.
Chapter i. 8-17. — First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you
all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is
my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son, that
without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers ; making
request (if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous jour
ney by the will of God) to come unto you. For I long to see you, that
I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be estab
lished ; that is, that I may be comforted together with you, by the mutual
faith both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren,
that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you (but was let hitherto) , that
I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.
I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise
and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth ; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith : as it is written,
The just shall live by faith.
In the Introduction the apostle expresses devdut gratitude
for the conversion of the Romans to the faith of Christ, and
for the notoriety that so important a fact, as the formation
of a Christian Church in the imperial city, had gained
throughout the world ; x assures them, in an appeal to God
as Him whom he worshipped in his spirit according to
the Gospel of His Son,2 that his regard for them expressed
itself in unceasing prayers,8 and particularly in a request that,
if it were the will of God, he might have an opportunity of per
sonal intercourse with them,4 that he might gratify an earnest
wish to be useful to them in establishing them by the com
munication of some spiritual gift,5 and in the hope that such
l Ver. 8. 2 Ver. 9.
3 -hanptva properly refers to religious worship. Matt. iv. 10 ; Acts vii.
7, 42, xxiv. 14, xxvi. 7 ; Heb. ix. 14 ; Rom. i. 25 ; 2 Tim. i. 3 ; Phil.
iii. 3.
4 Ver. 10. * Ver. 11.

tl INTRODUCTORY. [PART I.
an interview would contribute to his comfort and advantage
as well as to theirs.1 He informs them that he had frequently
intended to visit them, but had hitherto been prevented ;2 that,
feeling that his apostolic mission laid him under obligations
to promote the spiritual welfare of men of all countries and in
all states of civilization,3 he was exceedingly desirous of an
opportunity of preaching the Gospel at Rome, in the hope that
the same blessed effects might result from his labours there as
at other places.4 The principal cause of this anxious desire
was his deep conviction of the transcendent excellence of the
Gospel, and of its altogether peculiar efficacy in promoting the
highest interests of mankind.5 It might be supposed that he,
a Jew, and therefore a natural object of dislike and contempt
to Romans, might shrink from bringing before the notice of a
people, characterized at this time equally by the pride of real
supremacy of dominion, and of fancied superiority in refinement
and wisdom, the strong statements and uncompromising claims
of the new religion ; but it was far otherwise : " I am ready,"
says he, " to preach, the Gospel at Rome : for I am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ." e — i.e. ' I count it my highest glory to
proclaim it : and I may well so count it : for it is " the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth;" and it is so
because " therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith."'7
These words form the close of the. introduction, and they
bring forward the great subject of the Epistle — " The right
eousness of God." On this account there are no two verses
in the Epistle that have stronger claims on our attentive
consideration than the 16 th and 17th of the first chapter; and
an additional reason for looking at them somewhat closely
is, that their meaning seems generally misapprehended, or
at best but very imperfectly understood.
i Ver. 12. The 12th verse is a beautiful example of the apostle's deli
cacy of feeling.
2 Ver. 13. See Paley's Horas Paulinas, eh. ii. No. 3.
' Ver. 14. * Ver. 15. « Ver. 16.
5 An example of the figure fiiimts or Litotes. ' v~er. 17

SECT. II. J INTRODUCTION PROPER. 7
The Gospel, which is the revelation of the grace of God to
man in the mission of His Son, is " the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth." The object of the Gos
pel is salvation — the salvation of men ; their deliverance from
the state of degradation, danger, and misery, into which sin has
brought them ; their deliverance from guilt or condemnation,
from ignorance and error, from depravity and suffering in all
their forms — complete everlasting deliverance from all these.
This is what the Gospel proposes to effect : — it proposes to con
fer on man an extent and variety of enduring blessing of which
mere human philanthropy never dreamed, and to the attainment
of which all the most powerful ameliorating agencies, such as
philosophy and commerce, government and education, are not
merely altogether inadequate, but utterly unfitted. But the
Gospel has, is, power to effect such a salvation ; it meets all
man's wants as a rational, active, fallen, immortal being, and
provides for the supply of these wants. It has that in it
which can make foolish man wise, sinful man holy, miserable
man happy. It has that in it which can make man's end
less being a source of indefinite improvement in knowledge,
excellence, and happiness.
This power of the Gospel is not intrinsic, but is derived
from its author. It thus has, and is, " power unto salvation,"
for it is " the power of God." It is His instrument — formed
by Him, wielded by Him. It is He — He alone that saves. The
knowledge of truth — the pardon of sin — the transformation of
the mind and heart — good hope — eternal fife, — these are all
His gifts. Who but He could give them ? " Their greatness
speaks their author."1 But while He is their author, the
Gospel is the instrumentality suited to the constitution and
circumstances of man, by which God communicates these
benefits. The Gospel is God's efficacious means of saving man :
that is the meaning of " the Gospel is the power of God unto
salvation." This Gospel is not only powerful, but all powerful.
There is no man however degraded, guilty, depraved, and
miserable, that it cannot save.
1 George Herbert-

8 introductory. [part I.
But the Gospel can act only according to its nature. It is
Gospel — good news ; but good news from the very nature of
the case must be heard, understood, believed, in order to
their imparting satisfaction. The Gospel is a revelation of
divine truth — and while it can, while it certainly will save all
that believe it — it cannot save those who are ignorant of it —
who neglect it, who misapprehend it, who reject it — who do not
understand and believe it. The Gospel is " the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth :" in other words —
" The Gospel believed is God's effectual method of saving
mankind." In this we find a very good reason both why
Paul should not be ashamed of the Gospel, and why he
should wish to preach it. It is the appointed and the effec
tual method for making men — without reference to nation
or country, or measure of previous guilt, depravity, and
misery — truly happy. Is this a thing to be ashamed of?
And it is by being believed that it can alone serve its pur
pose; therefore, who that is called to so high and holy an
office would not be " ready" to preach it ? How can men
be saved through an unheard, unbelieved Gospel ? and how
are they to hear it, how are they to believe it, if it is not
made known to them.1
The apostle has thus very satisfactorily, in the 16th verse;
accounted for his not being " ashamed of the Gospel of Christ :"
let us now attend to the account he gives in the 17th, of the
way in which the Gospel is what he declares it to be — God's
effectual method of making those who believe it holy and
happy. " The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
every one that believeth — for therein is the righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith." These words are, I am
afraid, very imperfectly understood by most who read them.
Indeed, as they stand in our version, it would be very difficult
to bring a distinct meaning out of them. " The righteous
ness of God" is a phrase which, in the New Testament is
ordinarily employed in a somewhat peculiar way ; beino- almost
1 See chap. x. 11-15.

SECT. II.] INTRODUCTION PROPER. 9
uniformly used in reference to the subject of the sinner's jus
tification before God.1 " Righteousness," with the Apostle
Paul, usually signifies justification — sometimes viewed as a
privilege bestowed by God — sometimes a benefit enjoyed by
men. The Gospel is said, in opposition to the law, which is the
ministration of condemnation and death, to be " the ministration
of righteousness" — that is justification — and, "of the Spirit."2
Christians are said to be " of God in Christ Jesus, righteous
ness, sanctification, and redemption"3 — i.e. justified, sanctified,
and redeemed. They are said to be " made the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus"4 — i.e. they are justified in the sight
of God as united to Christ Jesus. The long description of
" the righteousness of God," in the concluding paragraph of
the third chapter of this epistle, exactly suits the Divine method
of justification, and it suits nothing else ; I therefore consider
" the righteousness of God" here, as meaning God's way of
treating a sinner as if he were just, in consistency with his
own righteousness — ' the Divine method of justification.' The
words, " from faith," s or " by faith," should be connected with
" the righteousness of God," and not with the word " revealed:"
The righteousness of God by faith is revealed, or the right
eousness of God is revealed as of faith— i.e. In the Gospel a
revelation of the Divine method of justification by faith is
made. The concluding clause, " to faith," G is equivalent to
— " in order to faith," — or, " that it may be believed." The
complete sentiment in the 17th verse is — "In the Gospel
there is a revelation of the Divine method of justification by
faith, made in order to be believed;" and the apostle's asser
tion is — " It is this which fits the Gospel for being what it is
— God's effectual means of saving all who believe."
Nor is it difficult to perceive that it is indeed so, and that it
1 See Storr. Opusc. I. Voorst Annotat. Rom. i. 17 ; iii. 21, 22, 25, 26 ;
x. 5. Zimmermann Com. de vi et sensu, &tx,a,ioisvvYi &sov. Winzer. pro
gram, de voce. o~i'xxto;, o'tx.u.ioov'jy, et inceeiovu. Stuart's Comment.
Fritzsche, in loc.
2 2 Cor. iii. 8, 9. 3 1 Cor. i. 30. 4 2 Cor. v. 21. 5 U mW»{.
6 tig KioTtv. For a similar use of ti;, see chap. x. 10.

10 INTRODUCTORY. [PART I.
could not be otherwise. Nothing could be an effectual means
of saving sinful man, that did not embrace " a method of justi
fication ;" for man's sin is the cause of all that he needs to be
delivered* from. Deliverance from the condemning sentence
of the divine law is then the fundamental blessing of his sal
vation. So long as he continues under the curse, he can
neither be holy nor happy. It is equally plain that an efficient
means for saving man must embrace and disclose the divine
method of justification. Humanly devised methods of justi
fication ean serve no purpose. It is God, whose law we have
offended, who must decide whether there is to be any way of
justification for man, and if so, what that way of justification
is to be. Men's methods of justification increase guilt instead
of removing it. Still further, a method of justification in any
other way than by "faith" — a method in which such a condition
in the form of working, as would have been consistent with
the Divine honour to enacts — would not have suited fallen man.
With him, where this is law, there is sure to be transgression ;
so that a method of justification by works could never have
done him any good. If he is to be justified at all, he must, in
believing, receive as a free gift, what he never can earn as the
stipulated reward of stipulated labour. And, finally, as a great
part of the benefits of a method of justification must arise
from the moral effect of its details on the mind of the justified
sinner, this Divine method of justification must be revealed,
that it may be believed, and thus become influential in saving
men, by making them holy and happy. The Gospel then has
every thing necessary for its purpose which such an instru
ment can have — a method of justification — the Divine method
of justification — a method of justification by grace, not by
merit— by faith, not by works; and a revelation of all this, in
plain terms, and with abundant evidence, so that it may be
believed, and by being believed, become effectual for saving
man. This Divine method of justification by faith, revealed in
the Gospel, is the great subject in the sequel, and with the
announcement of it, concludes the introductory part, of the
Epistle.

PART II.
DOCTRINAL.
The doctrinal part of the epistle, which, beginning at the 18th
verse of the 1st chapter, ends with the 11th chapter, may be
divided into two great sections. In the first of these, the
necessity of the Divine method of justification is proved ; and
in the second, its nature, and influence, and results are illus
trated.
SECTION I.
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICA
TION, FROM THE UNIVERSAL STATE OF CONDEMNATION
AND MORAL HELPLESSNESS OF FALLEN MAN.
Chapter i. 1-8— iii. 20. — For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who lipid the truth
in unrighteousness ; because that which may be known of God is mani
fest in them : for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible
things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being
understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and God
head ; so that they are without excuse : because that, when they knew
God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful ; but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Profess
ing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the
uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds,
and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them
up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour
their own bodies between themselves : who changed the truth of God
into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator,
who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto
vile affections : for even their women did change the natural use into
that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another ; men
with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves
that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did
not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a

12 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient : bemg
filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness,
maliciousness ; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity ; whis
perers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of
evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful : who, know
ing thej'udgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy
of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest :
for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself : for thou that
judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of
God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And
thinkest thou this, 0 man, that judgest them which do such things, and
doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God ? Or de
spisest thou the riches of His goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffer
ing ; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance ?
But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself
wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God ; who will render to every man according to his deeds : to them
who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, and honour,
and immortality, eternal life ; but unto them that are contentious, and
do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the
Jew first, and also of the Gentile : but glory, honour, and peace, to every
man that worketh good ; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile : for
there is no respect of persons with God. For as many as have sinned
without law, shall also perish without law ; and as many as have sinned
in the law, shall be judged by the law ; (for not the hearers of the law are
just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained
in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves ; which
show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else ex
cusing one another ;) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ, according to my Gospel. Behold thou art called a Jew,
and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest His
will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed
out of the law ; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the
blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in
the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thy
self? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? thou
that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adul
tery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? thou that

SECT. I.] MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 13
makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou
God ? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through
you, as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the
law : but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncir
cumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the
law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision ? And shall
not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who
by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law ? For he is not
a Jew, which is one outwardly ; neither is that circumcision which is out
ward in the flesh : but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly ; and circum
cision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter ; whose
praise is not of men, but of God. What advantage then hath the Jew ?
or what profit is there of circumcision ? Much every way : chiefly,
because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what
if some did not believe ? shall their unbelief make the faith of God with
out effect ? God forbid : yea, let God be true, but every man a liar ; as
it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest
overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, what shall we say ? Is God unrighteous who
taketh vengeance ? (I speak as a man) God forbid : for then how shall
God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abounded
through my lie unto His glory ; why yet am I also judged as a sinner ?
And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that
we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come ? whose damnation is just.
What then ? are we better than they ? No, in no wise : for we have
before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin ; as it
is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that
understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone
out of the way, they are together become unprofitable ; there is none that
doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre : with their
tongues they have used deceit : the poison of asps is under their lips :
whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness : their feet are swift to
shed blood : destruction and misery are in their ways ; and the way of
peace have they not known : there is no fear of God before their eyes.
Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law : that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may
become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in His sight : for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Laying a deep foundation for his argument in the prin
ciples, that the Supreme Ruler is displeased at impiety and
injustice,1 and that all mankind have— from the frame of
1 Ver. 18.

]4 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
nature, the dispensations of Providence, the constitution and
working of their own minds, to say nothing of early reve
lations which ought to have been preserved, and fragments
of which were to be in part found among all nations —
the means of obtaining such a knowledge of God as ought to
lead them to venerate and obey Him ; the apostle proceeds
to show what a career of departure from God, by ignorance,
and error, and idolatry, and injustice, and cruelty, and impu
rity, the race of man had run.1
The details in the latter part of the first chapter of the
downward course of mankind, are absolutely frightful, and we
might have been apt to suspect the apostle of exaggeration,
were there not abundant evidence, in the pages of contem
porary pagan literature, that the darkest features of the picture
are drawn from life.2
In establishing his charge against the human race, he avails
himself of the striking fact, that mankind were often self-
condemned, allowing in themselves practices which they cen
sured in others,3 and states the great principle on which the
moral government of God is founded, and which will regulate
those sentences which will fix the final state of mankind, that
responsibility is proportioned to advantage, and that every
man will receive according to his deeds. The privileges of
those who have enjoyed a Divine revelation, being an aggrava
tion of guilt, will be no shield from punishment ; and the disad
vantages of those who have been destitute of a Divine
revelation, though they lessen guilt, will by no means secure
impunity.4 That part of the apostle's argument, illustrative of the prin
ciple that " there is no respect of persons with God," is of so
much importance in itself, and is in general so completely
misapprehended, that it may serve a good purpose to say a
few words in the way of unfolding its meaning and force.
1 Ver. 19-32.
2 See Tholuck " On the Nature and Moral Influences of Heathenism,
especially among the Greeks and Romans."— Biblical Cabinet xxviii.
8 Chap. ii. 1. * Ver. 2-11.

SECT. I.] MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 15
The passage I refer to is contained in the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th,
and 15th verses of the second chapter, " There is no respect
of persons with God."1 " He renders to every man according
tohiswo^;" taking into equitable consideration the means
which every individual has enjoyed of knowing " what is good,
and what God has required of man." " As many as have
sinned without law,2 shall also perish without law."3 They
who have not enjoyed a Divine revelation shall be punished
for their sins, but their punishment shall not be what it would
have been had they enjoyed a Divine revelation. " And as
many as have sinned in the law" — under the law — " shall be
judged by the law."4 They who enjoyed a Divine revelation
will be considered guilty in every case in which they have
transgressed the law, and shall be subjected to the punishment
the law denounces against their transgression. An unimproved
revelation— a violated law deepens guilt, aggravates punish
ment. The wicked Jew was a privileged person here, but his
privilege will be no shield to him in the day of judgment. It
is not " the hearing of the law," the having possessed Divine
revelation, that can do a man any good in the day of the reve
lation of the righteous judgment of God. If a claim for
reward is presented, it must rest on " the doing of the law,"
on the revelation being rightly improved.5
There can thus be no doubt that those who have had a
revelation are proper subjects of a final judgment. But how
does it accord with the Divine justice, that they who have had
no such revelation, should yet be judged and punished ? The
apostle's answer to this question is in the 14th and 15th verses.
" For when the Gentiles which have not the law, do by nature
the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a
law to themselves, which show the work of the law written in
their hearts ; their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another."
1 Ver 11.
* ciuoftas is usually == voepxuofiK;. Here it is = %api; i/6fj,ov. hvopo;
and tZvopos are contrasted, I Cor. ix. 20, 21.
1 Ver. 12. 4 Ver. 12. s Ver. 13.

16 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
This is the reason for what the apostle had said in the first
clause of the 12th verse, " As many as have sinned without
law, shall also perish without law." It has generally been
supposed that the apostle asserts, in the 14th verse, that the
Gentiles, who had not a written revelation of God's will, did
by nature the duties required in the written revelation which
the Jews possessed. It is quite plain that this, as a general
assertion, is not true — is indeed the very reverse of true — is
notoriously false. Did the Gentiles generally " love God with
all their heart, and soul, and strength, and mind, and did they
love their neighbour as themselves ? " You have the answer
to this question in the end of the previous chapter. And even
with regard to such rare exceptions as Socrates, with what
large limitations must we use the words before we can say that
even they did the things contained in the law, in the sense of
performing the actions it prescribes ? Besides, what bearing
would such a statement, even supposing it to be true, have on
the proof, that they who have not the law shall perish with
out law. The truth is, the phrase ' to do the things of ilie
law,' which our translators have unwarrantably rendered to
" do the things contained in the law," describes not the yielding
of obedience to the law, but the performing of the functions of
the law.1 The proper business of law is to say, " This is right,
that is wrong — you ought to do this, you ought not to do that — ¦
you will be rewarded if you do this, you shall be punished if
you do that." To command, to forbid, to promise, to threaten
— these are " the things of the law," or " the work of the
law," as it is in verse 15. The apostle's assertion is this, —
an assertion exactly accordant with truth, and directly bear
ing on his argument, — ' The Gentiles who have no written
1 Aristot. Rhet., 1, 15, 7, has ov yxp koiuto Ipyov to tov uopiov, does not
do the office of the law. It seems a phrase similar to ¦rroitiii to, tov Turpi;,
to act the part of a father. " to ipyov tov voptov, non est id quod lex iubet
sed id quod lex facit. Quid facit lex ? Jubet, convincit, damnat, punit.
Hoc ipsum facit Ethnicus quidam, simul ac incipit adolescere."  C appellus
An able defence, by Dr W. Peddie, then a student, of this mode of exe
gesis is to be found in the Christian Monitor, vol. v., p. 485.

SECT. I.] MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 17
Divine law, perform by nature, from their very constitu
tion, to themselves and each other, the functions of such
a law. They make a distinction between right and wrong,
just as they do between truth and falsehood. They cannot
help doing so. They often go wrong by mistaking what
is right and what is wrong, as they often go wrong by mis
taking what is true and what is false. But they approve
themselves and one another when doing what they think right ;
they disapprove themselves and one another when they do
what they think to be wrong ; so that, though they have no
written law, they act the part of a law to themselves. This
capacity, this necessity of their nature, distinguishes them
from brutes, and makes them the subjects of Divine moral
government. In this way they show " that the work of the
law" — not the work required by the law, but the work which
the law does — is " written in their hearts," enwoven in their
constitution, by the actings of the power we call conscience,
which is a constituent part of human nature. It is just, then,
that they should be punished for doing what they knew to be
wrong, or might have known to be wrong ; it is just that they
who sinned without law should perish, though it would not be
just to punish them for what, in consequence of their not
having the law, they could not have known to be wrong.
The Gentile sinner, as well as the Jewish sinner, is justly
condemned, and if not pardoned, must, ought, and will be,
punished — proportionally punished.'
The charge of guilt is brought home to the Jew with great
force in the concluding part of the second chapter, from the
17th verse to the end : and the refuges of lies, in which he was
accustomed to seek for shelter, are swept away as by an over
flowing flood of eloquent argument. Thus the fact, on which
the necessity of such a restorative scheme as the Divine method
of justification is based, is established as to the race of man in
both its constituent parts ; those who had a revelation, and
those who had none — the Jews and the Gentiles.
In the beginning of the third chapter, the apostle shows that
what he has said is in no way inconsistent with the fact, that the
B

18 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Jews possessed great advantages above the Gentiles. lo
them were committed the oracles of God." 1 These words are
commonly supposed to mean, — ' They were made the deposi
tories of the Divine revelation,' — as the Psalmist says, " He
showeth His word unto Jacob : His statutes and His judg
ments to Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation."2
This was no doubt a great distinguishing privilege, but the
course of the apostle's reasoning seems to make it evident that
it is not to this he refers, but to what he states more fully in
other words in chap. ix. 3, " To them pertained the promises."
" With them were established the oracles of God." Peculiar
promises were made to the Jews as a nation. But might the
Jewish objector say — If, according to your doctrine, we Jews
are all under the condemning sentence of God's law for our
unbelief and disobedience, how can we be the better for these
promises ? And must not God's pledged faith or faithfulness
be forfeited 1 3 No, says the apostle, God will fulfil His pro
mises to them to whom they are made. He will show Him
self true, whoever be unfaithful. The unbeliever may well
exclude himself from the enjoyment of the promises, but there
will be a believing Israel to whom the promises will be per
formed.4 This is illustrated, at great length, in the ninth
chapter of the epistle. In answer to the suggestion, that the
Jews should not be punished because their unfaithfulness
served but as a foil to set off the faithfulness of God,5 the
apostle answers, that, on the same principle, that might be
denied which the Jews held very fast, to wit, that God would
"judge," that is, condemn, punish " the world" 6 — the Gentiles ;
for their sins, as well as those of the Jews, would be over
ruled to the display of His glory and the attainment of His
purposes ; and that this principle, followed out to its fair con
sequences, leads to the monstrously absurd and shockingly
impious conclusion — "Let us do evil that good may come."7
While the apostle thus admits that Jews were more highly
1 Chap. iii. 1, 2. " Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. 3 Ver. 3.
* Ver. 4. s Ver. 5. « Ver. 6.
7 Ver. 7, 8.

SECT. I.] MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 19
privileged than Gentiles, he holds, that in reference to the
great question of justification before God, the former were " in
no wise better" than the latter.1 And he might well do so ;
for he had, in the two preceding chapters, clearly " proved
that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin." He then
clothes in language, borrowed from a great variety of passages
in the Old Testament, the judgment to which he had been
conducted in reference to the state and character of fallen
man. " There is none righteous, no, not one ; there is none
that understandeth ; there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable ; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their
throat is an open sepulchre : with their tongues have they used
deceit : the poison of asps is under their lips : whose mouth
is full of cursing and bitterness : their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways : and the
way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God
before their eyes." 2 The language of these passages of Scrip
ture, referring most of them to certain individuals, in various
ages, is used by the apostle, as a man speaking under the in
spiration of the Holy Ghost, to describe the true spiritual state
of the fallen race. This is what men, left to themselves,
unchanged by Divine influence, are and ever have been.
On the general principle that " whatsoever law says, it says
to them who are under law," he comes to the conclusion that
" the whole world" — all mankind, must have a verdict of
" guilty before God " recorded against them.8 The revealed
law proclaims, " Cursed is every one who continueth not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them ;" and the
law of nature, in the human conscience, proclaims, ' He who
does what he knows to be wrong — he who does not what he
knows to be right, deserves to be punished.' No man under
the revealed law has continued in all things written in the book
to do them. No man under the natural law has always done
what he knew to be right, always avoided what he knew to be
1 Ver. 9. ' Ver. 10-18. 3 Ver. 19.

20 DOCTRINAL. [>ART "•
wrong. On the principles of the revealed law, and on the
principles of natural law, the Jew and the Gentile are equally
brought in guilty before God, and are equally exposed to " the
wrath of God which is revealed from heaven against all un
godliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in
unrighteousness." Man, every man, thus is condemned and needs a method of
justification. His relations towards God are out of order —
they are full of danger — they need to be re-adjusted in order
to his being safe, for he is " condemned, and the wrath of
God abides on him."
But may not man, by his own exertions, be restored to the
Divine favour, which he undoubtedly has lost 1 May he not
be justified " by the deeds of the law °i " by obedience to the
law which he has violated ? The thing, says the apostle, is de
monstrably impossible — " By the law is the knowledge of sin." J
' The law proves and pronounces man to be a sinner.' How
can it then acquit or justify him % It says, Thou deservest
punishment, how then can it say thou deservest reward ? "As
many as are of the works of the law," who seek justification
by these works, " are under the curse ; for it is written, Cursed
is every one who continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them."2 The state of the sinner is one
of utter moral helplessness. The law does nothing — can do
nothing — in reference to its violator, but condemn and curse
him. Can any expectation be more obviously absurd than
that that law, whatever it may be to the innocent and obedient,
should be to the sinner the instrument of justification %
" No hope can on the law be built
Of justifying grace ;
The law, which shows the sinner's guilt,
Condemns him to his face.
" Silent let Jew and Gentile stand,
Without one vaunting word ,-
And, humbled low, confess their guilt
Before heaven's righteous Lord."
1 Ver. 20. > Qal. iii. i0.

SECT. I.J MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 21
Such is the substance of the first great section of the doc
trinal part of the Epistle to the Romans. The object of this
section is plainly to show, that apart from " the righteousness
of God" which the Gospel reveals, there is no hope for man —
none for the race — none for the individual. No human being
can be saved in consistency with the Divine justice, on the
principles of violated law. Every man has violated God's law,
every man deserves punishment ; and, but for " the righteous
ness of God by faith," every man must be punished. Put that
out of view, and look forward to " the day of the revelation of
the righteous judgment of God." The whole race are there.
But " all have sinned, all have lost the approbation of God,"
none have " obeyed the truth," all have " obeyed unrighteous
ness." What, then, but for the Divine method of justification,
must have awaited the whole sinning race but " indignation
and wrath," "wrath to the uttermost," "tribulation and
anguish," " everlasting destruction from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His power."
Such, then, were mankind as a race — such was man, as an
individual, in the days of the Apostle Paul. It is a question
of deep interest, How far does his description of the world, and
of the individual men of the first century, apply to the world
and individual men of the nineteenth ? Except so far as " the
righteousness of God," the Divine method of justification,
operating through the Gospel which reveals it, has directly or
indirectly influenced the state of the race and individuals, we
must answer to the question, " What, then, are we better than
they ? No, in no wise." Look at our world. Is it not in
open rebellion against its Maker? Does it not lie enslaved
under the wicked one ? Fearful as were the impieties, and
impurities, and cruelties, of the ancient pagan world, would it
be difficult to find parallels to the foulest of them in the pagan
world of our own time 1 Is there not reason to fear that there
is as much idolatry and impurity to be found in modern Rome
as in ancient Rome ? What is the moral character of the
great cities of the most civilized countries on our earth — of
such cities as Paris, London, New York, New Orleans ? How

22 DOCTRINAL. [PART IT.
much shameless vice prevails in our own city? I am a
believer in the progress of human society. I believe that
things in reference to our race, as a whole, are better, aye,
much better, than they were in the days of the Apostle Paul,
and that the amelioration is to be traced to the mediate or
immediate influences of Christianity ; but assuredly, we have
abundant evidence that the wickedness of man is still great
upon the earth, that the earth is still corrupt before God, —
that the earth is still full of violence ; and in the fact, that
from the employment of the best means of improvement for
so many centuries, results so inadequate have been obtained,
we have a very strong proof of the refractory nature of the
materials to which they have been applied.
The state of the world would be altogether hopeless, in a
religious and moral point of view, were it not for that Gospel
which reveals and applies the righteousness of God. Just in
the degree in which that Gospel is believed among men will
there be moral improvement. The believers are " transformed
by the renewing of their minds ;" and, in a great variety of
ways, their internal change operates in the way of producing
a salutary external change on the character and conduct of
those who do not believe. It is Christianity, chiefly, that has
raised our nation from the condition of painted savages, to its
height of civilisation and greatness. The world will never be
made moral but by being made Christian. The world will
never be cured of idolatry, and gross impurity, and barbarous
cruelty, but by the Gospel — that " mystery which was kept
secret from former ages, but is now manifested — being made
known by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God, to all nations for the
obedience of faith." That — that alone — can do it. Let us show
that we are not ashamed of the Gospel, by employing it for
the purpose of converting the world ; for it alone is the power
of God to salvation to every one that believeth : for therein is
a revelation of the Divine method of justification given that
it may be believed— and if to be believed, assuredly that it may
be proclaimed to those who are ignorant of it.

SECT. I.J MAN'S NEED OF JUSTIFICATION. 23
And as to the individual man of the nineteenth century, is
he not in state and character just what the man of the first
century was ? There were then, as there are now, men par
doned, and purified, washed, sanctified, justified ; — there were
such men under the former economy, but they had all become
so by the " righteousness of God," — a system which came into
operation immediately on the fall of man. All who have been
pardoned, all who have been sanctified, have been so through
the great sacrifice on which this method of justification is based,
through the good Spirit whose influence it secured, and through
the faith of the truth respecting the saving character of God
manifested in these two inseparable gifts. Originally they were
all guilty and depraved, " children of wrath," slaves of sin,
" even as others." And is it not still true that every man is
a sinner — that every man has violated God's law, and incurred
its curse, and by depravity utterly unfitted himself for com
munion with God in holy happiness. Such is the universal
condition of man, and it must remain his perpetual condition,
but for " the righteousness of God" which the Gospel reveals.
Such is the original state of every child of Adam. Continuing
in this state he is lost, utterly lost, lost for ever. There is no
deliverance from this state but through " the righteousness of
God ;" there is no interest in the pardoning, justifying, sancti
fying, saving influences of " this righteousness of God," but
by the belief of the truth in reference to it. It is under the
new economy manifested to all, but it takes effect only on all
that believe. He that believeth is not condemned : he can
never come into condemnation. He that believeth not is con
demned already, and if he continues an unbeliever, the wrath
of God must abide on him. It is an unspeakable privilege to
have this "righteousness of God" revealed to us, but that
privilege will produce only increased .guilt, deeper punishment,
if the truth revealed is not by faith brought into the mind
and made influential over the heart. That truth, believed by
the individual, secures the salvation of the soul. That truth,
generally embraced by the world, would effect that regenera
tion, to produce which, philosophy, and government, and civi
lisation, and education, have so long laboured in vain.

24 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.

SECTION II.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, OR, THE DIVINE METHOD OF
JUSTIFICATION.
CHAPTER III. 21-CHAPTER XI. 36.
I NOW proceed to the second great section of the doctrinal
part of the Epistle, which may receive for its title — " Of the
Divine Method of Justification." It begins at the 21st verse
of the third chapter, and ends at the close of the eleventh ;
and resolves itself into a considerable number of sub-sections.
— The first, which occupies the close of chapter iii., from
ver. 21, may be entitled, " A General Account of the Divine
Method of Justification." — The second fills the fourth chapter,
and may be entitled, " The Testimony of the Law and the
Prophets to the Divine Method of Justification, as ' without
Law,' ' by Faith' — ' the Faith of Christ' — and ' upon all them
that Believe,'" — The third section is contained in the fifth
chapter, and has for its subject — " The Divine Method of
Justification^' Free ' — ' by God's Grace ' — ' through the Re
demption that is in Christ Jesus.' " — The fourth occupies the
whole of the sixth and seventh chapters, and the eighth chap
ter down to the 17th verse. The subject is, " The Bearing
of the Divine Method of Justification on the Spiritual Trans
formation of Man." — The fifth section fills the remaining
part of the eighth chapter, and may be entitled — " The
Consistency of the Sufferings of the present time, to which
Believers are Exposed, with the Reality and Permanence
of the Blessings secured to them by the Divine Method of
Justification." — The sixth and last of these sub-divisions has
for its subject, " The Relations of Mankind, viewed as divided
into Jews and Gentiles, to the Manifested Divine Method of
Justification," and occupies the whole of the ninth, tenth, and
eleventh chapters. We proceed to the examination of these
in their order.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 25
§1.-4 General Account of the Divine Method of Justification.
Chapter in. 21-31. — " But now the righteousness of God without the
law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets ; even
the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and
upon all them that believe ; for there is no difference : for all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God : being justified freely by His grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ; whom God hath set forth
to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteous
ness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of
God ; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness ; that He might be
just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting
then? It is excluded. By what law ? of works ? Nay ; but by the law
of faith. Therefore we conclude, that a man is justified by faith without
the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only? is He not also of
the Gentiles ? Yes, of the Gentiles also : seeing it is one God which
shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Do we then make void the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we
establish the law."
It were unreasonable to expect, in an epistolary composi
tion, the formal method of a professedly regular treatise ; yet,
in this first sub-section, we shall find almost all the topics
brought forward which are discussed at large in the sequel,
and brought forward, too, in nearly the same order in which
they are there discussed. These eleven verses bear, to the
remaining part of the section, a relation very similar to that
which the laying down of the method does to the body of a
treatise, or the stating the leading divisions and sub-divisions,
the heads and particulars, as they are called, does to the rest
of a pulpit discourse. The leading features of the Divine
method of justification, as here sketched, are these: — (1.) It
is " without the law"1 — apart from law — not by law ; (2.) It
is " witnessed by the law and the prophets ;"2 (3.) It is " by
the faith of Jesus Christ;"3 (4.) It is now " manifested to
all;"4 (5.) It takes effect " on all them that believe;"5 (6.)
It treats all mankind as on the same level in reference to it ;6
(7.) In reference to man, its character is gratuitousness;'
1 Ver. 21. 2 Ver. 21. 3 Ver. 22. * Ver. 22, 23.
5 Ver. 22. 6 Ver. 22. ' Ver. 24.

26 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
(8.) In reference to God, its character is graciousness ;x (9.)
It is "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus ;"2 and
this its most characteristic feature is strikingly exhibited in
that view of His propitiatory sacrifice, contained in the Gospel,
which shows how, both in the times that are past and in the
times that now are, the claims of justice were reconciled with
the exercise of mercy, and how God is the just God, while
He justifies him that believeth in Jesus.3 From these general
views of the Divine method of justification, the apostle con
cludes — (1.) That this Divine method of justification excludes
all boasting ;4 (2.) That a saving interest in it can be obtained
by believing — by believing without the works of the law —
and can only be thus obtained ;5 (3.) That it is equally neces
sary and equally sufficient for all men, whether they be Jews
or Gentiles ;6 and (4.) That, far from making void the law,
without which — apart from which — it is, it establishes it.7
He who understands these statements — who attaches a clear
and just idea to each of these descriptions — will have a distinct,
and, so far as it goes, accurate view of the Divine method of
justification ; and will be prepared for proceeding with advan
tage to the apostle's more extended illustrations. Such a
clear apprehension of the elementary principles of the doc
trine of Christian justification, is far from being so common
as might be imagined. Many suppose they have it, who are
lamentably destitute of it. Let us take care that we possess
it. Much that is deficient and wrong in inward experience
and in practical conduct among professors of Christianity, is
to be traced to imperfect and mistaken views on this subject.
I will endeavour in the sequel, in as plain and few words as
I can select, to express to you what appears to me the apostle's
meaning in these propositions ; and we will find, I am per
suaded, that they are not expressions, as some may be apt to
consider them, merely of nice dialectical distinctions, but
statements of truths which have a vital connection with men's
becoming truly holy and happy — truths stated in the form best
1 Ver. 24. 2 Ver. 24. => yer- 25> 26 4 yer 2?
* Ver. 28. " Ver. 29, 30. ' Ver. 31.

SECT. II. J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 27
fitted to remove the mistakes, which men are naturally dis
posed to fall into with regard to the method of justification,
and which, if persisted in and acted on, will assuredly be
fatal to their highest interests.
Statement 1. The Divine Method of Justification is " with
out the Law."
The first thing the apostle says, in reference to " the righte
ousness of God," or the Divine method of justification, is, that
it is "without the law,"1 or rather "without law ;" the apostle
not referring merely to the law of Moses, but to law in gene
ral — to the principle of all law, human and divine : " the man
that doeth the things contained in a law shall live in them —
by them." This is not the principle of the Divine method of
justifying sinfiil men. It is the principle of the method of
the justification of holy angels ; it was the principle of the
method by which man, continuing innocent and obedient,
would have been justified. But the Divine method of justifi
cation for sinners is " without law" — i.e. it stands apart from
law ; it is founded on other principles ; it is characterized by
different qualities. When our Lord says, that without Him
His disciples can do nothing,2 He means that, separate from
Him, they can do nothing. In like manner, when the apostle
says, the Divine method of justification is " without law," he
means that it is soriiething quite distinct and different from
law. It is not, like law, the offspring of equity, it is the off
spring of sovereign grace ; and all its details are in beautiful
harmony with its origin and corresponding nature. It indeed
"magnifies law and makes it honourable;"3 it does not make
it void, but establishes it. But, as a method of justification,
it stands apart from it. It could not have answered its pur
pose otherwise. Law is, in its nature, fitted to be the prin
ciple of the justification of the innocent and obedient. It has
served its purpose in the case of the elect angels ; it would
have served its purpose in the case of innocent and obedient
1 %apis i/ofiov. a John XV. 5. Xfiipls ifiov.
3 Isa. xiii. 21.

28 DOCTRINAL. [>ART

II.

man. But law, as a method of justification for sinners, has
become " weak through the flesh." Man's guilt and depravity
make it, in the nature of things, impossible that the law should
be the means of his justification and final happiness. It can
do nothing, with regard to him, but pronounce condemnation
and secure punishment. No modification of law would serve
the purpose of justifying the sinner. Indeed, the law of God,
all perfect, does not admit of being modified. Every attempt
to do so, instead of establishing the law or saving the sinner,
dishonours the law, and deludes and destroys the sinner.
Yet all the mistaken notions of the Divine method of justifi
cation are just modifications of the method of justification by
law. All who do not, in an enlightened faith of the truth,
submit to the righteousness of God — God's method of justifi
cation — all who have any concern about being justified, in
going about to establish their own methods of justification,
however various in their details, " seek justification, as it
were, by the works of the law:"1 hence the importance of
our clearly and fully apprehending the meaning of the apostle's
assertion, that the Divine method of justification is ' apart from
law ; ' that in its principle and in its details, it is altogether
different from legal justification.
We can conceive of a method of justification in which the
obedience of the individual is, strictly speaking, the ground
of obtaining the Divine favour, — the Divine favour being
the stipulated reward, his obedience the stipulated work : or
we may conceive of a method of justification, in which the
ground of justification is something else than the man's own
obedience — say the obedience unto death of the incarnate
Son ; but the means by which the individual obtains a personal
interest in it, is his own obedience, his doing some stipulated
work in order to his having the advantage of that ground of
justification. In neither of these cases would the method of
justification be " without law." Now, in both these respects
the Divine method of justification is "without law"— apart from
1 Rom. ix. 32.

SECT. Il.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 29
law. Neither its ground nor its means are legal. According
to the Divine method of justification, obedience is neither the
ground nor the means of justification. Nothing can be plainer
than the apostle's words, in ver. 28 of this chapter, " A man
is justified without the deeds of the law ;" except, perhaps,
his words in Gal. ii. 16, "A man is not justified by the works
of the law."
Obedience is not, cannot be, the ground of the sinner's jus
tification. If obedience be the ground of the sinner's justifi
cation, it must either be perfect, or imperfect but sincere,
obedience. — Perfect obedience to the Divine law cannot be
the ground of the sinner's justification, for two reasons — (1.)
There is no such thing to be found among men. There is
not, there never was, there never will be, such a just mere
man as doeth good and sinneth not ; not that even perfect
obedience is a physical impossibility, but men, who are in the
flesh, cannot please God in anything, far less in everything ;
and (2.) Though such obedience existed for the future, in the
case of the sinner, it could not be the ground of justification,
for he is condemned already. Such obedience may prevent
further condemnation, but it cannot procure immunity from
punishment deserved for previous offences. — Imperfect but
sincere obedience cannot be the ground of the sinner's jus
tification, for two reasons also — (1.) From its imperfection,
that is, its mixture with sin, it is unfit for this purpose ; and
(2.) No man but a justified man — a man already in favour
with God — can yield really sincere obedience to God — that
is, obedience rising out of cordial esteem and love of the Divine
character and law.
Obedience can as little be the means as the ground of the
sinner's justification. Perfect obedience cannot ; for, as we
have seen, there is no such thing to be found among men.
Sincere but imperfect obedience cannot; for we have seen
that there is no sincere obedience but among the justified.
Nothing can be the means of obtaining its own cause. In
all the extent of meaning, then, that belongs to the very
comprehensive phrase, the righteousness of God is " with-

30 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
outlaw;" the Divine method of justification stands apart
from law.
Statement 2. The Divine Method of Justification is
witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.
The apostle's second statement, in reference to the Divine
method of justification, is, that it is " witnessed by the law
and the prophets." The Jews used to call the five books of
Moses " the law," and the other inspired books of their canon
"the prophets;" so that the apostle's assertion is that the
Divine method of justification, revealed in the Gospel, is
" witnessed" in the Old Testament Scriptures. Not merely
was the Gospel, in which this method is revealed, " promised
afore by God's prophets in the Holy Scriptures,"1 but in these
Scriptures a testimony is given respecting this " righteousness
of God." The Divine method of justification had been in
operation since after the fall of man ; and though, to a great
extent, a " mystery" — a concealed thing, till He came who
is " Jehovah our righteousness,"2 many of its most distinc
tive features were dimly revealed ; and, in comparing these
intimations with the full revelation, we cannot help seeing
that they refer to the same Divine economy of the exercise of
grace in consistency with righteousness. The apostle seems
to have meant something more than that some account of the
Divine method of justification is to be found in the Old Tes
tament — he appears to intimate that it is there witnessed to
as being " without law ;" its two great principles being to be
found there, to wit, that the ground of the sinner's justification
is not his own doing and suffering, but the doing and suffering ,
of another, and that the means of the sinner's justification is
not working but believing. The first of these principles is the
very soul of the whole substitutionary services of the Mosaic
law, and is stated in as plain principles by the Prophet Isaiah
as by any of the evangelists or apostles.3 The second prin
ciple was exemplified in the case of Abraham,4 and the pas-
Rom. 1. 2. « Jerem. xxiii. 6.
8 Isa. liii. 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12. * Gen. xv. 6.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 31
sage quoted at the 19th verse of the first chapter, from the
Prophet Habakkuk, shows how the prophets " witnessed" it.
Statement 3. The Divine Method of Justification is " by
the Faith of Christ."
The apostle's third statement is, that the Divine method of
justification is " by the faith of Christ." " The faith of Christ"
may, according to the usage of the New Testament, signify
either " the truth about Christ revealed to be believed" — that
is, the Gospel ; or " the belief of that truth" — that is, the faith
of the Gospel. In both cases the Divine method of justifica
tion is " by the faith of Christ." It is by the Gospel of Christ,
not by the law of Moses, that this method of justification
gains its object ; and it is by believing the truth about Christ,
not by yielding obedience to any law, that the sinner, according
to this method of justification, is justified. The latter seems
to express the apostle's precise meaning here, for, in the strictly
parallel passage in the Epistle to the Galatians, chap. ii. 16,
" the faith of Jesus Christ " is contrasted, not with " the law,"
but with " the works of the law." We consider the apostle,
then, as here saying, 'According to the Divine method of
justification, men are justified by believing the truth respect
ing Jesus Christ, exhibited in the Gospel as the propitiation
for sin.' When he says, that " this Divine method of justifi
cation" is thus " by the faith of Christ," he by no means in
tends, what some have supposed him to mean, that, in this
method, faith holds the same place as obedience does in the
method of justification by law — that the sinner is justified on
the ground of his faith. We shall have an opportunity of
showing, by and by, that the passage on which this hypothesis
chiefly rests, " Faith is imputed " or counted " for righteous
ness,'" rightly interpreted, lays no foundation for any such
conclusion. It is enough at present to remark, that " faith,"
however you may understand the word, cannot be the ground
on which God justifies the sinner. It is neither perfect obedi-
1 Rom. iv. 6.

32 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ence, nor does it in any way give satisfaction for sin. Viewed
in its true meaning as, the counting true what God says, on
abundant evidence that God says it, it obviously can have no
merit ; viewed as equivalent to reliance on the work of Christ,
it is an entire relinquishment of reliance on itself, or anything
else ; and, viewed as the seminal principle and substance of
obedience, justification by faith would become but another form
of that justification by law, which we have shown to be utterly
foreign to the genius of that Divine method that stands apart
from law. What the apostle states here, and so often and so
plainly elsewhere, is, that the faith of the truth about Christ
is the only and the certain way in which an individual sinner
can realize for himself the benefits of this Divine method of
justification ; that we are justified by faith — only by faith ;
that, as our Lord says, " He that believeth not is condemned,
and the wrath of God abideth on him." " He that believeth
is not condemned; he shall not come into condemnation."1
Thus faith, while not the ground, is the means, the only
means, of the sinner's justification.
In thus making the faith of the truth about Christ the only
link for connecting the sinner with the ground of justification,
which the Divine method of justification furnishes, we have a
striking display of the manifold wisdom of God. (1.) Such an
arrangement agrees with the gratuitous character of the economy.
Its being by faith shows that it is of grace. What credit can
any sane man take to himself for believing well-accredited
truth? (2.) It corresponds with, and illustrates the generosity of
the Divine character. Its language is, ' Trust me, and your ex
pectations, however high, will be surpassed. Refuse to trust me,
after the manifestation I have given of my disposition to for
give and bless, and I cannot bestow on you my favour.' (3.) The
faith which is the means of justification, is the instrument of
sanctification ; and, (4.) There does not appear to be any other
conceivable way of putting a being like man in possession of
the blessings of a justified state, a peaceful conscience, and
a holy heart. 1 John iii. 18, 36; v. 24.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 33
Statement 4. The Divine Method of Justification is " now
manifested to all."
The fourth statement of the apostle is, that the Divine
method of justification is "now manifested to all." 1 — The Divine
method of justification, originating in the eternal purpose of
mercy, came into operation as soon as it was required, imme
diately after the fall of man ; and its exercise was, from its
nature and object, accompanied with a partial revelation.
That revelation became more extensive and distinct as ages
moved on. The testimonies of the law are more obscure than
the testimonies of the prophets. The revelation was confined
to a comparatively small part of mankind — the original revela
tion to Adam and Noah being soon lost, or so corrupted as to
become equivalent to no revelation — and, after the call of
Abraham, the revelations being in a great measure limited to
his descendants in the fine of Isaac and Jacob. But "now," —
now that the Messiah is come in the person of Jesus Christ,
the incarnate Son of God — the Divine method of justification
is manifested to all. The method is " manifested," made evi
dent, by the great events having taken place on which the
Divine method of justification is founded. Not in a figure, but
in reality has been offered up the great sacrifice of expiation,
on which all human justification rests ; and the whole of the
facts in reference to this event and its design, and the man
ner in which it is to accomplish this design, have been made
the subject of a plain revelation, which may be translated into
all languages, and carried into all nations ; and those into
whose hands it is come are charged, not only to keep it care
fully and to transmit it to their children pure and entire, as
the Jews were, with regard " to the law and the prophets," but
to use every suitable means for its becoming universally known.
The Gospel, in which it is contained, is to be preached to every
nation under heaven ; and " by the commandment of the Ever
lasting God," the " mystery, which was hid from former ages
1 iixxtoo-vi/n 9«o2 xtQuiripuTa.!, ver. 21 ; tic; vavrctc, ver. 22.
C

34 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and generations," is to be " made known among all nations
for the obedience of faith." J

Statement 5. The Divine Method of Justification takes effect
" upon all that believe"
The fifth statement made by the apostle is, that this Divine
method of justification is " on all them that believe" — i.e. it
takes effect not on all to whom it is addressed or made known,
not on any of them, unless they believe it. — This rises out of
its nature, as a method of justification by believing — a method
suited to man's rational nature. It does not work like a
charm. No man is justified by merely having in his posses
sion the Bible in which this method is revealed. No man
is justified by it, by being only a hearer of the Gospel in
which it is set forth. But every man who believes the reve
lation about it, is personally interested in the benefits it
conveys. It takes effect on every believer. It cannot take
effect on the unbeliever ; and it cannot but take effect on the
believer. The Jew with the law cannot be justified unless
he believes. The Gentile without the law, if he believes,
is justified. All believers shall — none but believers can — ¦
be justified by this " righteousness of God."
Statement 6. The Divine Method of Justification treats
all Men as on a level.
The sixth statement by the apostle is, that this Divine
method of justification treats all its subjects, as on a level.
" There is no difference ; for all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God." — This does not deny that there may be,
that there are differences — great differences among men, even
among believers. It merely states that, in reference to jus
tification, there is no difference. This Divine economy takes
no notice of the artificial distributions of men, nor even of their
comparative moral distinctions. It relates to man the sinner.
1 Rom. xvi. 25, 26.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 35
Its direct object is to deliver from guilt ; and though all are not
equally guilty, in the sense of having committed the same
number of crimes of the same heinousness and aggravation —
there is a great difference here — yet all are guilty ; all are con
demned, though not to the same measure of punishment, yet
to such a measure of punishment as to them will be perdition —
hopeless perdition, if the sentence is not repealed. " They
have all sinned — they have all come short of the glory," x the
approbation "of God."2 They have all violated the law —
they have all incurred its penalty — they are all, what to
rational creatures is the most dreadful of all evils, the ob
jects of the judicial displeasure and the moral disapprobation
of God. This method of justification deals with men not as
Jews or Gentiles, not as possessing or being destitute of a
Divine revelation, not as being comparatively harmless or
enormously wicked — but as men, as sinners. All need it,
equally need it, for they must perish without it ; and it is
equally suitable, equally fitted to be efficacious to all — the
Gentile as well as the Jew — the chief sinner as well as the
man not far from the kingdom of God.
Statement 7. In reference to Man, the character of the Divine
Method of Justification is gratuitousness.
The seventh statement is that in reference to man, the cha
racter of this Divine method of justification is gratuitousness.
Those who are justified by it are justified "freely." — Nothing
like an equivalent is required, or can, if offered, be accepted
in the case of this justification. Forgiveness and acceptance
under this economy are the "gift of God." There is — there
can be no cause of justification in the sinner. The blessings
conferred are, in no sense, nor degree, for value received or to
be received. Man cannot be profitable to God, as man may
be to man.

1 Luke xiv. 10 ; John v. 41, 44, xii. 43 ; Rom. v. 2, vi. 4 ; 2 Cor. vi.
; 1 Thes. ii. 6. 2 Ver. 23.

36 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Statement 8. In reference to God, the Character of the Divine
Method of Justification is Graciousness.
The next— the eighth statement is of a kindred signification,
yet still bears a very important, distinct meaning. In refe
rence to God, the character of the Divine method of justifica
tion is gracious sovereignty. They who are justified by it are
"justified by God's grace."1 — The blessings conferred, and the
method of conferring them, originated in self-moved sovereign
benignity. They could not originate in anything else. Inte
rest was out of the question. His glory and happiness are,
like Himself, eternal and independent. Justice demanded any
thing but men's justification. They deserved punishment;
they never could deserve any thing else. To the questions,
Why is there a Divine method of justification for shining men
rather than for sinning angels ? — Why are any of the fallen
race justified % — Why is there a plan of justification revealed
to all, and taking effect on all that believe ? — the only answer
is, It is " according to the good pleasure of His will," 2 " which
He purposed in Himself"3 — " the riches of His grace." 4 He
has mercy, because He wills to have mercy ; He has compas
sion, because He wills to have compassion. 5 — These two state
ments are, as we have remarked, closely connected, yet still
distinct. In the first the apostle looks to the recipient of justi
fication, and says, It is "free" — there is no cause of it in man.
In the second he looks to the author and bestower of justifica
tion, and he says, It is " by God's grace" — there is no cause
of it in God but sovereign kindness.
Statement 9. The Divine Method of Justification is " Through
the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The ninth statement by the apostle is, that this method of jus
tification is "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."—
Redemption, which properly signifies deliverance by the pay-
1 Ver. 24. 2 Eph. i. 5. * Eph. i. 9.
* Eph. i. 7. * Rom. ix. 15.

Sect, ii.] the divine method of justification. 37
ment of a ransom, is sometimes used in reference to the deli
verance itself thus obtained ; at other times to the act of deli
verance by the payment of the ransom. It seems here used in
the latter sense ; for justification is not so much through re
demption, in the former sense, as a part — the fundamental part
of it, while it is through the payment of the ransom that the jus
tification is enjoyed : that is its ground. The whole method of
Divine justification is framed with a reference to this great
fact. Redemption, in the sense of the deliverance, is " in
Christ Jesus," inasmuch as it is only in union with Him that
this deliverance can be enjoyed. Redemption, in the sense
of the act of ransoming, is said to be "in" or by "Christ Jesus,"
because He paid the ransom. The general truth taught us
is that, according to the Divine method of justification, the
ransom paid by Jesus Christ is the ground of the sinner's jus
tification — is that which makes it just in God to justify the
ungodly. The justification which the righteousness of God
brings near to men, is not mere amnesty. It is pardon and
acceptance granted in consequence of something having taken
place, which answers all the demands of the Divine moral
government, as well as, aye infinitely better than, the infliction
of the penalty would have done. That something, which all
created wisdom would have sought for in vain, is found in
the perfect obedience to death of the incarnate Son of God
— in His submitting to take the place of man, and expose
Himself to those evils which are the manifestation of the dis
pleasure of God against the sin of man. He Himself, in His
all-perfect humanity — doing and suffering all that the righteous
governor held necessary for the vindication of His holy law
from the dishonour done to it by the sins of men, till on the
cross, yielding up His Spirit, He could say, " It is finished,"
— was the ransom that laid the foundation for unlocking the
fetters of guilt and delivering from the slavery of sin and
Satan. This central truth of Christianity is further illustrated in the
words that follow, in which the apostle shows that the mani
festation of the Divine method of justification, in the Gospel,

38 doctrinal. [part ii.
is effected by that Gospel setting forth Jesus Christ as a
propitiatory sacrifice, in the atoning, expiatory efficacy of which
men are interested by believing : this wonderful dispensation,
lying at the foundation of this method of justification, both as it
was exemplified, before the offering of the great sacrifice, by
God, in the exercise of" forbearance," remitting sins for which,
as yet, there had been made no atonement ; and as it is exem
plified now, under the new economy, in His being and appearing
to be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus — that
Just One who gave Himself, in the room of the unjust, a ran
som — a sacrifice that He might bring them to God. It would
require more space than our plan affords, to show, by a minute
analysis, how this meaning may be brought out of the 24th,
25th, and 26th verses. I would only remark, that I consider
" the righteousness of God," in these verses, as having the
meaning which it has in every other part of the paragraph ; and
" the declaring" of that righteousness by " setting forth" Jesus
Christ " a propitiation through faith in His blood," as being
equivalent to the " revelation of the righteousness of God" in
the Gospel, in chapter i. 17, and the "manifestation of the
righteousness of God to all," in verses 21, 22, of this chapter.
To some it may appear that entire gratuitousness and
sovereign graciousness, both as we have shown, distinctive
features of the Divine method of justification, do not har
monize very well with these statements. But, if our plan
admitted, it would not be difficult to show that this thought
springs from misconception. It might be shown (1.) That,
in the most extensive view which we can take of the Divine
government, every dispensation is an act of justice ; and,
therefore, if justice and grace are incompatible, there can be
no such thing as a display of grace. (2.) That it does not appear
possible that a sinner should be justified without the exercise
of grace, whatever compensation might be made for his sin.
(3.) That what is an act of justice in one view, may be an act of
grace in another. The same Divine dispensation may be an act
of justice to one person, and an act of grace to another ; what to
him who paid the ransom is justice, may be grace, pure grace, to

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 39
him for whom it was paid. (4.) That when a person voluntarily
contracts an obligation, by the promise to bestow a blessing
which he was in no way bound to confer, the bestowal of that
benefit — while the discharge of an obligation on the part of
him who confers it — is not less an act of bounty to the per
son who receives it, than if the obligation to give had never
been contracted by the promise to give. (5.) Finally,
that the person who paid the ransom being " God manifest in
flesh," there is — there can be, no claim of right for the justifi
cation of the sinner, extrinsic of the Divinity.
From these nine propositions respecting the Divine method
of justification, the apostle draws four conclusions, with
which he shuts up this bird's-eye view of the subject, before
he enters on the illustration of its various parts and bearings.
Conclusion 1. That the Divine Method of Justification
excludes boasting.
The first of these conclusions is, that this Divine method of
justification excludes boasting. " Where is boasting, then ?
It is excluded. By what law ? By the law of works ? Nay,
but by the law of faith."1 — It is quite plain that the method of
justification excludes all boasting on the part of those who are
interested in it. Justification is a free gift, originating in
sovereign favour. The person who enjoys it cannot boast of
himself, for he is a mere recipient; he cannot boast over
those who along with him enjoy it, for it is equally unde
served in every case ; he cannot boast over those who do
not enjoy it, for what was He better than they ? Who made
them to differ ? The apostle especially fixes the mind on the
fact that the Divine method of justification being a law of justi
fication not by works, but by faith, leads to this result — the
exclusion of boasting. The full expression is found in chapter
ix. 31, " law of righteousness" or law of justification. How
does the Divine method of justification exclude boasting? It
1 Ver. 27.

40 doctrinal. [part ii.
does so because it is a law or method of justification by faith.
If it had been a law or method of justification by works, it would
not have done so. If the condition of justification had been
some work, it matters not what, he who had done it might boast
of having done it — he might compare himself with others
who also had done it, and please himself with the thought
that he had done it better than they ; he might compare
himself with those who had not done it, and plume himself
on his superiority to them. But all this boasting is excluded.
In believing plain truth, accompanied with sufficient evidence,
he has received a gift. That is the whole matter. What is
there to glory of in this ?
Conclusion 2, Tliat an interest in the Divine Method of
Justification can be obtained by Faith ivithout the Works of
the Law, and can only be thus obtained.
The second conclusion is, that a saving interest in this Divine
method of justification can be obtained by believing without
the works of the law. " Therefore we conclude," or we judge
then " that a man is justified by faith without the works of
the law." 2 — Without believing the truth respecting Christ and
the way of salvation through Him, a man cannot be justified.
No ceremonial atonement, no external privilege, no act of
obedience, singly or combined, can restore a sinner to the en
joyment of the Divine favour. The man who does really
believe the true Gospel, shall be, is justified — "justified from all
things" — however numerous, however aggravated his sins. And
this, without the works of the law. We can suppose what,
indeed, some men calling themselves Christian ministers do, in
substance, teach — that God, having in view the justification of
man as a gratuitous gift on the ground of Christ's merits, might
still have suspended the grant on the performance of a certain
measure of obedience to the law. The righteousness of God
might have been on all who discovered a teachable dispo
sition, and who, to a certain extent, kept the law of God.
1 Ver. 27.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 41
But this is not "the righteousness of God;" this is not the
Divine method of justification. It is " to him that worketh
not but believeth that righteousness is imputed" — to him
alone.1Conclusion 3. That the Divine Method of Justification is
equally necessary, equally suitable, equally sufficient for all
Men, whether Jews or Gentiles.
The third conclusion is, that it is equally necessary and
equally sufficient for all men, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.
— Is the God who is revealed in this method of justification,
the peculiar exclusive property of the Jews ? 2 Had it been a
method of justification by circumcision, or keeping the law of
Moses, that might have been the case. But it is a method of
justification by faith, something that men, as men, are capable
of — something which nothing can supply the place of in this
method of justification. There is but one God and one method
of justification ; and it equally suits, and is equally effectual in,
Jews and Gentiles. God "justifies the circumcision by faith,
and the uncircumcision through faith."3 The distinction thus
marked may be made plainer to an English reader thus : —
He justifies the Jew not as a Jew, but as a believer ; and as to
the Gentile, He will not exclude him from justification because
he is a Gentile; let him believe, and, like the believing
Jew, he will be equally "justified freely by God's grace,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." If the
Jew is justified, it is not because he is a Jew, but a believing
man ; and if the Gentile remains in condemnation, it is
not because he is a Gentile, but because he is an unbeliev
ing man.
Conclusion 4. The Divine Method of Justification does not
make void, but establishes the Law.
The fourth and last conclusion is, that this Divine method of
justification, far from making void the law, apart from which
1 Rom. iv. 5. ' Ver. 29. 3 Ver. 30.

42 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
it stands on its own peculiar basis, establishes the law. In the
all-perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, it secures honour to
the law, both in its precepts and sanctions, such as it never
could have obtained in any other way ; and in its effects on
the justified person, it secures from him a kind and extent of
obedience that could not otherwise have been obtained. As
the apostle afterwards says — " God sending his Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin" — that is, a sacrifice for sin
has done what the law could not do, because it was weak
through the flesh, " has condemned sin in the flesh ; so that
" the righteousness of the law," — the requirements of the law,
" are fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit." * Such is the general view which the apostle gives
of " the righteousness of God " — the Divine method of jus
tification. Now, this is not a piece of abstract speculation. It is
a statement of indubitable, because Heaven-revealed, facts.
It is a statement of facts in which every one of us has the
deepest personal interest. Every one of us needs to be
restored to God's favour, for every one of us has forfeited it.
If not thus restored, the consequence must be utter ruin —
hopeless perdition ; for what else, what less can be the
meaning of " God's wrath to the uttermost abiding" on a
human being ? We may be restored to the Divine favour.
This is the method of restoration — the only method of resto
ration. They who have not yet availed themselves of it
have no time to lose. It secures the interests of eternity,
but it is only in time we can secure an interest in it.
There is no Divine method of justification for condemned
men in the future state, any more than for condemned
angels. By this method of justification, the boon must,
according to its nature and ours, be received as a gift
in the belief of the truth in reference to it. He who at
tempts to gain it in any other way will not only lose it,
but add to his guilt, deepen his perdition. " The plea of

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 43
works," in every form, either as the ground or the means of
justification, —
" The plea of works, as arrogant and vain,
Heaven turns from with abhorrence and disdain ;
Not more affronted by avowed neglect,
Than by the mere dissembler's feigned respect.
What is all righteousness that men devise ?
What but a sordid bargain for the skies ?
But Christ as soon would abdicate His own,
As stoop from Heaven to sell the proud a throne.''
" Accept it only and the boon is yours :
And sure it is as kind to smile and give,
As, with a frown, to say — ' Do this and live.'
Love is not pedlar's trump'ry, bought and sold :
God will give freely or He will withhold.
He stipulates indeed, but merely this —
That man will freely take an unbought bliss —
Will trust Him for a faithful generous part,
Nor set a price upon a willing heart."1
The whole of the Divine method of justification, in its own
nature and in its intended influence, is contained in these
words — " Freely ye receive, freely give."
Let those who have in the faith of the truth submitted to
" the righteousness of God," who have embraced cordially the
Divine method of justification, avail themselves of all its advan
tages, and carefully regard the obligations which grow out of it.
What do they owe to Him in whose grace the whole wonder-
ous plan originates, and to Him who, by giving Himself to be
the propitiation for our sins, opened a way for this grace to
reign through righteousness to their eternal fife. How should
they value for themselves that record, by the faith of which
they obtain and retain all the blessings of this Divine method ?
and how should they labour to communicate it to others, by
whom the Divine method of justification is equally needed, for
1 Cowper.

44 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
whom it is equally suited, and who can be interested in it only
by knowing and believing the truth? Knowing that "all
things are of God" in this method of justification, and that
" of God are they in Christ righteousness" — " the righteousness
of God in Him" — let them learn not to glory in His presence,
or if they glory, to glory only in the Lord ; and, finally, let
them see that they possess, in ever increasing measure, the only
satisfactory evidence of personal interest in this Divine method
of justification, in the law being established as to its great object
in their experience, in its righteousness being fulfilled, in
their walking not after the flesh but after the spirit. Jus
tification is not sanctification, but the one cannot exist without
the other. Where there is justification, there is, there must
be, sanctification.
I conclude these illustrations with a serious question. Ex
posed as we all are to the righteous displeasure of Almighty
God — that wrath, the power whereof not man nor angel knows
— where have we sought — where have we found a refuge ?
That refuge must be " a righteousness " — a justification.
There are many refuges of lies ; there is but one secure re
fuge. There are many methods of justification ; there is
but one Divine, and therefore efficacious, method of justifi
cation. Abraham, David, Isaiah, Paul, sought and found
shelter there. It is "the everlasting righteousness" which
Messiah the Prince has brought in.1 It is brought near even
to "the stout-hearted, far from righteousness."2 And the
worst of them in the belief of the truth may say, ' It is for me
— " Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength ;" '
and if he does so in good earnest, " In the Lord he shall be
justified, and in the Lord shall he glory."3 Happy they
who have submitted to this righteousness, who " have this
righteousness, not of the law, but by the faith of Christ, the
righteousness of God which is by faith." 4 — " Lift up your
eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath, for the
heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall
1 Dan. ix. 24. * Is. xlvi. 12. s Is. xiv. 24, 25. * Phil. iii. 9.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 45
wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die
in like manner — the moth shall eat them like a garment, and
the worm shall eat them like wool ; but my salvation shall be for
ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished — my right
eousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation
to generation." 1
To quote the judicious Hooker — an appellation appropriate,
at least, in this instance — " Oh, that our hearts were stretched
out as tents, and the eyes of our understanding were as bright
as the sun, that we might thoroughly know the riches of the
glorious inheritance of saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power towards us whom He accepteth as pure
and holy through our believing ! Oh, that the Spirit of the
Lord would give this doctrine entrance into the stony and
hard heart which followeth the law of righteousness, but can
not attain to the righteousness of the law; who therefore
stumble at Christ, are bruised, shivered to pieces as a ship
that has run itself upon a rock ! Oh, that God would
cast down the eyes of the proud, and humble the souls of
the high-minded, that they might at length abhor the gar
ments of their own flesh, that cannot hide their nakedness,
and put on the faith of Christ, as he did put it on who
said, ' Doubtless, I think all things but loss for the excellent
knowledge' sake of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have
counted all things loss, and do judge them to be dung that
I may win Christ and be found in Him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is
through the faith of Christ, even the righteousness which
is of God through faith ! ' Oh, that God would open
the ark of mercy wherein this doctrine lieth, and set it
wide before the eyes of poor afflicted consciences, which
fly up and down on the water of their affliction, and can
see nothing but only the deluge of their sins, wherein
there is no place to rest their feet! The God of pity
and compassion give you all strength and courage, every
1 Is. Ii. 6, 8.

46 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
day, and every hour, and every moment, to build and " edify
yourselves" in this most pure and " holy faith." x

§ 2. The Divine Method of Justification, as " without Law,"
" by Faith" " the Faith of Christ' — " witnessed by the Law
and the Prophets."
Chapter iv. — " What shall we then say that Abraham our father, as
pertaining to the flesh, hath found ? For if Abraham were justified by
works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God. For what saith
the scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned
of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on
Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom
God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose
iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Cometh this blessedness then
upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also ? for we say
that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then
reckoned ? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision ? Not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circum
cision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being
uncircumcised : that he might be the father of all them that believe,
though they be not circumcised ; that righteousness might be imputed
unto them also : and the father of circumcision to them who are not of
the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our
father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the pro
mise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to
his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For
if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise
made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath : for where no law
is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by
grace ; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed : not to that
only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abra
ham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, I have made thee a
father of many nations), before Him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they
1 Ser. II. on Jude 17-21, § 28, Works, Hanbury's Edition, vol. iii.,
p. 495.

SECT. II. J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 47
were : who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the
father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy
seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the dead
ness of Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ; and being fully
persuaded that what He had promised He was able also to perform. And
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now, it was not
written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him ; but for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus
our Lord from the dead ; who was delivered for our offences, and was
raised again for our justification."
I proceed now to the second sub-section, under the head,
" Of the righteousness of God." It occupies the whole of the
fourth chapter, and may receive for its title, " The Divine
Method of Justification, as ' without Law,' ' by Faith,' ' the
faith of Christ,' and ' upon all them that Believe,' ' witnessed
by the Law and the Prophets ;' or, " The Testimony of the
Law and the Prophets in reference to the Divine Method of
Justification, as ' without Law,' ' by Faith,' ' the faith of
Christ,' and ' upon all them that Believe.' "
The first testimony which the apostle adduces to the Divine
method of justification, as " without law," " by faith,"
u upon all them that believe," is taken from " the Law" — that
is, from the Pentateuch, and from the first book in it, and con
sists of the history of the manner in which Abraham, the
friend of God, the head on earth of the holy family — ' the
sons of God,' as contradistinguished from the ungodly, ' the
sons of men ' — the pattern of the manner in which God deals
with all the members of the household, was justified. The
form in which the apostle presents his argument is peculiar,
but it will bear close examination, and will be found a wide-
reaching, and a thoroughly conclusive one. It is as if he had
said, ' Let us appeal to Abraham, and see how he was justi
fied ; for, that he was justified — that he was an object of the
special favour of God — there can be no doubt. What, then,
shall we say of Abraham, our father — the father of all the
people of God — as to justification ? Shall we say that he

48 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" obtained " J that justification which, without doubt, he pos
sessed — shall we say that he obtained this " as pertaining to
the flesh ?"2 Did he derive it from anything external ? Did
he obtain it through circumcision, or through animal sacrifice,
or through any outward privilege or service ? In other words,
shall we say that he was " justified by works ? " If he had
been justified by works, he would have had whereof he might
glory. He would have found in himself something that laid
a foundation of self-exultation, as having distinguished him
from others, who were not justified, as a fit object of the Divine
special favour ; for, as the apostle said, in the close of the last
section, the law of works — the method of justification by works
— does not exclude, it leaves room for boasting.3 But Abra
ham had nothing to glory of before God, and, therefore, could
not be justified by works.4 So says the apostle. But where
is his proof? It is not far to seek. " Abraham hath not
whereof to glory before God." For what saith the Scripture ?
" Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness." 5 The Scripture represents Abraham as justi
fied by believing ; and this representation proves at once that
justification is by faith, and is without the law. The passage
quoted by the apostle here, and elsewhere, is to be found in
the 6th verse of the fifteenth chapter of Genesis.
The first thing we must do here is to inquire into the
meaning of these words, and then to evolve the apostle's argu
ment based on them. It is the more necessary to inquire
into their meaning, that they have been often misunder
stood. One class of interpreters have supposed the inspired
historian to say — 'Abraham believed God; he did not disre
gard His communications ; he listened to Him, and showed
a disposition to credit what He said to him, and do what He
bade him ; and God, instead of requiring from Abraham,

1 Chap. xi. 7.
2 Chap. iv. 1. The phrase, " according to the flesh," is connected, not
with " our father," but with " found."
3 Chap. iii. 27. ' Ver. 2. 5 Ver. 3.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 49
who, no doubt, was a sinner, atonement for the past, and per
fect obedience for the future, balanced the account by setting
down this faith, this believing, as if it had been the righteous
ness, the satisfaction and obedience, which the law demanded,
and treated him accordingly.' Others, seeing that this makes
faith void, turns promise into law, faith into works, and directly
opposes what the apostle is establishing, have held that the
historian's narrative is this — ' Abraham believed God; he
trusted in God that the great promise made to him respecting
" a seed " — " the seed of the woman who was to bruise the
head of the serpent " — " a seed in whom all the nations of the
earth were to be blessed " — would be fulfilled ; and God im
puted — reckoned — to him the righteousness of this glorious
person who was the object of his faith, that is, the holiness of
His human nature, His obedient life, and His expiatory death,
for his righteousness, on the ground of which he was justified.
This is, no doubt, substantially sound doctrine, but it is not
correct interpretation ; there is no way of fairly bringing these
thoughts out of these words, which refer, not to the ground,
but to the means, of justification.
What, then, is their meaning ? So far as I can see, it is
this : Abraham believed what God revealed to him — he counted
it true, and he counted it true just because God had revealed
it to him. That is the plain meaning of " Abraham believed
God." So far all is clear enough. But what was it that God
reckoned or imputed to Abraham ? what is meant by God's
reckoning it to him ? and what by God's reckoning it to him
" for righteousness ?" Now, to the first question I think there
can be only one answer. It was Abraham's believing that was
reckoned to him. It seems quite unnatural to say that the
object of his faith was reckoned to him, whether by that object
you mean the Divine testimony or the subject of the Divine
testimony. But what are we to make of the expression,
' God reckoned Abraham's faith or believing to him?' In
the Hebrew language, when a mental act is said to be
reckoned to a person, the meaning is, the person is reckoned
to have exercised it ; if an action is reckoned to him, the mean-
D

50 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ing is, he is reckoned to have performed it ; if a privilege is
reckoned to him, he is reckoned to possess it. If sin is
reckoned to a man, the meaning is, he is reckoned a sinner ;
if righteousness or justification is reckoned to him, he is
reckoned to be righteous or justified ; if faith or believing
is reckoned to a man, he is reckoned a believer. Faith was
reckoned to Abraham plainly by God, — i.e. ' God reckoned
Abraham a believer :' and so He well might ; for He saw his
heart, and knew that he not only professed faith, but pos
sessed it.
It only remains to find out what ' reckoning Abraham a
believer for righteousness ' means. The expression is literally,
' unto righteousness ; ' x or, according to the ordinary meaning
of that word in the epistle, unto justification. " Unto justifi
cation" is just equivalent to, ' so that he was justified.' That
is plainly the meaning of the phrase in chapter x. 10, " With
the heart man believeth unto righteousness," or justification
— believeth so as to be justified ; in other words, is justified
through believing.
The inspired narrative of Abraham's justification thus con
sists of three parts, or, taking in what is necessarily implied,
of four parts : — (1.) God made a revelation to Abraham ;
(2.) Abraham believed that revelation ; (3.) God reckoned
Abraham to be, what he was, a believer ; and (4.) Reckoning
him a believer, He justified him. The ground of justification
is not here before the apostle's mind. It comes forward pro
minently enough afterwards. All that he has in view just now
is, to prove that the Divine method of justification, as exhibited
in the case of Abraham, was " without law," and " by faith."
And how does he prove this ? You have his proof in the
4th and 5th verses. The gist of the argument may be given
in a very few words, — ' The language of this narrative does
not at all suit the case of a man justified by law ; it exactly
suits the case of a man justified simply by believing.' " To
him that worketh is the reward reckoned not of grace, but of
1 tic o'lx.u.iOGViiriv.

SECT. IT.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 51
debt." J When a man receives a stipulated reward for a piece
of stipulated labour, he has got no favour, he has got what
he worked for. Had this been Abraham's case — had he done
something in order to obtain the Divine favour — the record
of his justification would have been couched in other terms.
It would have been — ' Abraham obeyed in leaving Chaldea
at the command of the Lord, or in offering up his son Isaac,
or in submitting to circumcision ; and his obedience was
reckoned to him, and thus he was justified.' On the other
hand, the language of the narrative exactly suits the case of
a man who, in the belief of the truth, receives justification
as a free gift. The man is wngodly — undeserving of God's
favour ; he does not perform a service to buy back the Divine
favour ; he believes a declaration of God, indicating kind
regard to him ; and, reckoned by God a believer — for he is
one — he is treated by Him as if he were a righteous person.2
Such was Abraham ; such is the story of his justification ;
and thus does the Law — the Pentateuch — witness to the Divine
method of justification, as " without law," and " by faith."
The Prophets give the same testimony. The apostle appeals
to " the prophet David." 3 The Psalms formed a part of that
division of the Old Testament Scriptures which the Jews
termed the Former Prophets, just as Genesis formed the first
part of what they termed the Law. The passage which the
apostle refers to is the 1st verse of the thirty-second Psalm.
When David describes the blessed man — that is, the justified
man, the object of God's favour, which is life, happiness — he
describes him as a person whom God reckons righteous, cr
justified "without works."4 He does not describe him as a
man who has never sinned ; nor, as a man who has made
atonement for his sin ; nor, as a man who, as a reward of his
obedience, or on consideration of his repentance, has obtained
forgiveness. He describes him as a sinner — a freely forgiven
sinner — a sinner who is justified merely because God has im
puted or reckoned righteousness to him, without his working.
' Ver. 4. 2 Ver. 5. ' Acts. ii. 30. 4 Ver. 6.

52 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
His words are, " Blessed are they whose transgressions are
forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord will not impute sin"1 — will not reckon guilty, in the
sense of exposed to punishment, on account of sin. Is not
this just the Divine method of justification, " not by law" but
" by grace ? " — not the earnings of desert, but the gift of free
kindness ? And is not this testimony of the Prophets a clear
and conclusive one ?
But the Divine method of justification, according to the
apostle, is not only " without law," and " by faith," — it is also
" upon all them that believe." And the same testimony from
the law, which, as we have seen, establishes the first two
of these principles, confirms also the third. Does this bless
edness of being justified, says the apostle, come on " the
circumcision" — the Jews — only ? or does it come " on the
uncircumcision" — the Gentiles — also? "We say that faith
was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness" 2— that he was
justified, not by working, but by believing. This proves that
all of whom Abraham is the pattern and spiritual father must
be justified in the same way. But Abraham was the head of
the circumcision. It might seem, then, that the argument can
go no farther than to prove that Jews are justified by faith.
But, says the apostle, what were the circumstances of Abraham
when he is declared to have been justified ? Was he a circum
cised or an uncircumcised man ? " How" — in what circum
stances, "was faith reckoned to him?" Was he reckoned a
believer unto justification " when he was in circumcision or
uncircumcision ? " The answer is easy : " Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision." 3 The period referred to (which the
apostle seems to have selected, not as the date of Abraham's
justification, but as the time when an express declaration was
given of his being justified by faith) was fourteen years pre
vious to the institution of circumcision ; and this shows that
circumcision had not only nothing to do with Abraham's justi
fication, but nothing to do with the justification of those of
1 Ver 7, S. a Ver. 9. » Ver. 10.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 53
whom he was the spiritual father. This was no accidental
occurrence. It was so ordered, " that he might be" fittingly
" the father of all who believe, though they should not be
circumcised ;" that it might be indicated that justification was
for them equally with their circumcised brethren ; and that it
might be indicated that, if he was the spiritual father of
believing circumcised persons, he was so on the ground, not
of their circumcision, but of their faith.1 — This is the state
ment contained in the 10th verse, the second half of the 11th,
and the whole of the 12th verse.
The parenthetical clause in the beginning of the 11th verse
(for it is obviously parenthetical, and the not marking it as
such has obscured the passage) is intended to meet the ques
tion, " What profit is there in circumcision." And the reply
is substantially, While circumcision can have no causal or in
strumental connection with justification — for Abraham was
justified before he was circumcised, — that sign, that mark,
which was at once an outward badge of a race, and the em
blematical expression of spiritual truth, was to Abraham a
token, a seal, of the fact that he was a justified person through
believing at the time he received it ; and a confirmation to all,
in all succeeding ages, of the great truth — that the restoration
of a sinful man to the Divine favour is entirely independent of
external privileges, or personal services or sacrifices. Thus is
the principle that the Divine method of justification is " upon
all them that believe," and only on them that believe, "witnessed
to by the law," in the history of Abraham's justification.
The apostle follows up the argument in the sequel of the
chapter. The promise that Abraham should be the heir, pos
sessor of Canaan, was to him and to his seed according to the
law of circumcision ; but the higher promise, " that he should
be the heir of the world," was " through the righteousness of
faith."' The apostle, if I mistake not, refers to the promise, " I
will be thy God;" for he who has God for his own " inherits
all things :"2 he who is an heir of God is of course an heir of
1 Ver. 11. 2 Rev. xxi. 7.

54 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the universe, which is God's : " All things are yours," says the
apostle, of the class here referred to, " whether Paul, or ApoUos,
or Cephas, or the world, or things present, or things to come ;
all are yours; for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's;"1 and,
what is equally true, ' Christ is yours, and God is Christ's.'
This promise was not to Abraham as a circumcised person,
nor was it to his circumcised descendants as such, nor was it-
confined to them ; this promise was to him as a man justified
by believing, and it was to his descendants, whether natural
or merely spiritual, as men justified by believing.2 If Abra
ham's descendants were by obedience to the law to obtain
this promised blessing, then there would be no use for that
faith on which, according to the original constitution as re
vealed to Abraham, everything hung; and indeed the pro
mise would be of none effect, for it never could be performed,
being suspended on what is an impracticable condition
with fallen men. " Law" — that is, the system which holds
out God's favour as a reward to man's work — " worketh
wrath ;" 3 i.e. it leads not to Divine approbation, but to Divine
disapprobation — to displeasure and punishment. It does so in
consequence of man's inveterate tendency to transgress. Jus
tification, to siut fallen man, must be something placed beyond
the hazards of such a system as law. All men who are under
law are under the curse. Where there is law, there is, there
will be transgression. Free them from curse without entirely
transforming their nature, and keep them under law as a sys
tem of justification, and they will soon be under the curse
again, soon forfeit the promised blessing. The Divine method
of justification, to serve its purpose, must be a gratuitous, not a
legal system. It must be without law— apart from law — taken
out of the sphere of law. Justification is something which, if
obtained at all, must be freely given ; and man, as he cannot
procure it for himself, so, if he really possess it, he cannot for
feit it. The blessing could not have been secured for one of
the seed, if it had not been absolutely gratuitous — by grace ;
1 1 Cor. iii. 21-23. "- Ver. 13. s Vor. 15.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 55
and that it might be and appear to be of grace, it is by faith —
obtained, retained by, or rather in, believing. And all this is so
to the end — for the purpose, that the promise — the promised
blessing of a free justification and its results, might be sure-
might be secured to all the seed — all the spiritual descendants
of Abraham ; not only to those of them who, besides being
believers, were his natural posterity, but to those of them also
who were his seed only as walking in the steps of his faith : '
a blessing conferred, in the exercise of sovereign mercy, on
sinners, and received by them in believing. What is to pre
vent that becoming the inheritance of all the seed ? It is
happily placed beyond the possibility of their losing it. It ia
" hid with Christ in God."2
To complete his argumentative illustration, that the Divine
method of justification is without works, by faith, upon all
that believe, drawn from the narrative of Abraham's justifica
tion, the apostle adverts to the fact that Abraham was some
thing more than a private individual. He was a public cha
racter. He was the head of the Israelitish people ; but this
was not all. He was the head of a spiritual family, of which
his natural descendants by Isaac were a type. " Before men,"
he was only the father of those who descended from him ; but
" before God" — in the estimation of God, he was " the father
of all believers." 3 He was, in a still higher sense than the
Apostle Paul, " a pattern to them who should afterwards be
lieve to life everlasting."4 His justification was, if I may use
the expression, normal. He was constituted the head of a
spiritual family whose relation to him originated not in natural
descent, but in believing ; and to whom, as to himself, was
secured, through believing, all the blessings included in and
springing out of the peculiar favour of God : as the apostle
says in his Epistle to the Galatians, " They which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham. And the Scripture,
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the Gospel," or rather, announced beforehand
1 Ver. 16. 2 Col. iii. 3. 3 Ver. 17. * 1 Tim. i. 16.

56 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the glad tidings to Abraham — " In thee" — along with thee, in
the same manner with thee, " shall all nations be blessed. So
then they that be of faith are blessed with"— along with, in
the same way with, " faithful," believing, " Abraham." '
The apostle appeals to Gen. xvii. 5, as warranting him to
say Abraham is the father of all believers : " I have made
thee a father of many nations" — a promise fulfilled both
in its literal and in its typical reference. He then describes
that faith of Abraham by which, according to the inspired
narrative, he was justified, for the purpose, apparently, of
enabling his readers more distinctly to understand how
they, as his spiritual seed, were justified. Whom did Abra
ham believe? What did Abraham believe? Why did
Abraham believe ? And what was the character of Abra
ham's faith? — Whom did he believe? He believed God, as
infinitely powerful — who could quicken the dead, and who
had merely to will that beings and events should be, and
they immediately came into existence.2 What did he believe ?
What God was pleased to reveal. What is mentioned here
is, that he should become the father of many nations ; but
that was but a part, a small part, of what was revealed and
what he believed. He believed in effect — for this was the sum
of what God revealed to him — that one of his descendants
was to be the promised Saviour of men ; and that both he
and his spiritual seed were to be saved by faith in Him. The
revelation was comparatively indistinct ; but this was its pur
port. Why did Abraham believe this ? Just because God
had said it. He had no other ground for it. Everything
else would have led him to doubt or disbelieve it. And what
were the characteristics of Abraham's faith ? It was firm faith :
he was " fully persuaded that what God had promised he was
able to perform," 3 and would certainly perform. It was hope
ful faith : he " believed in hope," though what he expected
was a thing " against hope"4 — beyond hope, — what, but for
God's promise, it would have been madness to hope for. It
1 Gal. iii. (3-0. ! Ver. 17. '' Ver. 21. * Ver 18.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 57
was faith that no seeming impossibilities could shake. " He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God." 1 Thus did Abra
ham believe. Such was his faith. And therefore, because
Abraham thus believed, faith was reckoned to him ;2 God rec
koned him, accounted him, treated him, as what he was
indeed — a believer ; and thus Abraham was justified.
Now, as Abraham is a public character, " the father of us
all," this narrative of his justification by believing is put on
record in the inspired book, which is to be the rule of faith
and manners to all men, in all ages, not only — not principally,
" for his sake" — to do him honour, but for the sakes of those
who should live when the Divine method of justification by
faith, exemplified in the case of Abraham, should in the
Gospel be revealed, manifested to all, that it might be believed,
and take effect on all them that believe, whether Jews or
Gentiles. Faith will be reckoned to every man to justifica
tion, who, like Abraham, believes God — making known the
method of justification, simply on God's own authority — so
believes as to trust the Divine promise, and in the face of all
difficulties expect its performance, in the way of Divine ap
pointment.3 The God who was revealed to Abraham as the God who
quickeneth the dead, is made known to us, to whom the
Divine method of justification is revealed, manifested, de
clared, as " the God who raised up Jesus our Lord from the
dead." 4 That Jesus, our Lord, is His incarnate only begotten
Son, on whom He had laid all our iniquities, making Him sin
— a sin-offering — in our room, — whom He " delivered" up as a
sacrifice, " the just in the room of the unjust, for," that is, ' on
account of,' " our offences" — our violations of His law, and
whom He has " raised up" from the dead, to the throne of the
universe — the highest place in heaven, " for our justification," 5
— that is, I apprehend, not ' that He may justify us,' though
i Ver. 20. 2 Ver. 22. 3 Ver. 23.
* Ver. 24. " Ver. 25.

58 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
that is true too, but in contrast with " He delivered Him for,
or on account of, our offences," He " raised Him on account of
that which justifies us," that which is our justification — the
only ground of our justification — the substantial righteousness
on account of which we are treated as righteous, — that is, the
obedience to the death of this Lord Jesus. ' The form, then,
in which "the righteousness of God" comes before our minds
is substantially this : " God in Christ is reconciling the world
to Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses, seeing He
has made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our room, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him ;"2 and
being " well pleased for His righteousness' sake," He has, as
" the God of peace, brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the
everlasting covenant," and " set Him at His own right hand ;" 3
while in the Gospel He " sets Him forth a propitiation through
His blood by faith," proclaiming Himself " the just God and
the Saviour," — "just, and the justifier of him that believes in
Jesus." 4 To him who believes this, his faith will be reckoned
unto justification. " He will be blessed, by being justified
along with — in the same way as, believing Abraham." 6 Such
is the apostle's argumentative illustration, that the Divine
method of justification, " without law," " by faith," and taking
effect " on all them that believe," is attested — " witnessed by
the law and the prophets."
The account contained in this section of the faith of Abra
ham, is a very fit means of giving clear views — views easily
applied to practical and experimental purposes — of justifying
faith. On no subject is it of more importance to have dis
tinct and accurate notions, than on the way in which a guilty
human being, righteously condemned on account of his sins,
1 The full antithesis is— He was delivered on account of our wa.px.KTa-
funa, offences, which were our x.xraxpnric, condemnation, and raised
again on account of His own liKuia/at, righteousness, which is our hxoei-
aai{, justification.
2 2 Cor. v. 19, 21. s Heb. xiii. 20 ; Eph. i. 20.
* Rom. iii. 25. > Gal. iii. 9.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 59
may obtain the forgiveness of sins, and be treated by a
righteous God as if he were a righteous person. That there
is such a method, is a truth clearly revealed in Scripture ; and
it is also distinctly stated, that it is only through the knowledge
and belief of what God has revealed respecting this method
of salvation, that the individual sinner can obtain a personal
interest in it, and in the invaluable benefits which it secures
— which it alone can secure.
It is not, then, wonderful that, among those who profess to
consider the New Testament as a Divine revelation, that
faith, which holds so prominent a place in that Divine method
of justification which it unfolds, should have been made the sub
ject of most serious investigation ; though there is cause both
for wonder and regret that much of this investigation has
tended rather to perplex than to explain, to obscure than to
illustrate. One of the principal causes of those indistinct and errone
ous views of faith, and of course of the Divine method of
justification by faith, is, if I mistake not, to be found in the
tendency of the human mind to regard abstract terms or
notions as real existences. Faith is often spoken of and
thought of as something separate or separable from the mind
in which it exists — some agent in it, instead of what it
really is, the mind itself in a particular state, or acting in a
particular way. The attempt to explain what faith is, in a
general abstract way, without keeping constantly in view the
simple truth, which yet some learned divines seem never to
have got a glimpse of, that faith is just a man believing, has
exceedingly darkened a subject which in itself is certainly
not peculiarly difficult, and just and distinct views of which
are most intimately connected both with man's holiness and
his comfort.
The best, and perhaps the only way, of guarding against
such confused and perplexing views of faith is, when we think
of the subject, to bring before our mind some individual
believer, and then, by reflecting on whom he believed, what he
believed, why he believed, and what influence his believing

60 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
had on his dispositions and conduct, we will soon arrive at
clear and definite ideas of what faith is — ideas easily expli
cable to others, and easily applicable to practical purposes in
our own experience. We escape out of a world of shadows
into a world of realities.
It is in this way, as we have seen, that the Apostle Paul
explains the nature, and operations, and influence of faith,
in the section of his Epistle to the Romans which we have
been considering. He does not set before our minds the abstract
notion of Faith ; he does not tell us about a historical faith,
as distinguished from a confidential faith — a faith of the head,
as distinguished from a faith of the heart ; he enters into no
discussion as to whether faith be an operation of the mind, or
a state of the mind — whether it be a mental act or a mental
habit — whether it be a capacity or a faculty — whether it
belong to the department of the understanding or of the
will — whether it be merely a matter of the intellect or merely
a matter of the affections, or both, and if both, which has the
initiative — whether the mind is active or passive in believing,
or whether it is not in some measure both, and if so, in what
degree it is active, and in what passive ; — all these questions
which philosophers and divines have delighted to agitate, are
put aside, and the apostle places full before the mind " Abra
ham the believer." He tells us whom he believed, what he
believed, and on what evidence he believed it ; and he tells
us that, if we believe Him whom Abraham believed, if we
believe what Abraham believed, if we believe on the same
kind of evidence on which Abraham believed, God will deal
with us as He dealt with Abraham. He will reckon us
believers ; and, reckoning us believers, He will treat us as if we
were righteous, and bless us with all heavenly and spiritual
blessings. The two questions which are fitted most deeply to interest
the awakened sinner on this subject— and I believe no other
person will get much good from agitating such questions —
are, What is the object of the faith by which a man is justi
fied ? and what is the ground of that faith ? — in other words,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 61
What is it that is to be believed in order to justification, and
on what evidence is that to be believed ? And a satisfactory
answer to these two questions will be found in the true
answer to these two other questions — What did Abraham,
who was justified by faith, believe ? and, Why did he believe
what he did believe ? — on what evidence did he believe it?
What did Abraham believe ? He believed what God re
vealed to him respecting the way of salvation. We are not
to restrict Abraham's faith, spoken of in this section, to the
revelation that he was to have a son by Sarah ; that through
that son he was to become the father of many nations ; and
that, along with him, in his seed all the nations were to be
blessed. We know from the best authority that Abraham
was aware that these promises referred to a great Deliverer,
who had been promised to man from the beginning, and that
" his seed" was the same person as " the seed of the woman."
" Your father Abraham," said our Lord .to the Jews, " rejoic
ed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad." The truth
revealed respecting the salvation of lost mankind was the
object of Abraham's faith. That truth came in the form of
promise. The testimony then was, " This is a faithful say
ing, and worthy of all acceptation," that the seed of the woman
shall bruise the head of the serpent ; and that in Abraham's
seed, in the line of Isaac, all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed. What was the precise extent of Abraham's explicit
knowledge of the meaning of these declarations, is more than
we can particularly explain. But so far as he apprehended
their meaning, he firmly believed them. He expected salva
tion through their accomplishment.
The object of the faith by which a man is justified is in
every case materially the same. It is what God has revealed
respecting the way of salvation. To us the testimony is,
" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, even
the chief." " God hath so loved the world as to give his
only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him might
not perish, but might have eternal life." " This is the testi-

62 DOCTRINAL. [PART "•
mony — the record — which God hath given us, that He hath
given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." x The truth
revealed by God respecting the salvation of mankind was the
object of Abraham's faith, and it is the object of the faith of all
in every age who are justified. He who does not believe this
truth, whatever else he may believe, is not, cannot be justified.
The second question is, What was the ground of that faith
which Abraham had, and by which he was justified ? On what
evidence did he believe the testimony made to him ? Was it
because he had been taught these things from his infancy ?
Was it because. he had received them by tradition from his
fathers ? Was it because he had been convinced of them by
rational argument ? No ; it was simply because he believed
that the testimony he had heard was God's testimony. He
had no reason for believing it, but that God had said it, and
in that he found abundant reason for believing. To have
believed what he did believe, if God had not said it, would
have been presumption and madness. But he had satisfac
tory evidence that God had said it ; and therefore alone did
he believe it.
It is just so with the man who, through believing, in every
age is justified. The truth he believes cannot, from its nature,
be demonstrated on rational principles. It is in the form of a
testimony ; and the testimony of no number of men, however
accomplished, can lay a foundation for believing what God
will do in a matter that depends entirely on His sovereign
good pleasure. He has abundant evidence, of a great variety
of kinds, that this testimony is the testimony of God ; but he
believes the truth of the things contained in the testimony
entirely on the authority of the Divine witness. Had it been
any but God who gave the promise, Abraham could not have
believed it. Had it been any but God who gives the testi
mony in the Gospel revelation to the believing sinner, he
feels that he could not have believed it either. In both cases,
it is a " setting to the seal that God is true," — perceiving that
1 1 Tim. i. 15; John iii. 16; 1 John v. 11.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 63
to do anything else would be to treat Him as a liar. If, then,
we are to form our notions of what justifying faith is from the
example of Abraham — and surely this is the purpose for
which it is brought forward — the conclusion we rest in is this :
' The faith by which a man is justified is the considering as
true what God has revealed respecting the way of salvation,
because He has revealed it, — the knowing and being sure of
this, for this reason.'
May every one of us thus believe the truth to justification
— thus believe to the saving of the soul, and know from our
happy experience that, "being thus justified by believing"
" that God raised from the dead our Lord Jesus, who was de
livered for our offences, and raised again for our justification,"
" we have peace with God and free access to Him," — stand
by faith in the state of favour into which our faith has intro
duced us, — " rejoice in hope of the glory of God," " a hope that
maketh not ashamed," and "joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the reconciliation."

§ 3. The Blessings secured by the Divine Method of Justifica
tion are "free," " by God's grace," " through the Redemption
that is by Christ Jesus."
Chapter v. — Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of
God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also : knowing that
tribulation worketh patience ; and patience, experience ; and experience,
hope ; and hope maketh not ashamed : because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the un
godly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die ; yet peradventure
for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved
from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son ; much more, being recon
ciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also joy in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the

64 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
atonement. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned :
(For until the law sin was in the world : but sin is not imputed when
there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgres
sion, who is the figure of Him that was to come. But not as the offence,
so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead,
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man,
Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that
sinned, so is the gift ; for the judgment was by one to condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one
' man's offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by
one, Jesus Christ:) therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came
upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one the
free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of
one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that
the offence might abound : but where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound : that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
The fifth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans obviously
divides itself into two paragraphs of nearly equal length — the
one reaching from the beginning of the chapter to the 11th
verse, and the other from the 12th verse to the end of the
chapter. But it has one great subject — that stated in the
closing verse, "grace reigning through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord:" in other words, it
takes up the topic started at the 24th verse of the third chap
ter, " Being justified freely by His grace through the redemp
tion that is in, or by, Jesus Christ." This third sub-section
may be entitled, " The blessings secured and conferred by the
Divine method of justification, 'free,' 'by God's grace,' ' through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus '— i.e. undeserved — not
wrought for by man, bestowed by God in the exercise of
sovereign mercy entirely on account of the ransom paid by
Jesus Christ." If I mistake not, everything in the chapter
goes to the illustration of these closely connected distinctive
features, of the Divine method of justification.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 65
The first part of the section is employed in an enumeration
and description of some of the principal blessings which are
secured and conferred by the Divine method of salvation, and
this enumeration and description is so managed as to bring
out, in strong relief, both that they are entirely gratuitous, and
that they are bestowed entirely in consequence of that pro
pitiatory sacrifice of Himself which Jesus Christ offered as the
ransom for sinners. " Therefore being justified by faith," —
or rather, ' being then justified by faith,' for the words do not
express a logical inference, but an established connection—
" Being then justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." x We " who believe in God,
who raised up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead, who was
given for our offences, and raised again for our justification,"
have faith "reckoned to us for justification." We are "jus-
fied ; " our sins are pardoned ; and we are treated as righteous
on the ground of " the redemption," or ransom, which was
paid when Jesus Christ was delivered as a propitiatory
sacrifice for our offences ; and which was proved to be com
plete and acceptable when He was raised from the dead by
the mighty power of God. Here is nothing done, but much
received, on the part of man ; and on the part of God, what
is there but an act of sovereign kindness, harmonized with
righteousness by the redemption that is in Jesus Christ ?
And " being thus justified, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." God is the enemy of man the sinner.
Man the sinner is, he cannot but be, the object of the holy
disapprobation, the subject of the just condemnatory sentence,
of God. And on the other hand, man the sinner is the enemy
of God ; " an enemy in his mind by wicked works," set in oppo
sition to God's holy and benignant purposes. But, being justi
fied by believing, the state of war becomes a state of peace on
both sides — God is pacified, and the sinner is reconciled : and
this " through our Lord Jesus Christ," who was given for our
offences, and raised again for our justification. With that pro-
1 Chap. v. ver. 1.

66 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
pitiatory sacrifice, which was the divinely appointed and every
way suitable ransom for man, God is well pleased ; and through
that propitiatory sacrifice, He is well pleased with every sinner
who, in believing, accepts the atonement or reconciliation.
He was angry ; but His " anger is turned away." The sin
ner's happiness was opposed to the ends of His holy govern
ment : it is so no longer. He is just in justifying him ; and
the same ransom, viewed as the subject of a well-accredited
revelation believed under the influence of the Holy Spirit,
destroys the enmity of the sinner's heart. God and the
believing justified sinner are then at one; the quarrel is
entirely made up. And here, too, man is simply a receiver ;
God is a gracious bestower ; and it is entirely through Jesus
Christ, as the propitiatory ransom, that man thus receives,
and God bestows peace.
But this is not all. Not only have we, " being justified by
faith, peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" — we
have also by Him " access" — that is, to God.' " Access to God"
is more than peace with God. It indicates not only a state
of security from God, but a state of intimate and endearing
friendship and fellowship with Him. The justified sinner is
not only freed from all hazard arising from God's righteous
displeasure, but, as an object of His peculiar favour, ad
mitted to " see His face," to " dwell in His presence," to
" go boldly to the throne of grace." He enjoys, and knows
that he enjoys, the fatherly love of God. This, too, is " by
Jesus Christ," " delivered for our offences, raised again for
our justification." We are " made accepted in the beloved,"
even " in Him, in whom we have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin;" and this, too, is " according to
the riches of God's grace." 2
This access to God the justified sinner enjoys by faith in
reference to this grace — the grace which reigns through right
eousness, or the manifestation of that grace in this gracious
economy— the righteousness of God.3 It is " precious faith
1 Ver. 2. 2 Eph. j. 6, 7.
3 win is iis— faith in reference to. vwtivuv ti's ti, 1 John v. 10.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 67
in the righteousness of our God and Saviour" — in the truth
respecting the Divine method of justification, that enables the
sinner, through the new and living way, to draw near with a
true heart, with assured confidence, having his heart sprinkled
with the blood of the propitiatory sacrifice by which atonement
was made.
By this faith the justified sinner " stands."1 The interest
which he has obtained in the justifying, pacifying, access-pro
curing influence of the Divine method of justfication, is not
of a transient but of a permanent kind ; he can never come
into condemnation — God never can be again his enemy — he
can never again be God's enemy. The way to the throne of
grace is always open, and the Father of Mercies is ever ready
to supply all his need by blessing him with all heavenly and
spiritual blessings.
" Standing" in the enjoyment of this state of favour, the
sinner justified by believing " rejoices in hope of the glory of
God." " The glory of God" seems here to mean, as in
chapter iii. 23, the approbation of God. The reference is to
the heavenly state ; but it is to that as a state of perfect
conformity to the will and image of God. The ultimate
object of the believer's hope is to be, in character, conduct,
and condition, just what God would have him to be. This he
hopes for, seeing God has promised it ; and he knows that by
the atonement of His Son, the influence of His Spirit, and the
instrumentality of His Word and Providence, He is carrying
forward such a transformation, which He will perfect in the
day of the Lord; and in this hope the believer rejoices,
glories, exults. Amid a deep sense of deficiency and fault,
it fills him with unutterable gladness, to think that he will one
day be " unblameable and unreprovable" in His presence, and
be as holy and happy as the infinitely holy and good God
could wish him to be.
And such is the influence of this hope, all grounded on the
1 ko-riixxftt!/, remain, in opposition to move from, or stand, in opposition
to fall. — John viii. 44 ; 1 Cor. x. 12; xv. I ; Eph. vi. 13 ; Gal. v. 4 ;
Rev. ii. 5.

68 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
redemption in Christ Jesus, all received in believing, that the
afflictions to which he is exposed by the profession and acting
out of his faith, instead of depressing him, do in the measure
of that faith increase his exultation, as they strengthen
instead of destroying his hope. " We glory in tribulations
also,1 knowing" — that is, ' seeing we know'2 — " that tribula
tions" in us who are justified by believing " work"3 — lead to —
" patience," 4 or rather, perseverance : however severe, they do
not, as hi the case of the false professor, produce apostacy ;
they make us hold the faster by the Saviour, and by the faith
which makes Him known to us. And this perseverance
"works" — leads to — " experience," 6 that is, trial or proof : it
proves the reality of our faith ; it proves that we possess the
faith we profess, and that our faith is the faith which over
comes the world. And this proof "works" — leads to — hope,
increased hope, not by changing or adding to its foundation,
but by showing that we have indeed built on that foundation.
So that we may well glory in tribulations which, in this way,
instead of destroying or even shaking the hope in which we
glory, invigorate it.
And further, we exult in this hope of the glory of God, for
we know that it is a hope that shall not " make ashamed."6
It will not disappoint us. We shall obtain what we hope for,
and find in it all, far more than all, we expected. And we
know this, " for the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost given to us." The love of God is, here,
God's love to us, not our love to God. This is plain : for
(1.) It is not our love to God, but His love to us, that secures
that our hope shall not make us ashamed ; and (2.) It is
God's love to us, and not our love to God, that the apostle
proceeds immediately to illustrate. The meaning of the affir
mation is, We know that God loves us, and we know this
1 Ver- 3- 2 1 Cor. xv. 58 ; 2 Cor. i. 7 ; iv. 14.
3 Chap. iv. 15.
4 Luke viii. 15 ; xxi. 19 ; Rom. viii. 25 ; xv. 4 ; 1 Thes. i. 5 ; 2 Thes.
iii. 5 ; Heb. x. 36 ; xii. I ; James i. 3, 4; v. 11 ; Rev. ii. 2; iii. 10.
* Ver' 4' « Ver. 5.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 69
through the operation of Divine influence : the Holy Ghost
has made us know and believe it. And how has He done
this ? Is it by giving us individually a direct testimony to
the fact that God loves us ? No ; it is by leading us really
to believe the Gospel record. " Hereby perceive we the love
of God, because He, God's Son, laid down his life for us."
" In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through Him." " Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sin." How can we believe this, and doubt
that God loves us? We know and are sure of this love ; for
we know and are sure that when we were " without strength"
and " ungodly," incapable of helping ourselves, undeserving
of God's help, Christ saved us by dying in our room.1
And surely this is satisfactory proof. It were incredible
that a merely just, strictly honest, man should find anybody
ready to ransom his life by the sacrifice of his own. Such a
mark of regard may, as the highest proof of human love, be-
given to a good, a benevolent man, by one whom he has laid
under peculiar obligations. But what is this to the proof which
God has given of His love to us ? We were not good — we were
not even just — we were sinners, righteously condemned per
sons ; yet for us Christ, who is the incarnate God, — " God
manifest in flesh" — died.2 If this do not prove love, what can?
But is it not possible that God should cease to love us, and
thus our hope of His glory be disappointed and make us
ashamed ? The thing is impossible. (1.) If, when we were in
circumstances the most calculated to excite despair, "sinners" —
condemned, " enemies" 3 — persons regarded with displeasure,
God manifested love, He assuredly will not cease to love, and
1 Ver. 6. 2 Ver. 7, 8.
8 " i%Qpol may either be active, as Col. i. 21, or passive, as Rom. xi. 28,
But here the latter meaning only can apply, for the apostle is speaking
of the death of Christ, and its effects, as applied to all time, not merely to
those believers who lived : and those unborn at the death of Christ could
not have been tyfipoi in the active sense." — Alford.

70 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
manifest love, now that, "justified" by His grace, we are in
circumstances every way fitted to encourage hope.1 (2.) If
we have already received the strongest possible proof of God's
love, surely He will not withhold any other proof of love neces
sary to our happiness. He who gave us His Son cannot
refuse us His heaven.2 (3.) If He gave the highest proof of
His love when we were in the worst conceivable circum
stances, He will not withhold proofs of His love, which, how
ever extraordinary, are not to be compared to this, when we
are brought into far more favourable circumstances. He who
gave His Son for us when enemies, will not withhold His
heaven from us when we are reconciled to Him.3 And finally,
(4.) If consequences so full of blessing, so expressive of love,
flowed from the death of Christ, surely every blessing needful
for our complete and eternal happiness may be expected from
the power of His endless life.4 Well then may the sinner jus
tified by believing " rejoice in the hope of the glory of God" — a
hope which tribulations strengthen instead of destroying — a
hope which cannot be disappointed, because founded on the
clearly demonstrated love of the unchangeable God. And
this joyful hope, like " the peace" and " the access," which
are secured by "the righteousness of God" — the Divine
method of justfication, is graciously bestowed by God, freely
received by man, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
There is still another and higher privilege secured by this
Divine method, with whjch the apostle concludes his wonderful
enumeration. " And not only so" — that is, not only being jus
tified by believing, have we solid peace, and free access, and joy
ful hope — but "we joy," exult, "in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom we have now received' the atonement," or
rather, the ' reconciliation.' 5 The justified person stands in a
new and peculiar relation to God. He has a personal inte
rest in that sum and substance of all the exceeding great and
precious promises, " I will be thy God." ' I will be to thee, I
1 Ver. 9. 2 Ver. 10. s Ver. 9, 10. * Ver. 10.
6 Ver. 11. The English word originally signified reconciliation, at-one-
ment, the being at one,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 71
will do for thee, all that may be expected from the infinite
perfections of the Godhead — infinite power, eternal and un
changeable wisdom, righteousness, faithfulness, and love.'
And in God thus related to him, the believer joys, exults,
glories. The language of his heart is, " God is the portion of
my inheritance. My God is my glory. My soul makes her
boast in God. In God is my salvation and my glory : the
rock of my strength ; and my refuge is in God. My flesh and
my heart faileth ; but God is the strength of my heart, and my
portion for ever." And this relation to God, and this gloria-
tion in Him, are "through our Lord Jesus Christ;" through
His mediation do we obtain and enjoy these blessings. Through
Him we receive the reconciliation. His propitiatory sacrifice was
the ransom. His Spirit is the author of that faith which inte
rests us individually in the ransom, and makes us partakers of
the blessings which it procures. And we now receive the recon
ciliation. The enjoyment of the full and entire approbation
of God, as perfectly holy, is something future, and is the ob
ject of hope ; but the reception of the reconciliation is some
thing present. " We now receive the reconciliation," and this
enables us now to " rejoice in God." This result of the right
eousness of God is thus, like all the rest, " freely, by God's
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
To show how entirely justification, and the peace with, and
access to God, and the permanence of these blessings, and
the joyful hope of God's glory, and the triumphant exultation
in God Himself, which are secured by justification, are owing
to " the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," seems the object
of the apostle in the concluding paragraph of the fifth chapter ;
and he prosecutes this object by instituting a comparison and
contrast between the way in which man originally became
guilty, through the sin of Adam, and the way in which man
kind become righteous — are justified — through the redemption
in Christ Jesus — His obedience to death, which, as a propiti
atory sacrifice, is our ransom. The justification of the believer
is as entirely the result of this obedience, without reference to
his own good works, as certain evils, to which all mankind

72 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
are exposed, are entirely the result of the first sin of the first
man, without reference to their personal transgressions of the
Divine law.
It is of great importance that we should distinctly appre
hend both the subject and object of the important paragraph
now before us. The subject is justification — restoration to the
Divine favour — and that on which it rests. The apostle is
not contrasting a condition of righteousness generally, including
both state and character, relation and disposition, with a con
dition of sinfulness, in an equally extended sense ; he is not con
trasting a state of sanctification with a state of depravity : he
is contrasting a state of security from punishment, and of
happiness, as contrasted with a state of liability to, certainty of,
punishment and misery — a state of favour with a state of wrath
— a state of justification with a state of condemnation — a state of
secured happiness with a state of impending ruin. And the
object he has in view is to illustrate the former by the latter —
to show that there is a strong analogy, in one of the most pecu
liar features of the way in which it is procured, to an equally
peculiar feature of the way in which its opposite was incurred ;
and that is — That as all men are, in certain points, treated as if
they were sinners entirely on account of the first sin of the first
man, Adam, so all men who are justified are treated as if they
were righteous entirely on account of the obedience to death of
Him of whom the first man was an image — the Lord from
heaven : and thus, even thus, is the Divine method of justifi
cation " through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
All the evil that befalls mankind, either in the present or
the future world — all the multifarious forms of guilt, depravity,
and misery— may, in one point of view, be considered as origi
nating in the first sin of the first man. Directly or indirectly,
they all flow from this source. Some of these evils are realized,
however, only through the individual, in his own person, be
coming an actual violator of the Divine law, and are realized by
him in the degree in which he does so. There are others that
come directly on the race, as the manifestation of the displeasure
of God at the first sin : Death, including in that dreadful word

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 73
man's loss of immortality, as an embodied being ; a life longer
or shorter, it might be, but liable to disease, doomed to death,
and the greater loss of that holy Divine influence which is the
soul of the human soul, the principle of its true excellence
and highest happiness. These — mortality and destitution of
spiritual goodness — come equally on all men, without refer
ence to personal acts of guilt ; and these are the evils, the
manner of incurring which the apostle employs as an illustra
tion of the manner in which the great blessing of justification
is obtained for man. This seems plain from the apostle's
object, for evils not resulting entirely from Adam's sin,
would not have corresponded with blessings resulting entirely
from our Lord's obedience ; and it appears also from his
stating that the evils he refers to are not only incurred, but
undergone, by the whole of the race, even by those of them
who are " to reign in life by Christ Jesus ;" and further,
from his obviously contrasting the judgment of the one offence,
which is executed, with the judgment of the many offences,
which is graciously removed in justification.
The apostle's analogical illustration of the manner in which
the Divine method of the justification of mankind is through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus — that is, His obedience
to death, by the manner in which mankind came into a state
of condemnation through the disobedience of Adam, is con
tained in the paragraph from ver. 12 to ver. 19 ; and it con
sists of a statement — (1.) Of the fact on which the analogy
proceeds ; (2.) Of the points in which it does not hold ; and
(3.) Of the points in which it does hold.
The fact is stated in the 12th verse : " Wherefore, as by
one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin ; and
so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." ' The
word " wherefore" is either equivalent to, ' Since these things
are so — since Jesus Christ was so given for our offences, as
that we are justified by Him — since by Him we have peace
with and access to God — since by Him we receive the recon-
1 ¦kfietproii is explained, ver. 19, as = xaTtaraSmxu ifiXpra'Koi.

74 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ciliation — in one word, since we are justified by the redemp
tion that is in Him, it follows that there is a very remarkable
coincidence between the way in which we are justified and
the way in which we became guilty ;' or it is to be understood,
as it sometimes is, as equivalent to, ' In reference to this mat
ter' — our receiving the reconciliation, — it is, " as by one man
sin entered into the world." The sentence is plainly what is
called elliptical — something is wanting to make out its mean
ing ; and the supplement last noticed seems the simplest.
Now, what is the fact which is to illustrate our entire in
debtedness to the work of Christ for our justification ? It is
this : " By one man" — that is plainly the first man — " sin
entered into the world." The meaning is not, sin then first
began to exist in the universe. Devils had sinned, Eve had
sinned, before Adam sinned. The words, " sin came into the
world," refer not so much to Adam's sin, as to the consequence
of Adam's sin. To be in the world marks what is common.
By one man sinning, sin — guilt — became a world-wide thing ;
and so did death, for death came along with guilt : where
there was guilt there was death, and where there was death
there was the evidence of guilt ; and thus death became not
only common, but universal among mankind ; for all men
have sinned, all men are guilty — so guilty as to die. All
mankind are exposed to death in consequence of the first sin
of the first man ; all men are treated as guilty on account of
that one offence.
The proof of this fact, on which the apostle's analogical
illustration rests, is contained in the 13th and 14th verses :
" For until the law sin was in the world : but sin is not im
puted when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned
from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression." If I mistake
not, the apostle's argument is perplexed by the meaning given
in our version to the particle rendered " until." It is often
used to signify 'during,' or 'while:' as Acts xxvii. 33,
"While the day was coming on;" Heb. iii. 13, "Exhort
one another ivhile it is called to-day." Understanding it so

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 75
here,1 this seems the apostle's argument : ' During the law — -
the Mosaic law — sin was so in the world that men died— all
men died. All men were treated as criminals by being put to
death.' But it might be said, Their being under the law accounts
for this— it was the law that killed them. The apostle might
have said, No, death was not the sanction of the Mosaic law :
premature violent death was, not simple death. The men
condemned to die would of their own accord have died ; and
men died beyond Judea as well as in it. But, instead of
taking that ground, he rises to the state before the law, and
taking along with him the principle, " where there is no law
there is no transgression," he, as it were, says, It surely was
not the law that killed the men who lived from Adam to
Moses. Yet they died — they all died. Death reigned over
them. But was it not the sentence of what may be termed
natural moral law, that doomed them ? No, not that either,
says the apostle ; death reigned even over those who had not
sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, by doing
what they knew to be wrong. This interpretation, which
refers " those who did not sin after the sinulitude of Adam's
transgression" to infants and idiots, seems to me the only
one which, agreeing to the natural sense of the words, brings
out the force of the apostle's argument.2 The true account
of death in them is the true account of death in all men.
They die entirely on account of the first sin of the first man,
without reference to their own personal violations of the Divine
law. Such is the fact and the evidence.
Let us now see in what points the analogy between the
economy of condemnation and that of justification does not
hold. Adam is, in this very remarkable event, appealed to as a
figure— a type of Him who is to come ; but the type, though
striking, is not perfect. The points where the analogy does
1 olycpt. We are not singular in our view of the particle. Origen,
Chrysostom, Theodoret, Augustine, Erasmus, Krebs, Beausobre, Koppe,
Fritzsche, and others, explain it thus here.
2 Vide Hodge in loo.; Hill's Lectures, ii., 394; Edwards' Works, ii.,
303, where our exegesis is clearly stated, and powerfully sustained.

76 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
not hold, are thus stated by the apostle in the 15th, 16th, and
17th verses : " But not as the offence, so also is the free gift.
For if through the offence of one many be dead ; much more
the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man,
Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was
by one that sinned, so is the gift : for the judgment was by
one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences
unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned
by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace,
and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one,
Jesus Christ." I do not think these verses are the statement
of an argument, but merely an affirmation. They are true,
viewed as an affirmation ; but it would not be easy to make a
conclusive argument out of them.
The first of these verses is a general assertion that the jus
tifying economy transcends the condemning economy. " The
free gift," or gracious interposition, to which we owe our de
liverance from guilt, is not as " the offence," the transgression
of Adam, by which we all became guilty ; the one does not in
every point correspond to the other. No, it far transcends it.
Of " the offence " this is the sum that has been said : " By this
offence of one man many are dead " — or many die through it ;
and if the free gift had been as this, it would have just been said,
' By the free gift many are made alive, or live.' But it is
much more than this. " The grace of God " — the sovereign
mercy of God, in which all originates — and " the gift by grace"
— the Divine economy of dispensing forgiveness, " which is
by" — through — "one man, Jesus Christ," — these are not
merely adequate, in their good effects, to the bad effects of the
offence, but they " have much more abounded to a great mul
titude." The points of resemblance here, you will perceive,
are two : The offence is by one man, and issues in evil to a
multitude; the free gift is by one man too, and issues in
good to a multitude. The point of contrast is, ' The amount
of good resulting from the free gift, to those interested in it,
is much greater than the amount of the evil directly and solely
derived from the offence.'

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 77
The two succeeding verses illustrate this general principle,
and show — (1.) That the free gift delivers not only from the
evil incurred by the offence, but from other evils ; and (2.)
That the free gift raises those who are interested in it to a
higher state of happiness than they would have enjoyed had
the offence never occurred. The natural supplement of the
ellipsis, in the beginning of ver. 16, is " the judgment," " Not
as the judgment through one that sinned is the gift." " The
judgment" is the sentence of the law in reference to the
offence ; this sentence was " through one that sinned ;" it
went forth on all men, through the medium of our first parent,
when he sinned. Now, says the apostle, " the gift is not as
this judgment." " The gift" is the free sentence of forgive
ness, which, in the justifying economy, takes the place of the
righteous sentence of condemnation under the condemning
economy. The apostle shows in what the dissimilitude con
sists : " the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the
free gift is of many offences to justification." The first clause
here is somewhat dark, from a word not having been supplied
that ought to have been supplied, and from the particle,
rightly rendered of in the second clause, being rendered by in
the first. The apostle's meaning is plain when you read, " for
the judgment " — the righteous sentence, " was of one offence"
— the first offenceof the first man, of course, "to condemnation;"
" but the free gift" — the gracious sentence, " was of many
offences to justification." The sentence, condemning men to
death, was grounded on the first sin of the first man. Had
there been just a correspondence, and no more, there would
have been a reversal of that sentence, and no more. Other
offences, against which other sentences had gone forth, must
still be encountered. But " the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from all sin ;" the gracious sentence of remission removes all
iniquities. But this is not all. Not only are their other offences as well
as the first offence remitted, but the justifying economy raises
those interested in it to a higher place than that from which
they were hurled by the condemning economy. " By one

78 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
man's offence, death reigned by one." By the transgression of
one man — Adam, death not only prevailed but reigned, — that
is, all men died through means of him, the transgressor. But
what is the other side of the contrast ? Is it, ' By one man's
obedience men are brought back from the death into which
the one man's offence plunged them?' No, it is something
much more than this : " Much more shall they who receive
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness, reign in
life by Jesus Christ." " The abundance of grace" is just
equivalent to abundant grace — an overflow of Divine kind
ness. "The gift of righteousness" is a further description
of this abundant grace : " the gift of righteousness" is the
gift of justification — full, free justification, justification by
God's grace — the gift of God. To " receive" this is to be
interested in it : it is to " have it," as the apostle says ;J and
it is " upon all them that believe," only on them. Now, says
the apostle, these persons " shall reign in fife" — they shall
live and reign.2 They shall enjoy a state as far — infinitely
further — above the paradisaic life lost by the offence, as royal
life is supposed to be above ordinary life, and this they shall
enjoy by one, Christ Jesus. They will be indebted — entirely
indebted — to Him for it all.
The apostle now states the points in which the analogy
holds : this he does in the 18th and 19th verses. " There
fore as by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free
gift came upon all men to justification of life. For as by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obe
dience of one shall many be made righteous." In the margin of
your Bibles, you will find "one offence" for " the offence of one,"
and " one obedience" for " the obedience of one." That in the
margin is the better rendering, as is indeed generally the case.
In the 18th verse, he compares the unity of the offence with
the unity of the obedience ; and in the 19th, the singularity of
1 Phil. iii. 9.
2 Horace, Epist. i. 10, says, " Vivo et regno," i.e. beatissime vivo.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 79
the offender with the singularity of the obeyer. You will
observe also, that in verse 18 there are two considerable sup
plements printed in the italic character — "judgment came,"
and " the free gift came." A shorter supplement — for some
supplement is necessary — would have equally served the
purpose. " As it was by one offence upon all men to con
demnation, so is it by one righteousness on all men to justifi
cation of life ;" or, to give the apostle's idea more in the
English idiom, ' As by one offence all men were condemned,
so by one righteousness are all men justified so as to live.'
To complete the sense, you must supply the word 'death' in
the first clause, so as to correspond with the word " fife" in the
second. 'Well, then, as by one offence all men were con
demned so as to die, so by one righteousness all are justified
so as to live.' " The one offence" is Adam's first sin ; " the
one righteousness" is the one unbroken great act of obedience
of our Lord, commenced in his birth, terminated on the cross
— an act embracing the whole demands of the law. On the
ground of the first is condemnation ending in death ; on the
ground of the second, justification ending in life.
There is a difficulty in the phrase " all men." We know
most certainly that, though all men, on the ground of the one
offence, are condemned so as to die, all men are not, on the
ground of the one obedience, justified so as to live. Had the
expression been all, then it might have meant the two totals of
the two bodies of which Adam and Christ are respectively the
heads ; as when it is said, " In Adam all die — in Christ all
are made alive" with the resurrection of life ; that is, " All
in Adam die" — " all in Christ are made alive." But the
phrase is " all men," and therefore I apprehend we must ex
plain it on a principle not unfrequently adopted in Scripture.
In both cases the effects are not confined to particular classes
of men : men of all descriptions, young or old, rich or poor,
Jew or Gentile, learned or unlearned, are to be found in
volved in the condemning power of the offence and the justi
fying power of the obedience.
In the 19th verse, the contrast is between the " singu-

80 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
larity," the " oneness," of the individuals by whom respectively
men are " made sinners" and " made righteous." " By" —
through " the disobedience of one man," Adam, " many," even
the whole race, were, by a Divine constitution, " made sin
ners," reckoned guilty — constituted, in a particular sense of
the term sinners, liable to the punishment of sin ; on the other
hand, by the obedience of one — the faultless, perfect satisfac
tion given to the demands of the Divine law by our Lord,
many — a multitude that no man can number out of all nations,
and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, are " made" — consti
tuted, "righteous," that is, are justified, entirely on the ground
of this all-perfect righteousness.
Such is the analogy between the condemnatory economy
through Adam, and the justificatory economy through Christ
Jesus. The fact on which it rests is, ' All men are treated
as sinners, within certain limits, entirely on the ground of the
first sin of the first man.' — The evidence of that fact is, ' All
men died during the Mosaic law, but the Mosaic law did not
kill them. This is plain, for men died before the law as well
as under it ; nor can you account for their death as the sanction
of natural moral law, for those died — infants and idiots — who
were not capable of violating it. The account of death in them
is the true account of death in all men. They are reckoned
guilty in consequence of the first sin of the first man, and there
fore die.' — Men owe their justification as entirely to Christ as
they did their original condemnation to Adam. — The saving
efficacy of Christ's obedience is greater, however, than the
condemning efficiency of Adam's disobedience. It delivers
not only from the evils directly resulting from Adam's sin,
but from those contracted by personal transgressions ; and it
raises to a higher height than that from which we were pre
cipitated. — Still, however, the analogy is striking and exten
sive. On the one hand, there is one man, Adam; on the
other, one man, Jesus Christ : on the one hand, offence or dis
obedience ; on the other, righteousness and obedience : on the
one hand, one offence; on the other, one righteousness : on the
one hand, a righteous sentence; on the other, a gracious sen-

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 81
tence : on the one hand, the righteous sentence denounces
condemnation ; on the other, the gracious sentence pronounces
justification : on the one hand, there is condemnation issuing
in death ; on the other, there is justification issuing in life : on
the one hand, there is a multitude of men of all descriptions ;
on the other, a multitude of men of all descriptions : in fine, on
the one hand, there is a multitude of men of every description,
condemned and dying, entirely on account of the one offence
of the one man Adam ; on the other, a multitude of men of
every description, justified and living, entirely on account of
the righteousness of the one man Jesus Christ. So full of
meaning is the enunciation that " the reconciliation is AS
by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin." x
All this illustration is drawn from the original constitution
of things and the violation of it. In the two concluding verses,
further illustration of the Divine method of justification is
drawn from the state of things which followed this violation.2
" Moreover, the law entered that sin might abound, but when
sin abounded then did grace much more abound ; that as sin
has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life." The apostle seems here to
follow out the thought transiently noticed at verse 16 — The
" free gift" of forgiveness is " not only of the one offence,"— of
which, and of its direct results he has hitherto been speaking
— but " of many offences to justification." Whence came
these " many offences ? " One unacquainted with human
nature might suppose that the consequences of the one
offence, in the reign of universal death, were so dreadful,
that there would be no more offending. The apostle's account
is, " The law," or rather, Law, " entered." These words
have received two applications, either of them expressive of
an important truth, though not equally suiting the apostle's
object — which is to show how the offence abounded, or was
multiplied, and how the Divine method of justification meets
all these multiplied offences. It has been supposed that " Law"
here means, as at verse 13, the law of Moses; in which case
1 Ver. 12. 2 Ver 20, 21.

82 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the statement is — The Law in due time, indeed, was intro
duced : but that did not undo the effects of the first offence.
If the design of the law be in the apostle's eye, he says ' the
law entered, in order that it might be apparent that the
offence — sin, did abound :' " By the law is the knowledge of
sin. If the effect of the law be in his view, then he says — ' it
entered, so that the offence abounded.' With fallen man,
where there is law, there will be transgression.
There are, however, serious difficulties in interpreting law
here, of the Mosaic law. The apostle says ' law,' not ' the law.' J
The word, translated 'entered,'2 means 'entered silently,' or
' stole in' — a phrase very indescriptive of the magnificent
giving of the law to Israel at Sinai. Besides, it is natural to
expect something that came closely after the first offence and its
disastrous consequences, and something involving all mankind,
during the great part of their history ; whereas the law was not
given till more than 2500 years after the fall, and was an eco
nomy confined to a single, and comparatively a small, nation.
It seems, then, more natural to refer law entering — to the
moral law silently taking the place of the positive constitution
under which man was placed very soon after his creation, and
which, on the fall, ceased to exist except in its consequences.
No longer does Adam stand in the place of his children :
every man is henceforth entirely answerable for himself.3 This
is law, and it entered silently — the word seems to be chosen
as a contrast to the mode of giving the Mosaic law. Now,
what was the effect of this ? did men strictly obey the law ?
No ; " the offence abounded" — was multiplied. Adam's first
son killed his brother ; and by the time of Noah, " the earth
was full of violence." " And God saw the wickedness of man
that it was great on the earth, and that every imagination of
his heart was only evil and that continually."4 And after the
flood things soon became equally bad ; and even when the law
came, the people to whom it came did not keep it. In their
case, too, the offence abounded or was multiplied. I think it
1 i/ifios, not o i/o^oj. 2 Ku.ptHii{Kfov. Gal. ii. 4 : comp. 2 Peter ii. 1.
3 Gen. iv. 7. i Gen. ii. 8, vi. 5, 12, 13.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 83
not unlikely that, under the general phrase ' the entering of
law,' the apostle might have in view all law — including moral,
Jewish, and even civil law. Whenever law came in, it led
not to uniform or even ordinary obedience, but to extended
transgression. The idea then seems to be — things have been
made a great deal worse for man since the fall.
But however bad they have become, the grace of God, in
the Divine method of justification, is fitted to rectify them —
" where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." The
free mercy of God has made provision for the pardon, not
only of the first offence, but of all offences. " That as sin
has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." l
" That" may mark either the design or the effect of the
saving economy : this was so arranged, and so done, in order
that, or so that, etc. Both are true. This was His purpose from
everlasting ; and it shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure.
Sin, as a powerful tyrant, is represented as reigning unto
death — it is literally in2 death — death being the present
actual condition of fallen man ; grace, as an omnipotent
sovereign, reigning through righteousness — the righteousness
of God unto3 " eternal life" — that being the state to which
the reign of grace is to conduct all her subjects.
Take the substance of this statement in a sentence — " Since
a multitude of men of all descriptions become guilty and die,
through Adam ; and since a multitude of men of all descrip
tions are justified not only from the guilt contracted in Adam,
but also from the guilt contracted by themselves, and are
not only restored to the life which Adam forfeited in Para
dise, but raised to a royal, eternal life with Christ Jesus ;
surely if sin has reigned in death over all men, grace reigns
more gloriously over her subjects, through righteousness unto
eternal life ; surely though sin has reigned, grace does much
more reign— and all this through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The holy law, sprinkled with the blood of , His accepted sacri-
1 Ver. 21. ' in. 3 sis.

84 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
fice, is the throne of grace : " In Him we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the
riches of God's grace." This, then, is the apostle's illustra
tion of his statement — " Justified freely by God's grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
And now, is not this a plan of salvation worthy of Him
who is Love, and who alone hath wisdom ? Is it wonderful that
the angels should desire to look into it? Is it not of all
monstrous incongruities the greatest that men, who have the
deepest interest in it, should, of all intelligent creatures, be
the least affected by it ? Say, my brethren, do we not stand
in need of such a salvation ? Are we not mortal ? Are we
not condemned ? Does not the wrath of God rest on us ?
Must we not die — must we not perish, unless thus saved?
Innumerable offences compass us about. And is there any
other way of deliverance ? None ; and none is needed, for
here is salvation exactly suited to our circumstances. Is there
an "offence" — " many offences ? " Here is an "obedience"
that overbalances them all. Is there a righteous sentence of
condemnation ? Here is a gracious sentence of free remission.
Is there death a thousand times merited? Here is eternal
life — held out to the most guilty as ' the gift of God through
Jesus Christ our Lord." Will, then, any be so impious, so
mad, as to reject this salvation, so freely offered for their
acceptance ?
What grateful acknowledgments are due from all the saved
to the God of salvation, and to His beloved Son Jesus !
" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved
us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."1
" God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 2 Let this love constrain
us, to show our gratitude by our obedience. Influenced by
these mercies of God, let us present ourselves " a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable
service — our rational worship."
1 1 John iv. 10. 2 Rom. v. S.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 85

§ 4. The Bearing of the Divine Method of Justification on
Spiritual Transformation.
The fourth sub-section under the head ' Of the Divine
Method of Justification,' is considerably longer than any of
the preceding, reaching from the beginning of the sixth
chapter to the middle of the 17th verse of the eighth. Its
subject is ' The Bearing of the Divine Method of Justifica
tion, on Sanctification — of the Change of State, on the Change
of Spiritual Condition and Character.' Its text, among the
outlines contained in the first sub-section, may be considered
as chapter iii. 31 : " Do we make void the law through faith ?
God forbid : yea, we establish the law."
In this section the apostle shows, first, that justification is
necessary to sanctification, and secures it. This he does from
the beginning of the sixth chapter to the 4th verse of the
eighth ; and then he shows that sanctification is the evidence,
the only satisfactory evidence, of a man's being interested in
the Divine method of justification. Let us endeavour, then,
to follow out the apostle's illustrations of these two important
and somewhat difficult topics, embracing as they do the whole
subject of the connection of justification and sanctification — of
the change of relation and disposition, of state and character
— the legal and the personal change which the religion of
Christ is designed to effect in man — a subject involving almost
all that is most peculiar both in doctrinal and experimental
Christianity. A. Justification is necessary to Sanctification, and secures it.
The apostle enters on the subject by an interrogation, very
naturally rising out of the discussions contained in the previous
sub-sections,1 — " What shall Ave say then ? Shall we continue
in sin, that grace may abound?" — 'If we are treated as
1 Chap. vi. 1.

86 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
righteous, not on the ground of our own doings and sufferings,
but entirely on the ground of the doings and the sufferings of
another ; if we obtain a personal interest in these justifying
doings and sufferings, not by working but believing ; if our
personal merits have no more causal influence on our being
justified and saved, than our personal demerits had on our
being condemned and dying in Adam ; if the grace of God,
through Jesus Christ, be more powerful to pardon and to
save, then guilt, whether hereditary or personal, be to con
demn and destroy ; then, is it not a fair inference from all
this, that we may, without hazard, " continue in sin" — go on
in sin ; nay, on the principle which all this seems to enfold,
that doing evil is the way to make good come — the grace of
God abounding more, through our sin, to God's glory — are
we not encouraged to say, " Let us continue in sin, that grace
may abound?"' Thus, very early, did men of corrupt minds
" turn the grace of God into lasciviousness ;" and thus, too,
did many enemies of the Gospel build up an argument against
its Divine original.
The apostle rejects the suggestion with abhorrence, and
shows that it arises out of an entire misconception of the
nature and working of the Divine method of justification.1
" God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
longer therein?" The purport of the apostle's reply to the
blasphemous suggestion has, I think, been very generally
misapprehended. Some consider it as equivalent to, ' We
have undergone a real as well as a relative change. We have
become as dead persons in reference to sinful desire and action,
and we have professed this in submitting to baptism.' But
that does not at all meet the difficulty, in the case either of
the abuser or the denier of the Gospel. The point in question
is the tendency of the Divine method of justification, not by
works, by the faith of Christ, through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus ; and the answer, ' We are bound to be
holy ; we have admitted our obligation ; and we are habitu-
1 Ver. 2.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 87
ally holy,' does not meet it. The adversary might say, ' No
doubt such is your obligation, but how can that obligation
consist with your doctrine ? If you are indeed, in a moral
sense, dead to sin, it is more than was to be expected from
that doctrine of yours ; and whatever you have engaged to do,
this is what that doctrine warrants, encourages, and we doubt
not will end in leading you to do — " to continue in sin that
grace may abound." ' l
The apostle takes up different ground altogether. He sets
himself to show that the Divine method of justification is at
once necessary to sanctification, and secures it. He shows, first,
that the Divine method of justification establishes such an
union or intimate relation between those who are its subjects
and Jesus Christ, both in His death and in His restored life,
as secures that anything like habitual unholiness of heart and
life cannot take place ; and as, besides, furnishes the strong
est motives and encouragements to the cultivation of uni
versal holiness. This occupies him to the 13th verse of this
chapter. He then shows that that state of freedom from
law, and subjection to grace, into which, according to the
Divine method of justification, the believer is brought — far
from leading to say, ' Let us sin, since we are not under the
law but under grace' — is necessary to and sufficient for securing
sanctification — making it plain, from his own past experience,
that law cannot make a bad man good ; and from his present
experience, that law cannot make a good man better ; and
showing how, in securing freedom from condemnation, and an
adequate spiritual influence, the Divine method of justification,
which is a system not of law but of grace, furnishes all that
is necessary to begin and perfect the work of spiritual trans
formation in the mind of man. This is the subject of the
apostle's discussion, from the 14th verse of the seventh chapter
to the end of the 4th verse of the eighth chapter. Let us
endeavour to trace out the thread, sometimes a fine and en-
* Fraser's Scripture Doctrine of Sanctification, a Commentary on Rom.
vii. -viii. 4, is well worth studying. The old Scottish divine is " rude in
speech, yet not in knowledge."

