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AN EXPOSITION 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS, 
 
NO' 23 1931 
 
 AN EXPOSITiaN 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO 
 THE ROMANS. 
 
 V 
 
 WILLIAM BENECKE. 
 
 (Eranslateo from tfje ©ertnan 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN. AND LONGMANS. 
 
 M.nrcc.Liv. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 J. WEHTHEIMER AND CO., PRINTERS, 
 CIRCUS l'LACE, FINSBURY CIRCUS. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The Exposition of St. Paul's Epistle to the 
 Romans, of which I here present a translation 
 to the English reader, was not originally in- 
 tended for publication. The author, after having 
 resided many years in England, actively en- 
 gaged in mercantile business, but unremit- 
 tingly devoting a considerable portion of his 
 time to literary and scientific pursuits, and more 
 particularly to the study of religious and philo- 
 sophical subjects, retired about the year 1828 
 to Heidelberg, for the purpose of personally 
 superintending the studies of his son, who was 
 preparing for Holy Orders at the University of 
 that place. Although there were certainly at 
 that time amongst the leading professors of Di- 
 vinity in Germany, many men of most acute 
 understanding, extraordinary scientific acquire- 
 ments and moral worth, he found but few 
 whose views agreed to any considerable extent 
 with those at which he had arrived, and whose 
 labours in their immediate province were not, 
 
 b 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 in his opinion, more or less under the influence of 
 the different philosophical systems at that time 
 engrossing all minds, which, although they may 
 be reckoned amongst the proudest triumphs of 
 the human understanding, leave the heart cold, 
 because they do not lead to the acknowledgment 
 of the Redeemer as the sole Fountain of grace 
 and happiness. 
 
 Endowed to an unusual extent with intellectual 
 powers and talents, which he had cultivated with 
 a most unremitting perseverance and considerable 
 success, and certainly not disposed to undervalue 
 the influence of the sciences upon the develop- 
 ment of the human race, our author had during 
 a life of very severe trials and mental struggles, 
 arrived at the most positive conviction, that a 
 lasting tranquillity of mind can be attained solely 
 by the consciousness of a God of Love as the 
 central point of all spiritual life, and that this 
 consciousness can gain life within us only by 
 the continued study of the Holy Scriptures and 
 a life of active obedience to their dictates. With 
 these convictions, it was natural that he should 
 value all scientific pursuits and especially all 
 philosophical and theological studies in so far 
 only as he found them lead, in subservience to 
 the one great end, to a more perfect knowledge 
 of God as He is shown to us in the sublime 
 simplicity of the Gospel. Having, however, from 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 his own experience, become deeply sensible of 
 the fact that the understanding is not to be laid 
 under interdict, and that, therefore, no truth can 
 attain to real life within us, and consequently 
 secure a lasting peace of mind, at least in the 
 case of a considerable class of men, unless it 
 harmonize with the uncompromising demands of 
 the understanding so far as it is developed in 
 the individual, and that its development must go 
 hand in hand with purification of the heart, 
 in order to lead to the results at which, whether 
 consciously or unconsciously we all aim, he could 
 not but urge his son to the earnest study of all 
 that might contribute towards reaching so desired 
 an end. At the same time, however, he considered 
 it his sacred duty to give him the benefit of his 
 own experience, and to guard him, as much as 
 in him lay, against the errors into which he him- 
 self had fallen, and the severe struggles to which 
 they had led him, by pointing out to him the proper 
 limits of reason in our present condition, and by 
 teaching him in all his studies to keep steadfastly 
 in view the Centre of all light and Fountain of all 
 truth. 
 
 Of all the Epistles of the New Testament, 
 that of St. Paul to the Romans appeared to 
 him to claim the greatest attention, as em- 
 bodying the doctrine of Christianity in a more 
 systematic form than any other; and he had 
 
 b 2 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 for many years made it the chief object of his 
 studies. He therefore began to read this Epistle 
 with his son, who soon took so lively an interest 
 in his views, that his expositions of the more 
 difficult or intricate parts were gradually so 
 much extended that he was induced to write 
 them down very nearly in the form in which 
 they now appear. The manuscript was commu- 
 nicated to several of his more intimate friends, 
 and aniongs^ them to several clergymen, who, 
 struck by the singular earnestness and depth 
 of the work, persuaded him to lay it before the 
 public. He consented without much hesitation, 
 prompted by the earnest desire of communi- 
 cating to others what had proved itself to him as 
 truth by its effects in elevating his ideas of God, 
 and establishing his peace of mind on a lasting 
 basis. He judged it necessary, however, to 
 prefix an introduction, in order to explain the 
 grounds upon which he proceeded. This intro- 
 duction has been pronounced a masterpiece by 
 many men of great intellectual powers, even 
 amongst such as have not agreed on all points 
 with the author's views. And indeed he never 
 had any reason to regret the publication of his 
 work. It has proved a source of great con- 
 solation to many who have tested the truth of 
 the views which it propounds, by applying them 
 to the varying fortunes of their own lives. And 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 of all the reviews and literary notices which the 
 work has called forth, there is not one that does 
 not bear a willing testimony to the Christian 
 earnestness of the author, and the interest 
 inspired by his book. 
 
 When an author appears before the public 
 with the results of his researches on purely 
 scientific subjects, we care little for the history 
 of his private life. His communications are ad- 
 dressed exclusively to the understanding, and 
 must speak for themselves ; he either establishes 
 his propositions, or he fails to do so, and it 
 is of little importance to us how or whence 
 he may have gained his knowledge. It is not 
 so in the case of communications on subjects of 
 a higher order, which relate to the vital interests 
 of mankind, and in which the heart and the will 
 are no less concerned than the understanding. 
 When such are before us, it is natural that we 
 should desire to have a more intimate knowledge 
 of the man, to ascertain by what tests he has 
 been able to prove the truth of his convic- 
 tions, and how he arrived at them. It was 
 my original intention to create an interest for 
 the author beforehand, and thus increase that 
 which his work appears to me likely of itself to 
 inspire, by extracting largely from two volumes 
 which have been edited by his son for private 
 circulation among his friends, containing a brief 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 memoir of his life, together with a copious selec- 
 tion from his very interesting correspondence, 
 both on private matters and subjects of general 
 interest. On making the attempt^ however, I 
 found that I could not attain my object without 
 far exceeding the limits usually allowed to a 
 preface. I have thought it best, therefore, to 
 confine myself to a brief statement of the more 
 prominent facts in his life. 
 
 William Benecke was born at Hanover, of 
 parents in easy circumstances, and received the 
 rudiments of a classical education preparatory to 
 his proceeding to a University as a student in 
 Theology. But the premature death of an 
 elder brother, who had fallen a sacrifice to an 
 immoderate application to study at Gottingen, 
 induced his parents, who had noticed similar 
 predilections in their younger son, to change their 
 plans in respect to him. He was, in his four- 
 teenth year, bound apprentice to a so-called 
 merchant at a small town not far from his home, 
 with the strictest injunctions that he should be 
 debarred from all opportunities for indulging his 
 favourite pursuits. His intense eagerness for 
 knowledge, however, soon found means to over- 
 come all obstacles put in his way; and we 
 find him during the whole of his stay at Lune- 
 burg engaged at four o'clock in the morning, 
 Avrapped in his cloak, without fire and with but 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 a scanty supply of even the most common books 
 of reference, in applying himself to the study 
 of Mathematics, Astronomy, Natural Philosophy 
 and Languages, studies which he prosecuted with 
 the greatest assiduity for many years, and with 
 so much success, in some departments at least, 
 that a well-known and highly esteemed English 
 astronomer once told him that he considered him 
 fully prepared to fill the chair of any mathema- 
 tical professorship. With this zeal for scientific 
 pursuits, he combined great talent and love for 
 Music, in which he had attained considerable 
 proficiency at an early age; and a touching 
 passage in his after-life records, that he soothed 
 the last hours of a beloved wife by his solemn 
 and heartfelt playing on the piano-forte. — A 
 letter written in his seventeenth year, which is 
 still extant, gives ample proof of the earnestness 
 of his aims at that time. In this letter he in- 
 forms his father that, although he does not by 
 any means wish to oppose his views, he feels 
 confident that in his present position he has no 
 chance of acquiring the knowledge which he 
 considers necessary for one who would adorn his 
 profession, and concludes with a list of prepara- 
 tory studies, containing amongst many other 
 things some half-dozen modern languages. In 
 consequence of this letter, he was recalled from 
 what he termed his exile ; and, his father dying 
 
X PREFACE. 
 
 soon after, he left Hanover, and meeting with a 
 Jewish banker and army contractor, whom his 
 manners and conversation inspired with con- 
 fidence, he found himself in his nineteenth year 
 occupying a situation of great responsibility, 
 such as is generally entrusted only to men of 
 maturer years and after much deliberation. In 
 his twenty-first year he went to Hamburgh, 
 where he established himself as a merchant ; but 
 he was unfortunate in the choice of a partner 
 who deceived him by false representations, soon 
 lost the whole of his paternal inheritance, and 
 after several unsuccessful attempts to retrieve 
 his fortunes, during which time he found himself 
 with his amiable young wife and an increasing 
 family exposed more than once to absolute want, 
 he entered the house of the banker Mendelssohn, 
 to take a part in the management of his extensive 
 correspondence in four or five different languages. 
 This Mendelssohn, a son of the philosopher and 
 himself a man of great acquirements, soon found 
 him too good for his post, and advised him to 
 apply himself to the study of maritime law, 
 and more particularly the laws and usages regu- 
 lating marine insurances, a subject at that time 
 very inadequately understood. He entered into 
 this idea with much spirit, and was the first to 
 reduce that intricate subject to a science. He 
 published the result of his researches, and the 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 theory which he grounded upon it, in a work 
 of five volumes, for which he obtained twelve 
 hundred subscribers before the first sheet was 
 printed, and which has since been translated 
 into three or four languages. The reputation 
 which his work procured him, was the means 
 of his introduction to many of the first mer- 
 chants at Hamburgh, and enabled him to form 
 amongst them a company for the insurance 
 of lives, the first ever attempted on the Con- 
 tinent. Having become the actuary of this 
 company, with a salary and a share of the 
 profits, and deriving at the same time consider- 
 able sums from the sale of his work on Insurance, 
 he now believed himself secure from all further 
 want, and led a most happy life, again devoting 
 a great portion of his leisure to the pursuit of 
 his studies, which at this time embraced the 
 works of the great German philosophers. He 
 had, however, over-rated his strength, and be- 
 fore the completion of his work he fell into a 
 dangerous illness, which had nearly put a period 
 to his existence. He had hardly recovered, when 
 he was unexpectedly plunged into the deepest 
 affliction by the death of a lovely child, and the 
 wife who has been before alluded to. It was 
 during this time that he first found, that neither 
 the very imperfect religious instruction which 
 he had received during his early youth, nor the 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 philosophical systems which had subsequently 
 inspired him with so much interest, could stand 
 him in the least stead in his present affliction. He 
 saw the whole of his earthly happiness destroyed ; 
 he knew of no transgressions which appeared to 
 justify such severe inflictions, and tried in vain 
 to reconcile them with his idea of a God of Love- 
 He was soon, however, and in a most unexpected 
 manner, to be convinced that the God of Love 
 had not lost sight of him. At this very time 
 he became, by what the world calls chance, 
 acquainted with a man who was destined to 
 exercise the greatest influence on his religious 
 development. This man, himself a merchant, 
 but of an apostolic appearance and bearing, 
 tried and matured by the vicissitudes of a very 
 chequered life, succeeded in leading him to the 
 fountain of all solace ; shewed him the Redeemer 
 and His work in a light altogether new to him, 
 and brought him to look upon this life as a short 
 period placed between a former and a future 
 existence. The idea of a Pre-existence was not, 
 indeed, new to him, but he had considered it as 
 a mere intellectual speculation, and it had never 
 warmed his heart ; thus brought into connec- 
 tion with the workings of an all-loving God, 
 who by an immeasurable sacrifice of His own 
 blissful existence, guides the spirits fallen 
 through their own transgressions, through a 
 
PEEFACE. - Xlll 
 
 series of different existences to perfection and 
 happiness, this doctrine at once furnished him 
 with a key for the solution of all his religious and 
 philosophical doubts, and poured a happiness into 
 his heart, which none of the many trials, still in 
 store for him, were ever able to shake. Thence- 
 forward he sought for comfort nowhere but in 
 the Gospel. His heart was filled with the love 
 of the Redeemer and of his fellow- creatures 
 (the one, indeed, being unable to exist without 
 the other) ; and it became his greatest delight to 
 communicate to others the blessings which had 
 been vouchsafed to himself. He never, however, 
 became a mere proselyte-maker, well knowing that 
 the heart of man must needs be prepared by God 
 Himself, in order to receive divine influences. 
 
