__________________________________________________________________ Title: Romans Verse-by-Verse Creator(s): Newell, William R. (1868-1956) CCEL Subjects: All; Bible LC Call no: BS2665.N43 LC Subjects: The Bible New Testament Special parts of the New Testament Pauline Epistles __________________________________________________________________ ROMANS VERSE-BY-VERSE WILLIAM R. NEWELL __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER ONE Apostolic Introduction. Verses 1-7. Personal Greetings, and Expressions of Desire to See and to Preach to Saints in Rome. Verses 8-15. Great Theme of the Epistle: The Gospel the Power of God,--Because of the By-Faith-Righteousness Revealed Therein. Verses 16-17. The World's Danger: God's Wrath Revealed Against Human Sin. Verses 18-20. The awful Course of Man's Sin, and Man's Present State, Related and Described. Verses 21-32. 1 Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated unto God's good news, 2 which He before promised through His prophets in (the) holy Scriptures, 3 concerning His Son: who was born of David's seed according to the flesh, 4 who was declared the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead,--Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we received grace and apostleship, for obedience of faith among all the nations for His name's sake; 6 among whom are ye also,--called as Jesus Christ's: 7 to all those who are in Rome beloved of God, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 1: PAUL--We see Paul's name standing alone here--no Silas, Timothy or other brother with him. For Paul is himself Christ's apostle unto the Gentiles, the declarer, as here in Romans, of the gospel for this dispensation. Also, in revealing the heavenly character, calling, and destiny of the Church as the Body and Bride of Christ, and as God's House, as in Ephesians, Paul stands alone. When essential doctrines and directions are being laid down, no one is associated with the apostle in the authority given to him, We dare not glory in a man, not even in Paul, whose life and ministry are by far the most remarkable of those of any human being. [1] Yet our Lord Jesus said: "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth him that sent Me" (John 13:20). And Paul was especially sent to us Gentiles. At the first council of the Church, recorded in Acts 15, "They who were of repute" (in the church in Jerusalem), said Paul, "saw that I had been intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision" (Gal. 2:7). Throughout church history, to depart from Paul has been heresy. To receive Paul's gospel and hold it fast, is salvation,--"By which (gospel) ye are saved, if ye hold fast the very word I preached unto you" (I Cor. 15:1, 2 margin), A bondservant of Jesus Christ--Paul was bondservant before he was apostle. Saul of Tarsus' first words, as he lay in the dust in the Damascus road, blinded by the glory of Christ's presence, were, "Who art thou, Lord?" And when there came the voice, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest," his next words were, "What shall I do, Lord?"--instant, utter surrender! It is deeply instructive to mark that although our Lord said, "No longer do I call you bondservants, but friends"; yet, successively, Paul, James, Peter, Jude and John (Re 1:1), name themselves bondservants (Greek; douloi),--and that with great delight! It is the "service of perfect freedom"--deepest of all devotions, that of realized redemption and perfected love. [2] Paul next names himself a called apostle, or "apostle by calling." Three times in these first seven verses the word "called" occurs, and three times more in the Epistle this great word is written: Chapter 8:28, 30 (twice). Compare Paul's three other uses of the word: I Cor. 1:2, 9, 24; and Jude's: Jude 1; and the one other occurrence: Re 17:14. "Called" means designated and set apart by an action of God to some special sphere and manner of being and of consequent activity. In the sixth verse of our chapter, the saints are described in the words "called as Jesus Christ's." They were given to Him by the Father (John 17), and connected with Him before their earth-history: "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world"; and in the seventh verse we read that they are "called as saints," or "saints by calling," which does not at all mean that they were invited to become saints--a Romish doctrine! But that they were saints by divine sovereign calling; holy ones, having been washed in Christ's blood; and having been created in Christ Jesus. It was their mode of being; even as the holy angels did not become angels by a process of holiness, but were created into the angelic sphere and manner of being. Such is the meaning of the word "called" with Paul. [3] Separated unto God's good news--This expression is explained further in Galatians 1:15: "God separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the nations." In like manner were born Moses, who Stephen says was "fair unto God," --that is, manifestly marked out to be used by God (Acts 7:20, R. V., margin); and John the Baptist, of whom Gabriel said, that he would be "filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb . . . to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for Him." Likewise were Jacob, Samson, Samuel, and Jeremiah separated even before birth to an appointed calling. The sovereignty of God is thus seen at the very beginning of this great Epistle. And how well Paul carried out his separation to this high calling, the gospel, the good news about Christ! Yet there are those today, even today, who in ignorance and pride affect to despise the words of this great apostle,--as Peter [4] warns, "to their own destruction" (II Peter 3:16). Now as to this "good news of God," we see in our passage two great facts: First, that it is God's good news. Mark this well! It was God who loved the world; it was God who sent His Son. Note our Lord's continual insistence on this in the gospel of John (19 times!). Christ said constantly "I am not come of Myself, but My Father sent Me." It is absolutely necessary that we keep fast in mind, as we read in Romans the awful facts about ourselves, that it is God who is leading us up to His own good news for bad sinners! Second, (verse 2), that the good news was promised through His prophets in holy Scriptures--These are the Old Testament Scriptures, [5] with promises, types, and direct prophecies of good news to come, both to Israel and to the nations, concerning His Son. We shall find in Romans 3:21 that there is revealed "a righteousness of God" which had been "witnessed by the law and the prophets": witnessed by the law, in that it provided sacrifices and a way of forgiveness for those who failed in its observance; and witnessed by the prophets directly in such passages as these: "By the knowledge of Himself shall my righteous Servant [Christ] make many righteous" (Isa. 53:11); and, "This is His name whereby He shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness" (Jer. 23:6; 33:16); and again, "The righteous shall live by faith" (Hab. 2:4). Verses 3 and 4: Concerning His Son--Specifically (a) that He died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (b) that He was buried, (c) that He hath been raised the third day according to the Scriptures, (d) that He appeared to various witnesses. The good news Paul preached is therefore scientifically specific, and must be held in our minds in its accuracy, as it lay in that of the apostle. (See I Cor. 15:3-8) These great facts concerning Christ's death, burial, and resurrection are the beginning of the gospel; as Paul says: "I delivered unto you (these) first of all." [6] The gospel is all about Christ. Apart from Him, there is no news from heaven but that of coming woe! Read that passage in I Corinthians 15:3-5: "I make known unto you the gospel which I preached unto you: that Christ died, Christ was buried; Christ hath been raised; Christ was seen." It is all about the Son of God! This is the record of Paul's first preaching, after "the heavenly vision": "Straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that he is the Son of God" (Acts 9:20). Who was born of David's seed according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead--We have here two things: first, Christ as a Man "according to the flesh"; and as such fulfilling the promises as to "the seed of David"; second, Christ as Son of God, declared so to be with power by His resurrection,--and that "according to the Spirit of holiness," even that holiness in which He had existed and had walked on earth all His life. [7] Christ, the Holy One of God had, "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God," at the cross (Heb. 9:14). God the Father then acted in power and glory, and raised Him (Rom. 6:4, Eph. 1:19, 20 Christ was thus irresistibly, eternally "declared to be the Son of God"! Always when prophesying His death, Christ included His rising again the third day as the proof of all. In his last Epistle (II Tim. 2:8) Paul connects these same two facts about our Lord: "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel." [8] Jesus Christ our Lord--Ten times in Romans Paul uses this title, or, "Our Lord Jesus Christ," that full name beloved by the apostles and all instructed saints from Pentecost onward: for "God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts 2:36). Jesus, His personal name (Matt. 1:21) as Savior; Christ, God's Anointed One to do all things for us; Lord, His high place over us all for whom His work was done; and as, truly, Lord of all things in heaven and earth (Acts 10:36). Verse 5: Through whom we received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations for His name's sake--Personal grace must come before true service. The grace Paul had received concerned both his personal salvation and his service as the great example of divine favor. Paul's own words are the best comment on this: "I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not found vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (I Cor. 15:9, 10); and, "I obtained mercy, that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on Him unto eternal life" (I Tim. 1:16). Paul's apostleship was marked out by the fact that he had "seen Jesus our Lord" (I Cor. 9:1), and by the "signs of an apostle," in "authority," (II Cor. 10:8; 13:10), in "all patience, by signs and wonders and mighty works" (II Cor. 12:12). Though desperately resisted by the Jerusalem Judaizers, he continually insisted, to the glory of God, upon "obedience of faith among all the nations." To obey God's good news, is simply to believe it. There is now a "law of faith" (3:27); and Paul ends this Epistle with this same wonderful phrase: "obedience of faith" (16.26). Paul was not establishing what is now called "the Christian religion"! Having abandoned the only religion God ever gave, that of the Jews, [9] he went forth with a simple message concerning Christ, to be believed by everybody, anybody, anywhere. And all was "for His name's sake" --Christ's. And why not! The Christ of glory had done the work, had "emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross." He was the "propitiation for the whole world" (I John 2:2). We are likely to think of the gospel as something published for our sake only, whereas in fact God is having it published for the sake of His dear Son, Who died. It is sweet to enter into this, as did John: "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake" (I Joh 2:12). Preachers, teachers, and missionaries everywhere, should regard themselves as laboring for Christ's Name's sake, first of all. Verse 6: Among whom are ye also,--called as Jesus Christ's--The saints are connected with Jesus Christ,--"called as of Him"; as we read in Chapter 8:39: Nothing "shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Verse 7: To all that are in Rome, beloved of God, called as saints [10] --Note that while God loved the whole world, it is the saints who are called the "beloved of God." They are His household, His dear children. Sinners should believe that God loved them and gave His Son for them; but saints, that they are the "beloved of God." The unsaved are never named God's "beloved." A man, even, may, and should, love his neighbors: but his wife and children are "his beloved." Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ--Paul uses practically this same form of address over and over;--and he connects grace with peace in his apostolic greeting to all the saints to whom he writes,--as does Peter. Grace is always pronounced as from "God our Father" as the Source, and "our Lord Jesus Christ" as the Channel and Sphere of Divine blessing. Sometimes grace for the Church is considered in the benediction as wholly from Christ, as in I Corinthians 16:23: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you" (see comment on "Rom. 16:20"). For our Lord Jesus Christ is "Head over all things to the Church"; and life and judgment are distinctly said to be in His hands: "That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father" (John 5:21-23). In writing to individuals,--Timothy, Titus, and "the elect lady," (II John 1) Paul and John insert the more personal word, "mercy"; for we are told that we each need mercy (Heb. 4:16). The saints, looked at as a company, have obtained, in general, mercy. Like Israel of old, the Church is now God's sphere of blessing. But each individual--even Paul himself--has need of peculiar mercy (I Cor. 7:25). Words fail to express the blessedness of being thus under God's grace, His eternal favor! Such, such only, have peace. All other "peace" than that extended by God and possessed by the saints, will "break up," as Rutherford says, "at the last, in a sad war." And how wonderful to be of those whose Father is God! to whom the apostle can say in truth, "God our Father." Only those who have received Christ have the right (exousia) to become children (tekna--born ones) of God (John 1:12). Grace and peace are eternally proceeding from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,--through and by whom all blessing comes. 8 First of all, indeed, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ concerning you all, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world! 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the good news of His Son, how unceasingly I make mention of you, 10 always beseeching in my prayers, if by any means at last I may be so prospered in the course of the will of God as to come unto you. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, for your establishing: 12 that is, that I with you may be comforted mutually, through each other's faith, both yours and mine. 13 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come to you (and was hindered until the present time), in order that I might have some fruit in you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 14 To Greeks and to Barbarians both,--both to wise and foolish, I am debtor. 15 So to my very uttermost I am eager to preach the good news to you also in Rome. Verse 8: First of all, indeed, I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ concerning you all--"The apostle pursues the natural course of first placing himself, so to speak, in relation with his readers, and his first point of contact with them is gratitude [11] for their participation in Christianity," says DeWette. Paul is ever thanking God for any grace he found in any saint. He looks at all who are Christ's, through Christ's eyes, because your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Not fathered or founded by any apostle, the assemblies that God had Himself gathered from all quarters into the world's capital [12] had a faith in Christ which was "spoken of," nay, announced as a wonder, throughout the whole Roman Empire. Announced, too, without steamship, without telegraph, without newspapers, without radio! God sees to it that a real work of His Spirit is published abroad, as it was with the Thessalonians: "From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth." So with every real revival: the whole world soon knows about it. Verse 9: Paul made unceasing prayer for these believers. He calls God to witness concerning this, as he frequently does when his soul is most exercised. See II Cor. 1:23; Philippians 1:8; I Thessalonians 2:5, 10. The expression, Whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of His Son, is striking and significant. Those who would make man to consist of but two parts, soul and body, cannot properly explain "spirit and soul and body" (I Thess. 5:23); much less "the dividing asunder of soul and spirit" (Heb. 4:12). The constant witness of Scripture is that man exists as a spirit living in a body, possessed of a soul. Paul's service to God was in his spirit, and therefore in the Holy Spirit, and never "soulical" (not psychikos, but pneumatikos-- I Cor. 2:14; Jude 19, Jas. 3:15. Paul did not depend on music, or architecture, or oratory, or rhetoric. He did not hold "inspirational" meetings to arouse the emotions to mystic resolves. He served God directly, in his spirit. It was the truth in the Holy Ghost he ministered, and the results were "that which is of the Spirit." The spirits of his hearers were born again; and the Spirit witnessed to their spirits that they were born-ones of God. Thus it was that Paul spoke of God's "witness" to him: it was to his spirit God witnessed. Furthermore, his serving was not by outward forms, as in Judaism, but in intelligent service (see 12.1), that is, knowing God and Christ directly by the Holy Ghost. Verse 10: Paul was pleading with God to bring him, in His good time, to these Roman Christians. His prayers, subject to God's will, always tended to this: unceasingly . . . always beseeching . . . to come unto you. Verse 11: His knowledge that he could through the marvelous message entrusted to him, impart unto them some spiritual gift, for their establishing, was the root of his deep longing to come to them. "Spiritual gift" does not refer to the "gifts" of I Corinthians 12; but to such operation of the Holy Spirit when Paul with his message should come among them, as would enlarge and settle them in their faith. In the words "some spiritual gift," "we see not only the apostle's modesty, but an acknowledgment that the Romans were already in the faith, together with an intimation that something was still wanting in them"--(Lange). Paul knew that there was in him by the grace of God peculiar apostolic power, by both his presence and the ministry of the Word, to "impart a gift" (Greek, charisma), or spiritual blessing. "I know that, when I come to you, I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of Christ," he says later (15:29). So it has been in their measure with all the great men of God, the Augustines, the Chrysostoms, the Luthers, the Calvins, the Knoxes, the great Puritans, the Wesleys, the Whitefields; and, even in our own memory, the Finneys and Darbys and Moodys, as well as the Torreys and the Chapmans; who, by their very presence, through the spirit of faith that God had given them, and through the anointing of the Spirit conferred upon them, have in a wondrous way banished the spirit of unbelief in great audiences; and made it easy for the saints to run rapidly in the way of the Lord; to become, as Paul says, "mutually comforted," the preacher and the saints together, each by the other's faith; with the result that saints became established, in the truth and in their walk, as they had not been before. We today, also, have the written Word and the blessed Spirit of God. We have, in the power of that Spirit, through these wonderful epistles written direct to us, the very words and power of the apostle. As he says to the Corinthians, "For I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present judged," etc. (5:3). For all who are willing to hearken to God, who gave Paul to be the minister of the Church, the body of Christ; and the minister of the gospel of grace and of glory,--to all, I say, who really hearken, Paul's voice becomes audible and intelligent. [13] Here, then, is the apostle who knew the great secret, the heavenly calling of the Church, writing to the saints at Rome, who, though they were of Christ's Body, and were, therefore, heavenly,--in creation, calling, and character, did not fully know these facts,--longing to see them that he might impart unto them "some spiritual gift, for their establishing"; and, at the end of the Epistle, announcing that God is able to establish them,--but, "according to the revelation of the mystery, which had been kept in silence through aionian times, but was now manifested." (See 16:25-27.) The burden of Paul's heart, therefore, is to make known to them this heavenly secret: that they were not connected with the earthly, the Jewish calling; but were in the Risen, Heavenly Christ; that, having died to the first Adam with his responsibilities, they were in the Second Man, the Last Adam, by divine creation; and were, therefore, heavenly. True, this heavenly truth is not fully developed in Romans, yet it was according to it that they were to be "established." Verse 12: His coming, therefore, he says, is, that I with you may be comforted mutually, through each other's faith, both yours and mine: but of course their blessing would be unspeakably the greater, because of the mighty gift and grace God had vouchsafed to this apostle for them. Paul's way of speaking here is most humble, gentle, and persuasive. Verse 13: Oftentimes I purposed to come to you (and was hindered until the present time)--He desired them to know this, for he longed for fruit in them, such as he was finding everywhere he went, among Gentiles. In this he is a perfect ambassador of Christ, longing to be used everywhere. That yearning to be used in telling the gospel lies deep in the heart of one who knows it, so if you want to hear some man of God, begin to pray God to send him to you! As to Paul's having been "hindered" before from getting to Rome, we probably have an explanation in the course of labor that God had appointed to him: "From Jerusalem, and round about [through Asia Minor] even unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the good tidings of Christ . . . Wherefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you: but now, having no more any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come unto you," etc. (15:19, 22, 23). Sometimes it was Satan that hindered, (I Thess. 2:18); but here, evidently, superabundant labors, as directed of God, in other parts. Only those carrying God's message of grace to men know fully these great hindrances: the crying need of doors already open; the desperate opposition of the devil at the entrance to every door. That I might have some fruit in you also--Paul's constant yearning was for fruit unto God in the souls of others. This must. characterize all true ministers of Christ. In the degree that this yearning after fruit prevails, is the servant of God successful. "Give me Scotland or I die!" prayed John Welch, John Knox's son-in-law. Verse 14: To Greeks and to Barbarians both,--both to wise and foolish, I am debtor. Greeks [14] were those that spoke the Greek language and had the Greek culture, which had covered Alexander's world-wide empire; and in which culture the Romans themselves gloried. "Barbarians" were those not knowing Greek, and thus "uncultured." So also the "Scythians" (Col 3:11) were the especially wild and savage,--as we say, "Tartars." "Wise and foolish" is more personal, not meaning merely educated and uneducated, but of all degrees of intelligence. Since Paul is debtor to all, he is enumerating all. And he must begin to pay his debt by setting forth the guilt of all; which he does (1:18 to 3:20). In the words "I am debtor" we have the steward's consciousness, --of being the trusted bearer of tidings of infinite importance directly from heaven; and Paul was "debtor" to all classes. He does not here mention Jews, because, although full of longing toward them, he had been sent distinctly to Gentiles: "The Gentiles unto whom I send thee, to open their eyes," etc., (Acts 26:17). How different Paul's spirit here from that of Moses in the wilderness among murmuring Israel! "And Moses said unto Jehovah . . . Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that Thou shouldst say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which Thou swarest unto their fathers? . . . I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And if Thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have. found favor in Thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness" (Num. 11:11-15). We must remember that Moses, beloved faithful servant of God, walked under law. The ninetieth Psalm is the very expression of the forty years in the Wilderness: "All our days are passed away in thy wrath: We bring our years to an end as a sigh, For we are consumed in thine anger, And in thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before Thee, Our secret sins in the light of Thy countenance." But here is Paul, gladly a "debtor" to all, with a message of glorious grace: "God was in Christ reconciling the world "unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses "Christ gave Himself a ransom for all"; Christ "tasted death for every man." And not only this, but the hope of the heavenly calling is set before earthly men. We are here seeing "less than the least of all saints," the most wonderful servant God ever had, willing to "become all things to all men to gain some!" But remember, it is not a wonderful man speaking, but Christ in Paul (Gal. 1:16). Our Lord said of His own ministry: "The Father abiding in me doeth His works." And so of the ministry of the Lord's chief servant! Now when Paul proclaims himself a "debtor," what does he mean by this word? Was he a debtor in any different sense from what other and all Christians are? For we are all Christ's "witnesses." Let us see. When Moses had received the tables written with the finger of God, and the pattern of the Tabernacle for Israel, he was bound, he was a debtor, both to God and to Israel, to deliver those tables and that pattern, as given to him by God. To Paul, the risen, glorified Christ Himself had given the gospel by especial "revelation" (Gal. 1:11, 12); and Paul, as we know, was especially to go to the Gentiles, (as Peter, James and John were to go to the circumcision). Just as definitely as Moses received the Law for Israel, so Paul received the gospel for us, and he was a debtor, both to God and to us, till he had that gospel committed to all. How unutterably sad to find many professing Christians shutting their doors in the face of Paul as he comes t his debt--comes to tell them the glories of the heavenly message given to him,--the unsearchable riches of Christ. In his last epistle Paul mourns that "all that are in Asia"--of which Ephesus was the capital! --"turned away from me." So soon! (II Tim. 1:15). Verse 15: So to my very uttermost I am eager to preach the good news to you also in Rome--How blessed is the readiness, yea, eagerness, of this holy apostle to pay his debt, to preach the good tidings to those also in Rome. Rome despised the Jews, and Paul was "little of stature," with "weak" bodily presence; and with "speech," or, as we say, "delivery," "of no account" in the proud carnal opinion of men (II Cor. 10:10). Moreover, he would be opposed by any Jews of wealth or influence in Rome. Furthermore, Rome was the center of the Gentile world: its emperors were soon to demand--and receive --worship; it was crowded with men of learning and culture from the whole world; it had mighty marchings;--great triumphal processions flowed through its streets. Rome shook the world. Yet here is Paul, utterly weak in himself, and' with his physical thorn; yet ready, eager, to go, to Rome! And to preach,--what? A Christ that the Jewish nation had themselves officially rejected, a Christ who had been despised and crucified at their cries,-- by a Roman governor! To preach a Way that the Jews in Rome would tell Paul was "everywhere spoken against" (Acts 28:22). Talk of your brave men, your great men, O world! Where in all history can you find one like Paul Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon, marched with the protection of their armies to enforce their will upon men. Paul was eager to march with Christ alone to the center of this world's greatness entrenched under Satan, with "the Word of the cross," which he himself says is "to Jews, an offence; and to Gentiles, foolishness." Yes, and when he does go to Rome, it is as a shipwrecked (though Divinely delivered) prisoner. Oh, what a story! There, "for two whole years" in his own "hired dwelling" he receives "all that go in unto him" (for he cannot go to them); and the message goes on and on, throughout the Roman Empire, and even into Caesar's household! And what is the secret of this unconquerable heart? Hear Paul: "Ye seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me." "To me, to live is Christ"; "It was the good pleasure of God to reveal His Son in me"; "By the grace of God I am what I am"; "I labor, striving according to Christ's working, who worketh in me mightily"; "I am ready to spend and be spent out (R.V., marg.) for your souls." There was no other path for Christ, nor is there any other for us His servants, but, "as much as in me is," "to my utmost." Those who belong in Paul's company are ever "assaying to go" (Acts 16:7), ever "ready"--to preach or to suffer (Acts 21:13). 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For God's righteousness on the principle of faith to [such as have] faith is revealed in it [the gospel]: just as it is written, "The righteous on the principle of faith shall live." Here we have the text of the whole Epistle of Romans: First, the words "the gospel"--so dear to Paul, as will appear. Next, the universal saving power of this gospel is asserted. Then, the secret of the gospel's power--the revelation of God's righteousness on the principle of faith. Finally, the accord of all this with the Old Testament Scriptures: "The righteous shall live by faith." It will assist our study to notice at once the four "For"s in the apostle's argument: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel," [15] "For it is the power of God unto salvation," "For a righteousness of God is revealed in it"; and the "for" of the next verse, which makes this gospel necessary: "For the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of men." Verse 16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel--First then, we have Paul's willingness, all unashamed, to go to Rome, mistress of the world, with this astonishing message of a crucified Nazarene, despised by Jews, and put to death by Romans. "The inherent glory of the message of the gospel, as God's life-giving message to a dying world, so filled Paul's soul, that, like his blessed Master, he despised the shame.'" So, praise God, may all of us! For it is the power of God unto salvation--The second "For" gives the reason for Paul's boldness: this good news concerning Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and appearing, "is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth." There is no fact for a preacher or teacher to hold more constantly in his mind than this. It is not the "excellency of speech or wisdom," or the "personal magnetism," or "earnestness," of the preacher; any more than it is the deep repentance or earnest prayers of the hearer, that avails. But it is the message of Christ crucified, dead, buried, and risen, which, being believed, is "the empower of God"! "The word [16] of the cross is to them that are perishing, foolishness; but unto us who are being saved it (the word of the cross) IS the power of God" (I Cor. 1:18). Again we repeat that it is of the very first and final importance that the preacher or teacher of the gospel believe in the bottom of his soul that the simple story, Christ died for our sins, was buried, hath been raised from the dead the third day, and was seen, IS THE POWER OF GOD to salvation to every one who rests in it,--who believes! The word gospel (evaggelion), means good news, glad tidings,-- of course, about love and grace in giving Christ; and Christ's blessed finished work for the sinner, putting away sin on the Cross. (There is no other good news for a sinner!) The other word, for "preached," is kerusso, which properly means to proclaim as a herald, to publish. And if we would understand Paul's attitude in preaching the good news, we must not forget what he says in I Cor. 1:21: The reading in I Corinthians 1:21 should be, "God was pleased through the foolishness of the proclaiming to save them that believe." The word (kerusso) means, to announce as a herald, to proclaim. It does not carry the thought of the proclamation's content, of a glad message, as does the other word (evangelidzo). Therefore God selects the word kerusso to show in the great message I Corinthians 1:18-25 how he absolutely passes by the intellect of man, and sets aside all his possible reasoning, ability, philosophy and wisdom--in this amazing way: "by the proclaiming"! Here comes a small and weak Jew upon the assembly of the earth's "wise" at Mars' hill: "proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection." It is "foolishness" to them. Yet "certain men"--including one Mars' hill philosopher, and a prominent woman, and others with them, cleave unto him and believe the proclamation, and will spend eternity with God. No; when you reflect on God's plan of proclamation--of Christ, dead, buried, raised, living: it does get right past everything of man. A herald --he does not stop to argue--he has a message; yonder he is; here he comes; yonder he goes--and the message is left. Man is set aside! It pleased God through the proclaiming to save them that believe! Praise God! Anyone can hear good news! Therefore the herald does not hearken either to "Jews," who would say, "We have wonderful forms of religion.; we have a great temple!" No, the herald proclaims "a Messiah crucified" by these very Jews!--and passes on! Nor does he hearken to the "disputers of this age"--the "wise," who call to him, "We have a new philosophy to discuss--let us hear your philosophical system." No; he proclaims a crucified, dead, buried and risen Son of God, and passes on. And as many as are ordained to eternal life will believe. All others are offended, or stirred to ridicule. Paul's preaching was not, as is so much today, general disquisition on some subject, but definite statements about the crucified One, as he himself so insistently tells us in I Corinthians 15:3-5 "The power of God unto salvation" is a wonderful revelation! As Chrysostom says, "There is a power of God unto punishment, unto destruction: Fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell'" (Matt. 10:28). "The use of the word power' here, as in I Corinthians 1:24, carries a superlative sense,--the highest and holiest vehicle of divine power" (Alford). This story of Christ's dying for our sins, buried, raised, manifested, is the great wire along which runs God's mighty current of saving power. Beware lest you be putting up some little wire of your own, unconnected with the Divine throne, and therefore non-saving to those to whom you speak. T. DeWitt Talmadge said at the funeral of Alfred Cookman, one of the most holy, devoted men of God America has known, "Strike a circle of three feet around the cross of Jesus, and you have all there was of Alfred Cookman." The gospel "is the power of God unto salvation." God does not say, unto reformation, education, progress, nor development; nor "fanning an innate flame." Salvation is a word for a lost man, and for none other. Men are involved either in salvation, or in its opposite, perdition (Philippians 1:28). To the Jew first and also to the Greek--The Jew had the Law. They had the temple, with its divinely prescribed worship. Heretofore, if a Gentile were to be saved, let him become a proselyte and come to Jerusalem to worship as did the Ethiopian eunuch. Christ came "to His own things" (John 1:11), to Jerusalem, to His Father's house (literally, "the things of My Father"). The apostles were to be witnesses--beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). The Holy Spirit fell upon the hundred and twenty at Jerusalem. Upon the persecution that arose in Jerusalem from Stephen, the disciples "were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles," but Jerusalem was the gospel's first center, then Antioch in Syria, whence Paul and Barnabas, afterwards Paul and Silas, went forth. Afterwards, the center of God's operations was Ephesus, the capital of proconsular Asia, where after being rejected by the Jews in many cities, Paul separates the disciples, and all distinction between Jew and Greek in the assemblies of the saints is gone. Then he goes to Jerusalem to be finally and officially rejected--killed, if it were possible. God waits two years at Caesarea for Jewish repentance: there is none, but the direct opposite. Then the apostle, having been driven into the hands of the Romans by the Jews goes to Rome, the world's center, only to have the Jews reject his teaching (Acts 28). Thereupon it is announced: "Be it known therefore unto you, that this salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: they will also hear." Therefore, in expressing to the Jew first, Paul is not at all prescribing an order of presentation of the gospel throughout this dispensation. He is simply recognizing the fact that to the Jew, who had the Law and Divine privileges, the gospel offer had first been presented, and then to the Gentile. As Paul says in Ephesians "And He came and preached peace to you that were far off [the Gentile], and peace to them that were nigh [the Jews]" (Eph. 2:17). We might just as sensibly claim that Ephesians 2:17 gives Gentiles priority because they are mentioned first--"you that were afar" over the Jews who were mentioned last,--"them that were nigh." To claim that the gospel must be preached first to the Jew throughout this dispensation, is utterly to deny God's Word that there is now no distinction between Jew and Greek either as to the fact of sin (Rom. 3:22) or the availability of salvation (Rom. 10:12). Paul's words in Galatians 4:12 are wholly meaningless if the Jews still have a special place. The meaning of the word "first" (prOton) is seen in verse 8 of our chapter: "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all." That is, thanksgiving to God was the first thing Paul wrote to the Romans in this Epistle. Then he proceeds to other things. It is an order of sequence; just as the gospel came "first" to the Jew and then to Greek, and now, since the "no difference" fact, is proclaimed to all indiscriminately, Jews and Greeks. Verse 17: For God's righteousness on the principle of faith to [such as have] faith is revealed in it [the gospel]: just as it is written, "The righteous on the principle of faith shall live." This third "For" gives another reason why Paul was not ashamed of the good news [17] : in this message concerning God's Son,--that He died for our sins, was buried, was raised,--there was brought to light,--made manifest--a righteousness of God which had indeed been prophesied, but was really (especially to the Jew under law) absolute news: [18] God acting in righteousness, as we shall find, wholly on the basis of Christ's atoning work,--to be believed in, rested upon, apart from all human works whatever. It was on the principle of faith [19] by means of a message, and those exercising faith in the message would be reckoned righteous,--apart from all "merit" or "works" whatever. This is the meaning of "from faith unto faith"--literally, out of faith [rather than works] unto [those who have] faith. The "For" of verse 17, For God's righteousness therein is revealed--in the gospel,--is also a logical setting forth of the reason why the good news concerning Christ's death, burial, and resurrection is the power of God unto salvation. And this verse is the essence of the text of the whole Epistle: "Therein God's righteousness is revealed." God could have come forth in righteousness and smitten with doom the whole Adamic race. He would have been acting in accordance with His holiness: it would have been "the righteousness of God" unto judgment, and would have been just. But God, who is love, though infinitely holy and sin-hating, has chosen to act toward us in righteousness, in a manner wherein all His holy and righteous claims against the sinner have been satisfied upon a Substitute, His own Son. Therefore, in this good news, (1) Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (2) He was buried, (3) He hath been raised the third day according to the Scriptures, (4) He was manifested (I Cor. 15:3 ff),--in this good news there is revealed, now openly for the first time, God's righteousness on the principle of faith. We simply hear and believe: and, as we shall find, God reckons us righteous; our guilt having been put away by the blood of Christ forever, and we ourselves declared to be the righteousness of God in Him! Habakkuk prophesied of it (Paul quotes him in verse 17); but ah, how little he dreamed of the fulness and wonder of it! It is the gospel that brings these to light! And now in the next section (verses 18 ff) will come Paul's fourth "For": showing man's frightful state of guilt; and his need of the gospel: 18 For there is revealed God's wrath from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness [of life]; 19 because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world, made known to the mind by the things that are made, are clearly perceived,--both His eternal power and divinity; so as to render them inexcusable: 21 because, though knowing God, they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor were they thankful [towards Him] but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of quadrupeds, and of creeping things. It will not only fail to help us, but will seriously harm us, to study the awful arraignment of God against human sin, unless we apply it to ourselves, thereby discovering our own state by nature. Therefore we have sought to make plain these terms which Paul uses, in view of today's sin. Christendom is rapidly losing sin-consciousness, which means losing God-consciousness; which means eternal doom: "As were the days of Noah . . . as it came to pass in the days of Lot . . . they knew not." Because iniquity abounds, the love of many professing Christians is waxing cold; so that we see a Sardis condition everywhere, "a name to live, while dead": on many faces, the horrid lack of spiritual life; the lightless, sightless eyes; the chill,--the corpse-like chill, of the lifeless, the unfeeling. On the other hand, among God's real saints, those born from above and indwelt by the Spirit of God, there is everywhere, thank God, a gathering, an eagerness, a hunger for His Word, for news from Home,--for their citizenship is in Heaven! Therefore let all who have ears to hear give the utmost attention to what God says about our state by nature. Do not apply the threefold "God gave them up" of Romans One to "the heathen," as most do. Behold, we are those of whom God says: "There is no distinction: all sinned and fall short of the glory of God." ALL are brought under the judgment of God. O saints, beware of the "select" circles, the "we-are-better" societies of pride! For all human beings are alike sinners: for "The Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe" (Gal. 3:22). The more you discover yourself to be a common sinner, the more you will realize God's uncommon grace! And the more deeply you despair of man, of yourself, the more simple and easy it will be to rest in Christ and in His work of salvation for you. Verse 18: Wrath revealed from heaven--This is the tenor of all Scripture as to God's attitude toward defiant sin. "Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven," we read in Genesis 19:24. We know that "God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world" (Acts 17:31); that He will "visit with wrath" at that time (Rom. 3:5). However, in the thrice-repeated "God gave them over" of verses 24, 26 and 28, there is to be seen the character, the beginning, and the working of God's wrath in this world, in His judicial handing over of rebels to go further into rebellion. But the awful arraignment of humanity in Chapters One, Two, and Three; together with the particular account of their apostasy and lost condition, however terrible it be, is not a description of the finally damned, but of the at-present-lost: and, "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." "Such were some of you," says Paul to the Corinthians, after an enumeration of those who "shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (I Cor. 6:11). "Effeminate, and abusers of themselves with men," the very kind of sinners described in our chapter, are in this enumeration. Let us admit, therefore, the judicial "delivering over" of humanity which has "exchanged the glory" of the God they knew for horrid idolatrous conceptions,--a present judicial action of God on earth, where and when He "lets men go their own way." But let us distinguish this apart from the day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God from Heaven. At the Great White Throne of Revelation Twenty there will be no liberty left to the creature to indulge his lusts as in this present world. The lusts, indeed, will remain, and probably intensify forever: "He that is filthy, let him be made filthy yet more"; but the ability to indulge lust will be eternally removed, and the damned placed under the visitation of Divine anger. Thank God, we may still cry with Paul, "Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation!" Grace is still ready to reach the worst wretch on earth! Note that ungodliness is direct disregard of God, which to the Jew would connect itself with the first table of the Law, the first four commandments; while unrighteousness has reference to wickedness of conduct, in itself and toward other men. Note further that it is distinctly said that the human race, in order to live an unrighteous life, held down the truth. The meaning of the verb translated "hold down" is seen in its use in II Th 2:6: "Ye know that which restraineth," referring to the present restraining of the sin and wrath of man by the Spirit of God. It is also true, turning this about, that man in his wickedness restrains the truth he knows. (See also same word in Luke 4:42, "would have stayed Him.") Almost all men know more truth than they obey. They call themselves "truth seekers"; but would they attend a meeting where Paul preached the facts of this first of Romans? Verse 19: That which is known of God is manifest . . . God made it evident--Noah's father, Lamech, was for over fifty years a contemporary of Adam. Knowledge of God was held and imparted by tradition from the beginning. The fact that the "world that then was" became so corrupt as to necessitate destruction (Hebrew, "blotting out," Gen. 6:7, margin), only supports the awful account. Not only was the world bad unto judgment at the time of the Flood; but the world after Noah became such that God called out His own (from Abraham on) to a separate, pilgrim life. Sodom, and later the Canaanites, again filled up iniquity's measure and were "sent away from off the face of the earth" (Jer 28:16). Utter uncompromising, abandonment of hope in man is the first preliminary to understanding or preaching the gospel. Man says, "I am not so bad; I can make amends"; "There are many people worse than I am"; "I might be better, but I might be worse." But God's indictment is sweeping: it reaches all. "None righteous; all have sinned; there is no distinction." And the first step of wisdom is to listen to the worst God says about us, for He (wonderful to say!) is the Lover of man, sinner though man be. You and I were born in this lost race, with all these evil things innate in, and, apart from the grace of God, possible to us. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and is desperately wicked." Only redemption by the blood of Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, can afford hope. Verse 20: For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world . . . are clearly perceived--"The heavens declare the glory of God." But humanity today prefers Hollywood's "sound-pictures" to seeing the "things" of the glorious God in the heavens,--beholding His works, and hearing their speech. How long since you have gone out and gazed at moon and stars, made by the blessed God, travelling in such quiet glory, beauty, power, and order? Men know, if they care to know, that an infinite Majesty made and controls this. Even His eternal power and divinity [20] --Paul connects the observing of the mighty and beautiful things of the universe with the consciousness of a personal God. [21] Human science, through its telescope, observes the vast courses of the stars, moving with amazing accuracy in their orbits, but often counts it a mark of wisdom to doubt whether an intelligent Being exists at all! But, "the undevout astronomer is mad," as said the great Kepler. No really great scientist today supports the Darwinian theory; and many,--and some of the most prominent scientific men are saying, There must be a God, a Creator. [22] Next the reason for God's wrath is stated: men are without excuse--Men had the light, and that from God. His eternal power and divinity were, from creation onward, plain to men, from His works. Napoleon, on a warship in the Mediterranean on a star-lit night, passed a group of his officers who were mocking at the idea of a God. He stopped, and sweeping his hand toward the stars, said, "Gentlemen, you must get rid of those first!" Men secretly believe there is a Power above them, and that their evil deeds deserve the wrath of that Power. In sudden peril, they scream like the guilty wretches they are, "God have mercy!" Knowledge of God, though not acquaintanceship with Him, lay behind Pharaoh's words, "I have sinned against Jehovah and against you" (Ex. 10:16); and behind the words of the Philistines in I Samuel 4:7,8, and 5:7,8,11; and the proclamation of the King of Nineveh (Jonah 3:7-9). Verse 21: Because that, though knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful--Every human being knows he ought to give his being over to his Creator's worship and glory, and ought to be continually thankful for life itself, and for its blessings; but men refused both worship and gratitude: they became godless and thankless. But they could not free themselves thus easily from conscience and terrors: so came on idolatry. First they resorted to vain speculations and "reasonings," to escape the thought of God and duty. Then the judicial result: as Alford well renders, "Their heart (the whole inner man, the seat of knowledge and feeling), became dark (lost the little light it had), and wandered blindly in the mazes of folly." Think of a whole race of created beings knowing, but refusing to recognize, their Creator! of their eating from His hand daily, but refusing even one thanksgiving! Yet such ungodly ones, such unthankful ones, are all about you, now. Verse 22: Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools-- Rejecting the light of God's knowledge in their consciences, men now arrogated to themselves wisdom, and became--what? Fools! [23] "The fear of the Lord is the beginning" --of both knowledge and wisdom (Prov. 1:7; 9:10; 15:33; Ps. 111:10; Job 28:28). The silliness of these "modern" shallow-pan days! How men are rushing back to the old pagan pit out of which God's Word and His gospel would have delivered them! They suck up sin; they welter in wickedness; they profess to be wise! They sit at the feet of "professors" whose breath is spiritual cyanide. They idolize the hog-sty doctrines of a rotten Freud: [24] and count themselves "wise"! They say, "God is not a person; men evolved from monkeys; morals are mere old habits; self-enjoyment, self-expression, indulgence of all desires--this," they say, "is the path of wisdom." It is the path of those who go quickly down to the pit and on to judgment! The very morals of Sodom, as our Lord foretold, are rushing fast upon us, and God will bring again the awful doom of Sodom (Luke 17:28-31). Now if someone objects, saying, This is a strange introduction to the gospel of God's grace, we answer, It lies here before us, this awful indictment of Romans One, and cannot be evaded! Moreover, until man knows his state of sin, he wants no grace. Shall pardon be spoken of before the sinner is proved a sinner? While the evidence is being brought in, the whole attention of the court is upon that. If the evidence of guilt be insufficient or inconclusive, there is no necessity for a pardon! Preachers and teachers have soft-pedalled sin, until the fear Of God is vanishing away. McCheyne used to Say, "A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God" A preacher who avoids telling men the truth about their sin as here revealed, is the best tool of the devil. Verse 23: And changed the glory of the incorruptible God--Incorruptibility is of the essence of God's being. From the beginningless eternity past to the endless eternity to come, He is the glorious self-existent One. Now came the high insult: having rejected knowledge of God, but unable to escape the consciousness that He exists, men, like Israel later, "changed their glory for the likeness of an ox that eateth grass" (Ps. 106:20). The more you reflect upon the infinite glory and majesty of the eternal God, the more hideous will the unspeakable insult to Him of any kind of idolatry appear to you! Men first likened God to man; but, being given over, they rushed rapidly downwards: a bird, a quadruped; and finally, a reptile! Vincent remarks "Deities of human form prevailed in Greece; those of bestial form in Egypt; and both methods of worship were practiced in Rome. See on Acts 7:41. Serpent-worship was common in Chaldaea, and also in Egypt, where the asp was sacred." Israel evidently learned calf-worship from Egypt's sacred bull. [25] 24 Wherefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, so that their bodies were dishonored among themselves:--25 such ones as they! who changed the truth of God into the lie! and worshipped and served the created thing rather than the Creator,--Who is blessed unto the ages! Amen. 26 On account of this, God gave them over to shameful passions: for their females [26] changed the natural use into that contrary to nature: 27 and in like manner also the males [27] having left the natural use of the females, were inflamed in their lust one toward another, males with males working out shame, and receiving in themselves the recompense of their error which was due. Verse 24: God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts. This is deeper than the mere lusts of the flesh. Flesh has natural desires, which may or may not be yielded to. The lusts of the heart continue after the flesh is dissolved; and even when, in the tormented bodies of the damned, the lusts of the flesh cannot be conscious or controlling, "the lusts of the heart" will forever exist. Notice that when man is delivered from Divine restraint, the lusts of his heart plunge him into ever deeper bodily uncleanness, and bodily vileness. History backs up this fact with terrible relentlessness. What an answer is here to all the boasting of proud men of a "principle of development" in man; to the lying claim that man is ever "making progress." The "Golden Age" of Grecian literature, and that of Roman letters,--in both of them we find remarkable minds; but their works must be expurgated for decent readers! No printer, even in this corrupt age, would dare to publish books with literal descriptions of the orgies of "classical" days. Verse 25: For they changed the truth of God into the lie--That God is glorious, incorruptible, infinite, is the truth; that any image whatsoever, be it gold, silver, wood, stone; picture or symbol, is God,--God here names this the lie! [28] Any such thing, connected with worship, is a fearful travesty of the divine Majesty. Think of it! They worshipped and served the created thing rather than the Creator--who made the creature! This is that desperate hiding away from God by wicked-hearted man, called idolatry. (See Appendix III in the author's "Book of the Revelation.") [29] Who is blessed unto the ages. Amen. Paul's adding these humble, worshipful words after "Creator" both glorifies God and also differentiates Paul from the abandoned devotees of sin thronging the dark alley of human history; showing him to be a child of light, as is every real saint of God, though passing through a world of thick darkness. Verse 26: For the second time we read, God gave them over--and now, unto shameful passions--There are natural and normal appetites of the body: God is not speaking of these, or even of the abuse of these,--adultery or harlotry--in this verse. He is describing that state of unnatural appetites in which all normal instincts are left behind. And it is significant, that, as originally woman took the lead in sin, so here! Verse 27: Here men are seen visited with a like condign, judicial "giving up" by God, in which they forget not only the holy relations of marriage, but even the burnings of ordinary lust, and plunge into nameless horrors of unnatural lust-bondage, all, males and females, receiving in themselves the due recompense of their error. Compare "among themselves" of verse 24, with "in themselves" of verse 27: "These words bring out," as Godet remarks, "the depth of the blight. It is visible to the eyes of all." And Meyer also: "The law of history, in virtue of which the forsaking of God is followed among men by a parallel growth of immorality, is not a purely natural order of things; the power of God is active in the execution of this law." What a fearful account is here! A lost race plunging ever deeper, by their own desire! Left in shameful, horrid bondage, unashamed,--not only immoral, but unmoral, hideous. Missionaries abroad can tell you of what they find; as can the Christian workers in our great cities. But you would be unprepared to believe what exists, in the private lives of many, even in country districts through Christendom. And if God has "made you to differ," thank Him only! It will not do to hold up your hands in self-righteous dismay, and say, These verses do not in any particular describe me. For God will show you and me that this is exactly the race as we were born into it, and out of which the only rescue is being born again. All these things pertain to lost, fallen man. Man is a tenant of the earth only by Divine grace, since the Deluge. [30] 28 And just as they did not approve to have God in [their] knowledge, God gave them over to a mind disapproved [of Him],--to practise things not befitting [His creatures]; 29 having become filled with all injustice, destructiveness, covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, guile, malignant subtlety; secret slanderers, 30 open slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, arrogant, boasters, inventors of bad things; without obedience to parents, 31 without [moral] understanding, without good faith, without affection for kindred, without [consent to] truce, without mercy: 32 who, conscious of the righteous decree of God that those practising such things are worthy of [the sentence of] death, not only keep on practising the same, but also are pleased with those that are practising them. Verse 28: Here we have for the third time the judicial utterance, God gave them over. This time it is to a settled state, a reprobate mind. There is such a solemn irony in the manner of speech in the Greek, that it should be brought out as well as the English will allow. Alford translates it: "Because they reprobated the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." Conybeare renders it: "As they thought fit to cast out the knowledge of God, God gave them over to an outcast mind." We might render it: To a mind disapproved of God, since they did not approve knowing God. And given over to do what? To live lives, think thoughts, be such creatures, as are not befitting the universe of the blessed God; and most particularly not befitting man, who was created in God's image. In the following verses, 29 to 32, three things are seen: first, some nine phases or developments of human sin (verse 29); second, the kind of people it makes (verses 29 to 31); and third, the fearful human conspiracy or agreement of wickedness of man against God (verse 32). Let us mark each carefully. (The student of Greek may well study the roots of these twenty-two nouns and adjectives, given in the footnote). [31] And remember God says men are filled with all these things! And not only so: they are filled without restraint or limit! "With all unrighteousness, all destructiveness," etc. Verses 29 to 31: l. all injustice--Selfishness, enthroned against all rights of others. 2. destructiveness--The same word is used to describe Satan and his hosts: "the evil one," "hosts of wickedness," in Eph. 6:12, 16. It denotes wickedness in hostile activity. 