88 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
tangled one, of the apostle's illustration of this most important
subject. 1 . The Union with Christ, in His Death and Life, implied in
the Divine Method of Justification, secures that the Justified
Person shall not continue in Sin.
Chapter vi. 1-13. — " What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in
sin, that grace may abound ? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead
to sin, live any longer therein ? Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? Therefore we
are buried with Him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was
raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection :
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of
sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he
that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with Him : knowing that Christ, being raised from
the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over Him. For
in that He died, He died unto sin once ; but in that He liveth, He liveth
unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto
sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof: neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness
unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."
Before proceeding to the analysis of this paragraph, I will
lay down what, after a good deal of consideration, appear to
me the elementary principles of the first of these argumenta
tive illustrations of the proposition, that by faith the law is not
made void, but established, and that a free, full forgiveness,
entirely on the ground of the obedience of Jesus Christ— the
redemption that is in Him — instead of encouraging to continue
in sin, absolutely secures true holiness both of heart and life.
It is of importance, on many accounts, to understand the
genesis — the natural history of sin, in the sense of depravity.
Depravity plainly can have no existence in an innocent
creature. That were a contradiction in terms. In an inno-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 89
cent, rational, responsible creature, there may be, probably
there must be, principles which make him susceptible of
temptation. Till, however, temptation is yielded to, there is
no depravity, as there is no guilt. The first act of a volun
tary Being yielding to temptation is the beginning both of
guilt and of depravity. It is " the transgression of the law ;"
and without Divine intervention, the abnormal, disordered
state produced in the mind and heart proceeds, sin multiplies,
and depravity grows. As a matter of course, that Divine
influence, leading to good— the token of God's complacency
in His innocent creature — is withdrawn from the shining
creature. The delusion in reference to the Divine character,
in which transgression originates, extends and deepens. Evil
influence from without the mind works now unopposed. Thus
man, the transgressor, becomes the slave of sin ; and while he
continues a condemned criminal, he cannot be emancipated.
The Christian scheme of spiritual transformation is the only
one that meets, or indeed even contemplates, the difficulties
of the case. It begins at the beginning. It makes provision
for such a change in man's relations, as lays a solid founda
tion for a change in his character. " The righteousness of
God" — the Divine method of justification — is that provision.
In reversing the sentence of condemnation, it unlocks the
fetters of depravity, secures an influence to sanctify, superior
in power to the influence either from within or from without
to deprave, and provides suitable motives to induce the man
to mortify sin and cultivate holiness. The obedience unto
death of the incarnate Son, as the substitute of sinners — vin
dicating the rights, illustrating the excellence of the violated
law, and brought to bear on the individual in his believing
a Divine testimony respecting it, is in substance this Divine
method, which, therefore, is at once the necessary and the
sufficient cause of sanctification. If the two corresponding
Divine arrangements — that Jesus Christ, God's Son, as the
representative of man, should die as a victim and rise in the
enjoyment of the Divine favour ; and that the believing sinner
should, on his believing, become so connected with this death

90 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and life as to be brought under their influence, in all the extent
of meaning belonging to that word, — if these two correspond
ing Divine arrangements are understood, the antinomian abuse
of the Divine method of justification, and the objection of
the infidel, grounded on the supposition that the antinomian
abuse is the true tendency of that method, are seen to be
equally unfounded, and " faith" appears indeed, not to "make
void," but to " establish the law." There is secured such a
death in reference to sin, as makes it impossible that the man
interested in the Divine method of justification should continue
to live in it. The leading thought is, guilt is the source and
perpetuator of depravity ; deliverance from guilt is the full
and perennial fountain of sanctification.
To the question, " Shall we continue in sin " — shall we
continue under guilt, by, when pardoned, contracting new
guilt, by committing new sin — " that grace may abound?"
the apostle replies, " God forbid " — let it not be. " How shall
we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"1 The
general meaning of the phrase rendered " dead to sin," is not
difficult to perceive, but the precise signification is not quite
so easy to be apprehended. It may signify ' dead by sin' — put
to death by guilt in the person of our representative, when He
was delivered for our offences ; or it may signify, ' become to
sin as a dead slave in reference to his master ' — freed from the
power of guilt both to condemn and to deprave. The two
things signified are intimately connected : the second is the
necessary result of the first. The apostle's question is equiva
lent to an assertion, that the believing sinner's relations to
guilt have been so changed, as that it can no longer exercise
over him its former influence.
Having made this assertion, he proceeds to illustrate it.
He shows that, according to the Divine method of justification,
all who are interested in it are so intimately related to Jesus
Christ— so "in Him," as to have, as it were, died in Him —
1 Ver. 2. The preposition h is used in the same way as when de
moniacs are said to be in TrvevpiaTi x.Ka.6a.pT0>, and* when the world is said
xtio-Dxi iii T(ji ¦xovvipip.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 91
been buried in Him — been raised in Him, and as to live in
Him. It shows, further, that the death of Christ, in which
all who are justified by believing are interested, was a death
by sin, or to sin ; that the life to which Christ is raised, and
to which they in Him are also raised, is a life by God, or to
God ; and that the efficacy of Christ's death — as a deliverance
from the legal power of guilt, in consequence of His dying
as a victim, proved by His resurrection and unending life —
renders it absolutely impossible that the justified should con
tinue under the depraving, any more than under the condem
ning, influence of sin. This is the general fine of the apostle's
argumentative illustration, to the end of the 14th verse of this
chapter. " Know ye not," says he1 — ' Are you not aware that it is
one of the first principles of the oracles of Christ, that all who
are united to Him are united to Him as having died, been
buried, and raised again, and living a new and an endless
fife?' The phrase "baptized into Jesus Christ,"2 occurs
only here and in Gal. iii. 27, and cannot be understood of the
baptism by water, for a plain reason, that baptism into Jesus
Christ is uniformly represented as connected with what we
know most certainly is often dissociated from, and in no case
necessarily connected with, water baptism. " Baptism into
Christ" is that of which water baptism is the emblem — that
union to Jesus Christ, which is connected with the belief of
the truth which baptism emblematically represents, and of
which, when submitted to by a person of mature age, it is the
solemn profession. He who is baptized into Jesus Christ is
he who is united to Him by faith. Now, it is one of the
things most surely believed among Christians, that he who is
1 Ver. 3.
2 Pronomen oo-oi quotquot vulgo tantundem valere dicitur quantum.
Adjectivum omnes. Mihi vero auctor non inconsiderate, pronomen quod
exceptionem ferebat, usus esse videtur." — Von Hengel. I agree in the
remark though not in the use Von Hengel makes of it ; for I do not
think the implied antithesis is between baptised and not baptized, but be
tween baptized and baptized into Christ.

92 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
thus united to Christ is united to Him as having died, and
been buried ; and that he has been so united, that as Christ,
raised up from the dead, lives a new life, " through the ex
pressed approbation" (for that is, I think, the meaning of
" glory " here too, as well as in ver. 2 and in chap. iii. 23) " of
the Father," the believer, united to Him, may also " walk in
newness of life"1 — may, in principle and conduct, be a new
man, enjoying the glory, the approbation, of God.
This union reaches to the life as well as to the death ;
" for," says the apostle,2 " if we are planted in the likeness of
His death " — that is, if I mistake not, ' if we are, as it were,
partakers of His death' — " we shall also be in the likeness of
His resurrection" — ' we shall also be partakers of His resur
rection.' 3 Our state as to sin is what might be expected in a
person who had died, and who has risen again, and who lives,
as it were, in union, with Jesus Christ.
" Knowing this," that is, for we know this,4 " that our old
man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." " Our
old man"5 is the depraved system of our fallen nature, that
wrong mode of thinking, feeling, and acting, which characterises
man born of the flesh. That was crucified along with Christ :
the meaning of this remarkable phrase is, ' when Christ died on
the cross as the victim of sin, that took place which secured the
destruction of this system in the case of all united to Christ.'
" That the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin." " The body of sin" is, I apprehend,
the mass of guilt which Jesus, as the victim for men, bore, and
bore away on the cross. The destruction of that body is the
1 Ver. 4. 2 Ver. 5.
3 May not cvpilpvTot be construed with tov $o.i/o.tov, and tvs dvxaTacrtas
and t£ opoiafix-Ti be regarded = h wa.pa.^o'hri, Heb. xi. 19, as it were ;
avfiQvros is construed with the genitive by Nonnus cifiipvTos tifti tok^os,
Par. xiv. 10. ' The death and resurrection spoken of by the apostle are
not a death and resurrection like those of Christ Jesus.' It is of the real
death and resurrection of Christ that they are r$ opcow/^xTi — ovfttpvrot.
4 Ver- 6. 6 Eph. iv. 22 ; Col. iii. 9.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 93
same thing as the " finishing of transgression, the making an
end of sin" — the bearing our sins to the cross and leaving
them there — the " putting away of sin." This was the direct
effect of the atonement completed in the crucifixion, and it
refers to a change of relation; and this looks forward to
another effect, referring to a change of character, that be
lievers united to Christ, as having thus destroyed " the body
of sin," " might not be the servants, the slaves of sin" — might
not live under the demoralizing influence of guilt, which
had been fully expiated, and, as it were, annihilated.
This statement is confirmed by the general proposition
announced in ver. 7, " For he who is dead is free from sin."
' He who has died by sin, for sin, has been justified from the
sin by which, for which, he died." " The wages of sin are
death," and he who has fullyreceived these wages, is discharged,
is free from that master. Sin — guilt — has no more to do with
him. Till the condemning sentence is executed, the man is
subject to sin, both in its power to condemn and in its power to
deprave ; but let the penal consequences be fully endured, let
the demands of the law be met, by due and complete satisfac
tion, and the man is at once delivered from its condemning
power and its depraving influence, which depends as we have
seen above, on its condemning power. Now, in this way, all
that are in Christ — all that are "justified freely through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus," have died, not indeed in
their own persons, but in the person of then: surety; and,
therefore, are delivered from the reign of sin — from its power
to condemn, and, therefore, also from its power to rule in the
heart and life.
In the sixth and seventh verses the apostle has shown how
union with Christ, in His death, necessarily secures deliver
ance from the demoralizing influence of a state of guilt. He
now goes forward to show, that the union with Christ, in His
restored life, affords further security for the same result.
" Now, if we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also
live with him."1 "To live with Christ" here, is to be so
1 Ver. 8.

94 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
united to Christ that the principles of spiritual activity and
enjoyment are the same in justified persons as they are in the
perfected Eedeemer, the risen Saviour. "Their life is hid
with Christ in God." x They do not so much live as Christ
lives in them.2 They are in reference to sin as if they had
died with Christ, and now lived with Him. Find out the
leading characters of Christ's new life, and you will find out
the leading characters of the Christian's new life. " If we be
dead with Christ," or have died with Christ, His death is
past ; " We shall live with Him," His life is present and future,
and so shall ours in Him be. These two things are indis-
solubly connected. Christ's resurrection and restored life
were the merited reward of His death by sin, for sin. It was
because Christ died by sin, for sin, and thus made full satis
faction for it, that He was raised from the dead and crowned
with immortal life — life in the glory of God, in the full pos
session of the entire approbation and complacency of God.
Now, if this be the true state of the case, all who are united
to Christ as dying, must be united to Christ in living, and
have their interest in what He secured by dying.
To complete this argument, from the union of Christians
with Christ in His death and life, for the holy tendency of the
Divine method of justification, the apostle goes forward to
notice the immortal endurance and the peculiar character of
that life, rising out of the peculiar character of that death of
which it was the result and the reward. "Knowing" — that is,
for we know, it is this that gives us assurance — that " having
died with Christ, we shall also live with Him :" we know " that
Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath
no more dominion over Him : for in that He died, He died
unto sin once, but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God."3
Christ being raised from the dead " dieth no more," shall never,
can never, again submit, to death. " He was dead, but He is
alive again, and lives for ever more."4 The second clause,
" death hath no more dominion over Him," is not mere repe-
1 Col. iii. 3. 2 Gal. ii 20. s Ver. 9, 10. * Rev. i. 18.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 95
tition. It assigns the reason why He shall not, why He can
not, ever die. It was because He bore our guilt that death
had dominion over Him. It was only thus that death could
be permitted to touch that Holy thing born of the virgin, the
Son of God. But having fully met our responsibilities by
dying for us, death, the law's officer, has no more authority
over Him.
And this rises out of the nature of His death and of the
life which follows — " For in that He died He died unto sin,
once." " For in that He died," is just equivalent to, ' as to
His death. " He died to or by sin" — that is, His death was
a death to sin or by sin. For Christ to " die to sin, was to
be completely freed from the reign of sin. But, it may be
asked, how could Christ be made free from the reign of sin ?
Was He ever subject to it ? The answer is, As to the de
praving influence of sin, Christ never was subject to it — "He
knew no sin ;" but as to the penal power of sin — what the
apostle styles " sin reigning unto death" — no one ever knew,
experimentally knew, that as He did ; He was subject to it in
consequence of God's " making Him, though He knew no
sin, to be sin for us." In all mere creatures capable of moral
action, the penal reign and the depraving, prevailing influence
of sin, seem to be, in the nature of things, inseparable. In
the case of our Lord, they were as necessarily separated.
Christ, occupying the place of sinners, was subjected to that
reign of sin unto death which they had incurred ; and, by
sustaining the full punishment awarded by the great Law
giver and Moral Euler, He delivered Himself, and all
whom He represented, from this penal reign, which, owing
to the absolute singularities of His case, was not in Him
as it is in all men beside, accompanied by its depraving in
fluence. To this mode of interpreting the phrase rendered, " died to
sin," I have but one objection, which is, that it gives to the
word death, in the second clause, a figurative sense ; while in
all the rest of the passage, except here, and perhaps in the
second verse, the word bears its plain literal signification.

96 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Supposing that " died by sin" is the preferable rendering, the
apostle's meaning is not materially different : — With regard
to His death, Christ died "by sin," that is, He died 'on
account of sin' — through the condemnatory power of sin. His
death was expiatory. He suffered what sin deserved. This
mode of interpretation has the advantage of giving a uni
formity of meaning to the word ' death' throughout the whole
paragraph. This death to sin, or this death by sin, was " once." This
indicates how completely Christ's death, in which His people
are united with Him, answered its purpose in delivering both
Himself and them from the reign of sin and of death. The
constantly returning deaths of the Mosaic victims intimated
their inadequacy to take away sin. The " offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all," * indicates the completeness
of the sacrifice. " Such a High Priest became us, who is
holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens ; who needed not daily to offer
sacrifice for the sins of the people ; for this He did once —
once for all — when He offered up Himself." 2 When He bare
the body of our sins in His body to the tree, there to destroy
it by a complete expiation, " He suffered once for sin, the
just for the unjust."3
Christ's life, in which the believer has the same interest as
in His death, equally secures that he cannot continue in sin.
" In that He liveth He liveth unto God." The phrase ren
dered, " liveth to God," admits of two translations — to God,
by God. To live to God, as appears from chap. xiv. 6-8, is
to live devoted to God. Christ's new life is a life devoted to
the promotion of the Divine glory, and if Christians have
fellowship with Him in that life, how can they live in sin ?
" Because He lives they live also,"4 and His life is the pattern
of their life. " To live by God," which sense the words will
bear, conveys the same idea as " raised from the dead by the
glory of God." His new life is continued as well as begun by
' Heb. x. 10. 2 Heb. vii. 26, 27. 3 1 Pet. iii 18. * John xiv. 19.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 97
expressed approbation and complacency of God; and they,
united to Him, partake with Him of this complacency, which
must secure for them those supplies of Divine influence which,
in their design, tendency, and effect, go to prevent them from
continuing in sin. This last mode of interpretation has the
advantage of keeping the contrast between the death and
the life more exact. In the former case, it is a moral, mys
tical, spiritual, figurative life, contrasted with a real, literal
death ; in this case, both death and life have their proper
signification. The sum of the whole matter is this. All who are interested
in the Divine method of justification are so related to Jesus
Christ, " as delivered for our offences, and raised again for our
justification," that His death is, as it were, their death — His
life, their life ; and if Jesus Christ have, by once dying, ex
piated completely all the sins of those who believe in Him, and,
as a proof of this, live for ever by, and in the enjoyment of, the
Divine special favour, then must not they who died in Him,
and live in Him, be delivered from the penal reign of sin,
which, in the person of their Surety, they have sustained,
and from that depraving influence too, which, in their case,
though not in His, is necessarily connected with its penal
dominion ?
In the 11th, 12th, and 13th verses, the apostle presses on
the Roman Christians, as a motive and encouragement to
universal holiness, the doctrine he had taught regarding their
security from the continuance of that depraving power of sin,
which is connected with its penal reign. " Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed to, or by, sin ; but alive unto,
or by God, through — or rather in Jesus Christ our Lord"1
(for it is rather Christ's headship than His mediatorship that
is referred to here). The belief of this, in his apprehension,
lay at the root of their progressive sanctification. The par
ticles, " Likewise also," would have been better rendered,
'And thus.' 2 The apostle does not call on the believing Romans
1 Ver. 11. 3 Ot/Vsj x.ut.G

98 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" to die to sin, or to live to God." That is technical, but not
scriptural phraseology. The death to sin, and the life to God,
he here speaks of, are not duties to be performed, but privi
leges enjoyed in consequence of union with Christ, laying a
foundation for the performance of all duties. The words
before us are an assertion, that it is the believer's duty to be
fullypersuaded that he is so interested in Christ's death and life,
and united to Him, that he has died by sin, to sin, and lives
by God, to God. It is as if he had said, ' Since, according to
the Divine method of justification, you are, by believing, united
to Christ, and since He died by sin and liveth by God, you
have died by sin in Him, you in Him live by and to God.
And it is of much importance that you firmly believe and
habitually consider these truths.' It is by the influence of
these truths believed that the moral transformation, which
was secured by the expiatory death and the new life of Jesus
Christ, is carried forward. This verse is in meaning pre
cisely parallel with the remarkable passage in the beginning
of the fourth chapter of the First Epistle of Peter.1
Believing, holding fast, this truth, " Let not sin" therefore
reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lusts
thereof." ' Do not allow guilt, in its depraving influence, to
reign, to exercise an influence, over your mortal bodies — that
is, over you while in this mortal body. Sin reigns no more,
through death, over your Lord's glorified body : it will have
no power over your glorified bodies; but even now, in the
mortal body — the body that must die because of sin, it is
unbecoming that you should allow sin to exercise a power ot
which it has been legally deprived — its power to create alie
nation from God — moral disorder. In your embodied state
act like — what you are — persons who are united to Christ in
His death and in His life. Do not obey sin ; do not yield to
its natural influence to estrange you from God, " in," or by,
" the lusts," the natural desires, of the body. Let those natural
principles be regulated, not by the influences of sin — a state
1 1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 99
of condemnation, but by the influences of righteousness — a
state of justification.' ' Let it not be so,' says the apostle — ' it
is your own fault if it be so. If any man sin, it is his own
fault, for he is laid under no physical necessity of sinning ;
for a believer to sin is doubly his fault, for he is furnished in
abundance with all that is necessary for obedience.'
The apostle proceeds with his exhortation. " Neither
yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto
sin ; but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from
the dead ; and your members as instruments of righteousness
unto God." x ' Do not allow your members — your faculties,
your powers of action — to be under the demoralizing influence
of sin — guilt, a state of condemnation. In the belief of the
great truth just stated, assert your freedom. Refuse to guilt
the employment of your faculties ; for assuredly the work they
will be set to will be unrighteousness — what is opposed to the
holy, just, good will of God, as expressed in His law. On the
contrary, in the belief of this truth, devote yourselves to God as
your reconciled Father and God in Christ, as those whom He
has in Christ raised from the dead, in consequence of His
having died for them, the just in the room of the unjust, and
to whom He has given a new life — a proof of His love — fitting
them for His service ; and let all your faculties, brought under
the influence of your new state, become instruments of righte
ousness in the service of God.' In other words, " Walk at
liberty, keeping His commandments."
It must never be forgotten that this exhortation is not ad
dressed to all men indiscriminately, but only to those who
have believed the Gospel, and are justified by believing. It
is not true of unbelieving sinners that they are "'dead to sin and
alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord ;" and the apostle cer
tainly would never encourage, far less command, any man to
believe a lie. Besides, if unregenerate sinners could be brought,
without first believing the Gospel testimony, to believe that
they, as individuals, though strangers to the truth by which
1 Ver. 12,

100 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
alone they can be transformed by the renewing of the mind —
are secured from all the effects of the condemning sentence of
the law, through the death and life of Jesus Christ — this per
suasion would certainly lead them to say, " Let us continue in
sin, that grace may abound."
On this subject, I am afraid that a good deal of perplexed
and dangerously mistaken thinking prevails. It has not been
uncommon, with a certain class of preachers, to call on sinners
to believe that they are in a safe state ; that they need only to
believe that they are saved, and they are saved — to believe that
they are in Christ, and that they are dead to sin and alive to
God in Him. Now, there is strange confusion of thought here.
This is all wrong ; for, to call on a man to believe this, who
does not first of all believe God's testimony respecting His Son,
is to call on him to believe a lie — to believe something not
only for which he has no evidence — but against which he has
overwhelming evidence if he would but attend to it. The
Gospel testimony is not, that I, as an individual, am secure of
salvation, but that " God is in Christ Jesus reconciling the
world to Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses ; seeing
He has made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our room, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." To
him who does not believe this, it is the same, so far as saving
consequences are concerned, as if no atonement had been
made. Of him it cannot be said that he is united to Christ,
either in dying or in living, for he is " without Christ," — apart
from Him, not united to Him at all.
The truth on this infinitely important subject is briefly this :
In the Gospel God has given a plain well-accredited testimony
respecting the way of salvation for sinners through the media
tion of His Son. Do you ask me what that testimony is ? I
answer, it is substantially — " God has given to us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son." x " God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever be
lieveth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life;
1 1 John v. 11.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 101
for God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the
world, but that the world through Him might be saved."1
It is the duty of every person who hears this well-accredited
testimony of God to believe it. He who believes it is, by
believing it, united to Jesus Christ. He " has the Son,'
in whom is eternal life. God becomes his God. He is dead
by — to — sin, he is alive by — to — God, in Christ Jesus ; and it
is his duty, for it is the very truth most sure, to reckon him
self thus dead by — to — sin, thus alive by — to — God.
It is only the believing sinner who is thus interested in the
justifying, sanctifying efficacy of the atonement, and it is only
he who can be properly called on to reckon himself so. At
the same time, it is the duty, the immediate, the primary duty,
of every sinner, who hears the Gospel, to believe it ; and, in
believing it, all the blessings of the Christian salvation are
secured to him, and it is now his duty to believe that. " This
reckoning, on the part of the ungodly who have believed in
Jesus, says an able German interpreter, is no comforting self-
deceit, but is a spiritual operation, fully true, answering
throughout the aim of Christ, without which true sanctifica
tion, and especially that thorough humility and divestiture of
all selfishness, is impossible."2
But for a man continuing in unbelief thus to reckon him
self, is high presumption, for it is to believe what God has not
rerealed, and to expect what God has never promised ; and
when an unbeliever succeeds in working himself up to some
thing like a persuasion of this, he is but involving himself
in deeper delusion, and his persuasion will have anything
rather than a sanctifying influence on his mind. For a
believer thus to reckon himself, is but to set to his seal that
God is true ; for him to doubt it is in a high degree sinful ;
and just in proportion as he keeps this truth steadily in view,
will be his progress at once in solid comfort and universal
holiness. I dare bid no impenitent sinner believe directly that he is
1 John iii. 16, 17. 1 Olshausen.

102 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
dead by — dead to — sin, alive by — alive to — God, because he is
united to Him who died by sin and lives by God ; but I not
only dare, but I do most earnestly, invite and exhort, entreat
and command, by the authority of God, and the mercies of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the guiltiest of our guilty race to accept, in
the faith of the truth, an all-accomplished Saviour and a com
plete salvation, and have no hesitation in assuring him that,
however guilty, depraved, and unworthy, he shall never perish,
but have everlasting life, if he but believe the Divine testi
mony. God is his God. Christ is his Saviour. He has died
in Christ ; he has risen in Christ. He lives in Christ, and he
shall live in Him, with Him, for ever ; and it is at once his
present privilege and his immediate duty, as a believing sinner,
to " reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord."
2. The Freedom from Law, and the Subjection to Grace, im-
plied in the Divine Method of Justification, secures that the
Justified Person shall not continue in Sin.
Chapter vi. 14-vni. 4. — " For sin shall not have dominion over you:
for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then ? shall we
sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his ser
vants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness ? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of
sin ; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants
of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infir
mity of your flesh : for as ye have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even so now yield your mem
bers servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the ser
vants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then
in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things
is death. But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to
God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For
the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Know ye not, brethren (for I speak to them that know
the law) , how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth ?
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her hus-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 103
band so long as he liveth ; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from
the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be
married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress : but if her
husband be dead, she is free from that law ; so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be
married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the
motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring
forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being
dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit,
and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then ? Is the
law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but by the law : for I
had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive with
out the law once ; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be
unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto
me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in
me by that which is good ; that sin by the commandment might become
exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual ; but I am car
nal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not : for what I would,
that do I not ; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I
would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me
(that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with
me ; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good
that I would I do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now,
if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present
with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man : but I
see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this
death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the
mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ
Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin
and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through
the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for

104 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
sin condemned sin in the flesh ; that the righteousness of the law might
be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Let us now proceed to the consideration of the second proof,
that justified persons cannot live in sin — continue in sin.1
" For sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye are not
under the law, but under grace." It has been common among
interpreters to consider these words as finishing a paragraph
rather than beginning one — as very intimately connected with
the sentence in ver. 12 and 13, that immediately precedes
them — as, indeed, containing a reason for what the apostle
says there, or a motive and encouragement to the mode of
conduct which he recommends. " Let not sin reign " — yield
not your members to it as its instruments ; on the contrary,
" yield yourselves to God, and your members to Him as
His instruments ; for sin shall not have dominion over you."
This is no doubt excellent sense ; the consideration, that sin
shall not have dominion over the believer, being one of the
strongest motives, both as exhibiting obligation and encour
agement, which can be proposed to the believer to avoid sin
and to practise duty. But the motive to the duty enjoined
in the 12th and 13th verses is to be found in the 11th verse,
and in the preceding context. It gives more concinnity to
the apostle's argument to consider a new paragraph as com
mencing with the 14th verse, in which he proceeds to another
branch of the same great subject. He has concluded one most
satisfactory proof, that men justified by believing cannot con
tinue in sin ; and he here enters on another and equally satis
factory one. The 14th verse hangs by the 1st and 2d. We,
justified by believing, cannot continue in sin, " for sin shall
not have dominion over us ;" and the reason of that is, " for
we are not under the law, but under grace." As that union
to Christ, in His death and life, implied in the Divine method
of justification, secures that we shall not continue in sin ; so
that freedom from law, and that subjection to grace, which it
equally implies, secures that sin shall not have dominion over
us. 1 Ver. 14.

SECT. II.J- THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 105
(1.) General Illustration of the Argument.1
There are three points which must be cleared, to give full
illustration to the apostle's argument. What is it for sin to
" have dominion" over a man ? What is it to be " not under law,
but under grace?" And, How does the not being under law,
but under grace, secure that " sin shall not have dominion" over
the man who is so ? " Sin" is here plainly personified. The
results of being in a state of sin are represented as the effects
of regal power or influence. In this epistle we read of two
different kinds of power or dominion, which sin, personified,
is represented as possessing and exercising over men. In
chapter v. 21, we read of "sin reigning unto death." The
meaning of that is, ' Men are punished with death on account
of sin.' At the 12th verse of this chapter we read of " sin
reigning over men's mortal bodies, so that they obey it in
their lusts" — i.e., in the exercise of their natural desires. The
meaning of that is, ' Men act under the depraving influence
of sin.' The truth is, that, in the first of these passages, sin,
or guilt, is viewed as securing punishment, according to the
principles of the Divine government. In the second, it is
viewed as producing and perpetuating depravity, according to
the principles of the human constitution. The question, In
which of these closely related, but still quite distinct senses, is
the dominion of sin to be understood here ? is not difficult to
answer. The apostle's object is plainly to show how deliver
ance from guilt delivers also from depravity — how the method
of justification secures sanctification. To say, sin shall not
condemn you, justified persons, is nothing to the point : his
argument requires the assertion, sin shall not continue to de
prave you ; and when we look into the subsequent discussions,
we find that they all bear on this point.
Now, this deliverance from the depraving dominion of sin
is represented by the apostle as secured by the Divine method
of justification, inasmuch as it delivers from subjection to law,
1 Chap, vi. 14.

106 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and brings into subjection to grace. " Sin shall not have
dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under
grace." x The contrast here is not properly between the law
of Moses and the Gospel of Christ, as two Divine economies :
it is between law and grace, as the principles of two methods
of justification — what the apostle calls " the law of works," and
" the law of faith," which is by grace. For an innocent being
to be under law, as in the case of Adam, is to have his
final acceptance and salvation suspended on his obedience to
the law under which he is placed : for a guilty man to be
under law, is to be condemned to punishment for disobedience ;
while the obligation to perfect obedience continues unchanged,
every new act of disobedience incurring new guilt, and ex
posing to increased punishment ; and while deliverance from
that punishment is utterly hopeless, being unattainable except
by the impracticable means of at once fully enduring the
punishment denounced, and perfectly complying with all the
preceptive requisitions of the law. This is to be under the
law ; and the apostle declares that all the justified by faith are
not thus under the law, and because they are not thus under
the law, " sin shall not have dominion over them."
But they are not only not under law, they are " under
grace." " Grace " is free favour. The system of justification
under which they are placed dispenses pardon, acceptance,
and salvation, not as the specified rewards of specified services
— wages for work done— but as free gifts; not something
which we are to merit by our doings and sufferings, but enjoy
as the result of the free sovereign mercy of God, finding its
way to guilty man through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. How the being not under the law, but under grace, secures
that sin shall not have dominion over the man interested in
the Divine method of justification, is fully explained in the
discussion, from the beginning of the seventh chapter to the
4th verse of the eighth chapter. 1 Ver. 14.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 107
(2.) Popular Illustration of the Incompatibility of a State of
Justification and a State of Subjection to the Dominant Power
of Sin.1
Before proceeding to this somewhat difficult and abstruse
subject, the apostle, in the closing paragraph of the sixth
chapter, gives a short popular view of the entire incompati
bility, the utter opposition, of the two states of sin and justifi
cation, which are considered to be united in the supposed case
of the justified man who continues in sin. To suppose a man
really justified, and yet habitually living under sin, is to sup
pose one of the grossest absurdities and self-contradictions.
" What then ? " says the apostle, after having asserted that
the justified are not under law, but under grace — " What
then ? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under
grace ? " 2 ' Shall we abuse our privileges ? shall we take
encouragement to sin because pardon is free ? Were we to do
so, we should behave in the most inconsistent and absurd way ;
but if we are really not under law, but under grace, we can
not act such a part ; deliverance from law, subjection to grace,
is that which alone can free man from the bondage of de
pravity, and enable him to walk at liberty, keeping God's
commandments.' The first of these principles is illustrated
in the remaining part of this chapter ; the second, in the
seventh chapter, and first four verses of the eighth.
This, then, is the theme of the paragraph, beginning at the
16th verse, and ending with the chapter. To sin, because we
are not under the law, but under grace — to take encourage
ment to live in sin from bur being freely justified — would be
the most enormous and loathsome of all self-contradictions and
absurdities. " Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves
servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey ; whether
of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness ? But
God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin ; but ye
have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
1 Chap, vi. 15-23. ' Ver. 15.

108 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became
the servants of righteousness." x The apostle represents the
two opposite influential states of sin — guilt or condemnation,
and of righteousness or justification, as two masters, so opposed
to one another as that you cannot at the same time serve both,
but that in the degree to which you are subject to the one, you
are — you must be — free from the other. He who, under the
influence of a state of guilt, lives an unholy life, whatever pro
fession he may make, is a condemned man ; he is the slave of
guilt. He only who, under the influence of justification, lives
a holy life, is a justified man ; he is the servant of righteous
ness. There are just these two masters — just these two influ
ential states. Every man must serve one of them — every man
must be under the influence of guilt and condemnation, or of
justification. The two influential states stand thus in anti
thesis : sin or guilt, leading to death ; obedience, leading to
righteousness or justification.2 To complete the antithesis, you
must look into the following verses. You will find, on the
one side, sin — i.e. guilt or condemnation, the slavery of the
devil, uncleanness and iniquity, death ; on the other, obedi-
' Ver. 16-18.
2 This is one of those imperfectly expressed antitheses which we not
unfrequently meet with in the apostle's writings : for example, Chap. iv.
15 — " Because the law worketh wrath : for where there is no law, there
is no transgression" — but where there is law, there is transgression. Chap.
viii. — " We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh" — but to
the spirit, to live after the spirit. The force of the apostle's statement, in
both cases, rests on the implied, but not expressed, part of the antithesis-
The complete antithesis here is, Tra.pu.x.ovi — vTru-xoi} ; ocft,xpTix — hxaio-
uvvyi ; xia-^vnn — ayictap&os ; Qoipoctos — ^^. Disobedience leads to condem
nation, and condemnation to shameful conduct, and shameful conduct to
death ; obedience, which is here faith, ver. 17, leads to justification, and
justification to holiness, and holiness to life. We naturally expect here
that x,pt,aprix eis Oavomoii should have been contrasted with hxaioavvy sis
c]oiijii — but it may account for the peculiarity of the phraseology, that the
apostle is speaking of hxxioavun as a state exerting moral power, and this
it does through vttxxo'/i, which is here equivalent to ttUtis. C^axoii t\(
hxcctoavvviii is = wiutis lie hxxioo-vv/ii/, and it is as the hxtxiaovun hi iria-
•re<y?,that theS/xos/oroi/i) ®tov, transforms men by the renewing of their minds.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 109
ence, righteousness or justification, the service of God, holi
ness, eternal life — all direct opposites.
The one influential state or master is " Sin" — the state of
guilt and condemnation. He who is in this state must feel
its influence, and reach its end. He who serves this master
must do his drudgery — iniquity, and receive his wages — death.
The other influential state is " obedience unto righteousness"
— that is, as I apprehend, unto justification. The obedience
here is not doing the works of the law, by which no man can
obtain righteousness or be justified; it is not the holiness
which is represented in the 22d verse as the fruit of a justified
state ; it is something that naturally precedes justification,
while holiness follows it. This expression, " obedience unto
righteousness," would have been extremely puzzling, had not
the apostle himself explained it in the 17th verse. It is " the
obeying from the heart the form of doctrine which had been
delivered unto them." Whether you understand the words
rendered " the form of doctrine which was delivered to you,"
as meaning ' that system of doctrine which has been taught
you,' which the English words signify — or ' that doctrine into
which, as a mould, you have, by believing, been cast, so as to
have your characters formed by it,' which the original words
seem to indicate, — there can be no doubt that " the form of
doctrine" is just the Gospel ; and that " obeying" this form of
doctrine from the heart, is just really — cordially, " believing"
this Gospel. " Faith reckoned unto righteousness," or justi
fication, and " obedience unto righteousness," or justification,
as explained by the apostle, are equivalent expressions. The
influential state is justification by believing ; and the obedience
of the heart to the form of doctrine — that is, the faith of the
Gospel by which men are justified receives prominence, seeing
by it justification exerts its transforming influence — the doc
trine being the mould into which, by believing, the mind,
softened by Divine influence, is poured, so as to take on it
the image of the new man.
These, then, are the two great influential spiritual states —
a state of guilt, into which you enter by sinning — a state of

110 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
justification, into which you enter by believing. ' You must
then,' says the apostle, 'be under the influence of one of
these states — you must be the servants of one of these masters.
You once were under the power of the first — " ye were the
servants of sin" — you were under the practical, the depraving
influence of guilt and condemnation : ye are so no longer ;
and blessed be God for the change.' The phraseology is here
peculiar, but the meaning is plain. " God be thanked, ye
were the servants of sin ; but ye have obeyed from the heart
the form of doctrine delivered to you, or into which you have
been delivered,"1 Not that the apostle thanked God that they
ever had been the servants of sin, but that he thanked Him
that they were so no longer ; and his gratitude for their eman
cipation was increased by thinking of the debasing slavery in
which they had been previously involved. By believing the
Gospel, they had been justified ; and by the same faith of the
Gospel, their justified state was exerting its influence, in
transforming them by the renewing of their mind. By thank
ing God for the change, the apostle acknowledges Him as its
author. " Faith is the gift of God." It is the act of man too,
but the act of man acted on by God. Men purify their souls
" in obeying the truth through the Spirit." 2
Now, says the apostle, " being made free from sin, ye be
came the servants of righteousness." 3 To be freed from sin, is
just the reverse of being the servants of sin, and signifies, to
be delivered from the prevailing depraving influence of a state
of guilt and condemnation. " Righteousness" I consider here
as bearing its ordinary sense in this epistle — 'justification;'
and to be the servant of justification, is just to be under the
influence of a justified state in reference to our temper and
conduct. The apostle's assertion in this verse seems to be,
that deliverance from the depraving influence of a state of
guilt, and subjection to the sanctifying influence of a state of
justification, go together, and are equally effected by the faith
of the Gospel. It is impossible to be freed from the power of
1 Ver. 17. * 1 Pet. i. 22. " Ver. 18.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. Ill
guilt and condemnation, and to be brought under the power
of justification, but by the obeying from the heart the form
of doctrine — that is, believing the Gospel ; and, on the other
hand, it is impossible to believe the Gospel without being
freed from the demoralizing power of guilt, and subjected to
the sanctifying influences of pardon and acceptance.
The first part of the 1 9th verse is evidently parenthetical,
and ought to have been so marked. It interrupts the current
of thought, and is obviously introduced as an account of, or an
apology for, the apostle's employing, in this paragraph, a much
more popular and familiar kind of illustration and proof, than
he does either in the paragraph that precedes or in that which
follows it. It is as if he had said, ' I am adopting a popular
mode of teaching — speaking " after the manner of men," to
meet the necessities of the less spiritually intelligent of my
readers, " because of the infirmities of your flesh" — because
you are so much under the influence of things seen, that it is
only by way of comparison that you can be made to appre
hend things unseen.' He speaks here to that portion of the
Roman Christians who were not so spiritual as others of their
brethren, who in comparison were " carnal," as " babes in
Christ."1 He requires to be a spiritual man to enter fully
into Paul's illustrations of the influence of justification on
sanctification — from the union which subsists between the
justified and Christ, in his death, resurrection, and new life —
and from the different tendencies of a state of subjection to
law, and of a state of subjection to grace. In the first part
of the sixth chapter, and in the seventh, down to the fourth
verse of the eighth, " he speaks wisdom among them who are
perfect" — he feeds those of full age with " strong meat ;" but
in this paragraph he gives " milk to babes."2 The figurative
illustration which he here gives of the absurdity of supposing
that a justified man should continue habitually an unholy
man, drawn from the different, the opposite origin, nature,
tendencies, and consequences of a state of guilt and a state of
1 1 Cor. iii. 1. ' Cor. ii. 6; Heb. v. 13, 14.

112 DOCTRINAL. L?ART II.
justification, is what any man of ordinary good sense, if he
but attend to it, cannot but perceive the force of. Here, as
everywhere, the apostle is a pattern for the Christian teacher.
He is not to forget that there are babes among those whom
he is teaching : and he is to give them the only food they can
relish and digest ; but neither is he to forget that all are not
babes. The man of mature age and disciplined spiritual
faculties, must not be overlooked; and the babe must be
wisely accustomed to the use of stronger food, that he may
the sooner become a man.
In the latter part of this verse, the apostle prosecutes his
popular illustration. " For as ye have yielded your members
servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even
so now yield your members to righteousness unto holiness." x
" Uncleanness and iniquity," as contrasted with " righteous
ness," is the impure and lawless state of guilt, as contrasted
with righteousness — the state of justification, a state conform
able to the holiness and justice of the Divine nature and law.
Previously to their conversion, the Roman Christians had
yielded their members — their faculties, to the influence of that
state, leading to practical lawlessness or iniquity, — so becom
ing, as it were, its servants. ' Now,' says the apostle, ' as you
have done this but now are justified, it is meet that ye should
yield your members to the influence of your new state, lead
ing to practical holiness, — " so becoming, as it were, its ser
vants." ' The force of the particle as, is either to describe the
manner in which the justified person ought to yield himself to
the practical influence of his new state, as entirely as he had
yielded himself to the practical influence of his former state —
that he should seek to be as free from the influence of the
former, as he had at an earlier period been free from the
latter ; or, to indicate a motive, " since" you formerly yielded
yourselves freely, fully, solely, up to the practical influence of
a state of guilt, therefore now you should yield yourselves freely,
fully, solely, to the practical influence of a state of justification.
1 Ver. 19.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 113
In the first case, the 20th and 21st verses are the illustration
of the thought ; but, for reasons which will speedily become
apparent, we are rather inclined to prefer the second mode of
interpretation. The idea seems to be, ' You ought to feel your former readi
ness to yield to the immoral influences of your old spiritual
state, as a reason why you should now as readily yield to the
moral influences of your new state : you ought to do so, " for
when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteous
ness.'"1 These words are ordinarily considered as meaning,
' When you were the slaves of sin, ye were in no degree subject
to holy principle' — ye were utterly depraved ; or, understanding
the terms "sin" and "righteousness" as we do, 'When you
were under the influence of a state of guilt, ye were com
pletely uninfluenced by a state of justification.' The objec
tion — and it is a strong one — to this mode of exposition is,
that it gives to the word rendered " free," a sense which
nowhere else belongs to it. Our word ' free' means, not
merely 'emancipated,' but 'destitute of — not merely 'in
possession of liberty,' but ' unaffected, uninfluenced by.' The
word in the original merely expresses liberty as opposed to
slavery. It is difficult to see what meaning could be attached
to the phrase, ' ye were in a state of liberty from righteous
ness:' for subjection to righteousness is liberty; and when
man is the self-sold slave of sin, the claim of righteousness is not
annulled, not weakened. I am inclined, then, to think that the
apostle's meaning is given in these words : " When ye were
the servants of sin — of guilt, ye became free — ye were eman
cipated, by righteousness " — by justification. This meaning of
the word " free," as equivalent to " freed," is not unexampled.
In John viii. 33 we have, " Ye shall be made free ;" and in
Rom. vii. 3 we have, "freed from that law," " the law of her
husband." In both these places it is the same word as here ;
and there it is doubtless rightly rendered. It is justification
that frees men from the dominant influence of guilt, as well
i Ver. 20. n

114 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
as from its penal power. How absurd, then, to suppose that it
should tend to strengthen and perpetuate the very bond which
it, and it alone, can loose.
In the two following verses, the 21st and 22d, the apostle
continues to contrast a state of sin with a state of justifica
tion, to show that they are so utterly incompatible, as that
in the degree in which a man is subject to the one, he is free
from the other. " What fruit had ye then in those things
of which ye are now ashamed? for the end of these things is
death. But now being freed from sin and become servants to
God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end is everlast
ing life."1 The word "fruit" sometimes signifies pleasure or
advantage resulting from a particular course ; at other times,
practical consequence, of whatever kind. The first part of
the 21st verse admits of two modes of pointing and construc
tion, which bring out senses considerably different. Accord
ing to the mode of pointing and construction adopted by
our translators, the meaning is, ' What advantage did you
derive from these depraved pursuits in which ye were once
engaged, but of which ye are now ashamed ? ' The answer
left to be supplied is, ' None — absolutely none : for the end
of these things is death — destruction.' Many of the best
commentators, however, both ancient and modern, construe
and point the passage differently,2 thus : they put the point
of interrogation immediately after the word then, which con
trasts with " now" in the beginning of the 22d verse — " What
fruit had ye then?" What was the practical effect of that
state of subjugation to guilt in which you then were ? The
answer is — " Things of which you are now ashamed;" ' more
over' — or, ' and,' you have good reason to be ashamed of them,
"for the end of these things is death.'" Here is their former
state — the state of sin, the fruit of that state, and the end of
it, corresponding with their new state — the state of righteous-
' Ver. 21, 22.
2 Syriac Version, Theodoret, Theophylact, Luther, Melancthon, Koppe,
Flatt, Tholuck, Ruckert, Kolner, Olshausen, Lachmann, Griesbach, De
Wette.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 115
ness and its fruit and end, as these are stated in the 22d
verse : Then, ye were the servants of sin, the fruit of which
was what you are now ashamed of, the end of which was
death : Now, ye are free from sin — the servants of God ; the
fruit — the practical result, is holiness ; and the end — the ulti
mate result, is eternal life — complete and unending happiness.
How absurd, then, to think that this latter state can encourage
men to continue in the former state !
The concluding verse of the chapter hangs from the two
statements : The end of a state of subjection to sin is death ;
The end of a state of subjection to righteousness 'is eternal
life:' "for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." ] These are the
final terminations of the two states. Guilt conducts through a
shameful course of sin to death — eternal death; righteous
ness conducts through an honourable course of holiness to
life — eternal life ; and all under the law must reach the
first fearful termination, " for death is the wages of sin,"
which the law awards to man the sinner ; and none but those
under grace can reach the second glorious goal, for " eternal
life" cannot be obtained by man but as "the gift of God"
— the expression of His free favour, "through Jesus Christ
our Lord."
Now of the things which the apostle has spoken in this
paragraph, this is the sum. The spiritual states of mankind
exercise so powerful an influence over their character, con
duct, and condition, that they may be fitly personified as their
masters. There are two such great spiritual conditions : that
of sin, guilt, and condemnation ; and that of righteousness,
justification, pardon, and acceptance. These are directly
opposed to one another in their influence as well as in their
nature. No man can be under the dominant influence of
both at the same time. Believers were once under the influ
ence of a state of guilt — they were " in sin," and the " servants
of sin." Believers are now under the influence of a state of
1 Ver. 23.

116 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
righteousness or justification — they are the servants of right
eousness. They were brought into that state by the obedience
of the truth— the faith of the Gospel. It was God who
effected the change, and He is to be thanked for doing so.
Thus they were made free from sin. — delivered from its habit
ual dominant influence, and became servants of righteousness —
were subjected to the dominant influence of ajustified state; and
it is therefore most meet that, as in their former state they yielded
their faculties to the influences of the impure and lawless state
of guilt, to be employed by it as their master in the work of
iniquity, so now they should yield their faculties to the influ
ence of righteousness— a justified state, as their master, to be
employed in holiness. It is most meet ; for it is righteous
ness or justification that has delivered them from sin, guilt,
and its depraving influence. The practical effect of yielding
to the influence of sin was shameful conduct, and its final
result, if unopposed, would have been everlasting destruc
tion ; while, on the other hand, the practical effect of yielding
to the influence of a state of justification is holiness, and its
final result is eternal life ; and that it is so is the consequence
of the Divine method of justification, by which you are not
under law, but under grace ; " for the wages of sin is
death," which law awards man the sinner, " but the gift of
God is eternal life" — a gift which grace confers on the believ
ing sinner " through Jesus Christ our Lord." Can, then, a
believer of the truth respecting the Divine method of justifi
cation, say " Let us continue in sin, that grace may abound?"
— or, " Let us sin because we are not under the law, but
under grace ? " Nothing can be more absurd.
Such is the apostle's popular illustration of the incompati
bility of a state of justification with a state of continuance
in sin. He takes up the second part of his more profound
illustration of this principle at the beginning of the 7th chap
ter, and prosecutes it to the 4th verse of the 8th chapter.
What the apostle says, in the paragraph which we have
been illustrating, is well calculated to destroy the delusive
confidence of those who please themselves with the thought,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 117
that they are in a state of favour with God, while they live in
the love and practice of sin in some of its forms. Such cha
racters are, I am afraid, far from being rare among professors
of what is termed evangelical Christianity. They appeared
early, so early as the apostle's times ; and they are not yet
extinct. Such persons are in extreme danger ; and their hazard
is the greater that, unaware of it, they are saying to them
selves, " Peace and safety." Hell has no torments more in
tense than those reserved for the abusers of the Gospel — the
presumptuous claimants of the privileges of a state into which
they prove that they have never passed, by being destitute of
the character which it uniformly produces ; and their dam
nation will be as obviously just as intolerably severe. Most
anxiously would I chase such men from their refuges of lies,
not to drive them to despair, but to shut them up to the faith
of the Gospel, and to " good hope through grace." If any
man is conscious that he is living in sin, let him rest assured
that, in this single fact, he has stronger evidence that he is un
believing, and of course unjustified, than he possibly can have
in any other way, that he has believed and is in a state of
justification. But why will he not now believe ? Why will
he not receive " the gift of righteousness" — of justification,
brought near, in the word of the truth of the Gospel, to him
" far from righteousness ?" Be it known to you, even to you
despisers or abusers of the Gospel, who may have turned the
grace of God into lasciviousness, and acted out the principle,
" Let us continue in sin that grace may abound," — be it
known, that to you, even to you believing, all the blessings
of a justified state — among the rest, freedom from the pre
dominance of sin in any form — are ready to be communicated.
Obey now, from the heart, the form of doctrine delivered to
you; and though formerly the servants of sin, you shall be
made free by that justification which is " not to him that
worketh, but to him who believeth on Him that justifies the
ungodly." How completely does the Divine method of justification
secure holiness ! how powerfully does it oblige all under its influ-

118 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ence to cultivate holiness ! Without it, there can be no such
thing as holiness in the heart of fallen man. He who is inte
rested in it is, as a matter of course, renewed in the whole man
— created in Christ Jesus to good works. The sovereign grace
of God, and the infinite atonement of Jesus Christ, are the
only solid foundation, not only of human hope and happiness,
but of human holiness. " Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid — Jesus Christ."1 Receive the truth
as it is in Jesus, and ye shall be justified — sanctified — saved.
They who hope for heaven without holiness, or for holiness
without justification, or for justification without faith, must
each of them be equally disappointed. This is the order in
which heaven's blessings are bestowed : heaven on the holy,
holiness on the justified, justification on the believer. All
the blessings of the Christian salvation are free gifts, but they
can be obtained only according to this due order.
The faith of the Gospel is the portal of the Christian sal
vation. The gate is wide open ; and the guilty children of
men are invited to enter, and participate in all the blessings of
the " everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure." 2
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he
that hath no money ; come, yea come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price. Wherefore do you spend
money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that
which satisfieth not ? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye
that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your soul shall
live ; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, even
the sure mercies of David."3
If men, after all, will continue in unbelief and sin — will
not come to Christ that they may have life, their destruction
is absolutely certain ; for the wages of sin is death ; and, in
their case, these wages will be fully earned, for they have
heard that eternal life is the gift of God through Jesus Christ
our Lord, and they have scornfully put away from them
1 1 Cor. iii. 11. 2 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 3 Isa. Iv. ]-3.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 119
the highest blessing God has to bestow — a holy, happy
eternity, equally the purchase of His Son's blood and the
free gift of His own sovereign mercy. " Without holiness
no man shall see the Lord." L But the most unholy need not
despair of being admitted into heaven ; for, as there is pardon
for the guiltiest, there is sanctification for the most depraved.
If the sinner who hears the Gospel is shut out from the mar
riage feast for want of a wedding garment, it will be because
he would not, in the faith of the truth, put it on. The sinner
under the Gospel can find his way to perdition only by trampling
under foot the atoning, justifying blood of the Son of God,
and doing despite to the transforming, sanctifying influence of
the Spirit of God. Miserable maniac, " it is hard for thee to
kick against the pricks." Remember, if you will not have the
gift, you must have the wages. Oh, is there any comparison ?
On the one hand, hard work, as you well know this service of
sin to be — harder wages, as ere long you shall know ; on the
other, the gift of God, grace on grace, all heavenly and
spiritual blessings, to be gratefully received and improved.
How can men halt between two opinions here !
(3.) More Particular Illustration of the Argument.2
The illustration of the principle, " Sin shall not have domi
nion over you" i.e., those who are the subjects of the Divine
method of justification, " for ye are not under the law, but
under grace," commences with the 1st verse of the seventh
chapter, and ends with the 4th verse of the eighth. The
apostle takes up the two statements in their order. " Sin
shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the
law ;" and " sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye
are under grace." The first of these is illustrated from the
1st to the 24th verse of the seventh chapter; the second,
from the 25th verse of that chapter to the 4th verse of the
eighth. 1 Heb. xii. 14. ' Chap vii. 1-viii. 4.

120 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
The first four verses of the seventh chapter are occupied with
a statement and illustration of the fact, that believers are de
livered from law in consequence of their union with Christ, m
order to their becoming holy. The purport of the next para
graph, from verse 5 to verse 13, seems to be, to show that such
a^ deliverance from law was necessary for this purpose, by a re
ference to the past experience of the believing Romans, and
especially to his own, while unregenei'ate ; and the design of
the succeeding paragraph appears to be to establish the same
truth, by a reference to his experience as a regenerate man :
the object of the first being to show that law cannot make a bad
man good, but, though from no fault in it, that it exasperates,
extends, and perpetuates the power of sin over him ; and of
the second, to show that law cannot make a good man better,
but that it leaves him hopelessly to struggle with remaining
depravity. From the 25th verse of the seventh chapter to
the 4th verse of the eighth, the apostle illustrates the state
ment, " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are
under grace," by showing that grace, through the incarnation
and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God's Son, effectuates that which
law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh — de
stroying the power of sin over men, and leading them to
fulfil the righteousness of the law, by walking not after the
flesh, but after the spirit ; thus making it clear that the Divine
method of justification by faith does not make void, but, on
the contrary, establishes the law.
This general outline of the apostle's course of thought, in
this portion of his illustration of the bearing of the Divine
method of justification on the moral, spiritual transformation
of man — what we usually call sanctification, may be of some
use in guiding us into just views both of the meaning of par
ticular expressions, and of the design and bearing of particular
statements and arguments, which might otherwise seem ob
scure or even unintelligible.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 121
a. " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under
the law."1
1. The Divine Method of Justification delivers from Law."
The apostle begins with laying down a general principle,
which, he says, must be familiar to all acquainted with law, as
those to whom he was writing were : (" I speak to them who
know the law, or rather, who know law — I speak to civilised,
not barbarous men), that the law, or law, hath dominion over
a man as long as he liveth." 3 The principle seems to be this,
which holds of law generally — of the Jewish law, of the Roman
law, of all law : Law binds a man as long as he lives, no
longer. There is no question here about the repealing of a
law. The law is supposed to remain in force ; and the state
ment is substantially, Death frees a man from the obligation
of a law to which he is rightfully subject ; nothing else can.
Law binds the living, not the dead. The application of this
principle comes by and by. Law, as the principle of justi
fication, has dominion over a man, till, by union to Christ,
the propitiatory victim for sin, he become as a dead man in
reference to the law.
In the 2d and 3d verses, the apostle gives an instance in
which death dissolves legal obligation. " The woman which
hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as
he liveth ; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the
law of her husband : so then if, while her husband liveth, she
be married to another man, she shall be called" (reckoned to
be, for she is) " an adulteress ; but if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law ; so that -she is no adulteress though she
be married to another man." The woman referred to becomes
dead to the law of her husband, not by her own, but by his
death — is as completely removed from under its power as if she
herself had died. She is " loosed from the law of her husband,"
— that law has no more dominion over her, as to it she is as it
were dead. The general law of a husband remains unrepealed
1 Chap. vii. 1-24. 5 Chap. vii. 1-4. s Chap. vii. 1.

122 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
— it has lost none of its power over its proper subjects, but it
has no dominion over her : she is out of its limits.
The bearing of the general principle announced in ver. 1,
and of the example given in ver. 2, 3, on the present subject
— the believer's freedom from law as the principle of justifi
cation and sanctification, is stated in ver. 4. " Wherefore,"
or, thus then, " my brethren, ye also are become dead to
the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to
another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that ye
should bring forth fruit unto God." ' You are, according to
the principles of the Divine method of justification, as com
pletely delivered from law, as a dead man is from the law he
was subject to when alive, or as the woman whose husband is
dead is from the law which bound her to her husband. It is
not by law that you are to be justified, sanctified, or saved.'
This freedom from law believers obtain, not by their own
death, but by, or " through, the body of Christ." " The body
of Christ" may either signify his literal body — the body born
of the Virgin, in which He " bore our sins on the tree -,"1 or it
may mean the mystical body of Christ — " the Church, which
is His body"2 — all true believers, viewed as represented by
Him. In the first case, the meaning is, ' Our freedom from
the law is the result of what Christ did and suffered in our
room.' It is in consequence of His having been made sin for
us, that we are made the righteousness of God in Him. It is
in consequence of His having become a curse in our room, that
we are delivered from the curse of the law. Our salvation is
secured by His having brought in an everlasting righteousness.
In the second sense, the meaning is, ' In consequence of our
being Christ's body, we are freed from the law.' We are con
sidered as if we had done what He did, and obtained what He
obtained. In Him, we obeyed, suffered, and died. " He bore
our sins." " He was wounded for our transgressions, He was
bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was
on Him ; and by His stripes we are healed." " He died for
1 1 Pet. ii. 24. ' Eph. i. 23.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 123
us." 1 The meaning is substantially the same, though I ap
prehend the first mode of interpretation is the preferable one.
" The body of Christ" seems here quite equivalent to the phrase
in the Epistle to the Colossians, " reconciled in the body of
His flesh through death." 2 We are " sanctified by the offering
of this body of Christ once for all." 3 He " abolished in His
flesh the enmity, the law of commandments." He " nailed
the handwriting that was against us to the cross." 4 The death
of Christ, in which we are one with Him, was a death which
answered all the law's demands. It killed Him, and killed
us in Him (' ye are put to death' is the literal rendering of the
phrase) ; 6 so that if we are in Him, the law has, it can have,
no demands on us as a method of justification.
This freedom from the law by union to Christ in His death,
was in order to our union with Christ in His new life, pro
cured by His death as a living, life-giving covenant head, that
we might be brought into a relation to Him similar to that in
which we previously stood to the law. They who are under law
look, though they look in vain, for justification and sanctification
by its means. They hope to enter into life by keeping the com
mandments, expecting both a title to, and a fitness for, final
happiness from their personal obedience. The law is their
hope and dependence. Now, to be Christ's — married to
Christ, is to have our happiness identified with His ; to place
our dependence for all we need on Him ; to expect to be jus
tified by His righteousness, 'sanctified by His Spirit, saved
in, by, Him " with an everlasting salvation."
It is obvious, then, that we must be completely freed from
the law in order to our being thus married to Christ. If we
are under the law, we are condemned ; if we are in Christ, we
are justified. We cannot be both. If we are under the law,
we are seeking for salvation by our own doings ; if we are in
Christ, we are saying, " Surely in the Lord have we righteous
ness and strength." We cannot be doing both. We must be
1 Isa. liii. 5 ; Rom. v. 8. 2 Col. i. 22. s Heb. x. 10.
4 Eph. ii. 15 ; Col. ii. 14. 6 i6»ui*Ta6vrf.

124 DOCTRINAL. D^RT "•
dead to — free from the law, in order to our being united to
Christ. The freedom from the law here affirmed of believers,
and their union with Christ in death and life, mentioned in the
former paragraph, are thus most intimately connected. It is
our union to Him as dying the victim for sin, that gives us
freedom from the law ; it is our union to Him as raised from
the dead by " the glory" — the expressed approbation, of His
Father, that brings us into a state of grace.
The grand design and the certain result of this freedom
from the law, in consequence of dying to it, dying by it, in
Christ Jesus, and this marriage relation to Jesus Christ, are,
that believers may and do bring forth fruit to God. " The
bringing forth fruit," describes the practical results of that
which is represented as the tree or plant. The Spirit is re
presented as producing fruits in holy dispositions and conduct.
The peculiar relation between believers and Christ, is here
represented as intended to lead to practical results of a sancti
fying kind. The wild olive grafted into the good olive tree
partakes of its root and fatness, and produces corresponding
fruits. The believer married to Christ brines forth fruit to
God — is formed to a character, and distinguished by a con
duct, which God approves.
To " bring forth fruit to God," is the same thing as to " live
to God." The design and the certain effect of the believer's
freedom from law, secured by the Divine method of justifica
tion, is not that they may live in sin, but that they may live
to God. 2. This Deliverance from Law is necessary in order to
Sanctification.1
(1.) Law cannot make a Bad Man Good.2
The apostle proceeds to show that this deliverance from law
is necessary, for this purpose : that it not only does not en
courage sin, but is essential to holiness ; for, in the case of
fallen man, a state of subjection to law, as the principle of justi-
1 Chap. vii. 5-24. 2 Chap. vii. 5-13.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 125
fication, is a state of subjection to sin ; and, in order to our
living to God, we must become dead to — free from, the law.
In illustration and proof of this, the apostle appeals to the
experience of the Roman Christians that it was indeed so.
" For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which
were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that
being dead wherein we are held" (or rather, as it is in the
margin, we being dead to that in which we were held), " that
we should serve in newness of the spirit, and not in the old
ness of the letter."1
" We" here plainly refers to believers — we who were in the
flesh, but are so no longer — we who are now " in the spirit."
" The flesh" is equivalent to the state in which all men are
born, and continue till they are born again. It is of similar im
port with " the old man," — a state in which men are chiefly
affected by things that are sensible and present, seen and
temporal. Now, says the apostle, when we were in this state, what
was the effect of the law on us, who were then under it-
did it make us holy ? No ; " the motions of sin which were
by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto
death." " The motions of sin" seem to signify the sinful propensities
of our fallen nature — its tendencies to evil, the bias to error,
the disposition to sin, the forming design, the rising desire, of evil.
These motions of sin are said to be " by the law." That
obviously means more than that we had such motions, when
we were under the law. Some have supposed, that by " the
motions of sin" being " by the law," the apostle means that
these evil propensities were discovered by the law, and refer
to ver. 7 as an illustration. But this is not satisfactory ; for
the law serves this purpose, to those who are delivered from it,
in even a higher degree than it ever does to them while they
are under it. The word which must be supplied to bring out
i Ver. 5, 6.

126 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the sense, seems to be ' excited,' or ' called forth into exercise :'
" The motions of sin," or the sinful propensities, " which were"
excited, or called forth into exercise, " by the law."
The law has no tendency to excite sinful propensities in
innocent, holy creatures. But the apostle is not speaking of
innocent, holy creatures : he is speaking of men " in the
flesh" — of unregenerate, depraved men ; and there can be no
doubt that in them sinful propensities are excited, called out
to exercise, by the law. Instead of subduing sinful affections
in a depraved heart, the law irritates them. The sinner finds
himself curbed and checked by the law, and is filled with dis
pleasure at the law and the Lawgiver. The strictness of the
precepts of the law, and the severity of its sanctions, make
him fret against its Author, and form harsh thoughts of that
inflexible justice and immaculate purity which are essential
elements of the Divine character. Displeasure at the holiness
of the law is direct enmity against God ; and enmity against
God is at once the worst of " the motions of sin," and the
fruitful parent of all others.
These sinful propensities, called forth into exercise by means
of the law, " did work in the members," or rather, put forth
thefr energy by " the members" — i.e., as I have already ex
plained it, ' by the various faculties of our nature :' they exerted
themselves by means of our understanding, imagination, affec
tions, and all the different capacities of thought and feeling
and action of which we are possessed.
And thus exerting themselves, " they brought forth fruit
unto death :" they led to practical consequences — to the ex
ternal manifestation of themselves in a course of action, the
end of which, under the Divine government, could be nothing
but death — destruction. Such was the influence of law on
the apostle and the Roman Christians when they were " in
the flesh." The tendency and effect was anything but
sanctifying. With this state the apostle contrasts their present state — as
delivered from the law, and being in the Spirit : " But now
we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 127
were held ; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not
in the oldness of the letter."
" We" — that is, we believers, who once were in the flesh,
and under law — ' we, now in the spirit, are delivered from
law — i.e., we have been completely delivered from the con
demning sentence of the law, and we are brought into a
state in which our everlasting happiness is not suspended on
our own personal obedience as its meritorious condition.'
This deliverance from the law rises out of our death to it.
The words in our translation represent the law as dead ; but
there is no doubt the reading followed in the marginal render
ing is the preferable one x — " We being dead to that by which
we were held." The reference is to what the apostle, in the
4th verse, calls our death to the law " by the body of Christ."
Our freedom from- the law arises from Christ, as our repre
sentative, having settled our accounts with the law on the
cross— in which settlement of accounts we obtain a personal
interest by believing.
Now, we are thus delivered from the law, in consequence
of this death to the law, not that we may continue in sin, and
live as we list, but that we should do, what we never would have
done under the law, " serve" — i.e., ' serve God, yield obedience
to God' — " in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the
letter." " Newness of spirit" is equivalent to a new spirit,
or in a new and spiritual way ; not in the old, spiritless, literal
way in which men under the law serve. Whatever obedience
the man under the law yields, is the obedience of a slave ; the
obedience of the man delivered from the law is the obedience
of an affectionate son. Disobedience — not obedience of any
kind, is the general character of those in the flesh under the
law ; and the exceptional cases of obedience have the character
of heartless literality. Obedience is the prevailing character
of the man in the spirit, delivered from law ; and his obedi
ence is spiritual obedience — the obedience of the mind and the
heart ; he walks at liberty, keeping God's commandments ; and,
1 diiroQa.v6ints.

128 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" delivered from the hands of his enemies, serves Him without
fear, in righteousness and holiness, all the days of his life." 1
On hearing such a statement, as to the effect of the law on
men in the flesh, and the necessity of being delivered from it,
it might very naturally suggest itself to a depraved man —
' Then the law is more in fault than I am ; I am fully as much
to be pitied as blamed.' Or an opponent to Paul's doctrine
might say, ' Your system cannot be true, for it transfers
the guilt from the sinner to the law.' A most satisfactory
answer, by anticipation, is given to both these objections in
the paragraph from the 7th to the 13th verse. " What shall
we say then ? Is the law sin ? God forbid. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the law : for I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occa
sion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I
was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment
came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which
was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it
slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment
holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made
death unto me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear
sin, working death in me by that which is good ; that sin by
the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
" What shall we say then ? " This is the apostle's ordinary
way of introducing an objection. " Is the law sin?"2 The
phraseology is peculiar. The meaning may be, Is the law
a bad thing ? or, is the law in fault — is it to blame ? It seems
rather to be, Is then the law the cause of sin ? or, as the
apostle expresses it in Gal. ii. 17, " the minister of sin ?" We
find a similar expression in the book of the prophet Micah,3
where " Samaria" is said to be " the transgression," or sin, " of
Jacob," and " Jerusalem" is said to be " the high-places of
' Luke i. 74, 75. 3 Lex index peccati, non genetrix. — Ambros.
* Chap. i. 5.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 129
Judah" — the meaning apparently being, that the idolatries
of the two metropolitan cities were the principal cause of the
idolatry of the two kingdoms. The force of the objection may
be thus stated : ' If sinful propensities be excited by the law,
is not the law the cause of sin ? '
To this question the apostle replies by an indignant nega
tive. " By no means" — ' Let it not be ;' and he goes on to
show, first, how the law cannot be the cause of sin ; and,
secondly, how the law, though not the cause of sin, was yet the
occasion of calling forth into active operation " the movements
of sins" — the depraved propensities of our nature.
He does the first in the conclusion of the 7th verse, and the
second in the eighth verse. " Nay" — i.e., ' So far from law
being sin' — " I had not known sin, but by the law : for I had
not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not
covet." The apostle here illustrates his principles from his
own experience. Many learned interpreters strangely sup
pose that the apostle here, and in the consequent context,
down to the end of the chapter, personates some other indi
vidual, or rather class of individuals ; some supposing that he
speaks in the name of the Jewish people, and gives an account
of their moral state, first before the law, and then after the
law was given, in order to show that the Gospel was necessary
in order to make men holy ; others, that he personates an in
dividual, first ignorant of the law, and then instructed in the
law, to serve the same purpose. But there is not the slightest
hint, in the whole discussion, that the apostle is not speaking
in his own person ; though, no doubt, much that he says is
substantially applicable to other men similarly placed. There
is no reason to doubt that the apostle's object is to show, from
his own experience, both before and after conversion, that a
state of subjection to law is, in the case of a being like fallen
man, whether in his wholly lapsed or partially restored state,
inconsistent with true holiness.
It may be asked, why Paul here turns suddenly from the
common experience of himself and the Roman Christians to
his own individual experience — why the we, of the 5th and 6th

130 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
verses becomes here I, and with one exception, in ver. 14,
continues so to the end of the chapter ? The true account of
the matter seems to be this. He is about to make statements
of what passes within — of the working of the law on the human
heart. " He is about to depict the work of the law, by an
example which will set it forth in vivid colours, in detail, in
connection with sin in a man. What example, then, so ap
posite as his own?"1 In these discussions the apostle might
have said, " Verily we speak what we do know, and testify
what we have seen."
" The law is not sin ; on the contrary, I had not known sin
but by the law." Interpreters have found it difficult to fix
the precise meaning of the expression, ' to know sin.' Some
suppose that it signifies to know what is sin. ' I had not
known accurately what is and what is not sin, but for the law,
for what is sin but "the transgression of the law?"' Men
ignorant of the law mistake as to what is duty and what is
sin — putting evil for good, and good for evil. Others suppose
that it signifies to know what sin is. ' I had not known how
inconceivably bad a thing sin is, but for the law showing me,
in its precepts, how opposite sin is to the Divine character and
will, and, in its tremendous sanction, how malignant a thing
that must be against which the God of love threatens such
fearful evils.' Others still suppose that it signifies to be per
sonally convinced of sin — to know that I myself am a sinner ;
and to know what, as a sinner, I am and deserve. It is the
light of the law brought into the conscience that does all this.
The man ignorant of the law has no just conceptions of his
own character and condition as a sinner — he is scarcely aware
that he is a sinner at all.
I do not see the necessity of confining it to any one of these
different meanings, or rather phases of the same meaning.
To know sin is, I apprehend, just equivalent to knowing the
truth about sin — and that comprehends all ; and it is plainly
true, that this knowledge of sin, in all its extent, is by the law
1 Alford.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 131
— cannot be but by the law ; and it is as plainly true, that if
the law be calculated thus to give the knowledge of sin, it
cannot be the cause of that, the true character of which, as
most criminal, loathsome, and destructive, it so clearly un
folds, and the commission of which it so strongly forbids and
so awfully denounces.
The apostle illustrates the general principle, that " by the
law is the knowledge of sin," or that he would not have
known sin but by the law — by a particular example drawn
from his own experience — " for I had not known lust, except
the law had said thou shall not covet."
A good deal of obscurity has been cast over this passage,
by a want of uniformity in rendering on the part of our trans
lators. The same word is rendered " lust," in the 7th verse,
and " concupiscence" in the 8th ; and the cognate verb is here
rendered " covet." The words should have been uniformly
rendered. The meaning is inordinate forbidden desire — " I
had not known lust except the law had said thou shalt not
lust ; but sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought
in me all manner of lust."
" To know lust," is a phrase which must be explained in
conformity to the general phrase it is intended to illustrate —
" to know sin." ' I had not known, perhaps, that unrestrained
desire was a sin at all (the Jewish Rabbins taught that it was
not) ; most assuredly I had not known it to be the great sin
it is, and I had not known that I was the guilty person I know
myself to be in consequence of indulging it, had it not been
that the law in the tenth commandment of the decalogue had
explicitly forbidden inordinate desire, in the precept " Thou
shalt not covet " or lust.'
The apostle seems here to refer to the manner in which the
true knowledge of sin came into his mind and heart by means
of the law. Saul of Tarsus, the pupil of Gamaliel, was, —
" after the righteousness of the law" — according to the manner
in which the Jewish teachers judged, "blameless." He
looked at the law " in the oldness of the letter." The law to
him was an outside thing. When viewed in that light, he

132 DOCTRINAL. [p ART II.
was a strict doer of the law. He had no God but Jehovah ;
he abominated idolatry; he had never profaned the sacred
name nor desecrated the sacred day. He was an exemplary
relative— he had never committed murder, or adultery, or
theft, or perjury — none of these first nine commandments,
thus understood, touched him, or brought home the charge of
guilt to him : but when his eyes were opened to the meaning
of the tenth commandment, ' Thou shalt not desire that which
is forbidden,' and he saw what a new light it shed over the
whole law as a spiritual thing, then he knew that lust was sin,
and that he was a sinner and a great one.
This commandment, though it plainly could not be the cause
of sin, was, in the case of the apostle, the occasion of sin — " the
motions of sins were by this law." When convinced of the sin
fulness of inordinate desire in all its forms, did he immediately
and for ever abandon it ? Alas ! for this purpose, " the law was
weak through the flesh." On the contrary, " Sin, taking occa
sion by the commandment, wrought in me," says he, " all
manner of concupiscence" — i.e., forbidden, inordinate desire.
" Sin" is here generally understood as equivalent, not to
guilt, but depravity— man's bias to evil personified. This
does not originate in the law, but it takes occasion from the
law, to manifest and exert itself in a way in which, other
wise, it might not have done. In the case of Paul, it took
occasion, by the commandment — this commandment, ' Thou
shalt not desire that which is forbidden' — to excite, in a more
than ordinary degree, desire after what was forbidden. Paul
was at this time an unjustified and an unregenerate man — a
man " under the law," " in the flesh." By the meaning of
the tenth commandment opening on his mind and conscience,
he was made to see the criminality of inordinate desires,
the first tendencies of the heart to evil. Now, what was the
consequence ? Did he cease to desire what was forbidden ?
On the contrary, these desires which, like hidden vipers, had,
unopposed, scarcely been noticed by him, now swarmed in
every corner of his heart, hissing with indignation at the law
which doomed them to death. The injunction seemed a hard

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 133
saying not to be borne ; and the whole inner man rose in
rebellion against it. It is a striking figure of a late German
interpreter — " as a rapidly flowing river rolls calmly on, so
long as no obstruction checks it, but foams and roars when
any hindrance stops it : just as calmly does the sinful element
in human nature find its course through the man, so long as
nothing comes to stem it ; but when the Divine command
ment rises as a dyke of adamant across its progress, then the
man feels the force of an element, of the dominion of which
he had no adequate conception." A chemical compound liquid
appears perfectly pellucid, without colour or smell, till a par
ticular foreign substance is added to it, when in a moment it
begins to effervesce violently, becomes opaque, exhibits a very
decided colour, and sends forth the most pestiferous fumes.
I am much inclined to interpret " sin" here, as generally
in the epistle, of a state of guilt and condemnation and spirit
ual helplessness. In the case of a man under the influence of
this state — especially consciously under its influence — the
effect described by the apostle in his own case is exactly what
must take place on his obtaining a clear view of the requisi
tions and sanctions of the law, while ignorant and unbelieving
respecting the Divine method of justification.
The concluding clause of the 8th verse, and the 9th, 10th,
and 11th verses, contain a further illustration of the strange
facts which the apostle had just stated. " For without the
law sin was dead ; for" 1 (rather ' but' or ' and') " I was alive
without the law once;2 but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking
occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
1 h.
2 These words have been supposed to mean — " The Jewish nation,
during the period of their history previously to the giving of the law,
thought themselves entitled to life in consequence of the covenant with
Abraham — not being aware of any law punishing sin with death." — Dr
David Ritchie, after Dr John Taylor. Certainly, on the principle of
interpretation here assumed, " anything may be made to mean anything."

134 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Here, as I apprehend, " sin" is still the condemned helpless
state of the sinner personified. This state is said to be " dead
without law" — i.e., to have been uninfluential while the person
was without law, whatever that may mean. This statement
is plainly not to be understood absolutely but comparatively.
Both the phrase "without the law," or 'without law,' and
the term " dead," must be understood with limitations, but
these limitations are easily defined. No human, no created
being, whether innocent or guilty, is or can be without — apart
from, law. The creature must be subject to the will of the
Creator. It is law which has made him a sinner, in the sense
of a condemned person ; for " where there is no law there can
be no transgression : for sin is the transgression of the law." 1
" The strength of sin is the law ;"2 and the law which con
demns still commands. " Without law" — here means plainly
without such a knowledge of the law, in its requisitions and
sanctions, as carries to the conscience a sense of the meaning
and authority of the law, and, of consequence, a conviction of
guilt and danger. When the sinner is thus " without law,"
and in the degree in which he is so, " sin is dead." A con
demned state cannot be altogether an inert or dead state.
No ; " the word of God," the curse of His law, which creates
this state, is a "quick and powerful" thing.3 It binds the
sinner in chains to the judgment of the great day. It shuts
him out from Divine sanctifying influence, and gives him over
to the influences of the evil spirit, of his own depraved nature,
and of the course of this present evil world.
But, while working powerfully, the condemned state works
silently, where the law is unknown, or only superficially known.
There is little of felt struggling against the precepts of the law,
for they are but imperfectly known, and their spirituality not
at all apprehended ; and there is little feeling of remorse or
alarm, for the true nature and desert of sin are not at all
understood. " When a strong man armed keepeth his palace
his goods are in peace."4 The condemned state, while the law
1 1 John iii. 4. 2 1 Cor. xv. 56. 3 Heb. iv. 12. •• Luke xi. 21.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 135 ,
is kept in abeyance, neither makes the man so determinedly
and sensibly depraved, nor so deeply miserable, as he becomes
when the law " comes to him," and he knows what is sin,
and what sin is — knows that he is a sinner, and feels that he
is utterly indisposed to obey the law's precept, utterly incapable
of enduring the law's penalty, and as unable to escape beyond
the obligation of its precepts, and the reach of its adjudged
punishments. Apart from law, the guilty state of man is
comparatively inert or dead, as to the production of sinful
propensity or painful feeling.
In this state, says the apostle, I once was : " I was alive
without the law once," and then sin was dead. There never
was a time when the apostle was without law — without the
law. He very early obtained an extensive and accurate
knowledge of the letter of the form of law under which he
was placed — the Mosaic. But that was quite consistent with
being " without the law," in the sense of not understanding its
spirituality and true extent, and feeling the power, both of its
precepts and of its threatenings, in the conscience. This was
Paul's state down to the day when he went to Damascus.
Now, when he was thus without law, " sin was dead."
Not that his state of condemnation did not exert a depraving
influence over him, and an influence utterly inconsistent with
true rational happiness ; but its influence was in a great degree
unfelt. He had no adequate idea of what sin is ; he had no
idea that much was sin that is sin. He was not aware that
he was a chief sinner — scarcely aware that he was a sinner at
all. He had no risings of heart against the strictness and
spmtuality of the law, for he was ignorant of them. He was
not wrung with remorse, nor terrified with the prospect of
justly merited, certainly coming, destruction. As a late Ger
man expositor expresses it — " He had no consciousness of sin
as something alien from — opposed to his true nature. He was
so impregnated with sin that he did not regard it, a foreign
element, dwelling in him." The abominations of the Hotten
tot's kraal and person have no existence to him. He is not
aware of them.

136 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
And while sin was thus dead, he was alive. Some would
interpret these words, " I was alive without the law once" —
' I once lived without law;' but there is no sense in which
that was true, for there never was a time when Paul was not
under the law ; and we have no reason to think there ever
was a time when he acted a lawless part. On the contrary,
at the very time here referred to, touching " the righteousness
of the law" — i.e., external obedience to the law of Moses, " he
was blameless." x Paul's life here is contrasted both with sin's
death, and with his oivn death when sin revived. When sin
was dead, he was alive ; when sin revived— became alive, he died.
It is obvious, then, that the word " alive" must be under
stood, not absolutely, but in consistency with the connection
in which it occurs. It most certainly does not mean " spirit
ually alive ;" for, at the period referred to, he was, in this
sense, as it were, twice dead. It means, ' I was " alive" — in
a good, comfortable, desirable state, in my own estimation, to
my own feeling.' In the period referred to, Paul enjoyed
much self-complacency ; he had no doubt of the goodness of
his state before God, or of the excellence of his dispositions
and character. He rejoiced in false hopes of eternal life ;
and he would have started with astonishment, as well as in
dignation, had any one told him that he was " dead in sin" —
condemned already, and in constant hazard of the righteous
judgment of God.
But an important change came over Paul's views of him
self. " The commandment came, sin revived, and he died."
There can be no doubt that " the commandment" here signifies
the tenth commandment of the decalogue : " Thou shalt not
covet" — thou shalt not desire that which is forbidden. That
commandment " came." The expression is very picturesque.
The commandment had always been there, and Paul was
doubtless as familiar with its words as with those of any other
of the commandments. But, at a time distinctly marked in
his recollections, and which he should never be able to forget
1 Philip, iii. 6.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 137
throughout eternity, that dead, lifeless form of words, without
him, assumed life and power, and entered into his mind and
heart. He was made to understand it, not merely as forbid
ding the wish to obtain unlawfully the wife or the property
of his neighbour — of neither of which wishes had he likely
ever been conscious, but as giving a spiritual character to the
whole law, and making it, what he had never thought of it as
being, " a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." 1
It had the activity and power of a thunder-bolt. It carried
home the conviction, ' Thou art a sinner, and a great one,
righteously condemned of God.' " Cursed art thou, for thou
hast not continued in this thing — in anything, written in the
book of the law to do it."
The consequence of this entrance of this commandment,
quick and powerful, was, " Sin revived, and I," says Paul,
" died." " Sin revived." It should have been otherwise :
overawed by the holiness and majesty of the law, the deprav
ing influence of sin should have been extinguished. But it
was not so, and, according to the constitution of fallen human
nature under the Divine government it could not be so. The
sinful, guilty, condemned state of man, displayed its true in
fluence — its power to deprave, its power to make miserable.
Paul, the sinner, finding himself condemned for what he had
been accustomed to think scarcely 'matters of moral import,
feeling on his inmost thoughts and desires a bridle, which he
had been unconscious of, and was not at all disposed to submit
to, became sensible of a measure of enmity against God and
His law, of which he had never previously been aware.
And, while " sin" thus " revived," Paul " died." He died
in a sense corresponding to that in which he had lived when
he was " once without the law." He became a dead man, in
his own estimation — a condemned criminal ; and he became
a miserable man in his inmost consciousness. Severe as the
law was, he could not, eagerly as he might wish it, think it
unjust. Remorse took the place of self-complacency, and a
1 Hob. iv. 12.

138 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
fearful looking for of judgment, of hope of a place in the king
dom of God. The law and his own heart, which formerly had
had no quarrel, but had, in his estimation, been always on the
best terms, seemed now utterly irreconcilable ; and nothing
seemed to remain for him but irreversible condemnation, hope
less depravity, everlasting destruction. This is what the law,
in the form of the tenth commandment, did to the apostle — this
is all it could do for him ; and this is what it will do — this is
all it can do, for any unregenerate man, when it comes to him
in the clear light of its holy, just, spiritual requisitions, and in
the irresistible thunder-bolts and lightning-flashes of its right
eous denunciations.
The law, when it thus came, did not — it could not, make
him either holy or happy. On the contrary, says the apostle,
" The commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to
be unto death."
" The commandment" here, as throughout the whole pas
sage, is the tenth commandment : " Thou shalt not covet" —
thou shalt not desire that which is forbidden. This command
ment is said to have been "ordained to life." " Ordained" is
a supplement, as you will observe from its being printed in
italics. The idea is, that the tendency and design of the com
mandment were " to life" — that is, as is plain from the con
nection, to the making men happy. This commandment, and
indeed every part of the Divine law, was intended and calcu
lated to promote the happiness of an innocent man. His incli
nations would correspond to its requisitions ; and to him the path
of duty would be the path of pleasure. This commandment
especially, which goes to the securing in the mind and heart
conformity with the will of God, would secure, if complied
with, that all duty, however laborious, should be delightful.
But, in consequence of the state into which sin brings men,
the case is completely altered ; " and the commandment, which
was to life," was in fact " found to be unto death." The
apostle's meaning here does not seem at all to be—' That
the law, which, had it been fulfilled, would have sentenced
man to life, now, in consequence of being violated, sentenced

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 139
him to death' — though that too is a truth, and an important
one ; but that the law, originally fitted to make man happy,
corresponding as it did with the apprehensions and convic
tions of a holy mind, and the dispositions and desires of a holy
heart, was now found, in consequence of its opposition to the
false judgments and depraved moral principles of fallen man,
to be to unregenerate men a source of misery. These words
give us a very impressive view of the misery of man in his
unregenerate state. The best things are the occasion of evil
to him. Prosperity does not produce gratitude but pride.
Adversity irritates rather than humbles. The law which is to
life, is found to be to death. Even " the Gospel of salvation "
is " a savour of death unto death ;" and the foundation of hope
" a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence." How infatuated
are those men — and they are the prodigious majority of man
kind, even in countries where revelation is most generally
known — who live at ease, while all things, even the best things in
heaven and on earth, are working together for their destruction !
The manner in which he had found the law to be unto
death, is thus described by the apostle. " For sin, taking occa
sion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me."
" Sin" retains its meaning. It is the personification of the
state of guilt, condemnation, and helplessness, in which the
sinner is placed. Sin is an abstract term ; and can only by
a figure be represented as doing anything. When sin is said
to do anything, the meaning is, some intelligent agent, in con
sequence of being in the state into which transgression brings
intelligent moral agents, acts, or is acted upon, in a particular
way. The apostle's meaning is, ' In consequence of my being
a guilty, and therefore a depraved being, the law, which should
have guided me, deceived me ; the law, which should have
contributed to my happiness, made me miserable.'
" Sin, taking occasion by the commandment," ' Thou shalt
not covet,' " deceived me." In an innocent man, the only
tendency of the commandment is to guide into truth and holi
ness. It would naturally excite in his mind such thoughts
as these — ' God is a spirit, he must be spiritually worshipped.

140 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
All external service is valuable only so far as it is the expres
sion of the state of the mind and heart. How wise — how good
is God, to guard against what alone can lead to actual trans
gression — to enjoin what gives interest and life to all external
acts of service !' But what is the train of thought it naturally
excites in man, the sinner ? ' I am forbidden to desire what I
cannot but desire. I am condemned for desiring what I
cannot but desire. Can it be so ? Can this be the Divine
law ? And if it be, is it not impracticably rigid, utterly un
reasonable ? To what purpose is it to attempt to keep such
a law? to satisfy such a lawgiver?' These are some of the
false views which a discovery of the purity and extent of the
spiritual law of God occasions in the mind of sinful man.
Thus does sin take occasion by the commandment to deceive
men. But the apostle represents sin as not only having taken
occasion by the commandment to deceive him — to lead him
into fatally mistaken views of the law and the lawgiver — but
also as by this law " having slain him." The general idea is —
made me miserable, very miserable — put me to death. It is
not properly the condemning power which, according to the
Divine law, sin exercises over the sinner that is here referred
to. That sentence is passed whether the sinner be aware of
it or not ; and if he is not removed beyond the sphere of its
operation, it will in due time be fully executed in the eternal
world. What is spoken of here takes place in this world " when
the commandment comes" to the sinner. When an innocent
being, like a holy angel, has the spiritual law of God brought
strongly under his notice, it gives him nothing but delight.
He sees in it the glories of the Divine character, and rejoices
in being subject to a law so like its Author, holy, just, and
good. It excites no remorse or fear, for the law has never
been violated by Mm — no straggling, for his whole heart goes
along with it. But how different is it with the sinner, and
just because he is a sinner ! How different was it with Saul
of Tarsus ! He was slain by the law — slain by the law in con
sequence of his being in a state of " sin"— guilt, condemnation,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 141
helplessness. The law made him miserable. It deprived him
of the enjoyment of his previous self-complacency. It obliged
him to see that h&was a sinner, and a great one — as to his state,
a condemned criminal, instead of an object of Jehovah's favour ;
and — as to his character — instead of a keeper of God's com
mandments, a holy person — a man whose inward dispositions
were most powerfully opposed to the requisitions of the Divine
law, and whose whole inner life had been a course of rebellion
against it. It filled him with remorse, it agitated him with
alarm. It made him feel not only that hell was his doomed
portion, but gave him a foretaste of its miseries in the experi
ence of a state of unquelled rebellion against the Divine will.
This the law did ; nor could it do anything else. It had no
promise of pardon to offer. The very greatest encouragement
it could give to obedience was, It will be better for you to
obey than to disobey ; for every new act of disobedience will
lay you open to increased punishment : more — heavier stripes,
in the one case than in the other. But it could furnish no
influence adequate to contend with the influence of evil spirits,
of his own sinful nature, or of the course of the world. It
could not possibly deliver from the dominion of sin.
In the connective particle, " Wherefore," or ' Thus then,' x
with which the 12th verse commences, the apostle plainly
refers to the whole discussion, from the beginning of the 7th
verse — " Is the law sin?" and concludes from that discussion,
that though the law, in consequence of the influence of sin,
had deceived and killed him, that was in no degree the fault
of the law or the lawgiver. It was entirely the result of that
state into which he had brought himself by sin, and was the
manifestation of the inconceivably malignant and destructive
nature of sin. " Wherefore the law is holy, and the com
mandment holy, just, and good. Was then that which was
good made death to me ? God forbid. But sin, that it might
appear to be sin, working death in me by that which is good ;
that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful." 2
l So-ti— uiu. 2 Ver. 12, 13.

142 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" The law" is just what we commonly call the moral law — the
whole of those requisitions which God makes on His intelligent
creatures, the sum of which is contained in the two precepts,
" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and
soul, and strength, and mind," and " Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself," and the leading branches of which are
to be found in the decalogue ; with those appropriate sanc
tions — the promise of reward, and the threatening of punish
ment, folded up in these pregnant words — "He that doeth
these things shall live by them," and " The soul that sinneth,
it shall die." In the case of Paul, it was that law as unfolded
in the Old Testament Scriptures.
The word " holy" is here used in one of the most com
mon of its secondary senses, as equivalent to faultless or per
fect. It is as if the apostle had said : From what has been
stated, it is quite plain, that in all these deplorable results, no
fault attaches to the law. The law is every way fitted to serve
its own purposes. Its requisitions are not too extensive — its
sanctions are not too severe. It forbids nothing but what is
wrong and mischievous ; it requires nothing but what is right
and salutary. It appoints nothing but what is just. In its
nature, design, and tendency, it is worthy of its all wise, all
holy, all benignant Author.1 If it has become the occasion
of guilt, and depravity, and misery, the fault is neither with
Him nor with it ; and it is no disparagement to it, that it is
incapable of doing what it never was intended to do, and
what, indeed, is incompatible with its nature and design.
What is true of the law in general, is true of the particular
commandment, which, in the case of the apostle, had wrought
all manner of concupiscence, and been the occasion which sin
employed to deceive and slay him. " The commandment is
holy, and just, and good." The commandment, " Thou shalt
not covet," was not to blame, though it wrought in the apostle
all manner of concupiscence. The result proves that the com
mandment was much called for, not that it was in any way
1 See " The equity and benignity of the Divine law."— Plain Discourses.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 143
faulty. Suppose a man a rebel at heart against the govern
ment under which he lives, and strongly disposed and addicted
to practices that certain laws, to which, for some reason, he
has not had his attention particularly directed, decidedly
prohibit under severe penalties, which he has unconsciously
incurred. Let us suppose the administrators of the law,
who may have been too facile — to bring the real state of
the case before the man's mind, to show him that the law
opposes his strongest inclinations — that by breaking it he has
already incurred very serious responsibilities, and that, if he
do not mean to draw down on his head accumulated ven
geance, he must henceforth abstain from what has become, as
it were, a second nature to him ; would not that man's be
coming very unhappy, and a more determined rebel, at least
in heart, than before, be the natural result of such a dis
closure—but supposing the law a wise and good one, would it
be in any degree to blame for this.
The epithets, "just and good," are explicatory of " holy" —
faultless. The commandment is " holy" — faultless, being
both just and good.
"Just," is another word for right and equitable. Had the
commandment been an unjust one, it could not have been holy,
faultless. If laws are unreasonable and unrighteous, he who
imposes them is more in fault than he who violates them.
But the commandment, " Thou shalt not covet" — thou shalt
not desire that which is forbidden, is not an unjust law : it is
only requiring from man obedience suited to his nature as an
intelligent, moral agent. " God is a spirit," and therefore it is
meet that by His rational creatures He be worshipped, not
only in external observances, but in the submission of the
understanding and of the heart. The God who made man
capable of thinking and wishing, has surely a right to regulate
him in the use of these faculties. Indeed, if the command
ments which forbid certain overt acts are just, the command
ment which forbids the desire of what is prohibited, must be
so also ; for, " out of the heart are the issues of life." If the
heart be habitually wrong the life cannot be right.

144 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
But the commandment is not only "just," but "good."
" Good," here means what is fitted to produce happiness.
This is obvious from the term being contrasted in the next
verse with " death," which, from the connection, clearly sig
nifies misery. The commandment, " Thou shalt not covet,"
is obviously fitted, in a high degree, to promote man's happi
ness. Whence the painful struggles between inclination and
conscience — whence the difficulties of performing duty,
whence the misery of a self-condemning mind — but from my
not complying with this commandment ? To the man who
yields obedience to this commandment, none of God's com
mandments can be grievous. His will is in conformity to
God's will, and he has entire satisfaction in doing it. " Wis
dom's ways to him are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths
are peace."
This last assertion of the apostle, that " the commandment
is good"- — -benignant in its tendency — might, appear to some not
very consistent with what he had just stated in reference to
the result of this commandment coming to him. " Sin re
vived — I died." Sin, reinvigorated by the commandment,
" deceived me and slew me by it." This difficulty the apostle
meets and removes in the 13th verse — " Was then that which
is good made death to me ? God forbid. But sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good ; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful." By " that which is good," we are to understand the law, the
excellence of which he has just declared — " The law is holy,
and the commandment holy, both just and good;" and by
being " made death," we are to understand — being the cause of
that miserable state which was occasioned by it, and which he
describes as his dying — his being put to death — slain. The
apostle's meaning is not, ' Is the law, so benignant in its ten
dency when obeyed, the cause of the misery of the sinner,
inasmuch as when disobeyed it denounces adequate punish
ment on him, and secures the infliction of it?' "Death"
here, is the death the apostle died " when the commandment

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 145
came to him." The figurative word death here, does not
denote what is termed legal death, a state of condemnation —
for in that he was like others, — being by nature a child of
wrath ; nor does it mean what is termed spiritual or moral
death, a state of depravity — for in that he was likewise from
his youth upward ; but it means that state of misery produced
by the conviction of righteous condemnation for sin, irresistibly
forced on the mind — sin of which the man was previously un
aware, and of which he does not, cannot, cordially repent — that
remorse, that fear, that sense of unsubdued, apparently irre
pressible, and ever growing opposition of heart to the requisi
tions of the Divine law, resulting from the law being appre
hended by the mind and conscience in its spirituality and
extent, and irrelaxable inflexibility and obligation. The ques
tion is — " Was then that law, so benignant in its design and
tendency, the cause of the extreme misery into which I was
plunged" when "the commandment came to me?"
To this question the apostle answers by a strong negative :
" God forbid" — let it not be ; and then proceeds to show what
was the true cause of this death— this misery. " But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which
is good ; that sin by the commandment might appear exceed
ing sinful." There seems to be something very perplexed in
the construction of this sentence ; and, indeed, as it stands in
our version, I rather think it is impossible to extract an intel
ligible sentiment out of it. The obscurity rises from not
repeating the phrase — " was made to me," or, " has become
death to me"1 — after sin. Insert these words, and all is plain.
" Was then that which was good made death to me ? God
forbid. But sin" was made death to me, " that sin might ap
pear sin, working death in me by that which is good ; that
sin by the commandment might appear exceeding sinful."
Not the law, but the state of sin in which fallen man lies, is the
true cause of that increased activity of sinful propensities, and
of that deep felt, varied wretchedness, produced in an unre-
1 ipiol tykyovs.

146 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
generate man, when the meaning and authority of the Divine
law manifest themselves to his mind and conscience. And
this fact proves, and is by the arrangements of the Divine
moral government intended to prove, how malignant a thing
this state of sin is, how morally detestable, how fearfully de
structive. The particle rendered " that," 1 may signify either ' so that,'
or ' in order that ; ' it may point out either the result or the
design of the fact, that the law, through the influence of sin,
is the occasion of giving permanence and new activity to de
praved principle, and destroying peace, and producing misery.
The meaning may be either — ' It was sin that thus produced
misery, so that sin appears to be what it is — sin. Its true
nature and tendency are manifested by working death by that
which is good, so that sin by the commandment manifests
itself to be exceeding sinful — malignant and detestable above
all conception ;' or, 'This arrangement, that such results do
and must arise from the law coming to the carnally secure,
unregenerate man, is intended by God for the purpose of
manifesting the true character of man's fallen state as guilty
and morally helpless.' The last, which includes the first, is
most probably the apostle's meaning.
The law was never intended as the means of justification
or of sanctification to unregenerate man. It is utterly unfit
for answering these purposes ; but it is fitted, and it is in
tended, in its operation on unregenerate man, to show how
hopelessly depraved and miserable man is and must be, so long
as he continues under the condemning sentence of the Divine
law, shut out by it from the only influence which can trans
form the sinful, miserable being into a holy, happy one. What
must be the malignity of that which not only neutralizes the
salutary influences of the law on a being constituted as man
originally was, but converts the law's condemning sentence,
intended to deter from sin, into the fetter which binds the
sinner in hopeless captivity to depravity, and the law's precepts,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 147
which. were intended to guide in the way of willing, happy
obedience to the Supreme Sovereign, into the means of exas
perating rebellious feeling, and making the miserable rebel
the executioner of the sentence against himself !
Sin does in this way appear in its true colours — " working
death by that which is good" — that which is in itself only good
in its nature and tendency. Sin, by the commandment, does
appear to be, in the apostle's emphatic language, exceedingly, i.e.
in the highest degree,1 sinful, literally " a sinner." 2 The guilty
helpless state of man termed " sin," in opposition to the state
termed " righteousness," or justification, is proved by the law
to be the exhaustless source of depravity and misery. The
law thus, so far from securing that sin shall not have dominion
over unregenerate man, secures that it shall have dominion
over him, and makes no provision for regenerating him. It
proves, indeed, that a man must be delivered from law, con
sidered as a method of obtaining salvation, in order to obtain
either justification or sanctification. Such, as we apprehend,
is the apostle's argumentative illustration drawn from his own
experience, that law cannot make a bad man good.
It is a natural question, At what period of Paul's life did
he experience these workings of mind which he so graphically
describes here? It is impossible to reply to that question
with unhesitating confidence that our answer is the true
one. But it does appear exceedingly probable that they refer
to the inner history of those three memorable days after the
Lord met him in the way, during which "he was without
sight, and did neither eat nor drink." 8 It does not seem at all
likely, when we consider the previous state of his mind— that
of a well-taught, thoroughly principled, pharisaic Jew — that
the entire revolution in his sentiments and feelings, necessary
to his embracing Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord, took
place in a moment. He had not only no idea of his needing
the salvation which Jesus Christ came to procure and bestow,
but he had no distinct idea of what that salvation was. How
1 xaf vvtp^iiii. 2 iftaprakoc. 3 Acts ix. 9.

148 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Jesus Christ, supposing him to be the Messiah, could have met
with the fate He had met, must have appeared to him incom
prehensible. The very fact, by which the object of His mission
was gained, must have seemed to him the clearest of all evi
dence that He never had any such mission. It was not one
mistake that needed to be corrected : the whole frame of a
well-compacted system of opinions, strongly held, and of habits
deeply rooted, had to be destroyed.
We may suppose the state of agitation produced by the
miraculous vision to have in some measure ceased. In his
solitary chamber in Damascus, shut out by his blindness from
external objects, and bodily appetite extinguished by mental
activity, some such train of thought as this may probably
have passed through his mind : — 'Is this delusion ? Was it
a dream ? No. I distinctly saw the Man of Nazareth amid
the radiance of heavenly light. I distinctly heard His voice.
I can as soon doubt of my existence as this. But if I have
indeed seen and heard Him speaking from heaven — What is
He ? What am I ? He who died on the cross is the Son of
God in heaven — and what am I? To this day I have believed
myself a blameless, an accomplished worshipper of the true
God, and an heir of all the blessings of His peculiar people.
How can I reconcile my firmest convictions with what I have
seen and heard ? ' This naturally led to introspection. He
began to examine himself; and we can conceive him going over
the whole decalogue, viewing the requisitions in the letter with
the eye of a Jew, and saying, " All these I have kept from my
youth up:" — I never had any God but Jehovah; I never
bent my knee to an idol ; I never profaned the sacred name,
or desecrated the sacred day ; I have been a dutiful relative ;
I have never been guilty of murder, or adultery, or theft, or
perjury, or any thing approaching them ; I have never desired
the wife or property of my neighbour ; " touching the right
eousness which is in the law I am blameless." But a new
light burst on his mind as to the meaning of the tenth com
mandment — ' Thou shalt not desire what is forbidden.' He
saw that thoughts and dispositions, desires and feelings, were

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 149
within the range of the law's obligation, and the whole law
took a new character. Everything appeared valuable, or
valueless, as it was, or was not, an expression of inward prin
ciple — of a right state of mind and heart towards God. He
now saw himself in a new light. He was most unwillingly
constrained to reckon his former estimate of himself utterly
false— he was brought in " guilty before God." He felt he
was a sinner, and a great one. But his rebellious heart rose
against the law and the Lawgiver, and he and the law had
the fearful battle, here so strikingly described, till the convic
tion he rested in was — ' I am a sinner, deeply guilty, deeply
depraved, thoroughly miserable ;' and till the question came
from the inmost depths of his spirit — " What must I do to be
saved?" Out of this thick darkness broke forth the light.
Then came to him, by divine revelation, the doctrine of the
Gospel, which he says he "first of all received" — " That Christ
had died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." ' A calm
ing heavenly radiance diffused itself over the dark, troubled
ocean of his thoughts. All things seemed made new. He
now saw what was the kind of salvation he needed, and that
the salvation obtained on the cross by the God Man was that
salvation. He felt that it was something not to be wrought
for, but received — the gift of God through Jesus Christ. The
storm was turned into a calm. He believed that the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth from all sin — that He was
the Lamb of God bearing, and bearing away, the sins of the
world — his sins. He understands now how Christ must
suffer, and then enter into glory. "Behold he prayeth!" —
prayeth to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, God in Christ
reconciling the world to himself. He feels the bands of sin
for ever broken, and " sin has not dominion over him, for he is
not under the law, but under grace." Henceforth he " walks
at liberty, keeping God's commandments;" "serving in a
new spirit, and not in oldness of the letter;

. "2

1 1 Cor. xv. 3.
2 " I am much inclined to suppose that the apostle had in his memory,
and that he here vividly portrays, the feelings of his own mind in the

150 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Thus Paul found liberty and holiness, and so must we if
we ever obtain them. '"As in water face answers to face,
so does the heart of man to man." Few have ever, pro
bably, thought out and felt out the struggle as the apostle
did ; but something parallel to this — essentially the same as
this, has been the experience of every one to whom the law
has been, in the highest sense the terms are capable of, " a
schoolmaster, bringing them to Christ." They all know what
"shut up"1 to the faith means. None ever entered into the
shelter of sovereign mercy, always open, till the avenger of
blood was close on him, and every other door of escape shut
against him. It is at once the most voluntary and the most
compulsory thing a man ever does in his life : he enters with
all his heart, yet he is compelled to come in. In our natural
state we are, we cannot but be, under the law ; and that law to
us is a broken law, armed for vengeance — weak to justify, to
sanctify, or to save. While forbidding and denouncing all
sin, it binds us, as with chains of adamant, in the vile sub
jection to which we have voluntarily submitted — chains
which nothing but the grace of God, operating through the
atonement and Spirit of Christ, can unloose. From the law
we have nothing to hope. If we seek justification, it can only
condemn and curse us. If we seek holiness, it can tell us what
we ought to be and do, and what we ought not to be and do :
it can tell us what will be the consequence of obedience and
of disobedience ; but it cannot make us what it requires us to
be ; it cannot enable us to do what it requires us to do; it
cannot change our inclinations; it cannot renew our heart.
Most impressively does the apostle show that the law, even
when apprehended in its meaning and authority by the unre
generate mind, cannot make holy. It terrifies, but it does
not conciliate ; it exasperates the disease it cannot cure. It may
period, by him never to be forgotten, between his being struck to the
ground near the gates of Damascus, and his receiving peace of mind by
faith in his gracious Redeemer."— Pyis-Smith (Pre/, to Stuart's Com
ment, on the Romans. )
1 Gal. iii. 22-24.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 151
to a certain extent produce external homage, but it cannot
secure the obedience of the heart.
The way in which depraved man is to become holy is a
profound mystery to the great body even of the professors of
Christianity. They seem to imagine that for this purpose no
more is necessary than that they should be made distinctly to
apprehend the precepts and sanctions of the Divine law ; and
that the perception of the innate beauty and excellence of its
requisitions, connected with a feeling of the power of the world
to come in the terrors of threatened punishment and the
hope of promised recompense, called forth by the belief of
revelation, are quite enough to check the propensity to sin,
and form the man to the love and practice of every virtue.
All these things are important, nay necessary, in their own
place ; but, as motives to holiness, they can operate effectu
ally only on the mind of the man who has become, in the
apostle's phrase, "dead to the law, and married to Christ."
The great end for which the Scriptures set before our minds
the precepts and the sanctions of the Divine law, is to de
stroy our legal hopes through the law, to make us " dead to
the law," and induce us to flee for refuge " to lay hold upon
the hope set before us"1 in the Gospel. It is " of God
that we are in Christ both righteousness and sanctification ;"3
we cannot be sanctified but in Him and by Him ; and accord
ing to the Divine method of salvation, He must be our justi
fier in order to his being our sanctifier. He cannot be our jus
tifier while we seek for righteousness by the works of the
law ; for He is " the end of the law for righteousness to every
one that believeth." And the faith which connects us with
Jesus Christ as the Lord our righteousness, necessarily im
plies in it an entire renunciation of our own righteousness,
which is of the law. If we seek to be justified by the law,
Christ can be of no effect to us as a quickening, transforming
spirit. On the other hand, if we are justified by the faith of
Christ, the law has no power to condemn, and the demoraliz-
1 Heb. vi. 18. 1 Cor. i. 30.

152 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ing influence of its condemnatory sentence of course ceases to
operate. The obstacles in the way of holiness are removed, a
channel is opened for transforming influence, and the man is
placed in circumstances in which all the motives to holiness
can exert their full force.
The passage we have been considering furnishes important
practical instruction to two classes of men. It teaches those
who are persuaded that without a thorough spiritual transfor
mation they are undone — that without holiness no man can
see the Lord — what course they must follow if they would
secure this most important of all attainments. Let them be
lieve in the Lord Jesus, that, united to Him, they may expe
rience the transforming power of His atonement and Spirit.
Holiness is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This passage also teaches those who profess to be savingly
connected with Christ Jesus, how to test the genuineness of
their profession. It gives them two marks by which to try
themselves. If they are indeed " married to Christ," they are,
in the first place, free from the law ; they are habitually relin
quishing all dependence on anything they have done, or can do —
anything done in them, or by them, as the ground of their hope ;
and, in the second place, they are bringing forth fruit to God,
serving not in the oldness of the letter, but in newness of spirit.
Wherever either of these distinguishing characters is wanting,
the profession of union to Christ is self-delusion or hypocrisy.
It concerns every man to examine himself by these tests,
and tremble, lest he should be found at last among those who,
professing to rely on Christ alone, have still been going about
to establish their own righteousness, not submitting to the
righteousness of God ; or among those who, professing to be
in Him as the true vine, are yet utterly barren of the fruits of
righteousness, which are by Him to the praise and glory of
God. Happy is the man who in his own experience has a
commentary on these words of the apostle : " I through the
law am dead to the law, that I may live to God. I am cruci
fied with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ
lives in me ; and the life I live in the flesh, I live by the

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 153
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for
me."1 This is the great mystery both of Christian justification
and sanctification. He is — he only is, at once the enlightened
divine, and the happy man, to whom, in whom this mystery
of God and of the Father and of Christ is revealed — who
knows and is sure that of God he is in Christ justified,
sanctified, redeemed — complete in Him.
Blessed be God, that what the law could not do, in that it
was weak through the flesh, God has done by sending His Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin. Let
the man to whom the commandment has come in its power and
fearful revelations — who is convinced of his guilt and depravity,
and feels that all his exertions to bring his heart and life into
conformity with the law, whose essential requirement is love,
end only in new discoveries of the inveteracy of his enmity, — let
him open his ear to the testimony of the Gospel, and his heart
to the soothing purifying influence of the great sacrifice, and
the transforming spirit which it reveals. Believe that " God,"
the author of that holy law, " is in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself, not imputing to men their trespasses, seeing
He has made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our room, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." 2 Believe
this, and you cannot but love Him ; and loving Him, you will
love His law, which is but a picture of Himself; you will find
that the constraining influence of the love of God and his
Son, can do what all the precepts and curses of the law could
never have done. It will still the war within; it will give " the
peace of God, that passeth all understanding;" it will make
you " delight in the law of the Lord after the inner man." This
grace of God will teach you to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly. Influenced
by the mercies of God, you will purify yourselves from all
filthiness of the flesh and spirit, and perfect holiness in the
fear of God. Being in Christ Jesus, and freed from con
demnation by the law of the spirit of life in Him, you will
1 Gal. ii. 19, 20. 2 2 Cor. v. 19, 21.

154 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
be free from the law of sin and death ; and the righteousness
of the law will be fulfilled in your walking not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Delivered out of the hands of your
enemies by Him who is the horn of salvation, raised up in the
house of God's servant, David, you will serve God without
fear, in righteousness and holiness, all the days of your life.
Never shall any man gain the victory over the worst of all
enemies — sin, dwelling in him, reigning over him — but by
faith in the atonement, and by the Spirit of Jesus Christ — by
the blood of the Lamb, and the word of His testimony. This
is the Christian doctrine of sanctification, the true grace of God.
Let us stand in it, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
I cannot leave the subject, without urging on all the question,
Have you felt the power of the law to produce alarm, and its
powerlessness to produce solid peace ? There is no state more
dangerous than one of false security. Anything is better than
saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. These are
weighty words of our Christian poet, —
" He has no hope, who never had a fear,
And he who never doubted of his state,
He may perhaps — perhaps he may, too late." '
Happy is he who has felt the power of the Divine word to
wound and to heal, to kill and to make alive ; who has been
constrained to say, in reference to both these modes of opera
tion, " What a word is this !" who has within himself a wit
ness to the truth of the declaration of the faithful witness,
" It is the spirit that quickeneth : the flesh profiteth nothing ;
the words that I speak unto you they are spirit, and they are
life;" and of that of His holy apostle, "The letter killeth, but
the spirit maketh alive." There is deep truth in Ralph
Erskine's paradox : " Law-death ; Gospel-life" — death by the
law, to the law ; life by God, to God : and all by the death and
the life of Christ, who, in that he died, died by, to sin once,
1 Cowper.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 155
and in that he liveth, liveth by, to God for ever. In His
death, we died; and because He lives, we shall live also.

(2.) Law cannot make a good Man better)
Few passages of Scripture have given occasion to more
discussion among interpreters and theologians, than that
which comes now under our consideration. The question,
Whether the apostle speaks here in his own person, and details
his own inner history at the time he wrote this epistle ; or
whether he personates the character, and describes the expe
rience, of a man in a state of unregeneracy ? has often been
agitated, and much ingenuity and learning have been em
ployed in support of both of these hypotheses. In the heat of
controversy respecting this point, most of the disputants, on
both sides, seem to have overlooked altogether, or, at any rate,
to have paid but little attention to, the object of the apostle in
introducing this very remarkable paragraph, — a circumstance
obviously of the greatest importance, and which, if clearly
ascertained, might probably go far towards the satisfactory
resolution of a question, not, perhaps, peculiarly difficult in
itself, but rendered so, in no ordinary degree, by the perplexed
and jarring opinions of contending commentators.
The apostle's object, in the whole of this chapter, seems to
be to show that Law — the system that makes obedience the
proper condition of life, affords no effectual means for delivering
fallen man from the dominion of sin — in other words, for
making him holy ; so that it is absolutely necessary, in order
to his sanctification, that a man should be delivered from law,
as a method of obtaining life, and be brought under grace, by
being interested in " the righteousness of God by faith" — the
Divine method of justification by believing — the system by
which fife is the gift. of God through Jesus Christ.
In that part of the seventh chapter which we have already
analysed, we find the apostle showing from his own past ex-
1 Chap. vii. 14-24.

156 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
perience, " while in the flesh"— i.e., while in an unregenerate
state, that law, even when exercising its fullest influence on
him — when seen by him in the spirituality of its meaning, and
felt by him in the power of its authority— so far from suppress
ing the movements of depraved propensity, proved the occa
sion of exciting them into a state of increased activity and
exasperation ; so that, so far from becoming better and happier,
he became sensibly more depraved and more wretched. This
was the natural result of the union of a partially enlightened
conscience with a thoroughly depraved heart. The general
truth, which is based on this piece of inner history, is, that no
unregenerate man, under the law, though it should exert its
utmost influence, can, through its instrumentality, obtain
dominion over sin. On the contrary, if he continue under
law, he must continue under sin. The deliverance from law
is necessary to the existence of true holiness in a being like
fallen man.
What follows is a statement — still made in the first person,
as of himself, but in the present time — of certain inward
movements, in some respects similar to, in others very decidedly
different from, those described in the preceding context. Had
it been the apostle's object to show still further the powerless-
ness of the law to deliver from sin, by giving the history of a
stage in conviction, previous to conversion, more advanced
than that described above, he would naturally have continued
to use the past time, only intimating that what he was now to
say referred to a period posterior to that of which he had
just delineated the experiences. But, instead of this, he at
once makes a transition from the past to the present, and
continues to speak in that time to the end of the discussion.
Speaking of his experience, in common with the Roman be
lievers, he had said, " We were in the flesh" — i.e., we are so
no longer ; but here, " we know" — not ' we knew,' that the law
is spiritual : ' We know now, what we did not know when in
the flesh.' Speaking of his own personal experience, he had
said, " I was alive," " I died," " I ivas deceived," " I was
slain," by sin, through means of the law : but here it is — " I

SECT.II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 157
am carnal ;" "I do what I allow not ;" "I consent unto the
law that it is good ;" "I find a law, that when I would do
good evil is present with me;" " I delight in the law of God
after the inward man ;" — expressions clearly descriptive of his
thoughts and feelings at the time he was writing. Now, what
could be the apostle's object in making these statements, the
sum of which is — ' I have a supreme approbation and esteem
of, and a cordial delight in, the law of God, which I know to
be spiritual ; but I am far from being perfectly conformed to
that holy law — there are propensities in my nature which
struggle, and too often with success, against the native influ
ence of my habitual state of mind in reference to that law ;
and the state of mental conflict — civil war, thus produced,
occasions me deep uneasiness ? ' I can conceive no other
object he could have in view, but to carry forward his demon
stration that the law could not make a being like fallen man
holy. As it could not initiate holiness in the unregenerate
man, so it cannot promote and perfect holiness in the regene
rate man.
His former illustration is substantially this — ' When I was
an unregenerate man, wholly depraved, I found that the law,
though it could show me what was right and what was wrong,
and command me to avoid what was wrong and do what was
right, and threaten, and condemn, and curse me if I did not
comply with its injunctions, could not eradicate my depraved
inclinations, but rather irritated and exasperated them, so that,
remaining under law, I never cquld have become holy.' His
subsequent illustration is, I apprehend, substantially this —
' And even now that I am a regenerate person — even now
that I am brought under influences which, while under the
law, never could have affected me — influences which make
me love and delight in the spiritual law, and hate whatever
violates it — I still feel that I am but imperfectly renewed ; I
experience the constant influence and the too frequent preva
lence of depraved principles ; and the struggle to which these
opposing principles give rise occasions deep and painful feel
ing. Were I under law, I could anticipate nothing but constant

1 58 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
warfare, frequent defeat, ultimate overthrow. But I know
from whence to look for deliverance — not from law, but from
grace ; and I joyfully thank God, who, through Jesus Christ,
has delivered, will continue to deliver, and will in due time
give complete deliverance.'
Taking this view of the matter, we readily see the place
which the paragraph holds in the apostle's argument, and per
ceive that, as he has proved from his own past experience that
law cannot make a bad man good, he now proves from his
present experience that law cannot make a good man better ;
and the force of the argumentative illustration stands out in
very strong relief when we recollect that, though the regene
rate man is delivered from law and brought under grace, by
his union to Christ, and can never be again brought under the
one, nor removed from under the other ; yet, through his own
unbelief, by losing sight of that truth, by the belief of which
his defiverance has been effected, and in the continued belief
of which he only can enjoy the comfort and advantage of
having been thus delivered, he often does think and feel as if
he were under the law, and not under grace ; and thus, to a
great degree, subjects himself to the moral influence of being
under the law, and deprives himself of the felt moral influence
of his being under grace. This is the great cause of that
carnality — that felt helplessness under sin — that doing what
he does not allow, but hates — that very imperfect conformity
to the law, to the goodness of which he habitually consents, and
in which, in the inner man, he delights, of which the apostle so
bitterly complains. Legality is the great enemy to sanctifica
tion ; and it is the realization, by faith, of the state of freedom
from law and subjection to grace, which can alone sustain
under, and give ultimately complete victory in, these painful
struggles. It must be obvious to every reflecting person, that
this view of the paragraph has at least this recommendation,
that it gives coherence and consistency to the apostle's argu
ment. Whether it be supported by the passage itself, must
be ascertained by a more close examination of its various
parts.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 159
The particle " For," connects the whole paragraph it intro
duces, not with what immediately precedes, but with the
general object of the discussion, stated ver. 4. Men must be
freed from the law that they may become holy. The first proof
of this is introduced by For, ver. 5 : that proof ends in ver. 13.
An additional proof is contained in the rest of the chapter,
and is naturally introduced by For also.1 Its force, as I ap
prehend it, is — ' Another proof that men must be freed from
the law in order to their becoming holy, is, that as law cannot
make a bad man good, it cannot make a good man better.
" We know that the law is spiritual"2 — that is, ' We who
were once in the flesh, know now what we did not know then,
we know that the law is spiritual — that is, not only a director
of conduct, but " a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart," requiring, in reference to God, not only external
worship, but supreme love as the habitual principle of con
duct ; in reference to man, not only just and humane treat
ment, but cordial unselfish good-will.' Now, looking at the
law in that aspect, the apostle says : How imperfectly am I
conformed to this law ! " I am carnal." Had the apostle
been comparing his present with his former self, he would
have said, I am not carnal in the sense in which I once was
so, I am spiritual. If he had compared himself with his
weaker brethren, whom, in the Epistle to the Corinthians, he
calls " carnal,"3 and of whom he says, they " walked as men,"
he would have said, I am not carnal in the sense in which
they are carnal, I am spiritual. But when he speaks of him
self with a reference to the spiritual law of God, he says, " I
am carnal." " Things seen and temporal " have an undue
influence over me. My thoughts, and feelings, and desires,
are far from being in entire conformity with that spiritual and
very broad law. This humble estimate of himself rose out of
the increased moral and spiritual perspicacity and sensibility
which the apostle now possessed. Worldly men have often
1 We have a similar construction in 1 Pet. iv. 1-6. yap, in ver. 6,
hangs by the exhortation in ver. 1, as well as yap in ver. 3.
2 Ver. 14. 3 1 Cor. iii. l, 3.

160 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
expressed their astonishment at the humiliating acknowledge
ments which pious men make in reference to themselves, and
have accounted for them on the supposition, either that they
were not sincere in making them, or that they were conscious
of some great crime which the world knew nothing of, or of
some very depraved inclination which never has had an op
portunity of manifesting itself in act ; while the true account
of the matter is, that the man of the world is, in reference to
spiritual things, blind and insensible, whereas the religious
man has his " senses" in some measure " exercised to discern
spiritual good and evil." Thus the man of the world continues
to maintain a very good opinion of himself — thinks he has a
very good heart, even when his conduct is in many respects
greatly objectionable ; and the religious man, while all but
faultless in the estimation of those who know him best, deeply
feels and readily acknowledges that the testimony of God
respecting the human heart is true of his : " The heart is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." 1
The expression, " sold under sin," seems even a stronger
one than " carnal." It has been compared with the sacred
historian's description of Ahab, the king of Israel — " who
sold himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord." 2
But the phrases are not at all of equivalent meaning. The one
is the calm record of the historian, that the Israelitish king
was so distinguished by habitual, persevering, determined dis
obedience, that he seemed as if he had given up all his facul
ties to be employed in the violation of the Divine law. The
other is the expression of the apostle's deep regret that his
heart and life were not entirely spiritual — in perfect accordance
with the Divine law, and that he felt as if he were the slave
of a tyrant who employed him in work which he abhorred.
His prevailing desire was perfect conformity to the holy, just,
and good law ; yet he felt that much was wanting, much was
wrong. How different is the apostle's account of himself
here — " Sold under sin" — from his account of the unregene-
1 Jer. xvii. 9. 2 1 Kings xxi. 20, 25.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 161
rate in the 6th chapter, " servants of sin, yielding themselves its
servants, and their members as its instruments of unrighteous
ness." The language of complaint and deeply stirred spiritual
feeling must be cautiously, if it is to be fairly, interpreted.
Because Job said, and meant what he said, " Behold I am
vile"1 — we must not conclude that he was a very bad man.
The only fair inference is, that he had clear perceptions and
deep feelings, in reference to the claims of the Divine law and
the imperfect manner in which, in his heart and life, he had
answered them.
But the apostle explains his own meaning in the verse that
follows : " For that which I do I allow not : for what I would,
that I do not ; but what I hate, that do I."2 This seems the
ground on which the apostle complains that he is " Carnal,
sold under sin." " I do that which I do not allow." That
may mean — as the word rendered " allow," properly signifies,
' know' — ' I am sometimes hurried, by the influence of exter
nal things on my natural propensities, into inward and out
ward acts, of whose true nature I am not aware.' This is
true, I believe, of every good man. But the word know is
used in Scripture as equivalent to approve, as in Psalm i. 6,
" The Lord knoweth" — approveth, " the way of the righte
ous ;" Hos. viii. 4, " They made princes, and I knew it
not" — I approved not their conduct. Matt. vii. 23 — " I
never knew you" — I never approved of you ; and this seems
its meaning here — 'I do that which I do not approve of.'
Habitually to do what we do not approve of, is a character
istic of a state of unregeneracy ; but there is not a just man
on earth who does not occasionally, alas ! but too frequently,
do what he cannot, what he does not, habitually approve of.
Whether we are to understand the expression in the one way or
the other, will not long continue a reasonable subject of doubt.
The apostle's second statement is — " I do not that which
I would." The apostle, as he states at ver. 21, would do
good — willed to do good. His prevailing desire was to be
1 Job xl. 4. 2 Ver. 15.
L

162 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and do good — to be entirely conformed to the Divine law.
Such a prevailing will to do good does not exist in the unre
generate mind ; for " the imagination of the thoughts of man's"
unchanged " heart are only evil continually." 1 There is no
such " will," as is here described, in fallen man, till God
" work it in him of His good pleasure." 2 He who habitually
would do good, ordinarily does good. But though this is
the truth, it is not less true, that he who habitually would do
good, may occasionally, may often, not do the good he habitu
ally would — wills to do. The apostle was conscious of ne
glect of duty, of not doing what he ought to have done — what
he habitually willed to do.
Nay, more than this, the apostle says — " I do what I hate."
He hated sin — all sin, he hated it as sin — opposition to the
holy, just, good law of God. The regenerate alone thus hate
sin. Unregenerate men may disapprove of many forms of
sin — they may absolutely loathe certain forms of it, but their
habitually living in sin is the proof that they love sin in many
forms, and that in no case do they hate it as sin. Yet, not
withstanding this hatred of sin, the apostle was conscious that,
under the influence of temptation and remaining depravity,
he occasionally did what he habitually abhorred ; and on this
account he was made to abhor himself. The sum of what is
said in these verses is this — ' I am conscious of being but
imperfectly conformed to the law which is spiritual ; I feel
fettered by remaining sinful propensities. What I habitually
approve, I by no means always do — what I habitually will
and wish to do, I by no means always do ; nay, I but too
frequently do what I habitually hate.' This is the only mean
ing which the undoubted facts, in reference to the constitution
of the human mind, permit us to draw out of the words ; for
a man, who habitually does what he habitually disapproves and
even hates, and habitually does not what he habitually wills,
and wishes, and delights in, would be a psychical monster —
an absolute incongruity and impossibility.
1 Gen. vi. 5. 2 phj], ;; 13

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 163
The prevailing judgments and volitions of the mind, and
desires and dispositions of the heart, mark the character. It
is on this principle that the apostle draws the conclusions con
tained in the 16th and 17th verses : " If then I do what I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." The mean
ing seems to be, ' If in doing wrong, I do what I habitually
will and wish not to do, that — not my doing wrong in itself, but
its being in opposition to my habitual wish and will, though
not to my will and wish, at the moment of transgression — is
a proof that " I consent to the law that it is good ;" that in
the settled convictions of my mind, and the habitual dispositions
of my heart, I regard the law, known to be spiritual, in a way
very different from what I did when I was in the flesh ; I
regard it as in every way good — not only holy and just, but
good — good for man, good for me. The apostle's estimate of
the law was that of the Psalmist, " Thy law is good : there
fore my soul loveth it."
The apostle draws a further conclusion from the fact, that
his non -conformities to the law were exceptions to the pre
vailing convictions of his mind, and dispositions of his heart,
in reference to the law : " Now then, it is no more I that do
it, but sin that dwelleth in me." x It is plain that these words
must not be understood as an attempt to escape from the
responsibilities of these occasional violations of the Divine law,
in opposition to a habitual will and wish to yield obedience,
by transferring them to something that was in him, but not of
him — some distinct spiritual agent, which he terms, " Sin that
dwelt in him." The senselessness and the impiety of such
an attempt are equally out of keeping with the character of
the apostle. He could not talk such blasphemous nonsense.
But how are the words to be understood ? They are, I think,
a strong and enigmatic statement of the conclusion to which
his premises fairly led him, that these occasional exceptional
violations of the Divine law were not the true exponents of his
1 Ver. 17.

164 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
character; that notwithstanding these, he, "in his mind,"
was, as he says in the 26th verse, " a servant of the law of
God." This was his true, his habitual character, though
he still acted occasionally, and but too often, as if he were
" the slave of the law of sin," under the influence of the flesh — -
his fallen nature, but imperfectly destroyed by the influence
of his new state and nature. " Sin dwelling in the apostle,"
is just a name for the measure of ignorance and error
and worldly depraved propensity, which, notwithstanding the
change that had come over him, still remained. When Paul,
speaking of his apostolic labours, says, " Not I, but the grace
of God that was with me," 1 he does not mean to say he did not
perform these labours, but that he performed them under the
influence of the grace of God. When he says, " I live ; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me;"2 he means merely, that to
Christ he was indebted for the origin and maintenance of his
new and better life. And here he means not to deny that he
did these things, but to assert that he did them under an in
fluence which was no longer the dominant one in his mind.
This is the only consistent, intelligible meaning which the words
can bear. " Sin dwelling in a man'' — depravity, is an abstract
quality. It cannot act. It is the man to whom the quality
belongs that acts. Had Paul said, it is not I, but Satan —
the Devil, or one of his subordinate agents, who does these
things, that would have been an attempt to exculpate himself ;
but no such meaning can attach to the words he employs.
Suppose a good man, say Cranmer, from the terror of a violent
death, should make a temporary denial of the faith, would not
every one distinctly understand what I meant when I said,
speaking of such a mournful event, ' It was not Thomas
Cranmer, but his fear, that dictated that recantation?'
The facts stated by the apostle, painful as they were, fully
warranted this conclusion. The renewed character was his
true character : he could only be considered as acting a con
sistent part when he did what was good, for that was what he
1 1 Cor. xv. io. 2 Gal i; 20

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 1 65
consented to — what he willed and wished, what he delighted
in ; of course, what he habitually did. His deviations from
that course — his not doing what he would — his doing what
he would not, what he hated — were exceptions, to him very
painful ones, from the general rule, and to be accounted for, but
by no means excused, by the remaining depravity of his nature.
The language deserves particular attention. Sin once
" reigned over" the apostle ; now it only " dwells in" him.
That by " sin dwelling in" the apostle, we are not to under
stand any separate agent to whom the blame of occasional
deviations from duty was to be imputed, but himself, so far
as he was still under the influence of natural depravity, is
very plain from the words which follow : " For I know that
in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing : for to will is
present with me ; but how to perform that which is good I
find not." T You will notice the difference between the / in
the 17th verse, and the me in the 18th. It is not the /, in the
17th verse, that commits sin ; and in the me, of the 18th, there
is nothing but sin.. How is this ? The me, in the 18th verse,
is equivalent to " my flesh" — my nature as unrenewed ; the I,
in the 17th verse, to ' my spirit' — my nature as renewed. " The
spirit," in this sense, and " the flesh," are often personified by
the apostle, and are much the same as " the old man," and " the
new man." These terms describe not living agents, but frames
of thought and feeling — the one, " the flesh," natural to man ;
the other, " the spirit," produced by the operation of the Holy
Ghost through the influence of truth believed. " The old man"
is wholly corrupt ; " the new man" is " after the image of
Him who created him" — holy. The old man can do nothing
but sin ; the new man sinneth not, he cannot sin, " for he is
born of God, and his seed remains in him."2 These two moral
persons, figurative men, exist together in the real Christian
man. He was originally all flesh, there was nothing else in
him. Now, the new man, the spirit, has been formed within
him. The tendency of the spirit is to destroy the flesh ; the
1 Ver. 18. 2 1 John iii. [}¦

166 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
invigoration of the new man is the weakening of the old man.
The two frames of mind and disposition are really antago
nistic ; and though they may, and do, exist in the same
mind, they are ever leading and drawing in opposite direc
tions. As the apostle says, "The flesh lusteth against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these two are
contrary the one to the other." * When the Christian acts
entirely under the influence of the Spirit, he does not sin ;
when he acts entirely under the influence of the flesh, he does
nothing but sin; and when he acts, as he generally does,
under their joint influence, his temper — conduct, is good or
evil in the degree in which the one or the other prevails : but
he is equally a responsible being when acting in all these
various ways.
Having made these remarks, which, if understood, will
carry light through the whole discussion, let us look at the
apostle's words : " For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh) dwelleth no good thing." This is illustrative of the
phrase, " Sin dwelleth in me." It is as if he had said — ' Yes,
sin, though it does not reign as it once did, still dwells in me ;
for I know, both from the declarations of God's word and
from my own experience, that nothing spiritually good dwells
in my nature, unchanged by Divine influence. And it is in
consequence of this that, while " to will is present with me,
how to perform that which is good I find not." ' The mean
ing of these words is, not that the apostle had nothing but a
bare will — an ineffectual desire to do good, but that, owing
to sin dwelling in him, his habitual will and desire to do good
were not so effectual as they should have been — as they would
have been in a perfectly holy person. The work really done
did not correspond to his will ; the flesh prevented him doing
much that he willed, and gave a character of imperfection
even to what he did. His will, under the influence of the
Spirit, was to " run in the ways of God's commandments;"
but the flesh presented many obstacles and stumbling-blocks,
1 Gal. .-. 17.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 167
which impeded his progress, and sometimes made him stumble
and fall.
This state of things was most painful to the apostle ; and we
find him — under the influence of that law of our nature, familiar
to us all, which makes, the heart, when oppressed with care, to
take a melancholy pleasure in brooding over the cause of its
griefs, and gives the tongue a mournful license to repeat its sor
rows — reiterating, with scarcely a change of a word, what he
had said in the 15th and 1 6th verses. It was no mere matter of
argument, no dialectic subtlety — it was the subject of heartfelt
experience and deep sorrow. " For the good that I would I
do not : but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if
I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me."1 Nothing could express more touchingly
the dreary uniformity of this struggle, which, without hope of"
termination or final success, the regenerate man must main
tain with the remaining depravity of his nature, had he no
help but what the law gives — were he not under another, an
altogether different kind of influence, that of grace. How
to the life is this picture ! " When a Christian first gives
his heart to God, and sees the beauty of holiness, and feels
devout joy, he says, in the ardour of his ' first love,' I will
keep thy commandments — all thy commandments. Even
after temptation has prevailed, and made him taste the
bitterness of remorse, he resolves on new obedience with
redoubled ardour ; he knows good and evil, and he will not
return to folly. Experience convinces him that human
resolution is weak ; that the heart is very deceitful ; that
sin dwelleth in him — is wedded to mortality. The past makes
him tremble for the future, and even assures him that temp
tation will return ; that he may — probably will, fall in some
measure before it ; and that all his days on earth must be
stained by sin, saddened by penitential sorrow." 8
In the 21st verse, the apostle appears to give us a general
deduction from the particular facts stated in the preceding
' Ver. 19, 20. 2 Charters.

168 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
verses : " I find then a law, that, when I would go good, evil
is present with me." 1 The original words are somewhat per
plexed in their construction, and admit of a variety of transla
tions and interpretations. Some would read them, ' I find that
to me, willing to do good, the law is present as the occasion of
evil.' But this does violence to the construction, is no deduc
tion from what goes before, and breaks entirely the coherence
of the apostle's illustration. Others would read them — ' I find,
then, that evil is present with me, wishing to do good, according
to the law;' while a third class prefer this rendering — ' I find
then, according to the law, that to me, wishing to do good,
evil is present.' The sense given by our translators seems,
on the whole, the preferable one — ' I find it then a law, that,
when I would do good, evil is present with me ;' or, more
literally thus — ' I find it then a law with me, willing — i.e~,
when willing, to do good, that evil is present with me.'
The word " law" is here — as well as in the 23d verse, and
in chap. iii. 27, and probably, too, in chap. x. 31 — used with
a signification considerably different from that which the
apostle usually gives to it. It seems employed very much in
the same way as in the English phrases, ' the laws of nature,'
' the laws of vision,' ' the laws of the human constitution,'
' the laws of thought.' We say that it is by a law of nature,
which we call gravitation, that stones fall to the ground,
and that the earth moves round the sun ; and that it is by a
law of the human mind, that the mental perception of the
meaning and evidence of a statement or proposition is produc
tive of belief. Our meaning is, that these things take place
with a regularity and certainty similar to that which results
from the operation of law, properly so called. " I find then
a law," is just equivalent to, ' Thus I experience this to be
the ordinary course of things with me ; I find it, as it were,
the law of my present imperfectly renewed state, " that, when
I would do good, evil is present with me." '
The idea which these words seem most naturally to suggest,
1 Ver. 21.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 169
is this : ' That if, at any particular time, the apostle was specially
desirous to do good, then, in a remarkable degree, the depraved
principles of his fallen nature were sure to exert themselves.'
That this is often the experience of a regenerate man, there
can be no doubt. When he is very desirous of performing
some piece of spiritual duty — say meditation, prayer, or thanks
giving — it is no uncommon thing for vain, absurd, vile thoughts
to rush in on his mind as a deluge, so that he is constrained
to say with the Psalmist, " I am as a beast before Thee." x
But the fact referred to by the apostle seems to be one of a
more general kind. ' I find it to be the general law of my
present state, as a regenerated but an imperfectly sanctified
man, that, though I habitually wish to do what is good, I am
constantly liable, from the remaining depravity of my nature,
to act in a manner inconsistent with the ordinary tenor of my
volitions and desires, and, of course, of my conduct too.' Two
facts, of an opposite character, are represented as ascertained
by the apostle, and together forming the law of his present im
perfect state : the one, that he willed to do that which is good ;
the other, that, though he did so, evil was present with him.
These two facts he proceeds to illustrate in the two follow
ing verses : " For I delight in the law of God after the inward
man : but I see another law in my members warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the
law of sin which is in my members." 2
The inward or inner man is not here, the soul in opposition
to the body; or the higher powers of our nature, such as
reason and conscience, in opposition to the lower powers of
our nature, such as appetites and passions. The phrase is to
be found only in two other passages of Scripture,8 and there,
as well as here, seems to signify not merely the mind, but the
regenerate mind. It appears to mean exactly the same thing
as " the mind," which, in the next verse, is contrasted with the
flesh and its members, and which is obviously not the body and
1 Psalm lxxiii. 22. 2 Ver. 22, 23.
3 2 Cor. iv. 16, and Eph. iii. 16.