 The author's subsequent fortunes must be 
 briefly summed up. The occupation of Ham- 
 burgh by the French destroyed the company of 
 which he had been the founder ; and having him- 
 self taken a very active part in the war which 
 led to the liberation from their yoke, he was 
 compelled, on the very day of their second 
 entrance into Hamburgh, to seek safety by a 
 precipitate flight to England. Having, by the 
 seizure of the bullion in the Bank, again lost all 
 that he had been able to accumulate, he arrived 
 in London almost penniless, but soon found 
 friends willing to assist him : and having been 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 introduced by them into some wealthy families, lie 
 was enabled to turn his knowledge to account, by 
 giving lessons, chiefly in Mathematics, and thus 
 found his immediate wants supplied. He then 
 became acquainted with the author of a certain 
 chemical invention, and established jointly with 
 him a manufactory, which he carried on with very 
 varying success and under numerous difficulties 
 for many years, until he ultimately secured a mo- 
 derate competency, upon which, as I have before 
 stated, he retired to Heidelberg, in order to 
 superintend the studies of his younger son, and 
 to devote the remainder of his days to his 
 favourite study and employment. He was 
 kindly received by many of the leading mem- 
 bers of the University, and led a happy life, 
 cheered by the society of his second wife, a 
 lady of most cultivated mind, whom he had 
 married a few years after his settlement in 
 England, and who had alwavs, to his great de- 
 light, taken a lively interest in his pursuits. 
 After the publication of his Exposition of the 
 Epistle to the Romans, he devoted all his time 
 and powers to a philosophical work, in which it 
 was his intention to show that all real Philosophy 
 must end in Christianity ; and to trace the con- 
 nection between the Gospel and all that is of 
 divine origin, in the various philosophical sys- 
 tems, which have successively claimed and 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 engrossed the interests of the more intellectual 
 portion of mankind. This work was unfortu- 
 nately interrupted by his death. All that could 
 be collected from his detached manuscripts, has 
 been published by his son as a fragment, but no 
 part of it is complete with the exception of an 
 elaborate and very interesting introduction. 
 
 It is to be feared that the opinion is but too 
 prevalent, that private research in religious mat- 
 ters is dangerous ; that ; in fact, theological 
 subjects should be treated only by divines. To 
 this it might be a sufficient answer, that a man 
 may be a divine in the best sense of the word, 
 without being the appointed minister of any 
 particular Church. But it may be well to re- 
 mark, that such private research is enjoined as 
 a duty by the most enlightened of the clergy 
 themselves. In ancient times, we have the 
 authority of St. Paul himself on this head, who 
 praises the " nobleness " of the Bereans, for 
 11 searching whether those things were so," as he 
 had preached. It is true, that in proportion as 
 priestcraft grew, more jealousy was felt of the 
 exercise of private judgment by the laity. But 
 who can say that such times were the most 
 favourable to spiritual enlightenment? In more 
 recent times, the clergy of the reformed Churches 
 have found their greatest strength in the spread 
 of an inquiring spirit among the people. It 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 would be easy to collect the expressed opinions 
 of many of them, in this sense. One from 
 Archbishop Leighton may suffice here. " Do 
 not," he says, " yourselves so much injury as to 
 bar yourselves from sharing, in your measure, 
 the search of these same things, that were 
 the study of the prophets, and which, by their 
 study and publishing them are made the more 
 accessible to us. Consider that they do concern 
 us universally, if we would be saved." Indeed, 
 to the thoughtful mind it must be obvious, that 
 it can only be in an imperfect state of the Church 
 that an exclusive order of priesthood is necessary. 
 In its perfection all would be "kings and priests" 
 before God, (Kev. i. 6,) "a royal priesthood." 
 (1 Pet. ii. 9.) There is doubtless a deep signifi- 
 cance in the words of St. John in describing 
 the New Jerusalem, " I saw no temple therein." 
 God Himself is the Temple of the perfected 
 spirits, and the nearer each individual approaches 
 to the state of a ministering spirit to that 
 Temple, the more effectually does he hasten 
 the coming of the perfection of the Church, 
 and the Redeemer's kingdom. 
 
 In conclusion I must be permitted to say a 
 few words respecting the translation. It was 
 made under considerable disadvantages and dis- 
 couragements. I was chiefly induced to under- 
 take it from the new interest in the writings of 
 
PREFACE. Xvii 
 
 St. Paul, which has of late been aroused by the 
 appearance of various works relative to that Apos- 
 tle, some of which were reviewed in a very inter- 
 esting article in the Edinburgh Review. (Oct., 
 1852.) Being myself actively engaged in business, 
 I intended at first to translate but a single chapter 
 of the book, in order to ascertain whether it 
 might, without much difficulty, be brought into 
 language likely to suit the English reader, and 
 then to entrust the translation to other and more 
 practised hands. I soon found, however, that an 
 intimate knowledge of the author's system, as 
 well as of his peculiar method of reasoning, 
 would be absolutely necessary for the purpose, 
 and that the work could only be accomplished as 
 a work of love. I, therefore, undertook it my- 
 self, and devoted to it, with increasing interest, 
 the leisure of my last winter evenings. I confess 
 that I have found the task more difficult than I 
 had anticipated; and although I feel much in- 
 debted to the valuable assistance of a friend, a 
 clergyman of the Church of England, I have 
 not, on account of his great distance from Lon- 
 don, been able to avail myself so much of it as 
 I could have wished, or would have been profit- 
 able to my undertaking; and I have several 
 times, during my progress, been tempted to 
 relinquish it in despair of being able to do 
 justice to the original, which is written in most 
 
XV111 PREFACE. 
 
 beautiful language, although in some parts diffi- 
 cult to understand, on account of many more or 
 less obvious allusions to the German philoso- 
 phical systems. My motive has been throughout, 
 the same which actuated the author in first 
 publishing his work; and I can say with truth, 
 that if but one individual should derive that 
 comfort from this translation, which so many 
 have derived from the original, and myself 
 among the number^ who have always considered 
 it one of the greatest blessings of my life to 
 have been intimately connected with the author 
 from my earliest years, I shall consider my trouble 
 abundantly repaid. 
 
 The Translator. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 16, line 7, for for which, read to which. 
 
 17, last line but one, for isoltaed, read isolated. 
 
 39, line 13, for assume Christ as, read assume Christ to be. 
 
 65, Ave lines from bottom, for investigation, read investigations. 
 
 69, line 5, for Jews, read Jew. 
 
 87, line 1,/or He had not led, read He had led. 
 
 98, last line but two, for involves, read involve. 
 166, last line but two, for now here, read no where. 
 177, in the middle of the note, remove the parenthesis after Matt. xx. 1- 
 
 and before 6 lav jj SCxaiov. 
 209, first line of note, for applied, read referred. 
 371, last line, for in its relation, read in relation. 
 381, line 8, for yet throws, read throws yet. 
 422, line 14, for he will not desire, read he will desire. 
 
AN EXPOSITION 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. PAUL'S EPISTLE TO THE 
 ROMANS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Whoever has made himself sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with the Bible to form a judgment as 
 to its purpose, will easily perceive it to be 
 a collection of writings intended to impart 
 information upon the most important interests 
 of the human race to men of different countries 
 and times, and differing widely in mental capa- 
 cities and acquirements. The Bible, however, 
 does not impart this information in a scientific 
 or systematic manner, certain writings being de- 
 voted to beginners, to be fully comprehended 
 by them, and others to the more advanced, to 
 be comprehended in their fullest import, by 
 such only as have prepared themselves for the 
 task by the study of the former. Every one of 
 them contains what may become profitable to 
 all, whatever be their intellectual or moral con- 
 dition. Some of these writings are certainly 
 more easily understood than others, and agreeably 
 to the expressed purpose of their authors, more 
 adapted to the requirements of beginners, while 
 
 b2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 others are intended to open a deeper insight 
 to the more practised and advanced. This is 
 by no means to be overlooked; but what we 
 have said is, nevertheless, applicable to all of 
 them. Indeed, the same passage which is to 
 make the beginner acquainted with the first 
 elements of truth, is often intended as a means 
 of profounder knowledge for the more advanced ; 
 and it is the experience of every one who reads 
 the Scripture with an honest desire for truth, 
 that a continued study of it in all its parts, 
 combined with a practical application of the 
 truths so discovered to the circumstances of life, 
 discloses to him what he had not understood 
 before, or establishes a connection between parts 
 which had formerly appeared unconnected, thus 
 gradually extending his insight in compass, 
 depth and unity. 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be doubted, that these 
 writings require different methods of interpret- 
 ation, according to the spiritual condition and 
 wants of their readers, and that the demand 
 for an interpretation universally intelligible, 
 universally applicable and sufficient for all times 
 and individuals, involves an impossibility. We 
 are all of us to be trained " unto a perfect man, 
 unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of 
 Christ" (Ephes. iv. 13). "But strong meat 
 belongeth to them that are of full age, while 
 
INTRODUCTION, 5 
 
 babes are to be fed with milk " { Heb. v. 13, 14; 
 1 Cor. iii. 2). A knowledge and realization of 
 Christianity so perfect as to be incapable of in- 
 crease, is, from its nature, impossible, its object 
 being infinite and consequently unattainable by 
 humanity, though a proportionate increase takes 
 place in our power of comprehending it, the 
 nearer we approach it. 
 
 Christianity does not announce itself as a 
 body of knowledge to be appropriated and worked 
 up, nor as a science by the study of which we 
 may and ought to reach our final destination; 
 it proclaims itself as a spiritual power, intended 
 to penetrate and regenerate the whole man in 
 his innermost being, and cannot, therefore, be 
 understood thoroughly by a part, as it were, 
 of the human mind. It cannot in its fulness 
 and essence be comprehended and appreciated by 
 man until it has begun to exercise an influence 
 upon him ; nor can its influence cease at any time 
 during life, its object being to train him up to 
 likeness with God. Christ promises assurance 
 of the divinity of His doctrine, not to those 
 who contemplate it from without, or attempt 
 to fathom it by the understanding, but to 
 those who make the practice of it the end 
 and aim of their inward life. In some respects, 
 therefore, Christianity may not inaptly be com- 
 pared with the arts, It is impossible by mere 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 contemplation or theory to become imbued with 
 the creative power of art, and he alone can 
 hope to become an artist in the true sense of 
 the word, who applies the rules, which he may 
 perhaps at first have adopted only upon the au- 
 thority of a master, and thus prepares himself 
 for the knowledge and practice of rules of a 
 higher order. Moreover, the arts cannot be 
 acquired or practised without a natural disposi- 
 tion and a happy genius, the want of which 
 would render all rules unprofitable. In both 
 instances the comparison holds good. This does 
 not, however, in any way argue against the 
 universal efficacy of Christianity, which it must 
 needs possess if it be as it proclaims itself, a 
 divine dispensation for the salvation of all men ; 
 for it affirms that this disposition lies dormant in 
 all men, but that it requires to be awakened ; 
 and it proves itself universal by also originating 
 such an awakening. If this be the case, it 
 will follow as a natural consequence that even 
 where the understanding is considerably devel- 
 oped, Christianity cannot be comprehended and 
 appreciated while this disposition lies as yet dor- 
 mant, and that something beyond an acute un- 
 derstanding and learning must be required for 
 this purpose, just as a man may possess these in 
 an eminent degree, and yet be totally unequal to 
 the production of works of art, or even to the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 appreciation of the arts themselves. — Whoever 
 has attained to so high a degree of Christianity 
 as to feel assured of the truth of his own view 
 and interpretation of Scripture, will assuredly 
 not be led astray or be tempted to abandon his 
 higher view for a lower one, because others, how- 
 ever learned and acute, cannot elevate themselves 
 to the same point ; any more than a true votary 
 of art will doubt its inherent truth, because 
 there are men devoid of all sense for it, or than 
 the disciples of Christ can be supposed to have 
 doubted the deeper sense of a parable disclosed 
 to them by their divine Master, because the mul- 
 titude, including Pharisees and Scribes, were un- 
 able to comprehend or discover it by their own 
 intellectual faculties. But since experience 
 teaches us, that a great diversity of opinions has 
 at all times existed upon points of considerable 
 importance, even amongst those who consider 
 themselves in possession of correct and profound 
 views upon Christianity, which at once estab- 
 lishes the possibility of error ; and since Christ- 
 ianity at the same time, invites us to exert all 
 our energies for an increasing purity of our con- 
 ception, it becomes a question of the greatest im- 
 portance, what course we are to take in order 
 to attain to this end, and by what means we may 
 become assured, that what we consider a just 
 conception, or what others offer us as such, is 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not founded in error, but is in accordance with 
 the truth, in as far as we are able to fathom it. 
 Just as there is a science of art, which will prove 
 a furtherance even to its greatest votaries and 
 guard them against error, it is to be presumed 
 that we may derive similar advantages also in 
 the province of religion through experience and 
 reflection. 
 