3. covetousness--literally, the itch for more. "(a) Claiming more than one's due, greedy, grasping; (b) making gain from others' losses; (c) the act of over-reaching by selfish tricks. To take advantage of another's simpleness, to over-reach, defraud." - Liddell and Scott. Lightfoot says, "Impurity and covetousness may be said to divide between them nearly the whole domain of selfishness and vice." Vincent distinguishes between covetousness and avarice: "The one is the desire of getting, the other of keeping." Paul constantly defines covetousness as idolatry, worship of another object than God; and associates it with the vilest sins (I Cor. 5:11; Eph. 5:3, 5; Col 3:5). Many professing Christians are withering in a blight because of this unjudged sin. 4. malice--"malignity, maliciousness, desire to injure" (Thayer). 5. full of envy--The apostle takes another full breath here, beginning anew this hell-meat catalog. Envy is the hate that arises in the heart toward one who is above us, who is what we are not, or possesses that, which we cannot have, or do not choose the path to attain. "Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered Him." He was holy and good, which they pretended to be, and knew they were not,--nor really chose to be. 6. murder--How strikingly the Holy Spirit brings these words, envy, murder, which sound so alike in the Greek,--phthonou, phonou--into the order and connection which they constantly sustain in life. 7. strife--Literally, beating down in wrangling and contention. How "full of strife," indeed, is this human race! 8. guile--Jesus called Nathaniel "an Israelite in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). The Greek word means "a bait for fish," and so, to catch with a bait, to beguile. So in what is called "business" today, men are baited and lured: and "society" lives by it! This is the human heart. 9. malignant subtlety--The Genevan New Testament renders it, "Taking all things in an evil sense." 10. secret slanderers--By this Greek word of hissing sound (psithuristas), the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) renders the Hebrew lahash: "a snake-charmer's magical murmuring.'" Let those privately peddling evil reports, remember that God views their tongue as the slithering of the adder! It is remarkable how secret slanderers can "charm" others (fitted thereto by their evil nature) into believing their slanders. We heard of a modest, excellent young woman secretly slandered by a jealous rival. She could not overcome the falsehood, and died within a year. 11. open slanderers--Literally, those who speak against, incriminate, traduce. See its use in I Peter 2:12. Many openly rail at others--especially if their own lives are condemned by theirs. 12. hateful to God--Hateful toward God, because haters of God. The word means to show as well as to feel such hatred: "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God." 13. insolent--People taking pleasure in insulting others. 14. arrogant--Full of haughty pride toward others. 15. boasters--The very contrary of Him Who said: "Come unto Me--I am meek, and lowly of heart." 16. inventors of bad things--From the days of Cain's city onward (Gen. 4:16-22), men have progressed in evil; until Jehovah said Israel did evil that "came not into His mind" (Jer. 19:5). 17. without obedience [32] to parents--literally, not able to be persuaded by parents. What a photograph of the "youth" of our day! This appalling rejection of parental control is developing amazingly in these last days, just as God said it would (II Tim. 3:1,2). It brings a curse upon whole families, whole communities, and whole lands. Obedience to parents brings promised blessing: "Honor thy father and thy mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Eph. 6:2, 3). "The eye that mocketh at his father, And despiseth to obey his mother, The ravens of the valley shall pick it out, And the young eagles shall eat it." --Prov. 30:17. This explains many an early death! Yes; and terrible deaths long delayed. 18. without moral understanding--The verb is used in Scripture only of moral and spiritual understanding (Matt. 13:14, 15, 19, 23, 51). This adjective (Rom. 1:31) means, without any understanding of Divine things; having no proper moral discernment. That is the awful condition of the human race; and, remember, you and I were born in it. 19. without good faith--Faithless, bound by no promise or covenant. This is a very heart-disease! The word denotes that wickedness that does not intend to carry out its pledged word, except for selfish ends. Broken business contracts, violated national treaties, light betrayal of personal confidences,--all have this hideous condition as their root. 20. without natural affection--Without affection for kindred. Even a third century pagan poet, Theocritus, calls these "the heartless ones." How constantly we see, especially in the selfish lives of graceless "moderns," utter disregard of the natural ties which a kind God has used in "setting the solitary in families." Such are really moral morons; but the possibilities of all these things are in every one of us. 21. without [consent to] truce,--literally, not willing to consent to a truce, or cease hostilities. The present ruthless civil war in Spain, and the savagery of Japan in China, are examples. Indeed, only an "armistice," not a peace, was concluded after the World War; and, despite all "treaties" since, there persists a sort of international suspicion; proving that men know, as by instinct, the implacability of human nature. [33] 22. without mercy--It is said that Nero as a child amused himself in pulling the legs and wings from insects. Perhaps you cry out at this, saying, I have always been tender-hearted towards animals. Indeed? And how about people? Are you tender-hearted towards them? to all of them? Think deeply on this: God "delighteth in mercy"; but "man's inhumanity to man makes countless millions mourn." Consider: A merciful God! unmerciful creatures! And now we come to the dark, wilful conspiracy of evil of this whole human race. For, remember, what we have been reading is not an indictment of the heathen merely, but of the race. It does indeed depict the progress of human wickedness, and how God gave the race over to those lusts that judicially followed their sin. Yet, as we shall find in the next chapter, it is humanity as such, as thus degraded, of which God is speaking. Verse 32: Who, conscious that such things are worthy of death, not only keep practising them but approve of others practising them. Here we are confronted with three terrible realities: (1) They have complete inner knowledge from God (Gr. epignontes) that their ways deserve and must have Divine condemnation and judgment; (2) they persist in their practices despite the witness of conscience; (3) they are in a fellowship of evil with other evil-doers! The Greek word here (syneudokouso) which we have rendered "are pleased with," "approve of"; the Revised Version renders "consent with"; Bagster's Interlinear, "are consenting to"; Moule, "feel with and abet." "Not only commit the sins, but delight in their fellowship with the sinner," says Conybeare; "Not only practice them, but have fellow-delight in those that do them"--Darby; "Not only do the same, but applaud those that do them"--Godet; "They not only do these things, but are also (in their moral judgment) in agreement with others who so act" --Meyer. What a description of this world of sinners, this race alienated from the life of God,--at enmity with Him, and at strife with one another! But all in a hellish unity of evil! THE WRATH OF GOD--IN ROMANS 1. The Greek word for wrath (orge) is used twelve times in this book of Romans, and always as connected with God. In all twelve occurrences in Romans it is referred to God: "The wrath of God is revealed" (1:18); "wrath in the day of wrath" (2:5); "Wrath and indignation" (2:8); "God visiteth with wrath" (3:5); "The Lair worketh wrath" (4:15); "Much more shall we be saved from the wrath [of God] through Him [Christ]" (5:9); "If God, willing to show His wrath, endured vessels of wrath fitted for destruction" (9:22); "Give place unto the wrath" [of God] (12:19); "Wrath to him that doeth evil" (13:4); "Not only because of the wrath, but also for conscience' sake" (13:5). Now the fundamental word for "wrath" is orge, and it always looks, in Romans, toward the final, or last, Judgment; although including, as in 13:4, 5, God's governmental actions through present human authorities. This distinction between the outpouring of governmental wrath which precedes the Kingdom, and the final Assize at the Last Judgment is of primary importance. Paul is dealing in Romans with eternal things; with "no condemnation," on the one hand; and with final condemnation on the other. It is not the attitude and actions of God as the dispensational Ruler of earth's affairs, but the final Judge dealing with eternal individual destinies, of Whom Paul is writing. Mark carefully, therefore, that Paul, who is setting forth the gospel of grace, describes the blessedness of those who receive that gospel as forgiven, justified, at peace with God. Romans is a court book. God, who adjudged all guilty under sin, gladly declares righteous and safe those who trust Him. Contrariwise, those who reject His mercy and grace are visited by the same Judge, even God, with wrath. Both the wrath in the one case, and the grace in the other, proceed from God's personal feeling. and just as there was personal Divine mercy and eternal tenderness toward the believer, so there is personal Divine wrath and eternal indignation against those who despise His love and mercy, as set forth in the death of His Son. It is righteous indignation, certainly; but it is personal indignation. Listen carefully to God's own words as to this future visitation of wrath upon the finally impenitent: "Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Ex. 34:14); "Lest there should be among you man or woman whose heart turneth away from Jehovah, to serve other gods, and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart . . . . Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah, and His jealousy, shall smoke against that man" (Deut. 29:18-20); "Jehovah is a jealous God, and avengeth; Jehovah avengeth and is full of wrath; Jehovah taketh vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath or His enemies"; "He will pursue His enemies into darkness" (Nahum 1:2, 8); "Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:19); "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God" (Heb. 10:31) "Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken it and will do it" (Ezek. 22:14) It is fatuous folly to seek to avoid the manifest, necessary meaning of such words. God, who alone has the right to avenge, will avenge! The very first chapter of the Prophets warns any willing to hear: "Ah, I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, and avenge Me of Mine enemies!" (Isa. 1:24). Human justice is to be meted out by juries of men and by judges, uncolored by personal feelings. Not so with God! As is not the case in human courts, it is the Judge Himself who has been wronged. It is His light that has been refused for darkness. It is His salvation, and that by His Son's blood that has bee despised. And it will not be justice merely, but the infliction of penalty by an outraged Being whose Name is Love, now aroused to a righteous fury commensurate with the measureless guilt of the hideous haters of His holiness, the despisers of His mercy--it will be by the Hand of the Judge of all, Himself, that wrath will fall upon the guilty. As for the "great" pulpiteers of Christendom, the favorites of the rapidly apostatizing denominations of this day, the men who, by their ecclesiastical politics or personal ability, or so called "scholarship," are "outstanding" and yet deny or ignore the wrath of God,--fear them not! They are false prophets, prophets of "peace,"--which can only be found in the shed blood of the Redeemer: the blood which they do not preach. Oh, that Day! that Day!--for these lying preachers of "peace, peace," who have said, "God is too good to damn anybody." And shall God, in that Day, refuse to remember the agonies of His Son on the Cross? Shall He change that holy hatred of sin, wherein He forsook Christ and spared Him not?--all because miserable guilty Universalists, Unitarians, Millennial Dawnists, "Modernists," "Christian(!) Scientists(!)"--all the fawning "Hush, hush" preachers, have promised to men "a God that would not show wrath against sin!" A God who would indeed "spare all,-- yea, probably, even Satan, finally!" Let this awful word Orge, wrath, settle into the conscience of every soul; for God hath spoken it! And every Preacher and every Prophet of God has warned of it: Enoch (Jude 14,15); Noah (II Pet. 2:5); Moses (Deut. 32:35); the Psalmists, the Prophets (for example, Isaiah,-- all of Chapters 24 and 34); the Lord's forerunner, John the Baptist, with his "Flee from the wrath to come"; the Apostles,--from Romans to Revelation; and the great Preachers and Evangelists of the Christian centuries,--the men who have won souls--the Reformers, the Puritans, the Wesleys, Whitefields, Edwardses, Finneys, Spurgeons, Moodys,--all have told of man's guilt and danger, of the coming judgment, and of the wrath of God upon the impenitent and unbelieving. 2.This wrath is here in Romans 1:18 declared to be now, like the gospel, revealed from heaven; and that, now, against all ungodliness; and against all unrighteousness of men; in that they have resisted the truth they know. Heretofore, as at the Deluge, and that terrible day when "Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven," God had revealed His wrath on earth when men's cup of iniquity was full; as we read also in the case of the Canaanites (Gen. 15:16; Lev. 18:24, 25). Yet, God "overlooked" much that was evil, even in Israel (Acts 17:30; Matt. 19:8). But now, He "commandeth all men everywhere to repent,"--in view of a revealed coming day of judgment, "by the Man whom He hath ordained" (Acts 17:30, 31; Rom 2:16), and of which judgment He hath given certainty to all men by raising this coming Judge from the dead! The cross brought to an end God's "overlooking" sin, by judging it, even to the utter Divine forsaking of Him whom God sent to bear sin. Sin, therefore, is brought into the open; God's wrath from, heaven is now revealed against it all! If the blood of Jesus, God's Son cleanseth believers "from all sin"; then no sin has been left unjudged at the cross, and no sins will be unjudged upon the lost, at the Great White Throne, nor be "overlooked" today! This, then, is the first full, formal, and general, announcement of wrath from heaven. For heretofore God had man on trial. While Israel had "the house of God" on earth, and were being tested under law, there was (humanly speaking) the possibility of human recovery. But when they, with the Gentiles, crucified the Lord of glory,--killed the Righteous One, four things came to light: (a) the absolute character of man's sin; (b) the absoluteness of God's holiness which could not spare the Son of His love, when once sin was laid on him; (c) the absoluteness of God's love and grace toward sinners, in publishing forgiveness and righteousness as a free-gift through Christ,--"beginning from Jerusalem--where men had crucified His Son! and (c) the revelation from heaven of Divine wrath against all ungodliness, all unrighteousness. It was not that God hated sin less in the past, in "the times of ignorance." But there had been "overlooking, forbearance." Now, with the full revelation of both human guilt and Divine grace by the Cross, there must also be fully announced God's wrath from heaven against all sin. It is no longer an earthly, governmental affair,--as against high earthly offenders, such as Pharaoh, the Sodomites, or the Canaanites; but against all ungodliness, all unrighteousness. In grace God at the cross had come forth; not in Law or judgment, but as He was, in His being,--that is, absolutely, as Love, offering pardon and justification to men. Therefore, all He was, absolutely, in Heaven His dwelling-place, against the awful thing, sin, must, along with His pardoning grace, be revealed! The days of "winking at" ignorance are over; for, "He spared not His own Son!" So now, that God is against all sin must be revealed. The days of that protection from God's wrath that religion had afforded are over! For had not Judaism afforded a kind of protection? Jehovah dwelt in the thick darkness of the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle and the temple. An outward walk according to external enactments, secured the nation Israel, amidst which God dwelt. But no longer! "Your house is left to you desolate," said the Lord to the Jews. "The blood (for forgiveness), and the water (for cleansing) followed man's spear of hate thrust into the Redeemer's side." But by that very fact we know that there is absolute wrath against man's sin! Only, flee not from this wounded Lamb; for here the wrath has struck! There is safety here,--though nowhere else in the universe! 3. It will fall to other pens than Paul's--to those of Peter and Jude, and especially to that of John, in the Apocalypse, to describe the particulars of time and mode of visitation of God's wrath; together with the places of confinement and punishment of the wicked, both before and after the Last Judgment. Peter will write of "Tartarus," where God cast the rebel angels of (Genesis 6; II Pet. 2:4); and Jude will describe both the "everlasting bonds" of those angels, and also the "eternal fire" that overtook the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah; while John will show the risen Christ with the keys of death and of Hades (the detention-jail at present of lost human spirits); and John will describe also that awful "lake of fire" which shall be the final portion of the devil and his angels, and of those who sided with him against God. (Compare Rev. 20:10; Matt. 25:41.) Paul, however, will set forth the scene as from God's court. Just as his gospel will show a God whose love is such that He gave Christ for wicked, hateful sinners, and offers to justify the ungodly who believe Him; so the contrary of justification--condemnation, becomes the portion of the rejecter of mercy Since grace is the outpouring of God's "heart of mercy," and is a personal feeling; so despised mercy arouses in God (and how necessarily), the opposite of mercy,--wrath! Paul's words will therefore be: grace, and over against it, wrath. Justification, and over against it, condemnation. Life, and over against it, death. He will say to the saints, "Ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end, eternal life." And, of the things whereof the saints are now "ashamed," --"the end of those things is death!" 4. But be it noted, there is absolutely no foot of Scripture ground to stand upon for those who, refusing the Bible doctrine of a God who "visiteth with wrath," bring in their subtle arguments for the "final restoration of all." Honest readers know that the very opposite is taught throughout the Scripture. There is no wrath upon believers. There is forever nothing but wrath for unbelievers. If you value your soul, regard with utter horror all trifling on this question. If you do not believe in Divine wrath, you are not subject to Scripture, and you are in fearful personal danger. The errorists begin very subtly,--as the Bullingerites began with the doctrine of "soul-sleeping." (See footnote to Romans 15:8 found on p. 526.) Then there are the "annihilationists," the "conditional immortality" falsifiers, the Christadelphians, the "restorationists," the Seventh Day Adventists, and all the rest of the rabble. These false prophets are lulling millions upon millions into a deathful slumber from which only the crack of doom will rouse them. There are no "soul-sleepers" or "restorationists" in Hades! They know the truth now! And they are in nameless terror of coming Judgment and final eternal Hell. The God of the twentieth century is not the God of the Bible, but the God of the vain imaginations of shadow men,--men who will not look honestly at history (as, e.g., the Flood, or Sodom and Gomorrah); nay, who will not look honestly at present events! Preachers are found by the thousands who pooh-pooh the thought that the great calamities, such as the late war, and that now looming, are judgments of God; that great droughts or floods or storms are sent by Him. Like the hardened wretches whom Ezekiel saw, they say, "Jehovah seeth us not; Jehovah hath forsaken the land." If Paul, at the beginning of Church days, could write to Roman Christians that terrible arraignment of the human race with which this Epistle begins, and must begin, what shall be the attitude, and what the words, of any faithful preacher or teacher at this, the end of the Church times, after nearly 2000 years of unbelief, heresy, divisions, and general denial of the guilt and danger of lost men! Merely to give in this book the meaning of the words of Paul,-- without applying them to the very soul and conscience of the reader, would, in view of the conditions prevalent today, be both fruitless and cowardly: fruitless, because the present day will not study, and least of all, thoroughly study, Scripture; and cowardly, because shrinking from applying truth would be seeking to be "fundamental" without offending anyone! "If thou warn the wicked . . . thou hast delivered thy soul," God speaks. The gospel of Christ is written in letters of heavenly light against the fearful black cloud of human guilt flashing with warnings of coming wrath! TO THE PREACHERS OF "THE SOCIAL GOSPEL" This is the doctrine that Jesus Christ came to reform society (whatever "society" may be!); that He came to abate the evils of selfishness, give a larger "vision" to mankind; and, through His example and precepts, bring about such a change in human affairs, social, political, economic and domestic, as would realize all man's deep longings for a peaceful, happy existence upon earth, ushering in what these teachers are pleased to call, "the Kingdom of God." 1. Now, in the first place, Jesus Christ came to save sinners, not "society." He said, "The Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins." Now, sins are individual transgressions against a personal God; there is no such thing in Scripture as these social-gospellers dream of,--a condition of "society" to be "changed" or "ameliorated." All that really exists is the guilt of a vast number of really guilty sinners. "Society" does not exist before God at all; and it is a vain delusion of the devil that sins are dealt with en masse. 2. Sinners, having been pardoned, find themselves in a blessed fellowship, a really heavenly thing, constituted by the Holy Spirit, who indwells each of them. But to confuse this fellowship with what these social-gospellers call "society," is to forget that "except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." 3. It flatters men's vanity, of course, and shelters them from conviction, to be dealt with as "society," and not as guilty souls needing personal pardon through the shed blood of Christ. Therefore this gospel (which is not a gospel, but a lie, a delusion of Satan), draws together vast concourses of unconverted men and women, "church-members" and "non-church-members." Its preachers are plausible and popular, for if "society" is going to be saved in a mass, individual repentance need not be mentioned. The Jesus of these men,--the Stanley Joneses, the Sherwood Eddys, the Frank Buchmans, the Bishop McConnells, the Kagawas, and a whole host of drifters and on-the-fencers, is not the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world by an atoning sacrifice, not the One despised, forsaken, smitten of God, of the fifty-third of Isaiah! He is not at all the substitutionary Sacrifice drinking the cup of wrath for man's guilt! But He is "the Christ of the Indian Road"--or the American road, the Canadian road, the English road, as you please; walking by the wayside, teaching the multitudes, as in the Four Gospels, BEFORE HE WAS REJECTED AND DIED. He is not the RISEN CHRIST, with all power in heaven and earth given unto Him, pouring forth the Holy Spirit and doing mighty works, as in the early church days. I affirm that the present day popular preachers DO NOT KNOW what human guilt, before God, is! DO NOT KNOW that Christ really bore wrath under God's hand for the sin of the world! DO NOT KNOW that He was forsaken of God, as the whole race, otherwise, must have been! I affirm that they are preaching as if an unrejected, uncrucified Christ were still being offered to the world! They preach the "character" of Jesus, saying "nice things" of Him, and telling people to "follow His example": while the truly awful fact that Christ "bare our sins in His own body on the tree," that He was "wounded for our transgressions," that He was "forsaken of His God"; that "God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up,"--and that "for our trespasses," is never told to the poor, wretched people! Nor are they warned of that literal lake of fire and brimstone into which "every one not found written in the book of life" will be cast, and that forever. One look into the lost eternity to which these last-days "preachers" are leading those who follow them, renders even the briefest consideration of these men who dare to call themselves "preachers of the gospel," beyond all enduring. As Jeremiah cries: "Concerning the prophets. My heart within me is broken, all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of His holy words. "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they teach you vanity; they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah. They say continually unto them that despise Me, Jehovah hath said, Ye shall have peace; and unto every one that walketh in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you . . . Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, even His wrath, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest; it shall burst upon the head of the wicked . . . I sent not these prophets, yet they ran: I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then had they caused My people to hear My words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings" (Jer. 23:9, 16, 17, 19, 21, 22). And Ezekiel: "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of Man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah: Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! . . . They have seen falsehood and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith; but Jehovah hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word could be confirmed. Have ye not seen a false vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, in that ye say, Jehovah saith; albeit I have not spoken? "Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar: say unto them that daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall" (Ezek. 13:1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12-14, 15). And, "When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, and thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way; that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, and he turn not from his way; he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul" (Ezek. 33:8, 9). You may say, Those were Old Testament prophets--Jeremiah and Ezekiel; and Those were messages to the Jews. Wait till you meet, as you will shortly, the God Who inspired these prophets. Let us see what you will say to Him,--you who profess to preach the gospel of Christ. and yet preach it not! And Paul saith: "Though we, or an angel from heaven should preach unto you any gospel other than that which we preached unto you, let him be anathema." "For I delivered unto you first of all that . . . Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, . . . that He was buried; and that He hath been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." This very declaration of the gospel after Christ died, is that atoning death of His. When you leave that out, and prate about the "beautiful life" of Jesus, you are deceived by the devil and are a deceiver of other souls. 4. We know that this "social gospel," the false news that humanity is to be reached in the mass, and not by individual conviction, individual faith, individual new birth by the Holy Spirit, is a lie, because Scripture directly contradicts any such notion: Hear Paul: "In the last days, grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away!" (II Tim. 3:1-5). Peter also: "In the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying. Where is the promise of His coming?" (II Pet. 3:3, 4). Paul again: "Evil men and imposters shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived" (II Tim. 3:13). And our Lord plainly says: "In the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:29, 30). How dare you call yourself a believer of Scripture, while you deny such plain words as these, and preach a fool's dream, that the world, with the devil still here, its prince and god; and man still unregenerate--that the world will by some "social gospel" gradually change in character? It is a lie! and those that preach it, preach a lie. The words of God shall be fulfilled, and not the mouthings of a McConnell or the fumings of a Fosdick. And, O social gospeller, if you are looking for a changed state of "society," who is going to help you bring it in? The Holy Ghost will not, for He has inspired men to write that the very opposite will occur! that men shall hate one another, and that the world will grow worse, to the very return of Christ. And we know that enlightened Christians will not go about to bring in what they know from God's Word is not coming in! And ignorant Christians cannot help you,--for they know not how. And we know that this selfish world will not go about to bring in your social dream: for you and we know they are set on their own interests, and will remain so. And Satan cannot do it, if he would! So, O social gospeller, who would go about to bring in a "new social order," you are left to do it yourself, without that regeneration by the Holy Spirit which alone truly saves men; without any message of pardon for guilty souls through the shed blood of a Redeemer (for you do not preach that!) without the help and prayers of true believers: for, these pray, "Thy Kingdom Come"; but they know that Christ must return to earth to bring in that Kingdom; and they know that all other promises are false and lying hopes! __________________________________________________________________ [1] Paul, being really the least, is the greatest of men! The Lord Jesus said, "Among those born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist." But He added immediately, "Yet he that is lesser in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he." (Matthew 11:11). Paul names himself "less than the least of all saints," speaking in the Spirit. When John the Baptist speaks of the place he had, it was, as "the friend of the Bridegroom"; but Paul, of his work, as that of espousing and presenting the saints as a chaste virgin to Christ"! We cannot conceive of a higher honor, than that given to this very least of Christ's bondservants,-- to present His Church to Him; as we believe it will be given Paul to do, at the Marriage of the Lamb! (Re 19:6-9; II Cor. 11:2) [2] It would be well also here, regarding Paul, to apply Mk 10:43,44: "Whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister." The Greek word for "minister" here is the one we translate elsewhere "deacon" (diakonos); but verse 44 goes further and deeper: "And whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all." Here the Greek word is the one always used for a slave under bondage--doulos. And so we find Paul saying to the Corinthians: "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants far Jesus' sake . . . Though I was free from all men, I brought myself under bondage to all (verb form of doulos: literally, I became bondslave to all), that I might gain the more . . . I will most gladly spend and be spent out for your souls." (II Cor. 4:5; I Cor. 9:19; II Cor. 12:15, Gr.). No other apostle calls himself "slave of all": Paul got the first place, by our Lord's own word,--not that any who choose to be slaves of all for Christ's sake may not he associated with Paul! Rut he is "less than the least," even yet! No wonder, then, that we find Paul speaking with an authority from the Lord such as no other apostle uses. Moses (who had authority in Israel) was "meek above all the men an the face of the earth." The Lord Jesus Himself is seen, when the Kingdom is handed over to Him, as a Lamb that had been slain (Re 5:6) is ever "meek and lowly in heart." Thus Paul says, "I am nothing . . . I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." (Here, by the way, was sovereign grace! Christ's choosing His greatest enemy to be His greatest apostle!) [3] The verb to call (kaleo), is used in this way of Divine sovereign action about forty times; and the cognate noun (klesis), eleven times: always in the sense of Romans 11:29: "The gifts and calling of God are not repented of." [4] In the book of Acts, Peter and John, together with others of the twelve, and Philip and Stephen, give witness to our Lord's physical resurrection, and proclaim remission of sins to the Jews and proselytes. Then God, through Peter, (to whom the Lord had given the "keys of the kingdom of heaven") opens the door of faith to Gentiles (Acts 10). Paul, saved outside Jewish bounds, saw the glorified Christ, and heard His voice (Acts 9). He is sent forth by the Holy Ghost (Acts 13), with the gospel which belongs to this dispensation, wholly apart from the Law of Moses: witnessing first in synagogues, and afterwards, at Ephesus, (Acts 19), bringing believers out into separation from rebellious Judaism. Finally, at Rome (Acts 28), through the awful passage of Isaiah Six, he declares the Jews to be judicially hardened, and "this salvation of God sent to the Gentiles," Since that day, Jews are invited to believe,--not as Jews, but as sinners! [5] "Compare "holy Scriptures" (graphais hagiais) here, with "sacred writings" (hiera grammata) of II Tim. 3:15, and with the words, "every Scripture is God-breathed" (pisa graphe theopneustos) of the following verse (II Tim. 3:16). We should, in II Tim. 3:16, supply the substantive verb, "is," after "Scripture"; and the words "and is" after the word "God," with the resultant reading: "Every Scripture is inspired of God and is also profitable," etc. The reading in both the English and American Revisions here is a poor attempt at literalness which avoids the evident meaning of the Holy Spirit, and is, furthermore, not a possible translation in view of the Spirit's constant use of the word graphe in the New Testament as referring only to the Word of God. To say, "Every graphe inspired of God," etc., is to insinuate that there may be a graphe uninspired; whereas graphe is God's technical word for Scripture, for God's inspired Word, used 51 times in the New Testament as a noun denoting always inspired writings. Its first occurrence is Matthew 21:42; its last, 2Pe 3:16. Other illustrations are Matthew 26:54, 56; John 10:35; and II Timothy 3:16. We may note also, as to "holy writings," that Paul, if addressing Jews, would have said the holy writings, for they had them; but he is writing to Gentiles, therefore omits the article. [6] Let us beware, however, of misapplying I Cor. 2:2: "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." Paul goes on in verse 6, there, to say: "We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown"; and in 3:1: "I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. I fed you with milk." "Jesus Christ and Him crucified" is the gospel for the sinner and babes in Christ; Christ Jesus and Him glorified is the gospel for instructing and perfecting believers (I Cor. 2:6-13). [7] "That same energy of the Holy Ghost which had displayed itself in Jesus when He walked in holiness here below, was demonstrated in resurrection; and not merely in His own rising from the dead, but in raising the dead at any time, though most signally and triumphantly displayed in His own resurrection."--W. Kelly. I have never seen a fully satisfactory explanation of the words (literally) "marked out as the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of dead (ones)." The account of our Lord's death in Matthew 27:51-54 remarkably corroborates the truth of this great verse. The rent veil, the earthquake, the rent rocks, and the opened tombs: "And many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after His resurrection (for He was the First-fruits) they entered into the holy city, and appeared unto man)." And the awed testimony of "the centurion, and they that were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God." And as Luke adds: "Certainly this was a righteous man!" [8] "Christ was to be born as Seed of the woman, Seed of Abraham, and Seed of David: as the Seed of the woman to bruise Satan; as the Seed of Abraham, to bring in salvation to the whole household of faith (Gal. 3:16); and Christ was to be the Seed of David, in the actual fulfilment to Israel of all Messianic promises: for He was born into the "house and family" of David. In fact, He is named in the New Testament as Son of David a dozen times. It is from the sixteenth Psalm, concerning David, that Peter quotes in Acts 2:25-36; and Paul calls Christ David's Seed, quoting from the same Psalm in his first recorded sermon (Acts 13:16-41); although he addresses those Jews in Antioch as "children of the stock of Abraham." Christ was the Seed of the woman; He was also the Seed of Abraham; but He was born into this world of a virgin of the family of David (her betrothed husband being also of that fami1y), so that they both went to enroll themselves in the city of David, Bethlehem (Luke 2:4, 5). "There is strong reason to believe that Mary, as well as Joseph, was a descendant of David. This was the persistent tradition of the early Church." --James Orr. "I do not doubt that Luke's is Mary's genealogy."--Darby. [9] "By "religion" (threskeia): we mean that worship which is conducted through ceremonies. Paul, indeed, calls that worship, in Galatians 1:13, 14 Judaism--(Ioudaismos). James 1:26 uses the word threskeia, which primarily means, fear of the gods. The fundamental thought in "religion" is the performance of duties. In fact, the English word "religion" from Latin, religio, a binding, that is, to bind duties on one, and is an accurate setting forth of the original meaning. Now this was exactly what was not done in the gospel. "Religious" duties as Such were wholly set aside, and faith in the living Christ substituted. Strictly speaking, a believer is a man who has a Person, not a religion. The "Judaizers" were those professing to be Christians who were determined to fasten on Christian believers "Iaudaismos," as Paul calls it. The cross ended all that: the veil was rent, the way to God made wholly open, apart from "religious duties and ceremonies, days, seasons, months and years"! [10] We might render these expressions: "Jesus Christ's by calling," "saints by calling." Calling, in this sense, is always of God the Father, who appoints to each creature its own manner, character, and sphere of being. [11] "When one puts alongside of this (thanksgiving and prayer) the similar language used by Paul to the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, and the Thessalonians,--what catholic love, what all-absorbing spirituality, what impassioned devotion to the glory of Christ, what incessant transaction with Heaven about the minutest affairs of the kingdom of Christ upon earth, are thus seen to meet in this wonderful man!"--David Brown. [12] Matthew Henry well remarks, "The church at Rome was then a flourishing church; but since that time, how is the gold become dim! The Epistle to the Romans is now an epistle against the Romans." [13] "We must keep the personal-letter spirit of Romans before us, if we are to be truly benefited by it. So we shall seek not only to teach doctrine with Paul, but to exhort response with him. We must not only teach, "Paul said so and so to the Roman Christians"; but, "Paul says so and so to us." And we must remember that as Paul told Timothy to teach, exhort, charge, command, rebuke, to be urgent in season and out of season,--so must we exhort, command, rebuke, who teach Paul to others. [14] To the Jew the whole world was divided into Jews (Ioudaioi) and Greeks (Hellenes), religious prerogative being taken as the line of demarkation. To the Greek and the Roman the world was similarly divided into Greeks (Hellenes) and Barbarians (Barbaroi), civilization and culture being now the criterion of distinction." --(Lightfoot.) [15] "All philosophy is a perfect delusion; intellect has nothing to do with God at all. Faith is never in the intellect; and, what is more, the intellect never knows a truth. Truth is not the object of intellect, but of testimony. This is where the difference lies. You tell me something and I believe you, but the thing that receives truth (a testimony) is not intellect. Real intelligence of God is in the conscience. The mind is incapable of forming an idea of God, and that is where the philosophers have gone wrong,"--This word by Mr. Darby is the very truth! [16] "Notice, it is not the cross. Romanists put the cross on the top of the cathedral; millions wear a figure of the cross around their necks; but they may never have heard "the word of the cross." As Paul says further in I Cor. 1:23, "We preach Christ crucified, [not the cross, merely] unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." As one has said, "Not to Thy cross, but to Thyself, My living Savior, would I cling! Twas Thou, and not Thy cross, that bore My soul's dark guilt, sin's deadly sting. "A Christless cross no refuge were for me; A crossless Christ my Savior could not be: But, O CHRIST CRUCIFIED, I rest in Thee!" [17] "In these days of "respectable" Christianity, with its great cathedrals, churches, denominations, colleges, seminaries, "uplift movements," etc., you may say, Men no longer have any temptation to be "ashamed of the gospel." But lo, and behold, it is not the gospel they preach; but a man-reforming, world-mending message of fallen flesh! Who today preaches of the wrath of God? But Paul speaks of wrath twelve times in Romans, and says: "If God visit not with wrath, He cannot be the Judge of the world." Who preaches of the awful things we are about to find true of the Gentile world in the end of this chapter? Who preaches, that even among the moral philosophers, the "better" classes (in the first part of Ch. 2); or the "religious" world as represented by the Jew (last part of Ch. 2); or in the whole world (3:10-20), that "none is righteous," "none doeth good"? Who preaches that the whole world is under the Divine sentence of guilt, and that no man is able to put this guilt away? that the shed blood of Christ as the vicarious sacrifice for human guilt is absolutely the only hope of man? who preaches this, today? Here and there, one! It is blessed for you, brother, if you are preaching the gospel Paul preached, and are not ashamed thereof! It is blessed if you art not sucking the poison-honey of Modernism; nor allured by earth's Kagawas into the fool's paradise of the "social-gospellers"; nor deceived by the Neo-Romanists,-- the Man-Confessionalists, the Buchmanites (falsely called the "Oxford Movement"). Better be in prison with Paul, with Paul's gospel! [18] Note, it is the righteousness of God, not the righteousness of Christ. It is God's acting righteously upon the basis of Christ's redeeming work. [19] A word concerning the preposition ek as used in verse 17, "a righteousness of God from (ek) faith," etc., or "faithwise." There has been much objection to the translation of ek by "on the principle of"; yet that is about the expression nearest to the truth of any we have found, unless it be "faithwise." Literally, ek means out of, or from. We ourselves use "out of" thus: "He acted out of prudence," --(as animated by that principle) or, "He gave out of kindness." But it is of imperative importance that we get the great fact quickly and forever fixed in our hearts that God declares men righteous not by faith as the procuring cause, for the blood of Christ was that; not by faith as the putting forth of a certain faculty innate in man, much less by the keeping of divine commands, however holy and just; but out of reliance upon His own word as true, and on that alone. [20] Divinity (theiotes)--what pertains to God; rather than deity (theotes)--"the state of being God":--the Godhead. That there is divinity, men know from creation; God,--the Godhead, Deity, is known by His saints. [21] We cannot refrain from quoting here Joseph Addison's beautiful hymn. Would that it were widely learned and sung today! The spacious firmament on high, With all the blue ethereal sky, And spangled heavens, a shining frame, Their great Original proclaim. The unwearied sun, from day to day, Doth his Creator's power display, And publishes to every land, The work of an Almighty Hand. Soon as the evening shades prevail, The moon takes up the wondrous tale, And nightly to the listening earth Repeats the story of her birth; Whilst all the stars that round her burn, And all the planets in their turn, Confirm the tidings as they roll, And spread the truth from pole to pole. What though in solemn silence all Move round this dark terrestrial ball? What though no real voice nor sound Amidst their radiant orbs be found? In reason's ear they all rejoice, And utter forth a glorious voice: Forever singing, as they shine, "The Hand that made us is Divine." [22] Read "Does Science Support Evolution" by Dr. E. Ralph Hooper, for many years Demonstrator of Anatomy at the University of Toronto (The Defender Publishers, Wichita, Kansas, U. S. A.; 50 cents). It gives an astonishing amount of accurate testimony. [23] "Fools": "This is Paul, the writer's (that is, to say God's) estimate of the philosophers and religious leaders of the race. Paul knew the boasted wisdom of the Euphrates and of the Nile, the learning of Hellas, and of Rome. We know it today. But there is this difference: there are those in our time who see no generic difference between these ethnic sages and the prophets of God, while Paul declares the former to be but fools'."--(Stifler). [24] Crucifying Christ in Our Colleges, by Dan Gilbert, shows the monstrous doctrines of this evil "educator," whose influence is so great with many colleges and universities in the United States today. May God keep Freud's filthy feet from our shores! [25] Mahatma Gandhi, he of the horrible, toothless, diabolical grin of conceited folly; having been educated in England, and having heard the gospel and read the Scriptures, and rejected their light: sits on the deck of the steamer returning from India--doing what? Forming mud images with his own hands! A self-advertising illustration of the idolater's heart-conception of the glorious incorruptible God. [26] The Greek words used here are not the noble ones meaning men and women; but those denoting sex only, as in lower creatures. (For many examples, see theleioi and arsenes in Liddell and Scott's Lexicon.) This passage has deep significance in this day of the "sex-craze": when, as some one says, "Human beings seem to be just beginning to realize that they are male and female." The first of Romans warns of what such a craze will end in! [27] The Greek words used here are not the noble ones meaning men and women; but those denoting sex only, as in lower creatures. (For many examples, see theleioi and arsenes in Liddell and Scott's Lexicon.) This passage has deep significance in this day of the "sex-craze": when, as some one says, "Human beings seem to be just beginning to realize that they are male and female." The first of Romans warns of what such a craze will end in! [28] The expression in II Thess. 2:11 is exactly the same: God sends them who refuse the love of the truth "a working of error, that they should believe the lie": in this final case it is the apotheosis of idolatry,-- Satan's false Christ, the Antichrist, himself a lost man, whom they worship! [29] There is no Scripture record of idolatry before the Flood. The solemn presence of the Cherubim at the gate of Eden, probably continued long. Sin was increasing, but the Spirit was striving with man (Gen. 6:3 Then the 120 years passed; man was given up and the Deluge-judgment came. After the Deluge, came Nimrod, son of Cush (hence Bar-Cush, which becomes Bacchus), and the Satan-invented plan of idols to obscure God,--by demons (I Cor. 10:20). God permitted this as a judgment on a race that did not desire knowledge of Him. [30] "Few, perhaps, realize what is going on right here in America (not Russia) in these last days. Read these two extracts: From Children of the Jungle, by Thos. Minbaugh, Prof. of Sociology, University of Minnesota. (Reprinted in Reader's Digest, 1935): "Child tramps learn all about life--and who can do that and ignore sex? More and more girls are following their brethren on the bum; about one tribe in ten has female members. About one child tramp in 20 is a girl, disguised usually in breeches, but just as appallingly homeless as the boys, and young-- under twenty. They live in the jungles and boxcars, serving as mistresses and maids, sharing the joys and sorrows of life on the roads. They treat all boys and men alike; the girls are available to any and all in the camp. Occasionally a pair of girls travel with a gang for weeks; others prefer variety. They go from jungle to jungle without discrimination; they know they will be welcome." From The Disinherited, by J. Pegano, Scribner's, also reprinted in Reader's Digest: "I visited the jungle,' a mile or so out of town. All men who are on the bum' have a certain similarity--a lean and sullen look. [Describes some] . . . and a hatchet-faced man whom I recognized to be what is known among men on the bum, as a wolf. A wolf' is a man who picks up young boys on the toad, for reasons it is not necessary to go into. There are hundreds of wolves' on the road, and thousands of boys fall a prey to them." [31] 1. adikia; 2. poneria; 3. pleonexia; 4. kakia; 5. phthonou; 6. phonou; 7. eridos; 8. dolou; 9. kakoetheias; 10. psithuristas; 11. katalalous; 12. theostugeis; 13. hybristas; 14. hyperephanous; 15. aladzonas; 16. epheuretas kakOn; 17. goneusin apeitheis; 18. asunetous; 19. asunethetous; 20. astorgous; 21. asponpdous; 22. aneleemonas [32] In the six words of which this is the first, God emphasizes the negative, or stubborn quality of badness Each of these words begins with the Greek alpha, which has the force here of alpha privative: denial or negation of the quality expressed in the word. Therefore we have translated the first letter in all six "without,"--a rendering consistent rather than elegant, as accuracy of interpretation, rather than "excellency of speech" should be sought here. [33] "I stood several years ago upon "Starved Rock," near LaSalle, Illinois, a beautiful hill with precipitous sides, where in 1769 the entire tribe of the "Illinois" Indians were starved, almost to the last man, and the tribe practically exterminated, by other Indian tribes besieging the rock. You say, But those were Indians: I am civilized. No, God says, "There is no distinction; for all sinned." And even Paul cried, "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER TWO The Great Principles according to which God's Judgment of Human Action Must Proceed. 1. Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man,--any one judging [others]: for in the very matter in which thou judgest the other man, thou art giving judgment against thy very self: tor the same things thou art practising,--thou who art judging! WE HAVE TRACED the awful history of the human race in iniquity and idolatry, especially since the Flood, and have seen that fearful indictment of above twenty counts which ends Chapter One. We now enter upon the greatest passage in all Scripture as to the principles and processes of God in His estimate, or judgment, concerning His creatures. If God is "Judge of all," and if the whole world is to be "brought under the judgment of God" (Rom. 3:19), God will surely take pains to make known the great principles of His action, so that men may know beforehand how He will decide and act. Otherwise, men would "imagine vain things" about the true God, and hug their delusions to their own damnation. The personal character of God's relations toward men, either in the matter of salvation or of damnation, is rapidly being forgotten by this generation. Yet, if God be God, He must be the Judge of All. Back of the whole revelation of His works and ways, in His Word, is God Himself. And it is only the fool that saith in his heart, "No God." Mark that it is in his heart, his desires, that he speaks; and not in his reason or judgment! God created man "in His own image." Since we are persons,--so is God. Since we have personal feelings,--so has God. Now every creature stands in relation to God according to what God is. God cannot change. Daniel Webster, in answer to the question: "What is the greatest thought that ever entered your mind?" said, at once, "My responsibility to my Maker!" You must meet God, and that as He is, not as you might wish Him to be. If you have Christ, you have already met Him! If you have not Christ, you have still to face God in His infinite holiness, and that arrayed against you, at the Judgment Day. Now this second chapter of Romans deals with those who do not believe that the awful things of the first chapter mean themselves. Consequently, we find two sets of such self-appointed "judges" of others [34] in Chapter Two: First, Those who discountenance the "openly bad" of humanity, considering themselves "better"--because of race, civilization, environment, education, or culture; and, Second, Those who discountenance the bad, thinking themselves "better," because of their religion,--the possession of the Divine oracles: these, of course, were, in Paul's day, the Jews (2.17). Concerning the first class, the "respectable" sinners, who esteem themselves "better," God lays down six great principles of His estimate or judgment of men; and adds a seventh concerning the second class, the "religious" sinners; of whom God declares that the world itself despises inconsistency between practice and religious profession. Now just because the history of our race has been so black, as shown in Chapter One ("God gave them up--God gave them up--God gave them up--"), we who read the record are ourselves in peculiar danger, for the doors into the death-chamber of self-righteousness so easily open to us! We readily fall into the delusion that God is speaking in this chapter concerning heathen idolaters, who finally descended to worshiping "creeping things,"--and that He cannot be speaking to us! But will you remember that God comes quickly, through this sad history, to man's settled state. For at the end of the history, the announcement concerning men is, "being filled with all unrighteousness!" By and by God will announce that there is no distinction" as to sinners, and will publish the fact that there is but one way of salvation for all men alike,--and that through the shed blood of a Redeemer. But here, as we have above said, God is heading off from escape first the proud "judges" of others, of every sort,--the moralists, and moral philosophers, all the "moral" folks,--the "whosoevers" that "judge"; and, second, those who would escape the consciousness of guilt and judgment by running under a "religious" roof-- whether a Jewish shelter, as in Paul's day, or a "Christian" one, in our day. SEVEN GREAT PRINCIPLES OF GOD'S JUDGMENT 1. God's judgment is "according to truth" (verse 2). 2. According to accumulated guilt (verse 5). 3. According to works (verse 6). 4. Without respect of persons (verse 11). 5. According to performance, not knowledge (verse 13). 6. God's judgment reaches the secrets of the heart (verse 16). 7. According to reality, not religious profession (verses 17-29). ACCORDING TO TRUTH,--NOT HUMAN IMAGININGS Verse two of this chapter describes the first principle of God's judgment: it is "according to truth": 2 And we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against them that practice such things. 3 And dost thou reckon this, O man, judging them that practice such things, and thyself doing the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? 4 Or dost thou even despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God is meant to lead thee to repentance? First, then, the judgment of God is "according to truth." Every man is naturally blind to his own state and sins. Not unless mightily convinced by the Holy Ghost, can any man imagine God's dealing in justice with him! The third verse brings this out. Godet (though seeking to confine this passage to the Jews) strikingly renders it: "Dost thou reason that thou wouldst escape,--thou? [35] A being by thyself? A privileged person?" And he adds, "The Greek word here used (logid-zomai--to reason) well describes the false calculations whereby the Jews persuaded themselves that they would escape the judgment wherewith God would visit the Gentiles." But Paul does not begin with the Jews as a class until verse 17. Here in the first part of the chapter he is seeking to arouse all men from that sense of security arising from self-love and self-flattery. [36] We must apply these searching sentences to all "respectable" persons, to all those who, being themselves impenitent, yet "judge" others. God sees the facts, nay, the motives behind the facts, of the life of every creature. Of course, this whole second chapter, and the first part of the third, is meant by God, whose name is Love, to drive us out of our false notions of Himself and His judicial procedure, into the arms of our Redeemer, Christ; who has borne wrath, the wrath of God, as our Substitute. But whether you are brought to flee to Christ or not, you must face the facts: God is a God of judgment, and a God of truth. See how He "spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up." It is not because God loves to judge and condemn, for He definitely says judgment is "His strange work" (Isa. 28:21). Nevertheless, He must judge, and it must be "according to truth," according to the facts, the realities which are, of course, known to Him. He needs no "jury" to decide any case. He is Himself Witness, Jury and Judge. Now, in the next two verses (3 and 4), we see God dealing with the accursed folly of the deceitful heart of man, who dreams that by merely judging others (though he practices the same things), he shall escape God's judgment. Some one says, "We hate our own faults when we see them in others." But this state goes beyond even that, for it puts God right off His throne, and makes Him connive with a guilty sinner, just because, forsooth, this sinner discerns clearly and decries loudly the sins of others,--while committing the same himself. Furthermore, such a "judge" of others becomes, in his self-confident importance, blind to God's constant mercy toward himself--not feeling the need of it; and in his self righteous blindness knows not that the "goodness" of God is meant to lead him to personal repentance instead of to judgment of his fellows. [37] Note the degrees or stages, also, of God's kindness during the earth-life of such a man: First, it is God's "goodness," in daily preserving him, providing for him, and protecting him. Second, Divine goodness being despised by him, God's "forebearance" is exercised,--God does not smite instantly the proud ingrate, but goes on in goodness toward him, withholding wrath even at times when disease, danger, or death threaten all about him. Third, all God's goodness and forbearance being despised, God's "long-suffering" keeps waiting, even over "vessels of wrath" (see 9:22). ACCORDING TO ACCUMULATED GUILT 5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God-- We have here the second principle, the cumulative character of continued impenitence. This shows how the hardened and impenitent sinner "lays up" during a prosperous earth-life constant "treasures" of wrath, [38] which will be revealed at the Great White Throne judgment of Revelation 20, when all the evil works of the lost will be shown in all their ramifications and evil influences, and effects upon others, as well as in the fearful personal guilt of hardness and impenitence against God's mercy. Not until the last evil result of a life of sin has been marked and weighed, can the final reward of the sinner be shown,--as all will be shown in that "Day." This is the outlook, probably, with most people we meet! How dread and awful that outlook for the sinner who has taken God's earthly gifts and blessings as a matter of course,--no brokenness of heart or contrition toward God! Nay, not even thankfulness! "Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and prosperous ease" (Ezek. 16:49, 50). And our Lord, in speaking of the utter carnal security of the Sodomites, says, "They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:28-30). So they are today, in these last days: "Treasuring up unto themselves wrath" for that fearful "day of wrath." Remember, if the goodness of God toward you is not leading you to repentance, then every day, every hour, you live, drops another drop into the terrible "treasure" of indignation which will burst the great dam of God's long-suffering--in the great Day of Wrath, when God shall reveal His righteous judgment! (Of course, if you flee to Calvary, you will "not come into judgment" (John 5:24): for Judgment has already struck there!) ACCORDING TO WORKS 6 Who will recompense to each one according to his works: 7 to them that by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruptibility, life eternal: 8 but to those who are contentious, and disobey the truth, being obedient to unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, 9 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, both of Jew first, and also of Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace to every soul of man that worketh good, both to Jew first, and also to Greek. The third principle then, is, "according to works": "Who will judge every one according to his works." How could it be otherwise? You know that when a case comes to trial in courts of law, men first endeavor, through questioning witnesses, to discover the facts. Now God knows all the facts about every one of Adam's race, and His judgment must be in accordance with them. It is not that God desires you to be damned, but, contrariwise, to believe on His Son, upon Whom His judgment for human sin fell at Calvary. Nevertheless, those that come up at the Last Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15) will be "judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works" . . . "They were judged every man according to their works." But, as we shall see, it is the life as a whole, the life-choice, that is in question here. Consequently, we read here of the two great classes: the patiently enduring, and the rebellious; those whose life-practice is good, and those who work evil; those who obey the truth, and those who reject it in order to remain in the unrighteousness they love. Verse 7: The "patient continuance in well-doing" is not at all set forth as the means of their procuring eternal life, [39] but as a description of those to whom God does render life eternal. Well-doing is subjection to and obedience to the light God has vouchsafed. [40] To Abel, "well-doing" meant approaching God by a sacrifice, as a sinner, as he had been taught to do. To Noah, "continuance in well-doing" meant building an ark to save his house and preserve life upon the earth, involving years of labor, and the ridicule of man. To Abraham, it meant leaving his country, his relatives, and his father's house, and becoming a stranger and pilgrim on earth. To Job, it meant his God-fearing, evil-rejecting life; and afterwards, in the midst of his great affliction, bowing before the presence of God in dust and ashes. To Matthew the publican, it meant rising from his business and following the Lord Jesus; to Cornelius the centurion, a life of patient prayer and generosity,--and then believing the gospel at Peter's lips. To Lydia, it meant humble and faithful attendance at "the place of prayer" till Paul came and "her heart was opened" to give heed to the gospel of grace spoken by the apostle,--whence followed her "obedience of faith." In every age since man sinned there have been those like Jabez, who was "more honorable than his brethren, and called upon God" (1 Chron. 