170 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
its members, but corrupt human nature and its faculties. He
willed what was good, for, "according to his inner man" — the.
most central portions of his intellectual and moral being,
reason, and conscience, and moral affection, influenced by the
Holy Spirit — he " delighted in the law of the Lord." This is
very strong language. It expresses not merely, like the words,
" I consent to it that it is good," a calm, rational approbation of
the law as reasonable and just, and calculated to produce
happiness, but a cordial satisfaction with it as divinely beauti
ful, excellent, and benignant. Not merely had he no wish
that the precepts of the Divine law were less strict, or its
sanctions less stringent, but he delighted in contemplating it
as a picture of the moral excellence of its Author, and re
joiced that he and all the intelligent universe were under its
righteous, benignant sway. He sympathized with the Psalmist
when he says, " Oh how love I Thy law ! Thy word is very
pure ; therefore Thy servant loveth it. The law of Thy mouth
is better to me than thousands of gold and silver." 1
So much for the one fact. Had there been nothing to in
terfere with this delight, how happy, how holy, would the
apostle have been ! But there is another fact — " Evil is pre
sent with me." I have stated the law of my renewed nature ;
" but I see another law in my members warring against the
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members." " The members" and " the
flesh" are materially the same thing — human nature as de
praved : only, when it is called the flesh, we think of it as a
whole ; when it is termed " the members," we think of the
faculties, capacities — modes of operation by which it is dis
tinguished. " I find a law in my members," is equivalent to,
' in the operation of the faculties of my depraved nature, I
find an order of things which works with the regularity of
law. This order of things is directly the reverse of that now
established by the good Spirit in my renewed mind.' Ac
cording to that law, he habitually delighted in the law of the
1 Psalm cxix. 72, 97, 140.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 171
Lord, and of course yielded to it a cheerful, willing obedience.
This is the law of the new creation, just as it is the law of
nature that the sun should shine by day. But then — as by
another law in nature, originating in other causes, the sun is
sometimes eclipsed and darkened, when, according to the
general law, he should be shining, so also — in consequence of
the influence of remaining depravity, the best man is always
liable to fall, and but too frequently does fall.
" The law in his members" — the ordinary course of tilings
in reference to the operations of his mind, so far as still under
the influence of depravity, was, " that evil was present to
him :" there was still ignorance and error in the understand
ing — a tendency to judge wrong, and perversity in the will —
a tendency to choose wrong, and a corresponding evil bias in
all the faculties. This law in the members warred with the
law of the mind. The language is highly figurative, but it is
by no means obscure. The two orders of things were opposed
to each other, and each developed itself according to its nature.
The apostle's figurative statement is, in plain literal language :
' I find, in consequence of my remaining depravity, that I am
often indisposed to, and prevented from, the doing of that to
which the Holy Spirit and the principles of my new nature
incline me as good ; and that, on the other hand, I am often
inclined to, and led to do, that to which the Holy Spirit and
the principles of my new nature indispose me.' It is just the
sentiment expressed in the Epistle to the Galatians, which I
have already had occasion to refer to, — " The flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh : and these
are contrary the one to the other ; so that ye cannot do the
things that ye would." 1
But the apostle states, not only that the law in the members
makes war on the law of the mind, but that it sometimes suc
ceeds in bringing him into captivity. " The law of sin" seems
an idiomatic expression for the sinful law — that order of things
which prevails in human nature as fallen — as sinful, expressly
1 Gal v. 17.

172 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
opposed to the holy law of God. This sinful order of things is
always opposed to the holy order of things in the mind and
sometimes prevails ; and the renewed man becomes, as it were,
its captive, or is by it made sin's captive. We should sadly
misinterpret these words, as well as teach what in philosophy
is the height of absurdity, and in divinity most false and dan
gerous doctrine, if we were to say that they intimate, that
when a regenerate man sins, he sins against his will, or, in
other words, is forced to sin. A sin without will, against will,
is a contradiction in terms. But we are to understand two
things : first, that the regenerate man may fall into sin — does
fall before temptation ; and, secondly, that, when he does so,
he acts not indeed in opposition to his will at the moment,
evilly biased, but in opposition to the general course of his
convictions, volitions, and inclinations. The apostle also inti
mates, that in consequence of the habitual prevalence of
renewed sentiment and feeling, these occasional deviations
from rectitude, in heart and in life, in thought and inclination,
are felt by the regenerate man to be a very great evil ; and
that occasional subjection to depraved principle is considered
by him as the most intolerable and degrading species of
captivity. Such, then, is Paul's account of his own spiritual state — his
inner history, as a regenerate man. He habitually approves,
and loves, and practises holiness, as enjoined in the Divine
law. He is in a very different state from that in which he
was when " in the flesh" — when " the motions of sins, which
were by the law, did work in his members to bring forth
fruit unto death." Yet still he is far from being perfect ; under
the influence of remaining depravity, he still occasionally
violates the Divine law. He is always exposed to temptation,
and in danger of falling. He is in a state of continual war
fare, and sustains occasional defeats. These occasion deep
sorrow and earnest desires of complete defiverance from what is
felt to be the worst of evils.
These feelings are very strongly expressed in the 24th
verse: " O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 173
from the body of this death?" It has been usual with the
class of interpreters, with whom we substantially agree in our
views of this paragraph, to view it as descriptive of the apostle's
habitual feeling, and of the habitual feeling of every regenerate
man. I cannot help thinking this a mistake. Generally, the
apostle felt himself to be a very happy man — " triumphing in
Christ" — " joying in God, through Christ, by whom he had
received the reconciliation." In the warfare referred to, the
regenerate man is generally the victor ; and he has great de
light when he finds himself strong in the grace of his Lord — a
conqueror, and more than a conqueror, through Him that loves
him. But this is the expression of his feeling when he has been
foiled, or when, in a melancholy hour, he allows his mind to
be so occupied with his own weakness, and the power of his
spiritual enemies, as to lose sight of the promise of final com
plete triumph, or of the grace and power of Him that has
made that promise. It is then he breathes out, from the very
bottom of the heart, " O wretched man that I am ! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death V1
" The body of this death," may, with equal propriety, be
rendered, " this body of death ;" — this body of death being
equivalent to this deathful body — this body productive of mis
chief and misery. Now, what are we to understand by this ?
Not our mortal body, though the term of deliverance from this
deathful body, and that of our parting with our mortal body,
will be contemporaneous ; but what the apostle calls " the body
of sin" — " the flesh," " the old man," " sin that dwelleth in
us." It is not improbable that there is, in this expression, an
allusion to the custom referred to by the poet when speaking
of the treatment of captives by their cruel conquerors —
" The living and the dead, at his command,
Were coupled, face to face, and hand to hand,
Till, chok'd by stench, in loath'd embraces ty'd,
The lingering wretches pin'd away and died." 2
" Who shall deliver me ?" Obviously law cannot ; and the
Ver. 24. 2 Virgil Acneid, viii. Dryden's Translation.

174 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
illustration of this seems to be the direct object of the apostle
in giving this picture of the working of his mind as a re^
generate man. As an unregenerate man, he had found that
law could not initiate a life of true sanctification. As a re
generate man, he had found it could neither promote nor per
fect that life. The place which law, in the hand of Christ,
has in promoting sanctification, though important, is secondary.
" Mere objective and authoritative exhibition of truth respect
ing men's duties cannot sanctify." x Something more powerful
than a statement of what is duty, and why we should perform it,
is requisite to make even regenerate men obey the Divine will.
But " law" here, deliverance from which is necessary, according
to the apostle, to the commencement and progress of sancti
fication, is what divines have termed ' law as a covenant' —
law making obedience the proper condition of life. Suppose
a regenerate man under law in this sense, and you make his
struggles hopeless, and deprive him of the most powerful
motives to persevere in them. It deserves to be remarked,
too, that though a truly regenerate man can never, in fact,
be brought again under the law as a covenant, he may, by
losing sight of those truths, through the belief of which he
obtained deliverance from it, deprive himself to that extent of
the felt sanctifying influence of that defiverance ; and indeed
may, by not realizing his deliverance, think and feel, in refer
ence to himself, as if he were under the law. In the degree in
which he does so, his sanctification must be impeded. A legal
mode of thinking and feeling gives the principles of depravity
an advantage which otherwise they could not have, and occa
sions many a struggle, and many a fall, which a stronger faith
in a more habitual realization of freedom from law, and sub
jection to grace, would have prevented. It is the clear per
ception, the firm faith, of those truths respecting the grace of
God in Christ Jesus, which gives deliverance from the law as
a covenant, both in its condemning power and in its influ
ence over the feelings and character : This, in the hand of the
1 Hodge.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 175
Spirit, is the grand instrument of Christian sanctification ; 1
and they greatly err who would substitute for this a belief
(which may or may not be well founded) of the individual's
personal defiverance from law and subjection to grace — a
belief which, if unfounded, can only delude and produce false
confidence, and, if well founded, operates salutarily, chiefly,
from its growing out of the faith of the Gospel and its neces
sary results.
The apostle, in the pathetic inquiry " Who shall deliver
me ? " expresses earnest desire to be delivered ; he indicates also
a conviction that law cannot deliver him ; but he does not inti
mate despair of deliverance. He knew who had delivered —
who would deliver, who had begun — who would perfect, the
good work. " I thank God," he says, " through Jesus Christ
our Lord." He has delivered. What the law could not do,
He, in his grace, has accomplished.
It deserves notice that there is another, and perhaps pre
ferable, reading : " The grace of God through Jesus Christ
our Lord;" in which case the words are at once the answer
of the question "Who shall deliver me?" and the text of
the discussion, down to verse 4 of the next chapter, as to how
grace delivers from sin.
This is the hinge which connects the two parts of the
apostle's discussion — " Sin shall not have dominion over you :"
and " for ye are not under the law." " Sin shall not have
dominion over you : for ye are under grace." The first is
finished ; the other now commences, and reaches to the 4th
verse of the next chapter.
The Apostle Paul, here as elsewhere, sets himself up as an
" ensample to all those who should believe to life everlasting."
With John Newton,2 1 believe the picture, in its great outlines,
to be applicable to the most holy Christian on earth ; and that
the more advanced he is he will the more readily recognise
1 Tit. iii. 4-8. Note the reference and force of tovtud and 'iva, and
reitiTa, in ver. 8.
s Cardiphonia.

176 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the likeness. Those who have believed through grace are apt
to suspect that they have believed in vain, that their faith is
not genuine — not the faith of God's elect, because it does not
produce all the effects they hoped and wished from it in making
them holy. But this passage teaches them, that it is by the
prevailing bent of the will that the real character is to be ascer
tained. It is our duty to desire, and to endeavour, to be as
holy as the holy angels ; but we must not conclude that we are
not holy at all, though we never should be quite like them till
we be where they are. We cannot be too deeply humbled
on account of sin dwelling in us, and giving so many proofs
that it does dwell in us ; but we must not give up our hope that
we are among the " sanctified in Christ Jesus" because we are
not better than the Apostle Paul, nor refuse to acknowledge
God's workmanship in our hearts till it be completed in heaven.
That is pride under the guise of humility.
The man who can intelligently and honestly use the apostle's
language, has no doubt cause, like him, to mourn, but he has
also cause to rejoice. If he is obliged to say sometimes,
" Wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me ?" he may
also say, " I thank God, through Jesus Christ." The good
work is begun ; it will proceed ; it will be perfected in the
day of Christ. The Christian, even after a shameful defeat,
may yet say, " Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy :
though I fall I shall arise." God brings good out of this
struggle so painful — a struggle which, as we have seen, marks
the Christian as an object of blame as well as of pity. The
struggle is within. The Christian feels it in himself — he does
not see it in his Christian brother ; and, as Mr Newton says,
judging of him by what he sees, and of himself by what he
feels, in lowliness of heart he esteems others better than him
self. He learns to warn, to pity, to bear with others ; and
nothing more habitually reconciles a Christian to the thought
of death than the experience of this warfare. Death is un
welcome to nature ; but then, and not till then, the conflict
will cease. The flesh will be put off with the body. Then
we shall sin no more. Is not this worth dying for ?

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 177
But the most regular formalist, and the most accomplished
hypocrite, would discover a lamentable degree of self-ignorance
were they to apply the apostle's words to themselves. " Let
not him that is deceived trust in vanity." Let no man con
clude, because he disapproves many sins which he yet goes on
to commit, that he is animated by the spirit of the apostle.
His external conduct was most exemplary, and he kept his
heart with diligence. Though he complained of being carnal,
he neither walked nor warred after the flesh, nor made pro
vision for it, to fulfil its lusts. If a man condemns sin, and
yet lives in it, he condemns himself, and God will condemn
him out of his own mouth. Such a man cannot say in truth,
" It is not I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." His
conduct shows that sin not only dwells in him, but reigns over
him. He loves sin, and his pretended or apparent aversion to
it is merely aversion to the misery which he fears will flow
from it. He goes on in opposition to the remonstrances of
his conscience; and if God do not grant him repentance, his
conscience will be his tormentor for ever. He may now, per
haps, succeed, in some measure, in stupifying conscience and
excusing his conduct to his own mind, seeking an excuse or
palliation in what is indeed an aggravation of his guilt ; but
when God shall punish him, he shall be speechless — he shall
have nothing to answer : the tremendous words, " You knew
your duty, and you did it not," shall be inscribed indelibly in
letters of living fire on his conscience ; and through eternity he
shall continue to learn the meaning of the declaration, " Be
not deceived ; God is not mocked : whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap."
An acquaintance with the letter of the Holy Scriptures is a
blessing or a curse, according as it is connected with a
true or a false view of their meaning. In the first case,
it is an attainment of high value, and may become the instru
ment of indefinite improvement in knowledge and in holiness.
In the second, it is one of the most dangerous talents a man
can possess, either for himself or for others, as it enables him
to make the worse appear the better reason, both to their
M

178 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
minds and his own, and thus to fortify them in error, and
confirm them in wickedness. The more extensive such a
man's knowledge is, and the greater his ingenuity, just the
more thoroughly and systematically is he likely to be in the
wrong, and just so much more improbable is his being re
claimed from error. So true is the remark of our Christian
poet, — " Of all the arts sagacious dupes invent,
To cheat themselves, and gain the world's consent,
The worst is Scripture warp'd from its intent."'
Almost eveiy passage of Scripture, when misunderstood, is
liable to be abused. But there are particular passages which,
when misapprehended, are sure to be abused. In the writings
of the Apostle Paul there are, as his apostolical brother informs
us, passages which " the unlearned and unstable wrest to their
own destruction." The passage we have been considering is
one of them.
Led astray by the sound of some of its words, it has been
no uncommon thing for persons who, under a profession of
religion, lead an unholy life, to endeavour to turn it to account
as a help to self-delusion. They have sought, by its means,
to get rid of the disagreeable feelings of responsibility and
remorse, and to conjoin two things which God never meant
should go together, — indulged sin, and a comfortable opinion
of their own spiritual state and prospects. They confound
the struggles of the flesh and the Spirit, to which they are
strangers, " not having the Spirit," with the contest between
inclination and conscience, with which they are but too fami
liar ; and concluding, in a sense in which the apostle never
intended it, that because their conscience lifts up a feeble
ineffectual protest when they violate God's law, it is not they
but indwelling sin that is in fault, they look on themselves as
fitter objects of pity than of blame, and say peace, peace, to
themselves, when there is no peace.
1 Cowper.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 179
The best way of preventing or exposing this very loathsome
form of practical antinomianism is, to point out as distinctly
as possible the true meaning of the apostle's expressions,
so that, while they answer the purpose they were meant to
serve— to sustain the true Christian in his struggle with in
dwelling sin, and show him both where he cannot, and where
he may find strength to conquer it — they may not be perverted
into the means of delusion and ruin on the part of the false
hearted professor, but that he may be driven out of the refuge
of lies which he endeavours to find in God's word, and that
that word may be clearly seen to be " profitable for doctrine,
and for reproof, and for correction, and for instruction in
righteousness." To gain these objects, the preceding observations are in
tended, and it is hoped that they are not altogether unfitted
to serve their purpose. May the good Spirit render them
effectual, and may it never happen to the author and his
readers, according to the true proverb, " If the blind lead the
blind, both shall fall into the ditch." On the contrary, may
he be enabled " rightly to divide the word of truth," and may
they be enabled to " receive with meekness that word," which,
if " engrafted" into the mind or heart, is able to save the
soul. The question referred to in the opening of the section, Of
whom does the apostle speak ? may be considered, I think, as
settled. The apostle speaks of himself — of himself as regene
rate. This is the plain meaning of the words. Much is said,
which can in truth be said of no unregenerate man — nothing
is said but what every regenerate man must acknowledge to
be true of himself. Suppose the two opposed states of feeling
to be co-existent and habitual, and the man described is an
impossibility — such a man never existed, and never can
exist. Suppose the sinful state habitual and predominant, and
the better state but occasional, the man described is a hypo
crite and self-deceiver. Suppose the holy state habitual and
predominant, and the sinful state occasional, and the man
described is the true Christian — who, though transformed by

180 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the renewing of his mind, knows by painful inward evidence
that he has not attained, neither is already perfect.
/S. " Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are under
grace'' 1
The words that immediately follow the inquiry, "Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death," 2 — " I thank
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord" — seem to be the com
mencement of the illustration of the second part of the apostle's
declaration, " Sin shall not have dominion over you : for ye
are under grace ;" and the illustration of this thesis closes at
the end of the 4th verse of the eighth chapter. The words,
"I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord," are not
exactly those we should have expected after those which im
mediately precede them. We should have looked for an ex
pression of sorrow and depression rather than of joy and
exultation, a prayer rather than a thanksgiving. Their
introduction seems very abrupt, and the sentence is plainly
elliptical ; something must be supplied to bring out a distinct
meaning — " I thank God, through Christ Jesus," ' who de
livers me,' or, ' for deliverance.' And as these words seem
strangely to follow what goes before, there seems but little con
nection between them and those that follow : " So then with
the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh
the law of sin."
It is right to remark that, besides the reading which has
been followed by our translators, there are two others, either
of which has considerable claims to be preferred to it. The
first, which is now generally adopted by critics, is, " Thanks
be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."3 This is in
meaning quite co-incident with the received reading, and
labours under the same difficulties of interpretation with it.
The second, " The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our
Lord,"4 which has not so much external evidence of genuine-
1 Chap. vii. 25-Chap. viii. 4. " Ver. 24.
3 xup's tS ©*:. ¦< 'H xiplf tov <=)t05.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 181
ness as either of the other two (though by no means destitute
of such evidence, not only appearing in some Greek MSS.
of note, but being the reading followed by the vulgate trans
lator, who probably made his version at a time nearer the
apostolic age than the date of any existing Greek MS.), has
yet so much internal evidence, that I am disposed to adopt it :
" Wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death ? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ
our Lord." This is just what we might look for. It is an
answer, and a true answer, to the question, " Who shall de
liver me?" There is no abruptness here, and there is no
need of supplying anything to make out a complete sense.
It is the natural link between what goes before and what
follows. The apostle has shown that law cannot deliver ; he
now goes on to show that grace can, that grace does, deliver.
The first clause, then, of the 25th verse, read thus, " The
grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, delivers me
from the body of this death," is the text of the short paragraph
which ends at ver. 4 of next chapter.
There are some difficulties arising from some of the con
nective particles which the apostle uses ; but the course of
thought seems very clearly defined — ' This is the state of
things with me as a partially renewed man. " With the
mind" — i.e., so far as I am a renewed man, so far as I am
under Divine influence, " I serve the law of God" — I am con
formed to its spiritual, holy, just, good requisitions. " With
the flesh," however — that is, so far as I am not renewed, so
far as I am under the influence of my unchanged fallen
nature, " I serve the law of sin" x — I am carnal and unholy.
It was not from law, but grace, that in my mind I became a
servant, a willing servant, of the law of God ; and it is not to
law, but to grace, that I look for deliverance from the sin which
still dwells in my flesh, and sometimes makes me a captive.
Law could not deliver me from this bondage, because it could
not pardon the sins I was constantly contracting, nor could it
• Ver. 25.

182 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
secure me the help of an influence which would enable me
successfully to struggle with, and ultimately to conquer, de
praved principle. Grace does both. There is no condemna
tion to them who are in Christ Jesus, and there is a law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which delivers me from the
law of sin and death ; and both this freedom from condemna
tion, and this powerful delivering influence, grace bestows —
i.e., God, in the exercise of grace, bestows through the media
tion of His Son. By the incarnation and sacrifice of His
own Son, He has laid a secure foundation for so destroying
the power of sin in the case of those who are in Christ Jesus,
and who show that they are so by walking, not after the flesh,
but after the spirit ; so that the righteousness which the law
requires, but cannot furnish, shall be fulfilled in them, they
being completely delivered from the depraving influence of
sin, and made completely holy — a result which the law never
could have effected, in consequence not of any deficiency or
fault in it, but on account of the depravity of man, " in that
it was weak through the flesh." ' Such is, I cannot doubt, the
apostle's course of thought, Let us examine it a little more
minutely. " The grace" — the free favour " of God," in which the Divine
method of justification originates, %nd of which it is so striking
a manifestation, delivers the believer from the demoralizing
influence of sin. Every believer— even the most advanced in
holiness, such as the Apostle Paul — stands in need of this
deliverance. He has been delivered — but he has been only
partially delivered. " So then," says the apostle, looking back
to the description contained in the last paragraph, " with my
mind I serve the law of God :" so far as I am transformed
by the renewing of the mind, "I serve the law of God" —
I am what that law requires me to be — I think, and feel, and
act in conformity with it ; but while this is true, it is as true
that " with my flesh I serve the law of sin :" so far as I am
conformed to this world — so far as my nature remains unre
newed, " I serve the law of sin" — I am regulated by that order
of things which originates in my natural state as guilty, help-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 183
less, and depraved, and which prevails with the regularity and
force of law in unregenerate man. The deliverance I possess
I owe not to law, but to grace ; and the deliverance I need,
I expect not from law, but from grace ; and I do expect that
grace will deliver — completely deliver me, since it has made
provision for this, by exerting itself in the Divine method of
justification. What the believer wants, and what the law cannot give
him, is, in the first place, deliverance from the curse — pardon,
a state of acceptance with God ; and, in the second place, an
influence powerful enough to counteract and overpower the
depraving influences from without and within to which he is
exposed. Now grace, as reigning "in the righteousness of
God," does both.
1. Grace furnishes a justifying righteousness.1
That it secures the first, is' strongly asserted in the first
verse of the eighth chapter—" There is therefore now no con
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." There should
have been no division of chapters here ; these words are most
closely connected with those which go before them. They
are the statement of what is most fundamental in the way in
which grace delivers the believer from the power of remaining
depravity, and show how exactly the remedy suits the disease,
as described in the close of the preceding verse. It is dif
ficult to perceive the precise nature of the connection indi
cated by the particles, "therefore" and "now."2 "There
fore," does not intimate that what is contained in this verse is
a logical inference from what goes before, for no connection of
this kind can be traced. It is the same particle that is ren
dered so in the preceding verse, and its force seems something
like this : As from the previous description of the believer's
experience, that " with the mind he serves the law of God,
1 Chap. viii. 1.
2 clpa viii/ plainly contrasted with apa ovv in the preceding verse.

184 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and with the flesh the law of sin," so from the previous de
scription of the righteousness of God — the Divine method of
justification, it appears that according to it, " there is no con
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." " Now" and
" then," are plainly contrasted, though how, is not so clear ;
probably somewhat in this way, ' Thus then, looking to my
self, I find,' etc. ' Thus now, looking to the Divine method of
justification as manifested, I find that,' etc.1 The words, " who
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit," are, I believe,
universally, by critics, considered, as not belonging to the first
verse, but borrowed from the end of the fourth verse, which is
their proper place.
The statement then is, ' The grace of God, through Christ
Jesus, shall deliver from the power, and even existence, of the
depraving influence of sin, for it secures that there is no con
demnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." To be " in
Christ Jesus," is to be so related to Christ Jesus that His
death is, as it were, our death, His life our life. To those who
are thus " in Christ Jesus," there is no condemnation. The
word is, you will see, is a supplement. The sentiment is,
there is not, shall not be, cannot be, any condemnation.
They were condemned— they were " children of wrath even
as others ;"2 but having been united to Christ by believing,
their condemnation has been completely and for ever removed.
" He that believeth is not condemned" — he " shall not come
into condemnation," 3 for he is in Christ. Who can condemn
him whom God has justified on the ground that Christ has died
for him, the just in the room of the unjust.4 The believer is
" made the righteousness of God in Him," who was " made
sin in his room." 5 " Of God he is in Christ Jesus righteous
ness."6 It is the grace of God that has secured this. We are
1 A learned friend remarks : " uvu is temporal ; ovv is inferential ; apa
ovv = matters, or the case being so (ovv), as a fitting sequence (apa), I
serve, etc. &pa An = accordingly now ; accordingly (&pa), at this stage
of matters, now since Christ has died for us, etc. (vvn)."
2 Eph. ii. 3. » John iii. 18 ; v. 24. * Rom. viii. 33, 34.
* 2 Cor. v. 21. « l Cor. i. 30.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 185
"justified freely by God's grace."1 In what other source
could this justification of a sinner originate ?
In thus securing freedom from condemnation, grace also
secures freedom from depravity. It could be obtained in no
other way. A condemned sinner, remaining such, cannot
become holy. Men must be redeemed from the curse in order
to their obtaining any spiritual blessing ; and he who in being
justified is installed in the favour of God, is, as a matter of
course, secured of all spiritual blessings.
2. Grace furnishes regenerating and sanctifying influence.2
But to the deliverance from " the body of death" — that is,
" sin dwelling in us," there is necessary a change of character
as well as a change of relation ; and to this, inward influence
in the operation of the Divine Spirit, as well as external per
formance in the atoning work of the Divine Son, is necessary.
These things are closely connected, and the grace which
secures the one secures also the other. It is to this I appre
hend the apostle refers when, in the 2d verse, he says, " For
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and of death."
The connective particle, " for," 3 is either equivalent to
'moreover,' or it hangs by the first clause of the 25th verse
of the last chapter — 'The grace of God by Jesus Christ
delivers from sin, not only as it frees from condemnation, but
also as it furnishes transforming sanctifying influence.' De
liverance from " the law of sin and death," is certainly the
same thing as deliverance from " the body of this death" — or
from " sin dwelling in us," or from " the law in the members"
called " the law of sin," which in the members wars against
the law of the mind. That law is just the order of things
which prevails with the regularity of a law in human nature
as depraved, and is productive of nothing but sin and death —
guilt, depravity, misery. It is strange that some very excellent
interpreters should understand by " the law of sin and of death"

1 Rom. iii. 24. * Chap. viii. 2.

yap.

186 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the Divine law, in its covenant form. No doubt that law, in
this form, can neither justify nor sanctify a condemned sinner,
but binds him in guilt, and irritates instead of extinguishing
his depraved propensities. But we cannot bring ourselves
to believe, that he who so emphatically pronounces that law
" holy, and just, and good," and who so carefully guards
against the supposition, that it " is sin," 1 or " becomes death," 2
could, especially without a word of explanation, call it " the
law of sin and death." Besides, what the apostle is here illus
trating is not freedom from the law— his discussion on that
subject is closed— but freedom from sin. His thesis here is not
' grace delivers from the law, but ' grace delivers from sin.'
Aud how does it deliver ? Not only is there no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus, but there is to them a
quickening spirit. The economy of grace is the ministration
not only of righteousness — that is, justification, but of spiritual
fife — that is, sanctification. 3 " The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus delivers from the law of sin and death."
" The Spirit of life" is here, I apprehend, a designation of
the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, who is the
author of all true spiritual life or holiness in human nature —
' the living, the life-giving Spirit.' This is the sense in which
the word " Spirit" is generally employed in the context.
" The law of the Spirit of life" has, by some interpreters, been
considered as descriptive of the Gospel ; but the contrast be
tween this " law," and " the law of sin and death," seems to
fix the true meaning of the phrase. It describes, if I mistake
not, the new order of things established in the mind by the
Spirit of life, who is given to all true believers in consequence
of their being redeemed from the curse of the law. The just
views, firm convictions, holy dispositions, produced in the
heart by the Holy Ghost, through the instrumentality of the
truth believed, deliver from the false views and unholy dispo
sitions which characterize our fallen nature. The one order .
of things supersedes the other ; and just as the law of spring
1 Chap. vii. 7. 2 Chap. vii. 13. s 2 Cor. iii. 8, 9.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 187
contends with the law of winter, till it end in the establish
ment of the law of summer and autumn, does the law of
spiritual life contend with the law of spiritual death, till,
through the process of progressive sanctification, it end at
last in the perfection of heaven. The force of the expression
rendered " hath made free," is " delivers" — " hath delivered"
— " does deliver" — " will deliver." It describes what the law
of life habitually does — it acts according to its nature.
It is doubtful whether the phrase, " in Christ Jesus," is to
be construed with the designation " Spirit of life," or with the
word " deliver." In the first case, it signifies the Spirit who
is " in Christ Jesus" — dwells in Him without measure. In
the last, it indicates that our deliverance by the Spirit is en
joyed in union with Christ Jesus. It is as " in Christ Jesus"
that there is no condemnation to us ; and it is as " in Christ
Jesus" that we are delivered from the law of sin and death by
the law of " the Spirit of life." Thus, then, does the grace of
God, by giving them at once a justifying righteousness and
a quickening Spirit, deliver those whom the law could not
deliver. 3. How Grace furnishes a Justifying Righteousness and
Sanctifying Influence.1
The wonderful means by which God, in the exercise of His
grace, thus delivers men from the depraving influences of their
fallen state, are detailed by the apostle in the 3d and 4th
verses : " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh ; that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." A slight transposi
tion brings out the sense more clearly : " For God, sending
His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, hath con
demned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
1 Chap. viii. 3, 4.

188 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the Spirit ; which the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh." " For" is illustrative : it is equivalent to,
' This is the way in which God, in the exercise of His grace,
delivers from the power of sin — a work which, in consequence
of the depravity of human nature, law has not accomplished
— never could accomplish.'
The great work which God, in the exercise of His grace,
is represented here as accomplishing, through the incarnation
and sacrifice of His Son — " the condemning of sin in the flesh,
with the intention and to the effect of the righteousness of the
law being fulfilled in men, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit" — is plainly the same thing as the delivering of men
from the dominion of sin. Sin is here personified, as in so many
other passages in the epistle ; and few things are of more
importance than a correct apprehension of this personification.
" Sin" is the state of guilt and helplessness into which trans
gression brings man — a state opposed equally to a state of
innocence and a state of justification. This state has a powerful
influence over the character and circumstances of men, in pre
venting good and producing evil. That is represented by the
power of a tyrannical usurper over his slaves. Sin has domi
nion over men, employing them in its degrading service, and
rewarding them with destruction. For this tyrant to be so
condemned, that his slaves are set at liberty, is, in plain
words, to have the obstacles in the way of man becoming
holy, rising out of his natural state of condemnation and moral
helplessness, removed, and to have effectual means of his
becoming holy brought into operation. The tyrant is brought
to justice ; he is stripped of his usurped power ; he is con
demned to die ; so that the requisitions of the law, as to
character and conduct, are now fulfilled in those who were
once his helpless slaves.
Some have supposed that " the flesh," in the clause under
consideration, designates our Lord's human nature ; and that
the expression, " in," or, as they render it, " by the flesh,"
describes -the means by which the condemnation of sin was
effected. That, no doubt, was the flesh of Christ— His human

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 189
nature, offered in sacrifice — " the body of His flesh through
death," as Paul expresses it in the Epistle to the Colossians ; x
but thus to understand the phrase is to depart from the natu
ral meaning of the words, and it is to make the apostle un
necessarily repeat the same statement ; for he had, in a former
clause, stated that " God condemned sin by sending His Son
in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin."
The influence of man's guilty, helpless state, to perpetuate
and increase his depravity, has already been in some measure
illustrated. But, as it is a subject of very great importance,
and by no means well understood, even among those who
count themselves well-informed Christians, a few additional
remarks may be useful. The guilty man is the declared ob
ject of the Divine judicial displeasure. Being so, he is, as a
matter of course, excluded from those Divine influences which
are the source of all real holiness in created natures ; for how
can God bestow, on the object of His judicial displeasure, that
sanctifying, blissful influence, which is the most important
blessing He can bestow on the objects of His paternal favour ?
Nor is this all : unguided by the influence of the good Spirit,
the principles of man's nature are left to develop themselves
under powerful malignant influences — those of the present
evil world, and of him who is its god and prince ; so that
" evil men" naturally " wax worse and worse."2
This would be the result of a state of guilt, even if the in
dividual were entirely unaware of the fact that he was thus
guilty and condemned. But this is not the case with man
kind. In no case, probably, is the condemned sinner entirely
unaware of his condition. In many instances it is brought
full before him. He knows that " the wages of sin are death,"
and that he has earned them, and that justice requires that
in due time they be paid him in full tale. A knowledge of
this sharpens his enmity against the God who condemned
him ; and this enmity is the exhaustless source of all manner
of wickedness. Thus a state of guilt depraves the human
1 Col. i. 22. 3 2 Tim. iii. 13

190 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
character. " Sin reigns in men's mortal bodies, and they
obey it in its lusts. They yield themselves its servants, and
present their members to it as instruments of unrighteous
ness."1 The destruction of this power, as if by a judicial process —
the regularly putting down of this irregular power, is the
work which the apostle represents God as having, in His
grace, performed. This is a work which " the law could not
do," and " could not do, in that," or, because, " it was weak
through the flesh."
It may be of use, in preparing us for clearly understanding
what the apostle means by this statement, to inquire for a
moment what the law can do. With respect to the innocent,
it can inform them of their duty, and urge them to its per
formance by salutary fear and joyful hope, while they are
in a state of probation ; and when that state is finished, it
secures for them complete and unending happiness. All this
Adam would have experienced had he persevered in integrity.
But, as none of the children of men are innocent, it more
nearly concerns us to know what are the powers of the law
in reference to the guilty. It denounces their condemnation,
and secures their punishment ; and, while it condemns for the
past, it still insists on perfect obedience for the future, on
pain of redoubled destruction, but without promise of reward.
All it holds out, in the way of encouragement, is, The less
sin, the less suffering. This is what the law can do ; and it
is all that it can do.
It is plain, then, that it cannot so condemn sin in the flesh,
as that the righteousness of the law may be fulfilled in fallen
men. It cannot make man, guilty and therefore depraved,
holy. It cannot repeal its own sentence of condemnation,
which binds men under the fetters of depravity. It has no
power to wrest from sin the power to destroy with which it
has invested it. It makes no provision for mitigating the
penalty, or for dispensing with it altogether, or for enabling
1 Rom. vi. 12, 13.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 191
a man to bear it. We have already showed at length that,
while the sentence of condemnation continues in force, man
cannot be holy. The law furnishes no adequate means for
opposing the powerfully depraving influence of evil spirits and
a world lying in wickedness. It cannot so enlighten the mind,
or renew the will, or spiritualize the affections, as to secure
habitual holiness. It can command to be holy, but it cannot
create us anew unto good works. It presents no motive suf
ficient to move an unregenerate mind from sin toward true
holiness. The reason assigned for this want of power, on the part of
the law, is, that " it is weak through the flesh." That the
law is inefficacious, does not arise from any inherent defect in
its original constitution. The law is well fitted to answer the
ends for which it was designed — to preserve man in a state of
innocence, and to lead him, through progressive degrees of
excellence, to moral perfection. The event proved that the
law did not make transgression impossible ; but its precepts
and sanctions were admirably fitted to keep man good and
make him better. How, then, has law lost its power ? It
has become weak through the flesh. It has become inefficient
through the depravity of human nature. How it has become
so is easily understood. It shows fallen man what is sin and
what is duty ; but then he loves sin and hates duty ; and mere
command, however explicit and authoritative, cannot change
inclination. The very circumstance of an action, to which I
am inclined, being forbidden, inflames the desire of committing
it. The law condemns and curses the sinner for his trans
gression. Now, what is the natural effect of this on an un
regenerate person ? Informing him of his doom, but giving
him no reason to hope that he can escape that doom, it may
irritate him to madness, it may sink him in despair, but it can
do nothing in the way of making him holy. The radical
principle of holiness — love to God, cannot be excited by law
in an unregenerate heart, however much it may be cherished
by it in a regenerate one. On the contrary, the strictness of
its precepts, and the severity of its penalty, exasperate the

192 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
sinner's resentment against the Lawgiver, who thwarts his
strongest inclinations, and consigns him for yielding to them
to hopeless misery. The sun, which, in the temperate regions
of the earth, diffuses a comfortable warmth and a vegetative
influence, burns up under the equator the fruits of the earth
and generates disease : thus the law, though remaining un
changed, is to innocent man fruitful in producing holiness,
but to depraved man productive only of sin and misery. Or,
to illustrate the subject by a figure still more appropriate : the
laws of this country may have power to restrain from crime
those who have a principle of honesty or of honour, or who,
though destitute of such principles, have yet property or
character to lose ; but they may fail to influence a man who
is equally destitute of principle, property, and reputation —
who has already incurred their severest penalty, and has
nothing to expect from them but an ignominious death.
What power, but to torment and destroy, have the laws of
this country over the miserable, condemned murderer, who,
without a ray of hope, is in his dungeon waiting for the hour
of his execution ?
But " what the law could not do," God has accomplished.
He has "condemned sin in the flesh;" and He has done so
by " sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and
for sin." In other words, He has done it by that sacrifice of
His incarnate Son, which forms the basis of the Divine method
of justification : that propitiation, in which His righteousness
is declared, that He is " the just God and the Saviour" —
" Just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." 1 The
statement here is substantially the same as that made already
by the apostle — that " our old man was crucified with Christ,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should not
serve sin."2 That which was completed on the cross laid a
sure foundation for the complete deliverance from sin of all
who, by faith, are united to Him who hung there a victim for
sin, " the Just in the room of the unjust."
1 Rom- >>»• 25, 26. » Rom. vi. 6.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 193
Of all the works of God, both in the natural and the moral
world, it may be said, " His ways are not our ways, His
thoughts are not our thoughts." The means which He em
ploys to gain His ends are always the best possible ; but they
are often such as it never could have " entered into the mind
of man to conceive." Had man been called on to conjecture
what method God was likely to adopt to gain the great end
referred to in the text, it is difficult to say what opinion he
would have formed ; but certainly the truth would never have
occurred to his mind — the apparently most presumptuous
thought never could have arisen, that this object was to be
gained by the mission, incarnation, and vicarious sacrifice of
God's " only begotten Son." Yet thus " it became Him, for
whom are all things, and through whom are all things," to
" condemn sin in the flesh."
By Divine appointment, the second person of the sacred
Trinity, assumed human nature, and in that nature presented
Himself as a sin-offering to expiate human transgression.
When God is said to have sent His Son " in the likeness of sin
ful flesh," the meaning is — that the Son, by the appointment of
the Father, assumed human nature free from sin, but labouring
under those infirmities, not moral, which are the effects of sin
— liability to suffering and death. When it is said He sent
Him " for sin," the meaning is — He sent Him to be a sacrifice
for sin. The phrase translated " for sin"1 is often used, in the
Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, as equiva
lent to a sin-offering;2 and it occurs in this sense also in the
Epistle to the Hebrews : " In burnt-offerings and sacrifices
for sin Thou hast had no pleasure."3 The phrases in the
original are the same. In the last passage, in order to make
sense in English, it is necessary to supply the word ' sacri
fices ; ' and it would have contributed much to the perspicuity
of the passage before us, had the same mode of translation
been adopted — " God sending His Son in the likeness of
1 irtpX apupTixs- 2 Lev- lv- 3 > Numb. viii. 8 ; Psalm xxxix.
(lxx.) 6. 3 Heb. x. 6, 8, 18. N

194 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
sinful flesh, and a sacrifice for sin, condemned sin in the
flesh." By the Son of God being a sacrifice for sin, is to be under
stood His doing and suffering what, in the estimation of the
Supreme Legislator, was necessary and sufficient to expiate the
sins of men— to lay a foundation for the removal of the sen
tence of condemnation, and the restoration of man to the Divine
favour, and all its blissful consequences. For this purpose,
it behoved Him to take the place of fallen man, assume his
responsibilities, do what he was bound to do, and suffer what
he deserved to suffer. Now, this was what the incarnate Son
of God actually did. As " the Lamb of God," He " bare,"
and bare away, " the sin of the world." " He bare our sins
in His own body on the tree." " He died for our sins."
" He suffered for sins, the Just in the room of the unjust."
" He gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice for a
sweet-smelling savour to God." " His blood cleanses from
all sin ;" and " In Him we have redemption through that
blood, even the forgiveness of sins." x
That the vicarious obedience, suffering, and death of the
incarnate Son, are the effectual means of man's deliverance
from the depraving influence of sin, is the doctrine of the
passage before us ; and not of this passage only, but of many
other passages of Scripture. Take the following as examples :
" For their sakes I sanctify Myself" — i.e., devote Myself as a
sacrifice for sin, " that they also may be sanctified through
the truth." " Our old man is crucified with Christ." " He
gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all ini
quity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works." " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed from your vain conversation, received by tradition
from your fathers, by such corruptible things as silver and
gold, but by blood, precious blood, the blood of Christ, as of
a lamb without blemish and without spot." " Who Himself
1 John i. 29 ; 1 Cor. xv. 3 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24, iii. 18 ; Eph. v. 2 ; 1 John
i. 7 ; Eph. i. 7.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 195
bare our sins in His own body on," or ' to,' " the tree, that
we, being dead to sin, should live to righteousness." They
who are without blame before the throne of God, came there
in consequence of their having " washed their robes, and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb." L
How this sacrifice of the incarnate Son of God effected this
purpose, is to a certain degree explained to us in the holy
Scriptures. That sacrifice is represented as the payment of
the penalty of sin in the room of those who are saved by it,
and of course laid a foundation for the removal of the curse
from them. " Christ has redeemed us from the curse, having
been made a curse for us."2 It was such a manifestation of
the righteousness of God, and the evil of sin, as that, on its
ground, God appeared just in justifying the ungodly.
Till that curse is removed, as we have seen, there can be
no holiness in man, for the Divine influence necessary to
produce holiness cannot, in consistency with the Divine
righteousness, find its way into his heart. On the other
hand, God cannot, in consistency with His character as the
Father of those who are united to Christ by believing — and
thus interested in the saving effects of the atonement — allow
them to remain the slaves of sin.
Moreover, it is as a reward of His self-sacrificing service
in the cause of God's glory and man's salvation, that the
Son of God is put in possession of all power to destroy the
works of the devil in the hearts of those who are united to
Him. Still further, by the atonement, a channel is opened into
the hearts of all believers for the sanctifying influence of the
transforming Spirit. "Christ hath redeemed us from the
curse of the law, by becoming a curse in our room," not only
" that the blessing of Abraham" — a full and free justification,
" might come on us," but that we may " receive the promised
Spirit by faith."3 It has thus become an act of faithful-
1 John xvii. 19 ; Rom. vi. 6 ; Tit. ii. 11, 14 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24; Rev. vii.,15.
1 Gal. iii. 13. 3 Gal. iii. 14.

196 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ness and justice, on the part of the God of peace, not only,
in the exercise of His grace, to forgive us our sins, but
also, by the influence of His Spirit, to " cleanse us from all
unrighteousness;"1 and it is in virtue of His sacrifice that
Jesus, " exalted a Prince and a Saviour, gives repentance,"
and " sheds forth abundantly" the renewing, sanctifying, Spirit
on men.2
Finally, the truth with regard to this vicarious sacrifice
for sin— stated in a plain, well-accredited Divine revelation,
is — in the hand of the Divine Spirit, the great instrument
for destroying the power of sin in the hearts of men —
furnishing, as it does, the most impressive displays of the
beauty and excellence, of holiness, and the hatefulness and
malignity of sin, the most powerful dissuasives from sin, and
the most powerful motives to duty. It is thus that God
"condemns sin in the flesh, which the law could not do, be
cause it was weak through the flesh." It is thus that the
grace of God delivers from the body of death, from which the
law could not deliver. It is thus that " faith does not make
void, but establishes the law" — getting for the law what the
law never could have got for itself, full satisfaction for its
violation, in the sacrifice of the incarnate Son, and genuine,
cheerful, ultimately perfect conformity to its spirit and in
junctions, in the character and conduct of those who are by
faith united to Him, and made partakers of the sanctifying, as
well as atoning, efficacy of His sacrifice — the righteousness
of the law being fulfilled in them " who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit."
This was at once the object and effect of the condemning
of sin in the flesh, by the sacrifice of the incarnate Son of God.
God thus condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righte
ousness of the law might be — and so that the righteousness of
the law actually is, and shall be — fulfilled in us, who being
justified by believing, " walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit." " The righteousness of the law"3 here, is the righte-

1 1 John i. 9. 2 Acts ii. 33; v. 31. 3 5,

tKaiupta.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 197
ous requisition of the law — love to God, love to man, holiness
of heart and life ; and by that righteousness being fulfilled in
us — i.e., in us believers — in us who are interested in the
Divine method of justification, I understand that complete
conformity to this righteous requisition, which will ultimately,
through the condemnation of sin by the Saviour's sacrifice,
be produced in every believer. From the moment in which
he becomes interested in the Divine method of justification,
the sanctifying influence of the atonement begins to operate
on him, and it will continue to operate on him till it has com
pletely destroyed the influence of sin, and made him all that
the holy law requires him to be — " sanctified wholly, in the
whole man, soul, body, and spirit" — cleansed " from all filthi-
ness of the flesh and of the spirit," and having holiness per
fected in the fear and love of God.
Some very good interpreters, understand by the phrase " the
righteousness of the law," all the preceptive and sanctionary
demands of the law, which were fully met by our Lord in
His obedience unto the death, and which, as He stood in our
place, may be considered as fulfilled in us, as represented in
Him. But this interpretation is objectionable, not only because
it gives a very unnatural meaning to the words, but because
it seems quite foreign to the design of the apostle in the whole
section, which is to show that the grace of God, by the
sacrifice of Christ, has secured that holiness in man, which
the law could not secure.
The concluding words, " who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit," are appended, though not necessary to com
plete the sentence, to mark who the individuals are that
really enjoy the sanctifying influence of the Divine method of
justification, and thus to introduce the subject of the next
sub-section of the epistle — ' That, as justification is necessary
to, and secures sanctification, so sanctification is the only
satisfactory evidence of justification.' As a man must be jus
tified in order to be sanctified — as, if a man be justified, he
certainly shall be sanctified — so a man must be sanctified in
order to prove that he is justified. Justification is necessary

198 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
to the existence of sanctification ; sanctification is equally
necessary to the evidence of justification. It is quite accord
ing to the apostle's custom to introduce, in the concluding
clause of a paragraph, what is to be the subject of the succeed
ing one. We have instances of this in chap. v. 12, and in
chap. vi. 14.
The remarks which we have been led to make on this sec
tion of the Epistle to the Romans, must, if understood, clear
those doctrines, which are generally termed evangelical, from
the imputation that sometimes, through malignity — more
frequently, we should hope, through ignorance — has been cast
on them as unfavourable to the interests of holiness.
It must also be obvious, to every considerate reader, that
these doctrines are by no means, as they have often been
represented, mere speculative opinions — points on which it
matters not much what sentiments we entertain, being re
motely, if at all, connected with human duty or happiness.
On the contrary, it must appear, that they enter into the very
essence of the Christian religion, and that, if that religion be
true, the person who does not know and believe them cannot
be wise, good, or happy. God forbid that we should account
none Christians who do not agree exactly with us in our
mode of expressing ourselves on this important subject — the
ground of justification, the source and means of sanctification ;
but we hesitate not to say, that hope, placed any where but
on the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, will assuredly make men ashamed ; and that, when
men attempt to cultivate virtue, without reference to the ex
piatory sacrifice, the justifying righteousness, and the trans
forming Spirit of Jesus Christ, "in the day they may make their
plant to grow, and in the morning make their seed to flourish,
but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of
desperate sorrow." 1 Or, to change the figure, they who see
to light the fire of holy affection any where but at the altar
on which was offered the great sacrifice, may " compass them-
1 Isa. xvii. 11.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 199
selves about with sparks, and walk in the light of their own
fire ; but this shall they have of the hand of the Lord, they
shall lie down in sorrow."1
Let those who are still the slaves of sin reflect on the misery
and danger of their situation. Let them beware of continu
ing in carnal security, and beware also of seeking deliverance
except in the way in which God has promised to bestow it.
True holiness is to be found only in Christ. In the Gospel
He is set forth as a propitiation in His blood, which cleanseth
from all sin. The most guilty and depraved is made wel
come, in the faith of the truth, to rely on this atonement, and
relying on the atonement, he will find redemption from all his
iniquities — he will be "washed and sanctified," as well as
"justified in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit
of our God."
And let those who, by the grace of God, through the influ
ence of the great atonement, have obtained a partial deliver
ance from the power of sin, look for the perfection of the
great work from the same cause, and through the same means
by which it was begun, " For all things are of God by Jesus
Christ."2 Let them seek, with ever-increasing earnestness,
renewed, enlarged, supplies of Divine influence, as the gift
of God communicated to men, through the sacrifice and in
tercession of His Son. Never let them forget that they owe
their sanctification, as well as their justification — their new
character, as well as their new state — to God's sending His
Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, a sacrifice for sin; and
that " of God are they in Christ Jesus (who of God is made
unto them wisdom), righteousness, sanctification, redemption,"
— justified, sanctified, and redeemed, " That no flesh should
glory in God's presence," but that, according as it is written,
" He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."3 Yes, to Him
who spared not His Son, but delivered Him up for us all, and
to Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own
blood, and hath made us kings and priests to God, even His
i Isa, 1. 11. 2 2 Cor. v. IS. 3 j Cor. i. 30, 31.

200 DOCTRINAL.

[PART II.

Father— to Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb,
ascribed be all the glory1 — equal and undivided, by the Church
on earth and the Church in heaven, for ever, and ever— world
without end — Amen.
B. Sanctification is the Evidence of Justification.
Chapter viii. 5-17. — " For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the
Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death ; but to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God ; for
it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they
that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in
you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. There
fore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die ; but if ye through the Spirit
do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth wit
ness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then
heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ."
The subject of that division of the doctrinal part of the
epistle, in the exposition of which we are engaged, is substan
tially this proposition, "The righteousness of God" — i.e., the
Divine method of justification, originating entirely in the free
grace of God, based entirely on the atonement of Christ, and
suspended, as to the communication of its blessings, not on
working but on believing — so far from having a sinister influ
ence on the interests of true holiness, is the only means by
which true holiness can be produced, promoted, and perfected
in human nature. This embraces the whole important topic
of the connection between justification and sanctification. The
1 Rev. i. 5, 6.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 201
apostle takes up the subject under two heads. First, Justifi
cation is necessary to, and secures sanctification ; and Second,
Sanctification is the evidence of being justified. An unjustified
man cannot be holy — an unsanctified man is not justified. The
first of these heads of argument occupies the apostle from the
beginning of the sixth chapter to the 4th verse of the eighth.
The discussion of the second begins at the 5th verse, and
ends, I rather think, in the middle of the 17 th verse of that
chapter. The apostle makes the transition, according to a custom
common with him, in the end of the sentence which concludes
the illustration of the first point. The Divine method of
justification secures holiness, for it, and it alone secures for
fallen man that which is at once necessary and sufficient
to make him holy — a state of acceptance with God, and a
predominant sanctifying influence. " There is no condemna
tion to them who are in Christ Jesus," and "The Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus makes them free from the law of sin and
death ;" and this is the character of those who are thus inte
rested in " the righteousness of God " — " They walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit." 1 These, and these only, are the
justified ones. These, and these only, are the objects of the
Divine favour ; and for any other man to suppose that he is a
justified person, would be fearful presumption, fatal delusion.
The course of the apostle's thought seems to be this. They
who are in the flesh cannot be pleasing to God ; they who
are in the Spirit cannot but be pleasing to Him. The un
sanctified must be and are unjustified ; the sanctified are and
must be justified. With the illustration of these points he
mixes up, according to his manner, practical remark and ex
hortation. To understand the paragraph aright, it is of im
portance to remark that it is throughout antithetic, though in
a number of cases only one side of the antithesis is expressed.
This is a characteristic of the apostle's writings, and, if the
interpreter keep it not steadily in view, he will often do the
1 Ver. 4

202 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
inspired writer injustice, by giving an imperfect view of his
meaning. " To walk after the flesh," is to exert the various activities
of our nature, under the influence of that frame of thought
and feeling which is natural to fallen man, till he be born
again. " To walk after the Spirit," is to exert the various
activities of our nature under the influence of the frame of
thought and feeling which is produced by the Holy Spirit
through the belief of the truth. All interested in the righteous
ness of God, habitually do not act in the first way, habitually
do act in the second.
Now, says the apostle, " They that are after the flesh do
mind the things of the flesh, and they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit." 1 They who are " in the flesh,", or
" after the flesh," are the same persons as they who " walk
after the flesh ;" and they who are " after the Spirit," the
same as those who " walk after the Spirit." The difference
is, the flesh and Spirit are represented, in the first case, as
abiding actuating principles ; and, in the second, as embodied
and exemplified in actual disposition and behaviour. The
two together complete each of the two opposite characters —
the carnal and the spiritual.
The carnal man " minds the things of the flesh." " The
things of the flesh," are such objects of thought and choice
and pursuit and enjoyment, as are suited to the faculties and
affections of human nature in its fallen and unchanged state.
To " mind" these things, is to make them the principal sub
jects of thought — the principal objects of affection. The
apostle's declaration then is, carnal men prove themselves to
be what they are, by making things suited to their unrenewed
nature the great subjects of thought and objects of affection.
In many cases, the bias of the corrupted mind leads the indi
vidual to think much of, and to delight in the grosser works
of the flesh, enumerated by the apostle in the Epistle to the
Galatians;2 but, in many other cases, there is, owing to a
1 Ver. 5. 2 Chap. v. 19-21.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 203
variety of causes, a strict abstinence from these, yet still the
mind is employed entirely about present and sensible things,
and the heart is supremely placed on present and sensible
objects. The most morally accomplished worldling is at heart
as thoroughly carnal as the most reckless profligate. The flesh
may often be refined and purified while it remains flesh still ;
the best of those who are " of the flesh" still mind exclusively
earthly things.
" The things of the Spirit." By the Spirit must be under
stood either the Holy Spirit, or perhaps, rather, that new frame
of thought and feeling produced by His operation ; for " That
which is born of the Spirit is spirit;"1 and, according as you
understand this term, you must understand, by " the things of
the Spirit," either such things as the Spirit reveals and enjoins,
or such things as are agreeable to that new nature of which
the Spirit is the author — the realities of religion and eternity,
" things unseen and eternal." They who are " after the
Spirit mind" these things. They are the principal subjects
of their thoughts, the principal objects of their affections.
They who are spiritual are " delivered from the present evil
world," and brought under " the power of the world that is to
come." They " seek the things that are above, where Christ
sits at God's right hand." They " mind," " set their affections
on things that are above, and not on things on the earth."2
They look at every thing in its relation to God and eternity.
They think on the things which are " true, and honest, and
just, and pure, and lovely, and virtuous, and of good report."
They do not indeed mind the things of the Spirit with that
intensity and perseverance with which they ought ; but still
the habitual tenor of their sentiments and affections is spiritual,
and the "cleaving of their souls to the dust"3 is the subject
of sincere and deep regret to them. Their treasure is in
heaven, and their heart is there also.
The apostle proceeds to use this remark for the purpose of
showing that the unsanctified man is not a justified man, and
1 John iii. 6. 2 Col. iii. 1, 2. 3 Psal. cxix. 25.

204 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
that the sanctified man undoubtedly is so. "For to be
carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is
life and peace."1 "For" marks what follows as illustrative of
what he has just said. The being carnally minded, in
verse 6, or the carnal mind, in verse 7, which are two versions
of the same word, is just the same thing as the minding of the
things of the flesh. This is death. He who is characterized
by it is in a state of " death " — a state of insensibility and in
activity as to the highest objects of his nature, and a state of
misery. A rational, immortal being, employing his powers
and seeking happiness entirely in things seen and temporal,
cannot be happy, in the true sense of the word. The carnal
mind indicates spiritual death, and produces unhappiness here,
and leads to eternal death, to hopeless misery hereafter.
On the other hand, the spiritual mind is " life and peace."
The man who is characterized by it is alive and active in
reference to God and eternity, and the very course of thought,
and feeling, and conduct which is connected with it, gives in
ward satisfaction, true happiness, " Life and peace in conjunc
tion," as Howe beautifully says, " not raging life, not stupid
peace, but a placid, peaceful life, and a vital, vigorous rest and
peace. It is not the life of a fury, nor the peace of a stone —
it is life that hath peace in it, and peace that hath life in it."
It is a natural inference then, that the carnally-minded
man is not a justified man; for, as we have seen, the justified
man lives with Christ to God, and, instead of the misery of
which death is the expression, he has peace with God, and
rejoices in hope — rejoices in God,2 and the spiritually-
minded, identifies himself with the justified, man, by that fife
and peace which grow out of " the mind of the Spirit." But
the apostle does not leave us to infer this conclusion, he draws
it himself in the words that follow — " Because the carnal mind
is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be."3
" The minding of the flesh" 4 is " enmity against God."
1 Ver. 6. 2 Chap. v. 1, 11; vi. 8, 10. 3 Ver. 7. * Qpivnpx rij? vu.py.6s.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 205
" Enmity" is just a strong expression for 'hostile' — opposed to.
As the word enmity sometimes signifies hatefulness, some have
supposed that the apostle's idea is—' the carnal mind, the mind
of the flesh, the minding of the flesh, to be carnal-minded — for
all these are the same thing — is hateful to God: and how can it
be otherwise ? " It is not conformed to His law," it never can
be conformed to it ; so that it is plain that he who is under its
influence, cannot be the object of the Divine complacency.
He cannot be a justified person. He must be in condemna
tion. This is a very clear, close course of thought ; but the
turn of the expression seems to require us to follow our
translators' rendering. " The carnal mind," or " the minding
of the flesh," is enmity — that is, very hostile — indicates
enmity in the heart in which it dwells. The minding of
the flesh is directly opposed to the Divine will, which is, that
man should seek and find happiness, not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit.
The second clause of the 7th verse is explicatory of the first.
How can it but be hostile to God, when " it is not conformed to
the law of God, neither indeed can be?" The law is just the
expressed will of God. The minding the flesh is not conformed
to that expressed will. To mind the flesh is to worship the world
and its god. It is thus directly opposed to the great funda
mental principles of the law. " The Lord our God is one Lord."
" Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." " Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."
And thus it is not only not conformed, but not conformable
to the Divine law. " How can snow be warmed ? By making
it cease to be snow," as Augustine well says. No modification
of the minding of the flesh can be reconciled with the Divine
law. It is a thing not to be mended but destroyed. There is no
possibility of man, under the dominant influence of the carnal
mind, yielding acceptable obedience to God. Well then
might the apostle draw the conclusion — " So then they that
are in the flesh cannot please God."1 By " in the flesh," the
' Ver. 8.

206 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
apostle sometimes signifies nothing more than to be " in the
body," in this mortal life, as when he says, " For me to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you " '— " Though we walk in
the flesh, we do not war after the flesh ;"2 but here it plainly
signifies to be under the habitual influence of our unchanged
nature. While they continue thus in the flesh, they cannot
be the objects of God's approbation. They must be the objects
of His disapprobation. It is plain that they are not justified
persons. The other side of the antithesis is not expressed, but the
ellipsis may easily be supplied. ' For the spiritual mind, the
minding of the Spirit, is not hostile to, but in accordance with
God ; for it is subject to His law, and it cannot be otherwise.
So then, they that are in the Spirit, must please God.' The
"minding of the Spirit" is something that entirely falls in
with God's designs, and therefore must be well-pleasing to
Him. It is in entire conformity with His law, requiring
supreme love to God; and in the measure in which any
man " minds the things of the Spirit," he cannot but yield
cheerful obedience to the Divine law. So that it is plain that
such a man is an object of the Divine favourable regard.
In the words that follow, the apostle applies the statements
he had made to those to whom he was writing. " But ye are
not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
Christ dwell in you." 3 To be " in the flesh" is to be under
the dominant influence of the flesh; to be " in the Spirit" is to
be under the dominant influence of the Spirit. The declara
tion seems equivalent to — 'Though the carnally-minded, being
spiritually dead, and directly opposed to the Divine will,
cannot be the objects of the Divine complacency, it is other
wise with you ; ye being not in the flesh but in the Spirit,
are spiritually alive — in a state of peace, and objects of the
Divine complacent regard.' Their possession of this unfleshly,
spiritual character, is attributed to the Spirit of Christ dwelling
in them. It is so with you, " if so be that the Spirit of Christ
1 Phil. i. 24. 2 2 Cor. x. 3. 3 Ver. 9.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 207
dwell in you." " The Spirit of Christ " is the Holy Spirit, who
may receive this appellation for various reasons — His essential
relation to Christ as a person of the Godhead, His dwelling in
Christ without measure, and His being sent by Christ as Media
tor. It is likely the last idea which the apostle expresses. The
Holy Spirit is given to believers, in consequence of Christ's
having redeemed men from the curse of the law, having be
come a curse for them.1 The use of the particle translated,
"if so be,"2 does not express doubt. Its force is perhaps as
justly expressed by " since," as many interpreters have done ;
at any rate, it is not more than equivalent to ' if — as I doubt
not,' or 'if really.' It is meant to express the important
truth, that the spiritual character can be formed only by
the permanent influence of the Holy Spirit, for that seems
the meaning of the phrase — who dwelleth in you.
The apostle proceeds to say, " Now," or " But, if any man
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."3 This is still
the same general truth : it is the sanctified only that are the
justified. If any man, whatever his profession may be, does
not make it evident that he " has the spirit of Christ," by his
being not in the flesh, not after the flesh, walking not after the
flesh, but being in the Spirit, after the Spirit, walking after
the Spirit, he is not one of Christ's peculiar people — not one
of those who have, in His life and death, that union with
Him which is implied in the Divine method of justification.
" And," or rather ' But,' 4 " if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin ; but the Spirit is life because of right
eousness."5 "But," or 'and,' "if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by
His Spirit that dwelleth in you."6 These words, standing in
opposition to the last clause of the 9th verse, seem equivalent
to a declaration, that if Christ by His Spirit really dwelt in
them, so influencing them as that they were " in the Spirit "
1 Gal. iii. 13, 14. '' ttirtp. 2 Thess. i. 6. 3 Ver. 9.
4^. ¦" Ver. 10. 6 Ver. 11.

208 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and not " in the flesh," then were they secure of all the bless
ings arising from being in Christ; for though their bodies were
mortal and must die, in consequence of that state of condemna
tion and helplessness into which the sin of the first man
brought the race, yet they should enjoy even now the blessings
of spiritual life, and in due time, their mortal — their dead
bodies, should revive and become immortal.
The words, " the body is dead because of sin," have by some
been referred to the mortification of sin ; as if it were — ' the
body is dead in respect of sin ; ' and others have interpreted
them as equivalent to, 'the body is spiritually dead' — as synony
mous with — " with my flesh I serve the law of sin." But
insurmountable objections lie in the way of both these inter
pretations. " If Christ be in you," is plainly the same thing as
' if ye have the Spirit of Christ.' But " to be in Christ,"
and " to have Christ in us," though uniformly descriptive of
the same individuals, do not mean the same thing. The first
refers to relation, the second to character. We are so " in
Christ" as that when He died we died, when He lives we live.
Christ is so " in us " as that, by His Spirit, through His Word,
He so transforms us, that we are His living images. His
thoughts and feelings become ours. We think, feel, and act
like Him. The first is the cause of the second. It is because
we are " in Him" that He is " in us."
" The body is dead because of sin ;" the body even of those
who are in Christ, and in whom Christ is, must die because
of sin — the state of sin — condemnation induced by the first sin
of the first man. " It is appointed to men once to die." x The
sentence must be executed — " Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return."2 "But the spirit is life because of right
eousness;" the spirit lives, enjoys true life with the living
One, from whose communion sin had cut it off; and enjoys
this " because of righteousness," — the state of justification
induced by the obedience of Him of whom Adam was a type.
1 Heb. ix. 27. 2 Gen. iii. 19.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 209
And even this is not all. " He that raised up Christ from
the dead," on account of that which justifies His people —
His finished work, " will," at the appointed time, " also raise up
their mortal " and " dead bodies." The resurrection of the bodies
of believers is represented as rising from their connection with
the Holy Spirit as well as with our Lord Jesus. " If the
Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in
you, He who raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies through — by, His Spirit who dwelleth in
you;" or, as it is on the margin, "because of His Spirit who
dwelleth in you." It is difficult to say which of the two read
ings (for they are different readings,1 not merely renderings), is
preferable. Each of them brings out a good and appropriate
sense. The meaning in the first case is, that the resurrection
of believers will be effected through the operation of the Holy
Spirit. The meaning in the second is, that the indwelling of
the Spirit in the bodies of believers here is one of the reasons
why they are to be raised up. That body which was hallowed
by the inhabitation of the Holy Spirit, shall not be allowed to
remain for ever under the dominion of death. The sacred edi
fice shall not always be in ruins, but shall be rebuilt in a style
of magnificence and beauty worthy of its Divine inhabitant.
The 9th, 10th, and 11th verses may be considered as the
apostle's illustration of his assertion, that the minding of the
spirit is life and peace, just as the preceding verses are of
the assertion, that the minding of the flesh is death ; and, as
equally with these, bearing on the object of the paragraph,
which is to show that sanctification is the proof of justification.
The next two verses contain an important practical infer
ence, drawn from what he had said : "Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh" — this is
one side of the antithesis ; the other is, " but we are debtors
to the Spirit, to live after the Spirit." " For if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live."3
1 ha tov ivoixoiiiiTOf airov Kvivfiaros. hd to ivoixovv avrov irviifza.
- Ver. 12, 13.

210 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" The flesh" and " the Spirit" are here personified. The
term " debtor," is often used as equivalent to, ' one under ob
ligation ;' a debt to do the whole law is an obligation to do
the whole law. In this sense believers are not debtors to the
flesh, but they are so to the Spirit. " The flesh" has no right
to rule or guide. Viewed as equivalent to man's animal
and sentient nature, the flesh is to be governed and guided :
it is the proper subject of obligation. Viewed as this nature
under the influence of depravity, it is not to be obeyed, but
resisted and mortified. " The spirit" — whether that mean
the frame of mind produced by the Holy Spirit, or the
Holy Spirit Himself, the author of that frame — is alone
entitled to rule the man. The believer is bound to act
according to his new nature, which is an embodiment of
the Divine will.
But from the context this seems not to be the sense in
which the phrase is used here. To be debtor to another, is
often used as equivalent to having received favours from him ;
and, consequently, being under obligations to show gratitude
by seeking to please him. An example of this we have at
chap. xv. 26, 27. The apostle's meaning seems to be : ' It is
plain, from what has been said, that you have derived no such
advantage from the flesh as to make it reasonable in you to
yield yourselves up to its influence ; and that you have
derived such advantage from the Spirit, as to make it reason
able that you should submit yourselves to its influence.' What
had they obtained from the flesh ? " When they were in the
flesh," and because they were in it, " the motions of sin,
which were by the law, did work in their members to bring
forth fruit unto death." The law, as to its power to do good,
was made " weak by the flesh." " The minding of the flesh
is death," and " they who are in the flesh cannot please God."
The flesh had done them nothing but mischief. It might
have given them some temporary gratification, but it had
done, it could do, them no permanent good : it had done
them much harm. They owed it no acknowledgment — no
service. To regulate, according to it, their sentiments and

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 211
habits, dispositions and pursuits, would be absurd. But they
were debtors to the Spirit, to live after the Spirit. Christians
owe to the Spirit all that is good in their character, happy in
their circumstances, and glorious in their hopes. It is the "law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that makes them free from
the law of sin and of death." " The minding of the things of
the Spirit is life and peace." It is in consequence of the
Spirit's taking possession of the mind that, while the body
continues mortal, and must die, the spiritual part of our na
ture becomes in the highest sense living — capable of, and dis
posed to, activities and enjoyments of the most exalted kind ;
and it is because the mortal body is tenanted by the Spirit,
that it is at last to become immortal, and, like its occupant,
spiritual. It was plainly the dictate of gratitude and reason,
that they should yield themselves up to the guidance of an
agency which had produced so much good — which had pro
duced nothing but what was good.
The obligations of believers not to live after the flesh, but
after the Spirit, arising from the consideration of the certain
issues of these two courses respectively, are strongly stated
in the words that follow : " For if ye live after the flesh, ye
shall die : but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds
of the body, ye shall live." '
To " live after the flesh," is to allow the principles of human
nature, unchanged by the Holy Spirit, to govern the charac
ter and to guide the conduct. The consequence of this, says
the apostle, "is death"— in all the extent of meaning that
belongs to that word. He who lives after the flesh is dead
while he liveth, and his course must end in the second death ;
and this is true of all who live after the flesh, whether grossly
immoral or not. The apostle does not hesitate to say this to
those whom he was addressing. He trusted they were in
the Spirit, and he knew that, if they were, they would not live
after the flesh; but he might be mistaken, and he wished them
to be impressed with this truth, that whatever they professed,
' Ver. 13.

212 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
whatever they seemed to be, if they lived after the flesh, the
end of those things must be death.
If, on the other hand, they lived after the Spirit, and through
the Spirit mortified the deeds of the body, they should certainly
live. To " live after the Spirit," is to regulate our whole inner
and outer life in conformity with the new nature produced by
the Holy Ghost. He who does so will " mortify the deeds of the
body." " The deeds of the body," does not mean the natural
functions of the human body, such as eating, and drinking,
and sleeping, or its natural likings and dislikings. These are
to be regulated, not mortified, by the Spirit. The expression,
" the deeds of the body," is, however we may account for such
a sense, equivalent in meaning to the " working of the law of
sin in the members ; " " our members that are on the earth ;"
" the lusts of the flesh ; " " the deeds of the old man." In
deed, in some of the MSS., the word flesh is used instead of
body. To " mortify" these, is to put them to death — not to
extirpate the natural principle, but to put an end to its undue
measure and wrong direction. This can be done only " by
the Spirit." The wrong way of thinking and feeling can be
put down only by being mastered by the right way of think
ing and feeling.
The end, the certain end, of such a course is " life" in all
the extent of meaning belonging to that word. The capacities
for, and tendencies to, the activities and enjoyments of the
highest kinds of life that the human being is capable of, will
grow throughout the immortality which is his inheritance.
Surely, then, it is very plain that nothing is more unreason
able and wrong than to live after the flesh; nothing more
reasonable and right than to live after the Spirit ; and nothing
more absurd than to suppose that an economy like that of the
Divine method of justification, which sets these principles in
so clear a light, can lead men to say, " Let us continue in sin
that grace may abound."
Returning from this practical digression, if it can indeed be
accounted one, the apostle proceeds with the great object of
the paragraph — to show that none but those who are holy

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 213
in heart and in life are actually interested in the Divine
method of justification — presenting the subject under a differ
ent aspect, and accompanies it with a new illustration, " For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God.'"
" For," introduces a reason for, or an illustration of, what
had been just said. " They who are led by the Spirit," are
they who " live by the Spirit," " walk after the Spirit," and
"by the Spirit mortify the deeds of. the body." Now, says
the apostle, these, and these only, are " the sons of God." To
be "the sons," or children, "of God," is a figurative expression
often used in Scripture respecting good men ; and according
as it is descriptive of relation, or of character, it indicates
either that God regards and treats them as His children, or
that they regard and treat Him as their Father. In the pas
sage before us, it is plainly used in the former of these senses,
and is equivalent in meaning to, ' they — they only, are the ob
jects of the complacent regards of God. They only are justi
fied persons.' As many, and no more, as are led by the
Spirit to live in the Spirit, and by the Spirit to mortify the
deeds of the body, are objects of the Divine favour. The
sanctifying influence of the Holy Ghost in the new nature,
showing itself in holy dispositions and actions, is a satisfactory
evidence, and nothing else is a permanently satisfactory evi
dence, that a person is in a justified state.
But the Spirit attests the justified state, or the filial relation
of believers, not only by making them'holy, but also by mak
ing them happy. This, if I mistake not, is the import of the
15th verse — " For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Some good interpreters
understand these two appellations as equally belonging to
the Holy Spirit : the one describing His influence on the mind
by the commands and threatenings of the law ; the other, His
influence on the mind by the declarations and promises of the
i Ver. 14.

214 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Gospel. I doubt, however, not only whether the apostle has
called, or could call, the Holy Ghost " the spirit of bondage,"
for he says, " Where" — i.e., wherever, " the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty;"1 but also, whether slavish fear of God's
wrath can, in any proper sense, be represented as His work.
I consider the word " spirit" here, as describing a frame of
mind ; as when Isaiah speaks of " a spirit of deep sleep ;"2 and
our apostle, of "the spirit of a sound mind."3 " The spirit of
bondage," is a slave-like spirit — a spirit of dislike and fear, the
spirit with which the slave regards his task-master and his
work. The word translated "adoption"4 is, in signification, quite
equivalent to sonship. " The spirit of adoption" is the spirit
with which dutiful children regard their father, and the em
ployments he is pleased to assign to them — a spirit of love and
confidence, producing tranquillity of mind, and cheerful obedi
ence and submission.
' Now,' says the apostle, ' ye Roman Christians, who are
in the Spirit, have received from Him, not a servile, but a
child-like disposition, to free you from the alarming terrors,
and the reluctance to duty, which once possessed your mind.
" Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." '
Whether they had been converted from Gentilism or Juda
ism, they had previously been under this servile spirit, which
is a character of fallen humanity. The views which a man
unenlightened in the truth takes of God, must produce un
easiness ; and whatever services such men render, are the
reluctant and melancholy task work of a slave. But they had
received a child-like disposition. They had been made to love
God, and to trust in Him. The Holy Spirit, given to them,
had "shed abroad the love of God in their hearts" — had
enabled them to understand and believe the revelation He had
made of His love to men, in the incarnation and sacrifice of
His Son ; and this had produced love of His infinite excel-

1 2 Cor. iii. 17. 3 Isa. xxix. 10.
" 2 Tim. i. 7. * viofoa-lu.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 215
lence, confidence in His mercy, peace and joy in believing.
The spirit of bondage led them to fear and tremble ; but the
spirit of sonship led them to cry, " Abba, Father."
The meaning is plain : this spirit led them to regard God
with the delightful feelings of love and confidence with which a
child regards his father, and led them to express this in deeply
reverential, yet, at the same time, free-hearted, affectionate
prayer. Nor is it difficult to account for the peculiar form of
the apostle's expression. " Abba" is a Chaldaic word, signi
fying ' father' — a word which it is said slaves were prohibited
from using towards the head of the family — a word appro
priated to the children. Syro-Chaldaic was a language with
which Paul, as a Jew, was very familiar — likely the language
spoken in his father's family ; though, in outer intercourse,
Greek would be commonly, used. The idea he meant to ex
press was, that they who were in the Spirit had the temper of
children, and showed it in the way in which they addressed
God. Now, what could be more natural than for him to use
the word, to which his ear was most accustomed, as the ex
pression of filial regard, and which he had likely a thousand
and a thousand times addressed, both to his earthly and his
heavenly Father, as an expression of happy confidence and
entire love? and then, recollecting that many of those to whom
he was writing did not understand the Syro-Chaldaic lan
guage, he adds a translation in a tongue more familiar to them.
Though we cannot consider the term, " Spirit of adoption," as
here a designation of the Holy Spirit, we consider the temper
it describes as the result of His influence ; for it is in conse
quence of God's sending forth the Spirit of His Son into the
hearts of Christians that they cry, " Abba, Father."1
This spirit — this disposition, is in itself an evidence that we
are the children of God — that we are in a state of acceptance
with Him. " The Spirit itself," or, the same Spirit, " bear
eth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God."
" The Spirit itself," may signify the Holy Spirit ; or, if it be the
i Gal. iv 0.

216 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
same as " the Spirit of adoption," still, as that spirit is the work
of the Holy Spirit, He testifies by it. These words may, with
more propriety, be rendered, "beareth witness to our spirits ;"
for there is no testimony of our spirits spoken of in the context.
The cordial love, the supreme veneration, the entire confidence
in God, which the Holy Spirit produces in the mind, and which
together form the Spirit of adoption, bear witness to our spirits
— testify to our own minds that we are indeed the children
of God. It is so different from the spirit with which we used
to regard God, that we cannot doubt that the spirit, which is
given to the children of God only, has been given to us. An
affectionate, dutiful child has in his own bosom the proof of
the peculiar relation in which he stands to his father. There
is nothing harsh in a particular disposition being represented
as bearing testimony to the mind in which that disposition
exists. We say, ' My heart or my conscience tells me this is
right or wrong.' There is, no doubt, a danger of our con
founding an enthusiastic feeling with this testimony of the
Spirit of adoption ; but that does not, in the slightest degree,
affect the facts, that there is such a spirit of adoption produced
by the Holy Spirit, and that He does by it give such a testi
mony. It is to no purpose for a man to deny such a testimony,
because he has never been conscious of it. There is likely
too good a reason. He has not received the Spirit of adop
tion, and how can he have its testimony ? A French philo
sopher, speaking of a particular kind of sensations, says —
" Those who are so unhappy as never to have had such sen
sations, either through weakness of the natural organ, or be
cause they have never cultivated them, will not comprehend
me." And the apostle, in reference to such matters, has said,
" The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know
them, for they are spiritually discerned."1 The Spirit testi
fies by His saving work ; and if men will not submit to bo
saved by Him, how can they have His testimony ?
' 1 Cor. ii. 14.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 217
In testifying to believers being sons, the Spirit of adoption
testifies to their being heirs — the latter being the necessary
consequence of the former. In testifying to their being in a
justified state, He testifies to their possession of the blessings
of a justified state : " And if children, then heirs, heirs of
God, and joint heirs with Christ." 1 The apostle's argument,
which loses nothing from being clothed in figure, is in plain
words, — 'If we are dear to God, we shall be blessed by
God. If we are children, He will treat us as children — as
His children.' To be an "heir of God" is to be secured of
everything, in the compass of the universe, that is necessary
to our happiness — to " inherit all things." This is the apostle's
commentary : " All things are yours ; whether Paul, or
Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death ; all are
yours ; for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's."2 But they
are not only " heirs of God," but " joint heirs with Christ."
These words convey two ideas : that the same blessings which
Christ enjoys shall be conferred on them ; and that they shall
enjoy these blessings in consequence of their connection with
Christ. Such, then, is the testimony which the Holy Spirit bears,
by the Spirit of adoption, to the justified state of believers ;
and thus concludes the apostle's illustration, at once of the
principle — sanctification is the proof of being justified, and of
the general subject of the bearing of the Divine method of
justification on the spiritual transformation of human nature.
The apostle, in accordance with a method peculiar to him, at
taches to the end of the sentence, with which he completes his
illustration of one point, a clause indicative of what is to be
the subject of the next paragraph — " If so be that we suffer
with Him, that we may be glorified together with Him."
Let us endeavour to turn to practical account, in the way
of self-examination, the apostle's illustration of the thesis,
' Sanctification is the evidence of being justified.' Let each
of us seriously ask himself the question, Am I in a state of
i Ver. 16. ' 1 Cor. iii. 21-23.

218 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
condemnation or in a state of acceptance ? Do I walk after
the flesh ? Do I mind the things of the flesh ? Am I
habitually opposed in my temper and conduct to the law
of God? Do I live after the flesh? Am I not led by
the Spirit ? Am I habitually under the influence of the
spirit of bondage, producing the fear that has torment?
Then there can be no doubt I am yet in a state of condem
nation. I am not, and if I continue in this state, I cannot be,
an object of complacency to God. I am in a state of spiritual
death ; and, continuing in it, I must ere long be in a state of
eternal death. I am not a child of God, and have no part in
the children's inheritance. These questions, especially as
explained by the preceding remarks, should not, if there be
honesty of purpose, be difficult to answer. Nor should the
antithetic inquiries be more hard of resolution Do I live in
and after the Spirit ? Do I walk after the Spirit ? Do I mind
the things of the Spirit ? Does the Spirit of God dwell in
me ? Have I the Spirit of Christ ? Do I, through that Spirit,
mortify the deeds of the body ? Am I led by the Spirit ?
Have I received the Spirit of adoption ? Does that Spirit
lead me to holy, reverential confidence in prayer, and bear
testimony to my mind that I am a child of God ? Then I am
in a state of spiritual life, which shall be in due time perfected
in life eternal. Then I please God ; I am Christ's ; I am a son
of God, and " if a son, then an heir, an heir of God, a joint
heir with Christ Jesus."
It is of infinite importance that we should come to a right
conclusion on this question. 1£ we are still condemned, there
is no time to lose. Let death, which may take place at any
time, intervene, and the sentence becomes irrevocable. All
things are ready for the passage of condemned men into a
justified state. The atonement has been made. The Spirit
is being shed forth abundantly. The plain, well-accredited
testimony is constantly being proclaimed, by faith in which
all the blessings procured by the atonement, and conferred by
the Spirit, may — assuredly shall, be ours. Then there shall
be no condemnation to us, seeing we are in Christ Jesus ; and

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 219
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will deliver us
from the law of sin and death.
If we have reason to conclude that we are not condemned —
reason to hope that we shall never come into condemnation,
let us prove by our conduct that the charge of a demoralizing
influence in the Divine method of justification is a slander, by
showing that " the kindness of God our Saviour," manifested
in saving us through the atonement of his incarnate Son,
" not by works of righteousness which we have done," or can
do, " but according to His mercy " — sovereign grace — " by
the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost, shed on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour, revealed
in the Gospel and believed by us, has taught us to be "care
ful to maintain good works" — leading us to "deny ungodliness
and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world ; while looking for the blessed hope,
and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem
us from all iniquity, and purify to Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." Thus let us make our calling and
election — our pardon and justification, sure, by " adding to our
faith, virtue ; and to virtue, knowledge ; and to knowledge,
temperance ; and to temperance, patience ; and to patience,
godliness ; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness ; and to
brotherly-kindness, charity." Thus will we, walking in the
light, as God is in the light, have fellowship with the Father
and the Son, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, shall
cleanse us from all sin ; and at last, washed, and sanctified,
and justified, in the name of our Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God, an abundant entrance shall be ministered to
us into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ ; and we shall continue to learn, throughout
' eternity, what these words mean, " And if sons, heirs ; heirs
of God, and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus."

220 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
§ 5. The Afflictions to which, in the present state, the Justified
are exposed, are not inconsistent ivith the reality and per
manence of that Special Divine Favour which, as Justified,
they enjoy.
Chapter vii. 17-37. — " If so be that we suffer with him, that we may
be also glorified together. For I reckon, that the sufferings of this pre
sent time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be
revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for
the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the
same in hope ; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain to
gether until now ; and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved
by hope : but hope that is seen is not hope : for what a man seeth, why
doth he yet hope for ? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we
with paitence wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmi
ties : for we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the
image of His Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren.
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called ; and whom
He called, them He also justified ; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified. What shall we then say to these things ? If God be for us,
who can be against us ? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all
things ? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect ? It is
God that justifieth ; who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died,
yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked
ness, or peril, or sword ? (As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all
the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ) Nay, in all
these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor princi-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 221
palities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
A new sub-section, being the fifth, seems to me to com
mence in the middle of the 1 7th verse, and reaches to the end
of the chapter. It may be entitled, " The afflictions of those
interested in the Divine method of justification, not incon
sistent with the reality and security of that peculiar Divine
favour of which it assures them." The topic is broached,
and briefly, though strikingly illustrated, in the 3d, 4th, and
5th verses of the fifth chapter. It is fully discussed in the
paragraph on the illustration of which we are about to enter.
The words, " If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may
be also glorified together with Him," which in our version
forms the last half of the 17th verse, are plainly, at least as
closely, connected with those which follow them as with those
which precede them. It is difficult to find a very distinct
idea in them, viewed as connected with what goes before. It
seems to be this : that we shall be heirs of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ Jesus, if we so suffer with Christ Jesus as
to be ultimately glorified together with Him. But, from the
first clause of the verse, it is obvious that the apostle suspends
the security of our heirship, or fixed relation, not on contin
gent circumstances— not on our suffering in a particular temper
or cause, but on our being sons. The words, then, are to be
considered as standing by themselves. Had it not been for
the connecting particle in the next verse, I would have con
nected them with it so as to form a complete sentence : ' If
so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified
together, I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are
not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be re
vealed.' But the inflexible rules of grammar forbid this.
The sentence is elliptical, but the ellipsis is easily supplied.
" If so be that we suffer with Christ Jesus, it is in order to
our being glorified together with Him." We have a construc
tion of precisely the same kind in the 6th verse of the first
chapter of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians — " Whether

222 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
we be afflicted," it is " for your consolation and salvation" —
or, " whether we be comforted," it is " for your consolation
and salvation." You will notice, it is is a supplement in each
of these clauses : And just so here.
The multiplied and severe afflictions to which believers in
Christ were exposed, in consequence of their faith in Him, no
doubt appeared to many ill to harmonise with the apostle's
declaration, that they were the objects of the peculiar and
unchanging favour and complacency of God. Surely such suf
ferings seemed to indicate something else than that they who
sustained them were the peculiar favourites of heaven. The
conclusion they were ready to come to respecting the servants,
was that which had been come to with regard to the Master —
" stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." The apostle meets
this natural misconception of the Divine dispensations, and
shows, by a variety of considerations, that no afflictions, how
ever severe, were at all inconsistent with the reality and
security of that favour of God, which is the peculiar privilege
of those who are interested in the Divine method of justi
fication. 1. They Suffer, with Christ, and that they may be Glorified
together with Him.1
The first of these considerations is, that the fellowship of
Christians with their Master, in time — on earth, in His suffer
ings, is in order that they may have fellowship with Him
through eternity, in heaven, in His glory. The apostle meets
the objection of the world, not by denying the fact on which
it rests, but by showing that they misapprehended its cause
and design. The objection might find utterance in language
like this — ' These are indeed glorious things which you pro
claim about those whom ye call, justified by the faith of
Christ ; sons of God ; heirs of God ; joint-heirs with Christ
Jesus. But what are these but swelling words of vanity?
1 Chap. viii. 17.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 223
Where is the blessedness of which you speak? Christians
are poor, despised, miserable creatures, and are so because
they are Christians. If they have fellowship with their Mas
ter, whom you call the Son of God, it is not in the glory, you
say, He now enjoys, but in the sufferings which we know He did
endure when He was on earth.' J To such an objection what
could be a more appropriate and sufficient answer than what
follows : " If so be we suffer" — if (as there can be no doubt)
we suffer, we suffer " with Christ ;" and we suffer with Him,
"that we also may be glorified with Him."2
Christians " suffer :" they have sufferings as men, they have
sufferings as Christians ; and the afflictions of the Christians
of the primitive age were peculiarly numerous and severe. In
becoming Christians, they did not cease to be men ; and on
becoming Christians, they were distinctly told, that he who
would be Christ's disciple must renounce himself, and take up
the cross — that " in the world they should have tribulation," 3
— and that " through much affliction they must enter into the
kingdom of God." 4
These sufferings were " sufferings with Christ " — borne in
common with Him. This is true even of the ordinary afflic
tions of life. He bore these as well as they ; and as borne by
them, they indicate a fellowship with Him in His sufferings.
These sufferings are not indeed to them, as they were in His
case, penal and expiatory ; but still Christians have this in
common with their Lord, that they submit patiently to, they
1 In the Octavius of Minucius Felix, c. xiii., we have a specimen of the
scoffings referred to. " Quid post mortem impendeat miseri dum adhuc
vivitis aestimate. Ecce pars vestrum et major et melior, ut dicitur,
algetis, opere, fame laboratis : et Deus patitur, dissimulat ; non vult, non
potest opitulari suis. Ita aut invalidus aut iniquus est. Tu qui immor-
talitatem posthumam somnias, cum periculo quateris, cum febribus ureris,
cum dolore laceraris, nondum conditionem tuam sentis ? nondum agnoscis
fragilitatem ? invitus miser infirmit.ates argueris nee fateris. Sed omitto
communia. Ecce vobis, minae, supplicia, tormenta, etiam non adorandae
sed subeundae cruces : ignes etiam quos et praedicitis et timetis : Ubi
Deus qui subvenire reviviscentibus potest viventibus non potest?"
2 Ver. 17. 3 John xvi. 33. * Acts xiv. 22.

224 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
acquiesce cheerfully in these afflictions, as righteous appoint
ments of God— expressions of His displeasure at sin. He,
though personally not liable, submitted to them, as a portion
of the divinely appointed means by which the atonement was
to be made ; and they, though freed from them as penal evils
by their connection with Christ, still submit to them, as
manifestations of God's displeasure against sin, as well as the
means of their spiritual improvement. They have a still
closer fellowship with Christ in the sufferings to which as
Christians they are exposed : they are treated as He was
treated, and for the same reasons ; and they have His sym
pathy in all their sufferings.
This view of affliction is peculiarly fitted to reconcile the
Christian mind to suffering. There is a felt suitableness in
it. " It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master." x
" I would rather," said one of the Christian fathers, "fall with
Christ than reign with Csesar." The sufferings of Christ have
sanctified and sweetened the sufferings of His people.
This is not, however, the leading idea here : that is, ' These
sufferings, with Christ here, are in order to our being glorified
together with Him hereafter.' There are two thoughts here,
each well fitted to reconcile Christians to the sufferings of the
present time — first, they who suffer with Christ shall be glori
fied with Him; and, second, the suffering with Him is in order
to their being glorified together with Him.
To be " glorified with Christ," is to be made partakers of
His glory : it is to be made " like Him," seeing Him as He
is — conformed to Him in soul, and even in body. Their
vile bodies are to be fashioned like unto His glorious body,
and they are to shine forth along with Him " as the sun in the
kingdom of His Father." " It is a faithful saying, if we be
dead with Him, we shall also live with Him ; if we suffer with
Him, we shall also reign with Him." 2 This is surely enough
to reconcile to suffering.
1 Matt. x. 25.
» 1 John iii. 2 ; Phil. iii. 21 ; Matt. xiii. 43 ; 2 Tim. ii. 1], 12

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 225
But this is not all. The design of these sufferings is, " that
we may also be glorified together with Him." Not that in the
new economy these sufferings are in any degree meritorious,
so as to purchase for us our future happiness, but that they
form an important part of that system of discipline by which
we are prepared for it. They together " work out for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." x " It be
came Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the Captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings ;"2 and by a some
what similar course of trial does He conduct all His followers
to fellowship with Him in His glory. " The trial of their
faith, which is more precious" — more valuable, and more avail
ing than the trial of gold, that, if carried very far, ends in the
perishing of the thing tried — " will be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 3 Every
trial will be found to have improved the character — made it
more capable of the celestial glory, and nothing but the dross
shall have perished. The afflictions of the justified are not
only to be followed by glory, but they are the appointed and
appropriate path to it.
2. There is an immeasurable disproportion between the present
Suffering and the coming Glory.4
In the next verse, the apostle asserts the immeasurable
disproportion between the sufferings of the present and the
glories of the future state, to which they are not only intro
ductory, but preparatory. " For I reckon that the sufferings
of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which is to be revealed in us." 5 This is the second
proof that the afflictions to which Christians are exposed,
however severe, are not inconsistent with the reality and per
manence of that peculiar Divine favour, which the Divine
method of justification secures for its subjects.
1 2 Cor. iv. 17. " Heb. ii. 10. 3 1 Pet. i. 7.
* Chap. viii. 18-25. ¦, Ver. 18.

226 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" For" is here illustrative. " The glory that shall be re
vealed in us" — rather " to us," towards us, in reference to
us,1 is the glory of Christ, to be manifested in His conduct
towards His people at the consummation of all things. It is
a general name for the beatitude and grandeur to be then
bestowed on them, viewed as a display of His glory — of His
glorious power, wisdom, and grace. He is to be " glorified in
His saints, and admired in all them that believe,"2 when He
presents them to Himself, " a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle, or any such thing," 3 and gives them full pos
session of " the inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that
fadeth not away."4 This is "the grace that is to be brought
to them at the coming of their Lord." Weighed in the balance
with this, all affliction which might be necessary as prepara
tion for it, seemed to the apostle not worthy to be taken into
the account — less "than nothing, and vanity. " The sufferings
of the present time" are not light, to any Christian ; they
were peculiarly heavy in the primitive age. No man ever
bore a heavier load of them than the apostle ; and they were
often long continued. His whole life was a life of suffering ;
yet, heavy as they might be in themselves, they were light in
comparison with that weight of glory, which nothing but the
support of an Omnipotent arm could enable a created spirit
to sustain ; long continued as they might be, they were but
momentary, in comparison with the eternity during which this
glory was to rest on him.
The apostle seems to have allowed his mind to dwell on the
blissful idea of " the glory to be revealed," till his whole soul
was penetrated with a sense of its inconceivable grandeur ; and
he gives vent to his feelings in the sublime, though somewhat
obscure, paragraph that follows : — " For the earnest expecta
tion of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons
of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not
willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same
in hope ; because the creature itself also shall be delivered
1 sis w-«t- 2 2 Thess. i. 10. s Eph. v. 27. * ] Pet. i. 4.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 227
from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. For we know that the whole creation
groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now : And not
only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to ivit, the redemption of the body." '
Interpreters have differed as to the design for which this
paragraph is introduced by the apostle — some affirming that
his object is to illustrate the certainty, and others the great
ness, of the blessedness which awaits the objects of the Divine
favour at the consummation of all things. There can be little
reasonable doubt that the last is the apostle's object. It is in
tended to illustrate and to confirm his estimate of the com
parative unimportance of the sufferings to which at present
they are exposed. It is as if he had said — Thus I reckon, and
I may well so reckon, for the event we look for is one of
transcendent magnitude. Our deliverance is connected with
the deliverance of an enslaved world. The day of our redemp
tion will be the jubilee of the universe.
This passage is confessedly a difficult one ; but it deserves
notice, that, like most other portions of Scripture, which, for
whatever reason, are hard to be understood, none of the pri
mary principles of Christian faith or duty are involved in its
interpretation. Considerable obscurity is cast on it by the somewhat con
fused and inaccurate manner in which it has been construed
and translated in our version. It may surprise some to be told
that it is precisely the same word 2 which is translated " crea
ture" in the 19th, 20th, and 21st verses, and "creation" in
the 22d. The phrase — " the earnest expectation of the crea
ture waiteth," though a strictly literal translation of the original
words, conveys no distinct idea to an English ear. The mean
ing is — ' the creature, earnestly expecting, waiteth ;' or, 'the
creation, in expectation, waiteth.' The whole of the 20th
verse, with the exception of the concluding words, " in hope,"
1 Ver. 19-23. - h xriais.

228 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
is parenthetical, and is plainly thrown in to show how the
creation comes thus earnestly to expect and wait for " the
manifestation of the sons of God." The words, " in hope,"
should be connected with the 21st verse ; and the particle
rendered " because," should receive its at least equally com
mon rendering, "that;" and the whole verse be considered
as the continuation and conclusion of the sentence commenced
in the 19th. In the propriety of these changes, almost all
critical interpreters are agreed. The passage, construed and
translated in conformity to them, would run thus : — " For the
creation, in earnest expectation, waiteth for the manifestation
of the sons of God (for the creation was made subject to
vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected
it thereto"), " in hope that the creation itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God ; for we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."
It would not comport with the purpose of these illustrations,
to enter into a statement and discussion of all the different
opinions which have been entertained respecting the meaning
of this passage. I will content myself with stating the only
two opinions that appear to me probable, and giving you the
reasons that induce me to prefer the one to the other.
It must be plain to every person, that the interpretation of
the passage depends chiefly on the meaning attached to the
word translated " creature" and " creation," and which cer
tainly should have uniformly been rendered by one or other
of these words. The word primarily and properly signifies
the act of creating.1 By a natural enough transition, it comes
to signify that which is created. It sometimes, and especially
when connected with the adjective 'all' or 'every,' signifies
the created universe — the world — the whole frame of nature ;
and sometimes it is restricted to one particular class of crea
tures, and signifies the whole of them— for example, of men,
just as our English word "world" is employed. In the first
1 Rom. i. 20.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 229
of these, senses — that of the whole frame of nature — the uni
verse of creatures, it occurs at least in two passages of the
New Testament Scripture : " The first-born of every crea
ture"1 — i.e., as I apprehend, 'the Prince of the whole crea
tion, the Lord of the universe ;' and " the beginning of the
creation of God"2 — ' the first principle, author, or rather,
perhaps, ruler, of the creation of God.' It occurs in this sense
in a number of passages in the Apocryphal books.3 In the
second of these senses — the whole of human creatures— it
occurs also repeatedly in the New Testament : " Preach the
Gospel to every creature,"4 or, to the whole creation — to all
men ; " The Gospel which is preached to every creature
under heaven,"3 or, to the whole creation — i.e., to all men
under heaven. It is quite plain, then, that the word " the
creature," or " creation," " every creature," and " the whole
creation," may, so far as the usage of the inspired writers is
concerned, be interpreted either of the whole frame of nature
— the universe of creatures, or of mankind at large.
There is no other use of the term at all applicable to the
subject, that can be supported. Whether it signifies the one
or the other of these two things in the passage before usj
must be determined by considering which of them best suits
the context and the design of the apostle. Interpreters,
equally learned, are to be found on both sides, as might be
naturally expected in such a case ; each mode of interpreta
tion has its recommendations, and each its difficulties.
Those who consider the phrase, " the creature," or " the
creation," ' every creature,' or ' the whole creation,' as de
scriptive of the human race in general, explain the passage as
follows : ' The whole race of man is earnestly expecting and
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God — for that
period when the glory (spoken of in ver. 18) is to be revealed
in them, and they are thus clearly shown to be what they
i Col. i. 15. ' Rev. iii. 14.
3 Judith ix. 12, xvi. 14 ; Wisd. ii. 6, v. 17, xvi. 24, xix. 6.
4 Mark xvi. 15. * Col. i. 23.

230 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
are — the sons of God ; and it is doing so in the hope that the
whole race shall then be delivered from that subjection to
vanity under which it at present groans (the word "vanity"
being equivalent to frailty, mortality, corruption — a state of
things not original to them — not induced by any act of their
will, but by an appointment to which they are reluctantly
subject) ; and not only so, but that, delivered from this bond
age of corruption, all men shall be introduced into the glorious
liberty of the children of God — their complete and everlasting
deliverance from death and the grave, and their immortal,
unchanging life of blessedness. The state of suffering of the
human race, and the intensity of its desires for deliverance,
are delineated, in the 22d verse, under the figures of " groan
ing and travailing in pain even until now." '
This mode of interpretation seems to me to labour under
insurmountable difficulties. It is not in accordance with facts
that the whole human creation — that the entire race of man,
in all ages, or in any age, has expected a period when the
sons of God shall appear to be what they are, and when they
themselves shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption
and made fellow-heirs with the sons of God, of their peculiar
privileges. The great body of mankind has, in almost every
age, been profoundly ignorant as to the great events here de
scribed. Heathens have not expected — they do not expect, the
manifestation of the sons of God. They have, in general, no
hope of being delivered from the bondage of corruption. There
is a natural fear of death, and a natural desire of the continua
tion of life, which is all but universal among men ; but there
is not — there never was, a general hope of immortality, far
less of a resurrection, among the heathen nations. It by no
means removes the difficulty, to say that they expect and hope
for these things implicitly in the same way as they have been
represented to desire the Messiah. It may be doubted whether
the passage referred to1 is a prediction referring to the Mes
siah at all; and, if it be, its probable meaning is — that
1 Hag. ii. 7.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 231
Messiah, when Pie came, should be an object of affectionate
desire to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. Besides, the
interpretation under review goes on a principle quite irre
concilable with numerous most explicit declarations of Scrip
ture — that the whole human race, without exception, are to be
made ultimately happy. There shall be two companies before
the throne of eternal judgment ; and, after the final doom is
pronounced, the one shall " go into everlasting punishment,"
and the other " into life eternal." l
For these and other reasons, which might have been ad
duced, I am disposed to prefer the ancient mode of interpre
tation, which considers ' the creation,' and ' the whole crea
tion,' as referring to the frame of nature, apart from man — the
irrational and inanimate creation. In interpreting the greater
part of the paragraph on this principle, there is no difficulty
whatever. The world in which we live has become " subject
to vanity" — to vicissitude, decay, and dissolution. This phrase
ology seems to intimate that it was not originally so. We have
but little information as to the state of the irrational and
inanimate creation previously to the fall of man through sin ;
but we have reason to think that an important change to the
worse has taken place. This we know — that, in its present state,
our world is exposed to vicissitude and change, and is doomed
to dissolution. " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." Every
thing is fluctuating. Processes of change, more rapid or more
slow, are everywhere perceptible. " Even the mountain fall
ing cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of its
place : the waters wear the stones, and the things which grow
out of the dust of the earth, are washed away." 2 The animal
tribes are exposed to many severe sufferings ; and we know
that, as " the world which once was, being overflowed with
water, perished," so " the heavens and the earth which are
now, are kept in store, reserved unto fire in the day of judg
ment and perdition of ungodly men ; when the heavens shall
pass away with a mighty noise, and the elements shall melt
1 Matt. xxv. 4fi 5 Job xiv. 18, li).

232 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
with fervent fire, and the earth also, and the works which are
therein, shall be burnt up." x
Into this state the creation was brought, " not willingly" —
not of its own accord. ' Will' cannot properly be ascribed to
the frame of nature, irrational and inanimate ; but the mean
ing is, that this subjection to vanity did not arise out of its
original constitution. It is abnormal, and was superinduced
by the will of " Him who subjected it." Some interpreters
consider this appellation as denoting Adam, others Satan ;
but there seems no valid reason of doubt that God is meant.
Whatever occasioned this change, the omnipotent will of God
alone could cause it. The world became " subject to vanity"
when He proclaimed, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake."2
Now, this state of subjection to vanity is not to continue
for ever. The creation is to be delivered from the bondage
of corruption — this state of subjection to change, decay, and
dissolution. There is to be " a new heaven and a new earth,
wherein Eighteousness is to dwell,"3 and where Stability and
Peace shall, under her protection, make their abode. The
earth which now is, is materially the same as the earth that
was previous to the deluge ; and the earth that shall be after
the conflagration, shall be materially the same as the earth
that now is ; so that its re-formation may be considered as a
deliverance of the frame of nature from the bondage of cor
ruption. We know but little of the new earth ; but we know
that it shall "remain before the Lord,"4 no longer "subject
to vanity."
As to the brute tribes, if they are to be included in the ex
pression, " whole creation," the phraseology does not neces
sarily imply their resurrection ; though this is not the absurd
idea or impossible event which superficial thinkers are apt to
suppose it. It merely implies, that if there are irrational
creatures in that better state of things, they shall not be . ex
posed to the sufferings to which they are exposed in the pre
sent state. 1 2 Peter iii. 5, 10. 2 Gen. iii. 17.
» 2 Peter iii. 13. * Isa. lxvi. L'2.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 233
But the whole creation is not only to be " delivered from
the bondage of corruption," but its various constituent parts
are to be introduced to a new and higher state of being : they
are to be " delivered — into the glorious liberty of the children
of God." The phrase is elliptical, some such word as inducted
must be supplied. " The liberty of the children of God," is
freedom from evil in all its forms, and the enjoyment of the
corresponding good; and when the children of God obtain
this liberty in its perfect form, the whole creation shall enter
on a state in which nothing is deficient or wrong — a state of
perfection suited to its nature. The new earth will not be
less perfect and beautiful than the paradisaical— probably in
comparably more so.
Some good interpreters have supposed subjection to vanity
to refer to the creatures become the occasions and instruments
of sin, and their deliverance to the removal of this state of
things; but though this principle of interpretation leads to
some pleasing, useful thoughts, it is too limited to be a satis
factory key to the passage. All that we have said is plain
enough, quite accordant with other passages of Scripture,
and all tends to show the transcendent magnitude of that
glorious deliverance which Christians are secured of, by the
Divine method of justification, and in comparison with which
the apostle considers the afflictions of the present time as
nothing. But what are we to make of such expressions as the frame
of nature earnestly expecting, hoping, and waiting for the
period when the sons of God are to be manifested, and when
itself is to be delivered from the bondage of corruption ; and
testifying the ardour of its expectation, by stretching out the
neck, groaning, and travailing in pain ? It is plain, that ina
literal sense, these phrases are quite inapplicable to the crea
tion, in the sense in which we understand the term. The
apostle here uses, as he does in other places, the figure of
speech which rhetoricians call personification. He ascribes
life and reason to inanimate and irrational creatures. This is
no uncommon thing, even in the language of ordinary life.

234 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
We say, when the fields are parched and riven with burning
drought, that they are thirsty, and are opening their mouths
for the drink that is necessary to refresh them. In a fine
summer day, when everything looks beautiful, we say Nature
smiles. Instances of this kind in Scripture are very frequent.
You will find them Gen. iv. 10 ; Lev. xxvi. 34 ; Psalm xix.
1 ; xcvi. 11, 12 ; xcviii. 7, 8 ; cxiv. 3-6 ; Hab. iii. 10 ;
James v. 4. These are but specimens.
But then, in all Scriptural personifications, true and im
portant meaning is embodied ; and here we are taught, in a
highly poetical and beautiful manner, that at the period when
the manifestation of the sons of God is to take place, which is
at the time of the redemption of the body, a glorious change
to the better is to take place on the frame of nature, and that
were it endowed with sense and reason, it would expect
and wait for it, and that there are appearances which, to a
poetic mind, naturally assume the aspect of the expression of
such sentiments ; earthquakes, volcanoes, furious tempests,
desolate wildernesses, seem the utterances of nature's suffer
ings, and desires, and anticipations. The whole paragraph is
a highly poetical, but, at the same time, a perfectly intelligible
representation of this truth, that the final deliverance of the
people of God from evil is to be connected with a great and
most favourable change in the general frame of nature.
There is, indeed, one difficulty connected with this mode
of interpretation, but it is not a formidable one. It may
seem strange that, in the midst of an important discussion, the
apostle should at once rise from plain prose into the highest
regions of poetry. The solution of the difficulty is in the
nature of the subject, and the deep interest the apostle had
in it. The thought of the glory to be revealed, stirred the
very depths of his soul, and called forth its sublimest thoughts
and most impassioned emotions. These could not find natural
utterance in anything but poetical language. On the sup
position that the language is figurative, all is in harmony with
the laws of the human mind ; but if it is not, as is supposed,
by those who apply the passage to men generally, I do not

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 235
see how the apostle can be defended against the charge of
gross exaggeration.
In the verses that follow, the apostle states, that the great
event — " the glory to be revealed," " the manifestation of the
sons of God" — •" the deliverance from the bondage of corrup
tion," for which even the irrational and inanimate creation
seemed to long, was regarded with deep intelligent interest, and
looked forward to with earnest desire by those who, like him and
the believing Eomans, had, in the Spirit, obtained an earnest
of the blessings then, only then, to be fully enjoyed : " And not
only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body."1 The
word they is a supplement ; the phrase rendered " not only,"
is the same as that which in the first paragraph of the fifth
chapter is repeatedly rendered " and not only so." If any
supplement was inserted, it should have been the whole crea
tion ; " And not only does the whole creation groan and travail
in pain, but even we ourselves, who have received the first
fruits of the Spirit, while waiting for the adoption, the redemp
tion of the body, groan within ourselves."
The " first fruits of the Spirit" is a figurative expression.
" The first fruits," literally, denotes a portion of the best of
the first ripe grain solemnly devoted to God. The word, when
used metaphorically, always implies the idea of excellence,
connected with the idea that the persons or things to which
it is applied, form a part of an assemblage of persons or
things, and have a priority, in time or in dignity, to their asso
ciates. " The first fruits" of " the lump" of the Jewish
nation,2 seems to mean their patriarchs. When Christ is
called " the first fruits of them who sleep," the idea is, He was
the first who rose from the dead to die no more, and His resur
rection is necessarily connected with theirs.3 Epenetus4 is
termed the first fruits of Achaia to Christ, i.e., the first
1 Ver. 23. 2 Rom. xi. 16.
3 1 Cur. xv. 20. * Horn. xvi. 5.

236 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Achaian convert. There is thus no difficulty in finding the
meaning of " first fruits," used figuratively.
But what are the "first fruits of the Spirit?" By "the
Spirit," we are to understand the Holy Spirit, with His gifts
and influences ; and His first fruits may be considered as de
scriptive either of a portion of His gifts and graces, viewed in
reference to the whole of His gifts and graces to be communi
cated to the Church, or of the gifts and graces of the Spirit
generally, as first fruits of the full harvest of holy happiness
to be enjoyed by Christians at the consummation of all things.
In the first case, " we who have the first fruits of the Spirit,"
means, we the apostles or primitive Christians, who first in
order of time received the gifts of the Holy Ghost. In the
latter case, it means we Christians who, in the sanctifying and
comforting influences of the Holy Spirit, enjoy the first fruits
of the holy happiness we expect to enjoy in heaven.
We prefer the latter mode of interpretation, for the follow
ing reasons. What the apostle describes here is not peculiar
to apostles or primitive Christians, but is common to all Chris
tians, expecting and waiting for full salvation, and in the
meantime groaning within themselves. It gives mpre force
to the apostle's contrast ; not only does the enslaved creation
groan, but we, though partially delivered, groan ; and it
accords with the description, which the apostle elsewhere gives
us, of the Holy Spirit, as " the earnest of the inheritance until
the redemption of the purchased possession."1 In the enlight
ening, sanctifying, comforting influences of the Holy Spirit,
Christians have the first fruits of final salvation. These are
a portion of it; for what is heaven but perfect knowledge,
holiness, and happiness ? and in them, too, they have evidence
that in due time they shall have the whole of what they have
now the earnest.
Now, in these circumstances, they are expecting and wait
ing for the adoption — the redemption of the body. " The
adoption," is the state of mature, manifested, Divine sonship
1 Eph. i. 14.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 237
that is identified with " the redemption of the body." I cannot
doubt that this means the resurrection of the body ; not, as
some would have it, " deliverance from the body of sin," or from
the mortal body — or the redemption of the Church, the mys
tical body of Christ. The resurrection had already, at verse
11th, been spoken of as the completion of the deliverance by
Christ. It is when the saints become " the children of the
resurrection," that in their complete nature — soul and body —
perfected, they are, and are recognised to be, " the children of
God."1 That is the state of mature sonship.
With the " first-fruits" — the gifts and graces of the Spirit,
Christians are made truly, but not completely, happy ; and the
enjoyment of these leads them to expect and wait for what has
been distinctly promised to them ; but while waiting, expecting,
they groan as well as the creation. They too still suffer from
the state which sin has introduced. They are saved, but they
are not completely saved. Their desire is expressed in groans.
It is the expression of present suffering, as well as coming,
complete deliverance. The phrase — " within ourselves," is
somewhat obscure. It seems equivalent to — we deeply, though
patiently, groan ; our suffering is intense, our desires ardent.
It is probably too intended to suggest the thought, that our
longings are very different from those of the whole creation.
Theirs is an unconscious, ours an intelligent desire.
The verses which follow explain how it is that they who
have the first-fruits of the Spirit expect and groan. The rea
son is, their salvation, in its complete form, is a future, not a
present thing — the object of hope, not of enjoyment. It is not
present, therefore they groan. It is future, therefore they hope.
" For we are saved by hope : but hope that is seen is not hope :
for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ? But if we
hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.2
" We are saved by hope" does not mean, ' that it is through
the influence of hope, founded on faith, on our mind, that we
persevere in faith and holiness, and thus obtain full salvation.'
1 Luke xx. 36. a Ver. 24-25.

238 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
This is true, but it is not to the apostle's purpose. What he
means is, ' We are saved, in the full extent of that word, not
immediately, but prospectively ; so that we cannot so justly say
that we are saved, as that we hope to be saved.' " The salvation
that is in Christ with eternal glory," is to be looked and longed
for, and will be brought to us at the coming of our Lord
Jesus. " Now hope that is seen is not hope." Hope here is
the thing to be hoped for, and seen is equivalent to realized.
A blessing which we were expecting, when realized, ceases,
as a matter of course, to be hoped for. It loses its distinctive
character and name. It is no longer a hope, it is an enjoy
ment. "For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for ?"
A state of complete enjoyment puts an end to all hope but
the hope of its continuance.
This is not, however, the state of Christians here. They
are hoping for what they do not see. They are expecting
something different from, something better than, any thing
they have experienced. " It does not yet appear what they
shall be."1 They know much about their future salvation,
but it is by faith, and not by sight; and therefore they expect,
and patiently expect it. It is future, therefore they groan.
It is certain, therefore they wait, patiently wait. So that, in
the circumstances of their present state, there is nothing which
should perplex and harass the Christian, and make him doubt
of the certainty and security of the love of God to him in
Christ Jesus.
How abundant are the consolations thus provided for true
Christians, amid the afflictions of life, however complicated
and severe ! They suffer with Christ. They shall be glori
fied together with Him. And they suffer with Him, in order
that they may be glorified with Him.
Their sufferings, however heavy, however protracted, do not
deserve to be compared with the exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. They may look forward with confidence to an event
which will fill the universe with gladness. But none of all
1 1 John iii. 2.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 239
the creatures will be so happy as they — the redeemed of the
Lord, the manifested sons of God.
How thankful should they be for the first-fruits of the
Spirit, and how diligent in seeking a larger measure of them !
How important is it for them to take just views of their
present condition, to remember habitually that the highest
blessings their nature is capable of, are future ; that if they
would not be disappointed, they must make them the great
object of hope ! The hopes, even of Christians, are often
misplaced ; and those of them that are rightly placed, are
interrupted and feeble. If a man place his hopes in things
seen and temporal, he may reckon on disappointment. He
may often not get what he expected ; and he shall never obtain,
even in that which he does get, the satisfaction he anticipated
from it. Steady hope, founded on firm faith, will not prevent
a man from feeling the afflictions of life, or from groaning
under them ; but it will enable him to expect and to wait —
nay, it will enable him to rejoice in his tribulations, for he
regards them as steps towards the glory of God, in the hope
of which he exults.
Let those who profess to have the hope of the Gospel seri
ously examine whether the hope they cherish be indeed the
hope of the Gospel ; and, to ascertain this, to inquire — what
is its foundation, and what are its effects ?
Let those who have good hope through grace seek to
" abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost;" and
for this purpose, let them often meditate on the great object
of hope, eternal life ; and on the only ground of hope, the
sovereign grace of God, finding its way to sinful man through
the mediation of His Son, made known in the word of the
truth of the Gospel. And let them often too " bow their knees
to the God of hope, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that He may give them the spirit of wisdom and reve
lation in the knowledge of Him, that the eyes of their under
standing being enlightened, they may know what is the hope of
His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance
in the saints." Thus shall they be enabled, though groaning,

240 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
to endure bravely, and wait patiently, as seeing Him and that
which is invisible, till the seen shall give way to the unseen,
the temporal to the eternal ; and then they shall find that
" Hope maketh not ashamed." They expect much, but they
shall obtain more ; they shall receive exceeding abundantly
above all that they could ask or think. It is not merely what
eye has never seen, ear never heard, but what never entered,
never could enter, into the heart of man to conceive, that
" God hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." r This
is the " salvation that is in Christ, with eternal glory."
And all this may be yours, poor thoughtless sinner, miser
able self-deceiver, base hypocrite, open profligate, if now, in the
faith of the truth, you receive Him, who is our hope, as He is
our peace, " made of God" to men, " wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption." But it must be now.
The Master will, ere long, in reference to each of you, rise up
and shut to the door — by the hand of death. How soon may
this be, how suddenly ! And then there is no hope for you,
false or true, throughout eternity. Nothing but intolerable
suffering, and a certain fearful looking for of its uninterrupted,
unending continuance. Turn to the stronghold. Prisoner of
hope ! The Avenger is out, and on thy track, and may at any
moment overtake or intercept thee. " Escape for thy life,"
for thy soul's life ! Flee ! " Look not behind thee." The
gate is open ; nor man, nor angel can shut it. No safety with
out — no danger within.
3. Suitable Spiritual Aids are furnished under Affliction.2
A third and powerful consideration, showing that " the
sufferings of the present time" do not affect the reality and
security of the blessings connected with a personal interest in
"the Divine method of justification," is adduced in the 26th
verse — ' Under these afflictions, Christians are furnished with
suitable spiritual aids and supports.' " Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not what we should
' Isa. lxiv. 4. ' Chap. viii. 26, 27.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 241
pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh interces
sion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints accord
ing to the will of God." '
The force of the word "likewise" seems to be — ' Not only
does hope lead us patiently to wait for deliverance from our
afflictions; spiritual aids are also afforded us for the same
purpose.' The term " infirmities," or, as is now generally admitted to
be the better reading, " infirmity," does not seem to have a
reference to moral deficiencies, but to afflictions, and particu
larly to afflictions rising out of the faith and profession of
Christianity. This appears from the following passages : —
" If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which con
cern mine infirmities." 2 " Of such an one will I glory : yet
of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities." 3 " He
said, My grace is sufficient for thee ; for My strength is made
perfect in weakness" (infirmity, the same word). " Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure
in infirmities" — what follows explains what he means by that
phrase — " in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in
distresses, for Christ's sake : for when I am weak" (infirm),
" then am I strong."4
Now, the apostle here describes a peculiar kind of spiritual
help, which Christians were secured of, in the state of infir
mity or affliction in which they are placed, in the present time.
It is of importance that we should ascertain, as exactly as
possible, the phase of affliction which the apostle has in his
eye. The persons he is speaking of are justified persons —
who, through faith, have peace with God, and free access to
Him — who have received, not the spirit of bondage, but of
adoption, and habitually regard God as their Father. They
know His name, and have confidence in Him. They are
1 Ver. 26, 27. 2 2 Cor. xi. 30. 3 2 Cor. xii. 5. * 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.
Q

2\'l DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
sure of all that is good for them from Him, for the asking.
Why, then, should they ever be perplexed and unhappy,
however afflicted ? Why should they not " be anxious for
nothing, but in everything with prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, make their requests known to God?" and if
they do so, assuredly " the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep their hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus." 1 But here is the difficulty : they often, in their in
firmity, " do not know what they should ask as they ought."
They know — for " this is the confidence they have in Him,
that if they ask anything according to His will, He heareth
them"2 — that "whatsoever they ask, believing, they shall
receive." But what is according to the will of God, they often
but very dimly descry — sometimes cannot at all perceive ; and
they often experience a great deficiency of that faith and holy
desire, which they know to be essential to acceptable prayer.
Could they but find their way to their Father's throne, and
pour out requests consciously agreeable to His will, and in
the assurance of being heard, any affliction could be borne.
This seems to have been exactly the state of the Psalmist,
when he said, " This is my infirmity." 3
Now, says the apostle, " the Spirit helpeth our infirmity,"
or " our infirmities." We have spiritual aids, suited to our
circumstances, in our infirmity. It has been doubted whether
" the Spirit" here be the Holy Spirit, personally considered,
or the spirit as opposed to the flesh — the spirit of adoption —
the new nature. It does not much matter which interpreta
tion is adopted ; for, if it be the Spirit personally, it is the
Spirit working by the instrumentality of the new frame of
dispositions which He has formed and sustains ; and if it be
the new nature, it is that frame of thought and feeling, as
influenced by Him whose work it is.
The expression deserves notice : " The Spirit itself helpeth
our infirmity"— aids us, in the very distressed state to which
he refers, " by groanings that cannot be uttered." " The
1 Phil. iv. 6, 7. 2 1 John v. 14. a Psalm Ixxvii. 10.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 243
Spirit itself"1 — the very same words used of the Spirit of
adoption2 — " maketh intercession for us, with groanings which
cannot be uttered." The help is most appropriate ; it is just
what we need. We feel as if we could not pray ; but the
Spirit prays for us — in us, not, it may be, in articulate
words, but " with groanings which cannot be uttered."
What is the meaning of these words, supposing the refer
ence to be to the spirit of adoption— the spirit, in opposition
to the flesh ? Let us take the apostle himself as an example.
On a certain occasion, he was in a state of great infirmity
and affliction. He was a prisoner, and might at any time
become a condemned prisoner. He had eager desires to de
part and be with the Lord ; but he had also a deep interest
in the cause of Christ, and would willingly do and suffer any
thing to promote it. He was " in a strait between two."
For a time, it would seem, he did not know what to pray for.
" What I should choose," he says, " I wot not." His new
nature led him to groan in earnest desire that Christ might
be glorified in his life or in his death, though not able to say
whether he should pray for the one or the other. And " He
that searcheth the heart" — God, knew — observed, "the mind
of the Spirit" — the workings of his new nature, and gave the
apostle deliverance from the afflicting uncertainty as to what
he was to ask, by making it plain to him that it was more
needful for the Church that he should continue in the flesh,
and giving him the assurance that he should so " abide and
continue for a season." 3
The force of the concluding clause, according to this mode
of interpretation, is confirmatory : " for," or ' because,' " He,"
or ' it' — the Spirit, " does" thus " make intercession for the
saints" (literally) " according to God" — i.e., ' agreeably to the
will of God.' The desires which grow out of the renewed
mind, even when the individual cannot distinctly express
them, will bring down blessings — the appropriate blessings.
" Sighs can convey any thing to Him." 4 The new creature is
1 kvto to Tvtvpia. * Ver. 16. s Phil. i. 19-25.
4 George Herbert.— The Bag.

244 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
God's own creature, and He understands it thoroughly — better
than it does itself. The sobbings of His child have to Him a
distinct meaning ; and, while the very utterance of them gives
relief, how much greater a support is it to know He regards
them all; and that " what is good He will give ! " Such is the
meaning, if by the Spirit, we understand the Spirit of adoption.
If, as many most learned and devout interpreters think,
" the Spirit" here is to be understood personally of the Holy
Spirit, the meaning is not materially different. The Holy
Spirit assists us — helps our infirmity — helps us when we are
infirm, and especially when, under our infirmities, we do not
know what to pray for as we ought. He excites the right
desire, in the due degi'ee ; and He enables us to utter it, if
not in eloquent, or even articulate words, in earnest groan
ings. When the Holy Spirit is said to " make intercession
for us with groanings," it plainly means, He enables us thus
to make intercession for ourselves— just as, when sent as " the
Spirit of God's Son" into the hearts of Christians, He is said
to " cry Abba, Father" 2 — i.e., He makes them " cry Abba,
Father." He gives them true filial affection, and enables them
to express it. He is, as Fenelon says, " the soul of our soul."
It is a good remark of Augustine : " The Holy Spirit does
not groan in Himself— with Himself, as a person of the Trinity;
but He groans in us when He makes us groan."2 The entire
distinctness, in nature, form, and design, of this intercession
of the Holy Spirit, from the intercession of Christ, must be
obvious on the slightest reflection.
Now, this deep internal groaning for blessings needed, but
the precise nature of which is not distinctly perceived, is the
work of the Holy Ghost. What it expresses is a part of " the
mind of the Spirit," of which the apostle speaks in the begin
ning of the chapter. " God knows the mind of the Spirit,"
however it is expressed. He distinguishes it, even in His own
' Gal. iv. 6.
2 " Non Spiritus Sanctus in semetipso, apud semetipsum, in ilia trini-
tate gemit, sed in nobis gemit, quia gemere nos facit." — Tract, vi. in
Joh. § 2.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 245
people, from " the mind of the flesh :" He will not answer
desires, uttered or unuttered — utterable or unutterable, that
come from " the mind of the flesh," which - in none can be
pleasing to Him — which, in His people, is peculiarly displeas
ing to Him ; but He will lend His ear to the prayer which is
the expression of the desire which comes from " the mind of
the Spirit." The concluding clause has the same force as in
the former mode of interpretation — it is confirmatory : " for
the Spirit does thus make intercession for the saints, according
to the will of God."
Surely, then, afflictions, under which Christians have such
helps, are no proofs that they are not the objects of the peculiar
love of God : they are strong proofs of the very reverse.
Beautifully and impressively does the venerable Moses Stuart1
say : " The Christian who reads this passage with a spirit
that responds to the sentiment which it discloses, cannot avoid
lifting up his soul to God with overflowing gratitude for His
mercies. Here we are ' poor, and wretched, and miserable,
and blind, and naked, and in want of all things.' We are
' crushed before the moth ; we all do fade as a leaf, and the
wind taketh us away.' We are often in distress, and dark
ness, and perplexity — in straits from which we can see no
escape, no issue : even in far the greater number of cases we
know not what will be for our ultimate and highest good, and
so know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but then
the Spirit of the living God is present with all the true fol
lowers of the Saviour ; He excites desires in their souls of
liberation from sin and present evil, of heavenly blessedness
and holiness, greater than words can express. The soul can
only vent itself in sighs, the meaning of which language is
too feeble to express. Often do we not know enough of the
consequences or designs of present trials and sufferings, even
to venture on making a definite request with regard to them ;
because we do not know whether relief from them is best or
not. The humble Christian, who feels his need of chastise-
' Comment, on the Ep. to the Rom., in loc.

246 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ment, will very often be brought to such a state. Then, what
a high and precious privilege is it, that our unutterable sighs
should be heard and understood of Him who searches the
heart ! Who can read this without emotion ? Such are the
blessings purchased for sinners by redeeming blood ; such the
consolations which flow from the throne of God for a groaning
and dying world."
4. " All things shall work together for their good."1
The apostle proceeds now to bring forward a fourth con
sideration, still more comprehensive than any which has pre
ceded it, to show that "the sufferings of the present state"
are not inconsistent with the near relation to God in which
Christians are by justification placed, or with the reality and
security of the blessings which grow out of that state. " And
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His pur
pose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He
did predestinate, them He also called ; and whom He called,
them He also justified ; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified." The last consideration arose out of the aids which Christians
have under their afflictions : that which now comes under
review is derived from the consequences which shall certainly
result from them — " We know that all things work together
for good to them that love God." 2
It is of them only whom God loves, and who love God, that
the apostle is speaking — of those who, being justified by faith,
have peace with God, and who have, by the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus, had that mind of the Spirit formed in them, of
which love to God is the primary feature, and which He can
not but love. The apostle, in the whole of this discussion,
1 Chap. viii. 28-30. 2 Ver. 28.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 247
makes it plain that he is speaking of those who are interested
in the Divine method of justification, and who prove themselves
to be justified by being sanctified. To those then who
supremely love God, as made known in the way of salvation,
regarding Him as infinitely estimable, and infinitely kind, He
declares that all things work together for good.
The " all things" refer plainly to the whole of the things
the apostle is speaking of — " the sufferings of the present
time." Whatever befals the Christian contributes, directly or
indirectly, to the promoting and the securing of his final happi
ness. Every thing will ultimately prove to be beneficial to him.
Many things occur to him that are in their own nature preju
dicial, which neither he nor any of his fellow-men can consider
in any other view, or as likely to be productive of any advan
tageous consequence. Still, however, it is true — "No evil
shall happen to the just."1 No affliction, however severe,
however long continued, however apparently disastrous, and
even ruinous, but shall be made to contribute to his spiritual
improvement and everlasting salvation. Poverty, reproach,
persecution, the loss of property, reputation, and life — all
these things may happen to him — all these things are in
themselves evil, but all of them in his case shall become the
means of good.
It has sometimes been asked, " Does sin work for the be
liever's good ? " The question is an impertinent one, for it i3
the sufferings of the present time that the apostle is exclusively ¦
speaking of. The uneasiness connected with ' sin dwelling
in us' is one of these sufferings, one of the chief of them ; and
certainly that uneasiness does work for good. It would be the
reverse of good for a Christian to have no painful feelings
connected with remaining, depraved principle, manifested in
occasional criminal conduct. In its own nature, sin is only
evil, and cannot be productive of good, though the conse
quences of sin, both in inward feeling and external event,
have often greatly conduced to the good of the Christian.
' Prov. xii. 21.

248 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
The language of the apostle is peculiar, and deserves atten
tion : he not only says all things shall work, but " all things
shall work together for good;" they shall not only operate,
but co-operate. It is the wise connection of one thing with
another that secures the desired result. There are many
things in the case of many a saint which, taken by them
selves, could produce nothing but evil. The envy of Joseph's
brethren, by itself, had no tendency but to destroy him. Left
to the natural effect of that one evil thing, he would have
died in the pit ; but, along with another great evil — his being
sold as a slave to the Midianites — it wrought together with
other things, in themselves only evil in their separate ten
dency, to the great good which resulted from Joseph's becom
ing lord of all the land of Egypt. Every one of these calamities
was a link in the chain which led him to so high a condition
of honour and usefulness. This is the triumph of the wisdom
and the power of Divine providence. Man finds it difficult
to make one thing, in its nature evil, produce good. God
makes innumerable evils so modify each other, that out of them
all He brings a good, which it seems equally impossible that,
before their accomplishment, they should have been conducive
to, and after it, that it could have been realized without their
instrumentality. Now, " we know" this, says the apostle. It is not a matter
of opinion ; we are absolutely certain of it. And how did he,
and those to whom he wrote, know it ? They knew it because
God had said it; and they were persuaded that " He was not
a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that Pie should
repent." His declarations are numerous, and most explicit.
Take these examples : — " The Lord God is a sun and
shield ; He will give grace and glory ; and no good thing will
He withhold from them that walk uprightly." J " The path
of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more
unto the perfect day."2 And the faith founded on these Divine
declarations was, no doubt, greatly confirmed by the recorded
1 Psal. ixxxiv. 1] . » prov iv 18

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 249
history of the Divine dispensations to such men as Joseph, and
David, and Daniel, which so clearly show, that all the ways
of the Lord were mercy and truth to them, and that in faith
fulness He afflicted them.
But the ground on which the apostle rests the declaration
here, seems chiefly that which is indicated in the close of the
28th verse, and forms the subject of the 29th and 30th verses.
" All things shall work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to God's purpose" —
literally, ' to them, being the called according to God's pur
pose,' i.e. 'to them, because they are "the called according
to God's purpose.'"
"The called" is one of the distinctive appellations of the spiri
tual people of God, borrowed, like the most of these, from an ap
pellation of Israel according to the flesh. Abraham was called
out of Ur of the Chaldees, Israel called out of Egypt, to the
enjoyment of peculiar privileges. The called under the better
covenant are ' called out of darkness into light' — out of slavery
into freedom. By a Divine invitation, accepted under Divine
influence, they are brought into the possession of high privi
leges, and higher hopes—" called to eternal life, unto the
kingdom and glory of God," " to the obtaining of the glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ," x and to the fellowship of God's dear
Son. They are said to be called " according to God's purpose."
Their calling is not the result of anything in them laying
a foundation for so high a favour : it is the consequence of
Sovereign purpose — the "eternal purpose which God purposed
in Himself." As the apostle says, in the Second Epistle to
Timothy, God calls them, " not according to their works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given
them in Christ Jesus before the world began." 2 Their being
thus called secures that " all things shall work together fori
their good." How it does so, the apostle proceeds to show —
" For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
1 1 Tim. vi. 12 ; 1 Thess. ii. 12 ; 2 Thess. ii. 14 ; 1 Cor. i. 9.
2 2 Tim. i. 9.

250 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
first-born among many brethren."1
" Whom He did foreknow," is plainly an imperfect expres
sion. It looks back to the words immediately preceding : —
" Whom He did foreknow" are plainly " the called according
to God's purpose ; " and the phrase is equivalent to — ' whom
He did foreknow, as to be called according to His purpose.'
The word translated " foreknow" has, by some interpreters,
been considered as meaning simply, to foresee ; by others, to
love — regard with peculiar favour; by others, to fore-appoint.
The last here, as well as in 1 Peter i. 2, and elsewhere,
seems to be its meaning. " Whom God fore-appointed to be
called, He also predestinated" — fore-appointed, " to be con
formed to the image of His Son."
This conformity to the image of His Son was the great end of
their calling. To be conformed to Christ, is to be made like
Him, and to be made like Him as the sons of God — to be
formed to that filial character by which He is distinguished,
and to be made partakers of that happiness and glory which
He, as " the first-born" of the family of God, enjoys — to be
made perfectly holy and happy. Even here they " put on
Christ ;" " the mind that was in Him" is in them; and they
are in the world as He was in the world ;"2 and " when He
shall appear, they shall be like Him" — even their vile bodies
being changed and fashioned, so as to be "like unto his glorious
body." " As they have borne the image of the earthy" Adam
— the first man of the earth, " so shall they bear the image of
the heavenly" Adam — "the Lord from Heaven."3
This determination has for its object the glory of the Saviour,
as well as the happiness of the saved — "that He might be the
first-born among many brethren" — that He might be glorious
and happy in having so numerous, glorious, blessed a family.
" First-born among many brethren" must be viewed as one
appellation. The predestination and calling have for their
1 Ver. 29. > Rom. xiii. 14 ; Phil. ii. 5 ; 1 John iv, 17.
" 1 John iii. 2 ; Phil. iii. 21 ; 1 Cor. xv. 49.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 251
object, that His glory, and excellence, and happiness might be
imparted to a vast multitude, and still all the glory, excellence,
and happiness appear to be coming forth from Him. God
calls His people to glory. He appoints His Son, as their
elder brother, to lead them to glory. In bringing them to
glory, He is determined to conform them to the image of His
Son — to make them like Him ; and the ulterior object is, to
reflect transcendent glory on Him whom He delights to
honour, and who " in all things must have the pre-eminence,"
that He might " see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied"
— " see His seed, and prolong His days," and at last present
to the Father, the children given Him " a glorious church,"
completely conformed to His own image, " not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing."1
To this conformity in glory to the Saviour, a conformity
in suffering is necessary; and this, as well as the other, was
the object of the predestination of God. It is the purpose of
God — a purpose hanging on no contingency, that all His
called ones shall be conformed to the image of His Son, first
in suffering, and then in glory. Nothing can interfere with
the execution of this purpose. This is " the good of God's
chosen," 2 and all things must work together for it. God's
counsel " shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure" — all
" the good pleasure of His goodness," in the final happiness
of His chosen.3
The saving acts of the Divine mind, in reference to His
people, are all linked together in an indissoluble chain.
" Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called ;
and whom He called, them He also justified ; and whom He
justified, them He also glorified."4 The use of the indefinite
past in all the verbs here, is to be accounted for, either on the
principle that what is matter of Divine purpose is just as cer
tain as if it had taken place, or that the intention is to express
what God uniformly does. In this case, as we use the present
rather than the past for such indefinite statements, the words
1 Col. i. 18 ; Isa. liii. 10, II ; Eph. v. 27. 2 Psal. cvi. 5.
8 Isa. xlvi. 10 ; 2 Thess. i. 11. * Ver. 30.