 An inquiry into this important subject will 
 certainly not be considered out of place, as the 
 epistle of the Apostle Paul, which we purpose to 
 examine, though designed to impart a deeper in- 
 sight into Christianity, has long been interpreted 
 in such various, and in part contradictory ways, 
 that what was intended to produce union has 
 occasioned the greatest divisions, and that many 
 have not only lost the inestimable benefit which 
 they might thence have derived, but have been 
 actually led into the grossest errors, altogether 
 repugnant to the spirit of Christianity, while 
 others, to escape from such errors, have thought 
 it advisable to leave a portion of the most pre- 
 cious substance of this Scripture altogether 
 unapplied. 
 
 While stating in the following pages our views 
 as to the interpretation of the Scriptures in general, 
 we shall at the same time shew for what class of 
 readers our work is chiefly intended. 
 
 All communications of ideas through the organ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 of speech, from whomsoever they may proceed, 
 necessarily require clothing. The idea being 
 spiritual, must, as it were, be embodied by the 
 speaker and again disembodied by the hearer, in 
 order to reach his mind. Whoever has to make 
 communications of a higher order, must lower 
 himself to the level of his hearers ; he can com- 
 municate to them in the first instance that only, 
 for which there is some analogy in the ideas 
 which they already possess, and he will have to 
 derive the outward form of his speech from the 
 objects and ideas with which his hearers are con- 
 versant ; his discourse will have to be suited to 
 time, place, and nation. The reader or in- 
 terpreter of writings composed in times long- 
 gone by, must, therefore, in order to compass 
 their meaning, be intimately acquainted witli 
 the language, images and ideas of those times ; 
 and, for this reason, grammatical and historical 
 studies will be the first and indispensable con- 
 dition for all correct interpretation. 
 
 But this attention to time and language, and 
 to the relations existing between the writer and 
 his readers, are to be considered as preliminary 
 requisites only. We thereby transpose our- 
 selves, as much as may be, into the position and 
 circumstances of those to whom the discourse 
 was more immediately addressed, but that which 
 remained to be done by them in order to com- 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 prehend the spirit of the communication, will 
 also remain to be done by ourselves, after these 
 preparatory studies have been completed; nay, 
 they cannot even be completed without this 
 spiritual perception, with which it must neces- 
 sarily proceed hand in hand. For if we desire 
 to become thoroughly acquainted with the views 
 and the system of any thinker through the study 
 of his writings, the only course open to us, is to 
 form for ourselves a comprehensive conception of 
 the whole by connecting his isolated views, and 
 the more correct the judgment we have formed 
 of the whole system, the more certainly will the 
 system itself supply us with the means for a 
 more perfect insight into the component parts, 
 and for the right understanding of the expres- 
 sions used. — But if we were even able to trans- 
 pose ourselves thoroughly into the position and 
 circumstances of those for whom a writing was 
 originally intended, its impression would yet be 
 different upon different readers, as must also 
 have been the case at the time of its composi- 
 tion. The preaching at the feast of Pentecost 
 made the most widely different impressions upon 
 the hearers, although most of them must have 
 attached the same meaning to the words actually 
 spoken ; and we see the same phenomena daily 
 exhibited among such as have the same means 
 at their command for the outward comprehen- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 sion of a subject. The reason for this can be 
 no other than a difference in the inward condi- 
 tion of the hearers, for if this were the same 
 with all, there could be no difference in the 
 effect. Here, then, the important question 
 arises : Is it by our thinking-powers alone, that 
 we accept or reject what is offered as a truth of 
 a higher order, or does there exist in man an- 
 other receptive and examining faculty, and if so, 
 what will be the proper application of the former 
 in inquiries of this nature? 
 
 Christianity, as we have already intimated, 
 assumes the existence of yet another power for 
 its reception, since it does not apply to the facul- 
 ties of the understanding in order to prove the 
 existence of God and of a spiritual world, but 
 enunciates these truths as absolute certainties 
 and speaks of the immediate witnessing of the 
 Spirit as superior to all understanding; but it 
 nevertheless appeals also to the intellectual powers 
 of man, as, for example, when St. Paul invites us 
 to prove all things, and to hold fast that which 
 is good, or when St. Peter requires all men to 
 be ready to give an account of the grounds of 
 their hope, which would be impossible without 
 the aid of the thinking-powers. If it be main- 
 tained, then, by some, that reason has no voice 
 in matters of faith or of convictions of a higher 
 order, such an assumption, if it be at all deserving 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of notice, must mean something else than that, 
 the thinking-faculties of man are not to be applied 
 at all to the interpretation of the Scriptures 
 and of religion in general. This would be at 
 variance both with the Bible and the nature of 
 man, since we can neither lay the understanding 
 under interdict, nor assume as truth anything 
 contradictory to its laws. The error appears to 
 me undoubtedly to consist in this, that the results 
 of pure thought are confounded with the appli- 
 cation of the laws of thought to given subjects. 
 We shall find that a closer investigation of pure 
 thought and its results, as well as of human 
 nature, as our experience exhibits it, confirms the 
 fact presupposed by Christianity, namely, that, 
 independently of the knowledge which we attain 
 by the operation of the understanding, there is 
 something immediately or absolutely certain in 
 man, that there exists another source from which 
 he derives knowledge ; and this will furnish us 
 with an opportunity for ascertaining the legiti- 
 mate use to be made of the understanding in 
 examining truths of a higher order. 
 
 The laws of thought are the common property 
 of the whole human race, they are the property 
 of the whole spiritual world. If it must be ad- 
 mitted, that the capacities for their application 
 are widely different in different men, these laws 
 themselves are uniform and, rightly applied to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 the same subject or the same premises, must in- 
 fallibly lead to the same conclusions. If then, 
 the pure thinking-powers, abstracting from all 
 that they do not find within themselves, and 
 as it were annihilating the existing world, pro- 
 pose to reconstruct it out of elements inherent 
 within themselves alone, and if the several think- 
 ers who have undertaken to solve this problem, 
 by the proper application of the laws of thought 
 have not arrived at the same result, this diversitv 
 must either be imaginary and a consequence only 
 of the different direction of their reasonings, 
 and in this case, one system might be an amplifi- 
 cation or continuation of a previous system but 
 would yet be intrinsically the same, — although 
 the proof of this identity by substitutions (as in 
 mathematics) might be exceedingly difficult — 
 or else the results are really different and contra- 
 dictory, and in this case the cause of the diversity 
 is evidently to be found only in the fact, that 
 the axioms from which the different thinkers had 
 started, must have been partially drawn from 
 another province than that of the pure under- 
 standing, so that they all, or at least all with 
 the exception of one, must, whether consciously 
 or not, have deviated from their first principle. 
 In the latter case, as there can evidently be 
 but one system of pure thinking, it would have 
 to be ascertained and proved which is this 
 
1 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 system, and by it the import of the results 
 would have to be tested, and the fact established, 
 that this system contained all the truths of which 
 man is really in possession ; and the same proof 
 would have to be given in the case of the identity 
 of all the systems, and only if this had been done 
 could it be maintained, that all human truths 
 have their root in the understanding. 
 
 The burden of this most difficult proof would 
 lie with him, who would claim universal and 
 absolute dominion for his system. We cannot 
 of course here enter into any such investigation ; 
 fortunately, however, there is an easier method to 
 obtain with certainty what we require. As we 
 are addressing ourselves exclusively to readers 
 who possess a consciousness of God, as the 
 Scriptures shew Him, namely, as the absolute 
 self-conscious First Cause of the universe, whose 
 essence is love; and who must needs therefore 
 reject all systems that are irreconcilable with the 
 God of love and do not lead to Him, the question 
 which we have asked, whether the thinking- 
 powers alone are sufficient to accept or reject 
 what is offered to us as a truth of a higher order, 
 may be replaced by the question : Whether the 
 consciousness of God is a product of the faculties 
 of our understanding, and whether it has its root 
 in them or elsewhere. 
 
 We have said before, that the laws of thought 
 
INTRODUCTION. 1 5 
 
 are the common property of the whole human 
 race, and of the spiritual world in general. This 
 is undeniable ; but we must recollect that in 
 purely spiritual beings, conception, judgment, 
 and conclusion, or cause, effect, etc., are not to 
 be considered as isolated and following each 
 other in time, as with human beings. We find 
 it proved by our own experience, that the more 
 spiritual we become, the more does the idea of 
 time vanish, and thought, action, and resolve, 
 become immediate. Whoever, for instance, has 
 thoroughly mastered a scientific subject, will 
 attain to a result with a certain immediateness, 
 while a person of less proficiency would attain 
 to it only by laborious combinations. Where 
 the divine rule of life has taken possession of 
 the soul of man, he will at once reject what is 
 at variance with it, without having occasion to 
 find by reflection and investigation what his 
 duty may be in each particular case. This 
 approach to immediateness, to which we are 
 trained in manifold ways during the course of 
 our life, establishes more clearly by analogy, 
 what an exalted idea of God would already 
 have convinced us of, namely, that in God con- 
 templation, reflection, resolve and action cannot 
 be thought of as following each other, but must 
 be coincident and immediate. Our human di- 
 vided faculties, however, are unable to compre- 
 
1 6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 hend this undivided unity in God, and we cannot 
 form any idea of God at all, otherwise than by 
 humanly analysing his essence. We must not, 
 however, forget that this is only an expedient of 
 our own human weakness ; but, it is nevertheless 
 certain that we cannot attribute qualities to 
 God for which we find nothing analogous within 
 ourselves, and equally certain also that we could 
 not have any idea of good within ourselves, if 
 it did not in its essence exist in God. In a 
 certain sense, therefore, we cannot help attribut- 
 ing to God the quality of thinking or reasoning, 
 (which we imperfectly express by all-wisdom 
 and omniscience) and deriving our own laws 
 of reasoning from Him. If we attempted to 
 imagine a God without the faculty of thinking, 
 He would at once cease to be God, and nothing 
 but the idea of fate would remain. But there is 
 this essential distinction to be drawn between 
 the thinking or reasoning of God and that of 
 man, that in God it proceeds at once and im- 
 mediately from his whole essence, and cannot be 
 imagined as proceeding only from a part of his 
 being. His essence being love, his thinking can- 
 not be imagined as distinct from his love ; while 
 human thinking can exist without love. We 
 can not only imagine thinking without love, but 
 what we call thinking has in reality nothing of 
 love in it. Human thinking, therefore, is fallen 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 from unity, but is nevertheless from God, and in 
 order to become once more like God's, it must 
 necessarily be re-united or, indeed, become one 
 with love. Our immediate rejection of wrong, 
 without the need of reflection, may be considered 
 a step towards this consummation. 
 