4:9, 10); and like Joseph, who was "separate from his brethren." There always have been choosers of God and rejectors of God. Verse 8: We need only sketch in Scripture a few of the contentious, the factious [41] a Cain who was angry, and hateful at God's accepting Abel's sacrifice; an Esau who despised his birthright and hated to the end the people of God; a Pharaoh who said to Moses, "Who is Jehovah that I should hearken unto His voice?" A Saul who despised the word of Jehovah and sought to destroy His elect king, David; a Jehoiakim, apostate king of Judah, who "cut with his penknife" and burned the prophecies of Jeremiah; scribes and Pharisees, who rejected John's baptism of repentance,--and, consequently, our Lord's loving offer of eternal life for sinners through faith in Himself alone; infidel Sadducees, who obeyed not the truth, by ridiculing it, as Modernists do today. All about us we perceive them,--"the factious," those who oppose to Scripture their notions or arguments, and continue to obey unrighteousness. The world is filled with them, and they will fill hell shortly! And now we must faithfully read and believe what God declares will befall these "factious" unbelievers: Wrath--indignation--tribulation--anguish [42] thus is the fearful visitation of The Great Day upon the impenitent described, with concise but sweeping comprehensiveness: Wrath: this is "revealed from heaven" as the state of God's mind toward the unbelieving wicked--"the wrath of God abides upon him" (John 3:36). Indignation: this is vividly described in Nahum: "Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger?" Or Ezekiel: "I have poured out My indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath." It seems to be the outburst in visitation of wrath stored up. Then (verse 9), tribulation: Here the visitation strikes its object. The false peace of his hardened, impenitent earth-life is now horribly broken up by direct visitation from God in vengeance. Finally, anguish: which sets forth the result of that tribulation which meets the lost directly from an angry, indignant Creator and Judge. "I am in anguish in this flame," cried lost Dives, in Hades (God's prison for the lost until the Day of Judgment). What unspeakable horrors, then, will that Day bring! Verse 10: But God must again, in His heart of love, show in what sweet, heavenly contrast are those working good: glory, honor, peace,--to every such soul, Jew or Greek! The order of the words plainly points to that day when the righteous will be manifest. Then will be manifested in them that glory which they sought; there will be public honor; there will be everlasting peace! Now remember that although we have not yet come in this Epistle to the unfolding of the way of peace, yet it belongs to your peace to let this great passage we are studying fall full into your heart. WITHOUT RESPECT OF PERSONS 11 For there is no respect of persons with God. 12 For as many as made a life-choice of sin, though without law, without law also shall perish; and as many as under law made a life-choice of sin, shall be judged by law. [43] Verse 11:The fourth principle, then, is, "Without respect of persons." Among men, there is almost nothing else but what James and Jude denounce as "showing respect of persons"--"for the sake of advantage." The rich, the educated, the travelled, the cultured, the prominent, the influential, the pleasing, the strong,--are all sought after. The poor, the ignorant, the weak, are despised and neglected. But not so with God. He sees men through His own eyes of holiness and truth always. He "seeth not as man seeth." It is a terrifying thought to earth's great,--but an infinitely comforting thought to every humble God-fearing soul,--that there is an impartial One, with no respect of persons, with whom they have to do! Distinction in responsibility, according to privilege enjoyed, is constantly carried through Scripture. But light is light,--not darkness at all. Light is an absolute quality. If persons were lost in a forest at night, the least glimmer of light seen somewhere would attract those who desired deliverance from darkness, and they would hasten toward it; while those that feared light because of works of evil in which they desired to persist, would shrink back farther into the darkness; loving darkness not for its own sake, but, as our Lord said, "because their works are evil." In both cases, whether of those that do not have the (Mosaic) Law, or of those living, as the Jews did, under it if they choose sin, there is doom. There will be no respect of persons at all. Those "without law" choosing sin "shall perish": those "choosing sin under law shall be judged by that law," and consequently go into more terrible damnation. [44] ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE, OR OBEDIENCE, NOT KNOWLEDGE 13 For not those hearing law are righteous before God, but on the contrary those doing law shall be accounted righteous. 14 (For when Gentiles not having law, by nature do the things of the Law, these, not at all having law, unto themselves are law; 15 for such show forth the work written in their hearts of the Law, their conscience bearing joint-witness [to this "work" in their hearts], and their inward thoughts answering one to the other, accusing [them] or else excusing [them].) Verse 13: Not those hearing law, but those practising, accounted righteous before God. The fifth principle is, that hearing God's Word is no advantage without obedience. Paul addresses the Jew directly, beginning at verse 17; but here, in verse 13, the principle is announced in general. It is not yet the Jew as possessing circumcision and the Law, as in verses 17 to 29 (for the word is hearing law--not the Law). But it is, in verse 13, the great fact, (true of Jews or Gentiles), that the possession of Divine truth can avail nothing with God apart from subjection and obedience thereto. There is no form of the "deceitfulness of sin" more insidious and more prevalent (because of its subtle power over the self-righteous heart) than that of settling down into false peace because of merely knowing God's truth. Nor does God in this verse say any will be justified by "doing" (for He tells us plainly elsewhere that none will be), but He is saying here that doing, not mere hearing, is what His judgment calls for. We shall find that the gospel will speak of the "obedience of faith": whereas disobedience and unbelief are interchangeable words. We know that the blood of Christ is the only procuring cause for our being accounted righteous, and faith the sole condition. Yet it is deeply instructive here to quote a passage like that of Luke 1:6, concerning Zacharias and Elizabeth: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless." Now their walk was not the ground of their acceptance, although only such as they are accepted! For they were subject to God's Word, not mere hearers, but doers. The first verse of the book of Job describes such another. Indeed, at heart all God's saints are such. Verses 14, 15: (For when Gentiles [ethne [45] --nations] not at all having law--that is Law as an external revelation from God (the Law if you will): these words alone, although there are many like passages, wholly refute the claim that God gave the Law to all nations. By nature, the things of the Law are doing--this does not mean that they are fulfilling the claims of the Law, for they do not have it, but that they are unconsciously aware, as moral beings, of what is right and wrong. These, law not at all having, to their own selves are law. We are giving the literal rendering of this passage. Note, first, that they do not at all have law, that is, external Divine enactment. Next, they are by their moral constitution, not by external enactments, "law to their very selves." Being such ones, as show out [by their actions] the work (of the law) written in their hearts--Here, note most carefully that it is not the Law that is written, for the word "written" agrees grammatically with "the work." It is a work that is written by God in the constitution of these whom He has "suffered to walk in their own ways" (Acts 14:16). For "as for His ordinances, they [the nations] have not known them" (Ps. 147:20). God is describing how He has constituted all men: there is a "work" within them, making them morally conscious. As we have said elsewhere, such a "work" would not be contrary to any succeeding revelation to Israel. Indeed, if the Israelites had not had this "work" within them, their moral constitution, the external enactments given by Moses might as well have been given to the stones of the wilderness. The conscience of these [nations] bearing fellow witness [with the Law,--though they have it not] and their inner-thoughts accordingly one with another accusing or else excusing)--Note that verses 14 and 15 are a parenthesis explanatory of verses 12 and 13: read verses 13 and 16 consecutively to see this fact. ACCORDING TO HEART-SECRETS 16--in the day when God shall judge the secret counsels of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. Verse 16: The sixth principle of God's judgment here is that it comprehends the very secrets of men. Within every human heart, in hours of consciousness, there is going on a constant dialogue, as we read in verse 15: "Their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing them." There are those, indeed, in whom conscience has been "seared as with a hot iron," so that its voice is no longer heard in protest. In these, also, however, God continually reads the dark, secret things of sin. And in the coming "day" all secrets must come to light. For the wicked, what an outlook! Even the saints, when Christ appears the second time, will come before the judgment seat (bema) of Christ (II Cor. 5:10). And, while the question of their works as sins will not be brought up at all,--for it is "apart from sin" that He appears to His own (Heb. 9:28),--yet to these, nevertheless, it is said in I Cor. 4:5: "Judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the hearts; and then shall each man have his praise from God." It will be a solemn enough time, even for the saints, to have the works of their lives since their salvation examined, yea, even concerning the "counsels of the hearts," their hidden motives. For the saints will receive only such "praise from God" as is righteously possible for each. But how unutterably awful even the contemplation of appearing unforgiven before a God Who will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,--no longer a patient and willing Redeemer, but God's appointed Judge in righteousness! (Acts 17:31). In this great passage, verses 12 to 16, review carefully these facts: (a) Absence of degrees of privilege possessed by others, excuses no one. (b) The greater the privilege, however, the more searching and severe the judgment. (c) All have committed sin, but it is the life-choice of sin, the life looked at as a whole, that is considered, in this place. (d) Merely "hearing" the Law by a Jew (or, today, by Gentiles, the gospel) justifies no one. The Jew boasted in knowing the Law, but Christ said, "None of you keepeth the Law." Thus, today, millions conscious of "Christian" privilege, and making "Christian" profession are going steadily on to judgment. For the Jew did not obey the Law (which commanded righteousness), and the merely professing Christian has not obeyed the gospel, which commands personal faith in the shed blood of the Redeemer, and confession before men of faith in Christ Risen. (e) The Gentiles, by their very moral constitution, "by nature," approve the things of the Law: that is, all men know it is wrong to lie, steal, and murder. I asked Chinese who had never heard the Law or the gospel if they knew these things were wrong; they all admitted they did. Consequently, (f) They are said to be "a law unto themselves, since they show the work of the Law, written in their heart." It is an inner moral consciousness "written" in man's heart, a "work," which while not the Law (though of course not contrary to it), must nevertheless, not be confounded with that operation of God in the future in the hearts of redeemed Israel, when He restores them: "I will put my Law in their inward parts [they will love it], and in their hearts will I write it." [They will not have to try to recollect the Law: they will have it constantly and always before them] for the "stony heart" will have been "taken away" (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:24-27). It is then that the (Mosaic) Law will be fulfilled in "every jot and tittle," by redeemed Israel. But the work of the Law appears in every human being; so that we read, (g) Man's conscience bears fellow-witness to this law-work in his moral constitution; consequently men daily, hourly, constantly, are having "inward thoughts" which have voices of accusation or approval, according as a man's conduct may be. To repeat, then, God here declares that there is a righteous "work" Divinely written and maintained in all men's hearts, from which they cannot escape; because their consciences "agree" with it (with this inner working). This "work" is evidently what lies at the root of the human conscience. The Law (of Moses) has never been written in the hearts of the Gentiles; but a Divine "work" is present in all men. The moral and spiritual constitution of man came 2,500 years before Moses' Law; and the latter could only be the written expression of what existed before as a work, or witness, in man's being, to which his conscience attested. [46] ACCORDING TO REALITY, NOT RELIGIOUS PROFESSION The seventh principle of His judgment, therefore, is, that even a Divinely revealed religion provides no security to its professor if devoid of reality: whether the "Jews' religion" at the beginning of the dispensation, or the "Christian religion" (as it has come to be called), today (verses 17 to 29). 17 But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the Law, and gloriest in God, 18 and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the Law; 19 and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the Law the form of knowledge and of the truth: 21 thou therefore teaching another! art thou not teaching thyself? thou, preaching not to steal--dost thou steal? 22 thou, saying not to commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou, holding idols in abhorrence, art thou a temple-robber? 23 thou, who art glorying in the Law, through thy own transgression of the Law, art thou dishonoring God?24 For the name of God through you [Jews] is being blasphemed among the Gentiles, even as it is written! 25 For circumcision indeed does profit, if thou art a law-keeper: but if thou art a transgressor of law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.26 If therefore the uncircumcision be observing the moral requirements of the Law, shall not the uncircumcision of such a one be reckoned for circumcision? 27 and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it keep the Law, rise up in judgment against thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of law? 28 For he is not a Jew, who is one in appearance: neither is that circumcision which is in appearance, in the flesh! 29 But on the contrary, he is a Jew who is one in secret; and circumcision is of the heart, in spirit, not in letter; whose praise is not from men, but on the contrary, from God! In the above verses Paul directly addresses the Jew. He shows that the Jew "rested" on The Law,--on having it; and was proud that the will of the true God had been revealed to him; that he "knew" that will, and was therefore able to "approve the things that are excellent." He developed a confidence in himself as a guide, a light, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher, because in the law he had "the form of knowledge and of the truth." But did he apply it to himself,--his teaching, his preaching, his saying what folks should be, his abhorring idols, his glorying in The Law? Nay! the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the selfishness, the pride, the covetousness, the general wickedness of the Jew! Paul goes on to declare that Jewish circumcision, which was the mark of that nation's separation to God, was good only if one were thus really separated to God, but that if not, the Jew was really an uncircumcised one; that he was excelled instead, and "judged," by those who, wholly outside circumcision, feared and walked with God. Paul finally declares that a man is not a Jew who is merely one outwardly, and that God does not regard mere outward circumcision: that the only Jew in God's sight is an "Israelite indeed," like Nathaniel, sincere and without guile; and that circumcision is a heart matter, in the real spirit of separation to God and regard for Him. (See the same phrase by which God describes a real Jew [en tO krupto] in Matt. 6:3, 6, etc.) So much for the Jew who was the "religious" man, when Paul wrote Romans. But the "religious" man today is the "professing Christian," and "church-membership" as they call it, has taken the place, in the thought of Christendom, of the Jew's consciousness of belonging to the favored Israelitish race. If we should thus apply this passage (17-29), must it not read something like this?--"If thou bearest the name of a Christian, and restest on having the gospel, and gloriest in God, and knowest His will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the gospel; and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, having in the gospel the form of knowledge and of the truth"--Then would follow the searching questions of verses 21 and 22; for do we not know teachers that teach others, but refuse to follow their own teaching? And preachers that denounce stealing, but are accused by the world of being themselves money-grabbers? [47] So it would read, "Thou who gloriest in the gospel, through thy disobedience to the gospel, dishonorest thou God? The name of God is blasphemed among non church-members' [48] because of you! Church-membership [49] indeed profiteth if thou be an obeyer of the gospel; but if thou be a refuser of a gospel-walk, thy church-membership' is become non church-membership.' If therefore a non church-member' obey the gospel, shall not his non church-membership' be reckoned for church-membership' ? And shall not non church-members,' if they obey the gospel, judge thee, who with the letter and church-membership' art a refuser of a gospel-walk? For he is not a Christian who is one outwardly, nor is that church-membership' which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Christian who is one inwardly; and church-membership' is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." Now before we proceed, remember yet once again, that God's great announcement of these principles of His throne is given to awaken men out of their false hopes about themselves, unto the truth about themselves; and is to be regarded as a description of God's judgment, as it must be--in order that men may be aroused, and not refuse His truth. But do not confuse Romans Two with Revelation Twenty! At the Judgment Day there will be no such preaching and reasoning with men as Paul here is doing, but damnation only--"according to their works--the things written in the books." O sinner, if God's rebukes are still coming to thee, there is sweet hope for thee! There will be no rebukes in that Great Day: but "visitation" only! __________________________________________________________________ [34] Note: The Greek verb for "judging" in the first verse does not mean to estimate a man's value but to condemn his person. [35] The pronoun "thou" is emphatic in the Greek, indicating a fond conceit about oneself. [36] Bengel, agreeing with Meyer and Godet, gives a searching word here: "Everyone accused, tries to escape; he who is acquitted, escapes." And Meyer: "But it is not by an acquittal that the Jew (or any religious person) expects to escape; but by being excepted entirely from the judgment of God. According to the Jewish notion, only the Gentiles shall be judged; while all Jews, as the children of the kingdom--of Messiah,--shall inherit it!" [37] The goodness of God to us, remembered, reflected upon, heartily believed in, moves the heart, and changes the whole attitude toward God. The great preacher of repentance, John the Baptist, cried, "Repent, for the Kingdom" --all you Jews have been hoping for! "is at hand," He was stern, as was his Lord, only with religious pretenders. [38] There is an evident correlation between the phrase, riches of goodness,' verse 4; and the Greek word translated treasure up'. The latter word, as well as the dative of favor, seauto, for thyself', have certainly a tinge of irony. What an enriching is that!"--Godet. Also Bengel: "Note the antithesis between despising the riches of goodness,' and treasuring up wrath'; between hardness' and goodness'; between impenitent heart' and repentance,' of verse 4. Also note that it is against thyself' thou art treasuring wrath, not against others whom thou judgest. Finally, the unquestionable antithesis between forbearance' and revelation of judgment.'" And David Brown: "What an awful idea is here expressed,--that the sinner himself is amassing, like hoarded treasure, an ever accumulating stock of Divine wrath, to burst upon him in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God'! And this is said not of the reckless, but of those who boasted of their purity!" [39] It must carefully and Constantly be borne in mind, as we have said above, that the question in this chapter is, the principles of God's judgment as Judge of all, and not the last assize itself, nor any account of the manner in which those said to be "working good" entered upon that path (which, of course, is always by a publican's trust in a God of mercy). But we are being shown in Chapter 2 how God must proceed in accordance with His being, toward two classes,--those subject to Him, and those refusing subjection. Alford well says: "The Apostle is here speaking generally, of the general system of God in governing the world,--the judging according to each man's works--punishing the evil, and rewarding the righteous. No question at present arises, how this righteousness in God's sight is to be obtained--but the truth is only stated broadly to be further specified by and by, when it is clearly shown that by works of law (erga nomou) no flesh can be justified before God. The neglect to observe this has occasioned two mistakes: (1) an idea that by this passage it is proved that not faith only, but works also in some measure, justify before God; and an idea that by well-doing here is meant faith in Christ. However true it be, so much is certainly not meant here, but merely the fact that everywhere, and in all, God punishes evil and rewards good." [40] God often, in His saving-grace, meets an enemy like Saul of Tarsus in the very heat of his opposition to Christ; or saves, and reveals His truth to, young men of wild dissipation like Augustine; or takes up and leads all the way to the Celestial City a profane Bunyan. Nevertheless, of these also, it could be said, as Paul spake: "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." After grace reached them, they too are described as "those who sought for glory and honor and incorruption." We repeat that verses 7 to 10 are not a revelation of the way of salvation, but a general description of the character of those that are saved. [41] Literally, it reads here, "those who are of contention"; that is, whose hearts, instead of believing and obeying, rise in opposition to the truth, contending inwardly against the truth and outwardly with them that proclaim it. The word "contentious" here evidently refers to the first conscious risings of man's wicked heart against God's revealed will. "Of contention' defines unbelievers, as those who are of faith' defines believers" (Hodge). [42] Wrath (orge) and indignation (thumos) is the true Greek order here. Alford's comment is excellent: "According to the arrangement, the former word denotes the abiding settled mind of God, as in John 3:36, towards them; and the latter, the outbreak of that anger at the Great Day of retribution." [43] Literally: "For as many as without law sinned, without law also shall perish; and as many as under law sinned, through law shall be judged." But the tense of the verb sinned, in both cases is the aorist; and cannot refer to the mere fact that they committed sin; for "all have sinned." The word "sinned" must refer to the general choice of sin as against righteousness and holiness. Therefore have we translated it "life-choice of sin," because the whole life is here looked at as a unit, and that life was a choice of sin, whether by Gentiles without the Mosaic law, or by Jews under it. [44] There is a poisonous vagary floating like a miasma through Christendom, that those who do not have the light of the gospel will be saved, either by a "second chance," or by "purgatorial fires,"--because, forsooth, "God is too good to punish sinners." Paul will answer these theories in Chapter 3 by an unanswerable question: "Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? God forbid: for how then shall God judge the world?" Meaning, that wrath is inseparably connected with judgment, whatever the degree of light sinned against may have been. How indescribably more awful will be the doom of those who now constitute a third company--even those who reject the love and grace of God manifested in His Son! (Heb. 10:28, 29). Always remember that the contemplation of an especially heinous degree of iniquity and consequent judgment is accompanied in the deceitful human heart by the delusion that those not chiefly guilty shall somehow wholly escape. But verse 12 distinctly says as many as chose sin, even though they be "without law" (anomos--Cf.1 Cor. 9:21--without externally declared divine revelation), shall also perish. Now, the word perish here is a terrible word! When used in Scripture regarding human beings it never hints of annihilation, but rather the contrary: "And be not afraid of them that kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" (Matthew 10:28). What "destroy both soul and body in Gehenna" means as to time, is shown in Matthew 25:41-46: "Then shall He say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels.' And these shall go away into eternal punishment: but the righteous into eternal life,"--compared with Revelation 20:10: "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the Beast and the False Prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night unto the ages of the ages." Note the same word, aionios, eternal, concerning life and concerning punishment. "The ages of the ages" is God's constant phrase for the duration of His own endless existence; and for that of Christ, the Son; and for that of His saints. See Gal. 1:5 (the first instance of this phrase,--used 21 times in the New Testament). Revelation 4:9; 1:18; 22:5, need to be compared with 20:10, as examples. [45] This Greek word ethne, translated "Gentiles" in our versions, could always, and in some cases with great advantage, be translated "nations." It means. like the Hebrew goyim, nations foreign to Israel--not having, as had they, the true God. [46] Of course the Sabbath was not a part of this "work" in man's heart. For, although God. "blessed" the seventh day (Gen. 2:3), and "hallowed" it, it was because He rested from all His work on that day. And it was into His rest that men failed to enter. For God first revealed the Sabbath to man when He gave it to Israel by means of the manna, and explained it at Sinai (Ex. 19). It was God's special token of a covenant between Himself and Israel. No one can read Ex 31:12-17, with an open mind, and fail to see that the Sabbath was a new revelation to Israel at that time! (Compare Neh. 9:14) To Adam was given one simple test of his obedience--not a day, but a tree! Israel to whom God's rest was proposed twice, have ever failed to enter it (Heb. 4:3-8). See further discussion of the Sabbath in Chapter Fourteen. [47] The preaching of the gospel is called in the world a "learned profession," along with law and medicine, instead of a high calling of God. The world sneers at the ecclesiastical politics and self-seeking it sees displayed so often. Many professional evangelists, especially, have caused a stench by their reaching after men's pocket-books. [48] Of course we are not referring here to humble, repentant people who may not have become connected as yet with any company of believers: for we have found some few of this class. On the other hand, neither do we at all refer, in the questions above, to the cynical, self-righteous, critics of the church, and church-fellowship, who complain: "The church is full of hypocrites, therefore, I will have nothing to do with it." The folly of such as these is at once manifest: hypocrites are going to hell; and these men, who pretend to be shunning the hypocrites on earth, if they reject personal faith in and public confession of Christ, are on their way to join them throughout eternity! For whatever the failings of Christians, in their divisions into sects, their all too manifest weakness of faith, and their inconsistencies, true believers find themselves desirous at once of fellowship with other believers--be the weakness of those believers what it may! [49] We repeatedly call attention to the fact which every student of Scripture discovers, that believers are not known in Scripture as members of a local assembly, but members of the Body of Christ (Eph. 5:30): "members of Christ" (I Cor. 6:15); and, "members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). This is the only membership found in Scripture. Although men use the word "member" of this or that local assembly or "denomination," the word should be fellowship instead of membership. There is but one Body: "There is one Body and one Spirit." This should be the constant consciousness of all Christians. To conceive of a Presbyterian body, or a Baptist body, or a Methodist body, is to defeat at once the one great Body-consciousness which the Holy Spirit desires to create in all true believers, in answer to our Lord's Great Prayer in John 17:21: "That they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us." This, of course, is the very farthest remove from the modernistic cry for "unity," (as they say), in which they would include all in an outward gathering together--whether believers, unbelievers (modernists), Jews, or what-not. The unity of the Body of Christ is in the Holy Spirit, and every believer is a member of that one Body of which Christ Himself is the Head. The essence of sectarianism is to be so committed to a system, or to a person, as to be unable to go on with God, in living faith. No man, no system is fully right. Only God's Word is perfect. If you are free, you will not be governed in reading God's Word by what any man may say, however excellent; or what any system holds. If you must run to this or that "authority," you are a mere sectarian. The Holy Spirit has come! "My children shall be taught of Me," God has said. __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER THREE The Jews had God's Oracles--a Great Advantage: their Unfaithfulness Proves, not Hinders, God's Just Judgment. Verses 1-8. Sweeping Fourteen-fold Indictment from Old Testament Scriptures: All Men, Jews and Gentiles, Brought in Guilty before God; and so All Mouths Stopped. Verses 9-20. Grace, However, for the Guilty! God's Righteousness by Another Way than Law-through Faith in Jesus Christ. Verses 21-31. 1 What advantage then hath the Jew [over the Gentile]? or what has been the profit of circumcision? 2 Much every way: foremost of all, because they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 For what if some were faithless to the trust? shall we at all think that their faithlessness annulled God's faithfulness? 4 Be it not thought of! Yea, let God be true, though every man aliar; as it is written, That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, And mightest prevail when Thou comest into judgment [by man]. 5 But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? (I speak after the manner of men). 6 Be it not thought of! for then how shall God judge the world? 7 But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 and why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say). Let us do evil, that good may come?--whose condemnation is just! OR TO PARAPHRASE this passage: "What preeminence then (if both Jewhood and circumcision are spiritual and inward only) hath the Jew? Or what has the Divine ordinance of circumcision amounted to? Much in every respect! But first and foremost that to that nation the oracles of God were entrusted. For what if some were faithless (to that trust)? Shall their faithlessness render inoperative the faithfulness of God (in carrying out those oracles)? Far be the thought! Yea, let God be found true, and every man, Gentile and Jew (found) false; as it is written (and that by king David, himself, confessing blood-guiltiness): That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, And mightest prevail when Thou are judged (by sinful man as to the justice of Thy ways.') "But (it is further objected) if the unrighteousness of us Jews has proved and publicly commended the righteousness of God both as to His holy nature and' as to His truth--(for He plainly prophesied Israel would sin) can we not say that God would be unrighteous to visit us Jews with wrath? (I am speaking thus,--though with horror--because it is the way men talk). Now away with the thought! [50] For how then (if it were unrighteous for God to visit a Jew with wrath) could God judge the WORLD? (as He indeed will). But (the Jewish objector continues) if the truth of God through my falsity has abounded unto His glory, why am I still judged as a sinner? and why not (since our Jewish evil-doings have in the past been made by God to bring about good)--why not keep doing evil that good may come? They are even slanderously reporting our teaching this awful doctrine!--because we preach righteousness by grace and faith and not by good works. The condemnation of those who bring such arguments is self-evident, and on the very face of it, is just!" Now to us, at this end of the dispensation, this insistence of God upon moral reality before Him of all, including the Jews themselves, "seems simplicity itself; but it was not so simple to those whom it seemed to strip of all their special and Divinely bestowed privileges." Paul assuredly tells us, in this third chapter, that there is "no distinction" before God between Jews and Gentiles as regards sinner-hood, but he will meet those objections which would arise (vv. 1-8) based in the Jew's mind on (a) the peculiar position of privilege given by God to Israel as Jehovah's separate people; and on (b) the righteous character of God Himself as conceived of by the Jew in his privileged position. These objections [51] are specious and daring--next to blasphemous: but they must be answered. The importance of this great passage cannot be overestimated, for if the Jew as that end of the dispensation, or any "religious" person at this end, be allowed to plead special privilege or light as exempting him from judgment, he will spiritually (of course not actually) escape the general sentence of verse 19, where "all the world" is brought under the judgment of God. If a man escapes in spirit from God's pronouncement of "guilty," he will never truly rely upon the shed blood of the Guilt-Bearer, Christ! Now there are three Jewish questions raised in this passage: Question I Verses 1 to 4: What advantage [52] or preeminence has the Jew and circumcision? Answer: That nation was entrusted with the oracles of God--inestimable, eternal advantage! despite their unfaithfulness. Every writer of the Bible is, we believe from this, an Israelite. Jewish faithlessness could not annul God's faithfulness in carrying out those oracles (whether of promise, prophecy, or judgment). God must be found true, though every man be false (to whatever God entrusts to him). Paul instances David's most humble confession and ascription of righteousness to God, after David's own great sin had shown David himself faithless to the royal covenant Jehovah had committed to him. Alford well says: "Because they have broken faith on their part, shall God break faith also on His? Rather let us believe all men on earth to have broken their word and troth, than God His. Whatever becomes of men and their truth, His truth must stand fast." The "faithlessness" here of the Jew is not his failure to believe God's oracles. (That subject Paul takes up in Chapters 9 to 11.) What is here before us, is the Jew's attitude toward the great primary privilege and responsibility of that nation as the depositary of the Divine oracles. In verse 5, Paul makes the Jews call their conduct "our unrighteousness." It consisted in: 1. National disobedience to God's oracles from Sinai onward. 2. Such neglect of these oracles, that at times (as in Josiah's day), a single copy of the Law was a rarity! 3. Pride, however, over their position as the possessors of these oracles, [53] even to the despising of nations that had them not, instead of ministering them to others (as Psalm 67 shows was Israel's real business). 4. Appalling ignorance of the spiritual meaning of the Divine oracles, and of the "voices of their prophets," so they even killed the Righteous One! (Acts 13:27). Question II Verses 5 and 6: If God makes use of human sin to set forth His glory (as He will) would it not be unrighteous to punish that sin with wrath? Here Paul enters into the Jewish consciousness: "If our unrighteous Jewish history has commended the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God went right on fulfilling what His oracles said, despite the unfaithfulness of us to whom they had been committed, and, in fact, by means of our sinful Jewish history God's prophecies concerning our disobedience were fulfilled before the whole world, from Moses on." Read here Deuteronomy 31:14 to 32:47. For it is about Israel that Deuteronomy 32:35 to 47 is written. The Jew, knowing well his past disobedient history, yet holds fast to his national place of outward favor, resisting Paul's word of Chapter Two, "He is not a Jew that is one outwardly"; and daring to regard God as "unrighteous" who would "visit with wrath" individuals of His favored nation--for they had only carried out God's predictions! Paul, in even bringing up such a question as God's acting unrighteously in visiting disobedient Israelites with wrath, instantly puts in the reverent parenthesis: "I speak after the manner of men"; as, "putting himself in the place of the generality of men, and using an argument such as they would use." Answer: "Far be such a thought! for then (if God should be unrighteous in visiting a Jew with wrath) how shall God judge the world?" The Judge of all the earth will do right, and He will judge the whole world (Acts 17:31) which involves the infliction of wrath upon any and all impenitent, as all Scripture shows. Note that Paul assumes, and so do even these cavillers, that there will be a day of judgment: "God who visiteth with wrath." What the apostle is attacking is the false hopes of men to evade that judgment. Christ has been judged and smitten in our stead. But, alas, how a man hates to come to the cross as one "to whom that stroke was due" (Isa. 53:8). But if you manage to escape conviction of sin, and thus miss personal faith in the Crucified One, you will go to hell forever. Question III Verses 7 and 8: "If God's truth (as to His warnings and promises) was enhanced through my falsity--if He got glory through my (Jewish) sin, why does He find fault with me as a sinner?" Here the very words of the resisting Jew are, as it were, quoted. Answer: While such cavilling Paul will not deign to answer (for it answers itself!) Paul does return into the gainsaying Jews' teeth the constant slander against salvation by grace,--that it led to license: "The condemnation of such trifling is just! For it is evident both to the hearer and to the asker of such a question that doing evil that good may come, does not change the character of the evil, nor take away its guilt from him who commits it." "Slander" against the gospel of grace is still going on, and will go on until the Lord comes in righteousness. Moule well says, "The mighty paradox of justification (without works) lent itself easily to the distortions, as well as to the contradictions, of sinners. Let us do evil that good may come' no doubt represented the report which prejudice and bigotry would regularly carry away and spread after every discourse and every argument about free forgiveness. It is so still: If this is true, we may live as we like'; If this is true, then the vilest sinner makes the best saint.'" [54] The Jews, deluded by pride, and falsely basing God's favor to their nation upon their own deserts, absolved themselves from judgment. Judgment they relegated to the "goyim," the "ethne," the Gentiles. Paul himself shows the Jewish consciousness in his rebuke to Peter in Gal. 2: "We being Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles." And the Pharisees said even of the common, non-religious sinners of the Jewish nation: "This multitude that knoweth not the Law, are accursed!" (John 7:49). But if we, professing Christians, consign this whole passage to the Jew, we fall directly into the same terrible trap. Whole multitudes today in Christendom, sheltered in their imagination by the fact that they have "joined" some church, resent the very doctrines that Paul here insists on. Thousands of so-called "church-members" not only have never been brought under real conviction of sin and guilt and personal danger, but rise in anger like the Jews of Paul's day when one preaches their danger directly to them! Now if God paid no attention whatever to the claim of the Jew to be exempt from judgment because he was a Jew, neither will He pay any attention to the claim of the "Baptist" or "Presbyterian," "Episcopalian" or "Methodist,"--as such. For all men are alike guilty, common sinners! What avails before a holy God the special religious names sinners may call themselves? This book of Romans will do you and me no good if we apply it to Jews or Mormons only! 9 What then? are we [Jews] superior? Not at all! For we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin; 10 as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none that understandeth [divine things], There is none that seeketh after God; 12 They all abandoned the way [of God], together they became unprofitable; There is none that practiseth goodness, no, not so much as one: 13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The venom of asps is under their lips: 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known: 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. Verse 9: What then?--in view of all said of the Jews from Chapter 2.17 to Chapter 3.8. Are we Jews superior (as we generally think ourselves to be to them--that is, to the Gentiles?) Not at all! Paul here speaks as a Jew,--in sympathy with the Jewish nation, indeed, but rejecting wholly their boast of superiority, in view of the great general indictment of the whole human race, that began in this Epistle at Chapter 1.18 and continues to Chapter 3.20. This is what he means by having before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin. "To be under sin means to be under the power of sin, to be sinners, whether the idea of guilt, just exposure to condemnation, or of pollution, or both, be conveyed by the expression" (Hodge). Now this expression "under sin" is a remarkable and unusual one. We need to note the same expression and context in Galatians 3:22: "The Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." "All things under sin" is a larger expression than "guilty of sin," or, "in bondage to sin." It is a general state described, as of convicts in a prison, or disease-stricken people "under quarantine." An even stronger expression concerning human beings, Gentiles or Jews, asserts: "God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that He might have mercy upon all" (11:32); and the words, "The Scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise . . . might be given," bear out this fact. Moule says, "Being brought under sin, (as the Greek bids us more exactly render), giving us the thought that the race has fallen from a good estate into an evil." That the Jews and Greeks alike, that is, the whole world, are "under sin," is next abundantly shown by Paul from seven Old Testament Scriptures. It will not do to say, as do some, that since the Scriptures were given only to the Jews, therefore the Jews only are in view here, in verses 10 to 18. For we read in Psalm 14, the very first Scripture here quoted: "Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there were any that did understand." "Children of men" is a wider term than Jews. Furthermore, Romans 3:9, which begins this great arraignment, includes both Jews and Greeks as being "all under sin." This, therefore, is a world-wide indictment. FOURTEEN HORRIBLE THINGS ABOUT ALL MEN We shall find God speaking, in these fourteen counts, [55] first, as a Judge: verses 10 to 12; next, as a Physician: verses 13 to 15; and third, as a Divine Historian: verses 16 to 18. I First, then, as a Judge God describes man's condition: Verse 10: To begin with, There is none righteous [before God], no, not one (Ps. 14:1; 53:1; Job 9:2; Eccl. 7:20). No human being has in himself ever been righteous. Even Adam was not righteous: he was innocent--not knowing good and evil. Let us put far from our minds the fond falsehoods of philosophy, science, and human "religions," that there have been men of our race who have attained to a standing before God in righteousness. Verse 11: Next, There is none that understandeth [Divine things]. We have added the words "Divine things" even in the Scripture text, because this verb (suniemi) translated "understandeth" is one of those words which God reserves in Scripture unto a peculiar meaning. (See footnote on 1:31.) Note its use in Matthew 13:13,14,15,19,23,51, as, for instance, verse 19: "When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understandeth It not." It is used twenty-six times in the New Testament, the last time in Ephesians 5:17: "Understand what the will of the Lord is." Now humanity, by nature, "understands" nothing of God. Men think they do, and write vast books on the subject; but God's sentence remains: "There is none that understandeth." "In the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God." Believe just that: it is true. The third of these solemn counts is, There is none that: seeketh after God. You say, How can this be possible in view of pagan lands filled with temples, and worshipers thronging them? God's answer is: "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God" (I Cor. 10:20). Adam, sinning, turned his back and fled from a holy God. God had to take the place of the seeker: "Adam, where art thou?" So it has ever been. No human being has ever sought the holy God. Conscious of his creature weakness, and also of responsibility and guilt, and filled with terrors of conscience, or terrors directly demon-wrought; or perhaps under the delusion that some "god" (really, demon) might grant him this or that favor, man has built his temples and conducts his worship. Banish from your mind the idea that any human being has ever had a holy thought, or love for a holy God, in his natural heart! Grace "praeveniens et efficax" (grace "prevenient and efficacious") is the old phrase expressing the truth that God Himself takes the place of the seeker, convicter, persuader, giver, and final perfecter of all man's salvation. His sovereign grace goes ahead of, and brings into being, all human response to God. The fourth solemn count is that of universal human apostasy: They all abandoned the way [of God]. The same Greek word is used only twice elsewhere in the New Testament: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which ye learned: and turn away from them" says Paul (Chapter 16:17). The separation was to be absolute, and of choice. And in I Peter 3:11, the saints are told (quoting Psalm 34): "Turn away from evil, and do good,"--again a direct choice. In Psalm 14:3 it is: "They are all gone aside"; and in Psalm 53:3: "Every one of them is gone back." To Israel it was said: "Ye shall observe to do therefore as Jehovah your God hath commanded you" (Deut. 5:32). But Isaiah speaks of them (and we know the application becomes universal): "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way" (Isa. 53:6); while Malachi in the closing sad message of the Old Testament bewails: "Ye are turned aside out of the way" (2:8). To understand Romans 3:12, we must conceive of a race of creatures turned out of God's way, as really as are Satan's angels, or the demons. The whole race of man is by nature in that awful case! As a result you have the fifth count: They are together become unprofitable. [56] The human race is useless, and worse than useless, to God. This word translated "unprofitable" was used by the Greeks concerning rotten fruit, or whatever was utterly, irrevocably bad, and therefore useless. Ask any housewife what can be done with rotten fruit! In Psalms 14:3 and 53:1, from which this is quoted, it is translated "become filthy." Unless we hold firmly in mind these statements of truth concerning humanity, we shall fail to see what man is, and so what God's grace sets before him. The sixth count is, There is none that practiseth goodness, no, not so much as one. Corruption rather than holiness, selfishness rather than goodness, cruelty rather than kindness, is the way of apostate mankind everywhere. Thus declares the Judge who looks upon men as they are. II Verse 13: Next, God speaks as the all-wise, holy Physician, in diagnosis: Their throat is an open sepulchre. Doctors always insist first on looking down our throats: and we all know that the throat and tongue denote the state of health. There could be nothing more horrible than what we have here: death, decay, moral stench, and that not hidden, but open! Unhidden, unashamed putridity:--thus a holy God describes the throat of every one of us by nature! As Bishop Howe says: "Emitting the noisome exhalations of a putrid heart." We must remember we are here seeing man through God's all-holy eyes. With their tongues they have been using deceit [since man's fall]. The verb is in the imperfect tense, which denotes the habitual practice of the human race. This includes your tongue and mine, reader. But the case is still worse; for the Physician continues: The venom of asps is under their lips: The fangs of a deadly serpent lie, ordinarily, folded back in its upper jaw, but when it throws up its head to strike, those hollow fangs drop down, and when the serpent bites, the fangs press a sack of deadly poison hidden "under its lips," at the root, thus injecting the venom into the wound. You and I were born with moral poison-sacks like this. And how people do claim the right to strike others with their venom-words! to use their snake-fangs! Verse 14: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness (Ps. 10:7) : To prove this, you need only take your stand upon any street, and strike upon the mouth a passerby. As well strike a hornets' nest! How men do curse others! Bitterness is ever ready! What fearful folly for a race speaking thus to imagine that by "being baptized," and "joining the church" they are ready to "go to heaven," and be in the holy company on high, with the meek and lowly Son of God and the holy angels,--and all this without a thought of being forgiven, washed, born again! Verse 15: Their feet are swift to shed blood (Isa. 59:7): I saw a child under two years raise its puny fist against another, crying, "I'll kill 'oo!" Murder is so common, now, that new hideous expressions are invented: "I'll get him"; "Bump him off"; "Put him on the spot"; "Take him for a ride"; or, as the awful Communistic phrase puts it, "Liquidate him." When the restraining grace of God is withdrawn, it will be given to the Red Horse Sitter "to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another" (Rev. 6:4). Men's feet, like tigers', are ready and swift for blood-shedding: "For further details, read your daily papers!" III Third, God speaks as the All-seeing Historian of fallen man: Verse 16: Destruction and misery are in their ways (Isa. 59:7). What an epitome of human history. It is said that the ancient Troy of which Homer sang was built upon the ruins of an earlier Troy,--and that seven other Troys, each constructed upon the ruins of a former, have been found! As Meyer vividly renders: "Where they go is desolations (fragments) and misery (which they produce)." Those who so loudly proclaim that the human race is "improving," "progressing," are blind deceivers,--blind to history, blind to present day facts, blind to the rising tide of human violence. "As it was in the days of Noah," our Lord said, "so shall be the coming of the Son of Man." In those days of Noah the earth became "full of violence" (Gen. 6:11). Verse 17: And the way of peace they have not known. (Isa. 59:8). It is a terrible thing God here reveals, that not one of the human race knows, or is by nature pursuing, the path of peace. It does not seem to me that the Spirit of God speaks here of that peace with God on the ground of accepted sacrifice which Chapter 5:1 describes (and which is always a direct revelation of God to the soul), but rather in consistence with the context and with the passage in Isa. 59:8 from which it is drawn: "The way of peace they know not; [57] and there is no justice in their goings: they have made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace." The unregenerate man does not know, follow, or really desire to know the way of wisdom, all whose paths are peace (Prov. 3:17). Thomas Scott well says: "They know not the ways in which godly men walk, at peace with God and their neighbors; and so they go on in those paths which lead to misery and ruin both to themselves and to each other." Verse 18: There is no fear of God before their eyes (Ps. 36:1). This last is the most awful count of all, and explains all the others. "To fear God consists in having such a due sense of the majesty and holiness and justice and goodness of God, as shall make us thoroughly fearful to offend Him. For each of these attributes of God is proper to raise a suitable fear in every Christian mind." A friend once pointed out to me a champion prize-fighter of America, and I heard another man remark, "How I'd hate to be hit by him!" He could fear a fellow-man. But in a few moments the same man's mouth was using the name of God, and even of Jesus Christ, in profanity! There was "no fear of God before his eyes." It meant nothing to him that God had said, "The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." But what will it mean when that man steps out of this life into the realities of eternity! Bengel aptly notes, "The seat of reverence is in the eyes." Godet says: "The words before their eyes' show that it belongs to man freely to evoke or suppress this inward view of God on which his moral conduct depends." Haldane comments: "They have not that reverential fear of Him which is the beginning of wisdom, and which is connected with departing from evil. It is astonishing that men, while they acknowledge that there is a God, should act without any fear of His displeasure. They fear a worm of the dust like themselves, but disregard the Most High!" And Calvin says: "Out of the contempt of God cometh all wickedness. Seeing that the fear of God is the fountain of wisdom, when we are once departed from it, there abideth nothing right or sincere. If it be wanting, we are loosed unto all kind of licentious wickedness." This great passage then, (verses 9 to 18) needs to be pondered, prayed over, thoroughly believed, and preached continually, in these last days, when God-consciousness is dying out. It is no kindness, but a terrible wrong, to hide from a criminal the sentence that must surely overtake him unless pardoned; for a physician to conceal from a patient a cancer that will destroy him unless quickly removed; for one acquainted with the hidden pitfalls of a path he beholds someone taking, not to warn him of his danger! Verses 19 and 20 concern particularly that nation to whom the Law was given, for Paul plainly in verse 9 applies the passage through verse 18 to "both Jews and Greeks" as "all under sin." But now he turns directly to those who had the Law: 19 Now we know that whatsoever the Law says it is speaking to them that are under the Law [i.e., to the Jews]; in order that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world [Gentile and Jew"] may come under the judgment of God; 20 because out of works of law no flesh shall be declared righteous before Him; for through law comes knowledge of sin [not righteousness]. In verse 19, we repeat, and not till then, does Paul turn again to the Jews as those who were under law [58] to shut off their possible escape from that general arraignment by Scripture of "both Jews and Greeks" beginning at the ninth verse. Thus every mouth was "stopped." Men's mouths keep talking of their own goodness or of someone else's badness, or of both,--as, for example, the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14. But the moral history of mankind delineated in Chapter One; and the stern principles of God's judgment which considered neither man's high notions of himself, nor his religious professions, as shown in Chapter Two; and now, in Chapter Three, the fourteen sweeping statements of Scripture concerning the whole guilty human race, with the double conviction of the Jews as not only sinners, but also transgressors of the very Law they gloried in,--all this stops men's vain mouths! For they are all brought into the presence of their Judge, and the sentence of guilty is upon them all. Not that they are brought in to have their just penalty executed upon them; but that they may be silent while God their Judge announces--astonishing thing!