252 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
might have been rendered — " Whom God predestinates, them
He also calls ; whom He calls, them He also justifies ; and
whom He justifies, them He also glorifies."
The work of mercy originates in God predestinating certain
individuals to be conformed to the image of His Son. This
is called " His purpose according to election," His sovereign
purpose, His determination, for which no reason can be found
out of Himself, — with regard to which we must say, "He has
mercy, because He wills to have mercy." He thus chooses
them before the foundation of the world, and " predestinates"
them " to the adoption of children." 1
Now, " whom He thus predestinates, He calls" to the fel
lowship of His Son. By the word of the truth of the Gospel,
He invites them to participate in the blessings provided
through the mediation of Christ, which He has destined for
them, and by His good Spirit He induces them to accept of
the invitation, by believing the Gospel.
"Whom He" thus " calls, He justifies." He pardons them ;
He receives them into favour ; He deals with them as if they
were righteous. All who obey the call, believe the Gospel ;
and it is by the faith of the Gospel that men are justified.
The Divine method of justification is "by faith;" it takes
effect on " all them that believe."
And " whom He thus j ustifies, He glorifies." Glorification
is often considered as but another name for the heavenly state ;
but, though it undoubtedly embraces this, it is by no means to
be confined to it. The glorifying of Christians, seems quite
synonymous with the conforming of them to the image of
Christ. He is the model of their glory. To be like Him, is
to be glorious. The being made like Christ, in holiness and
in happiness, is the ultimate design of God in predestinating
them. And this is to be truly illustrious and honourable.
Even in this world, Christians are thus glorified. They are
like mirrors reflecting His glory.2 They are made to think
like Him, to feel like Him, to act like Him. They are
1 Eph. i. 4, 5. J 2 Cor. iii. 18; iv. 6.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 253
admitted to fellowship with Him in His Spirit, and in His
enjoyments : His joy is in them. The glory which the Father
gives Him, He gives them -,1 and in the world to come, they
shall be completely conformed to Him in soul, body, and
spirit; they shall " appear with Him in glory;"2 they "shall
sit with Him on His throne,"3 and "reign with Him for
ever and ever;4" thus receiving a "far more exceeding, and
an eternal weight of glory."
Some have felt as if there were an omission in the enumera
tion. They would have expected that it should have been —
whom He justifies, them He also sanctifies ; and whom He
sanctifies, them He also glorifies : but it is obvious that there is
nothing wanting. Glorification, in the apostle's mode of view
ing the subject, embraces, as its fundamental and most im
portant part, sanctification. No incongruity could be greater
in his estimation than an unsanctified man being a glorified
man. There is thus an inseparable connection between the bless
ings of the Christian salvation. They that have evidence that
they are called, cannot consistently doubt that they have been
predestinated — that they are justified, that they shall be glori
fied ; and if so, it is surely unreasonable in them to repine
at the sufferings of the present time, or to doubt that all things
shall work together for their good. That God, who from
everlasting designed for them salvation in Christ, with eternal
glory, may surely be safely intrusted with all their concerns
in life and death. To His eternal mind all things were present
when He predestinated them to life ; and He formed His
gracious plan for gaining His object in such perfect wisdom,
that nothing should happen to those who should be " heirs of
salvation," which He would not so overrule as to make it con
duce to their ultimate advantage. Whatever befalls them is
the result of His appointment ; and He surely appointed no
thing in this world to do real injury to those on whom He had
determined to bestow absolute blessedness in the next. He
1 John xvii. 22. 2 Col. iii. 4. s Rev. iii. 21.
4 2 Tim. ii. 12; Rev. xxii. C.

254 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
who so loved them as to appoint them, before all ages, to final
happiness, may surely be trusted with conducting them
through this world in the way best fitted for their arriving in
safety, and in the state of due preparation, at its complete
enjoyment, according to the purpose purposed in Himself from
eternity. He assigns them their place in the world, appoints their
mutual relations — aware of all the trials they must undergo, all
the, conflicts they must engage in, all the enemies they must en
counter, all the difficulties they must overcome — and provides
them with the needed, seasonable aid. Nothing can befall
them, outwardly or inwardly, which He has not taken into
the account; so that nothing can disturb His established order,
or make its modification necessary. Under His guidance all
things must work for the real good and ultimate salvation of
those who, predestined to everlasting bliss, have been called
into the fellowship of His Son, justified by His grace, and are
in progress towards being, in soul, and body, and condition,
conformed in glory to their Lord and Head.1
5. Nothing can be wanting to their welfare for whom God hath
given His Son.2
The fifth consideration which the apostle brings forward, to
show that the afflictions of the present time are not inconsistent
with the blessings of a justified state, is, that nothing can really
injure those whom God loves so dearly, that He has given
His son to die for them ; and that, therefore, nothing can
be wanting that is calculated to promote their real welfare.
" What shall we say then to these things ? Jf God be
for us, who can be against us ? He who spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up to the death for us all, how shall
He not with Him also freely give us all things?"3 The
apostle seems at a loss for language to express his conceptions
and feelings, in reference to the security of the people of God
amid all the afflictions of the present time. The paragraph,
1 Benecke. 'Clnip. viii. 31, 32. 3 Ver. 31, 32.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 255
from the beginning of this down to the end of the chapter, is
one of the noblest bursts of eloquence in any language.1 It
is not unlikely that Longinus, the heathen critic, refers to
this, among other passages, when he includes Paul of Tarsus
among the great orators.2
The words, "What shall we say to these things?" may
either be considered as equivalent to — What shall we say in
addition to these things ? What more need be said — what
more can be said, to show the security and happiness of
Christians amid all their sufferings ? Or to — What shall we
say in opposition to these things ? Can any representation of
sufferings, however numerous, severe, complicated, and con
tinued,' destroy the force of these considerations ? The first
is probably the true interpretation, and the second clause is as
it were the answer. " What shall we say in addition to these
things?" This one thing we will say — and _ it is the sum
and substance of all that has been said, of all that can be
said, on the subject — "If God be for us, who can be against
us ? " And that God is for us cannot be doubted, when we
reflect what He has done for us.
By "God being for us," we are to understand, the reverse of
His being against us — not at variance with us, but reconciled
to us ; not our enemy, but our friend ; on our side against all
our enemies ; on our side in reference to all our interests.
Now, " If God be for us, who can be against us?" The em
phasis is on the word God. Who is He? The infinitely
powerful, wise, righteous, faithful, and kind one. How can they
be in real danger, or real misery, who have infinite power to
guard them, infinite wisdom to guide them, infinite holiness
and benignity to be then* portion for ever ? The question does
not imply that God's justified ones shall have no enemies.
They have to contend with flesh and blood, and with principali
ties and powers too — the rulers of the darkness of this world,
spiritual wickedness in high places. But it does imply that
none can successfully oppose them, or safely attempt to injure
1 " Quid unquam Cicero dixit grandiloquentius." — Erasmus.
2 Longin. Frag. p. 260. Pearce, Lond. 1752.

256 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
them. He who destroys them must be stronger than the
Omnipotent, and must overreach the All-wise. The people
of God do, indeed, sometimes seem to fall in the contest ; but,
like their Lord, death to them is "the way of life." The
enemies of the saints have seemed to obtain a triumph when
they have laid the martyr in a bloody grave. But what saith
the Spirit? "Blessed are the dead who have died in the
Lord; for they rest from their labours, and their works do
follow them."
It is plain, then, that " if God be for the justified amid
all their afflictions," none can with effect be against them.
But is it equally plain that God is for them ? The apostle
supplies the evidence. "He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him
also freely give us all things?" The argument here is mate
rially the same as that in the fifth chapter, ver. 8-10. To
bring it fully before our mind, let us attend first to the pre
miss, then to the conclusion, and then point out the force
of the argument.
The premiss is, " God spared not His own Son, but deli
vered Him up for us all." The expression " spared not," is
plainly borrowed from Gen. xxii. 12, where it is used to ex
press Abraham's readiness to offer up Isaac in sacrifice at the
command of God. The purport of the apostle's argument
restricts the words "us all," to all justified by believing. This
is not one of the passages in which the general reference of the
atonement is stated. Us all, plainly refers to those predesti
nated, and called, and justified, and glorified. The whole dis
cussion refers to them only. God spared not His Son — His
own Son — a person one in nature with Himself, and infinitely
dear to Him. He spared Him not; He did not withhold
Him ; He did not refuse to allow Him to undertake our ap
parently hopeless cause. There is here what grammarians
call a negative phrase with a positive meaning. He spared
Him not, is equivalent to, He freely gave Him. Some have
' Rev. xiv. 13.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 257
supposed that the phrase refers not only to the free gift of the
Son to be the Saviour, by the Father as the God of all grace,
but also to the Father's not dealing, as righteous judge, more
gently with Him in the character of the victim for human guilt,
than if He had not been His own Son. As it has been ex
pressed, " He not only did not spare Him from being a suf
ferer, but He did not spare Him when He suffered." This is
a truth, but it may be questioned whether the phrase means
so much. It is implied, however, in the second clause, " He
delivered Him up for us all." He devoted Him to be a sacrifice
for the sins of men : " God so loved the world, that He gave
His Son to be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness." He was " delivered for our offences " — devoted as a
sacrifice in our room, for the salvation of all the justified ones.
The conclusion from this premiss is, " God will freely with
Him give us all things;" that is, God will, in connection with
Him, give us, without desert on our part, freely — in the
exercise of abundant grace on His part, all things that are
necessary for our happiness.
The force of the argument is obvious. (1.) He has already
given us the highest proof of His love : He will not withhold
inferior manifestations when necessary. (2.) He has showed
that He loved us when we were in circumstances the least
likely to be objects of His love : He will not cease to do so,
now that He has brought us into much more favourable cir
cumstances. Through the atonement of His Son, applied to
us, we are no more the objects of His judicial displeasure ;
through the effectual operation of His Spirit in us, we are
the objects of His moral complacency. (3.) His object in
giving His Son was our complete salvation. So great a sac
rifice could not be made at a peradventure. All who by faith
are interested in the atoning efficacy of Christ's atonement,
must then be secure of salvation. It is in effect the same
argument as that in chap. v. 8-1 0.
What strong, abundant, everlasting consolation, has God thus
provided for them who have " fled for refuge to lay hold on the
hope set before us in the Gospel" — the hope " that entereth
R

258 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
into that within the veil" — the hope of complete salvation, in
free intercourse with, close resemblance to, the Holy, Holy,
Holy, ever-blessed God, in being " conformed to the image of
His Son" — the great end of God in predestinating, calling,
and justifying men ! They can never lose their place in the
Divine favour ; they shall assuredly at last be fully conformed,
in body and soul, to Jesus Christ, and enjoy with Him, through
eternity, the felicities and honours of the manifested sons of
God ; and all the afflictions of life, however numerous, varied,
complicated, severe, and enduring, shall be made conducive
to the gaining of this glorious result. Happy are the people
who are in such a state as this. Happy are the people whose
God is the Lord. Well may they go on their way rejoicing,
with the high praises of the Lord in their mouth, " I will hope
continually, and will yet praise Thee more and more. My
mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness, and Thy salvation
all the day : for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go
in the strength of the Lord God : I will make mention of
Thy righteousness, even of Thine only." 1
Let it be remembered, however, that, by a most merciful
and wise arrangement, this consolation cannot be enjoyed by
the Christian unless he lives in the faith, and under the in
fluence of the truth. The losing sight of, or distrusting, or
resisting the practical influence of the truth, would all inter
fere with the Christian's legitimate enjoyment of these rich
comforts — so fitted to sustain him in weakness, to uphold him
in temptation, to make him not only patient but joyful in
tribulation, and to enable him to meet death not only with
composure, but with triumph. Would you enjoy these com
forts, and yet not run the fearful hazard of delusion, take
the apostle's advice, — " By patient continuance in well-doing,
seek for glory, and honour, and immortality."2 By faith and
patience, seek the promised inheritance. " Make your calling
and your election sure, by adding to your faith, virtue, and
knowledge, and temperance, and patience, and godliness, and
1 Psalm lxxi. 14-16. ' Rom. ii. 7.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 259
brotherly-kindness, and charity; knowing that in doing these
things ye shall never fall, but so an entrance shall be minis
tered to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." x
6. The Author and ground of Justification, secure the final
happiness of the Justified.
In the 33d verse we have the subject presented to us in a
somewhat different aspect. The apostle states and argues
the irreversibility of the sentence of justification, from the
consideration of the party who pronounces it, and the
grounds on which it is pronounced. It is pronounced by the
Supreme Judge, and it proceeds on the ground of the com
pleted and accepted sacrifice of Jesus Christ: "Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that
justifieth. Who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that
died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right
hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us."
By many interpreters, the 33d, 34th, and 35th verses are
viewed as a series of questions. Thus : " Who shall lay any
thing to the charge of God's elect? Shall God, who justi
fies ? Who is he that condemneth ? Is it Christ who died ?
who rose again ? who is even at the right hand of God ? who
also maketh intercession for us ? Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation ? or distress ? or persecution ?
or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or sword?" No doubt
the idiom of the language permits this ; but it would be very
strange to have eighteen questions following each other without
anything in the form of answer. This mode of construction
does not materially change the meaning ; and the force and
beauty of the passage as a piece of composition is certainly
not improved by it. We follow the construction preferred by
our translators.
" Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?"
The " elect" here are those interested in the Divine method
1 2 Pet. 1. 5-11.

260 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
of justification — those whom God predestinates, and calls, and
justifies, and glorifies. The term " elect" is, probably, equi
valent here, as it is in some other parts of the New Testament,
to 'selected,' or "called, according to God's purpose;" for
what the apostle says of them here, is not true of them as elect,
in the ordinary sense of the term, as synonymous with predesti
nated ; for, previously to their calling and justification, God's
law brings the same charge against them as against those who
are never called and justified. It condemns them — justly
condemns them. The Ephesians, who were " chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world," and " predestinated unto
the adoption of children," were yet " by nature children of
wrath, even as others." ' But when election goes forth into
calling and justification, then the challenge may fearlessly
go forth, " Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect?" As the question, " Who can be against us ? " does not im
ply that the Christian has no enemies, but only that his ene
mies, however numerous, powerful, and crafty, shall not be
able to effectuate his ruin, so the question, " Who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect ? " or, ' Who shall bring
an accusatory charge against them ? ' does not imply that they
shall never be accused, but that no accusation that may be
brought against them shall ever be so established, as to re
verse the sentence of justification which has gone forth in
their favour.
This is plain ; for " it is God who justifies them." Their
Justifier is the ultimate authority in the universe — the
supreme and universal Judge : He whose law they had vio
lated, whose displeasure they had excited, whose curse they
had incurred — He has justified them. The " one Lawgiver,
who is able to save and to destroy,"2 has declared that, having
believed in the name of His Son, " they are not condemned,
and shall never come into condemnation;"8 that they are
"justified from all things ;"4 that He has "forgiven them all
1 EPh- i- 4, 5, ii. 3. * James iv. 12.
° Johrl '"• 18, v. 24. « Acts xiii. 39.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 261
trespasses," l and will " remember their iniquities no more." 2
He has "justified them freely by His grace, through the re
demption that is in Christ Jesus ;"3 and the sentence He has
passed, no power in the universe can reverse or invalidate.
He declares that He will not reverse it, and who else can ?
"Who is he that condemneth?" It is not unlikely that
the apostle, in using these words, had in his mind the noble
defiance in Isaiah 1. 7, 8 — " The Lord God will help me ;
therefore I shall not be confounded. He is near that justifieth
me ; who will contend with me ? let us stand together : who
is mine adversary? let him come near to me." These are the
words of the Messiah; but all who are interested in " the righte
ousness of God" may safely use His language — " Who can
condemn whom God justifies?" He who is the supreme and
only Potentate — who alone has right to pronounce on men's
spiritual state, and character, and destiny — who alone can
carry such sentences of condemnation or acquittal into execu
tion — He has justified; and the condemnation of all other
beings could, in opposition to His sentence, avail nothing.
Their condemnation-, so far as the Christian's highest interests
are concerned, are empty words.
Though we knew, then, nothing more than that the supreme
Judge had pronounced a sentence of irreversible justification
on them who are in Christ Jesus, this should be enough to
satisfy us that their happiness is secure ; but the apostle turns
the attention, not only to the fact that such a sentence has
been passed by Him who alone has the right to pass it, but
also to the ground on which this sentence proceeds. The
question, "Who is he that condemneth?" looks forward as
well as backward. " It was Christ that died," and He is
" risen again ;" He sits " at God's right hand ;" He " makes
intercession." An all-availing atoning sacrifice has been
offered. There has been death, and such a death as redeems
— pays the ransom for the transgressions which could not be
expiated under the first covenant.4 " Christ died," is clearly
1 Col. ii. 13. 2 Heb. viii. 12.
3 Rom. iii. 24. * Heb. ix. ] 1-23.

262 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
here equivalent to, ' He was " delivered up for us all ;" He
" died for us" — in our room ; " He died for our sins ;" He
" was delivered for our offences." He came in " the likeness
of sinful flesh, and became a sin-offering." '
Now, it was Christ who thus died. And who is Christ ?
As to His person, He is God's own Son — as the apostle, in
the beginning of the next chapter, says,' " God over all,
blessed for ever;"1 and as to His office, He is Christ, the
Messiah, the anointed One — the divinely-appointed, qualified,
and accredited Saviour. " His blood" (for it is the blood of
God's Son) " cleanseth us from all sin;"2 and "in Him" —
" who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every
creature," the Prince of the creation — " we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin."3 His obedience
unto death, in their place, forms sufficient foundation, in
the estimation of the Supreme Ruler, for a sentence of
justification going forth in favour of those in whose room He
stood. Of this we have abundant evidence ; for He who " died for
our sins, according to the Scriptures," has " risen again, ac
cording to the Scriptures." * He who was " delivered for our
offences," has been " raised again for our justification." 5 Had
Christ not risen, we had been yet in our sins. His remaining
in the grave would have been a proof that His interposition
had not been effectual : it would have been a proof that He
was not what He declared Himself to be. But " God has
raised Him from the dead, and given Him glory, that our
faith and hope might be in God,"6 as " the God of peace"7 —
the pacified Divinity — the "just God and the Saviour"8 —
"just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."9 Still
further, He " sits at God's right hand" — that is, He reigns
along with God10 — has " all power in heaven and in earth"11
— is " Lord of all ; " 12 and it is appointed that He shall "judge
1 Rom. ix. 5. 2 1 John i. 7. 3 Col. i. 14, 15.
* 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. s Rom. iv. 25. 6 1 Pet. i. 21.
7 Heb. xiii. 20. " Isa. xiv. 21. ° Rom. iii. 26.
10 1 Cor. xv. 25. n Matt, xxviii. 18. I2 Acts x. 36.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 263
the world in righteousness."1 This is Christ. How can
they be condemned, then, for whom He died ? To crown all,
He " maketh intercession for us." He continues, in His
exalted state, to interpose in their behalf; He appears in the
presence of God for them as their advocate ; the merits of
His atonement are ever before the eye of the Supreme Judge
— for He is in the circle of the throne a Lamb as it had been
slain ; and " He is able to save them to the uttermost, seeing
He thus ever lives to make intercession for them."2
7. Conclusion of this Argument.3
The apostle shuts up this illustration of the reality and
security of the believer's interest in Christ, rising out of the
Divine method of justification, notwithstanding all the cala
mities to which, during the present time, they may be exposed,
in the following overwhelming burst of inspired eloquence :
" Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall tribu
lation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or
peril, or sword ? (As it is written, For Thy sake we are
killed all the day long ; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than con
querors, through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded,
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate
us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."4
In order to the understanding of this passage, so replete
with consolation to genuine Christians amid the calamities of
the present state, it is of primary importance that we attach
the true meaning to the phrases, " the love of Christ" and " of
God," and separation from that love. " The love of God,"
or " of Christ," is an expression which, when taken by itself,
may signify either the love of God or Christ to us, or our
love to Him. In the following passages, it is our love to
1 Acts xvii. 31. 2 Rev. v. 6 ; Heb. vii. 25.
¦"¦ Chap. viii. ver. 35-3.9. * Ver. 35-39.

264 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
God that is meant : " Ye pass over the love of God" J — i.e.,
' the duty of love to God.' " I know you, that ye have not
the love of God in you."2 " The Lord direct your hearts into
the love of God." 3 " Whoso keepeth His word, in him is the
love of God perfected."4 " This is the love of God, that we
keep His commandments."5 In the following passages, it is
the love of God or Christ to us that is meant : " The grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, be with you
all." 6 " That He would grant you to know the love of Christ,
which passeth knowledge." 7 " Hereby perceive we the love
of God, because He laid down His life for us."8 " In this was
manifested the love of God towards us, because God sent His
only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
Him." 9 In some passages the reference seems doubtful ; but,
in most of these cases, a little attention to the context will
determine it.
In the case before us, interpreters have been divided in
their opinions. Some insist that the love of Christ, and of
God in Christ, is the love which Christians entertain to Christ,
and to God in Christ, and that separation from that love means
ceasing to love Christ and God ; and that the apostle's senti
ment is, that no sufferings, however severe and long continued
— that no influence, however strong, whether human or diabo
lical — that no change of circumstances, whether prosperous
or adverse, should ever induce them to abandon their Saviour,
or forget their obligations to their redeeming God. They
consider the apostle as saying in effect — ' Since we derive
such numerous and precious blessings from God, through
Jesus Christ — since we are indebted to the Gospel of Jesus
Christ for all our peace, and hope, and joy — nothing shall
ever induce us to apostatize.' In support of this view of the
passage, it has been urged, that the events mentioned are all
of a kind fitted to shake our attachment to Christ, but by no
means to alter, except by increasing, Christ's attachment to
1 Luke xi. 42. 2 John v. 42. 3 2 Thes. iii. 5.
* 1 John ii. 5. 6 , jo]in v 3 e, o Cor. xiii. 14.
7 Eph. iii. 19. s 1 j(imi iii. i<;. s 2 j0im ;v 0_

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 265
us — as we love our friends most when suffering, especially
when suffering for us. ' There was no need,' say they, ' to
tell Christians that the sufferings to which they were exposed,
for Christ's sake, would never abate His affection for them ;
but there was great need to press on them the truth, that,
considering the benefits they had derived, and hoped yet to
derive from Him, no sufferings should induce them to abandon
His cause.'
This view of the passage, however ingenious, will be found,
when carefully examined, to be not at all satisfactory. It is
quite plain that the great design of the whole section is, to
show that the afflictions of the present time are not inconsistent
with the justified state of Christians, or, in other words, with
their being the objects of the peculiar affection of God and of
Christ. And there is no trace of the supposed transition from
God's love to us, to our love to God. " The love of Christ," in
the 33d verse, is doubtless substantially the same thing as "the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" in the 39th, — an ex
pression which admits fairly of no other meaning than the love
of God manifested to us through the mediation of Jesus Christ.
To explain the phrase, as has been done, of our love to God
on account of Christ Jesus, is entirely to disregard the analogy
of Scripture phraseology. We hold it then as certain, that
the love of God here, is God's love to us ; and the love of
Christ, Christ's love to us.
It is now for us to inquire what it is to be separated from
this love of Christ, and of God in Christ, and to show how
the events referred to, whatever be their tendency, shall not
be able to effect this separation. A being or event may be
said to separate us from the love of God in two ways. It
may be said completely to remove us from it, if it can alter
the Divine determination to save us, or place us in circum
stances in which it becomes, in the nature of things, impossible
for us to enjoy the blessings of the final salvation ; or it may
be said to remove us partially and temporarily from the love of
God, if it can intercept from us all manifestations and tokens
of the Divine love. Now the apostle's declaration seems to em-

266 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
brace both these ideas, and implies, that in no sense can any
of the sufferings of the present time separate Christians from
the love of God. The apostle personifies them, and asks
who, not what, shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Without expecting a completely distinct signification in each
of the different words here used to describe the sufferings of
the present time, we naturally look for, in them, taken com
plexly, a description of the various afflictions to which the
primitive Christians were exposed. And we find this.
They might be exposed to "tribulation"1 — vexation from
without, multiplied and severe sufferings from their enemies,
in consequence of which they might be involved in "distress "2
— inward anxiety, — placed in such perplexing circumstances
that they should not know what course to take. Nay, they
might be "persecuted,"3 — they might be driven from their
homes and pursued by their sanguinary^bes ; and while in
this persecuted state, they might suffer from want of food,
and even be reduced to " famine ;"4 they might be deprived
of the shelter both of house and of clothing, and exposed in
"nakedness" 5 to the rigours of winter. In these circumstances,
they might be in constant " peril " 6 of still severer sufferings,
and it was no improbable thing that a violent death by the
" sword " 7 might close the scene. This is no overcharged pic
ture of what the primitive Christians often suffered in conse
quence of their attachment to the cause of Christ. What the
apostle says of himself and his apostolic brethren, was true
also of many of their disciples : "We are made a spectacle to
the world, to angels, and to men. Even unto this present
hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and buffeted,
and have no certain dwelling-place ; reviled, and persecuted,
and defamed, we are made as the filth of the world, and the
offscourings of all things." 8
In describing the varied sufferings to which Christians
were exposed, the apostle quotes a passage from the Old

1 fci-^ls.

msvoxoipia.

3 hay/ios-

4 A/jiMV.

6 yVfiVOTYiS.

6 KtvllVllOS.

7 pca^xipx.

9 1 Cor. iv. 9-13.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 267
Testament scriptures as peculiarly applicable to them : " As
it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all day long, we
are counted as sheep for the slaughter." This passage is cited
from the 44th Psalm, ver. 22, according to the Greek ver
sion generally in use among the Jews of that time. It seems
to refer originally to those who suffered persecution under
the Syro-Macedonian kings, and is introduced by the apostle
as a graphic representation of the state of the primitive fol
lowers of Christ. The meaning is plain. It marks strikingly
the character of the sufferings — sufferings for the cause of
God — sufferings inflicted for refusing to obey men rather than
God — " for Thy sake ;" their continuance and severity — " all
daylong;" and sufferings to the death — "killed;" and the
barbarity of the persecutors and helplessness of their victims
— " counted like sheep for the slaughter." This description
was equally accurate in its primary and its secondary applica
tion. It was perhaps introduced by the apostle, to suggest
the thought that a suffering state was not a new thing to the
people of God, and no way inconsistent with their peculiar and
endearing relation to Him.
To all these sufferings, the apostle intimates that Chris
tians might not improbably be exposed ; but to the question,
Shall any, shall all, of these separate them from the love of
Christ, or of God in Christ ? his reply is, " Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us." "Nay," they cannot separate us from the love of God
or of his Son. They cannot prevent the Christian from ob
taining the final happiness which this love has prepared for
him. " Oh how great is the goodness which God has laid
up for them that fear and love Him !" — that is, " reserved in
heaven" beyond the reach of their enemies.1
These afflictions cannot alter the Divine determination.
" His covenant will He not break, nor alter the word that has
gone out of His mouth." His promise is sure : " I give unto
My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither
' Tsa. xxxi. 19 ; 1 Pet. i. 4.

268 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
shall any pluck them out of My hand. My Father, who gave
them Me, is greater than all ; and none can pluck them out
of My Father's hand."1
They cannot bring the Christian into circumstances which
would make his obtaining the final salvation impossible. They
cannot destroy his being ; they can kill his body, but they can
not touch his spirit. They cannot induce him to apostatize.
If they could, they might shut him out of heaven ; for he who
permanently turns back, turns back to perdition. But this,
by the arrangements of Divine grace, is impossible. Tribula
tion in him works, not apostacy, but perseverance. When in
danger of apostatizing, Christ prays for him, and he is " kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation."2
They cannot even come between him and this love, in the
way of intercepting its manifestations in the midst of his
sufferings. The afflictions of Christians are indeed themselves
tokens of the Divine love. It is because God loves them that
He thus tries them, and employs these afflictions as means of
increasing their happiness. These will not be allowed to hurt
them — they will do them good. And Christians know, or
may know this, for it has been very plainly stated in the
Scriptures of truth. In the midst of their afflictions they
have often the most delightful manifestations of the Divine
love, in sustaining them under their afflictions, and in the
manner in which He alleviates and removes them. How
strong was the sense Daniel had of the love of God in the den
of lions ! How far were Paul and Silas from being "separated
from the love of Christ," when they, with bruised and bleed
ing bodies, were thrown into the inner prison, and had their
feet made fast in the stocks ! 3 Samuel Rutherford, in his let
ters, speaks often of his season of banishment and imprison
ment at Aberdeen as a time of bright sunshine as to Divine
enjoyment.4 And most Christians, I believe, can from their
1 John x. 28, 29. 2 J Pet. i. 5. 3 Acts xvi. 25.
4 ¦'¦' My Lord Jesus is kinder to me than ever He was ; it pleaseth Him
to dine and sup with His afflicted prisoner. A king feasteth me, and His
spikenard casteth a sweet smell. I dare not say but my Lord Jesus hath

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 269
own experience testify, that as " their afflictions " — especially
afflictions for Christ — " abound, their consolations in Christ
have " — aye, have " much more — abounded." 1 No, He is not
unmindful of His sick children — His suffering friends.
The only way in which " the sufferings of the present
time " may seem to come between the Christian and the love
of God and Christ, is when he falls before them as a tempta
tion, or in unbelief sinks under them. Then a cloud comes
between him and the light of his Father's countenance. But
the cloud is not the affliction, but the sin ; and it is a merciful
arrangement that it is so. The want of comfort tells him that
something is wrong. He has not far to seek for the cause ;
and when it is removed, he sees clearly that God rests in His
love, and that the sufferings of the present time are perfectly
powerless to separate from that love those who are the objects
of it.
But even this is not all. Not only does the apostle give us
a strong negative to the question, Shall any, shall all of these
separate us from the love of Christ ? he adds, " In all these
things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us." The designation, " Him that loved us," refers to Jesus
Christ. This is the appellation given Him in the Apocalyptic
doxology, " To Him that loved us." How well He deserves
the appellation appears from the sequel of that doxology —
" and hath washed us from our sins in His own blood, and
hath made us kings and priests unto God, even to His
Father." 2 Instead of the afflictions of life separating Chris
tians from His love, His love makes them more than con-
fully recompensed my sadness with His joys, my losses with His own sweet
presence. I find it a sweet and rich thing to exchange my sorrows with
Christ's joys, my afflictions with the sweet peace I have with Himself." —
Epist. 18. " I am, in this house of my pilgrimage, every way in good case.
Christ is most kind and loving to my soul. It pleaseth Him to feast with
His unseen consolations a stranger and an exiled prisoner. I would not
exchange my Lord Jesus for all the comfort out of heaven. His yoke is
easy, and His burden is light." — Epist. 31.
1 2 Cor. i. 5. 2 Rev. i. 5, 6.

270 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
querors over these evils. These afflictions not only do not
injure them, but they are converted into means of advantage,
and this by an influence which comes from Christ, and proves
that He loves them. These afflictions are not only no evi
dence that God and Christ do not love us, they are proofs
that they do. To them who are justified by believing, " tribu
lation works patience, and patience experience, and experience
hope ;" so that they may well " glory in tribulations." 1 When
afflicted, they remember that " whom the Lord loves He
chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives;'' and
that "if they were without chastisement, of which all the
children are partakers, then would they be bastards, and not
sons."2 Instead of preventing their final happiness, these
afflictions prepare them for it. "The more they toil and suffer
here, the sweeter rest will be." " The trying of faith worketh
patience," and when " patience has had its perfect work,"
then is the Christian " perfect and entire, wanting nothing."
So that " blessed is the man that endureth temptation ; for,
when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the
Lord has promised to them that love Him."3 This is not only
to raise above the deleterious influence of affliction, but to turn
it into a source of blessing — a proof of God's love, instead of
an evidence of His dislike ; and this the Christian owes to
Him who loves him. It is, as the apostle says in his epistle
to the Philippians (ch. i. 19), " through the supply of the
Spirit of Christ " that the suffering of the present time " turns
to the Christian's salvation."
The apostle had already asserted, in strong terms, the im
mutable security of the happiness of the man justified by
believing. We might have thought that he had said all that
needed to be said — indeed, all that well could be said — when
he had said that tribulation, and distress, and persecution, and
famine, and nakedness, and peril, and sword, could do nothing
in the way of depriving him of that love of Christ, and of God
in Christ, which was the source and the security of his happiness,
' Rom. v. 3-5. a Heb. xii. 6-8. 8 James i. 3, 4, 12.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 271
but, on the contrary, went to establish what they seemed fitted
to destroy. But, as if he had said nothing corresponding to
the dignity of the subject, he, in a still higher strain of sacred
eloquence, declares his firm persuasion, that nothing within
the wide bounds of the created universe could endanger their
happiness : " For I am persuaded that neither death nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any oilier crea
ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Christians are the objects of the love of God as well as of
His Son. The idea is the offspring of a bastard, technical
theology, and not of the New Testament revelation, that
we are more indebted for final happiness to the Son than
to the Father. " The Father Himself loveth you," says our
Lord.1 Nor are we to suppose that love the result of the
Son's interposition in our behalf : the Son's interposition in
our behalf was the result of this love. " God so loved the
world, as to give his only-begotten Son" " to be the Saviour
of the world." 2 Yet it is through the mediation of the Son
that this love of the Father is manifested to men. His love
to his people is love in, or by, Christ Jesus. It is only in con
sequence of the incarnation and sacrifice of the Son, that the
Father can bestow on men tokens of His love. They are
" accepted in the Beloved"— on the ground of His atonement
they receive the Spirit, and are " blessed " by the " God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," "with all heavenly and
spiritual blessings in Him."3
The classification deserves notice. It consists of two pairs
and two triads placed alternately: "Death and life" — -"angels,
principalities, and powers " — " things present and things to
come " — " height and depth, and every creature."
Of this " love of God in Christ Jesus," the man justi
fied by believing can never be deprived. The apostle enu
merates all existing things, all possible things, and declares
1 John xvi. 27. 2 John iii. 16. 3 Eph. i. 6 ; Gal. iii. 14; Eph. i. 3.

272 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
that none of them can separate the Christian from the love of
God. Neither " death nor life " can separate Christians from the
love of God. It is difficult to say what is the precise import
of the terms " death and life " here. Some consider them as
equivalent to things that are dead, and things that are alive.
Neither inanimate nor animate beings — nothing in the whole
compass gf the creation — can separate us from the love of
Christ, and of God in Christ. Others, who consider separa
tion from the love of God as meaning forfeiting the love of
God by apostacy, look on death and life as synonymous with the
fear of death and the love of life. While others, with whom
we are disposed to agree, consider death as descriptive of the
dying of the persons spoken of, and life, of their living. In
this sense, death shall not separate them from the love of God
and of Christ ; but, on the contrary, carry them to the full en
joyment of its blessed effects. They shall never know how God
has loved them till they die and go into His presence, where
are rivers of pleasure for evermore : there they see His face,
and there He shews them His " marvellous loving-kindness."
Death separates from our earthly friends — it separates our soul
from our body ; but it does not, it cannot, separate from the
love of God. However apparently untimely and painful the
death of the saint may be, it is the appointment of Divine love,
and promotes his true happiness. It is the Father of mercies
calling home his expatriated child to the better country, to
dwell in His house, and walk in the light of His countenance.
Nor can life separate the Christian from the love of God.
His life is spent in a world which is a scene of revolt against
God, full of snares and temptations, difficulties and afflictions ;
but whatever in the course of life he may lose, assuredly he shall
not lose the love of God. " Whether he lives, he lives to the
Lord ; whether he dies, he dies to the Lord : living and dying,
he is the Lord's."1 There are not many things which God
has pledged Himself not to take from His people in this world,
1 Rom. xiv. 8.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 273
but there is one worth them all—" My loving-kindness will I
not take from thee :"1 property, reputation, relations, reason,
may all be lost in life, but this, the life of life, cannot be lost,
even when life itself is, as it must be, lost.
" Angels" cannot separate us from the love of God. Angels
are either bad or good ; and neither can separate us from the
love of God. Bad angels — devils — earnestly desire to do
this : they are ever endeavouring to do it ; but all their
endeavours shall be in vain. " Satan shall be bruised" shortly
"under the feet"2 of the people of God; and neither his
ensnaring temptations, nor his malicious charges, can affect
the security of their condition, or make any alteration in the
love of God towards them. There is no reason to fear any
attempt on the part of the elect angels to separate us from
the love of God ; for " are they not all ministering spirits, sent
forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation?"3
But though this be the truth, there is no incongruity in the
apostle making the supposition of their making such an
attempt, and stating what the result would be. " If an angel
from heaven," says he, in his epistle to the Galatians, " should
preach unto you another gospel than that which we have
preached, let him be accursed."4 And here he declares that
all the power of all the angels of God, though they " excel
in strength," is powerless to deprive a single believing sinner
of his share in the special love of God.
" Principalities and powers" cannot separate us from the
love of God. Some consider the words ' principalities and
powers,' as explanatory of angels, and referring here, as they
seem to do in some other places, to the distinctions which
exist in " the host of God" — "the armies of heaven."5 I rather
think that " principalities and powers" are contrasted with
angels in the same way as death is with life, and things present
with things to come. In this case, the words refer to magis
trates, civil authorities.6 These were generally most hostile to
1 Isa. liv. 10. ' Rom. xvi. 20. 3 Heb. i. 14. * Gal. i. 8, 9.
5 Gen. xxxii. 1, 2; Eph. vi. 12; Col. ii. 15. 6 Tit. iii. 1.
s

274 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the people of God in the primitive age, and inflicted on them
many and severe evils. But though the kings of the earth
could rob, and oppress, and torture, and murder them, they
could not touch their most precious treasure — they could not
imperil their highest interests — they could not separate them
from the love of God.
" Things present" cannot separate Christians from the love
of God. None of the events of the present state can do this.
Neither health nor sickness, neither riches nor poverty, neither
obscurity nor aggrandizement; no personal circumstance, and
nothing in the state of things around the saint of God,
whether in the physical or in the moral world — no earthquake
or deluge — no revolution or war — no change in church or in
state, can affect his highest interest; no conceivable con
juncture of circumstances can dissolve, or even weaken, the
band of love which binds God to them.
" Things to come" cannot separate Christians from the love
of God. None of the futurities of time, none of the futurities
of eternity, none of the events which follow death — not the
personal judgment, nothing that shall take place in the sepa
rate state — not the resurrection of the body, not the general
judgment, none of its results throughout eternity, can separate
the believer from the love of God.
Neither " height nor depth" shall be able to separate
the Christian from the love of God. The last pair re
ferred to things as existing in time ; this refers to things as
existing in space. It is somewhat difficult to say what is the
precise meaning of these words. Some understand the words
metaphorically, considering " height'' as designating exalted
station and prosperous circumstances, and " depth," affliction
and depressed circumstances. As Job says, xxiv. 24, " They
are exalted for a little time, but are brought low." As David
says, " Out of the depths have I cried to Thee." " They are
minished, and brought low: yet setteth He the poor on
high." And Paul speaks of " deep poverty." Others consider
" height" as designating the heavenly bodies, and " depth" as
the earth, and what is under the earth, — the terms in conjunc-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 275
tion being equivalent to the created universe. This is a
common enough use of the terms in Scripture. " The day-
spring from on high" ' — literally, from the height. " A sign
in the depth or in the height above." 2 " He ascended on
high" — " He who had descended to the lower parts of the
earth" — the upper and lower worlds.3 No being that exists
— no event that takes place in heaven, or earth, or hell,
can prevent the Christian from obtaining the happiness which
the love of God has destined for him.
Is there any created being — any supposable event, not
comprehended in the apostle's enumeration ? Reflect and
consider. You will find there is not one ; but, lest any should
be supposed to be not included in his comprehensive catalogue,
he adds, " Nor can any other creature" separate us from the
love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if they cannot
do this, they can do us no substantial or permanent injury.
The love of God is the Christian's treasure. Rob him of this,
and you make him poor indeed. Possessed of this, let the
created universe depart, he has lost nothing: and there is
nothing in the unlimitable regions of space — nothing in the
unending ages of duration — that can prevent his attaining his
final happiness, or make it insecure after it is attained.
Of this most consolatory, most ennobling truth, Paul was
fully convinced, " I am persuaded." It is not a matter of
opinion, but of assured faith. " He believed, and therefore
spake." He had, indeed, the most satisfactory evidence for it
— the promise and oath of Him who cannot lie. And we may
have — if it be not our own fault — the same evidence which
he had. Every believer of the Gospel not only may, but ought,
to apply the heart-cheering declaration to himself. What the
apostle says here, he says not as an apostle, but as a believing
sinner ; and every one who like him has, by believing, been
"justified freely by God's grace, through the redemption
that is in Jesus Christ,"^ may, without presumption, adopt his
language. 1 Luke i. 78. 2 Isa. vii. 11. 3 Psalm lxviii. 18 ; Eph. iv. 9, 10.

276 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Some have proposed the question, ' But will not sin separate
us from the love of God?' To those who amuse themselves
with this question as a kind of theological puzzle, we would
hint that they may easily find a fitter and safer intellectual
play-string, and that they may too late discover how hazard
ous it is to handle thoughtlessly such edge-tools. And of
those who look on the subject in a somewhat graver aspect,
we would seriously inquire whether they would really wish,
whether they would think it a privilege, that they should be
secure and safe while committing sin ? and, if so, whether they
have not abundant evidence, in this mode of thinking, that they
have as yet neither part nor lot in Him whose name is Jesus,
" because He saves His people," not in their sins, but "from
their sins ? " The question referred to has been, with almost
equal incaution, answered by a simple negative and a simple
affirmative. Some have said distinctly, No ; but in saying so
they must have forgotten much that is in the word of God.
Sin, wherever it exists, is the object of the Divine abhorrence —
God hates it everywhere — nowhere more, nowhere so much, as
in His own people. The road of sin is the road to hell. Whoso
ever turns back, turns back towards perdition. Sin would
be the ruin of the Christian, did not the Divine method of
justification, though it does not make sin an impossibility,
on the part of those interested in it, make it impossible that
they should continue in a course of sin, and secure that they
shall be kept by faith unto salvation. Still, to the very persons
the apostle is here speaking of, He proclaims, " If ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die."
Some have replied to the question with, if possible, a
further deviation from the truth, by a simple affirmative,
' Yes ; though nothing else in the universe can separate
you from the love of God, your own sin can. There is
no security, there can be no security, given you against
this.' Alas ! alas ! then for the stability of Christian comfort,
for the power of Christian motive, for the progress of Christian
holiness, for the attainment of the Christian salvation, if this
were the truth, — if the whole were this, ' God will save you

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 277
from the power of external causes of separation from His love,
if you only take care of the internal ones.' Well has it been
said,1 " This is to offer me only a drop of water when, fainting
with thirst, I need a copious draught." Ten thousand thou
sand enemies without are not half so strong as the one within.
And if God's gift of His own Son has not secured the restrain
ing and sanctifying influence, for His children, which shall
assuredly enable them to " crucify the old man with his
lusts," and " put on the new man," then is the work not only
incomplete, but it never will be completed. But assuredly
Christ did die to redeem us from the dangers of this most
powerfiil of our enemies, as well as from all other hazards of
being separated from the love of God. Were it otherwise,
we might abandon all the hopes the Gospel inspires, and give
ourselves up as after all lost, hopelessly lost. But "the foun
dation of God standeth sure." " Our old man was crucified
with Him." " I give unto My sheep eternal life, and they
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My
hand. My Father, who gave them Me, is greater than all,
and none can pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and
My Father are one." "If, when we were enemies,- we were
reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being
reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." 2
The abundant consolation and good hope which these glad
tidings of great joy are fitted to communicate, can, however,
be legitimately enjoyed only in the faith of the Gospel going
forth in its appropriate effects. It is under the clear, warm
sunshine of faith, working by love, that that sweet salutary
plant, the full assurance of hope, opens its blossoms and
matures its fruits. In the cold, damp, dingy atmosphere of
spiritual declension, this flower of paradise withers and hangs
its head. And fearful is the delusion, appalling the impiety,
inconceivable the hazard, of him who, from godless specula
tion on theological dogmas, has succeeded, in some measure, in
making indulged sin consistent, it may be, even with an exult-
i Stuart. 'John x. 28-30; Rom. v. 10.

278 DOCTRINAL. [PART. II.
ing assurance of his own final salvation. Groundless fears
are distressing and undutiful, dishonouring to God and inju
rious to him who indulges them ; but unfounded or ill-founded
confidence is still more God-dishonouring, soul-ruining.
" Fearing " and " Feeble-mind " suffered loss from their want
of confidence in the Lord of the pilgrims ; but they were true
pilgrims, and got safe home. But " Serf-will" and " Too-bold"
were but pretenders to the pilgrim-character, and never reached
the celestial city ; and " Vain-confidence " fell into a deep pit,
and was dashed to pieces by his fall.1
He is the happy man, he only, who " knows whom he has
believed, and is persuaded that He will keep that which he has
committed to Him against that day ;" and who, with unshaken
confidence in the infinite atonement of Christ, the omnipotent
influence of the Holy Spirit, the exceeding great and precious
promises of the Gospel, the unrepealed and unrepealable oath
of God, constrained by the mercies of God, lays himself on the
altar of God as "a living sacrifice," and having counted all
things loss for Christ, " holding fast the righteousness which is
of God by faith, does this one thing, forgetting the things that
are behind, reaching forth to those that are before, presses to the
mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus,"
and " keeps himself in the love of God, by building him
self up on His most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, and
looks for the mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life."2
May this be the happiness of us all. And " now may the
God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing, that
we may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy
Ghost."3 And "unto Him who is able to keep us from
falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of His
glory with exceeding joy ; to the only wise God, our Saviour,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and
ever. Amen."4

1 Pilgrim's Progress. a Phil. iii. 8, 9, 13, 14 ; Jude 20, 21.
Rom. xv. 13. * Jude 24, 25.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 279

§ 6. The Relation of the manifested Divine Method of Justifica
tion to the Israelites, and the other Nations of Mankind.
Chapters ix., x., xi. — " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh : who
are Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the
promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh,
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not
all Israel which are of Israel : neither, because they are the seed of Abra
ham, are they all children : but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called ; that is,
They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God :
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the
word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
And not only this ; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by
our father Isaac, (for the children being not yet born, neither having done
any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth,) it was said unto her, The
elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness with God ? God
forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of
God that showeth mercy. For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh,
Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show
My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout
all the earth. Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy,
and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why
doth He yet find fault ? for who hath resisted His will ? Nay but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall the thing formed
say to Him that formed it, Why has thou made me thus ? Hath not the
potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another unto dishonour ? What if God, willing to show His
wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction : and that He might make known
the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore
prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews
only, but also of the Gentiles?

280 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
As He saith also in Osee, I will call them My people, which were not
My people ; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come
to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my
people ; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Esaias
also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel
be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved : for He will finish
the work, and cut it short in righteousness ; because a short work will the
Lord make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord
of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made
like unto Gomorrha.
What shall we say then ? That the Gentiles, which followed not after
righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which
is of faith; but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath
not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore ? Because they sought
it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law : for they stumbled at
that stumbling-stone ; as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-
stone and rock of offence : and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be
ashamed. Brethren my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that
they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's
righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have
not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses
describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which
doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of
faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into
heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down from above ;) or, Who shall descend
into the deep ? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what
saith it ? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart :
that is, the word of faith which we preach ; that if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him
shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek ; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him.
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall
they hear without a preacher ? and how shall they preach except they be
sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things ! But they have
not all obeyed the Gospel : for Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our
report ? So then faith coming by hearing, and hearing by the word of

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 281
God. But I say, Have they not heard ? Yes verily, their sound went
into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say,
Did not Israel know? First, Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy
by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But
Esaias is very bold, and saith, 1 was found of them that sought Me not ; I
was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But to Israel he
saith, All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient
and gainsaying people.
I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I
also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. Wot ye not
what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God
against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed Thy prophets, and digged
down Thine altars ; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But
what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to Myself
seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to
the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works ;
otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no
more grace ; otherwise work is no more work. What then ? Israel hath
not obtained that which he seeketh for ; but the election hath obtained
it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is written, God hath given
them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that
they should not hear) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be
made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recompence unto
them : let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down
their back alway.
I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall ? God forbid :
but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for
to provoke them to jealousy. Now, if the fall of them be the riches
of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles ;
how much more their fulness ? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch
as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office ; if by any
means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might
save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the recon
ciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the
dead? For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy ; and if the
root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken
off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and
with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree ; boast not
against the branches : but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but
the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I
might be graffed in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and
thou standest by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear : for if God spared

282 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold
therefore the goodness and severity of God : on them which fell, severity ;
but toward thee, goodness, if th'ou continue in His goodness ; otherwise
thou also shalt be cut off.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in :
for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut out of
the olive-tree, which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to
nature into a good olive tree ; how much more shall these, which be
the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree ? For I
would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, (lest ye
should be wise in your own conceits,) that blindness in part is happened
to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel
shall be saved ; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for this is my covenant
unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the Gospel,
they are enemies for your sakes : but as touching the election, they are
beloved for the fathers' sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet
have now obtained mercy through their unbelief; even so have these also
now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy
upon all.
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God ! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding
out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who hath been His
counsellor ? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed
unto him again ? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all
things : to whom be glory for ever. Amen."
A new branch of the subject is obviously introduced in the
beginning of the ninth chapter, the various ramifications of
which employ the apostle to the end of the eleventh chapter,
where his most elaborate doctrinal exposition of the Divine
method of justification is brought to a close. The general
subject of this section is the relation which the manifested
righteousness of God has to the Israelitish people, and to the
other nations of mankind. It is in effect an illustration of
these words in the third chapter, ver. 29, 30, " Is He the God
of the Jews only ? Is He not also of the Gentiles ? Yes, of
the Gentiles also : seeing it is one God that shall justify the
circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith."
There is a striking resemblance, yet at the same time an import-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 283
ant difference, between the discussion with which the apostle
introduces,1 and that with which he concludes, his illustration
of the Divine method of justification.2 In the former, the
relation of the Israelitish people and the Gentile nations to the
Divine method of justification, previously to its manifestation, is
exhibited; in the latter, the relation of the same parties to the
Divine method of justification, now that it has been manifested.
The sum of the first statement is, 'Both Jews andGentiles have,
by violating the law of God, incurred the Divine displeasure,
and, being incapable of reinstating themselves in the Divine
favour which they have lost, stand in absolute need of such a
restorative economy as "the righteousness of God" — the Divine
method of justification.' The sum of the second is — ' The advan
tages to be derived from the Divine method of justification have
been presented equally to Jews and Gentiles for reception in
the faith of the Gospel, and have been enjoyed by those,
whether Jews or Gentiles, who have believed — by them
• only.' The immediate results of the manifestation to all of " the
righteousness of God" — the exhibition of the Divine method
of justification in the Gospel — a plain, well-accredited Divine
revelation, fitted and intended for all mankind — were very dif
ferent from what we would have been apt to anticipate ; very
different from what those who were furnished with the best
means for forming a judgment, by being in possession of the
previous revelations of the Divine will, actually did anticipate.
We might have been apt to suppose, that what was so deeply
and universally needed, would be universally received with
gratitude and gladness by Jews and Gentiles ; and that, in
the faith of the truth, they would all accept " the gift of
righteousness" — the full and free justification that is " by
God's grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
The Jews actually did expect that the benefits arising from
the coming of the Messiah would be conferred on all Israel
ites, and, if not their exclusive possession, would be partici-
1 Chap. i. 18-iii. 20. 2 Chap. ix. 1-xi. 36.

284 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
pated in by the Gentiles only on their renouncing Gentilism
and merging themselves in the Holy Nation. How different
were the results both from our anticipations and theirs ! Jus
tification — restoration to the Divine favour, and the blessings
which accompany and flow from it, were presented as a free
gift equally to Jews and Gentiles, to be received by them
in the belief of the Gospel. What was the result? The
Jews, with comparatively few exceptions, refused, on these
terms, to accept of the proffered blessings, and were, in
consequence, not only excluded from their enjoyment, but
severely punished for this last and greatest of their sins, their
rejection of the Messiah and His salvation. The Gentiles, in
great numbers, believed the Gospel, and, through this belief,
without becoming Jews, entered on the enjoyment of the
heavenly and spiritual blessings, which it is the object of the
Divine method of justification to secure and bestow on men.
No Jew was excluded from these blessings but by his unbe
lief: no Gentile, who believed, failed to obtain them. Such
was the state of things immediately on the Divine method of
justification being manifested. Such, substantially, is the state
of things still, after the lapse of eighteen centuries. A few
Jews, having embraced the Gospel, enjoy the blessings of the
Christian salvation. The great majority of Christians, whether
nominal or real, are of Gentile origin. The body of the
Jewish nation is unbelieving, and suffering the consequences
of their unbelief. But it is not to be so always. " The ful
ness of the Gentiles" is to " come in" at the appointed time.
The nations generally — that is, the great body of mankind, of
all nations, are to embrace Christianity. " The blindness in
part," which has happened to Israel, is then to cease ; and to
them, generally embracing, in the faith of the Gospel, Him
whom their fathers had crucified and they hitherto rejected, the
ancient oracle, " all Israel shall be saved," shall be verified ;
and God after having in the unfathomable depth of the riches
both of His wisdom and knowledge, concluded — shut up
Gentiles and Jews in succession in unbelief — that He mitrht
show what man is; that He may show what He is — will have

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 285
mercy on both— putting them equally, and in perpetuity, in
possession of the blessings of " the common salvation."
These are the great facts as to the relation in which Jews
and Gentiles stand to the manifested Divine method of justifi
cation, to the statement and illustration of which the apostle
devotes the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapters of this epistle.
Previously to his entering upon the statement and illustration
I have just referred to, he vindicates, in opposition to Jewish
prejudices, the Divine conduct in thus excluding the great
body of Israel from the blessings bestowed by the Messiah,
and in inflicting on them evils so dreadful as are implied in
being accursed by Christ. This, if I mistake not, is his object
from the beginning of the ninth chapter down to the 29th
verse. For the purpose of vindicating God in excluding some
— the majority — of the Israelites from the enjoyment of the
blessings procured and bestowed by the Messiah, after express
ing his sorrow for. them,1 he appeals to the Divine conduct
towards their nation2 from the beginning, and to the character
of free sovereignty that belongs to the blessings bestowed by
God on fallen men ;3 while, as to the infliction on them of such
fearful judgments, he puts that on the same footing as the
punishment of Pharaoh4 — as the execution of a righteous sen
tence of condemnation for a course of rebellion and unbelief,
persisted in, in the midst of, and in opposition to, much for
bearance and long-suffering.
The vindication of the Divine procedure seems to resolve
itself into three parts. (1.) The blessings from which the
majority of the Jews were excluded, were blessings never pro
mised to them. (2.) These blessings were free gifts, bestowed
by God, in the exercise of sovereign grace, on those on whom,
in the exercise of the same sovereign grace, he had determined
to bestow them. And (3.) the evils inflicted on the unbeliev
ing Jews were the just punishment of long-persevered in dis
obedience — punishment richly deserved by them — in merciful
'Ver. 1-4, i Ver. 5-13, 25-29.
3 Ver. 11, 14-24. 4 Ver. 17.

286 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
forbearance, long delayed by God. The illustrations of these
points sometimes run into each other ; for the apostle is not
composing a treatise, but writing an epistle. But the keeping
in mind that these are the three topics of his complex argu
ment, will greatly assist us in satisfactorily apprehending its
meaning and force.
The sum of the statement and argument is, The blessings of
the Divine method of justification are intended for mankind —
not for Jews as Jews, or for Gentiles as Gentiles. They can
be received only in the belief of the truth, and in the belief
of the truth they shall certainly be received. No unbelieving
Jew can obtain them — no believing Gentile remain destitute
of them. If any, whether Jew or Gentile, to whom the Gospel
comes, remain destitute of them, it is because he does not
believe it. They who refuse to believe are guilty of a great
sin, and deserve not only what is the natural, necessary result
of their unbelief — exclusion from the blessings of the Christian
salvation, but positive punishment for disobedience to the
clearly revealed will of God. They who believe, have no
merit in believing, — the faith of the Gospel and the bless
ings in which it interests, being equally the result of the
sovereign grace of God.
(1.) The Divine Procedure, in excluding the unbelieving Jews
from the benefits of the Divine Method of Justification, and
punishing them for rejecting it, Vindicated.1
a. The Apostle's deep sorrow for his unbelieving brethren.2
The thought present to the apostle's mind, in entering on
this discussion, seems to have been that so naturally suggested
to one of so strong patriotic affections by the vivid repre
sentation of the happiness and security of all who, being in
Christ Jesus, were interested in the Divine method of justifi
cation, contained in the close of the eighth chapter : ' From all
this blessedness, the great body of my countrymen, by their un-
1 Chap. ix. 1-2P. 2 Chap. ix. 1-5.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 287
belief, have excluded themselves ; and they are bringing down
on themselves a load of Divine vengeance proportioned to the
value of the blessings they reject, and the guilt necessarily
implied in rejecting these blessings. They are not " in
Christ," and therefore there is condemnation to them. They
have put Him away from them, and He is about to put them
away from Him. They are treating Him as if he were an
anathema — accursed, and He is about to treat them as an ana
thema. They are filling up their sins daily, and wrath is
coming on them to the uttermost. Righteous is Jehovah, and
righteous are His judgments. " Yet my heart is turned within
me ; my repentings are kindled together." " My sighs are
many ; my heart is faint." " Oh, that they had known, in this
their day, the things that belong to their peace !" ' These sen
timents are very strikingly expressed in the commencement
of the ninth chapter : x — " I say the truth in Christ, I lie not,
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh : who are
Israelites ; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory,
and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service
of God, and the promises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom,
as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God
blessed for ever."
There is some difficulty in the construction of this passage.
The first verse is obviously a very solemn introduction to an
assertion about to be made — something apparently equivalent
to a double oath. But the question is, what is that asser
tion ? From their version, it is plain that our translators con
sidered the assertion, so solemnly introduced, as that contained
in the second verse, " I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow of heart ;" and they consider the third verse as a proof
or evidence of the sincerity of this declaration. But there are
two strong objections to this view of the matter. The first is,
1 Ver. 1-5

288 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the sentence is incomplete : it expresses sorrow, but does not
say for what. And the second is, that, though it were com
plete, the declaration, neither in importance nor in strange
ness, seems to correspond with the singularly solemn adjura
tion by which it is introduced. These difficulties have been felt
by interpreters, and various methods adopted to remove them.
Some insist that the apostle is here expressing his sor
row, not for the misery of his unbelieving brethren, but
for his own conduct, under the influence of a mistaken
patriotism, previously to his conversion. They consider the
third verse as assigning, not the proof, but the reason, of the
statement made in the second — translating the word rendered
" I could wish,"1 'I did wish, I was wishing, I once wished'
(a rendering the word will certainly bear) 'I say the truth
in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, because for my brethren, my kinsmen accord
ing to the flesh, I once wished myself an anathema from
Christ, and acted accordingly. Under the influence of a false
zeal for the honour of my countrymen, I thought I could
not be too far or too obviously removed from the crucified
Nazarene. " I verily thought with myself, that I ought to
do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." 2
This now fills me with the deepest regret — now that my highest
happiness consists in the assurance that nothing can separate
me from His love, and from the love of God in Him.' These
interpreters consider this passage as parallel to the affecting
declaration in the close of the first chapter of the First Epistle
to Timothy.3 To this mode of construing and explaining the
passage, there are many objections ; but it is unnecessary to
mention more than one. An ardent expression of his love to his
countrymen was a natural, and indeed necessary, introduction
to the statements which he was just about to make respecting
their criminal rejection of the manifested Divine method of
justification, and the fearful punishment they had thus drawn
down on themselves ; whereas an expression of regret at his
1 nvxifinv, " Acts xxvi. 9. s Ver. 13, 14.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 289
own mistaken displays of patriotism, when he thought that,
for the honour of Israel and Israel's God, he " ought to do
many things against Jesus of Nazareth," seems quite out of
place. Another class of expositors, holding that ' I did wish,' or
' I was wishing,' is the true rendering, have given another,
and certainly a more plausible view of the sense which may
thus be brought out of the words. They consider the whole
passage as an ardent expression of the apostle's love to his
Israelitish brethren. They consider the second verse as an
incomplete sentence, and find the complement of it in the last
clause of the third verse, "for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh;" regarding the rest of that verse as
parenthetical. They read it, without the parenthesis, thus :
" I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also
bearing me witness, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow of heart for my brethren, my kinsmen according to
the flesh." The words included in the parenthesis they con
sider as giving the reason of this intense grief: 'For I myself
once wished myself an anathema from Christ. Their condition
of obstinate unbelief was once his own. He pitied them for
hating Christ, for he once hated Him as cordially as they
could do. He knew by experience the horrors of such a
state ; and, therefore, he could not look on his infatuated
brethren without the tenderest emotions of pity. They con
sider it as expressing the same sentiment as is so beautifully
brought out, Tit. iii. 3. It is impossible to deny to this
mode of construction and exposition the praise of great in
genuity. It not only removes the difficulty connected with
the apparently imperfect state of the second verse, but it
keeps clear of considerable difficulties, which every one must
perceive to be connected with any explanation of the third
verse which makes it the expression of the apostle's wish in
the circumstances in which he wrote the Epistle. Yet, not
withstanding all this, it does not appear to me satisfactory.
Besides minor considerations, it leaves one objection to the
ordinary mode of construing the passage untouched. There
T

290 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
is nothing in the strangeness or importance of the statement
to account for the uncommon solemnity of the manner in
which it is introduced ; it requires a leading idea to be sup
plied by the reader, to make up the continuity of the current
of thought : ' I am deeply affected by my brethren's miser
able circumstances ; they are accursed from Christ, and will
ing to be so ; I also was once as infatuated as they are now ;
and therefore my heaviness is so great, my sorrow so con
tinual.' It is not natural for the mind, under deep emotion,
thus to analyse its own feelings. Besides, it does not seem a
natural way of describing the feelings, either of the uncon
verted Jews or his own before conversion, to say they wished
to be anathema from Christ, with whom they were not at all
connected. Though the apostle is a parenthetical writer, it
would be difficult to find a parenthesis such as this in any of
his Epistles ; and, what must weigh much in coming to a
conclusion on such a question, the Greek Fathers, to whom
the language of the New Testament was vernacular, though
quite aware of the difficulties connected with the exposition of
the passage, never refer to this mode of disposing of them.
The true way of construing the passage seems to me to
depend on the rather unusual force that ought to be given to
the particle translated For, in the beginning of the third verse.
That verse, not the second, contains the startling, scarcely
credible, declaration, which he found it proper to preface by
so solemn a declaration that it was the truth. The word
rendered for is sometimes, both in the Greek version of the
Old Testament and in the New Testament, employed as we
use the word namely, or to wit, to mark strongly what is
wished to be particularly attended to. For example, the
remarkable passage in Job xix. 23-25, " Oh that my words
were now written ! oh that they were printed in a book !" etc.;
"for I know that my Redeemer liveth," etc. For here plainly
indicates, that what follows were the words which he wished
thus written, printed, engraved. And in 2 Tim. ii. 11, "It
is a faithful saying : For if we be dead with Him, we shall
also live with Him : if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. ^91
with Him." For here, obviously, is just equivalent to namely;
what follows is the faithful saying referred to. We consider
the whole first five verses as one sentence, the second verse
being the complement of the last clause of the first ; and con
strue the passage thus : ' I say the truth in Christ, I lie not,
my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart.
And this is the truth which I say in Christ : I solemnly declare
that I utter nothing but truth when I say, I could wish that
myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kins
men according to the flesh : who are Israelites ; to whom
pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and
the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the pro
mises ; whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the
flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever.'
The paragraph naturally divides itself into three parts : the
solemn introduction, the strange declaration, and the grounds
on which that declaration rests. Let us look at these in their
order. And first — The solemn introduction : " I say the truth in
Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in
the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow in my heart." The words, " I speak the truth in
Christ," admit of two expositions. They may signify, I speak
the truth as a Christian. The phrase, " in Christ," has often
this meaning : as 2 Cor. xii. 2 — " I knew a man in Christ
fourteen years ago ;" Rom. xvi. 7 — " Who were in Christ be
fore me." It may, however, and I rather think it does, signify
something else here. It seems a formula of swearing. The
declaration is a declaration on oath ; and the appeal is made to
Christ, the searcher of the hearts, the trier of the reins. The
mode of expression here used was commonly used in swearing.
— Matt. v. 34-36 ; Rev. x. 6. The word rendered here in, is,
in the passages referred to, translated by, which, without im
propriety, might have been used here also. Assuredly, Paul
was no profane swearer; but we find him repeatedly appealing
to Christ to attest the truth of his declarations, and the sin-

292 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
cerity of his intentions. — 2 Cor. xi. 10; 1 Tim. v. 21. He
adds, " I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness,
that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow of heart."
" I do not lie," repeats and strengthens the affirmation. For
similar modes of expression you may consult John i. 20 ;
Eph. iv. 25 ; 1 Sam. iii. 18 ; 2 Tim. ii. 7. The apostle was
assured of the reality and depth of his affection for his
brethren, of which he was about to give so strange an expres
sion, by the consciousness that the miseries they had brought
on themselves by their unbelief, were to him a source of deep
abiding sorrow. " I have great heaviness and continual
sorrow of heart."
Such a declaration may seem not to harmonize well with
the expressions of ecstatic exultation with which the preceding
chapter closes. How can the man who so triumphs be in
great heaviness and continual sorrow? The incongruity is
only apparent. The same man cannot be in the same sense,
at the same time, in reference to the same subject, at once
joyful and sorrowful. But there is nothing inconsistent,
nothing unusual, for the same person to be in different senses,
in reference to different subjects, joyful and sorrowful. Paul
was happy on his own account — happy on account of all,
whether Jews or Gentiles, who had believed the Gospel and
become partakers of the common salvation — transcendently
happy in Him who loved him, and gave Himself for him —
whose he was, whom he served. It is impossible to read Paul's
Epistles without perceiving that he was one of the happiest
of men out of heaven. But when he turned his attention to
the fearful situation, and still more fearful prospects, of his
unbelieving brethren, he was filled with a generous sorrow.
Never was a human being more fully penetrated with Christian
benevolence than the apostle ; and this, which was the source
to him of some of his sweetest joys, was also the source of
some of his deepest sorrows. But even in these sorrows he
had a satisfaction, to which the selfish man is a stranger, how
ever great and unmingled may be his enjoyments. The man
must be an entire stranger to Paul's spirit, who finds it diffi-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 293
cult to conceive how a man may be " sorrowful," very sorrow
ful, though " always rejoicing." 1
The only other phrase here which requires to be explained
is, " in the Holy Ghost." This, like the corresponding phrase,
" in Christ," admits of a two-fold explanation. It may either
signify ' my conscience, influenced by the Holy Ghost, who is
the Spirit of truth' — or it may intimate an appeal to the
Holy Ghost for the truth of what he was about to say. In
this case, we have a solemn declaration, as in the presence of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that what he was about to
say was true — the accurate expression of the sincere feelings
of his heart.
Now what was the declaration which the apostle ushers in
with so much solemnity ? It is this — " I could wish that my
self were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh." That Paul harboured no resentment
towards his Jewish brethren, notwithstanding their con
temptuous and cruel conduct towards him, might be con
sidered as not a very likely thing ; that he should continue to
love them as much as ever, might be accounted still less pro
bable ; that he loved them more ardently than before they
had so treated him, might appear scarcely credible ; but that
he loved them so well, that he felt that he could wish himself
accursed from Christ, whatever that may mean, for them — this
statement certainly warranted, and almost required, the utmost
possible solemnity of attestation.
The phrase translated " I could wish myself accursed from
Christ," may mean, as has already been remarked, 'I did
wish  I was wishing;' but the reasons which have been
given prevent me from acquiescing in either of the modes
of interpretation to which such a mode of rendering leads.
I have now to state that I am persuaded that our translators
have here, as usually, accurately transfused the apostle's
meaning into their version. We have instances of the same
kind of version in passages where even an English reader
1 2 Cor. vi. 10.

294 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
can perceive the propriety of the translation : — Acts xxv. 22,
" I would" — or I could — " wish to hear the man myself," —
literally, I did wish ; 2 Cor. xi. 4, " Ye might well bear with
him,"— literally, ' Ye did well bear ; " John viii. 39, " Ye
would do," — literally, ' ye did do.' In all these passages, the
course of thought — the scope of the writer — requires a devia
tion from the strictly literal version of the words ; and so is
it here. The apostle's declaration, then, seems to be this — ' I could
wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kins
men according to the flesh.' This is a very strange declara
tion, and interpreters have been much perplexed in their
attempts to explain and vindicate it.
The first thing to be done in order to the elucidation of this
passage, " hard to be understood," is to ascertain the meaning
of the word translated, " accursed." The best way of doing
this, is by attending to the manner in which the word is used
in other passages of the New Testament and in the Greek
translation of the Old Testament, then in common use among
the Jews. It occurs in the New Testament only in five other
places : — Acts xxiii. 14, " We have bound ourselves under an
oath,"— literally, 'we have cursed ourselves with a curse ;' ' we
have anathematized ourselves with an anathema ; ' 1 Cor. xii.
3, " No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus ac
cursed" — an anathema ; 1 Cor. xvi. 22, " If any man love not
our Lord Jesus, let him be anathema" — accursed: "Maran-
atha," — the Lord cometh ; Gal. i. 8, 9. The word occurs often
in the Greek translation of the Old Testament — for example, in
Deut. vii. 26, xiii. 17, xx. 17; Josh. vi. 17, 18, vii. 1, 11, 12,
13, 15; 1 Chron. ii. 7 ; Zech. xiv. 11. The meaning of the
word is clearly, to be devoted to destruction.1 The nature and
1 " avaQipa was origiually the same as dvxDy/ux ; but in more recent
times, and in the New Testament also, the latter form was used for what
was consecrated, devoted to the gods, in an evil sense, like the Latin sacer.
It corresponds with xaSappta, icspi^/yiy.a, irspixa^appia, 1 Cor. iv. 13;
that is, a victim for a community — a man upon whom, in the case of pes
tilence or any other national calamity, the guilt of the community, which
is supposed to be the cause of the calamity, is laid." — Olshausen.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 295
extent of the destruction to which the person or thing, of
whom the word is employed, is devoted, must be learned from
the circumstances of the case. Let us inquire into these in
the case before us.
" I could wish myself devoted to destruction from Christ."
To be " devoted to destruction from Christ," is a harsh mode
of expression. In none of the instances in which the word
occurs, do we find it thus construed. We never read of a
thing or a person devoted to destruction, as an anathema from
any other thing or person. To get over this difficulty, some
have translated the preposition rendered from, ' according to,'
after the example of;' and have supposed the apostle's refer
ence to be to crucifixion — ' I could wish myself to be crucified
for my brethren, after the example of Christ.' But this is an
unwarranted interpretation. In the only passage quoted in
support of it — " God, whom I serve from my forefathers,"1
the word "from" does not mean 'after the manner of;' for
Paul did not serve God after the manner of his forefathers :
it merely means, Paul worshipped the same God as his fore
fathers. They worshipped Jehovah, and so did he. The true
way of removing the difficulty, is to give the word rendered
from, the sense of by, which it not unfrequently has — as in
Mark viii. 31, " Rejected of" — that is, ' by' (the same word
as here), " the elders ;" Acts ii. 22, " A man approved of" —
that is, 'by'— "God;" 1 Cor. i. 30, "Made of God"— i.«.,
' by God'—" to us wisdom ;" 2 Cor. iii. 18, " As by the Spirit
of the Lord ;" James i. 13, " Tempted by God :"— " I could
wish myself devoted to destruction by Christ."
Why this clause is inserted, becomes plain when we look
to the next one — " for my brethren, my kinsmen according
to the flesh." The ordinary way of explaining this phrase is,
' for the benefit of my brethren.' It no doubt includes this,
but it seems to include more than this. The meaning appears
t0 be — ' I could wish to be devoted to destruction by Christ
in the room of my brethren. I could wish to take their place —
1 2 Tim. i. 3.

296 DOCTRINAL. [l'ART II.
to be a victim for them.' That the term rendered for will
bear this signification, is plain from the way in which it is
employed, Philem. 13, in which Paul speaks of retaining
Onesimus, that for Philemon — that, as our translators well
render it, " in his stead" — he might minister to him. The
apostle felt as if he could take the place of his brethren, if, by
doing so, he could save them from the fearful doom they had
brought on themselves from the rejected Messiah. The unbe
lieving Jews were doomed to destruction — doomed to destruc
tion by Christ. He had said, "Many shall come from the east
and west, and sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
in the kingdom of heaven : but the children of the kingdom
shall be cast into outer darkness ; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth."1 " When the Lord of the vineyard
cometh, what will He do to those husbandmen?"2 "The
kingdom of God shall be taken from you." " Whosoever
shall fall on this stone" — the stone which the builders rejected,
made the head stone of the corner — " shall be broken ; but
on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."3
" Your house is left to you desolate."4 " The blood of all the
prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world,
shall be required of this generation."5 " These be the days
of vengeance;" "There shall be great distress in the land,
and wrath on this people."6 "He that believeth not shall be
damned."7 Such was the doom of unbelieving Israel; and
such was the ardour of Paul's affection for his brethren, that,
if the thing had been possible and proper, he could have
wished, by sacrificing his own happiness, to have secured
theirs. This appears to me the only satisfactory mode of ex
plaining the words ; and if so, what a striking display have we
here of the transforming power of Christianity !
Never, perhaps, was the omnipotence of the Gospel more
splendidly illustrated than in the thorough revolution it accom-

1 Matt. viii. 11, 12. " Matt. xxi. 40. '¦' Matt. xxi. 43, 44.
' M<itt. xxiii. 38. "¦ Luke xi. 50, 51. " Luke xxi. 22. 23.
' Mark xvi. 10.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 297
plished in the mind and heart of the apostle. When first in
troduced to our notice by the sacred historian, we find him
assisting the murderers of Stephen, the proto-martyr to the
faith of Christ, " consenting to his death," and taking charge
of their clothes thrown aside to fit them for their work of blood.
Saul was naturally a man of firm character. His modes of
thought and feeling were based on principle and strengthened
by habit, and were not only different from, but directly op
posed to, those which it is the object of the Gospel to generate.
A bigoted attachment to Judaism was his ruling passion.
This had given a sinister direction to his strong and versatile
intellect, and had poisoned with malignity his inmost heart.
He hated all who differed from him — Pagans, Samaritans,
above all, the Nazarene Impostor, as he deemed Him, and His
followers. He cordially approved the course of procedure which
had brought Him to the cross; and he was "exceedingly mad
against them," " breathing out threatenings and slaughter "
against them, dragging them to prison, and compelling them
to blaspheme.
It were a curious and by no means uninstructive specu
lation, to endeavour, by the application of the general laws
of the human mind to the apostle's case, to discover what
would have been the probable result of bringing the disci
pline of the Grecian philosophy to bear on such a spirit.
It is not impossible that his attachments might have been
transferred from Jewish rites to philosophical subtleties.
The Porch or the Grove at Athens might have taken the
place occupied in his imagination and affections by the Temple
at Jerusalem. The furious bigot might have been converted
into a hesitating sceptic or a tenacious dogmatist. His accom
plished teachers might in some degree have smoothed the as
perity of his temper, and moderated the violence of his passions,
but in all the essential ingredients of his character— in the
ruling principles of his moral nature— they would have left
him unchanged.
Happily for Saul, instead of being sent to the schools of
Athens, he was taken under the tuition of Jesus of Nazareth.

298 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
The truth, in its meaning and evidence, was, by the agency
of the Holy Ghost, presented to his mind ; and a thorough
change, not merely of conduct but of heart, was the result.
The elements of his character, as well as the principles of
his faith, underwent a revolution, and here is the proof of
it : The man who hated to the death those who differed from
him in religious creed, though they never injured him, now
declares, that for men not only opposed to him in his faith, but
bent on his destruction, he was willing not only to die, but to
submit to what to him was worse than ten thousand deaths — to
be accursed from Christ, if by this means he could secure their
salvation. Could anything but Christianity have done this ?
The objections to the mode of interpretation which we have
adopted are not so weighty as at first sight they may appear
to be. To the question, How could the apostle be willing to
be devoted to destruction by Christ in the room of his unbe
lieving countrymen ? it may be answered, that the possibility
of his being thus made an anathema is no more implied in
what he says here, than the possibility of " an angel from
heaven preaching another gospel " is implied in what is said
in Gal. i. 8, 9. In both cases, a supposition is made for the
purpose of expressing and illustrating a sentiment. The infer
ence, that Paul was willing to submit to the everlasting de
struction the unbelieving Jews had incurred, is not warranted
by the words before us. If his being cast off by the Saviour
could secure the reception and salvation of the whole Jewish
people, he expresses his readiness to submit to this. But as
such a thing was impossible, and as he well knew that it was
so, all we can reasonably infer from the passage is, that such
was his attachment to his countrymen, that he was ready to
do or suffer anything within the limits of possibility, provided
their salvation could be but secured by these exertions and
sufferings. This is a remarkable expression for a state of feel
ing to which the more ordinary forms of language are inade
quate.1 It was intended to express as high a degree of affec-
1 Stuart.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 299
tion as man can entertain for man. Understanding it in this
way, not as the expression of an actual peremptory wish, but
a declaration that, were it consistent with the will of God and
for the glory of Christ, he could willingly exchange conditions
with the wretched unbelieving Jews, who, though his brethren,
his kinsmen according to the flesh, were his active, persevering,
unrelenting foes, — still we must consider it as the irrepressible
bursting out of a generosity and benevolence unexampled but
by that which infinitely exceeds it, the love that passeth know
ledge, which induced the righteous One not only to wish to
become, but actually to become, "a curse for us, that we might
be redeemed from the curse," and be "made the righteousness
of God in Him."
Let us now inquire what it was that drew out, in so re
markable a manner, the desire of Paul for the salvation of his
countrymen. It was (1.) the greatness of the misery they had
been doomed to — they were accursed by Christ, anathematised
by the Messiah ; (2.) the closeness of his relation to them —
they were his "brethren, his kinsmen according to the flesh ;"
and (3.) the high privileges with which they had been invested
— they were " Israelites : to whom pertained the adoption, and
the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and
the service of God, and the promises ; whose were the fathers,
and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is
over all, God blessed for ever."
The Israelitish people, as a body — the great majority of the
nation, was doomed to destruction. They had always been
a rebellious and stiff-necked race, though almost all that was
really good among men was to be found among them. They
had lately filled up the measure of their iniquity by imbruing
their hands in the blood of the incarnate Son of God, and
madly imprecating that that blood might be on them and on
their children. The most dreadful evils that ever befel a
people were just about to overwhelm them. Wrath was
coming on them to the uttermost. Yet a little while, and
overwhelmed in the ruins of their commonwealth — their metro
polis sacked and burned — its noblest ornament, the temple, a

300 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
heap of rubbish — they must fall victims to the famine, the
pestilence, and the sword ; many of them suffering the ac
cursed punishment which their infuriated malice had brought
on Him who came in the name of the Lord to save them, or,
driven from their own land, without a country or a home, become
enslaved wanderers among the nations. In a spiritual point
of view, their condition was still more deplorable. These ex
ternal evils were but the indications of a wrath which was to
abide on them. Instead of meeting in the unseen world a
refuge from these calamities, they would be found but the
prelusive drops of the storm of vengeance which is there to
destroy the enemies of God and His Son. And then, though
in a distant future, the apostle saw the salvation of Israel, in
the conversion of the great body of the nation, strangely pre
served, to the faith of the crucified one, yet how many gene
rations of unbelievers must ere then, after having passed away
their days in God's wrath in this world, enter on eternity to
learn " the power of His anger," and that " according to His
fear is His wrath."1 It was this which produced in the
apostle so deep regrets and so intense desire, and which im
parted to his language so strange an energy. And had we
a clearer view and firmer faith of the truth respecting the
doom of unpardoned men, and a larger measure of that
benevolence which makes a man love his neighbour as him
self, would not we have great heaviness and continual sorrow
in our heart ; and what sacrifice would we not be disposed
to make to rescue our fellow-men from evils so tremendous ?
The state of the apostle's mind is the natural one. It is the
comparative indifference which men who profess to believe
these things contrive habitually to entertain, that is strange
and unnatural, even to monstrousness. Who can estimate
the amount of misery in the loss of one soul ? How dread
ful to think that that estimate must be multiplied by myriads
and millions ! One lost immortal must suffer incomparably
more than all that has been suffered by all who have ever
1 fsa. xc. 11.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 301
lived — all that shall be suffered by all who shall yet live, on
the earth. What then, in the apostle's estimation, must have
been the amount of suffering involved in the event to prevent
which he could have wished himself accursed by Christ?
A second circumstance which led the apostle to feel and
express so intense a desire for the salvation of the Jews, was
his intimate relation to them. They were his " brethren, his
kinsmen according to the flesh." Christianity does not un
hinge the relations formed by nature ; it draws them closer.
It does not extinguish the affections which grow out of these
relations ; it regulates and sanctifies them, and, connecting
them with religious duty, secures a healthful strength and a
steady operation. Paul, when he became a Christian, became
a cosmopolite — a citizen of the world ; but he did not cease to
be a Jew. He became a philanthropist, but he continued a
patriot. Before his conversion, his patriotism manifested itself
in his wishes and exertions to promote the worldly prosperity
and glory of his race. It is their salvation now that he is
chiefly anxious about. For this he lives ; for this he is willing
to die, aye, to endure what would be more than equivalent
to a thousand deaths, accompanied with all conceivable ter
rors. It is his heart's desire and prayer to God, that all men
may be saved ; but the salvation of Israel excites a peculiar
intensity of desire — draws forth a peculiar fervency of suppli
cation. The third circumstance which produced in the mind of the
apostle so warm an interest in the happiness of the Jews, is
to be found in the high privileges with which, as a nation,
they had been invested. These are briefly enumerated in the
fourth and fifth verses.
They were " Israelites," — the descendants of him who was
the heir of all the privileges conferred on Abraham, the father
of the faithful, and who himself, as a prince, had power with
God, and prevailed. This was, in the apostle's estimation,
the most honourable of all national appellations — a name
" above all Greek, above all Roman fame."
Theirs was "the adoption;" not the adoption which secures

302 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
an inalienable interest in the Divine favour — that never was,
never could be, a national privilege ; under every economy it
has been the peculiar possession of the individual believer —
but the adoption which consisted in separating them from the
idolatrous nations, placing them under a peculiar economy,
and bestowing on them peculiar privileges. The apostle
obviously refers to such passages in the Old Testament Scrip
tures as Exod. iv. 22 : " Israel is My son, My first-born : let
My son go, that he may serve Me : if thou refuse, I will slay
thy son, thy first-born ;" Deut. xiv. 1 : "Ye are the children of
the Lord your God ; " Jer. xxxi. 9 : "lama Father to Israel,
and Ephraim is My first-born ; " Hos. xi. 1 : " When Israel
was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of
Egypt." To them pertained " the glory." The meaning of this
phrase is somewhat doubtful. Some interpret it of the dignity
which belonged to the Israelites as the people of God, of
which Moses speaks in Deut. iv. 6-8 : "The nations shall say,
Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto
them? and what nation is so great, that hath statutes and
judgments so righteous?" It seems more natural to suppose
that the term refers to something known among the Israelites
by the name of "the glory." From a passage in 1 Sam. iv. 21,
"The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is
taken," some have supposed that this sacred chest was called
" the glory." It is more probable that the phrase refers to
the miraculous cloud of glory — the symbol of the presence of
Jehovah, — the movements of which guided the Israelites
through the wilderness, and which occasionally appeared over
the tabernacle and temple — if it did not always hover over
the mercy-seat. This is very often indeed, in the Old Testa
ment, called "the glory," and " the glory of the Lord," e. g.,
Exod. xl. 34, 35; 1 Kings viii. 10, 11; 2 Chron. vii. 1;
Ezek. i. 28 ; x. 4. To them pertained the glory : in the
midst of them they had what no other nation had, a visible
token of the presence and favour of Jehovah.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 303
To them also pertained " the covenants." The covenants
here refer to the arrangements, or constitutions, in reference
to Israel as a people : That made with Abraham, and renewed
to Isaac and Jacob, their progenitors ; and those with Israel
as a people under Moses at Sinai, of which we have so full
an account in the Book of Exodus ; and that in the land of
Moab, distinguished from the one in Horeb, of which we
have an account in the twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters
of Deuteronomy. What a high honour, to have been made
the subjects of such Divine arrangements !
Further : to them pertained " the giving of the law." By
this expression, some interpreters understand the law itself;
but as the law itself was the substance of one of the covenants,
mentioned in the preceding clause, it is more probable that
it refers to the remarkable Divine dispensation, the giving
the law from the summit of Sinai with so awful solemnity.
The best commentary on the clause is to be found in the
words of Moses : " Ask now of the days that are past, which
were before thee, since the day that God created man upon
the earth ; and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other,
whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing
is, or hath been heard like it? Did ever people hear the
voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou
hast heard, and live? Out of heaven He made thee to hear
His voice, that He might instruct thee ; and upon earth He
showed thee His great fire ; and thou heardest His words out
of the midst of the fire." l
To them also pertained " the service of God." By " the
service of God," we are to understand the appointed, and
therefore the acceptable, mode of worshipping God — "the
ordinances of Divine service," as the apostle expresses it..2
While the rest of the nations were left to "seek after the Lord,
if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him ; and to
inquire, Wherewith shall we come before the Lord, and bow
ourselves before the Most High God ? " Israel had not only a
1 Deut. iv. 32, 33, 36. 2 Heb. ix. 1.

304 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
revelation made of the only living and true God, but were
instructed how to worship Him.1
To them also pertained " the promises." There were pro
mises made to, or rather in reference to, the Gentiles. But
to Israel were made many exceeding great and precious
promises. Those contained in the twenty-sixth chapter of
Leviticus and in the twenty-eighth of Deuteronomy may be
considered as a specimen. These were promises of peculiar
protection, and of continued existence; promises of the Messiah
to be raised up from among them; and promises, which remain
yet to be fulfilled, of their restoration to the Church in the
latter days.
Theirs, too, were " the fathers." The reference here is to
their illustrious forefathers, whether nearer or more remote —
the patriarchs of their nation — such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, Moses, David,2 etc. It is an honour to any nation to
have had great, and wise, and good men among the founders
and upholders of their state. It is wrong to be proud, but it
is right to be thankful that such men as Wallace and Bruce,
Knox and Melville, were among our forefathers. But no na
tion was ever so honoured in this respect as the Jews. No other
nation had for its father the friend of God, and the father of
all who believe. " Time would fail us," as the apostle says,3
" to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and Samson, and Jephthae,
and David, and Samuel, and of the prophets."
But a still higher honour belonged to the Israelites than
any or all of these : " Of them, as concerning the flesh, Christ"
— the Messiah, the great, promised, Divinely-appointed, and
Divine Deliverer — " came, who is over all, God blessed for
ever." This was the highest honour that could be conferred
on a nation, that the Divinity should become incarnate among
them. This was the subject of Old Testament prophecy :
In Abraham's seed all the nations of the earth were to be
blessed ; the Great Prophet was to be raised up from amono-
the Israelitish people ; the Everlasting King was to be the
1 Psa. cxlvii. 19, 20. 2 Acts ii. 29. 3 Heb. xi. 32.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 305
Son of David. And the predictions had been fulfilled: "Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, was the Son of David, the Son of
Abraham."1 The apostle plainly intimates in the words, " as concerning
the flesh," that the Messiah who was promised, and now had
come, was possessed of a nature superior to the human. These
words imply that, while " concerning the flesh" He came of
the Jews, in some other respects He did not come of them :
" His goings forth had been of old, from everlasting." He
here repeats what he said in the beginning of the Epistle,2
that Jesus, who, according to the flesh, was the Son of David,
according to the Spirit of Holiness, was, and was proved to
be, the Son of God. He who, as concerning the flesh, came
of the Jews, is " over all, God blessed for ever."
This is one of the most distinct statements of our Lord's
proper deity that is to be found in Scripture ; and, therefore,
it is not to be wondered at, if, on the part of the enemies of
this doctrine, everything which learning and ingenuity can do
has been done to explain it away. Some, without proof, in
opposition to most abundant evidence, will have it that the word
God is an interpolation ; others, by an utterly unwarranted
transposition, would read, ' Of whom, or whose, is God over all,
blessed for ever ;' while others, in opposition to the uniform usage
of Scripture, consider the last clause of the verse as a doxology
addressed to God the Father. There can be no reasonable doubt
that our version most accurately renders the apostle's meaning.3
The doctrine here taught, when he says, " He is over all,"
is just what the apostle teaches us elsewhere, when he tells
us that Jesus Christ is the Prince of the whole creation, before
all things; that by Him all things consist; that He upholdeth
all things by the word of His power ; that He has a name
above every name — a name at which every knee is to bow,
and every tongue confess that He is Lord.4
1 Matt. i. 1. 2 Chap. i. 3, 4.
8 See Wardlaw On the Socinian Controversy, Pye Smith's Scriptural
Doctrine, Moses Stuart in loc.
4 Col. i. 15, 17; Heb. i. 3; Phil. ii. 6-11. U

306 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
He is not only " over all," but " God over all" — God in no
inferior or secondary sense, but, as the prophet says, " the
mighty God;"1 as Paul elsewhere says, " the great God our
Saviour;"2 and as John says, "the true God and eternal
life."3 And He is " blessed for ever." He is the proper object of
religious worship, and will be acknowledged to be so for ever.
He has been thus blessed by innumerable multitudes ever since
these words were written. Who can estimate the numbers of
those who at this moment are blessing Him on earth ? And
the ear of faith can hear the voice of many angels around the
throne, and of the living creatures, and of the elders, and the
surrounding host of redeemed spirits, " loud as of numbers
without number," saying : " Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength,
and honour, and glory, and blessing." And yet a little while,
and every creature that is in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, shall be heard saying, Blessing, and honour,
and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne,
and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."4 There can be no
reasonable doubt that Jesus Christ is here termed " God over
all, blessed for ever ; " and as little reasonable doubt that
" God over all" means ' supreme God,' and that " blessed for
ever" can be applied only to Him who is truly Divine.
Such were the circumstances which excited so deep an in
terest in the apostle's mind for the salvation of his countrymen!
Should they not excite earnest desires in our hearts for the
same object? Surely, when we think of the awful severity of
the curse under which the great body of them still live and die;
when we think of the high privileges which they once pos
sessed ; when we think that, through them, salvation has come
to us; above all, when we think of them, as not only Paul's kins
men, but the kinsmen of his and our Lord, — surely we should
fervently pray and perse veringly labour for their salvation.
x Isa. ix. 6. 2 Tit. ii. 13.
3 1 John v. 20. 4 Rev. v. 12, 13.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 307
Well does it become us to pray for those whose fathers for so
many ages prayed for us. 'God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, look down from heaven, and behold, from the habitation
of Thy holiness and Thy glory, the descendants of Abraham
Thy friend, still beloved for the father's sake. Pity their
miseries ; pardon their sins. Doubtless Thou art their Father,
their Redeemer : Thy name is from everlasting. Return, for
Thy servants' sakes, the tribes of Thine inheritance. O that
Thou wouldst rend the heavens, and come down ! Be not
wroth very sore, O Lord ; neither remember iniquity for ever.
Let the natural branches be grafted in again to the true olive
tree : Let the fulness of the Gentiles come in, and let all
Israel be saved ; and let them, through our mercy, obtain
mercy : And as the casting away of them was the reconciling
of us Gentiles, let the receiving of them again be to us life
from the dead.'
(3. The blessings from which the unbelieving Jews were excluded
never promised to them.
Let us proceed to examine somewhat more closely the
apostle's vindication of the Divine conduct, in the rejection
and punishment of the unbelieving Jews : " Not as though
the word of God hath taken none effect." x Interpreters have
differed as to the reference of the phrase, " the word of God ;"
and, in consequence of this, as to the rendering of the clause.
Some refer " the word of God" to the prophetic threatenings,
or to the doom pronounced on the unbelieving Jews for their
rejection of Christ, and they would read the clause — ' But it
cannot be that the Divine word of threatening should not be
fulfilled.' They connect this clause either with the apostle's
wish, or with his enumeration of the privileges of Israel. In
the first case, the force of the assertion is — ' I indeed could
wish to secure, were it practicable, the happiness of Israel, even
by the sacrifice of my own — by becoming a victim for them —
but it cannot be. The doom has been pronounced, and it must
' Ver. 6.

308 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
be executed. The curse was not causeless, and it must come.'
In the second, the force is, ' These are indeed great privileges,
but they are not such as can bar the fulfilment of the threat-
enings against those who, abusing them, reject the Messiah.'
There can be no doubt that the " word of God" may refer
either to the word of threatening or the word of promise ; but,
had it referred to the word of threatening, we should have ex
pected the apostle to have referred to such passages as Deut.
xviii. 19, or Deut. xxviii., xxxii., or such as he quotes at chap.
xi. 8, 9, namely, Isa. xxix. 10, vi. 9 ; Psal. lxix. 22, 23 ; instead
of which we find him immediately referring to a variety of
God's promises respecting his ancient people.
I think there is no reasonable doubt that our translators
have rightly rendered the words — " Not as though the word
of God hath taken none effect." In this case, it is obvious
that the sentence is elliptical ; and the proper way of supplying
the ellipsis seems to be this : ' The Jewish people are, not
withstanding all their privileges, accursed by Christ ; but it
does not follow from this that the Divine promise has had none
effect — fallen to the ground — failed of its accomplishment.'
It is just as if the apostle had said, after his usual manner,
' What shall we say then ? that the word of God has fallen to
the ground ? God forbid.' The apostle here reverts to a subject
which he had lightly touched on, before, in the commencement of
the third chapter, ver. 2, 3— the apparent failure of the Divine
promise in reference to the posterity of Abraham, on the sup
position that the Jews, if they did not receive the Divine
method of justification, would forfeit the Divine favour, and
not enjoy the blessings obtained and bestowed by the Messiah.
In the passage referred to, he contents himself with strongly
asserting that, even in this case, the faithfulness of God would
remain inviolate ; and that He would prove true, whoever be
came liars. In the passage before us, what he had spoken of
as a supposition, he now speaks of as a fact ; and, not content
with asserting, he elaborately proves, that the rejection of the
Jews, on account of their unbelief, was perfectly consistent
with the rightly understood declarations of the Divine word

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 309
respecting Abraham and his seed, and also with the perfections
of the Divine character, and the dispensations of the Divine
Providence in former ages.
" The word of God" is the promise of God. In this sense,
the phrase is often used in the Old Testament, e.g. Psal. cvi.
12, cxix. 25. The promise particularly referred to is probably
the all-comprehensive promise, " I will be a God to thee, and to
thy seed after thee," — a promise which includes all the blessings
to be obtained and bestowed by the Messiah in time and in
eternity. This word of promise might seem to have had no
effect — to have failed of accomplishment — to have fallen to the
ground, according to the Hebrew idiom, if, as the apostle had
intimated, the great body of his countrymen, instead of being
blessed as the people of God, had, on account of their unbelief,
become an anathema — separated from the people of God,
accursed by Christ — the Messiah, in whom alone men can
be truly blessed. The Jews thought that, on such a supposi
tion, there would undoubtedly be a breach of promise. They
held that the blessings under the Messiah were their pro
mised, chartered inheritance; and that, if the Gentiles shared in
them at all, it could only be by their becoming Jews; and they,
of course, held that Paul's doctrine could not possibly be true.
The apostle was ready enough to admit that no doctrine could
be true which implied the possibility, far more the fact, of the
violation of a Divine promise : but he maintained that the
word of promise, both in its meaning and reference, was mis
apprehended by the Jewish Doctors ; and that, when rightly
understood, it was perfectly in harmony with his statement.
Notwithstanding the lamentable facts of the general rejection
of the Messiah by the Jews, and God's rejection of the unbe
lievers, who formed the great body of the nation, His word of
promise to Abraham respecting his seed remained inviolate
and inviolable.
The principle which reconciles the word of God with what,
at first view, may appear a violation of it, is that stated in the
second clause of the 6th verse — " For they are not all Israel
who are of Israel." They who are " of Israel" are the natural

310 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
descendants of Jacob. ' These,' says the apostle, ' " are not all
Israel" — " the Israel of God" — Israelites indeed — God's pecu
liar people in the highest sense — " the godly whom he has
set apart for Himself — the people who, like their great ances
tor, have power like princes with God.' The apostle's assertion
is, not that the whole body of the Israelites did not constitute
the whole body of the spiritual people of God, but that the
whole body of the Israelites was not included in the body of
the people of God. Both are truths. There were those in the
true Israel who were not of Israel, and there were those of
Israel who were not in the true Israel. But it is the last
of these assertions the apostle's argument requires, and which
he proceeds to illustrate. According to the apostle, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob were the spiritual fathers of believers only.
To themselves the great promise was made only as believers; and
this is equally true as to their spiritual seed. So far as this pro
mise is concerned, they were the spiritual fathers of "a, spiritual
posterity — consisting, for many ages, chiefly of individuals
from among their natural posterity — but still only of that por
tion of them who were believers, and embracing also all true
believers, though not of Jewish descent. The promises of
spiritual blessings were made to Abraham and his seed ; l but
they were made to him and to them, not " through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith:"2 so that Abraham
was not only " the father of all who believe, though they be
not circumcised," but also " the father of circumcision" — of
circumcised persons, only " to them who were not of the cir
cumcision only, but who also walked in the steps of that faith of
our father Abraham which he had, being yet uncircumcised."3
" They which are of faith," they only, " are blessed with faith
ful Abraham."4 And when the promised Messiah was come,
then they who were His by believing in Him — " they," they
only, " were Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the pro
mise."6 The promise was " sure to all this seed," but only
1 Gal. iii. 16. a Rom. iv. 13 s Rom iy ^ lg
4 Gal. iii. 9. * Gal. iii. 29.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 311
to them.1 The word of God did not fall to the ground : it
stood fast.
To show that this was not a principle invented to serve a
purpose, the apostle proceeds to showthat, from the beginningof
God's dispensations in reference to the Abrahamic family, this
principle of restricting promises, couched in general terms, to
a particular class of those to whom they might seem to refer,
had been acted on. And first in the case of Abraham's family:
" Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children." The meaning and force of the apostle's remark
here will be more apparent on a slight change in the version,
which, according to very good authority, the words admit, if
they do not demand, — ' Nor that all the children, are the seed,
of Abraham:' or, more in our idiom, 'All of Israel are not
Israel ; nor are all the children of Abraham his seed.' The
promises are made to Abraham's " seed." But that is a phrase
by no means so comprehensive as, or of equivalent meaning
with, Abraham's children, his descendants. Abraham's seed
was but a part of his descendants. This is plain from the
words of Jehovah to Abraham, referred to by the apostle, "But
in Isaac shall thy seed be called." Soon after Abraham's
arrival in Canaan, " God appeared to him, and said, Unto thy
seed will I give this land."2 This is the first mention of
Abraham's " seed." The promise was repeated on Lot's sepa
rating from Abraham.3 We have an account of a further
declaration of the promise in chap. xv. 4, etc. In the course of
time, Abraham has a son by Hagar — Ishmael, whom it is likely
he considered as the promised seed. Fourteen years after this,
the promise is renewed, in a way which showed him that, if he
entertained such an expectation, he was mistaken. A son by
Sarah is promised ; and while God promises to bless Ishmael,
He says expressly, " My covenant will I establish with Isaac,
whom Sarah shall bear to thee."4 And when Abraham was
grieved at Ishmael's dismissal from his paternal roof, " God
1 Rom. iv. 16. 2 Gen. xii. 7.
* Gen. xiii. 14-17. 4 Gen. xvii. 2-21.

312 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
said to him," in the words here quoted, " In Isaac shall thy
seed be called,'" — q.d. ' The descendants of Isaac are those to
whom my promise to thee and thy seed is to be performed.'
The import of that declaration is explained by the apostle
in the 8th verse : " That is, they who are the children of the
flesh, these are not the children of God : but the children of
the promise, are counted for the seed." "The children of
the flesh," is here obviously not distinctive of spiritual charac
ter, but an expression equivalent to natural descendants of
Abraham. " The children of the promise," are the individuals
to whom the Divine promise refers — children who, but for
the Divine promise, would never have existed. And the
principle laid down by the apostle is a general one. ' It is
not merely as natural descendants of Abraham that men
obtain the adoption, or become the children of God, whether
in the lower sense in which Israel is said to have been God's
son, and to have had the adoption,2 — or in the higher sense,
in which believers are said to be the children of God, and to
receive the adoption of sons,3 — but as persons who are the
subjects of a specific promise.' That this was the case in
Abraham's family is plain : " for," says the apostle, " this is
the word of promise, 'At this time I will come, and Sarah shall
have a son.' " In references to the Old Testament occurring
in the New, it is no uncommon thing for the whole passage
referred to not to be quoted. This seems the case here. The
words cited are from Gen. xviii. 10. They are not verbally
coincident either with the Hebrew original or the Greek
translation, but they are strictly accordant with the meaning
of both : "This is the word of promise" — the account of
the promise. The full account of the promise is not in the
eighteenth, but in the seventeenth chapter. There is first
the general promise ; 4 and then there is the limitation of the
promise to one part of his descendants — his seed.5
The appositeness of this reference to the apostle's object is
1 Gen. xxi. 12. * Ver. 4. 3 Gal. iv. 5.
4 Ver. 1-10. « Ver. 15-21.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 313
obvious. The Jews said, 'If, according to your doctrine,
the great body of the Israelites are devoted to destruction for
their rejection of Jesus Christ— shut out from the blessings to
be obtained and conferred by Messiah, then the promises of
God to Israel have failed of accomplishment.' ' No,' says the
apostle ; ' on the same principle you might argue that the
promise of God to give Canaan to Abraham and his seed had
been violated, because his descendants in the lines of Ishmael
and of the sons of Keturah were excluded from the promised
possession.' But there is no failure of promise in either case.
In neither case is the question, ' Are they the natural descend
ants of Abraham?' but, 'Are they "the seed" — the particular
class of his descendants, natural or spiritual — to which the
promise in question refers?'
The apostle produces a second, and a still more striking
confirmation of his principle, from the history of the patriarch
Isaac: " And not only this; but when Rebecca also had con
ceived by one, even by our father Isaac"1 — (for a reason to
be given immediately, we pass over at present the 11th verse,
which is plainly parenthetic) — " it was said unto her, The
elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I
loved, but Esau have I hated."2
" Not only so," is a common formula of transition with the
apostle, and here is equivalent to, ' And not only were not all
the children of Abraham his seed — not only in his case were
not the children of the flesh counted for the seed, but the
children of the promise.' It is equally clear that all Isaac's
children were not his seed ; not his children of the flesh, but
only his children of the promise, were reckoned for the seed.
To Isaac, as to Abraham, were given promises, couched in
general terms, of blessings to be bestowed on his posterity.
Of these promises we have an account, Gen. xxvi. 3, 4, 24 :
" Unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these coun
tries ; and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abra
ham thy father : And I will make thy seed to multiply as
1 Ver. 10. 'Ver. 12.

314 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these
countries." " I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply
thy seed, for my servant Abraham's sake." Now, a cursory
reader might think that these promises secured the blessings
to which they referred to the whole of Isaac's posterity. But
what is the truth? Isaac had two sons, born at the same
time, of the same mother; and, previously to their birth,
which was miraculously announced to their mother, it was
said, "The elder shall serve the younger,"1 — a declaration
assigning to the younger the birthright, and limiting the ful
filment of the promise to the line of his posterity. The divine
oracle is to be found Gen. xxv. 23 : " Two nations are in thy
womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy
bowels ; and the one people shall be stronger than the other
people ; and the elder shall serve the younger."
Nothing can be plainer, from the consideration of this pas
sage, than that the oracle had a principal reference, not to Jacob
and Esau as individuals, but to the nations which were respec
tively to descend from them — not directly to spiritual state
and character, but to external advantages and privileges.
Esau, as an individual, never was a servant to Jacob ; on
the contrary, he seems to have been possessed of much
greater wealth and power than his younger brother. But the
Edomites were the servants of the Israelites. The Edomites
were not the people of Jehovah ; the Israelites were. The
Edomites did not inherit the promised land ; the Israelites did.
The Edomites were reduced to the state of tributaries by
1 " Voce. $2 et fys denotare (ut Job. xxx. 1 ; xxxii. 9 ; Gen. xliii. 33 ;
xlviii. 14; Jos. vi. 26; 1 Kings xvi. 34) magnum et parvum setate,
igitur natu majorem et minorem, eaque referenda ad gentes, quse ex utero
Ribcte prodire dicuntur ita, ut sit aliqnando una altera valentior, non solum
parallelismus indicat, verum etiam consilium scriptoris, historice exponendi,
jurum primogeniti heneiicia ex Dei decreto esse collata in Hebraeos per
Jacobum, gentis Hebraese patriarcham, neque vero in Edomitas per Esa-
vum, Edomitarum progenitorem. Quocirca non video, cur rectius ilia
transferenda putaverint Clericus, Dathe, Schott (we may add Morrison),
hac ratione : potentior serviet impotenti." — Schumann, Genesis Heb. et
Graec, p. 380.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 315
David ; and though they threw off the yoke in the reign of
Jehoram, they were permanently subdued by John Hyrcanus.1
This, then, is the apostle's statement. Though a general
promise was made to Isaac's posterity, yet all his descendants
were not put in possession of the promised blessings. The
general promise was limited to a portion of his posterity. To
them it was fulfilled, and the word of God did not fail of
taking effect, though the Edomites did not enjoy the privileges
of the chosen people. They were " children of the flesh " —
natural descendants of Isaac, as well as the Israelites, — but
they were not " the children of the promise." The promise
was not made in reference to them, and therefore to them it
could not be broken.
The apostle adds another citation from the Old Testament,
as to the different manner in which the two classes of Isaac's
natural descendants were treated by Jehovah : " As it is writ
ten, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." 2 This pas
sage is quoted from the prophet Malachi:3 "I have loved you,
saith the Lord; yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was
not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord : yet I loved Jacob,
and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage
waste for the dragons of the wilderness." Here, as in the
former case, it is plain that the words, Jacob and Esau, are
used not to denote the individuals of whom they were the
proper names, but the nations which sprung from them,
the Israelites and the Edomites ; just as Elam is used for the
Persians, and Aram for the Assyrians. And the love and
hatred here mentioned, are descriptive of the different, and in
many respects opposite, characters of the Divine dispensations
by which these two nations, in the course of their history, were
distinguished. Israel was loved. That nation was blessed
with numerous and important privileges, of which we have
a comprehensive summary in Deut. vii. 6-8, as well as in
the preceding context. Esau — i.e. the Edomites, was hated.
1 2 Sam. viii. 14; 2 Kings viii. 20, 22; Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, 1.
2 Ver 13. 3 Chap. i. 2, 3.

316 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
How we are to understand this, we are instructed by the
prophet himself. " Their mountains and their heritage were
laid waste for the dragons of the wilderness;" and all their
attempts to restore their country to a flourishing state were
to be abortive. " They shall build," says Jehovah, " but I
will _ throw down ; and they shall call them, The border of
wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath in
dignation for ever." The word " hate," does not necessarily
signify malignant feeling. Indeed, in this sense, the word is
not applicable to the Divinity at all. When God is said to
hate individuals, the meaning is, they are the objects of His
moral disapprobation, the subjects of His judicial condemna
tion. When He is said, as here, to hate a nation, it signifies
either, that for wise and good reasons He does not bestow on
them such high favours as, in the exercise of His sovereignty,
He bestows on others ; or that, on account of their sins, He
punishes them. Of the manner in which this word hate,
especially when opposed to love, should be understood, an
examination of the following passages will help you to form
a just judgment: — Gen. xxix. 31—33; Deut. xxi. 15; Prov.
xiii. 24; Luke xiv. 26, compared with Matt. x. 37; John
xii. 25. The meaning, then, of the passage is obvious. While
the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, were treated as the
peculiar favourites of God — the Edomites, the descendants of
Esau, were neglected ; no revelation was given to them, no
covenant formed with them. The Israelites were the Divine
commonwealth, and the Edomites were aliens. And the bearing
which these facts, stated by Moses and Malachi, have on the
apostle's argument, is direct and powerful. The exclusion of
the Edomites, though natural descendants of Isaac, from the
fulfilment of a promise couched in general terms, but which
we know was originally intended only for a part of his natural
descendants, did not surely argue any violation of the Divine
faithfulness. The Jews would very readily admit this. No
more, then, can we conclude that the word of promise which we
know was made to Abraham and his seed, "not through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith," has "not taken effect,"

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 317
because it has not been fulfilled to men who were Abraham's
seed " through the law," but who, by disbelieving the Divine
report respecting Him who was, on the ground of His expia
tory sacrifice, to justify many, showed that they were not His
seed "through the righteousness of faith." How could it fail
of accomplishment, by the blessing not being bestowed on
those to whom it had never been promised ? The promise is
" sure to all the seed," and it is not violated though the bless
ing is not bestowed on those who are not the seed.
The apostle's, argument does not terminate with the case of
Isaac's descendants. It is interrupted by a discussion in refe
rence to what he calls (ver. 11) " the purpose of God according
to election," introduced by the notice of two remarkable circum
stances in the event in the history of Isaac's family — the fact
of Esau and Jacob being twin brothers, and the oracle respect
ing the different destinies of the nations which should spring
from them being uttered previously to their birth ; a discussion
having, as we shall see, a very important bearing on the apos
tle's general object. That digression, if it can be so called,
reaches down to ver. 24. In ver. 25, I apprehend the apostle
resumes his argument, and concludes it with the 29th verse
of the chapter.
I am quite aware that the great body of interpreters con
sider this paragraph of the chapter — ver. 26-29 — as an illus
tration of the 25th verse, and as showing that, according to
the prophets, the true Israel under the Messiah should neither
be the whole Israelitish people, nor composed only of the
natural descendants of Jacob, but should be the " called
ones," not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. But
to this mode of exposition there are insurmountable objec
tions; for, in the first place, the passages from Hosea, and
from Isaiah x. 22, 23, do not refer to the Gentiles at all, but to
the ten tribes carried captive into Assyria ; and secondly, the
passages from Isaiah, with the exception of the last, do not
refer to the Messianic times at all. Besides, the formula of
quotation in the beginning of ver. 25 — "as He saith also in
Hosea" — is not what would naturally be used in bringing

318 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
forward the first of a number of Old Testament passages in
proof of a position. I therefore am constrained to think this
one of the passages to which Mr Locke's sagacious remark
applies : — " Paul often breaks off in the middle of an argu
ment to let in some new thought suggested by his own words ;
which, having pursued and explained as far as conduced to
his present purpose, he resumes the thread of discourse, and
goes on with it, without taking any notice that he returns
again to what he had before been saying ; though sometimes it
be so far off that it may well have slipped out of his mind,
and requires a very attentive reader to observe, and so bring
the disjointed members together as to make up the connection,
and see how the scattered parts of the discourse hang together
in a coherent, well-agreeing sense, that makes it all of a
piece." 1
The discussion about " the purpose of God according to
election," commenced in the 11th verse, clearly closes in
the 24th verse ; and in the 25th, the apostle reverts to the
main line of argument. Indeed, the phraseology seems to
indicate this : " As he saith also." This is not the way in
which a first illustration would be introduced. The word "also"
naturally leads the mind back to a former quotation, made
for a purpose which the writer is still prosecuting. Indeed it
deserves notice, that in every case, if we are but sufficiently
attentive, we shall find in the apostle's writings, notwithstand
ing the parentheses in which they abound, something like the
loops and taches in the curtains of the tabernacle, which dis
tinctly enough intimate the manner in which the different parts
of his discussion are to be connected together. This quotation
in the 25th verse, and those which follow, are not meant to
prove that the rejection of the Jews and the conversion of the
Gentiles were the subjects of Old Testament prediction. This
he does abundantly bye and bye. But they are intended to
complete the apostle's argument, that God's excluding the great
body of the Jews from the blessings procured and bestowed by
' Locke's Pref. to Par. and Notes on the Epp. of Pau1.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 319
the Messiah, is no violation of God's promise, to Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, and their seed. I therefore leave the whole digres
sion respecting " the purpose of God according to election,"
as a subject of subsequent consideration, and go on to con
sider the conclusion of the argument, that " the word of God
has not become of none effect, in the general rejection of the
Israelitish people, because they are not all Israel who are of
Israel." The apostle has made the history of the family of Abraham
and of Isaac bear powerfully on his argument. He now proceeds
to show, that in the line of Jacob also, promises, seemingly
general, had not been fulfilled, even as to large portions of the
natural descendants of that patriarch. His first reference is
to the captivity of the ten tribes — the majority of the descend
ants of Israel — who, for their idolatry, had been rejected by
God. To them the quotation from Hosea undoubtedly refers 1
— "As he saith also in Osee" (chap. ii. 23), "I will call
them My people, who were not My people ; and her beloved,
who was not beloved." "And" (chap. i. 10) "it shall come to
pass, that in the place in which it was said to them, Ye are not
My people, there shall they be called the children of the living
God." In these words the apostle intimates to the Jews, in
the least offensive way, that the majority of their nation had
been for ages regarded by God as not His people ; and though
a time was coming when they should be again regarded by
Him as His people, it had not then come — it has not yet
come. We have a very striking account and vindication of
this exclusion of a great body of Israelites from the peculiar
privileges of God's covenant people in 2 Kings xvii. 7-23.
If God's rejection of the ten tribes for their idolatry was no
breach of promise, how could His rejection of the majority of
the Jews in the Messianic age, for their unbelief, be a proof
that His word had become of none effect ?
The next quotation made by the apostle, in illustration of
1 Erasmus, Musculus, Piscator, Camero, Grotius, Limborch, Doddridge,
Morus, Terrot, Olshausen, Fritzsche.

320 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
his principle that the exclusion of the majority of the Jews
from the Messianic blessings did not infer any violation of the
Divine promise, is taken from the prophet Isaiah : " Esaias also
crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children
of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved :
for He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness ;
because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth."
These words have been ordinarily explained as if they were a
prediction of the small number of the Jews who should em
brace the Messiah, and be saved through Him, and of the
sudden and dreadful punishment which should fall on the un
believing and impenitent majority. But that this is not cor
rect interpretation must be evident to every one who reads
carefully the passage referred to, as it occurs in the book of
the prophet — chap. x. 22, 23. The prediction obviously refers
to the Ephraimitish people — Israel, as distinguished from
Judah — and to the Assyrian conquest and captivity. The
words seem quoted by the apostle from memory. They do
not exactly correspond either with the Hebrew original or
the Greek translation, but they give the import of both. The
meaning of the words is, that although, at the time the oracle
was uttered, the Israelites were very numerous, only a small
part of them — such as returned to Jehovah, and joined them
selves to the kingdom of Judah — should be saved from the
impending destruction ; the great body of them should be de
stroyed or carried into captivity, and cease to be the people
of the Lord ; for God had determined to execute, and that
suddenly, His righteous judgment on that guilty people in the
midst of the land. The object of the quotation is obvious.
If God, without violation of promise, had in a former age
treated the majority — almost all the ten tribes, the greater
part of the Israelitish nation — as if they had not been his peo
ple, surely the strikingly analogous dispensation in reference
to the Jews in the primitive age, could not imply that the
word of God had become of none effect.
But God had not only dealt in this way with the Ephraim
itish people who had, to a great extent, by rebelling against

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 321
the divinely-appointed family of David, and forsaking the
temple at Jerusalem, removed themselves from the protection
of His peculiar providence, but He had also dealt in a similar
way with the Jewish people. To this fact, of much import
ance to his argument, the apostle turns our attention by his
next quotation : 1 " And as Esaias said before," i.e. in a part
of his book preceding that already quoted,2 " Except the
Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma,
and had been made like unto Gomorrhah." These words,
too, have been considered as a prediction of the conver
sion of a small portion of the Jews to Christ in the primi
tive age, and the destruction of the great body of that people.
But when we look at the passage as it stands in the Old Tes
tament, it is impossible not to see that it has no reference to
these events. It is a description of the miserable state of the
kingdom and people of Judah under Ahaz. In that most
disastrous reign, not merely did Pekah the Ephraimitish king,
but the Syrians, the Idumeans, and the Philistines, lay waste
the land. In one day Pekah's army put to death 120,000
men ; and the Assyrians, whom Ahaz called in to his assistance,
completed the devastation.3 To use the words of Hezekiah,
" The wrath of God was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He
delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing. Our
fathers have fallen by the sword; and our sons, and our daugh
ters, and our wives, are in captivity for this." 4 It is with regard
to these evils that Isaiah says, " Except the Lord had left to us
a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we
should have been like unto Gomorrah." The inference to be
drawn from the passage then is, ' If, without the violation of
His promise, God has in a former age, for abundantly sufficient
reasons, treated the majority of the Jewish people as if they
were not in covenant with Him, He may, for equally good rea
sons, in this age, treat a majority of them as if they were not
His peculiar people, without His word of promise becoming of
none effect.' Such is the argument, and it seems a thoroughly
1 Ver. 29. 2 Chap. i. 6-9.
3 2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 6, 7, 17, 18. 4 2 Chron. xxix. 8.

322 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
sound and conclusive one. Whether we look to the history of
Abraham's family, or of Isaac's, or of the Israelites as a nation
divided into the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah, we find a
promise, which might seem to be universal in its application,
fulfilled to only a part, in many cases to only a small part, of
those to whom it might seem to refer, while the rest were
treated as if no promise had been made to them. In these
cases, we do not conclude that the word of God has become
of none effect ; and why should that conclusion be drawn
in the case of the rejection of the Messiah by the great
body of His countrymen, and the sad consequences which had
resulted from it ? — The apostle's statements respecting " the
purpose of God according to election," and their bearing on
his argument, must now be considered.
But first, let us learn from the apostle's mode of treating
his subject, to compare one Divine dispensation with other
Divine dispensations, if we would understand the true charac
ter of God's moral government — to compare dispensations in
which we have a deep, direct, personal interest, with others with
which we are not so immediately concerned. By following
this course, we shall often find that what we counted an excep
tion from the ordinary mode of Divine procedure, is indeed an
exemplification of it ; that what we may find it difficult to
reconcile with His word or work, with His wisdom or right
eousness or mercy, is perfectly consistent with all these ; and
that, in dealing with us, He acts according to the same great
principles of sovereign kindness or strict justice, by which all
the operations of His moral government are guided.
We are ready enough to acknowledge the absurdity of the
conduct of the Jews in building their hopes upon their natural
descent from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in supposing them
selves secure of final happiness by promises made to Abraham's
seed, not through the law, but through the righteousness of
faith — to Israel, not after the flesh, but after the spirit, and in
calling in question the Divine faithfulness, if these expecta
tions were not realized. But it is to be feared, that an equally
presumptuous and dangerous, and still more inexcusable, mis-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 323
take prevails extensively among nominal Christians. To
cherish the hope of salvation merely because we are Christians
by profession, is still more absurd than it was in the Israelite
to presume that all was safe with him because he was a de
scendant of Jacob. There were many temporal promises
made to Israel after the flesh ; and even the spiritual promises,
which were restricted to the spiritual Israel, were expressed in
language which easily admitted of the false interpretation
put upon them. But where is the promise made to men
as mere professors of Christianity ? Is it not distinctly stated,
that the confession with the mouth, connected with salvation,
is that which springs from faith in the heart ? All are not
Christians who are called by the name of Christ. He who is
not in Christ is not a Christian. He who has not the Spirit
of Christ is none of His. The Jews perished, and perished
justly, who rested their hope of salvation on the ground of their
natural descent. And the nominal Christian, who is resting
his hope of salvation on anything but the free grace of God
manifested through the atonement of Christ revealed in the
Gospel, and cordially trusted to in the exercise of an enlight
ened faith, shall, inasmuch as his delusion is still more willful,
meet with a severer judgment and a deeper perdition.
Let us guard against the disposition manifested by the un
believing Jews, to call in question the rectitude of the Divine
administration in the method of human salvation. Let us
never quarrel with the Divine dispensations, or suffer our
hearts to fret against the Lord. Let us never impiously and
absurdly call Him before the tribunal of our judgment ; but
readily owning that destruction is our due, and that it is of
His mercies that we have not long ago been consumed, let us
submit to the righteousness of God, rejoicing that it is not
more certain that he that believeth not shall be damned, than
it is that he that believeth shall be saved. Let us accept sal
vation — full, free salvation — in the only way in which it be
comes Him to offer it, and the- only way in which it is possible
for us ever to receive it— as the gift of sovereign kindness ;
counting it most meet that every ground of glorying should

324 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
be cut off from man, the saved sinner, who owes all his mise
ries to himself, and must owe his salvation to God, and that
to Him of whom, and through whom, are all things in the
wondrous economy of man's redemption, should be glory un
divided and infinite for ever. Amen.
y. The Blessings from which the unbelieving Jews were excluded,
ivere Free Gifts, bestowed, in Sovereign Grace, on those who,
in Sovereign Grace, were chosen to receive them.
We now enter on the apostle's illustration of the second
principle — that these blessings were free gifts, to which none
had, or could have, a claim of right — free gifts bestowed, in
sovereign grace, on them who had been chosen in sovereign
grace, and prepared to receive them. This principle, along with
the third — that the evils coming on unbelieving Israel, were but
the infliction of richly merited and long deferred punishment
— forms the subject of the paragraph, in a great measure
parenthetical, from ver. 11-24.
Let us proceed to examine that paragraph, with all the
attention in our power. It has been the great battle-field of
the two principal parties of philosophical theologians for four
teen centuries. It is here that, under their mighty leaders,
Augustine and Calvin, on the one side, and Pelagius and
Arminius on the other, numerous, powerful (well-armed with
learning and logic), expert, zealous combatants have measured
their strength in contests respecting Divine sovereignty and
human freedom, — " Reasoning high
Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,
Pix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute."
And in many cases
" Have found no end in wand'ring mazes lost."
We will not say, with our great poet, of such discussions, that
they are " Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy ; " '
' Milton. — Paradise Lost.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 325
For we do hold, that the grand characteristic principles of
Augustinianism and Calvinism are real wisdom — the true
philosophy of Christianity — the theory which best binds to
gether " the facts" (for the doctrines of Christianity are
" facts"), in which the substance of our holy religion consists.
But it must be admitted that, on both sides in the great con
flict, there has often been discovered a greater anxiety to wrest
a passage out of the hands of an antagonist, and to convert
what he was using as argument for, into an objection against
his system, than to discover what was the meaning of the
apostle's words, and the design he intended them to serve.
The whole paragraph, to a person moderately acquainted with
these controversies, looks like a field, whose natural aspect has
been much disfigured by a combat between warring armies,
and he wishes almost that he could forget all he knows about
these controversies, that he might be enabled to look at the
passage, just as it would have struck a pious, attentive reader
before Pelagius disturbed the Christian world with his pesti
lent theories, and rendered necessary the elaborate, and on
the whole triumphant, refutations by such men as Augustine,
Calvin, and Jonathan Edwards. I shall endeavour, in the
following observations, to keep myself to my proper duty,
that of an interpreter — bringing nothing into the inspired
statement, and bringing all out of it that I find in it.
The Jews entertained, in direct opposition to many plain
declarations in their own Scriptures, the foolish opinion,
that the Divine regards towards them were founded on the
merits of their ancestors, and that God, on account of the
merits of these great and good men, had bound Himself
never to forsake their children. To lay low these proud im
aginations, by showing that God has, and has asserted a
sovereign right to give, or withhold, or withdraw His favours,
as He sees fit, is the apostle's object in the paragraph, on the
illustration of which we are about to enter.
For introducing a discussion of this subject, the facts in
reference to the limitation of the promise, expressed in general
terms, afforded a favourable opportunity. With some appear-

326 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
ance of justice, it might be said, that a ground of the preference
of the line of Abraham's descendants by Isaac, to that of his
descendants by Ishmael, was to be found both in the different
conditions of Sarah the free-woman, the wife of Abraham, and
Hagar the bond-maid, his concubine, and in the bad dispo
sition of Ishmael, discovered in his treatment of his younger
brother. But here an oracle is delivered respecting two
nations, to spring from two twin brothers, having the same
father and the same mother — an oracle delivered previously
to their birth, and, therefore, before their good or bad dispo
sitions and conduct could lay a foundation for treating them
differently, on the ground of personal desert. Of the de
scendants of Esau and Jacob, the twin-sons of Isaac and
Rebecca, while they were " not yet born," and had " neither
done any good or evil," " it was said" — disregarding the claim
of primogeniture — " The elder shall serve the younger" —
an oracle, of whose accomplishment we have an account in
the words of the Prophet Malachi. Now, says the apostle, all
this was so ordered, " that the purpose of God according to
election might stand."
" The purpose of God" is His determination. It may
either refer to the act of determination, or to the thing de
termined. It seems here to refer to the fact that God deter
mines to do what He does ; that He acts according to previous
council or decree ; that the performance of the promise to a
part only of Abraham's posterity, and of Isaac's posterity, was
the result of a Divine purpose. This purpose of God is de
scribed as being " according to election, not of works, but of
Him that calleth." " Election" is a word that sometimes
signifies the mental, inward act of choice, by which one person
or thing is preferred to another, or the external act of selec
tion, in which this inward act finds expression ; and, at other
times, the dignity or blessing to which the favoured individuals
are chosen ; and, at other times also, the objects of choice —
the persons preferred. It is used in the place before us as
descriptive of the act of choice. It matters little whether you
refer it to the inward or the outward act — the one is but the

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 327
expression of the other ; but, in strict propriety, it must be re
ferred to the first, as it is viewed as conjoined with the purpose.
This " election" is said to be " not of works, but of Him
who calleth ;" for the words, "not of works, but of Him that
calleth," qualify and define the term " election." The choice
is not founded on the works of the person chosen. The person
chosen is chosen, not because he better deserves to be chosen
than the person who is not chosen — desert, in the proper sense
of the word, has nothing to do with the choice. The choice
" is of Him that calleth." " He who calleth," is obviously
another name for God ; and He is thus designated, because
it is by calling that God indicates His election. His calling
Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees — His calling Israel out
of Egypt, were the acts in which He showed that they were
the objects of His choice. The choice does not originate in
anything in him that is chosen, but in Him who chooses. It
has its cause in the Divine will. It is a choice for which we
Can assign no reason, but that God willed so to choose. Now,
says the apostle, God's purpose to bestow peculiar blessings
on certain individuals, was according to this choice — origi
nating, not in any superior claim they had on His preference,
but in His own sovereign, though most wise, will.
The order of the Divine decrees is a very high subject of
thought. I instinctively shrink from speculating on it. But
I confess I cannot bring any other sense out of the words of
the apostle than this — that the purpose of God to confer
blessings is based on, and regulated by, a choice of individuals
— a choice for which we in vain seek for any cause out of
Himself. The circumstances in reference to Isaac's posterity,
were ordered to be as they were, that this great principle of
the Divine conduct, in bestowing blessings on fallen man might
stand, be upheld — namely, that His purpose to bestow blessings
on men is not a mere general determination, but is "according"
to a sovereign election of individuals on whom these blessings
shall be bestowed — an election, " not of works, but of Him that
calleth." The arrangement with regard to Abraham's family
really proceeded on this principle ; and the corresponding

328 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
arrangement about Isaac's family was such as made it plain
that this was not a peculiarity as to Abraham's family ; but
that, in this case also, " the purpose of God according to elec
tion" stood — remained, — " according to election, not of works,
but of Him who calleth."
Indeed, this principle stands — remains, as a great character
istic feature of the Divine administration. The principle, that
the Divine Being bestows benefits on some and withholds bene-
fits from others — according to a purpose, founded on a selec
tion, for which, ultimately, no reason can be assigned to us but
His sovereign will, is manifested not only in His dealings with
the Jews, or in reference to blessings connected with the spiritual
and eternal interests of men, but in all His dispensations. Why
have the inhabitants of Italy a finer climate than the inhabitants
of Norway? Why is Europe so highly raised in privilege above
Africa and Asia ? Why have we a better government than
the Turks ? Why is one man possessed of higher intellectual
powers, or. of more extensive property, than another ? Why
is one nation blessed with the Gospel, while others are desti
tute of it ? Why are different districts of the same country
very variously privileged in this respect ? Why is one man
made the subject of the transforming, saving influence of the
Divine Spirit, while another is left to the results of the de
velopment of the tendencies of his fallen nature ? These are
questions to which, when pressed home in reference to the ulti
mate cause and reason of these events, we are obliged to
reply — ' We know no reason that can be assigned, but that
such is the will of God. That will is not — cannot be, a
capricious one ; it must ever work in union with love and
wisdom ; but, in many cases, we know, we can know nothing
further than that such is the will of God.' " They err," says
Hooker, "who say — who think, that of the will of God to do
this or that, there is no other reason but His will. Many
times no reason known" — he might have added knowable —
" to us ; but that there is no reason, I judge it most unreason
able to imagine, inasmuch as ' He worketh all things,' not
only according to His will, but ' according to the counsel of

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 329
His will ;' and whatsoever is done of counsel or wise resolu
tion, has of necessity some reason why it should be done, albeit
that reason be to us something so secret, that it forceth the
wit of man to stand, as the blessed apostle, amazed thereat :
' Oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and know
ledge of God ; how unsearchable are His judgments, and His
ways past finding out !' "
In reference to this purpose of God, based on and regulated
by an election, " not of works, but of Him who calleth," as
exercised and manifested in the case of Esau and Jacob, and
their descendants, the apostle asks, "What shall we say then? Is
there unrighteousness with God?" and replies, " God forbid."
" The apostle's argument, which we have already considered,
vindicates the faithfulness of God in excluding the unbelieving
Jews from the Messianic blessings. The argument he is now
prosecuting, vindicates the equity of God, and shows that there
is no unrighteousness in the dispensation. Is it inconsistent
with equity to choose some individuals from among a class of
individuals on whom to bestow undeserved blessings, all being
equally destitute of claim on God, but for punishment — which
is the case of the whole fallen family of man ? Is it wrong
to have a purpose to follow out this election to its object ? Is it
wrong actually to fulfil that purpose, and confer on these chosen
ones blessrhgs not conferred on those who were not chosen ?
What is there of unrighteousness in all this ? This is what God
did in the case of the Israelites and the Edomites. This is what
God did with regard to one portion of Jews and Gentiles, and
another portion of them. The unbelieving Jews were ready
enough to acknowledge that there was nothing iniquitous in
not giving to Edom what He gave to Israel ; and if they but
judged righteous judgment, they would see that, in giving to
some Gentiles and Jews what they did not deserve, and in
withholding this undeserved benefit from others, there was
just as little cause for ascribing unrighteousness to God.
The apostle goes on to give an illustration of the " purpose
of God according to election, not of works, but of Him who
calleth," in the case of the Israelites themselves. He had already

330 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
done this in the caseof Israel and Edom. But the same principle
is asserted and illustrated in the Divine conduct to Israel. The
Israelites, immediately after the giving of the law, had com
mitted the gross crime of idolatry, broken the covenant, for
feited its blessings, and exposed themselves to punishment.
Moses earnestly besought God to forgive his guilty countrymen.
It seems to have been in answer to his prayer that the declara
tion quoted by the apostle was made. Moses, like Paul, would
have had, if possible, all offending Israel pardoned and saved,
and would have submitted to any deprivation necessary to se
cure this. But God intimated to him, that with regard to some
of them, He would " visit their sin upon them," and that others
He would pardon ; not because they were better than those who
were punished, but because, in His sovereign kindness, He was
disposed and determined to pardon them. " For He saith to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion."
The original words, both in the Hebrew and Greek, admit
of various renderings and interpretations ; but the apostle
himself, by the inference he draws from them in the 18th
verse, shows us how to understand them. The whole nation
deserved punishment, and needed mercy, in the form of pardon.
Now God was determined to allow justice to have its course
with regard to some of them ; and He was determined to show
mercy to others by pardoning them ; and His declaration
is, that the reason why any are pardoned, and why these are
pardoned, was to be found in His sovereign grace. "I will have
mercy on those on whom I will" — choose, to " have mercy ; I
will have compassion on those on whom I will" — choose, to
" have compassion." The two clauses are nearly, if not alto
gether, synonymous, and the reiteration is an example of the
way in which emphasis is often given to a sentiment in the Holy
Scriptures. There was no unrighteousness here. God gave to
some what none deserved, and He inflicted on none anything
but what all had deserved— and He did all this according to the
purpose purposed in Himself— according to the counsel of His
own will.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 331
From the facts referred to in the declarations respecting
Israel and Esau, and respecting sinning Israel to Moses,
the apostle draws this inference1 — " So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy." The reason why God bestows benefits on
sinful man, is not in man but in God — not in man's merits in
any form or degree — but entirely in mercy, sovereign mercy.
The phrase it is, is equivalent to — this, the communication of
blessings to men — took place. The peculiar expressions, " he
that willeth," and " he that runneth," may possibly have been
suggested by the history of Isaac's family. Isaac willeth to
give Esau the blessing, and Esau ran to the field to obtain
venison for his father, " that he might eat of it, and that his
soul might bless him before his death;"2 and yet the blessing
was not thus obtained — it was given to Jacob. But if so, a
mere allusion is meant ; the sentiment is a general one. The
ultimate reason why God confers benefits on men is not their
desires and exertions — for true desires, right exertions, are
God's work in man — but His own sovereign good pleasure.
This is the origin of the blessing, and also of the desire and
the exertion through which, though not for which, in most
instances, the blessing is conferred.
I do not know any passage in the Bible that is better fitted
to show the baselessness of the system which seeks the cause
of election to salvation, in foreknown good works, than this
argument from the case of Jacob and Esau. On that principle
the apostle's reasoning has no force. His argument is that
since, previously to the birth of Jacob and Esau, the fates of
the nations respectively to descend from them, were deter
mined, and proved to be determined by Divine declarations
made before the birth of these patriarchs, the determination
could not originate in the respective merits of these nations or
their founders, but in the purpose of God according to election,
— an argument which loses all its force and becomes a silly
sophism, if the cause of the determination is to be found in
1 Ver. 16. * Gen. xxvii. 1-5.