 This furnishes a conclusive answer to the above 
 question. How could we possibly, through our 
 isolated thinking-powers, which do not include 
 love, comprehend God, who is all love, since it 
 is impossible that mutual comprehension and 
 attraction should exist, where there is no cor- 
 relation. The more purely human our thinking, 
 that is, the more it excludes love, the less will 
 it be able to draw from its own stores the 
 elements of divine truth. Our consciousness of 
 God then has not its root in the understanding, 
 but in another power inherent in our mind, 
 namely, in love. It is for this reason that 
 St. John says : " Love is of God ; and every one 
 that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 
 He that loveth not, knoweth not God; for God 
 is love" (1 John, iv. 7 and 8 ). It is for this reason 
 that St. Paul declares love (the only purely 
 divine principle) to be alone eternal, never failing, 
 when all other things shall fail (1 Cor. xiii.), 
 when all knowledge will cease, that is, when all 
 knowledge will cease to have an isoltaed ex- 
 istence. Our thinking, and all its results, must 
 
 c 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 blend and become one with love, before we 
 shall have reached a state of perfection. 
 
 We cannot, therefore, wonder that the labours 
 of all, who have endeavoured to attain truth by 
 pure thinking alone, should have failed of the 
 desired result; we see clearly, on the contrary, 
 that the more closely they adhered to their own 
 system, that is to say, the more they excluded all 
 that is not inherent in the understanding alone, 
 the less have they been able to approach absolute 
 truth. Whether in their speculations they con- 
 sidered the world which they contemplated as 
 real or ideal; whether they considered themselves 
 reasoning as individuals, or whether by ab- 
 straction they created in their imagination, out 
 of the mass of individual thinkers, one absolute 
 thinker; or whether they endeavoured, by ab- 
 stracting both from the thinker and his results, 
 to exalt themselves to pure thought, and to 
 seek therein the real cause or, at least, the real 
 type of being— never have they been able to 
 attain aught but an illusory shadow of truth, 
 instead of the truth itself, so long as the 
 understanding remained their only element, in 
 which there is neither creative power nor love. 
 Nay, in these speculations, the very idea of the 
 possibility of absolutely pure thought could 
 never have been formed, if the world had not 
 existed as an object of speculation, any more 
 
INTRODUCTION. ] 9 
 
 than the idea of sight, without a being to sec 
 and an object to be seen. But whence is the 
 thinker to obtain the certainty, that the world, 
 which is the object of his speculation, is really 
 the creation of God in its original perfection, 
 from which alone the true divine laws could pos- 
 sibly be derived, even if he were to employ the 
 world only as a means to derive from it the 
 methods for his speculative reasoning, and from 
 this again the true divine laws of being? If, as 
 the Scriptures intimate, the original creation of 
 God experienced an essential change through 
 evil originating therein as a principle in direct 
 opposition to God (a fact for which, in a world 
 created by the Only-Good, no human speculation 
 has ever been able to account) ; and if the 
 world, as it now presents itself to our con- 
 templation, has been so ordered by God, that 
 the divine laws can evince themselves in their 
 purity only by and after the removal of evil, 
 how is it possible that these divine laws should 
 be deducible by speculation from the world as it 
 now is? Or can speculation prove that this is 
 not so? Or will the speculator dare to transfer 
 himself by his own strength from this disor- 
 ganised world, to which he himself belongs, to 
 the standing point of God Himself, and to deduce 
 from his own being the real idea of the Deity ? 
 Would this 1)0 possible, while he does not possess 
 
 c2 
 
20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 love equal to the love of God ; and, if he did, how 
 came he to belong to this world, which has fallen 
 from love? 
 
 Now if, as we have seen, the understanding 
 cannot, from its inherent elements alone, find 
 truth, because, in its one-sided direction, it is 
 devoid of the most important element of truth 
 '■ — it follows also that its deductions cannot be 
 applied as a test to that which is offered to us 
 as divine truth. If pure thought agreeably to 
 its own postulate, had admitted as the object 
 of its speculation nothing but what it found 
 inherent within itself, it would have rendered 
 service to the cause of truth in a negative 
 way by convincing the thinker himself, his 
 results being devoid of all that is divine, that 
 the divine principle which has gained life in him, 
 and of which he finds himself in positive posses- 
 sion, not being a product of the understanding, 
 must spring from some other source, for which 
 it would then be his first duty to search. The 
 glorious powers of thought, after having ac- 
 complished in one direction all that is pos- 
 sible, would then turn to where there is thus 
 another wide field open for their operations. Al- 
 though it -was certainly natural and even neces- 
 sary that the human mind should try its powers 
 in this direction, there is nothing to compel it to 
 confine its exertions to it. For unless man have, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 2 1 
 
 through this one-sided tendency of his mind, re- 
 nounced, as it were, a portion of himself, nothing 
 will oblige him either to pre-suppose the highest 
 truth to be attainable through the understanding 
 or by means of its laws alone, or to assume, that 
 whatever is not developed as a consequence by 
 its operations, is to be rejected as devoid of truth. 
 On the contrary, our consciousness of God and 
 spiritual existence, of love, conscience and all 
 kindred qualities, is as positive and as much the 
 common property of our race as our thinking- 
 faculties; it has the same claims to general ac- 
 knowledgment and will vindicate them at some 
 time or other, if they are denied. But it is by 
 no means an easy matter to distinguish between 
 that which we possess as positive certainty from 
 another source, and the products of our under- 
 standing, or even to prove the necessity of the 
 distinction. No man is altogether without some 
 consciousness of the existence of God and of 
 divine principles (of that indeed to which we have 
 adverted as emanating from another source,) 
 although that which may have gained life in in- 
 dividuals differs as much in degree as the think- 
 ing-powers differ. And it is this very circum- 
 stance which has induced the most enlightened 
 thinkers to aim at greater certainty on this point. 
 God and immortality have at all times been the 
 most important subjects of human enquiry ; but 
 
22 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 while all certainty respecting them was supposed 
 to be a result of the thinking-faculties alone, 
 it was natural to attribute to them also the 
 positive convictions, which have reached us from 
 another source ; and indeed this error is easily 
 accounted for, as, although these convictions are 
 not a product of our thinking-powers, yet with- 
 out their help we cannot, as human beings, be- 
 come conscious of them. But this error as to 
 the source of our knowledge may lead us into 
 great dangers. The thinker, thus drawing into 
 the province of the understanding elements which 
 have their origin elsewhere, and obtaining from 
 them results, to a certain degree satisfactory to 
 himself, in which God, immortality, and other 
 most important subjects are introduced and dis- 
 posed of, may be led to close his mind to the 
 influences from that other source, whose exist- 
 ence as a votary of mere understanding, he does 
 not acknowledge. Nay, more, if his system con- 
 tain much that bears affinity or resemblance to 
 Christianity, or if he have adapted his system to 
 some of its most important truths — he may even 
 lead himself and others into the error that Christ- 
 ianity is, in a nobler form, essentially a product 
 of his system, or actually identical with it. It 
 is a sacred duty to caution against this fatal 
 error; and we would recommend the following 
 observations to the impartial consideration of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 23 
 
 our readers. They are not intended as directed 
 against any particular philosophical system, but 
 as generally applicable to all. 
 
 Christianity announces itself as immediately 
 divine, and as the only way to truth. Entering 
 into a world already in existence, it appeals to 
 a power in man which is not the production of 
 the understanding or identical with it, and re- 
 suscitates therein the naturally inherent but sup- 
 pressed consciousness of the existence of a self- 
 conscious God as the First Cause of all things both 
 visible and invisible, a God acting by his own 
 absolute authority, that is to say, according to 
 laws inherent within Himself, and of a spiritual 
 world, to which man according to his true nature 
 belongs. It is only after this once dormant power 
 has been awakened and gained strength, that 
 Christianity undertakes to unfold to man's mind 
 the spiritual world in its true logical relations, 
 as well as the nature and cause of the connection 
 between the spiritual and the visible world — 
 and it undertakes to accomplish this from the 
 spiritual elements in which man now feels him- 
 self to be actually living, and for the existence 
 of which he therefore requires no further proof. — 
 Now, if Christianity is what it proclaims itself to 
 be, nothing can possibly exist of higher import- 
 ance to man ; no human wisdom beyond or even 
 beside it can point out another way to truth, 
 
24 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and therefore true human wisdom can have no 
 grander aim than to explore it in its greatest 
 depths, and to render it more evident and acces- 
 sible to the human mind. — Moreover, Christ- 
 ianity teaches, that the reason of all men is now 
 more or less in a state of darkness (this, however, 
 does not contradict the unchangeableness of 
 the laws of thought) ; it teaches that man 
 requires a help from above to attain truth, (that 
 is to say, that he requires the removal of the 
 hindrances which prevent his embracing the 
 highest objects of thought and ascertaining 
 their logical connection), and further, that in 
 order to find and appropriate truth, he has to 
 acknowledge his helplessness, and in humility to 
 submit to the Helper. To him, however, who 
 accepts this help in faith, and by a persevering 
 application of the means offered him becomes 
 capable of a life according to the divine order, 
 that is, capable of a purely spiritual life, it 
 promises eternal blessedness and everlasting in- 
 dividual existence. No philosophical system, 
 which rejects an influence from above, or con- 
 siders reason, in its present state, infallible and 
 sufficient for the attainment of truth, or which 
 refers man, for the purpose of reaching his final 
 destination, to a power which it is not able to 
 furnish, and which Christianity declares to be 
 insufficient, or which makes the individual exist- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 25 
 
 ence of man cease at his death —no such philo 
 sophical system can consequently be identical with 
 Christianity. Their results differing essentially 
 at every stage, it is evident that no identity be- 
 tween Christianity and such philosophical sys- 
 tems can be established by mere substitutions. 
 
 What we have said will explain how it was 
 possible that so many systems should exist to- 
 gether and one after the other, each professing to 
 be the philosophy of pure reason. Their differ- 
 ences are not to be traced to the unchangeable 
 laws of logic, but to the premises to which these 
 have been applied. The reason of man, in the 
 sense in which we here apply the word, is the 
 sum total of all that he has received from the 
 source of the highest intelligence, and that has 
 really become part of his essence, acted upon by, 
 and united with, his thinking-powers. But this 
 differing in degree amongst all men, it follows, 
 that more or less of error is still involved, and 
 therefore the results deduced from differing 
 axioms and premises must also differ. Each 
 philosophical system may contain some truth, 
 but not one of them the whole truth. 
 
 Now, as there is not one human reason, and as 
 even the reason of the individual cannot be per- 
 fect, but is only advancing towards perfection, 
 it will be easily seen that the general demand 
 that truths of a higher order should be tested by 
 
26 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 reason, contains much that is vague and inde- 
 finite, and requires a closer investigation. Whose 
 reason is to be the general standard, that of Plato, 
 Spinoza, Kant, or my own ? and if the latter, as it 
 is at this moment, or as it may have been ten 
 years ago, or may be ten years hence ? How is 
 anything that is changeable to be the measure 
 for that which is unchangeable ? Such testing 
 of the unchangeable by a standard subject to 
 change, can have its ground only in a misconcep- 
 tion of the true nature and dignity of the sub- 
 ject, and, since it makes the individual in the 
 poverty of his mind fancy himself rich, must have 
 the effect of producing one-sidedness, narrow- 
 mindedness and self-sufficiency, obstruct the 
 no wings from the divine source, and convert 
 that, which by its nature is life, into stagnation 
 and death. The truth of this observation has 
 been woefully confirmed by the experiences of 
 the times just gone by, and oh ! that they were 
 indeed gone by for ever ! The repudiation and 
 contempt of the highest revelation has dragged 
 all that is heavenly down into the dust of the 
 earth; and the consequences of so perverse a 
 tendency of the mind have become but too la- 
 mentably manifest. 
 