--that He has himself already dealt with the world's sin upon a sin-offering, Jesus, His Son; whom, we shall soon see, He set forth at the cross as a righteous meeting-ground between Himself in all His holiness and righteousness; and the sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, in all his guilt,--through simple faith in the shed blood of this Redeemer! Verse 20: Now Paul declares what the law cannot do, and what it can do. First, no one shall be declared righteous [justified] in God's sight by works of law ["doing right"]; and second, the business of God's Law is rather to make known to men their sin, and therefore, their need of a salvation which the Law cannot supply. In this verse we meet by far the most difficult Divine utterance for the human heart to yield to, that we have met in the entire Epistle. Even those "without law,"--"Gentiles that have not the Law" (of Moses--2:14), we find throughout history so committed to their own ideas of what is "right," and what will propitiate the demons that they worship, that they will desperately fight for their convictions. (See Paul at Lystra, and at Ephesus, in the Acts.) And how much more difficult the task becomes in dealing with those who, as the Jews, know that they have had a direct revelation from God,--"Thou shalt" and "Thou shalt not," and, "He that doeth these things shall live by them." When Paul told the Athenians that he acknowledged them to be "very religious" (their city indeed being filled with idols), but that they were ignorant of God, the Creator, who had raised up from the dead One who would be Judge in righteousness: "Some mocked: others said, We will hear thee concerning this yet again." Now, we say, if men are brought off only with great difficulty from the follies of idolatry, how much greater the task to persuade men to abandon their trust in a holy Law they know to have been given by the true God, from heaven, and on the fulfillment of which all their hopes for eternity have been dependent! [59] In just the same way Christendom has become fixed in its defense of its "religious" convictions. Scripture names, doctrines and ordinances--falsely explained--have seized hold upon the convictions of men, so that it is more difficult to dislodge them from their position than the heathen themselves. We know from Scripture, for example, that "days, seasons, months and years," do not belong to the Christian position in the least degree, but are Jewish or pagan in origin. Christmas, Lent, Easter, the whole "church calendar," forms, ritualism, the confessional, the mass, clergy,--where are these found in the Epistles of the New Testament? They are not found! Yet try once to dislodge them from those in whose hearts they have been planted! For their heart-hopes are bound up with these false traditions. None but those taught of God, and they with extreme difficulty and constant watchfulness, escape legal hope. For the question ever before the conscience is, If keeping God's Law avails me nothing for righteousness in His sight, why did He give it? WHY DID HE GIVE IT? And this difficulty becomes all the greater, the more the excellency of the Law is discovered! For our judgment sees these things of the Law to be "holy, and righteous, and good." And we know (if we are honest) that "God spake all these words"--of the Law. Therefore, the heart's only relief is to hear God's own Word concerning seven questions; to all of which the coming chapters of Romans will give answer: (1) To what nation did He give the Law; (2) Why He gave the Law; (3) What the Law's ministry was; (4) How it was set aside, or "annulled," for another principle entirely; (5) What is meant by the words "under grace"; (6) How the walk "in the Spirit" takes the place of walking by external enactments; and, (7) How that only in those not under law is "the righteous state" (dikaioma) of the Law fulfilled! Now it is apparent that to bring men off from their false hopes in their law-obedience, three things must become evident to them: (a) That law, having been broken, can only condemn. (b) That even were men enabled now to begin keeping perfectly any law of God, that could not make up for past disobedience, or remove present guilt. (c) That keeping law is NOT God's way of salvation, or of blessing. In connection with verse 20, we will emphasize only the third of these points, for that is what is insisted upon in this verse. We quote in the footnote below verse 20, and then a number of plain statements of Scripture to the same effect, that we may compare Scripture with Scripture: [60] The knowledge (or recognition) of sin comes through law,--by (1) its revealing what God approved in man, and what God disapproved and forbade; (2) causing man to undertake obedience; and (3) condemning him for failure to obey. To all seven of the questions above, the coming chapters of Romans, compared with other Scriptures, will, as we have said, fully give the answers. But it will be wise, perhaps, to look a moment more, in this place, at questions 2, 3 and 4: As to Question Two, Why God gave the Law, we call attention now, as elsewhere, to the fact that in His dealing with Abraham, and, in fact, in all His ways with the patriarchs, there was not the Law, but simply and only the promise. We plainly see in Rom. 5:14 that they were not under law. They walked by simple faith, which is, of course, the only principle according to which God has saving relations with man since he became a sinner. But (and this is important) God must show man his sinnerhood and this could not be done but by His revealing His holiness and righteousness, and asking man to conform his life and ways to that holy and righteous rule. God knew he would not and could not do this; but man did not know it, and must discover it through failure. Therefore and thereunto did God give the Law. "By the Law is the knowledge of sin." We have now partly answered Question Three, as to what was the appointed ministry of the Law. But the matter needs to be further emphasized. God names the Law a "ministration of condemnation and death" and not of righteousness. As Paul says in Chapter Seven, "Sin, that it might be shown to be sin, wrought death to me through that which was good" (the Law). As to Question Four, the Law was set aside or "disannulled." We have God's oft-repeated and most emphatic assertion, that this has been done: "There is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, [Christ's death, burial and resurrection], through which we draw nigh unto God" (Heb. 7:18, 19). We repeat this over and over, because that is the way God does--He asserts and re-asserts this great fact: knowing man's self-righteousness will hardly suffer the Law to be taken away. Now it was not that God changed His plan, though to the thoughtless mind He might seem to have done so: (1) by beginning with man on the faith principle--from Abel onward; then (2) conditioning Israel's relationship and blessing upon their legal obedience; and then (3) "changing back" again, since the cross, to the way of simple faith apart from law. No, there has been no "change" in God. God's way with man has always been that of faith. Neither was the Law a thing additional to faith to secure God's favor; nor was God's "disannulling the foregoing commandment" an evidence that He had been seeking and expecting righteousness in man by the Law; and that now since the Law had failed He resorted to grace, apart from works of the Law. Not at all! The Law came in simply that the trespass might abound,--that is, that by breaking it man might discover his guilt and sinfulness; and his helplessness to relieve himself. Moses had prophesied in Leviticus and Deuteronomy that Israel would utterly fail, and that they would be provoked to jealousy by God's bringing in the Gentiles, "a foolish nation"; and that the remnant of Israel finally, its whole legal hope cut off, would be restored by God in sovereign mercy (Rom. 11:31, 32). We know we are saying these things over and over. An old German educator said: "The first principle of teaching is repetition; and the second principle of teaching is repetition; and the third principle is repetition." So we come to the next great section of the Epistle, Chapter Three, verses 21 to 31. This will describe God's righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH IN CHRIST 21 But now apart from law, God's righteousness hath been manifested,--borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets: 22 God's righteousness, moreover, through faith concerning Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction [between Jew and Gentile]; 23 for all sinned, and are falling short of the glory of God; 24 being reckoned righteous gift-wise by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ: 25 whom God set forth a propitiation [mercy-seat] through faith in His blood, unto showing forth His [God's] righteousness in respect of the passing over of the foregoing sins in the forbearance of God: 26 for the showing forth of His righteousness in the present time,--unto the being Himself righteous, and the One declaring righteous-the person having faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is the [Jewish] boasting? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith. 28 For we reckon that a man is accounted righteous by faith apart from law-works. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? [who had the Law]. Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: 30 if so be that God is one! And He shall declare righteous the circumcision on the principle of faith [instead of law], and the uncircumcision through their [simple] faith. 31 Do we then annul law through faith? Far be the thought! on the contrary, we establish law! We now come to the unfolding of that word which Paul in Chapter One declares to be the very heart of the gospel,--the reason it is "the power of God unto salvation": namely, "therein is God's righteousness on the faith-principle revealed to any having faith" (1:17). The first work of the apostle, as we have seen in studying Chapter 1:18 to Chapter 3:20, was to bring the whole world under the judgment of God, guilty, helpless. His second task (and it is a blessed one!) is to reveal God's coming out in rightousness at the cross unto us. Let us most diligently read, ponder, yea, and commit to memory verses 21 to 26; for it is God's great statement of justification by faith. Its first announcement is: Verse 21: But now apart from law God's righteousness hath been manifested,--borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets--The first words, "But now," should be hailed by us joyfully, as beginning an account of something heavenly different from our guilt and helplessness, detailed in the preceding part of the Epistle (1:18-3:20). The next phrase is: "apart from law" [61] --lay it to heart! Unfortunately, the King James Version misses the emphasis here. For the Greek puts to the very front this great phrase "apart from law" (chOris nomou), and thus sets forth most strongly the altogether separateness of this Divine righteousness from any law-performance, any works of man, whatsoever. Luther's rendering was, "without accessory aid of law." In this revelation of God's righteousness, law was left out of account. Righteousness is on another principle than our right-doing! Now the great and most common error in setting forth God's righteousness here, is, to allow law at least some place. Men cannot, it seems, get over reasoning thus: that since God once promulgated the dispensation of law, which called for human righteousness. He must thereafter be bound by it forever. And this despite Divine assurance, over and over and over, that the present dispensation proceeds on an altogether different principle; that there has been a "disannulling of a foregoing commandment" (Heb. 7:18); for He who had the right to command had also the right to disannul. It was "because of its weakness and unprofitableness--for the Law made nothing perfect,"--that the "foregoing commandment" was set aside. It had served its purpose--to make the trespass "abound" (5:20). [62] It is not that God has not the right to demand legal righteousness from us: but that He does not do it. "Righteousness which is of God" speaks in a way diametrically opposite to man's law--obedience, of any sort whatsoever. Men who do not see or believe that the whole history of those in Christ ended at the cross (for they died there, with Christ) must hold that God is still demanding righteousness: for "the law hath dominion over a man so long as he liveth!" The "teachers of the Law" (I Tim. 1:7) say: "Behind God, as He talks with you in grace' is His eternal Law. And He must carry out what He has expressed in that Law. But, because you are not able to perform it, He has graciously' given Christ, to perform all its requirements for you. And the positive, or active' requirements are, the observance of all the commands of the Law to the letter,--which (these teachers say) Christ has by His perfect life of obedience to the Law on earth, furnished for you. And the negative, or passive' obedience, as they call it--that is, the penalty of death for your sins which the Law (say they) demanded, Christ has paid on the cross. So that, now your debts cancelled by Christ's death, you have Christ's legal merits' as your actual righteousness before God: for God must demand (they say) perfect righteousness from you, as measured by His holy Law,"--etc., etc. This seemingly beautiful talk is both unscriptural and anti-scriptural. God says that the believer is not under law, that he is dead to law,--to that whole principle, being in the Risen Christ; and Christ is certainly not under law in Heaven! Believers are "in Him"; they are "not in the flesh" (Rom. 8:9). They were formerly in the flesh (in the old natural life of Adam); but are now "new creatures" in Christ Risen! If you put believers under law, you must put their federal Head, Christ, back under law; for "as He is, even so are we in this world." To do this you must reverse Calvary, and have Christ back again on earth "under law." For law, we repeat, was not given to a heavenly company, but to an earthly nation. Scripture says it was to redeem that earthly people (Israel) who were under law, that Christ was "born under the Law" (Gal. 4:4). You must thus, if you are "under law," be joined to a Christ belonging to Israel, a flesh and blood Christ; and must consent to be an Israelite--to which nation He was sent. But alas! You find that such a Christ is not here! That He said He must "abide alone,"--like the grain of wheat unless it "fall into the ground and die." To an earthly, Jewish Christ, you therefore cannot be united. And so your vain hope of having Moses and Christ is wholly gone. Therefore you must be united with a Risen Christ, or with none at all! But if to a Risen Christ, it is unto One who died unto sin (6:10); and those (Jewish) believers who were under the Law died with Him unto it (7:4). And you, if you are Christ's, are now wholly, as Christ is, on resurrection ground. This truth will be brought out fully in chapters Six and Seven; we can but note it here. [63] The words hath been manifested (of verse 21) Conybeare lucidly paraphrases, "not by law but by another way, God's righteousness is brought to light." God had always dealt righteously, although His way was not as yet plain. He pardoned many, and He did not seem wholly to judge sin even in the unsaved world. But at the cross "He spared not His own Son." Here was revealed, indeed, righteousness to the uttermost! Borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets--by the Law, in its sacrificial offerings; by the Prophets, in direct statements: "This is His name whereby He shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness" (Jer. 23:6); and again, "Thy righteousness"--21 times in the Psalms! as, "I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only" (71:2, 15, 16, 19, 24); and Isaiah: "By the knowledge of Himself shall my righteous Servant make many righteous" (53:11). [64] Yet it was not brought to light how this should be, until "the fulness of the time" came, and God sent His Son to "suffer for sins, the just for the unjust," to "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," that God's righteousness might be "manifested," both in His dealing with sin, and in glorifying His Son in heaven, who had glorified His Father on earth. It would have been righteous for God to smite Adam and Eve as He did the angels that sinned. He could have revealed Himself in righteousness of judgment in accord with His holiness and justice. He was not obliged to save any man. But it was God's will to reveal Himself: for He is Love. Therefore He now comes forth at the cross in love,--albeit He must there come forth also in righteousness,--for He Himself must righteously and fully judge sin upon the person of His own provided Lamb. The sword "awakened against His Shepherd, the Man who was His Fellow,"--the "fellow" of Jehovah of hosts! The Shepherd was smitten: "He was bruised for our iniquity, the chastisement of our peace [that would procure peace for us] was upon Him." God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up, and the penalty for our sin was visited upon Him, Jesus, God's provided Sacrifice (Zech. 13:7; Isa. 53:5, 6). God is able to come forth to us now in absolute GRACE, sending out His messengers "preaching peace by Jesus Christ";--nay, preaching much more than peace. In effect, God says, "Utter and infinite oceans of grace shall roll over the place where judgment and condemnation were!" Forgiving us all our trespasses, He goes further: having raised up Christ from the dead. He says, I will now place you in my Son. I will give you a standing fully and only in Him risen from the dead! Not only did He bear your sins, putting away your guilt, but in His death I released you from your standing and responsibility in Adam the first. You who have believed are now new creatures in Christ: for I have created you in Him.' And because this is so, it is announced further: "Him who knew no sin, God made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." These astonishing words state the present fact as to all believers,--of all those in Christ: they are the righteousness of God in Him! [65] In the book of Romans, Paul is describing God's action toward a believing sinner in view of the shed blood of Christ. It is as if God were holding court with the infinite value and benefit of the propitiatory sacrifice and resurrection of Christ only and ever before Him. No other apostle will be called upon to set this forth fully as does Paul. Of course it could not be stated by the Old Testament writers in its fulness and clearness; for our Lord had not then offered Himself, and all the Law and Prophets could do was to declare sin temporarily "covered" (Heb., kaphar) from God's sight; and so the Old Testament believer was one who rested on what God would do, in view of these types and shadows and promises. John the Baptist, however, pointing to Christ, said, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world," something that had never before been! Therefore, after the cross, it is written, "Once in the consummation of the ages, hath He [Christ] been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" In the Old Testament, we repeat, sin is covered,--which is the meaning of the word kaphar, "atonement,"--used only in the Old Testament, and there constantly (some 13 times in one chapter--Leviticus 16), to express the covering from God's sight of sin: though the sin remained untaken away until Christ died. In the New Testament, therefore, sin is said to be put away by Christ's sacrifice. [66] God can, therefore, not only forgive the sinner, but also proceed to declare the believing sinner righteous, not at all meaning that he has any righteousness of his own, or that "the merits' of Christ are imputed to him" (a fiction of theology); but that God, acting in righteousness, reckons righteous the ungodly man who trusts Him: because He places him in the full value of the infinite work of Christ on the cross, and transfers him into Christ Risen, who becomes his righteousness. We may look at the term God's righteousness from God's own side; then from that of Christ; and, finally, from that of the justified sinner. 1. From. God's side, the expression "God's righteousness," must be regarded as an absolute one. It is His attribute of righteousness. It can be nothing else. He must, and ever will, act in righteousness, whether it be toward Christ, toward those in Christ, or toward those finally impenitent, whether angels, demons, or men. 2. From Christ's side, it is His being received by God into glory according to God's estimation of His mediatorial work. Our Lord had said that when the Spirit would come, He would "convince the world . . . of righteousness, because I go unto the Father, and ye see me no more" (John 16); and He had said, "I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work Thou gavest me to do. And now, Father, glorify Thou me with Thine own self, with the glory I had with Thee before the world was" (John 17). In answer to this prayer Christ was "raised from the dead through the glory of the Father" (Rom. 6:4), and was "received up in glory" (I Tim. 3:16). Now our Lord was man, as well as God. And when the Father glorified Him "with His own self," with that glory Christ "had with Him before the world was," it was as man that God thus glorified Him. So that, at God's right hand, Christ set forth publicly the righteousness of God; for (a) as the slain Lamb He shows the holiness of God and God's righteousness fully satisfied,--since God had "spared not His own Son" when sin had been laid upon Him. The truth of God as to the wages of sin had been shown in Christ's death; thus the majesty of the insulted throne of God had been publicly vindicated, so that Christ's being raised and "received up in glory" set forth the righteousness of God; for it were unrighteous that Christ should not be glorified! And (b) Christ not only thus set forth the righteousness of God, but being God the Son, as well as man, He was that righteousness! Christ dead, risen, glorified, is the very righteousness of God! 3. From the believer's side, the justified sinner's side, what do we see? The amazing declaration of God concerning us is, "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21). The saints are said to be the righteousness of God, in Christ. Of course self-righteousness simply shrivels before a verse like this! All is in Christ: we are in Christ--one with Him! The expression "God's righteousness" then signifies: 1. God Himself acting in righteousness (a) toward Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him as a man in the place of absolute honor and glory; (b) in giving those who believe on Christ the same acceptance before God as Christ now has, inasmuch as He actually bare their sins, putting them away by His blood, and also became identified with the sinner--was "made to be sin for us" and, our old man was thus "crucified with Him." Just as it would have been unrighteousness in God not to raise His Son after His Son had completely glorified Him in His death; so it would also be unrighteous in God not to declare righteous in Christ those who, deserting all trust in themselves, have transferred their faith and hope to Christ alone. 2. Thus Christ, now risen and glorified, is Himself the righteousness of believers. It is not that He acted righteously while on earth, and that that is reckoned to us. This is, we repeat, the heresy of "vicarious law-keeping." He was indeed the spotless Lamb of God; but He had no connection with sinners until His death. He was "separate from sinners." "Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone." It is the Risen Christ who is our righteousness. "Christianity begins at the resurrection." The work of the cross of course made Christianity possible; but true Christianity is all on the resurrection side of the cross. "He is not here, but is risen," the angel said. 3. Thus Christians find themselves spoken of as the righteousness of God in Christ. Not as "righteous before God," for that would be to think of a personal standing given to us, on account of Christ's death, rather than a federal standing, as in Him, united to Him,--which we are! John Wesley said a wise thing indeed: "Never think of yourself apart from Christ!" Now to be or become "righteous before God"; to have or obtain a standing that will "bear God's scrutiny," is the fond dream of very many earnest Christians. But however stated, and by whomsoever stated, that idea of our obtaining a "standing before God" falls short, and that vitally, of Paul's gospel of our being made the righteousness of God in Christ. It denies that we died with Christ; and that we have been made dead to the whole legal principle in Christ's death (7:4). Thus it leaves us under the necessity of "obtaining a standing" before God; whereas believers federally shared the death of Christ, and Christ Risen is Himself now our standing! Negatively, then (as Paul begins to declare in his first recorded discourse. Acts 13:39), "Every one that believeth on Him is justified from all things";--"justified in His blood" (Rom. 5:9); and Positively, Christ was "raised for our justification" (4:25): that we might receive a new place, a place in a Risen Christ,--and be thus the righteousness of God in Him, as one with Him who is that righteousness. God declares that He reckons righteous the ungodly man who ceases from all works, and believes on Him (God), as the God who, on the ground of Christ's shed blood, "justifies the ungodly" (4:5). He declares such an one righteous: reckoning to him all the absolute value of Christ's work,--of His expiating death, and of His resurrection, and placing him in Christ: where he is the righteousness of God: for Christ is that! Does Christ need something yet, that He may stand in acceptance with God? Then do I need something,--for I am in Christ, and He alone is my righteousness. If He stands in full, eternal acceptance, then do I also: for I am now in Him alone,--having died with Him to my old place in Adam. Earnest and godly men, wonderfully used of God, have brought out, as did the Reformers, that we are justified by faith, not works: without, however, going on to show, as does Paul, our complete deliverance, in Christ, from our former place in Adam, and from the whole principle of law. The Reformation statements were as follows: Luther: "The righteousness of God is that righteousness which avails before God." This means a "substantive righteousness,"--a quality bestowed which "avails." But I am not in these words seen as dead, and now in Christ only. Calvin: "By the righteousness of God I understand that righteousness which is approved before the tribunal seat of. God." Here again is a quality, not Christ Himself, who is made righteousness unto me, and I myself "of God," in Him (I Cor. 1:30). And according to Calvin I must stand before God's "tribunal"! But Christ at the cross met all the claims of God's "tribunal,"--and that forever; and I am now in Christ Risen! Again, Calvin, writing on II Cor. 5:21, concerning our being made or becoming "the righteousness of God in Christ," says: "In this place nothing else is to be understood than that we stand supported by the expiation of Christ's death before the tribunal of God." Here is still the thought of a future (or present) "tribunal." Only the negative side--expiation of guilt, is brought out. But this text in II Corinthians is positive: we are God's righteousness in Christ! Believers are not seen by Calvin as having died with Christ, and having no connection at all with Adam's responsibility to furnish a righteousness and holiness before God's "tribunal." Believers, says Paul, are not now "in the flesh" in their standing,--they are seen by God in Christ only! (Rom. 8:9). Calvin) and all the Reformers, and the Puritans after them, placed believers under the Law of Moses as a "rule of life"; because they did riot see that a believer's history in Adam ended at the cross. But Paul, in Gal. 6:15, 16, says that those in Christ are to walk as "new creatures": they are a new creation! "And as many as shall walk by this rule, peace be upon them!" This is God's prescription for your walk, whatever men may teach! We do quote Luther, that great man of God, in connection with Chapter Seven, in the expressions of his wonderful personal faith, as saying: "These words, am dead to the Law' (Gal. 2:19) are very effectual. For he saith simply, I am dead to the Law'; that is, I have nothing to do with the Law . . . Let him that would live to God come out of the grave with Christ." (Luther on Galatians; in which book is often shown a vigor and boldness of faith hardly to be matched since Paul!) Dr. Scofield in his note on Romans 3:21, says that the righteousness of the believer "is Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead and behalf every demand of the Law." Yet Scripture says that the Law was given to Israel; and that Gentiles are "without law," as contrasted "with Israel," who were "under the Law." Paul's words to us in Rom. 6:14: "Ye are not under law, but under grace," do not mean that we were once under law (as were the Jews) and have now been delivered; but rather mean that we, having died with Christ (our old man crucified with Him, and our history in Adam closed forever before God), are not placed at all under law! It is unfortunate that Dr. Scofield goes on to quote beloved Bunyan: "The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the Law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith." Now it is at once evident that such a statement as Bunyan's leaves "the Law from Mt. Sinai" master of the field, lord over us. According to this the Law remains Inspector General of those in Christ! We are not "discharged" from it. We are still on earth, under legal trial, men "in the flesh." The gospel, however, is that we are, in Christ, not under the law-principle at all! "Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." Those who believe are not now under law, but under grace, being "in Christ." We are now in a Risen Christ, who as such "lives unto God"; and it is unthinkable that He is under law! The Word of God says that Christ was "born of a woman,"--thus reaching the whole race; and "born under the Law, that He might redeem them that were under the Law,"--that is, Israel. But to maintain that the Risen Christ is "under law" in Heaven, is both to deny Scripture (Rom. 6:4) and also to close our eyes to the manner of His risen life (6:10). Christ in Heaven lives under no legal conditions, but freely, in love unto God. And God has sent forth "the Spirit of His Son"--mark that!--into our hearts. This means not only the witness that we are adult sons (huioi) of God, but that the very same emotions of relationship and nearness to the Father belonging to Christ, God's Son, are ours--witnessed in our hearts by the Spirit of His Son! We find hardly any writers except indeed certain devoted saints among the "Friends of God" of the fourteenth century; and later, certain among the mystics like Tauler, Ter Steegen, Suso and the "prince of German hymnists," Paul Gerhardt; together with many early Methodists; and in the nineteenth century, certain of those remarkable men whose followers were later called "Plymouth Brethren," who have seen or dared believe our complete deliverance before God from Adam the First: that is, from our former place "in the flesh," "under law." The last, the Brethren, indeed speak with more Pauline accuracy. But these earlier saints, though much persecuted, exhibit marvelously in their lives and testimony that heavenly freedom of those taught of God their place in Christ! Hear one of them singing: "Thou who givest of Thy gladness Till the cup runs o'er-- Cup whereof the pilgrim weary Drinks to thirst no more-- Not a-nigh me, but within me Is Thy joy divine; Thou, O Lord, hast made Thy dwelling In this heart of mine. "Need I that a law should bind me Captive unto Thee? Captive is my heart, rejoicing Never to be free. Ever with me, glorious, awful, Tender, passing sweet, One upon whose heart I rest me, Worship at His Feet." --Gerhard Ter Steegen. The Law was given to man in the flesh; not to those on resurrection ground. Our relationship now to God is that of standing in the same acceptance as Christ; and we have the same Spirit of sonship as Christ! Now, Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, and the life that He now liveth, He liveth unto God. And He lives unto God as man. He is God; but He is also a Risen Man. It is into this Risen Christ, thus glorified, that God has brought us. [67] We do not need therefore a personal "standing" before God at all. This is the perpetual struggle of legalistic theology,--to state how we can have a "standing" before God. But to maintain this is still to think of us as separate from Christ (instead of dead and risen with Him), and needing such a "standing." But if we are in Christ in such an absolute way that Christ Himself has been made unto us righteousness, we are immediately relieved from the need of having any "standing." Christ is our standing, Christ Himself! And Christ being the righteousness of God, we, being thus utterly and vitally in Christ before God, have no other place but in Him. We are "the righteousness of God in Christ." Not to the cherubim, not to the seraphim, not to the elect angels, has been given such a place as this! They may be sinless,--they are. They may be holy,--they are. They may be glorious,--they are. But they are not "the righteousness of God"; for they are not in Christ. They were never cut off, as we have been, by a death that ended completely their former history and standing, and then placed in Christ! And so we come to a verse the very reading of which has been used to save and bring into the light thousands: Verse 22: God's righteousness, moreover, through faith concerning Jesus Christ unto all them that believe--If it were man's righteousness, it would be through something man accomplished. But it is God's righteousness; it is apart from out right-doing--that is, law-keeping altogether; for keeping law would be the only way man could get a righteousness of his own. But the moment we mention righteousness here, people can hardly be restrained from the notion that they are to have a new quality bestowed upon them. Since they have themselves lost this quality of righteousness, they are anxious to get it back,--the consciousness of it. But this is really self-righteousness,--and that at its worst. For we read here the words, "through faith in [or concerning] Jesus Christ." And people rush to talking of Christ's "merits" becoming theirs, being "imputed," or reckoned to them: so that they are, thereby, in a righteous state! But we shall see in Rom. 4:5 that God accounts righteous the believing ungodly as such; not those who are first to be in any wise "changed," and then reckoned righteous; not those to whom certain "merits" of Christ are to be given, so that they are thereby righteous--not at all. But the believing ungodly are to be reckoned righteous--while they are still ungodly: it is that fact that makes the gospel! Justification is God's reckoning a man righteous who has no righteousness,--because God is operating wholly upon another basis, even the work of Christ. If Christ fully bore sin for man, and has been raised up by God, a believing man has reckoned to him by God all that infinite work of Christ! Thus, no change in the ungodly man is necessary for justification. [68] He believes, certainly. But faith is not a "meritorious" work. It is simply giving God the credit of speaking the truth in the gospel about Christ. It is Christ's shed blood, and that alone, which is the procuring cause of God's declaring an ungodly man righteous: while God's grace is the reason for it. Our faith is simply the instrumental condition. God counts our faith for righteousness, because by it we give God and Christ the full glory of our salvation. Faith in God also brings the heart into His light; for, when "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," the heart, in thus believing, is turned to God directly, in the simplicity of a little child. When Adam sinned, he fled from God; when a sinner believes, he comes back! Now concerning this chiefest revelation of Romans, we must go to Scripture only. It will never do to accept men's writings as "authorities'" or as "standards,"--as men call them. For to do this is not to interpret the Scriptures, but to proceed along Romish lines. Nor will it do to rely on men's devotedness to God, however real, as proof of their reliability in statements of Divine truth. Take the Reformers: God brought them back, in principle, to the Scriptures as their only guide. (Would that there were the same devotedness and zeal today!) But, after mounting up to Heaven as it were, in personal grasp and use of the truth of justification by faith apart from all works, yet the Reformers put Christians back under Moses as a "rule of life," under law I "What is required? and what is forbidden?" in this Mosaic commandment, or that, is the burden of Christian living, according to this theology. Godly and earnest men have thus held; but the only question is, what are the words of Scripture? We must "prove all things" men write, in the light of Scripture: for God says we are not under law: and that the "rule of life" is, that we are a new creation (Gal. 6:15, 16). Is the Pauline revelation that we died with Christ from all earthly "religious principles" (Col 2:20), (such as God declares the Mosaic system now to be: Gal. 4:9)--is this glorious fact once set forth in all the reformed "standards"? By no means! Believers were not seen by the Reformers as having had their history ended at the cross, and being now wholly in a new creation. Neither did the Puritans enter into this truth. This Pauline doctrine was not fully recovered until God wrought,--again in a reviving, almost a Reformation power, through godly and devoted servants of His, 300 years after Luther and Calvin. Truth is truth: and those seeking God's truth welcome it wherever they find it! Revealed Truth belongs to the whole Church, to every believer. Those attached to, and entrenched in tradition, will always be found fighting for that. [69] Simple faith, then, receives "God's testimony concerning His Son," and rests there. They used to say of Marshall Field in Chicago, "His word is as good as his bond." It was no credit to the merchants that trusted Mr. Field, but it was a great credit to him! It gave him the public honor of his integrity. God's righteousness, moreover, through faith concerning Jesus Christ--Here we must study carefully. The King James Version reads, "by faith of Jesus Christ." "Through faith" is more accurate, as the preposition is, dia, "through,'" as the Revised Versions, both English and American, read. Concerning the form, "of Jesus Christ," see Mark 11:22, Acts 3:16, Gal. 2:16, Jas. 2:1 where the same Greek construction appears. The expression "faith concerning Jesus Christ," literally, "faith of Jesus Christ" must be regarded either as: 1. Faith in the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ, as set forth at the beginning of the Epistle, involving of course appropriation of Christ with all His benefits for oneself; or, 2. Trust in Christ. But Christ has already died for sin, for the world; and trust, here, would mean relying on Christ to do something for the soul; either to put forth power to deliver; or, as they say, to become one's "personal Saviour"; or, "to see one through to the end," or the like. This is in accordance with man's gospel: "Jesus Christ will save you if,"--rather than in accordance with Paul's gospel of believing God's Word concerning Christ as having accomplished for us a work that was finished once for all on the cross. 3. The rendering received by many today in certain circles which would make "the faith of Jesus Christ" mean Christ's own believing on our behalf! which, they explain, is "exercising His own mighty faith," instead of calling upon the strengthless hearts of men to believe. But this avoids our responsibility to believe God. They quote here Mark 11:22: "Have faith in God," as, "Have the faith of God"; a grotesque, unbiblical, impossible meaning! Our Lord said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." He did not say, "I will believe for you." Again He did say, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He [the Father] hath sent" (John 6:29). 4. Finally, some have thought to render, "the faith of Jesus Christ" as His faithfulness to us; which is not the meaning of the Greek, is out of place, and is contrary to the apostle's usage. We believe that the first meaning we have indicated--that is, faith in the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ as set forth at the beginning of the Epistle, is the true one here; for it accords perfectly with this first great expansion in Chapter Three, of the announcement of Chapter 1:1-3, "the gospel of God concerning His Son": the power of which is that "therein is revealed God's righteousness on the principle of faith."' Faith is not trust, and must be carefully distinguished therefrom, if we would have a clear conception of the gospel. Faith is simply the acceptance for ourselves of the testimony of God as true. Such faith, indeed, brings one into a life of trust. But faith is not "trusting," or "expecting God to do something," but relying on His testimony concerning the person of Christ as His Son, and the work of Christ for us on the cross. So faith is "the giving substance to things hoped for." After saving faith, the life of trust begins. In a sense that will be readily perceived by the spiritual mind, trust is always looking forward to what God will do; but faith sees that what God says has been done, and believes God's Word, having the conviction that it is true, and true for ourselves. In saving faith, then, you do not trust God to do something for you: He has sent His Son, who has borne sin for you. You do not look to Christ to do something to save you: He has done it at the cross. You simply receive God's testimony as true, setting your seal thereto. [70] You rest in God's Word regarding Christ and His work for you. You rest in Christ's shed blood. It is GOD that justifieth (8:33), as it is God against whom we sinned. And it is God whom we find in Chapter 3:25 setting forth Christ on the cross as a righteous meeting-place (between the sinner and God) through faith in His blood. And again: "To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him [God] that justifieth the ungodly" (on the ground, of course, of the blood of Christ). "Righteousness shall be reckoned unto us who believe on Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead" (4:5 and 24). This, it seems, is what the Lord meant in His last public message to the Jews, John 12:44: "Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." Faith, indeed, lays claim to Christ and possesses Him, but it is through believing the testimony of God the Father concerning His Son. And this seems to me the meaning of the words in Chapter 3:22, "through faith concerning Jesus Christ." Peter also says not only that we have "the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" (I Pet. 3:21), but: "through Him [Christ] ye are believers in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God" (I Pet. 1:21). Thus also, he says, "Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God" (I Pet. 3:18). We must remember that it is the "gospel of God" (Rom. 1:1) in its general aspect, which we are now studying; and that it is "concerning His Son." Christ says also in John 5:24, "He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me hath everlasting life and cometh not into judgment." Now we believe concerning Jesus Christ: (a) that He is the Son of God, (b) that He has put away sin by His blood (as Paul will soon show); and (c) that He is and has become through simple believing our very own, so that what He has done was really done for us. You may say, this is simply "believing on the Lord Jesus Christ." Yes; but it is believing God concerning Christ. In Chapter Four we find that Abraham believed God, and righteousness was reckoned unto him. We also "believe on Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification." Here the faith is in God, and is made possible by His raising Christ, upon whom He had placed our sins. Sanday says: "By faith of Jesus Christ': that is, by faith which has Christ for its object." In the gospel of God concerning Christ, God announces not only Christ's person as Son of David, and Son of God; but also His finished work, that He has been set forth by God as a propitiation, a righteous meeting-place between the sinner and God. It is therefore God whom the sinner believes; and in believing God he appropriates Christ, and His saving work. There is another question in this 22nd verse which must be answered. The King James Version adds, after "The righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all," the words "and upon all them that believe." The Revised Version omits "and upon all." This, we believe, is the correct reading. The righteousness of God is not put "upon" any one. That is a Romish idea,--still held, alas, among Protestants who cannot escape the conception of righteousness as a something bestowed upon us, rather than a Divine reckoning about us. But the best authorities omit these words "and upon all," as do the oldest manuscripts, and both the English and American Revised Versions. The words, "God's righteousness through faith concerning Jesus Christ unto all them that believe," describe it all, and fully. I know people argue that "unto all" describes the "direction of the blessing"; and "upon all" those who (as they put it) have the blessing actually "conferred upon them." But please notice the present passage is setting forth the fact of a new, present revelation--God's righteousness by faith in Christ, as over against man's legal righteousness. Since we find this righteousness is God's accounting or holding righteous a man who believes, rather than a conferment of a quality upon a man, we must read the passage thus. It sets forth this present by-faith righteousness. It is God accounting a man (even as he is, "ungodly"--4:5) righteous in His sight. Do not destroy the gospel by adding to Romans 3:22 words which evidently have been supplied by some one ignorant of the truth. It is simply "God's righteousness through faith about Jesus Christ." [71] Righteousness is a court word. Righteousness is reckoned by God to them that believe. The faith of the ungodly man who believes is "counted for righteousness" (4:5). The words that close verse 22, "for there is no distinction," should be joined with verse 23: "for all sinned, and are falling short of the glory of God." Pridham well says, "The all-important point to be regarded here is the complete setting aside of the creature-title." That there is no difference as to the fact of sin, between Jews and Gentiles, is, of course, primarily before us in the words "no distinction." Exactly the same expression is found as to the availability of salvation in Chapter 10:12: "no distinction between Jew and Greek." We may well apply it to everybody, as does Pridham in his "no creature title." There is no distinction between sinners--between great offenders and small, with respect to this matter of sinnership. Not the degree of sin, but the fact of sin is looked at here. If you should visit a penitentiary, you would find some imprisoned for terrible crimes, and others for lesser offences, but you would find, in the eyes of the law, no innocent men! Verse 23: for all sinned, and are falling short of the glory of God--Note the difference in the tenses: "all sinned" is in the past tense, while "falling short" of God's glory is stated in the present tense. When Adam had once sinned, in Eden, he continually fell short, outside of Eden, as did all his race, by him and after him. While it is true, as both the old Version and the Revised translate, that "all have sinned"; yet I am more and more persuaded that inasmuch as the Spirit of God uses in verse 23 the same Greek word and tense as in Chapter 5:12, hemarton: that is, "all sinned" (aorist, not perfect, tense), God is looking back even here at Adam's federal headship involving us all. He looks at the race as fallen and lost and gone, in their federal head; and then as individually continuing in sins. [72] As a natural consequence, all that race "are falling short" of His glory. This "falling short" may mean (1) to fail to earn God's holy approbation (compare John 12:43); or (2) to come short, because of the loss of all spiritual strength through sin (Rom. 5:6), of that estate God prescribed for and must demand of man; or (3) guilty inability to stand before Him or in His glorious holy presence. Probably all these and more are included in the thought. We know that those now justified by faith in Christ "rejoice in hope of the glory of God,"--meaning that state of being glorified together with Christ, which is the high, heavenly hope of the Christian. It is in and through Christ alone that sinners ruined in Adam, and daily falling short of the glory of God, find redemption from sin's guilt and deliverance from its power. How sad and awful, then, man's condition! Suppose I should say, for example, to a New York audience, "Let us all go down to the Battery and jump across to England." Some vigorous young man might jump over twenty feet, but he would "fall short" of England. And some little old lady might not jump one foot. But all would "fall short" of the coast of England. And, for that matter, the one who leaped the farthest would be in the deepest water! Paul, the chief of sinners, leaped to the farthest distance of self-righteousness, only to cry, "Wretched man that I am" and to find he must put his faith only in Christ! We now come to the greatest single verse in the entire Bible on the manner of justification by faith: We entreat you, study this verse. We have seen many a soul, upon understanding it, come into peace. Verse 24: Being declared righteous giftwise by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus--God having brought the whole world into His courtroom and pronounced them guilty (vs. 19),--"under sin," now exhibits Himself in absolute sovereign grace towards the guilty! Being declared [or accounted] righteous--Justification, or accounting righteous, is God's reckoning to one who believes the whole work and effect before Him of the perfect redemption of Christ. The word never means to make one righteous, or holy; but to account one righteous. Justification is not a change wrought by God in us, but a change of our relation to God. Declared righteous giftwise--The Greek word dorean means, for nothing, gratuitously, giftwise, as a free gift. Paul, for example, uses the same word in reminding the Corinthians of his labors to make the gospel "without charge." "Freely [dorean] ye received, freely give," said the Lord to the twelve (Matt. 10:8). "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely" (dorean),--for nothing (Rev. 21:6); and it occurs in almost the very last verse of the Bible: "Let him take of the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). Perhaps the most striking use of this word, dorean, is by our Lord: "They hated me without-a-cause" (dorean) (John 15:25). The cause of the hatred was in them, not in Christ. Turning this about: the cause of our justification is in God, not in us. We are justified dorean--freely, gratis, gratuitously, giftwise, without a cause in us! This great fact should deliver just now some reader who has been looking within, to his spiritual state, or feelings, or prayers, as a ground of peace. By His grace--We get our word "charity"--from the Greek word translated "grace" here (charis). True, our word "charity" has been narrowed down in our poor thought and speech to handing out a dole to the needy. But as used by God, this word grace (charis), means the going forth in boundless oceans, according to Himself, of His mighty love. who "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." The grace of God is infinite love operating by an infinite means,--the sacrifice of Christ; and in infinite freedom, unhindered, now, by the temporary restrictions of the Law. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus--Remember that everything connected with God's salvation is glad in bestowment, infinite in extent, and unchangeable in character. Christ's atoning work was the procuring cause of all eternal benefit to us. Concerning the Greek word translated "redemption" here (apolutrOsis) Thayer says: "Everywhere in the New Testament this word is used to denote deliverance effected through the death of Christ from the retributive wrath of a holy God and the merited penalty of sin." The effect of redemption is shown in Ephesians 1:7: "In whom we have our redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses." Otherwise we were unpardoned and exposed to Divine wrath for ever. Compare Colossians 1:14: "In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins"; as also Hebrews 9:15: "A death having taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant." Here Thayer's interpretation of this word "redemption" is again excellent: "Deliverance from the penalty of transgressions effective through their expiation." Before you leave verse 24, apply it to yourself, if you are a believer. Say of yourself: "God has declared me righteous without any cause in me, by His grace, through the redemption from sin's penalty that is in Christ Jesus." It is the bold believing use for ourselves of the Scripture we learn, that God desires; and not merely the knowledge of Scripture. Verse 25: Whom God set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood, unto showing forth His [God's] righteousness in respect of the passing over of the foregoing sins in the forbearance of God--This verse looks back to the whole history of human sin before it was judged at the cross,-- the vast scandal (so to speak) of the universe!