332 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
His foreknowledge of their respective characters — an argument
which, if the apostle had held this view, he could never have used.
While we endeavour to vindicate the apostle's meaning
from misrepresentation, let us also guard it against abuse.
To conclude from this passage that it is to no purpose to use
means in order to obtain Divine blessings, would be most un
warrantable, and, indeed, absurd. The discussion does not
refer to the manner in which men are put in possession of
Divine blessings, but to the principle in the Divine mind to
which the communication of these blessings is to be traced.
It is equally true that ' it is not of him that soweth, nor of
him that watereth, but of God, that giveth the increase,' —
that our harvests come. The fertility of any particular field,
or of any particular season, is to be resolved ultimately into
the sovereign will of God ; but that is certainly no reason why
men should not sow or water. There is an established order
in the communications of the blessings of grace as well as of
nature ; but neither the one nor the other at all interferes with
the sovereign freedom of His elections and operations, " who
worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will."
The principles thus laid down and established clearly show,
that the conferring of the Messianic privileges on believing
Gentiles, and the exclusion of unbelieving Jews from these
privileges, instead of being in any way inconsistent with the
Divine character, were but exemplifications of that high
sovereignty which God has uniformly exercised in conferring
blessings on fallen man ; and that on neither of these grounds
had the Jews any reason to complain of a want of faithfulness
or of equity in the Divine administration.
S. The Evils inflicted on the Unbelieving Jews were the just
Punishment of obstinate Transgression, richly deserved,
long deferred.
But unbelieving Israel had not only, according to the
apostle, been excluded from the Messianic blessings, but doom
ed to severe punishment, they had become " accursed." The
two principles— that the Messianic blessings were never pro-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 333
mised to unbelieving Jews ; and that the Messianic blessings
were the gifts of sovereign grace, to be conferred on those whom
God, in sovereign grace, had chosen to be their possessors —
sufficiently account for the giving of these blessings to believ
ing Gentiles, and excluding from their possession unbelieving
Jews, and clearly show that on these grounds the Jews had
no ground of complaint. But how is it that they are to be so
severely punished — to be now so severely punished ? It is to
meet this part of the case, I conceive, that the apostle makes
the next citation from Old Testament Scripture : " For the
Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this purpose have I
raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My
name might be declared through all the earth." 1 That the de
sign of the apostle, in making this quotation, is to explain the
reason of the severe punishment of the unbelieving Jews, seems
obvious, from the manner in which he applies it in ver. 22.
"For," in this verse, does not import that this is a reason for,
or a proof of, what is said in the previous verse. It is parallel with
the for of the 15th verse, and is a further proof of the statement
implied in the 14th verse. " The Scripture saith to Pharaoh"
is equivalent to, ' In the Scripture we read that the Lord, by
Moses, said to Pharaoh.' The passage quoted is Exod. ix. 16,
and was spoken after the plague of boils, and before the
plagues of hail, and locusts, and darkness, and the death of
the first-born. The words cited immediately follow this
threatening : " Thou shalt be cut off from the earth." The
question of principal importance for ascertaining the meaning
of this passage, which has been much disputed, is, What is
the precise force of the expression translated " I have raised
thee up ? " Some interpret the word as meaning, ' I have
brought thee into existence, ' I have created thee;'2 others,
' I have raised thee to the throne of Egypt ; ' 3 others, ' I have
excited thee,' ' I have given thee a preternatural obstinacy of
will' — considered as equivalent to "hardened thy heart."
1 Ver. 17. 2 Beza, Gomarus.
* Theodoret, Vatable, Bengel, etc.

334 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
None of these interpretations are satisfactory; for either they
give a meaning to the word which usage does not support, or
they bring out a sense which does not correspond with the
context. The words seem to mean, ' I have raised thee up
from the bed of affliction,' ' I have preserved thee.' x This
is the sense given to the term by the most ancient versions ; 2
and this sense suits, and is the only sense that suits, the con
text, either in Exodus or in the passage before us. The words
were uttered after the plague of boils, of which, we cannot
doubt, Pharaoh, as well as his people, was a partaker. Jehovah
threatens him with still heavier judgments. He declares that
the design of these judgments was, that Pharaoh might
know that there was none like Jehovah in all the earth.
The words in Exodus which immediately precede those
here quoted, have been considered by almost all learned in
terpreters, whatever their opinions on the Calvinistic question
may be, as unhappily rendered in our version. They run
thus: "For now will I stretch out My hand, that I may
smite thee and thy people with pestilence ; and thou shalt
be cut off from the earth." Now, we know this did not
take place. The words might be, and, according to the
highest authority, ought to be, rendered : ' For, should I now
stretch forth my hand, and smite thee with pestilence, thou
wouldst be destroyed from the earth.' 3 God might have thus
punished Pharaoh, but He did not choose to do so. He knew
that Pharaoh would continue obstinate, in opposition to means
most fitted to subdue his obstinacy ; yet He raised him up — ¦
He made him stand — while so many about him were falling,
" that," says He, " I might show My power in thee — by means
of thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all
the earth."
In inflicting punishment on Pharaoh, and in the measure
of punishment inflicted, God was regulated by justice ; but in
1 Isa. xxxviii. 16; James v. 15.
2 The LXX. ; the Peschito-Syriac, and Ancient Arabic Versions ; the
Targum of Jonathan.
3 Fagius, Drusius, Ainsworth, Grotius, Le Clerc, Dathe, Nordheimer.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 335
the time and manner of His punishment there was a display of
wise sovereignty. He might have justly punished him when
this warning was given ; but He thought fit to defer it, and not
to inflict the deserved and long-deferred punishment, till, in
the overthrow of the proud king and his hosts in the Red
Sea, He showed forth His power, and made a display of His
character which over all these regions must have drawn out
the sentiment expressed by Jethro : " Now know I Jehovah
to be greater than all gods ; for, in the thing wherein men did
proudly, He was above them." The design of the apostle
seems to have been to let the Jews see, as in a glass, that the
judgments coming on them were but the long deferred execu
tion of righteous punishment for obstinate unbelief and dis
obedience, and that they had no cause to complain, if Jehovah
exercised His sovereignty in the time and manner of the in
fliction of that punishment.
From .this passage in reference to Pharaoh, in conjunction
with the other instances of " the purpose of God according to
election," the apostle draws a general conclusion in the 18th
verse, "Therefore He hath mercy on whom He will have
mercy, and whom He wills He hardens." This general con
clusion seems to me to amount to this : that both in dispens
ing mercy and in withholding it, both in bestowing favours
and inflicting judgments, God displays " His purpose accord
ing to election," or His sovereign free choice. While, in no
case, does He violate faithfulness or equity in His dealings
with His creatures, He so orders His dispensations, as that it
may be apparent that " He works all things according to the
council of His own will." While this seems plainly the
general meaning of the verse, the phraseology, especially that
of the second clause, seems to require some explication.
In the first clause there is no difficulty whatever. From
the cases of Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, the Israelites
who were pardoned, and the Israelites who were punished, it
appears that, in bestowing favours or withholding them, God
acts out "His purpose according to election." "He has
mercy on whom He wills" — chooses — is pleased — "to have

336 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
mercy." He bestows blessings without reference to the merits
of the persons on whom they are bestowed, and entirely
according to the good pleasure of His will, which He has pur
posed in Himself. The last clause admits, and indeed requires
a somewhat more extended illustration : " Whom He will He
hardeneth." And the first thing to be done here is to ascer
tain, if possible, the meaning and reference of the term ren
dered "hardeneth."
It has been common to consider " harden" here as equiva
lent to what has been termed judicial obduration — the making
men obstinate in their sins. There can be no doubt that when
it is said Pharaoh hardened his heart— the meaning is Pharaoh
abused those dispensations which were fitted to produce peni
tence and obedience, into means of strengthening his determina
tion to oppose the will of God. And there can be as little doubt,
that not only is Pharaoh said to harden his heart, but God
is said to harden Pharaoh's heart;1 and the penitent Israelites,
when in the latter days they are to " seek the Lord and David
their king," are represented as thus expostulating with God :
" O Lord, why hast Thou hardened our hearts from Thy fear." 2
It may be asked how can God harden men's hearts ? There
can be no doubt that it would be utterly inconsistent with the
holiness and equity of the Divine nature, by direct influence to
produce or excite depraved principle in the mind of man, and
then punish him for it. This were to act like a demon rather
than a divinity. " Far be it from God that He should do this
injustice, and from the Almighty that He should commit this
iniquity." We know that Pharaoh hardened his own heart,
and the Israelites are cautioned against hardening their hearts :
and when God is said to do what men themselves do, and are
responsible for doing, the meaning cannot be more than this,
that God leaves men to the influence of their own corrupt
mind, does not interfere to prevent lust from conceiving, or
when it has conceived, from bringing forth sin ; or when it is
perfected from bringing forth death ; that instead of interpos-
' Exod. vii. 3, ix. 12, x. 1, 20, 27, xi. 10. ' Is. lxiii. 17.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 337
ing by the agency of His Spirit to prevent their thus becoming
obstinate, He places them in circumstances which, though
naturally fitted to produce a very different effect, are per
verted into the means of fostering their obstinacy. And, if
this be the meaning of the word, the apostle's assertion is, that
God exercises His sovereignty equally in giving and with
holding that Divine influence, which, in consequence of the
depravity of man, is necessary to true repentance. And, how
ever men may fret and quarrel, it will be difficult to show
that there is anything unjust or unreasonable in all this.
" May not," to use the language of a very sober-minded de
fender of this mode of explication, " the Judge of all the earth,
when a rebellious creature, from enmity to Him and love of
that which He abhors, has closed his own eyes and hardened
his own heart, and deliberately preferred the delusions of the
wicked one to the truth as it is in Jesus, say to such an one,
' Take thine own choice and its consequences ; may He not
do this without being any more the author of sin than the sun
is the cause of cold and frost and darkness, because these are
the results of the withholding of its influence?"1
But, while it thus appears that, even if understood in
this way, the clause exhibits an important truth ; I doubt ex
ceedingly whether the term translated " harden" here, has
any reference to judicial obduration. And the reasons of my
doubt are these : — (1.) The word harden, when employed in
this sense, is, so far as I have observed, uniformly connected
with the word ' neck,' or ' heart,' or ' mind.' The ordinary
phrase for making obdurate is not simply to harden, but to
harden the heart. (2.) It is difficult to account for the intro
duction of such an idea as judicial obduration here. It does
not rise out of the subject which is punishment ; for though,
no doubt, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and this led to his
punishment, yet, unless we consider " I have raised thee up,"
as equivalent to, ' I have hardened thy heart' (which few judi
cious interpreters will be inclined to do), the introduction of
1 Scott — Remarks on Tomline.

338 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the subject must seem very abrupt. The facts alluded to in
Pharaoh's case are his being spared, not punished when he
might have been punished, yet reserved to a time and combina
tion of circumstances, when his deserved punishment would
more fully answer its purpose ; and (3.) The introduction of
the idea of judicial hardening seems to destroy the antithesis.
Hardening is not the natural antithesis of showing mercy.
Had it been, ' whom He wills He melts into penitence, and
whom He wills He hardens into impenitence,' the antithesis
would have been complete ; but the one term in the antithesis,
being showing mercy, the other must correspond to it — He
does not show mercy ; He relents in reference to one, He
does not relent in reference to another.
I am therefore disposed to concur with those interpreters1
(and they are distinguished both for learning and judgment) who
consider the word rendered " harden," as equivalent to ' treat
with severity' in withholding favours and inflicting deserved
punishments. We have seen that the word by itself, as it is
here, no where else means judicial obduration. The word is
not of frequent occurrence, but there is one passage in the
LXX. where a compound is used in the sense which we think
should be assigned to it here. In Job xxxix. 16, is a descrip
tion of the manner in which the ostrich treats her young.
Our translators render the clause— <' The ostrich is hardened
against her young." A literal version of the LXX. is, " She
hardeneth her young ones."2 She treats them harshly or
severely by abandoning them to the mercy of accident. Here,
if I mistake not, as at the 22d verse of the eleventh chapter,
" the goodness and the severity" of God are contrasted, and
His " purpose according to election," is affirmed of the dis
plays of both. " Whom He wills He treats kindly"— by
having the mercy on them which they do not deserve ; and
|' whom He wills He treats severely," not unjustly but severely,
in comparison with those whom He treats kindly; He treats
i Ernesti— Bengel. The note of the latter is worth quoting—" Indurat
dicit pro non miseretur per metonymiam consequents. "
2 xirsax>.iipvvs tx Ttxiia txvrris.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 339
them severely, in not bestowing on them mercy and in pun
ishing them when and how He pleases. He chose to confer
on Isaac and his posterity blessings that He did not choose to
confer on Ishmael and his posterity. He chose to confer on Jacob
and his posterity blessings which he did not choose to confer
on Esau and his posterity. He chose to have mercy on some
of the idolatrous Israelites, and He chose not to have mercy on
others of them. And though strict justice gave forth Pharaoh's
sentence and fixed the measure of his punishment, — " the pur
pose of God, according to election stood," — was manifested, in
selecting the time and manner of executing that sentence and
inflicting that punishment. " Behold, then, the goodness and
the severity of God;" and, in the manifestation of both, see
Him "working all things according to the counsel of His own
will." The application which the apostle wished to be made
of these statements, is not far to seek. If this be a leading law
of the government of God, what is there to find fault with, in
His bestowing the favours which He confers through Christ
Jesus, on such Jews and Gentiles, and in withholding them
from such others of both these classes, as He pleases ; or in
His choosing His own time and way for punishing, long borne
with, obstinate transgressors ? This is the application which
the apostle teaches us to make of these statements in the 22d,
23d, and 24th verses. But, before he does this, he fully
answers an objection which a Jew might very probably make
to his doctrine — an objection he has already more than once
referred to.
The truths we have been considering, if rightly improved,
will excite gratitude, repress discontent, and produce a reveren
tial acquiescence in the arrangements of Divine Providence.
If we are in possession of benefits, of whatever kind, they must
all be traced to sovereign kindness. We do not deserve the
least of them, and many not more undeserving than we are
without them. Surely, then, we should be grateful for them,
and should express our gratitude by employing them for the
purposes for which they were conferred. If we are destitute of
what others enjoy, let us not complain ; we have no claim on

340 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
these blessings, and let us not envy those who possess them.
God has given them what He has withheld from us ; and He
had an undoubted right both to give and to withhold. He
never can inflict on us sufferings which we have not de
served. And " why should a living man complain — a man
for the punishment of his sins?" Indeed, when most
severely afflicted, we are punished less than our iniquities
deserve. Amid all Divine dispensations, however unaccountable they
may be, let us never doubt that " this also cometh from the
Lord ;" and that " whatsoever the Lord pleases, that does He
in heaven, and in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places."
Though His way be in the sea and His path in the mighty
waters, so that we are not able to trace His footsteps, let us
still hold that "justice and judgment are the foundation of
His throne, and that mercy and truth go before His face."
Let us not be stumbled at the prosperity of the wicked.
God will, in His own time and way, show His displeasure at
sin — and His time and way will be found to be the best time
and way.
Let those who are going on in a course of sin, and yet, at
the same time, enjoying a large measure of worldly wealth
and honour, think on Pharaoh and tremble. Let them be
assured that their sin will find them out, and, if not repented
of, forgiven, and forsaken, will bring its wages along with it,
Death — everlasting death. Oh that, instead of making their
being treated severely necessary to the vindication of the
Divine character and the stability of the Divine government,
they would but " flee for refuge and lay hold of the hope set
before us in the Gospel." The God who delights in mercy
will then, according to the good pleasure of His goodness,
bless even the worst of them with all heavenly and spiritual
blessings in Christ Jesus. Let none of us, hardening our
hearts in obstinate unbelief, put away from ourselves these
blessings. It is thus only we can come short of them ; so
that, if we perish we shall have ourselves entirely to blame :
and when God punishes us, however much we may, like the

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 341
Jews, have to say for ourselves now, we shall have nothing to
answer Him then. i. Objection stated and answered.
To the conclusion to which the apostle comes — from the facts
which he brings forward as illustrative of what he terms " the
purpose of God accordmg to election, not of works, but of
Him who calleth" — " He hath mercy on whom He wills to
have mercy, and whom He wills He treats hardly — severely"
— does not have mercy — he represents the unbelieving Jews
as demurring, and insinuating that the conduct of God, if
such as the apostle had described, was unreasonable : " Thou
wilt say, then, unto me, why doth He yet find fault, for who
hath resisted His will?"1 It is of primary importance to the
understanding of the whole paragraph, that we apprehend
distinctly the meaning and force of this objection — that we see
clearly what is the precise point of the apostle's doctrine that
is objected against, and what are the grounds on which the
objection proceeds. It is the more necessary that we con
sider these points, as, from inattention to them, we conceive,
the meaning and design of the passage have been generally
misapprehended. It has ordinarily been supposed that the
objection is based solely on the concluding statement of the
18th verse, rendered by our translators, " whom He wills
He hardeneth," and that its force may be thus expressed : —
' If God hardens whom He wills, and if His will be irresistible,
is it not very unreasonable in Him to find fault with, and
punish those, who are the unresisting subjects of that harden
ing influence of which He is the author. If this be the true
account of the matter, we are much more to be pitied than
blamed ; and it were an abuse of words to term our sufferings
— equitable punishment.'
Such an objection has often been brought forward, and it is
not particularly difficult to answer it. But that this is not the
objection here stated, seems evident from two considerations.
1 Ver. 16.

342 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
First, that, as I have showed, there is no reason to think that
the idea of judicial obduration, on which the objection is
grounded, is brought forward at all by the apostle here ; for
the true meaning of the word rendered " harden," is to treat
severely, in opposition to having mercy or treating kindly;
and, Second, That if we were to understand the word "harden"
as referring to judicial obduration, the answer given by the
apostle would not at all suit this view of the case. The true
answer to that objection is to be found in the fact, that in what
is termed the judicial blinding of the mind and hardening of the
heart, there is no direct, positive influence put forth by God :
there is merely a withholding of what He is under no obliga
tion to bestow, and an allowing the depraved being, unchecked
by the dispensations of God's providence, the declarations of
God's word, and the workings of God's Spirit, to follow the
guidance of his own wilfully blinded mind and rebellious heart..
There is no inconsistency between thus hardening men, and
finding fault with them and punishing them for being hardened.
The objection here, unless I entirely misconceive the mean
ing of the apostle, is not taken exclusively against the state
ment made in the close of the 18th verse, but against the
apostle's general doctrine of " the purpose of God according
to election, not of works, but of Him that calleth," — the sum
of which is — " Whom He wills He has mercy on" — treats
kindly, giving them what they do not deserve, and " whom
He wills, He treats severely" — severely, but not unjustly — not
giving them what they do not deserve, but giving them what
they do deserve. And this seems to me the force of the
objection : ' Since everything, according to this doctrine, is
dependent on God's will, which is irresistible, and since this
will of God, accordmg to which He can do everything, is
sovereign — since He can have mercy on whom He wills to
have mercy, and can refuse mercy and inflict punishment on
whom He chooses to do so — why does He not will to have mercy
on all, so as to make them obedient, and thus put finding of
fault out of the case altogether ? Why does He not have mercy
on all ? Why does He blame and punish any ? If He would

ECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 343
but have mercy on all, it is plain all would be well : there
would be none to blame or to punish. Why then does He find
fault, when none has resisted, none can resist His will?'
This is the objection which seems naturally to rise out of
the apostle's statement : this is the objection which best suits
the character of an unbelieving Jew, unwilling to admit the
awful truth respecting the approaching punishment of his
guilty nation ; and this is, I apprehend, the objection to which
the succeeding verses furnish a complete and satisfactory
answer. The objection here somewhat resembles that of the
unbelieving Jew adverted to by the apostle in an earlier part
of his epistle,1 " If our unrighteousness commend," set off to
advantage, " the righteousness of God, is not God unrighteous,
who takes vengeance ?" but it is not the same. The apostle's
answer to that objection is, that it would at once annihilate
God's moral government: God could not punish any man; for
every sin of every sinner will be made to conduce to the Divine
glory ; so that the principle, which is the very quintessence
of impiety and absurdity, would become true, and the course
it recommends right — " Let us do evil, that good may come."
Let us now examine, somewhat more closely, the apostle's
answer to the kindred objection here brought before us :
" Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repfiest against God ?
Shall the thing formed, say to him that formed it, Why hast
thou made me thus ? Hath not the potter power over the
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and an
other unto dishonour ?" 2 The objection is answered in two
ways : first, by showing the absurdity and wickedness of man's
denying that God does what He does, or says what He says,
or finding fault with what He does or says; and then, by
showing that the dispensations objected to were perfectly con
sistent with the Divine justice and benignity.
The first of these answers is contained in the verses just
cited ; the second in the 22d, 23d, and 24th verses, the last
of which concludes the important parenthetical discussion con-
1 Chap, iii, 5. 2 Ver. 20, 21.

344 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
cerning " the standing of the purpose of God according to
election." It deserves to be noticed, that the apostle does not deny the
principle on which the objection goes. He does not say, either
— God does not find fault — or, man may resist His will. He
does not go on to explain, or to explain away, the principle
which gave occasion to the objection ; he does not say, ' You
have misapprehended my meaning, when I said, " Whom He
wills He treats kindly ; whom He wills He treats severely." '
But he says, first, ' This is an objection you have no right to put ;'
and then, ' This is an objection you have no reason to put.'
First, ' This is an objection you have no right to put. You
say, Why does God find fault ? I say, How darest thou to
find fault? for the objection is "a replying against God.'"
The objection was an utterly inadmissible one, being neither
more nor less than a contradiction of, or a finding fault with,
the obvious dispensations and declarations of God. To " reply
against God," is to argue against what God has done in His
providence or said in His word. It is a fact, an undeniable
fact, that God treats some kindly, and some severely — that
He bestows favours on some, and withholds them from others ;
and, for His doing so, as well as for the time and manner in
which He inflicts merited punishment, it is impossible for us
to assign any reason, but that so God wills ; " Even so, Father,
for so it seemeth good in Thy sight."1 And as this is the
Divine conduct, so the Divine declarations with regard to this
subject are most explicit. " He worketh all things according
to the counsel of His own will."2 " He doth according to His
will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of
the earth : none can stay His hand, or say to Him, What
doest Thou?"3 To argue, then, on any principle which
supposes that God does not act in the manner in which we
see He does act — that God does not say what we see He does
say, is to " reply against God." If these things are so, God
is unwise, or unkind, or unjust. He had only to will that
1 Matt. xi. 26. 2 Eph. i. 11. 3 Dan. iv. 35.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 345
matters should have been otherwise, and all would have been
well. Your doctrine cannot, then, be true. ' Take heed,'
says the apostle, ' what you are about ; for whatever conse
quences you may draw from the works and the words of God,
these are the works and the words of God. He is blind who
does not see that God acts in this way — stupid who does not
perceive that God speaks in this way. Can anything be
clearer than the facts I have stated, and the texts I have
quoted? God does act in this way; God has made such
declarations ; and, in attempting to reason in opposition to
these facts and assertions, you are not only arguing against
me, you are contradicting Him. You are either saying, ' God
has not done what He has certainly done — God has not said
what He has undoubtedly said;' or, what, if possible, is still
worse — ' God has done what He ought not to have done — God
has said what He ought not to have said.'
But the apostle not merely states, what is so obviously true,
that such an objection is " a replying against God," but he
strongly intimates the absurdity and presumption of a creature
like man in bringing it forward : " Who art thou that repliest
against God ? " There is no presumption in examining whether
the account given of a particular Divine dispensation, be a just
representation of what God has actually done — no presump
tion in examining into the meaning and evidence of what
professes to be a Divine revelation. But, when it is quite
plain that the Divine Being acts in a particular way — when
it is quite plain that a well-accredited revelation gives a dis
tinct deliverance on a particular subject, to object to — to
reason against, either the one or the other is in the highest
degree presumptuous and impious. Is it fit that man, whose
intellect is so feeble, and whose knowledge is so limited, should
sit in judgment on the undoubted doings, the well-accredited
sayings, of the all-wise — the only wise God ? Particular dis
pensations of His providence — particular declarations of His
word, may appear to us very strange and unaccountable, and
we may find it difficult or impossible for us entirely to reconcile
them with what we know to be the perfections of His character,

346 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the principles of His government, and the other declarations
of His word ; but we are not, on these grounds, to " find
fault" with them. We are not, in the face of evidence, to say
God does not — He cannot, act so ; He does not — He cannot,
say so. We are to hold fast both portions of the truth, for
which we have equally satisfactory evidence, and rest assured
that the difficulty of reconciling them arises, not from any
real inconsistency between equally clearly proved truths, but
from the weakness of our faculties and the imperfection of
our information. God's working all things according to the
counsel of His own will, and yet blaming and punishing the
violator of His law, to whom, if He had willed, He could have
given repentance to the acknowledging of the truth — and
whose very violations of the Divine law are the means of
accomplishing the Divine counsels — are perfectly reconcilable,
though we may not be able to reconcile them. They are both
certain truths, resting on equally satisfactory evidence ; and
nothing can be more absurd than to deny either of them,
because I am not able to explain everything with regard to
both. The articles of that man's creed must be very few, who
believes nothing without being able to explain all the diffi
culties which are connected with it.
The absurdity of thus " replying against God," is not only
strongly asserted by the question, " Who art thou that repliest
against God ? " it is strikingly illustrated. It is so by the use
of the appellation, " O man !" It were presumption in the
highest angel thus to " reply against God ; " but for man —
the lowest in the class of intelligent beings — to sit in judg
ment on, ay, and to condemn God, what language can de
scribe the monstrous incongruity! " Shall mortal man be
more just than God? Shall man be more pure than his
Maker ? " It is still more strongly expressed in the question
that follows : " Shall the thing formed say to him that formed
it, Why hast thou made me thus ?"
In these words, the apostle has a reference to one or other
of these passages in the prophecy of Isaiah — either chap, xxix
16, " Shall the work say of him that made it, He made me

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 347
not ? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He
had no understanding ? " or chap. xiv. 9, " Shall the clay say
to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou ? or thy work,
He hath no hands?" The meaning of these words plainly
is — that the Divine Being has a power and authority over His
creatures, far superior to that which any human artist can
have over his works ; and that, could we suppose an artist's
work to find fault with its framer, we would be furnished with
a just, but still very inadequate, representation of the absurdity
and presumption of man in finding fault with any of the
doings of the Most High. It is as if the apostle had said —
' It is indubitably true that God does all things — confers or
withholds benefits according to the counsel of His own will.
It is true that that will is uncontrollable. Man may — man
does, attempt to resist it ; but his attempts to resist only be
come the means of accomplishing it. It is true that He
blames and punishes those who violate His law. And wilt
thou, because thou canst not reconcile these facts, pronounce
them irreconcilable ? Wilt thou pronounce that, if both be
true, God is unreasonable and unjust ? Remember what thou
art — how utterly unfit forjudging of the doings of the infin
itely wise and powerful Ruler of the universe ! His adminis
tration, like His nature, is " higher than heaven, what canst
thou do ? deeper than hell, what canst thou know ? the mea
sure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the
sea." If I am sure that God has done it, I may be sure that
it is right, though how it is so, I may not comprehend. If I
am sure that He has said it, I may be sure that it is true,
though I cannot reconcile it with some other things which I
know that He has said, and therefore know to be true. 1 may,
without presumption, pronounce unjust what I have no evi
dence that He has done, though men, no wiser than myself,
say that He has done it. I may doubt or deny what I have
no evidence that He has said, though they strongly assert,
without proving, that He has said it. In acting thus, I am
but rightly exercising the faculty of discerning truth which
He has given me ; but if I contradict what He, in His pro-

348 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
vidence and word, shows to be His work — if I say that He
has not done it, or if I find fault with it, and say that He
ought not to have done it — no words can express the height
of my folly, and the depth of my impiety. " Wo to the man
that striveth with his Maker : let the potsherd strive with the
potsherds of the earth."1
This was well fitted to silence the objector ; but it was the
apostle's purpose, not only to silence, but to convince him —
to show not merely that he was presumptuous and impious,
in censuring what, beyond all doubt, was done and said by
God, but that the doings and sayings of God, which he dared
to censure, were all in perfect consistency with the Divine
truth, righteousness, and benignity. In the Divine dispensa
tions of the rejection and punishment of the Jews, in connec
tion with the calling of the Gentiles, he shows that, while the
Divine sovereignty was displayed, it was displayed in a man
ner not merely consistent with, but gloriously illustrative of,
" the depth of the riches" of His long-suffering patience and
redeeming grace : " Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
unto dishonour ? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and
to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ; and that He might
make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy,
which He had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He
hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles ?"2
In the 21st verse, there can be no doubt that there is a refer
ence to a passage in the book of the Prophet Jeremiah,3 the
reading of which will assist us in discovering the meaning
and object of the apostle's words. "The word which came to
Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Arise, and go down to the
potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear My words.
Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he
wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made
of clay was marred in the hand of the potter : so he made it
'Isa. xiv. 9. 2 Ver. 21-24. 3.Chap. xviii. 1-6.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 349
again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, O house of
Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter ? saith the Lord.
Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine
hand, O house of Israel."
The primary object of the parable seems to be, to assert
Jehovah's right and power to do what He was about to do —
to dissolve the existing constitution of the Israelitish people,
and to fashion it after another form — that which it assumed
after the captivity. Even in this restricted view of the sub
ject, it has a direct and important bearing on the apostle's
object ; and naturally suggests the thought, ' Has not Jeho
vah the power and right to dissolve the present constitution
of Israel, as the visible representation of His peculiar people,
and form another constitution, in which none but believers
shall be reckoned His people — and equally all believers,
whether Jews or Gentiles ?' But the apostle seems plainly to
have had another and more extensive object.
As to the meaning of the words there is nothing difficult.
" A vessel unto honour," is a vessel destined to an honourable,
important use ; " a vessel unto dishonour," is a vessel designed
for meaner and less important purposes. And the force of the
interrogation is — ' Has not the potter both right and power
to use the clay, which is his own property, according to his
own pleasure ? Has he not both right and power, out of the
same mass of clay, to form, vessels for the most opposite uses?'
In the application of the words, however, there is some diffi
culty. There is plainly an assertion, and an illustration, by
means of a figurative interrogation, of a power and right which
God has, in reference to all mankind — in some way analogous
to the power and right of the proprietor-potter over the mass
of clay that belongs to him. In this general view all interpre
ters are agreed. But, with regard to the nature and object
of the exercise of that power, there is a great diversity of
opinion. One class will have it that the question is equivalent
to — ' Hath not God power and right to determine the fates of
nations, and to decree that, out of the general mass of man-

350 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
kind, one portion shall be a great and prosperous nation, and
another a nation of slaves, the vilest of all people?' Others
consider it as equivalent to — ' Has not God the power and
right, out of the aggregate body of human beings who are to
exist in all ages, to fix the everlasting destinies of individuals
— to appoint some to everlasting happiness, and others to
everlasting misery ? ' We apprehend that an affirmative
answer to both these questions is the true one ; and the words,
taken merely by themselves, might convey either of these
ideas, or a more general idea embracing both.
Nothing, however, can, I think, be more evident than that
the apostle is speaking directly, not of Divine determinations
respecting either nations or individuals, but of Divine dispen
sations — not of what God decrees, but of what He does. This
is an important distinction ; for, though the things decreed
and done are the same things, the decreeing of them and the
doing of them are two very different things.
The' apostle's statement is — ' Whom God wills, He treats
kindly; whom He wills, He treats severely;' and in opposi
tion to the objection to this doctrine — that, supposing it to be
true, it would be unreasonable in God to find fault, and unjust
to punish any — the apostle has shown that such an objection is
inadmissible ; for it contradicts what God, both in deed and
in word, has most clearly declared. It goes on the supposi
tion that God has not done as the apostle says He has done ;
for, if He had done so, He would have done something un
reasonable and unjust. ' Now,' says the apostle, ' there is
— there can be, no doubt that He has done so, and said that
He has done so. Will you contradict Him, or find fault with
Him ? Such "replying against God" ill becomes the highest
of creatures — especially ill becomes man.' In the verse before
us, and in those which follow, he appeals, as it were, to the
common sense of the objector, if it was not reasonable and
proper that God should possess and exercise such a right and
authority ; and if, in the case referred to, He had not exercised
that right in perfect consistency both with justice and benignity.
In this figure, the formation of vessels, to serve various

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 351
purposes, does not represent the original formation of man
kind, either in a physical or moral point of view ; but the
treatment of men, viewed as different pieces of the same mass,
in different ways ; in other words, the treating of some of
them kindly — more kindly than they deserved, and the treating
others severely, though not more severely than they deserved.
The mass, or lump, is not, as many have understood it, the
whole mass of mankind, viewed by the Divinity as to be
brought into being ; but the whole of mankind as they exist,
the subjects of the Divine moral government, and both as
creatures and sinners, all standing in the same relation to
Him — something that is His, and of which He may make
what use He pleases. All men are God's creatures, and so
entirely His property. All men are sinners, and justly ex
posed to the Divine displeasure. The apostle has shown that,
in this last sense, all are one mass : " All have sinned, and lost
the Divine approbation. There is none righteous, no, not one.
The whole world, both Jews and Gentiles, are brought in
guilty before God." Now, hath not God, not merely the
power, but the right to deal with this mass as He pleases ?
Has He not the right to deal kindly, or deal severely, with all
or any number of this guilty, condemned race ? If He deals
kindly with some, is it not sovereign kindness ? if He deals
severely with others, is it not righteous judgment ? And has
not He who, as Creator and moral Governor, has the fates of
the guilty race entirely at His disposal, the right, in His treat
ment of them, to display that sovereign power and authority
which He possesses ? Is He to be shut up to save all or to
punish all ? J£ justice is to be the only principle consulted,
all must be punished. Is it for man to complain that this has
not been the course followed? and if none is punished but
those who deserve to be punished, or none punished more
severely than he deserves who can find fault ?
This, according to the apostle, is the exact state of the case
in reference to the subject under consideration : " What if
God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power
known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath

352 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
fitted to destruction ; and that He might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had
afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He hath called, not
of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"1 It is quite
obvious, to every attentive reader, that the sentence is un
finished. Something must be supplied to bring out the mean
ing distinctly. Different interpreters have suggested different
supplements, but they all come to materially the same thing.
The following appears to me the simplest way of expressing
what all admit to be the sense of the apostle : " What if God,
willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known,
endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction, but at last punished them as they deserved, when
and how He chose — what room is there to find fault ? And
what if God, willing to make known the riches of His glory
on the vessels of mercy which He had afore prepared for glory,
has bestowed on them heavenly and spiritual blessings in
Christ Jesus — treating them with undeserved kindness, even
us, who are called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gen
tiles — what room is there to find fault? Is not His work
most honourable, most glorious, and pure, and does not His
unspotted righteousness endure for ever ? " This brings the
matter home, both as to the punishment of the unbelieving
Jews, and the salvation of the believing Jews and Gentiles.
There is little in the language that requires explication.
They who are dealt severely with are termed " vessels of
wrath" — with an obvious allusion to the figurative language of
the former verse : the expression is equivalent to, ' subjects of
punishment' — persons deserving to be punished, and doomed
to punishment. " Vessels of mercy," in the same way, is
equivalent to, ' subjects of mercy' — persons to be pardoned
and saved.
The " vessels of mercy" are said to have been " prepared
afore of God to glory" — by the sovereign, efficacious grace
of God, destined to, and fitted for, everlasting happiness.
' Ver. 22-24.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 353
The marked difference, however, between the language used in
reference to those whom God treats kindly, and those whom
He treats severely, deserves notice. With regard to the fitting
of the vessels of wrath for destruction, there is not a word of
Divine agency : they are fitted — how, and by whom, it is not
said. More than one have had a hand in it — their own has
been the most effective one ; but God did not fit them for the
destruction to which He doomed them as fitted for it ; and
not only doomed them to it, but executes it on them. In the
other case, it is all Divine agency together. He displays the
riches of the glory of His grace, both in destining them to
it, fitting them for it, and bestowing it on them.
Let us see, then, the force of the statement, with regard to
the unbelieving and impenitent Jews. This is the statement
of the truth with regard to them : ' God dealt with them as
He did with Pharaoh, whom they resembled in their obstinacy.
He bore with them long ; He spared them, when He might
have destroyed them. He offered them mercy : they con
temptuously rejected it, and persevered in unbelief and dis
obedience. To use the apostle's language, they " killed their
own prophets and the Lord Jesus, and they persecuted the
apostles ; they pleased not God, and were contrary to all men.
They forbade the apostles to speak to the Gentiles, that they
might be saved ; and thus continued " to fill up the measure of
their iniquity, till wrath came upon them to the uttermost," in
a way well fitted " to show God's wrath, and make His power
known."1 When they had fitted themselves for destruction,
they were destroyed.' Now, what room is there for finding
fault with God here? Is He to be blamed for forbearing
with them so long ; or is He to be blamed for punishing them,
and punishing when and how best served the great purposes
of His holy and benignant government? This is the one
side of the dispensation, and the other is equally unimpeach
able. God bestows the blessings of the Christian salvation
on a portion of men called out from the great body of Jews
1 1 Thess, ii. 15, 16.

354 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
and Gentiles, and fitted by Him, in the exercise of His grace,
for their enjoyment, by being made in faith thankfully to
accept of them. This is the only preparation for the first
reception of the blessings of salvation. In this we have a
glorious display of the riches of His liberality, and the ten
derness of His compassion ; but in all this there is not a
shadow of injustice — not the slightest ground for quarrelling
with God. In following out His purpose " according to elec
tion, not of works, but of Him who calleth," by treating whom
He wills kindly, and treating whom He wills severely, He
does nothing that any being can reasonably find fault with ;
while this view of the matter makes it plain that, in withhold
ing saving blessings from certain of the Jews, He does them
no wrong ; and, in inflicting on them severe judgments, He
only at last inflicts punishment which had long been incurred,
but which patience and forbearance had prevented from being
sooner executed. Such is the parenthetical argument em
bosomed in the main argument of this ninth chapter.
The whole argument of the chapter, down to the 30th
verse, where a new division commences, may be thus summed
up : The rejection of the unbelieving Jews, the admission of
the believing Gentiles, and the signal punishment of the Jews
for their unbelief, which had all been results of the manifes
tation of the Divine method of justification, however unlooked
for and disagreeable to the Jews, were in no way inconsistent
with the character, word, or administration of God. In re
jecting the majority of the Jews, there was no breach of
promise, for those rejected were persons to whom no promise
had been made; there was no violation of equity, for the
benefits bestowed were such as none had any claim to, and,
if bestowed at all, must be bestowed as the gifts of sovereign
mercy ; and, in inflicting severe judgments on the unbelieving
Jews, there was merely the execution of a righteous sentence
long incurred, and which forbearance, on the part of God,
had prevented from being sooner executed.
The course of our illustrations, place in a strong point of
view the criminality, and danger, of presumptuous specula-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 355
tions on the Divine purposes and dispensations. It is un
wise, as Luther says, for the novice to meddle with them.
"Take heed that thou drink not wine, when thou art but
a sucking babe." Nothing has a greater tendency to con
found the understanding, to debauch the conscience, and
to harden the heart. Let no man think or talk of these
subjects lightly ; they concern the character of God, and the
eternal interests of mankind. Let us keep close to revela
tion. " Hidden things belong to God ; things that are re
vealed, to us and to our children." Let us rejoice that the
great doctrines of the Divine equity and benignity are written
on both His works and His word in characters of light, and
let us not allow metaphysical disquisitions to cast a cloud on
them. " Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out ;
but He is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty
of justice: He will not afflict without cause, or beyond measure."
" God is a rock : His work is perfect ; all His ways are judg
ment : a God of truth, and without iniquity ; just and right
is He." Let us never lose sight of the great, plain, consola
tory truths ; and when we meet with dispensations of His
providence, or declarations in His word, which seem to con
tradict them, let us explain what is obscure by what is clear —
not cast darkness on what is clear by what is obscure. Let
us, above all, beware of " replying against God." Humbling
ourselves before Him, let us thankfully and hopefully antici
pate the period when the shadows, which cover so many of
His works, and some, too, of His words, shall be completely
dispelled, and when in His light we shall see light clearly.
Then, what now troubles us will delight us ; and it will be
seen that, in working all things according to the counsel of
His own will, God has done all things well.
Let us learn the great lesson of humility. Let us look for
every blessing we need, entirely on the ground of sovereign
mercy. Let all who have obtained mercy be very grateful; the
blessing is invaluable, and all have not received it. Let them
be very humble ; they did not deserve it. Let them be very

356 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
submissive and obedient ; for this is the end for which God
has shown them mercy.
Let those who continue obstinate be warned by the case of
the Jews, lest they too " fall after the same example of unbe
lief." Let them recollect that if, in the face of a freely-offered,
full salvation, they, by rejecting it, come short of it, their ruin
is completely of themselves ; and that, if they will not consent
that God should be glorified in their salvation, provision is
made that, without their consent, He shall be glorified in
their perdition,

(2.) Particular Statement of the Relations, Present and Future,
of Mankind, as divided into Israel and the Gentiles, to the
Manifested Divine Method of Justification.
Having thus effectually removed this stumbling-block out
of the way, the apostle now, at the 30th verse of the ninth
chapter, proceeds to show how Israel and how the Gentiles
stand in reference to " the righteousness of God, now revealed"
— the manifested Divine method of justification. The sum of
his statement is this : ' The great body of the Jews have ex
cluded themselves, by their unbelief, from the benefits of this
Divine method, which they might have enjoyed by believing.
A portion of the Jews, having believed, have obtained justifi
cation, and all its attendant and consequent blessings. Many
Gentiles, by believing, have become fellow partakers with
them of these benefits. And there is a period approaching,
when the great body, both of Gentiles and Jews, shall, through
the faith of the truth, become heirs of the blessings procured
and bestowed by Messiah.—" The fulness of the Gentiles shall
be brought in, and all Israel shall be saved, to the eternal
glory of the wisdom and grace of Him, of whom, and through
whom, and to whom, are all things." '

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 357

(a) Present Relations — Gentiles believing obtain Justification-^*
Israel, seeking Justification not by believing, but " as it were
by the works of the law" do not, and cannot obtain it.
Let us proceed now to consider the manner in which the
apostle brings these important statements before the mind.
" What shall we say then ? That the Gentiles, which fol
lowed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,
even the righteousness which is of faith : but Israel, which
followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to
the law of righteousness." x Some interpreters have considered
the interrogation here as the close of the elliptical sentence
contained in the 22d and 23d verses, considering all that inter
venes as parenthetical. To this interpretation there are many
objections. It is enough to say, that in this case the second
clause of the sentence would have no connection with the first.
The words, therefore, " What shall we say then ? " are to be
considered as just one of the apostle's usual formulas of transi
tion, and as equivalent to, 'What is the real state of the
matter ? How is it that Gentiles obtain, while Israelites are
excluded from, the Messianic blessings ? ' And what follows is
the answer to this question : " That the Gentiles, which fol
lowed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness,"
etc. The language is elliptical, but the ellipsis is easily
supplied. ' This is what we will say : this is the true account
of the matter, both in reference to the Gentile who is received
into, and the Jew who is excluded from, the enjoyment of the
Messianic blessings.'
With regard to the first, "The Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith." The term, the Gentiles,
is not to be considered as descriptive of all the Gentiles, or
even of the great body of the Gentiles. In either of these
senses, the declaration that they had attained to righteousness
i Ver. 30, 31.

358 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
would be inconsistent with the fact. The term should have
been rendered ' Gentiles,' not " the Gentiles." The persons
referred to are those described in ver. 24 as " called of the
Gentiles" — from among the Gentiles. They are ' Gentiles,'
in opposition to 'Jews' — and 'Gentiles who followed not after
righteousness,' in contradistinction to ' Gentiles who (like Cor
nelius and others) did seek after righteousness :' — Idolatrous
Gentiles, who, not following after righteousness, " attained to
righteousness, even the righteousness of faith."
What are we to understand by these Gentiles " not follow
ing after righteousness ? " "Righteousness" here, as usually
throughout the epistle, seems to signify justification, in one or
other of the nearly related senses — a state of favour with God,
or the way of obtaining that state. From "the righteousness,"
which was not the object of these Gentiles' desire or pursuit,
being plainly distinguished from " the law," or a law " of
righteousness," which is represented as the object of the
desire and pursuit of Israel, it is probably used in the first of
these senses. The Gentiles referred to " knew not God."
They could not, therefore, desire or seek His favour. Wide
and varied as was the field of desire and pursuit to the Gen
tiles, and full as it was of eager occupants, there was " none
that understood or did seek God." They were seeking any
thing rather than righteousness or the favour of God. Though
they had sinned and become guilty before God — though they
had some sense of a superior power — though they were in
some measure conscious of guilt, and sought its expiation by
sacrifice, they were without God : they knew not His character
— how could they desire or seek His favour ? Yet some —
many of this class, in consequence of the Divine method of
justification being manifested— " attained to righteousness"
— to justification, "even to the justification that is by
faith." The Gospel was preached to them — that Gospel in
which the righteousness of God by faith is revealed, in order
to faith — i.e. to its being believed. They believed " the word
of the truth of the Gospel" respecting " the righteousness of
God manifested to all," and this righteousness was thus upon

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 359
them believing ; for it makes no difference between the idola
trous or the inquiring Gentile, or between the Jew and
either. The Gospel was thus " the power of God unto salva
tion" to them believing it. They were "justified freely by
God's grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ."
Without submitting to the Mosaic law, they were justified
from all things, from which it could not justify them. By
simply believing the revelation of mercy, idolatrous Gentiles
had become the objects of God's peculiar favour, and were
blessed by Him with all spiritual blessings.
This is the one side of the case. But it has another, and a
less inviting one : " But Israel, which followed after the law
of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteous
ness." " Israel" is here equivalent to Israelites — the great
body of Israelites. They are represented as following after
the law, or rather a law, of righteousness. " Righteousness"
is here, as in the preceding verse, justification ; but what is
" the law," or a law of justification, which Israel is said to fol
low after — to seek for? The word " law" here seems used in
the same way as in the expressions, "law in the members" —
" law of the mind" — "law of the spirit of life" — " law of sin and
death" — "the law of faith" — "the law of works." It is equiva
lent to method — established order — way. The heathen did not
seek after a method of obtaining justification, or the Divine
favour : the thing itself was not so the object of intellectual ap
prehension, as that the way of obtaining it could be an object of
desire or pursuit. But it was otherwise with the Jews. The
character of the true God, and their relations to Him, had been
revealed to them. To possess the favour of Jehovah was, in their
estimation, highly desirable : they sought a way of obtaining it,
but they did not attain to the way — there is only one — of ob
taining it. Of consequence, the great body of them (for " the
election did attain," having been led into the right way) came
short of it : they did not attain to the way ; and how could
they reach what it alone could lead to ? The necessary con
sequence was, they remained in a state of condemnation.
But how was it that, while idolatrous Gentiles had found

360 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the way and the end they were not previously seeking, or even
thinking of, Israel, who was seeking a way to the end, had not
found it? This is the apostle's question, "Wherefore?"1 Why
was it that Israel did not attain to the way of justification,
and, by not attaining to it, come short of justification, or, what
is the same thing, " the glory" — the approbation " of God ?"
Was it that the " law of righteousness" was not revealed to
them? No; it was "manifested to all;" and He who has
justified the uncircumcision was equally disposed to justify the
circumcision ; for in this matter " neither circumcision availeth
anything, nor uncircumcision." The reason, the only reason,
was, " they sought it not by faith, but by the works of the
law." They sought a way of obtaining the Divine favour by
obedience to the requisitions of the law of Moses, and not by
believing the testimony in the Gospel concerning Jesus Christ,
setting Him forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood.
They sought — they pursued a way of justification, as if the
way had been by working, not by believing. They turned
aside from the only way of justification, through the belief of
the truth respecting the work finished by Jesus Christ on the
cross as the only ground of man's acceptance with God— the
only, the all-sufficient propitiation — a method absolutely need
ful for the Jew — a method equally open to the Gentile. " For
they stumbled at that stumbling stone ;" — that is, ' this was
the cause of their failing to attain what they sought for. It
was presented to them ; but, instead of building on it as a
foundation, they stumbled over it, and fell and were broken.'
Some have supposed that " the stumbling stone" is the prin
ciple, ' that justification was to be obtained, not by obedience to
the law, but by the faith of the truth respecting Jesus Christ.'
Others consider the stumbling stone as ' Jesus Christ himself,'
whom God has laid in Zion— has appointed to be the foundation
on which men, by believing, are to rest their hopes. It comes
substantially to the same thing ; though it does seem most
likely that, as, in the prophecies referred to, the stone is the
1 Ver. 32.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 361
emblem of the Messiah, the apostle's idea is, that their mis
taken views with respect to the Messiah were the cause of their
coming short"— their mistaken views as to the blessings He
was to procure, the manner in which He was to procure
them, the persons for whom they were to be procured, and the
way in which these were to obtain possession of them. They
stumbled at that stumbling stone of whom the prophet speaks.
In consequence of their mistaken views they could not believe
the truth, the faith of which was the only means of salvation ;
and, instead of being among those who, according to the
prophet, believing on the Messiah, were to be secured from
being ashamed by disappointment, they were among those
who were to " stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared,
and taken." " As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a
stumbling stone, and rock of offence : and whosoever believeth
on Him shall not be ashamed."1
The passages here referred to are — " Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure founda
tion ; he that believeth shall not make haste." " And He
shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling,
and for a rock of offence, to both the houses of Israel ; for
a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem :
and many among them shall stumble, and shall fall, and
be broken, and snared, and be taken." 2 The portion of
these two passages here referred to seems to have been quoted
from memory, and does not exactly agree with either the
Hebrew text or the ancient Greek version. Both these pas
sages are direct predictions of the Messiah; and they are intro
duced by the apostle to show that what had taken place, and
was about to take place, in reference to the manifested Divine
method of justification, however opposed to the anticipations
of the Jews, was in exact accordance with what " the prophets
had foretold of these days;"3 so that what might seem, at first
sight, to discredit Christianity, actually confirmed it.
1 Ver. 33. 2 Isa. xxviii. 16 ; viii. 14. * Acts iii. 24.

362 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
The relation of the manifested Divine method of salvation
to the Jews and to the Gentiles is thus distinctly marked.
Its principle is, " whosoever believeth on Him" — the Messiah,
" shall not be ashamed" — shall obtain in Him what he seeks,
justification and salvation. " Whosoever believeth " — none else :
the Gentile believing in Him obtains these blessings, the Jew
not believing in Him excludes himself from them. It regards
them as men — guilty men, equally needing justification and
salvation — not as Jew and Gentile, and it treats them accord
ingly; and in doing this, the manifested Divine method of
justification has the testimony of the law and the prophets —
all this is in entire accordance with Old Testament predic
tions. This is the leading thought, which is fully unfolded
in the tenth chapter.
Interjecting in ver. 1 a renewed declaration of the deep
interest he had in the happiness of his countrymen, expressing
itself in prayers for then* salvation — " Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be saved;"
and mentioning, as one cause of that deep interest, " the zeal of
God," the sincere ardent regard to religion, in many of them
(for the remark is by no means universally applicable),
to which, from his own experience and observation while an
unbeliever, he can, and readily does, bear testimony — " For
I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God"1 — they do
" follow after a law of righteousness," unlike the idolatrous
Gentiles, who do not follow after righteousness ; — the apostle
proceeds to show how this zeal of God, not being an enlight
ened zeal, prevented instead of securing their embracing the
manifested Divine method of justification; instead of enabling
them to attain "a law of righteousness" — a practicable method
of justification, it proved an insurmountable obstacle in the
way of their attaining it.
" For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and
going about to establish their own righteousness, have not
submitted themselves to the righteousness of God."2 These
1 "Ver. 2. ' Ver. 3.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 363
words are an illustration of the statement made at ver. 31, 32
of the last chapter, as well as of the closing idea of the pre
ceding verse — ' Israel's zeal of God is not according to know
ledge.' It has been common to consider " the righteousness
of God," in the beginning of the verse, as signifying the Divine
attribute of justice ; and the same phrase, in the end of the
verse, as signifying either the Divine righteousness, on the
ground of which men are justified, or the method of justifica
tion through that righteousness. In this case the sentiment
is, ' the Jews, not being duly aware of the true nature and ex
tent of the demands of the Divine justice on them as sinners,
and, in consequence of this, "going about" — diligently employ
ing themselves, " to establish their own righteousness" — to
work out a righteousness which might meet these demands,
have not submitted to — on the contrary, have rejected — the
surety righteousness of Christ, or the method of justification
through that righteousness, when presented to them in the
Gospel.' This is the truth; but it cannot, without violence, be
in this form brought out of the words. Nothing but absolute
necessity should ever induce us to interpret the same word or
phrase in two different senses in the same sentence, or even
paragraph ; and no such necessity exists here.
" Righteousness" throughout this verse seems to me to have
what is its ordinary meaning in the epistle. The Jews were
ignorant: they did not know — they misconceived, "the righte
ousness of God" — the Divine method of justification manifested
in the Gospel ; they did not see its necessity — they did not
understand its nature ; and they were engaged in establish
ing — in endeavouring to uphold, " their own righteousness" —
a method of justification, not of God's appointment, but of man's
invention — the method of justification by the works of the
law ; and, in consequence of this ignorance, and this seeking
to establish their own method of justification, they did not —
they could not, submit themselves to the righteousness of God —
that Divine method of justification which is apart from law,
by the faith of Christ upon all that believe — which is free, by
God's grace — through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

364 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
This Divine method of justification, which is indeed the wis
dom of God, appeared to them, and was treated by them, as
foolishness ; and, instead of submitting to it, they " rejected
the counsel of God against themselves."
There is something very characteristic in the expression,
" have not submitted themselves." The Divine method of jus
tification requires nothing, but to be submitted to. There is
no great work to be done. Its two radical principles are, that
man is restored to the Divine favour, not by his own doings
and sufferings, but by the doings and sufferings of another ;
and that, in these doings and sufferings of the justifying Savi
our, he is interested, not by working, but by believing. In
believing, he receives forgiveness, acceptance, eternal life, as
the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord : but while it
requires nothing but submission, it does require submission —
unqualified submission, of the understanding and of the heart ;
and this, to unregenerate man, is harder than the most toil
some labours and the most severe penances — so hard, that
nothing but Divine influence leading him to see the truth,
respecting his own state, condition, and character as a sin
ner, and respecting this Divine method of justification, will
ever induce him to yield it.
The declaration that follows (ver. 4) : " For Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,"
admits of, and has received, a great variety of interpretations.
This is not wonderful ; for many of the terms employed are
ambiguous. " The law " may be viewed as to its substance —
the duties it enjoins; or as to its form — a covenant or method
of justification, or a rule of conduct : it may mean law gene
rally, or the Mosaic Law ; and, supposing it to mean the
latter, it may have especial reference either to its moral or its
ceremonial statutes — either to it as an exhibition of duty to
the Israelites, or as a temporary economy established for some
particular purposes in the great scheme of the Divine moral
government of mankind. Then the word "end" may signify
termination or conclusion, or it may signify a design or purpose.
And then, further, it may be questioned whether the law or

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 365
Christ is the subject of the proposition — whether the apostle's
declaration is, that the end of the law is Christ, or that Christ
is the end of the law ; and also whether the expression, " for
righteousness," is to be connected with " Christ," or with the
phrase, " the end of the law." There can be no reasonable
doubt that " the law " is here viewed as a method of justifica
tion, in contrast with "the righteousness of God," which is
" without law"— apart from law. The words may either signify,
the design — the purpose, of the law, viewed as containing in it
terms of justification (such as, " If thou wouldst enter into life,
keep the commandments" — "The man that doeth these things
shall live in them"), "is Christ, for righteousness — for justifica
tion, to every one that believeth." The law containing terms of
justification — the terms on which angels are justified, on which
Adam, had he kept his integrity, would have been justified —
was never intended to teach fallen man how to obtain justifi
cation. Man, the sinner, is already under the curse: he can
not make adequate atonement, he cannot be profitable to
God, he can never exceed the limits of present duty ; and his
depravity morally incapacitates him from yielding the requi
site obedience, while the law makes no provision either for
pardon, or for a spiritual influence to secure the obedience
required. The law is intended to bring the sinner to Christ,
and to prepare him for thankfully embracing Him, by a living
faith, as the Lord our righteousness. Or they may signify,
"Christ for righteousness to every one that believeth " — i.e.
substantially, " the righteousness of God without law, by the
faith of Christ, on every one that believeth," — that is the end,
the termination of the law, as a method of justification. He
who embraces the one, necessarily abandons the other. The
former of these interpretations suits well enough with the'
preceding context. The zeal of God which the Jew pos
sesses, and shows in seeking a way of justification as it
were by the works of the law, is not according to know
ledge : he acts the part of an ill-informed and foolish person,
in going about to establish his own righteousness, and not
submitting to the righteousness of God ; for the very design

366 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
of the law, by which he seeks to be justified, in stating the
only terms of justification which it can offer, was to lead
him, not to attempt to comply with these terms, which is
impossible, but to lead him to One who of God is "made
righteousness to every one that believeth." The latter mode
of interpretation accords at least equally well with the pre
ceding context. ' The Israelites, being ignorant of the Divine
method of justification, and going about to establish a method
of justification of their own, have not submitted themselves to
the Divine method of justification ; and this is just what might
have been expected, for the embracing of Christ for justification
to every believer, is submitting to the righteousness of God,
and necessarily implies in it the end of the law as a method
of justification — the entire abandonment, on the part of the
individual, of all seeking justification by the works of the law
— the going about to establish a method of justification of his
own.' The law personally obeyed for justification to him that
obeys it, and Christ trusted in by faith for justification to
every one believing, are direct opposites ; and he who, like the
Jew, takes the first course, cannot take the second, and cannot
realize those results which can only be obtained by taking it.
I prefer this method of interpretation, for it agrees natu
rally not only with what goes before, but with what fol
lows : " For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of
the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live
by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh
on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into
heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above;) or,
Who shall descend into the deep ? (that is, to bring up
Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it ? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart : that is,
the word of faith which we preach ; that if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For
the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 367
ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and
the Greek ; for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that
call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of
the Lord shall be saved." J
The force of the connective particle "for," in the beginning
of this paragraph, seems to be illustrative : ' You need only
to look at the two methods of justification, to see that he who
clings to the first can have nothing to do with the second, and
he that embraces the second must have entirely done with the
first. " Christ for righteousness to every one that believeth "
must be " the end of the law ;" and he who will keep by the
law as a method of justification, can have no part or lot in
" Christ for righteousness to every one that believeth." '
The method of justification by law cannot be more accu
rately described than in the words of Moses,2 " The man that
doeth those things shall live by them." The man who does
all that the law requires, will obtain all that it promises. Ac
cording to law, a man is justified by complying with all its
demands. This method of justification is by the apostle
clearly shown to be an impracticable one to fallen man ;
Rom. iii. 19, 20, iv. 15 ; Gal. iii. 10.
The Divine method of justification by believing — "the
righteousness which is of faith," is now personified, and intro
duced as describing itself, partly in words borrowed from a
description by Moses of the revelation he had been employed
to make to the Israelites. It is only necessary to look at the
passage where the description occurs,3 to see that Moses had
no reference to the method of justification revealed in the
Gospel. The changes the apostle makes in the words, and
the addition he makes to them, further show that he merely
borrows some of Moses' expressions as being remarkably
suitable for the description of this method.
Some interpreters have supposed that the apostle's object in
this passage is merely to assert, that there is no difficulty in
obtaining the knowledge of the method of justification by
1 Ver. 5-13. 2 Lev. xviii. 5. * Deut. xxx. 11-14.

368 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
faith. There is no need to climb up to heaven, no need to dig
down into the depths of the earth, in order to obtain this know
ledge : it is at hand, in a plain, well-accredited revelation of
the Divine mind. But this, though a truth, does not seem to
be what the apostle means, or, at any rate, all that he
means. He is comparing, not two revelations, but two
methods of justification. The address of the personified
method of justification may be thus paraphrased : ' Do
not think and act as if this method of justification — the
only true method of justification, depended on something yet
to be done, or on anything done or to be done by you, or that
there is any difficulty in obtaining a knowledge of what is
this method, or how to obtain a personal interest in it. The
descent of the Messiah from heaven " that He might be de
livered for our offences,"1 was necessary to it — " God's send
ing His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh."2 But there is no
need to say, "Who shall ascend to heaven, to bring Him
down?" He has come, and done the work for which He came :
He has died for us. The rising of the Messiah from the grave
was necessary to it : this justification is by His resurrection
from the dead. But there is no need to say, "Who shall de
scend into the deep, to bring Him up from beneath ? " He is
risen. " God has raised Him from the dead, and given Him
glory." The Gospel, which unfolds the righteousness of faith,
does not bid you inquire howthese things — the necessary means
of justification — are to be done : it tells you they are done. It
does not call on you to work out a justifying righteousness for
yourselves, or even to seek for one to do this for you : it tells
you of an all-accomplished Saviour, and of His completed and
accepted work of expiation, on which justification may proceed.'
To the question, How is this work to be available for the
justification of the individual ? we have a reply in the 8th and
9th verses: "But what saith it V— i.e., What saith "the
righteousness of faith" — the method of justification ? How
does it describe itself? Not only negatively, but positively. It
iChap. iv. 25. 'Chap. viii. 3.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 369
says, " The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy
heart : that is, the word of faith which we preach." By " the
word," we are, as the apostle himself teaches us, to understand
" the Gospel, in which the righteousness of God by faith is
revealed ; " 1 "the word of faith," meaning either the revelation
to be believed, or the revelation about faith as the sole means
of justification. This word is said to be " nigh us." It is
brought near to those to whom it is preached, as the laws to
which Moses referred were brought near to the Israelites.
There was nothing to prevent their becoming acquainted with
it. The phrase, " in thy mouth, and in thy heart," is not
strictly exegetical of " nigh thee ;" for it is not true that that
word is " in the mouth and heart" — i.e., understood, and
believed, and professed, of all to whom it is nigh, in the sense
of its being preached to them. The phrase seems elliptical :
" it is nigh thee," to be — in order to be — that it may be, " in
thy mouth and thy heart," as the apostle himself explains it.
And this is " the word of faith" — this is the description of the
method of justification by faith — " That if thou confess with
the mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God
raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." 2 To " con
fess with the mouth the Lord Jesus," is to make an open
profession of the truth respecting Jesus Christ, as the divinely
appointed, and Divine Saviour ; to " believe in the heart that
God raised Him from the dead," is to be inwardly persuaded,
on the testimony of God, that He has testified His satisfaction
with the death of Christ, as the propitiation for the sins of
men, by raising Him from the dead. He who thus confesses
because he thus believes — he, and he only, shall be saved.
Confession is here put before faith, as it is the confession which
gives visibility to the faith — Paul following the order suggested
by the words of Moses. When we think and speak of the
believer only, the natural order is faith and confession. When
we think and speak of him in reference to others, the natural
order is profession and faith ; for it is by the first that the
1 Chap. i. 16, 17. 2 Ver. 9. 2 A

870 DOCTRINAL. [PART IT.
second becomes known. The statement here Is substantially
the same as that of our Lord : " He that believeth, and is
baptized" — i.e., confesses his faith in the appointed way-—
" shall be saved."
The 10th verse is explicatory and confirmatory of the 9th :
" For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness" — •
unto justification, so that he is justified ; " and with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation," — so that he is saved. 'He
that believes shall be justified ; and he who, by a consistent
profession, proves the reality of his faith— shows that he truly
believes the truth— shall be saved.'
It has been very generally supposed that the expression,
" with the heart man believes," points out some particular
kind of faith— the faith of the heart, in contrast to the faith
of the head. But the contrast here is not an implied one
between two kinds of faith, but an expressed one between
faith and confession. Faith is an inward operation, confession
an external act. The notion that the heart is the seat of
affection, and the head of intellect, is comparatively a modern
one. The Jews spoke of the heart as the seat of all mental
activity. The contrast is not between what has been termed
speculative belief — which is either mere speculation, or the
faith of something which, though it may be true, is not the
saving truth — and affectionate faith. If there is any implied
contrast, it is between real faith and pretended faith ; the
expressed contrast is between faith and confession. No con
troversy can be conceived more absurd and fruitless, than
whether saving faith be an act of the intellect or of the will.
Belief and will, or affection, are two different modes of mental
activity ; but belief, in a being constituted as man is, always
produces affections corresponding to the truth believed. The
faith which leads to salvation, is the faith of the truth respect
ing Jesus Christ as the Saviour ; the confession which leads
to salvation, is that which flows from this faith, and is made
steady and influential by it.
The apostle finishes' his account of " the righteousness of
faith" by two citations from Old Testament Scripture, show-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 371
ing that it was as he had asserted, chap. iii. 21, " witnessed
by the law and the prophets." " For," says he, " the Scrip
ture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed." J
This passage is from Isaiah xxviii. 16, and had already been
quoted, chap. ix. 33. It is a Messianic prophecy, and inti
mates that, under the Messiah, men were to obtain an interest
in His blessings by believing, and that " whosoever," whether
Jew or Gentile, believed in Him, should possess these bless
ings. The apostle calls attention to this last truth, as indi
cated by this passage — " For there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek." It is not whosoever of the Jews,
but simply " whosoever," be he Jew or Gentile ; and it is not
" whosoever" is circumcised, or " whosoever" obeys the law ;
it is, " whosoever believeth on Him." For, adds he, " The
same Lord who is over all" mankind — i.e., the Lord Mes
siah, " is rich" — full of benefits, and ready to communicate
them " to all," whether Jews or Gentiles, " who," believing
on Him, " call upon Him" — give Him Divine homage — ac
knowledge His Lordship, by praying to Him. And this He
confirms by another Messianic prophecy : " For whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved." 2
Such, then, is " the righteousness by faith," as opposed to
"the righteousness which is of the law." Its substance is,
" Christ for righteousness to every one that believeth ;" and
it plainly is " the end " of that righteousness — that method
of justification, which has for its substance, " The man that
doeth them shall live in them."
Is it not wonderful that justification, presented to the accept
ance of man as the gift of God, to be received in the belief of
the truth, is not universally, eagerly, gratefully accepted? Yet
it is not more wonderful than true. The unbelieving Jews
have still but too many imitators. Human nature is mate
rially the same in all countries and in all ages. Wherever
the Divine method of justification has been revealed and
pressed on the attention of mankind, there have been multi-
1 Ver. 11. 2 Joel ii. 32.

372 Doctrinal. [part ii.
tudea who, ignorant of God's method of justification, and
going about to establish a method of justification of their own,
have not submitted themselves to God's method of justification.
Are there not many such among ourselves ? Are there not
many among us as ignorant as the Jews were, with less ex
cuse, of the Divine method of justification ? Yes ; vast mul
titudes, who have had Paul's epistles in their hands, and have
sometimes read them — who have heard the Gospel preached
from their infancy, do yet very imperfectly understand, even
as an object of intellectual apprehension, God's method of
justification. If they were attempting to state it, they would
entirely mis-state it. Are there not many who, being thus
ignorant of the Divine method of justification, are going about
to establish a method of justification of their own ? Some are
giving themselves no concern about the matter, and are madly
rushing on to eternity without thinking what their relations
are to Him whose judgment is to make that eternity to them
an eternity of misery or an eternity of happiness. Others are
going about, as if it were a matter of some consequence to
establish a method of justification of their own. It is not just
the Jews' method of justification, but it is a different embodi
ment of the same principles. Some are trusting to compara
tive innocence or worth ; others, to the absolute benignity of
God ; others, to penitence and reformation ; others, to the
doing the best they can, leaving the merits of Christ to sup
plement the deficiencies. None who are thus ignorant of the
Divine method of justification, and are going about to establish
their own justification, can — it is in the nature of things im
possible that they should — submit to the righteousness of God.
And what must the end be ? They cannot be justified — they
must remain condemned. God will not be dictated to by man :
He will justify in his own way, in no other. Meanwhile, the
curse remains unremoved, and, not being causeless, must come.
Like the unbelieving Jews, they must be anathema, accursed
— accursed by Christ, by whom alone there is justification.
This is a matter of life or death. Let us see "then that we
know the Divine method of justification, so plainly exhibited

SECT. II.] THE. DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 373
in the word of the truth of the Gospel. If we do this, we
will no longer go about to establish a method of justification
for ourselves. We will see how needless, how useless, how
criminal, how ruinous such a course of conduct is. We
will see that there is nothing for us but to submit to the
righteousness of God ; and we will, with the apostle, count all
that we once reckoned gain loss, and say, "Surely in the Lord
have I righteousness" — not having, not holding to, our own
methods of justification, which are all of the law, but submit
ting to, laying hold of, clinging close to, God's method of jus
tification through the faith of Christ — the Divine method of
justification by believing. Happy are those who are thus
" shut up to the faith," and after hard struggling, and much
worse than wasted labour, are made to rest from their works,
and, in a constant Sabbath of the soul, to sing^
" No hope can on tbe law be built
Of justifying grace ;
The law, that shows the sinner's guilt,
Condemns him to his face.
Jesus, how glorious is Thy grace !
When in Thy name we trust,
Our faith receives a righteousness
That makes the sinner just.''
" Christ for righteousness to every one that believeth is the
end of the law." " Thanks be to God for this unspeakable
gift." The force of the next two verses may be thus given : ' Since,
then, according to this method of justification, calling on the
Lord is necessary to salvation, it follows, that as, in order to
acceptable worship, there must be intelligent faith respecting
the object of worship — so, in order to faith, there must be a
testimony, spoken or written ; and in order to this spoken or
written testimony, there must be some qualified to give it ;
and in order to be qualified to give a testimony on such a
subject, these men must be sent of God, for He alone can
either qualify or authorise men to give a testimony worthy of
belief on such subjects.

374 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
" How then shall they call on Him in whom they have
not believed ? and how shall they believe in Him of whom
they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a
preacher? and how shall they preach except they be
sent?"1 An inspired ministry is necessary to gain the object of
the Divine method of justification by believing. Such a
ministry was the apostolic. " We," says Paul, in the name
of all his apostolic brethren, — " We have, by Jesus Christ, re
ceived from God grace and apostleship for the obedience of
faith among all nations for His name." They were " put in
charge with the Gospel," and were commanded, " beginning
at Jerusalem," to " go into all nations," to " preach the Gos
pel to every creature." This passage has often been explained
of the Christian ministry generally, as condemning men who
ultroneously assume that office. No doubt that is wrong;
but the apostle speaks here, not of what is improper, but of
what is impossible. There is no room to doubt that the sole
meaning is : ' Without a divinely-qualified and authorised
ministry, the truth with regard to the way of salvation through
the Messiah must be unknown to mankind.' The "right
eousness of God," till revealed, was a "mystery" — "what eye
had not seen, what ear had not heard, what had never en
tered into the heart of man to conceive," till God manifested
it to the apostles. If men are ignorant of the Messiah,
they cannot believe in Him ; and if they do not believe in
Him, they cannot call on Him as the object of their reli
gious trust ; and if they do not thus call on Him, they
cannot be saved. And thus the method of justification by
believing would be utterly unavailing for the purpose for
which it was intended.
The appointment of such a ministry, like everything else
about this " righteousness of God," was the subject of Old
Testament prediction : " As it is written, How beautiful are
the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring
1 Ver. 14, 15.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 375
glad tidings of good things ! " The passage is quoted, ap
parently from memory, from Isa. Iii. 7. In the beginning
of the prophetic oracle, of which these words form a part, it
is declared that Jehovah's " righteousness was near ; that His
salvation was gone forth — a salvation that was to be for ever,
a righteousness which was not to be abolished."1 And the
words cited refer to those who should be employed to an
nounce this great truth to Israel and the nations — to the
Church and the world ; for in thus establishing this right
eousness, in accomplishing this salvation, "the Lord had made
bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all
the ends of the earth were to see the salvation of God."2 It
is just as if the apostle had said, ' The agency of a divinely-
qualified and authorised ministry, which is necessary to give
effect to this method of justification, by proclaiming the truth
about it to all — both Jews and Gentiles, and which was pro
mised before in the Holy Scriptures, is prepared— all things
are ready.'
The result of all this should have been the universal belief
of the Gospel — the universal submission to the righteousness
of God by Jew and Gentile. But how different was the
truth ! " But," i.e., notwithstanding this provision, " they,"
i.e., mankind, "have not all oheyed the Gospel."3 These
words are equivalent to a statement that comparatively few
believed the report of the divinely-commissioned messengers,
and yielded to the influence of their message. This was
the fact : the number was great, abstractly considered, but
small, comparatively viewed. Few of either Jews or Gentiles
believed, in comparison of those of both classes who did not
believe. The form of expression is peculiar. It states an
unpleasant thing in the least disagreeable way ; just as in
Heb. iii. 16, it is said, " But some, when they heard, did pro
voke;" which "some" were "all who came out of Egypt
with Moses," with the exception of Caleb and Joshua.
This result, however much to be regretted, was nothing
1 Isa. Ii. 4-6. ! Isa. Iii. 10. 3 Ver. 16.

376 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
more than had been predicted by the prophets. " For Esaias
saith, Lord, who hath believed our report ? " This is the first
verse of the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. These seem to be
the words of the same persons who are spoken of in the oracle
just cited from Isaiah Iii. 7. These " publishers of peace and
salvation" were to have reason to complain that comparatively
few credited their report. The event had corresponded with
the prediction ; and thus, what might seem an objection be
comes a confirmation of the Gospel.
The 17th verse is an exegetical note on the passage just
cited, showing that it contained in it a confirmation of what
the apostle had just said, that in order to the efficiency of the
Divine method of justification, there must be a Divine tes
timony presented to mankind. " So then faith cometh by
hearing"1 (by a report, for the same word is used here as
in the preceding verse), "and hearing" — i.e. the report — "by
the word of God " — a Divine revelation. ' It appears from
this passage that the Messianic blessings are to be obtained
through the faith of a testimony which, though delivered by
man, is indeed the testimony of God.'
If the Gospel, in which the righteousness of God by faith is
revealed in order to be believed, is not universally — is not
even generally, believed by either Jews or Gentiles, the cause
is not to be sought in any want of the means of their becom
ing acquainted with it. This is what the apostle states in the
18th verse : " But," though all have not obeyed the Gospel,
" I say, Have they not heard ? " Has not the Divine method
of justification been manifested to all ? has it not been re
vealed in the Gospel — a revelation fitted for all, intended
for all ? Has it not actually been very extensively proclaimed
both to Jews and Gentiles ? Has not the commission of the
risen Saviour been followed out? Are the Christian evan
gelists not going to all the world and preaching the Gospel
to every creature ? " Yea, verily : " — the words originally
used by the Psalmist as descriptive of the universal intima-

axoyj.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 377
tions given by the visible heavens of the glory of Jehovah,
may be applied to their labours, " Their sound went into all
the earth, and their words to the end of the world."
This was a state of things on which the Jews had not
counted. They had not expected a spiritual Messiah ; they
had not thought of a method of justification for all mankind,
being the great blessing He was to confer ; they had not
thought of the faith of a Divine revelation being the means of
interesting individuals in His benefits; they had especially
not thought of these benefits being presented to all men on
the same terms, and being received by many of the Gentiles,
and rejected by the majority of the Jews. " But," adds the
apostle, " I say, Did not Israel know ? First, Moses saith, I
will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people,
and by a foolish nation I will anger you. But Esaias is very
bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought Me not ; I
was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me. But
to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my
hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." 1
"Did not Israel know?" Were not the Jews aware that
the events accompanying and following the manifestation of
the Divine method of justification were to take place? If
they were not, they should have been, for they are distinctly
enough announced in the writings of their prophets. "First,"
their great prophet and legislator predicted what was then
taking place. The passage referred to is Deut. xxxii. 21,
" They have moved Me to jealousy by that which is not God;
they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities : and I
will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people ;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation." That
wonderful chapter contains an epitome of the anticipated
history of the Israelites, from the times of Moses down to
" the latter days." It is an intimation that God would, for
the punishment of their sins, withdraw from them the special
favours He had bestowed on them, and confer them on those
1 Ver. 19-21.

378 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
who had been destitute of them, and who, as "foolish," which
in the prophets is often equivalent to idolatrous, were utterly
unworthy of them; thus making those the objects of their
jealousy and envy who had previously been the objects of
their contempt and hatred. This threatening was fulfilled
when the great body of the Jews, having rejected the promised
Messiah, were disowned by God, and when He " visited the
Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name ;" 1 " when
many came," according to the prediction of our Lord, " from
the east and the west, and sat down with Abraham and Isaac
and .Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the children of
the kingdom were cast out into outer darkness."2
But there were plainer intimations than those contained in
these words of Moses. " But Esaias," says the apostle, " is
very bold " — in still stronger and more explicit terms does he
speak of the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the
Jews. The passage referred to is Isa. Ixv. 1, 2, " I am sought
of them that asked not for Me : I am found of them that
sought Me not. ... I have spread out My hands all the day
unto a rebellious people." The apostle keeps to the reading
of the Septuagint version, only transposing the clause in the
first verse which refers to the calling of the Gentiles. Ac
cording to Isaiah, a time was coming — plainly under the
Messiah, and in the commencement of His era,3 when Jeho
vah should be sought, so as to be found, by those who had
not previously sought Him, and made manifest to those that
had not previously asked after Him. How strikingly was
this prediction fulfilled in the conversion of so many idolatrous
Gentiles ! The second quotation, which is the 2d verse of the
same chapter, refers in equally plain terms to the rejection
of the Jews. To understand the full force of the passage,
however, it is necessary to read the rest of the paragraph
down to the 15th verse. "But to Israel " — rather, in reference
to Israel, for the words are not an address — "He saith, All day
long I have stretched out my hands to a rebellious and gain-
1 Acts xv. 14 2 Matt. viii. 11, 12. " Ver. 17.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 379
saying people."1 On the hypothesis that this is a Messianic
oracle, which the Jews admitted, nothing can be a more just
deduction than that of the apostle, that Israel had the means
of knowing that at the period referred to, the commence
ment of the Messianic era, the wicked descendants of Israel
were to be stripped of the privileges they had abused, and
the Gentiles so introduced among the people of God,
that " of them " Jehovah would " take for priests and for
Levites." 2 Even the office-bearers of the Church were to be
Gentiles." Thus has the apostle briefly, but clearly, stated the relations
in which the Divine manifested method of justification stood
to the Jews and Gentiles. It had been presented to both in
a plain revelation, given and proclaimed by a divinely-quali
fied and authorised class of teachers. It had been embraced
by many of the latter ; it had been rejected by the majority
of the former. Gentiles, ignorant and careless about God,
had, on hearing the Gospel, believed it, and been interested
in all the benefits secured by the Divine method of justifica
tion ; while the great body of the Jews, continuing wilfully
ignorant of the Divine method of justification, and persevering
in endeavouring to establish a method of justification for
themselves, had, in rejecting the Gospel, of course shut them
selves out from the benefits of the Divine method of justifica
tion, which, from its very nature, could be obtained only by
believing ; and not only so, but had exposed themselves to
the Divine vengeance for this last and crowning act of a
long course of impenitence and disobedience. Such was the
state of things when the apostle wrote.
This state was not, however, so gloomy as at first sight it
appeared, in reference even to Israel. Their rejection of the
Gospel had not been universal, and, therefore, neither was
their exclusion from the blessings connected with the Divine
method of justification, nor their exposure to penal inflic
tions, universal ; and, ultimately, the great body of the Jewish
1 Ver. 21. 2 Isa. lxvi. 21.

380 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
people were to be brought to believe the Gospel, and, along
with the great body of the Gentile nations, converted also to
the faith of Christ, to enjoy the Divine special favour, and all
the blessings which this of course secures. All Israel was to
be saved, and the fulness of the Gentiles was to be brought in.
Theillustration of these points occupies the whole of theeleventh
chapter, and shuts up the doctrinal part of the epistle.
The apostle thus introduces this part of the subject : " I
say then, Hath God cast away His people ? God forbid.
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the
tribe of Benjamin."1 God had cast away the greater part of
the nation, whom He had afore acknowledged as His people,
in consequence of their unbelief and obstinate rejection of the
proffered Saviour and salvation. There was no doubt of that
awful fact. But, has God cast off the descendants of Israel ?
has He, viewing them as individuals, cast them all off ? has
He, viewing them as a nation, cast them off for ever ? That,
from the sequel, is plainly the intended force of the apostle's
question ; and to this question he answers by his strong nega
tive, "God forbid" — 'Let it not be' — a form of expression
which not only denies the supposed fact, but deprecates the
consequences which would flow from it ; adding, " For I also
am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Ben
jamin" — I belong to the sacred family, and can trace my
lineage. It is as if he had said — ¦' If it had been so, what
would have become of me? Blessed be God it is not so.'
He had obtained mercy, and so might all Israel have done, if,
like him, they would have but submitted to the righteousness
of faith. " God hath not cast away His people whom He
foreknew." 2
By " God's people," we must not understand here either
the spiritual Israel, consisting of believing Jews and Gentiles,
or the believing part of the Jews. It is plain that the Israel
he is speaking of is the same Israel mentioned chap. ix. 31,
and chap. x. 1, 19, 21 — the Israelitish nation, the majority of
1Chap. xi. 1. > Ver. 2.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 381
which were cast off. What he asserts, and goes on to prove,
is — that the Israelitish people were neither universally nor
finally abandoned of God. They are termed " His people,
whom He foreknew." The word " foreknow," in chap. viii.
29, signifies to foreappoint — to predestinate. But it admits of
another rendering, which the context here seems to require.
To know, according to the Hebrew idiom, signifies to ac
knowledge — as Numbers xvi. 5 ; Amos iii. 2. To foreknow,
in this sense, is to have acknowledged formerly. There is an
opposition between the words "cast off" and "formerly ac
knowledged." He has not abandoned the Jews, though most
of them have abandoned Him; He has not wholly, or for ever,
rejected them. There is still a portion of them, in respect of
whom, in all the emphasis of the words, He is " their God,"
and they are " His people ;" and there is a period in futurity,
when the great body of the nation shall again acknowledge
Him, and be acknowledged by Him. He has not cast off all
His people ; He has not cast them off, as a people, for ever.
These are the two heads of the remaining part of the apostle's
discussion. The first of these he illustrates by a striking incident in the
history of Israel in former times : " Wot ye not what the
Scripture saith of Elias ? " J — in the history of Elias — " how he
maketh intercession to God against" — how he complaineth of,
or accuses — " Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed Thy
prophets, and digged down Thine altars ; and I am left alone,
and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God to
him? I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who
have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal."2 This pas
sage is from 1 Kings xix. 10. It is quoted, not verbally, but
in an abridged form from the LXX., probably from memory.
At the period referred to, the great body of the ten tribes
had abandoned the true worship of God, and He could not
acknowledge them as His people. But, from among them, He
still had a people who acknowledged Him, and whom He
^iv'HKi'x. 2 Ver. 2-4.

382 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
acknowledged— a small number in comparison of the apostates,
yet still a considerable number, and greatly exceeding what
the prophet supposed to exist.
Now comes the application of this fact by the apostle to
the case before him : " Even so then at this present time also
there is a remnant according to the election of grace." 1 Amid
the general rejection of God and His Messiah by the Israel
ites, and their general rejection by God on this account, there
is " a remnant" — a comparatively small number — who have
obeyed the command, " Kiss the Son ;" " This is My beloved
Son, hear Him ;" and these are acknowledged and treated by
God as His people.
This "remnant" is characterized as a remnant "according
to the election of grace" — the gracious election or choice — a
choice not founded on man's merit, but on God's mercy —
Sovereign grace. A part— a small part, remained faithful,
according to — in pursuance of — in virtue of, their being, in
sovereign mercy, chosen out from among those who sinfully
rejected the Messiah, and who, on that ground, were righte
ously rejected by God. In the case of the ancient Israelites,
it was as idolaters that the body of Israel was disowned — it
was as faithful that the remnant were acknowledged. In the
case of the Jews in the apostolic age, it was as unbelievers
that the majority were cast off, and as believers that the
minority were saved. Yet in both cases the difference origi
nated in a sovereign, Divine choice. Left to themselves, all
would have been, in the one case, idolaters ; in the other,
unbelievers. The words which follow appear to be explanatory of the
phrase, " election of grace :" " And if by grace, then is it no
more of works ; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it
be of works, then is it no more grace ; otherwise work is no
more work,"2 — q.d., 'Let us remember, when we say an
election of grace, how much these words imply — nothing short
of the entire exclusion of all human work as, foreseen, the
1 Ver. 6. » Ver. 6.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 383
cause of the choice, or as, as actually existing, the cause of the
selection. If " by grace" the selection has taken place — if it
has originated in sovereign mercy on the part of God, as we
know it has — then it is not at all of works ; works — merit, any
thing in man — cannot be its cause, otherwise grace, which is
sovereign, self-moved love, would lose its nature ; but if it
were of works, which we know it is not, then it were no more
of grace — the cause would be in man, not in God, otherwise
work would be no more work — that which earns reward.
There is no mingling the two principles. It must be all
earned, or none ; none conferred by Divine grace, or all.
The two schemes of grace and works cannot be combined
without destroying the plain meaning of words, and confound
ing the nature of things. In the first case, the cause is in
God ; in the second, in the creature. In the one, the benefit
is matter of free favour ; in the other, of equitable or stipu
lated right. If the grace of God is the cause of election, the
merit of man is not ; if the merit of man is, the grace of God
is not. Light and darkness, heat and cold, are not more
opposed to one another than grace and merit.
" What then?" says the apostle,1 resuming the discussion.
'How does the matter stand, as to the " casting off" of Israel
now being as like that " casting off" in the time of Elijah,
not universal ? It stands thus : " Israel hath not obtained
that which he seeketh for." ' " Israel" is the great body of
the Israelites, who have not obtained that which they sought
for ; and what was that ? It was " a law of righteousness"2 —
a method of justification — a way of securing the Divine special
favour; and justification, or the special favour of God, by
that law, method, or way. This they sought, not in God's
way, but in their own ; not by the faith of the Gospel, but
by the works of the law ; and, therefore, they had not at
tained it.
But, while this was the case with Israel as a body, " the
election hath obtained." " The election" here is used as
1 Ver. 7. 3 Chap. ix. 31.

384 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
equivalent to " the elect," just as " the circumcision " is used
as equivalent to " the circumcised." The elect, because they
were the elect, in consequence of an influence originating
in sovereign mercy, believed the Gospel, submitted to " the
righteousness of God," and thus attained to the true way of
justification, and to justification by that way. All believing
Jews were "justified freely by God's grace, through the re
demption in Christ Jesus."
Thus God has still a people from among the Israelites.
Israel is not totally cast off ; but " the rest" — those who are
not included in the election—" were blinded, or hardened."
The peculiar circumstances in which they were placed, as
God's chosen people — the predictions of the prophets respect
ing the reign of the Messiah — these, which were the work of
God, misunderstood by the great body of the Jews in conse
quence of the carnality of their minds, blinded them, so that
they could not see that Jesus Christ was the Messiah ; or the
heavenly and spiritual salvation offered in the Gospel, the
glorious emancipation which they anticipated from Him.
God exercised no direct influence in blinding or hardening
the unbelieving Jews. He left them, after clearly stating the
truth to them, to the natural operation of their depraved
hearts, in the circumstances in which they were placed ; and
the result was, they rejected His Messiah, and salvation
through Him, and of course were rejected by Him.
And, in this blindness of the majority of the Israelitish
people, there was a striking fulfilment of Old Testament pro
phecy, and, of consequence, a confirmation of the truth and
divinity of that Gospel, on which their rejection might be
supposed otherwise to cast a cloud of suspicion. This is what
is stated in ver. 8, 9, 10 : " According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.
And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
and a stumbling-block, and a recompense unto them : let their
eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their
back alway."

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 385
The first passage referred to by the apostle is from the
Prophet Isaiah1 — "For the Lord hath poured out upon you the
spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes." The quota
tion seems, like so many more in the apostle's writings,
made from memory. The whole of the twenty-ninth chap
ter is occupied with a prediction of events which exactly
correspond with those of the closing scene of the Jewish
polity, and to which no satisfactory correspondence can be
found in any other period of their history. To be under the
influence of the " spirit of deep sleep," or rather of stupefac
tion, is to be in a state of delusion — to be under the guidance
of what the apostle, in chap. i. 28, calls " a reprobate mind,"
to which God gave up the idolatrous Gentiles — better ren
dered in the margin, ' a mind void of judgment ;' and by
" God giving this," we are to understand God punishing
them for their sins, by not interfering with the natural ope
ration of circumstances on their depraved minds to stupify
and delude. The word ' to give,' is used in a similar way
in Gen. xxxi. 7, and Deut. xviii. 14, where it is rendered
' suffered.' The remaining words in the 8th verse are an allusion to,
rather than a quotation of, either Isa. vi. 9, 10, or Deut. xxix.
4. The first of these passages runs thus : " And he said, Go
and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not ; and
see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes ;
lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
The second, thus : " Yet the Lord hath not given you an
heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this
day." The first of these passages is referred to by our Lord
(Matt. xiii. 14; Mark iv.12; Luke viii. 10); and by the
Evangelist John (chap. xii. 40), and by the apostle Paul, to
their countrymen, in a manner that leads us to conclude that
it was directly prophetic of them. The second plainly is a
1 Chap. xxix. 10.
2b

386 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
description of Moses' contemporaries. The most probable in
terpretation is, that " as it is written" should be considered as
equivalent to 'to use the words of Scripture,' and that the
verse is to be considered as the apostle's own description of
the unbelieving Jews, clothed in Old Testament language.
The meaning seems to be — ' The great body of the Jewish
people have, according to the description of their legislator
and prophets, been all along, and continue to be, a stiff-necked
and rebellious race; and though, for this, they have been
without doubt entirely to blame, yet still this state of mind,
as the natural effect of the Divine arrangements on the
depraved minds of the Jews, the Divine Being is consi
dered as having such an agency in producing, that He
may, in a sense not implying that He is the author of sin,
be said to give, as a punishment for sin, the spirit of stu
pidity — the eyes and the ears inept to perform their proper
functions.' The last passage referred to is cited from Psalm lxix. 22.
There is no reasonable doubt that this psalm is a direct pre
diction respecting the sufferings of the Messiah, and the
glories which were to follow. It has all the characteristics of the
Messianic psalms ; there is much in it that cannot without vio
lence be applied to any but the Messiah — nothing in it, rightly
interpreted, that is not applicable to Him ; in its structure, it
exactly corresponds to other psalms undoubtedly Messianic ;
and passages from it are repeatedly cited in the New Testa
ment as predictions. Its awful imprecations by the Mes
siah are illustrative of what the apostle meant when he repre
sented his kinsmen, his brethren according to the flesh, as an
" anathema by Christ." They are a prediction of what should
befall the opposers of the Messiah, as the righteous punish
ment of their opposition to Him. " Their table was to be
made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a recom
pense to them ; their eyes were to be darkened, so as not to
see, and their back to be bowed down always." The general
meaning is that their privileges and advantages, through their
abuse of them, should be the occasion of their delusion and

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 387
punishment. They were to become the victims of delusion,
and the subjects of a most degrading spiritual slavery. The
prediction was fulfilled in the case of the Jews of the apostle's
age, and continues to be fulfilled in the case of their posterity
who walk in their footsteps. The Old Testament, through
their misinterpretation, confirms them in their unbelief, and
they are under the bondage of Talmudic superstition. Indeed,
it has been remarked, that the first part of the prophecy was
verified even to the letter in the case of the Jews, when, in
the destruction of their city, " wrath came on them to the utter
most." " Their table" — their paschal feast, was a snare to take
them, a stumbling-block, an occasion of their fall, when,
towards the close of the Jewish war under Titus, a vast mul
titude, collected from all quarters to observe the passover and
to supplicate the assistance of their God against their enemies,
met, in the crucifixion of thousands of them, with " a re
compense" — a most appropriate punishment of their great
national sin in having, by the hands of the Romans, crucified
and slain the Messiah.1
This state of spiritual blindness and obduracy, and derelic
tion by God, and deep degradation and suffering, into which
the Jewish people generally sunk on their rejecting the Mes
siah, and which still continues — for hitherto it has only been a
very small remnant that have attained Messianic blessings — is
not to continue always. By means of these awful events, those
blessings were communicated more speedily and more exten
sively to the Gentiles than otherwise they could have been,
and a destined period would assuredly arrive, when the great
body of the Jews, remaining a distinct people, and the great
body of the Gentile nations, should, by submitting to " the
righteousness of God," become heirs of the common salva
tion. The manner in which the manifested Divine method of
justification works out its great intended results, remains un
changed, unchangeable. The Divine testimony respecting it
1 Joseph. Bell. Jud. vi. 9, 3.

388 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
must be believed, in order to its benefits being realized. This
testimony, contained in the apostolic writings, must be urged
on the attention of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles. As
there is nothing restrictive in the revelation itself, it ought to
be made known to men of every nation, people, kindred, and
tongue — to every human creature under heaven. This is the
Church's duty ; but, alas ! how very imperfectly has it been
performed ! Where this testimony is made known, no human
being remains personally uninterested in the blessings it
reveals and conveys, but by his own wilful unbelief. We
cannot plead that we have not heard. Yet, is it not true,
that not all of us who have heard have believed? What is
the reason? Not want of plainness in the testimony, not
want of power in the evidence. The true reason, in the case
of unbelievers now, as in the case of the Jews then, is, they
like neither the Saviour nor the salvation. But we must
either have this Saviour or none at all — this salvation or per
dition must be our portion — " There is no name given under
heaven among men by which we may be saved, but the name
Jesus." If any of us at last are found uninterested in the
Divine method of justification, and therefore liable to the
tremendous evils from which it alone saves, we shall be found,
in some respects, even more guilty than the unbelieving
Jews in the primitive age; and He who spared not them,
assuredly will not spare us.
There are some practical instructions very distinctly, though
indirectly, intimated in the commencing paragraph of the
eleventh chapter, which I think it right briefly to notice
before proceeding to the illustration of the next subdivi
sion of the apostle's argument. (1.) Let us be cautious
as to the conclusions we draw from acknowledged and un
doubted truths. They by no means warrant all the infer
ences which have been plausibly drawn from them. (2.)
Let us be cautious and charitable in the judgments we form
of bodies of men: God may have people where we would not
expect to find them. (3.) Let us guard against desponding
views with regard to religion. Elijah's mistake has often

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 389
been committed. (4.) Let us take heed not to resist the fair
influence of truth and its evidence. If we do, we need not
wonder that we should be delivered over to the hands of the
great deceiver—" given up to strong delusions, to believe a
lie," and be involved in the condemnation of those who, if
they make not lies, love them, and who believe not the
truth, just because they loved it not. For, as our Chris
tian poet has it : —
" He that will be cheated : to the last,
Delusions, strong as hell, shall bind him fast."

/3. Future relations — The great body of both Jews and Gentiles
are to embrace the Gospel and enjoy the benefits of the Divine
Method of Justification.
Such was the state of things when the apostle wrote, and,
after eighteen centuries, this substantially remains the state of
things still. But it shall not be always so. The actual rela
tion of the manifested Divine method of justification to man
kind shall yet better correspond to the wants of the race, on the
one hand, and the capabilities and tendencies of the Divine
economy, on the other. The general rejection of the Gospel
by the Jews was to be subordinate to its more speedy and
extensive reception by the Gentiles ; the advantages enjoyed
by the Gentiles, in consequence of their receiving the Gospel,
were to operate in exciting a jealousy on the part of the Jews
which would lead to their conversion, which, in its turn, would
be, as it were, life from the dead to the Gentiles, and ultimately
" the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in," and " all Israel
shall be saved." The great body of mankind, both Jews and
Gentiles, after being alternately shut up in unbelief, shall be
come the objects of Divine mercy, and together enjoy the
blessings of the Christian salvation, to the praise of the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and power and grace of Him of
whom are all things, and to whom are all things. Such

390 DOCTRINAL. [PART. II.
is an outline of the train of thought to the end of the
chapter. The greater part of what is more fully developed in the sequel
of the chapter is presented in a very condensed form in the
11th verse, " I say then, Have they," i.e. Israel, " stumbled
that they should fall ? God forbid : but rather through their fall
salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jea
lousy." Israel's " stumbling" is plainly the rejection of the
Messiah by the great body of the Jewish people, and their
consequent exclusion from the Messianic blessings : the stum
bling includes both the sin and its punishment. The refer
ence seems not to the unbelieving Jews as individuals ; for
without question they, continuing in unbelief, had stumbled so
as to fall. The finally impenitent individual, be he Jew or Gen
tile, so falls as never to rise again. The question of the
apostle is (and it naturally rose out of what he had said
respecting a portion of the Jews — the election, who through
believing had obtained the righteousness which is by faith)
— ' What is to become of the rest — the great body of the na
tion?' The question admits of two senses, according as you
understand the particle translated " that," as meaning ' so
that,' or ' in order that.' In the first case, the meaning is,
' Have the Jews, by rejecting the Messiah, brought themselves
into such a state, that they shall never more form a part of
the Church of God ? In their case, has the harvest come ?
has the wheat been gathered in, and are " the rest" to be
consigned as tares to the fire?' In the second case, the mean
ing is, ' What was the design of God in permitting this sin,
and visiting it with this judgment ; was it that the people
should be utterly destroyed — that, having fallen, they never
might rise ? ' From the answer given, it would appear that the
last is the meaning — a meaning which will be found to in
clude the first. To the question, Is the final cause of what has
happened to Israel that they may be destroyed ? — to this ques
tion, the apostle replies, " God forbid !" The destruction of
the Jewish people is not the final cause of what has taken
place as a Divine arrangement, nor is it that in which, as a

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 391
Divine dispensation, it will issue. The final end is twofold :
first, that "through their fall1 salvation might come unto
the Gentiles ;" and secondly, " to provoke them, that is the
Jews, to jealousy." Let us inquire what the two ends thus
described are, and endeavour to show how the stumbling of
the Jews — their rejection of the Messiah, and the punishment
they thus brought down upon themselves — was fitted to serve,
and has served, or will serve, these ends.
The first purpose intended to be served by the rejection of
the Messiah by the Jews, and their rejection in consequence
of this, is, " that through their fall salvation should come unto
the Gentiles." The general unbelief of the Jews, and their
punishment for it, were the means of the Gentiles becoming
more speedily and extensively acquainted with the Gospel,
and thus interested in the salvation which it at once reveals
and conveys, than otherwise they could have been. Though
the Jews had universally embraced Christianity, we have no
reason to think that the Gentiles would have been perma
nently excluded from its benefits : but it seems evident, that
such an event, however desirable in itself, would have at once
prevented the Gentiles from hearing the Gospel so soon, and
would have thrown difficulties in the way of their receiving it
when they did hear it.
The command of our Lord was to " preach the Gospel to
all nations," but to begin at Jerusalem. " The blessings of
the Gospel were to be offered to the Jews first." It every
way suited the genius of the economy, whose leading character
is sovereign grace, that the murderers of the Son of God
should have the first offer of pardon — that they who had struck
the rock should be invited to take the first draught of the
waters of salvation which flowed from it ;2 that they who had
shed the blood of atonement should be urged to become the
living proof that it indeed cleanseth from all sin. Accord
ingly, the primitive teachers of Christianity, for a considerable
time, confined their evangelical labours to their countrymen,
1 nxpainafix. 2 Grosvenor.

392 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the Jews ; and even when they went beyond the boundaries
of the Holy Land, the conversion of Jews was the primary
object of their exertions. Had the Jews generally discovered
a teachable disposition, there would have been opened a wide
field to the apostles and evangelists, which would have em
ployed them for a considerable period. But when the Jews, as
they generally did, opposed and blasphemed, nothing remained
for the propagators of Christianity, but to turn themselves to
the Gentiles. The best commentary on this view of the sub
ject is to be found in the facts recorded respecting the con
duct of the primitive evangelists, of which we have a spe
cimen, Acts xiii. 14-48; xxviii. 17-28.
But this is not the only, nor perhaps the principal, way in
which the general rejection of Christianity by the Jews con
duced to the speedier and more extensive conversion of the
Gentiles. Christianity, if it had been universally embraced
by the Jews, would have been much less likely to be embraced
by the Gentiles. This may seem strange ; but it is true, and
it is not difficult to make its truth evident. There existed, as
is well known, an inveterate antipathy between the Jews and
the Gentiles. The Jews regarded the Gentiles, and the Gen
tiles the Jews, with equal contempt and hatred. Had the
Jews, as a body, received Christianity, that religion would
have worn to the Gentiles the repugnant aspect of the religion
of the Jews. In this case, too, it is highly probable that the
converted Jewish nation would have continued, as so many of
the individual converts from among them did, " zealous for
the law of Moses," and not at all unlikely that they would have
insisted on proselytes from among the Gentiles submitting to
its ritual institutions. It is easy to see what obstacles such a
state of things would have placed in the way of the general
Christianization of the Gentiles. All the difficulties which lay
in the way of a heathen becoming a Jew, would have lain in
the way of his becoming a Christian. But when Christianity
was embraced only by a small minority of Jews, it became evi
dent that Judaism and Christianity were two very different
things ; and when it was understood that one great cause why

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 393
the majority of. the Jews rejected Christianity was its liberal
character — its placing Jews and Gentiles on a level as to
religious privilege, it is easy to see how its rejection by the
former would be a powerful recommendation of it to the lat
ter. Thus, in consequence of an event in itself deeply to be
deplored, Christianity assumed at once that liberal unencum
bered form which fitted it to be the religion of " men of every
kindred, and people, and tongue, and nation."
This was the direct primary design of the casting away of
the Jews ; but it was intended, through the gaining of this
end, to gain another one, namely, the restoration of the great
body of the Jews to the enjoyment of the blessings only to be
found among the people of God. Salvation came to the Gen
tiles, through the fall of the Jews, " for to provoke them" i.e.
the Jews, " to jealousy," or emulation. The advantages pos
sessed by the Gentiles, in consequence of their having embraced
Christianity — especially viewed in connection, both with the
wretched circumstances in which they were in their previous
state of heathenism, and with the degraded and wretched state
into which the Jews have fallen since their rejection of Christ
— are obviously fitted to lead the Jews to serious reflec
tion, and to excite in them emulation, envy, jealousy of the
Gentiles, which may produce inquiry leading to faith. Who
can tell in how many individual cases this has happened since
the apostle wrote these words ? And when converted Gen
tiles, both as individuals and as churches, more fully develop
the direct and indirect advantages which the reception of
Christianity is fitted to communicate than they have ever yet
done, which they easily might do, which we doubt not they
shall do, then an influence shall go forth which Jewish obsti
nacy shall not be able to resist, and the glorious event more fully
unfolded in the sequel — the general conversion of the Israel
itish people, shall take place.
And then this change in the state of Israel will re-act, in its
turn, in the most favourable way on the Gentiles. " Now, if
the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminish
ing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their

394 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
fulness V1 In this verse emphasis is given to the sentiment
by repetition. In the first parallel the sense is incomplete.
The full expression is, ' If the fall of them be the riches of the
world, how much more their restoration ? ' Though the tem
porary unbelief and consequent fall of Israel have greatly con
duced to the promotion of the interests of the Gentiles, it does
not at all follow that the continuance of this degraded state of
Israel is necessary to the continuance of the exalted state of
converted Gentiles, or would be indeed at all advantageous to
them. The truth is just the reverse. The fall of Israel has
served its purpose to the Gentiles. They have derived ad
vantage, great advantage, from it; but they are also to derive
advantage, still greater advantage, from their rise. This
seems the plain meaning of the words of the apostle. The
fall of the Jews is their rejection of the Messiah, and its results
to them. The diminution of the Jews is their lessened, degraded
state — a state devoid of privileges formerly possessed — a state
of spiritual poverty. And the fulness of the Jews is the state
of fulness of blessing which shall belong to them when, moved
by jealousy, they return to their God, and embrace His Mes
siah. And what the apostle states is this, ' If the Gentiles have
derived so much advantage from the former, what will they de
rive from the latter? The conversion of the Jews will, directly
and indirectly, do more for the advantage of the Gentiles than
their unbelief has done.' Such a result may naturally be ex
pected. It is easy to see in how many ways the general con
version of the Jews, were it now to take place, would conduce
more to the speedy and extended progress of Christianity,
than their unbelief did in the primitive age. And this is
quite in accordance with old Testament prediction.
The two following verses,2 though not, strictly speaking,
parenthetical, are an expression of the deep interest the apostle
felt in the subject of which he was writing, and the influence
it exerted over him, as an object of his labours, as the apostle
of the Gentiles. " For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as
1 Ver. 12. 2 Ver. 13, 14.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 395
I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify my office : if by
any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my
flesh, and save some of them." These words seem intended to
meet a tacit objection : But if the conversion of the Jews be a
matter of such importance, why do you not devote yourself to
it ? The reply is twofold. First, The apostleship of the Gen
tiles is the sphere appointed me by my Master ; He said to me,
" Depart, for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles."
For this work he was peculiarly fitted. He who wrought
effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the
same was mighty in Paul toward the Gentiles ; and the apostles
at Jerusalem " saw that the Gospel of the uncircumcision
was committed to him."2 And Secondly, In executing that
commission, he was doing what was fitted to forward the con
version of the Jews, and doing it for that purpose ; q.d.'l
speak the word to you Gentiles, rather than to the Jews, inas
much as I am especially appointed to do so : I magnify my
office — I make much of my office : it is a wide sphere, and I
do what I can to occupy it, and to convert as many Gentiles
as possible ; but in doing this, I am not forgetful of those
whom I regard as a part of myself — my flesh. One great
reason why I am so desirous thoroughly to Christianize the
Gentiles is, that seeing their holy happiness, some of my
deluded countrymen may so emulate this happiness as to
seek to share it, and thus I may be the means of their sal
vation.' In the 15th verse, the apostle reverts to the idea introduced
at the 12th. " For if the casting away of them be the recon
ciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but
life from the dead ?" s The rejection of the great body of the
Jews on account of their unbelief, was the means of bringing
Gentiles, who were aliens, strangers, enemies from the holy
commonwealth, into reconciliation with God through the
faith of the Gospel. If so untoward an event produced such
happy consequences, how much happier consequences might
1 Acts xxii. 21. 2 Gal. ii. 7, 8. 3 Ver. 16.

396 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
reasonably be anticipated from an event of an opposite cha
racter ? " What shall the receiving of them"— that is, the re
storation of the great body of the Israelites to the privileges of
the Church in a far higher state than when they had for
merly been members of it — " be but life from the dead ? "
Some have supposed that the words " life from the dead," re
fer to the happy change which shall take place on the Israel
ites. No doubt, Ezekiel's prediction shall be verified in that
event.1 But the construction of the passage constrains us to
apply these words to the Gentiles. The restoration of the
Jews shall be to the Church, composed chiefly, almost entirely,
of Gentiles, as " life from the dead." It shall produce the
happiest effects : it is easy to see how it must do so. It is not
unlikely that the words are also intended to intimate, what
they naturally enough suggest, that the Church, at the period
of the conversion of the Jews, shall be in a comparatively
dead state, and that this wonderful event, in itself and its
effects, is to be the means of a great revival.
The words that follow2 do not give the reason for the fact,
that the conversion of the Jews shall be a great blessing to
the Gentile churches ; but they give a reason for a statement
which that fact supposes, namely, that there is to be a general
conversion of the Jews ; and it is with the evidence of this that
the apostle is chiefly engaged to the end of the chapter. It is
as if the apostle had said, 'And we have reason to expect that,
as they have been cast away, they shall be again received.
" For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump also is holy ; and if
the root be holy, so are the branches." '
In order to apprehend the force of the apostle's argument,
it is necessary, in the first place, that we understand the
meaning of the figurative language in which it is expressed.
The appellation, " first-fruits," is used in the Old Testament
in four different ways. First, and principally, of a sheaf of
barley, cut, before the harvest commenced, on the second day
of the feast of unleavened bread, and solemnly devoted by the
1 Ezek. xxxvii. 10. 2 Ver. 16.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 397
priest to Jehovah, in the name of the congregation of Israel.
Secondly, of two loaves of fine flour offered at the end of har
vest on the day of Pentecost, also in the name of the congre
gation. Thirdly, of a portion of the first produce of the har
vest, the exact measure of which is not fixed, which private
individuals presented in the tabernacle or the temple. And
Fourthly, of the first part of their dough, which individuals
were required to give to the Levites, or, if none of these lived
near them, to burn in the fire as a devoted thing. The "first-
fruits," in all these forms, were " holy " — devoted to God —
separated to a sacred use. To which of these forms the apostle
refers, will appear in the course of our explication. Lev.
xxiii. 10-21 ; Lev. ii. 14-16 ; Exod. xxii. 29, xxiii. 19 ;
Numb. xv. 19, 20 ; Deut. xxvi. 1-15.
The word " lump " has very generally been understood of
the rest of the grain or meal, after the first-fruits have been
separated. This mode of interpretation is untenable; for (1.)
the original word rendered " lump " conveys no such idea.
It signifies merely a kneaded mass of any material, such as
clay or dough. It has not the meaning of our word mass, in
the sense of the greater part of a thing. (2.) Supposing that
that were its meaning, there would be no truth in the apostle's
illustration. The rest of the grain or dough was not holy in
the sense in which the first-fruits were holy ; on the contrary,
the consecrating the first-fruits made it lawful to use the rest
for common purposes. No such idea is anywhere to be met
with in the law of Moses, as that the offering of the first-fruits
sanctified the whole produce. (3.) This view of the meaning
of the phrase leads to an interpretation of the apostle's reason
ing which renders it destitute of all force. The first-fruits are
supposed to signify the converts from among the Jews in the
primitive age; and the lump, the great body of the nation, now
in a state of unbelief, but ultimately to be converted to the faith
of Christ. But could anything in the shape of argument be
conceived more completely destitute of force than this ? ' Be
cause those converted from among the Jews are holy, they
who have not been converted are holy also.' The truth is, the

398 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
two clauses of the verse are merely two different figurative
expressions of the same truth. The sanctity of the branches,
arising from the sanctity of the root, and the sanctity of the
lump, arising from the sanctity of the first-fruits, are figures
of the sanctity which, according to the apostle, belongs to the
Israelites as a body, in consequence of the sanctity which be
longed to the patriarchs from whom they were descended.
The " lump," then, is something that stands in the same rela
tion to the first-fruits that the branches do to the root —
something that proceeds from it. The "first-fruits," by way of
eminence, refers to the sheaf of barley cut on the second day
of unleavened bread. This sheaf was to be stript of its grain;
the grain was to be reduced to flour by being beaten in a
mortar ; the flour thus produced was to be made into a lump,
by means of oil, mixed with frankincense, and presented by
the priest to Jehovah. This is the lump the apostle refers to.
And the appropriateness of the figure, and the force of the ar
gument, thus become apparent : If the first-fruits be holy, the
lump made of them must be holy also. The force of the
second illustration is evident : If the root be holy, so are the
branches. A holy root makes a holy tree : the branches take
their character from the root.
The sentiment which the apostle means to establish by this
figurative proof is this : Abraham, who stands to the Israelitish
nation in a relation similar to that of first-fruits to the lump
made of them, and of the root to the branches springing out
of it, was permanently set apart as the head of a family sepa
rated from the rest of mankind to serve certain important pur
poses ; and if so, his descendants are to be viewed as a sacred
people, to whom, sooner or later, all the promises made to
Abraham and his seed are to be performed — by whom, sooner
or later, all the purposes contemplated by their separation are
to be gained. If you allow the first part of the proposition,
you cannot deny the last ; and that cannot be done without
giving the lie to a large portion of Old Testament history and
prophecy. The sentiment conveyed is the same, though not
so clearly expressed, as that contained in the 28th and 29th

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 399
verses, where the Israelites are said, even in their state of un
belief and rejection, to be " beloved for the fathers' sakes, for
the gifts and the callings of God," i.e., in reference to them,
" are without repentance." It scarcely requires to be noticed,
that the " holiness " here mentioned, is not moral excellence.
The moral holiness of men does not necessarily follow from
that, either of their immediate or more remote progenitors.
The holiness here spoken is merely their separation by God
to serve particular purposes — as the Babylonian armies were
God's " holy ones." x The argument is this, ' If Abraham, not
as an individual merely, but as the head of a family destined
to become a nation, was separated to serve a purpose, his de
scendants share in this separation. If this be the true view
of the Israelitish people, then must it be utterly wrong to
consider them as a people whom, though God once acknow
ledged, He has now completely cast off. Whatever faults they
may commit, whatever judgments they may incur, the nation
still retains its sacred character, and will do so, till all that
prophecy speaks of them shall be fulfilled.'
Not contented with stating the general principle, the apostle
expands the last of these parallel figures into an allegory,
exhibiting the mutual relations and duties of Gentile believers,
and Jews, both believers and unbelievers : " And if some of
the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree,
wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the
root and fatness of the olive-tree ; boast not against the
branches : but if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but
the root thee." 2 The Church of God is here spoken of under
the figure of an olive-tree. This tree, rather than any other,
is adopted as the emblem of the Church, on account of its
being one of the most common trees in Judea, and remarkable
for its beauty, fruitfulness, and usefulness. This mystical
olive is represented as growing out of the root of the patriarchs
of the Israelitish people, with whom, as believers, the covenant
was made, that God would be their God, and the God of their
i Isa. xiii. 3. 2 Ver. 17, 18.

400 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
seed. The Jews are considered as the natural branches.
They were the descendants of these patriarchs ; and, till Christ
came, the true members of the Church of God were to be
found almost exclusively among them. The rejection of a
part — of the greater part, of that people, in consequence of
their unbelief, is represented as a breaking off of a portion of
the natural branches ; and the conversion of some of the
Gentiles is represented as the graffing in to the mystical olive
of a number of branches of a wild olive, so that they become
partakers of its root and fatness — so that they are so con
nected with Abraham as to be his children — heirs with him
of the same promise — blessed with faithful Abraham. With
us, the ordinary way of engrafting is to insert a branch of a
fruitful tree into a wild stock ; but we learn that, among
the ancients, it was customary to insert grafts from wild
trees into fruit-bearing ones, to increase their fruitfulness.1
The unbelieving Jews were cut off from all spiritually advan
tageous connection with Abraham, and with that Church of
which, as the father of all them who believe, he may be
reckoned the root ; and Gentiles, naturally in a state of spi
ritual death and barrenness, by believing, were brought into
advantageous spiritual connection both with him and with it.
The conclusion which the apostle draws from this contrasted
view of the Jews and Gentiles — the first, the natural branches
of a good olive-tree, some of whom had been broken off; the
second, branches of a wild olive grafted in to the stock of the
good olive, is this — that the converted Gentiles should not
think contemptuously of the Jews, whether converted or un
converted : " Boast not against the branches." We have
already had occasion to notice the strong antipathy that ex
isted between the Jews and the Gentiles. Conversion to
Christianity, though it diminished, did not extinguish this
feeling. The converted Jews generally regarded the con
verted Gentiles as their inferiors. The converted Gentiles
resented this, and were in danger, not merely of thinking of
1 Columella de re rustica, v. 9 ; Palladius de insit., xiv. 53.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 401
the unbelieving Jews as a race utterly abandoned by God,
but even of despising the converted Jews, as a set of narrow-
minded, superstitious, bigoted men. The apostle here guards
the Gentile Roman converts against this unbecoming temper.
" Boast not against the branches" — not even against those
which have been broken off; "butif thou boast" — there is here
plainly an ellipsis, which must be supplied by some such word
as ' remember' — " thou bearest not the root, but the root
thee." The force of these words is readily apprehended.
' The weight of obligation is all on one side. The Jews are
in no way indebted to the Gentiles : the Gentiles are very
much indebted to the Jews. " Salvation is of the Jews." ' '
The Gentiles owed everything to their connection with that
spiritual society, which had the Jewish Patriarch for its root,
and whose principal branches had been his natural descend
ants. It ill became them to look down on those who had
been longer connected with that society than themselves, or
to glory over those by whose fall salvation had the sooner
come to them.
The apostle, with that thorough knowledge of human nature
which he possessed, intimates that this last consideration might
possibly be considered by them as warranting something like
boasting — at any rate, in regard to the rejection of the unbe
lieving Jews ; but shows them that the true lessons to be
learned from that sad event, were caution, humility, and
gratitude : " Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken
off, that I might be graffed in. Well ; because of unbelief
they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not
high-minded, but fear : for if God spared not the natural
branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold
therefore the goodness and severity of God : on them which
fell, severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in
His goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." 2
To the question, ' Why should not we glory over the branches
that were broken off? were they not broken off that wl-

1 John iv. 22. 2 Ver. 19-23.
2c

402 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
might be graffed in ? were they not removed to make room
for us ? why should we not glory in this token of being pre
ferred to them?' the apostle's answer is — 'It is true that the
casting off of the Jews was, in the order of Divine providence,
among the intended means of the calling of the Gentiles. It
was not, however, the reason of their being cast off: that
was their own unbelief. Had they believed, they would not
have been cast off. But, being unbelieving, their rejection
on account of that unbelief was made conducive to the con
version of the Gentiles. In all this there is nothing to
excite pride, but much to induce caution. They fell by
unbelief; " thou standest by faith." ' The Gentiles' place in
the church depended entirely on faith — q.d., ' It is not as
Gentiles that you enjoy your privileges — it is as believing
Gentiles. You have no ground for pride as Gentiles — much
ground for gratitude and humility. It is by believing the
truth that Gentiles become members of the holy family, and
continue so ; and " it is of faith, that it may be by grace" —
for this " faith is the gift of God ;" so that there is no room
for boasting.'
It is true of every individual Gentile believer, that " he
standeth by faith." Could he entirely fall from faith, he
would fall from a state of salvation. But the apostle is here
speaking both of unbelieving Jews and believing Gentiles
as bodies. This is plain from his speaking of the broken off
branches as " graffed in again" — a declaration applicable, not
to the individual unbelievers of the primitive age, most of
whom never were converted, but the Jewish people, then
generally unbelieving. What is here said, though indirectly
full of instruction to individual believing Gentiles, is directly
spoken of the Gentile Church. That stands entirely by faith.
While there are believers among the Gentiles, there will be a
Church among them — a body whom God owns as His ; but
if there should cease, in any country, to be believers, the
Church there would be annihilated. There does not exist any
such body as the Israelitish nation, which, even though in a
state of unbelief, stands in a peculiar relation to God.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 403
This statement lays a solid foundation for the caution that
follows : " Be not high-minded, but fear." What a force does
this caution receive, when we look to regions once thickly
planted with flourishing Christian churches — such as Egypt,
Barbary, and Asia-Minor — now lying entirely desolate under
the withering influence of Mohammedan or Pagan superstitions!
These churches stood by faith. Faith departed, and where
are they ? Instead of boasting against the cast off Jews, the
apostle calls on his Gentile readers to " behold therefore the
goodness and severity of God : on them which fell, severity ;
but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness ;
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." x The " severity" —
i.e., the strict justice — of God was awfully displayed in the
Divine conduct to the unbelieving Jews. When we reflect
on the high privileges of which they were deprived — on the
variety, and weight, and continuance of the judgments in
flicted on them — exiled from a land far dearer to them than
his native country can be to a Gentile patriot — scattered
among the nations, a degraded, hated, ill-used people, and, as
individuals, exposed, in the unseen world, to " wrath to the
uttermost ; " when we reflect on the prodigious numbers
who, as race have followed race, have passed, during 1800
years, into the darkness of the grave and eternity — we must
say, It is an awful thing to exhaust the Divine patience : " It
is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
On the other hand, " the kindness of God" — His rich, free,
sovereign mercy — was illustriously displayed in the calling of
the Gentiles. They had not deserved to be thus distinguished.
Deserved it ! Read the description of them in the close of
the first chapter of the epistle, and say if it was not of the
Lord's mercies that such monsters of impiety and impurity,
ingratitude and malignity, were not consumed ! As they did
not deserve, they were not soliciting, any such favour from the
Divine hand. And then think of the value of the blessing :
the knowledge of the only true God, and of His Son Jesus
1 Ver. 22.

404 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Christ — the revelation of the only way in which they could
escape destruction, and be made truly wise, good, and happy
for ever — the means of deliverance from error, guilt, depravity,
misery, in all their forms — of obtaining glory, honour, and
immortality. It was of high importance that those belonging to the Gen
tiles who had believed should ponder these truths. " Behold,"
says the apostle, that, from a consideration of " the severity
of God" to the unbelieving Jews, they might learn to take
heed, lest they too, thinking, as the Jews did, that they stood,
should fall — " fall after the same example of unbelief;" and to
" be not high-minded, but fear ;" and that, from a considera
tion of the high value of the benefits bestowed on them, they
might learn gratitude and obedience ; and from the gratuitous
nature of these blessings, they might learn to repress pride,
and to say, " Not to us, not to us, but to sovereign mercy be
all the glory."
The apostle now proceeds to intimate, that neither of these
dispensations — neither the merciful nor the severe one — were
to be considered as necessary, irreversible, and final. Should
the Gentiles become unbelievers, their state of privilege would
be at an end. Should the Jews become believers, their state
of abandonment would be at an end. The first of these senti
ments is, briefly, stated in the close of this 22d verse ; the
second, at considerable length, in the succeeding paragraph.
" To thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness ;
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off." The apostle is here, as
throughout the whole paragraph, speaking of the called Gen
tiles as a body ; and he states to them, that the inestimable
privilege, for which they were indebted entirely to Divine
goodness, benignity, grace, mercy, would be continued only
while they improved it ; and that, if unimproved or misim-
proved, it would be taken from them. If they resembled the
Jews in their sin, they should resemble them in their punish
ment. This dispensation would be to the Gentiles, in its
ultimate result, as well as in its intrinsic character, " good
ness," if they continued in this goodness, not otherwise.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 405
To " continue in God's goodness," is to continue within the
sphere in which this particular kind of goodness operates, —
i.e., to continue in the faith and profession of the Gospel.
The apostle's statement seems to be this — ' The blessings
which the Gentiles have obtained possession of, through the
preaching of the Gospel among them, originate in, and are
necessarily connected with, the faith of the Gospel ; and
should those bodies of men — now Christian churches among
the Gentiles, and enjoying, in their true members, all heavenly
and spiritual blessings — should those churches fall from the
faith of the Gospel — should there cease to be a succession
of true believers in them — they would cease to enjoy the ad
vantages conferred on them, and be cut off like the unbe
lieving Jews — cease to be recognised by God as a part of His
people.' The desolations of many generations of once famous
Christian churches, in Asia, and Africa, and some portions
of Europe, are an awfully impressive commentary on these
words. The other side of the contrasted statement is equally true —
Israel, if they abide not in unbelief, shall not abide in aban
donment. The apostle has shown that, as it is by faith that standing
in the Church of God under the Messianic economy is enjoyed,
the Gentiles, who had found a place in that Church, would lose
it if they fell from the faith ; and he now goes on to state and
prove that the Jews, if they continue not in unbelief, may still
obtain a place in that Church : " And they also, if they abide
not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in : for God is able to
graff them in again." x The apostle still uses figurative lan
guage, carrying out the metaphor of the mystical olive, but
the meaning is obvious : ' If the unbelieving Jews, at any
future period, shall lay aside their prejudices against Jesus
Christ, and embrace the Gospel, they shall be readmitted into
the Church of God, and enjoy its privileges.'
' Ver. 23.

406 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
This is true of individual Jews, but the apostle is here
speaking of the great body of the nation. He first shows
that this is by no means an impossible thing — " God is able
to graff them in again." There is nothing in the nature of
things, nothing in the declarations of God, to make this im
possible. It may appear to man impossible ; but what is im
possible with man, is possible with God. He can do anything
that does not imply a contradiction. This, when taken in
connection with God's promise to restore the Jews, is a tri
umphant answer to all objections in reference to this event.
" Why should it be thought an incredible thing " that God
should restore the Jews, any more than that He should raise
the dead ? The words indicate more than possibility. When
God is said to be able to give Amaziah more than he sacri
ficed at the command of duty1 — to be able to make a man
stand2 — to be able to make all grace abound to men3 — to be
able to do abundantly above all that we ask or think4 — to be
able to keep from falling,5 — more than a mere assertion of
power adequate to these effects is intended ; and so here. Still,
possibility is the leading idea.
That, however, is succeeded by probability in the sentence
following : " For if thou wert cut out of the olive-tree, which
is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a
good olive-tree; how much more shall these, which be the
natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree ? "6 The
general idea conveyed by these words is, ' The restoration of
the Jews is, in some points of view, a more probable event
than the conversion of the Gentiles was, previously to its
taking place ; just as, abstractly considered, it might seem
less strange to re-insert into its own stock a branch which
had been broken off, than to insert into that stock a branch
from another tree, and a tree of another kind.' The heathen
nations, previously to their conversion, were utterly ignorant
of the true God, and the devoted worshippers of idols :

1 2 Chron. xxv. 9. * Rom. xiv. 4. s 2 Cor. ix. 8.
4 Eph. iii. 20. ' » Jude 24. « Ver. 24.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 407
they were in possession of few means to enable them to un
derstand the meaning and evidence of the Christian reve
lation. It is otherwise with the Jews. They are worshippers
of Jehovah, and they have in their possession, and profess
to believe, those sacred books in which Moses and the pro
phets testify to the Messiah, whom we have found in Jesus.
No change of economy is necessary for the restoration of the
Jews, as was the case for the conversion of the Gentiles ; no
wall of partition needs to be taken down ; no handwriting of
ordinances needs to be blotted out. " The doors of the Church
stand wide open for the admission of the Jewish people ;
nothing is wanting to their entering but their faith."1
But the apostle goes further : he represents the restoration
of the Jews as not only possible and probable, but as certain.
" For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of
this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,
that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness
of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be
saved : as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the
Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob : for
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their
sins."2 " For" introduces the ground of the apostle's assured hope.
The word " mystery," signifies something that has been kept
secret. The " Gospel " — " the preaching of Jesus Christ," was
" the revelation of a mystery, kept secret since the world
began." 3 The restoration of the Jews is termed a mystery,
because, concealed under the symbolical and figurative lan
guage in which prophecy is generally clothed, it was not
commonly known and understood among Gentile Christians.
The " mystery" refers not only to the fact generally, but to its
circumstances, that, after a defined period of spiritual blind
ness, the Jews, as a body, were to be restored to the Church
of God. "Blindness has happened unto Israel." Israel,
here, can mean nothing but the Israelitish people — not the
i Fry. 2 Ver. 25-27. ' Rom. xvi. 25.

408 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
mystical Israel, consisting of all believers — not the converted
part of literal Israel. The Jewish people have come under
the influence of a spiritual blindness or obstinacy. "In part "
does not modify the word blindness, as if the expression were
equivalent to a partial blindness : it modifies the term Israel ;
and " Israel in part," in the 25th verse, contrasts with " all
Israel" in the 26th. A part of Israel— as we learn, a great
part — is, according to the scheme of Divine providence, as
unfolded in prophecy, to remain in a state of spiritual blind
ness and obduracy in reference to the Divine method of justi
fication, during, or down to a period described as' " the coming
in of the Gentiles."
There is some difficulty in satisfactorily ascertaining the
meaning of that expression, as well as of the whole phrase,
" until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." The word
rendered "fulness," has various significations, and is used
with various references. It seems to me to signify here, the
totality of Gentile nations — every nation under heaven. Gen
tiles have been entering into the Church since the primitive
age, in part ; but there is a period coming when they shall
enter " in fulness," — when " all the ends of the earth shall
remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the
nations worship before Him."1 That is the period here re
ferred to. Some suppose the apostle to refer to a period dur
ing which the blindness of Israel in part shall continue,
rendering the words, ' While the fulness of the Gentiles shall
enter ; ' others, with our translators, to the period when that
blindness is to terminate. The latter appears, on various ac
counts, the preferable view. The notion, that the Gentiles
must be generally or universally converted to Christianity
before the conversion of the Jews can be looked for, does not
seem fairly deducible from the words. They seem to mean
that the two great events shall go forward together. The
words may be rendered, ' Till the fulness of the Gentiles may
have entered,' — i.e., till the universal conversion of the Gen-
1 Psa. xxii. 27.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 409
tile nations shall have commenced. For ages, Christianity
was in a great degree stationary. But, almost within our
own memory, a movement has begun, which looks like the
entering in of the fulness of the Gentiles — the commence
ment of what is to end in the universal Christianization of
mankind. Whenever such a commencement really takes place,
the conversion of the Jews is at hand ; and, from the ancient
predictions, it seems' equally plain that the Gentiles are to be
active in the restoration of the Jews, and the converted Jews,
in the bringing in completely of the fulness of the Gentile
nations. In the prediction more immediately in the apostle's
view,1 the general conversion of the world is represented as
begun before " the Redeemer came to Zion," but the princi
pal part of that glorious work is represented as following that
event. When, then, the fulness of the Gentiles shall have
entered — begun to go in, or when it is entering — when a
general conversion of Gentile nations shall have commenced,
then, or thus, shall " all Israel be saved " — the blindness
shall pass away. All Israel is not every individual Israelite,
but it is Israel as a body : the great majority of that people
shall embrace the Gospel, and by doing so be delivered from
all the evils under which they have so long groaned, in con
sequence of their having rejected it.
The apostle quotes some passages from the prophet Isaiah
in confirmation of his declaration. Some have supposed that
he refers to Psalm xiv. 7 ; but it is plain that the first part of
the citation is from Isa. lix. 20, 21. He seems to have quoted
from memory, as it does not exactly agree either with the
Hebrew text or with the Greek version. Like many other
quotations, only a part of the passage referred to is given.
To make out the full sense, the whole of the 21st verse must
be taken in: "As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith
the Lord ; My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which
I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth,
nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy
1 Isa. lix., Ix.

410 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever."
The concluding words, "When I shall take away their
sins," are apparently taken from chap, xxvii. 9 : — the exact
words quoted are found in the Greek version, — a prophecy
considerably obscure, but certainly referring to events to befal
Israel in the latter days. Others have supposed the reference
to be to Jeremiah xxxi. 34, — a prediction also of the general
conversion of Israel.
Of these facts, which had hitherto been a mystery — not
clearly revealed or understood, the apostle was desirous that
the Roman Christians, chiefly Gentiles, should not be igno
rant, " lest they should be wise in their own conceits," — lest
they should proudly suppose that their notions as to their own
importance, and as to the permanent degradation of Israel,
were correct. Such a caution was necessary ; for even after
all that he has said, there are many Gentiles who glory over
the cut-off branches, as if they were never to be graffed in —
wise in their own conceits, and not submitting to receive the
plain testimony both of the prophets and the apostle. How
wonderful, how deplorable, how well fitted to make us " cease
from man," to hear Luther saying, wise in his own conceit,
"A Jewish heart is so stock, stone, devil, iron, hard, that it can
in no way be moved. They are young devils damned to hell.
To convert those devil-brats (as some fondly ween out of the
Epistle to the Romans) is impossible." Surely the good
Reformer had forgotten the history of his own conversion,
and who it is who hath said, " Is anything too hard for the
Lord ? With man it is impossible, but with God all things are
possible." In the paragraph that follows, the apostle gives a brief, but
very complete, summary of all that he had said respecting the
rejection and the restoration of the Jews, and of the bearing
of these events on the Gentile nations, in reference to their
relation to the manifested Divine method of justification ; and
shuts up the whole discussion with a striking exhibition of
the wisdom of God in these dispensations, terminating in an
expression of adoring wonder and devout acknowledgment.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 411
This summary is contained in the 28th verse, " As concerning
the Gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but touching the
election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes."
The apostle views the unbelieving, rejected Jewish people
in two aspects. In reference to the one, he says they are
" enemies ;" in reference to the other, they are " beloved."
These terms are contrasted, and the meaning of the one term
must correspond to the other. The word translated " beloved,"
is a term of unequivocal meaning, exactly answering to the
English word by which it is rendered in our version. It is
otherwise with the word translated " enemies." Its ordinary
meaning is, one acting like an enemy, the subject of hostile
sentiments ; but it is also used as signifying, one treated as
an enemy, the object of hostile sentiments. In this way it is
used in chap. v. 10, where " enemies" means persons regarded
and treated by God with hostile sentiments. The Greek word
rendered ' enemy,' is in exact opposition to our English word
' friend.' As this signifies either one who loves us, or one whom
we love, that signifies either one who hates us, or one whom we
hate: — one who treats us as an enemy, or one whom we treat as
an enemy. The sense here is fixed, by its being contrasted with
"beloved;" and the meaning is not, the Jews are hostile, but
the Jews are treated as enemies. But by whom are the Jews
in one sense treated as " enemies," and in another " beloved ? "
Obviously by God. The whole discussion is in reference to
God's dispensations towards them; and the confirmation of
the assertion that they are beloved is, that "the gifts and
callings of God are without repentance." The phrase, " as
concerning the Gospel," is just equivalent to 'In reference
to the revelation of mercy through Jesus Christ' — the mani
fested Divine method of justification. In reference to this,
the Jewish people have been treated by God as objects of His
displeasure ; they have been left to reject it — suffered, as the
Gentiles were so long, to walk in their own ways ; and, in
consequence of this, they have been rejected and punished by
God. And this, says the apostle, speaking to converted Gen
tiles, has taken place "for your sake" — for and to your

412 DOCTRINAL. [p ART II.
advantage. The cause why God treated the Jews as enemies,
in reference to the Gospel, was their own obstinate unbelief;
but His object in permitting their sin, and in punishing it,
was the advantage of the Gentiles. How the Jews' rejection
of the Gospel contributed to the advantage of the Gentiles, I
have already showed in illustrating ver. 11. In addition to
what is there stated, it may be remarked, that the judgments
which befell the Jews who rejected the Messiah, and still lie
heavy on their unbelieving posterity, are calculated to be, and
certainly have been, useful in confirming the faith of the Gen
tile churches. The meaning of the first clause in the anti
thesis is this, 'In reference to the Gospel revelation, which
they have rejected, the Jews have been treated by God as
objects of His displeasure; and this dispensation was intended
to be, and has been, conducive to the advantage of the
Gentiles.' But there is another aspect in which this wonderful people
must be viewed : " As touching the election, they are beloved
for the fathers' sakes." " The election" here is not the choice
of individuals to eternal life, but the choice of the Israelites to
stand in a peculiar relation to God, and to answer peculiar
purposes in the development of the great economy of human
redemption — the election of which Moses speaks, Exod. xix.
5, and Deut. vii. 6, 7, and elsewhere. "As touching the elec
tion," is equivalent to, ' As a people chosen of God to answer
particular purposes, all of which are not yet answered.' In this
point of view they are still " beloved," or the objects of the
peculiar care of God. The Jewish people, in their uncon
verted state, have been marvellously kept distinct from the
nations among whom they dwell — have often experienced very
remarkable deliverances; and no Gentile people have ever in
jured them, without being punished for it. The Divine con
duct towards them is strikingly described in Isa. xviii. 4, ac
cording to Bishop Horsley's translation, "For so the Lord
said unto me, ' I will take my rest, yet I will consider my
dwelling place.'" The sentiment is, that notwithstanding a
long cessation of extraordinary manifestations of God's power,

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 413
His providence is not asleep — He is all the while regarding
the conduct and the fortunes of His people ; He is not forget
ful of His promises to His chosen, but, though often by a
silent and secret operation, is at all times directing everything
to their ultimate prosperity, and to the universal establishment
of the true religion. He has purposes of kindness towards
them; and He preserves them till "the time He has set"
come. " Doubtless He is their Father, though Abraham be
ignorant of them, and Israel acknowledge them not."
The unbelieving Jews are represented as objects of this
merciful superintendence "for the fathers' sakes;" i.e., not, as
they would be disposed to understand it, from a regard to the
virtues of their ancestors, but from a regard to the covenants
made with their ancestors. In these covenants are contained
promises to them as a people, which were not, when these
words were written — which are not yet, fulfilled ; and " the
faith" — i.e., the faithfulness, " of God cannot become of none
effect through their unbelief " — i.e., their unfaithfulness. God
will be true, whoever may prove a liar. The meaning of the
second part of the antithesis is this — ' As a people chosen by
God for particular purposes, they are, even in their state of
unbelief, the objects of His kind regards — the subjects of His
particular providence, from a respect to the covenants entered
into with their ancestors.'
In confirmation of this sentiment, the apostle adds,1
" For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."
" Without repentance," means ' irre tractable.' This is not to
be understood as an unlimited declaration : for God does
withdraw benefits when they are abused. It is to be con
sidered as referring to the subject of discussion — the gifts and
calling of Israel as a people, secured in the covenants, and
promises made to their fathers. It is true that the gifts and
calling of God to the spiritual Israel are irretractable ; but
they are not spoken of here. To quote this passage as a direct
proof of the perseverance of the saints, is to misinterpret it.
1 Ver. 29.