 After these preliminary enquiries, we now 
 proceed to consider what then remains as the 
 business of the faculty of thought, considered as 
 
INTRODUCTION. 27 
 
 an isolated power, in testing what is offered to 
 us as truth of a higher order. If the thinking- 
 powers, as we have seen, are unable to excogi- 
 tate truth, they will be unable also to recognise 
 as truth what is offered as such. How could 
 the most acute thinker possibly recognise the true 
 nature of love, when he hears it explained, if he 
 were himself altogether devoid of it ? Love 
 cannot be demonstrated to the understanding, 
 because there is no analogy between them. A 
 mere thinker might take the most visible effects 
 of love for dissimulation, pretence, or narrowness 
 of mind If the characteristic marks or proper- 
 ties of love were submitted to his judgment, he 
 would be competent to discover whether any 
 amongst them were inconsistent with others. 
 If he were told that love is meek and seeks not 
 its own, he would have to admit that a pas- 
 sionate, selfish person cannot be of a loving 
 disposition, but the essence or nature of love he 
 would not comprehend. The business of such 
 a critical power, which can do no more than 
 reject such marks or characteristics as are in- 
 consistent with others, without being able to 
 recognise anything in its essence or make it 
 available, would be little more than a mere intel- 
 lectual amusement or a mere calculation with 
 symbols of unknown quantities, so long as the 
 object submitted to it remained devoid of reality, 
 
28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 or so long as the thinker remained unable to 
 establish in the shape of a tangible idea, what 
 has reached him from the higher source of intel- 
 ligence ; exactly as pure mathematics could be 
 of no practical utility to the world in which we 
 live, if there were no objects to which their 
 formulae could be applied, without which indeed 
 the science could never have existed at all. But 
 as pure mathematics, properly applied to the 
 objects of the visible world, have not only 
 enabled us to prove the untenableness of the 
 different systems of the universe founded in 
 error, but have led to the knowledge of the 
 correct system, and have taught us what course 
 to take in order to reach still greater knowledge ; 
 so will the proper application of our thinking- 
 powers to the truths of which we are really 
 in possession, not only enable us to point out the 
 fallacies in the systems of vain wisdom, but also 
 shew us what we have still to aim at, and how 
 to concentrate all our knowledge on different 
 subjects in that great unity, which the nature of 
 our spirit irresistibly urges us to seek. In 
 our present condition, the sublime office of the 
 thinking-faculties is to humanise what is divine 
 without doing violence to its divine nature, 
 while they thereby become more and more 
 divine in themselves. But in order that they may 
 fulfil this their sublime purpose, they must, as 
 
INTRODUCTION. 29 
 
 we have seen, by degrees cease to act as an iso- 
 lated power, and become closely united, or indeed 
 identified with love. The more nearly man 
 approaches this consummation, although it is not 
 to be reached in our present condition, the more, 
 and as it were by a spiritual instinct of a higher 
 order, which is the characteristic of a life of spiri- 
 tual freedom, will he be secured against error. 
 
 We thus recognise our thinking-powers, not as 
 a creative but as a critical and discriminating 
 faculty, unable to find truth, but making what 
 has reached us from another source available in 
 our human condition, and as such only can we 
 apply them in accordance with their true object, 
 without detracting from their high importance and 
 yet without adorning what is finite with infinite 
 honours, or exalting to dominion what is intended 
 to be subservient only to higher purposes. 
 
 In whomsoever the consciousness of God, as 
 the absolute and sole cause of all, has gained life, 
 and who has thereby the full assurance that God 
 alone knows absolutely, the object and intrinsic 
 connection of all things, and that He alone, there- 
 fore, can be the source of all truth, and who will 
 consequently be free from the vain presumption, 
 that that portion of truth which he now possesses 
 and which he can have received only from that 
 one source, has raised his knowledge to the level 
 of God's, and that he has the whole truth within 
 
30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 himself, will not only, in his further search after 
 truth, raise his view to this sole source, but he 
 will also admit, that there may be channels by 
 which truth can flow to him other than those 
 imagined by man or recognisable by his imper- 
 fect conceptions and ideas. The more exalted 
 his ideas become of that God who is a spirit, 
 surrounded by a pure spiritual world, by a light 
 which no one can approach ; the more positively 
 he feels the contrast between that spiritual world 
 of God and the visible world including error and 
 evil ; the more he becomes convinced, that it is 
 the ungodly and impure principle within him 
 which hinders the perception of truth ; and the 
 more he feels the deep significance of Christ's 
 words, that the pure in heart alone can see God, 
 the source of all truth — the more lively will his 
 conviction become, that there is something be- 
 yond the thinking-powers required to attain 
 truth, and that in a state of degradation he can- 
 not by his own strength apprehend what is so 
 much exalted above him, but that on the con- 
 trary the divine principle must purify and exalt 
 reason, in order to accomplish a true union. He 
 will feel convinced that the contemplation of the 
 outward form of things will not disclose to him 
 their inward nature, and that no one can convey 
 truth to him unless he have obtained it from 
 the sole source of truth, and he will not 
 
INTRODUCTION. 31 
 
 reject any one, or consider him unworthy of his 
 attention, because of his telling him that he has 
 been sent from above to proclaim truth, and to 
 shew the path for its attainment. 
 
 But the existence of God and of a spiritual 
 world, to which man by his inward nature be- 
 longs, and for which he is to be trained, renders 
 revelation not only possible, but absolutely neces- 
 sary. We shall, however, have to abandon all 
 childish notions on the subject, and understand 
 by the word revelation, the communication of all 
 truths which man requires for the attainment of 
 his final destination and which are not accessible 
 to him through the contemplation of the visible 
 world or deducible by the operation of his own 
 understanding. All that is absolutely certain 
 to him respecting the spiritual world can have 
 reached him only from thence, since we find no 
 analogies for it elsewhere, and we have, there- 
 fore, to consider as revelation in a wider sense, 
 all that we find ourselves endowed with on our 
 entrance into the world, as a gift in the germ, 
 as it were, requiring development during our 
 life. No man can be altogether without it ; he 
 would else have no fellowship whatever with the 
 spiritual world, and could not be trained for it 
 by his life, for he would possess no nucleus for 
 further knowledge, nothing to which what he is 
 yet to receive might be superadded. That this 
 
32 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 gift, however, is possessed in very different de- 
 grees, is evident ; and, therefore, whatever one 
 man, who has a richer store, may communicate 
 to another so that he may appropriate it, is in 
 reality a further divine revelation for hiin. Of 
 the rule by which this gift is dispensed, we can- 
 not know anything, so long as we have no know- 
 ledge of the state of the human spirit on its 
 entrance into the world, and so long as we are 
 unable to account for the indisputable fact of 
 our possessing such widely different dispositions. 
 We need not, therefore, wonder to find the Scrip- 
 tures speak of certain men, who have been filled 
 with the Holy Ghost from their mother's womb — 
 We have no reason, however, to consider this 
 method of imparting spiritual communications 
 or revelations as the only one. Since man be- 
 longs to the spiritual world, he must needs, 
 during his present life, remain in some connec- 
 tion with it, although he may not be intuitively 
 conscious of the fact. It is, therefore, not only 
 possible that this connection may, under pecu- 
 liar circumstances, manifest itself more clearly 
 and sensibly, but it was, even prior to ex- 
 perience, probable that it would do so, since 
 the spiritual gifts of men and their culture 
 differ so widely. Our experience has confirmed 
 the fact from the remotest ages ; and it would 
 certainly be much against reason if we were to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 33 
 
 doubt the fact because by abstract thinking, 
 which, as we have seen, cannot even prove the 
 existence of a spiritual world, we are unable to 
 account for such manifestations of it. We need 
 not, however, look upon them as violations of 
 the laws of nature which God himself has laid 
 down, or as miracles agreeably to the childish 
 ideas of the multitude, but rather as effects of 
 these same laws, although our present knowledge 
 of nature is unable to explain them, because we 
 have no insight into the real connection between 
 the spiritual and the material world. On the 
 other hand, we must also take care not to con- 
 sider all states of exaltation as of the same 
 character or value, or all that may be viewed in 
 moments of exaltation as real glances into the 
 spiritual world or as divine revelations. For 
 quite independently of wilful deception and of 
 the manifold effects of a diseased imagination, it 
 is very evident that no one can attain to really 
 spiritual perceptions except in so far as he is 
 spiritually pure (although we have no human 
 standard for such purity), and that the spiritual 
 light must necessarily be refracted and obscured 
 by the earthly atmosphere of the communicator 
 as well as of the hearer. But the more difficult 
 it is to distinguish truth from falsehood in such 
 matters, and the more dangerous the error, the 
 greater ought our caution to be in judging of 
 
 D 
 
34 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 such phenomena. Yet, if they proved no more, 
 they would, at all events, prove a real connec- 
 tion to exist between the visible and the invisible 
 world, and notwithstanding the great and essen- 
 tial difference between such phenomena and the 
 immediate perceptions of the spiritual eye, they 
 are sufficient to convince us that the denying of 
 the possibility of the latter does not prove a 
 freedom from prejudice^ but, on the contrary, 
 an obscuration of the judgment or a one-sided 
 tendency of the mind. 
 
 The most essential conditions for a just and 
 worthy interpretation of the Scriptures will, 
 therefore, be a mind open to the impressions of 
 the divine revelations, and a readiness to test 
 them in simplicity of heart, by the standard of 
 the truth of which we are already in positive 
 possession, together with the acknowledgment 
 that this standard is not invariable or sufficient 
 for all times and all men, but that it must 
 become more perfect, as the truth increases 
 within us. This standard, to express it in few 
 words, is none other for every individual than 
 the consciousness of God which has gained life 
 within him. For that alone can be a revelation 
 to a man in the proper sense of the word, or a 
 furtherance of truth, which strengthens, extends 
 and exalts his consciousness of God as the most 
 powerful, most wise, and most loving Being, and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 35 
 
 which thus leads him to a freer, truer, and more 
 earnest conception of the world and its objects. 
 Whatever would lower or obscure this conscious- 
 ness, can never be a revelation for him, and he 
 must reject it, whether it be presented to him as 
 human wisdom or as pretended divine revelation. 
 Whatever is not at variance with his sublimest 
 conceptions, but nevertheless does not as yet 
 contribute to exalt them, he will have neither to 
 accept nor to reject ; he will have to await some 
 future time, when he may be in possession of a 
 higher standard to determine him. Thus, dif- 
 ferent subjective views of the truth may and will 
 exist together at the same time, which may yet 
 rest on the same foundation, and therefore not 
 be without objective reality. 
 
 In testing in this manner what is offered to us 
 as divine truth, we make the only proper use of 
 reason in subjects of this description, since we do 
 not measure what is infinite by an earthly, but 
 what is divine by its own standard. It is true 
 this is only the imperfect standard of which we 
 are as yet in possession, but what other could 
 we possibly apply ? And by applying this 
 standard, our reason will comprehend all that 
 it is at the time able to comprehend, and as it 
 acknowledges this standard to be variable and 
 imperfect, it will not consider as concluded what 
 is in its nature infinite, and what, therefore, is 
 
 d 2 
 
36 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not to be declared as concluded and perfect by 
 any human being. 
 
 This, then, is also conclusive against all accept- 
 ing of truth upon authority, or from a blind 
 adherence to the letter, against which we have to 
 guard ourselves, as well as against an erroneous 
 application of our thinking-powers in the inter- 
 pretation of subjects of a higher order. Faith 
 upon authority evidently applies a human stand- 
 ard or, at least, a standard not our own, to 
 divine subjects, and what we have thus accepted, 
 or imagine that we have accepted, cannot possibly 
 be our real indisputable possession. For, as the 
 standard does not belong to the individual, and 
 is therefore not an immediate and inalienable 
 certainty, or, as it were, a part of his own 
 being, he may be deprived of it either by true 
 or by specious arguments; and if his standard 
 be destroyed, what he has measured by it will 
 be destroyed at the same time ; together with 
 the foundation the superstructure will fall, and 
 even if this should not actually happen, it is evi- 
 dent that what he possesses by such uncertain 
 tenure, will be continually exposed to danger, 
 and is not therefore a real but an imaginary 
 possession only. Our daily experience confirms 
 the truth of this assertion. Suppose an indi- 
 vidual had accepted Christianity as true and 
 divine upon the authority of the Bible alone, he 
 
INTRODUCTION. 37 
 
 would certainly, under other circumstances, have 
 also accepted the Mahometan doctrine as true 
 and divine ; and as in that case he would have 
 accepted an untruth for the truth, so also will 
 the truth which he has accepted upon such grounds 
 not be truth to him. If, on the other hand, a 
 Mahometan accepts as divine truth that which 
 has passed into Mahometanism from the source 
 of all truth, because his inward convictions ad- 
 mit it as divine, and because it exalts his ideas 
 of God and brings him into closer connection 
 with Him, it cannot be doubted but that he has 
 really received a divine revelation. — A conscien- 
 tious searcher of the Bible, therefore, will not 
 consider himself bound by any previously ac- 
 cepted systems, nor any previously established 
 human opinions. While acknowledging to their 
 fuJl extent the merits of former searchers after 
 truth, he will never forget that truth must needs 
 always take its outward form in accordance with 
 the times, and that this form, as an earthly pro- 
 duct, must be perishable. — Similar arguments 
 will apply to the opinions founded upon adhe- 
 rence to the letter, upon the outward form, and 
 not upon the spirit deposited therein. The letter 
 is variable and finite, and cannot be the stand- 
 ard for the invariable and infinite. It is of two- 
 fold importance to recognise the spirit clothed in 
 words, first that we may not be led into error 
 