--a holy God letting sin pass for four thousand years, from Adam to Christ. God had been righteous in thus passing over [73] human sin, both in pardoning without judgment, the sins of the Abels, Enochs, Noahs, and the patriarchs,--even all whom He knew as believing Him; and not only so, He was righteous in forbearing with the impenitent. His enemies: for He purposed both sending Christ to become the propitiation for the whole world; and He would also deal in due time in righteous judgment with those rejecting all His goodness. But now, in the gospel, His righteousness in all this is publicly shown forth; and the ground of it all seen--even the Lamb "foreordained, indeed, from the foundation of the world, but now manifested," and sacrificed. At the cross was sin seen at its height; and also the righteousness of God in dealing in judgment [74] with it. It was not until the gospel that all this was manifested. Although God had been dealing righteously in the past ages, it was first seen clearly when He judged human sin openly in the Great Sacrifice: where His own Son was not spared! Whom God set forth a propitiation--Let us consider now this word "propitiation," concerning the meaning of which there is much uncertainty in many hearts. Inasmuch as Christ died for our sins "according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15:3), we must go to those Scriptures (Old Testament, of course) to find what is there set forth concerning His death. Now the two goats, on the Great Day of Atonement, represent two great effects of Christ's sacrifice. To quote: "Aaron shall take the two goats, and set them before Jehovah at the door of the tent of meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats: one lot for Jehovah, and the other lot for Azazel" ("removal"--the goat of removal of sins) [75] (Lev 16:7, 8). On the great Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16) the high priest presented before Jehovah these two goats: one was slain, and its blood brought by the high priest into the tabernacle, through the holy place, and past the second veil into the holy of holies. There the high priest sprinkled the blood upon "the mercy-seat" (the covering of the ark of the covenant, where the Shekinah glory of God's presence was above the cherubim), and also before the mercy-seat, seven times. This was the blood of the goat upon which the lot fell "for Jehovah"; therefore we have here first the holy and righteous claims of the throne of God as to sin completely met. The golden covering of the ark was called the "mercy-seat" (Hebrew, kapporeth). In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this golden covering of the ark is always called by the same Greek word, hilasterion, [76] which we find translated "propitiation" here in verse 25; and "mercy-seat" in the only other New Testament occurrence of the word, Hebrews 9:5. Does "propitiation" (hilasterion), here in Romans 3.25, then mean that the death of Christ made expiation for human sin? Or does it mean also that Christ, having thus died, therefore becomes to the soul the "mercy-seat" where God in all His holiness, and the sinner in all his guilt, may meet? The latter may be included; for the type is thus carried out; inasmuch as the blood was sprinkled upon the mercy-seat (Lev. 16:14), the covering of the ark of the covenant, which was called the mercy-seat; the "mercy-seat" thus calling attention to the effect of the sacrifice as affording a righteous meeting ground between the sinner and God. But in Chapter 3.25 it was to show forth God's righteousness that Christ was "set forth,"--the fact that God, though forbearing 4000 years, had not forgotten or abated His wrath against sin: so that it is Christ'?, actual death as an expiation of human sin that is seen here as showing God's righteousness. We may well read, "God set forth Christ propitiatory": thus showing Himself righteous, and also a gracious Justifier of sinners. The other question connects itself with what we have just said: Should we regard our faith as making the propitiation actual? Of course, the expiatory death of Christ becomes effectual only for those who believe, who rest upon it. But the expiation was made to God for human sin and the propitiation effected, apart from any man's faith therein! This is a plain fact of revelation. Christ "tasted death for every man." "He gave Himself a ransom for all"--whether any avail themselves of it or not. Faith does not have any part in the propitiation, though it avails itself of it. Propitiation is by blood alone. It is forgotten that our God is a consuming fire. Many there are who, in the blindness of unbelief of the last days, proudly say, "We reject the Jehovah of the Old Testament." It is "the Jesus that loved little children," and "went about doing good," who "taught us to call God, Father":--this is the one in whom people say they believe. But will you remember that this same Jesus is called in the Old Testament Jehovah's Servant, and that under Jehovah's smiting hand of wrath He poured out His blood on Calvary and was laid in a tomb, dead, and that it is this Jesus, the Son of God, dead and risen, upon whom you are called to believe? Now, why did He thus die? or, if you wish, Why must He die, at all? Death is the wages of sin, and He had none! Why should He die? The answer to this question, false teachers crowd to give you. But we must find the answer in what Scripture says, or risk our eternity! For Jesus Christ is the only Savior, and His death is His one saving act. Concerning His person, therefore, and His death, you must learn what God says from His own Word, and believe it. I find thousands of people ready to say, "Christ died for us, to save us"; thousands, I say, who speak thus, but who are able to give no account whatever of salvation; who exhibit, upon being questioned, the most awful ignorance of the character and attributes of God, and of where lay the necessity for Christ's death, and what it really accomplished. The shed blood on the Day of Atonement witnessed that a death had taken place. The person for whom the blood was shed could not approach or stand for a moment in the presence of the infinitely holy God. When the high priest came in before Jehovah on the Great Day of atonement, carrying the basin containing the poured out life blood of the slain goat, he swung the censer, and the cloud of incense filled the holy of holies, covering from all human sight or approach, the mercy-seat where dwelt, upon the cherubim, the Shekinah Presence of God. He approaches and sprinkles the blood upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat seven times, and retires. Now, what does this witness? Not an angry, vengeful God, [77] but infinitely the opposite--One who would send the Son of His bosom as the spotless Lamb to pour out His blood for us sinners, and then ascend to His God and Father,--and, unspeakable grace, now our God and Father also! But, this laid-down-life witnesses that all approach to God on our personal part is impossible forever! To be made nigh unto God in the blood of Christ means that we come as those whose Substitute has been smitten unto death,--and that under forsaking and wrath by God Himself. There is peace through this blood, but a peace that leaves for us in our own right, no place whatever. Herein is the "offense" of the cross. Shall Christ be smitten for my sin? Then I deserve such smiting. Shall Christ be forsaken? Then I should have been forsaken. Shall Christ give up the ghost? Then all my hopes in myself have perished forever; for He who stood in my place has been smitten, forsaken; has died. All this men hate and will not hear. The essence of the truth concerning what men call "atonement," is that God's wrath fell upon Christ bearing our sins. Man's unbelief has sought in every way to avoid or mitigate this awful truth. But if Divine wrath fell not upon Christ, it must fall upon us; for God can not let sin pass. The preacher must study the Scriptures until he sees for himself from God's Word this most solemn of all Divine revelations: in the coats of skins--obtained by death as a covering for Adam and Eve in God's presence; in Abel's accepted sacrifice; in all the offerings of the patriarchs; and afterwards in those prescribed to Israel in Leviticus,--where neither remission of the penalty of sin to the offender nor the bringing of man into God's presence was possible except through blood-shedding; and alike strikingly in the Psalms of Christ's sufferings,--as 16, 22, 40, 69, 88, 102, 109; and in the prophets: "It pleased Jehovah to bruise Him," "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him"; "Awake, O sword against My Shepherd, against the Man Who is My Fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts"; and in the gospels--"The Son of Man must be lifted up"; "The cup [of what but wrath?] that my father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?" "My God, My God Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Throughout the New Testament, as in the Old, this is taught, that God's wrath for sin fell upon Christ upon the cross. It has ever been the first step to heresy--the denial that Divine wrath for sin fell on Christ. It was, indeed, certainly not anger at Christ's Person--He was obediently drinking a cup His Father had given Him. Nor was it anger at the sinner: "God so loved that He gave." But it was wrath against sin,--the going forth of the infinitely holy nature of God against sin. Alas, how little we feel its awfulness! How poor our knowledge of it; how weak our hatred of it! But wrath against it fell full on Christ. We beseech you, hold this fast. "God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." God is holy in His being: He is righteous in His character. Righteousness appears in His dealings with others. The term righteousness is a relative one; it assumes the existence of others. It is a word of relationship: whether in attitude or in government, God will ever be righteous. But holiness is not a word of relationship, but of nature, of being. God is holy: if there were no creatures He would yet be holy, the Holy One, "Whose Name is Holy." It is in this holiness of God that we must look for the necessity of propitiation. That there must be propitiation does not indicate, primarily, that God is offended and must be appeased; but that God is holy and cannot by sinful creatures be approached. Only holy beings (like the seraphim, the cherubim of glory, and the elect angels) can possibly abide in His presence. Sin cannot come nigh Him. It is not that He hates sinners (He gave His Son to ransom them!) but it is that He is holy and cannot look upon sin. And if there be sin, there must be wrath against it: not merely the vindication of God's offended government, but the infinite abhorrence of His holy nature! He "dwelleth in light unapproachable." It is death to draw nigh: not because God is vindictive,--He is love: but because He is holy, and we are sinful, unclean, unholy. True, we are also guilty: the penalty of sin is upon us. And that means judgment, and the infliction of wrath. But behind this, and deeper than even our guilt, is the abhorrence of a holy God of our sin itself. It is the abominable thing His holy being hates. We must be banished under wrath from His sight! Let all those who think to stand in the day of judgment before God think on this. The atonement arises out of a necessity in the nature of God Himself. Now in the type of the great Day of Atonement of Leviticus 16, we have the two goats setting forth two great facts, which we must not confuse: First (and most important) the blood of the slain goat brought into God's presence in the holy of holies: the sprinkled blood being the witness that there has been death, a life laid down: [78] and no effort to come otherwise into God's presence,--no Cain-way, which does not recognize sin, or that holiness of God which was wrath and death toward sin. The blood of the goat sprinkled on the mercy-seat was the witness that all the claims of God, His holiness, His truth, His righteousness, and the majesty of His throne, had been admitted and met by a substitute which had laid its life down. Then, second, there was the transferring in type of the actual sins,--all of them, to the head of the scape-goat (the "goat of dismissal"), which was then led to the wilderness, never to be found again: thus setting forth the result of the death of the first goat,--for the two are really one, in that the two set forth the effect of Christ's death: (1) toward God; and (2) toward sinners. It is this latter phase of Christ's work,--His taking away our sins forever, that we so constantly find in our hymns (and rightly). But it is the first phase that the Word of God calls "the lot for Jehovah" (Lev. 16:8, 9, 15). It is of first importance that God should be glorified where sin had so dishonored Him! Sin outraged His holiness, insulted His Majesty, defied His righteous government. And the cross made good all this, and publicly, before the universe. This was first. And second, God could now let sinners, in all their guilt, turn to Him! And we should learn to look at the cross as first of all glorifying God; and not solely from the viewpoint of the blessed and eternal benefits accruing to us thereby! It is the character of God and the character of sin that are before us in Leviticus 16, in the Great Day of Atonement. "That I die not" (verse 13) was upon the mind of the high priest as he swung the censer when entering the presence of Jehovah, the Holy One, to sprinkle the blood, "to make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins." Note here that it is "uncleannesses" that are mentioned, even before "transgressions" or "sins"! Read carefully Leviticus 16,--especially verses 15 and 16. Taking the blood in before God, in the holy of holies, was not a gift to God! Nor was it that God "delighted in bloodshed"--the monstrous claim of God's enemies. Christ's blood witnesses that a life has been laid down (though that of a Substitute, a Lamb, God Himself in love has provided). So that a sinner, unable to be in God's presence at all, and guilty, might, in the Name and Person of that Substitute, be in God's presence, pardoned and justified. So that the blood witnesses at once the infinite holiness and righteousness of God, and also His fathomless love! The words "made nigh in Christ's blood" should be in the constant consciousness of every Christian! Now in order that these things may be impressed on our hearts, we quote a few of the ever recurring references in Scripture to the holiness of God: its effect in godly fear upon the saints, and also its effect upon the wicked. We have placed these passages in a footnote. We beg you to stop and humbly read them; for the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. Indeed, that great passage in the Sixth of Isaiah in which the seraphim veil their faces, crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts," is directly declared in the Twelfth of John to have been spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ: "These things said Isaiah, because he saw His glory [Christ's] and he spake of Him" (John 12:39-41). The fact that the Son of God has come, sent by a God of love, and has borne sin for us, so that we who believe shall not come into judgment, but draw near to God by Christ's blood, does not at all change the character of the holy God; but, on the contrary, reveals His holiness as nowhere else! [79] Therefore we see m the word translated "propitiation" a propitiatory sacrifice that has expiated guilt; and therefore the "mercy-seat" where God is in all His holiness, and the effect of Christ's expiatory sacrifice, in the bringing into God's holy presence sinners, the defiled and guilty,--whose Substitute has borne their defilement and guilt, His blood becoming the witness thereto before God. We know that we read in Hebrews 9:8 concerning the sacrifices in that first tabernacle: "The Holy Spirit this signifying, that the way into the holy place hath not yet been made manifest, while the first tabernacle is yet standing." Besides, we also read in Hebrews: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way . . . let us draw near with a true heart, in fulness of faith" (Heb. 10:19, 22). God's being and character do not change. The cross is the deepest witness of all to that fact! In every great revival in church history, as in the Old Testament, there has been a coming back into the consciousness of being guilty, lost sinners, dependent on the shed blood of a Redeemer. If the world has gotten past being recalled to that blessed sinner-consciousness in the presence of a God of mercy at the cross--there is nothing left but judgment! Verse 26: For the showing forth of His righteousness at this present season: that He might be Himself righteous, while declaring righteous the person having faith in Jesus. Both in verse 25 and verse 26 it is the effect of Christ's sacrifice, as displaying the Divine righteousness, that is before us. From Adam to Christ God had "passed over," not judged and put away, sin. The word translated "passed over" (paresis) in Chapter 3:25, is not the word for "remission," of Matthew 26:28, which is used fifteen times for the active pardon of sins; whereas the present word (paresis) is used in Romans 3:25 only. This word carries, in a sense, almost the same thought as the word "overlooked," in Acts 17:30. Of course there had to be, before the cross, such displays of Divine government as the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the plagues in Egypt, and the dispersion of rebellious Israel. Nevertheless, God did not take up man's sin for judgment according to His own being, until the cross. There He held the public Judgment Day of human sin, displaying His absolute righteousness in not sparing His own Son. Before the cross, as Bengel says, "the righteousness of God was not so apparent, for He seemed not to be so exacting with sin as He is, but to leave the sinner to himself, to regard not." But in the atoning death of Christ, God's righteousness was fully exhibited in His wrath against sin as it was in His holy sight. He was shown righteous, at the very moment He was, in love, working out the deliverance of the sinner from the wrath due. He was the Justifier, and yet just! In the words, "at this present season," God directs our gaze back to the cross, where Christ was publicly set forth and judged for our sin; and also He covers this whole "season" of mercy the present dispensation. Old Testament believers looked forward: they were forgiven on credit. But "this present season," is better. It is characterized by a righteousness already displayed in God's judging our sin at the cross; and therefore by God as the righteous Justifier of all who believe. Now our faith is that one act of our hearts that appropriates the work of Christ; and we stand, by virtue of that work alone in the immediate presence of the infinitely holy God. The words "most holy" occur about forty times in describing the sanctuary matters of the Old Testament; but faith in the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ who fulfills all those shadows, takes the place of all this: therefore, in the New Testament, our faith is called "our most holy faith"! (Jude 20). Verse 27: Where then is the [Jewish] boasting? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith. Where then is the [Jewish] boasting? It is plain all through this discussion that Paul has the religious position and opposition of the Jews in mind. Boasting "was excluded at the moment when the law of faith, that is, the gospel, was brought in." [80] In view of this new gospel-revelation of the finished work of Christ, who did the whole work for us on Calvary, and that by God's appointment, everything is seen to be of God, and not at all of man. Therefore, even the Jews, to whom the Law had been given, had their mouths completely stopped, "because there was no work done," and no ground for boasting! By what manner of law? of works? Not at all! but by a law of faith. "Law" in this instance is rule, or plan. This "law," or principle, of faith, applies not only to our justification, but to every aspect of the believer's life thereafter,--"building up yourselves on your most holy faith." "That life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God." Verse 28: For we reckon that a man is declared righteous by faith, apart from Works of law--This verse is not a conclusion arrived at, but a reason given why boasting is excluded. Verses 29 and 30: Or is God [the God] of Jews only? [who alone had the Law]. Is He not [the God] of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: since it is one God who shall declare righteous the circumcision on the principle of faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. To paraphrase: "Or is God the God of the Jews only? (as He must be, if justification is by the Law: for only to the Jews did God give the Law). Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: since God is One (in His being, and alike to all nations). And He shall justify the circumcision (Jewish believers) out of simple faith (and not by their keeping Moses' Law though they had it from God), and the uncircumcision (Gentiles, who had nothing) through their faith (apart from His giving them the Law)." Verse 31: Do we then annul law through faith? Banish the thought! on the contrary, we establish law. It is the constant cry of those who oppose grace, and most especially that declaration of grace that our justification is apart from law--apart from works of law--apart from ordinances, that it overthrows the Divine authority. But in this verse Paul says, "We establish law" through this doctrine of simple faith. To illustrate: In the wilderness a man was found gathering up sticks to make a fire on the Sabbath day. Now, the Law had said, "Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day." How, then, was this Law to be "established"? By letting the law-breaker off? No. By securing his promise to keep the Law in the future? No! By finding someone who had kept this commandment always, perfectly, and letting his obedience be reckoned to the law-breaker? No, in no wise! How then, was the Law established? You know very well. All Israel were commanded by Jehovah to stone the man to death. We read: "And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. And Jehovah said unto Moses The man shall surely be put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him to death with stones; as Jehovah commanded Moses" (Numbers 15:33,ff). Thus and thus only was the commandment of Jehovah established--by the execution of the penalty. Paul preached Christ crucified: that Christ died for our sins, that "He tasted death for every man." And that Israel, who were under the Law, He redeemed from the curse of that Law by being made a curse for them. Thus the cross established law; for the full penalty of all that was against the Divine majesty, against God's holiness. His righteousness, His truth, was forever met, and that not according to man's conception of what sin and its penalty should be, but according to God's judgment, according to the measure of the sanctuary, of high heaven itself! The Jew, prating about his own righteousness, went about to kill Paul, crying that he spake against the Law; whereas it was that very Jew who would lower the Law to his own ability to keep it, instead of allowing it its proper office; namely, to reveal his guilt, curse him, and condemn him to death, and thus drive him to the mercy of God in Christ, whose expiatory death established law by having its penalty executed! [81] RIGHTEOUSNESS WITHOUT WORKS If God announces the gift of righteousness apart from works, why do you keep mourning over your bad works, your failures? DO you not see that it is because you still have hopes in these works of yours that you are depressed and discouraged by their failure? If you truly saw and believed that God is reckoning righteous the ungodly who believe on Him, you would fairly hate your struggles to be "better"; for you would see that your dreams of good works have not at all commended you to God, and that your bad works do not at all hinder you from believing on Him,--that justifieth the ungodly! Therefore, on seeing your failures, you should say, I am nothing but a failure; but God is dealing with me on another principle altogether than my works, good or bad,--a principle not involving my works, but based only on the work of Christ for me. I am anxious, indeed, to be pleasing to God and to be filled with His Spirit; but I am not at all justified, or accounted righteous, by these things. God, in justifying me, acted wholly and only on Christ's blood-shedding on my behalf. Therefore I have this double attitude: first, I know that Christ is in Heaven before God for me, and that I stand in the value before God of His finished work; that God sees me nowhere else but in this dead, buried, and Risen Christ, and that His favor is toward me in Christ, and is limitless and eternal. Then, second, toward the work of the Holy Spirit in me, my attitude is, a desire to be guided into the truth, to be obedient thereto, and to be chastened by God my Father if disobedient; to learn to pray in the Spirit, to walk by the Spirit, and to be filled with a love for the Scriptures and for the saints and for all men. Yet none of these things justifies me! I had justification from God as a sinner, not as a saint! My saintliness does not increase it, nor, praise God, do my failures decrease it! __________________________________________________________________ [50] The Greek expression me-genoita, translated in both A. V, and R. V. "God forbid," does not contain the name of God, and should not be so translated. It amounts to "Banish the thought!" Literally, it is, "Be it not so!" or, "Let it not be conceived of!" Paul uses it frequently,--as much as nine or ten times in this Epistle--to denote instant and horrified rejection of a conception. [51] Probably Alford is right in viewing these objecting questions "not as coming from an objector, but as asked by the apostle himself anticipating the thought of his reader." I would suggest, however, that the questions beginning in this manner in verse 1 proceed to Paul's thinking Jew-wise in verse 5, and finally, in verse 7, quoting verbally what a Jew (not Paul) would say. This whole passage is generally regarded as one of the most difficult in the whole Epistle. But it will, as we spend work upon it, repay us, Bunyan says: "Hard texts are nuts--I would not call them cheaters: Whose shells do ofttimes keep them from the eaters." [52] We know that in this dispensation of Grace some Jewish "advantages" become actually a hindrance to one desiring to enter all Divine blessing wholly on grace grounds. This is set forth by Paul in Philippians 3:4-7 ff. There he enumerates seven natural advantages, of which, curiously, circumcision is the first mentioned, zealous persecution of the Church the sixth, and outward legal blamelessness the seventh! These were on the profit side (Greek, literally, "gains" side), of Paul's ledger, but he transferred them to the "loss" side: "What things were gains to me, these have I counted loss for Christ." [53] "As to the expression, "God's oracles" (Gr. logia) we quote: Olshausen: "No doubt in the first place the promises (Acts 7:38; I Pet. 4:11, etc.), and indeed especially those of the Messiah and the kingdom of God, to which all others were related . . . but the whole Word of God is also indicated by this expression. The Divine promises were confided to the Jews, since in what follows it is just this faithlessness (apistia) in the possession of these promises which is spoken of. The mention is made of Divine faithfulness (pistia) only in connection with this faithlessness." Tholuck; "Oracles (logia) here are primarily, Divine declarations; hence, particularly, promises and prophecies." Alford: "Not only the law of Moses, but all the revelation of God hitherto made of Himself directly, all of which had been entrusted to Jews only." Meyer: "Paul means the Holy Scriptures and especially the prophecies of the Messiah and the kingdom. These are not destroyed by the Jews' unbelief." [54] "Godet says: "God cannot become guilty of any wrong toward any being whatever. Now this is what He seems to do to the sinner, when He at once condemns and makes use of him." [55] This awful list of fourteen facts about the human race, quoted from the Old Testament Scriptures, describes, of course, humanity as it is by nature. Therefore if we have believed the gospel, and are thus righteous before God in Christ, we have double reason to study these truths: first, that we may by understanding the facts, as God sees them, about ourselves, have a correct estimate of humanity, which, of course, unenlightened men never gain; and, second, that we may be constantly moved to give praise to God for His measureless grace that reached even such as we were! Meyer's outline of verses 10 to 18 is: "(1) A state of sin generally (verses 10-12); (2) practices of sin in words (verses 13-14); in deeds (verses 15-17); and (3) the sinful source of the whole (verse 18)." Haldane thus sums them up: "The first of them, verse 10, prefers the general charge of unrighteousness; the second, verses 11 to 12, marks the internal character, or disorders of the heart; third, verses 13 to 14, those of the words; the fourth, verses 15 to 17, those of the actions; the last, verse 18, declares the cause "of the whole." [56] It is striking how God uses the aorist tense here and in the previous count. The race is looked at from Adam down, and as partaking of his guilt, and wilfully in his path. Note also hemarton of verse 23: "all sinned, and are [as a result] falling short," We shall note this word further, in Chapter 5:12. [57] This ignorance, of course, is itself a matter of guilt, as is abundantly shown in Leviticus 4:2, 13, 22, 27: "If any of the people of the land sin unwittingly in doing anything . . . and be guilty." [58] Many insist that the words "the Law" of verse 19 include only all the quotations from Scripture from verse 9 to verse 18; and they would apply it only to the Jews, as alone possessing that Law, But God in verse 9 applies to both Jews and Greeks what is "written" in the following Scriptures (of verses 10-18). We would regard "the Law" in verse 19, then, in a stricter and more confined sense,--as when our Lord said to the Jews, "Did not Moses give you The Law?" Our Lord's general division was "The Law and The Prophets" (Luke 16:16); and in Luke 24:44 He speaks of "the things that are written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms concerning Me." In John 10:34 He uses the term "Your Law," covering even the Psalms. And yet, as we said above, the quotation from Psalm 14, includes the whole human race. And if it be argued that this psalm uses God's name Jehovah, His special name for Israel, we reply that in the parallel psalm, the Fifty-third, the name used is God, Elohim, the Creator of the whole earth. [59] Someone says, "It is not the good works men have done so much as the good works they persuade themselves they some time will do, in which they hope." For almost all know themselves to have failed; yet they promise themselves that they will be "better"; and the thought of being declared righteous by a work altogether outside of themselves, never once occurs to them! [60] By works of law shall no flesh be Justified in his sight; for through law cometh the recognition of sin (3:20). A man is justified by faith, apart from works of law (3:28). To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness (4:5). Not through the Law was the promise made to Abraham . . . but through the righteousness of faith (4:13). For if they that are of the Law are heirs, faith is made void, and the promise is made of none effect (4:14). Through the obedience of the One shall the many be constituted righteous. And law came in alongside, that the trespass might abound (5:19, 20). Ye are not under law, but under grace (6:14). Ye were made dead to the Law through the body of Christ (7:4). We have been discharged from the Law (7:6). Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth (10:4). Until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remaineth, it not being revealed to them that it is done away in Christ (II Cor. 3:14). A man is not justified by works of law but through faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:16) If ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not under law (Gal. 5:18). Law is not made for a righteous man (I Tim. 1:9). For there is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment [by Him who gave it] because of its weakness and unprofitableness (for the Law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in thereupon of a better hope, [Christ's work] through which we draw nigh unto God (Heb. 7:18, 19). [61] The absence of the definite article, the, before the word law, in 3:21, 28, 31; 4:13, etc., shows that it is the abstract principle of law that is before us rather than the specific, concrete, thing--the Law of Moses, the ten commandments. It will become evident to us that God is dealing with men now upon a different principle altogether than that of law: for grace confers the blessing, and lets the fruit flow from "faith working through love" by the power of the Spirit. Law demands fulfilment of conditions before blessing: grace announces that Christ has fulfilled all conditions. [62] "The Law has no such office in the present state of human nature manifested in history and in Scripture as to render righteous: its office is altogether different, viz., to detect and bring to light the sinfulness af man" (Alford). [63] Your body--you are waiting for the redemption of that. But your body is only the "tabernacle" in which you dwell,--it is not yourself. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit" (I Cor. 6:17). [64] Peter indeed declares that "God had foreshawed by the mouth of all the prophets that His Christ should suffer" and "to Him bear all the prophets witness, that through His name every one that believeth on Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 3:18; 10:43. It is well to remember that Paul reminds his hearers in Pisidian Antioch that it is possible to hear the prophets read and really not undrstand "the voice of the prophets" nor Him of whom they spake (Acts 13:27. [65] "The resurrection of Christ was not only Divine power in life; there was another truth in it. Divine righteousness was shown in it. His Father's glory, all that the Son was to Him, was concerned in His resurrection; Christ having perfectly glorified God in dying, and having finished His Father's work, Divine righteousness was involved in His resurrection. And He was raised, and righteousness identified with a new state into which man, in Him, was brought; and more than that, indeed, for more was justly due to Him--He was set in glory as man at the right hand of God. Not only did the blessed Lord meet for us who believe all our sin as children of Adam, by His death, so as to clear us according to the glory of God from it all in His sight; but He perfectly glorified God Himself in so doing. Man, in the person of Christ, then entered into the glory of God. Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him, . . . and shall straightaway glorify Him.' But all Christ's work was wrought in us; our sin was put away by it. Christ, as having thus glorified all God is, is our righteousness. We are thus the righteousness of God in Him.' "Either Christ, in His own present perfectness, risen from the dead, is my righteousness, His place my place, and I myself absolutely dead and gone as regards the old man; or I am making Christ a completer of my standing, as alive in the old man. Scripture teaches me that I am not alive as a child of Adam in this world. If ye died with Christ . . . why as though alive in the world? says Paul. "And now I am in Christ, risen and ascended; and have no righteousness to make out, but to glorify God as His child, being the righteousness of God in Christ already. My defects have nothing to do with my righteousness. They have with respect to my living to God and enjoying communion with Him" (Darby). [66] We call attention to the error in the King James Version at the end of Romans 5:11 where those translators render "atonement" when it should be "reconciliation" (katallange). Therefore, properly speaking, the idea of covering up sin ("atonement," kaphar, of the Old Testament) is entirely absent in any mention in the New Testament of the effect of Christ's sacrifice, which does not cover up but puts away sin from God's sight forever. [67] The "righteousness of God" is the justification of the sinner, is His own attribute of righteousness; that is, His acting in accordance with His own holy nature; manifested, however, not in demanding righteousness from the sinner, but in setting the believing sinner in His own presence, because of the righteous judgment of his sins already visited by God upon his Subtitute, Christ. And God is not only Himself righteous, in remitting the penalty of sin; but He sets the sinner in the very standing in which Christ is, with Him! [68] Of course, God will--does--give him life: it is "justification of life," in Christ. But he is justified, accounted righteous, while ungodly; and only by the blood of Christ. God will also finally, indeed, present him faultless. But he declares him righteous upon believing--while he is ungodly! If God changed him first, he would not be "ungodly." [69] We are glad to note, in Sanday and Headlam's Romans, this word regarding William Kelly's Notes on Romans: "His Notes are written from a detached and peculiar standpoint; but they are the fruit of sound scholarship, and of prolonged and devout study, and they deserve more attention than they have received." This is a fair and honest admission. For its irrefutable setting forth of truth, its Christian fairness and love, and its brevity, make Kelly's Notes invaluable. Men prefer "belonging" to a system: (1) Because where faith is not vigorous it comforts the flesh to find oneself among a party.(2) Where direct personal knowledge of Scripture is lacking it is a comfort to the heart to be told "authoritatively" what to believe--what the party to which one belongs, holds, (3) It is abhorrent to the flesh to walk by the Spirit. It is infinitely easier to be occupied with the "Christian duties" practiced or prescribed by your sect. (4) The flesh cannot bear to be little, despised, but desires to be of those that have the regard of "the Christian world" (an awful phrase!). (5) Even among the most earnest Christians the temptation and the tendency have always been to seize upon those truths emphasized by the leaders of the sect they follow and claim those truths and principles as their own! But this in effect denies the unity of the Body of Christ, and that all truth belongs to the whole Church of God. Now all this is of the very essence of Sectarianism. If your Christian consciousness is of anyone but Christ as Head over all things to the Church, and of any body but the Body of Christ, of which all true believers are members, and you members of them--then you are on forbidden, sectarian, "carnal" ground: "For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not men . . . are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after the manner of men?" [70] I often quote I Tim. 1:15 to inquiring sinners: "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." In response to my question, they confess that "came" is in the past tense. Then I say, "How sad that you and I were not there, so that He might have saved us, for He has now gone back to heaven!" This shuts them up to contemplate the work Christ finished when He was here; upon which work, and God's Word concerning it, sinners must rest: that is faith. [71] I have found Mr. Darby's explanations of "God's righteousness" more clear and illuminating than those of any other. It is therefore unfortunate, as it seems to me, that he adds to verse 22 the confusing phrase, "and upon all." I ask, what is "upon all"? If, as Mr. Darby holds, the act of justification is a forensic one, a declaration about a sinner who believes, accounting him righteous (although he is not intrinsically so), then why add that this righteousness is "upon" him? For the human mind is unable to conceive of a meaning for such a phrase other than something that a man does not possess being placed upon his person. But this is the exact meaning that Mr. Darby so constantly and justly wars against! The very thing Mr. Darby so assiduously avoids, that is, the bestowal on a person of a quality, (or of, as he says, "a quantum of righteousness"), he opens the way to, in retaining the phrase "and upon all." Bishop Moule, for example, remarks: "As to unto all and upon all,' the Greek phrases respectively indicate destination and bestowal. The sacred pardon was prepared for all believers, and is actually laid upon them as a robe of righteousness.'" We would expect such a comment as this from a churchman, or any one of the Reformation theologians, but it is the very thing that Paul does not say; and it darkens all counsel concerning justification. The expressions "the righteousness of Christ," "the merits of Christ," though not in Scripture, are continually in the mouths even of earnest men, who do not see that our history in Adam ended at the cross, that we died with Christ, and now share His risen life; and that we therefore do not need to have anything whatever put upon" us, nor any qualities or "merits" of Christ made the basis of God's blessing us. We were in Adam: we are now in Christ, standing in the full, the infinitely complete acceptance of Christ's own Person! We gravely fear that some brethren, in their resentment against the Revised Version (which we well know is not perfect, though incomparably more accurate than the King James), have kept this phrase "and upon all," in spite of the fact that the earliest manuscripts do not have it. Bishop Gore well remarks, "It is not an exaggeration to say that, in this and very many places of the epistles, the Revised Version for the first time renders the thought of the apostles again intelligible to the English reader. And if the Revised Version is not popular, this is, I fear, only a sign that the majority of English Christians do not really care to understand the meaning of the message with which, as a matter of words, they are familiar." Mr. Darby himself says that neither the Reformers nor any other human teachers, are an authority for him, so we, agreeing, say that Mr. Darby is in no sense an authority for any Christian. "Prove all things," said the Apostle. F. W. Grant admits that the earliest manuscripts omit "and upon all." He then says, "The earliest of all is corrected." But why was the earliest manuscript "corrected"? Some hand of legal unbelief "corrected" that manuscript, we certainly believe. Sanday frankly says: "These words, and upon all,' are wanting in the best manuscripts, and should be omitted." As also agrees an excellent Plymouth Brother: "The best Uncial mss. omit and upon all.' The context confirms the correctness of this, for the Apostle is writing of those who are justified (verse 24)" (C. E. Stuart). [72] Godet remarks, "The aorist hemarton, sinned,' transports us to the point of time when the result of human life appears as a completed fact, the hour of judgment." With this Burton agrees, calling it a "collective aorist." See Sanday. This word is a verb, second aorist tense, meaning, in Paul's epistles to miss the mark; then, to err, to wander from the path of righteousness; then, to do or go wrong; then, to violate God's law,--to sin. As we all know, the aorist is a statement of past fact, not of present condition or fact; neither does it have the force of the perfect,--that is, of the finishing of prolonged action. The King James version translates the same verb-form in 5:12 also: "all have sinned," It is our contention that this too is an incorrect translation, beclouding the meaning of Scripture. It is remarkable in 3:23 that a past tense should be used for the verb sin, and a present tense for the universal consequent result! As we find throughout Scripture, the sin of Adam is evermore in the Divine view. "Thy first father sinned," is God's continual testimony. The consequent translation of this aorist hemarton in 5:12 is, "all sinned"--that is, in Adam's act; and also in 3:23; "all sinned [in Adam] and [consequently] are falling short of the glory of God": the history of the whole race since. Of course it will be objected that individual sins and transgressions are treated in the first three chapters of Romans, and federal sin not until the second part of Chapter Five, where the two federal men, Adam and Christ, are set forth, and the effects of their representative acts contrasted. This is true, but why the same aorist form in both 3.23 and 5.12? Even if Paul used hemarton in 3.23 as summing up in one word the actions of both Gentiles and Jews as detailed in 1:18 to 3:18, we must still note that it is the aorist and not the perfect tense that he uses. It would then resemble the use of the same aorist, hemarton, in 2:12: "as many as sinned without law,"--the aorist here expressing the life-choice, looked at in the day of judgment as a past act (as see Godet above). This would make 3:23 say: all made the life-choice of sin,--which we know is not true of those whom God saves and delivers. So that it seems best to read "all sinned,"--as God's view of men looked at as being sinners, indeed; but their sin a past fact--soon to be connected definitely with Adam' (5.12, ff.) [73] "Passing by or over"; Xenophon uses this word thus: "A trainer of horses should not let such faults pass by unpunished"--Hipparchus 7.10. [74] There are, respecting human sin, three judgment-days: (1) of the human race, in Eden; (2) of human sin, at the cross; and (3) of human rebels, at the Great White Throne of Revelation 20. [75] Azazel, the Hebrew word, means goat of dismissal, or departure, figuring most vividly the effect for Israel of the blood shed by the first goat: for the two goats are one in representing Christ's work in its double effect. First, as answering all the claims of the being and throne of a holy, righteous God; and, second, in removing the transgressions from the people "as far as the east is from the west." [76] The meaning of the Greek word hilasterion, translated "propitiation" in Romans 3:25 plainly is, propitiatory sacrifice. How else could it be for "the showing of God's righteousness"? If we translate it only "mercy-seat," we forget that it was the propitiatory sacrifice, in its death, which made a mercy-seat possible. It was the slain goat, on the Day of Atonement, (in Lev. 16:15), the blood of which was brought in to be sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat. The righteousness of Jehovah was proclaimed in the offering's death, and in the meeting, on the ground of this shed blood, of Jehovah and man, at the mercy-seat. Therefore righteousness is set forth in the death of the victim; mercy in its effect at the "mercy-seat." It will he noticed that all explanations (of hilasterion) rest on the thought that "Christ's death was sacrificial and expiatory; a real atonement, required by something in the character of God, and not merely designed to effect moral results in man. We may not know all that this propitiation involves, but since God Himself was willing to instruct His ancient people, by types, of this reality, we ought to know something positive respecting it. The atoning death of Christ is the ground of the reconciliation,' since it satisfies the demands of Divine justice on the one hand, and on the other draws men to God. Independently of the former, the latter could not be more than a groundless human feeling" (Schaff and Riddle). "All that God was in His nature, He was, necessarily, against sin. For, though He was love, love has no place in wrath against sin, and the withdrawal of the sense of it--consciousness in the soul of the privation of God, is the most dreadful of all sufferings, the most terrible horror to him who knows it: but Christ knew it infinitely. But God's Divine majesty, His holiness, His righteousness. His truth, all in their very nature bore against Christ as made sin for us. All that God was, was against sin, and Christ was made sin. No comfort of love enfeebled wrath there. Never was the obedient Christ so precious; but His soul was to be made an offering for sin, and to bear it judicially before God" (Darby). [77] The doctrine of atonement produces in us its proper effect when it leads us to see and feel that God is just; that He is infinitely gracious; that we are deprived of all ground of boasting; that the way of salvation, which is open for us, is open for all men; and that the motives to all duty, instead of being weakened, are enforced and multiplied. "In the gospel all is harmonious: Justice and mercy, as it regards God; freedom from the Law, and the strongest obligations to obedience, as it regards men" (Hodge). [78] "The great idea in all these offerings (of Leviticus) was that the life of the victim was accepted for the life of the offerer" Angus-Green. [79] Ex. 3:5: Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 19:22: And let the priests also. that come near to Jehovah, sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break forth upon them. 24:1, 2: Worship ye afar off, and Moses alone shall come near unto Jehovah; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him. Ex 24:17: And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. Lev. 9:7: And Moses said unto Aaron, Draw near unto the altar, and offer thy sin-offering, and thy burnt-offering, and make atonement. 10:1-3: Nadab and Abiliu offered strange fire before Jehovah . . . And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that Jehovah spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Deut. 4:24: For Jehovah thy God is a devouring fire, a Jealous God. 5:4, 5: Jehovah spake with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire . . . ye were afraid because of the fire, and went not up into the mount. Isa. 33:14: The sinners in Zion are afraid: trembling hath seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? Heb. 12:29: For our God is a consuming fire. [80] As one has quaintly said, "The Feast of Mercy was on, and the damsel Grace was at the door, admitting everyone who came on the ground of mercy alone. Old Mr. Boasting, in a high hat and fine suit, presented himself. Oh,' said Grace, as she quickly shut the door in his face, There is no room for you here! The people here are feasting on the free gifts of God.' So Mr. Boasting was shut out!" [81] As to the "modernist," being more shallow by far than even the Sadducees of our Lord's day, he is not even exercised in his conscience concerning the Law, or the difference between law and grace as a means of righteousness,--of righteous standing with God. For, forsooth, the "modernist" has already a "character," an "innate nobility," though where the poor fellow gets these things, alas, who can discern? We know from Scripture that his first father was Adam; and that this "modernist," was, like David, "shapen in iniquity and conceived in sin." We have immeasurably more respect for a Jew, who is at least endeavoring by his imagined law-keeping to attain righteousness,--which presupposes that he knows he has it not! Even the Seventh Day Adventists, with their unscriptural bondage to law, are worried in conscience: the "modernist" is smugly secure, for what means Thus saith the Lord to him? But wait--till he faces the Great White Throne! __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER FOUR Abraham and David, in Whom the Jews Specially Gloried, Accounted Righteous by Faith, not by Law or Works. Verses 1-8. Righteousness is also Apart from Ordinances (as Circumcision). Verses 9-12. Abraham's "Heirship of the World," not at All by Law but by Promise; and So, Only, Believers Are All Made Certain of its Blessings. Verses 13-17. The Way and Walk of faith Wondrously Exemplified in Abraham the Father of All Believers. Verses 18-22. The Connection of Our Justification with Christ's Resurrection. Verses 23-25. 1 What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather according to the flesh hath found? 2 For if Abraham was justified on the principle of works, he hath whereof to boast. 3 But [we find] he is unable to boast before God: For what saith the Scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned unto him as righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace but, on the contrary, as a matter of debt. 5 But to one not working, but believing upon the God that justifieth the ungodly,--his faith is reckoned for righteousness. THE JEWS ESPECIALLY gloried in Abraham and David,--just as we all naturally glory in the assumed personal righteousness of great saints, as the ground of God's favor to them. But whatever blessing, says Paul, Abraham obtained, Scripture forbade the thought that he could glory before God; because he simply believed what God told him, that his seed should be in number like the stars of heaven. (Read Gen. 15:6) Abraham gave God His proper glory as the God of truth. We cannot conceive of Abraham as boasting before his house and before the Hittites that he had performed an act creditable to himself in believing God! Paul now answers Jewish objectors to the doctrine of justification by simple faith; and he uses as examples those two great men of faith whose names were constantly on Jewish tongues,--Abraham and David. The question about Abraham, What has Abraham our fleshly forefather found? is practically the same as in Chapter Three, "What advantage, then, hath the Jew?" We do well, while standing absolutely with Paul, to understand with sympathy the state of mind of the Jew, who had the Old Testament Scriptures, and a national history of marvelous Divine instruction and providence, and also remarkable religious prominence everywhere, in Paul's day. "To Israel pertained the fathers" (Rom. 9:5); Paul here in Romans 4:1, places himself, therefore, among the Israelites, and says, "Abraham our forefather according to the flesh." [82] Verses 2, 3: Now argues Paul, if Abraham had been declared righteous before God on the works principle, he would indeed have had something to boast of! But the Scripture record showed there was nothing of which he could boast before God. For concerning Abraham more definitely and directly than of any other human being, God's word was specific: Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned [83] to him as righteousness. To discover that the greatest saints have no other standing than the weakest saints, is a lesson that is difficult for all of us! So now for the Jew to find that great Abraham has nothing in the flesh, but must be justified by simple faith, like any sinner, is a great shock. There was no honor, no "merit," in Abraham's believing the faithful God, who cannot lie. The honor was God's. When Abraham believed God, he did the one thing that a man can do without doing anything! God made the statement, the promise; and God undertook to fulfill it. Abraham believed in his heart that God told the truth. There was no effort here. Abraham's faith was not an act, but an attitude. His heart was turned completely away from himself to God and His promise. This left God free to fulfill that promise. Faith was neither a meritorious act by Abraham, nor a change of character or nature, in Abraham: he simply believed God would accomplish what He had promised: "In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3). Verses 4 and 5: Now to him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as a matter of grace, but, on the contrary, as a matter of debt. But to one not working, but believing upon the God that justifieth the ungodly,--his faith is reckoned for righteousness. Here Paul writes two verses which every believer should commit to memory: for they state what no mind of fallen man ever imagines; for do not people naturally believe that the way to be saved is to "be good"? To him that worketh--To a man that works for wages, the wages are due as a debt. That is a simple enough principle. But do not seek to apply it to salvation! No one ever got righteousness by work or worth! Righteousness is not by doing right, strange and impossible as that may seem. But to him that worketh not--to him who "casts his deadly doing down"; who, seeing his guilt, and his entire inability to put it away, ceases wholly from all efforts to obtain God's favor by his own doings, or self-denyings,--even by his prayers: but believeth on the God that declareth righteous the ungodly--not the godly or the good! But, you say, God cannot do that! God cannot declare a man godly if he is really ungodly. Now God did not say "godly," but He said righteous,--"declareth righteous those ungodly who believe." God can do that! For God can reckon to an ungodly man who dares cease trying to change himself, and relies on God just as he is, a sinner,--God can and does reckon to such a one the glorious benefit of Christ's death and resurrection on behalf of sinners. And of such a believing sinner, God declares his faith is counted as righteousness. It cannot be too much emphasized that the words, "the ungodly," in verse 5, wholly shut out any other class from justification. If we say, God, indeed, has in some special cases justified notoriously, openly, evidently ungodly ones; while His general habit is, to justify the godly (which is what human reason demands), then we at once deny all Scripture. For God says, "There is no distinction; for all sinned; there is none righteous,--not one." And if you claim that God justifies the godly, we ask, on what ground? If you say on the ground of their godliness, you have left out the blood of Christ,--on which ground alone God can deal with sinners; and you have really denied this so-called "godly" man to be a sinner before God at all, since he is to be justified on another ground than is the openly ungodly sinner,--the shed blood of Christ. Do you not see that all this distinction between sinners is an abomination before a holy God? What does it matter whether you are a nobleman or a knave, if God has said He declares sinners righteous by Christ's blood? What matter whether you are an honorable woman or a harlot, if God says you are a sinner (and He does!) and that the only ground of being declared righteous is the blood of His Son? The burning question is, have you and I been so really convinced of the fact of our sinnerhood and guilt, and of our utter helplessness, and lost state, as to be able to believe on a God who can and does "declare righteous the UNgodly--those who believe, as ungodly, on Him? A child, without Christ, is "ungodly," in this sense. "Ye were by nature children of wrath," is an awful word, but a true word,--going back to our mother's womb, who, "in sin conceived us!" We were born into a lost, guilty race,--we were born part of that race! And it was written of all of us, concerning Adam's sin: "Through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners." We are all ungodly! And when we place our faith in the God who is in the business of declaring righteous the ungodly--who trust Him as they are,--on the sole ground of the shed blood of Christ,--then we are justified,--accounted righteous, by God. No, it is not the regenerate, the born again man, who is declared righteous,--it is the ungodly. It is not the penitent man or the praying man, as such, but the ungodly. It is not the professing Christian who has "escaped the defilements of the world" (II Peter 2) through certain spiritual experiences (it may be of a high order), but the ungodly, who believes, as such, on the God who declares righteous the ungodly who believe on Him--AS SUCH! And of course it is not the "church-member,"--Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, or Plymouth Brother, as such,--but, the ungodly. This is not, either, putting a premium on ungodliness, but telling the truth! If you have not relied on God as an ungodly one, you have yet to be declared righteous; for He is the God who declares righteous the ungodly who believe on Him. [84] So we have seen in verses four and five the working method and the believing method contrasted. What a place heaven would be if men were allowed to pay their way! They would boast all through eternity, one about this, another about that. But the works method and the grace method are mutually exclusive. Each shuts out the other. Men must cease even seeking; they must cease all works--weeping, confessing, repenting, even earnest praying, and simply believe God laid their sins, their very own sins, all of them, on Christ at the cross. There comes a moment when a man ceases from his own works, hearing that Christ finished the work, paid the ransom, at the cross. Then he rests! Such a soul believes,--knowing himself to be a sinner, and ungodly,--but he believes on God, just as he is, and knows he is welcome! Note that Scripture does not say that God justifies the praying man, or the Bible reader, or the church member, but the ungodly. Have you yourself believed on the God that accounts righteous the ungodly? Have you ever really seen yourself in the ungodly class, a mere sinner, and as such trusted God, on only one ground, the blood of Christ? 6 Even as David also pronounceth blessing upon the man, unto whom God reckoneth righteousness apart from works [saying], 7 Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, And whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. Verses 6 and 7: Now David also, in the Spirit, sets his seal to this blessed doctrine with great joy: saying twice in the beautiful Hebrew of Psalm 32: Oh, the blessednesses of the man! Of what man? First, of the man whose iniquities are forgiven--Forgiveness is more than mere remitting of penalty. Even a hard-hearted judge might remit a man's fine if it were paid by someone else, but forgiveness involves the heart of the forgiver. God's forgiveness is the going forth of God's infinite tenderness toward the object of His mercy. It is God folding the sinner, as the returning prodigal was folded, to His bosom. Such a one is blessed indeed! Then, whose sins are covered--"Covered" is the Old Testament word, (Heb. kaphar); for those sacrifices could never "take away" sins, but only "cover" from sight. "In those sacrifices there is a remembrance made [not a removal] of sins year by year" (Heb. 10:11, 3). There was a type of Christ's coming work, but the sins were yet there before God till Christ took them away on the cross. If then, one like David could pronounce blessed the man whose sins were "covered," out of God's sight in His mercy (though not yet removed), much more should we rejoice to know that Christ has been manifested "to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself"! (Heb. 9:26). Verse 8: The third element David here describes, in "righteousness without works," is the inflexible purpose of God never to bring up again the sin of the "blessed" man: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin. (Again the Hebrew repeats "Oh, the blessednesses!"--Ps 32:2). Many believers indeed, like David and Peter, have sinned deeply. But, as Nathan said to David on the very occasion of the announcement of both the King's sin and its being "put away," celebrated in this Psalm 32: "Jehovah hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." So have many been forgiven. High offences were David's indeed: adultery, hypocrisy and murder. But they were not "reckoned" against David. True, the king was chastened: "The sword shall never depart from thy house." At Nathan's parable David's indignation (how righteously indignant we can become at our own sins when we see them in others!) called for a four-fold payment by the rich man who took the poor man's lamb (II Sam 12:5, 6). And God allowed four sons of David's to be smitten: the child of Uriah's wife, then his first-born, Amnon; then fair Absalom; and, last, goodly Adonijah. Nevertheless, God had not "reckoned" the guilt against him! No wonder he pronounces blessed the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works! [85] Next we have the fact that even Divine ordinances like circumcision have nothing to do with righteousness,--any more than have good works; that even Abraham's circumcision was merely a seal of the righteousness of a faith he before had. 9 Is this blessing [of righteousness without works] pronounced upon the circumcision, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say, To Abraham [a circumcised man] his faith was reckoned as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances, then, was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but, on the contrary, in uncircumcision! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision: that he might be the father of ALL them that believe, though they be in uncircumcision,--that righteousness might be reckoned unto them; 12 and the father of circumcision to them who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had in uncircumcision. Verses 9 and 10: Paul had to have Jews in mind, just as we today have to have "professing Christians" in mind. The Jew relied upon and boasted in the outward mark of circumcision (which God, in Genesis 17, prescribed to Abraham and his fleshly seed), entirely forgetting that God, fourteen or fifteen years before circumcision (Gen. 15:6), had accounted Abraham righteous wholly apart from circumcision. [86] Circumcision was an outward sign or symbol, both to Abraham and to the world about him: to Abraham, that God was his God; to the world, that Abraham was separated from the world unto God. Just so baptism today is an outward sign that we are Christ's in faith and identification, and that we no longer belong to the world: but how deadly is the delusion that baptism in itself amounts to anything before God! [87] After the same manner with the Jews, the vast majority of those calling themselves Christians place reliance, alas, today, on some ordinance (or, as it is called, "sacrament"), saying, "Christ told us to repent and be baptized, did He not? Christ commanded us to take the Lord's supper." But remember that God justifies NOT those observing ordinances, but the ungodly who believe. If you are still regarding baptism, or the Lord's supper, or "the mass," or "christening," or "confirmation," as having anything whatever to do with God's declaring you righteous, you do not understand being declared righteous as an ungodly one. And in the gospel, since the cross, you are not told first to cease being ungodly, and then believe; but, as ungodly, to believe! Neither baptism nor the Lord's supper (upon both of which, in distorted form, thousands have rested, as "sacraments" commending them unto God), has power to give any standing whatever before a righteous God: that belongs only to the shed blood of the Redeemer of guilty and hopeless ones such as are we all! Note that here, first, human works are set aside as a ground of righteousness; and then Divine ordinances also are just as fully set aside. Circumcision had been commanded to the Jew. The Jew trusted in it, and became utterly blind to the fact that even Abraham, "the father of circumcision," had been declared righteous on another principle,--by simple faith, years before his circumcision! Uncircumcised, then, a common sinner (a "Gentile"--if there had been at that time "Jews"), Abraham just believed God: gave Him the honor of being a God of truth. And be it so that God saw that one day He would make Abraham as righteous in glory as He in that past day reckoned him in grace; yet it remains that God reckoned him what he was not, as yet, in experience; and that Abraham stood before God thus righteous the moment he believed! And not what Abraham would become, but what Christ would do on the cross for him was the ground of God's reckoning! Each year I live I become more impressed with the solitary grandeur of this great friend of God. Behold him! Late come from the very home of idolatry, he walks among the Hittites as a "Prince of God"--their name for him (Gen. 23:6). Behold him, to whom "the God of glory" had appeared in his old place, Ur of the Chaldees; and to which blessed God he is so drawn by the cords of trust and love, that his whole life is as God's friend--walking with Him, ever learning of Him more and more; taking a mark of absolute separation to Him; ever building altars to Him, and calling on His name. Behold him, called to part with Isaac, his only son, readily giving him up to God! Verses 11 and 12: It was in order to become the father of ALL them that believe that Abraham received the sign of circumcision: that is, he would have been the father of uncircumcised believers apart from his own circumcision (for he himself believed while uncircumcised); but God desired a circumcised separate nation, and so would have Abraham also the father of circumcision to those who not only had circumcision, but also (rare thing among the Jews!) should walk in the steps of that faith of their father Abraham which he had--while yet uncircumcised. [88] How few Jewish teachers or preachers can challenge Gentiles with the freedom and truth of the apostle Paul; "I beseech you, brethren, become as I, for I also am as ye" (Gal. 4:12). The Galatians were raw Gentiles, "without law." Paul cries, "I am as ye are: I have no reliance on circumcision; if ye Gentiles receive circumcision, Christ will profit you nothing!" The blessing of righteousness, then, comes not only without works, but also without ordinances, whether Jewish or Christian. And we see that only those Jews are really accounted circumcised in God's sight, who have heart-belief, as mere sinners, in the Redeemer. Faith, like true circumcision, is "that of the heart" (Rom. 2:29 and 10:10). According to this, there are very few real Jews on earth; yea, and relatively few true Christians, also; if righteousness be wholly by faith, apart from works, and apart from ordinances. 13 For not through law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but, on the contrary, through righteousness of faith. 14 For if they which are of law be heirs, faith is made empty, and the promise is made useless: 15 for law works out wrath [to sinful man]; but where there is not law [to transgress], there is no transgression [of it]. 16 On this account the inheritance is on the principle of faith, in order that it may be according to grace: so that the promise [which could not be broken], might be made sure to all the seed [of Abraham]: not to that which was of the Law only, but also to that which [although not having had Moses' Law] was yet of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of all of us [believers] 17 (as it is written, I made thee father of many nations) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God [the God], who makes alive the dead, and calls things not existing, as existing. Verses 13 to 17: Here the further question of Abraham's "inheriting the world" is considered, and this again is only through the righteousness of faith: this expression not meaning that faith is a righteous, meritorious thing, but that, as explained before faith, not law, is the Divine mode of blessing. Verse 13: For not through law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he should be heir of the world, but, on the contrary, through righteousness of faith. "Heir of the world": Behold, then a new order of all things! Adam had failed, and his fleshly seed were fallen. Abraham has succeeded, to become the father of spiritual seed,--"of all them that believe": it will be a believing seed, not a natural seed. This man and that seed shall enter into the inheritance Adam forfeited for headship! What can "heir of the world" [89] mean? Nay, what shall it not mean? "The meek shall inherit the earth." And who are they? Not Adam's but Abraham's seed. Bishop Moule beautifully says: "Then and there, perhaps side by side with his Divine Friend manifested in human form, Abraham is told to count the stars under the glorious canopy, the Syrian night of stars'; and he hears the promise, 'So shall thy seed be.' It was then and there, that as a man uncovenanted, unworthy, but called upon to take what God gave, he received the promise that he should be heir of the world.' In his seed,'--that childless senior was to be a King of Men, Monarch of continents and oceans. All nations,' all the kindreds of the earth' were to be blessed in him, as their patriarchal Chief, their Head, in covenant with God." How hardly do we banish the thought of human "merit" in God's great saints! ("Merit" is a Romish term: away with it!) Faith is the ground of God's blessing. Abraham was a blessed man, indeed, but he became heir of the world on another principle entirely--simple faith. [90] Verse 14: For if they which are of law be heirs, faith is made empty, and the promise is annulled--Here Paul enlarges, that for God to bless the merit-folks, [91] would make God's promise-method impossible, and so our faith in His promises, empty and void. [92] Faith and law are contradictory principles, the apostle shows: absolutely diverse means of blessing. Verse 15: Law, Paul explains, given to sinners, simply brings forth God's wrath,--for sinners in the nature of the case will transgress. Law gives no life, and has no power over the flesh. So Paul calls law a "ministration of death and condemnation" (II Cor. 3:7, 9). Alford well says, "From its very nature, law excludes promise,--which is an act of grace, and faith, which is an attribute of confidence." Where law is not, neither is there transgression. This brings out several things: First, that it takes law to bring forth transgression of it,--though sin may be present. There can be no transgression of a law which exists not. The absence of law is the absence of transgression. The entrance of law (in the case of a fallen being) is the entrance of transgression. Second that there may be Divine dispensations where law is not the principle of relationship with God. Third, that to come into a spiritual place where there will be "no transgression," men must be removed completely from under the principle of law. (This will appear in Chapters Six and Seven. God indeed has an entirely different manner of life for those in Christ than being under the principle of law!) Fourth, that only the place of freedom from law is the place of the inheritance. Verse 16: Here we see anew God's great kindness. He desired that all the seed of Abraham, whether Jewish or Gentile believers, might have security,--that the promise might be sure to all the seed. Now if you introduce man's works (for man always says, "I must do my part"), you introduce an element of insecurity and uncertainty. For no man, trying to "do his part," is ever certain that he has done, or will do, his "part." Salvation is of God, not of man. It is of faith, and so, of grace; and thus, of God. For faith is unmixed with the vain promises and hopes of man to accomplish "his part"; but looks to what God has done, in sending His Son, to do a finished work on the cross; and to the fact that God has raised up Christ; and that Christ is our unfailing High Priest in heaven. Abraham is declared to be "the father of us all,"--of all who believe. Believers will come from all nations of the earth, and Abraham is called "the heir of the world"; which he will be openly seen to be in the millennial kingdom that is shortly coming: "Ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God" (Luke 13:28). Verse 17: (as it is written, I made thee father of many nations) in the sight, of Him whom he believed, even God [the God], who makes alive the dead, and calls things not existing, as existing. The words "Abraham, who is the father of us all" in verse 16, are to be connected with "before Him whom he believed" in verse 17, the intervening words being a parenthesis. There is a great household of faith! Whether believers realize it or not, they are sharing Abraham's inheritance. The mighty promises of God to Abraham and to His Seed, Christ (Gal. 3:16), should be studied deeply and often by all Christians. "For if ye are Christ's then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:29). God lodged the promises in Abraham: Christ fulfilled the conditions (of redemption), and we share the benefits! Abraham got us by promise; Christ bought us by blood. Abraham is the "father of all them that believe," whether his earthly seed, Israel; or his heavenly seed, the Church; or any who shall ever believe. As to our regeneration, of course, God is the Father of all believers. But as to our relation in the household of faith, Abraham is our father: Abraham believed for us all. That is, he believed a promise that included us all. Believers may indeed be said to have a three-fold fatherhood: (1) that of Abraham, of the whole household of faith; (2) that of the teacher of the gospel who was used to win them to Christ ("For though ye have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I begat you through the gospel"--I Cor. 4:15); (3) that of God, who is our actual Father, who begat us by the Holy Spirit through His Word. The first two fatherhoods, of course, are fatherhoods of relationship, so to speak; the last only is of life and reality. Yet the first two fatherhoods are also real, and should be recognized, --especially that of Abraham. Let us hold fast in our hearts the great revelation about God which closes verse 17: "God, who makes alive the dead, and calls the things not existing as existing." The translation in both the King James and the Revision Version surely comes short of the meaning here. The Greek literally is, God making alive dead ones, and calling things not being, being! It is as when God spoke to the darkness, back in Genesis One (Hebrew), the creative word, "Let light be!--and light was." It shone, too, "out of darkness"--not a ray that was projected from already existing light! His word was a creative fiat; and, answering it, "out of darkness" sprang the heretofore nonexistent, now created, light! Note that it is the God who makes alive [93] dead ones;--not those with some faint and feeble existence, but actually dead ones, those utterly gone! It is the God who calls non-existent things existent,--not, "as though" they existed, a translation which, not reaching the Divine view, really involves doubt. "Not being, being," is what the text reads. It is as when God says of His words, "I make all things new,"--"they are come to pass!" (Rev. 21:5, 6). This is the God whose word Abraham trusted. It was in this character, that of Life-Giver to the dead, and the Caller of not-things existent, that he trusted Him. Thus Abraham was nothing (but dead), and the seed, non-existent! Yet Abraham believed God's word that he should be "Father of a multitude"; and obediently changed his own name from Abram to Abraham! Therefore the actual process and progress of Abraham's life of faith in such a God, is vividly set before us as our pattern. We should study it over and over. The character of faith will be the same, with this consideration: Abraham believed on God in view of what He said He would do; we believe on Him who has raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. So, in His counsels and reckoning the believer, in Chapter Eight, is seen already glorified! Of course, in counting things not being as being, God is committed to bring into outward actuality all that He reckons; thus the believing ungodly not only is accounted righteous, but will one day be publicly manifested as the very "righteousness of God"! Indeed, justification involves God's giving him life, as see 5:18. But that is not the ground of his being reckoned righteous--that some day he will be in experience as righteous as he is now reckoned--any more than that he is accounted righteous on the ground of his own good works. For justification is a sovereign, judicial--not creative-act of God, based wholly upon the death and resurrection of Christ. When a sinner is to be justified, then, righteous is that which he is not! But, he believing, God counts him, holds him as righteous. He has no more righteousness (as a quality) than when he a moment ago, believed. But he stands in all Christ's acceptance by the act of God, the Judge! Though we have said, God will make this standing good in glorious manifestation, yet no degree of sanctification or glorification is the basis of his being declared righteous, but the blood of Christ only, and His resurrection,--the sacrifice of Christ and God's sovereign act in view of it. For God to call the things not being as being; to extend to a man the complete value of Christ's atoning work and "reckon" him justified and glorified in His sight, although not yet so in manifestation, is God's own business. Let us praise Him for His grace! 18 Who against hope in hope kept on believing, to the end that he might become a father of many nations, according to what was spoken: So shall thy seed be! 19 And not at all weakened in his faith, he took full account of his own body, as in a dead condition (he being about a hundred years old), and also the deadness of Sarah's womb, 20 but, looking unto God's promise, he wavered not through unbelief, but on the contrary became inwardly strengthened through faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being full of assurance that what He had promised. He was able to perform. 22 Therefore also it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness. 23 Now this was not written for his sake only, that it [his faith] was thus reckoned to him: 24 but for our sakes likewise; for it [our faith] will be reckoned [for righteousness] to us also who are believing on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justifying. Here, then, in verses 18 to 25 we have the difficult, though blessed and glorious, yea, and God-glorifying path of faith, exemplified in Abraham. He kept on in hope, believing contrary to all human hopes! There were many trials to his faith, the essence of the difficulty, however, always being to "look unto the promise of God" alone, and not to circumstances, or to the impossibility, according to the flesh, of the promise's being fulfilled. We inherit what Abraham believed for and received. Mark down two points, naming the first "A" for Abraham; and the second, "C" for Christ. Now draw a line from "A" to "C" and then onward, and let that line represent the line of God's blessing. The promises of blessing were lodged in Abraham, and all conditions of blessing were fulfilled by Christ; and you and I merely step into the line of blessing from Abraham through Christ. It is good to be born into a good family on earth; how blessed to be in the great family of faith, the family of God, along with Abraham! Satan hates active faith in a believer's heart, and opposes it with all his power. The world, of course, is unbelieving, and despises those who claim only "the righteousness of faith." The example of professing Christians generally is also against the path of simple faith. Among the "seven abominations" that Bunyan said he still found in his heart, was "a secret inclining to unbelief." "Against hope," against reason, against "feeling," against opinions of others, against all human possibilities whatever, we are to keep believing. This is the very article and essence of faith, [94] that it reckons as God does,--that is, upon God as described here, giving life not to the feeble, but to the dead, to those who cannot be "recovered" or "helped" or so wrought upon or patched up as to become something that they were not before; but who are absolutely hopeless, dead! That God should call the things that are not as being, is what faith rejoices in! Only God could call things thus. Abraham becomes before our eyes the particular shining example of this. Verse 19: His own body as in a dead condition--"he considered" [95] it, and knew it to be thus, and was therefore wholly hopeless in himself. Moreover, Abraham knew Sarah was "past age," unable to bear a child. He had before him, then, himself as dead, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. But he also had before him the promise of God: "Thou shalt become a father of many nations"; "So shall thy seed be." Verse 20: It was plainly and only a question of the veracity of God, and of His ability to carry out what He had promised. Abraham, therefore, believed [96] in Jehovah (Gen. 15:5, 6); and he wavered not through unbelief, but became inwardly strengthened through faith, giving glory to God; and also even Sarah herself "counted Him faithful who had promised; and received power to conceive seed." We find in Genesis 17:17 that Abraham not only considered the natural deadness of his body, but also brought up the question before the Lord: "Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?" But, Jehovah having answered his objection with a definite promise, Abraham thereafter refused to have his faith weakened by any natural thought of himself and Sarah, but set God's promise only before his mind, without wavering, [97] as "double-minded" people, in their doubting, do (James 1:6-8, R.V.). Indeed, his constancy was such that it evidently wrought upon the doubting Sarah, who learned that He was "faithful who had promised." [98] Sarah's incredulous but eager laugh (Gen. 18:12, 13, 15) Jehovah charged her sternly with; for He had before when Abraham laughed (Gen. 17:16-19), named the son whom she was to bear "Isaac"--which means laughter! Thus both Abraham and Sarah thought this thing "too good to be true"; but God in faithfulness brought it to pass. And we remember the happy laughter into which Sarah finally entered: "Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me" (Gen. 21:5-7). Every time she spoke the name "Isaac" she could remember her doubt, and how gracious Jehovah had been to her. Verse 21: Being full of assurance that what He had promised. He was able to perform. What a blessed assurance of faith, resting wholly upon God's performance of what He had promised,--how that puts us to shame! Since Abraham's day we have the written Word; and Christ has come Yet how often we doubt! [99] Verse 22: Now God tells us that His word concerning Abraham, that "his faith was reckoned as righteousness," was written not for him only, but for us, also,--for all Abraham's children. There is no more striking description of the principle and process of faith than in this passage. Look at the "also" of verse 22: Wherefore also it was reckoned unto him as righteousness. That evidently looks toward Genesis 22; at the end of Abraham's testing time, when he offered up Isaac. Let us see what is here: (1) We are not told that Abraham was reckoned righteous because of the vision of the God of glory that was vouchsafed to him in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2). Nor do we read that he was reckoned righteous because he forsook his own land and was brought to the land of Canaan, nor because he built altars to Jehovah and worshipped him; nor because he had such high courage as to slaughter the kings and deliver Lot. All these things occurred before the amazing scene of Genesis 15: where God proposed to him something absolutely impossible of accomplishment, except in God Himself. (2) Abraham was reckoned righteous when he "believed in Jehovah," in His word, to bring about concerning Abraham something that could not humanly be--that he should be a "father of nations." God came to him years after this (Genesis 17), commanding him to change his name from Abram, "high father" (but desolate, like a lonely peak), to Abraham, "father of a multitude." And Abraham obeyed, and changed his name thus; although God had just rejected Ishmael, the only offspring he had in sight, from being the seed of promise and covenant! (3) Abraham "gave glory to God," because he counted on God's bringing to pass His word, about that which only His glorious power could effect; a thing completely outside human possibility, but which all God's faithfulness and truth were pledged to accomplish. Thus Abraham let God in upon the scene, to act according to His own truth and power. Probably at that time he was the only man on earth who was giving God His due praise as the God of truth, who has "magnified His Word above all His Name" (Ps. 138:2). Our reason, yea, and our conscience also, keep telling us that right living is essentially better than right believing; but both conscience and reason are wrong! [100] (4) Jehovah reckoned Abraham righteous not because he was either righteous or holy, but acting absolutely, and entirely according to Himself--who "giveth life to the dead" (Abraham was dead: he could beget no seed); and "calleth the things that are not" (Abraham was a sinner, not righteous in himself) "as though they were." (5) The purpose, then, of God concerning Abraham, Abraham thus allowed God to fulfil. Some day you will see Abraham just as righteous and holy in character and in evident fact, as His God, in that far day, reckoned him. It was not however, on the ground of what God would make him in the future that He reckoned Abraham righteous when he believed Him. The ground, as we see plainly in 3:25, was Christ set forth as a propitiation,--through faith in Christ's blood. For "God set Him forth as a propitiation . . . because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime" (that is, by Abraham and by all who lived before Christ's death). God had His own foreknown ground, Christ, as the Lamb "without blemish and without spot," foreknown "before the foundation of the world" (I Pet. 1:19, 20). We keep repeating these things because of the continual tendency of our wretched hearts to find some cause in ourselves, or in our own faithfulness, for God's reckoning us righteous. (6) Verses 23 and 24: Now it was not written for his sake only, that it was reckoned unto him, but for our sakes likewise, for it [our faith] will be reckoned [as righteousness] to us also who are believing on Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. This is a blessed and sweet revelation for believers, that we, like Abraham, have righteousness reckoned to us; and that the story in Genesis was "written for our sake." The Old Testament is a living book for God's real saints! But we must remember that God's methods with faith are always the same. Abraham's faith was tried: are not we also told to expect the trial of our faith? [101] There is also a beautiful message in the literal rendering of verse 24, that can scarcely be supplied in English: It was on account of us also, unto whom it [righteousness] is about to be reckoned, to those who believe--as if God were eager (as indeed He is) to write down righteous those who believe His testimony concerning His Son! Note two things here: First, it is upon God we believe. The very God who was, in the opening chapters of the Epistle, bringing all of us under His judgment, without righteousness and helpless to attain it, is here believed on; as our Lord Jesus indeed said in John 12:44: "He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." But, second, it is upon Him as having raised Jesus our Lord from the dead that we believe on God in verse 24. It is not merely on the God who set forth Christ to be a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, but it is on the God who has set a public seal to the truth of our Lord's last words, "It is finished," by raising Him from the dead. "He is not here, but is risen," was the angel's word that thrilled those saints early at His tomb. And since then He has been received up in glory, and the Holy Spirit has come, witnessing to the amazing fact that the One who hung on a Roman cross, numbered with transgressors by men, and forsaken of God in the just judgment of our sins, was raised and glorified by the same God who forsook Him on Calvary. This glorious fact should be held fast by our hearts. For not only does God's raising up Christ prove our sins to have been put away; but a Risen Christ becomes a new place for us! We were justified from all things by His blood; we are now set by God in Christ Risen! And thus we are prepared for the last great verse in this blessed chapter. Verse 25: Who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justifying. Here we have Jesus our Lord delivered up for our offences. Now the Greek word for "delivered up" occurs again in Chapter 8:32: "God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all." The meaning is evident: on account of our trespasses, of what you and I have done, our Lord was delivered up by a holy God to bear our sin, with its guilt and penalty, even to God's forsaking His Son: for He must otherwise have forsaken us forever!--yea, to His smiting our Substitute instead of smiting us: "He was bruised for our iniquities." And was raised for our justifying--This must be the sense here: for we are not justified till we believe. Furthermore, if Christ's resurrection was merely to prove that we had been justified (as some teach), a verb-construction would have been used, which would signify, on account of our having been justified. But God uses the noun-construction (dikaiOsis) meaning, "the act of justifying"; showing that Christ's resurrection was for the purpose of justifying us, positively, in a Risen Christ, (Compare 5:10) Matthew Henry says: "In Christ's death He paid our debt; in His resurrection, He took out our acquittance." But Scripture goes much further in this matter of justification than the satisfaction of all claims of God's justice against us. We are set in a new place of acceptance, the Risen Christ, that has nothing to do with our old place. God will now go on to "create us in Christ Jesus." It will be "justification of life," as we shall see in Chapter Five. Only, we repeat, let us always remember that we are justified as ungodly, and now we are "new creatures in Christ Jesus.' Here, indeed, is a great mystery. God does not declare us righteous as connected with the old Adam--old creatures, we might say. Nor does He declare us righteous because we are new creatures. But God that calleth the things not existing as existing, acts in justification, declaring the ungodly who believe on Him, righteous: not because of any process of His operation upon the creature, but by His own fiat, reckoning to the beliving one the whole work of Christ on his behalf. This involves God's giving this ungodly believing one a standing in Christ Risen; and God will go on by an act of creation, to cause him to share Christ's risen life, which is justification of life. But it is as ungodly that he is declared righteous. We must hold fast to this, the first point of the gospel (I Cor. 15:3). We are indeed said to be justified by or in His blood (5:9), but if there had been no resurrection, His death would have availed us nothing. So Paul says that both Peter and he were "justified in Christ" (Gal. 2:17): that is, in the Risen Christ, in view, of course, of His finished work on the cross. When our Lord said, "It is finished," He announced the penalty paid for every believer that shall be. But He lay under the power of death for three days and nights, His body in Joseph's tomb and His spirit in Paradise. Now justification involves not only, negatively, the putting away of our guilt; but, positively, a new place and standing. For the old Adam was utterly condemned, as his history, and the law, and finally the cross, fully showed. If I am a sinner, and my sins are transferred to the head of Christ my Substitute, and He bears the penalty of them in death, then where am I, if Christ be not raised? His death and resurrection are one and inseparable as regards justification. Christ being raised up, God announces to me, "Not only were your sins put away by Christ's blood, so that you are justified from all things; but I have also raised up Christ; and you shall have your standing in Him. I have given you this faith in a Risen Christ, and announce to you that in Him alone now is your place and standing. Judgment is forever past for you, both as concerns your sin, and as concerns My demand that you have a standing of holiness and righteousness of your own before Me. All this is past. Christ is now your standing! He is your life and your righteousness; and you need nothing of your own forever. I made Christ to become sin on your behalf, identified Him with all that you were, in order that you might become the righteousness of God in Him." I must here quote the vigorous, triumphant words of Martin Luther, from his commentary on Galatians, touching these words, "delivered up for OUR trespasses": "Christ verily is the innocent, as concerning His own person, and the unspotted and undefiled Lamb of God, and therefore He ought not to have been hanged upon a tree: but because, according to the law of Moses, every thief and malefactor ought to be hanged, therefore Christ also, according to the law, ought to be hanged. For He sustained the person of a sinner and of a thief: not of one, but of all sinners and thieves. For He being made a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, is not now an innocent person, but a sinner which hath and carrieth the sin of Paul, who was a blasphemer, an oppressor, a persecutor; of Peter, who denied Christ; of David, who was an adulterer and a murderer; and, briefly, Christ, who hath and beareth the sin of all men in His own body, not that He Himself committed them, but for that He received them, being committed or done of us, and laid upon His own body, that He might make satisfaction for them with His own blood. Therefore whatsoever sins I, thou, and we all have done and shall do, hereafter, they are Christ's own sins, as verily as if He Himself had done them. To be brief, our sin must needs become Christ's own sin, or else we shall perish forever. "Also learn this definition diligently (Who was delivered for OUR trespasses'), that this one syllable being believed, may swallow up all thy sins: that thou mayest know assuredly, that Christ hath taken away the sins, not of certain men only, but also of thee. Then let thy sins be not sins only, but even thy own sins indeed. "Thus may we be able to answer the devil accusing us, saying, Thou art a sinner, thou shalt be damned. No, say I, for I flee unto Christ who hath given Himself for my sins. Therefore, Satan, thou shalt not prevail against me in that thou goest about to terrify me, in setting forth the greatness of my sins, and so to bring me into heaviness, distrust, despair, hatred, contempt, and blaspheming of God. Yea, rather, in that thou sayest, I am a sinner, thou givest me armour and weapons against thyself, that with thine own sword I may cut thy throat, and tread thee under my feet; for Christ died for sinners! Moreover, Satan, thou thyself preachest unto me the glory of God; for thou puttest me in mind of God's fatherly love toward me, wretched and damned sinner: Who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). And as often as thou objectest that I am a sinner, so often thou callest me to remembrance of the benefit of Christ my Redeemer, upon whose shoulders, and not upon mine, lay all my sins; for the Lord hath laid all our iniquity upon Him' (Isa. 53:6). Again, For the transgressions of His people was He smitten' (53:8). Wherefore, when thou sayest I am a sinner, thou dost not terrify me, but comfortest me above measure." So Paul closes his setting forth of this great resurrection side of our salvation, saying, He was raised for our justifying. Doubtless other and eternal ends were in view in God's raising up Christ; but lay fast hold of this, that in your case it was for the purpose of declaring you who believe righteous, that God raised Christ. And further, of giving you a hitherto unheard of place, to be in Christ, one with Him before God forever, loved as Christ is loved, seen in all the perfectness and beauty of Christ Himself, glorified with Him, associated with Him as companions, that He might be the First-born among many brethren! There is no limit to God's favor toward those in Christ! JUSTIFICATION--A REVIEW I. What It Is Not 1. It is not regeneration, the impartation of life in Christ; for although it is "justification of life"--meaning God will give life to the justified, he is justified as ungodly. 2. It is not "a new heart," or "change of heart,"--indefinite expressions at best, but having in them no proper definition of justification. 3. It is not "making an unjust man just," in his life and behavior. The English word justified, as we all know, comes from the Latin word meaning to make just or righteous; but this is exactly what justification is not, in Scripture. 4. It is not to be confused with sanctification; which is the state of those placed in Christ,--"sanctified in Christ Jesus"; and consequently the manner of their walk in the Spirit. II What It Is 1. It is a declaration by God in heaven concerning a man, that he stands righteous in God's sight. 2. God justifies a man, on the basis or ground of the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (3:24). See 5:6: We are "justified by [or in] His blood";--the blood the procuring ground, or means; God the acting Person. 3. God who has already acted judicially, in pronouncing the whole world guilty (Rom. 3:19), now again acts judicially concerning that sinner who becomes convinced of his guilt and helplessness, and believes that God's Word concerning Christ's expiatory sacrifice applies to himself; and thus becomes "of faith in Jesus" (3:26,RSV, margin): God's judicial [102] pronouncement now is, that such a believing one stands righteous in His sight. 4. Justification, or declaring-righteous, therefore, is the reckoning by God to a believing sinner of the whole value of the infiinte work of Christ on the cross; and, further, His connecting this believing sinner with the Risen Christ in glory, giving him the same acceptance before Himself as has Christ: so that the believer is now "the righteousness of God in Him" (Christ). Negatively, then, God in justifying a sinner reckons to him the putting away of sin by Christ's blood. Positively, He places him in Christ: he is one with Christ forever before God! Wondrous prize of our high calling! Speed we on to this, Past the cities of the angels,-- Farther into bliss; On into the depths eternal Of the love and song, Where in God the Father's glory Christ has waited long; There to find that none beside Him God's delight can be: Not BESIDE HIM, NAY, BUT IN HIM, O BELOVED ARE WE! --C. P. C., in Hymns of Ter Steegen. __________________________________________________________________ [82] The doctrine of Abraham as being the "father of all that believe," has yet to be announced,--as is done later in this same chapter. [83] (1)"It was reckoned unto him as righteousness"; here the word "reckoned" is logidzomai, a great word with Paul, used 41 times in the New Testament, 35 of which are in Paul's epistles, 11 of these here in Chapter Four. Where it is used as in verse 3, here, of God, it is always a court word, God acting as Judge and accounting or holding as righteous those who, as Abraham, believe in Him; or the contrary, as is implied in verse 8; "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin,"--implying that there are those to whom He will reckon sin and its guilt. In Chapter 4:5, we see what is reckoned by God as righteousness: "his faith is reckoned as righteousness," This does not mean that faith is a meritorious act, as indeed it could not be,--being simply extending credence to One who cannot lie! Therefore, without being itself righteousness, it is reckoned as righteousness; the ground of such reckoning being of course the work of Christ on the cross. (Compare on this (Compare on this word the note on Chapter 5:11) [84] (1)We beg the reader's permission to relate below an experience of our own, as illustrating "To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that declares righteous the ungodly": Years ago in the city of St. Louis, I was holding noon meetings in the Century Theater. One day I spoke on this verse,--Romans 4:5. After the audience had gone, I was addressed by a fine-looking man of middle age, who had been waiting alone in a box-seat for me. He immediately said, "I am Captain G--," (a man very widely known in the city). And, when I sat down to talk with him, he began: "You are speaking to the most ungodly man in St. Louis." I said, "Thank God!" "What!" he cried. "Do you mean you are glad that I am bad?" "No," I said; "but I am certainly glad to find a sinner that knows he is a sinner." "Oh, you do not know the half! I have been absolutely ungodly for years and years and years, right here in St. Louis. I own two Mississippi steamers. Everybody knows me. I am just the most ungodly man in town"' I could hardly get him quiet enough to ask him: "Did you hear me preach on ungodly people' today?" "Mr. Newell," he said, "I have been coming to these noon meetings for six weeks. I do not think I have missed a meeting. But I cannot tell you a word of what you said today. I did not sleep last night. I have hardly had any sleep for three weeks. I have gone to one man after another to find what to do. And I do what they say. I have read the Bible. I have prayed. I have given money away. But I am the most ungodly wretch in this town. Now what do you tell me to do? I waited here today to ask you that. I have tried everything; but I am so ungodly!" "Now," I said, "we will turn to the verse I preached on." I gave the Bible into his hands, asking him to read aloud: "To him that worketh not." "But," he cried, "how can this be for me? I am the most ungodly man in St. Louis!" "Wait," I said, "I beg you go on reading." So he read, "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly." "There!" he fairly shouted, "that's what I am,--ungodly." "Then, this verse is about you," I assured him. "But please tell me what to do, Mr. Newell. I know I am ungodly: what shall I do?" "Read the verse again, please." He read: "To him that worketh not,"--and I stopped him. "There," I said, "the verse says not to do, and you want me to tell you something to do: I cannot do that." "But there must be something to do; if not, I shall be lost forever." "Now listen with all your soul," I said. "There was something to do, but it has been done!" Then I told him how God had so loved him, all ungodly as he was, that He sent Christ to die for the ungodly. And that God's judgment had fallen on Christ, who has been forsaken of God for his, Captain G----'s, sins there on the cross. Then, I said, "God raised up Christ; and sent us preachers to beseech men, all ungodly as they are, to believe on this God who declares righteous the ungodly, on the ground of Christ's shed blood." He suddenly leaped to his feet and stretched his hand out to me. "Mr. Newell," he said, "I will accept that proposition!" and off he went, without another word. Next noonday, at the opening of the meeting, I saw him beckoning to me from the wings of the stage. I went to him, "May I say a word to these people?" he asked. I saw his shining face, and gladly brought him in. I said to the great audience, "Friends, this is Captain G----, whom most, it not all of you, know. He wants to say a word to you." "I want to tell you all of the greatest proposition I ever found," he cried: "I am a business man, and know a good proposition. But I found one yesterday that so filled me with joy, that I could not sleep a wink all night. I found out that God for Jesus Christ's sake declares righteous any ungodly man that trusts Him. I trusted Him yesterday; and you all know what an ungodly man I was. I thank you all for listening to me; but I felt I could not help but tell you of this wonderful proposition; that God should count me righteous. I have been such a great sinner." This beloved man lived many years in St. Louis, an ornament to his confession. [85] This world hates the God of David, because it hates grace. The world rather likes David's taking Uriah's wife (for that is the world's manner of life!). But for Jehovah not to reckon this sin as damning guilt, and freely to forgive David,--and that so fully as to give "her that had been the wife of Uriah" another son, and bestow His special love on him (Solomon) to the extent of giving him a personal name, Jedidiah "for Jehovah's sake" (II Sam. 12:24, 25) and placing this woman Bathsheba in the official genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:6); and, above all, for God to call David a man "after His own heart,"--all this rouses the ire of a vile, self-righteous, neighbor-judging, blind, grace-ignorant, impenitent world,--a world that has neither repented, nor means to repent, of the very sins, into which David fell, and of which he repented most deeply. God's record of David is "a man that will do all my purposes" (Acts 13:22, margin). How about it, critic of David's God? Have you repented? Do you desire to do all God's purposes? If not,--well, you will shortly meet the God of whom your false mouth has prated! [86] "Paul has turned the Jew's boast upside down. It is not the Gentile who must come to the Jew's circumcision for salvation; it is the Jew who must come to a Gentile faith, such faith as Abraham had long before he was circumcised . . . When Isaac was saved, he was not saved by his circumcision any more than was his father before him. God never promised salvation except to faith. He never promised a perpetual nationality except to circumcised men who believe"--Stifler. [87] "The sacraments and ceremonies of the Church, useful when viewed in their proper light, become ruinous when perverted into grounds of confidence. What answers well as a sign, is a miserable substitute for the thing signified. Circumcision will not serve for righteousness, nor baptism for regeneration"--Hodge. [88] These "steps of faith" of the uncircumcised Abraham would embrace all Abraham's story from his "call" in Genesis 12 to his circumcision in Genesis 17,--when he was 99 years old: (1) The revelation of the God of glory to Abraham, while yet in Ur of the Chaldees, and his evident turning from idols to Him. (2) Obedience to the command to get out of his country, from his kindred, and from his father's house (Ge 12:1-4); tarrying indeed at Haran on his way until his father died (Acts 7:4; Gen. 11:31). (3) The altar-worship of Jehovah in Canaan (Gen. 12:7, 8). (4) Choosing his portion with God: Lot's separation from Abraham (Gen. 13), and Abraham's arrival at Hebron ("fellowship"). (5) The victory over the kings (Gen. 14), (6) Accepting through Melchizedek the new revelation of "God Most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth," and the rejection of riches from men (Gen. 14). (7) Believing God's bare word concerning his seed, and being thus "accounted righteous" (Gen. 15). "Notice that in the seventh of these steps, there is the peculiar element of counting on God, as God, to do the impossible. On the God who calleth the things not being, as being! No doubt, there were further walkings and testings until the offering of Isaac in Chapter 22, after which we find no more testings: Abraham's faith had become perfected. So James writes (see above), "The Scripture was fulfilled that saith, Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." This word "fulfilled" is deeply significant. There was and always is, the prophetic, as well as the declarative element in justification, (that is, in God's accounting a sinner righteous). It is "the God who calleth the things that are not as though they were," (Rom. 4:17) who acts in justification. The moment He declares sinners righteous, they are so, having immediately the standing of being in Christ before Him. But they will also be manifested, by and by, and be glorified with Christ. "Glorified" they are already in God's mind (8:30). What James insists on is that there will be a living walk, fulfilling the Divine declaration that the man is righteous. This living walk also is before Him whom we believe, even God (4:17). It has no reference whatever to men. The explanation by some that Abraham was "justified by faith before God and by works before men" is trivial! Both in Gen. 15:6, when God accounted him righteous, and in 22:15 to 18, Abraham was alone with his God. When James says, "By works was faith made perfect," he is expanding the statement, "Faith wrought with his works." Paul has almost the same Phrase: "In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love" (Gal. 5:6). Of course saving faith is a living, acting thing, as against mere opinion or profession; and this again is what James is insisting on. Works are the result of a true faith; but they are not, like faith itself, a condition of salvation. What "works" did the dying thief perform? You say. None: he cast himself on Christ as he was. Good. So must you and I: only that! [89] Dean Alford with his usual clearness says: "The inheritance of the world then is not the possession of Canaan merely, either literally, or as a type of a better possession,--but that ultimate lordship over the whole world which Abraham, as the father of the faithful in all peoples, and Christ, as the Seed of Promise, shall possess: the former figuratively indeed and only implicitly,--the latter personally and actually." [90] 2.Now Paul completely shuts out the legalists from heirship with Abraham's seed. Because, as Weiss says, "If those persons were the possessors of the promise, who on the basis of a law had entered upon this inheritance of their father Abraham, (on the ground that it had been offered to them as a reward for the fulfillment of this law), then faith, which according to its essence is a confidence in the attainment of salvation, would be rendered void, and the promise, which has full assurance of that which is promised, would be made of no effect. For the law, in view of the sinful condition that prevails, can be completely fulfilled by none, and necessarily produces wrath. But the bestowal of that which is promised pre supposes the continuation of the graciousness of Him who made the promise; and this graciousness becomes equally impossible, as does the believing confidence--if law must be fulfilled to secure it!" When law comes in, it conditions everything upon obedience to it. It had to be "disannulled" when a better hope was brought in! (Heb. 7:18, 19) [91] The reason God hates your trust in your "good works" is, that you offer them to Him instead of resting on the all-glorious work of His Son for you at the cross. Reflect: 1. What it cost God to give Christ. 2. What it cost Christ to put away sin,--your sin, at the cross. 3. What honor God has given Him "because of the suffering of death." 4. What plans for the future God has arranged through Christ's having made peace by the blood of His cross, to reconcile "things upon the earth and things in the heavens, unto Himself." Now, by that uneasiness of conscience on account of which you keep doing "dead works," you neglect all God is, has done, and desires, for you; and substitute your own uncertain, fearful, trifling notions of "works that shall please God." You would make God come to your terms, instead of gladly accepting His great salvation and resting in the finished work of Christ. It is ominously bold presumption, when God is calling all to behold His Lamb, to be found asking God to behold your goodness, your works! [92] Greek, katargeo, from kata, "down from"; and ergon, "work"; literally, therefore, to put out of work, or out of business, to render ineffective; a word often used by Paul, and most important in his exposition. Its uses in Romans are seen in Chapters 3:3, 31; 4:14; 6:6; 7:2, 6. It occurs in his epistles 26 times, and elsewhere only once, but that once is illuminative: "Cut it down: why doth it also cumber (katargei) the ground?" (Luke 13:7). The ground was unchanged, but rendered wholly unproductive through the shade of, and the use of all the moisture by, the fig tree. This is the exact meaning: a result otherwise to be expected is by some hindering power annulled. Remember this word! [93] This remarkable compound word (zoe, life, plus poieO, make) is translated in the King James Version by the poor word "quicken." The Revised Version is right. The King James Version uses the same feeble word, "quicken" to translate the mighty word of Ephesians 2:5, a marvelous word of three components: a preposition, ("together with,"--sun)--plus our compound word, "make-alive," of Romans 4:17, above,--the whole really meaning, "made-alive-together-along-with"--Christ' God enlifes us in Him,--us who once were in the other Adam, dead in sins! "Quicken" is not only pitiful, but lamentable in such a verse, as it hides the fundamental truth of a believer's union with Christ in life and position. [94] 1. I cannot refrain from quoting John Bunyan's Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ, in his contrasts of faith and unbelief: "Let me here give the Christian reader a more particular description of the Qualities of unbelief, by opposing faith unto it, in these particulars: 1. Faith believeth the Word of God, but unbelief questioneth the certainty of the same. 2. Faith believeth the word, because it is true, but unbelief doubteth thereof, because it is true. 3. Faith sees more in a promise of God to help than in all other things to hinder; but unbelief, notwithstanding God's promise, saith. How can these things be? 4. Faith will make thee see love in the heart of Christ when with His mouth He giveth reproofs, but unbelief will imagine wrath in His heart when with His mouth and word He saith He loves us. 5. Faith will help the soul to wait, though God defers to give, but unbelief will snuff and throw up all, if God makes any tarrying. 6. Faith will give comfort in the midst of fears, but unbelief causeth fears in the midst of comforts. 7. Faith will suck sweetness out of God's rod, but unbelief can find no comfort in the greatest mercies. 8. Faith maketh great burdens light, but unbelief maketh light ones intolerably heavy. 9. Faith helpeth us when we are down, but unbelief throws us down when we are up, 10. Faith bringeth us near to God when we are far from Him, but unbelief puts us far from God when we are near to Him. 11. Faith putteth a man under grace, but unbelief holdeth him under wrath. 12. Faith purifieth the heart, but unbelief keepeth it polluted and impure. 13. Faith maketh our work acceptable to God through Christ, but whatsoever is of unbelief is sin, for without faith it is impossible to please Him, 14. Faith giveth us peace and comfort in our souls, but unbelief worketh trouble and tossings like the restless waves of the sea. 15. Faith maketh us see preciousness in Christ, but unbelief sees no form, beauty, or comeliness in Him. 16. By faith we have our life in Christ's fulness, but by unbelief we starve and pine away. 17. Faith gives us the victory over the law, sin, death, the devil, and all evils; but unbelief layeth us obnoxious to them all. 18. Faith will show us more excellency in things not seen than in them that are, but unbelief sees more of things that are than in things that will be hereafter. 19. Faith makes the ways of God pleasant and admirable, but unbelief makes them heavy and hard. 20. By faith Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob possessed the land of promise; but because of unbelief neither Aaron, nor Moses, nor Miriam could get thither. 21. By faith the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea, but by unbelief the generality of them perished in the wilderness. 22. By faith Gideon did more with three hundred men and a few empty pitchers than all the twelve tribes could do, because they believed not God. 23. By faith Peter walked on the water, but by unbelief he began to sink. thus might many more be added, which, for brevity's sake, I omit, beseeching every one that thinketh he hath a soul to save or be damned to take heed of unbelief lest, seeing there is a promise left us of entering into His rest, any of us by unbelief should indeed come short of it." [95] The King James Version along with certain commentators reads "considered not." William Kelly says: "There is excellent and perhaps adequate authority of every kind (mss., versions and ancient citations) for dropping the negative particle." It is remarkable in this nineteenth verse that whichever reading we adopt, the resultant statement is not inconsistent with the context, though the two readings are opposite as can be. [96] 1.The moral grandeur, yea, sublimity, of Abraham's position cannot be put into human description. Alone (except for Melchizedek) in a world that had left God, Abraham became by his faith, the silver thread that bound his seed to the God the world had deserted! Out from Eden man had gone, and then away from God's presence, to found, in Cain's city, a state of human affairs with God left out. Condemned and judged by the Deluge, they had built their proud Babel-tower. Scattered, again by Divine judgment, over the earth, they set up wood and stone "gods," and sacrificed to demons, glorifying the very lusts of their degradation: such was man's state, without God and without hope, in the world. And then--Abraham! Walking by a principle the world could not know, direct faith in God as He is,--as He reveals Himself step by step to this friend of His, Abraham comes quietly, but how wondrously, upon the scene. Even the Hittites, though they said of him, "Thou art a prince of God among us," yet knew him not,--neither Abraham, nor his blessed God. Faith in God cannot be understood, nor those who have it known, except by the men of faith. And because real faith in God enters into all the walk and ways of a trusting soul, such a one becomes, like Abraham, a "stranger and pilgrim on earth." The Lots, the Ishmaels, one by one, withdraw from Abraham. He dwelt at "Hebron," which word means "communion." Lot, though saved at last, walked as a worldling,--"by sight." Ishmael, as after him Esau, knew nothing of God. But Abraham knew, and progressed steadily in knowledge of his God, even to the ready offering of Isaac upon the altar. There was a seven-fold revelation of God to Abraham: First, it was as "the God of glory" that He appeared first in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2). Second, He revealed Himself to him as Jehovah (Gen. 12:8; 14:22; 15:2, 8),--although not opening to him, as afterwards to Moses in Israel the meaning of that Name (Ex. 3:15); third, as El Elyon, God Most High, "Possessor of heaven and earth": and the Disposer of lands, and kings: (Gen. 14:19 to 22; Dan 3:26; 4.2; 5:18, 21); fourth, as Lord (Adonai, Jehovah--15:2, 8); fifth, as El Shaddai, the Almighty God (17:1); sixth, as "the Everlasting God" (21:33); and seventh, as Jehova-Jireh" (22:14): The God who will Provide,--Especially, a Lamb for sacrifice (22:8). Christ, in His ministry on earth, said "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad!" And, finally, Paul tells us in Hebrews 11 that this great man of faith "looked for the city which hath the foundations, whose Architect and Maker is God" (Heb. 11:10),--that is, the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21; 22. Thus Abraham was taken into God's complete confidence--as he himself had had complete confidence in God! "The Friend of God"--what a title! No angel or seraph had that name! [97] The word translated "wavered" (Rom. 4:20), originally means to discriminate; then to learn or decide by discrimination; then to dispute or contend inwardly; then to be at variance with oneself, to hesitate, doubt. See Thayer's Lexicon, where he finally translates: "Abraham did not hesitate through want of faith." Uncertainty, inward balancings and strugglings of faith with unbelief (as the father of the demoniac cried, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief") such was not the state of Abraham's soul. Having committed himself to God's promise, which was wholly beyond human possibility, he went steadily forward. This had the double result of giving glory to the God whom he believed, and of making Abraham himself stronger and stronger in faith. Two travelers on their way home came to a river frozen over, but evidently not as yet with thick ice. One said, "I am afraid that ice will not bear my weight," and he sat down in the cold. The other said, "I am going home," and strode forward over the ice with steady step. He had committed himself! He refused to look at circumstances; and every step strengthened his resolve to go ahead. He reached the other bank, and eventually his home. The other man stayed back in the cold. Mr. Moody used to say, "Unbelief sees something in God's hand, and says, I wish I had that. Faith sees it, and says, I will have it!--and gets it." As one has said: "The steps of faith fall upon the seeming void, And find the rock beneath!" [98] God let Abraham wait many years, over thirteen at least (compare Gen. 16:16 with Gen. 17:1) before He began to let him realize the promises in the birth of Isaac. [99] "We have also a precious suggestion of some reasons (if we may say so) why God prescribes Faith as the condition of the justification of a sinner. Faith, we see, is an act of the soul which looks wholly away from self (as regards both merit and demerit), and honours the Almighty and All-graciousin a way not indeed in the least meritorious (because merely reasonable, after all), but yet such as to touch the hem of His garment.' It brings His creatures to Him in the one right attitude--complete submission and confidence. We thus see, in part, why faith, and only faith, is the way to reach and touch the Merit (value and power) of the Propitiation"--Moule. [100] Ernest Gordon in the Sunday School Times says, "A French Unitarian preacher, M. Lauriol, in speaking at the recent synod of Agen, said, Purity of heart and life is more important than correctness of opinion,' to which Dean Doumergue answers shrewdly, Healing is more important than the remedy, but without the remedy, there would be no healing.'" Faith is the only faculty by which we can lay hold of God. "Let him take hold of My strength," is God's command (Isa. 27:5). But we cannot reach His greatness--we are dust. We cannot look upon His face, for He dwelleth in light unapproachable. We cannot apprehend His wisdom, for it is infinite, incomprehensible ,--"reasonings of the wise, (regarding God) are vain," Then how shall we lay hold of God at all? By believing Him! The weakest of men can believe what God tells him! Praise be to His Name! Faith, simple faith, connects us with the Mighty One! Paul says, "The faith of God's elect" involves "the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness" (Titus 1:1). "Purity of heart and life" without the correct, accurate, constant teaching of doctrine,--"the doctrine which is according to godliness" (I Tim. 6:3)--is simply a philosopher's speculation or a Romanist's lie, or a "Modernist's" imagination. [101] Satan, our deadly foe, has one target at which he constantly aims,--the faith of a believer. We believe that Satan's whole effort is engaged directly against faith in Christ. Millions of demons--unclean spirits, dumb spirits, lying spirits--swarm the air of this earth to carry on, together with those angelic principalities and powers who fell with Satan, the terrible program, with its "lusts of the flesh" and "of the eyes," and "the vainglory of life," called in Ephesians 2:2 "the course of this world" (literally,--the aion of this cosmos, that is, the present stage of this world-order). But Satan himself, filled with hellish jealousy against the Son of Man who came and spoiled the strong man's house (in the wilderness temptation); and triumphed over all Satan's baits at Calvary, when He put away the sin of the world from God's sight (a fact which is true already, as Satan, and instructed saints, well know, and which will be made good openly soon, in the new heavens and new earth),--Satan himself, we say, is at present chiefly occupied blinding men to the redemption and glory that are in Christ, and in preventing and hindering the progress of every believer. Every one who confesses the Lord Jesus is openly challenged by the prince of this world. It is well that "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under our feet shortly!" But God meanwhile says, "Whom resist, steadfast in your faith!" [102] "Wherefore as condemnation is not the infusing of a habit of wickedness into him that is condemned, nor the making of him to be inherently wicked who was before righteous, but the passing of a sentence upon a man with respect to his wickedness; no more is justification the change of a person from inherent unrighteousness by the infusion of a principle of grace, but a sentential declaration of him to be righteous" (i.e., in his standing before God)--John Owen. __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER FIVE. The Glorious Results of Justification by Faith: Peace With God, a Standing in Grace, Sure Hope of Coming Glory, Present Patience, Joy in God. Verses 1-11. The Two Representative Men, Adam and Christ, Contrasted: Condemnation and Death by Adam to All in Him, Justification and Life by Christ to All in Him. Verses 12-19. By the Law, Sin Became Trespass; but GRACE TRANSCENDED ALL! Verse 20. Grace Now Reigns, "Through Jesus Christ our Lord." Verse 21. THIS GREAT CHAPTER naturally falls into two parts: In the first eleven verses we have the blessed results of justification by faith, along with the most comprehensive statement in the Bible of the pure love and grace of God, in giving Christ for us sinners. In the second part, verses 12 to 21, God goes back of the history and state of human sin, (which in Chapters 1:21 to 3:20 have been before us) to Adam, as our representative head, who stood for us, and whose sin became condemnation and death to us; and shows us Christ, as the other representative Man (whom Adam prefigured), by His act of death on the cross bringing us justification and life. The emphasis in this great passage will be in each case upon the fact that the act of the representative, and not of the one represented, brought the result to pass. 1 Therefore having been declared righteous on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 through whom also we have obtained access into this Divine favor wherein we are standing: and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we also exult in the tribulations [which beset us]: knowing that tribulation is working out endurance; 4 and endurance [a sense of] approvedness [by God]; and [the sense of] approvedness works out [a state of] hope: 5 and [our state of] hope does not make us ashamed: because God's love [for us] is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. 