414 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
The promises made to Abraham in reference to his posterity — .
to his natural posterity as well as to his mystical seed, must all
in due time be fulfilled, and they must continue a separate
people till they are fulfilled. The sentiment here is the same
as that expressed with so majestic an eloquence by the prophet
Jeremiah, " Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a
light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars
for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves
thereof roar ; the Lord of Hosts is His name : If those-ordi-
nances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seed
of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me for
ever. Thus saith the Lord, If heaven above can be measured,
and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will
also cast off all the seed of Israel, for all that they have
done."1 In conclusion, the apostle states, that in the manner in
which God had successively treated the Gentiles and Jews,
which had been strikingly analogous, His design with regard
to both these great divisions of mankind was to make them
partakers of a common salvation; and that, in the way of
bringing both into possession of this, He had so arranged
matters as to make it evident that the whole was the result,
not of human merit, but of sovereign, Divine mercy. As the
Gentiles, after a long course of ignorance, unbelief, and dis
obedience, were, by the occasion of the unbelief and conse
quent rejection of the Jews, brought to the faith of the
Gospel, and the enjoyment of the blessings of the Christian
salvation — all the result of sovereign mercy — so the Jews, who
were permitted, through their own perversity taking occasion
from the liberal character of the new dispensation, to fall into
a state of unbelief and disobedience, and, in consequence, of
rejection and punishment, — shall also, after continuing in that
state for a course of ages, become the objects of Divine
free mercy, by being led to embrace the Gospel. And thus
God, by successively allowing the depravity of human nature
1 Jer. xxxi. 35-37.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 415
to develop itself in the idolatries of the Gentiles and the
apostacy of the Jews, will make it evident, when He brings
both these component parts of mankind into the enjoyment of
saving blessings, that He acts towards them on the principle
of sovereign kindness. This is the substance of what is stated
in the 30th, 31st, and 32d verses : " For as ye in times past
have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through
their unbelief; even so have these also now not believed, that
through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God
hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have
mercy upon all."
" For," in the beginning of this sentence, is either merely
connective, or it intimates that the general unbelief of the
Jews at that time, was no sufficient reason to doubt of their
ultimate conversion. Gentiles, who were formerly disobedient,
were now obedient; and Jews, who were now disobedient,
would, at the appointed season, become obedieat also. The
Gentiles in past time " had not believed," or obeyed, "God."
The reference is here to the state of the Gentile nations pre
viously to the coming of Christ. They had received a revela
tion of the truth respecting the Divine character and will —
the revelation possessed by and made to Noah — and many of
them at least had had an opportunity of becoming acquainted
with some later revelations. They had had much truth on
these subjects presented to their minds by the frame of nature,
and the dispensations of the Divine government, both physical
and moral. But they did not improve these advantages.
They did not believe the intimations made to them respecting
the character of God; they did not obey the intimations made
to them respecting their own duties : they became in the
highest degree impious and immoral. The best commentary
on the words, " Ye in time past have not believed God," is to
be found in the closing paragraph of the first chapter of this
epistle. On reading it, the thought naturally rises — Surely
these men will be made monuments of Divine justice, by
having adequate punishment executed on them : surely these
men cannot find mercy.

416 DOCTRINAL. [FART II.
But " God's thoughts are not our thoughts — His ways, not
our ways." " Ye have now," says the apostle, " obtained
mercy." To " obtain mercy," is to be delivered from deserved
punishment, and to be put in possession of undeserved bless
ings : it is to be " saved by grace." This idea is often im
plied in the phrase ; e.g., " God be merciful to me a sinner ;" '
"But I obtained mercy;"2 " Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, hath He
saved us."3 By sending the Gospel to them when they were
thinking of nothing less, and rendering it through the opera
tion of His Spirit successful, He had manifested " the riches of
His grace," in making many of the disobedient Gentiles par
takers of the blessings of His salvation.
This important and undeserved benefit came to them
" through the unbelief, or disobedience, of the Jews." " Ye
have now obtained mercy through their unbelief." We have
already showed at length how the unbelief of the Jews had
been rendered subservient to the conversion and salvation of
the Gentiles, as it had led to a speedier and more extensive
preaching of the Gospel than would otherwise have taken
place, and removed powerful obstacles out of the way of their
embracing it. Such had been God's dispensations to the
Gentile world. They had been long " suffered to walk in
their own ways." They had been for many ages allowed to
continue in a state of unbelief and disobedience ; and were at
last, in the exercise of sovereign mercy, brought to the faith
and obedience of the Gospel, through means of the unbelief
and disobedience of the Jews.
Now, says the apostle, there is an analogy between the past
and present conduct of God towards the Gentiles, and His pre
sent and future conduct toward the Jews. " For as ye in
times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy
through their unbelief; even so have these also now not be
lieved, that through your mercy they may obtain mercy." This
verse admits, and almost requires, a somewhat different ren-
1 Luke xviii. 13. 2 1 Tim. i. 16. 3 Tit. iii. 5.

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 417
dering from that given in our translation — "Even so have these
also now not believed through your mercy — or, even so have
these also now, through your mercy, not believed — that they
also might find mercy." The apostle, in the words " through
your mercy," seems to refer to the cause or occasion of the
Jews' unbelief, not to the means through which they were to
find mercy. It is true the mercy of the Gentiles is to be
rendered ultimately subservient to the conversion of the Jews :
this is distinctly stated in the 11th verse of this chapter ; but
though this is a truth, and an important one, it does not seem
to be the truth stated here. The apostle contrasts the former
state of the Gentiles with their present state, and the present
state of the Jews with their future state. The past state of
the Gentiles was a state of disobedience — their present state,
a state of gracious salvation. The present state of the Jews
is a state of disobedience —their future state is to be a state of
gracious salvation. He compares the past state of the Gen
tiles with the present state of the Jews, and the present state
of the Gentiles with the future state of the Jews ; and he con
trasts the instrument or occasion of the Gentiles' conversion
with the instrument or occasion of the Jews' apostacy ; and
he does all this to show how " the mercy" — the grace, of God
is displayed in the salvation of both.
" These," i.e. the Jews, " have now not believed," or have
now become unbelieving and disobedient. The Gospel — the
glad tidings of a full and free salvation for mankind, had been
proclaimed to them. They were called to believe it, and
God had promised that, in believing it, they should obtain
all heavenly and spiritual blessings. But they " rejected the
counsel of God against themselves." They would not acknow
ledge Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord.
And one circumstance which greatly tended to harden
their minds against conviction, was what the apostle here
terms " the mercy of the Gentiles." " They have now not
befieved through your mercy." By the mercy of the Gentiles
here, we are not to understand their actual conversion ; for,
were that its meaning, we should have the apostle assigning as
2 D

418 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the occasion of the conversion of the Gentiles, an event which
he represents as occasioned by that conversion. The mercy of
the Gentiles, is that peculiar character of the Gospel revela
tion which placed the Gentiles on the same level with the
Jews, offering the same salvation to both, to be received in
the same way — by believing : its declaring that, in order to
obtain the blessings promised and bestowed by Messiah, there
was no necessity for them to become Jews, but that "whosoever
believed on the name of the Lord Jesus should be saved."
This was in direct opposition to the strongest prejudices and
expectations of the Israelitish people, and, next to " the offence
of the cross," was perhaps the strongest obstacle in the way of
their embracing Christianity. The elder brother would not
come in, because his prodigal brother had been so readily ad
mitted — so kindly entertained. Thus, the Gentiles obtained
mercy through the unbelief of the Jews ; and, through the
extension of mercy to the Gentiles, the Jews became un
believers. But are the Jews fallen into a state of hopeless and perma
nent unbelief and disobedience ? Is this the end of the series
of Divine dispensations ? No ; " they have not believed, that
through your mercy they also may obtain mercy" — that they
also may become the subjects of such a merciful, gracious
interposition as had taken place with regard to the Gentiles.
The meaning of this clause will vary according as you render
the particle translated that? It may be rendered either simply
that, meaning in order that, indicating intention, or so that,
indicating merely consequence.
According to the rendering preferred by our translators,
the meaning is, God has now permitted the Jews, as a body,
to become disobedient, through their misconception of His
mercy to the Gentiles, just as He had formerly permitted the
Gentiles, as a body, to become disobedient ; and He has done
this, not that He may utterly destroy them, but that when, ac
cording to His purpose and promise, He deals with them as

SECT. II.] THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 419
He dealt with the Gentiles, in giving them " repentance unto
life," it may be evident that, as in the case of the Gentiles, it
is a display of pure sovereign grace. The design of God, in
allowing this display of human depravity in the case of the
Jews as of the Gentiles, was that thus the riches of Divine
grace might be the more gloriously manifested. The Jews
were, as well as the Gentiles, to be blessed in Him in whom
all men are to be blessed ; but they were not to be put in pos
session of these blessings as persons who had descended from
Abraham, and who were observers of the law of Moses ; for,
in this case, it might have been thought, and the Jews them
selves would have so interpreted it, that it was on those grounds
they obtained this blessedness. On the contrary, the prin
ciples of their depraved nature were left to manifest themselves
in the rejection of the Gospel ; and they thus brought them
selves into a state, from which deliverance could be attributed
to nothing on the part of God but sovereign mercy, and
implied in it a glorious manifestation of that Divine attribute.
If we render the particle " so that," it refers not so much to
the Divine design in, as to the actual result of, the Jewish
people becoming unbelieving and disobedient through the
mercy of the Gentiles. " They have become disobedient
through your mercy, so that they also shall obtain mercy" —
become objects of grace — free favour. When saved, as they
shall be, according to the Divine oracle, it shall be plain that,
like the Gentiles when saved according to the Divine oracle,
they are debtors to free sovereign grace for their salvation. As
the Gentiles were saved, not as dutiful observers of the law of
nature, but as ungodly idolaters — enormous sinners, so the Jews
are to be saved, not as those who had been obedient keepers of
the law, but as those who had been obstinate rejecters of the
Gospel. It does not materially affect the apostle's argument
in whatever way you interpret the particle.
The apostle adds : " For God hath concluded them all
in unbelief, that He might have mercy on all." This is
illustrative of the great principle of the Divine adminis
tration, equally involved in the Divine dispensations to the

420 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
Gentiles and to the Jews. The words, " them all," are not to
be considered as referring to every individual of the human
race, but to the two great bodies of mankind of whom he
is discoursing— the Jews and the Gentiles. To " conclude
all men, both Jews and Gentiles, in unbelief," is a very un
couth English phrase, and scarcely conveys any very distinct
idea. The word rendered "conclude," properly signifies to shut
up. To " shut up" in unbelief, or disobedience, may signify,
to prove most clearly that a person is unbelieving and disobe
dient. This, in the opinion of some interpreters, is the mean
ing of the phrase in Gal. iii. 22 : " The Scripture hath con
cluded all under sin;" — the Scriptures clearly prove that all
men are sinners. I rather think these words are parallel to
those before us, and mean, ' The Scripture teaches that all
men are under the power of guilt.' To be shut up in, or
under sin, is to be delivered over to its power and influence,
and consequences. This seems the meaning of the expression
" shut up" in the only passages of Scripture which can pro
perly be considered as parallel, as Job xvi. 11, margin; Ps.
xxxi. 8, in the LXX. ; Gal. iii. 22, 23.
The declaration here, then, is, God has delivered up all men,
both Gentiles and Jews, to unbelief and disobedience ; i.e. He
has allowed the principles of human depravity to develop
themselves ; He has given up men to " the lusts of their own
heart;" He has permitted them to "walk in their own ways,"
that they might show what was in their heart ; He has, as it
were, in succession made two great experiments on fallen
humanity — in the case of the Gentiles, and in the case of the
Jews ; He has left them to themselves, that it might be
evident what, in this case, they would make of themselves ;
He has allowed the Gentiles, by their idolatrous and gross
immoralities, and the Jews, by their rejection of the Messiah
and their obstinate unbelief and disobedience, to prove that
fallen human nature, as existing in both, is a thoroughly
depraved thing.
And God has done this, "that He may have mercy on
all." The meaning here, as in the preceding verse, will vary

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 421
according to the sense you give to the particle " that" — ac
cording as you consider it as referring to the design or to the
result of the Divine dispensation. In the first case, the mean
ing is, ' He has suffered Gentiles and Jews, in succession, to
fall into, and continue long in, a state of unbelief and dis
obedience, that, in the salvation of vast multitudes of both,
the riches of His mercy might be equally displayed — that it
might be evident that all the saved, whether Jews or Gen
tiles, owe their salvation to "grace, reigning through righteous
ness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ." ' If we render
the particle ' so that,' the meaning is — ' Since Gentiles and
Jews have equally, at different periods, been distinguished for
unbelief and disobedience — have fallen into, and continued
in, a state which makes them the fit objects of God's moral
disapprobation — the fit subjects of His penal vengeance — it is
plain that all who are saved, of either division of mankind,
are equally the monuments of Divine sovereign kindness — are
equally deprived of all ground of glorying in themselves, and
equally bound, by the ties of duty and gratitude, to the ser
vice of their God and Saviour.' It is the mercy of God alone
that saves ; and that mercy is equally needed by, and equally
open to, Jews and Gentiles. His providence has so arranged
it, that all have been brought into a state from which nothing
but mercy can save any of them, and mercy can save the
worst of them. " Extremely gross," says Calvin, " is their
folly who hence conclude that all shall be saved. Paul
simply means that- both Jews and Gentiles do not otherwise
obtain salvation but through the mercy of God ; and thus he
leaves to none any reason for complaint. This mercy is,
without any difference, offered to all ; but it can be received
only in believing."
The contemplation of .this series of Divine dispensations,
past, present, and future, in reference to the Divine method
of justification, filled the mind of the apostle with astonish
ment, awe, and delight; and he gives utterance to these
emotions in the burning words which follow : " O the depth
of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! how

422 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding
out ! For who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who
hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him,
and it shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of Him,
and through Him, and to Him, are all things : to whom be
glory for ever. Amen." 1 It is natural to shrink from attempt
ing to illustrate these words, lest the effect be to weaken
rather than to strengthen the impression they are fitted to
make on every heart not callous to religious emotion. But
there are some things in them which require elucidation ;
and right impression can only be produced by right appre
hension. The first clause of the 33d verse admits of two translations
— that adopted by our translators, and the following : " 0
the depth of the riches, and of the wisdom, and of the know
ledge of God!" Both modes of rendering are according to
the analogies of the language, though the last is the more
literal. Had such a term as ' the power/ or ' the grace,' been
employed instead of the figurative expression " riches," there
could have been no doubt of its being the preferable mode of
translation. The " riches" of God is properly expressive of
the immense possessions of the Divinity — e.g., " The earth is
full of Thy riches." 2 But there is nothing said in the context
calculated to excite admiration of the "riches" of God, in
this sense. Those who prefer this mode of rendering, gene
rally understand by "riches" the exuberant goodness or grace
of God. We read of " the riches of God's forbearance," 3 and
repeatedly of " the riches of God's grace ;"4 but there is no
instance of "riches" being employed simply to signify good
ness in any of its forms. Besides, it is plain, from the context,
that it is less the kindness than the wisdom displayed in the
Divine dispensations, in reference to the method of justifica
tion, that forms the subject of the apostle's devout acknow
ledgment. I am, therefore, disposed to acquiesce in the

1 Ver. 33-36. 2 Psal. civ. 24, Sophocles, Ajcur, 130 (Dind).
3 Rom. ii. 4. 4 Eph. i. 7, ii. 7.

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 423
rendering of our translators, and to consider " the depth of
the riches," applied to wisdom and knowledge, as a peculiar
and emphatic form of expressing a superlative, as equivalent
to, ' O the rich depth, or the deep riches ;' or, more in the
English idiom, ' O the profound abyss ! O the unfathomable
treasures of the Divine wisdom and knowledge!'
The "wisdom" of God is that attribute by which He
chooses the best ends, and seeks these by the best means ;
the " knowledge" of God, that attribute by which He pos
sesses perfect acquaintance with the nature, properties, and
connections of all beings and events. The apostle's exclama
tion may be thus paraphrased — ' What infinite knowledge and
wisdom do these Divine dispensations display 1'
" How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past
finding out !" By " the judgments" of God, in contrast with
His " ways," I understand His eternal determinations — His
plan of procedure — His " purpose purposed in Himself."
These judgments are " unsearchable." It is impossible for
us to discover them — we cannot know them, if He does not
reveal them ; and even when He has revealed them, there is
a depth of wisdom in them which the human intellect cannot
fathom. They have a width of range, and, with perfect unity
of principle, an infinite variety of modes of operation, which
our limited minds cannot grasp. There does not seem to be
any reference here to the difficulty, which from our ignorance
we often feel, of reconciling the Divine judgments or decrees
with the principles of equity. The idea is, the impossibility
of any created intelligence comprehending the variety and
extent of the Divine designs.
God's "ways" are the execution of His judgments or pur
poses — His providential dispensations. These are said to be
" past finding out." They are not as our ways, but differ from
them as much as the heavens are higher than the earth. In
one view, they are " far above— out of, our sight ;" in another,
" His ways are in the sea, His paths in the mighty waters," so
that we cannot trace His footsteps. It is the same thought
so strikingly expressed in the book of Job : " Dost thou know

424 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
the balancings of the clouds? the wonderful works of .Him
who is perfect in knowledge?" The connections, depend
encies, tendencies, and designs, of the Divine dispensations
are, and in the present state can be, but very imperfectly
apprehended by us. How small a portion do we know of
Him! The sentiment contained in this exclamation is obviously
just, in a general view of all the dispensations of God, both
in the physical and moral government of the world. But the
apostle has a particular reference to the dispensations he had
been considering. That God should render the idolatry of
the Gentiles, and the unbelief of the Jews, subservient to the
more illustrious display of the riches and freeness of His
sovereign mercy ; that He should make the unbelief of the
Jews conduce to the conversion of the Gentiles, and the con
version of the Gentiles to the restoration of the Jews ; that
the whole of His dispensations towards the Gentiles and the
Jews — unconnected, and sometimes apparently inconsistent
— should be, and ultimately be made to appear to be, parts
of one grand plan for illustrating the perfections of His
character, in the salvation of an innumerable multitude of
the lost race of man, hoth Jews and Gentiles — all this dis
covers a depth of wisdom and knowledge which strikes the
mind with astonishment, and, when we consider the purposes
for which this infinite knowledge and wisdom are employed,
fills the heart with delight, and confidence, and joy.
If we consider, as we probably ought, the apostle as in these
words referring not merely to the particular subject which he
had just been considering, but to that which is the grand
theme of the epistle — the righteousness of God — the Divine
method of justification, we shall find the devout exclamation
resting on a still broader and deeper foundation. A plan of
salvation for self-ruined man, which at once humbles and
exalts him — restores him, by the same means, to the Divine
favour, and to moral excellence — displays at the same time,
by the same means, the inflexible rectitude and the incon
ceivable benignity of the Divine nature,— which not only re-

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 425
trieves the ruins of the fall, but raises man to a dignity and
happiness far superior to that which he has lost- — which
converts the evils of life into the means of moral improve
ment and ultimate salvation, a plan exactly suited to the
constitution, character, and circumstances of mankind — em
bracing men of every kindred, people, and tongue — and
securing their happiness, up to the highest measure of their
capacity, during the eternity of their being — this is indeed
" the wisdom of God in a mystery," the glories of which can
never be adequately apprehended by created intelligences.
"Into these things the angels desire to look;" and new dis
coveries of benignant, wise design, ever opening on their
enlarged minds, and those of " just men made perfect," will
call forth from them ever new anthems of adoring wonder
at " the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of
God." In the words that follow — " For who hath known the mind
of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?" there is an
obvious allusion to Isaiah xl. 13, 14 : " Who hath directed
the Spirit of the Lord, or being His counsellor hath taught
Him? With whom took lie counsel, and who instructed
Him, and taught Him in the path of judgment, and taught
Him knowledge, and showed to Him the way of understand
ing ? " The question is equivalent to a strong negative. No
man, no angel, has known the mind of the Lord, or been His
counsellor; and, therefore, none can search His judgments,
or find out His ways. This is intended as a rebuke to that
temper manifested by the unbelieving Jews, to find fault with
the arrangements of the new economy, as being so very dif
ferent from what they had anticipated — so different from any
thing which it could have entered into the mind of man to
conceive. It is man's business, not to criticise and quarrel
with Divine arrangements, but to submit to them ; to watch
with reverential curiosity the development of the Divine de
signs ; to mark the displays they make of His various perfec
tions — His wisdom and power, His righteousness and His
grace; to admire their wisdom, in the degree in which we

426 DOCTRINAL. [PART II.
can perceive their objects, and how well fitted' they are to
gain them ; to adore their depth, when We cannot discover
their design ; and to hold fast, in all circumstances, an un
shaken confidence in Him as " the Rock, whose work is per
fect, all whose ways are judgment ; a God of truth, and
without iniquity," infinite in holiness and in love.
In the next interrogation — " Or who hath first given to
Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again ?" there is
a reference to Job xii. 3, LXX., 11, E.V. : " Who hath pre
vented Me, that I should repay him ? " or to Joel iii. 4 : "Will
ye render Me a recompense? and if ye recompense Me,
swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your
own head ;" but it is a mere allusion. The meaning is — ' No
created being can have a claim of strict right on God for any
blessing. The Creator is not, cannot be, under obligation to
His creatures. What can they give Him, but what He has
previously given them? When He gives, He gives freely.
If any creature can make out a claim against Him, it will be
sustained. If any man can show that he has been profitable
to God, he shall obtain his reward as a matter of desert, not
grace.' The question is intended to shame into silence the
murmurings of the unbelieving Jews, as if they had been
dealt unjustly with in the arrangements of the new economy ;
and to impress on the minds of men, of every race and age,
that blessings to sinful men can be hoped for from nothing
but the self-moved, sovereign benignity of God.
The absurdity of the opposite sentiment is involved in the
sublime doxology with which the apostle concludes the doc
trinal part of the epistle : " For of Him, and through Him,
and to Him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever.
Amen." This is, perhaps, the most comprehensive account
of the Deity, in His relation to His works, that is anywhere
to be met with. All things are of Him : He is of none ;
He is the origin of them all ; they originate in His will ;
but for- Him they would never have been. All things
are by Him : He creates — He sustains them all ; by Him
they were created, by Him they subsist. All things are

SECT. II.J THE DIVINE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION. 427
to Him : all things are intended to manifest forth His glory,
and will ultimately serve this purpose; He has made all
things for Himself. And it is obviously meet that it should be
so. It is right that His will should be the law, His glory the
end, of the universe, of which he is the creator, supporter,
and proprietor.
Well might the apostle add — " To whom be glory for ever.
Amen." This is an emphatic expression of conviction that it
should be so ; his desire that it might be so ; his firm belief
that it shall be so. In this expression of loyalty to the Sove
reign of the universe, every right-hearted, intelligent being —
man and angel — throughout creation, will cordially acquiesce.
In this region of His dominions, we have to mourn that a
world so full of His glory should be so empty of His praise.
But a happier period is predicted, when the apostle's call shall
be worthily responded to — when the rebellious spirit, which
now pervades so many of His rational creatures, shall be
quelled for ever — and when " every creature that is in the
heavens, and on the earth, and under the earth, shall be heard
saying, ' Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be to
Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and
ever.' ' Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Al
mighty ; just and true are all Thy ways, Thou King of saints.'
' Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the
Lord our God ; for true and righteous are His judgments.'
' Alleluia ! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.' M1
1 " Such is the conclusion of the doctrinal part of our epistle — a power
ful expression of profound wonder, reverence, and adoration, in regard to
the unsearchable ways of God in His dealings with men ; and an asser
tion of the highest intensity respecting His sovereign right to control all
things, so as to accomplish His own designs, inasmuch as all spring from
Him — ' live, and move, and have their being in Him' — and are for His
glory." " Sovereignty in God does not imply that He does anything
without the best of reasons. It only implies that these reasons are often
not known to us ; and that it is meet that they should be concealed from
us, that we may be impressed with a sense of our humble condition, and
limited faculties and information, and have room for the exercise of im
plicit, affectionate, child-like confidence in Him, who so well deserves to

428 DOCTRINAL. [pART II.
be trusted. If our hearts are ever tempted to rise up against any of His
dispensations, let us bow them down to the dust — at once silencing and
satisfying them with the humbling, consoling, animating, glorious truth,
that ' of God, and through Him, and for Him, are all things.' To Him,
then, be the glory, for ever and ever." — (Slightly altered from Moses
Stuart.)

PART III.
PRACTICAL.
Ch. xii. 1-xv. 13.
The third great division of the Epistle to the Romans, to the
consideration of which we now proceed, commences with the
twelfth chapter, and terminates with the 13th verse of the
fifteenth chapter. It seems naturally to divide itself into
four sections, of very unequal length. The first, contained
in chap. xii. 1, 2, is occupied with a general exhortation to
the performance of Christian duty, viewed as self-sacrifice ;
and to the cultivation of Christian character, viewed as non
conformity to the world, and transformation, by the renewing
of the mind. — The second, contained in chap. xii. 3-8, is a
directory to the gifted office-bearers of the Church, how to
employ and regulate their gifts, and perform their duties. —
The third, contained in chap. xii. 9— xiii. 14, is employed in
enjoining and enforcing a variety of particular duties incum
bent on Christians, religious and moral, personal and relative,
to each other, and to mankind at large. — The fourth, and
longest section, contained in chap. xiv. 1— xv. 13, treats of
" terms of communion," and illustrates the principles on
which the Roman Christians were to regulate their fellowship,
with a particular reference to the circumstances in which they
were placed, as a body composed of Jews and Gentiles, and,
from their previous history, and diversified means of informa
tion, entertaining different views of some minute points of
doctrine and practice. Let us, then, turn our attention to
these leading divisions of the Practical part of the Epistle,

430 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
SECTION I.
GENERAL EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTY.
Chapter xii. 1, 2.—" I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to
this world ; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God."
The apostle addresses himself to the whole members of the
Roman Church, whether Jews or Gentiles, as " brethren" —
possessed of a common relation to God, through Christ ; and
a common character, rising out of that relation ; and a mutual
relation and character, resulting from these ; and both the ap
pellation, and the exhortation which it introduces, are applicable
to all Christians, in all countries and in all ages. The duty
enjoined is unreserved devotement of themselves to the service
of God ; and the language in which the injunction is couched
is borrowed from the usages of the Mosaic economy. They
are called to " present their bodies to God a sacrifice." We
are plainly not to understand the phrase, " your bodies," as
contrasted with ' your souls,' or ' spirits,' but as equivalent
to, 'yourselves as embodied intelligencies' — just as he calls
on them not to let " sin reign in their mortal bodies j"1 and
as the apostle James says, "the tongue defileth the whole
body."2 It is probable that the phrase, " your bodies," was
preferred by the apostle to ' yourselves,' for two reasons :
first, because he is comparing Christians to sacrificial victims,
and it was the bodies of the devoted animals that were pre
sented in sacrifice ; and, secondly, because he wished to bring
broadly before their minds this truth — that an essential part of
Christian duty was keeping themselves from those shameful
abuses of the body which prevailed so extensively among the
1 Chap. vi. 12. 2 Chap. iii. 6. :

SECT. I.J GENERAL EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTY. 431
heathen, and entered even into their religious services.1 It is of
importance to remark, that there is no reference to expiatory
sacrifice. The person is not considered as making atonement
for sin, or presenting a price for blessings to be bestowed,
by devoting himself to God. The idea is — ' You are entirely
God's property — His property by the double claim of creation
and redemption. You ought, therefore, to present yourselves
as a sacrifice to Him— to hold yourselves bound and ready to
be, and do, and suffer, whatever He requires you to be, and
do, and suffer.' To " present ourselves a sacrifice to God," is
the same thing as the " yielding of ourselves to Him as those
who are alive from the dead, and our members to Him as the
instruments of righteousness ;"2 " the glorifying of God in our
body and in our spirit, which are God's ;"3 " the living to the
Lord, and dying to the Lord, because we are not our own,
but His."4
The apostle calls on the Romans not only to present their
bodies to God as " a sacrifice," but as " a living sacrifice."
In using this expression, he might perhaps refer to the fact
that, under the law, no animal which had died of itself
could be offered on God's altar. The victims were to be pre
sented alive before the altar, and there slain.5 In this case,
. the force of the injunction is, ' Devote yourselves to God, not
in external profession merely, but in spirit and truth : serve
God "with your spirits, according to the Gospel of His Son."'
Or the reference may be considered as being to the striking
contrast between the legal sacrifices and this Christian sacrifice.
They were the dead bodies of brute animals : it is the sacrifice
of the animated bodies of rational, immortal men — a sacrifice
that shall "please the Lord, better than an ox or bullock that
hath both horns and hoofs." e In this case the sentiment is,
' Devote yourselves to God ; this is a more excellent kind of
sacrifice than any offered under the law.'
The apostle further characterizes this sacrifice as " holy."

' Chap. i. 24. 2 Chap. vi. 13. 3 1 Cor. vi. 20. 4 Rom. xiv. 8.
5 Lev. xvii. 5 ; 2 Chron. xxix. 21, 22. ° Psa. lxix. 31.

432 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
The bodies, or persons of Christians presented in sacrifice,
are said to be " holy." The words may either signify, They
are " holy " in the proper sense of the word ; they are set
apart to a sacred purpose — purchased by the blood, transformed
by the Spirit of Christ — thus "set apart by the Lord for Him
self; " and, therefore, as sprinkled with atoning blood, washed
in the laver of regeneration, should they present themselves :
or the word " holy" may be used in its secondary signification,
" unblemished ;" and then it is expressive not so much of the
reason why they should present themselves, as of the moral
character of the offering. Let it be unstained, unblemished
— a " walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the
Lord blameless." 1 Let it be the right thing done in the right
way. Still further, the apostle requires them to present
themselves an " acceptable sacrifice." The phrase, " to God,"
may be connected either with " present " or " acceptable ; "
equally good scholars support each of these modes of connec
tion. I prefer connecting it with " present," — thus, " present
your bodies to God,". — though there can be no question that
" acceptable" here is equivalent to ' acceptable to God.' The
word either may be intended to denote the fact that such a
sacrifice is acceptable to God — this worship in spirit and
truth is pleasing to God ; " The Father seeketh such to wor- .
ship Him : " 2 or it may be, and I rather think it is, a hint to
take care that the sacrifice be so presented that it shall be ac
ceptable. We and our services can only be " accepted in the
Beloved." Religious duty, to be pleasing to God, must be the
result of the influence of His Spirit. If we would have our
sacrifice accepted, it must be presented in the name of, bv
the hands of, the great High Priest, and purified by the
cleansing power of the Good Spirit.
Now, such a sacrifice of our bodies — ourselves, thus " liv
ing, holy, and acceptable, is," says the apostle, " your reason
able service." These words are commonly understood as
conveying this idea: Such a sacrifice is most reasonable.
1 Luke i. 6. * jonn iv 23

SECT. I.J GENERAL EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTY. 433
Everything in the character of God, and in the condition of
man, especially of redeemed man, declares it to be so. The
man who devotes himself to God acts the part of a reasonable
being ; the man who does not, behaves most irrationally.
This is the truth most sure, but it is not just the truth ex
pressed in the words. The term rendered "sendee,"1 is, in
the Scriptures, uniformly descriptive of worship.2 The word
rendered "reasonable,"3 properly signifies what belongs to the
reason, mind, or understanding of man, in contrast with what
belongs to his animal part. It occurs only in another place in
the New Testament, 1 Pet. ii. 2, " the milk of the word," —
properly "the rational milk" — the nourishment suitable to
the mind. The apostle's object here seems to be to fix the
mind of his readers on the inferiority of the carnal ordinances
of divine service under the law to the internal worship of the
new economy, which converts all action into duty, and all
duty into worship, and makes every part of worship the ex
pression of thought and affection. It is as if he had said,
' The presentation of this sacrifice is not the worship of the
body merely, it is, even where there is bodily action, the wor
ship of the mind and heart. This is worship worthy of a
rational being to offer — fit for a spiritual Divinity to accept.'
To present this sacrifice, to perform this " reasonable ser
vice," this ' spiritual worship,' the apostle " beseeches" the
Romans. As an apostle, he might have commanded them ;
but he chose rather to " beseech " them as a friend who saw
how very deeply their happiness was involved in their compli
ance with his injunctions. And he beseeches them "by the
mercies of God." The term is put in the plural, either to
indicate the innumerable manifestations which God had made
of his mercies to men, or to serve as a superlative in describing
the great, the unspeakable, grace of God in Christ Jesus, in
unfolding which the previous part of the epistle had been
chiefly engaged. The reference is probably to chap. iii.
19-26; v. 1-11 ; vi. 23 ; viii. 31-39— as if he had said, 'Such
1 -haTpiia. 2 John xvi. 2; Rom. ix. 4; Heb. ix. 1, 6. 3 Aoy/xuj.
2 E

434 PRACTICAL. [PART IIT.
are the wonders of Divine grace. Should they not produce
a corresponding state of mind and heart in those who are the
objects of this mercy ? God has given His Son for you — to
you, and with Him freely all things necessary to make you
perfectly holy and happy for ever. Is it too much that you
should give yourselves to Him — your whole selves, in all the
faculties of your nature, during the whole term of your being? '
Nothing but the knowledge and belief of the truth respecting
these mercies will ever induce any man thus to present this
living, holy, acceptable sacrifice— thus to perform this rational
worship ; and nothing but the presentation of this sacrifice —
nothing but the performance of this worship, can be satisfac
tory evidence that a man knows this "grace of God in truth."
This " grace of God, bringing salvation to all, teaches " every
man who knows it — nothing else can — " to deny ungodliness
and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, and righteously, and
godly in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus
Christ ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us
from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people,
zealous of good works." x
In the 2d verse, the apostle presents the whole of Christian
duty under another phasis. In the preceding verse, Christian
duty, as a whole, is viewed in its reference to God ; and in
this respect it is one spiritual sacrifice — the sacrifice of the
person's self — all he is, all he has, all he can do — one continued
act of rational worship. Here it is viewed in reference to
that system of things seen and temporal, in the midst of which
the Christian lives, and is represented as a disconformity to it,
and a transformation by the "renewing of the mind." " And
be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the
renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect will of God." 2 These words con
tain (1.) a description of the Christian's duty, "Be not con
formed to this world, but be transformed;" and (2.) an
1 Tit. ii. 11-14. s Ver. 2.

SECT I.J GENERAL EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTY. 435
account of the manner in which he is to be enabled to
perform this duty, " by the renewing of the mind."
The word here rendered " world," 1 properly refers to time,
and is often translated ' age.' It is very usually in the Holy
Scriptures, as here, employed to denote the whole external
frame of things existing in time — what the apostle calls "things
seen and temporal." It is called this world, to distinguish it,
as the seen world, from the unseen world — the present tem
poral world, from the future and eternal world, with which faith
makes us acquainted. The word " world " is often interpreted
as signifying " the men of this world," worldly men — men su
premely interested in, influenced by, and occupied about
" things seen and temporal," of whom the Psalmist speaks —
" men of the world, who have their portion in this life." 2
Another word rendered world3 often has this meaning, as
John vii. 7; xiv. 22; xv. 18, 19; xvi. 20; xvii. 9; James iv. 4;
1 John iii. 1. But it is very questionable whether the word
before us is ever thus employed.4 It seems to bear here what
may be safely called its ordinary scriptural meaning, " the
present state of things," including the external frame of na
ture, and the opinions, tempers, and habits of mankind — the
idea of disorder and evil, both moral and physical, being gene
rally obviously implied — Matt. xiii. 22 ; Luke xvi. 8; xx. 34 ;
1 Cor. i. 20 ; ii. 6, 8 ; 2 Tim. iv. 10 ; Tit. ii. 12— the world
of which John says, " All that is in it, the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" — i.e., what the flesh
desires, what the eyes desire, what living men are proud of —
" is not of the Father." 5
To be conformed to this world, is to be possessed of a cha
racter formed entirely by the influences of the present sensible
state of things acting on the unchanged principles of fallen
humanity, managed by him who is " the prince " and " the
god of this world." Unregenerate men are "fashioned" by
1 aiiiii. 2 Psa. xvii. 14. 3 xoo-fiog.
4 The only passage adduced by Robinson, Eph. ii. 2, is certainly not to
the point.
* 1 John ii. 10.

436 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
this state of things, through the medium of " their flesh and
its lusts." The character thus formed— the truth respecting
God and the unseen world being shut out from the mind, the
" powers of the world to come " supplanted by the power of
the present world— is a character of godlessness and selfishness
—of alienation from God, and of disregard to the happiness of
others, except so far as it is seen to be identified with their own ;
and they who possess this character " walk according to the
course of this world, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of
the mind " — " mind earthly things." x This worldly character
admits of almost an infinite variety of shades, according to
diversity in the original constitution of the individual, and in
the circumstances in which he is placed. In one case, an in
dividual, possessed of strong appetites and passions, destitute
of the restraints of education, and so situated that he may
readily find the full indulgence of his low propensities, becomes
an absolute monster of impiety, selfishness, malignity, and
sensuality. In another, a man, blessed with a more happily
constituted bodily and mental frame, and with the superadded
advantages of careful intellectual culture and moral restraint,
becomes an amiable, respectable, useful member of society.
Yet the two individuals may be equally " conformed to this
world." Everything in the character of both is "of the earth,
earthy." Nothing bears the stamp of God and eternity.
The apostle enjoins Christians " not to be conformed to this
world ;" — not to allow the influences of things seen and tem
poral to be the forming, regulating principle of their conduct ;
to seek treasure, not on earth, but in heaven ; to mind the
things that are above, and not the things that are on the
earth ; to avoid the modes of thought, feeling, and conduct,
which result from looking at things seen and temporal, to the
neglect of looking at things unseen and eternal — the modes of
thought, and feeling, and conduct — the principles and max
ims — which are characteristic of the great mass of mankind,
men merely born of the flesh, and who " fashion themselves
'Eph. ii. 2, 3; Phil. iii. 19.

SECT. I.J GENERAL EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTY. 437
according to their lusts in their ignorance," and follow " the
vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers." 1
This is a character which belongs to all men by nature.
It was the original character of the Roman Christians — but it
must be so no longer ; and that it may be " put off," as " the
old man," they must be " transformed by the renewing of
their mind,"— they must be radically changed. They must
learn to think, and feel, and act under the power of that un
seen eternal world with which faith has made them acquainted.
Instead of being without God, God must be set always before
them — His favour the chief good — His will the grand govern
ing, guiding principle — His glory the great end. Instead of
minding only their own things, they must mind the things of
Christ. Instead of looking every one at his own things, every
man is to look also at the things of others. They must become
" new creatures : old things must pass away, and all things
must be made new."2
And this transformation of character is to be sought for
" by the renewing of the mind." " The renewing of the mind"
is not descriptive of some physical operation — such as the
putting a new thinking principle into the individual, or even
the superadding of some new, physical capacity of thought and
feeling to the intellectual and moral frame of our nature :
the mind is renewed when, under the influence of the Spirit,
the truth is understood and believed, so as to displace the
ignorance and error that previously prevailed. It is the truth,
understood and believed, that purifies the heart from the love
of the world ; and, just in proportion as that truth is under
stood and believed, are men transformed. It is by men's
being formed to a right way of thinking, that they are formed
to a right way of feeling and acting with regard to this world
and the next — to God, and our brethren of mankind.
^^hristians are thus not to be conformed to this world, but
transformed by the renewing of their mind, " that"— in order
that, " they may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
1 1 Tet. i. 14, 18. 2 2 Cor. v. 17.

438 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

and perfect will of God,"— or rather, the ' will of God— that
which is good, that which is acceptable, that which is perfect.
The will of God here is what, from the Christian revelation it
appears, God would have us to be — " This is the will of God,
even our sanctification."1 What He wills for us is "good" — "
excellent in itself, good for us, good for all : it is " acceptable"
— well pleasing to Him, and to all good and wise intelligent
beings ; and, finally, it is " perfect" — it includes in it every
thing that is necessary to complete the character, and to make
us every way what we ought to be.
To " prove this will," is practically to become acquainted
with it — to know its excellence by experiencing it : not merely
to know it speculatively, but to realize it. This can only be
done by " our being transformed, by the renewing of our
mind." The goodness, excellence, and perfection of the will
of God can be proved in no other way. The substance of the
whole exhortation is— 'Seeing God has thus manifested His love
to you by giving His Son for you — to you, and with Him all
good things, manifest your love to Him by devoting yourselves
entirely to His sendee in the spiritual duties of true Christi
anity, and seek higher and higher degrees of that disconformity
in thought and affection to this world, and of that new and
better frame of principles and feelings which is to be obtained
by your mind being renewed through the faith of the truth, and
by which, by which alone, you can experimentally know how
good, acceptable, and perfect is that spiritual state to which it
is the will of God that you, as Christians, should attain.'
These statements of Christian duty — this enforcement of it,
" by the mercies of God" — and this directory as to how Chris
tians are to be enabled to perform it, " by the renewing of
their minds," — are equally applicable to us as to those to whom
they were originally addressed. Let us improve them for
self-examination, for stimulus, and for guidance. Let us see
that we habitually present ourselves a living sacrifice— that,
in our principles, aims, maxims, and habits, we become
1 1 Thess. iv. 3.

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 439
more and and more " not of the world," even as He whom
we call Master was not of the world — that we be steadily
transforming ourselves in accordance with His word, under
the influence of His Spirit. Let us lay ourselves more and
more open to the melting power of " the mercies of God,"
fitting the various elements of our nature for being poured into
the mould of the doctrine of Christ.1 And let us study, with
constantly increasing attention, that word, by which the Divine
Spirit quickens and forms men anew in Christ Jesus. Thus
will we "prove" — thus will we experience, what the will of
God, in reference to man, is ; and how good, how perfect, how
acceptable it is.
The next section of the practical part of the epistle is occu
pied with a comprehensive exhortation with regard to the
right employment of gifts, and the right discharge of duties,
by those who held office in the Church.

SECTION II.
EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS.
Chapter xii. 3-8. — " For I say, through the grace given unto me, to
every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body,
and all members have not the same office ; so we, being many, are one
body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then
gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether pro
phecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith ; or ministry, let
us wait on our ministering ; or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that
exhorteth, on exhortation : he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he
that ruleth, with diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness."
In illustrating the apostolical epistles, interpreters have run
into two opposite extremes : some treating them as if they had
an exclusive reference to those to whom they were addressed,
and as if their bearing, as a rule of faith and duty, on Chris-
' Rom. vi. 17.

440 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
tians of other countries and ages were of a very indirect and
occasional kind ; others applying, without discrimination, and
directly, everything contained in them to the Christian Church
in all time, and scarcely admitting that they to whom they
were addressed had any exclusive interest in them. Both
these extremes are based on error, and tend to injury.
The first is the worst extreme : it embodies most error,
and is fraught with most mischief. But the second extreme
is to be avoided also. The meaning of many passages in the
apostolic epistles have been misapprehended, and of course mis
represented, by our coming to the consideration of them with
minds full of ideas borrowed from comparatively modern forms
of thought and usage, and by our losing sight of the striking
peculiarities of the primitive age, and of the particular society
to which the epistles are addressed. By far the greater part
of every one of the apostolical epistles is as applicable to us
as to those to whom they were written ; and there is no part of
them which, when rightly understood and improved, may not
be useful to us. But there are not a few passages (and the
occurrence of such passages is a strong corroboration of the
authenticity of these writings — entire absence of them would
have naturally suggested doubts on this subject) in which the
instruction given has a plain reference to something that was
peculiar to the primitive age, or to the particular church ad
dressed, and which is not directly applicable to churches in
other countries and ages, which may be placed in very different
circumstances ; though, in every such case, the passage will be
found, when rightly understood in reference to its original
object, to be indirectly replete with important instruction to
Christians of every land, and during all time. And it deserves
to be noticed, that such passages as we are referring to are
often introduced in the midst of discussions, doctrinal or prac
tical, of unchanging interest, and of perpetual, universal im
portance. This is, I apprehend, the case with that section of the Epistle
to the Romans, on the exposition of which we are now enter
ing. It does not refer, as a superficial reader may suppose,

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 441
to all Christians, but only to all Christians who are endowed
with certain gifts and invested with certain offices; and it
does not refer directly even to the Christian ministry in all
countries and ages, but to the spiritually-gifted ministry of
the Roman Church (the evidence of this will come out by
and by) ; though, at the same time, it will be found indirectly
to furnish much important instruction, both to all Christian
men, and especially to all Christian ministers.
Owing to this peculiar character of the section, it may serve
a good purpose to prefix to its analytical exposition a few pre
liminary observations respecting the ministry of the Primitive
Church. These remarks may be of some use in enabling us
to understand aright, not only this paragraph, but many other
passages in the apostolical writings.
In the present age, in rightly constituted Christian churches,
persons who are judged qualified by their brethren, the body
of the faithful, are called to officiate as teachers and ministers ;
and these office-bearers must seek for fitness to discharge the
duties of the stations to which they are called, by exerting
their natural talents in the careful study of the doctrine and
law of Christ, in dependence on the ordinary enlightening
and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, and by the ac
quisition of such branches of knowledge and habits of mental
exercise as are subservient to this study. It was otherwise in
the primitive age. When the risen Saviour ascended on high,
He conferred gifts on His infant Church suited to her circum
stances : " He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and
some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers ; for the per
fecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify
ing of the body of Christ." x So far as we can discover, wher
ever, through the working of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel was
believed by a number of individuals, so that a Christian church
was formed, a due portion of these individuals were super
naturally endowed with what are called 'spiritual gifts'2 of
various kinds : some being enabled, by the inspiration of the
I Eph. iv. 11, 12. 2 xapiapiXTX.

442 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
Holy Ghost, clearly to apprehend, and accurately to unfold and
explain, the principles of the new religion ; others, to attest its
Divine origin by speaking " divers tongues," — i.e. apparently,
languages which they had not been taught, and by perform
ing other miraculous works ; both kinds of gifts not unfre-
quently being combined in the same individual.
The following is the account of what took place at the
foundation of the Corinthian church ; and though there may
have been more gifted men in that church, and a greater
variety of gifts than in some other churches, we have no
reason for thinking that the fact of their having gifted men
among them was at all peculiar to them : " Now there are
diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differ
ences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh
all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every
man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the
word of wisdom ; to another the word of knowledge by the same
Spirit ; to another faith by the same Spirit ; to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit ; to another the working of
miracles; to another prophecy ; to another discerning of spirits ;
to another divers kinds of tongues ; to another the interpreta
tion of tongues : but all these worketh that one and the self-
same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will." 1
All these gifted persons were to employ their supernaturally
conferred faculties for the advantage of the church with which
they were connected ; and from these gifted persons it appears
that the official men, the teachers and administrators, were
always chosen. It seems certain that there were gifted men
in some of the primitive churches who were not office-bearers,
but it seems at least equally plain that there were no office
bearers who were not gifted men.2 The circumstances of the
1 1 Cor. xii. 4-12.
2 The whole of this interesting question is very judiciously treated
by Mr M'Leod, in his Essays and Enquiries respecting the Gifts and the
Teachers of the Primitive Churches, Essay iv. : and in his longer and very
able work, A View of Inspiration, chap, xviii.

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 443
primitive Church rendered such qualifications absolutely ne
cessary in her functionaries. Let us take, for example, the
most favourable case that can be supposed : a church com
posed chiefly of Jews. In such a church, few, it may be none,
possessed a copy of the Old Testament, and few of them could
have read it if they had possessed it. The art of reading was
confined to few ; and even of those who could read the ver
nacular tongue, few could read the language in which the
Old Testament was written, which had been a dead tongue
for many ages. The Old Testament, in Hebrew, was probably
not more intelligible to them who could read, than Wicliff's
translation is to the great body of those among us who can
read English. Whatever knowledge they had of the Jewish
Scriptures, had been obtained by hearing them read and in
terpreted in the synagogue every Sabbath. A minority, who
understood Greek, might have an opportunity of perusing the
Septuagint version. As to the Scriptures of the New Testa
ment, it is generally held that Matthew wrote his gospel not
sooner than eight — it may be not sooner than fifteen — years
after the Ascension ; and the last of the writings of John was
probably written not earlier than sixty years after that event.
There existed then few of the facilities which we possess of
multiplying and diffusing writings. A few copies, or a single
copy of one gospel, or one epistle, might be all the means pos
sessed by a Christian church of deriving instruction in their
religion from its written documents; and probably no Christian
church, till a time considerably posterior to the death of all
the apostles, had a complete copy of the Christian Scriptures.
The churches, indeed, occasionally enjoyed the ministrations
of an apostle or an evangelist; but the peculiar duties of these
functionaries were of such a kind as forbade their becoming
stationary, or even remaining long in one place. In such
churches as were formed of converts from Judaism, could men
have been found fit for teaching Christianity, without super
natural endowments ? And if this was the case among Jews,
partially prepared for understanding the principles of Chris
tianity by their familiarity with the Old Testament Scriptures.

444 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
what must have been the state of those churches which were
composed almost exclusively of converts from Paganism ? In
bestowing these gifts, then, so liberally in the primitive age,
we see the Divine Being acting on the principle which cha
racterises all His economics. He does nothing by miracle
which could be effected by natural means —
" Unlavish Wisdom never works in vain."
It further appears obvious, that the office-bearers in the
primitive churches must have been gifted men, from the con
sideration that, in most, if not in all these churches, gifted
men were to be found among the ordinary members. Cer
tainly no grosser incongruity could well be conceived, than
that of " a novice," whether of Jewish or Gentile origin, who
had no knowledge of Christianity but what he had acquired
in the ordinary way, being called to instruct men who had
received " the spirit of wisdom and revelation," " the word of
wisdom," and "the word of knowledge;" or even to teach in
churches where such men were to be found.
These " spiritual gifts" were, in various respects, different
from the ordinary, enlightening, sanctifying, and comforting
influences of the Holy Spirit, which are essential to vital, per
sonal Christianity; and it does not appear that the possession
of the former, even in a large measure, was necessarily con
nected with the possession of the latter in a corresponding
degree, or indeed in any degree. There might be uncon
verted, inspired men in the primitive age, as well as under the
previous economies. Those spiritual gifts, like natural endow
ments, might be abused — we know that in some cases they
were abused ; and, when carefully considered, the two classes
of facts adverted to, seem to be much on a level as to the diffi
culty of accounting for them. The persons who were pos
sessed of these gifts were, like naturally, highly gifted men, in
danger of being puffed up, and of employing their supernatural
faculties for the purpose of personal display, rather than
general advantage. This was the case in the Corinthian
church ; and the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth chapters

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 445
of the first epistle to that church, are intended to prevent and
correct the abuses into which these gifted men had fallen in
the exercise of their gifts. The prevention of disorders of this
kind, so injurious in various ways to the Christian cause,
among the Romans, seems to have been the apostle's object in
writing that section of the epistle now before us— which, as
we shall see, contains in it clear evidence of being intended as
a directory for the gifted office-bearers of that church. And
keeping in view these remarks, I trust we shall find little
difficulty in understanding its various parts.
The general purport of the advice given by the apostle may
be thus stated : ' Since, as in that closely compacted society,
the Church of Christ, there is a variety of individuals, en
dowed with a variety of gifts, and called to a variety of offices,
to serve a variety of purposes — all, however, subservient to the
advantage of the body which these individuals collectively
form, just as in the human body there are a variety of mem
bers, endowed with a variety of capabilities, and fitted for a
variety of uses — all, however, subservient to the growth, and
nourishment, and health, and general well-being of the
organised whole which they compose ;— since such is the con
stitution of the Christian Church, no individual, however high
in gifts or in office, should entertain an undue sense of his
own individual importance, or make an undue display of his
own individual endowments or attainments, or intrude into a
place that belongs to another, but should seek to promote the
welfare of the whole society, by an humble, seasonable,
diligent exercise of his gifts, and discharge of the duties of
his own place ; just as, if we could suppose the different
members of the body animated each by a separate intelligence,
the limbs must not pride themselves on their speed, and make
a useless ostentation of it, nor the hands on their dexterity,
nor may one member attempt to perform the appropriate
function of another, but all in harmony, each doing its own
work, promote its own interest by promoting the welfare of
the body of which it forms a part.' This is the general prin
ciple. Let us now consider its application.

446 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
"For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every
man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think ; but to think soberly, according as
God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."1 It is
not easy to fix the precise force of the connective particle ren
dered for. By many interpreters it is considered as equiva
lent to moreover. Perhaps it has its illustrative power — for
in nothing is non-conformity to this world, and transformation
by the renewing of the mind, more necessary, than in the at
tainment and exercise of that sober-minded estimate of indi
vidual gifts and claims which the apostle here recommends to
the official men in the Roman church. "I say,"2 is equiva
lent to " I command" — no uncommon use of the term, as
Matt, xxiii. 3, " They say" — that is, they authoritatively com
mand, " but they do not;" Luke vi. 46 ; Mark xiii. 37 ; Matt.
v. 44, and often elsewhere. The clause that follows fixes the
meaning here: " According to the grace given unto me." The
apostle clearly refers to his office as an apostle, and the apostle
of the Gentiles. Here we see the difference between the
meaning and the reference of a term : the meaning of " the
grace given me," is just 'the favour conferred on me ;' but
the reference is to that " grace" which consisted in the office
which he delighted to magnify, and of which he speaks so
gratefully: "To me, who am less than the least of all saints,
is this grace given, to preach among the Gentiles the un
searchable riches of Christ."3 The apostle's language, then,
is equivalent to, ' In virtue of the apostolic office graciously
conferred on me, and in the exercise of the supernatural gifts
and authority belonging to that office, I enjoin you.' It is
just as when he says to the Thessalonians,4 " This we say un
to you by the word of the Lord."
But to whom is the injunction addressed? At first view,
it may appear that it was addressed to every individual in the
Roman church; but a little reflection will show that it is
1 Ver. 3. 2 Kiya.
* Eph. iii. 8 ; Rom. i. 5 ; xv. 15, 16. ; 1 Cor. iii. 10 ; Gal. ii. 9.
1 1 Thess. iv. 15.

SECT. TI.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 447
addressed only to every individual of a particular class in that
church. It is addressed to those who had "gifts:"1 to the
prophets and to the ministers — to those who teach and exhort
— and to those who rule and give ; 2 and " all were not pro
phets, or teachers, or rulers, any more than apostles.3
" Every man" is here used in the same way as in 1 Cor.
xii. 7, 11.
The apostle not only thus shows us that he speaks of a
limited universality — the whole of a class, but he marks the
precise limits of the class he addresses ; they are those " to
whom God had dealt a measure of faith." The word "faith "
is here used, not in a peculiar sense, but with a peculiar refer
ence, to denote that faith which was in the primitive age
possessed by those who were endowed with supernatural gifts
— what is ordinarily termed by divines ' the faith of miracles.'
When God conferred on an individual supernatural gifts, He
revealed to the individual, in a way we cannot explain, that
He had done so ; He made him conscious of it. And the
faith which corresponded to this revelation seems to have been
that referred to here, — a faith by which gifted men were dis
tinguished, not only from unbelievers, but also from their
Christian brethren to whom such a revelation had not been
given. This faith must always have corresponded to the na
ture and measure of the miraculous gift ; so that we need not
wonder at finding the apostle use as the synonym of the phrase
here employed, "the measure of the gift of Christ."4 The
word " faith " seems to be used in a different sense by the
apostle when he employs it as the name of a spiritual gift,5 —
probably a degree of confidence and boldness in declaring the
truth, and suffering for it, superior to what the individual in
the exercise merely of his natural faculties could have exerted.
Here it is plainly used as something equally extensive with
spiritual gifts — something common to all gifted men.
The phrase translated "to every man among you,"3 is

1 xupto-fivr*. Ver. 6. 2 Vers. 6, 7, 8. 3 1 Cor. xii. 29.
4 Eph. iv. 7. * 1 Cor. xii. 9. 8 itxhtI tu ovti iv vpuv.

448 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
somewhat remarkable, and has been considered by some inter
preters as equivalent to — ' to every man that is of consequence
among you,' as in 1 Cor. i. 28, "things that are"1 — which
signifies persons of consequence — as opposed to " things that
are not," 2 insignificant persons. In this case, the limitation is
obvious ; and " they who are " is here a phrase similar in
meaning to "those who seemed to be somewhat," in Gal.
ii. 6.3
Having thus attempted to ascertain the class to whom the
apostle addresses himself here, let us inquire into the import
of the injunction given them. The gifted and official men are
commanded not to " think of themselves more highly than
they ought to think ; but to think soberly, according as God
had dealt to every man the measure of faith."4 There was a
danger that supernatural gifts might, in an imperfectly sanc
tified mind, engender pride. " Knowledge," however ob
tained, is an attainment of a kind that, in a being like man,
even renewed man, naturally " puffeth up." It is against
this evil that the apostle here guards the gifted office-bearers
of the Roman church. He cautions them against thinking
their intellectual power and attainment, even though derived
from supernatural Divine influence, to be greater than they
really were ; and calls on them to judge of themselves and of
their gifts "soberly" — that is, "judiciously," "modestly," "ac
cording as5 God had dealt to every man the measure of faith ;"
that is, either, ' Since God has given to every gifted man his
measure of endowment, there is no room for pride, though there
is strong reason for gratitude and diligent improvement; and if
God has given one a greater measure than another, that is no
reason why he should despise or undervalue that other, — who
hath made the difference ? ' or, as our translators have under
stood it, 'Let the measure of the gift which God has given be
t« ona. a tx fiii o'vtx. 3 tZv <Joxoi>VTavi s'lva ti
4 Ver. 3. vapa is often used as here, Luke xiii. 2 ; iii. 13 ; Rom. xiv.
5 ; Heb. i. 4, 9 ; iii. 3. There is an obvious ¦Kapovop.avla in virtptppovtiv
and acaCppoviiv.
>*s.

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 449
the measure of the opinion you form of yourselves. Beware
of supposing you possess gifts which He has not conferred on
you, or a higher degree of the gifts you do possess than He
has given.' While it seems to us that these words, in their
direct reference, are applicable only to the gifted office-bearers
of the primitive age, they convey, indirectly, important instruc
tion to all Christians in all ages, whether occupying official
station or not. Superior endowments and acquirements, and
station, are always apt to excite an undue self-complacency in
their possessors ; and they need to be sober in their estimate of
these, and habitually to remember to whom they are indebted
for them, and for what purpose they were bestowed.
The apostle's enforcement of the injunction is contained in
the 4th and 5th verses, and in the first clause of the 6th verse :
" For as we have many members in one body, and all members
have not the same office ; so we, being many, are one body in
Christ, and every one members one of another, having then" —
or rather, 'yet, or but having' — "gifts differing according to
the grace that is given to us." x With many of the best inter
preters, I include the first clause of the 6th verse as necessary
to complete the sentence. The statement here made, bearing
so directly on the preceding injunction, is this : ' The human
body has many members : these members are not independent
beings, but together form one whole, and have each its appro
priate functions to perform in reference to that whole. In
like manner, the Christian Church is formed of many in
dividuals ; but these individuals, as " in Christ " — related,
united, to Christ— form one society, closely connected with
each other, every individual having his appropriate duty to
perform to the society.' The somewhat odd phrase, "Every one
members one of another," conveys the idea, that as every mem
ber of the body has a relation to every other member, from their
common relation to the body as a whole, every member of a
Christian church is, in the same manner, connected with
every other member, from their common connection with the
' Ver. 4-6.
2f

450 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

society which they collectively form. " According to the
grace given to us," is 'according to the favour bestowed on us :
we have " the gift"— " the measure of faith," which it has
pleased God to bestow on us. We find the same figure used
by the apostle to illustrate the same subject : 1 Cor. xu.
12-27; Eph. iv. 16.
The conclusion to which the apostle wishes to conduct the
gifted men is, that they are not to seek the display of their en
dowments, or the advancement of their reputation ; but in a
diligent application of their gifts to the advantage of the whole
society, to study to gain the great end for which these gifts had
been graciously bestowed. In bringing out this conclusion,
he appears to divide the gifted men into two classes, according
to their offices and the gifts corresponding to them — prophecy,
or inspired instruction ; and ministry, or the administration
of the affairs of the society : and then he seems to advert to the
two great branches of instruction, according as it refers to doc
trine or practice, teaching and exhortation ; and to the three
great branches of administration in such a society as the Chris
tian Church — distribution or alms-giving, presidence or govern
ment, and caring for the sick and the afflicted ; and he ex
horts them that, instead of unduly esteeming themselves and
intruding on each other's departments, they should diligently
exercise their peculiar gifts, and perform the functions of their
peculiar offices, to the edification of all.
" Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the pro
portion of faith ; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering ;
or he that teacheth, on teaching ; or he that exhorteth, on ex
hortation ; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity ; he
that ruleth, with diligence ; he that showeth mercy, with
cheerfulness."1 Few paragraphs in our version are so un
happily divided as this. The apostle's comparison does not
close till the middle of the 6th verse : there is no break in the
meaning at the end of that verse ; but there is one, as appears
by the change of construction, at the middle of the 7th verse.
1 Ver. 6-8.

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 451
Again, there is no break in the meaning at the end of that
verse ; but there is one after the first clause of the 8th verse.
The language is very elliptical, as the English reader may ob
serve, from the number of supplementary words in the italic
character. " If we have received the gift of prophecy, let us
prophesy according to the proportion of faith ; if we have re
ceived the gift of ministry, let us wait on our ministry :
the prophet, who has the faculty of teaching, let him exert it ;
and the prophet, who has the faculty of exhortation, let
him do so likewise; the minister, who gives, let him give
with simplicity ; the minister, who rules, let him do it with
diligence; the minister, who showeth mercy, let him do it
with cheerfulness." Such seems the apostle's exhortation when
the dislocations have been replaced. Let us inquire into the
meaning of its various parts.
"Whether prophecy— according to the proportion of faith."
This is a literal rendering of the original words. The ellipsis
must be thus supplied : ' If we have the gift of prophecy ac
cording to the grace given to us, let us prophesy according to
the proportion of faith.' The original meaning of the Hebrew
word, of which "prophet" is the translation, is a person in any
way in intimate relation with God. Thus Abraham was a
prophet,1 and the patriarchs were prophets ;2 Moses was God's
prophet, as Aaron was his.3 The term, however, is more
usually employed to signify a person inspired with the know
ledge of God's will, and commissioned to declare it to others,
and especially those inspired persons whose communications
referred to future events. In the New Testament, the cor
responding term is used much in the same way. "Prophecy,"
when spoken of as a separate spiritual gift, distinguished from
the " word of wisdom " and " the word of knowledge," 4 seems
to be the supernatural knowledge of future events ; but " pro
phets" appears to denote generally inspired teachers, who rank
next to the apostles.6 " Prophets," however, is not a term
' Gen. xx. 7. * Psa. cv. 15. 3 Exod. vii. 1.
4 1 Cor. ii. 8, 10. * Eph. ii. 20; iv. 11.

452 PRACTICAL. [PART

IIT.

merely equivalent to teachers, nor is ordinary preaching to be
considered as the same thing as prophesying ; though, as we
have already seen, the teachers in the primitive Church were
usually prophets, and their preaching was prophesying.
Those who possessed this gift are required by the apostle to
use it, and to use it " according to the proportion of faith." 1
" The proportion of faith " is the same thing as " the measure
of faith;" and to prophesy according to it, is to make the pro
phesying or utterance the exact expression of the revelation
received — the "measure of their faith," and the measure of the
revelation, being obviously coincident. ' Let the prophets not
obtrude on the Church their own speculations, but scrupu
lously deliver the message they have received of the Lord.'
The apostle's injunction corresponds with that of Jehovah by
the prophet, " He that hath My word, let him speak My word
faithfully : what is the chaff to the wheat ? " 2
" Or ministry — on ministering :" that is, supplying the
ellipsis, ' If, according to the grace given to us, we have re
ceived the gift of " ministry," let us exercise it in performing
the offices of ministry.' As the gift of prophecy qualified a
man for teaching, the gift of ministry qualified a man for
management, or administration. There is no doubt that the
word ministry3 is employed in the New Testament to signify
any office in the Christian Church, the apostolic not excepted.
— 1 Cor. xii. 5 ; 2 Cor. iv. 1 ; Rom. xi. 13 ; 1 Cor. iii. 5. But
when distinguished from other gifts or offices, it signifies what
is concerned rather with affairs than with doctrines, it refers to
management, rather than teaching. — Acts vi. 1-7 ; Phil. i. 1 ;
1 Tim. iii. 8, 12. The spiritual gifts of " healing," and "the
discerning of spirits,"4 peculiarly fitted one for the office of a
minister in this restricted sense. ' If then,' says the apostle,
' we have the gifts of ministry, let us exercise them in minis
tration. Let us not intrude into the office of the prophet, for
' Puto dvahoyiav Ttjs iriaTius esse fitTpov -ricTsas • ' Credidi ergo
locutus sum.' Nequis inter prophetandum effutiat quod non revelatum
fuit." — Camero.
2 Jer. xxiii. 28. ¦" Iixkovix. » 1 Cor. xii. 9, 10.

SECT. II.J EXHORTATION TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 453
which we are not fitted ; let us not exercise our gifts ostenta
tiously, and for no definite object, but let us apply them to
the purposes to which they are suited, and for which they are
intended.' What these are will appear immediately.
Having thus stated, generally, that they who had the gift of
prophecy should exercise it with a strict regard to the limits
of the revelation made to them, and they who had the gift of
ministry should exercise that gift in ministration, the apostle,
if I mistake not, proceeds to give directions as to the manner
in which different prophets and different ministers should con
duct themselves, according to the " different gifts" which they
possessed, " according to the grace given to them."
And, first, with regard to the prophets :_ " He that teacheth,
on teaching ; he that exhorteth, on exhortation." ' If any one
among the prophets be, according to the grace given him, a
teacher peculiarly fitted to unfold the doctrines of Chris
tianity, let him, according to the measure of faith, devote him
self to teaching— let him, in the Church, do that for which
he is peculiarly qualified.' " He that exhorteth, on exhorta
tion." ' If any one among them is more fitted for practical
instruction — for presenting, in an impressive form, the motives
and consolations of Christianity, let him employ himself in this
particular department.' The gift of prophecy, as communi
cated to them, might, in the case of some individuals, qualify
them not so much for teaching — exhibiting the meaning and
evidence of Christian doctrine — expounding the sacred writ
ings, as for warm enforcement of duty. ' Let the two classes
of inspired instructors employ their peculiar gifts, and keep to
their own province. So shall the edification of the Church
be best promoted.'
Now, as to the ministers or deacons : " He that giveth,
with simplicity." ' If any one is, by the grace given him, fitted
for, and called to, the office of a deacon — has allotted to him
the duty of collecting and distributing the voluntary contri
butions of the Church, let him devote himself to his own work,
and perform it " with simplicity" — without seeking selfish or
secular ends, with sincerity and uprightness, with a single eye

454 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
to the honour of Christ and the advantage of His cause.' " He
that ruleth, with diligence." ' If any one has the gifts and the
office of ruling — of presiding in the assemblies, and superin
tending the affairs of the Church, let him do the work with
the sedulous care and untiring " diligence" which is necessary
to its being done well.' " He that showeth mercy, with cheer
fulness." In the primitive Church, from its exposure to perse
cution, there were many of its members placed in circum
stances of destitution and distress ; and it was the duty of the
Church, by her deacons, to relieve these. If any one, then,
of the ministers was, from the gifts bestowed on him — such as
the gift of healing— peculiarly fitted for this department of
duty, it behoved him to devote himself to it with that kind
" cheerfulness" which is peculiarly needed in such ministra
tions, and which gives a double value and efficacy to the relief
and consolation afforded.
We are not to suppose that, in the primitive Church, their
teachers, who we believe were all prophets, were formally
divided into two classes — teachers arid exhorters ; nor the ad
ministrators into three classes— givers, rulers or presidents,
and showers of mercy : all that the apostle seems to mean is,
that every official and gifted man should do the duties of his
own office, and exercise his own gift ; for in that way was the
welfare of the Church most likely to be promoted ; — every
gifted and official man forming a just but not exaggerated
view of his endowments, and seeking to advance the good of
the Christian society, by keeping himself within his own sphere,
and diligently performing its appropriate duties.
The paragraph we have illustrated is parallel with 1 Pet.
iv. 10, 11, and at once illustrates, and is illustrated by that
passage : — " As every man hath received the gift, even so
minister the same to one another, as good stewards of the
manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as
the oracles of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as of
the ability which God giveth." '
1 See Exp. of the First Ep. of Pet., vol. ii.. p. 3-J0-32G.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 455
This section, though directly referring to a state of the
Church which, in some of its features, has ceased to exist, is
yet full of important instruction to Christian churches in all
countries and ages. It teaches us that it is of vital importance
to the welfare of a Christian church that its component parts
should know their own place and duty, and confine them
selves to them, as teachers, elders, brethren. It is the duty of
teachers to take care that, in their teaching, they keep close
to the Divine word — teach no doctrine, enjoin no law or insti
tution, but what it authorises ; and to turn to the greatest ad-
Vantage the peculiar talents with which they may have been
endowed. It is the duty of all official men to devote them
selves to that department of official duty for which they are
peculiarly qualified. In one word, it is the duty of all the
members of the Church, whether they occupy public office or
not, to check a spirit of selfishness, in all its forms, and to
cherish a regard for the public interest, expressed in a corre
sponding course of action — to " look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others" — to seek
every man not his own things, but the things of Christ. The
right man in the right place, doing his own work, is the
apostle's idea of a well-organized Christian church ; and in the
degree in which that idea is realised in any individual Chris
tian society, will the objects intended by its great Author for
those within and those beyond its pale be gained.

SECTION III.
EXHORTATIONS TO PARTICULAR CHRISTIAN DUTIES.
Chapter xii. 9-xiii. 14. — "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor
that which is evil ; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned
one to another with brotherly love : in honour preferring one another ;
not slothful in business ; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord ; rejoicing in
hope ; patient in. tribulation ; continuing instant in prayer ; distributing
to the necessity of saints ; given to hospitality.
Bless them which persecute you : bless, and curse not. Rejoice with
them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same

.156 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men
of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no
man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If
it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath :
for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord. There
fore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink : for
in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no
power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Who
soever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God ; and
they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are
not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid
of the power ? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the
same : For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do
that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain : for
he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but
also for conscience sake. For, for this cause pay ye tribute also : for
they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.
Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; cus
tom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honour to whom honour.
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another : for he that loveth
another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false wit
ness, Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other commandment, it
is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law.
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of
sleep ; for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night
is far spent, the day is at hand : let us therefore cast off the works of
darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly,
as in the day ; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying : but put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
The third section of the Practical part of the Epistle is
occupied with exhortations to the cultivation of particular
graces, and the performance of particular duties, which should
characterize all Christians. This section reaches from chap.
in. 9 to chap. xiii. 14. There is no general division under

SECT. HI.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 457
which the several injunctions can be brought ; but the section
is not without internal order— one injunction often, at least,
naturally rising out of another. It does not admit of strict
logical division ; but its contents are not, therefore, to be
viewed as unconnected maxims. They follow each other in
a natural order, like the result of living thought. First, the
apostle enjoins that love to all men, which is the fulfilling of
that department of the law which refers to our fellow-men ; ]
then the brotherly love which Christians should cherish and
manifest towards each other.2 He then enjoins that " ser
vice of the Lord," which embraces all duty, and which should
be performed with unwearying diligence and ever ardent
zeal.3 He passes on to the duties which the depressed and
persecuted state of Christianity made it especially necessary
to attend to. To fit them to meet their trials, he calls on
them to cultivate a joyful hope of future happiness, to ex
emplify steady perseverance amid present afflictions, and to
be ardent and constant in prayer to God.4 He instructs them
how they should treat both their suffering brethren and their
cruel persecutors — ministering to the necessities of the for
mer, and bringing them to their homes ;6 and imploring bless
ings — not imprecating vengeance, on the latter.6 He recom
mends to them cordial sympathy with the joys and sorrows of
their fellow-men, and especially of their fellow-Christians ; 7
and calls on them to cherish unity of affection, and, instead
of striving who should be the greatest, to be ever ready to
perform the humblest offices, by which a brother's best inte
rests may be promoted ; and, in order to this, he cautions
them against self-conceit.8 He then gives a number of ad
vices as to their behaviour to the men of the world — calling
on them in no case to meet injury by injury ; to display
tempers and follow courses which were fitted to command the
respect even of an unfriendly world ; 9 to be ready to do every
thing but sin in order to preserve peace10 — repeating again,

' Ver. 9.

' Ver. 10.

3 Ver. 11.

4 Ver. 12.

5 Ver. 13.

6 Ver. 14.

7 Ver. 15.

8 Ver. 10

0 Ver. 17.

10 Ver. 18.

458 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
and strongly enforcing, the exhortation not to avenge them
selves, but to endeavour to overpower malice by kindness.1
Finally, he instructs them how to conduct themselves with
regard to their civil superiors ;2 and then shuts up the section
by showing that all the duties he had enjoined were but various
forms and manifestations of love,3 and by urging on them the
circumstances of the times, as a reason why they should care
fully perform these duties.4 Such is an outline of the con
tents of this section.
The first injunction is to that love, which, including all
relative duties, as the apostle shows, chap. xiii. 8-10, natu
rally takes the lead : " Let love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."5
" Love" is not here the peculiar affection Christians should
cherish towards each other — that is enjoined in the next verse.
It is the Apostle Peter's " charity," which he calls on Chris
tians to add to " brotherly-kindness." 6 It is a cordial good
will — a disposition to make all men with whom we are con
nected happy — leading us to confer suitable benefits on them,
" as we have opportunity." This love must be " without
hypocrisy." We must not pretend to love when we do not
love ; we must not profess more love than we really possess.
We must love, sincerely love, all mankind; and this love
must " not be in word and tongue only, but in deed and in
truth."7 The manner in which the existence and prevalence of this
principle are to be manifested, is pointed out in the two in
junctions in the close of the verse : " Abhor that which is
evil; cleave to that which is good." The word translated
"evil,"8 properly signifies "malignant, injurious;" though it
is often employed to denote what is morally bad generally ;
and "good"9 properly signifies whatever is excellent in its
kind ; but it is often used to denote what is morally excellent
1 Ver. 19-21. > Chap. xiii. 1-7. 3 Ver 8-10
4 Ver. 11-14. s Ver. 9. 6 ., Pet ; -
U John Hi. IS. « r«S ™VB',,. »r««yj:;'

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 459
in general, and also what is beneficial and useful. The first
term is here used in its primary sense of mischievous ; the
second, whose meaning is fixed by the antithesis, in its
secondary sense. "Evil" is equivalent to injurious, and
" good" to what is fitted to profit and to please. This is no
unwarranted use of the terms. " Evil," in Matt. v. 39, is
'injury;' and "good," in Matt. vii. 11, is 'advantageous,'
' profitable.' l
Christians are to " abhor what is injurious." They must
not only abstain from inflicting wrong on any human being,
but they must so abhor every temper and action that has an
injurious tendency, as to keep at the greatest distance from it.
The second injunction is, literally, " be glued to that which
is good." The Christian is to be steady and persevering in
seeking the advantage of his fellow-men ; he must " stick to
it." He must eagerly seek, readily embrace, strenuously
prosecute, and, in opposition to all attempts to abandon them,
firmly, steadily, stand by every right method of promoting the
happiness of mankind. This is to " cleave to that which is
good." From the duty which Christians owe to all their
brethren of mankind, the apostle proceeds to their duty to
wards one another.
" Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love ;
in honour preferring one another."2 Christians are related
to each other by a variety of bands, in addition to those which
bind man to man. They have common peculiar relations — a
common peculiar character. They are all " children of God
through faith in Christ Jesus,"3 and therefore, in a peculiar
sense, brethren. They have common principles, common
affections of love and hatred, of hope and fear. They have
common objects : they have the same hazards — the same in
terest. They worship the same God and Father ; acknow-

1 Voces boni et mali non habent generalem significatum : sed pro mali-
ciosa iniquitate, qua nocetur hominibus, malum posuit ; bonum autem pro
benignitate qua ipsi juvantur." — Calvin.
2 Ver. 10. 3 Gal. iii. 26.

460 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

ledge the same Lord ; trust in the same Saviour ; are ani
mated by the same Spirit. They form a holy fellowship, out
of which a great variety of duties originates, none of which
can be performed without a high degree of a peculiar kind
affection. It is the cultivation and display of this affection
that the apostle here enjoins. The phrase, " with brotherly
love," belongs to the first clause, not, as it is represented in
some of the editions of our version, to the second. In the
original, the words stand at the beginning of the verse —
" With brotherly love, or, in brotherly love, be kindly affec
tioned one towards another." The word rendered "kindly
affectioned," x is one of the strongest which the Greek language
furnishes. It expresses the peculiar affection with which
parents generally regard their offspring, and the corresponding
feeling of the child to the parent. The whole precept may be
fairly rendered — ' Cherish and display to each other the ten-
derest affection as being connected by the closest relations.'
It condemns apathy, and requires the tide of holy affection,
from a purified heart, to flow forth spontaneously, copiously,
steadily, perseveringly, towards all Christians, and especially
towards those brethren with whom we stand in the relation of
fellow church-members.
The apostle adds — " In honour preferring one another."
This seems to be the same idea as that expressed by him in
his Epistle to the Philippians : " Let each esteem other better
than themselves."2 It is the natural effect of kind affection
to lead us to think respectfully of the objects of it. He has
not the heart of a son who does not behold the excellencies of
his father's character in a stronger light than an indifferent
person can see them, and who is not blind, in some measure,
to defects which to others may be apparent. The apostle does
not here inculcate anything that is inconsistent with truth.
He does not mean that a very intelligent Christian should
regard, as worthy of more esteem for his knowledge, a very
weak and ill-informed brother ; still less, if possible, does he
1 (pi-Aoo-ropyoi. 3 Chap. ii. 3.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 4fil
mean that he should pretend a degree of respect which he
does not — which he cannot, feel ; but he does mean, that,
under the influence of Christian love, we should put the best
possible construction on the motives of our brethren ; and
that, as we have not the same means of judging them as our
selves, and if we know ourselves — know that " in us, that is,
in our flesh, dwells no good thing" — we ought to cherish very
lowly thoughts of ourselves, and comparatively high and
honourable thoughts of them. A Christian is to " honour all
men," but especially " the brotherhood ;" and to show this in
the manner in which he treats them — guarding their reputa
tion and credit not less carefully than his own.
In the next verse, the apostle seems to state the Christian's
duty to his Lord. All Christian duty is represented as the
service of the Lord ; and, in performing this service, Chris
tians are required to be diligent and zealous : " Not slothful
in business ; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord." x The first
of these clauses has generally been explained as enjoining
diligence in our secular business ; and the last part of the
verse as intimating that, while thus diligent in our worldly
affairs, we must not allow our minds and hearts to be engrossed
with them, but must be fervently zealous in the duties of re
ligion — by way of eminence called " the service of the Lord."
Diligence in secular business is included in the injunction,
but only as that forms a part of " the service of the Lord."
The general injunction is, " Serve the Lord." Make the law
of the Lord your rule in everything. Whatever you do, do
it as to Him. Are you engaged in the ordinary affairs of life?
remember you are His servant, and act as in His sight, under
the motives and for the ends He has enjoined. Are you em
ployed in the duties of religion ? still, whatever you do, do it
to Him, guided by His authority, animated by His love. Let
your whole life be service to the Lord ; and let this service
have two characters : " Be diligent in business" — i.e., I ap
prehend, ' Beware of the influence of sloth ; -be active ; do not
1 Ver. 11,

462 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

content yourself with mystical speculation or enthusiastic feel
ing ; be diligent in performing the active duties both of life
and of religion.' This is the one character. The other, ' Be
fervently zealous : let not the service of the Lord degenerate
into a cold formalism — mere bodily service ; let all your duties
be animated by, and indeed be the expression of, fervent zeal
for the honour of your Lord, growing out of a habitual faith
of the truth — kept alive by constant supplies of Divine in
fluence. An expositor1 of great name would connect " diligent in
business," and " fervent in spirit," with the former verse ; as
if the apostle had said, ' Let your unfeigned love not be slug
gish, but active — not cold, but most affectionate ; and thus,
in love serving one another, serve the Lord.' But we prefer
the view we have given. It is right to notice, that some
MSS. of considerable authority read, instead of the word
rendered properly " the Lord," a word very similar in appear
ance, signifying " the time, or the occasion." 2 The meaning
this gives is a very good one. The injunction is, in this case,
equivalent to, " Redeeming the time." There is little doubt,
however, that the received reading is the true one ; and there
can be no doubt that the sense it gives is not only a more
important but a more appropriate one.
The apostle having thus enjoined on the Roman Christians
the cultivation of a warm and diffusive charity towards all
men, and a tender and respectful brotherly affection towards
each other, and a diligent and fervent prosecution of the ser
vice of their common Lord, proceeds to give them a variety
of advices, all of them having a reference to that state of pri
vation, self-sacrifice, and exposure to persecution, in which, as
Christians, they were placed. These reach to the end of the
chapter. Some of these advices refer to the tempers they
should cultivate, and the duties they should perform as indi
viduals, in the circumstances in which they were placed;
some refer to the manner in which they should behave to
1 Olshausen. 2 xa//1£ instead of xvpiu.

SECT. IIT.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 463
their persecuted brethren ; and others, to the manner in
which they should conduct themselves to their enemies.
The first -set of these advices is in ver. 12, Be " rejoicing
in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer."
First, " Be joyful, or rejoice, in hope." " We rejoice in tribu
lation," says the apostle in chap. v. 2, 3, because " we rejoice
in hope of the glory of God." He here calls on them to do
what he there says the faith of the Gospel enables and natu
rally disposes a man to do. Hope, properly signifies the
expectation of future good, though, not unfrequently, it is
also employed to denote the future good expected ; as " the
hope laid up in heaven."1 The Roman Christians are here
supposed to be possessed of a hope of future happiness. Now
what is the hope of the Christian — the man who has believed,
and been justified by believing ? It is, as appears from the
preceding part of the epistle, and other parts of the apostles'
writings, that " he shall never come into condemnation;"2
that "sin shall not have dominion over him;"3 that "all
things shall work together for good" to him;4 that "the
God of peace will bruise Satan under His feet shortly ;"5
that his " light afflictions, which are but for a moment,
shall work for him a far more , exceeding, and an eternal
weight of glory;"6 that nothing shall "separate him from
the love of Christ — the love of God which is in Christ;"7
that " when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved,
he shall have a building of God, a house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens ;" 8 that when he becomes
" absent from the body," he shall be " present with the
Lord;"9 that he shall "attain to the resurrection of the
dead;"10 that "the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, shall change
his vile body, and fashion it like unto His own glorious
body;"11 that he shall be " like Him, for he shall see Him
as he is;"12 that he shall be "with Him where he is, that
1 Col. i. 5. 2 Rom. viii. 1. 3 Chap. vi. 14.
4 Chap. viii. 28. 6 Chap. xvi. 20. B 2 Cor. iv. 17.
7 Rom. viii. 35-39. 8 2 Cor. v. 1. 9 2 Cor. v. 8.
10 Phil. iii. 11. " Phil. iii. 20, 21. 12 1 John iii. 2.

464 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

he may behold His glory;"1 and finally, that he "shall be"
thus "for ever with the Lord."2 This was the hope of the
Roman Christians — this is the hope of all Christians. It
" comes to them" in consequence of " being heard of in the
word of the truth of the Gospel ;"3 and that word coming to
them, " not in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and
in much assurance."4 This hope, resting on the testimony of
Him that cannot lie, is fitted to produce "joy," in whatever
circumstances he who cherishes it is placed. It is the duty
of the Christian to see that nothing takes place that is fitted
to shake this hope, and damp the joy which flows from it ; for
" this joy of the Lord" — this "joy of the Holy Ghost," is his
strength. He is to use all proper means to have his faith
strengthened, and to avoid whatever, in the way of worldly or
sinful disposition or conduct, goes to cast a cloud over his per
sonal interest in the " exceeding great and precious promises."
Every Christian should " show diligence to the full assurance
of hope, to the end that" — in order that, "he may be not
slothful, but a follower of them who, through faith and patience,
inherit the promises." 5
The cultivation of this "joy of hope " was specially neces
sary to enable Christians patiently to bear the afflictions of
life, particularly those rising out of the profession of the faith
of Christ; and therefore we find the apostle subjoining an
injunction to what was only to be obtained by the strengthen
ing influence of the joy of the Holy Ghost. " Patient" — that
is, " be patient, in tribulation." " Tribulation," here, is ordi
narily considered as descriptive of affliction, of whatever
kind, and " patient" as expressive of the duty of humbly sub
mitting to afflictive dispensations as the result of Divine ap
pointment and agency — bearing the suffering without mur
muring, while God is pleased to continue it ; using no im
proper means to escape from it, and calmly waiting for the
event. This, I have no doubt, was the duty of the Romans ;

1 John xvii. 24. * l Thess. iv. 17. :i Col. i. 5, 6.
i 1 Thess. i. 5. * Heb. vi. 11, 12.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 465
and it is the duty of all Christians, of all men, in all countries
and ages. But I rather think the word "tribulation" here,
as in chap. v. 3, refers to the afflictions to which the Roman
Christians were exposed for their religion ; and the word
translated, there and here, " patience," is expressive of that
persevering stedfastness in their faith and profession, by which,
notwithstanding these afflictions, it was their duty to be dis
tinguished. We have no reason to think that the Christians
at Rome had, as yet, been exposed to persecution from the
imperial power. But there, as well as everywhere else, Chris
tians had to suffer in a variety of ways as Christians ; and a
fearful storm was just impending. The apostle therefore calls
on them to be stedfast amid tribulation—" To hold fast the
profession of their faith without wavering;" "to persevere in
running" the race set before them.1 Nothing was so well
fitted to induce and enable them to do this, as a constant
reference to the glorious object of their Christian hope. No
thing but the faith of the Gospel, and the hope of eternal life,
could keep them firm in the hour of trial ; and wherever
there was a well-grounded joyful hope of final happiness to
be reached only by " a patient continuance in well-doing," 2
there would be constancy amid sufferings, however severe.
As, in order to persevering steadiness in the faith and pro
fession of the truth amid affliction, and to that joyful hope
which renders this practicable and comparatively easy, Divine
influence is absolutely necessary; and as prayer is the ap
pointed means of obtaining renewed supplies of that influence,
the apostle adds, " continuing instant in prayer." Prayer is
at once the proper mode of expressing our entire dependence
on God, and of obtaining from Him such blessings as our cir
cumstances require, " Call on Me in the day of trouble," is
the command, and the promise, "I will deliver thee."3 And
our prayer must be " instant"— fervent and continued. " Men
ought to pray always," i.e., continue praying, "and not to
faint."4 Never do we need more to be fervent and persever-
' Heb x 23; xii. 1. » Heb. ii. 7. 3 Psal. 1. 15. 4 Luke xviii. 1.
2g

466 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
ing in prayer, than when tempted by afflictions to "make
shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience." Then with re
doubled eagerness, feeling our own weakness, and aware of
the fearful consequences of " casting away our confidence,
which has great recompense of reward," we should cry " out
of the depths ;" and the deeper we sink, the louder we should
cry, " Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe ;" " Give to me
the joy of Thy salvation;" and, in order to this, "Lord, in
crease my faith ;" " then shall I not be ashamed when I have
respect to all Thy commandments."
In the next verse the apostle enjoins certain duties which
the Roman Christians owed to their suffering brethren i1
" Distributing to the necessities of the saints, given to hospi
tality." It is scarcely worth noticing, that some codices have
a word signifying " the memories," 2 instead of that properly
rendered "the necessities,"3 and read the first clause, 'contri
buting to the memories or memorials of the saints.' The
Latin Vulgate, the authorised version of the Church of Rome,
follows this reading. There is no ground for departing from
the received text, and, indeed, the other reading does look
like an intentional depravation of the text, for the purpose of
obtaining from the New Testament something like a sanction
of the superstitious respect for the sepulchres and monuments
of the saints, which early began to prevail in the Church.
The " saints," are here just another name for Christians, as
" Set apart by the Lord for Himself" — His " peculiar people."
In the primitive age, Christians were often called to prove the
sincerity of their faith, by submitting to "the loss of all things."
Many were called to lay down then- lives — inany more were
obliged, after having been " spoiled of their goods," to abandon
their native countries, and wander through strange lands, like
their Master, not having where to lay their head. It is in
direct reference to these persons, many of whom were proba
bly in Rome, that the apostle gives the injunctions before us.
To " distribute to the necessities of the saints"— was to commu-
Ver. 13. 2 //.viiais. s xpi'a'f-

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 467
nicate to them what was necessary to supply their wants, and
relieve their distress. This was a duty which the primitive
Christians seem to have performed with exemplary readiness
and liberality.1 The spirit of the command reaches all lands
and ages, and requires a Christian, -whenever he sees a fellow-
Christian in distress, especially if that distress has arisen out
of a consistent adherence to his Christian profession, to do all
in his power to relieve him.
The second injunction refers to the same class of persons.
They were to take home to their houses, and cordially to en
tertain there, those who had " forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or lands, for Christ's name
sake."2 "Hospitality," in the common use of the word,
means something quite different from this. It is the occasional
entertainment in our houses, and at our tables, of those of our
fellow-men with whom, in the relations of life, and the inter
course of society, we come to be connected — a very good
thing in its own way, but not at all the Christian duty here
enjoined. " I was hungry, and ye gave Me meat ; thirsty,
and ye gave Me drink ; naked, and ye clothed Me" — this is
" distributing to the necessities of the saints." " I was a
stranger, and ye took Me in" — this is Christian hospitality.
This form of the manifestation of Christian love, was pecu
liarly called for in the primitive times — but if a Christian has
but the heart, he will not want the opportunity of showing
that he is " given to hospitality." The parable of our Lord,
Luke xiv. 12-14, well deserves the study of modern Christians.
Having thus stated how the Roman Christians ought to
behave to their fellow-sufferers, the apostle proceeds to show
how they should conduct themselves to the authors of their
sufferings,3 " Bless them that persecute you ; bless, and curse
not." These words require little exposition. "Persecutors"
are those who, directly, or indirectly, are the authors of these
unjust sufferings — especially the former. It is natural for

1 Acts, iv. 34, 35 ; xi. 27-30 ; Rom. xv. 25-27 ; 2 Cor. viii. 1-4 ;
ix. 1-4. 2 Matt. xix. 29. 3 Ver 14.

468 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
man to resent ill-usage, and, if in his power, to avenge it.
But the apostle teaches the suffering Christians a more excel
lent way. His injunction is just an abridgment of what our
Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount : " Ye have heard
that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and
hate thine enemy ; but I say unto you, Love your enemies ;
bless them that curse you ; do good to them that hate you ;
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute
you."1 The word "bless" is not equivalent in meaning to
" do good offices," — though it is a Christian's duty to do good
offices to him who does him evil offices— it strictly means, to
speak well of, or for. Here, and in the parallel passage re
ferred to, it means to pray for the authors of our wrongs.
This is one of the most effectual ways of promoting their wel
fare, and where it is genuine, will lead to every other practi
cable method. " When men persecute you," imitate your
Lord, and say, " Father, forgive them ; they know not what
they do;" and His faithful martyr, Stephen, "Lord, lay not
this sin to their charge." He redoubles the injunction, know
ing how hard a thing it is for flesh and blood to comply with
it: "Bless, and curse not;" — i.e., 'Instead of imprecating
vengeance on your persecutors, pray for then salvation.'
The next apostolical command refers to the cultivation and
expression of an enlightened tender sympathy, both with the
joys and the sorrows of others — " Rejoice with those who do
rejoice, and weep with those who weep."2 The persecution
to which the Christian is exposed must not be allowed to pro
duce an ascetic, stoical, monkish spirit. He must not, under
the combined influence of his faith and hope in reference to a
better world, his convictions of the vanity of this world, and
his experience of the unkindness of the men of the world,
withdraw from society. He must not go out of the world ;
he must mingle with his fellow-men and take an interest in
their happiness — rejoicing with them when they rejoice, and
weeping with them when they weep. This is the duty of
1 Matt. v. 43, 44. > Ver. 15.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 469
Christians in reference to all men. The joys of the worldling
are often of a kind in which the Christian cannot, ought not
to rejoice ; but in all the innocent enjoyments of his fellow-
men he is to take a kindly interest. He is to rejoice with
others, even when suffering himself. And in every case of
suffering he is to pity the sufferer. The character of the
sympathy must vary as the suffering is deserved or undeserved ;
but in every case of suffering there is to be sympathy — genuine
sympathy. Are not all men brethren ? Is not the humblest
— aye, the worst of mankind, connected with me by a bond of
brotherhood that nothing can dissolve ?
But there can be little doubt that the apostle, in the in
junction, had a peculiar reference to the sympathy in enjoy
ment and in suffering which Christians ought to cultivate
and display towards each other. It is natural to have a pecu
liar interest where there is a peculiar relation. The joys and
sorrows, peculiar to Christians, have a common character,
which enables them more thoroughly to sympathize with one
another. They understand each how others feel, and the love,
which is the badge of brotherhood, secures kind sympathy
both in enjoyment and suffering. The cultivation and display
of this disposition, proper at all times, is peculiarly required
in seasons of trial. The joys of the suffering Christian are
doubled, and his sorrows are greatly diminished, when he per
ceives that he is not alone— that many human hearts beat in
unison with his. The prevalence of this disposition in an
individual Christian society, is one of the best proofs of its
spiritual prosperity, and one principal source of genuine hap
piness to its members. A Christian Church, though few in
numbers and depressed in circumstances, if pervaded by Chris
tian sympathy, gives evidence of spiritual vitality, and is the
abode of peace, and love, and holy happiness. On a Chris
tian Church, however numerous and flourishing in its exter
nal circumstances, where this principle of sympathy among
the members is wanting, Ichabod may be inscribed— the glory
has departed.
In addition to this kind of sympathy, the apostle recom-

470 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
mends unanimity, mutual condescension, and humility. Ue
of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your
own conceits."1
The expression " Be of one mind," may, from the force of
the original word, signify either ' be united in your senti
ments,' or ' be united in your affections.' The two things are
closely connected. Union of sentiment, as to the great fun
damental doctrines of Christianity, is the only legitimate and
solid basis of mutual Christian affection. Christians love one
another " in the truth for the truth's sake." 2 The explana
tory phrase, " toward each other," seems to fix the meaning
here to unity of affection. It is not the duty of every Chris
tian to love every other Christian with the same measure of
affection, for all are not equally amiable, and affection should
be enlightened as well as warm ; but every Christian is to
regard every Christian with the same kind of affection — a kind
of affection which none but a Christian can cherish, and which
he can cherish only to a brother Christian.
If Christians would thus love one another, they must guard
against an aspiring ambitious spirit, " mind not high things."
Christians are, in the most general sense of the word, not " to
mind high things," — they are not to make the attaining a
high position in the world their great object. They are to
seek first the kingdom — mind the true high things — " the
things that are above" — and look down on what the world
calls high things as low things. The command to Baruch
comes to us all, — " Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek
them not."3 This, as is intimated in the passage referred to,
is peculiarly unbecoming in a time of public judgment and
persecution. The injunction here seems to have a direct
reference to the conduct of Christians in their holy fellow
ship with each other. They are not to be, like Diotrephes, of
whom the Apostle John speaks.4 They are not to " love to

1 Ver. 16. 2 2 John 1, 2.
3 Jer. xiv. 5. * 3 John 9.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 471
have the pre-eminence." They are not assiduously to seek
office and honour in the Church. They are not to aspire to
lordship over the faith or practice of their brethren. " In love
they are to serve one another." They are to remember the
words of their Lord, — " One is your Master, and all ye are
brethren." 1
Instead of " minding high things," they are to condescend
to " men of low estate." The words rendered, " men of low
estate," may refer either to persons or to things. As it is
" high things" in the previous clause, it is probable that the
last is the designed reference of the apostle. Instead of aspir
ing to the highest places in the Church, to which none has
a right but those called by the suffrages of the brethren, they
were to be ready to perform the humblest offices for pro
moting the general edification of the body ; remembering
that their Lord washed the disciples' feet, and, in doing so,
had given them an example that they should do to one
another what he had done to all.2 If we take the view
adopted by our translation, then, the meaning is, ' count it
not beneath you to associate with the poorest and the most
despised and persecuted among the brethren : ' and, in this
case, the injunction is intended to strike against the abuse,
which, we learn from the Epistle of James, early made its
appearance, and still exists, in the Christian Church— the
paying an undue respect to secular rank and wealth in mat
ters of religion.3 The other interpretation seems, however,
the best supported.
Closely connected with an ambitious spirit is an unduly
high estimate of our own powers and acquirements, and its
prevalence is equally inconsistent with that harmony of affec
tion which the apostle wished to secure for the Church in Rome:
and therefore he adds — " Be not wise in your own conceits."
To have a just estimate of our own powers and acquirements,
natural and spiritual, is of great importance in various ways ;
and, if these are really greater than those of many of our
1 Matt, xxiii. 8. 2 John xiii. 1-17. s James ii. 1-7.

472 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

brethren, to know this cannot be wrong. But to suppose that
we monopolize all the knowledge and wisdom of the society we
belong to, to refuse to co-operate in works of importance to
the common good of the society, because our plans are not
followed, and we have not assigned to us the place which we
think due in executing the work, is folly and sin in the most
gifted church member. We ought to cherish habitually a
deep sense of our own ignorance and fallibility, and preserve
a mind ever ready to receive instruction from whatever quarter
it may come. This is the way to make progress in personal
improvement ; and this, too, is the way to promote the peace
and prosperity of the Church. What kind of a society would
be formed of a set of men all " wise in their own conceits?"
It is plain they would not " be of the same mind one towards
another," and that, instead of being bound together " in the
unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace," there would be
nothing but " strife and division," " the biting and devouring
of one another," " confusion and every evil work." The apostle
now proceeds to instruct the Roman Christians in their duties
to the world around them — an ungodly and unfriendly world.
" Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things
honest in the sight of all men." x The first of these injunc
tions proceeds on the supposition that the Roman Christians
would meet, not only with afflictions, but with injuries.
Christ and His apostles never imposed on men by concealing
the sacrifices they must make, the hazards they must expose
themselves to, the sufferings they must endure, if they would
act the part and secure the reward of genuine disciples. " In
this world," said He, "ye shall have tribulation."2 "All who
live godly," said they, " shall suffer persecution."3 " We
must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of
God."4 But, though they might receive many injuries, they
were to inflict none. They were not even to " recompense
to any man evil for evil." This command does not prohibit
1 Ver- 17. 2 John xvi. 33.
8 2 Tim. iii. 12. « Acts xiv. 22.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 473
Christians from availing themselves of the institutions of
society to defend their persons, property, and reputation from
lawless violence, or to obtain redress when they have been
injured, or to secure themselves from a repetition of the in
jury ; but it does forbid everything of the nature of vindictive
retaliation. If a man has defamed my character, I not only
may, but I ought, to use all fit means to have my reputation
cleared, which is so intimately connected with my usefulness
and the credit of Christianity ; but I must not, though I could
do it, in perfect consistency with truth, injure his character
further than it is necessarily injured by the exposure of his
malignity and falsehood. Instead of recompensing his evil
with evil, I must endeavour to overcome his evil by good.
The second injunction is, " Provide things honest in the
sight of all men." These words seem a quotation from me
mory of Prov. v. 4, which, in the Septuagint, runs thus
— " Provide honourable things before God and men." Our
English translation of this clause has contracted a degree of
obscurity from the variations of a living language. The word
" honest" here is used in a nearly obsolete sense — that of
' honourable,' ' comely,' ' of good report.' To provide things
honest in the sight of all men, is to add to the substantial vir
tues of Christianity, such as piety, truth, justice, beneficence,
chastity, and temperance — a temper and a behaviour fitted to
command the respect and esteem of mankind at large. Chris
tians ought assuredly " not to be conformed to the world," in
order to avoid the contempt and secure the good will of the
worldly. But they are carefully to avoid acting in a way
which might necessarily sharpen their dislike and strengthen
their prejudice in reference to Christianity and to Christians,
and give plausibility to their misrepresentations of both. There
should be nothing mean, nothing suspicious, about the charac
ter and conduct of a Christian. His strict integrity, his hon
ourable principle, his open — straightforward course, his com
plete freedom from everything like, assumption, trick, and
imposture, his sincere kindliness, his disinterested public
spirit should be so conspicuous that men may be made

474 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
" ashamed who falsely accuse his good conversation in
Christ."1 It is a happy thing when worldly men are con
strained to say of a Christian what Tertullian makes a heathen
say of a Christian in his time, " He is an excellent man, that
Caius Servius, only he is a Christian."2
A third injunction which the apostle lays on the Christian
Romans, in reference to their conduct towards mankind at
large, is contained in the 18th verse : " If it be possible, as
much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." To " live
peaceably," is descriptive of that state, in which a man does
not disturb others, and is not disturbed by them. The first
is always in our own power, the second is not ; and hence the
limitation of the injunction, " If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you." Christians ought never to offer an affront or
inflict an injury ; and they ought, as far as is consistent with
the requirements of an enlightened conscience, to avoid every
thing which may prove the occasion of other men quarrelling
with them. They are to act in this way to " all men" — not
only to Christians, but to unbelievers ; not only to those of
their own party or denomination, but to men of all parties
and denominations ; not only to those who are peaceably dis
posed, but also to those of a quarrelsome disposition — who seem
always on the outlook for an occasion of strife ; to those whom
we have the power and opportunity of disturbing with im
punity, as well as to those who have the corresponding power
and opportunity of harrassing us. And, in order to this, we
are to do all that lieth in us. The emphasis is on you. We
are to overlook many slights ; to put up with many injuries ;
we are to make many sacrifices. There are two things, quite
in our power, which go far towards securing the desirable
object of " living peaceably with all men :" the keeping that
unmanageable member, the tongue, under a strict rein ; and
the studying to be quiet, and doing our own business. Foolish
tattling, and being " busybodies in other men's matters," are
more to blame, than more serious causes of dispeace, in dis-
1 1 Pet. iii. 16. * Apolog. iii.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 475
turbing society. But there are sacrifices which must not be
made, there are things that must not be done, even to secure
peace. We must not flatter nor imitate what we think wrong
in men's opinions and conduct ; we must not purchase peace
at the expense of truth or justice ; we must not omit duty ;
we must not commit sin. If men will not be at peace with
us but on principles which infer our disloyalty to the Supreme
Sovereign — which are inconsistent with our primary and
paramount obligations — then peace, however desirable, must
be parted with, for the plain reason, that to have God as a
friend is a greater good, than to have all the world our ene
mies is an evil. One great cause of dispeace is men's taking
upon themselves to avenge their own wrongs ; and, accord
ingly, the apostle proceeds to prohibit this on the part of the
Roman Christians, and to fortify his prohibition by very
powerful motives.
" Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give
place unto wrath : for it is written, Vengeance is Mine ; I
will repay, saith the Lord."1 The cause of the apostle's
prefacing this prohibition with the compellation " Dearly be
loved," is to be found either in the earnestness which he felt
in pressing this matter on their attention — so important to
individual Christian improvement, as well as to the credit
and progress of the Christian cause — or to impress on their
minds that his urging them not to avenge themselves, did by
no means proceed from indifference to them and their interest,
or want of sympathy under the wrongs done them. It is
exceedingly probable that the Christians were involved in the
hardships to which the Jews were exposed (being looked on
by the government as a Jewish sect), when banished from
Rome by Claudius, and that, on that occasion, they had many
injuries inflicted on them by their heathen neighbours. It is
certain that they had met with injuries ; for there is no living
in this world — especially there is no " living godly in this
world," without meeting with them. In many — in most cases
1 Ver. 19.

476 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
Christians have not the power to avenge their injuries on their
enemies ; but even when they have the power, they must not
exert it. They must not wish that they had it. The com
mand is most express : " Avenge not yourselves." They must
not seek the injury of those who have injured them. The
good of society may make it necessary for them to prosecute
those who have wronged them — even true love to the wrong
doer may dictate this course ; but in no case must he do this
to gratify ill-will, or to avenge injury. Resentment must not
be the impelling cause, nor the suffering of the injurer the
ultimate object.
Instead of avenging themselves, the apostle enjoins them to
" rather give place to wrath." This is an injunction, the
meaning of which is by no means self-evident. There is
some difficulty in fixing the precise import both of the term
" wrath," and of the phrase " give place to." Some suppose
that the word "wrath" signifies the human passion of anger;
and these are divided into two classes — one supposing that it
refers to the furious rage of the inflicter of the injury ; the
other, that it refers to the natural resentment of him who
sustains the injury. Those. who explain the word "wrath"
of the rage of the injurious person, interpret the injunction,
" give place unto wrath," as equivalent to — ' Yield to it ; do
not resist it ; allow it to spend itself. Keep out of its way, if
possible ; but let it run its course. Resistance would, probably,
but increase the tempest — give greater intensity to the flame
— and make the injurious more and more injurious.' Those
who consider "wrath" as referring to the anger of the person
injured, explain the injunction as equivalent either to, ' Fly
anger; keep out of its way ;' or, what seems a more natural
interpretation, ' Let the natural emotion have its course. Do
not lay up the injury in your heart, as something to be brooded
over. Express your feelings, and thus abate them. To borrow
the image of the poet, " Do not nurse your wrath to keep it
warm ;" or, in the words of the apostle, " Be angry and sin
not." Do not conceal the conviction and feeling that you
have been wronged ; and follow this course, as the natural

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 477
means of preventing the cherishing of malignant feeling, and
forming dark plans for future vengeance.'
None of these modes of interpretation seem satisfactory.
Some of them are not consistent with the scope of the passage ;
and others, to speak gently, are not supported by the analogy
of Scripture phraseology. " Wrath" appears here to refer to
the moral disapprobation — the judicial displeasure of God
against all injustice and injury, and the expression of these in
righteous punishment. It is not uncommon in Scripture to
use the simple word "wrath" to denote the Divine wrath —
an expression the meaning of which we have just explained.
In 2 Chron. xxiv. 1 8, it is said, " Wrath came upon Judah
and Jerusalem for their trespass ;" in Matt. iii. 7, we read of
" the wrath to come ;" in Rom. ii. 5, we find the sinner re
presented as " treasuring up to himself wrath against the day
of wrath ;" in chap. v. 9, we read of men " saved from wrath ;"
in Eph. ii. 3, unforgiven sinners are represented as " children
of wrath ;" and, in 1 Thess. ii. 16, we read of " wrath coming
on the impenitent Jews to the uttermost." In all these pas
sages, " wrath" — " the wrath" — is the wrath of God. Such
seems its meaning here — " Give way to the wrath." ' Leave
God to avenge the injury, which is more against Him than
against you. You are not the man's judge — He is. Inter
fere not with His prerogative. Let Him take His own time
and way to manifest His displeasure at sin. He will do what
is right. Remember that He, whose name alone is Jehovah,
is the Judge over all the earth.' This was the course our
Lord took : " When He was reviled, He reviled not again ;
when He suffered, He threatened not ; but committed Him
self to Him that judgeth righteously."1
This mode of explaining the passage is greatly recommended
by its entirely harmonizing with the quotation from the Old
Testament which follows : " For it is written, Vengeance is
Mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." This passage is to be
found Deut. xxxii. 35. The words teach two truths : first,
1 1 Pet. ii. 23.

478 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
that God will ultimately repay all injuries done to His people ;
and, secondly, that to do this is His prerogative. The quota
tion bears most directly on the injunction, in the way of
motive. ' Your avenging yourselves is both unnecessary and
improper. The righteous Judge will judge righteously ; and
it is not for you to show that you doubt this, by attempting
to do what He will do, and what He only has a right to do.
Vengeance is not work for you ; it comes within the province
of the Supreme Ruler, or of those to whom He has, in some
measure, delegated His authority. The great object is to
vindicate the cause of truth and right, and He will take care
of that. It is yours to suffer and forgive ; it is His to judge
and to avenge.' Christians are quite inexcusable in cherish
ing resentment and seeking vengeance. " Their Redeemer
is strong, the Lord of hosts is His name, He shall thoroughly
plead their cause."1 This passage throws a striking light on
the danger of injuring the people of God. " He that touches
them touches the apple of His eye;"2 and, in the ultimate
result of things, it will be found that it had been better for
their persecutors, however powerful, " that millstones had
been hanged about their necks, and they cast into the deeps
of the sea, than that they had offended" — injured, by making
stumble — " one of these little ones." 3 The Divine faithful
ness is pledged to avenge the wrongs done to the faithful.4
While Christians are thus to commit themselves and their
cause to their " faithful Creator," the kind Father, the right
eous Judge, they are not only not to avenge themselves, but
on the contrary, they are to do everything in their power to
contribute to the welfare of their enemies, by supplying their
wants and relieving their distresses. " Therefore, if thine
enemy hunger, feed him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for in
so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head." 5 This is
a quotation from Prov. xxv. 21, 22. "Therefore," if under
stood in its most ordinary sense as indicating an inference —
1 Jer. 1. 34. * Zech. ii. 8. 3 Matt, xviii. 6.
* Deut. xxxii. 40-43 ; 2 Thess. i. 6-10 ; Rev. vi. 9-11. 6 Ver. 20.

SECT. III. J EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 479
' For this reason,' must be considered as looking forward rather
than back. The statement that God is the judge, is a good
reason why Christians should not seek to avenge themselves,
but it does not seem to lay a foundation for the exhortation here.
The last clause of the verse does. By acting in this way you
will heap coals of fire on the head of thine enemy, therefore
so act. The command of our Lord is, " Love thine enemy,
do good to them that hate you." 1 The absence of hatred is
not love; the abstinence from retaliation of wrong is not doing
good. True love is not a merely negative principle ; it is
positive : not passive merely, but also active. It produces a
disposition to do good, which manifests itself in supplying
wants, relieving distress, and, in one word, in every proper way
seeking to promote the satisfaction and welfare of its object.
If the man who has injured me is visited with poverty and
affliction, I must not derive enjoyment from his sufferings, I
must not pass by on the other side, I must exert myself to soothe
his sorrows — to remove their cause. If he is hungry, I
must feed him ; if he is fainting for thirst, I must give him
drink; if he is naked, I must clothe him. If he is, in his
comfortless dwelling, laid on a bed of languishing and pain,
and destitute of the comforts and means of alleviation and
cure which such circumstances require, I must supply him
with them, and do all in my power to prolong the life even of
him who, it may be, has plotted the shortening of mine. If
we see a man who has acted dishonestly toward us, about to
be circumvented in business, instead of sitting still, and, not
without secret satisfaction, seeing him ruined, we are to exert
ourselves to save him from the meshes in which villainy is
seeking to entangle him ; we must do what we can to unfold
the fraud and repel the injustice. If we hear the man who
has slandered us calumniated, and charges brought against
him which we know to be untrue, we must not silently allow
the poisoned arrow to reach its mark and work its purpose,
we must stand up for his reputation, who trampled on ours, and
1 Matt. v. 44.

480 PRACTICAL. [PART

III.

do justice to his character, who did all in -his power unjustly
to destroy our reputation. In one word, we must readily
embrace, nay, we must sedulously seek, opportunities of con
ferring favours on those who have inflicted on us injuries.
These exalted maxims the apostle, following in the wake of
the Old Testament writer whom he had quoted, enforces by
the consideration, that " in so doing they should heap coals of
fire on the head " of their enemies. There is some difficulty
in discovering and unfolding the precise meaning and inci
dence of these words. They certainly do not signify what
some have supposed them to do, " Heap favours on your ene
mies, that their ultimate punishment may be more severe."
It does not seem very clear how our doing favours to our enemy
should increase his punishment for past injuries. And it were
strange if he who had just affirmed that vengeance was God's
prerogative, and that we must beware of even seeming to
usurp it, should immediately proceed to put us upon a way of
avenging ourselves on our enemies, more completely than by
any personal evil we could inflict, by bringing down on them
the vengeance of heaven. He who had just forbidden us to
hurt our enemies by our evil deeds, could not surely go on to
show us how we might ruin them by our good ones. Nor does it
mend the matter much to say that the apostle does not speak
of what should be our intention, in conferring benefits on our
enemies, but of the event of our doing so if they continue in
their enmity. The apostle does not insert, does not hint at,
any such qualification ; and it is obvious that the last clause of
the verse is a motive brought forward to enforce the injunc
tion in the first clause. What, in this case, would apparent
acts of kindness be but hypocritical malignity, in one of its
most hateful forms ?
The principal difficulty of interpretation here, arises from
the fact, that the figurative expression, " heap coals of fire on
the head," occurs only here and in the passage in Proverbs
which the apostle quotes. If the figure be considered as di
rectly referring to the person of our enemy, it would seem
that it must denote something that would occasion intense

SECT. III.] EXHORTATION TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 481
pain. Putting coals of fire on the head was one of the tor
tures which the persecutors inflicted on the ancient confessors,
and must have been intolerably agonising. Following out this
thought, some have supposed the apostle's meaning to be — By
continuing — by increasing kindness to your enemy, awaken
shame in him for his base as well as bad conduct — a feeling
very painful : you will thus give him pain, but it will be salu
tary pain. This seems rather too artificial and far-fetched.
The more probable account of the matter seems to be this :
The whole phrase is figurative, and borrowed from the art of
metallurgy. Fire is used to convert the ore into a metallic
state. The fire is heaped on the ore, cast into the furnace,
and through its influence the cold and rugged substance is
melted and becomes malleable, and fit for being employed for
useful purposes. The native tendency of persevering, disin
terested goodness, is to produce gratitude, even in a very
depraved heart. It is difficult to lodge, by any means, the
conviction of disinterested goodness. There must be many
coals heaped on the sullen ore. — many favours must be done,
which will produce little or no effect — but the tendency is
to melt ; and when once the fact, that the man whom I have
unjustly injured really loves me, forces itself on the mind, love
takes the place of suspicion and hatred.
" So artists melt the stubborn ore of lead,
By heaping coals of fire upon its head,
In the kind warmth the metal learns to glow,
And, loose from dross, the silver runs below." 1
This mode of interpretation is in perfect conformity with the
spirit of Christianity, and exactly suits both the preceding and
the following context.
The whole duty of Christians in reference to injury is
summed up by the apostle in one comprehensive precept,
" Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." 2
"Evil" here is, as at ver. 17, injury. 'Be not overcome of
1 Parnell. 2 Ver. 21.
2h

482 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
injury. Let not the injuries you receive, however numer
ous, varied, severe, and long-continued they may be, get the
better of your Christian principles. Never let the injustice
and malignity of man exert an influence superior to the au
thority of God and the love of Christ. Never let the diaboli
cal pleasure of revenge displace the divine delight of forgive
ness.' " But overcome evil with good." " Good," here, is
equivalent to kind offices — benefit, in opposition to injury. 'By
benefits bestowed on your enemy, overcome his evil. Show
him that you are not to be outdone by him; that while he con
tinues to injure, you will continue to forgive, and, so far as
is in your power, to render good for evil.'
This noble sentiment is peculiar to Christianity. It is well
said, " Nothing like this moral precept is to be found in the
heathen classics, and nothing like what it enjoins ever existed
among heathen nations. The idea of overcoming evil with
good never occurred to men till the Gospel was preached to
them : it never has been acted on but under the influence of
that Gospel. On this principle, God shows kindness to sinful
men ; on this principle, the Saviour came into our world,
and bled, and died ; and on this principle all Christians
should act in treating their enemies, and in their attempts to
bring the race of man to the knowledge and obedience of the
truth as it is in Jesus. If Christians would but show disin
terested benevolence sufficiently extensively and persever-
ingly, evil, all over the world, would be overcome of good.
The heathen nations will be converted to Christianity then,
and not till then, when Christians shall, generally and habi
tually, individually and collectively, act on this great practi
cal principle of their religion : " Overcome evil with good."
The apostle now proceeds to instruct the Roman Christians
in reference to their duties to the civil authorities, in the para
graph from the beginning of the thirteenth chapter to the end
of the 7th verse. To understand this important and much
discussed passage aright, it is of primary importance to recol
lect that it was directly intended to guide the Roman Christians
in the circumstances in which they were placed, and to ap-

SECT. III.J EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 483
prehend distinctly what may be termed the logical division of
the paragraph, and the bearing its various parts have on each
other. The Christians at Rome were a small handful of men —
comparatively few of them, probably, Roman citizens — living
under a powerful, absolute monarchy, whose administration
was, however, ordinarily conducted according to the principles
of a civil and criminal code of law which is admitted to have
been one of the best the world has ever seen.
The apostle enjoins the general duty of civil obedience, in
very strong terms, in the first clause of the first verse ; and he
enforces his injunction by an appeal both to the principle of
conscience and that of self-love : to the first, by stating that
"there is no power but of God;" that "the powers that
be are ordained of God ; " so that " whosoever resisteth the
power, resists the ordinance of God ; " — to the second, by stat
ing that they who " resist shall receive to themselves damna
tion" — punishment ; for the Roman rulers, in their ordinary
administration, were a terror, not to good works, but to evil;1
so that, if they wished to live free from fear of the government,
they must do what the law enjoined, and what was, in ordi
nary cases, good — right. In this case they would have pro
tection, not punishment ; for the Roman government was, in
the ordinations of Divine providence, a minister of God to the
Christians for good.2 But, if they transgressed the law — in
doing which they would, generally speaking, do not only what
was illegal, but what was wrong, they might rest satisfied that,
as the Roman government was a strong, jealous, active go
vernment, they would not escape condign punishment. Thus
a regard to the will of God, and to their own interests,
equally required them to act the part of peaceable, good sub
jects.3 The specific duty of paying tribute is enjoined in these
words : " For this cause pay you tribute also ;"4 and enforced,
first, as a part of that civil obedience already enjoined ; and,
secondly, by the consideration that the collectors of tribute were
1 Ver. 3. 2 Ver. 4. a Ver. 5. 4 Ver. 6.

484 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
in reality as much God's ministers as the " higher powers ; "
and he concludes by urging them to render what was due to
every order of men employed in the complicated machine of
civil government, from the publican to the emperor — tribute,
custom, fear, and honour, according as they were respectively
due.1 We will find this outline of use in the more close exa
mination of the passage, to which I now proceed.
"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers."2
" Powers" signifies persons invested with — possessing, power.
It is joined by Luke with " magistrates." 3 We are accustomed
to speak of the great " powers" of Europe, meaning the prin
cipal governments. The word rendered " higher" has been
considered by some as equivalent to ' protecting ;' but this is
not the import of the term ; nor is the injunction confined to
such magistrates as protected the Christians ; nor does the
phrase, " higher powers," seem intended to describe exclu
sively the supreme authorities. It seems used as a description
of all orders of magistracy, " whether," as Peter says, " the
king, as supreme, or governors, as sent of him."4
Now, in reference to these " higher powers," the command
is, " Let every soul be subject" to them. To "be subject," is
to be obedient, actively and passively — to do what they com
mand, and to submit to what they appoint. This command,
though unlimited in its terms, is yet obligatory only on
certain clearly defined conditions. It is to the magistrate
acting officially, not to the magistrate personally, that this
obedience is owing. Obedience to an inferior magistrate is
not due, if he enjoins or exacts anything inconsistent with the
declared will of the supreme authority; and, finally, the Divine
law must not be violated, in consequence of any command of
the civil power : " We must obey God rather than men."
Within these limits, the law is peremptory : " Let every
soul be subject unto the higher powers." Every soul is a
Hebraism for every person,5 just as every body is an Anglicism
lVer. 7. 'Ver. 1. 3 Chap. xii. 11. 4 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14.
0 Gen. xii. 5 ; Exod. i. 5 ; Acts ii. 41 ; 1 Pet. iii. 20.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 485
for the same thing. It is an idiomatic, and, probably here,
an emphatic expression. It seems intended to bring the idea
of the universality of the obligation more strongly out than
the use of the ordinary term, " every one," 1 would have done.
Whether Jew or Gentile — whether a Roman citizen or an
alien — whether a freeman or a slave — whether an official
Christian, or one in private life — whatever dignity of character
he may be clothed with — whatever extent or variety of spirit
ual gifts he may be endowed with — let every one of you be
subject to the ruling authorities. Chrysostom very well ex
presses the meaning : " Although he be an evangelist, although
he be a prophet, although he be an apostle, let every soul be
subject." The apostle proceeds now to unfold the reasons on which
this injunction is founded. These are two. The Roman
Christians could not violate this law without— (1 .) Involving
themselves in guilt, and in the consequences of guilt, as de-
spisers of a Divine appointment — violators of a Divine law ;
and without — (2.) Exposing themselves to punishment by the
magistrate for a crime — an offence against the peace and
order of society. The first of these grounds is stated in the
words : " For there is no power but of God : the powers that
be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the
power, resisteth the ordinance of God."2 The second of them
is stated in the words : " They that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation."3
In the first part of the sentence, we have something like a
formal argument : the premises, " There is no power but of
God;" "The powers that be are ordained of God" — a great
principle applied to an individual case ; and then the conclu
sion, " Whosoever resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance
of God."
" Power" here is often understood of magistracy in the
abstract. Some who take this view understand the assertion,
' magistracy is of God,' as signifying that it exists, as every-
1 bxxctos. 2 Ver. 1, 2. a Ver. 2.

486 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
thing does, by the permission of God. It is of God, as war or
slavery is of God. These interpreters err by defect ; such an
assertion lays no ground for the apostle's inference. Others,
erring by excess, hold it to mean, ' Magistracy is directly of
Divine appointment.' This, as a general truth, is not true :
magistracy among the Jews was directly of Divine appointment,
but among no other people. It does not stand on the same
ground as the priesthood under the law, nor as the Christian
ministry under the Gospel. It was not formally instituted
like marriage. It occupies similar ground with property, the
social state, agriculture, and commerce. It rises out of the
constitution of men's minds, which are God's work, and their
circumstances, which are the result of His providence ; and
it is conducive to the security and well-being of mankind,
which we know to be agreeable to the " good" will of God.
It is thus of God ; yet not so of God, as not also to be of
man. The Apostle Peter calls it " the ordinance of man." 1
Its elementary principles are Divine; the mixing them up
in any particular form of magistracy is human.
I do not, however, consider the word as used abstractly.
" No power" is equivalent to ' no man invested with civil rule,'
just as " the higher powers"2 are the governors, and " the
powers that be " are ' the existing magistrates.' No man,
in society, clothed with civil power— whatever form it may
assume, whether he be an arbitrary autocrat, or a limited
monarch, or the administrator of an aristocracy or democracy
— no such man fills such a place but " of God." The Jewish
Theocratic governor is not the only governor who has a right
to obedience as a religious duty. Every magistrate, in organ
ized society, occupies his place in consequence of Divine ar
rangements; and the grand object of the institution, of which
he is the organ, is a thing agreeable to God's will.
The apostle now proceeds a step further, and, as a person
invested with Divine authority, decides that the existing Roman
government was so the ordinance of God to those whom he was
\1 Pet. ii. 13. t yer 1

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 487
addressing, as that they could not disobey, or resist it, with
out violating His law, and incurring His displeasure. " The
powers that be are ordained of God." The phrase, " the
powers that be," has been explained, of rightly constituted
governments, as equivalent to ' the authorities that, from
their wisdom and equity, are really authorities— the legitimate
powers — the magistrates that possess the qualifications and
prosecute the ends of their office:' but, though I do not
deny that the words in certain conceivable connections might
have this meaning, it is plain this is not their meaning here.
" The powers that be" are the existing Roman magistracies —
including the frame of government and those who administered
its functions. These magistracies, says the apostle, are " or
dained of God" — literally, are ' arranged, or set in order,
under God.' l They have originated in circumstances of His
arranging; and, as the best government which, all things con
sidered, the inhabitants of the wide regions forming the
Roman empire could bear, are so in accordance with His will,
that none of their subjects — especially their Christian subjects,
after this explicit declaration by an apostle — can rebel against
them without disobeying God.
The conclusion follows irresistibly from the premises : "Who
soever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance
of God." The existing Roman magistrates, from the Emperor
to the -ZEdile, have been put into order under God : whosoever,
then — however high his place may be in the Church, or how
ever distinguished by miraculous gifts — sets himself against this
divinely marshalled magistracy, not only commits a crime
against society in disturbing a useful human arrangement,
but is guilty of sin in opposing a Divine arrangement. Dis
obedience is not only a civil crime, but also a moral delin
quency : it is not only a breach of the laws of men, but of
the law of God. This is the first and the strongest reason
the apostle urges on the Roman Christians, why " every soul
should be subject to the higher powers."
1 V7T0 TOV &tov tiTxyfiivai.

488 PRACTICAL. [PABT IU-
A second far inferior, yet still powerful, enforcement of the
duty of civil obedience, is brought forward in the second clause
of the second verse : " And they that resist shall receive to
themselves damnation." Almost all interpreters are of opinion
that, instead of the word " damnation" — which, though not at
the time when our translation was made so exclusively appro
priated as now to express the final punishment of the wicked,
was even then a very strong word — should be substituted
" punishment."1 The punishment spoken of has ordinarily
been interpreted of Divine punishment ; and, had the second
verse not been immediately followed by the third, I should
have concurred in that opinion. But when we consider that
the apostle, in summing up his argument, represents it as con
sisting of two parts — an appeal to conscience, and an appeal to
fear ; 2 when we find the statement before us immediately fol
lowed by another statement giving the reason of it, — I think
there can be no doubt that the punishment referred to is the
punishment which the Roman government inflicted on viola
tors of the law and disturbers of the public peace.
"And," or moreover, "they that resist" the power — the
Roman government — "shall receive damnation" — punish
ment ; " for rulers" — rather, for " the rulers, are not a terror
to good works, but to the evil." These words have often been
interpreted of rulers in general, and they are true of them ;
but it is as plain as anything well can be, that the apostle is
here speaking of the Roman rulers. The Roman government
was a strong and active one : the only way to avoid its ven
geance was to obey its laws. To be " a terror not to good
works, but to the evil," is to be a reasonable source of alarm,
" not to those who do good works, but to those who do evil."
Good works, here, are such actions as the Roman law en
joined, which, generally, were really good works— actions
fitted to promote the good of society; and evil works, such
as it condemned, and which, generally, were really evil
works-actions fitted to disturb the order of society, and
' Rom. iii. 8 ; i Cor. xi. 29 . Ga]_ y 1Q 2 y^ 5

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 489
infringe on the rights and happiness of individuals. The
Roman law, on the whole, was an admirable specimen of legis
lation. We know that ere long the Roman magistrates were
to legislate, and act on their legislation, in reference to the
Christian religion ; and, so far as that was concerned, they
became a terror to good works, and not to the evil. But the
apostle here refers to the general character of the code of the
Roman law, and its administration. The laws of the empire
were favourable, like the laws of all civilized states, to the
peaceable subject, and armed with penalties against the dis
obedient and rebellious.
" Wdt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that
which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same."
' Would you wish to live secure in the possession of property
and life under the Roman government? Be an obedient,
peaceable subject ; and you will not only be protected, you
will " have praise" from it. The government will not only
not punish you, but show its approbation of your conduct in
protecting you.' " For," says he,1 going on to illustrate his
assertion, " he is the minister of God for good to thee." He
refers to the security which Christians possessed as to life and
property under the Roman government, when compared with
the danger to both in a state of anarchy. But for a regular
government, they would, by the infuriated Jews and the Pagan
rabble, have been torn to pieces as wild beasts. The apostle
very probably had in his mind the instances in which the
Roman magistrate — " the power," had been to himself " the
minister of God for good."2
On the other hand, if the Roman Christians, by conspiracy
and revolt, disturbed the public peace, the apostle assures
them that they might lay their account with being punished ;
and that, if they were so, it would be no more than they de
served : " But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he
beareth not the sword in vain." " Evil" here is descriptive of
what is opposed to the law — what is in its tendency subversive
1 Ver. 4.
2 Acts xviii. 14 ; xix. 35; xxi. 31 ; xxiii. 12-23; xxv.,j

490 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
of the government. If the Christians did anything of this
kind, they had good cause to fear; punishment — severe, cer
tain, and sudden — was likely to overtake them. The Roman
magistrate " bore the sword" — had the power of life and
death, which was emblematised by the sword, or dagger,1 which
formed a part of his official dress ; and he was disposed to
use it — " he bore it not in vain." The Roman government
was not backward in inflicting merited punishment. And, in
punishing disobedient, rebellious professors of Christianity, he
was equally God's minister, as in protecting them when they
acted as dutiful subjects. " He is the minister of God — a
revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." As, in
the case of obedience, the Christians would enjoy security — this
would come from God, and, in conferring it, the Roman ma
gistrate would be His minister — so, in the case of disobedience,
they would be punished — this punishment would indeed be
from God, and, in inflicting it, the Roman magistrate would
be His minister.
The conclusion of the whole matter, as to civil obedience, is
to be found in the words which follow : — " Wherefore ye must
needs be subject, not only for wrath, but for conscience sake." 2
' It is necessary (such is the import of the apostle's summing
up) that ye be subject to the Roman government on two ac
counts : on account of " wrath," the punishment which dis
obedience will certainly bring on you ; but not only on this
account, but for a higher reason— for " conscience sake," from
a regard to the Divine authority interposed in this matter, not
merely on the evidence, which forces itself on every reflecting
mind, that civil government is in accordance with the Divine
will, but also in the clear revelation of His will, which I, an
inspired apostle, have now made to you.'
The general principles contained in these injunctions are
applicable to Christians in all countries and in all ages. This
passage clearly teaches us that Christians, in all countries and
ages, should respect and obey the civil government under
' PuS10- » Ver. 5.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 491
which they live ; that a Christian who follows a course that
leads to anarchy, acts a wicked, as well as an inconsistent and
foolish part ; that no Christian is warranted to disturb a settled
civil government because it is not, in its form and administra
tion, so good as he could desire it ; and that all Christians,
placed in the same circumstances in reference to the civil
government under which they live as the primitive Christians
were to the Roman government, are bound to act, not only
on the same general principle, but precisely in the same way.
There are a great many questions connected with the limits
of civil obedience, and the right, in certain circumstances, of
resistance on the part of subjects, which have been dragged
into the .exposition of this passage ; but, so far as I have been
able to perceive, the above is the meaning — the whole mean
ing of the apostle. The questions referred to are deeply in
teresting, and I have had full opportunity of discussing them,
both in a discourse on civil government in the Exposition of
the First Epistle of Peter, and in a Treatise " On the Law of
Christ respecting Civil Obedience, especially in the Payment
of Tribute."
Having stated the law of Christ respecting civil obedience
generally, the apostle now applies the general precept to the
specific case of payment of tribute : " For, for this cause pay
ye tribute also : for they are God's ministers, attending con
tinually on this very thing." 1 This verse resolves itself into
two parts— a statement or command respecting the payment of
tribute, and a reason for this. The first clause2 may be viewed
either as a statement or as a command ; it may be rendered
either ' ye pay,' or ' pay ye.' The first view is taken by many
interpreters, who consider it as a further enforcement of the
duty 'of civil obedience, drawn from the fact that those to whom
he wrote paid tribute. They view it as an appeal to consis
tency. ' Ye pay tribute : why not yield, generally, civil obedi
ence?' This seems an unnatural exposition. Standing so
closely connected with injunctions, it seems more natural to
i ' Ver. 6. 2 cpopovg TiKshs.

492 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
understand the words imperatively than indicatively. An
argument from consistency is a feeble one after those al
ready used.
" For" seems equivalent to moreover — or, as an instance of
what I mean. " For this cause" may refer either to what
goes before in the 5th verse, or to the conclusion of this
verse ; or it may mean, ' in reference to this thing,' 1 — that is,
civil government.
In the 7th verse, " tribute" is employed to signify one kind
of impost as distinguished from another. Here it is used as a
general name for civil taxes. The duty of Christians in
reference to these was, that they should not refuse to pay
them — that they should not seek to evade them, or to escape
by under-payment. They were conscientiously to give what
was required as civil tribute by their governors ; and to do this
as a matter, not merely of external necessity, but of moral
obligation. Like every other part of civil obedience, this is limited by
the paramount claims of Divine law. If a Christian be re
quired to pay a portion of his substance for the express pur
pose of securing what he, in his conscience, believes to be
opposed to the law of God, it would seem that he has no
alternative but to decline acting in such a case. If the go
vernment enforce such a tribute, he may, in ordinary circum
stances he ought, quietly to allow them to take from him what
he cannot, in consistency with a higher law, give.
The reason for paying tribute is contained in the second
clause of the verse : " For they are God's ministers, attending
continually on this very thing." These words may either re
fer to the magistrates, who impose taxes, or to the officers who
collect them. In the first case, their meaning is, The magis
trates are agents of the divine providence in promoting the wel
fare of society ; and, as their work requires all their time, they
ought both to be supported and furnished with the means of
1 This seems the meaning of ha tovto in Matt. xiii. 52 ; Mark xii. 24 ;
John xix. 11.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 493
doing their work, which can only be done by tribute. In the
second, the meaning is, ' You are bound to pay tribute as well
as to yield civil obedience; for that department of government
which is employed in raising the revenue, is as really a part
of the Divine institution as any other. The revenue officers
are to be obeyed, in paying them the taxes imposed ; for they
are doing work agreeable to the will of God, though often, it
may be, not in a way agreeable to His will. You cannot re
fuse compliance with their lawful demands without disobeying
God ; you cannot cheatthem, without robbing Him.' The
latter appears to us the preferable exposition.
The apostle shuts up this branch of his exhortation, by en
joining the Christian Romans cheerfully to render to the
different orders of the magistracy that kind and degree of
obedience and submission which, according to the constitution
of the government, they had aright to demand — "their due."
" Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute
is due ; custom to whom custom ; honour to whom honour ;
fear to whom fear." 1
"All," here, is to be understood as expressive of a limited
universality — of the whole of the persons spoken of. Render
therefore to them all — to all the grades of the administrators
of civil authority — " their dues," that which properly belongs
to them. " Tribute to whom tribute is due." Tribute, as
distinguished from custom, was a species of property-tax — a
sum which every individual was called to pay, according to the
valuation of his estate by the censor. " Custom to whom
custom," included money paid on goods imported and ex
ported, tithes, or a tenth part of the produce of the public
lands by those who occupied them, and a rent for the privilege
of pasture on the public lands.2 Let these taxes be paid to
those who are authorised to exact them.
" Fear" is reverence — a high degree of respect ; and " hon
our," an inferior degree of the same sentiment. You see the
comparative force of the two words in the precept, "Fear God;
1 Ver. 7. 2 Adam's Antiquities.