38 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 by taking the form for the substance ; and next, 
 that we may not be repulsed by the outward 
 form, and leave unnoticed the spirit which per- 
 vades it. If any one, for instance, on reading 
 that God spoke with Moses from a burning bush, 
 were to take these words in their strictly literal 
 sense, and suppose that he thereby possessed the 
 truth itself, he should bethink himself, whether 
 his mind have really thereby received nourish- 
 ment; whether his consciousness of God have 
 been exalted, his comprehension of the divine 
 government of the world extended, or his love of 
 God have gained in strength. If this be not the 
 case, what will he have profited by the communi- 
 cation ? Such believing will not rid him of any 
 former error, and may indeed supply nourishment 
 to the evil that is in him, as it may possibly in- 
 duce him to overrate his faith, with which it has 
 nothing to do. But if, on the other hand, we 
 were to consider a communication of a higher 
 order unworthy of our notice, or reject it, be- 
 cause we object to the form in which it is pre- 
 sented to us, we might, through presumption or 
 prejudice, lose what might, rightly and spiritually 
 understood, have proved a blessing. An unpre- 
 judiced enquirer after truth, will have to distin- 
 guish the idea from its outward form, and to 
 examine whether the latter may not have been 
 the most appropriate for the moral or intellectual 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3!> 
 
 condition, or for the scope of the ideas of those 
 for whom it was originally intended; whether 
 the idea, clothed in such a form, may not have 
 extended their consciousness of God, and whether 
 it may not do the same for him, inasmuch, at 
 least, as it may lead him to trace the progress 
 of the human race, and the connection between 
 their history and their gradual deliverance from 
 error. We find deeds recorded of Christ, which 
 we call miracles, because we are unable to ex- 
 plain their connection with those laws of nature, 
 with which we have become conversant. If any 
 one were to assume Christ as the son of God, only 
 on account of these miracles, he would in reality 
 have gained nothing by such an assumption. He 
 might not only, under certain circumstances, take 
 an impostor for a true prophet, if similar deeds 
 were narrated of him, but he might also take a 
 necromancer for a heaven-sent messenger, if he 
 saw him, by the help of natural powers unknown 
 to himself, perform deeds for which he is unable 
 to account. And as the belief in the latter 
 might be destroyed by a mere explanation of 
 the natural powers employed by him, such belief 
 in Christ might also be destroyed by a plausible 
 explanation of the miracles, or even by raising 
 doubts in respect to them; and his mind would 
 have gained absolutely nothing by such a belief. 
 On the other hand, if any one were to turn away 
 
40 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 from the Gospel, because he finds deeds recorded 
 of Christ, which he does not know how to recon- 
 cile with his knowledge of the laws of nature, 
 he would not only reject the most glorious and 
 sublime revelation that has ever been vouchsafed 
 to man, but he would, while he considers himself 
 acting according to reason, be acting in direct 
 opposition to it, because he would be declaring 
 that impossible, Avhich is merely inexplicable to 
 him, without recollecting that all human insight 
 into the powers of nature, and their connection 
 with each other, is as yet most imperfect, and 
 that there might exist a physical science of a 
 higher order, by which miraculous deeds might be 
 proved to be in accordance with higher spiritual 
 laws, although inexplicable to the philosopher, 
 who has only the results of earthly experience 
 for his guide. A real seeker after truth will 
 therefore turn his view to the spirit and the 
 inward connection of the doctrine and life of 
 Christ, and if then the truths of which he had 
 formerly but a faint glimmering, evince them- 
 selves as really divine, by exalting his idea of 
 God and increasing his love, confidence and 
 submission, and by strengthening his conviction 
 of his fellowship with the spiritual kingdom, and 
 if he feel the promise fulfilled, that his insight 
 and inward peace grow by the practice of what 
 he has acquired, he will by degrees obtain that 
 
INTRODUCTION. 4 I 
 
 certainty which no influences from without can 
 shake, because it is not founded on anything that 
 is outward. And thus convinced of the divine- 
 ness of the source from which his knowledge 
 flows, he will also know that error and truth 
 cannot flow from the same source, and he will, 
 at all times distinguishing the idea from its out- 
 ward form, not make the truth of the doctrine 
 dependent upon that of the miracles, but he will 
 never doubt the intrinsic truth of the narrative, 
 because he cannot account for the miracles. Is it 
 possible that an insight into the spiritual connec- 
 tions of nature should ever be opened to us 
 otherwise than by our thus raising ourselves to 
 a really spiritual life? God being the creator 
 of both the visible and the invisible world, there 
 must needs be a connection between them ; more- 
 over the laws of nature also are spiritual, because 
 they are from God, and God is a spirit. All 
 therefore must proceed from the Spirit, nature 
 and her laws, as well as our knowledge concern- 
 ing them. 
 
 It is, however, in the spiritual world alone, 
 that we can assume such knowledge as neces- 
 sarily existing. It is certainly not attainable in 
 our present condition, and least of all by our own 
 exertions. This leads us to the consideration of 
 a further danger, which we have carefully to 
 avoid in our search for truth, and in our inter- 
 
42 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 pretation of the Bible. It is not the object of 
 our human existence to anticipate a future state 
 by overstepping the conditions of the present, 
 but to prepare us for it by gradual training. 
 Whoever therefore should suppose himself capa- 
 ble of leading in this world a life reserved for 
 a state of perfection, instead of following the pre- 
 paratory course pointed out for him, might not 
 inaptly be compared to a student, who would 
 attempt to master the greatest difficulties of a 
 science before he had acquired a knowledge of 
 its rudiments. He would run the risk of sup- 
 plying by phantoms of his imagination, what 
 he had neglected to acquire by experience and 
 reflection; he would lose himself in a vague and 
 shifting state of mere feeling and impressions, 
 instead of attaining to a vigorous spiritual life. 
 It is but too evident how uncertain and arbitrary 
 the interpretation of the Bible must necessarily 
 be under such circumstances. The most spiritual 
 sense of the Scriptures is certainly the nearest 
 to truth, but the most spiritual interpretation for 
 our present condition is that which elucidates 
 the connection of the earthly and the spiritual, 
 and the gradual transition from the one to the 
 other in the most intelligible and most satisfac- 
 tory manner. 
 
 But in order not to prejudice either those 
 whom we may consider to adhere too closely to 
 
INTRODUCTION. 43 
 
 the letter or outward form, nor those who may 
 appear to insist too exclusively upon following- 
 out their own spiritual views, let us remember 
 that the desire to avoid one extreme is but too 
 apt to lead us into the other, and that the actual 
 standing points and requirements of men differ to 
 such an extent, that what may be useful for the 
 one may have ceased to be so, or not yet have 
 become so, for the other, and that on this ac- 
 count a path may be the right path for some 
 and yet not be the only right path. Above all 
 things, however, let us remember that the same 
 inward convictions may be consistent with great 
 outward disparity. Our methods of communi- 
 cating our convictions do not depend upon these 
 convictions alone, nor are the talents and the 
 desire for their communication by any means 
 uniformly distributed, amongst all individuals. 
 Even among the Apostles, who were all filled 
 with the same Holy Ghost, we notice a great 
 disparity in this respect, and we cannot but be 
 thankful for this as a most wise dispensation of 
 God, who has thus afforded to each of us the 
 opportunity of choosing in the first instance that 
 form of representation, which may be most con- 
 genial to our condition at the time, thus render- 
 ing us fit for more exalted conceptions. While 
 the first preachers of the Gospel in general more 
 or less fall in with the religious views of their 
 
44 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 time, spiritualising and exalting them as they 
 proceed, this adaptation appearing to be with 
 some of them in accordance with the bent of 
 their own ideas and personal necessities, with 
 others, on the other hand, a condescension to the 
 capacities of their readers — we find St. John 
 living so completely in spiritual intuition, that 
 he appears for himself to have hardly any need 
 for outward forms, or for a logical connection of 
 his ideas. It is for this reason that his writings 
 appear mysterious and unconnected to many, 
 while congenial spirits derive from them the 
 most immediate and sublime enjoyment. In 
 the whole historical development of Christianity, 
 we can trace similar diversities in respect to 
 outward representation; all these different forms 
 have been intended to serve, and have served, for 
 the inward progress and furtherance of all who 
 were seeking the divine truth which each of them 
 contains. This has been proved by experience ; 
 and indeed there was every reason to expect the 
 fact beforehand, because if only one outward 
 form existed by which the object might be ac- 
 complished, God, who is love, and wills that all 
 should find succour and attain to the knowledge 
 of the truth, would have provided that this only 
 form had been accessible to all. This fact of the 
 Spirit's acting under so many different forms 
 ought to prove, above all other things, that we 
 
INTRODUCTION. 45 
 
 do not come into complete possession of divine 
 truths by bringing them into a logical connection 
 with our general knowledge, or by making them 
 apparent to our understanding by means of re- 
 flection alone. We are in actual possession of 
 those divine truths only, which give a divine 
 direction to our will, produce self-denial, and 
 induce us to relinquish our selfish purposes, or, 
 in a word, which increase our love, even where 
 we are unable to demonstrate the spiritual 
 grounds for our actions in logical sequence. 
 A higher logic will never be wanting where 
 we act from love, because in love, in God, there 
 is true inward unity. 
 
 Nevertheless there must be one method of 
 comprehension and representation superior to all 
 others for human beings, considered as on their 
 way to perfection and not as having altogether 
 or nearly reached it; that, namely, which claims 
 both the whole of the intellectual and of the 
 intuitive powers of man, and which unites both 
 these means of perception into the original one- 
 ness, without which man cannot be conceived as 
 one whole. If man belong by his nature to a 
 spiritual world and continue to live in it during 
 his sojourn on earth, there is no contradiction 
 involved in the assumption that he may be ex- 
 alted to it. Both the Scripture and our own 
 experience confirm this ; and if the object of our 
 
46 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 earthly life be preparation for a life in the 
 spiritual world — and what nobler object could 
 we imagine? — that man who has most nearly 
 approached this end, will certainly be most able 
 now to exalt himself to such spiritual life. But 
 if what he has seen during his exaltation to 
 spiritual life is to become available to him as a 
 human being and to others, it must needs be 
 exhibited in logical connection and in a form 
 comprehensible to human beings. It is for this 
 reason that St. Paul, speaking so highly of 
 spiritual sight, nevertheless declares the gift of 
 interpretation to be an indispensable accessary, 
 in order that the community may be benefited 
 by the former. He thus allots his place to the 
 interpreter also. 
 