6 For Christ, we being yet helpless [in our sins], at the appointed time died for ungodly ones. 7 For hardly for a righteous man will any one die: for perhaps for a good [generous] man some one might venture to die. 8 But God commends His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, having been now declared righteous by [means of] His blood, shall we be saved through Him from the [coming] wrath. 10 For if, being enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His [risen] life. 11 And not only so, but we even exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Verse 1: Therefore having been declared righteous on the principle of faith--We must note at once that the Greek form of this verb "declared righteous," or "justified," is not the present participle, "being declared righteous," but rather the aorist participle, "having been declared righteous," or "justified." You say. What is the difference? The answer is, "being declared righteous" looks to a state you are in; "having been declared righteous" looks back to a fact that happened. "Being in a justified state" of course is incorrect, confusing, as it does, justification and sanctification. "Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." The moment you believed, God declared you righteous, never to change His mind: as David says, "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin" (Rom. 4:8). If therefore you are a believer, quote this verse properly, and say, "Having been declared righteous on the principle of faith I have"--these blessed fruits and results which are now to be recorded. The Epistle takes on a new aspect in each chapter: in Chapter Three, Christ was set forth as a propitiation for our sins; in Chapter Four, Christ was raised for our justification; in Chapter Five, we have peace with God through Christ, a standing in grace, and the hope of the coming glory. We have three blessings, then, in this first part of our chapter: (1) peace with God, in looking back to Calvary where Christ made peace by His blood; (2) a present standing in grace, in unlimited Divine favor; and (3) hope of the glory of God--of being glorified with Christ when He comes. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ--"Peace" means that the war is done. "Peace with God" means that God has nothing against us. This involves: 1. That God has fully Judged sin, upon Christ, our Substitute. 2. That God was so wholly satisfied with Christ's sacrifice, that He will eternally remain so--never taking up the judgment of our sin again. 3. That God is therefore at rest about us forever, however poor our understanding of truth, however weak our walk. God is looking at the blood of Christ, and not at our sins. All claims against us were met when Christ "made peace by the blood of His cross." So "we have peace with God." [103] "If Thou hast my discharge procured, And freely in my place endured The whole of wrath Divine: Payment God will not twice demand, First at my bleeding Surety's hand, And then again at mine!" Our peace with God is not as between two nations before at war, but as between a king and rebellious and guilty subjects. While our hearts are at last at rest, it is because God, against whom we sinned, has been fully satisfied at the cross. "Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" does not mean peace trough what He is now doing, but through what He did do on the Cross. He "made peace" by the blood of His cross. All the majesty of God's holy and righteous throne was satisfied when Christ said, "It is finished." And, being now raised from the dead, "He is our peace." But it is His past work at Calvary, not His present work of intercession, that all is based upon; and that gives us a sense of the peace which He made through His blood. [104] This peace with (or towards) God must not be confused with the "peace of God" of Philippians 4:7, which is a subjective state; whereas peace with God is an objective fact--outside of ourselves. Thousands strive for inward peace, never once resting where God is resting--in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. [105] "I hear the words of love, I gaze upon the blood; I see the mighty Sacrifice, And I have peace with God. " 'Tis everlasting peace, Sure as Jehovah's name; 'Tis stable as His stedfast throne, For evermore the same. "My love is oftimes low, My joy still ebbs and flows; But peace with Him remains the same, No change Jehovah know. * * * "I change, He changes not, God's Christ can never die; His love, not mine, the resting-place, His truth, not mine, the tie." --(Bonar) Verse 2: Look a moment at the second benefit: Through whom also we have had our access into this grace wherein we stand--The word "also" sets this blessing forth as distinct from and additional to that of peace with God. Through Christ, in whom they have believed, there has been given to the justified "access" into a wonderful standing in Divine favor. Being in Christ, they have extended to them the very favor in which Christ Himself stands. Notice that the words "by faith" (as in A.V.) here should be omitted. It is not by an additional revelation, and acceptance thereof, that believers come into this standing in grace. It is a place of Divine favor given to every believer the moment he believes. In Chapter 6:14 we are to be told that we are under grace, not law. It is a glorious discovery to find how fully God is for us, in Christ. [106] Now, as to this third great matter: We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This is the future of the believer: to enter upon a glorified state, glorified together with Christ, as it is in Chapter 8:17. It is not merely to behold God's glory, but to enter into it! "When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also with Him be manifested in glory" (Col. 3:4). "The glory which thou has given Me I have given unto them" (John 17:22). We shall speak of this further, in its place in Chapter Eight. The translation "exult" rather than "glory," or "boast," suits Paul's meaning here. So in the next verse, we exult in our tribulations. It is an inner, joyful confidence, rather than an outward glorying or boasting before others, although this latter will often necessarily follow! Verses 3 and 4: And not only so, but we also exult in the tribulations [which beset us]: knowing that tribulation is working out endurance: and endurance [a sense of] approvedness [by God]; and [the sense of] approvedness works out a state of hope--So now we find that not only does the believer look back to peace made with God at the cross; at a God smiling upon him in favor; and forward to his coming glorification with Christ, but he is able also to exult in the very tribulations that are appointed to him. Paul constantly taught, as in Acts 14:22; II Thessalonians 3:3, that "through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God," and that "we are appointed unto afflictions." The word means pressure, straits, difficulties; and Paul had them! "Pressed on every side, perplexed, pursued, smitten down"; "in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watchings, in fastings; by evil report, . . . as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful,--yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things!" (II Cor. 4:8, 9; 6:4-10). He regarded these as "our light affliction" said he, "which is for the moment, and is working for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory," (II Cor. 4:17); and so Paul "took pleasure" in them! (II Cor. 12:10). We need to take a lesson from the martyrs, who lived in the freshness and strength of the early faith of the Church of God, who often sang in the midst of the flames! We hear today of Just the same courage where persecution and trial are greatest. We can but give here a testimony from Russia that will reach all our hearts. It is a classic on suffering for Christ's sake. [107] The Divine process is as follows: God brings us into tribulations, and that of all sorts; graciously supplying therewith a rejoicing expectation of deliverance in due time; and the knowledge that, as the winds buffeting some great oak on a hillside cause the tree to thrust its roots deeper into the ground, so these tribulations will result in steadfastness, in faith and patient endurance; and our consciousness of steadfastness--of having been brought by grace through the trials,--gives us a sense of Divine approval, or approvedness, we did not before have; and which is only found in those who have been brought through trials, by God's all-sufficient grace. This sense of God's approval arouses within us abounding "hope"--we might almost say, hopefulness, a hopeful, happy state of soul. Verse 5: And [our state of] hope does not make us ashamed: because God's love [for us] is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. Furthermore, then, no matter how much the world or worldly Christians may avoid or deride us, this hopefulness is not "ashamed," or is not "put to shame": because there is supplied the inward and wonderful miracle of the consciousness of God's love shed abroad in our hearts through that second mighty gift of God to us (Christ Himself being the first),--the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul now takes up this "love of God" in what is, as regards Gods sheer grace, the highest place in Paul's epistles. It is the greatest exposition in Scripture of God's love, as announced in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world .that He gave--." Ephesians unfolds the marvelous heavenly calling into which God's grace has brought us. But, as to God's love itself, what it is, we must come to the present verses of Romans: as John says, "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John 4:10). First of all, the indwelling Holy Spirit, given freely to all believers, sheds abroad in our hearts this love of God--making us conscious of it in a direct inner witness: and that especially in times of trial or need. A THREE-FOLD VIEW OF GOD'S LOVE FOR US--SINNERS Next, we see three stages of our sinnerhood, each connected in a peculiar, fitting, and touching way with God's love. 1. Verse 6: For Christ,--we being yet helpless [in our sins], at the appointed time died for ungodly ones--The fact of man's total moral inability is stated here in the gentlest possible terms. It is a bankruptcy of all moral and spiritual inclination toward God and holiness, as well as of power to be or do good. Yet into a scene of helplessness like this, God sends His Son,--for what? To die for the "ungodly." No return or response is demanded: it is absolute grace--for the ungodly. Verse 7: For scarcely for a righteous man will anyone die: though perhaps for a good man some one might even venture to die--Paul proceeds with his wonderful pean of praise concerning God's love: Among men, while for a sternly honest man no one would die, yet some one might be found to venture death for a "noble" person, one of generous-hearted goodness. But what of God's love? 2. Verse 8. God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us--Now "sinning" is a stronger word than "strengthless": but it is strong in the wrong direction! Strengthless indeed toward God and holiness, we were all; yet vigorous and active in sin. And what did God do? What does God here say? It was while we were thus sinning that Christ died for us! And thus doth God "commend" [108] His peculiar love toward us. It is most astonishing, this announcement that God is "commending" this love of His for us,--a love "all uncaused by any previous love of ours for Him." [109] Salesmen "commend" their wares to those whom they deem able and willing to buy them. God "commends" His tender love to us; for He loved us as wretches occupied in sin, unable and unwilling to pay Him or obey Him. This is absolute grace. 3. Verse 10: For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the DEATH of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved in His LIFE. Now, "enemies" is a much worse word than either "strengthless" or "sinners"; it involves a personal alienation and animosity. "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God . . . not subject to the law of God, neither, indeed, can it be." What a condition! And yet, while we were going about avoiding and hating God, that same God was having His Son, Christ, meet all the Divine claims against us by His death on Calvary! Mark that, while we were enemies, He did this. No change of our hateful attitude was demanded by God before He sent His Son. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Grace, brother, grace,--unasked, undesired, and, of course, forever undeserved,--Divine kindness! "When the kindness of God our Savior, and His love toward man appeared, not by works which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy. He saved us." Here, then, whoever you are, read your record: strengthless, sinning, hating: then you can begin to conceive of, if you will believe, this sovereign, uncaused love which God here in this great passage "commends" to you. Do not try to be "worthy" of it; for offers to pay, by an utter bankrupt, are not only worthless, but an insult to grace! Self-righteousness seeks to discover in itself some cause for that Divine favor that God declares has its only source in Himself and His love. "Strengthless"--"sinners"--"enemies"--such were we all, and God sent His Son to die for us as such! Now let us not dare try to get God to be reconciled to us through our prayers, our consecration, our works. We were reconciled to God while His enemies, through the death of His Son. One who has believed is overwhelmed to find that this reconciliation was effected while he himself was an enemy to God; and so the "much more" gets hold of his heart: I was reconciled by His death while I was an enemy: how much rather, now that I have accepted this reconciliation and share Christ's own risen life, shall God pour His salvation-favor upon me! I was an enemy then, and God gave Christ for me; now that I am God's friend, He cannot do less! [110] This is the important thing to see, in the matter or reconciliation: it was necessary for us to be reconciled to God Himself, to that holiness and righteousness in God, that was infinitely against sin. This was brought about in Christ's death. So, we read, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself" (II Cor. 5:19). "While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son." All sin is contrary to God's holiness, righteousness, truth, and glory, but sin was put by God on Christ, and God "spared Him not." And now God says to His messengers: "Go be ambassadors on behalf of Christ. Tell sinners that I have smitten Him instead of them. Tell them I forsook Him on the cross, that I might not forsake them forever!" THE FOUR "MUCH MORES" There are in this remarkable chapter four "much mores" which it is interesting and profitable to note. Two are in this first section; and two in the second. First, we have the two "much mores" of future safety; verses 9 and 10; then the two "much mores" of grace's abundance: verses 15 and 17, which are developed in the other section of the chapter. Verse 9: Much more then, having been now declared righteous by [means of] His blood, shall we be saved through Him from the [coming] wrath--God has done the harder thing: He will do the easier thing. He has had Christ die for us while we were "yet sinners"; "much more" will He see that we, being now believers and accounted righteous in view of Christ's blood, shall be saved from the coming wrath through Him (Christ). [111] Notice that shed blood is the justifying ground, the procuring cause, of our being accounted righteous; and that instead of our being uncertain of preservation from the wrath which is coming at the Last Judgment, the fact that Christ died for us while were were still sinners should give us a constant state of calm security! Verse 10: Much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His [risen] life--Again, God has done the harder thing--delivering Christ to death to reconcile us to Himself. He will certainly--much more! do the lesser thing for us: He will see that we share Christ's risen life forever; and thus, even in the hour of visitation upon the wicked, we shall be "saved by His life." (This will more fully come out in Chapter Eight, where the blessed Spirit supplies that life which is in Christ to us, as a very "law of life.") We were reconciled to God by God's having Christ meet in His death all the claims of His throne,--His majesty, His holiness, His righteousness, His truth. "Much more," being from our side reconciled, shall we be saved now and in the future by and in Christ's risen life which we now share! This "saved by His life" evidently looks forward to the coming Day of Judgment referred to in verse 9 [112] as the coming wrath, into which judgment our Lord has told us we shall not come (John 5:24). Indeed, Paul writes in I Thessalonians 1:10,--"Jesus, who delivereth us from the wrath to come"! And now the apostle closes up this section of the Epistle with a note of highest exultation: Verse 11: And not only so, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation--He says. We exult in God. How great a change! Three chapters back, we were sitting in the Divine Judge's court, guilty--our mouths stopped, and all our works rejected! Now, "through our Lord Jesus Christ" and His work for us, we are rejoicing, exulting, in Him who was our Judge! This is what grace can do and does! And we see that it is simply by receiving the reconciliation that has been brought in by Christ. For the word here is not "atonement," which means to cover up, and is applied to the Old Testament sacrifices. The word reconciliation here (katallaga) is simply the noun form of the verb "reconcile," in verse 10. Compare "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not reckoning unto them their trespasses (II Cor. 5:19). To "receive" a complete, accomplished reconciliation,--how simple! We have seen men and women exult in God, thus! Every believer has this great right of exultation. This is a "song of the Lord" that lasts forever--"through our Lord Jesus Christ" GOD'S PLAN: THE "REIGN OF GRACE" THROUGH CHRIST Romans 5:12-21 THE TWO MEN ADAM CHRIST } Verse 14. THE TWO ACTS ADAM--one trespass: Verses 12,15,17,18,19. CHRIST--one righteous act (on the cross): Verse. 18. THE TWO RESULTS By ADAM--Condemnation, guilt, death: Verses 15, 16, 18, 19. By CHRIST--Justification, life, kingship: Verses 17, 18, 19. THE TWO DIFFERENCES In degree Verse 15 { God the Creator's grace by Christ, abounds beyond the sin of the creature, Adam.. In kind or operation Verse 16 { One sin, by Adam--condemnation and reign of death. Many sins on Christ--justification and "reigning in life" for those accepting God's grace by Him. THE TWO KINGS SIN--reigning through Death: Verse 17. GRACE--reigning through Righteousness: Verse 21. THE TWO ABUNDANCES OF GRACE OF THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS } Verse 17. THE TWO CONTRASTED STATES CONDEMNED MEN, SLAVES OF DEATH, BY ADAM JUSTIFIED MEN, REIGNING IN LIFE, BY CHRIST 12 Therefore it [salvation through Christ's work] is just as when through one man sin entered the world, and through the sin, death: and in that way death passed to all men, for that all sinned [in Adam]: for before the Law [of Moses] 13 sin was in the world: but sin is not put to account if there is not law [against it]. 14 Notwithstanding, death reigned-as-king from Adam until Moses, even over those not having sinned after the likeness of the transgression of Adam,--who is a type of the Coming One [Christ]. 15 But not as the trespass, so also is the grace-bestowal (charisma). For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the free-gift (dorea) of the One Man. Jesus Christ, abound unto the many! 16 And not as through one that sinned, so is the act of giving (dorema): for the judgment came out of one [trespass] unto condemnation; but the grace-bestowal (charisma) came out of many trespasses unto a righteous [or justifying] act (dikaioma) [at the cross]. 17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned-as-king through the one, much more those accepting the abundance of grace and of the free-gift (dorea) of righteousness, shall reign-as-kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ! 18 So then just as [the principle was] through one trespass unto all men to condemnation; even so also [the principle is] through one righteous [or justifying] act [dikaioma] unto all men to justification of life! 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were set down as sinners, even so, through the obedience of the One the many shall be set down as righteous. 20 Law, moreover, came in alongside, that trespass [of law] might abound. But, where the sin abounded, the grace overflowed! 21 In order that, just as sin reigned-as-king by means of death: grace might reign-as-king, through righteousness, unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. THE GREAT DOCTRINE OF THE TWO MEN We have seen, in Chapters One to Three, the fact of universal human guilt, that all thus are "falling short of God's glory"; and we have seen Christ set forth by God as a "propitiation through faith in His blood." We also found that believers were declared righteous; and seen connected with a Risen Christ, in Chapter Four. Then we saw, in the first part of Chapter Five, the blessed results of this "justification by faith." When we come to Romans 5:12, a new phase or view of our salvation appears. (Although note our comments on Chapter 3:23.) A general view of the passage will be helpful. The two men, Adam and Christ, with their distinct federal [113] or representative consequences, are before us. It is no longer what we have done--our sins, but the one trespass of Adam that is in view. And it is the work of Christ, also, looked at as an "Adam,"--His "righteous act" of death; with its effect of justification for us. So now we look back to the act that set us down as sinners, instead of to our own deeds; and to the act that sets us down righteous, apart from our own works. There is no more direct statement in Scripture concerning justification than we find in verse 19: Through the obedience of the One shall the many be constituted righteous [before God]. It is true that up to verse 11 the question has been one of sins rather than the thing sin itself. It is true also that in verse 18, in the expression justification of life, the resurrection-side of salvation is before us. But we need to mark that God, in the great passage from verse 12 to verse 21, grounds our justification wholly in the work of Another than ourselves, even Christ; showing also the incidental place that the Law had--"that the trespass might abound"; thus opening the flood-gates of Grace! The key word of this great passage is "one." You will find it as follows (14 times in all) : "One man"--"one man"--"one man"--verses 12, 15, 19. "The one"--"the one"--"the One"--verses 15, 17, 19. "One"--"one"--"one" (trespass) "one" (righteous act)--verses 16 (twice), 18 (twice). "Through--one act of righteousness"--verse 18. "Through--the obedience of THE ONE"--verse 19. "Through { one trespass"--verses 15, 17, 18. one man's disobedience"--verse 19. "Through { one act of righteousness"--verse 18. the obedience of THE ONE"--verse 19. It will never do to go about counting ourselves justified in the sense merely of having our own trespasses, those we have committed, forgiven; for this would amount to counting ourselves as innocent before we personally sinned, and to have become guilty merely because we personally sinned. But this is to forget that we all were made sinners by Adam's act,--not our own. Nor does this mean that we got a "sinful nature" from our "first parents": "By nature" we were, indeed, "children of wrath," Paul tells us in Eph. 2; and David declares: "In sin did my mother conceive me." But Romans Five does not talk of a nature of sin received by us from Adam, but of our being made guilty by his act. We were so connected with the first Adam that we did not have to wait to be born, or to have a sinful nature; but when Adam, our representative, acted, we acted. Verse 19 plainly says, Through the one man's disobedience the many were set down as sinners, while the preceding verse says the principle was, through one trespass--unto all men to condemnation. "Condemnation" is a forensic word, it belongs to the court, not to the birth-chamber. The same Divine principle is illustrated in the fact that "through Abraham even Levi," Abraham's great-grandson, who receiveth tithes, hath paid tithes, for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him" (Heb. 7:9). God says of Levi, who was not yet born, whose father was not yet born, whose grandfather (Isaac) was not yet born: "LEVI PAID TITHES!" The great truth of Romans 5:12 to 21 is that a representative acted, involving those connected with him. We see immediately how Paul in a seven-fold way insists on the fact that Adam's act of sin affected his race: 1. Through one man sin entered into the world (vs. 12a). 2. So in that way death passed unto all men, for that all sinned, [when Adam sinned] (vs. 12b). 3. By the trespass of the one the many died (vs. 15). 4. The judgment came out of one [trespass] unto condemnation (vs. 16). 5. By the trespass of the one, death reigned-as-king through the one (vs. 17). 6. Through one trespass [the effect was] towards all men to condemnation (vs. 18). 7. Through the one man's disobedience the many were set down as [or made to become] sinners (vs. 19). On the other hand, as regards Christ, we find: 1. That He is also an Adam--a representative or federal Man who acts for all, and in whom all in Him are seen. Adam is called a figure [Greek: typos--type] of Him that was to come--Christ (vs. 14). 2. That by the One Man Jesus Christ, the grace of God, and the free-gift [by that grace] did abound unto the many much beyond the evil results of Adam's sin (vs. 15). 3. That through our Lord's one righteous act [His death on the cross] the free-gift goes out to all men to justification of life, just as through [Adam's] one trespass the judgment came to all men to condemnation (vs. 18). 4. That through the obedience [unto death] of the One [Christ] the many [those who received the gift] shall be set down righteous [before God] (vs. 19). 5. That those who receive the abundance of [God's] grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign-as-kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ,--much beyond death s reigning through the one [Adam] (vs. 17). We may now consider this passage briefly, verse by verse: Verse 12: This whole plan of salvation,--by Christ's work, not ours, which we have been considering in Chapters Three, Four and Five, gives rise to the "therefore" which introduces this verse: Therefore [this plan of salvation of all by a single Redeemer], is on the same principle as when through [the other] one man sin entered the world; and, with it, its wages, death. Paul proceeds to emphasize that it was in that way,--that is, by one man, that death passed to all men, because when Adam sinned, all sinned. It was a federal representative act. Evidently physical death is primarily in view. "Man's breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Ps. 146:4). And read carefully the note below. [114] So death passed unto all men, for that all sinned--The word "so" refers to the sin of the one man, but the words all sinned must not be read "all have sinned" (as the King James Version unfortunately mistranslates). The whole point is that all acted when Adam acted: all sinned. We have remarked on the aorist tense, "sinned" (Greek: hemarton) in connection with its use in Chapter Three. To translate it here (5:12) "have sinned" is utterly to obscure the Scripture, making man's "sinnership" to depend on his own acts rather than on Adam's--which latter is the whole point of the passage. Verses 13 and 14: Now comes the remarkable statement that although sin was in the world during the first 2500 years, from Adam to Moses, it is not put to account when there is no law. The Greek word "put to account" used here occurs only one other time--Philemon 18. It signifies to charge up something to anyone as a due. (The wholly different word "reckon" in Chapters 3:24 and 4:23, 24 regards the person; this word in 5:13 regards some item put to one's account.) It was to Adam, not to us, that God said: "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It was to Israel through Moses that God gave the ten commandments. The general argument of the apostle here is to show the effect of a federal or representative sin, in which an Adam acted, bringing an effect upon the individuals connected with him. Paul is about to prove that death passed to all men not because they sinned, but because Adam sinned. He is also about to show (verse 18) that all men were condemned by Adam's act,--were made to become sinners. To understand, therefore, the force of the words, sin is not put to account where there is no law,--or, as Conybeare enlighteningly paraphrases, "Sin is not put to the account of the sinner when there is no law forbidding it,"--we must remember: 1. That sin was in the world, between Adam and Moses. 2. That, according to Chapter One, the race had rejected light and were without excuse; though they were "without law" (anomos): for God's definition of sin is not "transgression of law" (I John 3:4, A.V.), but anomia, which means refusal to be controlled--self-will. 3. That there was a "work" (working) written in their hearts, to which their consciences bore witness, either accusing or else excusing them; and that this working necessarily corresponded morally to any law to be afterwards revealed by Jehovah. 4. That condign judgments, such as the Flood, and the overthrow of Sodom, and the destruction of the Canaanites, followed the "filling up of the cup of iniquity" at such times: for such sinners both trampled on their own consciences, and inherited the previous generations of guilt. 5. That, nevertheless, the sins between Adam and Moses did not bring about the sentence of death upon humanity, however much individuals or nations might hasten death's overtaking them. For these people, though they sinned, had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, which was a wilful violation of a direct command of a revealed God; as was Israel's making, through Aaron, the calf at Sinai: evolving judicial consequences to others besides themselves. For we read in Exodus 32:34 of a set future "visitation" on Israel, because of that sin at Sinai of their fathers: "In the day that I visit, I will visit their sin upon them"; this will be in "the time of Jacob's trouble," in the Great Tribulation--long after the calf-worship; indeed, still future! 6. We therefore must regard the human race as under a sentence of death they did not bring upon themselves: death reigned from Adam until Moses (vs. 14). Unlike Adam, and unlike Israel after Moses, those who lived between the two had no positive outward Divine law, the breaking of which would be a direct transgression and a threatening of death therefor. Nevertheless "death reigned"--even over them. Constantly before our eyes is the attestation to the same truth: babes that know nothing of right or wrong, die. Every little white coffin,--yea, every coffin, should remind us of the universal effect of that sin of Adam, for it was thus and thus only that "death passed to all men." We see then, that from Adam until Moses, death "reigned-as-king" [115] on account of Adam's sin. Paul has said(Rom. 4:15), "Where there is no law neither is there transgression"; so that those between Adam and Moses, not having direct commands of God, consequently had not transgressed known commands as Adam had done. Nevertheless, Adam's transgression had involved his whole race. Verse 14: Here Adam is declared a type of the One who was to come--that is, of Christ, the last Adam. We cannot sufficiently urge the study of this great passage: until the mind sees, and the heart understands--and that gladly, condemnation by the one, and justification by the Other. It is just as necessary to see this "by the one" doctrine regarding our spirits, as regarding our bodies. As to the latter, Paul says, "As in Adam all die, so also In Christ shall all be made alive"; "The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second Man is of heaven . . . And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (I Cor. 15:22, 47, 49). To discover that we are even now no longer connected with that first Adam in which we were born, but with the Risen Christ, the last Adam--this will be our joy in Chapters Six to Eight. But the foundation of this blessed truth is laid here in the Doctrine of the Two Men. We find in verses 15 to 17 a sort of parenthesis in which the results of Adam's trespass and Christ's act of obedience are shown to differ in two respects (but not at all in the principle of the one involving the many). In the first case (verse 15) there is the difference of degree in the result, because of the infinite chasm between the creature Adam, and the Creator--God and His Son Jesus Christ! So we read: Verse 15: For if by the trespass of the one [Adam] death came to the many; MUCH MORE did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of THE ONE MAN, JESUS CHRIST, abound unto the many! It takes faith to esteem this true now, seeing, as we do, the cemeteries all about us; death on every hand,--the general dire results of sin; but we must believe that the free gift will finally be seen, in its results, to be as far beyond the results of the trespass, as God and Christ are greater than the creature Adam! [116] Verse 16: And not as through one that sinned, so is the act of giving: for the judgment came out of one unto condemnation; but the grace-bestowal came out of many trespasses unto a righteous act. This tells us that out of Adam's one trespass came judgment, but that out of many trespasses laid upon Christ came not judgment, but a righteous act (dikaioma). [117] In short, all men acted,--sinned in Adam's act of sin. They that receive is on the principle of "the one for the many," but manifestly does not include all men, because some reject; although we find in verse 18 that the free gift "came" unto them,--"unto all men." Note what it is that believing ones "receive": First, abundance of grace: The cross having met righteously all the claims of the Divine being, and the Divine throne, against sinners, God has now spoken to us as He is, in abounding grace, for "God is Love." Over and over are "abound," "abundance" used here to express God's attitude; and the free motion, since the cross, of His infinitely loving heart toward sinners, in gracious kindness. Those who "receive" God's grace give Him the honor of His graciousness. Second, Those that "receive" this abundance of grace have therewith the gift of righteousness. What a gift! Apart from works, apart from the Law, apart from ordinances, apart from worthiness, an out and out gift of righteousness from God! Many times in teaching this passage to Bible classes I have asked them to repeat three times over each of these expressions: "The abundance of grace," "the gift of righteousness." We earnestly commend this to you, dear reader! Try it. Alas, how few believers have the courage of faith! We have looked so long at our unworthiness that the very thought of pushing away from the shore-lines and launching out on the limitless, fathomless ocean of Divine grace makes us shrink and waver. When some saint here or there does begin to believe the facts and walk in shouting liberty, we say (perhaps secretly), "He must be an especially holy, consecrated man." No, he is just a poor sinner like you, who is believing in the abundance of grace! And if we hear some one praising God for the gift of righteousness, because he is now righteous in Christ before God, we are ready to accuse him of thinking too highly of himself. No, he is just a poor sinner like you and me, but one who has dared to believe that he has received an outright gift of righteousness, and is rejoicing in it. Verse 17: For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned-as-king through the one, much more those accepting the abundance of grace and of the free-gift of righteousness, shall reign-as-kings in life through the One, Jesus Christ! It is not only that you have life, and that eternal life, in Christ: but here in verse 17 we find two kingdoms: First, By the trespass of the one death reigned-as-king through the one. And is that not true? I travelled around this world from west to east, beginning from Chicago. As we went eastward to the older parts of the States, we saw the stones thicker and thicker in the cemeteries. Then in England and Scotland, still more cemeteries, with still more monuments to the reign of death. But when we got out to old China, I was literally appalled at the number of the tombs and the coffins! Surely death has reigned, through Adam! But second (for the fourth time in this chapter), God now uses the words "much more," applying them to those who accept the abundance of His grace and of His gift of righteousness, saying these shall reign-as-kings in life through the One, even Jesus Christ. Look now at this expression, reign-as-kings in life. I am writing this during the week of the coronation of George VI of England, and have heard of the splendors with which the ceremony was attended; and we do thank God for the British Empire, and honor, with her subjects, her monarch. But, ah, believer, look closely at these words of Paul, reigning in life. Here is a kingdom before which all of earth is dust. And who are the kings here? Believers! Those whose humble faith has "received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness": these shall reign-as-kings through Jesus Christ. God has "the ages to come" in which to manifest fully this mighty reigning! But it is already begun for those in Christ. Gideon, speaking of certain Israelites, asked the kings of Midian, "What manner of men were they?" "As thou art, so were they," they answered; "each one resembled the children of a king." "They shall reign forever and ever," is God's description of the saints of the New Jerusalem (Rev. 22:5). And their reign has already, in this life, begun; because they are in Christ the mighty Victor! Satan would fain keep from your ears this news, believer, that you stand in the abundance of God's grace; that you have received the gift of righteousness in Christ; and that you are to reign-as-a-king-in-life now and forever, through the One, Jesus Christ. May God awaken us to the facts! [118] Satan is deathly jealous of the Church of God, which is already in the heavenlies, from which he is soon to be cast out. He knows that the Church will share Christ's throne and soon reign with Him in indescribable glory. Therefore he will blind you, if he can, to your present place of royal power of life in Christ. It will, we are sure, be a matter of fathomless regret to many Christians, at Christ's coming, that their lives on earth were characterized by doubt, defeat and depression; rather than by victorious reigning in life in Christ. God has no favorites. Each one who is in Christ has a complete Christ. The exhortations of the Epistles are addressed alike to all. David Livingstone early wrote in his diary, "I have found that I have no unusual endowments of intellect, but I this day resolved that I would be an uncommon Christian." Concerning such it is written, "Considering the issue of their manner of life, imitate their faith" (Heb. 13:7). Let us refuse to be content with a Christian existence that cannot finally be summed up as "He reigned in life through Jesus Christ,"--over sin, Satan, the world, difficulties, adverse surroundings and circumstances. Let us remember the apostles, the martyrs. Reformers, godly Puritans, the holy Wesleys, and Whitefields, the Havergals and Crosbys; and the humble saints we know, whose existence is described by Paul's glorious phrase "reigning in life through our Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 18: So then, just as [the principle was] through one trespass unto all men to condemnation; even so also through one righteous [or justifying] act [the principle is] unto all men to justification of life! Through one trespass [it was] unto all men to condemnation--The expression "the many" in verses 15 and 19 indicates the principle of the evil effect of the act of the one going forth to others; the expression "all men," of verse 18, emphasizes the extent of the application of that principle: absolutely all human beings were condemned when Adam sinned. Now do not question either God's right or His wisdom here, or His love. He had the right to have a judgment day of our whole race in Eden, in our head, Adam; and He did so. He always does right. Furthermore, He knew that creatures would ever fail,--there is no sufficiency in the creature, but only in the Creator. You and I would fail, as did Adam! and God desired that believers should be secure forever, by Christ's work. It was in love He held that judgment day in Eden. In love He judged us, condemned us, in our federal head, Adam, that He might justify us in the work and Person of the other federal Head, Christ! The ordinary conception of justification does not go beyond the pardon of sin. This indeed is first; and we should also have confidence that our sins will never be reckoned against us--whether they be past, present, or future sins. This is seen in Chapter 4:7, 8; and in Chapter 5:9, we see ourselves "justified in His blood," "justified from all things," as Paul says in Acts 13:39. But this leaves the believer without a positive standing. We do not come to "justification of life" [119] until Chapter 5:18. Now it is Christ Risen who is made our "standing": so that, as we see else where, we do not need aught else: for we are in Christ. Justification provides therefore not only release from the penalty of sin, but also a place in the Risen Christ Himself. This begins to be indicated in Chapter Four, where righteousness is reckoned to those who "believe on Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead." It is, of course, necessarily comprehended in the astonishing phrase IN CHRIST JESUS,--used first in Chapter 6:11! And it is amplified and developed through the rest of Paul's epistles. In I Corinthians 1:30 we see that Christ Himself, Risen, was made unto the believer, righteousness. Paul also in Galatians 2:20, 21 directly connects his having been "crucified with Christ" with righteousness. That is, the history in Adam of believers was ended at the cross. (Yet always remember that it was as ungodly ones that they believed!) In Colossians 1:12 we read: "Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." Then hear again that most stupendous utterance of all: "Him who knew no sin He made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21). It is this glorious revelation, which men have been loathe to read, teach, or refer to, which we must apprehend by God's grace, and by that grace believe! Now, how, in what sense, are we "the righteousness of God" in Christ? It is at once evident that to set us in His own presence in Christ as He has done, God must ( I ) reckon to us the infinitely perfect expiation of Christ in putting away our sin by His blood; (2) make us one with Christ in His death; and (3) place us in Christ Risen, even as Christ is received before Him. All this He has done; so that He says we are the righteousness of God in Christ. If we are in Christ, we are before God in Christ, "even as He,"--"accepted in Him." Verse 19: For just as through the disobedience ot the one man the many were set down as sinners, even so, through the obedience of the One the many shall be set down as righteous. Set down as sinners--the word "sinners," here, is not an adjective (sinful), but a substantive,--sinners. [120] Verse 19 first sums up the doctrine of our federal guilt by Adam's sin, then sums up our justification by Christ's death. The whole emphasis of verses 12 to 19 is upon the fact that the effect, whether in the case of Adam or in the case of Christ was produced by a federal head acting apart from any actions of those affected. There was a judgment held in Eden, by the righteous God, the pronouncement of which is, "unto all men to condemnation.'' [121] This, of course, has no reference to eternal damnation, which is a consequence of the rejection of "the Light which has come into the world"--men loving darkness rather than light "because their deeds are evil." But it does assert a judgment of sinnerhood, by the guilt of Adam's action, upon the whole human race. The whole lesson of this passage is, that just as we have Christ only as our righteousness, we have Adam only as sin and death to us. (God's Word, however, puts Adam's act and its effect first, as a type of Christ's work.) We repeat these things over and over, because of their importance, both for our settled peace, and also for our enjoyment of the normal, joyous Christian life. Even so through the obedience of the One--This was our Lord's death, as an act of obedience: [122] "He became obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross." He was of course always obedient to His Father, but it cannot be too strongly emphasized that His life before the cross,--His "active obedience" as it is called, is not in any sense counted to us for righteousness. "I delivered to you," says Paul, "first of all, that Christ died for our sins." Before His death He was "holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners." He Himself said: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." Do you not see that those who claim that our Lord's righteous life under Moses' Law is reckoned to us for our "active" righteousness; while His death in which He put away our sins, is, as they claim, the "passive" side, are really leaving you, and the Lord too, under the authority of the Law? "Justified in (the value or power of) His blood," and of that alone, gives the direct lie to the claim that man must have "an active righteousness" as well as "a passive righteousness." The specious assertion is, that "inasmuch as we have all broken the Law (although God says that Gentiles were without law'--and those in Christ are not under it!) and inasmuch as man cannot by his works himself recover his righteous standing, Christ, forsooth, came and kept The Law in man's place (!); and then went to the cross and suffered the penalty of death for man's guilt so that the result is an active righteousness' reckoned to man:--that is, Christ's keeping The Law in man's place; and, second, a passive righteousness,' which consists in the putting away of all guilt by the blood of Christ." Now, the awful thing here is the unbelief concerning man's irrecoverable state before God. For not only must Christ's blood be shed in expiation of our guilt; but we had to die with Christ. We were connected with the old Adam; and the old man--all we had and were in Adam, must be crucified--if we were to be "joined to Another, even to Him that was raised from the dead." Theological teaching since the Reformation has never set forth clearly our utter end in death with Christ, at the cross. The fatal result of this terrible error is to leave The Law as claiment over those in Christ: for, "Law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth" (7:1). Unless you are able to believe in your very heart that you died with Christ, that your old man was crucified with Him, and that you were buried, and that your history before God in Adam the first came to an utter end at Calvary, you will never get free from the claims of Law upon your conscience. [123] I say again, that the Law was given to neither Adam. The first Adam had life: God did not give him law whereby to get life! Not until Moses did the Law come in, and then only as an incidental thing to reveal to man his condition. The Law was not given to the first Adam, nor to the human race; but to Israel only (Deut. 4:5-8; 33:1-5; Ps. 147:19, 20). Again, the Law was not given to the Last Adam! "The Last Man Adam became a life-giving spirit": this is Christ, Risen from the dead, at God's right hand, communicating spiritual life. Is He under law? It is only the desperate legality of man's heart, his self-confidence, that makes him drag in the Law, and cling to the Law,--even though Christ must fulfil it for him! "Vicarious law-keeping" is Galatian heresy! Our Lord said plainly that His work in this world was to die: "The Son of Man came to give His life a ransom"; and indeed, "through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without blemish unto God." True, He must be a spotless Lamb. But for what? For sacrifice! He did not touch our case, had no connection with us, until God laid our sins upon Him and made Him to become sin for us at the cross. Christ was not one of our race, "the sons of men": He was the Seed of the woman, not the man. He was the Son of Man, indeed, for God prepared for Him a body (Ps. 40; Heb. 10), by the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35). But, though He moved among sinners, He was "separated from sinners," and had no connection with them until God made Him their sin offering at the cross. Christ Himself, Risen, is our righteousness. His earthly life under the Law is not our righteousness. We have no connection with a Christ on earth and under the Law. We are expressly told in Rom. 7:1-6, that even Jewish believers who have been under law were made dead to the Law by the Body of Christ, that they might be joined to Another, even to Him who was raised from the dead. One has beautifully said, "Christianity begins with the resurrection." Verse 20: Law, moreover, came in alongside [of sin] that the trespass [of law] might abound--The reference to law here shows that Paul has justification from guilt, and not our state of sinfulness, in view. "Law entered alongside" (pareiselthen) [124] not, in this connection, to reveal sinfulness, but thatthe trespass of law,--the act of law-breaking might abound. The Law, being given to neither Adam, came in alongside sin,--after sin had been there 2500 years, that vain self-confident Israel (as a public example for us all!) might see God's standard for those in the first Adam, and promising to obey it, fail; and thus know sin in order that Grace might overflow. That so, where sin had reigned, Grace might reign-as-king, through the righteous work of Christ on the cross, unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Thus neither our sins nor our "sinful nature" has, in this passage, anything to do with our condemnation: but Adam's act only. And not our new life in Christ, nor our walking in the good works unto which we are created (Eph. 2:10), has anything to do with constituting us righteous, but Christ's act of death only (vv. 18, 19). As we have said, law "came in alongside,"--not as in any sense a means of salvation, but that Israel (and through Israel, all of us) might discover guiltiness by breaking law; for law gives no power to keep law! But, where sin abounded, grace did completely overflow. Grace began to work for Israel immediately after the Law was broken! For instead of cutting off Israel as a nation, God appointed Moses a mediator; and when sin came to a climax with the Jews' crucifying their Messiah, the Lord's words were "Father, forgive them." And as we shall read in Chapter Eleven, God will indeed yet forgive them,--will take away their sins and "bring in everlasting righteousness." Grace will yet over flow for Israel, nationally, as it has now overflowed to us as individual sinners, both Jews and Gentiles. "Where sin abounded, grace overflowed," for such is ever the result of the work of the cross. Paul, who had been Christ's greatest enemy, the chief of sinners, declares himself to be the great example of mercy and grace: "I obtained mercy," he says "that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all His long-suffering, for an example of them that should hereafter believe on Him unto eternal life." And again: "By the grace of God I am what I am" (I Cor. 15:10; I Tim. 1:16). We might turn to David and Manasseh in the Old Testament as examples of the overflowing heart of mercy of God. Or we might call up such examples in Church History as the reckless profligate Augustine, whom God made a shining light in His Church; or John Bunyan, the profane tinker, who wrote his wonderful experience of the Divine goodness in "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"; or John Newton, once a libertine and infidel, "a servant of slaves in Africa," as he wrote of himself for his epitaph,--whom God transformed into one of the great vessels of mercy of the eighteenth century, and whose hymns of praise all the saints sing. It was Newton who wrote: "Amazing grace! how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me." and who told his own experience--so really that of all the saints--in the words of the beautiful hymn: "In evil long I took delight Unawed by shame or fear, Till a new object met my sight, And stopped my wild career. "I saw One hanging on a tree, In agonies and blood; Who fixed His languid eyes on me, As near His cross I stood. "Sure, never till my latest breath, Can I forget that look; It seemed to charge me with His death, Though not a word He spoke. "My conscience felt and owned the guilt, And plunged me in despair, I saw my sins His blood had spilt, And helped to nail Him there. "Alas, I knew not what I did, But all my tears were vain; Where could my trembling soul be hid, For I the Lord had slain! "A second look He gave, that said, I freely all forgive! This blood is for thy ransom paid, I died that thou mayest live.'" On November 18, 1834, Robert Murray McCheyne, of St. Peter's Free Church, Dundee, Scotland, whose memory is like ointment poured forth, wrote his remarkable confession that his sins had caused Christ's death. The title, "Jehovah Tsidkenu," is the Hebrew for "The Lord Our Righteousness." Let it serve our use also, as it has that of thousands: JEHOVAH TSIDKENU "I once was a stranger to grace and to God, I knew not my danger, and felt not my load; Though friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree, Jehovah Tsidkenu was nothing to me. "I oft read with pleasure, to soothe or engage, Isaiah's wild measure, and John's simple page; But e'en when they pictured the blood-sprinkled tree, Jehovah Tsidkenu seemed nothing to me. "Like tears from the daughters of Zion that roll, I wept when the waters went over His soul; Yet thought not that my sins had nailed to the tree Jehovah Tsidkenu--'twas nothing to me. When free grace awoke me, with light from on high Then legal fears shook me, I trembled to die; No refuge, no safety, in self could I see,-- Jehovah Tsidkenu my Savior must he. "My terrors all vanished before the sweet Name; My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free-- Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me. "Jehovah Tsidkenu! my treasure and boast; Jehovah Tsidkenu! I ne'er can be lost; In Thee I shall conquer, by flood and by field-- My cable, my anchor, my breastplate and shield!" We might multiply examples like these: but these words, "Where sin abounded, grace did completely overflow," with the salvation of Saul of Tarsus as the Scripture example, will suffice. I stood on the bluff at Memphis, Tennessee, and saw the mighty Mississippi, normally a mile wide, stretch over forty miles in flood, covering deep under its multitude of waters the land as far as I could see. So, where sin abounded, the grace of God overflowed everything. [125] Verse 21: In order that, just as sin reigned-as-king by means of death: grace might reign-as-king, through righteousness, unto life eternal, through Jesus Christ our Lord. This verse unfolds God's great object: that Grace should have a kingdom where Death had had its kingdom: and that, of course, through righteousness,--that is, that all Divine claims should be first righteously met at the cross, and thus that all should be "through Jesus Christ our Lord." The question of justification is still on in Chapter Five, and not until Chapter Six is "our old man"--all we were from Adam--brought in. Furthermore, to bring into Chapter Five our sinful state by nature, is to confuse our sinful condition with that condemnation which over and over God says was brought about by Adam's single act, and by that only. "The judgment came of ONE TRESPASS unto condemnation," etc. Now if you and I were condemned in Adam's sin, it is plain that to be justified we must be cleared not only of our own sins, but of our condemnation in Adam: our justification must cover all our condemnation. Our justification, is, therefore, in this great passage, related not to our personal sins, as in Chapters Three and Four; but to our guilt by and in Adam, from which we are cleared by Christ's death. And Christ being now raised, we, connected with Him at the cross, now share His life: so that our justification is called "justification of life" (vs. 18). It is true that we are not spoken of as "in Christ" until Chapter Six, where death with Christ is unfolded and our history in the first Adam, and our relation to sin, ended. But Paul speaks of being "justified in Christ" (Gal. 2:17). And certainly the subject in the last section of Chapter Five is justification: condemnation by Adam's trespass, and justification by Christ's righteous act of death. Thus, not until we come to Chapter Six is our walk, our sanctification, taken up. It is true that the doctrine of the two men (5:12-21) makes possible of understanding the great fact of Chapter Six,--that we died with Christ. But the subject of the latter section of Chapter Five is condemnation by Adam, justification by Christ. __________________________________________________________________ [103] As to the Greek text having the subjunctive in verse 1, we believe that the Authorized Version and the American Revised Version are correct in reading "we have peace" rather than the English Revised Version, "Let us have peace." See Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Darby, Meyer, Godet and many others. The whole context proves that "we have peace" is correct, for the passage is not an exhortation, but an assertion of facts and results, true of all those declared righteous or justified. [104] The Romanist will go to "mass" and "confession"; and the Protestant "attend church"; but neither will find peace with God by these things. Prayers, vows, fastings, church duties, charities--what have these to do with peace?