494 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
honour the king."1 It is as if the apostle had said, 'Civil
authority is a sacred thing : reverence it wherever you meet
it, and let your reverence correspond to the degree in which
it is possessed by the object of your respect. Reverence the
emperor ; fear the prastor ; respect the quaestor ; and beware of
treating with contempt even the despised publican.' Just as
we might say, ' Reverence the sovereign — the visible emblem
of the supreme civil power ; respect the High Court of Par
liament ; honour the municipal or local authorities ; and
beware of treating with contempt even the constable or
policeman. Honour civil rule, as God's ordinance, in all its
forms.' The concluding paragraph of the thirteenth chapter is, I
apprehend, the enforcement of the exhortations to particular
Christian duties which commence with the 9th verse of the
twelfth. It is twofold, derived from the comprehensive na
ture of love,2 and from the peculiar circumstances in which
the Roman Christians were placed.3
The words in the 8th verse may, from a peculiarity in the
structure of the original language, be understood either as an
injunction or as an assertion, and may, with equal justice,
viewed apart, be rendered, as our translators have done, " Owe
no man anything," — or, "Ye owe no man anything, but to love
one another." The last appears to me the better rendering.
Though it is possible to bring a very good sense out of the
apostle's words, viewed as an injunction, there is something
harsh and unnatural in the mode of expression, " Owe no
man anything, but to love one another," — ' Pay all debts ex
cept that which, though you must be constantly paying, you
will never be able to discharge or even to diminish.' When
considered as an assertion, it conveys an important meaning
in natural phraseology. The apostle began his exhortation
with " Let love be without dissimulation ; " and now that he
has finished it, he says, 'This includes everything I have
1 1 Pet. ii. 17. ' Ver. 8-10. 3 Ver. 11-14.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 495
said — everything I can say, as to relative duty.' It is a very
strong confirmation of the propriety of this interpretation, that
the apostle proceeds immediately to the illustration of the
principle, that love is the sum and substance of all relative
duties. It is as if he had said, ' All the duties which I have
been enjoining on you are nothing more than the natural ex
pressions of that mutual love which you should cherish towards
each other. " For he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the
law." '
The Roman Christians might think these are very many
and heavy burdens ; but, says the apostle, ' Reflect; they are
all nothing but developments of one principle, nothing but
different ways of doing one thing — love. If you but love,
you will find it easy to perform them all — you will find it im
possible to refrain from performing any of them.' To " fulfil
the law," here, is to do all that the law requires. The phrase
must clearly be limited by the connection. He who loves his
brother, fulfils the law with regard to him. The law has
nothing to require of him, in reference to his brother, that is
not contained in love.
In the 9th and 10th verses, the apostle shows how these
things are so : " For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear
false witness, Thou shalt not covet ; and if there be any other
commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill
to his neighbour ; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law." 1
The sum of the Divine law, with regard to our brethren of
mankind — the second great commandment, like unto the first,
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God"— is, "that we love
them as we love ourselves;"2 and the apostle's object is to
show that this summary does indeed contain in it all the par
ticular requisitions to relative duty, so that he who keeps it
cannot break them. It is obviously impossible that a man
should love his fellow-man as he loves himself, and yet be
1 Ver. 9, 10. 2 Matt. xix. 19.

496 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
guilty of any of the particular offences against him which the
law of God forbids. Can a man who loves his brother, violate
the honour and purity of the marriage-bed ? Can he injure
him in his person, or in his property, or in his reputation ?
Can he murder, or defraud, or defame him? Can he cherish
in his bosom any principle leading to practical results incon
sistent with his happiness ? The thing is plainly impossible
— it implies a contradiction. The general injunction of love
thus includes all the particular injunctions of the second table,
and every other injunction of a similar kind ; and if it be
reasonable, so are they.
" Love worketh no ill to his neighbour ; " — that is, ' The
man under the influence of love can do no injury to his
fellow-man.' He cannot willingly hurt him; for this is incon
sistent with love. He must do all that is in his power to pro
mote his happiness ; for this is required by love. " Therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law." " The fulfilling " 1 is here, as
a similar word2 in Gal. v. 14, that which comprehends all the
rest. He who loves his neighbour will, just in proportion to
this love, perform all the duties which he owes to his neigh
bour ; and of course the apostle's declaration is demonstrated
to be true. " Ye owe no man anything, but to love one an
other." You owe nothing to any man which is not included
in the love which the law requires — a love like that which a
man bears to himself. This is the precise principle of our
Lord's beautiful summary of relative duty in the Sermon on
the Mount : " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the
law and the prophets." 3 This is reducing the principle to
practice. As we are to love our neighbour as ourselves, we are
in imagination to change person and circumstances with him,
and to treat him just as we could reasonably expect him to
treat us. Under the influence of natural and laudable self-
love, no one wishes to be injured by another; therefore, under
the influence of that love which the law requires, he will ab-
1 v-Aiipiiifix. 2 n-KvipovTai s Matt. vii. 12.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 497
stain from injuring others. Under the influence of natural
and laudable self-love, every one wishes that his neighbour
should do him good, not only by doing what in strict justice
he cannot refuse to do, or even abstain from doing, but, so
far as lies in his power, to do for him what his wants render
necessary ; therefore, under the influence of that love to his
neighbour which the law requires, he will treat him not only
equitably, but kindly, up to the full measure of his power to
do so. It is obvious that he who acts in this manner, will
obey the whole law in reference to his neighbour — will dis
charge the full amount of relative duty.
What an interesting view of the Christian's rule of duty !
How reasonable, how amiable, is the Divine law! What
wisdom and harmony pervade its principles and requisitions !
The compliance with its various injunctions is but the natu
ral display of one principle, and that the object of the
highest approbation of the reason, the fullest sanction of the
conscience, and the most cordial concurrence of the heart — a
principle, to produce and strengthen which, all the doctrines
of revelation are plainly intended and admirably fitted. How
spiritual this law, in all its departments, — in what concerns
man, as well as in what concerns God ! External duties are
valuable only as expressions of inward principles.
In the words that follow, the apostle gathers a motive for
strict attention to the duties which he had been enjoining,
from the present circumstances of those whom he was address
ing as compared with their former situation : " And that,
knowing the time, that it is now high time to awake out of
sleep ; for now is our salvation nearer than when ye believed.
The night is far spent, the day is at hand." x The introduc
tory clause, " and that," is elliptical. We have the same
ellipsis in 1 Cor. vi. 8, "And that— your brethren." The
supplement, as in such cases generally, is to be found in the
preceding context. In the passage in the epistle to the Cor
inthians, it is, and 'ye do that— ye defraud your brethren.'

1 Ver. 11, 12. 2 I

498 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
Here it is, ' And do that which I have enjoined from the con
sideration I am now about to press on you.' It is very simi
lar to what the apostle says, Heb. x. 25, "And so much the
more, as ye see the day approaching." Attend to these duties,
" knowing the time."
" To know the time," is to be so acquainted with the real
state of present circumstances, as distinctly to perceive what
are the duties which rise out of them. The phrase derives
illustration from 1 Chron. xii. 32, where " the men of Issachar
are said to have had understanding of the times, to know
what Israel ought to do." It seems also to have the force of
our Lord's phrase, " to know the signs of the times " 1 — to be
aware of the Divine dispensations, which present events
intimate to be impending. The phrase seems equivalent to,
' And attend to these duties ; for ye are not unaware of the
peculiar character of the present period, and of the events
which it indicates as near at hand.'
With regard to that character, the apostle states, generally,
that it was such as made it evident that " it was high time for
them to awake out of sleep." These words, by themselves,
might seem to be a universal proposition, and to apply gene
rally to mankind. A state of spiritual ignorance, delusion,
and inaction, such as is that of all men in their natural con
dition, is in Scripture represented as a sleep. " Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead."2 In this case, the
meaning would be, ' From the peculiar character of the pre
sent times, it is very obviously the urgent duty of " all men
everywhere to repent" 8 — to rouse themselves from their spiri
tual slumbers, and seek the knowledge of God.'
But what the apostle says is a limited proposition, " It is
high time for us to awake out of sleep." He plainly does not
refer to a state of spiritual death, for from that they had
awaked when they were converted. It refers, probably, to
that state of spiritual languor which, according to our Lord's
prophetical parable, was, previously to His coming, generally
1 Matt. xvi. 3. 2 Eph. v. 14. s Acts xvii. 30.

SECT. III. J EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 499
to affect Christians — not only professed Christians, but true
Christians. The five wise virgins, as well as the five fool
ish, were affected with this spiritual disease ; none of them
" watched," as they should have done—" They all slumbered
and slept." 1 The circumstances of the times, and the events
which seemed to be approaching, were such as to call for the
utmost vigilance, circumspection, and attention, on the part of
Christians. It is a turn of thought similar to — " But this I say,
brethren, the time is short. It remaineth that — "2
What those circumstances were, what the events impend
ing, we learn from the words that follow : " For now is our
salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far
spent, the day is at hand." 3 There, have been three opinions
advanced by interpreters respecting the meaning and refer
ence of the phrase, " our salvation," Some understand by
it, the deliverance which Christians were to obtain from per
secution by the Jews, on the approaching destruction of their
polity ; others, the complete and eternal deliverance from evil,
in all its forms, to which Christians are looking forward, and to
which every day is bringing them nearer ; and others still,
the general, the universal, diffusion throughout the world
of Christianity and its blessings, towards which so great a step
was soon to be made in the extension of the Gospel, and the
approaching fall of Paganism.
As to the first of these modes of interpretation, it is to be
remarked, that though the words, " our salvation," or deliver
ance, may certainly refer to a deliverance from persecution ;
yet we have no ground to believe that the Christians at Rome
were then suffering persecution in any way from the unbe
lieving Jews, or that the overthrow of the Jewish polity would
be attended by any particular advantages to them. Besides,
all the duties enjoined by the apostle, were of a kind equally
obligatory in a time of persecution and of peace.
As to the second mode of interpretation, it gives to the
phrase, "our salvation," what may be termed its classical,
1 Matt. xxv. 5. too-at. 2 1 Cor. vii. 29. ' Ver. 12.

500 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
normal meaning. But it is not without its difficulties. It is
plain that the apostle could not mean to say, that the final
and complete deliverance of Christians from evil, when " the
last enemy shall be destroyed — death," was at hand. He
knew1 that events were to take place before that, which would
occupy a long space of time. If the phrase be referred to the
deliverance of individual Christians at death — not only do we
not read of " death," in the New Testament, as equivalent to
" salvation," but, in this case, as " the night" must signify the
present life, and " the day" the state of " the spirits of just
men made perfect," it is not easy to make out an interpreta
tion of the phrases — " Put off the works of darkness" — " Put
on the armour of light" — " Walk in the day" — that harmon
izes with this view of the subject.
The third mode of interpretation, though not without its
difficulties, appears to me, upon the whole, the preferable one.
The difficulty of chief importance is the unusual acceptation
of the phrase rendered " our salvation." We have, in the pro
phecy of Isaiah, a similar phrase pointed at in the words before
us, and referring to the same events as this interpretation looks
to. In the passage, where, if I mistake not, we have the
source of the apostle's peculiar use of " righteousness" —
" the righteousness of God," we find " salvation " mentioned,
which is God's salvation, as He is its Author, and " our
salvation," as men are its objects : " Hearken unto Me, My
people ; and give ear unto Me, O My nation : for a law shall
proceed from Me, and I will make My judgment to rest for
a light of the people. My righteousness is near ; My salva
tion is gone forth, and Mine arms shall judge the people : the
isles shall wait upon Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth
beneath ; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and
the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell
therein shall die in like manner : but My salvation shall be
for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken
unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose
1 2 Thess. ii. 1-12.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 501
heart is My law ; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be
ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up
like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool : but
My righteousness shall be for ever, and My salvation from
generation to generation."1 In the Apocalypse,2 a great
triumph of Christianity is described in the following terms :
" And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come
salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the
power of His Christ." The Gospel had made great progress
already ; but the fall of Jerusalem was the commencing period
of a new and still more extensive triumph — to proceed till
Paganism fell prostrate, and the religion of the crucified One
became the dominant religion of the empire.
" The night is far spent, the day is at hand." " The night,"
on the first scheme of interpretation, is the season of persecu
tion ; " the day," that of deliverance — a period of freedom and
security from persecution. On the second plan of interpreta
tion, " the night" is the season of mortal life and its sorrows ;
and " the day," the state of rest and happiness on which
Christians enter at death. According to the third, which
seems to us the preferable mode of exposition, " the night" is
the season of Pagan ignorance, immorality, and wretchedness ;
and " the day," the period of Christian knowledge, purity, and
happiness. This is quite a common figurative representation
of heathenism and Christianity. We find the Prophet Isaiah
using the following language in reference to the events here
referred to : " Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and
gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. Arise, shine ; for
thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon
thee." 8 The long night in which this world had been plunged
for so many ages was coming to an end : the morning had
dawned ; the Sun of Righteousness had risen on the nations
with healing under His wings ; and ere long it would be
meridian-day over the Roman world.
With a reference to this commenced and progressive state
l. Isa. Ii. 4-8. 2 Rev. xii. 10. 3 Isa. Ix. 1, 2.

502 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
of things, the apostle enjoins the Roman Christians to culti
vate a corresponding course of character and conduct : " Let
us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and put on the
armour of light." x " The works of darkness" are those vicious
habits of thought, feeling, and action, that are formed by, and
correspond to, a state of heathen ignorance and depravity.
These are to be " cast off" as a dress, which, however it might
Suit the darkness of night, in which the coarsest material, foulest
spots, and most unsightly rents might be concealed, could not
bear to be exhibited before the eye of heaven, amid the bright
ness and purity of noon-day. These garments of pollution
and shame are to be " cast off "^—thrown away. These habits
are to be abandoned with a feeling of loathing and horror ;
and, instead of them, is to be " put on the armour of light."
The word rendered " armour" has that sense ; but it also,
when used Hebraistically, signifies "dress."2 The "dress of
light" is a figurative expression for those habits of thought,
feeling, and action, which correspond with the knowledge,
purity, and holiness of the Gospel. The phrase, denoting a
warrior*s dress, Was not likely to be chosen without the inten
tion of suggesting the idea, that the new life, under " the day,"
instead of being a life of dissolute revelling, is to be a life of
vigorous exertion — the life of a soldier.
The apostle pursues the figure in the 13th and 14th verses :
" Let us Walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and
drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife
and envying : but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
" Let us walk," properly signifies, ' Let us walk about, steadily,
actively, like sober, healthy men.' " Honestly" is here used
in the nearly obsolete sense of ' respectably, gracefully;' "as
in the day" — as every one feels it is right to do in clear day
light, in the presence— under the eye, of our fellow-men— not
reeling, most discreditably, to and fro like dissolute men in
the night season, who spend the first part of the night in
1 Ver. 12.
2 Deut. xxii. 5. Drusius, Preterita; Deyling, 06s. Sac, p. iii.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 503
" rioting and drunkenness," and " chambering and wanton
ness," and then, coming forth from their haunts, " flown with
insolence and wine,"1 fill the streets with deeds of "strife and
envy, or hatred, violence and blood." That is the figure;
let us examine its signification.
Let your conduct correspond with your privileges. With
you, the night of heathenism or degenerate Judaism is past —
the true light of Christian knowledge and privilege shines.
Improve it for active useful exertion in your proper business
— the service of God and man. Go about doing good. The
light shines : you know where to go, what to do. Act becom
ingly, as not only under the inspection of your fellow-men,
but compassed about with a cloud of higher witnesses, and
especially regarded by the great Witness, soon to be the Judge.2
Act in a manner directly the reverse of that which charac
terizes those who live under heathenism, which once charac
terized yourselves when heathens. " Live the rest of your
time in the flesh, not to the lusts of men, but to the will of
God ;" " not fashioning yourselves according to the former
lusts in your ignorance ; but, as He who hath called you is
holy, be ye holy in all manner of conversation;" reckoning,
as ye well may, that " the time past of your life may suffice to
have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when ye walked in las-
civiousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and
abominable idolatries," " hateful, and hating one another." 3
Instead of this intemperance, and impurity, and malignity,
which characterize the night of Paganism, and which are
things of which men may well be ashamed, be distinguished
by the moderation, and purity, and benevolence which become
the day of Christian, holy light, and benignant influence.
The same figure is carried forward into the 14th verse : —
" But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provi
sion for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." The apostle ex
plains by a figure what he means by the dress of light — the
dress suitable to the day of Christian knowledge and privilege :
1 Milton. 2 Heb. xii. 1.
3 1 Pet. i. 14, 15; iv. 2, 3 ; Tit. iii. 3.

504 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
" Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The same figure is em
ployed by the apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians :— " As
many of you as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ."1
There the meaning seems to be — ' All of you who are really
related to Christ in the way of which baptism is an emblem,
have been so identified with Him, as to be treated by God,
not as you deserve, but as He deserves.' It refers to what
the apostle is there discussing — justification : here it refers to
character. To " put on Christ," is to clothe ourselves with all
the graces which adorned His character — to become His living
images — to be " in the world as He was in the world"2 — to
reflect His excellencies as mirrors3 — to speak as He spoke — to
act as He acted — to suffer as He suffered — to live as He lived
— to die as He died. In order to this, Christ must be in us.
The mind that was in Him must be in us. His Spirit must
be in us, that His likeness may be on us. The transformation
into His likeness can be effected only by " the renewing of the
mind." It is meet that it should be so. Christ put on man
in nature and condition : man should put on Christ in dispo
sition and character. He became a partaker of our physical
nature : we should become partakers of His moral nature.
Christ put on man, that man might put on Christ.4
The apostle shuts up this exhortation by exhorting Chris
tians " not to provide for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."
Some interpreters consider " flesh" here as just equivalent to
' the animal part of our nature ;' and understand the apostle
as saying, ' You may, you must, provide for that ; but you
must not so provide for it as that the fulfilment of its desires
shall be your great object in life. You have something infi
nitely higher and better to provide for than this.' This is
good sense, and sound Christian morality; but it does not
seem to be what the apostle says here. " The flesh," with
him, generally, means depraved human nature ; and there is
no reason why we should depart from the ordinary meaning
1 Gal. iii. 27. " l John iv. 17. 3 2 Cor. iii. 18.
4 The idea of fo-*«, which is strictly " accoutrements," was likely still
in the apostle's mind.

SECT. III.] EXHORTATIONS TO CHRISTIAN DUTIES. 505
of the term. To provide, or to make provision, for the flesh,
is to make it an object of thought and pursuit how to secure
what is necessary to the life, and health, and gratification of
the flesh, or " the old man." The concluding clause, which,
in the original, is just " towards," or " in reference to lusts,"
is explicatory of the general term, provide, and is equivalent to
— in order to excite, or to gratify, its desires. What is forbidden
is, the making it the great subject of thought and pursuit how
we are to obtain the things that are in the world ; for these
are the objects of the desires, the lusts, of the old man : how
to obtain the lust of the flesh, what the flesh desires — the lust
of the eye, what the eye covets — and the pride of life, what
men pride themselves in. It is the same thing as laying up
treasures on earth — minding earthly things ; acting as if we
were debtors to the flesh, so as that our great business should
be to live to it — to serve it. Here, as in many such cases^
more is suggested than expressed — less is said than is meant.
Instead of making " provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof," we, whose " life is hid with Christ in God," are to
" mortify our members which are on the earth;" we, who " have
put on Christ," are to " put off the old man, who is corrupt ac
cording to the deceitful lusts ;" we, who are Christ's, are to
" crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts ;" 1 we are to
place on the cross those who placed Him there.
These exhortations are as applicable to us as to those to whom
they were originally delivered. We live in times which have a
peculiar character, and we should seek to know that character.
Our times, like those of the apostle, are a period of transition,
indicating the approach of an important crisis. The salvation
of the world, in the sense of the general Christianization of
mankind, is plainly approaching ; and, in reference to the
heathen world, the night is far spent — the day is at hand.
The old systems of Paganism are becoming effete, and losing
their hold on their votaries. The Mohammedan crescent is
dim and waning. The exertions of Romanism are the convulsive
1 Col. iii. 5 ; Eph. iv. 22 ; Gal. v. 24.

506 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
movements of an outworn constitution, not the natural action
of sound health. Its apparent revival is far more the verdure
of the parasite plants, which draw their nourishment from the
corruption of the majestic tree to which they give the appear
ance of life — a life which is the proof of death — than the
vigorous shoots which, in the season of spring, tell that the
oak of many centuries is still fresh at heart. The rapidly
shifting forms of false philosophy and corrupted Christianity
indicate a felt want of safe standing ground. Arbitrary power
is exhausting the patience of the nations, and must, ere long,
cease to exist as the enemy of truth as well as freedom. It
becomes Christians, who have long enjoyed the light as we
have done, to walk in the light, as the children of light — to
shine as lights in the world — to hold forth the word of life to
a perishing world — -to exhibit it as it is in the Bible — to exhi
bit it, in living character, in our temper and conduct — and to
feel that, in the character of the time, we have new, powerful
motives to do all this. The night of the world and of the Church
is far spent — the day is at hand. And, for this purpose, we
must "put on Christ "—embrace His truth — imbibe His
Spirit, that we may exhibit His likeness. Oh ! how unworthy
our profession and our privileges to be slumberous and sloth
ful when we should be broad awake and active. How carefully
should we think on and manifest the things that are honour
able, decent, becoming, venerable, calculated to command
respect for ourselves and for our cause ! At what a distance
should we keep from everything impure and dishonest, or even
doubtful ; and, instead of malting it the business of life " to
provide for the flesh," let us make it the business of life to
provide for the health and growth of the spirit, knowing that
" we are not debtors to the flesh, that we should live after the
flesh ; for if we live after the flesh, we shall die ; but that we
are debtors to the Spirit, so that we should live after the
Spirit; for if we, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the
body, we shall live;"1 and not only live ourselves, but be
1 Rom. viii. 12, 13.

SECT. IV.] OP TERMS OF COMMUNION. 507
the means of communicating life to a dead Church and world.
The prevalence of a worldly, self-seeking, self-indulgent, which
is an un-Christ-like spirit, among the professors of Christianity,
is one of the most alarming signs of our times. The frame of
civil society seems on the verge of being shaken to pieces. Is
this the time for Christians to be acting as if it were to be per
petual? Seeing all these things must be dissolved, and give
way to the new heavens and the new earth, what manner of
persons should we be in all holy conversation and godliness ?
Is this the time for Christians to be labouring for the meat
that perisheth, instead of that which endureth unto eternal
life ? Is this the time to be laying up treasures on earth, in
stead of laying them up in heaven ? How loud and clear to
every heaven-opened ear does the command come forth at
this time from Him who sitteth on the throne — " Seek first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall
be added to you !" All that can be shaken in human institu
tions must ere long be removed, as things made only in refer
ence to those things which cannot be shaken, and which are
on their way to take their abiding place. The hosts, on both
sides, are mustering for the battle. "Let us take our stand. It
will be hazardous, as the decisive engagement comes on, to be
found either neutral or on the wrong side. Brethren, this
I say to you — " Know the time. It is high time to awake
out of sleep."

SECTION IV,
OF TERMS OF COMMUNION.
Chapter xiv. 1-xv. 13.— Him that is weak in the faith receive ye,
but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all
things : another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth
despise him that eateth not ; and let not him which eateth not judge him
that eateth : for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest an
other man's servant ? to his own master he standeth or falleth ; yea, he
shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man
esteemeth one day above another ; another esteemeth every day alike.

508 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth
the day, regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the day,
to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord,
for he giveth God thanks ; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth
not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no
man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and
whether we die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live therefore, or die,
we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and
revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead and living. But
why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost thou set at nought thy
brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. For
it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and
every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give
account of himself to God.
Let us not therefore judge one another any more : but judge this
rather, that no man put a stumblingblock, or an occasion to fall, in
his brother's way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that
there is nothing unclean of itself : but to him that esteemeth any thing
to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved
with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him
with thy meat for whom Christ died. Let not then your good be evil
spoken of: for the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righte
ousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these
things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Let
us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things
wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroy not the work of God.
All things indeed are pure ; but it is evil for that man who eateth with
offence. It is good neither to eat flesh, nnr to drink wine, nor any thing
whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hast thou
faith ? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not
himself in that thing which he alloweth. And he that doubteth is damned if
he eat, because he eateth not of faith : for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbour
for his good to edification. For even Christ pleased not Himself ; but, as
it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learn
ing ; that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have
hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-
minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus ; that ye may with
one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us, to
the glory of God. Now I say, that Jesus Christ was a minister of the
circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the

SECT. IV.] OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 509
fathers : and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy ; as it is
written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the Gentiles, and
sing unto Thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His
people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and laud Him, all
ye people. And again Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and
He that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles ; in Him shall the Gentiles
trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
In the section of the practical part of the Epistle to the
Romans, on the illustration of which we are now about to
enter, the apostle gives directions in reference to the terms of
Christian fellowship, and the manner in which Christians, who
are not entirely of one mind in reference to minor points of
faith and practice, should treat each other. The section does
not seem to have any other connection with what goes imme
diately before, than what arises out of its general character
as a practical exhortation. There is a connection referred to
by the apostle in his first epistle to the Corinthians,1 between
"the flesh" and the practices which he here guards against;
but this connection does not seem to have been in his view
here. In the Church of Rome, as in most of the primitive churches
beyond the limits of Judea, there were two classes clearly dis
tinguished from each other. The first, composed of the Gen
tile converts and the more enlightened of their Jewish brethren,
who considered the ceremonial institutions of the Mosaic law
as annulled by the new and better dispensation ; and the
other, composed of the great body of the Jewish converts, who,
though they embraced Jesus as the Messiah, were yet of
opinion that the Mosaic law was not repealed — was not, in
deed, repealable — and therefore continued to be zealous for it,
all of them observing the legal institutions themselves, and
some of them desirous of imposing them on the Gentiles. The
first class were in danger of despising the second as narrow-
minded, bigoted, superstitious nien : the second class were in
1 l Cor. iii. 1-3.

510 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
danger of judging harshly of the first as latitudinarian free
thinkers. The apostle's object is to show that, where there is
evidence of genuine faith of the saving truth, such differences
of opinion should not in the slightest degree diminish brotherly
love, or interrupt their religious fellowship. The particular
controversies here referred to have long ceased to be agitated,
but the principles in human nature which gave origin to them
are as powerful as ever. In all Christian churches there are
among the members analogous diversities of endowments and
acquirements, which must occasion analogous differences of
opinion and of conduct ; and the things which the apostle has
here written, according to the wisdom given him, will, if
rightly understood, be found " written for our learning," and
"profitable" for instruction, warning, and reproof to Chris
tian churches in all countries and in all ages.
" Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to
doubtful disputations." * This is the general law of church-
fellowship which the apostle lays down, and in the sequel ap
plies to the peculiar circumstances of the Roman Church.
" Faith," here, does not denote the act, but the object, of belief
— the principles of Christian faith and duty. " To be weak
in faith," understanding by that word the mental act of be
lieving, is to doubt and hesitate. To be weak in faith, or
rather in the faith, understanding by the word the objects of
faith — the declarations of Christ and his apostles, is to be but
imperfectly acquainted with the Christian system. We say
of an individual divine, he is strong in dogmatic, but he is
weak in exegesis ; or of a philosopher, he is strong in physics,
but weak in metaphysics ; or of a scholar, he is very strong in
Greek and Latin, but very weak in Hebrew. The one kind
of weakness does not necessarily infer the other. A man may
be but imperfectly acquainted with Christianity as a system,
who has a very firm faith in the saving truth ; and, on the
other hand, a man may have a great extent of knowledge as
to Christianity as a system — a subject of mere intellectual ap-
1 Ver. 1.

SECT. IV. J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 511
prehension, who may have very little, or be altogether desti
tute of, saving faith. Yet the two things— strength in faith,
and strength in the faith — are naturally connected ; there is
something wrong when they are disjoined, but they do not, as
a matter of course, co-exist in proportionable degrees.
The person here described by the apostle is a sincere but
weak Christian. He really believes the Gospel ; but, at the
same time, owing, it maybe, to a deficiency of mental power — it
may be, to the deficiencies or the prejudices of education, or to
some other cause — he is far from having a distinct, extended,
consistent view of all the principles of faith and duty taught
by the One Master, whose authority he most cordially recog
nises. Now, how is such a person to be treated by those who
are "strong in the faith"— who have clear, wide, deep views of
the Christian system ? Is he to be refused, on his professing
his faith, admission to the communion of the Church ? Is his
recognition as a Christian brother to be deferred till he equal
" the strong in the faith," in the extent and accuracy of his
views? No, says the apostle — himself a strong man in the
faith, if ever there was one — No ; " Him that is weak in the
faith receive ye."
The word translated " receive " l admits of two renderings,
— ' Support — assist,' or ' receive, admit to intimate inter
course.' The context seems plainly to require the meaning
adopted by our translators, which is also that which the word
ordinarily bears in the New Testament, e.g., Acts xviii. 27 ;
xxviii. 2. The person referred to, if he seemed to be really
what he professed to be — a person believing that Jesus Christ
is the Saviour and Lord of men, trusting to Him for salvation,
and submitting to His authority — though his views on some
subjects may be indistinct and even erroneous, was to be ad
mitted to their fellowship. He was to be acknowledged as a
brother in Christ — a child of God through faith in Christ
Jesus, and treated accordingly.
The apostle adds, "But not to doubtful disputations." This
1 irpoo-'hapi/iavio-di.

512 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
phrase,1 as rendered by our translators, does not convey any
distinct idea. The sentiment it seems to express is this, ' Re
ceive such a man to communion — admit him to the solemni
ties of Christian worship; but when you engage in discussions
about doubtful subjects, do not receive or admit him.' Now
we have no reason to suppose that the primitive churches had
any meetings for any such purpose as this, or that there was
any distinction among them, as afterwards, into the initiated
and uninitiated. The Church, in the days of the apostles,
had no distinction of exoteric and esoteric doctrines — no meet
ings from which any of the members were excluded. It is
not easy to say with certainty what the phrase precisely
means. It may be literally rendered, " Not in order to the
discussion or determination of opinions." It describes what
ought not to be the object in receiving such persons. They
were to be received " to the glory of God," 2 and to their own
edification ; but they are not to be received in order to the
discussion and determination of their peculiar opinions.
These opinions were not to prevent their being admitted
to oommunion ; but discussions and determinations about
them were not to disturb the peace of the Church. They
were not to be admitted that their opinions might be discussed
by them, for the purpose of bringing their strong brethren to
their views ; or that they might be discussed by the strong,
that the weak might be induced to abandon them. The mean
ing of the injunction seems to be, l Readily admit into fellow
ship every man who appears to be a sincere believer, though
his views may on some points be indistinct, and even incor
rect ; but let care be taken that neither he be harassed about
these opinions, nor the Church harassed by him in reference
to them.' These opinions must not be the occasion of strife
and division, where all should be peace and union.
The apostle now proceeds to apply this principle to the ex
isting circumstances of the Roman Church. There were two
points on which diversity of opinion among its members, as
1 pcii ii; haxplans ha>.oyio-p.uv. ' Chap. XV. 7.

SECT. 1V.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 513
divided into the weak and strong, naturally led to diversity of
usage— meats and days : Judaical distinctions about what
was lawful in food, and sacred in time. He considers the two
cases in succession.
And first, with regard to meats. "For one believeth that
he may eat all things ; another, who is weak, eateth only
herbs." 1 Some interpreters have supposed that the apostle
here refers to some individuals in the Roman Church, who
held the principle which is said to have distinguished the sect
of ancient philosophers called Pythagoreans, and the sect of
Jewish ascetics called Essenes, a principle revived in our own
times, that the use of animal food is unlawful. It seems far
more likely that the reference is to the distinction of articles
of food made in the Mosaic law. " One " — that is, he who is
"strong in the faith," is persuaded that this distinction is
abolished ; that " nothing is unclean of itself," but that " every
creature of God," fit for food, may be eaten. "Another, who
is weak " in the faith, " eateth herbs," — that is, eateth them
only. The Jews were not prohibited from eating animal food ;
but in a heathen country it was so difficult to ascertain that
" flesh sold in the shambles " had not been offered to idols,
and that the requisitions of the Mosaic law had been observed
as to the manner of slaughtering the animal, that the more
conscientious Jews among heathens seem to have altogether
abstained from the use of animal food, and confined themselves
to a vegetable diet; and it would appear that some of the
Jewish converts at Rome, supposing the laws respecting the
distinction of foods to be unrepealed, on conscientious grounds
ate only herbs. Such was the state of the fact. Now, what
was to be done in this case ? Were the two parties to form
two churches, and to remain separate till, coming, to be of one
mind, they followed the same course as to food ? Or were the
strong to admit the weak to fellowship, but with the design
of arguing them into concurrence with them in opinion and
usage ? Neither course was to be followed. The weak Christian
1 Ver. 2.
2k

514 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
was to be received ; and, when admitted, neither was he to be
disturbed as to his own conscientious views and practices, nor
was he to be permitted to disturb his brethren in their con
scientious views and practices. " Let not him that eateth
despise him that eateth not ; and let not him that eateth not
judge him that eateth : for God hath received him." 1 The
enlightened Christian was in danger of looking down with
contempt on his less liberal-minded and less perfectly instructed
brother, as a bigoted slave of superstition; and the weak,
less-informed Christian, was in danger of indulging dark sus
picions as to his more enlightened brother, as a person not
duly submissive to Divine authority. The apostle cautions
against both these unbrotherly modes of thinking and feeling.
" Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not." ' He
has no reason to be proud. Who gave him that strength of
mind and width of view as to Christian doctrine and law,
that enable him to walk at liberty ? What has he that he
has not received ? And as to his weak brother, his weak
ness calls for pity, and his conscientiousness for respect. To
despise him, shows something far wrong with him who does
so.' Conscientious principle, even when mistaken, and assum
ing a form which may easily be turned into ridicule, is a
really respectable thing. ' On the other hand, he that eateth
not, must not judge him that eateth.' " Judge," is here equi
valent to condemn, and to condemn as a conscious violator of
a Divine law. A weak man finds it very difficult to under
stand how another man should see anything in a light different
from that in which he sees it, and comes too readily to the
conclusion that he who thinks and acts differently from him
cannot be thinking and acting with a good conscience. If I
think myself right, I must think the man who differs from me
wrong ; but I must not, without strong evidence, suppose—
what indeed I am not called on to judge of— that he is con
sciously wrong— that he is acting in opposition to his own
secret convictions of what is right. ' Let the weak Christian,
1 Ver. 3.

SECT. IV. J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 515
who eateth not, beware of thus judging — condemning, his
stronger brother who eateth; "for," adds the apostle, " God has
received him." ' The Gentile believers were, equally with those
who kept the law, blessed with the influences of the Holy Spirit;
and as God had thus given evidence that He had received
them as members of His Church, it ill became the Jewish con
verts to condemn such persons as unfit for communion with
them. The best commentary on this passage is to be found
in the Acts of the Apostles, x. 44-48 ; xi. 15-18 ; xv. 7-11.
The disposition of the less-informed Christians to condemn
their really better-informed brethren, because their views of
truth and duty on some points were not coincident with theirs,
is strongly prohibited, and its absurdity, and indeed impiety,
strikingly exposed in the next verse : " Who art thou that
judgest another man's servant? To his own master he
standeth or falleth ; yea, he shall be holden up : for God is
able to make him stand." l The Christian who, in reference
to meats, used the liberty wherewith Christ had made him
free, was not the servant of his narrow-minded Jewish
brother — they were fellow-servants of God; he was to be
judged by their common Lord. In relation to Him he
would stand or fall. To stand in the judgment, is to be ac
quitted ; to fall in the judgment, is to be condemned. It is
God's prerogative to judge in such matters. ' The conduct of
thy brother is subject to judgment — it may become matter of
acquittal or of condemnation ; but is not subject to thy judg
ment. God is his judge, not you. It is arrogance in you to
ascend the tribunal of judgment.'
But this is not all. ' He is right, and you are wrong : "Yea,
he shall be holden up." His conduct will be approved of.
He shall be found to have formed the correct judgment, and
to have followed the right course : "For God is able to make
him stand." Though you cannot reconcile the conduct of
your brother with a due regard to God's authority, God can,
and will.' When the time for judgment comes, the conduct
1 Ver. 4.

516 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
of the strong brother shall be found to have arisen from as
implicit, while more enlightened, a regard to the Divine autho
rity, as that of the weak brother who condemned him.
It does not follow, from what the apostle says, that such
subjects as he refers to are not to be discussed by Christians
— discussion is the highway to truth ; but it does follow that
these discussions are not to be " in the Church," — they are to
take place between individuals; and it also follows that,
though the result of the discussion should be, as it often is,
that the two disputants remain equally unconvinced, they are
not to form condemnatory judgments of one another's charac
ters on that account.
In the verses that follow, the apostle proceeds to apply his
principle to differences with regard to sacred times. " One
man esteemeth one day above another ; another esteemeth
every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his
own mind."1 It has been imagined by some that the apostle
here refers to the supposed custom of some Jewish converts
of abstaining from the eating of animal food on certain days,
while others abstained from it at all times, and others allowed
themselves in the use of it at all times. It is much more pro
bable that he alludes to the distinction of days made in the
Mosaic law, which some of the primitive Christians attended
to, and others disregarded. The apostle refers to the same topic
in the Epistle to the Galatians, when he says, " Ye observe
days, and months, and times, and years."2 " One man
esteemeth one day above another." The new moons, the
seventh day Sabbath, the feasts of the Passover, Pentecost,
and Tabernacles, continued to be observed by many of the
Jewish converts on the principle, that these undoubtedly
Divine institutions, having never been formally abrogated,
must be considered as continuing obligatory. " Another
esteemeth every day alike." The greater part of the Gentile
converts, and the more enlightened among the Jewish con
verts, regarded the injunctions of the Mosaic law on such
1 Ver- 6- 2 Gal. iv. 10.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 517
subjects as obsolete, and disregarded them. They did not
think themselves obliged to make any distinction between the
days which had a character of sacredness, in consequence of
the appointment of the law given by Moses, and ordinary
days. To conclude, from this passage, that the strong in the
faith made no distinction between the first day of the week,
the day appropriated to Christian worship in commemoration
of the resurrection — the form, under the new economy, of
the Sabbatical institution, which, more than circumcision or
even sacrifice, was " before the law," bearing date in Paradise
immediately after the creation of man — is to go beyond the
premises. The assertion refers to the matters in controversy
— distinctions originating in the law of Moses. If the obser
vance of the first day originated, as we believe it did, in apos
tolic authority (and it must not be taken for granted that it
did not, merely because we have no explicit account of this,
for, on that principle, the practice, not only of infant baptism,
but of female communion, must be held to be unfounded),
there could not well be any controversy among primitive
Christians on the subject ; and accordingly, though we know
that some of them observed the seventh day, we have no evi
dence that any of them disregarded the first.
To this subject the observations made respecting meats are
equally applicable. Indeed, it is substantially the same ques
tion under a different form. ' Let not him that observeth
not those days despise him who does ; and let not him that
observeth them condemn him who does not.' The apostle
adds : " Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind."
' Let no man observe those days unless he be persuaded they
are of Divine authority. Let no man disregard thern unless he
be persuaded that, whatever sacredness belonged to them,
within certain limits, has, by Divine authority, been taken
from them. Let every man act with a religious conscienti
ousness. If he is persuaded that those days ought to be
observed, let not the fear of the contempt of those who enter
tain an opposite opinion, or the wish to secure their approba
tion, induce him to trifle with a religious conviction : if he is

518 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
persuaded that there is no such obligation, let him not persist
in their observance to shield himself from the persecution of
the unbelieving Jews, far less to harass the minds of his Gen
tile brethren.'
This passage does not lay the foundation for the conclusion
sometimes drawn from it, that conscientiousness is everything
in religion — that he who acts conscientiously, of course, acts
rightly. It does, however, lay a foundation for the conclusion,
that he who, in religion, acts without conscience — still more,
against conscience — acts wrong.
All Christian men ought to act according to conscientious
conviction, and all Christians are to be held, in the absence
of clear evidence to the contrary, to be doing so ; and their
conduct is to be judged of accordingly.
This is the principle which the apostle lays down and illus
trates in the following verses : — " He that regardeth the day,
regardeth it unto the Lord ; and he that regardeth not the
day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth
to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks ; and he that eateth
not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For
none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord ; and whether we
die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live therefore, or die,
we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and
rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the dead
and living."1 ' Being fully persuaded in his own mind that
the day is still sacred, one Christian observes it. Being equally
fully persuaded in his own mind that the day is no more
sacred, and that to observe it as sacred is to act inconsistently
with the will of God, as he apprehends it, another Christian
disregards it. The acts are different — indeed, opposite ; but
they embody the same principle. Each acts as he does from
a regard to what appears to him the authority and will of
God. If they could exchange convictions, the observer would
disregard, the disregarder would observe, the days in question ;
and, were they both to be brought to see the question in the
1 Ver. 6-9.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 519
same light, they would both act in the same way. It is not
humour on either side that produces the effect : it is convic
tion — conscientious conviction. In the same way, the con
scientious Christian who partakes without scruple of all kinds
of wholesome animal food, does so, for he is persuaded that
the Lord has put an end to all legal restrictions — that He has
made clean what was, under the law, unclean — and that it is
not for him to call, or treat, as unclean or common, what God
has cleansed — sanctified for use ; and, in the use of his liberty,
he gives God thanks for His great liberality. On the other
hand, the conscientious Christian who refrains from the meats
prohibited by the law, does so because he is persuaded that
Christ has not given him liberty to partake of them ; he knows
that the distinction was divinely established — he does not see
that the authority that established has annulled it ; and, over
his dinner of herbs, he gives thanks that he has still abundance
of nourishing and pleasant food, and is grateful even for an
institution which, rightly improved, was fitted to serve useful
moral purposes. The two individuals act under the influence
of the same principle — regard to the will of the Lord, a prin
ciple which unites them far more than their opposite practices
divide them. In the different courses they take, they equally
acknowledge the authority of the Lord. And this is what
constitutes the essence of Christianity — the practically recog
nising the Lord's property in us and authority over us.'
" For none of us," if we are really Christians — whether
weak or strong, whether we eat flesh or abstain, whether we
observe the Jewish sacred days or disregard them — " none of
us liveth to himself, and none dieth to himself." ' None of us
regard ourselves as our own property, to be regulated by our
own reason or humour, and to seek our own objects in life or
in death : all of us, from the very fact that we are Chris
tians, consider ourselves as in fife and in death the property
of the Lord, to act and suffer according to His will, precep
tive and providential ; seeking that He may be " magnified
in our body, whether in life or in death." 'x
1 Phil. i. 20.

520 PRACTICAL. [part hi.
' And nothing can be more certain than this ; for this is
the design of the death and of the restored life of our Lord.
" For to this end"— to the end that we Christians should be the
property of the Lord, entirely guided by His authority, and
devoted to His purposes in fife and in death — " Christ both
died, and rose, and revived, that"— in order that, " He might
be the Lord both of the dead and of the living." ' It is gene
rally agreed among critics that the words "rose again" do not
belong to the text. Even an English reader sees that they are
strangely placed — between dead and revived, and that they
add nothing to the sense. The design of our Lord's death was,
that by giving Himself for them in death, he might obtain for
Himself a peculiar people ; and of His renewed life, that He
might reign in them and over them, and thus save them to
the uttermost. This doctrine is very clearly stated in the
Epistles to the Corinthians : " Ye are bought with a price :
your body, your spirits, are God's."1 " We thus judge, that
if one died for all, then all were dead;"2 and that He thus
" died for all," that they who died " in Him, and revived in
Him" — those who are united to Him as having died and now
living for evermore — that they living, living in Him, " should
live not to themselves, but to Him who died for them and
who rose again." And in the Epistle to Titus, chap. ii. 13, 14:
" The great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ gave Himself
for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."
Thus is He " Lord of the dead and of the living." This de
claration is true in the most unqualified sense. Jesus Christ is
Lord of all — of all created beings. He is the Lord of all men,
whether in the seen or unseen world. He has all power — in
heaven, and earth, and hell. Here, however, the declaration
is to be understood in reference to His own people. They are
His, entirely His, unalienably His. None must treat them
as property but Him. They must acknowledge none but Him
as their proprietor and Lord, in life and in death. It espe-
1 1 Cor. vi. 20. 2 2 Cor. v. 14.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 521
cially ill becomes them to trespass on His prerogative by at
tempting to lord it over one another's consciences.
To bring home this practical truth, is the use the apostle
makes of this great fundamental principle of Christianity.
" But why dost thou judge thy brother ? or why dost thou set
at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judg
ment-seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the
Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall
confess to God."1 The apostle here expostulates with both
the classes referred to — the weak and the strong. The first
" thou" refers to the weak brother — the second to the strong.
To the first he says, ' Why — since these things are so, why
doest thou judge, condemn, un-Christianize thy brother, be
cause he does something which you could not, ought not, to do,
for you think it unlawful, but which he, in equal good con
science, considers as agreeable to the will of the Lord.' And
to the second, ' Why dost thou set at nought thy brother —
why dost thou despise him, because, from an equally sincere,
though it may be, in this case, not so enlightened a regard to
the will of the common Lord, he dare not do what thou canst
do, and subjects himself to sacrifices — among the rest, that
of standing not so well in your opinion as he might wish —
merely because he dare not do what he believes, however mis-
takingly, the Lord disapproves ? Remember both of you that
we shall all — all of us, the weak and the strong — stand before
the judgment-seat of Christ. Thou who condemnest — think,
What if He should approve what thou hast condemned, and
welcome thy brother as a good and faithful servant for doing
that for which thou wast disposed to deny his right to the title
of Christian ? Thou who despisest — remember that, in the esti
mation of the final Judge, mere correctness of doctrinal view
will go but a short way to establish a claim on His approba
tion. The scrupulously conscientious, weak disciple, will stand
higher with Him than he who, with much of the knowledge
that puffeth up, has but little of the charity that edifies. Re-
i Ver. 10, 11.

522 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
member that you both must stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ ; and remember, too, that your present judgments of
each other will form elements of the judgment then to be de
clared. " By what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged." ' J
In support of the principle, that all must stand before the
judgment-seat of Christ, the apostle quotes a passage from the
Prophecies of Isaiah. The citation is from Isaiah xiv. 23,
and seems plainly, from verbal discrepancies both from the
Hebrew and Greek texts, to have been quoted from memory.
The words are those of Jehovah the Saviour. They do not
seem to have any definite reference to what we ordinarily
call the last judgment, though that is included in the autho
rity which is here claimed by Him. They describe that
universal dominion which belongs to Jehovah the SaAdour, in
the exercise of which He will, at the appointed day, "judge
the world in righteousness." There can be no reasonable
doubt that the apostle refers these words to Christ ; and there
can be as little that He who utters them is Jehovah — '" God,
and none else.".
The conclusion drawn by the apostle is contained in ver.
12 : " So then every one of us shall give account of himself
to God." " Himself" is the emphatic word — not one of
another, but each of himself. The first concern of every man
is to see that his own matters be in a safe state — be " good
and right," when he comes before the Great King — " the one
Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy" — for final judg
ment. I am " my brother's keeper," so as that it is my duty
to do all I can to promote his highest welfare ; but I have not
the charge of his conscience. That, under the Lord of con
science, belongs to himself, and must not be interfered with.
I cannot answer for him " in that day :" I shall have enough
to do to answer for myself. Almost all unchristian judgments,
with regard to Christian brethren, rise from keeping the
solemnities of the personal, while universal, judgment out of
view. Had controversial writers remembered that " every
1 Matt. vii. 2.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 523
one of us must give an account of himself to God," could the
unnumbered volumes of bitter anathematising controversy
have been written, on points respecting which the Holy Scrip
tures either do not speak at all, or so speak as that inquirers,
equally conscientious and diligent, may arrive at different
conclusions ?
It is to be hoped, notwithstanding much that still indicates,
in some quarters, a disposition to exercise over the minds
and consciences of men an authority and influence which be
long only to God, that the reign of spiritual tyranny — the
worst of all tyrannies, is drawing toward a close. Let us
determine neither to exercise such domination, nor to submit
to it even for an hour. Let us " call no man master ;" and
let us not seek to be called masters by others. One is our
Master, who is Christ the Lord, and we are all His felkrw-
servants. Let us help each other, but let us leave Him to
judge us. He only has the capacity, as He only has the
authority, for doing so.
In the remaining part of the section, the apostle is occupied
chiefly with the part which the strong should act towards the
weak. He cautions them against an unnecessary, ostentatious,
and uncharitable display of their Christian liberty from re
straints, by which their weak brethren thought themselves
bound, and urges them to abstain from what they knew and
believed to be lawful, if it was not at the same time obliga
tory, rather than hazard the most important interests, not only
of their less informed brethren, but of their common religion.
" Let us not therefore judge one another any more : but
judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock, or an
occasion to fall, in his brother's way."1 This verse seems
to refer to both classes, though what follows is restricted to
the conduct of the strong towards the weak. " Let us there
fore not judge one another any more." These words are not a
general prohibition against forming a judgment respecting the
1 Ver. 13.

524 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
conduct of our fellow-men, which, if a true judgment, must
in many cases be an unfavourable one. We are to form our
opinions of men according to the principles of the Divine law
— approving of what in them accords with it, and disapproving
of what is inconsistent with it. The apostle's injunction re
fers to the judgments formed by Christians of each other.
Yet, even within this limit, it is not an unqualified prohibition
to form a judgment — it maybe an unfavourable judgment, in
regard to an opinion held, or a practice followed, by one who
professes to be a Christian brother. We must act according
to our Lord's principle — one applicable not only to teachers —
" By their fruits shall ye know them." x The command before us
is limited by the circumstances in which it is given. It refers
to persons who apparently are equally in the faith, though
not equally strong in it ; and it forbids them to form such
judgments of each other, as, from the remaining depravity of
even regenerated human nature, they are very apt to do. It
does not forbid them to disapprove of that in which their
brother differs from them . If I am honest in my own conviction
— conscientious in my own course, I cannot but think that he
who differs from me in sentiment is mistaken — that he who, in
conduct, follows an opposite course to mine is wrong. The
command refers to general judgments as to character : con
demning judgments on the side of the weak — contemptuous
judgments on the part of the strong. It is as if the apostle
had said — ' Let us have no more of such judgments, so un
seemly, when our mutual relation to each other, and our
common relation to our Proprietor and Judge, are considered ;
we have had but too much of them already. Instead of these
judgments as to one another's character, let us form and act
on this judgment, each as to his own conduct — " Let us judge
this rather, that no man lay a stumblingblock, or an occasion
to fall, in his brother's way." Let us all resolve to do nothing,
but what duty absolutely requires, which may prove the means
of leading our brother into sin.'
' Matt. vii. 20.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 525
' Let the brother who makes a distinction of meats and of
days, take care lest, in insisting on making his conviction and
conscience a rule to his brother who can see no such distinc
tion as of Divine authority, he excite disgust, and make it
all but an impossibility for his brother to regard him with
brotherly love. Were such weak brethren to be the majority,
and to press their views, they would tempt their stronger
brethren to abandon their profession, or, at any rate, to with
draw from the fellowship of those who would impose on them
a yoke which, as the Lord had not imposed it, they were not
disposed to bear. And, on the other hand, let the brother
" who eats all things," and " to whom every day is alike," so
far as mere Mosaic legislation is concerned, take care lest, by
insisting to do on all occasions what he thinks lawful, though
he cannot think it obligatory, he excite unchristian feelings in
the heart of his weaker brother towards himself; or (what is
the danger the apostle seems to have had chiefly in view) in
duce, by his example, his weak brother to do what, from his
limited views, he cannot do without violating a conscientious
conviction. The strong must not neglect any duty — they
must not commit any sin, under the pretence of avoiding the
leading of their weak brother into temptation or sin ; but, if
that is likely to be the result of their practically asserting a
privilege which undoubtedly belongs to them, but which duty
does not call on them thus to assert, the judgment they should
form and follow is, that they do not " put a stumblingblock,
or an occasion to fall, in their brother's way." ' This is the
principle which the apostle illustrates and enforces down to
the 4th verse of the fifteenth chapter.
" I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there
is nothing unclean of itself : but to him that esteemeth any
thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. But if thy brother
be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably.
Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died."1 It
is well remarked by Tholuck, that " the spirit which Paul
1 Ver. 14, 15.

526 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
evinces in these exhortations proves what a mighty influence
the Christian faith had had in making him indulgent and
humble ; for, if we reflect on his natural character, we can
well suppose that he would have been more disposed to kindle
into anger at the weak and scrupulous, and to treat them with
severity. But the Spirit of Christ had taught him to be weak
with the weak, so that he says, 1 Cor. viii. 13, ' If meat make
my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world stand
eth, lest I make my brother to offend.' And in the Christian
Church, which is never but composed of those who must bear
with, and those who must be borne with, this is the only way
in which the bond of perfectness and of peace can subsist ; to
wit, when the child aspires to manhood, and the man becomes
a child. Such mutual subordination and forbearance is a
salutary medicine for pride."
The apostle states his full persuasion that the distinction of
foods, which had originated entirely in the positive laws of
Moses, and not from any essential difference of a moral kind
in the different articles of diet, had ceased in consequence of
that law having merged in the new dispensation : " I know,
and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing
unclean of itself." The Lord — the one Master — had revealed
this to him by His Spirit. He had " received of the Lord"
" that every creature of God is good, and nothing to be re
fused, if it be received with thanksgiving ; for it is sanctified
by the word of God" — by Divine appointment, probably re
ferring to the permission given to Noah (Gen. xix. 3), after
ward limited by the law of Moses, but now restored to its
pristine extent — " and by prayer." x
The apostle here decidedly gives his sanction to the senti
ment of those who were strong in the faith. It was this
revelation that enabled him to assert so unequivocally that
the strong in the faith, though condemned in his practice by
his weak brother, would be " held up" — " made to stand," in
the judgment by God;2 but, while this was his conviction,
1 I Tim. iv. 3-5. 2 Ver. 4.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 527
and ought to have been the conviction of all who heard him
make such an avowal, yet, notwithstanding, there were per
sons — sincere Christians too— who esteemed certain articles of
food to be unclean ; and he declares that " to them they were
unclean." They could not eat of them without violating a
conscientious conviction — without doing what they thought
inconsistent with the will of God— without, in one word, com
mitting sin, the natural effect of which was " destruction."
The thing is not wrong in itself; but the scrupulous brother
reckons it wrong, and in doing it would violate the regard
due to what appears to his mind the will of God. This is
the evil which the apostle contemplates as possible, and which
he sees that an ostentatious display of liberty, on the part of
the strong Christian, may be the means of producing in the
weak. To have an unrestricted range of articles of food is,
on different grounds, desirable. Now, an unenlightened
Jewish Christian feeling this, and seeing many of his brethren
— the most distinguished for their intelligence and piety — in
dulging in this, might, while his mind remains unenlightened,
his conscientious convictions unchanged, be induced to follow
their example ; and thus, though doing nothing materially
wrong, in truth contract much guilt, and greatly injure his
spiritual character.
To prevent this evil, the apostle would have the strong to
be cautious in the practical assertion of their privilege : " But
if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not
charitably." The connective particle rendered " but," would
have been better translated " and" — there is no contrast be
tween what is stated in the last clause of the 14th verse and
the first clause of the 15th. It is just the continuance of the
statement of the case — " To him that esteemeth anything to
be unclean, to him it is unclean ; and if such a brother be
grieved with thy meat" — i.e., grieved by thine assertion of
thy right, by using it, to eat food he thinks unclean. The
words, " grieved by thy meat," have been very generally
entirely misunderstood. It has been supposed that the mean
ing is — ' If thy eating of things which the law of Moses pro-

528 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
hibits makes thy Jewish brother uneasy — displeases him,
vexes him, irritates him — you act an uncharitable part if you
persist in it.' There is truth in this ; but it seems plain that
that is not the apostle's meaning. The grieved brother is the
brother who, by the conduct of the strong, has been induced
to trifle with the convictions of his conscience by imitating
that conduct, and has thus involved himself in that sin which
naturally leads to destruction — sin which, if it do not lead to
destruction, must occasion grief. It is substantially the same
case that is detailed 1 Cor. viii. 8-12 : "Meat commendeth us
not to God : for neither, if we eat, are we the better ; neither,
if we eat not, are we the worse. But take heed, lest by any
means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them
that are weak. For if any man see thee which hast know
ledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience
of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which
are offered to idols ; and through thy knowledge shall the
weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ? But when ye
sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience,
ye sin against Christ."
The injury, then, supposed here inflicted on the weak
brother is, as in the case of the Corinthians, the emboldening
him by example to do what his conscience forbids him to do :
of so much more importance does the apostle reckon the pre
servation of an undebauched conscience, to strict unity of
opinion and of usage in minor matters, among Christians.
This remark as to the nature of the grief or injury referred
to, must be kept in view to understand the force of what the
apostle goes on to say to the strong Christian, which is sub
stantially this : ' If you have reason to think that such will be
the effect of your doing what you justly reckon in itself war
rantable, but what you must acknowledge is not, except in
peculiar circumstances, obligatory, you act an uncharitable
part in using your liberty. You are doing what may probably
involve your brother in guilt, and in the grief, and, if mercy
prevent not, the destruction, which are the natural results of
guilt.' " Destroy not thy brother;" that is, ' Do not what may

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 529
end — what, but for the interposition of Divine grace, must
end — in his destruction. The tendency of every sin is to
destroy the soul. And will you, to gratify what is itself an
innocent, though comparatively low, appetency of your nature,
or to make a display of your freedom from prejudices which
enslave some of your brethren — will you expose to hazard a
brother's salvation — that for which Christ laid down His life 1
If you can, whatever knowledge you may have, " the mind of
Christ is not in you." 1 As Bengel says, " Will you make
more of your food, than Christ did of His life ? "
But regard to the personal interest of the weak brother is
not the only motive which the apostle urges on the strong
Christian, to make a cautious use of his liberty. The cause
of Christ was implicated in this matter. " Let not your good
be evil spoken of." 2 Interpreters are divided as to the refer
ence of the phrase, " your good." It is common to consider
it as referring to the liberty of using all kinds of wholesome
food, and the freedom from the Judaical restrictions as to
time. This was a good thing enjoyed by the strong ; and an
incautious, uncharitable use of it, was likely to lead the weak
especially to "speak evil of it" — to blaspheme and calumniate
it. It was the direct way to prevent the enjoyment of this
good thing from becoming more extensive among Christians.
Every such uncharitable act deepened in hostile minds preju
dice against it. This is very good sense, and much to the
apostle's purpose. But I prefer the interpretation that con
siders the phrase, "your good," as descriptive of the Christian
cause, for two reasons : first, it includes the other; and
secondly, it seems the same thing that is here termed " your
good thing," that in the 17th verse is called " the kingdom of
God," and in the 20th verse, "the work of God." From the
beginning of the 1 6th verse, to the end of the first clause of
the 20th verse, it is the same motive which the apostle illus
trates—the bearing of the conduct referred to on the general
interests of Christianity. ' Phil. ii. 3-8. 2 ^er. 16.
2l

530 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
How well Christianity may be called " the good thing " of
Christians, needs no illustration. They are intrusted with the
care of this good thing— "the power of God to salvation to
mankind." Nothing more hinders its progress, than its being
" evil spoken of." Christians, then, are to guard against this,
so far as depends on them. It is not, indeed, in their power
to prevent their religion from being misrepresented and
abused ; but they can take care that their conduct shall not
give occasion and plausibility to the misconceptions and calum
nies of worldly men. " Let not your good be evil spoken
of," means, ' Let it not be calumniated through your impru
dent or improper behaviour;' just as the apostle's exhortations
to Titus and Timothy, " Let no man despise thee," " Let no
man despise thy youth,"1 mean, ' Do nothing that is fitted to
produce contempt.' Nothing had a more obvious tendency to
make Christianity the object at once of dislike and contempt
among those who knew little or nothing of it but from the
conduct of its professors, than angry controversies about such
points as distinction of days and meats. Nothing was more
calculated to repel and disgust an inquirer, and to afford a
handle for malignant misrepresentation. Eager contentions
about such comparative trifles gave plausibility to the sug
gestion, that they who engaged in them had nothing better
to contend about, and led the surrounding heathen to sup
pose that Christianity was merely a peculiar form of Judaism,
having nothing to recommend it from the intelligence of its
adherents, if their controversies were to form the measure of
their understandings, and that the Christian doctrines referred,
as Festus says, to " certain questions of that superstition." 2
Such contentions, too, had an obvious tendency to produce
what Paley calls " contempt before inquiry," and to deter
men from connecting themselves with a society so divided
on such points, and showing such tempers. This was gross
injustice to the good cause intrusted to their care. There
was much about it, if rightly exhibited, that had a tendency
1 Tit. ii. 15 ; 1 Tim. iv. 12. a Acts xxv. 19.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 531
to produce any feeling rather than contempt — much which
was fitted to commend it to the respect and admiration of
mankind. This is what the apostle next adverts to, " For the kingdom
of God is not meat and drink ; but righteousness, and peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost." 1 " The kingdom of God," " of
heaven," and " of Christ," are phrases of frequent occurrence
in the New Testament, and all refer to the same thing. The
better order of things to be introduced by the great promised
Deliverer, is often, in the Old Testament predictions, repre
sented as a kingdom of celestial origin, of which Jehovah is
the Sovereign, and Messiah, the King and King's Son, the
great administrator. The expression sometimes describes this
state as begun on earth, sometimes as perfected in heaven.
It sometimes refers to its external form, sometimes to its in
ternal organization ; sometimes to the privileges enjoyed by,
sometimes to the responsibilities laid on, those who are its
subjects. In the passage before us, I think there can be no
reasonable doubt that it refers to the privileges enjoyed by
those who have by faith entered, into it. These are not of an
external, but of a spiritual kind. This kingdom " is not meat
and drink." The being freed from the restrictions of the
Jewish law, does not form the grand distinction of those who
belong to this kingdom, as one might be apt to suppose from
the eagerness of some of the strong, but not wise, Roman
Christians, to assert and display this privilege. Its privileges
are of a far higher character. They are " righteousness, and
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." It has been common to
suppose that the apostle's meaning here is, ' It is not by either
abstaining from, or indulging in, certain articles of diet, that
a man is to show that he is in the kingdom of God, — it is by
righteousness, by strict justice, by living righteously, by a
peaceable disposition, and by a habitual cheerful, happy tem
per, growing out of a pacified conscience and a purified heart,
that he is to prove himself a Christian. Christianity is not
1 Ver. 17.

532

PRACTICAL. [PART III.

occupied about external, but about internal things ; not about
ceremonial distinctions, but about moral temper and behaviour.'
But neither "peace," nor "joy," as used in the text, naturally
express the meaning thus given to them, and the word "right
eousness," seems to have its ordinary signification in the
epistle — 'justification.' The apostle's meaning appears to be,
' You give a degrading and false view of Christianity by these
contentions, leading men to think that freedom from cere
monial restriction is its great privilege; while the truth is, jus
tification, peace with God, and joy in God, produced by the
Holy Ghost— these are the characteristic privileges of the
children of the kingdom, as these are the privileges illustrated
in the former part of the epistle, especially at the beginning of
the fifth chapter. If you would not have your good evil
spoken of — if you would wish to recommend the kingdom of
God, give prominence, in your representations of it, both in
word and in conduct to these grand characteristics. This is
the way to recommend your religion to men, as well as to se
cure the approving smile of God.'
" For he that in these things serveth Christ, is acceptable
to God, and approved of men." x It is the man who enjoys
these privileges, and who, in their enjoyment, "serves Christ"
— yields an implicit universal obedience to His laws, who is
the true Christian. He is the person whom God accepts as a
worshipper, whether he observes the law of Moses or disregards
it. And he, too, is the man who is " approved of men." His
behaviour commands respect and gives a favourable, because
a just, view of the religion of Christ, fitted to put to silence
the ignorant calumnies of foolish men. An undue attention
to lesser matters has injured Christianity ; an increasing
attention to its greater matters is the way to repair these
injuries. The practical inference which the apostle draws from this
statement is, " Let us therefore follow after the things that
make for peace, and things whereby one may edify another."2
1 Ver- 18. - Ver. 19.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 533
The expression, " Things which make for peace," ' describes
the opinions, and dispositions, and habits, which are calcu
lated to bind together in holy union the followers of Christ.
" Things whereby one may edify another," is another descrip
tion of the same opinions, dispositions, and habits, derived from
their tendency to produce mutual Christian improvement — in
knowledge, faith, holiness, usefulness, and comfort. Disputes
about meats and days, and similar subjects, and the temper
such disputes manifest and strengthen, are not fitted to pro
mote either the peace or the holiness of the Church. Let the
strong, instead of outraging the prejudices of their weaker
brethren, bear with them, and even yield to them, so far as
integrity will permit ; and let them, by turning their attention
to the great characteristic principles of Christian truth, and
by exemplifying the purity and benignity of the Christian
character in their temper and conduct, promote their spiritual
improvement, bind them in the close bands of holy affection
to themselves, and gradually loosen their prejudices, and pre
pare their minds for more liberal and extended views of those
subjects on which they are now mistaken, though conscien
tiously mistaken.
The force of the apostle's deduction deserves to be noticed :
" Let us therefore" etc. Since these controversies have a
tendency to injure the character of Christianity, and since
an opposite course is fitted to recommend it, as the former
course leads to division, and the latter to union — as the one
is calculated to create stumblingblocks, and the other to
promote edification — let us, as we value the honour of
Christ, the progress of religion, the prosperity of the Church,
the edification of the brethren— let us avoid such " vain
janglings," such " strivings about the law which are vain,"
such " unlearned questions," and follow peace, and truth, and
holiness. The apostle concludes this paragraph in the first clause of
the 20th verse (which should either have been the last clause
: tx tipmvix,a.

534 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
of the 19th, or have stood alone, like verse 16, which begins
the paragraph) : " For meat destroy not the work of God."1
" The work of God" is often understood of the ' work of God
in the heart of the weak in the faith.' Of all Christians it
may be said, " They are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
they should walk in them ;"2 " He worketh in them both to
will and to do of His good pleasure ;" 3 He begins " a good
work in them," and " will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ."4 In this case, this verse, as to meaning, is synony
mous with ver. 16. But it seems more natural, and more
agreeable to the context and the flow of thought, to under
stand " the work of God" to be " the kingdom of God" — the
progress and establishment of the religion of Christ among
mankind. " This is the work of God, that men believe on
Him whom He has sent." To create men anew, through the
mediation of His Son, by the operation of His Spirit, through
the instrumentality of His Gospel, this is " the work of God."
To " destroy," is often equivalent to doing what has a ten
dency to destroy, as in ver. 15 — to do injury to.5 Few things
would have a greater tendency to prevent the progress of the
Gospel, among both Jews and Gentiles, than the giving pro
minence to the controversy here referred to. To decide it in
the one way, would offend the Jews ; to decide it in the other,
would throw great obstacles in the way of the conversion of
the Gentiles. The very existence of such a controversy was
fitted to prejudice bystanders against Christianity as a system
occupied with such trivial contests ; and the time and mental
activity, worse than wasted in such a strife, otherwise em
ployed, might have told powerfully on the edification of the
Church and the conversion of the world.
There is a wonderful energy in the apostle's words : " For
meat do not destroy the work of God." The contrast between
the insignificance of the subject in dispute, and the magnitude
1 Ver. 20. 2 Eph. ii. 10. • Phil. ii. 13. 4 Phil. i. 6
{ Acts v. 38, 39 ; 2 Mac. ii. 22.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 535
of the evil it was likely to produce, is very striking. ' Will
you really do what is so monstrously absurd, as well as obvi
ously wrong — will you, for a question about meats (" meats
for the belly, and the belly for meats, but God will destroy
both it and them"1) — will you, so far as lies in your power,
prevent the progress of that Gospel which brings " glory to
God in the highest," which is fitted to save innumerable
souls from everlasting death, and make countless myriads of
otherwise hopelessly lost immortals happy for ever ?'
The applicableness of this passage to the Church in all ages
is very evident. " Woe" has been "to the world" because of
the offences — " the stumblingblocks," which unchristian con
troversies have produced, both in disputes about philosophical
dogmas, and questions on which the inspired word gives forth
no utterance — controversies on subjects out of the limits of
Christianity, properly so called, and controversies within these
limits conducted in an unchristian spirit. They have pre
vented the spread of the Gospel and the conversion of man
kind, both by indisposing, and indeed disabling, the Church
for making the necessary exertions, and strengthening the
prejudices of unconverted men against the truth. How was
the progress of the Gospel interrupted, and ultimately stopped,
by the controversies of the earlier ages ! How did the striv
ings among the'Reformers, especially in the second generation,
turn away their attention from their proper work ! How has
the cause of Christ in our land been, at different periods of its
history, injured from similar causes ! It is one of the proofs
of the celestial vitality of true Christianity, that even the un
natural contests of her true disciples, calculated above all other
causes to injure and destroy it, have been prevented from
producing what might not be the designed, but what was the
natural result, If Christians would but give up strifes which
have fully as little to do with genuine Christianity as the con
troversy about meats and days, we would have reason to hope
that the word of the Lord would have a freer course and be
1 1 Cor. vi. 13.

536 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
more glorified. " When the envy of Ephraim shall cease, and
the enemies of Judah shall be cut off"— rather, the hostile ones
in Judah ; when " Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah
shall not vex Ephraim," then they shall, as a united body,
soon vanquish a hostile world, and by the weapons not carnal,
but mighty through God, subdue the nations to the obedi
ence of Him who is Lord of all. They are His rightful
inheritance — "His by ancient covenant, ere nations' birth;
and He has made them His by purchase since, and overpaid
their value in His blood." " They together will soon fly upon
the shoulders of the Philistines towards the west ; they shall
spoil them of the east together : they shall lay their hand
upon Edom; and Moab and the children of Ammon shall
obey them."1 A united Church would soon lead to a con
verted world. The Lord hasten it in His time.
A new paragraph commences with the second clause of the
20th verse, in which the apostle urges the strong to a prudent
and charitable use of their privilege of freedom from the law
of Moses, as to prohibited meats and sacred days, from a con
sideration of the bad consequences which might result from an
opposite course, in leading the weaker brethren to act in op
position to their own conscientious convictions ; and states
strongly, that to persist in doing what is in itself lawful, be
comes in these circumstances criminal. "All things are pure;
but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence." 2 " All
things" refers to all articles of food — those prohibited, as well
as those permitted, by the law of Moses. They are all equally
pure. No sin is committed by eating any of them. The dis
tinction between different articles of food, as some clean and
others unclean, is no more. It originated, not in the nature
of things, but in positive appointment. The ends secured by
these positive ordinances have been served ; the law enjoining
them has been repealed by the same authority that enacted
it; and no modification of it has been substituted by the
1 Isa. xi. 13, 14. 2 Ver. 20.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 537
" One Lawgiver" under the new economy. But, while thus
there is no harm in — no sin contracted by, the merely eating
any kind of food, yet still harm may be done — sin may be con
tracted, in reference to this matter. It is a just remark, that
much sin is committed in the unlawful use of what is itself
lawful. " It is evil to him that eateth with offence" — literally, " evil
is to him who eateth with offence." To " eat with or through
offence," is a remarkable mode of expression.1 It may signify
either to eat so as to be offended, or stumbled, or led into sin,
— or to eat so as to offend, to make others stumble, or lead
them into sin. Supposing the first of these senses to be its
meaning here, the person described is he who eats what is
indeed in itself lawful to be eaten, but with regard to the law
fulness of which he is not convinced, or, it may be, with regard
to the unlawfulness of eating which he has a conviction. He,
in eating what is in itself lawful, incurs guilt, for he does what
he thinks to be wrong ; or, at any rate, what he is not sure to
be right. This is the person who, in ver. 23, is described as
eating "in doubt, and not in faith." Of this being wrong there
can be no doubt ; for, as the apostle states, in the 14th verse,
" To him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is
unclean." The connection, however, leads us to understand
the expression in the other senses — of eating so as to give
offence — so as to cast a stumblingblock before a brother — so as
to expose him to temptation, perhaps lead him into sin. The
person here described is one who personally has no doubts or
scruples as to the useof articles of food — a strong Christian, who,
with the apostle, is persuaded "that nothing is unclean of itself."
Even by this person's eating an article of food prohibited by
the law of Moses, harm may be done, and guilt contracted, if
he persist in doing this, while he is aware that, in doing so, he is
likely to lead some of his weaker brethren to do what, though
in itself not wrong, will yet defile their conscience, because
1 hd ir^oo-xofifiaTos iaQioint. For a similar use of the prep, hx, see Luke
viii. 4 ; Acts xv. 27; 2 Cor. x. 11 ; Heb. xiii. 22.

538 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
not warranted by their convictions of what is right. That
this is the just view of the meaning of the clause, seems con
firmed by the fact that the apostle, in the words which imme
diately follow, proceeds, not to exhort the weak Christian to
abstain till he be better informed, but the strong Christian to
abstain in circumstances in which the use of his liberty might
injure his weak brother. To eat every kind of food was lawful ;
but, if eating a particular kind of it will bring a brother into
spiritual hazard, I must not eat that kind of food. The use of
it is lawful, but it is not obligatory. I do not sin in refraining ;
and, to prevent sin, I must do every thing but sin.
While it is evil for a man thus to eat with offence, on the
other hand — " It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink
wine, nor anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended, or is made weak."1 This is the same sentiment
stated still more strongly by the apostle, 1 Cor. viii. 13 —
" Wherefore, if meat maketh my brother to offend, I will eat
no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to
offend." The words rendered " stumble," " offend," " make
weak," are, in signification, here nearly synonymous, indicat
ing different forms and degrees of spiritual damage. The
general rule laid down is, 'We are bound to abstain from every
thing which duty does not require, if we have reason to think
that, by not doing so, we shall in any way injure the spiritual
interests of our brethren.'
In the two succeeding verses, the apostle briefly, but com
prehensively, states the duties of both the classes referred to,
with regard to the subject under discussion : " Hast thou
faith ? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that con
demneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth."2
" Faith" here has its usual meaning, ' belief;' but it refers to
the particular point in question. "Hast thou faith?" or,
" Thou hast faith" — a settled conviction on this subject. Thou
art " fully persuaded in thy own mind ;" 3 " thou knowest,
and art persuaded."4 What, then? "Have it to thyself
1 Ver. 21. 2 Ver. 22. ' Ver. 5. * Ver. 14.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 539
before God." These words are often interpreted as if they
were equivalent to—' Keep your faith to yourself; you are not
required to surrender it; but conceal it where it may do
harm.' I cannot believe this to be the apostle's meaning.
He did not keep his faith on this subject to himself; and it
would have been strange to require them to conceal what he
so plainly declares. Open profession of what we are persuaded
to be truth and duty, is one of the first of our obligations as
rational, social, religious, accountable beings.1 No good can
come out of concealment on such subjects. Besides, this is
not the natural meaning of the apostle's words, which may be
rendered, ' Have, or hold, it with regard to thyself before God.
Hold fast your conscientious conviction, as to yourself, before
God — i.e. as under His eye — not attempting to impose it on
thy brother.'
This advice is not, in itself, inapplicable to either of the two
parties — the weak and the strong. To the weak it might be
said, " Hast thou faith ? " ' Are you fully persuaded that you
ought to. abstain from certain meats, to observe certain days,
then " hold your faith," with respect to yourself, before God —
that is, piously, as in His sight ; but do not insist that your
faith should be the rule of your brethren's conduct, whose
" faith," on this subject, is different from— opposite to, yours.'
It seems clear, however, from what follows, that it is to
" the strong" that the apostle here refers ; and that his mean
ing is — ' Are you convinced that all legal restrictions are
abolished ? Hold that comfortable persuasion, with regard to
yourself, before God. Be thankful that your mind is relieved
from scruples and perplexities, and that you have been made
to understand the liberty of the Gospel ; but, before your
weak brethren, who may be injured by your doing what is
rather the availing yourself of a privilege than the discharge
of an obligation, while you use all proper means that they

' A most satisfactory discussion of this important subject, in all its
bearings, is to be found in M. Vinet's masterly work — " Essai sur la
Manifestation des Convictions Religieuses."

540 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
may become better informed, abstain from that which may
probably injure them, and which, though conscience allows it,
it by no means prescribes to you. Be thankful for the en
larged views you have obtained ; but, in following them out,
" let all things be done in charity." ' 1
" Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing
which he alloweth." He is truly happy who has an enlight
ened conscience, and acts according to it — who " walks at
liberty, keeping God's commandments" — bound with no cords
but those of love — no bands but those of a man ; and so using
his liberty, that he has no cause to condemn himself as in
attentive to the demands of love towards his weak brethren.
Such a man is far happier than his scrupulous unenlightened
brother, who, even although conscientious, exposes himself to
needless privations, and involves himself in endless perplexi
ties ; and in a still higher degree is he happier than him who
does condemn himself in that which he alloweth. Such was
the case of the weak Christians, who, while convinced of the
continued obligation of the Mosaic restrictions — or, at any
rate, not convinced of their being annulled — from whatever
motive, practically, even in a single instance, disregarded
them. " And" — rather, 'but'2 — " he that doubteth is damned if
he eat, because he eateth not of faith : for whatsoever is not
of faith is sin." 3 " He that doubteth" is opposed to " He who
hath faith." 4 The person described is he who is not persuaded
that it is lawful to eat of meats prohibited by the law of Moses,
and yet does eat of them. This person, in eating them, is
" damned." Every one feels that this is a very harsh ex
pression. It was an unduly strong rendering when it was
made ; though the word ' damn' then was much more nearly,
than now, equivalent to ' condemn.' In the present state of
the language, where the word is almost exclusively used to
describe the final condemnation and punishment of the
wicked, it is an incorrect rendering. The meaning is — Such
1 1 Cor. xvi. 14. 2 li. » Ver. 23. < Ver. 22.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 541
a man is the reverse of happy : he is condemned — self-con
demned — condemned by his brethren, even by the strong —
condemned by God ; he does what is wrong, and what he
must feel to be wrong. " He eateth not of faith" — he eateth
without being persuaded that it is lawful for him to do so :
he must, therefore, be condemned in what he does ; " for
whatsoever is not of faith is sin." These words have often
been brought forward as a proof that a man must be a believer
in Christ, in order to perform any duty in a manner accept
able to God — as if it were synonymous with the dogma of the
English Church, in her thirteenth article, that " works done
before the grace of Christ, and the inspiration of His Spirit,
are not pleasant to God, but rather have the nature of sin ;"
or with the declaration in the Epistle to the Hebrews — " For
without faith it is impossible to please God : for he that cometh
to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him." J But they have no direct
bearing on this doctrine. They contain the general principle
on which the apostle considers the weak Christian as sinning
in eating the prohibited meats. Whatsoever a man doubts
the lawfulness of, he ought not to do — while these doubts
continue, he cannot do, without sin. This is a principle which
admits of no exception, which is far from being the case with
the converse proposition — which some would place on the same
level as a moral axiom— 'Whatsoever is of faith is duty.' A
man may be very fully persuaded that a thing is right, while
it is wrong. Paul himself is an example : " I verily thought,"
says he, " that I ought to do many things against Jesus of
Nazareth." 2 But was what was of faith here duty ? Hear
Paul's own opinion : " I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor,
and injurious" — " the chief of sinners."3
In the first verse of the fifteenth chapter, the apostle draws
the conclusion as to the conduct of the Roman Church, com
posed chiefly of Gentiles, in reference to their Jewish brethren
weak in the faith. There plainly should have been no divi-
' Heb. xi. 6. 2 Acts xxvi. 9, 3 1 Tim. i. 13, 15. /

542 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
sion at the end of the fourteenth chapter. Both the section
and the part of the Epistle close at the 13th verse.
" We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of
the weak, and not to please ourselves." x It is right to state,
that the verses 25-27 of the next chapter, in the textus re-
ceptus, are in some MSS. of antiquity and authority inserted
here. The reasons of the supposed transposition- have been
the subject of much investigation. The evidence, both ex
ternal and internal, seems in favour of the ordinary arrange
ment. It is quite amazing how much learning and ingenuity
have been expended on this question.
The words, " We then that are strong" — or, ' But we who
are strong' — " ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and
not to please ourselves," are not a logical inference from what
has been just said. They seem connected with the preced
ing context thus : While it is wrong for the weak Christian
to desist from acting on his conscientious views, though mis
taken, it is not only not wrong in the strong Christian to
desist, in certain circumstances, to act on his conscientious
views, though correct, but it is his duty " to bear the infirmi
ties of his weak brother, and not to please himself." The
reason of the difference is plain : the conviction of the weak
brother is, that he must sin if he disregard the legal restric
tions ; the conviction of the strong brother is merely that he
may, without sin, disregard them.
The strong are the well-informed, enlightened Christians,
among whom the apostle ranks himself, and to which class,
probably, the greater part of the Gentile converts belonged ;
the other class — the weak, are the narrow-minded, imperfectly-
informed, composed chiefly, if not exclusively, of Jewish
converts, and likely including the most of these.
" The infirmities of the weak," are their mistaken views,
and the modes of conduct to which they led. These indicated
weakness, and their tendency was to increase weakness. They
unfitted them both for the degree of Christian enjoyment, and
1 Chap. xv. 1.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 543
Christian activity and usefulness, to which they otherwise
might have attained. It was the duty of the strong Christians
to bear with these infirmities of their brethren. They were
not to attempt to prevent their avowing their convictions, or
their following them out to their practical consequences, by
threatening, if they did, to renounce communion with them as
Christian brethren. They were not to say, as has, in succeed
ing ages, often been said and acted on, when there was no such
strong ground to stand on as the strong brethren had — " Our
opinion is undoubtedly true, and yours is undoubtedly false ;
our practice is certainly right, and yours is certainly wrong.
If you do not renounce these false views, and abandon these
superstitious practices, we cannot admit you to the Lord's
table with us. We are not agreed ; how can we walk to
gether ? " No ; though thinking them mistaken in these
points, yet, having evidence that they were sincerely subject
to the one Master's authority, as discerned by them — united
in the faith, and love, and profession of the grand principles of
the Christian faith — they were to walk together in love, even
as their common Lord had loved them, in His commandments
and ordinances.
But this does not seem to be exactly what the apostle is
here enjoining. They must do all this ; but they must do
more than this. They must not only forbear with their weak
brethren, under their infirmities, but they must " bear their
infirmities." They must patiently submit to such personal
inconveniences as may very probably rise out of the infirmi
ties of their weak brethren, so far as this is not inconsistent
with their own conscientious views of truth and duty, and is
calculated to promote the spiritual interests of these brethren.
For example, in the case before us, they must not only allow
their weak brethren to regulate their own conduct according
to their own convictions — they must not only not require
them to eat the forbidden meats, nor disregard the consecrated
days, but they must also refrain from the practical display of
their own opinions respecting freedom from legal restrictions
—they must decline the use of what they know to be their

544 PRACTICAL. [PART HI.
privilege, in circumstances in which they see that this would
imperil the spiritual interests of their brethren.
This course is so far from being inconsistent with a distinct
avowal — a strong assertion of their sentiments, on the part of
the strong, that it seems to imply it. For Lthe strong practi
cally to comply with the weak, without explaining the prin
ciples on which they did it, would have been to confirm them
in their prejudices, and to lay a foundation for their continu
ing for ever weak ; whereas compliance, so far as conscience
permitted, while the true reason of it was assigned, was highly
fitted to prepare the minds of the weak for wider and juster
views of the truth. The former would have been detestable
hypocrisy : if wisdom, that which is of the earth, earthy ; the
latter was true charity — " the wisdom that cometh from above,
pure, peaceable."
To illustrate the subject by a figure, naturally suggested by
the terms employed by the apostle : Christians are a band of
pilgrims, from the city of Destruction to the Jerusalem that is
above. Though none are in perfect health — none without
some burden, yet still some are comparatively healthy, strong,
and unencumbered ; others are weak and sickly, and very
heavy laden. The former class are not to form themselves
into a separate band, and push forward, regardless of what
may become of their less fortunate brethren, leaving them to
follow as they may. No, they are to remain, what the Lord
of the pilgrims made them, one society — a band of brothers.
The strong and unencumbered are to help forward the weak
and burdened. They are not, indeed, in order that the whole
company may appear alike, to pretend that they also are weak
and heavy laden ; still less, if possible, are they voluntarily to
reduce themselves in these respects to a level with their breth
ren ; but they are patiently to submit to such inconveniences
as arise out of their connection with such companions, and
while using every means to have their diseases cured, and their
strength increased, and their burdens removed or lessened,
they must not at present attempt to make them move faster
than they are able, as that would be likely to produce stum-

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 545
bling and falling. How happy would it have been, how
happy would it be, if all the weak were treated by the strong as
Feeblemind, in the Pilgrim's Progress, says he was treated by
his brethren : " Indeed, I have found much relief from pil
grims, though none was willing to go so softly as I am forced
to do : yet still, as they came on, they bid me be of good
cheer, and said, that it was the will of the Lord that comfort
should be given to the feeble-minded, and so went on their own
pace." Thus they were to bear the burdens of the weak, and not
to please themselves by following a course that might be more
agreeable to themselves, but would be inponsistent with the
welfare of their weak brethren. Strong Christians should be
followers of Paul, the very Samson of the faith, and take for
their motto his words, " I please all men in all things ; not
seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they
may be saved." 2
It deserves to be noticed, that the mode of conduct here re
commended is not a matter of option, but of duty. The
words contain not a counsel only, but a command : " We that
are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,, and not
to please ourselves." . The apostle proceeds to show them a
more excellent way than " pleasing themselves."
" Let every one please his brother for his good to edifica
tion."3 Christians are not only not to "offend" one another,
that is, to stumble, to tempt, to give occasion to sin, they
are to seek to please each other. The strong Christian is,
by every means consistent with truth and duty, to endea
vour to keep on good terms with his weak brother. It is only
thus that he is likely to be really useful to him. If a man has
not confidence in our friendly regards, he is not likely to listen
to our counsels. But the command "to please" has its limits.
These are indicated by the end to be sought — " For good to
edification." The phrase rendered "for good,"4 may either

Pilgrim's Progress, Part II.

2 1 Cor. x. 33.

Ver. 2.

1 lis to ayaQov,

2 M

546 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
signify, 'In reference to that which is good,'— in reference to
his religion, "that good thing ;" or, ' So far as it is fitted to
promote the individual's welfare.' In this last case, the two
phrases are nearly synonymous ; the second phrase is expla
natory of the first. They were to seek to please so far as, and
no further than, is consistent with the spiritual improvement
of the weak brother. He would have been best pleased by
the strong adopting his views, and professing a belief that the
Mosaic restrictions were still in force; but this would not have
been to " please him for edification." We must not seek to
please men by flattering their prejudices. When men can be
both pleased and profited, it is very right they should be
pleased. But it often happens that the two things are utterly
incompatible. Even good men cannot always be pleased and
profited at the same time. To please, you must sometimes do
what would injure them ; and to profit them, you must do
what is likely to offend them. The apostle does not here con
trast pleasing men with profiting them, but pleasing others
with pleasing ourselves. Instead of pleasing ourselves, we are
to please others, so far as that is calculated to promote edifica
tion. The injunction is enforced by a mpst powerful motive :
" For even Christ pleased not Himself ; but, as it is written,
The reproaches which were cast on thee, have fallen on Me."1
Even our Lord pleased not Himself, sought not self-indulgence,
shunned not self-sacrifice — readily bore our griefs, carried our
sorrows. If He, the Master, did not, how ill does it become the
disciples to please themselves ? He sought not His own things,
He sought the things of others. His whole work was a great
act of self-denial — of disinterested, wise kindness. How did
He manifest this in His conduct to the chosen disciples! How
strong was He, how weak were they ! " How wide the in
terval," to use the words of Robert Hall, " which separated
His religious knowledge and attainments from theirs ! He,
the fountain of illumination— they, encompassed with infir-
1 Ver. 3.

SECT. IV.J OP TERMS OF COMMUNION. 547
mities ! But did He recede from them on that account ?
No, He drew the bond of union closer, imparted successive
streams of effulgence, till He incorporated His spirit with
theirs, and elevated them into a nearer resemblance with Him
self." He sought to please them ; but His great end was
edification — building up the great work of God.
According to his manner, the apostle refers to an ancient
prophetic oracle describing this feature in Christ — Messiah
the Prince : " As it is written, The reproaches which were
cast on thee, fell on Me." The passage is quoted from the
sixty-ninth Psalm, which has all the characters of a Messianic
oracle. Even though it had not been directly applied to our
Lord in the New Testament, there is much in it pointing it
out as one of the Psalms in which " it is written of Christ;" and
it is directly applied to our Lord, not only here, but in chap.
xi. 10, and in John ii. 17 ; xix. 28. It is not easy to say
whether the apostle's object was to illustrate our Lord's disin
terestedness, in reference to the sacrifices He made for the in
dividuals He came to save, or in reference to the grand public
interest of the Divine glory and the moral order of the uni
verse, with the care of which He was intrusted. But for the
sake of saving men, He never needed to have been in circum
stances in which He could have been exposed to "such con
tradiction of sinners against Himself." Had He sought His
happiness in self-indulgence, He need never have laid aside
" the form of God," nor taken on Him " the form of a servant."
Perhaps the passage, however, more directly and naturally
describes that noble spirit of the love of right and the hatred
of iniquity, which led Him to identify Himself with the cause
of God's honour, and the order of His moral government.
He overlooked personal insult and injury ; but when He saw
God dishonoured, the cause of truth and righteousness
trampled on, He was full of holy indignation. " The zeal of
God's house even consumed Him." It was a want of a truly
public spirit, and a little-minded, cold-hearted selfishness, that
lay at the foundation of the evils which the apostle wished to
prevent or cure — the strong contemning the weak, the weak

548 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
condemning the strong. Could Christians be brought to for
get their insignificant personal and sectarian objects, and
steadily contemplate the great objects which, as Christians,
they should be supremely seeking — the honour of God, and
the salvation of mankind, by the universal diffusion of Chris
tian truth — it would be impossible for them to waste their time
and then* talents, as they often have done, in agitating un
learned questions — " questions which gender strifes, instead of
godly edifying." It is greatly to be feared that a large portion
of those controversies which have torn the seamless robe of
Christ into shreds, broken His body into fragments, and pro
digiously retarded the progress of the Gospel and the conver
sion of the world, have originated and been prosecuted under
the influence of the principle here so strongly condemned —
the wish to please ourselves ; and nothing is better fitted than
a contemplation of the opposite temper, as exemplified by our
Lord, to shame us out of our selfishness, and to awake within
us a more generous spirit. Ah ! had He been influenced by
the narrow, illiberal, self-seeking spirit, that has been too
conspicuous in the character and conduct even of His genuine
disciples, what would have become of the infinitely important
interests of the Divine glory and human salvation with which
He was intrusted ? It would be good for a Christian, espe
cially when placed in circumstances similar to those of the
Roman Church when this epistle was written, often to ask
himself, ' Am I acting the part Christ would have done, had
He been placed in my circumstances ? He took good care
that, if " the good thing " was evil spoken of, it should not be
owing to anything He said or did. What amount, think you,
of self-gratification, in the shape of ease, or wealth, or honour,
could have induced Him to do anything that by possibility
could injure, not to say destroy, the work of God? The
temptation, " All the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of
them, will I give Thee," is met with the indignant, " Get thee
behind me, Satan ;" and how willingly did He, "though He
was rich, become poor, that men through His poverty might be
rich!" The same exhortation substantially, and the same

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 549
motive, too, are most powerfully urged in the epistle to the
Philippians : " Look not every man on his own things, but
every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of
God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God ; but made
Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men ; and being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled Himself, and became
obedient' unto death, even the death of the cross." x
In the 4th verse, the apostle introduces a remark by the
way, respecting the important use which the Old Testament
Scriptures, from which he had made a quotation, were intended
and fitted to serve to Christians : " For whatsoever things were
written aforetime were written for our learning ; that we,
through faith and patience of the Scriptures, might have hope." 2
" For," is here equivalent to — ' I make this quotation, that you
may be impressed with a sense of the value of the Old Testa
ment Scriptures.' The Gentile churches were in danger of
regarding these holy writings as interesting chiefly, if not exclu
sively, to the Jews, and as referring to a state of things which
had passed away. We find the sentiment in the text, repeat
edly and strongly stated by the apostle. He tells us that the
history of Abraham's justification "was written, not for his sake
alone, but for us also;"3 that what things happened to the
Israelites, " happened to them for ensamples, and are written
for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come ; " 4
that " the Holy Scriptures," with which Timothy had been
familiar from his infancy, were " able to make him wise to
salvation, through faith that was in Christ," and, " given by
Divine inspiration, were all profitable for doctrine, and for
reproof, and for correction, and for instruction in righteous
ness, that the man of God might be perfect, thoroughly fur
nished unto all good works." 5 And the Apostle Peter tells

&

1 rhil. ii. 4-8. :' Ver. 4. ' Chap. iv. 23, 24.
' 1 Cor. x. 11. ''2 Tim. iii. 15-17.

550 PRACTICAL.

[PART III.

us that the prophets ministered " to us rather than to them
selves,"1 and calls on Christians to "give heed to the con
firmed word of prophecy, as to a light shining in a dark
place, till the day dawned and the day-star arose in their
hearts." 2 " Whatsoever things were written aforetime "—i.e.,
the ancient sacred books of the Jews — " were written for
our learning." The word "learning" is used here in the
sense of "teaching," which is the meaning of the original
term.3 They were written to teach us, as well as those to
whom they were originally given. The manner in which they
were to serve the purpose of practical instruction is thus de
scribed : " that we, through patience and comfort of the Scrip
tures, might have hope." Patience,4 ordinarily, in the New
Testament signifies perseverance. To bring forth fruit with
patience, is to continue to bring forth fruit.6 In Rom. ii. 7, it
is rendered " patient continuance." " To run with patience,"
in Heb. xii. 1, is to persevere in running. The patience, or
rather perseverance, of the Scriptures, is the perseverance
which the Scriptures enjoin, and which the belief of them
produces. The word " comfort," 6 signifies exhortation as well
as comfort. It is the word rendered exhortation in verse 8,
and often elsewhere ; and here, the comfort of the Scriptures
expresses that impressive and consolatory instruction which
the Scriptures communicate. Now, it is the design of the
Old Testament Scriptures so to teach us, that by the per
severing cleaving to truth and duty which they enjoin, and
when believed, produce, and through the powerful persua
sive consolatory exhortation which they give us, — we may
have hope." To have hope, may mean to obtain hope ; but
men obtain hope not by persevering under the influence of
scriptural instruction in the right way — they must have
hope before they can enter on that way; the hope which
makes not ashamed is produced " by the love of God shed
abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost" 7— by knowing the love
1 1 Pet. i. 12. - 2 Pef i 1Q r, s s
Luke v,„. 15. , rKfiK*„iem , C]]ap y_ 5

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 551
which God has to us in Christ Jesus. The word rendered
" have,"4 signifies also to hold, to hold fast, to keep hold of:
Rev. i. 16 ; John xiv. 21 ; 1 Tim. iii. 9 ; 2 Tim. i. 13. This
seems to be its meaning here. The design of the Old Tes
tament Scriptures is, by their teaching, to enable us, through
persevering in faith and duty, and under the influence of their
powerful and persuasive exhortations, to hold fast our hope,
which cannot be maintained in a course of apostacy or inat
tention to the exhortation of the Scriptures.
Knowing that " every good gift cometh down from above,
from the Father of lights," the apostle presents a prayer that
the Romans might be brought into such a state of unity of
mind and heart, as should enable them, notwithstanding their
partial differences of sentiment, to enjoy the delights and ad
vantages of Christian fellowship : " Now the God of patience
and consolation grant you to be like-minded towards one an
other, according to Christ Jesus; that ye may with one mind
and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ."2 "The God of patience," or perseverance, is the
God who is the author of patience and perseverance— who, by
His Spirit, works the perseverance His word requires ; the
God of consolation, is the author of that powerful, persuasive
instruction contained in His word, and who, by His Spirit,
makes it effectual for persuading and comforting men. The
apostle prays that, in these characters, He might produce in
the Roman Christians such a mutual unity of mind — such a
measure of common sentiment and affection — as would enable
them to perform the duties of church fellowship, in together
observing the ordinances of the Gospel; and in these, " with
one mind and with one mouth, might glorify" — praise, honour
God as their common Father, because the Father of their
common Lord.
The apostle now returns to his exhortation, that, without
reference to their minor differences, the strong and the weak
— which was a distinction nearly coincident with the Gentile

J>. J Ver. H, c;.

552 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
and the Jewish members of the Roman Church — should live in
cordial fellowship with each other; and follows it up by a
statement that Jesus Christ was the minister of God both to
the Jews and the Gentiles, and that the object of His ministry
was to unite these in one holy society to the praise of the faith
fulness and mercy of God. This is the substance of ver.
7-12 : " Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also
received us, to the glory of God. Now," or ' and,' " I say,
that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers :
and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy ; as it
is written, For this cause I will confess to Thee among the
Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name. And again he saith,
Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people. And again, Praise the
Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye people. And
again Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and He
that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles ; in Him shall the
Gentiles trust."
The 7th verse does not seem an inference from what goes
before. "Wherefore" is equivalent to ' for this reason ;' and the
reason for the exhortation is to be found in the second part of
the verse. The duty enjoined, is receiving one another. The
word " receive" is to be understood in the same sense as in
chap. xiv. 1 : ' Acknowledge and treat one another as Chris
tian brethren. Notwithstanding your differences of opinion,
regard one another as servants of the same Lord — children of
the same Father. Let not the strong exclude the weak, and
let not the weak withdraw from the strong. Let there be " no
divisions and offences among you, contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned." '
This exhortation the apostle enforces by a very powerful
motive : " As Christ has received us," or, according to a more
approved reading, ' you — that is, all of you, both Jews and
Gentiles, both weak and strong.' The particle as may be con
sidered either as a particle of comparison or of deduction. In the
first case, it describes the kind of reception they ought to give
each other : It should be mutual, lie had received both ;  cor-

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 553
dial, thus he always receives. "The Holy Ghost," to use Peter's
language, " fell on them" — the Gentile converts, " as He did
on us" — the Jewish believers, " at the beginning."1 " God,
which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the
Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us ; and put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith."2
I prefer understanding it in the second way, as chap. i. 17 ;
John xvii. 2 ; Rom. i. 28 ; 1 Cor. i. 6 ; v. 7 ; Eph. i. 4 ; Phil.
i. 7. It introduces the reason why they should receive one an
other, and that is a powerful one. If they were Christians
themselves, it was because Christ had received them : and,
if He had received others as Christians, on what ground could
they exclude them, as they substantially did, so far as they were
able, by refusing to associate with them as brethren ? Would
not this be to set up their own opinion in opposition to the
declared mind of Christ, saying, ' He takes that man to be a
Christian, but I do not?' This was the Apostle Peter's view
of the subject. As soon as he saw, by the giving of the Holy
Ghost, that Christ had received Cornelius and his friends, he
said, " Can any man forbid water, that these should not be
baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as
we?"3 ' Christ has received them; who dare refuse to receive
them?' And, when called to account for what he had done,
this was his defence, " What was I, that I could withstand
God?"4 Christ is the only Head of His Church— the supreme Lord
of that spiritual society. It is His prerogative to admit men
to be members of his true Church, by giving them His Holy
Spirit ; and it is equally presumptuous in a Christian, or a
Christian Church, to acknowledge as Christians, by admitting
to church communion persons who give no evidence that
Christ has received them — who obviously have not His Spirit,
and therefore are none of His, — and to refuse to admit any
individual who gives the requisite evidence that He has re-

1 Acts xi. 15. ' Acts xv. 8,9.
3 Acts x. 47. ' Acts xi. 17.

554 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
ceived him. There may be, certainly there is, more difficulty in
applying this test for admission to communion now, than there
was in the primitive age ; but the rule itself is unaltered and
unalterable. Those whom Christ appears to have received
are to be received by us, and received by us because we think
they have been received by Him.
The concluding phrase, " to the glory of God," may be
connected either with the first or with the second clause of
the verse : " receive ye one another to the glory of God," — or,
" Christ has received you to the glory of God." If joined to
the first clause, it signifies the ultimate end which Christians
should have in view in receiving one another as brethren —
' that God may be glorified.' The union of Christians greatly
tends to honour God. Love, mutual love, is one of the fruits
of the Spirit — " the fruits of righteousness, which are to the
praise and glory of God." " Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bring forth much fruit." 1 Union among Christians is
necessary, both to their own edification, and to the conversion
of the world ; and it is in these two things that God is spe
cially glorified. If the expression be connected with the last
clause, then it refers to the object that Christ had in view in
collecting a Church. He receives believing Jews and Gen
tiles, that God may be glorified. He plants the trees of right
eousness in the vineyard which He keeps night and day, that
the Lord may be glorified. The glorification of God is the
great object of all He did on earth, of all He does in heaven,
in order to the receiving men. " I have glorified Thee on the
earth." " Glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify
Thee."2 There is nothing to prevent our considering the
words as belonging to both clauses : ' Receive ye one another
to the glory of God, even as Christ has also received you to
the glory of God. Both do what He has done, and do it for
the same purpose as He has done it. In the thing itself, and in
its object, He has set you an example that ye may walk in His
steps.' That the primary reference is to Christ's object in re-
' J«hn xv. 8. - John xvii. 1, 4, 5.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION, 555
ceiving both Jews and Gentiles seems probable ; for what fol
lows is an illustration of how He is a minister of the circumci
sion, so as to show forth the truth of God ; and how, of the
Gentiles, so as to show forth His mercy. The verses that
follow are in close connection with what precedes them, and
form the conclusion of the section in which the apostle shows
what is the term of church fellowship, and how Christians
are, in accordance with that term, to treat each other.
The object of the apostle, in these verses, is to show that
Christ has indeed received both Jews and Gentiles, in ac
cordance with the declarations of Old Testament Scripture,
to the glory of the Divine faithfulness and grace. And, first,
with regard to the Jews : " Now," or rather ' And,' " I say,
that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the
truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers." x
" I say," is equivalent to ' This is what I say.' " Jesus Christ
was a minister of the circumcision." Jesus was the minister
of God — appointed by Him, directed by Him, sustained by
Him, rewarded by Him. But, while God was the author of
His ministry, men were the objects of His ministry — men, both
Jews and Gentiles. He was, in the first instance, the "minister
of the circumcision" — the circumcised. "He came to His own :"
He was " sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." To
them His personal ministry was in a great measure confined ;
and His command with regard to His Gospel was, that it
should be first preached to the Jews — " Beginning at Jeru
salem ;" and " to the children of the prophets, and of the cove
nant which God made with their fathers; to them first, God
having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless them." 2
He gathered the outcasts of Israel to Himself, and made them
His people. This was done " for the truth of God, to confirm
the promise made to the fathers." The object of our Lord,
in doing this, was that the Father's name might be honoured,
as " He that keepeth truth for ever, and remembers His cove-
1 Ver. 8.
2 John i. 11 ; Matt. xv. 24; Luke xxiv. 47; Acts iii. 25, 26.

556 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
nant to all generations." The apostle notices this, that the
Gentiles might learn to regard with respectful affection their
Jewish brethren, notwithstanding their weakness.
But our Lord was appointed to be a minister of the uncir
cumcision as well as of the circumcision. He is not said to be so
in so many words, but it is so implied in the apostle's language,
which is elliptical, that you must supply the words, ' and a
minister of the uncircumcision,' or something equivalent, to
complete the sense. He was so, in order " that the Gentiles
might glorify God for His mercy." He " gave Himself a
ransom for all ;" He was " the propitiation for the sins of the
whole world ;" He ordered His apostles " to go teach all
nations," and to preach His Gospel " to every creature."
He was " a light to lighten the Gentiles," as well as " the
glory of God's people, Israel." He came, in the administra
tion of His Gospel, and in the effusion of His Spirit, " preach
ing peace" and giving salvation " to them that were far off as
well as to them who were nigh." He visited the Gentiles, " to
take from among them a people to His name." J All this was
done, that the mercy of God might be glorified through the
Gentiles, as His truth had been through the Jews. He re
ceived sinners of the Gentiles, so as to set them down with
Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God — not
making two societies of them, but one ; receiving them all on
the same principles, and with equal cordiality ; " making in
Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; reconciling
both by the blood of His cross ; and giving them all, through
Himself, access by one Spirit to the Father." 2 What a glori
ous display of Divine grace, when such monsters of iniquity
as are described in the close of the first chapter of the
epistle are " washed, and sanctified, and justified, through the
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God ;" and
when the " aliens and enemies" are " reconciled," and the
" strangers and foreigners" made " fellow-citizens with the
1 1 Tim. ii. 6; 1 John ii. 2; Matt, xxviii. 19; Murk xvi. 15; Luke ii.
32 : Eph. ii. 17; Acts xv. 14.
" Eph. ii. 14-18.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 557
saints and of the household of faith !" Should not the elder
brother rejoice to receive back again his poor prodigal brother,
" who was dead, and is alive again — was lost, and is found,"
when the Father and the first-born among the brethren have
so cordially received him ?
As this was intended chiefly for the Jewish part of the
Roman Church, he refers them to their own Scriptures, as
witnessing to this character of the Divine method of justifica
tion under the Messiah, that it is equally for the Gentiles as
for the Jews : " As it is written, For this cause I will con
fess to Thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name."
This is a quotation from Psalm xviii. 49 ; one of the Mes
sianic psalms, as I apprehend, in the strictest sense of the
term.1 The Messiah, delivered from all His enemies, and from
the power of death, and made Head over the heathen, who, as
soon as they heard of Him, obeyed Him, was, on these
grounds, by the establishment of the ordinances of Christian
worship, and by the providential dispensations by which the
establishment was to be effected, preserved, and extended, to
show forth the glories of the only true God. A second ancient
oracle, referring to the same great event, is (ver. 10) quoted
from Deut. xxxii. 43 : " Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His people."
This intimates that, at the period referred to, the Gentiles — the
heathen nations — should, in the possession of common privi
leges, along with the Jews, long the peculiar people of God,
unite in the joyful acknowledgment of Jehovah as their God.
The third quotation (ver. 11) is from Psal. cxvii. 1 : " Praise
the Lord, all ye Gentiles ; and laud Him, all ye people," — or,
as it is in our version, " O praise the Lord, all ye nations :
praise Him, all ye people." This is a prediction that, at the
time referred to, all nations, and the Jews generally, should
unite in praising Jehovah for " His great, merciful kindness,"
and His " ever enduring faithfulness." The fourth quotation
(ver. 12) is from the book of the prophet Isaiah, chap. xi. 10 :
1 See the evidence of this in the introductory discourse to " The Suf
ferings and the Glories of the Messiah."

558 PRACTICAL. [PART III.

" There shall be a root"— rather, a shoot—" of Jesse, and He
that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles ; in Him shall the
Gentiles trust." The words, as they stand in our translation
of the Old Testament, are — " And in that day there shall be a
root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign to the people ; to
it shall the Gentiles seek." The apostle quotes the Septuagint
version, apparently from memory. This is another prophetic
testimony that, under the Messiah, the Gentiles were to form
a part of the peculiar people of God.
Such is the apostle's statement of the law of Christ, as to
the manner in which His disciples, whether Jews or Gentiles,
should conduct themselves toward each other, and His en
forcement of that law by peculiar and powerful motives. It
may seem strange that, in this discussion as to the mode of
conduct which ought to be followed by the Christians at
Rome, divided ip their views respecting " meats and days,"
as well as in his remarks on a similar subject in the First
Epistle to the Corinthians,1 there is no reference to the de
cision which the council of apostles and elders at Jerusalem
had given forth respecting this subject2 — declaring that the
Gentiles were free from the law of Moses, but, from a regard
to the prejudices of the Jews, should abstain from eating
things strangled and blood. That decree was specially ad
dressed to the brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria,
and Cilicia ; and the apostle seems to have thought it better
to base his instructions to the Christians at Rome and Corinth
on general grounds. Stating most distinctly that the Jewish
distinctions about food and time were abrogated, he lays it
down as a principle, that conscientious difference about such
points should in no degree interfere with Christian fellowship ;
and that, where duty did not absolutely require it, the prac
tical assertion of an undoubted privilege should be put in
abeyance, if it was likely to lead less informed brethren into
sin, or even temptation to sin.
The apostle concludes the Practical part of his Epistle with
1 Chap. viii. ; x. 23-33. 2 Acts xv.

SECT. IV.J OF TERMS OF COMMUNION. 559
an earnest prayer for the Roman Christians : " Now the God
of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye
may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." J
The reference of this to what immediately precedes it is lost,
in our version by the noun's receiving here a different ren
dering from that of the cognate verb in the 12th verse. Read
" in Him shall the Gentiles hope," and you at once see why
the apostle addresses God as the God of hope, and prays that
He would make the Roman Christians abound in hope.
" The God of hope" is equivalent to, ' The God who is the
Author of Christian hope — who has prepared 4he blessings
which are the objects of hope — who has held them out, in His
Gospel, as the objects of hope to us — and who, by His Holy
Spirit enabling us to understand and believe that Gospel,
awakens and maintains the exercise of hope.
The apostle prays that God, in this character, would fill
the Roman Christians " with all joy and peace." This is an
ordinary mode of strongly expressing the superlative, by the
apostle — Col. i. 9-11, iii. 16 ; 1 Tim. i. 15, 16 ; and often
elsewhere. The phrase is equivalent to the best — the purest
kind of joy and peace, and the highest degree of them. He
prays that God would thus give them "joy and peace in be
lieving" — through believing. It is by faith, in the exercise
of child-like belief of the Divine testimony respecting Jesus
Christ and salvation though Him, that true "joy and peace"
are obtained and secured. There is no possibility of our
having them but by believing ; and there is no really believ
ing the true Gospel without our having them " according to
the measure of our faith."
The object which the apostle had in view, in wishing the
Roman Christians thus to be filled with "joy and peace," was
" that they might abound in hope" — that their hope might
be steady, influential, and abiding. " Hope" is the great
spring of action ; hence the anxiety of the apostle that Chris
tians should " show the same diligence, to the full assurance
> Ver. 13.

560 PRACTICAL. [PART III.
of hope to the end : that they be not slothful, but followers
of them who through faith and patience inherit the pro
mises."1 Faith — proving its power by producing "joy and
peace" — is the grand support of hope. All these blessings
the apostle expects from " the power of the Holy Ghost."
Everything spiritually good is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.2
It is just in the degree in which this prayer is answered,
in reference to the individual Christian, that he is holy,
happy, useful, full of love and good works ; and just in the
degree in which it is generally answered, that the Church
grows and is multiplied — is peaceful, and pure, and ener
getic in common operation for promoting the glory of God
and the happiness of mankind.
i Heb. vi. 11, 12. - Gal., v. 22.

PART IV.
CONCLUDING.
The Concluding part of the Epistle to the Romans begins
with the 14th verse of the fifteenth chapter, and terminates
at the close of the sixteenth chapter. It divides itself into
eight sections. The first, reaching from chap. xv. 14-21,
may be entitled, Apology. — The second, contained in chap.
xv. 22-29, is occupied with notices of intended journeys. —
The third, chap. xv. 30-33, is a request for an interest in the
prayers of the Roman Christians. — The fourth, chap. xvi. 1, 2,
contains the certificate of the bearer of the Epistle.— Saluta
tions from the apostle to individual Christians at Rome, chap.
xvi. 3-16, form the subject of the fifth section. — The sixth
section, chap. xvi. 17-20, is taken up with cautions against
dissension and division. — Salutations from Christians with the
apostle, to brethren at Rome, chap. xvi. 21-23, occupy the
seventh section ;— and the eighth section, contained in chap.
xvi. 24-27, forms the proper and most appropriate conclu
sion of the Epistle, in an affectionate benediction and noble
doxology. In this part of the Epistle, we have much pleasing light
shed over the apostle's personal character, and over the state
of primitive Christianity.
The apostle appears no less remarkable as a man of action
here, than he has done as a man of thought in the previous
parts of the Epistle. He seems to have possessed the faculty of
memory in a very high degree. How many individuals at
2n

562 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
Rome, whom he had met with elsewhere, does he mention, and
how intimate, obviously, was his knowledge of them ! Now,
we have no reason to think he knew these better, or thought
more about them, than multitudes of other Christian brethren.
The remarkable strength of his memory owed something, no
doubt, to the power of the affectionate part of .his nature.
How full is he of love — holy love, and how touchingly deli
cate are some of his expressions of it ! And then, how com
pletely is everything subordinated to Christ and His cause !
How plainly -written on these chapters the mottoes, " To me
to live is Christ"—" One thing I do !"
The view of primitive Christianity exhibited in this part of
the Epistle is also very interesting. It is clear that Christi
anity had made very extensive progress before this Epistle
was written. From how many — how distant places, were the
individuals collected who are addressed as Christians at Rome !
and though we mark the imperfections of our fallen nature in
these primitive Christians, it is impossible not to be impressed
with the conviction that the great body of them were enlight
ened believers, strongly influenced by the love of Christ ; and
all, of every rank and of both sexes, appear practically active
in promoting the Christian cause. Let us look, in succession,
at the eight sections into which this part divides itself.
SECTION I.
APOLOGY.
Chapter xv. 14-21. — " And I myself also am persuaded of you, my
brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able
also to admonish one another. Nevertheless, brethren, I have written
the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because
of the grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister of
Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of God, that the
offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the
Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ
in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of
any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the

SECT. I.J APOLOGY. 563
Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders,
by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round
about unto Ulyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ. Yea,
so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest
I should build upon another man's foundation : but, as it is written, To
whom He was not spoken of, they shall see ; and they that have not
heard shall understand."
In the previous part of the Epistle, the apostle had clearly
stated, and powerfully proved and defended, the great prin
ciples of the Christian faith : he had faithfully pointed out,
and solemnly warned against, the doctrinal errors into which
the Romans were in danger of falling ; he had also given a
clear exposition of the leading duties incumbent on them,
both as individuals and as a society, accompanied with ap
propriate motives to their performance ; and, in addition to
this, he had, with great plainness of speech, cautioned them
against the practical errors and faults into which they were
likely to fall. To prevent all this — coming as it did from one
who was personally a stranger to most of them, who had not
been their founder, and indeed had never been among them —
from being misconstrued, from seeming to arise out of a dis
position to intermeddle with matters that belonged not to
him, and to betray an unfriendly jealousy of them ; and to
guard against the production of a feeling which would mate
rially interfere with the gaining of the great objects for which
the Epistle was written, he, with equal wisdom and humility,
apologizes both for the freedom of his manner and for his
having been so long in showing his regard by a personal visit ;
and, while assuring them that nothing was further from him
than a low estimate of their character as a church, he gives
the true reason of his plain speaking — an earnest desire to
promote their spiritual improvement, and a deep sense of the
obligation under which he lay to " fulfil the ministry which
he had received of the Lord Jesus," " to preach among the
Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."
" And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren,
that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all loiowledge,

564 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
able also to admonish one another."1 " Goodness" may here
signify either moral excellence in general, as in Eph. v. 9 ;
or kindness — beneficence in particular, as in Gal. v. 22. It
seems most natural to understand it here in its most ex
tensive sense. " Knowledge" is to be understood of Chris
tian knowledge; and to be "full of all goodness- and all
knowledge," is to possess in a high degree Christian ex
cellence, and to have extended and just views of Christian
truth. The apostle was of opinion that, by this union of
Christian worth and intelligence, the Roman church could,
better than many Christian churches, depend on its own in
ternal resources : they were " able to admonish one another."
He was " persuaded" of this. He was inclined to think well
of all Christians and all Christian churches ; but, in their case,
he likely had received information — not improbably from
Aquila and Priscilla — which had lodged this persuasion in
his mind, and made it impossible for him to doubt of the
Roman church what he wished true of all churches. It was
not, then, the notion that they particularly needed, but the
conviction that they were likely to relish and improve, such an
Epistle as he was closing, that had induced him to write it to
them. He might have addressed them in the words of the
Apostle John — " I have not written to you, because ye know
not the truth, but because ye know it." 2 Indeed, the Epistle
contains in itself abundant evidence that, in the estimation of
the writer, they to whom it was addressed were not " babes
in Christ," but "men of full age;" not "unskilful in the
word of righteousness," but " having their senses exercised
to discern both good and evil." 3 In none of his writings does
the apostle present more of what may be termed " strong
meat ;" in none of them does he go deeper into the unfathom
able mine of Christian doctrine, or bring up richer treasure.
He could pay the heads and hearts of the Roman Christians
no higher compliment than by sending them such an Epistle.
It was not in Paul's nature to use " flattering words ;" but
' Ver. 14. s 1 John ii. 21. * Heb. v. 12-14.

SECT. I.J APOLOGY. 565
there are occasions on which Christians should be told of the
good opinion their instructors have formed of them. It
stimulates attention, and encourages exertion, as well as con
ciliates regard.
In the present state, the most accomplished saint is far
from being perfect ; and the Roman Christians, though " full
of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish
one another," stood in need of being put in remembrance of
the doctrine and of the law of Christ ; and, in doing this to
them, the apostle was not acting unwarrantably — intruding
himself into a place to which he had no right — he was but
discharging his duty as the apostle of the Gentiles.
" Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly
unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the
grace that is given to me of God, that I should be the minister
of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the Gospel of
God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable,
being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."1 The more " bold
speaking" the apostle refers to, may perhaps be found in such
passages as chap. vi. 19, in which he says he uses a popular
illustration "for the weakness of their flesh;" and chap. vi.
1, where he supposes an objection stated, which could only be
brought forward by a person very imperfectly acquainted with
the Christian faith. The words, " in some sort" — literally,
' in part,' may either signify, ' in some parts of the Epistle,'
or they may somewhat qualify the expression, " more boldly ;"
or, as Taylor views it, ' in reference to a part of you' — that
is, the Gentile part.
In using such freedom, he was not to be considered as
acting either an unfriendly or an impertinent part. He was
not their enemy, but their friend, in telling them the truth.
Nor was he to be viewed as an intruder : he was only dis
charging a duty imposed on him by their common Lord —
performing one of the functions of an office to which he had
been divinely called. If he had written to them, and that
1 Ver. 15, 16

566 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
somewhat boldly, it was " because of the grace given him of
God, that he should be a minister of Jesus Christ to the
Gentiles." He refers to his apostolical commission ; and he
calls it a " grace," because, notwithstanding all its toils and
hazards, he reckoned it no common " grace" — favour bestowed
on him, who, in his own estimation, was " less than the least
of all saints," " to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ."
Paul's apostolical commission had a peculiar reference to
the Gentiles. The general apostolic commission was, " Go,
teach all nations ;" " Go into all the world — preach the Gos
pel to every creature ;"1 but to Paul it was said, " Depart,
and go far hence to the Gentiles" — " to whom I now send
thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may
receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which
are sanctified by faith that is in Me."2 In writing, and
writing with freedom, to the Roman Christians, though he
had never seen them, he was thus doing no more than this
commission warranted, and indeed required, him to do.
The nature and design of his ministry among the Gentiles
is described in the words which follow : " Ministering the
Gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be
acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." The lan
guage is figurative ; but the meaning is plain. The apostle
represents himself as ' acting the part of a priest3 in reference
to the Gospel of Christ;' and, in the exercise of this office,
laying on the altar of God the converted Gentiles, as a sacri
fice acceptable to God, " being sanctified by the Holy Ghost."
In plain language, the design of his apostleship was, that the
Gentiles, being converted to the faith of the Gospel through
his instrumentality, and by the agency of the Holy Ghost,
might devote themselves to God as His peculiar property.
There is, probably, here an allusion to Isaiah lxvi. 20. " We
1 Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Mark xvi. 15. 2 Acts xxii. 21 ; xxvi. 18.
S itpOVpyoilVTX.

SECT. I.J APOLOGY. 567
see here the nature of the only priesthood which belongs to
the Christian ministry. It is not the office of those who fill
it to make atonement for sin — to offer a propitiatory sacrifice
to God ; but, by the preaching of the Gospel, to bring men,
through the influence of the Holy Spirit, to offer themselves
as ' a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.' " 1
The apostle proceeds to state the high estimate he had
formed of his office, and the success of his labours in the wide
field which had been assigned to him : " I have therefore
whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things
which pertain to God."2 These words are equivalent to —
•' " I magnify my office ;" I count it a highly honourable one.
Since God has been pleased graciously to make me a minister
of Jesus Christ, I have whereof I may glory.' " Those things
that pertain to God," is a phrase equivalent to ' religious
matters.'3 ' I may — I do occupy a very humble position in
civil society — in matters that pertain merely to man ; my
place in the Roman Empire is that of a mere citizen ; but, in
the region of religion, I am an apostle — one of the princes
who sit on their thrones "judging the twelve tribes of" the
spiritual " Israel." '
" In or through Christ Jesus," may be connected either
with " things pertaining to God," in which case the whole
phrase is a circumlocution for ' the Christian religion ;' or
with " I glory," in which case the meaning is, ' It is through
Christ Jesus that I have obtained that in things pertaining
to God, in which I glory ;' or, ' it is " in Christ Jesus" — con
nected with, united to Him — that I enjoy this office, and
glory in it.'
In the discharge of the functions of this honourable office,
the apostle had been remarkably successful ; and, to conciliate
the kind regards of the Roman Christians, he makes them
acquainted with his success. " For I will not dare to speak
of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me,
to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, through
1 Hodge. -' Ver. 17. 3 Heb. ii. 17 ; v. 1.

568 CONCLUDING. [PART IAr.
mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God ;
so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I
have fully preached the Gospel of Christ." a Some interpre
ters consider the apostle as saying — ' I will not dare to say
anything but what I know to be true, as to the success of the
Gospel through my instrumentality — though quite aware I
was only the instrument : Christ did the work.' Our trans
lators have rightly rendered the words. They are elliptical :
' I will not dare to speak of those successes of the Gospel in
which I have had no hand.' In these Paul rejoiced ; but he
did not wish the Romans to think of him as having done any
thing but what he really had accomplished through the help
of his Master. " I will not dare to speak of any of those
things which Christ hath not wrought by me" — but I will
dare to speak of the things that He has wrought by me — " to
make the Gentiles obedient, in word and deed."
" To make the Gentiles obedient," is to bring them to
believe the doctrine and obey the laws of Christ. " Word
and deed" have been generally viewed as describing the
means by which, through the instrumentality of the apostle,
the Gentiles were converted : " word" signifying ' preaching ;'
"work" signifying 'active exertion.' It seems to me more
natural, from the construction of the original (the preposition2
indicating instrumentality being introduced after the words
" word and deed"), to understand the phrase as describing
the obedience of the Gentiles : it was obedience " in word" —
they made profession of faith in Christ ; but it was also obedi
ence " in deed" — they walked in His laws and ordinances."
This substantial obedience was brought about " through
mighty signs and wonders" — by means of signal miracles,
calling the attention to the subject, and attesting the Divine
mission of the Christian apostles.8 " By the power of the
Holy Ghost," may refer either to the clause, " to make the
Gentiles obedient," or the clause " through mighty signs and
wonders." It is true of both, that they were by " the power
of the Holy Ghost."
' Ver. 18, 19. * h. ¦' Heb. ii. 4.

SECT.' I.J APOLOGY. 569
In this way, with this success, the apostle had preached the
Gospel, not in a few places only, but in a great many— not in
one district of country merely, but in many lands, "from
Jerusalem round about to Illyricum." The apostle had
preached the Gospel in Arabia, lying east from Jerusalem ;
but he fixes on that city as the eastern term of his labours,
from the celebrity of the city, and from the fact that his mis
sionary progress had been chiefly westward ; or his labours
in the farther east may be intended to be referred to in the
phrase, " round about."1 Illyricum lies on the shores of the
Adriatic, beyond Macedonia. It is doubtful if Paul was ever
in Ulyria. He mentions it as the term of his labours. The
distance marked out by the apostle, in a direct line, is more
than 1400 miles, and taken by him " round about," in a
circle, must have been very much greater. Throughout
these wide regions, then, among the most densely peopled in
the world, had the apostle, at the date of this epistle, preached
the Gospel — " fully preached the Gospel of Christ." The
original expression, literally rendered, is " fulfilled." 2 The_
word occurs with the same meaning in Col. i. 25.
This passage is full of important instruction as to what true
conversion to Christianity is, which is materially the same
thing in all countries and ages, who is its Author, and by what
agency and instrumentality He effects it. (1.) True conver
sion is "obedience to the truth" — "in word," that is, mani
fested in profession ; " in deed," that is, proved by conduct
corresponding to the profession. (2.) Jesus Christ, by His
Holy Spirit, is the Author of conversion. (3.) The grand
means of conversion is the exhibition of the truth in its mean
ing and evidence ; and, (4.) The work of ministers in conver
sion is merely instrumental. They do not convert men ;
Jesus Christ converts men by them declaring the truth,
which the Holy Spirit applies to the mind and heart, thus
inducing faith and its native results. All that men can do,
is " fully to preach the Gospel of Christ."
i KiK7,v, "' wiirMpur.ivxi.

570 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
The apostle, following out the thought hinted at in the be
ginning of the 18th verse — his indisposition to take credit to
himself for other men's labours, unfolds the principle on
which he had hitherto regulated his apostolic labours, a prin
ciple which satisfactorily accounts for his not having before
this time visited the Roman Church. "Yea, so have I strived
to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I
should build upon another man's foundation : but, as it is writ
ten, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see ; and they
that have not heard shall understand. For which cause also
I have been much hindered from coming to you."1 The
apostle, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, had usually
laboured in regions where no Christian church had been pre
viously planted — usually, for it is clear from the Acts of the
Apostles that he sometimes both visited and wrote letters to
churches of which he was not the founder. He judged the
conversion of the Gentiles to be his appropriate work, and to
that he all but exclusively devoted himself. He left the com
paratively easy work of teaching and superintending the con
verted to others. The apostle, whose mind was overflowing
with Old Testament Scripture, quotes from Isaiah, ch. Iii. 15,
a passage illustrative of his leading object in his apostolical
labours — that he might be the means of introducing the true
worship of God, through His Son, where previously it was
utterly unknown— that in his case, the ancient oracle respect
ing the Messiah, who after suffering had entered into glory,
might be verified : " To whom he was not spoken of, they
shall see ; and they that have not heard shall understand."
The passage is correctly quoted from the Septuagint.
In thus perseveringly following out a wisely-formed and
clearly-defined plan of operation, the apostle followed in the
steps of his Lord. It would have been well for the Church
and for the world, if all Christians, and especially if all Chris
tian ministers, had been in this respect followers of Paul, even
as he was of Christ. He only who acts on this principle is
1 Ver. 20-22.

SE«T- !•] APOLOGY. 571
likely to do much good — he who has a plan, a good plan, and
who keeps to his plan. But, in order to realize the success
which this plan is fitted to secure, he will frequently be obliged
to deny himself. He must often give up what may be de
sirable both to himself and others, just because it would inter
fere with his fixed plan of operation, and the temporary good
is not likely to compensate the evil of introducing irregidarity
and uncertainty into his plans. This was the course adopted
by the apostle. He had long cherished an ardent wish to
visit Rome, and confirm the Christian Church formed in that
most important station. But so long as, in the regions in
which he laboured, he could have access to cities yet unvisited
with the light of Christian truth, he considered it his duty
to deny himself the satisfaction such a visit was sure to afford
him. " For which cause also I have been much hindered from
coming to you." 1 The apostle had already,2 in very strong
terms, expressed his earnest desire to have personal intercourse
with his brethren at Rome; and he here assigns the reason
why that desire had not yet found accomplishment, and his
hope that the long wished-for season of an interview was now
at hand. There is no better reason for preferring one course
to another than this — inclination draws one way, duty the
other. Having thus apologised to the Romans for what to some of
them might appear his undue freedom, and for his delaying so
long to visit them, the apostle gives them information respect
ing his future plans, which were likely ere long to bring them
and him together. This forms the subject of the second
section. 1 Ver. 22. s Chap. i. 8-15.

572 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
SECTION II.
NOTICES OF INTENDED JOURNEYS.
Chapter xv. 23-29. — But now having no more place in these parts,
and having a great desire these many years to come unto you ; whenso
ever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you : for I trust to see
you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if
first I be somewhat filled with your company. But now I go unto Jeru
salem to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia
and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are
at Jerusalem. It hath pleased them verily; and their debtors they are.
For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things,
their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things. When therefore
I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will come by
you into Spain. And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come
in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ.
Some interpreters consider the expression, "having no place
in these parts," 1 as referring to the obstacles put in the way of
the apostle's progress by the Jews and the Judaizers. It
better harmonizes with the context to consider him as saying,
' There being now no place of importance, no city or town in
these regions, in which I have not preached the Gospel.' The
peculiar labours he had marked out for himself were finished
there ; and, like a spiritual Alexander, having made many con
quests, he immediately plans more. Following out his princi
ple, he had resolved on a journey into the westermost country
in Europe — Spain,2 where probably the name of Christ had
never been heard ; and he rejoiced in the thought that, without
deviating from his plan, he might soon be able to fulfil his
long-cherished desire of visiting the Christians at Rome.
Rome was in his way towards Spain. He intimates his en
tire confidence in their friendship, intimating that he antici
pated much pleasure in their society, and telling them he
expected to be assisted by them in his missionary enterprize.
1 Ver. 23. ' Ver. 24.

SECT. II.J NOTICES OF INTENDED JOURNEYS. 573
He hoped to be " somewhat filled with their company "—re
freshed by seeing how holy and happy they were, and that
they would furnish him with the means of visiting so remote
a country as Spain. There is here a reference to a custom in
the primitive times, adverted to in Acts xv. 3 ; xvii. 14, 15 ;
xx. 38 ; xxi. 5 ; 3 John 6, 7. The word " somewhat," marks
the delicacy of Paul's mind ; he does not say satisfied, but
partly satisfied, as if he could never have enough of their
society. Paul did come to Rome, but neither at the time, nor
in the circumstances, which he here anticipates. He came a
prisoner, to have his cause determined before the imperial
tribunal : Acts xxvii., xxviii. Some ecclesiastical historians
think it probable that, after the first hearing of his cause, he
obtained liberty to depart from Rome for a season, and that
he availed himself of that opportunity of visiting Spain. But
Origen and Eusebius, the oldest authorities in extra-scriptural
ecclesiastical history, know nothing of such a journey.
The apostle now states the reason why he did not imme
diately come to Rome, since he had " no more place in these
parts : " " But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister to the
saints. For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia
to make a certain contribution for the poor saints that are at
Jerusalem. It hath pleased them ; and their debtors they are.
For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual
things, their duty is also to minister to them of their carnal
things." ' A large portion of the converts to Christianity in
Jerusalem and Judea seem to have been exposed to the
" spoiling of their goods," and to have been in circumstances
of destitution. They were the proper objects of the liberality
of their Gentile brethren, who were placed in happier circum
stances. We find the apostles of the circumcision recom
mending to Paul and Barnabas, the apostles of the uncircum
cision, that they " should remember the poor,"— that is plainly,
the destitute disciples, in Judea ; " which thing," says Paul,
" I also was forward to do." 2 In consequence, no doubt, of
' Ver 25 27. 3 Gal. ii. 9, 10.

574 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
his recommendation, though he modestly conceals this, the
churches of Macedonia had of their free will made a contri
bution.1 Of this we have a particular acgount, 1 Cor. xvi.
1-4; 2 Cor. viii. 1-4; ix. 2.
This contribution is a beautiful display of the genius of
Christianity — a proper model for churches in all countries and
ages. The apostle hints that, in making this contribution,
the Gentile churches might be considered as only paying
debt ; and very likely meant the Romans to draw the conclu
sion, that as they were equally indebted to the Jews for their
spiritual privileges as the churches of Macedonia and Achaia,
they would do well to follow their example. The word "car
nal " is an unfortunate rendering, — " temporal," as opposed to
" spiritual," expresses the apostle's idea.
It was necessary that this labour of love should be imme
diately attended to ; but the apostle assures the Roman
Christians, that as soon as that was accomplished, no time
would be lost in his coming to them. " When therefore I
have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will
come by you into Spain. And I am sure that when I come
to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the
Gospel of Christ." 2 " When I have performed " — that is,
completed, finished — " this." It is a matter of great import
ance to persevere in a good work till it be finished. A great
deal of labour is often lost by good, benevolent men, through
the forgetting of this. What an amount of fruitless, because
half done, work, has the Church and the world to grieve over !
The expression, " sealed this fruit," is rather peculiar. The
" fruit," is plainly the Greek contribution — the fruit at once
of the apostle's labours and of the donors' faith and love. To
" seal " this fruit, is to secure this contribution — to put the
last hand to the good work. " Safely delivered," is probably
the idea : 2 Kings xxii. 4. We use the word " consign " in
the same way. Paul had pledged himself to this amount to
the churches in Greece : 1 Cor. xvi. 3, 4. Ministers ought
1 xoivuvix. Acts xxiv. 17. 2 Ver. 28, 29.

SECT. II.J NOTICES OF INTENDED JOURNEYS. 575
to be particularly careful in managing pecuniary contributions
intrusted to their care, " that the ministry be not blamed."
It was Paul's determination " that no man should blame him
in the abundance which was administered by him, providing
things honest " — honourable—" not only in the sight of the
Lord, but.also in the sight of men." 1
When this business was completed, it was Paul's purpose to
come by the Romans into Spain. Spain was a country where
Christ had not been named, and he will come to Rome in
order to his getting to Spain. He would not interrupt what
he accounted his appropriate work — the laying the foundation
of Gentile churches — to visit the already formed and flourish
ing Church of Rome ; but he rejoices that, in the prosecution
of his own walk of apostolic labour, he was to have an oppor
tunity of visiting his Roman brethren. The words are merely
expressive of intention. Paul was uncertain whether he would
ever go to Spain ; but it was his purpose to go, and to take
Rome in his way. We have no evidence that he ever visited
Spain ; and when he did come to Rome, it was in circum
stances very different from those he now anticipated.
But while the apostle speaks doubtfully of his journey to
Spain and his visit to Rome, there is one thing about which he
speaks with perfect confidence, and that is, that his visit to the
Romans, whenever it took place, would be blessed to their spiri
tual advantage. "I am sure that, when I come to you, I shall
come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ."
" The fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ" — or,
as it is in the more approved reading, " the fulness of the Gos
pel of Christ "—may either signify the blessed fulness of Christ,
" the unsearchable riches of Christ," the Gospel message in
all the fulness and plainness of its meaning and in all the
variety and force of its evidence, or ' the abounding blessing
of the Gospel of Christ ' — that is, all the heavenly and spiri
tual blessings that are communicated to men by the Gospel.
In the first case, the apostle's meaning is, ' Whenever I come,
1 2 Cor. viii. 20.