 But to proceed from these introductory re- 
 marks to a closer view of our subject. The 
 Apostle Paul combined in himself, to a most 
 extraordinary degree, the gift of spiritual vision 
 with that of clearly representing what he and 
 others had seen. It is he, above all the other 
 Apostles, who makes it his particular aim to 
 render divine truths accessible to human faculties 
 by a logical arrangement, thus furnishing an 
 example for all who feel the same need. Every 
 one will find this confirmed, who reads with 
 sufiicient attention and reflection the history and 
 writings of this extraordinary man. While yet 
 
INTRODUCTION. 47 
 
 a youth, he had studied the religion of his fore- 
 fathers in all its parts with the utmost zeal, and 
 under the most reputed masters of his time ; and, 
 stored with all the knowledge which he had had 
 an opportunity of acquiring, he had become a 
 zealous defender of what he then held to be 
 truth. But the prejudices of his times had given 
 a wrong bias to his mind. He recognised God, 
 not as loving all men with an equal love, but as 
 an austere God of the Jewish nation, jealous of 
 His honour, and enforcing the literal observance 
 of His external laws, as having chosen for His 
 own, a people who should be made happy to the 
 exclusion of all others. St. Paul lived in the 
 hope of a Messiah, but of a Messiah who was to 
 realise the plans of his God in respect to his own 
 people in an earthly manner; he was unable to 
 recognise Him, who had already appeared in 
 humility and meekness to unite all men, who 
 had divested Himself of His divine glory to ap- 
 proach all and to purify and bless all, through 
 His divine doctrine and heavenly consolation. 
 He considered it his duty to persecute, in honour 
 of his national God, the disciples of Him whom 
 he did not recognise. A ray of celestial light 
 then entered his soul in a miraculous manner; 
 there fell from his eyes, as it were, scales, and 
 the hindrances were removed which had pre- 
 vented his seeing truth. We do not know what 
 
48 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 preparatory training may have preceded this 
 change in the mind of the Apostle, what doubts 
 may have risen within him, what conflicts he 
 may have had to encounter before the change 
 could become apparent, which, according to its 
 nature, is generally gradual in the mind of man. 
 We know nothing of the nature of the light 
 which he saw: St. Paul himself was unable to 
 describe it ; what is invisible cannot be described, 
 what is inaudible cannot be expressed in earthly 
 language. Whether he was in the body or out 
 of it, he could not himself tell. And though it 
 were an earthly brightness by which the vision 
 was accompanied, it was no earthly light that 
 could scatter the darkness of his spirit and enable 
 him to gaze on truth. But the effect of the 
 enlightening proves that it was of God. It 
 changed the Apostle's notion of a mere national 
 to that of a universal God, the loving Father of 
 all. It broke through the partition-wall of 
 national prejudice. Not Jews only, but all people 
 and nations were to share in the kingdom of the 
 Messiah. The earthly splendour with which his 
 ideas had invested Him, had vanished, and he 
 saw only the spiritual Messiah, whose kingdom 
 is not of this world. The proud Pharisee is 
 become a lowly disciple of those very teachers, 
 whom but lately he would have scorned to listen 
 to. The persecutor of Christians, regardless of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 49 
 
 toil and pain, is changed into the zealous mis- 
 sionary of heavenly truth. — Here then we have* 
 all the marks of a divine revelation ; an increase 
 of the knowledge of God, exalted conceptions, 
 self-denial, and an increased submission and love 
 of God and the brethren. What reasonable 
 grounds, therefore, can there be for denying the 
 divineness of this revelation or the truth of its 
 outward representation ? What other power 
 than that of God could ever have produced such 
 divine results? 
 
 It is, therefore, to the effect produced upon 
 St. Paul by the divine revelation, that we must 
 look in order to ascertain its truth and also its 
 nature, as far as this may be possible. Do we 
 find the man Paul, as it were, annihilated and 
 transformed into another being, or the funda- 
 mental principles of his character changed, and 
 his former recollections blotted out? Do we 
 from henceforward find him speak as an instru- 
 ment of Deity, devoid of will and thought, or 
 acquiring on a sudden a clear insight into all 
 human relations ? By no means. He is himself 
 directed to other men for information as to his 
 further proceedings. We find him afterwards 
 taking counsel with himself and the other Apos- 
 tles respecting the organisation of churches. He 
 writes his epistles as occasions require them, as 
 a called Apostle, enlightened by the Holy Ghost, 
 
50 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 but we do not find him say that the words and 
 expressions had been supplied by the Holy Ghost ; 
 he distinguishes that which he knows to be di- 
 vine truth from that which he states as his own 
 opinion ; his former character, his enquiring and 
 impetuous mind, are clearly apparent in all his 
 writings, although much ennobled and elevated ; 
 he corrects opinions which he had formerly ex- 
 pressed, and advances in human knowledge. 
 And indeed this could not be otherwise, if the 
 divine truth communicated to him were to be- 
 come really beneficial to him and others. Could 
 he, as a mere outwardly acting instrument of 
 Deity, have possibly progressed in purity and 
 knowledge, or could he as such have made ac- 
 cessible to men the pure truth which, in its 
 purity, we know to be inaccessible to them? 
 An immediate divine communication must needs, 
 by its nature, be purely spiritual, and can have 
 only that which is spiritual for its object ; its 
 earthly clothing, conformable to time and place 
 must needs be furnished by human hands. It 
 is for this reason chiefly that we have not to look 
 to the Scriptures for philosophical and historical 
 instruction, and even where we think to have 
 found such, we must consider it only as a means, 
 and never as a final object. But quite inde- 
 pendently of this reason, we have no grounds for 
 supposing, that God would make immediate re- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 51 
 
 velations on subjects which he has given us un* 
 derstanding to explore, the proper use of which 
 being in itself a great and indispensable means 
 for our spiritual progress. Natural philosophy 
 and history attain to their true import only when 
 they are penetrated by the divine Spirit ; and it 
 is only from a spiritual standing-point, that the 
 true meaning of nature and the true significance 
 of the past can be recognised, and the future 
 unveiled. — Thus we can comprehend how St. 
 Paul was able to see the pure truth, and thereby 
 avoid spiritual illusions, and to attain to that 
 spiritual unity which pervades the whole of his 
 writings, and which is the sign and seal of truth ; 
 and how his methods of explaining and applying 
 it to human objects, and his conception of the 
 world, could yet become more and more ex- 
 tensive and perfect. He had acquired a new 
 standard for the relations of this world ; he de- 
 clares old things to have passed away, all things 
 to have become new, since he is in Christ (2 Cor. 
 v. 16, 17) ; yet as a human being, he must needs 
 apply this standard, find his own place in his new 
 world, and search and prove, as he invites others 
 to do, to whom he applies this declaration equally 
 with himself. 
 
 This conception of the world proceeding from 
 the divine Spirit, but matured in him, the man 
 Paul, through experience, reflection and observ- 
 
 e 2 
 
52 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ation, the Apostle has laid down more clearly 
 and positively than in all his other writings, in 
 the epistle to the Roman congregation. His con- 
 nection with this congregation was different in 
 character from his connection with others, that 
 he had himself founded, and to whom his other 
 epistles are addressed. This epistle was, there- 
 fore, not written in consequence of any particular 
 occurrences or inquiries, so that its author had 
 no occasion to start from any given point, or to 
 shape his instructions accordingly, but was at 
 liberty to follow the natural course of his ideas. 
 The Roman congregation included many mem- 
 bers who had already made considerable pro- 
 gress, and of these the Apostle knew many 
 personally, who had probably enjoyed the ad- 
 vantage of his oral instructions. This is proba- 
 ble, from the introduction and several observa- 
 tions in other places, as well as from the list of 
 names at the end. It was the purpose of the 
 Apostle to communicate to these men the scheme 
 of divine redemption through Christ in its out- 
 ward and inward bearing. He has accomplished 
 his purpose with admirable skill and wisdom, in- 
 asmuch as he combats the prejudices and errors 
 of the Jews precisely in that form in which they 
 were at that time proving the greatest hindrance 
 to the attainment of truth : removing as it were 
 one obstruction after the other, he renders his 
 
INTRODUCTION. 53 
 
 readers capable of seeing the truth in the light 
 and connection which were at the time most ap- 
 propriate to their condition. — As interpreters 
 of this epistle, we must, therefore, above all 
 other things, have made ourselves thoroughly 
 acquainted with the Apostle's mind and method 
 of reasoning, by an unremitting study and spirit- 
 ual comprehension of his collective writings, and, 
 by a careful comparison with the immediate 
 words of Christ, have attained to the most lively 
 conviction, that it is the Spirit of truth, of divine 
 revelation which dwells in the Apostle; we must 
 make the clearly expressed and undoubted funda- 
 mental truths a means for the interpretation of 
 his more difficult arguments; we must study 
 the condition of the times in which the Apostle 
 wrote, in order to make ourselves conversant 
 with the outward form of his representation and 
 his human system. But as it is not this but his 
 spiritual system, with which we have principally 
 to deal, we must raise ourselves from the figure 
 to the thing signified, from the particular to the 
 universal and absolute, always keeping in view 
 the one great fundamental truth of the Gospel, 
 that God is love ; we must interpret St. Paul, as 
 he interprets the Old Testament Scriptures, ad- 
 hering to the outward form, and yet compre- 
 hending them according to their inward spiritual 
 meaning. We must possess a knowledge of the 
 
54 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 methods of inquiry and logical arrangement 
 adopted in our days, apply these to our results, 
 and thus make it as much as possible clear to 
 ourselves, how St. Paul would have expressed 
 his ideas if he were living in our times, and 
 writing for us ; by which, however, it is by no 
 means to be implied, that the Apostle actually 
 thought by our methods. If under such condi- 
 tion a, following closely the always consistent 
 thoughts and reasoning of the Apostle, and tak- 
 ing his words in their simplest and most natural 
 significations, we attain to a view of the world 
 more worthy than any other of the God of love, 
 whom the Gospel has revealed to us — if we 
 attain to a wisdom, according to the inspired 
 declaration of the Apostle, immeasurably ex- 
 ceeding all human wisdom, a power of God, 
 the hidden wisdom of God (1 Cor, ii. 5 — 7) 
 — we may then be certain that we have ap- 
 proached the meaning of the Apostle, and that 
 we have not imputed to him our own ideas, or 
 made him the vehicle for them. Error will ap- 
 pear under the most diversified forms, and can- 
 not be recognised and disposed of without the 
 means which successive times have supplied ; but 
 the divine truth is but one, and the path which 
 leads to it but one, and this path is Christ. Thus 
 we shall have to attribute whatever may remain 
 of error to our own weakness ; but the truth 
 
INTRODUCTION. 55 
 
 which has been vouchsafed to us, can flow from 
 the one source alone, from which the Apostle had 
 drawn such copious draughts. 
 
 From this, it will at once appear what object 
 the Author of the following exposition has had 
 in view. From all that has been said, it must be 
 evident that no one can have a more lively con- 
 viction than himself, that he has not reached it ; 
 but he carries within himself the only incontest- 
 able evidence that he has not altogether missed 
 it. What he has here, in the fulness of his heart, 
 laid down as truth, has upheld and strengthened 
 him, and proved a blessing in hope, during a 
 life of manifold and severe trials ; and there are 
 not a few of those, whom Providence has placed 
 in close connection with him, to whom his views 
 have proved an equal blessing. That the number 
 of these may yet be increased, is the sole motive 
 which prompted him to publish this work. It is 
 not intended exclusively for any particular class 
 of society, but for all who have the lively desire 
 to see the barrier between faith and knowledge 
 demolished, as much as may be possible in their 
 present condition; who desire to recognise the 
 sublime truths of divine revelation, in unison 
 with the peremptory demands of their reason, 
 and to attain to a oneness of their whole being, 
 without which no lasting peace is to be. thought 
 of. Care has been taken to avoid, as much as 
 
56 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 possible, whatever might have proved a hindrance 
 to any unprejudiced searcher after truth. But, 
 notwithstanding the most earnest desire for per- 
 spicuity, the Author has found it impossible to 
 demonstrate every idea on its first introduction, 
 as absolutely consistent with the whole, since it 
 was not his object to write a system, but to 
 elucidate a work, which he was bound to follow 
 step by step. On this account, it is hoped, the 
 request will not be considered unreasonable, that 
 a judgment upon some particular points, which 
 might startle the reader, may be deferred until 
 they can be reviewed at the close, and appreci- 
 ated in their connection with the whole. 
 
 With respect to the text, the Author has taken 
 special care to translate as literally as possible. 
 But the words as such, have often several signifi- 
 cations, and on that account, even with the most 
 earnest desire to translate literally, it is impossi- 
 ble to avoid introducing the results of our Bible 
 studies. For this reason, the several significa- 
 tions in which certain words are used, and of 
 which it was impossible to render all in the text, 
 have been adverted to in the notes, although 
 these are not intended, as will be easily per- 
 ceived, to supply the place of more copious com- 
 mentaries for the student, their chief object 
 being, to state the authorities for certain devia- 
 tions from commonlv accepted significations. A 
 
INTRODUCTION. 57 
 
 few grammatical observations have also been 
 embodied in the notes, as well as on other sub- 
 jects, which would have proved interruptions 
 in the text; and care has been taken, that readers 
 who are not conversant with the Greek language, 
 may omit the notes altogether without material 
 disadvantage. 
 
 Some other subjects, which are generally- 
 disposed of in Introductions, the Author has 
 thought it advisable to treat in the text, as occa- 
 sion seemed to require it. As it was not his 
 object to communicate or discuss the opinions 
 of other commentators, he refers his readers for 
 such information to their works, chiefly to that 
 of Dr. Tholuck, which is most valuable in many 
 respects, and to which, being the most modern 
 among the more copious commentaries, he has 
 on several occasions made especial reference. It 
 has not been thought expedient to prefix a 
 synopsis of the contents, as this could not 
 have been done without anticipating the Author's 
 results, it being his especial wish, that the reader 
 may ground his views upon the discourse of the 
 Apostle himself, without being influenced by 
 any preconceived notions. 
 