--if Christ "made Peace by His blood"! [105] The difference may be brought out by asking ourselves two questions: First. Have I peace with God? Yes; because Christ died for me. Second, Have I the peace of God in quietness from the anxieties and worries of life in my heart? We see at once that being at peace with God must depend on what was done for us by Christ on the cross. It is not a matter of experience, but of revelation. On the contrary, the peace of God "sets a garrison around our hearts and thoughts in Christ Jesus," when we refuse to be anxious about circumstances, and "in everything (even the most trifling' affairs) by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let our requests be made known unto God." Every believer is at peace with God, because of Christ's shed blood. Not every believer has this "peace of God" within him; for not all have consented to judge anxious care and worry as unbelief in God's Fatherly kindness and care. [106] Sanday quotes Ellicott's translation: "Through whom also we have had our access," and adds, "have had' when we first became Christians, and now while we are such." And Darby comments: "We are not called on to believe that we do believe, but to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, by whom we have access, and are brought into perfect present favor, every cloud that could hide God's love removed; and can rejoice in hope of the glory of God." [107] 1. A letter that lately came out of Northern Siberia, signed "Mary," reads: "The best thing to report is, that I feel so happy here. It would be so easy to grow bitter if one lost the spiritual viewpoint and began to look at circumstances. I am earning to thank God for literally everything that comes. I experienced so many things that looked terrible, but which finally brought me closer to Him. Each time circumstances became lighter, I was tempted to break fellowship with the Lord. How can I do otherwise than thank Him for additional hardships? They only help me to what I always longed for--a continuous, unbroken abiding in Him. Every so-called hard experience is just another step higher and closer to Him." Another recent letter from "Mary" reads, "I am still in the same place of exile. There is a Godless Society here; one of the members became especially attached to me. She said, "I cannot understand what sort of a person you are; so many here insult and abuse you, but you love them all" . . . She caused me much suffering, but I prayed for her earnestly. Another time she asked me whether I could love her. Somehow I stretched out my hands toward her, we embraced each other, and began to cry. Now we pray together. My dear friends, please pray for her. Her name is Barbara" In a letter a month later, "Mary" writes; "I wrote you concerning my sister in Christ, Barbara. She accepted Christ as her personal Savior, and testified before all about it. We both, for the last time, went to the meeting of the Godless. I tried to reason with her not to go there, but nothing could prevail. She went to the front of the hall, and boldly testified before all concerning Christ. When she finished she started to sing in her wonderful voice a well-known hymn, I am not ashamed to testify of Christ, who died for me, His commandments to follow, and depend upon His cross!' The very air seemed charged! She was taken hold of and led away." Two months later, another letter came from "Mary": "Yesterday, for the first time, I saw our dear Barbara in prison. She looked very thin, pale, and with marks of beatings. The only bright thing about her were her eyes, bright, and filled with heavenly peace and even joy. How happy are those who have it! It comes through suffering. Hence we must not be afraid of any sufferings or privations. I asked her, through the bars, Barbara, are you not sorry for what you have done?' No,' she firmly responded, If they would free me, I would go again and tell my comrades about the marvelous love of Christ. I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and counts me worthy to suffer for Him.'" The Link [108] "Proves, as in 3:5" (Meyer); "establishes" (Godet); "confirms" (Calvin); "manifests" (Haldane); "gives proof of" (Alford); "demonstrates" (Williams); "commendeth" (Sanday). The English word "commendeth" happily covers the double meaning of the Greek: (1) approving or establishing things, and (2) recommending persons (16:1). [109] "In sovereign grace He rises above the sin, and loves without a motive, save what is in His own nature and part of His glory. Man must have a motive for loving, God has none but in Himself, and commendeth His love to us' (and the His' is emphatic as to this very point), in that, while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us; the best thing in heaven that could be given for the vilest, most defiled, and guilty sinners" (Darby). [110] To illustrate reconciliation: Suppose I am the master of a school and I make a rule that there is to be no profane swearing. I write that rule on the blackboard, and the whole school sees and hears it. The penalty I announce, too: there is to be a whipping if any one breaks the rule. Now, there is a boy named John Jones in my school, a boy I am fond of. At recess-time he swears. Everybody hears him; I hear him; everybody knows I hear him. When I call the school to order, all the scholars are looking at me to see what I will do. I have a son of my own in that school room, a beloved son, Charles. I call him, and we go outside to counsel, while the school waits. I say, "Son, will you bear John Jones' whipping for him? He doesn't believe that I love him. He thinks I hate him because he has broken my rule. There must be a whipping. I must be true to my word, but you know how I love John." My son says, "Yes, father, I'll do anything for you that you wish. And I love John Jones, too." I bring my boy, Charles, out before the whole school, and I say, "This is John Jones whipping I am giving to my son Charles. The law of the school was broken by John Jones. I am putting the penalty on my boy. He says he will gladly do this for me, and for John." Then I whip my son Charles; and I do not spare him. I whip him just as if he were John Jones, just as if he had broken the rule himself. When the whipping is over, I say to some scholar, "Go and tell John Jones I have nothing against him,--nothing at all. And ask him to come and give me his hand." This breaks John Jones up, and he comes forward, in tears, and says, "I didn't know you loved me that much! I thank you from my heart!" Now he is reconciled from his side, to me. But you see I reconciled him to myself, first. I had to deal with his disobedience, or be myself unrighteous. [111] 1.Concerning Christ's bearing in our place God's wrath against sin, let us say: To regard God as "angry," or as demanding that Christ suffer "the exact equivalent of all the agonies the elect would have suffered to all eternity," is to miss the whole meaning of propitiation. 1. Remember it is God Himself who "loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." God held no enmity against us. God loved us. 2. Therefore, strictly speaking, it was not punishment which Christ bore on the cross, but wrath. Punishment is personal,--against the offender; but wrath upon Christ was against the thing--sin. Christ bore that wrath which God's being and nature always and forever sustains toward sin. The sinner cannot come nigh Him, but must die, must perish in His holy presence,--not because God hates him, but because God is the Holy One. Therefore did Christ die,--and that forsaken of God under wrath--because He was bearing our sins in His own body on the tree. So it was, that, sin being placed on Christ, judgment and wrath fell upon Him. So it is, also, that the believer has not been "appointed unto wrath" (I Thess. 5:9): the wrath has fallen on Christ. 3. The conception that Christ on the cross was enduring all the agonies of the elect for all eternity grew directly out of the Romish legalism from which the Reformers did not escape,--to wit: that we still have connection with our responsibilities in Adam the first; that our history was not ended at the cross. But the shed blood brought in before God on the Day of Atonement simply witnessed that a life had been laid down, ended. "The sufferings of all the elect for all eternity" could never take the place of the laid down life of the great Sacrifice. God did not ask for agonies: sin simply could not approach Him! There must be banishment of the sinner from His presence--unless a substitute should come, who, taking the place of the sinner, and bearing his sin, could lay down his life. Such was Christ. He "laid down His life that He might take it again," But remember both parts of this great utterance: (a) "He laid down His life," bearing our sin, putting it away from God's presence forever. But even Christ, when bearing our sin, could not, as it were, come nigh God, but was forsaken, under holy wrath against sin. Not the agonies of Christ could avail, but that, bearing sin, He laid His life down, poured out His soul unto death. Thus He owned God's holiness to be absolute and infinite, and said, "It is finished." (b) Now in taking up His life again, it was not that life which, according to Leviticus 17:11, was "in the blood," because the blood was "all one with the life" (Lev. 17:14), and therefore "given to make atonement for souls,"; "it was not the blood-life" which He took up, but newness of life" in resurrection! God indeed permitted man to inflict the terrible sufferings of crucifixion upon His Son. But those sufferings were not "the cup" that His Father had given Him drink. The cup was the cup of Divine wrath against sin, and it involved His being "cut off out of the land of the living" under the hand of Divine judgment. [112] The Greek preposition en in verse 9, is not fully or exactly rendered by tht English word "in"; for the Greek en here includes: in the shed blood of Christ (vs. 9), as the ground before God of our justification; in view of that blood's power as seen by God the Justifier; in the eternal availingness of that blood before God; and the consequent eternal redemption it has procured. Likewise, in the same construction in verse 10, we translate, "in His life": meaning that the believer shares that risen life of Christ; that in the power of that endless life the believer will abide both now and forever: as John says, "we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, even so are we in this world," [113] Federal: in this book we use this word as indicating the action of one for all in a representative manner; or for the consequences of such action. [114] Death is a Divine decree: "It is appointed unto men once to die and after this cometh judgment," Death involves four consequences: First, the utter ending of what we call human life. Second, falling consciously into the fearful hands of that power under which men have during their lifetime lightly lived, unprotected from the indescribable terrors and horrors connected therewith. Third, being imprisoned in Sheol or Hades--in "the pit wherein is no water," as was Dives in Luke 16. Compare Zech. 9:11. fourth, exposure to the coming judgment and its eternal consequences. Of course, the believer is rescued from all this--even physical death,--from bodily. "falling asleep," if Christ comes during his lifetime! while it is true of all saints, those who keep Christ's word, that they shall "never see death" (John 8:51). Death and judgment are past for the believer, Christ his Substitute having endured them. Nevertheless, in this day of mad pleasure-seeking, it certainly behooves all of us to reflect on the fearful realities connected with death! (See also Note on Chapter 6:23.) [115] We say, "reigned-as-king," because the Greek word means that. Not the power of sin to hold in bondage, as in Chapter Six, is here meant; but the royal word, basileuo, is used, denoting sovereignty, not mere lordship. [116] David Brown (in Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's excellent commentary) disagrees here, saying: "The much more' here does not mean that we get much more of good by Christ than of evil by Adam (for it is not a case of quantity at all); but, that we have much more reason to expect,--or, it is much more agreeable to our ideas of God, that the many should be benefited by the merits of one; and, if the latter has happened, much more' may we assure ourselves of the former." But after all this does not disagree with what we have above said, for it is Adam, the sinning creature, on the one hand; and the infinitely great and good God, and His grace by His Son Christ, on the other. Measure, quantity, must enter in: as, indeed, in saying of God "we have much more reason to expect," Dr. Brown tacitly admits. "Much more," says Paul, "did the grace"--of whom? GOD. This emphasizing God brings out everything! [117] To the student of Greek (and to others, also), it is most instructive to note Paul's use of the words connected with righteousness: dikaios means righteous; dikaiosune means righteousness; dikaioO is to declare righteous; dikaiOsis means justification, or the act of declaring one righteous; dikaiOma, the "righteous act," that makes justification possible. [118] When Israel inquired of the Lord about Saul, the eon of Kish, who had been anointed as their King (for they could not find him), the Lord answered, you remember' "Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff." "And they ran and fetched him thence" (I Sam. 10:22-23). How sad if some of us who have received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, and whom God desires to be reigning in life in Christ, have gotten ourselves hidden "among the stuff,"--of earthly goods, and ambitions, "religious" traditions, and the literature of this world! [119] The expression "justification of life" seems to stand over against that condemnation and death which came by Adam's trespass. It is a characterizing word: What is offered unto all men, through Christ's act of righteousness at the cross is not only a cancellation of guilt, but life in the Risen One. For, since Adam's sin, there was only spiritual death in his race. The words of John 1:4, regarding Christ, "In Him was life," describe the only source of life for man. And justification must be of life: for those justified are most certainly taken, out of their place of death in Adam, and given a place of life in Christ. [120] The Greek word (hamartOlos) means not merely one possessed of a sinful nature or tendency, but one who is regarded as having committed sin. The same word is used in 3:7 and 5:8. "Substantive, hamartOlos, a sinner; common acceptance, LXX, New Testament, etc."--Liddell and Scott. This word is used in N.T. to designate sinners 41 times' beginning with Matthew 9:10; five times in Luke 15:1-31, and four times in John 9:1-41; and only four times in an adjectival sense (Mark 8:38; Luke 5:8; 24:7; Rom 7:13). [121] Human reasoning is futile and dangerous here. Men form themselves into "schools of theology" over this subject, each founding a "system" upon his notion of how Adam's trespass affected all. But that a man may act before he is born in person of his responsible forbear is evident, as we have shown, in the case of Levi, in Heb. 7:9. [122] Vaughan (as so frequently) gives a rendering of startling accuracy concerning disobedience and obedience in verse 19: "The one (parakoees) is properly, mishearing; the other, hupakoees, submissive hearing." Disobedience in its essence is refusal to hearken; and obedience is bowing the ear to submissive listening. [123] "Both Calvinists and Arminians think that the flesh is not so bad that it cannot be acted on for God by Christ using the Law of God and giving it power through the Spirit"--This is Wm. Kelly's shrewd and correct comment. [124] It is very striking to note that in verse 13 where we read "through one man sin entered into the world," the word for entered is eiselthen; and now law enters alongside,--the word being the same--eiselthen--with the preposition para, alongside, prefixed. And so, "through law is the knowledge of sin." Sin entered, and law, entering alongside, revealed the sin. [125] Two entirely different Greek words are translated, in the Authorized Version, "abounded." But the first, used of sin, means to increase, he augmented; while the Second, used of grace, means to abound beyond measure, to overflow. Second (Thayer) These words come from entirely different roots, and should have been so distinguished in translation. But one who undertakes to express in English the depth of the Hebrew, and the extent of the Greek language, will soon discover the frequent poverty of the English tongue. Hebrew seems to be the language in which God first spoke with men; it is the vehicle of praise. But to the Greeks He gave that great intellectual development of their "Golden Age" in which their endeavor to perfect their language extended even to public assemblies where the most exact possible phrasing to express an idea was decided by contest. So when our Lord came as "the Savior of the World," that coming, according to the grand old Hebrew prophecies, was recorded in the Greek, which Alexander the Great had spread throughout the known world. The Romans, to whom had been given the power to govern, themselves admitted that they must borrow from the Greeks not only their philosophy, but also their method and manner of literary expression. Then also when the Roman Empire went into collapse, and the dark "Middle Ages" came in, the so-called Renaissance was the bringing of the Greek classics into crude Europe after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. And above all, the translation directly from the Greek New Testament manuscripts of our English Scriptures; for men had so long depended upon the faulty Latin (or Vulgate) translation. Perhaps the greatest wonder the last century and a quarter has seen is the translation into over 800 tongues and dialects of these same Hebrew and Greek Scriptures--with such transforming power that It is written of one Bible-bearing missionary, a man of God, in the South Sea Islands: "When he came, there were no Christians; when he left, there were no heathen." How wonderful that God should have a language of spiritual praise and worship--the Hebrew; and a language exact, intellectually rich,--the Greek, in which He could express the great doctrines concerning His Son! And both languages capable of being reproduced as to their spirit and meaning, not only in English, German, and French, but in the dialects of the most benighted heathen tribes,-- "every man in his own language." __________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER SIX We Died with Christ: Our Baptism being Witness; and are to Reckon Ourselves Dead unto Sin and Alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Verses 1-11. Presenting Ourselves to God as Risen Ones, not under Law but under Grace, Sin loses Its Dominion over Us. Verses 12-14. Grace Not to be Abused, for Sin Always Enslaves, and would End in Death; Obedience brings Freedom, with the End, Eternal Life,--God's Free Gift in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Verses 15-23. 1 What then shall we say? Are we to keep on in sin in order that grace may be abounding? Far be the thought! 2 Such ones as we,--who died to sin! how shall we any longer be living in it? 3 Or [in the very matter of our baptism] are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized unto Christ Jesus unto His death were baptized? 4 We were buried therefore [in figure] with Him through that baptism unto death; in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus also we might be walking in newness of life. 5 For if we became united with [Him] in the likeness of His death, so shall we be also [in the likeness] of His resurrection: 6 coming to know this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we might no longer be in slave-service to sin: 7 for the person who hath died [as have we] is justified from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also be living with Him [in this world]: 9 knowing that Christ having been raised from among the dead dieth no more: death over Him no longer hath dominion. 10 For in that He died, unto sin He died once for all; but in that He is living, He is living unto God. 11 Thus do ye also reckon yourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God, in Christ Jesus. WE COME NOW to the second part of Christ's work for us--our identification with His death. [126] It is not until we come to Chapter Six that the question of a holy walk as over against a sinful walk, comes up. For the blessed verses which describe the results of the discovery of peace with God, and of "justification of life" and "reigning in life" through Christ, as revealed in Chapter Five, are things of experience, of rejoicing,--even in the hope of the glory of God Himself! But the question of a holy walk under this "abounding grace" is now brought up, in Chapter Six, in the answers to two questions: First, Shall we keep sinning that grace may keep abounding? and, Second, The fact having been revealed that we are not under the principle of law but under that of grace, shall we use our liberty to commit sin? That is, Shall we use our freedom from the law-principle for selfish ends? The answer to the first question is, that for all who are in Christ, the old relationship to sin is broken,--for they federally shared Christ's death to sin, and are to reckon it so, and walk in "newness of life" unto God. The answer to the second question is, that anyone "yielding his members" becomes servant that to which he yields,--whether of sin unto death, or of righteousness unto sanctification. Verse 1: Are we to [127] remain in sin that grace may be abounding? This question arises constantly, both in uninstructed believers, and in blind unbelievers. The message of simple grace, apart from all works, to the poor natural heart of man seems wholly inconsistent and' impossible. "Why!" people say, "If where sin abounds grace overflows, then the more sin, the more grace." So the unbeliever rejects the grace plan. Moreover, the uninstructed Christian also is afraid; for he says, "If we are in a reign of pure grace, what will control our conscious evil tendencies? We fear such utter freedom. Put us under rules for holy living,' and we can get along." Another sad fact is that some professing Christians welcome the "abounding grace" doctrine because of the liberty they feel it gives to things in their daily lives which they know, or could know, to be wrong. Verse 2: Such ones as we, who died to sin! how shall we any longer be living in it? Here we have, (1) such ones as we (hoitines). This is more than a relative pronoun: it is a pronoun of characterization, "placing those referred to in a class" (Lightfoot). Paul thus has before his mind all Christians, and he places this pronoun at the very beginning: "such ones as we!" (2) He characterizes all Christians as those who died. The translation, "are dead" is wrong, for the tense of the Greek verb is the aorist, which denotes not a state but a past act or fact. It never refers to an action as going on or prolonged. As Winer says, "The aorist states a fact as something having taken place." Note how strikingly and repeatedly this tense is used in this chapter as referring to the death of which the apostle speaks: [128] Mark most particularly that the apostle in verse 2 does not call upon Christians to die to sin but asserts that they shared Christ's death, they died to sin! (3) Paul here therefore affirms that it was in regard to their relationship to sin that believers died. He is asserting concerning Christians that they died--not for sin, but unto it. (4) Paul now asks the question: "How shall those whose relationship to sin has been broken by their dying, be still, as once, living in sin?" The answer to this can only be, It is an impossibility. In this second verse, therefore, the apostle is not making a plea to Christians not to live unto sin; but asking how they who died to sin could go on living in it. It is as if one would say, Those who died in New York City, shall they still be walking the streets of New York City? This does not mean that all Christians have discovered, or walk in, the path of victory over sin; for in this second verse Paul is answering directly the bald bold insinuation of verse 1--that grace abounding over sin warrants and enables one believing that doctrine to go right on in his old life! We know from other Scriptures the impossibility of this: "Whosoever is born of God doth not practise sin, because His [God's] seed abideth in him, and he is not able to practise sin, because he is begotten of God." [129] Note the repeated declarations in this Sixth Chapter of our actual identification with the death of Christ: Verse 2: "We who died to sin." Verse 3: "We were baptized into His death." Verse 4: "We were buried with Him through baptism into death " Verse 5: "We became united with Him in the likeness of His death." Verse 6: "Our old man was crucified with Him." Verse 7: "He that hath died is justified from sin." Verse 8: "We died with Christ." Verse 11: "Reckon yourselves dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus." Verse 13: "Present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead." The same great federal fact is brought out in Colossians 2:20: "If ye died [aorist tense, past fact, again] from the religious principles of the world"; and Colossians 3:3: "For ye died [aorist tense again] and your life is hid with Christ in God." It is most evident that the apostle is not here speaking of some state that we are in, but of a federal fact that occurred in the past, at the cross. It was upon this federal fact that Paul's whole life hung, as he testified to Peter: "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. 2:20). Such ones as we, who died to sin! How shall we go on living in it? Paul expresses his very soul in that opening word--"Such ones as we!" Believers were seen by him as risen ones,--dead with Christ to sin. How shall we any longer be living in sin--if indeed we died to it? This perplexes many, this announcement that we died to sin,--inasmuch as the struggle with sin, and that within, is one of the most constant conscious experiences of the believer. But, as we see elsewhere, we must not confound our relationship to sin with its presence! Distinguish this revealed fact that we died, from our experience of deliverance. For we do not die to sin by our experiences: we did die to sin in Christ's death. For the fact that we died to sin is a Divinely revealed word concerning us, and we cannot deny it! The presence of sin "in our members" will make this fact that we died to it hard to grasp and hold: but God says it. And He will duly explain all to our faith. Verse 3: Or [in the very matter of our baptism] are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized unto Christ Jesus unto His death were baptized? Here the apostle turns them back to their baptism, that initial step in public confession of the Lord upon whom they had believed. Did they not realize the significance of that baptism--that it set forth their identification with a crucified and buried Lord? For in their baptism they had confessed their choice of Him, as against sin and the old life. But Christ having been "made sin on our behalf," had died unto sin; had been buried, and had been raised from the dead through the glory of the Father; and now lived unto God in a new, resurrection life. Therefore they could see in their baptism the picture of that federal death and burial with Christ which Paul sets forth so positively in the second verse: "Such ones as we, who died." We must first of all receive the statement of our death unto sin with Christ (verses 2 and 11) as a revealed federal fact; and then allow the Apostle to press the symbolical setting forth of that federal death by the figure of water-baptism. For these early Christians had not been befuddled regarding the simple matter of baptism,--as later generations have been! To them it was a vivid and happy memory,--the day they dared step out, against the whole world, and often in the face of persecution and even death, and confess the Lord Jesus, definitely and forever, as their own Savior and Lord. Now, says Paul, in that very matter of your baptism, you set forth what I am teaching you, that you who are Christ's died with Him. Not only so, but your baptism set forth further that you were buried with Him: for was it not a vivid portrayal of your death and burial, when you went down into the waters which signified--not cleansing, but death? "Water," says Peter, "which after a true likeness doth now save you--even baptism: not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Eight souls. Peter here says, were saved in Noah's day in the Ark--type of Christ. For those eight were, in the Ark, brought safely through the waters of judgment which drowned the world; as we were bought, through Christ, safely through the judgment of sin at the cross; and now have "a good conscience toward God"--through God's having raised up Christ: all of which, baptism sets forth--"after a true likeness" (I Pet. 3:20, 21). Scripture here connects baptism with death, not with cleansing; with burial, not with exaltation; with the ending of a former connection that we may enter a new one. Or [in the very matter of our baptism] are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized unto Christ Jesus unto His death were baptized? We find therefore, here in Romans 6:3: 1. That Paul, along with all believers of his day, had been baptized. He offers no explanatory word, thus showing that the matter of having been baptized was a common consciousness among Christians. 2. That it was unto Christ Jesus that believers had been baptized. The preposition "unto" (eis) seems best rendered here as in I Corinthians 10:2, where we read that the fathers of Israel were all "baptized unto (eis) Moses." Those Israelites were not baptized into Moses, but were indeed judicially associated by God with the Mosaic economy,--"into a spiritual union with Moses, and constituted his disciples." So believers are baptized unto Christ Jesus, which we believe, must be the meaning here. They were indeed so "baptized unto the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 19:5), that they thereafter bore His Name (James 2:7, marg.). But we must not confuse this water-baptism of Romans Six, which stands for the identification of believers with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection; with that Holy Spirit baptism of I Corinthians 12:13. For our identification with Christ-made-sin, and our death in and with Him) must never be confounded with what follows our Lord's ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit,--baptism into the one Body. These are two absolutely different things. One has to do with taking us out of our old man, justifying us from sin, as well as from sins. The other, the Spirit's baptism into "one Body," has to do with the glorious heavenly position God gives us in a Risen Christ. To seek to have a man baptized by the Spirit into Christ before he has been identified with Christ at the cross in death and burial, is really to ignore man's awful state in the old man which God had condemned to crucifixion with Christ made sin. So with the Bullingerites and many others: they do not distinctly see or solidly preach our identification with Christ in death and burial. "Buried with Him in baptism"--how can these words of Colossians 2:12 possibly apply to the work of the Holy Spirit? We beg all to consider this. Death to sin, and burial with Christ, water-baptism, and that alone, sets forth. 3. Unto His death were baptized. Neither must we confuse baptism unto Christ Jesus here with that actual identification in Christ's death of which baptism is a symbol. That our old man was crucified with Christ is one thing; baptism, quite another. However much baptism portrays our death with Christ, it in no wise brings about that death. If we had not died with Christ, there would be no meaning to baptism. Certainly baptism sets forth the fact of our death with Christ. Christian baptism in water is the Scripture picture,--not of our being cleansed, nor of our being introduced into the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit (which is an entirely different matter); and not, of course, of our regeneration. But it is a setting forth of the great fact that we federally died and were buried with Christ, unto sin, unto the world, and unto all of the old creation; and are now raised with Him and share His risen life;--on new ground altogether. Verse 4: We were buried therefore with Him through the baptism unto [His] death. Here the apostle declares that all believers by the very matter of their baptism, proclaimed themselves as having been so identified with Christ's death that they were buried: that their past was ended,--not, of course, by the ordinance, though the ordinance confessed and proclaimed it. [130] And now the object of our identification with Christ's death is set forth: in order that, just as Christ was raised from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus also we might be walking about in newness of life. Christ on the cross not only bare our sins in His own body, but He was also made to be sin,--to be the thing itself. Then God the Father, through His glory, raised Him from the dead,--"that working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." This was the most marvelous display of glorious. Divine power ever known. The words "through the glory of the Father," bring into action all that God is. Christ had fully glorified God in all that He is, in His earthly life, and on the cross (as we saw in Chapter 3:24 and 25). Then God raised Christ from the dead in glorious triumph. And thereafter Christ walked for forty days on earth "in newness of life." He was "the First-born from the dead." He was the Last Adam, now become (though having His flesh and bones body) "a spirit making [others] alive," the Second Man, "a new starting point of the human race." The old man was crucified with Christ, and all that belonged to "man in the flesh" was ended before God there on Christ's cross. Now the "glory of the Father" is put forth in raising Christ and placing Him in that risen "newness of life" never known before, and in receiving Him up in glory! Walking in newness of life. Note that walking presupposes the possession of life. The literal translation of this word is seen in I Peter 5:8, "walking about." [131] Now mark in this verse that it is Christ who is raised from the dead, and the saints are to walk, consequently, in "newness of life"--showing at once their union with Him; that as He was raised, so also they, when they are placed in Him, walk about in newness of life. Note that it is life--not a mere manner of living. Then it is newness, or a new kind of life, for that is the meaning of the word. Resurrection life was never known until Christ was raised from the dead. Lazarus, and the widow of Nain's son and Jairus' daughter, were brought back into this present earth-life. Indeed, it is written concerning Jairus' daughter, that when the Lord said, "Maiden, arise!" her "spirit returned," and she rose up instantly. The spirit had left the body, the earth-life had ceased; it was now resumed. But in Christ's resurrection this was not so. He was the First-born from the dead, the First-fruits of them that slept. It was not back into the old flesh and blood earthly existence that He came. He had, indeed, His body: "Handle Me and see." "Have ye here anything to eat?" Yet He had poured out His blood. The life of the flesh was in the blood (Lev. 17:11). He had laid that life down. He is now a heavenly Man. He is in the heavenlies. And He is there as to His human body: "God . . . wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenlies." Poor human reason attempts to follow here; but this revelation is addressed to faith only. The disciples "were glad when they saw the Lord." Into the upper room He came, and stood in the midst; and "He showed unto them His hands and His side." And Thomas was told, "Reach hither thy finger, and see My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and put it into My side: and be not faithless, but believing"; and further, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." It is in this newness, this new kind of life, which they now share, [132] that believers are to walk about in this world. They are one with this Risen Christ! Being "joined unto the Lord," they are "one spirit" with Him now; and shall have bodies, shortly, conformed unto the body of His glory (I Cor. 6:17; Phil. 3:20, 21). Verse 5: For if we became united with [Him] in the likeness of His death, so shall we be also [in the likeness] of His resurrection: Here Paul looks back to verse 2, to the fact he declared true concerning all believers, that they died to sin; and he now insists that that death is a fact about true believers only--those who have been vitally enlifed with Christ. The word means to grow together [133] --as a graft in a tree, so that the graft shares the tree's life. The meaning of Verse 5 may be paraphrased: If we became actually united with Him, which, in our baptism--the "likeness of His death," we profess; so we shall also be united in the likeness of His resurrection: (so therefore to be walking in newness of life!). Conybeare well remarks concerning verse 5: "The meaning appears to be, If we have shared the reality of His death, whereof we have undergone the likeness" (in baptism). Now when the apostle says we are to be united with "the likeness of His resurrection," he refers to the walking in "newness of life" just spoken of in the preceding verse. (For this verse explains that.) To be joined in life with the Risen Christ, and thus daily, hourly, to walk, is a wonder not conceived of by many of us. But it is the blessed portion of all true Christians. They shared Christ's death, and now are "saved by [or in] His life"--as we read in Chapter 5:10. But not only saved: we walk here on earth by appropriating faith, in the blessedness of His heavenly "newness" of resurrection life! This is what Paul meant when he said, "To me to live is Christ"; "our inward man is being renewed day by day"; "I was crucified with Christ; Christ liveth in me . . . the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God." Of course this fifth verse may look on, also, to that day when our bodies will share this resurrection-life,--as we have seen in the verse before; but the context here shows Paul is speaking of our "walking about in newness of life" in Christ today! We reap the exact effect of what Christ did. Did Christ bear our sins in His own body on the tree? He did. Then we hear them no more. Was Christ made to be sin on our behalf and did He die unto sin? Truly so. Then Christ's relation to sin becomes ours! Verse 6: Coming to know this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that the body of sin might be annulled, that we might no longer be in slave service to sin. The word translated "coming to know," means, in the Greek, coming into knowledge ,--a discriminating apprenhension of facts. See note below. [134] Our old man--This is our old selves, as we were in and from Adam. It is contrasted with the new man (Col. 3:9, 10)--which is what we are and have in Christ. The word our indicates that what is said, is said of and to all those who are in Christ. The expression "our old man," of course is a federal one, as also is "the new man." The "old man," therefore, is not Adam personally, any more than the "new man" is Christ personally. Also, we must not confuse the "old man" with "the flesh." Adam begat a son in his own likeness. This son of Adam, as all since, was according to Adam,--for he was in Adam; possessed of a "natural" mind, feelings, tastes, desires,--all apart from God. He was his father repeated. Cain is a picture before us of the meaning of the words, "the old man." Moreover, since man's activities were carried on in and through the body, he is now morally "after the flesh." Inasmuch as his spirit was now dead to God, sin controlled him both spirit and soul, through the body. And thus we read a little later, in the Sixth of Genesis, upon the recounting of the horrible lust and violence that filled the earth, God's statement: "In their going astray, they are flesh!" (R. V. margin.) What a fearful travesty of one created in the image of God, and into whose Divinely formed body God had breathed the spirit of life, so that he was "spirit and soul and body" (I Thess. 5:23); and with his innocent spirit able to speak with his Creator! with his unfallen soul-faculties, and with body in blessed harmony. When we are told, for instance, in Colossians, that we have put off the old man, we know that we are being addressed as new creatures in Christ, and that the old man represents all we naturally were,--desires, lusts, ambitions, hopes, judgments: looked at as a whole federally: we used to be that--now we have put that off. We recognize it again in the words "Put away as concerning your former manner of life the old man" (Eph. 4:22). 1. First, then, our old man was crucified (Romans 6:6). That is a Divine announcement of fact. 2. Those in Christ have put off the old man. 3. He still exists, for "the old man waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit" (Eph. 4:22). 4. He is to be put away as belonging to our former manner of life: for we are in Christ and are "new creatures; old things are passed away; behold they are become new" (II Cor. 5:17). Now as regards the flesh: 1. While our old man has been crucified, by God, with Christ at the cross,--the federal thing was done; yet of the flesh we read, "They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof" (Gal. 5:24). 2. The flesh has passions and lusts. 3. It has a mind directly at enmity with God. 4. As we shall see in Chapter Seven, the flesh is the manifestation of sin in the as yet unredeemed body. "Our old man," therefore, is the large term, the all-inclusive one--of all that we were federally from Adam. The flesh, however, we shall find to be that manifestation of sin in our members with which we are in conscious inward conflict, against which only the Holy Spirit indwelling us effectively wars. Our bodies are not the root of sin, but do not yet share, as do our spirits, the redemption that is in Christ. And as for our souls (our faculties of perception, reason, imagination, and our sensibilities),--our souls are being renewed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Not so the body. "The flesh," which is sin entrenched in the body, is unchangeably evil, and will war against us till Christ comes. Only the Holy Spirit has power over "the flesh" (Chapter 8:1). Our old man was crucified--The matter of which we are told to take note here is the great federal fact that our old man was crucified with Christ. Perhaps no more difficult task, no task requiring such constant vigilant attention, is assigned by God to the believer. It is a stupendous thing, this matter of taking note of and keeping in mind what goes so completely against consciousness,--that our old man was crucified. These words are addressed to faith, to faith only. Emotions, feelings, deny them. To reason, they are foolishness. But ah, what stormy seas has faith walked over! What mountains has faith cast into the sea! How many impossible things has faith done! Let us never forget, that this crucifixion was a thing definitely done by God at the cross, just as really as our sins were there laid upon Christ. It is addressed' to faith as a revelation from God. Reason is blind. The "word of the cross" is "foolishness" to it. All the work consummated at the cross seems folly, if we attempt to subject it to man's understanding. But, just as the great wonder of creation is understood only by faith: ("By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the Word of God,"--Heb. 11:3) so the eternal results accomplished at the cross are entered into by simple faith in the testimony of God about them. No, it is no easy or light thing that is announced to you and me, that all we were and are from Adam has been rejected of God. Scripture is not now dealing with what we have done, but with what we are. And really to enter spiritually into the meaning of this awful word, Our old man was crucified, involves, with all of us, deep exercise of soul. For no one by nature will be ready to count himself so incorrigibly bad as to have to be crucified! But when the Spirit of God turns the light upon what we are, from Adam, these will be blessed words of relief: "Our old man was crucified." Now here is the very opposite of the teaching of false Christianity about a holy life. For these legalists set you to crucifying yourself! You must "die out" to this, and to that. But God says our old man, all that we were, has been already dealt with,--and that by crucifixion with Christ. And the very words "with Him" show that it was done back at the cross; and that our task is to believe the good news, rather than to seek to bring about this crucifixion ourselves. The believer is constantly reminded that his relation to sin was brought about by his identification with Christ in His death: Christ died unto sin, and the believer shared that death, died with Him, and is now, therefore, dead unto sin. This is his relationship to sin--the same as Christ's now is; and believing this is to be his constant attitude. Difficulty there will be, no doubt, in taking and maintaining constantly this attitude: but faith will remove the difficulty, and faith here will grow out of assiduous, constant attention to God's exact statements of fact. We are not to go to God in begging petitions for "victory,"--except in extreme circum stances. We are to set ourselves a very different task: "This is the work of God, that ye believe" We may often be compelled to cry, with the father of the demoniac, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief!" But it is still better to have our faces toward the foe, knowing ourselves to be in Christ, and that we have been commanded to reckon ourselves dead to sin, no matter how great and strong sin may appear. Satan's great device is to drive earnest souls back to beseeching God for what God says has already been done! "Our old man was crucified with Christ." This is our task: to walk in the faith of these words. Upon this water God commands us to step out and walk. And we are infinitely better off than was Peter that night, when he "walked on the water to come to Jesus"; whereas we are in Christ. And our relationship to sin is His relationship! He died unto it, and we, being in Christ Risen, are in the relationship Christ's death brought about in Him, and now to us who are in Him: whether to sin, law death, or the world. If I did not die with Christ, on the cross, I cannot be living in Him, risen from the dead; but am still back in the old Adam in which I was born! Christ died once--once for all, unto sin. He is not dying continually. I am told to reckon myself dead--in that death of Christ. I am therefore not told to do my own dying, to sin and self and the world: but, on the contrary, to reckon by simple faith, that in His death I died: and to be "conformed unto His death." But, to be conformed to a death already a fact, is not doing my own dying,--which is Romanism. If you and I are able to reckon ourselves dead--in Christ's death: all will be simple. That the body of sin might be annulled--The word for "annulled" is katargeo. See note on Chapter 4:14. The meaning is, to "put out of business." The "body of sin" refers to our bodies as yet unredeemed, and not delivered from sin's rule; as Paul says in the Eighth Chapter: "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin." Now we shall find that we have no power to deliver our body, our members, from "the law of sin" (See Chapter 7:8-24). But since our old man has been crucified with Christ, all the rights of sin are gone; and the indwelling Holy Spirit can annul "the body of sin"; thus delivering us from sin's bondage. We know the Spirit is not mentioned here (as He will be constantly in Chapter Eight); but inasmuch as it is His work to apply all Christ's work to us, we speak of His blessed annulling of the power of indwelling sin. It is blessed to know that we do not have to crucify the old man: that was done in Christ's federal death at the cross. Nor do we have to "annul" the "body of sin": that is done by the blessed Spirit as we yield to Him. Verse 7: For he that hath died hath been declared righteous from sin! We must seize fast hold of this blessed verse. Let us distinguish at once between being justified from sins--from the guilt thereof--by the blood of Christ, and being justified from sin--the thing itself. "Justified from sin" is the key to both Chapters Six and Seven and also to Eight! It is the consciousness of being sinful that keeps back saints from that glorious life Paul lived. Paul shows absolutely no sense of bondage before God; but goes on in blessed triumph! Why? He knew he had been justified from all guilt by the blood of Christ; and he knew that he was also justified, cleared, from the thing sin itself: and therefore (though walking in an, as yet, unredeemed body), he was wholly heavenly in his standing, life and relations with God! He knew he was as really justified from sin itself as from sins. The conscious presence of sin in his flesh only reminded him that he was in Christ;--that sin had been condemned judicially, as connected with flesh, at the cross; and that he was justified as to sin; because he had died with Christ, and his former relationship to sin had wholly ceased! Its presence gave him no thought of condemnation, but only eagered his longing for the redemption body. "Justified from sin"--because, "he that hath died is justified from sin." Glorious fact! May we have faith to enter into it as did Paul! [135] It is the deep-seated notion of Christendom that gradually we become saints,--gradually worthy of heaven: so that sometime,--perhaps, on a dying bed, we will have the right to "drop this robe of flesh and rise." But Scripture cuts this idea off at once, by the declaration that we died, and that we are now, here, justified from sin! "Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." The saints in light are those in glory, and they are there for one reason alone: the work of Christ on the cross. How unspeakably sad is our little faith! And I am speaking of true believers, certainly. 1. Many have turned truly to God, but not knowing the finished work of Christ, that is, that He actually bare their sins and put them away, are never sure of their own salvation. 2. Many have appropriated gladly Christ's finished work, as respects the guilt of their sins, and they no longer have apprehensions of judgment, knowing that He met all God's claims against them on the cross. But as to their relation to sin itself, it is an "O-wretched-man" life that they live, for they see honestly their own sinfulness and unworthiness, but have never heard how they are now in a Christ who died to sin, and that they share His relationship now, dead to sin and alive to God (6:10, 11). 3. Thank God, there are some who have seen and believed in their hearts that their relationship to sin itself was completely changed when God identified them with Christ in His death. Their relationship to sin was broken forever; and they present themselves unto God as alive from the dead, and, through an ever increasing faith, walk about on earth in newness of life; knowing that the same God who declared them justified from the guilt of their sins through Christ's shed blood, has now declared that, in being identified with Christ in His death to sin, they are themselves declared righteous [136] from sin itself! As we have elsewhere remarked, relief from guilt and danger, through the shed blood of Christ, comes first. And the conscience concerning judgment being relieved, the heart ever rests in the blood of Christ. But to have God tell us further, that we, having died with Christ, are declared righteous from sin itself, is a new, additional, and glorious revelation, which sets us in the presence of God not only declared righteous from what we have done, but declared righteous from what we were--and as to our flesh, still are! We should have no more dejection and self-condemnation when we see our old selves; for we have been declared righteous from that old state of being, as well as from what we had done! Very excellent and godly men, not recognizing this blessed fact, have spent much time before God "bemoaning the sinfulness" of their now revealed old nature. But this was really not to recognize the Word of God that we have been justified, declared righteous, from the old state of being, from sin itself! [137] If Gabriel, the presence angel, were to appear before you, your natural thought would be. He is holy, sinless; and I am unholy, sinful. Therefore, I am not worthy to stand in his presence. But this would be completely wrong. If you are in Christ, you stand in Christ,--in Christ alone,--even as He! The presence of sin in the flesh has no more power to trouble your conscience, than have your sins: for both were dealt with at the cross! Your old man was crucified, sin in the flesh was condemned (8:3) at the cross. And Paul definitely declares that we have now come "to the innumerable hosts of angels," as well as that we have been made meet to be "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light"! One of the most astonishing things (and yet, why astonishing?) that came to us in the study of the book of the Revelation was, that once the apostle John had "fallen as one dead" at the feet of the glorified Christ, in Chapter One, and the Lord had "laid His right hand" upon him, saying, "Fear not, I am the First and the Last, and the Living One, and I became dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades" (Rev. 1:17, 18)--after that, John, all unconsciously, but really, fears nothing, and no one! Not even the vision of the glorious throne in heaven before which the four living ones and the four and twenty elders are falling down, crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy," stirs John with the least emotion of fear or shrinking. In fact, he is found weeping because no one can take the sealed book. Not once is he concerned about his own moral or spiritual condition. He goes boldly up to the mighty angel in the Tenth Chapter, requesting according to Divine direction, that he give him the little book in his hand. Twice he falls at the feet of the angelic messenger that is revealing these glorious things to him, but it is not on account of a sense of moral or spiritual unfitness, but rather a being enraptured, overwhelmed with the glory of the scene. Now why is this? Or how could Paul be caught up to the third heaven, into Paradise, and hear unspeakable words? Simply because the work of the cross was complete! Not only were sins put away by the blood of Christ, but our connection with Adam was ended, our old man was crucified, we died to sin; our former history was completely over, before God. Thus it is written, as we quoted, "Giving thanks unto the Father who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). Now as to the fact, all this is as true of us here on earth, as it will be in the ages to come. Our realization of the truth may be small; yea, sad to say, our faith may be weak; but the fact is the same! How utterly marvelous, then, to know that we have been justified from sin itself. Not only has it lost all right and power over us, but we are declared righteous from the hideous thing itself; we are standing with God, in Christ, outside the region of sin, "children of light," yea, even called "light in the Lord" (Eph. 5:8). Verse 8: But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also be living with Him [in this world]. Here we take it for granted that we died; that our old man was crucified with Christ. And we go on to the expectation of a blessed life in Christ. For it is not only that we shall "live with Him" in resurrection glory when He comes, but even now we walk in newness of life in Him, as verses 10 and 13 set forth. This is no uncertain confidence, because "Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more." The brief lordship of death over Him is ended forever, and it is His death and life we share. Meyer well paraphrases: "Whosoever has died with Christ is now also of the belief that his life, i.e., the positive, active side of his moral being and nature, shall be a fellowship of life with the exalted Christ; that is, shall be able to be nothing else than this." And Rotherham: "If we jointly died with Christ,--we believe that we shall also jointly live with Him." And Conybeare: "If we have shared the death of Christ, we believe that we shall also share His life." This word, shall also be living with Him, must finally include, doubtless, the consummation of our salvation at the coming of Christ, and the fashioning anew of our mortal bodies. But the word refers directly to that expressed by Paul in Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me." Here in Romans Six it is called a living with Him, as over against our death with Him. Hodge well says: "The future tense is used here, referring not to what is to happen hereafter, so much as to what is the certain consequence of our union with Christ." And Alford: "The future (we shall also live with Him') as in verse 5, is used, because the life with Him, though here begun, is not here completed." And now the reason for this assurance that we shall keep on sharing the risen life of Christ, is given: Verse 9: Knowing that Christ having been raised from among the dead dieth no more: death over Him no longer hath dominion. Knowing--"This participle justifies the we believe' of verse eight." We know (eidotes) both that our present spiritual participation in Christ's risen life will continue, and also that our mortal bodies will be finally delivered, in view of the fact we are conscious of, that Christ has been once and irrevocably raised; that God "loosed the pangs of death"; that "He raised Him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,"--for it was written, "Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One to see corruption." Sin never had dominion over Him; and death could have had no dominion except that our sin was transferred to Him! Death, therefore, the "wages," had a brief dominion, but now that is ended forever; and we are in Him,--also forever! Therefore death with its dominion is for the believer forever passed away. Our identification with Christ in death at the cross made possible of fulfillment His wonderful promise in John 8:51, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death." If a believer falls asleep (God's word for a believer's physical death) his spirit goes to be with Christ: there is no "dark valley." On the tomb of an early Christian were these words: "I sinned, I repented, I trusted, I loved; I slept, I shall rise, I shall reign!" It is a terrible thing to contemplate--that death once held the Prince of Life, the Lord of all. Yet behold the Lord of Life, under the dominion of death! But He is not making atonement during those three days and nights,--that was all finished on the cross. [138] And now, praise God, we read, Death no more hath dominion over Him. He liveth unto God, in a glad resurrection life which shall never end. This is the life that we share, for we shared His death. Verse 10: Therefore we must go on to verse 10 and read God's statement of Christ's death unto sin: For in that He died, unto sin He died once for all; but in that He is living, He is living unto God. Now we beseech you, do not change God's word "UNTO," here! Do not confuse with this passage those other Scriptures that declare that Christ died FOR our sins. For this great revelation of Romans 6:10 is that Christ died UNTO sin! There is here, of course, no thought of expiation of guilt. That belongs to Chapters Three to Five. Here, the sole question is one of relationship, not of expiation. Christ is seen dying to sin, not for it, here. What is meant by that? In II Corinthians 5:21, God declares: "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Christ is made to be what we were, that we might become, in Him, what He is! Might not Christ, the Sinless One, bear the guilt of our sins and that be all? Nay, but we were connected federally with Adam the first--with a race proved wholly unrighteous and bad. And that we might be released from that Adam-state, there must be not only our sins borne, but we ourselves released from the old-Adam headship,--all we had from Adam: which involved the responsibilities we had in him--responsibility to furnish God, as morally responsible beings, a perfect righteousness and holiness of our own. Now God's way was, not to "change" the old man, but to send it to the cross unto death, and release us from it. No one who remains in Adam's race will be saved! "Ye must be born again!" should sound the tocsin of alarm, yea, terror, to every one not yet in Christ. For God's method