576 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
I am sure that I will lay before you a full and plain statement
of the truth as it is in Jesus, and of its evidence ; I will "fully
preach " to you, as I have done to so many others, the Gospel
of Christ.' In the second, the force of the statement is, ' I am
fully persuaded that, when I come to you, my ministrations
shall be remarkably blessed.' The two things are closely con
nected. It is only when a minister comes to a people in the
first way, that he can be expected to come in the second ; and
when a minister does come in the blessed fulness of the Gos
pel, he generally brings along with him the full blessedness of
the Gospel : for " the word that goeth forth out of God's
mouth shall not return to Him void ; but it shall accomplish
what He pleases, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto
He sent it." x It is the Gospel alone that is the ministration
of the Spirit.
SECTION III.
REQUEST FOR AN INTEREST IN THE PRAYERS OF THE
ROMAN CHRISTIANS.
Chapter xv. 30-33. — Now, I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord
Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together
with me in your prayers to God for me ; that I may be delivered from
them that do not believe in Judea ; and that my service which I have for
Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints ; that I may come unto you with
joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now the God
of peace be with you all. Amen.
The journey which Paul had immediately before him was
pregnant with important results, and full of hazards ; and he
begs the prayers of the Roman Christians, that he might be
preserved amidst, and delivered from, these dangers, and that
the great objects he had in view might be completely attained.
There are here three objects specified, about which the apostle
was specially desirous, and which he wished the Roman
Christians to make the subject of fervent supplication to God
in his behalf. 1 Isa. Iv. n.

SECT. III. J REQUEST FOR THE PRAYERS OF THE ROMANS. 577
The first is " that he might be delivered from them who did
not believe in Judea."1 These formed the great majority,
and they had in their hands both civil and ecclesiastical
power. To his unbelieving countrymen, Paul was peculiarly
obnoxious. From being one of the ablest and most zealous
defenders of Judaism, he had become the ablest and most
zealous of its assailants. He who was foremost in opposing
Christianity, was now in the very front of the battle in its
defence. His liberal opinions respecting the footing of entire
equality, on which the New Dispensation treated Jews and
Gentiles, seemed to them the worst species of blasphemy.
Even in Gentile countries, he had often been exposed to per
secution, and involved in danger through their plots and vio
lence. What had he to expect when he went to a country
where their influence was so much more extensive and power
ful? From what actually occurred when Paul did go to
Judea, of which we have a record, Acts xxi.-xxvi., it is plain
that he had not overrated his dangers. His enemies repeat
edly endeavoured to destroy him in a popular tumult; a
party of them bound themselves under a curse to assassinate
him; before two successive Roman governors they endeavoured
to procure his condemnation ; and at last, to free himself from
the hazards to which their malignant vigilance exposed him,
he found it necessary to carry his cause by appeal to the Im
perial tribunal at Rome.
The prospect of such danger could not, however, deter the
apostle from going to Judea, when the interests of Christianity
called him. He went bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem,
not knowing the things that should befall him there; save
that the Holy Ghost witnessed in every city, saying, that
bonds and afflictions awaited him : " but," says he, " none
of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus."2
When the disciples at Cesarea, alarmed at the intimations of
. Ver 31 2 Acts xx- 22-24.
2o

578 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
the Prophet Agabus, beseeched him not to go up to Jerusa
lem, he answered, " What mean ye to weep and break my
heart ? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at
Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."1
A second object of desire with Paul was " that his service
which he had for Jerusalem might be accepted of the saints." 2
From the nature of the service, it might seem that there was
but little danger of its being otherwise than very acceptable ;
yet, so strong were the prejudices of many of the converted
Jews against the uncircumcised Gentile converts, that there
was reason to fear that even a pecuniary contribution from such
a quarter, and especially coming through such a channel, might
excite feelings not very compatible with affectionate gratitude.
From the conduct of the elders, on his arrival at Jerusalem,
this seems to have been their opinion.3 It was a favourite
object with the wide-minded, large-hearted apostle, to produce
a complete amalgamation of the Jewish and Gentile believers
— that the Church might be, and might appear to be, " one
new man." It was in prosecution of this object that he had
been so active in receiving contributions for the " poor saints
at Jerusalem" among the Gentile Churches, and his success
was a gratifying proof that, so far as the Gentiles were con
cerned, he had in a good degree gained his end : and nothing
surely was better fitted to put down the prejudices of the Jews
against the Gentiles, and against himself as the apostle of the
Gentiles, than the plan he was now pursuing. This was, ac
cording to his own maxim, to seek to " overcome evil with
good." It was the obvious tendency of this system to knit
together in love the two great component parts of the Chris
tian society which chiefly recommended it to the apostle.
" The administration of this service," says he, " not only sup-
plieth the wants of the saints, but is abundant also by many
thanksgivings unto God ; (while by the experiment of this
ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection
unto the Gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution
1 Acts xxi. 13. » Ver. 31. 3 Acts xxi. 20.

SECT. III.J REQUEST FOR THE PRAYERS OF THE ROMANS. 579
unto them, and unto all men ;) and by their prayers for you,
which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you."1
The third object of Paul's desire was " that he might come
unto the Romans with joy, by the will of God, and might with
them be refreshed."2 He earnestly wished that he might be
brought safe to Rome " by the will of God," subordinating
his desire to the Divine will, according to the Apostle James'
rule,3 and that his meeting with the Christians there— his
great object in wishing to see the metropolis of the world —
might be replete with improvement and comfort to both
parties. The three wishes of the apostle were closely con
nected : the attainment of the objects of the first two was ne
cessary to the attainment of that of the third. If he was not
" delivered from them that believed not in Judea," he could
not come at all ; and if " his service was not acceptable to the
saints he could not come with joy."
For the attainment of these desirable objects Paul solicits
earnestly the prayers of the Roman Christians. " Now I be
seech you, brethren, that you strive with me in your prayers
for me."4 Paul had prayed often and earnestly for the Roman
Christians,5 and he requests them to reciprocate the favour.
Christians cannot give each other a better proof of their
mutual love than fervent intercession for each other. No man
can doubt this who believes the doctrine of the efficacy of be
lieving prayer. Paul is desirous that their prayers should be
fervent — " that they should strive" — knowing that, as James
says, " it is the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
which availeth much."6 And he assures them that he would
pray along with them. It is absurd to expect that the
prayers of others for us are to be answered if we do not pray
for ourselves.
The apostle enforces his affectionate request by two very
powerful motives. " I beseech you, for the Lord Jesus
Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit."7 "I beseech
1 2 Cor. ix. 12-14. s Ver. 32 3 James iv. 15. 4 Ver. 30.
6 Chap. i. 9, 10. e James v. 16. 7 Ver. 30.

580 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake" is equivalent to ' I be
seech you, by the regard you have to the Lord Jesus.' The
cause of Christ was deeply involved in the safety of the
apostle, and in the carrying his plans into accomplishment.
Nothing had a more lowering aspect on its success than the
continuance of the bitter prejudices between converts from
among the Jews and from among the Gentiles. The house
divided against itself seemed in danger of falling; and it
would have fallen if its builder had not been its upholder. It
is as if he had said ' It is more for Christ's sake than my own
that I urge this request.' " The love of the Spirit" has been
supposed to mean ' the love which the Holy Ghost has to
Christians ;' and under this view of the phrase Dr M'Crie has
given us an interesting and useful discourse on it ; but there
is no ground to doubt, that the reference is to the peculiar love
which Christians have to each "other, and that this is termed
" the love of the Spirit," either by a Hebraism for spiritual
love, in contradistinction to natural affection, or because it is
produced in the heart by the operation of " the Spirit " by
way of eminence — the Holy Ghost. It is the same thing that
the apostle speaks of as " the fellowship of the Spirit" in the
Epistle to the Philippians.1 The two motives may be thus
stated ' by the regard you have to Christ, and to me, His
servant, I beseech you, deny me not your prayers.'
It is natural to ask how far these objects, for which the
apostle was so desirous that the Roman Christians should
pray, were gained. The apostle was brought safely to Judea,
and very wonderfully preserved amidst, and at last, after two
years, delivered from, " them who believed not" there. We
have no doubt that, to a considerable extent, " his services
were acceptable to the saints ;" and we know that, " by the
will of God," through extreme perils, he did come to the
Roman Christians, " with joy," though in bonds, and " that
with them he was refreshed." When the brethren at Rome
had heard of the apostle's arrival in Italy, " they came to
1 Phil. ii. 1.

SECT. III.J REQUEST FOR THE PRAYERS OF THE ROMANS. 581
meet him as far as Appii Forum and The Three Taverns,"
the one about fifty, the other about thirty miles from the
city, and when Paul saw them " he thanked God, and took
courage."1 There is much less said, in the Acts of the
Apstles, than we could have expected, or wished, respecting
the apostle's intercourse with the Roman Christians. This
rises out of the design of the book, which is to give the history
of the planting of churches, not of planted churches. We
have more said about Paul's intercourse with the unbelieving
Jews than with his Christian brethren at Rome ; but there
can be no reasonable doubt, that there was " a Church" in
the hired house in which he " dwelt two whole years," as well
as in the house of Aquila and Priscilla, and that there, he not
only " preached the kingdom of God" to all inquirers " who
came to him," but also " taught the things concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ," to them who believed. What would we
give for his own illustrations of what is contained in this
epistle ? He enjoyed a longer stay among them than he likely
had anticipated — " imparted to them some spiritual gift " —
was " comforted together with them" by their mutual faith2
— was " somewhat filled with their company" — and was
" with them refreshed." The next event in Paul's history,
that we are sure of, is " his dying at Rome for the name of
the Lord Jesus," probably about six or seven years after the
writing of this epistle.
When the apostle requested the prayers of the Roman
Christians for himself, he gave them an example to follow by
praying for them. " Now the God of peace be with you all.
Amen."3 " The God of peace" may mean the reconciled, the
pacified divinity. That I rather think is the meaning of the
appellation, Heb. xiii. 20. Here it seems more natural to in
terpret it on the same principle as the phrases, " the God of
patience and consolation,"4 and " the God of hope."5 ' May
God, the author of peace — of reconciliation to Himself— that
1 Acts xxviii. 15. 2 Chap. i. 11. 3 Ver. 33.
4 ver. 5. 6 Ver. 13.

582 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
peace which is the fruitful mother of all true peace — peace of
mind, peace of conscience, peace of heart, peace with all good
beings, and a disposition to be at peace with all beings. May
this God, as the Author of peace, be with you all. May He
give you constant tokens that He is with you — on your side —
near you — supplying all your need, according to His riches
and glory. May He "give you peace always by all means."1

SECTION IV.
CERTIFICATE TO THE BEARER OF THE EPISTLE.
Chapter xvi. 1, 2. — I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is
a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea ; that ye receive her in the
Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she
hath need of you : for she hath been a succourer of many, and of my
self also."
It is a just remark of Dr Priestley,2 that "the conclusions of
the most of Paul's Epistles, though least valuable as to their
direct use, are highly valuable indirectly, and especially as
evidence of the truth of Christianity : so many particular per
sons and circumstances being mentioned, as give them the
most unsuspicious appearance of genuine epistles, and exclude
all idea of forgery. Indeed, there are no epistles come down
to us from ancient times that have such clear evidence of
genuineness as these ; and, accordingly, it does not appear
ever to have been called in question. If this case be consi
dered, it will be found absolutely impossible to admit the
genuineness of these epistles, that is, their having been actually
written by the Apostle Paul, while he was engaged in preach
ing the Gospel in the midst of business and so much conten
tion, when all his motions were watched by his enemies and
1 Chap. xvi. 20 ; 1 Cor. xiv. 33 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Phil. iv. 9 ; 1 Thes. v.
23; 2 Thes. iii. 16.
* Notes on all the Scriptures, vol. iv., pp. 334, 335.

SECT. IV.J CERTIFICATE TO BEARER OF EPISTLE. 583
false friends, without admitting the truth of the facts which he
mentions in them, as at that time known to all, especially the
miraculous gift of the Spirit, and such a reception of Chris
tianity in that early period, while the facts were recent and
open to every man's examination. And the truth of these
imply the truth of Christianity ; that is, they necessarily lead
¦to conclude that they were facts admitted by those who were
best fitted to examine their truth, and who had every mo
tive for doing it with impartiality — that Christ preached
the doctrines ascribed to Him in the Gospel history — that
He wrought many miracles in proof of His Divine mission
— that He was publicly crucified — and that He actually rose
from the dead."
If these concluding paragraphs of the Epistles of Paul are
thus greatly corroborative of the Christian evidence, they are
also well fitted to illustrate the character of genuine Christi
anity in the primitive age, as it was exhibited both in the
writer and in those to whom his Epistles are addressed. Re
garding the Epistle to the Romans as a portrait of the apostle's
mind, these paragraphs may be considered as the last soften
ing touches of the artist's pencil, which give harmony and
sweetness to the picture. It is impossible to peruse with
attention the preceding part of the Epistle, without being
impressed with the conviction that Paul was a singularly
great and good man ; but, had it not been for these conclud
ing remembrances, we could scarcely have imagined that he
was so thoroughly amiable a man, and that, while he had a
power of intellect, an extent of information, and a purity of
principle almost angelic, he had, at the same time, a tender
ness of heart and a sensibility of kindness altogether human.
On reading the conclusion of the Epistle, assuredly we do
not admire him less, but we love him more ; and many a fine
lesson of Christian kindness, and courtesy, and gratitude, may
be learned from a perusal of what, at first sight, may appear
little more than a dry list of names of persons of whom we
know, and can know, nothing more than that they were the
acquaintances and friends of the Apostle Paul.

584 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
The sixteenth chapter opens with a recommendation, or
what we would call the certificate, of the Christian lady who
appears to have been the honoured bearer of the Epistle —
Phebe, a deaconess of the church at Cenchrea. " I commend
unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church
which is at Cenchrea : that ye receive her in the Lord, as
becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business
she hath need of you : for she hath been a succourer of many,
and of myself also." 1 The obviously proper and useful prac
tice of Christians, when removing from one place of residence
to another, carrying along with them recommendations2 from
the church with which they had been connected, to the church
in the place where they were going to sojourn or to reside,
seems to have prevailed from the beginning. We have various
examples of this custom on record. When Apollos was disposed
to pass from Ephesus into Achaia, " the brethren wrote exhort
ing the disciples to receive him." 3 Diotrephes is blamed for not
duly honouring the commendatory certificates of the apostle ;4
and we find Paul certifying, or recommending, to the churches
of Achaia the Macedonian brethren who had been chosen by
the churches in that country to accompany him to Jerusalem
with their donation for the poor saints.5 This practice has
its origin in the very nature of the case, and is well fitted to
express and promote that union which should pervade the whole
Church of Christ. The practice is founded on a. principle which
has been much lost sight of, namely, that he who is a proper
member of any church, may be admitted to the communion of
every church ; and he who may not be admitted to the commu
nion of every church, ought not to be a member of any church.
Of the good woman whose certificate lies before us, we know
little but what it tells us. The name would seem to indicate
that she was a converted heathen, not a Jewess — Phoebe
being one of the names of the goddess Diana. She is described
by the apostle as " our sister." The relations which subsist
' Ver. 1, 2.
2 iino-ToXal o-vnTXTixai, as the apostle terms them, 2 Cor. iii. 1 .
s Acts xviii. 27. « 3 John 3, 9, 10. » 2 Cor. viii. 18-24.

SECT. IV.J CERTIFICATE TO BEARER OF EPISTLE. 585
among Christians— from their belief of the same truth, their
trust in the same Saviour, their submission to the same Lord
— are commonly expressed by the names of the most intimate
natural relations. God is their Father, Christ their Elder
Brother. Being " children of God through Christ Jesus,"
all Christian men are brethren, and all Christian women are
sisters. Nor are these mere names : as they indicate a real
relation, they imply corresponding responsibilities and duties.
But Phebe was not only a Christian, she was an official
Christian ; she was not only a member, she was an office
bearer in the Christian Church. She was " a servant," or
deaconess, " of the church at Cenchrese." Corinth stood on
an isthmus, and had two harbours — one looking toward Italy,
called Lechffium ; the other looking toward Asia, called Cen-
chrese. In the town built at this port there was a Christian
church, of which Phebe was a deaconess. We know that
in the primitive Church there were no female preachers. The
words of the apostle are express — " I suffer not a woman to
speak in the church;"1 but it seems clear that there were
female office-bearers, corresponding to the elders and deacons.
The female elders appear to have had the charge of the over
sight of the moral behaviour of the female disciples ; and their
characters and qualifications seem described under the name
of the " widows indeed," in 1 Tim. v. 9, 10. The female
deacons officiated at the baptism of females, and had the
charge of the poor and afflicted female disciples. Of these, I
apprehend, the apostle speaks, 1 Tim. iii. 8, where the word
translated " wives" should have been rendered " women-dea
cons" — deaconesses. These female office-bearers continued
for a considerable time in the Christian Church. We find
them mentioned in the earliest uninspired Christian writings ;
and in the letter of Pliny to the Emperor Trajan, acquainting
him with the manner in which he dealt with the Christians,
he says, " I thought it necessary to seek the truth by apply
ing the torture to two females, who were called ministers or
1 1 Tim. ii. 12.

586 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
deaconesses." From the peculiar state of society in the East,
where anything like familiarity between the two sexes, unless
intimately related, was considered disgraceful, some institution
of this kind was necessary in the Christian Church, for super
intending the morals and relieving the wants of the female
disciples.1 Whether Christian churches in the West, where the same
necessity did not exist, acted wisely or warrantably in allow
ing the institution to go into desuetude, and whether important
ends might not be served by its revival, are questions which
I do not feel myself called on here to consider. It seems
very obvious, however, that Christian females, whether for
mally invested with office or not — with or without the name
of deaconesses — might, when called on by their pastors and
elders, without at all going out of their own appropriate
sphere, "help" them — aye, help them much, in the Lord.
This Christian deaconess is recommended to the Roman
Christians for admission to fellowship with them in church
privileges, while resident in their city, and their assistance
asked for her in the management of the business which had
brought her to Rome. " I commend to you Phebe — that ye
receive her in the Lord" — as "in the Lord"2 — as a Christian
— "as becometh saints;" that is, 'as it becomes saints to receive
a saint' — as it becomes those who are " not of the world, but
chosen out of the world" — separated from the world, to receive
one of the same distinctive character — with much affectionate
esteem, and respectful kindness — with a disposition to pro
mote her spiritual improvement — in a way worthy of her
Christian excellence, and of your Christian hospitality.
But, beside free admission to all the privileges of church
fellowship, the apostle requested for Phebe assistance in the
management of her secular business : " And that ye assist her
in whatsoever business she hath need of you."3
What that business was we know not. It is to no purpose
1 See Suicer, Bingham, Coleman.
' 1 Cor. xii. 27 ; Rom. xii. 5; 1 Cor. x. 17 ; Eph. i. 22, 23 ; iv. 12 ;
v. 30 ; Col. i. 24. ¦" Ver. 2.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS FROM THE APOSTLE. 587
for one interpreter to say, that Phebe came to Rome to seek
the payment of debts due to her ; or another, to complain of
undue exactions on the part of under- officers of government ;
or another, to manage a law-suit. It may have been any or
none of these. What is of more importance to remark is, that
this passage teaches us that, though the connection between
Christians be of a spiritual kind, it should influence their con
duct generally, and lead them, on the ground of their being
Christians, to endeavour to promote one another's secular
interests. The apostle enforces his recommendation of Phebe, by stating
the services she had done himself and other Christians : " For
she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also." The
word "succourer"1 properly signifies 'patroness' — a person
who, in the Grecian States, undertook the care of a stranger,
and became responsible for his behaviour to the civil authori
ties. This, and no doubt other good offices, had been performed
to Paul and many other Christians by Phebe, who appears to
have been a person of considerable property and rank — one of
the " not many noble that were called" — or at any rate, one
of "the honourable women" spoken of in the Acts of the
Apostles.2

SECTION V.
SALUTATIONS FROM THE APOSTLE TO CHRISTIANS AT ROME.
Chapter xvi. 3-16. — " Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in
Christ Jesus ; (who have for my life laid down their own necks : unto
whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.)
Likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved
Epenetus, who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ. Greet Mary, who
bestowed much labour on us. Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen,
and my fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also
were in Christ before me. Greet Amplias, my beloved in the Lord.
Salute Urbane, our helper in Christ, and Stachys my beloved. Salute
2 1 Cor. i. 26; Acts xvii 12

588 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
Apelles, approved in Christ. Salute them which are of Aristobulus*
household. Salute Herodion my kinsman. Greet them that be of the
household of Narcissus, which are in the Lord. Salute Tryphena and
Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord. Salute the beloved Persis, which
laboured much in the Lord. Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his
mother and mine. Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas,
Hermes, and the brethren which are with them. Salute Philologus, and
Julia, Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints which are
with them. Salute one another with an holy kiss. The churches of
Christ salute you."
It may serve a good purpose to make a few remarks, in
addition to those already casually thrown out, tending to
explain the reason why such a catalogue of obscure names as
lies before us should find a place in what was intended to
be a universal and permanent revelation of the Divine will as
to faith and manners. It is obvious to remark, that if the
mentioning by name such members of the Roman church as
the apostle personally knew, was fitted to answer a good end
to that church, for whose advantage the Epistle was primarily
intended, that was a sufficient reason why it should be done,
though no advantage were to be derived from it in other
countries or following ages. Now, such a series of kind re
membrances was plainly fitted to knit more closely the bands
of Christian love between the apostle and the persons noticed,
between him and the church to which they belonged, and
even between him and those members of that church that
were yet personally unacquainted with him. To the person
noticed it must have been a source of gratification, and a
stimulus to improvement ; while, by elevating them in the
estimation of their brethren, it enlarged their sphere of useful
influence. It must have been felt by all as a compliment to
the church, and have called forth kindly feelings from all
toward the apostle.
But, such a passage as that now before us is useful for all
time— in all places. It strongly corroborates the evidence of
the genuineness of the Epistle. It could not have occurred
to a forger to have introduced such a train of salutations,
especially as the Epistle proceeds on the supposition that the

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS FROM THE APOSTLE. 589
apostle had never been at Rome. It serves also another very
important purpose, in presenting a very lovely picture of
living Christianity, both in the writer of the Epistle and in
those to whom he sends his greetings. We see how well the
principles of that religion harmonize with, and draw forth all
that is amiable and tender in the human constitution — how
consistent a deep knowledge of Christianity, and ardent zeal
for its progress, are with the dignified proprieties of an ad
vanced state of civilisation, and the gentle charities and
graceful delicacies of the most refined friendship. He who
considers these things,, will find no difficulty in coming to the
conclusion that this paragraph is not an exception from, but
a striking illustration of, the principle that " all Scripture is
profitable." This also seems the right place to say a word or two on a
question which naturally suggests itself to an intelligent reader
of the Epistle. How came Paul to mention by name so many
members of the church of Rome, when he had never been in
that city ; and how came he to be so intimate with them, as
his language indicates he was ? Some suppose that Aquila
and Priscilla, who had lately come from Italy, with whom he
lived and laboured so long in Corinth,1 had given much par
ticular information respecting the members of the Roman
church. This is very likely ; but it will but imperfectly ex
plain the fact in question. The true account of it seems to
be this : — Rome was at that time the metropolis of the known
world. There was a constant influx of persons, from all
quarters of the empire, to that city. Paul had now, for nearly
thirty years, been engaged in propagating Christianity in
various parts of the dominions of the imperial power ; and it
is not at all wonderful that many of his acquaintances and
converts should have taken up their residence in the capital.
A man who, for thirty years, had travelled and mixed with
society throughout the counties and leading cities and towns
of England and Scotland, on visiting London for the first
1 Acts xviii. 2,3,11.

590 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
time after that period, would be likely to find himself in the
midst of friends. Besides the ordinary reasons which make
men leave the provinces for the metropolis, a peculiar cause
was in operation in drawing Christians to Rome. Till the
imperial power became persecuting, which was not for some
time after the writing of this Epistle, Christians seem to have
been safer at Rome than anywhere else.
The apostle places first, in the class of those to whom he
wished his kind Christian greetings conveyed, a worthy pair,
well entitled to such a mark of his peculiar regard. " Greet
Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have
for my life laid down their own necks, to whom not only I
give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." x The
word rendered " greet " is the same that in the other parts of
the paragraph is translated " salute." Its literal and proper
signification is ' embrace.' It is here equivalent to, ' Express
my peculiar affection and regard to them.' Aquila was a Jew
by descent, and a Pontian by nation. In the prosecution of
his business as a tent-maker, or worker in leather, he had
gone to Rome ; but on the edict of the Emperor Claudius,
banishing all Jews from the metropolis, in consequence of an
insurrection raised by some of that nation, he and his wife
Prisca, or Priscilla, removed to Corinth.2 In this city Paul
first met with them, and " because they were of the same
craft " (for according to the Jewish custom, Paul, though de
voted to letters, had acquired a mechanical art by which he
could support himself), he took up his residence with them,
and seems to have dwelt in the same house, and worked at the
same occupation with them, for eighteen months. Whether
Aquila and his wife were Christians before meeting with the
apostle, or whether they were among " the much people in
that city," with the prospect of converting whom, the Lord en
couraged Paul in a vision,3 we cannot say with certainty,
though we lean to the former opinion. After remaining a
1 Ver. 3, 4 2 Acts xviii. 1-4. s Acts xviii. 10.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS FROM THE APOSTLE. 591
year and a half in Corinth, Paul went to Ephesus, and his
worthy host and hostess accompanied him. It was there that
they had the great honour and happiness of instructing the
eloquent ApoUos "in the way of the Lord more perfectly;"1
and it seems likely that they there fixed their abode. They
were there when Paul wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians,
and they were there, too, many years later, when he wrote
his second Epistle to Timothy.2 In the meantime, however,
it would seem that, on the edict of Claudius being repealed,
or falling into desuetude, they had returned to Rome and re
sided there for some time, and that the apostle had been
informed of this when he wrote this epistle at Corinth.
These excellent persons Paul terms "his helpers in Christ,"
that is, his Christian helpers — his assistants in every way in
which Christians, and only Christians, can assist each other,
in the way in which Christians in private life can and ought to
assist the ministers of Christ.
But they not only laboured along with the apostle, — they
exposed themselves to great danger in order to secure his
safety. That is the meaning of the expression, "Who for my
life laid down their own necks." The event or events referred
to must have taken place at Corinth or at Ephesus. In both
places, it is likely Aquila and Priscilla were exposed to great
danger — it is certain Paul was.3 The kindness of Aquila and
Priscilla had made a deep impression on Paul's heart. Years
had elapsed since this occurrence, but his gratitude is as fresh
and lively as if it had happened yesterday. " To whom not
only I give thanks, but all the churches of the Gentiles." In
protecting Paul, Aquila and Priscilla did a great public ser
vice. The life of an able, active, devoted minister of Christ
Jesus, is the most valuable of all public property, and whoever
protects it, when in hazard, deserves public thanks.
The apostle adds, " Likewise salute the church that is in
their house."4 The most learned interpreters are divided in
1 Acts xviii. 24-28. 2 1 Cor. xvi. 19 ; 2 Tim. iv. 19.
» Acts xviii. 12-17 ; xix. 30-35. 4 Ver. 5.

592 CONCLDDING. [PART IV.
their opinion respecting the meaning and reference of this
phrase. Some have supposed that it intimates that all the
members of the family of Aquila and Priscilla were Christians
— ' the church in their family.' This interpretation is made
somewhat probable from the circumstance of the same phrase
being used of this worthy pair when at Ephesus,1 and from its
being followed by some of the more judicious of the Greek
fathers. At the same time, it appears to me more probable
that the phrase expresses the fact, that small bands of Chris
tians met in private houses to observe Christian ordinances,
since in the primitive times it was not everywhere they durst
assemble in numbers ; and if this were, as is probable, the case
in Rome at this time, who so likely to open their house for
such a purpose as Aquila and Priscilla ? There is confirma
tion given to this view, and a pleasing light shed over the ex
pression, by a passage which Neander quotes from Ruinart's
" Acta Martyr." Art. Justin : " The Roman prefect Rusticus
asked of Justin, 'Where do you Christians assemble?' The
martyr replied, 'Where each one can and will. You believe,
no doubt, that we all meet together in one place ; but it is not
so, for the God of the Christians is not shut up in a room, but,
being invisible, He fills both heaven and earth, and is hon
oured everywhere by the faithful.'" Justin adds, that when he
came to Rome, he "was accustomed to dwell in one particular
spot, and those Christians that were instructed by him, and
wished to hear his discourse, assembled at his house." — " He
had not visited any other congregations of the Church." The
assembly referred to would naturally be called, ' the church
which is in Justin's house.' 2
" Salute my well-beloved Epenetus, who is the first-fruits
of Achaia to Christ." 3 To be the " first-fruits " of a country
" to Christ," is to be the first person or persons in that country
converted to Christianity. The statement that " Epenetus
was the first-fruits of Achaia" may seem inconsistent with
that made 1 Cor. xvi. 15, where " Stephanas' house," or
1 1 Cor. xvi. 19. 2 ii xaT olxov tov 'Iovsti'vov ix,xXnaia. s Ver. 5.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS. 593
family, receives the same appellation. Some MSS. read Asia
instead of Achaia; but, though the latter were undoubtedly
the true reading, yet Epenetus may, for ought we know, have
been of this honoured household; and though he were not, both
he and they might have been among the early converts to whom
the figurative expression, " the first-fruits," refer. As the com
mencement of an abundant harvest, Epenetus' conversion
must have been recollected by the apostle with peculiar plea
sure, and no wonder he calls him " beloved." Few ties are
so tender as those which bind the human instrument of con
version to him whose soul he has saved from death, and whose
multitude of sins he has covered.
" Salute Mary, wdio has bestowed much labour on us." 1
This seems to have been a woman, like Lydia of Thyatira,
" whose heart the Lord had opened." She had had it in her
power to do good offices to the apostle and his companions,
and good offices which cost her much labour. Of her it may
be said, as of another Mary, " Wheresoever this Gospel shall
be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this
woman has done be told for a memorial of her." 2 Was not
Mary richly rewarded for all her " much labour ? "
" Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my
fellow-prisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also
were in Christ before me." 3 Junias, or Junia, may be the
name either of a man or of a woman. From the circumstance
of fellowship in imprisonment, and notoriety among the
apostles, being predicated of both Andronicus and Junia, it
seems likely that they were both distinguished Christian
teachers. They were the apostle's "kinsmen," possibly in the
sense of his relatives — more likely in the sense of his country
men, "his kinsmen according to the flesh." These men were
triply dear to the apostle— in the flesh, in the Lord, and in
the fellowship of suffering for Christ. They were also "of
note among the apostles." Not that they were apostles, as
some interpreters strangely hold, but that they were highly es-
i Ver 6 s Matt. xxvi. 13. 3 Ver. 7.
2 p

594 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
teemed among the apostles. It is a probable conjecture, though
nothing more, that they may have been among the devout
persons from Rome who were present at Jerusalem when the
Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Ghost took place,1 who wit
nessed the wonders of that scene, and were converted, among
so many more, by the preaching of Peter ; and that by their
means the knowledge of Christianity was first brought to
Rome. In this case, we see the wisdom of Paul in noticing
these circumstances, in order to confirm and strengthen the
regard of the Roman Church to these teachers. Those re
spected by the apostles should surely be revered by the
brethren. He adds, " Who were also in Christ before me."
This remark gives additional probability to the conjecture just
referred to. How ready is Paul to acknowledge any kind of
precedency ! He seems to have had a strong habitual wish
to fix both his own attention and that of others on the circum
stances of his conversion. And no wonder. He could not
think of it without finding in it an exhaustless source of
powerful motive to humility, gratitude, and activity ; they
could not think of it without seeing in it a striking proof of
the truth of their religion, and of the power and grace of their
Saviour. ' When they were " in Christ," I was exceedingly
mad against Him, and breathing out slaughter and threaten-
ings against His followers.'
" Salute Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Salute Urban,
our helper in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved." 2 Of " Am
plias and Stachys," nothing more is known than that they
were " beloved in the Lord " by the apostle ; they were the
objects of his high Christian esteem and love. There is a day
coming when it will be seen that to have been the friend of
a Christian apostle was really a higher honour than to be the
favourite of a Roman emperor, and when the eulogiums of
historians and poets, procured by a lavish expenditure of
labour and suffering, would be gladly exchanged for the simple
record that Paul loved them because they loved Christ.
1 Acts ii. 10. * Ver. 8 9.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS. 595
"Urban" is described as Paul's "helper in Christ "—his
assistant in his great work of Christianizing the Gentile
world. He probably was an evangelist, then resident at
Rome. The most accomplished Christian ministers need
helpers in their work. Paul was the better of Urban, and
men like Urban ; and the most accomplished minister should,
like Paul, be ready to accept and acknowledge the services of
the humblest of his helpers.
" Salute Apelles, approved in the Lord. Salute them that
are of Aristobulus' household."1 "Apelles" is described as
" approved in the Lord " — that is, a tried Christian ; one who
has been tried, and who has stood the trial. " Tribulation,"
says the apostle,2 " worketh patience " — that is, persever
ance, and this perseverance " worketh experience " — that is,
trial ; it proves the individual; it is the test of the reality and
strength of his faith ; and if he abides the test, he is an approved
Christian. Many-^alas ! how many — do not stand the test,
and prove themselves "reprobates," — unapproved either of God
or man. Tried Christians deserve to be honoured.
It deserves notice that the apostle does not send his Christian
remembrances to the next person named — " Aristobulus,"
but to his household. Perhaps he was dead ; perhaps he was
not a Christian. A Christian man may not have a Christian
household. The elders must have " faithful' children," else
they should not be chosen to their office ; 3 but a member of
the Christian Church may have nothing but unbelieving
children, and a family may be all Christians with the excep
tion of its head. It is not improbable that Aristobulus might
be a Greek of rank residing at Rome, some of whose household,
children, or slaves, may have been converted by Paul. It is
a happy thing when the whole of a family is Christian, not in
name merely, but in deed and in truth ; when, as- in the case
of Lydia and of the gaoler of Philippi, " salvation comes" not
only to the heads of the family, but "to all their house."4 It
is not always so ; and when it is not so, Christians in un-
1 Ver. 10. "¦ Chap. v. 3, 4. 3 Tit. i. 6. * Acts xvi 15, 31, 34.

596 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
christian families have a peculiar claim on the kind notice
of Christian ministers.
" Salute Herodion, my kinsman. Greet them that be of
Narcissus' household, who are in the Lord." x Herodion is a
name derived from Herod, and probably indicates that the
person referred to was somehow or other connected with the
Herod family. We know that a man very closely connected
with that family, being Herod the tetrarch's foster-brother,
Manaen, stood in very peculiar relations to the apostle, being
one of the prophets and teachers at Antioch, who, by the ap
pointment of the Holy Ghost, separated Saul and Barnabas
to the work to which they were called among the Gentiles.2
It is very likely that Manaen had the surname of Herodion ;
but, had he been the person referred to, we cannot think
that the apostle would have passed him over with so slight a
notice. As in the case of Aristobulus, the salutation is not sent to
Narcissus, but to those of his household, and apparently not to
all his household, but to that part of it only which was composed
of Christians. The meaning, though not very distinctly given
in our version, probably is, ' Offer my Christian remembrances
to such of the household of Narcissus as are Christians.' It
is not at all impossible that the Narcissus here mentioned was
the favourite freedman of the Emperor Claudius, of whom
Suetonius speaks in his lives of the Csesars — a very rich, but
a very wicked man. Very good men may be domestics in the
families of very bad men. Obadiah, who " feared the Lord
from his youth," and " feared Him greatly," was the steward
of Ahab, one of the worst of the Israelitish kings.3 A vener
able countryman of our own occupied a confidential place in
the household of one of the most dissolute of our princes, and
might, sixty or seventy years ago, be found at midnight, and
after it, in his little chamber, reading Marshall on Sanctifica
tion, or Boston's Crook in the Lot, while waiting the return
of his master and his companions from their midnight revels.
1 Ver. 11. 2 Acts xiii. 1. 3 1 Kings xviii. 3, 12.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS. 597
Christians do not act like themselves when they place them
selves in ungodly families ; but, as in the cases referred to,
they may be obviously placed there by Providence, and when
they are so, they have peculiar opportunities for " adorning
the doctrine of God our Saviour," and " holding forth the
word of life," and are specially entitled to kind notice from
their minister.
" Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the Lord.
Salute the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the Lord." l
" Tryphena and Tryphosa " are the names of two Christian
women who had sustained evil and suffering (for such is the
import of the word " labour " 2) in the cause of Christ. Per
sons to whom it has been " given not only to believe in the
Lord Jesus, but also to suffer for His sake,"3 deserve in no
ordinary degree the esteem and love of their fellow-Christians.
We are to give "honour to whom honour is due;" and it is
honour " to be counted worthy to suffer " shame, or loss, or
death " for His sake;"4 and we are to give it in the degree in
which it is due. Paul bestows a mark of respect on Tryphena
and Tryphosa, who laboured in the Lord ; but he bestows a
higher token of esteem on Persis, a Christian woman who had
" laboured much in the Lord." From the name, it seems
likely that Persis either was a slave or had been in servitude,
and was of Persian origin. At a very early period, the primi
tive Church began to resemble the Celestial Church as a
" great multitude," out of almost " every country, and people,
and tongue, and nation."6 This Christian woman seems to
have been very amiable and much loved. There are some
Christians distinguished by the loveliness of their character;
and such persons, whatever station they fill, are a credit to
their religion, and a delight to their Christian connections.
This " Persis, the beloved," had laboured much in the Chris
tian cause. Female disciples have often been the most active
promoters of the Christian cause, and the most patient suf-
1 Ver. 12. 2 xo7riaaas- 3 Phil. i. 29.
* Acts v. 41. 6 Rev. vii. 9.

598 CONCLUDING. [FART IV.
ferers on its account ; and, however humble their rank, such
are " to be held in reputation."
" Salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and
mine."1 Rufus, here mentioned, may perhaps be the same
person who is spoken of in Mark xv. 21 as the brother of
Alexander, and the son of Simon, the Cyrenian, who had
the high, though painful, honour of assisting his Lord to
bear the cross to Calvary. He is described as "chosen in the
Lord," — a choice Christian. They seem to have been an ex
cellent family. The influence of the father's singular connec
tion with the Saviour affected his household. His wife is
mentioned in a way which shows how strong a hold she had
on the Christian affection of the apostle. On mentioning her
name, and her relation to the worthy Rufus — "his mother," the
kind offices he himself had received from the good woman
presented themselves so vividly to his mind, that in the ardour
of affection, with a beautiful mixture of delicacy and tender
ness, he adds, " and mine " — ' My mother by kindness, as
well as Rufus' mother by natural relation.' Nothing can be
finer than this, except, what far transcends it, the voice
from the cross, " Woman, behold thy Son ! " — " Behold thy
mother!"2 " Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes,
and the brethren that are with them. Salute Philologus, and
Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints
that are with them." 3 Of Asyncritus, Phlegon, Patrobas, and
Hermes, we know nothing. Eusebius states, though it is
difficult to reconcile the statement with chronology, that the
Hermas here mentioned is the author of the small work called
The Shepherd, still extant, — one of the earliest of uninspired
Christian writings. From his work, he appears to have been
a pious, but a very weak man. It is in no ordinary de
gree edifying to see so gigantic a mind as Paul's noticing
kindly so feeble a spirit as Hermas. " The saints that are
with them," seems equivalent in meaning to "the church
! Ver. 13. 2 John xix. 25-27. s Ver. 14, 15.

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS. 599
which is in their house." In the list of names in the 15th
verse, there is nothing that seems to require to be noticed.
It deserves to be remarked, that a very considerable num
ber of the persons here named are females, and that they are
represented as having been very active and useful in promot
ing the cause of Christ.. The female sex owe very much to
the Gospel, and in its early age they seem to have been sen
sibly alive to their obligations. They have of necessity
powerful and extensive influence in society, and it is right
that it should be exerted in behalf of Christ and of Christi
anity. To do this in the most effectual way, it is by no means
necessary that they should go out of the sphere within which
it is plainly the will of God they should ordinarily move — the
domestic one. Indeed, generally speaking, it is only in their
appropriate sphere that their exertions are likely to do much
good. In the cases in which they have left it, however pure
their intentions may have been, the result of the experiment
has not usually been such as to make it desirable that
it should be repeated, or that the practice should become
general. The apostle concludes his salutations by exhorting the Chris
tians at Rome to "salute one another with a holy kiss,"1 and
by assuring them that the churches, in the district where he
then was, cherished towards them all Christian regard. " The
churches of Christ salute you." These words may be con
sidered, generally, as an exhortation to mutual love, and to all
proper manifestations of it ; and it is in this general sense
that they are undoubtedly applicable to all Christian churches,
in all countries and in all ages. But there is no reason to
doubt that the apostle meant that the Roman Christians
should comply with the injunction, in the plain, literal accep
tations of the terms.
Salutation by kissing was the ordinary way of expressing
friendly affection in these countries, just as shaking hands is
in ours ; and the command is not more strange than if the
1 Ver. 16.

600 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
apostle, addressing himself to a Christian church in our
country and times, were to say, ' Give each other the right
hand of fellowship ; let there be a cordial shaking of hands.'
We find similar exhortations given to other churches : 1
Thess. v. 26 ; 1 Cor. xvi. 20 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 Pet. v. 14.
That the apostle meant that the Roman Church, at all their
meetings for public worship, should thus express their mutual
affection, is by no means improbable. That he meant to make
this an ordinance for all succeeding time in the Church
catholic, though it has sometimes been asserted, cannot be
proved, and does not appear to me to be at all probable. But
that the practice prevailed extensively, if not universally,
in the earlier ages, seems certain. "After the prayers," says
Justin Martyr, giving an account in his Apology1 of the cus
toms of the Christians, — " After the prayers, we embrace each
other with a kiss." Tertullian 2 speaks of it as a piece of the
ordinary service of the Lord's day ; and in the Apostolical
Constitutions, as they are termed, the manner in which the
salutation was performed is particularly described : " Then let
the men apart, and the women apart, salute each other with
a kiss in the Lord."3 Origen's note on the verse is, "From
this passage the custom was delivered to the churches, that,
after prayers, the brethren should salute one another with a
kiss." This token of love was usual at the administration of
the Lord's Supper. Suicer, Bingham, and Coleman may be
consulted for further information. It was probably on this
custom that the calumnies of the heathen, respecting the
licentious practices of the first Christians at their meetings
for worship, were founded ; and it is not unlikely that, to take
away all occasion for such slanderous imputations, the prac
tice, though in itself innocent and becoming, having, through
the misconstruction of the heathen, become not for the use of
edifying, was discontinued.
Some small sections of the Christian Church still follow the
original custom, and even insist on it as a term of communion.
1 xi. 85. 2 De Orat., c. 14. 3 H 57. y;;i. 7

SECT. V.J SALUTATIONS. 601
There is nothing wrong in the first of these practices : there
is something very decidedly wrong in the second. Surely
this is not one of the things about which the peace of the
Church is to be disturbed, or her union broken. They who
observe this custom should not condemn those who observe it
not, and they who do not observe it should not despise those
who do observe it.1 In both cases, if they are conscientious,
they will be accepted of the Lord. The essential matter is
the cultivation of mutual love. The mode of expressing it
is a matter of something less than even secondary import
ance, unless it can be proved, and I think it cannot, to have
been fixed by apostolical authority for the Church catholic in
all ages. The custom is in itself, as Stuart says, a ' res
loci et temporis ' — a thing of time and place, like the wearing
or the not wearing of long hair at Corinth. Wilson, in his
curious Dialogue Commentary, says, in his quaint way, " The
kiss is called holy, to distinguish it from the wanton, and the
adulatory, and the proditory, and the dissimulatory kiss."
" The churches of Christ salute you." ' The churches in
this district cherish for you a kind regard; and, knowing that I
am writing to you, request me to express their affectionate
wishes for your welfare.' Distant churches should maintain,
so far as it is possible, intercourse with each other. They are
all members of the same body — children of the same family.
The unchristian introduction of separate communions has in
a great measure broken up this intercourse, by destroying the
feelings in which it naturally originates. An Episcopalian
Christian, in England, is in danger of feeling as if he had as
little connection with a Presbyterian, or Congregational
Church, in Scotland, as with a set of Mohammedans or
Pagans. How amiable and how powerful a thing is true Christianity
when it is allowed to develop itself! How does it mollify and
enlarge the heart ! How happy would mankind be if they
were all Christians ! They would be a band of brothers.
1 Chap. xiv. 3.

602 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
And how good a thing it would be, and how becoming well,
for such a band of brothers to dwell together in unity ! How
happy would the Church be if all her members were such as
those whose names are here chronicled, and especially if all
her ministers were men of the same enlarged minds, and
generous spirits, and affectionate hearts, as the apostle Paul !
The residue of the Spirit of light and love, of purity and
peace, is with the Lord. May He shed it forth abundantly
on a divided Church, and make His people to appear to
each other and to the world — one body, animated by one
spirit. \
1 The signs of the time, in this respect, are decidedly favourable.
There are working, widely and powerfully, throughout Christian churcnes
of almost every name, the yearnings of that brotherly affection towards
all who know the truth and love the Saviour, of which every new creature
becomes the subject. The tendency of the God-inspired, elective affinities
of genuine Christianity to rise superior to the separating power of arti
ficial, men-made divisions, both of mind and heart, is daily becoming
stronger. These interior movements of the Christian body are obtaining
a voice ; and, we believe, that voice will become, notwithstanding every
attempt to suppress it, more distinct, more loud, more extended. A
movement towards union among Christians, based on the faith of the
truth, cemented by the love of the Saviour, is sure, sooner or later,
to be triumphant. The prayer will be answered, " That they all may
be one in the Father and the Son, that the world may know that
the Son has indeed been sent of the Father." — John xvii. 21. "Him
the Father heareth always." He keepeth covenant for ever — His word
cannot fail. " I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee ; I will
surely gather the remnant of Israel. . . . The breaker is come
up before them : they have broken up, and passed through the gate, and
are gone out by it ; and their King shall pass before them, and the Lord
on the head of them." — Micah ii. 12, 13. "Thou shalt arise, and have
mercy upon Zion : for the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come.
For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.
So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the
earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in
His glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise
their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come : and the
people which shall be created shall praise the Lord."— Psa. cii. 13-18.
Instead of being exceedingly grieved, or grieved at all, when we see men

SECT. VI .J CAUTIONS. 603
SECTION VI.
CAUTIONS AGAINST DISSENSION AND DIVISION.
Chapter xvi. 17-20. — " Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them
which cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have
learned ; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord
Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; and by good words and fair speeches
deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad
unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have
you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the
God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen."
In the Roman Church, difference of opinion respecting
" meats and days" was producing uneasiness, and threatening
come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel (Neh. ii. 10), it becomes
us cordially to rejoice and say, " Blessed are the peacemakers ; for they
shall be called the children of God." — Matt. v. 9. Let us cast in our lot
with them. Let us " love the truth and the peace.'' — Zech. viii. 19. Let
us " seek the things that make for peace, and by which we may edify one
another.'' Let us pray that wide-minded, large-hearted lovers equally of
truth and peace — like the apostle Paul, who would not have hesitated to
call an angel from heaven anathema if he had preached another gospel,
and who would not eat flesh while the world stood if it made a brother
offend — may, by the Great Head of the Church, be raised up to impel and
guide the every-day increasing mass of intellect and affection disposed to
Christian union on scriptural principles. " May the Spirit be poured upon
us from on high;" and may He direct the way of His people, seeking
peace in righteousness. Then " the work of righteousness shall be peace ;
and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. And
God's people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings,
and in quiet resting-places, when it shall hail, coming down on the forest ;
and the city," that great city, " shall be low in a low place." Meanwhile,
" Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters, that send forth thither the
feet of the ox and the ass."— Isa. xxxii. 15-20. " Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions'
sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of
the Lord our God I will seek thy good."— Psa. cxxii. 6-9.

604 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
to create and aggravate an alienation of affection, which natu
rally tended towards ecclesiastical disruption. To prevent
this, is the object which the apostle prosecutes so earnestly in
the fourteenth and fifteenth chapters — forming the last section
of the Practical part of the Epistle. But the subject lay very
near his heart. He was so much impressed with the disas
trous consequences which must result from these heart-burn
ings, jealousies, contempts, and condemnations running their
course, that, in the conclusion, he reverts to it, and in the
most affectionate manner warns them against those who, for
their own selfish purposes, busily employed themselves in
sowing the seeds of dissension among the churches.
" Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause
divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have
learned ; and avoid them." x The word translated " divi
sions,"2 properly signifies 'factions' — parties opposed to each
other in the same society ; and the word rendered " offences," 3
literally signifies ' stumblingblocks' — occasions of falling,
referring to the effect which the practices the apostle refers
to were likely to have both on those within and those without
the pale of the Church. Those " who cause divisions and
offences," are not those who, being fully persuaded in their
own mind, make no secret of their views of any subject con
nected with the faith, and who endeavour, in the spirit of
meekness, to support their own views by fair argument. Free
discussion of this kind, among the members of the Church, is
one of the best means of producing union, and preventing
division ; and, instead of proving a stumblingblock to the
world, is fitted to remove its prejudices against Christianity,
as a system which fetters men's minds, and seals their mouths.
But those cause " divisions and offences" who, entertaining,
however conscientiously, particular views on subjects of
secondary importance, are not satisfied with stating and de
fending them, but elevate them into matters of primary con
sequence, wish to press them on their fellow-Christians as
Ver. 17- 2 nixotrTxaixs- 3 axavhtha.

SECT. VI.J CAUTIONS. 605
terms of communion, and, if they cannot succeed, use their
influence to create factions in the Church, or to form a dis
tinct communion. Such was the conduct of the Judaizers,
to whom the apostle seems here to have a reference.1
These " divisions and offences" are said to be " contrary to
the doctrine" which the Roman Church had learned. The
doctrine they had learned was the pure religion of Jesus
Christ, the tendency of which, in its doctrines, institutions,
precepts, and spirit, is to bind those who believe it in the
bands of a close and permanent friendship, and, in this way,
to hold out an encouragement to mankind at large to join a
society which affords " rest from the broils and agitations of
secular life" — a peaceful haven, inviting us to retire from the
tossings and perils of this unquiet ocean to a sacred inclosure,
a sequestered spot, which the storms and tempests of the
world are not permitted to invade.
" Intus aquse dulces, vivoque sedilia saxo :
Nympharum domus. Hie fessas non vincula naves
Ulla tenent; unco non adligat anchora morsu." — Virg.2
The apostle calls upon the Romans to " mark those who
cause divisions and offences." Persons of this description
often for a season carry on their plans secretly, without being
observed. The mischief is done before danger is apprehended.
It is of importance that such persons should be marked as
soon as their character begins to develop itself, that proper
methods may be employed to counteract their efforts and
defeat their purposes. It is good to " withdraw from them"
— to avoid " the foolish and unlearned questions" they delight
in agitating — to " shun their vain babbling." Chrysostom
remarks, that the apostle does not advise the Roman Christians
to enter into debate with these men, but to mark them, that
they may avoid them, and have nothing to do with them.
1 The reader will be instructed and delighted with a dissertation on the
Judaizers in Stanley's "Discourses on the Apostolic Age."
8 Rob. Hall, " Terms of Communion."

606 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
Their end is in some measure gained, if they can get others
to dispute with them.
The earnestness of the apostle, in this exhortation, deserves
notice — " I beseech you, brethren." Such " divisions and
scandals," when they prevail, eat out the very life of religion
in individuals and churches. His earnestness was increased
by his conviction of the unworthy ends which the individuals
he had in view were prosecuting : " For they that are such
serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly ; and
by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the
simple."1 The words, " they serve not our Lord Jesus,"
refer not so much to the event as to the motive of the conduct
of these men. It is clear " divisions and scandals" cannot
promote the cause of Christ. They may be overruled for
good ; but their tendency is unmingled mischief, and their
consequence usually serious injury. But, what the apostle
points at is this : These men have it not for their object to
serve the Lord Jesus : it is not His glory that they are seek
ing to promote ; it is not His Gospel they are endeavouring
to propagate. Their designs are of another kind : " they
serve their own belly." ' They seek their own ease and ad
vantage ; they wish to avoid the offence of the cross ; and, by
becoming the heads of a party, to secure for themselves ample
support.' The Judaizing teachers seem to have been men of
this unprincipled character.
The insidious methods which these men adopted to gain
their ends, are urged on the attention of the Roman Chris
tians as another reason why they should " mark" them. " By
good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts" — the
minds — " of the simple." The " simple" — literally, the ' in
nocent'3 — describes that class of men who are more distin
guished by honesty of intention than by power of intellect or
extended accurate knowledge. These are the natural prey
of such designing men as the apostle describes. Meaning no
harm themselves, they are backward to suspect others of de-
V er. 18. - aixxxuv.

SECT- VI.] CAUTIONS. 607
signing mischief; and, from the loose texture of their minds,
and the slenderness of their information, they are easily im
posed on.
The bait by which these men, like " fishes, are caught in an
evil net"— the lure by which, as " buds, they are caught in
the snare,"1 is " good words"— " fair speeches." These are
applied in two ways : first, they use " good words and fair
speeches" respecting their own dogmas and plans, endeavour
ing to identify them with the " mind of God" and the " law
of Christ ;" and then they spare no " good words and fair
speeches" in flattering those whom they hope to make their
dupes. Andrew Melvill refers the " good, kind words" to
blandishment ; the " fair, plausible speeches" to affected
piety. Flatterers and pretenders to singular sanctity are
always to be suspected. It is a good advice given in the old
distich — " Noli homines blandos nimium sermone, probare,
Fistula dulce canet, volucrem dum decipit auceps." 2
It is necessary to remark here, that we are by no means
warranted to apply the language, which the apostle here uses
in reference to Judaizers, to all who cause divisions and
offences in the Church. The present unnatural state of the
Church has so confounded men's minds, that not unfrequently
in this class are to be found men of most conscientious views,
whose design is to serve the Lord Jesus, and who, by the
sacrifices they make, render it evident that they do not " serve
their own belly." Such persons are to be disapproved of and
opposed ; but we are neither to speak of them nor feel towards
them as the apostle did towards the Judaizers. Yet, even
when the men who "cause divisions and offences" are, in the
estimation of an enlightened charity, good men — in some
points of view, it may be, very good men— it is lamentable to
see how unlike themselves they behave, and to what arts and
shifts they descend, in the prosecution of their unholy work,
: Ecc. ix. 12. ' Pseud. Cat.

608 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
as heads of factions in the Church, or leaders of schisms from
the Church.
The apostle urges the high character which the Roman
Christians had established for themselves, as a reason why
they should be on their guard against those whose plans, if
successful, would soon rob them of their honest reputation :
" For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am
glad therefore on your behalf : but yet I would have you wise
unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil."1 The
words of the apostle admit of being interpreted in two different
ways. He may mean to express this thought — ' Your readi
ness to embrace the Gospel is very generally known. From
this very circumstance, which is itself to me an occasion of
joy, false teachers may be the more ready to practise their
arts on you ; but I heartily desire that, while so simple as not
to deceive, ye may prove yourselves too wise to be deceived.'
Or this may be the idea — ' You have obtained a high cha
racter among the churches : I am glad of it ; see that ye
maintain it. Beware lest, by listening to false teachers, you
should lose it. Walk worthy of your character. Be not only
harmless, but intelligent Christians ; but never let your in
telligence take the shape or colour of " the cunning craftiness
of those who are lying in wait to deceive you." ' Either sense
is good ; but I prefer the latter. There is, probably, a tacit
reference to Jer. iv. 22.
To encourage the Roman Christians to resist the attempts
likely to be made to deceive and divide them, the apostle
assures them that they should, ere long, be delivered from all
such evils, and from their author : " And the God of peace
will bruise Satan under your feet shortly."2 There can be
no reasonable doubt that there is here an allusion to Gen.
iii. 15. Satan — a Hebrew word, which signifies an adver
sary — without doubt, denotes here the chief of the rebel
angels, who is the grand author and promoter of evil,
moral and physical, in our world. Wicked men are often
' Ver. 19. 2 Ver. 20.

SECT. VII.] SALUTATIONS. 609
represented as his agents. The Judaizing teachers were
under his influence, and doing his work. When their schemes
were exposed and effectually counterworked, he was thwarted :
he was bruised under the feet of the Roman Christians.
The promise was fulfilled to them—" Thou shalt tread upon
the lion and the adder." 1 " The God of peace" — ' the Author
of all blessing, will save and deliver you from these dangers.'
Though there can be little doubt the apostle had directly in
view the deliverance of the Roman Church from those agents
of the wicked one who sought to cause " divisions and
offences" among them, his words are a declaration that, ere
long — for the longest life is not long — shortly, God would
remove them out of the sphere in which Satan operates, and
make them, for ever, " more than conquerors through Him that
loved them." This is a -promise in which Christians of all ages
have an equal interest with those to whom it was first given.
The section is closed with a benediction : " The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." ' May the com
placent regard of the Saviour ever rest on you, and may you
have constant proof of this, in the manifestation of His grace in
His benefits.' It seems as if this had been originally intended
to be the close of the Epistle : if it was so, the apostle, under
the influence of the Spirit, added the two concluding sections.
SECTION VII.
SALUTATIONS EROM CHRISTIANS WITH THE APOSTLE, TO
CHRISTIANS AT ROME.
Chapter xvi. 21-23. — " Timotheus my work-fellow, and Lucius, and
Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you. I Tertius, who wrote
this Epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius mine host, and of the whole
church, saluteth you. Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth
you, and Quartus a brother."
Some of Paul's companions at Corinth seem to have re
quested the apostle to communicate to the brethren at Rome
1 Psalm xci. 13.
2q

filO CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
the interest they felt in their welfare, though probably, in
general, personally strangers to them. The first in this list is
a highly honoured name : " Timotheus my work-fellow, and
Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute you." '
There is not one, in the second class of primitive Christian
teachers, that stands higher than Timothy. His father was a
Greek, and his mother a Jewess.2 Of his father we know
nothing, but that he probably was a Greek in religion as
well as in origin. Of his mother, Eunice, and of his grand
mother, Lois, we know that they were distinguished for their
piety, and had imbued the mind of Timothy from an early age
with the best of all kinds of knowledge — knowledge of the
Holy Scriptures.3 He was a native of Lycaonia ; but whether
Derbe or Lystra was his native city, is doubtful.4 He was
probably converted, along with his mother, by the ministry of
Paul, during his first missionary tour in Asia Minor.5 On
his second visit, some years later, Timothy being " well re
ported of by the brethren,"6 was chosen by Paul to be his
companion in his evangelical journeys.7 Having submitted to
the rite of circumcision, as a matter of prudence,8 " because of
the Jews ;" and having, by " the laying on of the hands of"
the apostle and of " the presbytery" — i.e., the eldership, been
solemnly set apart to the office of an evangelist, after having
"made a good profession before many witnesses ;"9 and hav
ing been endowed with the spiritual gifts necessary to his
ministry, he was for many years the constant companion of
the apostle in his labours and sufferings, and probably en
joyed the first place among the Christian brethren whom the
apostle honoured with the esteem, and love, and confidence
of friendship. He calls him his " son" — his "own son in the
faith" — his " dearly beloved son." At the time this Epistle
was written, Timothy was with the apostle at Corinth. The
latter part of the history of Timothy, like that of the most of
the primitive ministers of Christianity, is involved in obscurity.
1 Ver. 21. 2 Acts xvi. 1-3. 3 2 Tim. i. 5 ; iii. 15. ' Acts xvi. 1.
5 Acts xiv. 6 Acts xvi. 2. 7 Acts xvi. 3. 8 Acts xvi. 3.
* 1 Tim. iii. 14; v. 14; 2 Tim. i. 6; ii. 2. 14; iv. 5.

SECT. VII.J SALUTATIONS. 611
Tradition says— what is in itself highly probable— that he
went to Rome on receiving Paul's second Epistle, and attended
his venerable friend till he laid down his neck on the block,
" for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ ; "
and that, leaving Rome, he returned to Ephesus, where, in
the reign of Domitian or Nerva, he too received the crown of
martyrdom, and rejoined his spiritual father, never to part
again. Paul describes him as his " work-fellow." Nothing
endears Christians more to each other than common work in
the service of their common Lord.
Who this " Lucius" was, it is difficult to say. Some sup
pose that he was Luke the Evangelist, to whom, writing to
Romans, Paul gives a Latin name. It is doubtful if Luke
was with the apostle, at this time at Corinth : besides, not
Lucius, but Lucanus, or Lucianus, would have been Luke's
Roman name. Others have supposed that the person de
signated was " Lucius of Cyrene," who is numbered among
the prophets and teachers at Antioch.1 It is. plain that he
was a man of note among the Christians, whose salutation
would be valued by the Roman Christians.
" Jason" is very probably the Thessalonian convert who
entertained the apostle in his house, on his first visit to Mace
donia, and who was exposed to considerable trouble, danger,
and loss, from his hospitality.2 Paul, in his second visit to
Greece, passed through Macedonia, and, though it is not
mentioned, not unlikely took Thessalonica in his way ; and,
in this case, Jason, according to the kindly usage of these
times, seems to have accompanied him to Corinth.
" Sosipater" is probably the person who, in Acts xx. 4, is
called S°Pater — a word of the same meaning, one of the
Berean Jews, of whom the inspired writer testifies that " they
were more noble than those of Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scrip
tures daily, whether those things were so."3 In his case, and
in that of many others, serious inquiry — as it will indeed
1 Acts xiii. 1. 2 Acts xvii. 5-9. 3 Acts xvii. 11.

612 CONCLUDING. [PAHT IV.
always do, if honest and unprejudiced — ended in confirmed
faith. Paul calls Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, his " kinsmen,"
or relations. It is possible they might be relatives, in the
stricter sense of the term ; but it is more likely that they, as
well as those mentioned, ver. 7, were relations only as they
were of the same race — " brethren, kinsmen according to the
flesh." The hearty salutations of Jewish converts to a Gen
tile church was calculated to do much good. It tended to
show the converted Jews at Rome that their best informed
brethren made no difference between Jews and Gentiles in
the Church ; and it was fitted to do away prejudices against
the Jewish converts in general, which the narrow-mindedness
of some of the Jewish converts at Rome had produced in
their Gentile brethren, by showing them that there were Jews
who rose above the prejudices of their nation, and gladly
acquiesced in the determination of their Lord, that " the
Gentiles should be fellow-heirs with them of the promise," and
equally " blessed with faithful Abraham." 1
This is one of the passages from which a powerful corro
borative argument may be drawn for the truth of the history
of Paul, as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, and for the
genuineness and authenticity of the Epistle. It is nowhere
stated in the Epistle where it was written, or when it was
written ; but, from a careful comparison of different passages,
it is clear that it was written at Corinth, in Greece, after
collections had been made both in Macedonia and Achaia
for the poor saints at Jerusalem, and previously to the apostle
setting out on a journey to Jerusalem to deliver these contri
butions. In the Acts of the Apostles, where there is not the
slightest hint about Paul's writing this Epistle, we find, from
the twentieth chapter of that book, that just at the time when,
and at the place where, the Epistle was written, two, at least,
of the persons here mentioned as with Paul were present with
him — Sosipater and Timothy ; and that, at this time, he was
1 Eph. iii. 6; Gal. iii. 0.

SECT. VII.J SALUTATIONS. 613
preparing for a journey to Jerusalem, with alms from the
Gentiles. This is a coincidence too recondite to have been
intended, and too exact to have been accidental. The truth
of the history, and the genuineness of the Epistle, furnish the
only satisfactory account of it. They agree, not because the
one borrowed from the other, but because they both wrote
from a knowledge of facts.1
" I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord." 2
It has been conjectured that the person calling himself Ter
tius is no other than Silas, of whom we read in the Acts of
the Apostles.— Acts xv. 22, 27, 34, 40 ; xvi. 19, 25, 29 ; xvii.
4, 10; xviii. 5. Tertius, in Latin, and Silas, in Hebrew,
are of equivalent signification. Silas's name, however, is not
in the catalogue of the brethren who came with Paul into
Greece ; and his name, when Latinized, seems not to have been
Tertius, but Silvanus.— 2 Cor. i. 19; 1 Thes. i. 1 ; 2 Thes.
i. 1 ; 1 Pet. v. 12. Whoever he was, he had the honour of
being employed by Paul as his amanuensis. Paul dictated,
and Tertius wrote the epistle. It was, comparatively speak
ing, but an humble service ; but, in consequence of his having
performed it, his name is honourably recorded in a book which
has for ages been already more generally known than any
other, is yet to be read throughout all the world, and will
last to the end of time. Tertius, by being Paul's amanuensis,
has obtained for himself what many of the most powerful
human minds have in vain exerted all their energies to
acquire. " I Tertius salute you, who wrote this epistle, in the Lord."
Such is the order of the words in the original : and some, con
necting the words " in the Lord" with " wrote this epistle,"
suppose the meaning to be, ' I wrote it in the Lord, as a
Christian, for the Lord's sake.' It is more natural to connect
the phrase with " salute." ' I Tertius, who have been em
ployed by the apostle to commit this Epistle to writing, send
you my Christian regards.' From his name, he probably was
a Roman, and might be known to some at Rome.
1 Vide Palev's Hor. Paid. * Ver. 22.

614 CONCLUDING. PART IV.
Why Paul employed an amanuensis we cannot certainly
tell. That he usually did so is undoubted, and only wrote
the concluding sentence to show that the Epistle was genuine.
—1 Cor. xvi. 21 ; Col. iv. 18 ; 2 Thes. iii. 17. It has been
supposed that he laboured under a chronic defect of sight,
arising from the effect of " the light from heaven above the
brightness of the sun," which fell on his astonished eyes " on
the way to Damascus," and to which it has been supposed that
there are various references in his writings, especially Gal. iv.
13—15. It is not unlikely that, like many literary men, he
did not write a very legible hand. Some have supposed that
there is a reference to this in Gal. vi. 11. Every man has his
own gift, and, in the employment of it, may be useful. Ter
tius could not have composed this epistle ; but he could write
it, probably better — more legibly, than its author could have
done. The greatest of men has not every qualification, and
may be much the better for the assistance of those who are
immeasurably his inferiors.
" Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you.
Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you, and Quar-
tus a brother."1 We read of Gaius, a native of Derbe,
and an inhabitant of Macedonia.2 The name is the Latin
Caius Grsecised, and was a common one. The person here
mentioned was clearly an inhabitant of Corinth; for he is called
the host or entertainer, not only of the apostle, but of the whole
Church, either because, being a man in wealthy circumstances,
he was distinguished for a very extended hospitality to the
brethren, or because in his mansion he furnished a meeting-place
for the Church to observe the ordinances. He was likely the
same person who is mentioned as a leading man in the Corin
thian Church, 1 Cor. i. 14, and as among the very few in that
church whom the apostle had baptized. Whether it was to this
good man that John addressed his third Epistle is uncertain.
From the character drawn there, ver. 5-8, it is obvious that,
if he was not the Gaius mentioned here, he was a man of a
1 ver- 23. 2 Acts xix. 29 ; xx. 4.

SECT. VII.J SALUTATIONS. 615
similar spirit. This good man was very much attached to his
own church, but he had a catholic spirit. He entertained the
Church at Corinth : he salutes the Church in Rome. Our
love to the brethren is to be manifested in correspondence to
circumstances ; but we are to do " good to all the household of
faith as we have opportunity."
" Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you." There
is an Erastus spoken of, Acts xix. 22, and 2 Tim. iv. 20. It
seems likely, however, that that Erastus was an Ephesian ; at
any rate, that he was a Christian preacher, — an itinerant
Christian preacher — an occupation scarcely compatible with
holding the office and discharging the duties of chamberlain
of the large city of Corinth. The chamberlain or steward of
a Greek city was an officer of high respectability. Josephus
mentions the chamberlain among the rulers. The office seems
to have resembled that of recorder, town-clerk, or treasurer in
our principal cities. Erastus appears to have been one of the
few " noble" who were among " the called to be saints in Co
rinth." While the great body of Christians, in all ages, have
belonged to the middle and lower orders of society, there is
nothing in vital Christianity incompatible with high rank and
multiplied avocations. The chamberlain of Corinth must
have been a man of both.
The only other person whose Christian regards the apostle
transmits to the Roman Church, is " Quartus a brother."
" The brethren," in contradistinction to " the saints," Phil.
iv. 21, 22, seems to denote ' brethren in office' — Christian
ministers, evangelists, elders, and deacons. But it is common
for the apostle to call the body of the faithful, " brethren." It
is impossible to say whether Quartus was an official, or merely
a private member of the Church. It seems obvious that he
was a warm-hearted Christian, and that Paul thought it meet
to gratify and honour him by specifying his name among
those who wished to be remembered to the brethren at Rome.
It is pleasant to think with how many good men, if we shall
have the happiness of a place in the Father's house of many
mansions, we are yet to become acquainted, of whom we do

616 CONCLUDING. [P ART IV.
not know so much as we do of Quartus, of whom we know
only the name.
Here, again, the apostle seems to have intended to conclude
the Epistle ; and, accordingly, to authenticate the above post
script, he again, with his own hand, wrote, " The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.'

"i

SECTION VIII.
CONCLUDING DOXOLOGT.
Chapter xvi. 25-27. — " Now to him that is of power to stablish you
according to my Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, (according to
the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world
began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to
all nations for the obedience of faith ;) to God only wise, be glory through
Jesus Christ for ever. Amen."
In the verses with which our version, following the reading
adopted in the received text — which is approved by some of
the best later critical interpreters — closes, we have one of the
most magnificent doxologies in the New Testament — a
worthy devotional peroration to such a doctrinal discussion.
" Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to
my Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, (according
to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since
the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the
Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the
obedience of faith ;) to God only wise, be glory through Jesus
Christ for ever. Amen."2 I have already3 had occasion
to remark that critics are not agreed as to the place which
this doxology should occupy in the Epistle. That it belongs
to it, there is no reasonable doubt ; but some think its right
place is at the end of the fourteenth chapter. In most of the
» Ver. 24 2 Ver. 25-27. 3 Chap. xv. 1.

SECT. VIII.J CONCLUDING DOXOLOGY. 617
Greek MSS. now extant, it is found there; but in some of the
most ancient versions it is found at the end of the Epistle. On
strictly critical grounds, the question is not easily determined ;
but the internal evidence is very strong that it is rightly placed
in our version. Unless it had been the intention of the
apostle to conclude the discussion about meats and days at the
end of the fourteenth chapter, which he does not, its insertion
there would interrupt the course of his illustrations. We
should have looked for it, not at the end of the fourteenth
chapter, for the discussion does not close there, but at the end
of the 1 3th verse of the fifteenth chapter, where the discussion
does close. As to there being a peculiar propriety in connect
ing this ascription of praise to God, as the establisher, the
strengthener of His people, with the contents of the fourteenth
chapter, I cannot help thinking the doxology abundantly ap
propriate to the object of the whole Epistle, every part of
which was intended and is fitted to " strengthen, stablish, and
settle" Christians in their most holy faith.1 The question,
however, where the three verses should stand, is one of very
secondary moment. Let us proceed to inquire into their
meaning. It is natural to consider, first, the character under which
God is here introduced as worthy of praise, and then the
ascription of the praise that is due to Him. God is described
under two characters : first, as powerful, and then as wise. He
is " able to stablish" the Romans — " able to stablish them
according to Paul's Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept
secret since the world began, but had now been made manifest,
and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the com
mandment of the everlasting God, made known to all
nations for the obedience of faith ;" and He is " God only
wise." The first description of the Divine character proceeds on
1 A very elaborate discussion of the question is to be found in Fritzsche,
vol. i., Prol. xxxviii-xlix.

to

618 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
the supposition that the Roman Christians stood in need of
being " stablished" — " strengthened." There were among
them the weak, who needed to be made strong; and the
" strong" among them had no strength but what God had
given them, and they needed to be kept strong and made
stronger. A strong Christian, is a Christian in whom the
principles of the new life are vigorous, rendering him intelli
gent, wise, holy, active, useful, happy ; and to strengthen a
Christian, is to secure these results. It is God alone who can
do this. Christians cannot do it for themselves ; their mini
sters cannot do it for them. They may use the means, but
they cannot command the success. But God can do this.
He " is able to make all grace abound towards them ; that
they, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound
to every good work." 1 " His grace is sufficient for them, and
His strength is made perfect in weakness."2 The expression,
" who is able," indicates more than mere ability. As used in
the New Testament, it often implies disposition and will, —
Rom. iv. 21; xi. 23; xiv. 4; Eph. iii. 20; Jude, 24. He
who can stablish, will stablish His people. They shall " wax
stronger and stronger" — " strengthened with all might, ac
cording to His glorious power, unto all patience and long-suf
fering with joyfulness." 3
The words that follow are somewhat perplexed in their con
struction. They are plainly descriptive of something about
this " stabfishing" — this " strengthening," which God is able
and disposed to give the Roman Christians. " God is able to
stablish you according to my Gospel." Paul's Gospel — what
does that mean ? We find this phrase, " my Gospel," chap.
ii. 16, and in 2 Tim. ii. 8. It seems the same thing as " the
Gospel I preach" — " the Gospel committed to me," Gal. ii.
2, 7. It is equivalent to — ' the statement I have made to you
of the good news of salvation through Christ Jesus.' The
clause that follows seems explanatory of this — " and the
preaching of Jesus Christ." Some understand by these words
1 2 Cor. ix. 8. * 2 Cor. xii. 9. •* Col. i. 11.

SECT. VIII.J CONCLUDING DOXOLOGY. 619
" what Jesus Christ preached," and suppose the apostle to
refer to the fact that the Gospel, as he preached it, was not
" after man ; for he neither received it of man, neither was he
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 What " he
received of the Lord, that he delivered" to the churches,
1 Cor. xi. 23; xv. 1. The whole description, according to
them, is, ' The Gospel which I preached to you, which is the
Gospel Christ preached to me.' But the revelation made to
Paul was a revelation in him, never represented as preaching.
The preaching of Christ is, I apprehend, illustrative of the
phrase, " my Gospel" — my Gospel was " the preaching of
Jesus Christ." " Of Christ" denotes the subject, rather than
the author of the preaching. Paul kept to his determination
to know nothing in his preaching but Christ, and Him cruci
fied;— the truth about Christ was the sum and substance of his
Gospel. "According to this Gospel" — this preaching of Christ
Jesus, God can, God will " stablish you." " According to"
may mean ' in accordance with.' ' In my Gospel I told you so,
and you will find it true.' I rather think its import is, ' with
a reference to.' ' God will make you strong in reference to
this Gospel — this preaching about Jesus Christ. He will
make you strong in the faith of it — strong by the faith of it.
He will make you powerful Christians — men in Christ, able
for work and warfare.'
" According to the revelation of the mystery, which was
kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest,
and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the com
mandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations."
This should not have been in a parenthesis, for it is a further
description of Paul's Gospel — the preaching of Jesus Christ.
" According to my Gospel, etc. According to the revelation
of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began."
" The mystery" was the Divine method of saving men through
Christ Jesus. That was a thing which, from its own nature,
i Gal. i. 12.

620 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
human reason could not discover; that was a thing which,
from the beginning of the world down to the coming of
Christ, " during the ancient ages," 1 was kept secret — con
cealed altogether from the great body of mankind, very dimly
revealed to the favoured minority. Of this " mystery" there
had been " a manifestation" in the incarnation and work of
the Saviour, and in the Gospel which contained the account
of it. " Paul's Gospel," " the preaching of Jesus Christ,"
and " the revelation of the mystery," are all materially the
same thing. The manifestation of this mystery is referred to,
chap. iii. 21, 25, 26; 1 Cor. ii. 10; Eph. iii. 3-5. The me
thod of salvation through Christ is clearly revealed. This
manifested mystery is, " according to the commandment of
the everlasting God, to be made known, by the Scriptures of
the prophets, to all nations for the obedience of faith."
It is the commandment of the everlasting God that this
Gospel — this preaching of the Lord Jesus, this revealed
mystery — should be made known to all nations. The word
rendered "commandment" may mean 'decree,' 'appointment,'
and then the reference is to the many passages in the Old
Testament in which "the decree is declared ;" such as, "I will
give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost
ends of the earth for Thy possession," Psal. ii. 7 ; " All the
ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God," Psal. xcviii.
3 : or, it may mean ' precept,' in which case the reference is
to the words of our Lord — " Go ye, therefore, and teach all
nations ;" " Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature," Matt, xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15. This was
indeed the commandment of the everlasting God, both as the
Father spoke in Him, and as He is God " manifest in flesh"
— " God over all blessed for ever."
This commandment was to be carried into effect " by the
Scriptures of the prophets." The " Scriptures of the prophets"
are the Old Testament writings, especially the predictions
contained in them. Some have explained the words " by the
1 X.Q0V01S aiuviois.

SECT. VI1I.J CONCLUDING DOXOLOGY. 621
Scriptures of the prophets," as equivalent to — ' according to
the predictions of the prophets,' which interpretation states a
truth, but it is not warranted by the words, which intimate
that " the Scriptures of the prophets" should be instrumental
in making the Gospel known to all nations. This has been
actually the case. The apostles made great use of the Old
Testament Scriptures in their successful preaching of the
Gospel to the Gentiles ; and, so long as the world lasts, one
of the great evidences on which the belief of men in the Divine
origin of the Gospel is demanded, will be derived from the
fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy. Some would connect
" by the Scriptures of the prophets" with the words " made
manifest ;" as if the apostle's meaning had been this — ' The
mystery was kept secret during the ancient ages, down to the
time when the Old Testament dispensation commenced ; it
was then manifested — partially revealed, by the Old Testa
ment writings, and was at length fully published under the
Gospel dispensation :' but this obliges us to use freedoms with
the text altogether unauthorized.
The design of this revelation's being thus, by Divine com
mand, made known to all nations, is " the obedience of faith."
The phrase was explained in the commencement of these
illustrations.1 It is equivalent to — that ' they might believe
the Gospel, and experience its practical power in making them
obedient to God.'
According, then, to " this Gospel of Paul"— this " preach
ing of Jesus Christ" — this " revealed mystery, long kept
secret, now manifested;" and, according to the decree and
command of the great God our Saviour, to be made known
by the Scriptures of the prophets to all nations for the obedi
ence of faith; — according to this, God is able and disposed to
stablish Christians— to strengthen them to lay hold of it, to
keep hold of it, and to use it for all the blessed purposes
which it is fitted and intended to accomplish.
The second character under which the apostle offers praise
1 Chap. i. 5.

622 CONCLUDING. [I'AKT IV.
to God in this doxology, is " God only wise." God is termed
" only wise," because He only is infinitely wise. The wisdom
of the wisest of His creatures, compared with His, is folly.
" God," as Origen says, "is not made wise by wisdom as it
happeneth to men ; He is wise Himself — the Author and well-
spring of wisdom. He only hath wisdom, as He ' only hath
immortality,' in Himself. He is the sole origin and Author,
and, in the highest degree, the sole possessor, of wisdom ; for
wisdom, in all other beings, is His gift." His wisdom is re
markably displayed in the scheme of grace which the apostle
had unfolded in the Epistle ; and this infinite wisdom qualifies
Him for giving, in the best way, that " establishment" which
the apostle says He " can" — is able and willing to bestow on
His people. Under no characters, then, more appropriate
could the concluding doxology of this Epistle be addressed to
God, than the all-powerful, the all-benignant, the all-wise.
The doxology is addressed to God " through Jesus Christ."
It is " through Jesus Christ" that all such displays of power,
and benignity, and wisdom are made ; and it is " through
Jesus Christ" that our acknowledgments of them can alone
rise with acceptance before God.
This praise is to be ascribed to the God of power, and wis
dom, and love, and mercy, through Jesus Christ, " for ever."
The anthem is to be begun on earth, but it is to be carried on
in heaven, and continued throughout endless duration. The
power, grace, and wisdom of God, as manifested in the salva
tion of men, is an exhaustless theme. It will afford abundant
and most delightful employment for the enlarged faculties of
glorified men and holy angels for ever and ever.
The apostle adds his hearty " amen" to this doxology. ' Oh,
that it may be thus ! Thus assuredly it shall be. So let it be
— so shall it be.' And he is no loyal subject of the great
King — no true-hearted disciple of Him whose never-ceasing
prayer is, " Father, glorify Thy name" — who does not, with all
his heart, say, Amen, and amen. The power of God is re
garded as weakness, the wisdom of God as folly, and the
kindness of God is disbelieved and despised, in this present

SECT. VIII.J CONCLUDING DOXOLOGY. 623
evil world. But it shall not always be so. The time hastens
onward, when not only shall a hymn of adoring and grateful
admiration rise from all the innocent and all the restored of
His intelligent creation, but when the wisdom, and the righte
ousness, and the benignity of His administration shall be made
so evident, that all the murmurs of his irreclaimable enemies
shall be for ever hushed in self-condemned speechlessness, and
when every creature in the new heaven and the new earth,
wherein nothing but righteousness shall dwell, shall, with a
voice as the sound of many waters, ascribe " Blessing, and
honour, and glory, and power unto Him that sitteth on the
throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever."
It seems impossible to be long in close intercourse with the
apostle without feeling that " virtue comes out of him."
Even the coolest of all commentators, Macknight, is warmed
to something like eloquence when he finishes his exposition of
this Epistle. " Thus," says he, " endeth the apostle Paul's
Epistle to the Romans ; a writing which, for sublimity and
truth of sentiment, for brevity and strength of expression,
for regularity of structure, and, above all, for the unspeakable
importance of the discoveries it contains, stands unrivalled by
any mere human composition, and as far exceeds the most
celebrated productions of the learned Greeks and Romans as
the shining of the sun exceedeth the twinkling of the stars."
It is curious to contrast with this stately, measured sentence,
the outburst of loving admiration which the contemplation of
the Epistle drew forth from the deepest recess of the capacious
heart of the great German Reformer. " In this Epistle is
treated in the most masterly manner everything that belongeth
to the Christian life. Whatever it most concerns a Christian
to know — Law, Gospel, -Sin, Grace, Justification, Christ,
God, Good Works, Faith, Hope, Charity ; all wherein true
Christianity consisteth, how it becometh a Christian to con
duct himself towards his neighbours, whether good or bad,
strong or weak, friends or enemies, and towards himself; all
this is to be found here in such perfection, that it is impossible

624 CONCLUDING. [PART IV.
to wish anything more or better. So rich a treasure is it of
spiritual wealth, that even to him who has read it a thousand
times something new will be ever presenting itself. Its study,
beyond every other, is found useful ; and the longer and the
more deeply it is pondered, its excellences grow upon you, and
it appears to be constantly becoming more delightful, more
valuable, and more copious than itself."

INDEX.

I.— PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

"Abba, Father," 244; meaning of the
expression, 215.
"Able to make stand," import of the
phrase, 515.
Abraham a public character, 55; justi
fied by faith, 48; his faith, normal,
56; the father of all believers, 66.
Access to God — how connected with
grace, redemption, justification, and
faith, 66.
" Accursed from Christ," meaning of the
phrase, 294, 295.
ItXVi meaning of, 74.
Aquila and Priscilla, 590.
Adam, Dr, referred to, 493.
"Adoption," meaning of the term, 214,
236.
Afflictions of the justified not incon
sistent with their being the objects of
the unalterable love of God, 220.
Aids, spiritual, furnished under afflic
tion, 240.
Ainsworth, 334.
«M», 435.
O.XU.X0I, 606.
axoii, 376.
Alford, ix, xiv, 69, 130.
"A living sacrifice," meaning of the
phrase, 431.
" All men," how to be understood, 79.
" Allow," meaning of the term, 161.
Amanuensis, why Paul usually employed
one ? 614.
Ambition forbidden, 470.
Ambrose, 127.
" Amen," force of the term, 622.
Amplias, 594.
Analogy between the past and present
conduct of God to the Gentiles, and
His present and future conduct to the
Jews, 416.
Analytical character of the exposition.

ccvc.Siux., 294.
OLVKllr.UV., 294.
" And that," force of the phrase, 497.
Angels, whether good or bad, cannot
separate Christians from the love of
Christ, 273.
ott>6f/.ws, 15.
Ancient writings, di faculty of interpret
ing, vii.
Antitheses — Paul's, often imperfectly
expressed, 108.
aa-fl, 295.
Apocrypha, Jud. ix. 12, xvi. 14 ; Wisd.
ii. 6, v. 17, xvi. 24, xix. 6, 229.
Apology, apostle's, 562.
Apelles, 595.
"Approved in the Lord," meaning of
the phrase, 595.
Arabic version, ancient, 334.
&{« cZv and &?« vuv, how contrasted, 184.
Aristobulus, 595.
Aristotle referred to, 16.
Arminius, 324.
" Armour of light," meaning of the
phrase, 502 ; what it is to put it on,
502.
"As concerning the flesh," import of
the phrase, 305.
Asyncritus, 598.
Atonement of Christ, procuring cause
of sanctification, 194.
Atonement, original meaning of the
English word, 70.
Augustine referred to, 74, 244, 324.
" Baptized into Christ," meaning of the
phrase, 91.
Barnes, ix.
Beausobre referred to, 74.
"Bear infirmities," meaning of the
phrase, 542, 543.
" Believe with the heart," meaning of
the phrase, 370. 2 R

626

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

" Beloved," how the Jews are, " for the
fathers' sake," 411.
Benecke, 254.
Bengel, 333, 338.
Beza, 333.
Bingham, 586, 600.
Blessings from which the unbelieving
Jews are excluded never promised to
them, 307.
Blessings of salvation, free gifts, 324.
Blessings, saving connection of, 251, 253.
" Bless," meaning of the term, 468.
Boasting excluded by the Divine me
thod of justification, how, 39.
" Body of Christ, the," meaning of the
phrase, 121.
" Body of sin," meaning of the phrase,
92.
" Body of this death," meaning of the
phrase, 173.
" Body, redemption of," meaning of the
phrase, 236.
Bohme, ix.
" Bondage of corruption," meaning of
the phrase, 233.
Boston, 596.
"Brotherly love," meaning of the
phrase, 459.
Brutes, resurrection of, not revealed,
but not impossible, 232.
Bunyan, 278, 545.
" Called according to God's purpose,"
meaning of the phrase, 249.
Calvin, 324, 459.
Camera, 319, 452.
Capellus referred to, 16.
" Carnal," meaning of the term, 159.
Certainty of the conversion of the Jews,
407.
Certificate to the bearer of the epistle,
582.
Chamberlain of a Greek city, nature of
the office, 615.
Character, spiritual, how marked, 163.
£«§'V/*«r«, 441, 447.
Charters, Dr S., quoted, 168.
" Children of God," meaning and refer
ence of the term, 312.
"Children of the flesh," meaning and
reference of the term, 312.
X*>eis voy.au, 27.
XZtials, 466.
" Christ for righteousness," meaning of
the phrase, 365.
Christian duties, exhortations to, 455.
Christian monitor, 16.
Christians, appellations of, borrowed
from those of ancient Israel, 4.
Christians, the property of Christ in life
and death, 519, 520.
Christ, the minister of God to the cir
cumcision, to show forth the truth of
God, 655 ; the minister of God to the
Gentiles, to show forth the mercy of

God, 556; the only Head of His
Church, 563 ; the universal Judge, 521.
" Christ," who and what He is ? 262.
X$0V0IS Otl'ilvUlS, 620.
Chrysostom, his description of Paul's
epistles, iii ; referred to, 74, 605.
Church compared to the human body,
449.
Cicero, ii, vii.
Circumcision, meaning and design of,
53.
Circumcision not connected with justi
fication, 52.
Civil authorities, duties of Christians
to, 482,
Coleman, 586, 600.
Collections for the poor Jews, 573.
Columella, 400.
" Comfort of the Scriptures," meaning
of the phrase,
" Coming of the commandment," mean
ing of the phrase, 137.
" Commandment of the everlasting
God," what, 620.
Comparing different Divine dispensa
tions, advantages of, 322.
Complaint, the language of, to be inter
preted cautiously, 161.
" Concluded in unbelief," 419.
Concluding part of the divisions of
epistle, 561.
Conclusions of Paul's epistles, very valu
able— for what ? 582.
" Condemnation of sin," meaning of the
term, 188 ; how condemned " in the
flesh," 188.
Condescension enjoined, 471.
" Conformed to this world," meaning of
the phrase, 435.
Conformity to the image of God's Son,
what? 250.
" Conscience sake, for," meaning of the
phrase, 490.
Conversion, nature, author, means, in
struments, 569.
Conversion of the Jews certain, 407.
Conversion of the Jews not impossible,
406.
Conversion of the Jews not improbable,
406.
Convoy, a practice of the first Chris
tians, 573.
Co-operation of all things for good to
Christians, 246, 248.
" Covenants, the," meaning and refer
ence of the term, 302.
Cowper quoted, 42, 43, 154, 178, 389.
Cranmer's retractation referred to, 164.
" Creation, the whole," meaning of the
phrase, 228.
" Creature, the," meaning of the phrase,
228.
" Damnation," meaning and reference of
the word, 488.

INDEX OP PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

627

Dathe, 334.
Davidson's Introduction to the New
Testament" recommended, ix ; re
ferred to, 1.
Deaconesses, 585.
Death, how it frees from sin, 93.
" Death nor life," import of the phrase,
272.
Death of Christ, influence on justifica
tion, 261.
" Death of sin," meaning of the phrase,
134.
Death of the Apostle Paul, 581.
Death to or by sin, a Christian privilege,
98 ; motive to duty, 98.
Delicacy of feeling, Paul's, 6.
Delight in the law of God peculiar to
the regenerate, 169.
Deliverance from law necessary to sanc
tification, 123 ; secured by the Divine
method of justification, 120 ; secures
from the dominion of sin, 120.
Depravity, genesis of, 88.
Design of our Lord's death and resur
rection, 518.
Design of the work, 1.
"Desire of all nations," probable mean
ing of the expression, 280.
Desire of Paul for the salvation of his
countrymen, causes of, 299.
De Wette, 114.
hx, 537.
Sianavia, 452.
XiKzeiirEis %t«.teyttrf*Mv) 512.
" Died to sin," meaning of the phrase,
95.
%i%offT«.iricC; 604.
Disproportion between the present suf
fering and future glory of Christians,
225.
Dissension and division, cautions
against, 603.
Distinction of meats, question respect
ing, 513.
Distinction of times, question respect
ing, 516.
Divine judgment of men, principle of,
14.
Divine method of justification manifest
ed, relation of, to the Israelites, and
the other nations of mankind, 279 ;
immediate results of the manifesta
tion, 283 ; ultimate results, 389.
Divine method of justification, need of,
11.
Divine procedure in reference to the
Jews vindicated, 285.
Doctrinal part of the Epistle to the
Romans, 11 ; great divisions of, 24.
Doddridge, 319.
Dominion of sin twofold, 105.
" Doubtful disputations," meaning of the
term, 510.
Doxology, concluding, 616.
Drusius, 334, 502.

Dryden, 173.
Deylingius referred to, 602.
Duty, Christian, general exhortation to,
430.
" Eating with offence," meaning of the
phrase, 537.
\x", ¦
*£#?<", 69.
Edwards, Jon., referred to, 75, 325.
Efficiency of the Divine method of jus
tification connected with faith, 34.
lUoci nt 448.
tit, 83.
" Elect, God's," import of the phrase,
259.
Election, not dependent on foreknown
faith and holiness, 331.
"Election, the," meaning of the term,
383.
ikl69E%Ot ~t\lvQl$6}$ivTiS, 113.
Elijah's mistaken calculation, 381.
iv, 83, 90.
" End of the law," meaning of the phrase,
364.
" Enemies," how the Jews are, for the
sake of the Gentiles, 411.
Enemies, right way of treating, 478.
" Enmity against God," force of the ex
pression, 204.
IV oy.,,,6:,J.aT. . 92.
ev !roL$oi{3e\'/j, 92.
Epenetus, 593.
\viffro\ou ffvffTa.riK«Si 584.
Erasmus, 255, 319.
Erastus, 614.
Ernesti, 338.
Erskiue, Ralph, 154.
" Establishing men's own righteousness,"
meaning of the phrase, 363.
eua,yyB%10V 0EOU, 4.
Eunice, 610.
Eusebius, 573, 598.
" Every soul," import of the phrase, 484.
Evils which befel the Jews — merited
punishments, 332.
Exaltation of Christ, influence on justi
fication, 262.
V x«.T oTxov ixxkvjiria., 592.
w xtio-is, 227.
7}lc«.p70v = fictTta'Ta.diio'oiv otpt.cteTuXei, 73.
Faith, Abraham's — its substance and
evidence, 61.
" Faith, from," " faith, to," meaning of
the phrase, 9.
Faith, importance of just views of, 58;
causes of misapprehension of, 58 ; best
way of removing them, 59.
Faith, justifying, its object and ground,
62.
" Faith of Christ," meaning of the
phrase, 31.
" Faith," suitableness of, for its place in
the Divine method of salvation, 32.

628

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

Faith the only and certain means of
justification, 40.
Faith, what is, to have it before God ?
538.
" Fathers, the," meaning and reference
of the term, 304.
Fagius, 334.
Female activity in the cause of Chris
tianity, 599.
Fenelon, 244.
" Filled with all knowledge," import of
the phrase, 564.
First fruits, account of, 396.
"First fruits to Christ," meaning and
reference of the phrase, 592.
Flatt, 114.
"Flesh"— "things of the" — "to mind
the " — meaning of the phrases, 202.
" Follow after righteousness," meaning
of the phrase, 358.
" Follow after the law of righteousness,"
meaning of the phrase, 359.
" Foreknow," meaning of the term, 250 ;
sometimes equivalent to, before-ac
knowledged, 381.
Forgiveness of, and kindness to, ene
mies, duties peculiar to Christianity,
482.
" For sin," = a sacrifice for sin, 193.
" For," sometimes equivalent to " name
ly," 290.
" Found unto death," meaning of the
phrase, 138.
Fraser's Scripture Doctrine of Sanctifi
cation recommended, 84.
" Freed from sin," meaning of the
phrase, 110.
Freedom from law necessary to, and
productive of, holiness, 102.
Fritzsche, ix, 74, 319, 617; his charac
ter of Paul as a writer, ii, 1.
" Fulness of the blessing of the Gospel
of peace," meaning of the phrase, 575.
Gaius, 614; his hospitality and public
spirit, 615.
Gentile church entirely dependent on
faith, 402.
Gentiles fit subjects of moral govern
ment, 15.
" Gentiles, fulness of," what, 408 ; what
is meant by its " coming in," 408.
Gentiles, obligation of, to the Jews,
401.
" Gifts and calling of God," meaning
and reference of the phrase, 413.
" Give place to wrath," meaning of the
phrase, 476.
" Glorify," import of the term, 252, 253.
" Glorying in tribulations" accounted
for, 68.
" Glory of God, to the," meaning of the
phrase, 654.
" Glory that shall be revealed in us,"
meaning of the phrase, 226.

" Glorv, the," meaning of the phrase,
302."
" God for us," import of the term, 255.
" God of Hope," import of the appella
tion, 559.
" God of Patience," meaning of the
appellation, 551.
" God only wise," how, 622.
" God over all, blessed for ever," a title
of Jesus Christ, 305.
Gomarus, 333.
" Goodness," import of the term, 564.
" Goodness of God," manifested in the
conversion of the Gentiles, 403.
Goodness of the law, 144.
Gospel, how it saves men, 8.
" Gospel," the meaning of the word, 7 ;
its object the salvation of men, 7 ;
God's effectual means of saving men,
7.
Grace delivers from the depraving
power of sin, 180; in furnishing a jus
tifying righteousness, 183 ; in furnish
ing a regenerating influence, 185.
Grace, triumph of, over sin, 83.
Graciousness, the character of the
Divine method of justification in re
ference to man, 35.
Grafting, custom of the ancients, 400.
Gratuitousness, the character of the
Divine method of justification in re
ference to God, 36.
Griesbach, 114.
Grosvenor, 391.
Grotius, 319, 334.
Guilt and moral helplessness of man
kind, 14, 19.
Hall, Robert, 546, 605.
Hardening the hearts of men, what it is,
336 ; Divine agency in, 337.
" Hardens," meaning and reference of
the term, 336.
Harmony of justification by grace and
by redemption, 38.
" Hate," meaning of the term, 316.
Hatred of sin peculiar to the regene
rate, 162.
" Having no place in these parts," mean
ing of the phrase, 572.
Hazard of the analytical expositor, xiii.
" Heaping coals on the head," meaning
of the phrase, 480.
Heathenism, nature and moral influence
of, 14.
" Height nor depth," what they are, 274 ;
cannot separate Christians from the
love of Christ, 274, 275.
"Heirs of God," "joint -heirs with
Christ," force of the expressions, 217.
" Helpers in Christ," meaning of the
term, 591.
Herbert, George, referred to, 7, 243,
Hermas, 598.
Hermes, 598.

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

629

Herodion, 596.
"Higher powers," meaning of the
phrase, 484.
Hill, Dr Geo., referred to, 75.
" Him that runneth," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 332.
" Him that willeth," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 331.
Hodge, ix, xiv, 75, 174, 567.
" Holiness" of the fathers of the Jewish
nation, how to be understood, 398.
Holiness of the law, 142.
" Holy Ghost, in the," meaning of the
phrase, 293.
" Honest," import of the term, 473.
Hooker quoted, 45.
Hope, its nature, 462 ; connection with
joy, 464.
" Hope of the glory of God," what, and
how produced and strengthened, 67.
" Hope, saved by," meaning of the ex
pression, 237.
Horace quoted, 78.
Horsley, Bishop, referred to, 412.
"Hospitality," meaning of the term, 467.
How Paul came to know so many per
sons at Rome, 589.
U^oveyouvTec, 566.
Illyricum, the term of the apostle's la
bours, 569.
Impartiality of the Divine method of
justification, 34.
Incongruity of " grace" and " works," as
grounds of justification, 382.
" Infirmities," meaning and reference of
the term, 241, 542.
Infirmities, our, how the Spirit helpeth,
242, 243.
Intercession of Christ, influence on jus
tification, 263.
Intercession of the Spirit, 243.
" Inward man," meaning of the phrase,
169.
Irreversibility of justification from its
Author and ground, 259.
" Israel in part," opposed to " all Is
rael," 408.
"Israelites," force of the appellation,
301.
Iteration natural under strong excite
ment, 167.
Jason, 611.
Josephus referred to, 315, 387.
Jowett's attack on the Apostle Paul
characterized, xiv.
Joy in God, how connected with grace,
redemption, justification, and faith,
71.
" Judgments of God," meaning of the
phrase, 423.
Julia, 598.
Junias, 693.
Justice of the law, 143.

Justification, bearing of, on spiritual
transformation, 85.
Justification by law, impossibility of, 20.
Justification necessary to sanctification,
and secures it, 85.
Justin, 592.
Justin Martyr, 600.
xa-nS, 462.
xMs, 552.
Krebs referred to, 74.
" Kingdom of God, the," meaning of the
phrase, 531 ; in what it consists, 531.
" Kiss, holy," account of the custom, 599.
Kitto referred to, 3.
SlA^TOff, 3.
Knowledge, literal, of the Scriptures,
advantages and dangers, 177.
Knowledge of sin, what, 130.
"Know the time," meaning of the phrase,
498.
" Know ye not," force of the phrase, 91.
xotvtuvia., 574.
Kolner, 114.
xeTitinras, 597.
Koppe referred to, ix, 74, 114.
KOO-fAOS, 435.
xv^lajj 462.
Lachmann, 114.
A«Tfe/«, 433.
Xkt^iiiu, 5.
" Law and the prophets," meaning of
the phrase, 30.
Law cannot make a bad man good, 123.
Law cannot make a good man better,
155, et seq.
" Law — death ; Gospel— life," 154.
Law, entrance of, explained, 81 ; its de
sign, 82 ; its effect, 82.
" Law in the members," meaning of the
phrase, 170.
Law is not the cause of sin, 129 ; proof
of this, 129, et seq.
" Law of righteousness," meaning of the
phrase, 359.
" Law of sin and death," meaning of the
phrase, 185.
" Law of sin," meaning of the phrase,
171, 172.
" Law of the mind," meaning of the
phrase, 170.
Law sometimes used in a peculiar sense
by the apostle, 1 68.
" Law, the giving of," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 303.
Law, the, not made void, but established,
by the Divine method of justification,
41.
Law, the, testimony of, respecting justi
fication by faith, 47.
" Law weak through the flesh," meaning
of the phrase, 190.
" Law worketh wrath," meaning of the
phrase, 54.

630

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

Le Clerc, 334.
"Led by the Spirit," meaning of the
phrase, 213.
Legality the great enemy of sanctifica
tion, 158.
Xeyu, 446.
Lite to or by God, a Christian privilege,
98 ; motive to duty, 98.
Life with Christ, what it is, 94.
*' Likeness of sinful flesh," meaning of
the term, 193.
Limborch, 319.
" Liveth to God," meaning of the phrase,
96.
" Live, to, without the law," meaning of
the phrase, 136.
Locke referred to, 318.
Locke's advice to study the Epistle to
the Romans, iv.
\ttyix'/i, 433.
Lois, 610.
" Love of God," and " of Christ," import
of the phrases, 263.
" Love of God," meaning of the expres
sion, 68 ; the permanence of, evidence
of, 69.
" Love of the Spirit," meaning of the
phrase, 580.
Love, the fulfilling of the law, 494.
Lucius, 611.
" Lump," meaning and reference of the
term, 397.
" Lust," meaning of the term, 131.
Luther referred to, 1, 114, 355 ; his eulo-
gium on the Epistle to the Romans,
ii, 623 ; his strange saying as to the
conversion of the Jews, 410.
M'Crie, 680.
Macknight's eulogium on the Epistle to
the Romans, 623.
Magistracy and magistrates, how " or
dained of God," 486.
M'Leod, 442.
Manaen, 596.
Manifestation of the Divine method of
justification, 33.
Manifestation of the Mystery, 620.
Marshall, 596.
Mary, 593.
Meats, distinctions of, question respect
ing, 513.
"Measure of faith," meaning of the
phrase, 446.
Melancthon, 114.
Melvill, Andrew, 607.
"Mercy of the Gentiles," meaning of
the phrase, 417.
Method of justification analogous to the
manner in which man became fruiltv
73, 80. a j>
Milton, 324, 503.
"Mind, the renewing of," meaning of
the phrase, 437.
Ministry, an inspired, necessary, 374.

"Ministry," meaning of the term, 452.
Miseries of the unconverted Jews, 299.
put'icus, 466.
" More than conquerors," import of the
phrase, 269.
Morus, 319.
" Motions of sins," meaning of the
phrase, 124.
"Much more" (ch. v. 16), affirmative,
not argumentative, 76.
Musculus, 319.
" Mystery," meaning of the phrase, 407 ;
reference of the word, 619.
Narcissus, 596.
Neander, 592.
Nereus, 598.
" Newness of spirit," meaning of the
phrase, 126.
Newton, John, 175, 176.
" Night far spent — day at hand," mean
ing and reference of the phrase, 501.
voyas, 82.
Nonnus, 92.
Nordheinier, 334.
" Not of works, but of Him who calleth,"
import of the phrase, 327.
" Not slothful in business," meaning of
the phrase, 461.
"Not willingly," meaning and reference
of the phrase, 232.
Obadiah, 596.
Obedience, not the ground of justifica
tion, 29 j not perfect, 29; not imper
fect, but sincere, 29.
Obedience, not the means of justifica
tion, 29; not perfect, 29 ; not imper
fect, but sincere, 29.
" Obedience unto righteousness," mean
ing of the phrase, 109.
" Offering up of the Gentiles," meaning
of the phrase, 566.
Office -bearers of the primitive church
supernaturally gifted men, 442.
" Of God," meaning of the phrase, 426.
" Of Israel," how distinguished from
"Israel," 310.
" Oldness of the letter," meaning of the
phrase, 126.
Olshausen, ix, xiv, 101, 114, 319, 462.
Olympas, 598.
" Once," the force of the word in the
phrase, " died to sin once," 96.
orkx, 604.
" Ordained to life," meaning of the
phrase, 138.
Origen referred to, 74, 573, 600.
0$IQ-(jivT0S, 4.
otroi, 91.
Paley referred to, C, 530.
Paley's Hora Paulina, 613.
*«§(£, 448.
Palladius, 400.

INDEX OP PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

631

rxfix^n;, 560.
nifunf.Hu, 82.
Paruell, 481.
Paronomasia, instance of, 448.
" Patience of the Scriptures," meaning
of the phrase, 549.
Patrobas, 598.
*' Paul's Gospel," import of the term,
618.
Peaceableness enjoined, 474.
Peace with God — how connected with
grace, redemption, justification, and
faith, 65.
Peile, xiv.
Pelagius, 324.
K6*Z.*ipuxevoti, 569.
Permanence of the blessings of a justi
fied state, 67.
Persis, 597.
Peschito-Syriac version, 334.
Phebe, a deaconess of the Church of
Cenchrea, 584.
Philologus, 59S.
QiXofroqyoi, 460.
Phlegon, 598.
<po$ws Timlin, 491.
Pilgrim's Progress referred to, 278.
Piscator, 319.
rims tit, meaning of the phrase, 66.
Plato, vii.
" Pleased not himself, Christ," meaning
of the phrase, 546.
" Please our brother for good to edi
fication," meaning of the phrase,
545.
" Please ourselves," meaning of the
phrase, 545.
srX^fij^a., jrA*j£0UTas/, 496.
Tvluf*.0L otylQnrvv*]S, 4.
Political state of Christians at Rome,
483.
" Poli Synopsis" recommended, ix.
Possibility of the conversion of the
Jews, 406.
Power of Paul's writings, 623.
Power of the Gospel exemplified in the
conversion of Paul, 296.
" Powers that be," meaning of the
phrase, 485.
" Power unto salvation," meaning of
the phrase, 7.
Prayer, continued, instant, 465.
Prayers of the Roman Christians soli
cited by the apostle, 576.
" Present your bodies," meaning of the
phrase, 430.
Priestley, Dr, 582.
Primitive churches, state of, 443.
Principalities and powers — what they
are, 273 ; cannot separate Christians
from the love of Christ, 274.
Principle from which all the actions of
Christians should proceed, 518.
Privileges, high, of the Jews as a na
tion, 301.

Probability of the conversion of the
Jews, 466.
" Promises, the," meaning and reference
of the term, 304.
" Prophesy," meaning of the term,
450, 451.
Prophets, the, testimony of, respecting
justification by faith, 51.
" Proportion of faith," meaning of the
phrase, 451, 452.
^^0ffXa.jjt.^kviff9l, 511.
K^otTTa-ris , 587.
" Prove the will of God," meaning of
the phrase, 438.
" Provide for the flesh," meaning of the
phrase, 604.
Psalm xviii. a Messianic Psalm, 557.
Psalm lxix. a Messianic Psalm, 547.
Pseudo-Cato, 607.
" Purpose of God according to elec
tion," meaning of the phrase, 326.
" Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,"
meaning of the phrase, 503.
Pye-Smith, 150; on the person of Christ
referred to, 305.
Qualifications, necessary, of an inter
preter of Scripture, vii.
Quartus, 615.
" Raised up," meaning and reference of
the term, 333.
Rambach referred to, 1 .
" Reasonable service," meaning of the
phrase, 432.
" Receive," import of the word, 511.
" Reckoning faith" to a man, meaning
of the phrase, 50.
" Reckoning faith for righteousness,"
meaning of the phrase, 50.
" Redemption," meaning of the term,
37.
Redemption, the, in Christ Jesus, the
ground of justification, 36.
Rejection of the Gospel not universal,
379.
Rejection of the Jews, final causes of,
391.
Relations, present and future, of man
kind, as divided into Israel and the
Gentiles, to the Divine method of
justification, 356; present, 357; fu
ture, 389.
" Remnant according to the election of
grace," meaning of the phrase, 382.
" Replying against God," meaning of
the phrase, 344 ; unreasonableness of
the thing, 344.
" Resist the power," meaning of the
phrase, 488.
Resurrection, the, how connected with
the Spirit, 209.
Resurrection of Christ, influence on jus
tification, 262.
Revenge forbidden, 472, 475.

632

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

Revival of sin, meaning of the phrase,
136, 137.
" Riches of wisdom and knowledge,"
meaning of the phrase, 422.
" Righteousness of faith" described,
367.
" Righteousness of God" " by the faith
of Christ," 31.
" Righteousness of God," meaning and
reference of the phrase, 9; general
view of, 25 ; statements of conclusions
respecting, 27.
" Righteousness of God, the," great sub
ject of the Gospel, 6; of the Epistle
to the Romans, 6.
Righteousness of God " without the
law," 27.
" Righteousness of God" witnessed by
the law and the prophets, 30.
" Righteousness of the law" described,
367.
" Righteousness of the law, to fulfil
the," meaning of the phrase, 197.
Ritchie, Dr David, 133.
Robinson, 435.
" Robinson's Lexicon of the New Tes-
ment" recommended, ix.
Romans, Epistle to the, plan of, and
great divisions, 1, 2.
Romans, Epistle to the, introduction
of, 5.
Romans, Epistle to the, practical part
of, 429.
Ruckert, 1, 114.
Rufus, 598.
Ruinart's Acta Martyrum quoted, 592.
Rutherford, Samuel, extracts from his
letters, 268.
" Saints," import of the term, 466.
Salutation, apostolic, to the Romans, 3.
Salutations from Christians at Corinth
to Christians at Rome, 609.
Salutations from the apostle, 587.
Salutations, lists of, reasons for inserting
in the Holy Scriptures, 589.
" Salvation, our," meaning and refer
ence of the term, 499.
Sanctification the evidence of justifica
tion, 200.
" Saved by hope," meaning of the
phrase, 237.
Schumann on Genesis referred to, 314.
" Sealed," import of the word, 574.
" Seed of Abraham," how distinguished
from his children, 311.
Self-conceit forbidden, 472.
Seneca, viii.
Separation from the love of God, what
it is, 265 ; complete — partial, 265.
Separation of Christians from the love
of God in Christ impossible, 263.
Septuagint, 334, 338.
" Servants of righteousness," meaning
of the phrase, 110.

" Service of God, the," meaning of the
phrase, 303.
"Severity of God" manifested in the
judgments on the unbelieving Jews,
403.
Sexes, peculiar relation of the, in Orien
tal countries, 586.
" Simple," meaning of the term, 607.
Sin and righteousness — guilt and justi
fication, opposite and influential states,
108.
" Sin," can it separate from the love of
Christ? 276.
" Sin," does it work for the believer's
good? 247.
Sin, dominion of, what it is, 105.
" Sin entered into the world," meaning
of the phrase, 74.
" Sinfulness of sin," meaning of the
phrase, 147.
Sin, how it deceives by the command
ment, 139 ; how it slays by it, 140.
Sin, natural history of, 88.
" Sin that dwelleth in me," meaning of
the expression, 164, 165.
ffxoivS«X», 604.
" Sleep, to awake out of," force of the
expression, 498.
" Sold under sin," meaning of the
phrase, 160.
" Sons of God, manifestation of," mean
ing of the phrase, 229.
Sorrow, the apostle's deep, for his
brethren, 286.
Sosipater, 611.
Sovereignty, a leading character of the
Divine administration, 328.
Spain, purpose of the apostle to visit,
572 ; doubtful whether ever executed,
573.
" Spared not," import of the phrase,
256, 257.
Speculations on the Divine purposes
hazardous, 355.
" Spirit, first fruits of the," meaning and
reference of the phrase, 235.
" Spirit of adoption," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 214.
" Spirit of bondage," meaning of the
phrase, 213.
" Spirit of Christ," meaning of the ex
pression, 206.
" Spirit of deep sleep," meaning of the
expression, 385.
" Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," mean
ing of the phrase, 188.
" Spirit," " things of the," " to mind
the," meaning of the phrases, 203.
" Spiritual," meaning of the term as re
ferred to the law, 160.
Stachys, 594.
" Stand," meaning of the term, 67.
" Stands," meaning of the term in re
ference to the Divine purpose, 328.
Stanley, 605.

INDEX OF PRINCIPAL MATTERS.

633

Strong Christians not to despise the
weak, 514.
ffi/pipvTOt, 92.
Stuart, Moses, ix, xiv, 1, 245, 277, 298,
305,427,601.
" Stumbling stone," meaning and refer
ence of the expression, 360.
Subjection due to magistrates, its na
ture and limits, 484; reasons for,
485, 488.
" Subject to vanity," meaning of the
phrase, 231.
" Submission to the righteousness of
God," force of the expression, 364.
" Sufferings and glories of the Mes-
- siah," referred to, 557.
Sufferings of Christians' fellowship with
Christ, 223; preparatory to their
being glorified together with Him, 223.
Suicer, 586, 600.
Swearing, formula of, 291.
Sympathy, a Christian duty, 468.
Systematic mode of operation of the
apostle, 570.
" Taking occasion by the command
ment," meaning of the phrase, 139.
T« p.v) 0VT0Ct 448.
T« CVTO.. 448.
Targum of Jonathan, 334.
roc rou vopcev, 16.
Taylor, Dr John, of Norwich, 133.
Terms of communion, 507.
Terrot, 319.
Tertius, is he the same as Silas ? 613.
Tertullian, 474, 600.
Testimony of the spirit of adoption,
215, 216.
" The church in the house," meaning
otthe phrase, 591.
" The God of peace," meaning of the
phrase, 581.
Theodoret referred to, 74, 114, 333.
Theophylact referred to, 4, 114.
" The word in thy mouth and in thy
heart," meaning of the phrase, 369.
Things present and things to come,
what they are, 274 ; cannot separate
Christians from the love of Christ,
274.
Tholuck referred to, ix, xiv, 1, 14, 114.
" Through God," meaning of the phrase,
426.
Times, distinction of, question concern
ing, 516.
Timothy, abstract of his history, 610.
" To do the things of the law," meaning
of the phrase, 16.
" To God," meaning of the phrase, 426.
ro vrovvi^ov, 458.
tu <*y«0a», 458.
Transformation, spiritual, how obtained,
152.
" Tribulation," reference of the term,
464.

" Tribute," meaning and reference of
the term, 492, 493.
Tryphena, 597.
Tryphosa, 597.
Turner, ix.
vloSio-ix, 214.
Unanimity, a Christian duty, 470.
Unbelief of the Jews, its influence on
the conversion of the Gentiles, 393.
" Under law," meaning of the phrase,
108 ; import of it, in reference to the
innocent, 106; in reference to the
guilty, 106.
Union, prospects of, among Christians.
602.
Union with Christ secures sanctifica
tion, how, 88.
Universal necessity, suitableness, and
sufficiency, characters of the Divine
method of justification, 41.
Unregenerate, misery of, 139.
" Until the law," meaning of the phrase,
75.
iiffefAovi), 550.
Urban, 594.
Vatable, 333.
Varro's character, by Cicero, applicable
to Paul, ii.
" Vessel unto dishonour," meaning of
the phrase, 349.
" Vessels of mercy," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 352 ; prepara
tion of, 353.
" Vessels of wrath," meaning and re
ference of the phrase, 352 ; prepara
tion of, 353.
" Vessel unto honour," meaning of the
phrase, 349.
Vinet, 539.
Virgil, 173, 605.
Von Heugel, 91.
" Walk honestly," meaning of the
phrase, 502.
Wardlaw on the Socinian Controversy
referred to, 305.
" Ways of God," meaning of the phrase,
423.
Weak Christians not to judge the
strong, 514.
" Weak in the faith," meaning of the
phrase, 510.
Whately's eulogium on Paul's writings,
xiv, xv.
Whately on the use to be made of the
lvffvii,T«. of Paul, vi.
Will of God, distinguishing properties
of, 438.
Wilson, 601.
Winer's Grammar of Greek Idioms re
commended, ix.
" Without repentance," meaning of the
expression, 413.

634

INDEX OF TEXTS.

" Without the law," meaning of the
phrase, 134.
" Word and deed," import of the phrase,
568.
" Word of God," equivalent to, promise
of God, 309.
" World," meaning and reference of the
phrase, 435.

Worldly character, various forms of, 436.
" Works of darkness," meaning of the
phrase, 502 ; what to cast them of, 502.
" Wrath, for," meaning of the phrase,
490.
" Zeal of God," meaning of the phrase,
362.

II.— PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE QUOTED OR
REMARKED ON.

Pane

Page

Genesis ii. 8 ; iv. 7 ; vi. 5, 12, 13, 82

Joshua i. 1,

3

... iii. 15, .

608

... vi. 17, 18; vii. 1, 11

12, 13,

... iii. 17, .

232

15, .

294

... iv. 10, .

234

vi. 5,
162
Judges ii. 8,
3
xii. 7; xiii. 14-17; 2
:vii.
2-21,
311
2 Samuel viii. 14,
315
... xv. 6. .
xxiii. 5,
118
xix. 3, .
526
xx. 7,
451
1 Kings xviii. 3, 12,
596
xxi. 12,
312
xix. 10,
381
xxv. 23,
314
xxxi. 20, 25
160
xxvi. 3, 4, 24, .
313
xxix. 31-33,
316
2 Kings viii. 20, 22,
315
xvii. 7-23,
319
Exodus vii. 1,
451
xxii. 4, .
574
... ix.16, .
333
xix. 5, .
412
1 Chronicles ii. 7,
294
xix. 6, .
4
xii. 32,
498
xxii. 29 ; xxiii. 19,
397
2 Chronicles xxv. 9,
406
Leviticus iv. 3, .
193
xxviii. 5, 6, 7,
17,18;
xvii. 5,
431
xxix. 8. .
321
xviii. 5,
367
xxix. 21, 22,
431
ii. 14-16; xxiii. 10-21
397
xxvi. 34,
234
Nehemiah ii. 10,
603
Numbers viii. 8,
193
Job xiv. 18, 19, .
231
xv. 19, 20,
397
... xvi. 11,
420
xvi. 3,
4
... xix. 23-25, .
290
xvi. 5,
381
... xxxvii. 13, .
424
... xxxix. 16, .
338
Deuteronomy iv. 32, 33, 36,
303
... xl. 4.
161
vii. 6, 7, .
412
... xii. 3 LXX, 11 E. V,
426
... vii. 26; xiii. 17; xs
. 17, 294
xviii. 19; xxviii.
32, 308
Psalm i. 6,
161
xxi. 15,
316
... ii. 7; xcviii. 3,
620
xxii. 5,
502
... xviii. 49,
557
xxvi. 1-15,
397
... xix. 4,
377
xxx. 11-14,
367
... xix. 1; xcvi. 11, 12
xcviii.
xxxii. 19; xxxiii.
3, 4
7,8; cxiv. 3-6,
234
... xxxii. 21, .
377
... xxii. 27, .
408
xxxii. 35, .
477
... xxxi. 8, in the LXX,
420
xxxii. 40-43,
478
... xxxix. (LXX) 6,
193
xxxii. 43, .
557
... xxxi. 19; xliv. 22,
267
INDEX OF TEXTS.

635

Page

rs

aim xiv. 7,

409

Jeremiah iv. 22.

608

1. 15,
.. lxviii. 18,

465275

xvii. 9,
xviii. 1-6,

160
348

.. lxix. 22, 23,

308

xxiii. 6,
30
lxix. 4,
385
xxiii. 28,
452
lxix. 31, .
431
xxxi. 34,
410
.. lxxiii. 22,
169
xxxi. 35-37, .
414
.. lxxxiv. 11,
248
1. 34, .
478
.. xci. 13, .
609
.. cii. 13-18,
602
Ezekiel xxxvii. 10.
396
ev. 15,
451
.. cvi. 5,
251
Daniel
ix. 24,
44
. . cvi. 12 ; cxix. 25,
309
.. cxvii. 1, .
557
Hosea
i. 10 ; li. 23,
319
.. cxix. 72, 92, 140,
170
viii. 4,
161
.. cxxii. 6-9,
603
.. cxxxii. 10,
3
Joel ii.
32,
371
.. cxl vii. 19, 20,
18
... iii
.4,
426
Proverbs iv. 18,
248
Amos
ii. 2,
381
... v.4, .
473
xii. 21,
247
Micah
ii. 12, 13,
602
xiii. 24,
316
Habakkuk iii. 10,
234
Ecclesiastes ix. 12,
607
Haggai ii. 7,
230
Isaiah vii. 11,
275
... viii. 14; xxviii. 16,
361
Zechariah ii. 8, .
478
... ix. 6,
306
viii. 19,
603
... ix. 33 ; xxviii. 16,
371
xiv. 11,
294
... x. 22,23, .
320
... xi. 10,
657
Matthew i. 1,
305
... xi. 13, 14,
536
iv. 10, .
5
... xiii. 3,
399
v. 9, .
603
... xvii. 11, .
198
v. 43, 44,
468
... xxvii. 9, .
410
v. 44, .
479
... xxix. 10, .
214
v. 44, .
446
... xxix. 10; vi. 9, .
308
vii. 12,
496
... xxix. 10, .
385
vii. 20,
524
... xxix. 16; xiv. 9, .
346
vii. 23,
161
... xxxii. 15-20,
603
viii. 11, 12,
378
... xxxviii. 16,
334
viii. 11, 12; xxi. 40,43,
44;
... xl. 13, 14,
425
xxiii. 33,
296
... xiii. 21, .
27
x. 37, .
316
. . xiv. 21, .
262
xiii. 14,
385
... xiv. 23, .
522
xv. 24,
555
... xlvi. 10, .
251
xvi. 3,
498
... xiv. 24, 25; xlvi. 12;
li. 6, 8, 44
xviii. 6,
478
,.. 1.7,8, .
261
xix. 19,
495
... 1. 11,
199
xix. 29,
467
... li. 4-8; lx. 1, 2, .
501
xxii. 3i,
4
... li. 4-6; Iii. 7, 10,
375
xxiii. 3,
446
... Iii. 15,
569
xxiii. 8,
471
... liii. 5,
122
xxv. 5,
499
... liii. 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12,
30
xxv. 46,
231
... liii. 10, 11,
251
xxvi. 13,
593
... Iv. 1-3, .
118
xxviii. 19,
556
... Iv. 11,
576
xxviii. 19,
566
... lix. 20, 21,
409
xxviii. 18,
262
... lix., Ix.,
409
xxviii. 19,
620
... lxiv. 4,
240
... Ixv. 1,2, .
378
Mark
v. 12,
385
... lxvi. 21. .
379
...
viii. 31,
295
... lxvi. 22, .
232
...
xiii. 37, .
446
636

INDEX OF TEXTS.

Page

Page

Mark xvi. 16,

50G

Actsx. 44-48; xi. 15-18;

xv. 7-11, 615

xvi. 15,

556

... x. 47; xi. 15, 17; xv

8, 9,' 553

... xvi. 15,

620

... xiii. 1,

596

... xvi. 16, .

296

... xiii. 1,

611

... xiii. 14-48; xxviii. 17-28, . 392
Luke i. 6,
432
... xiii. 39,
260
... i. 74, 75, .
127
... xiv; xvi. 1, 2, 3,
610
... i. 78.
275
... xiv. 22,
472
... ii. 32,
556
... xv. 3; xvii. 14, 15;
xx. 3S;
... vi. 46,
446
xxi. 5, .
573
... viii. 4,
537
... xv. 14,
378
... viii. 10,
385
... xv. 14,
556
... viii. 15,
550
... xv. 27,
637
... viii. 15; xxi. 19, .
68
... XV, .
558
... xi. 42,
264
... xv. 22, 27, 34, 40 ; xvi. 19, 25,
... xi. 50, 51; xxi. 22,
296
29; xvii. 4, 10; xviii. 5, 613
... iii. 13; xiii, 2,
448
... xvi. 15, 31, 34,
595
... xiv. 10,
35
... xvi. 25,
268
... xiv. 26,
316
... xvii. 5-9, 11,
611
... xviii. 1,
465
... xvii. 12,
587
... xviii. 13, .
416
... xvii. 30,
498
... xxiv. 47,
555
... xvii. 31,
263
... xvii. 32,
4
John i. 29,
194
... xviii. 1-4, 16,
590
... ii. 17 ; xix. 28,
547
... xviii. 2, 3, 11,
589
... iii. 18; v. 24,
260
... xviii. 14; xix. 35;
xxi. 31 ;
... iii. 18; v. 24,
184
xxiii. 12-23; xxv.
pass., 489
... iv. 22,
401
... xviii. 12-17, 24-28; xix. 30-35, 591
... iv. 23,
432
... xviii. 27, .
511
... v. 41, 44; xii. 43, .
35
... xviii. 27, .
584
... v. 42,
264
... xix. 29; xx. 4,
614
... viii. 44,
67
... xxi. 13, 20,
678
... viii. 33,
113
... xx. 22-24; xxi, 20,
577
... viii. 39,
294
... xxii. 21,
395
... x. 28, 29, .
268
... xxii. 21 ; xxvi. 18,
566
... x. 28-30, .
277
... xxiii. 14,
294
... xii. 25,
316
... xxiv. 14 ; xxvi. 7, .
5
' ... xii. 40,
3S5
... xxiv. 17,
674
... xiii. 1-17, .
471
... xxiv. 21,
4
... xiv. 19,
96
... xxv. 19,
530
... xv. 5,
27
... xxv. 22,
294
... xv. 8,
554
... xxvi. 9,
541
... xvi. 2,
433
... xxvi. 23, .
4
... xvi. 33,
472
... xxvii. 33, .
75
... xvii. 1, 4, 5,
554
... xxviii. 15, .
581
... xvii. 19, .
195
... xvii. 2,
553
Romans i. 5,
446
... xvii. 21,
602
... i. 20, .
229
... xvii. 22,
253
... i. 25, .
5
... xvii. 24,
464
... i. 18, 28,
.. ii. 4=, .
'. 422
Acts ii. 10,
594
... iii. 18, .
488
... ii. 22,
295
... iii. 24, .
261
... ii. 29,
304
... iv. 11, 12, 13, .
310
... ii. 30,
51
... iv. 16, .
311
... ii. 33; v. 31,
196
... iv. 21; xi. 23; xiv
. 4, 618
... iii. 25, 26, .
555
iii. 26 ; iv. 25, .
262
... iv. 34, 35; xi. 27-30,
467
... v. 3^5,
270
... v. 38, 39, .
534
... v. 8, .
122
... v. 41,
699
vi. 6,
195
... vi. 1-7,
452
... vi. 17, .
439
... vii. 7, 42, .
5
vii. 3, .
113
... ix. 9,
147
vi. 14; viii. 1, 28
35-39 ;
... x. 36,
202
xvi. 20,
463
INDEX OF TEXTS.

637

Romans viii. 12, 13,
viii. 26 ; xv. 4,
ix. 4, .
ix. 5,
ix. 32, .
xi. 13, .
xi. 16 ; xvi. 5,
xiii. 14,
xiv. 4, .
xiv. 5, .
xiv. 8, .
xiv. 8, .
xv. 15, 16,
1 Corinthians i. 9,
i. 14,

i. 26,
i. 30,
i. 30,
i. 30,
i. 30, 31, .
ii. 8, 10, .
ii. 10,
ii. 14,
iii. 1, 2, 6,
iii. 1, 3, .
iii. 10,
iii. 11,
iii. 21-23,
iv. 9-13, .
vi. 8,
vi. 20,
vi. 20,
vii. 29, .
viii. 1-4; ix. 1-4,
viii. 13, .
x. 11,
x. 12; xv. 1,
x. 17 ; xii. 27,
x. 33,
xi. 23 ; xv. 1,
xi. 29,
iii. 5 ; xii. 5, 9, 10.
xii. 3; xvi. 22,
xii. 4-12, .
xii. 7, 11, .
xii. 9,
xii. 29, .
xiv. 33, .
xv. 3,
xv! 8* 4, 25,
xv. 10, .
xv. 12, 13, 21, 42.
xv. 20, .
xv. 49, .
xv. 58, .
xvi. 1-4, .
xvi. 3, 4, .
xvi. 14, .
xvi. 19; 2
iv. 19,
xvi. 20, .
xvi. 21, .

Page 506 68
433
262 28
452 235250
406448431272446 249614
587 151184295199
451 620216
111 159
446117 54
266497
431 520499467538549 67
586545619 488
452294 442
447
447, 450447 582 149194
262164 4
235250 68
574574540

Timothy

591 600614

2 Corinthians i. 5,

269

i. 7; iv. 14,

68

iii. 1; viii. 18-

24, 584

iii. 17,

214

iii. 18,

295

iv. 1,

452

iv. 16,

169

iv. 17; v. 1,8

463

iv. 17, .

225

v. 14,

620

v. 17,

437

v. 18,

199

v. 19, 21, .

153

v. 21,

184

vi. 8,

35

vi. 10,

293

viii. 1-4; ix. '.

J, . 574

viii. 20, .

575

ix. 8,

406

ix. 12-14, .

579

x. 11,

537

xi.,

294

xi. 30; xii. 5,

9, 10, 241

xiii. 11, .

582

xiii. 12, .

600

xiii. 14, .

264

Galatians i. 8, 9,

294

ii. 2, 7,

618

ii. 7, 8,

395

ii. 9, .

446

ii. 9, 10,

573

ii. 19, 20,
153
ii. 20, .
164
iii. 6-9,
56
iii. 9, .
612
iii. 10,
20
iii. 13, 14,
." 195
iii. 13, 14,
207
iii. 9, 16, 29, .
310
iii. 26,
459
iii. 22, 23,
420
iv. 5, .
312
iv. 6, .
244
iv. 10,
516
iv. 13-15; vi. 10,
614
v.4, .
67
v. 10, .
488
.. v. 17, .
166
v. 17, .
171
v. 22, .
560
v. 24i .
505
Ephesians i. 4, 5 ; ii. 3, .
260
i. 5, 7, 9,
36
i. 7, .
194
i. 7 ; ii. 11, .
422
i. 14, .
236
i. 22,23; iv. 12:
v. 30, 586
i. 23; ii. 16, .
121
ii. 3, .
184
ii. 2,3,
435, 436
ii. 10.
534
ii. 14-18,
556
638

INDEX OF TEXTS.

Page

Page
Ephesians ii. 20; iv. 11,
451
2 Thessalonians i. 11, ¦
251
iii. 3-5,
620
ii. 14, .
249
iii. 6, .
612
iii. 5, .
264
iii. 8, .
446
iii. 5, .
68
iii. 16, 17, .
169
iii. 16,
582
iii. 19,
264
iii. 17,
614
iii. 20,
406
iii. 20,
618
1 Timothy i. 13, 15,
541
iv. 7, .
447
i. 16,
416
iv. 9, 10,
275
i. 16,
65
iv. 11, 12,
441
ii. 6,
556
iv. 16,
450
iii. 8, 12,
452
iv. 22,
505
iii. 9,
551
v. 14,
498
iii. 15,
4
v. 27,
251
iii. 14 ; iv. 14,
610
vi. 13,
67
iii. 16,
iv. 3-5,
4
526
Philippians i. 1,
452
iv. 12,
530
i. 6 ; ii. 13,
534
ii. 12 ; iii. 8 ; v. 9, 1(
), 585
i. 20,
519
vi. 12,
249
i. 24,
205
i. 19, 25, .
243
2 Timothy i. 6; ii. 2, 14; iv. 5,
610
i. 29,
597
... i.3, .
295
ii. 1,.
580
... i. 3, .
5
ii. 3-8,
529
... i.7, .
214
ii. 5; iii. 21,
250
i. 9, .
249
ii. 4-8,
549
... i. 13,
551
ii. 6-11,
305
ii. 8, .
618
ii. 13,
161
ii. 12,
253
ii. 15,
4
iii. 2,
472
iii. 3,
5
iii. 15-17, .
549
iii. 6,
136
iii. 8, 9, 13, 14,
278
Titus i. 6,
595
iii. 9,
44
... ii. 11-14,
434
iii. 9.
78
... ii. 13, 14,
520
iii. 19,
436
... ii. 13,
306
iii. 11, 20, 21,
463
... ii. 14,
195
iv. 9,
582
... ii. 15,
530
iv. 21, 22, .
615
... iii. 3,
... iii. 4-8,
503
Colossians i. 5, .
463
... iii. 5,
416
i. 14, 15,
262
i. 15, .
229
Hebrews i.3,.
305
i. 15, 17,
305
i. 4, 9; iii. 3, .
448
i. 18, .
251
ii. 10, .
225
i. 22 ; ii. 14, .
122
ii. 17; v. 1,
567
i. 24, .
586
iii. 3, .
75
ii. 13,
261
iii. 16, .
375
iii. 4, .
253
v. 12-14,
564
iii. 5, .
505
v. 13, 14,
111
iv. 18,
614
vi. 2, .
4
... vi. 11, 12,
464
1 Thessa
lonians i. 4,
86
vi. 11, 12,
560
i. 5; iv. 5, r
464
... vi. 18, .
151
ii. 2, .
249
... vii. 25, .
263
ii. 6, .
35
vii. 26, 27,
96
ii. 15, 16,
353
viii. 12; ix. 11-23,
261
iv. 3, .
438
... ix. 1, .
303
iv. 15,
446
ix. 1, 6,
433
v. 23, .
582
ix. 14, .
5
v. 26,
600
ix. 14, .
x. 6, 8, 18,
4
193
2 Thessa
lonians i. 6,
207
x. 10, .
122
i. 6-10,
478
x. 36 ; x
ii. 1,
68
INDEX OF TEXTS.

639

Hebrews ii. 7 ; x. 23 ; xii. 1, .

Page 465

2 Peter i. 19,

Page 550

x. 25, . .

498

... iii. 5, 10, 13,

232

xi. 6, .

541

xi. 19, .

92

1 John i. 7,

194

xi. 32, .

304

... i. 7,

262

xii. 1, .

550

... i. 9,

196

xii. 1, .

503

... i. 11,

555

xii. 6-8,

270

... ii. 2,

556

xii. 14,

118

ii. 5; iii. 16; iv. 9; v.

3, 264

xiii. 20,

262

... ii. 16,

435

xiii. 22,

537

... ii. 21,

564

... iii. 1,2,10; v. 1,
4
James i. 3, 4 ; v. 11,
68
... iii. 9,
165
... i. 3, 4, 12,
270
.... iii. 2,
463
.. i. 13,
295
... iii. 2; iv. 17,
250
.. ii. 1-7, .
471
... iii. 16, 17,
101
.. iv. 12,
260
... v. 10,
66
.. iv. 15; v. 16,
579
... v. 11,
100
.. v. 4,
234
... v. 20,
306
.. v. 15,
334
2 John 2,
470
1 Peter i. 2,
250
... i. 4,
267
3 John 9,
470
... i.5,
268
... 5-8,
614
... i..7,
225
... 6,7,
573
... i. 12,
550
... 3,9,10, .
584
... i. 14, 15 ; iv. 2, 3,
503
... i. 14, 18,
437
Jude 20, 21, 24, 25,
278
... i. 21,
262
... 24, .
406
... ii. 2,
433
... 24, .
618
... ii. 9,
4
... ii. 17, .
494
Revelation i. 5, 6,
200
... ii. 23, .
477
i. 5, 6,
269
... ii. 24 ; iii. 18, .
194
i. 16,
551
... ii. 24, .
121
ii. 2; iii. 10,
68
... ii. 24, .
195
ii. 5,
67
... iii. 16, .
474
iii. 14,
229
... iii. 18, .
99
iii. 21; xxii. 5,
253
... iii. 18, .
4
v. 6,
263
. iv. 1-6,
159
v. 12, 13, .
306
... iv. 1, 2,
98
vi. 9-11,
478
... iv. 10, 11,
454
vii. 9,
597
v. 14.
600
vii. 14, 15, .
195
xii. 10,
501
2 Peter i. 5-11 .
259
THE END.
MURKAV ANb GIBB, PniNTEKS, EBINBUBGIt.
ERRATA.

Page 275, line 11 from the foot, for play-string, read plaything.
Page 355, line 19 from the foot, for consolatory, read elementary.
Page 597, line 10, for evil, read toil.

7681