 May, then, this work be received by many in 
 the same spirit of love in which it has been 
 written. The Author does not expect universal 
 assent, for reasons which the book itself will 
 
58 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 develope ; indeed, if such were possible, the very 
 circumstance would be the most powerful refuta- 
 tion of the fundamental principle, which it has 
 been his object to establish. 
 
CHAPTER THE FIRST. 
 
 1 — 7. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called 
 
 2 [to be] an Apostle, ordained to the service of 
 
 3 the Gospel of God, which He promised afore, 
 
 4 through His Prophets, in the Holy Scriptures, 
 concerning His Son (who was of the seed of 
 David, according to the flesh, but, according 
 to the spirit of holiness, has been shown 
 with power as the Son of God, through the 
 
 5 resurrection from the dead) Jesus Christ our 
 Lord (through whom we have received grace 
 
 6 and apostleship to [spread] obedience to the 
 faith among all nations for His name's sake, 
 
 7 among whom are ye also called of Jesus 
 Christ), to all the beloved of God that are 
 at Rome, called [to be] Saints : grace be unto 
 you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 1 a0Q)pto-/xeVoj refers to his actual appointment and mission. 
 See Acts xiii. 2. 5 Xdpis denotes the general gift of grace which 
 is the portion of all believers. — anourok^v els vnaKorjv irlo-Teas the 
 Apostolic office, whose object is, obedience to the Faith, submis- 
 sion through conviction. — iv naai rols i'dveo-t. that is to say, all 
 nations as distinguished from the Jews. The expression marks 
 Christianity as the common property of mankind, in opposition 
 to a mere national religion. — vnep rov ovdfxaros avrov the name of 
 
60 Chap. I. 1—7. 
 
 In this deeply significant and comprehensive 
 introduction, St. Paul announces himself as a 
 servant of Christ, in the full assurance of having 
 no desire but that of executing the will of his 
 Master. Nevertheless he certainly feels as one 
 invested with the privileges of a son, admitted to 
 a knowledge of his Lord's designs. He declares 
 himself called, predestined to his office, since, 
 as he afterwards expressly teaches, all things 
 come to'pass according to the predisposing will of 
 God, independently of the conceptions or devices 
 of man, thus vindicating the dignity of his office. 
 He regards the Gospel as a dispensation of God, 
 predetermined and promised of old through His 
 Prophets, and the whole scheme of human re- 
 demption as purposed and decreed from the begin- 
 ning, not, as it were, as a new thought or resolve 
 of God. The descent of the Saviour from David 
 according to the flesh, formed a part of this 
 scheme ; but that He was a Son of God, accord- 
 ing to the spirit, not Himself a being in need of 
 redemption, is proved by the power of God, 
 evinced, according to St. Paul's view, above all 
 other things, by His resurrection from the dead. 
 It is important to observe that St. Paul, in order 
 to exhibit Christ as the Son of God according to 
 
 Christ, i. e. His power and personality are represented as the ob- 
 ject no less than the ground of faith. The glorifying of Christ's 
 name among men is not the first object, but its necessary con- 
 sequence. 
 
Chap. I. 1—7. 61 
 
 the Spirit, does not advert to the holiness and 
 purity of His life, nor to His divine doctrine and 
 the manifold manifestations of His power, but 
 simply and solely to his resurrection from the 
 dead. That the Apostle considers this as a fact 
 of the highest importance, is clearly proved by 
 the general tenor of his writings, as well as by 
 many particular passages. He says, for instance, 
 that " if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the 
 Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 saved" (Rom. x. 9) ; and again, "and if Christ be 
 not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your 
 faith is also vain"(l Cor. xv. 14). In reference 
 to the proof of Christ's higher spiritual nature, 
 which St. Paul here draws from His resurrec- 
 tion, it is especially worthy of note, that in his 
 discourse at the Synagogue of Antioch (Acts xiii. 
 35 — 37), as St. Peter had done before him (Acts 
 ii. 27 — 31), he distinctly applies to Christ, the 
 10th verse of the 16th Psalm, "for thou wilt not 
 leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer 
 thine Holy one to see corruption." Whether the 
 author of this Psalm may have applied these 
 words to Christ or not, it is evident that they 
 were so applied by St. Paul, and that it was his 
 conviction, that the Son of God, the Spirit who 
 came into the flesh as the Saviour of mankind, 
 who must needs differ from ordinary human 
 
62 Chap. I. 1—7. 
 
 spirits in His manner of entering the world, must 
 likewise differ from them in that of quitting it, and 
 be exempted from this condition of sinfulness.* 
 It is certainly not St. Paul's purpose, to exhibit 
 Christ as the Son of God only after His resur- 
 rectionf; he represents Him on the contrary 
 throughout, as St. John has done in all his writ- 
 ings, and St. Peter in his first Epistle (i. 20), as 
 Him through whom God had, from the beginning, 
 decreed and executed the work of salvation 
 (Rom. xvi. 25, Eph. i. 4 — iii. 9). It is true 
 that St. Paul represents Christ chiefly in the 
 light of a spiritual sovereign, and his manifesta- 
 tion in the flesh is, according to his exalted 
 view, but one period in His work of redemption, 
 
 * Of course it is not to be inferred that all who are raised from 
 the dead are spirits of a higher nature ; else we must consider 
 Lazarus as such : we may, however, conclude, that a spirit of a 
 higher nature could not be subject to the same process of separa- 
 tion, but according to the higher laws of its being, must leave its 
 body after a different fashion. Lazarus was under the necessity 
 of tasting death a second time, and his body of undergoing cor- 
 ruption. Not so Christ. He was, indeed, under the necessity of 
 leaving behind him his earthly body, of which he had further need 
 after his Resurrection, upon the completion of his visible sojourn- 
 ing on earth — for no earthly body can enter the place of spirits ; 
 so that it holds good, even in this sense, that "Flesh and blood 
 cannot inherit the kingdom of God " (1 Cor. xv. 50). But he did 
 not suffer death again, but departed without death or corruption. 
 This subject will be discussed further on, in reference to St. Paul's 
 doctrine of the crapa TrvevfiartKov. 
 
 t 'E£ avao-racreass viKpwv means here, not since, as Luther and 
 others have translated it, but through the resurrection from the 
 dead ; a signification of i< by no means unfrequent. 
 
Chap. I. 1—7. 63 
 
 but on that very account, Christ is to him the 
 Son of God both during and after his appearance 
 on this earth. That of all the manifestations of 
 the power of God during the life of Christ, St. 
 Paul should mention only that of His resurrec- 
 tion, is worthy of our especial notice also, be- 
 cause we have here an example of a mode of 
 writing very usual with him, and which has 
 given rise to many erroneous impressions, namely, 
 the substitution of some essential particular or 
 circumstance, as a forcible expression for the 
 whole. Thus the blood or death of Christ often 
 stands for the whole of His life, or the whole of 
 His work — thus circumcision for the Mosaic law 
 or the Jewish nation. 
 
 St. Paul particularly insists upon the circum- 
 stance of his having received his calling and his 
 apostolic functions through the grace of Christ, 
 and not through any human appointment. He 
 adverts to this also on other occasions, for in- 
 stance, Gal. i. 1. The object of his mission is to 
 invite all nations to a believing acknowledgment 
 of the name, power, aad personality of Christ, 
 to a faithful acceptance of the help offered by 
 Him. He addresses his salutation to all, whom he 
 regards as the beloved of God, whether residents 
 or strangers at Rome, not as though God had 
 distinguished them with a partial or peculiar love, 
 but because He loves all those who acknowledge 
 
64 Chap. I. 8—15. 
 
 and obey Him. He styles them called, as being 
 now capable of understanding the call which had 
 gone forth, as the Apostle more fully explains 
 further on ; and Saints, according to the accepta- 
 tion of this word in the Old Testament, as having 
 been admitted to fellowship with God's people, 
 and made members of a congregation especially 
 set apart for holiness. Grace is that which man, 
 who cannot stand before the righteousness of 
 God, requires, in order -to obtain godly consola- 
 tion, peace, and tranquillity of mind, and these 
 form the object of the Apostle's prayer in this 
 earnest and cordial salutation to the Roman con- 
 gregation. 
 
 8 — 15. Before all, I thank my God through 
 Christ Jesus on account of you all, that your 
 
 9 faith is celebrated in the whole world. For 
 God is my witness, whom in my spirit I serve 
 
 10 in the Gospel of His Son, that I remember 
 you without ceasing, and always in my 
 prayers offer up the petition that by God's 
 
 11 will it may sometime be my joy to come to 
 
 12 you. For I long much to see you, in order 
 to communicate spiritual gifts to you for 
 your strengthening : that is, to be refreshed 
 
 13 with you through our common faith, yours 
 and mine. Now, you should know, brethren, 
 that I have often purposed to come to you, 
 
Chap. I. 8—15. 65 
 
 but have been hindered hitherto, in order to 
 gather some fruit among you, as also among 
 
 14 the other Gentiles. To Greeks and Bar- 
 
 15 barians, wise and unwise, I am a debtor, and 
 so it is my earnest wish, as far as in me lies, 
 to preach the Gospel to you also who are at 
 Rome. 
 
 The Apostle begins his epistle as he usually 
 does, with the assurance of his love, founded upon 
 
 8 npcorov fiev "First," means here: Before proceeding to the main 
 subject of the epistle. — 8ia Irjaov Xpiarov through Jesus Christ, be- 
 cause that for which I thank God, and my being able to thank 
 Him at all are his work ; and because it is through Christ alone, 
 that we have access to God. — 9 iv to irvevpari pov, with my whole 
 soul with my whole being. — 10 htopai, beseech would be too strong 
 a rendering. It is not an unconditional wish, but one subordinated 
 to the divine will, which St. Paul expresses in his prayer, and, as it 
 were, meditates before God. — 11 Xapurpa, not any miraculous gift, 
 but comfort, peace, confirmation and deeper insight. — 13 The ex- 
 pression Kapwov ex eiv > t° gather fruit (not produce or furnish 
 fruit), is quite in keeping with the Apostle's view, as established 
 in a subsequent passage, viz. — that the efficacy of the doctrine is 
 not dependent upon human will, but can only be manifested in 
 such as have been previously ripened for it by a divine process. — 
 14 eXXT/o-i re kci\ fiapftdpois, k. t. X. I am a debtor both to Greeks 
 and Barbarians, to wise and unwise. It does not seem to be St. 
 Paul's design to establish any opposition here, or to place the 
 Romans decidedly in either class. Still less can it be his inten- 
 tion to bring forward their acquaintance with philosophy, as a 
 mark of distinction, since he did not allow its pretensions, even 
 in the case of the Athenians. (Acts xvii.) He feels himself bound, 
 and it is everywhere his earnest endeavour, to labour at his work ; 
 but the Gospel does not require any scientific preparation in 
 order to be comprehended, being open to the simplest, nor has 
 it any need to shun the investigation of the philosopher, being 
 above them. Compare v. 16, 17. — Of all the explanations that 
 have been offered of the construction of the sentence 13 — 15, 
 the best seems to be to take ovrco as equivalent to quce quum ita 
 sint, wherefore, referring it solely to v. 14. Compare Matt. v. Hi ; 
 
 F 
 
6G Chap. I. 8—15. 
 
 common convictions and common aspirations. It 
 is only where these really exist, that friendship 
 can be lasting, because its foundation cannot be 
 shaken, while all intimacies, based upon a simi- 
 larity of interests and habits or of predilections 
 for arts and sciences, or having their root in any 
 other earthly soil, will be exposed to the varying 
 influences of life, and even where the outward 
 relations continue, will prove an illusion and 
 deception, like all that is earthly and perishable. 
 St. Paul rejoices to find his bretheren in a fit 
 state for a faithful acceptance of the grace 
 offered them. He, who could with truth say 
 that he judged of all things solely according to 
 their spiritual relations, rejoices in nothing but 
 in his being sure of his beloved in this respect, 
 knowing that to those who seek the kingdom of 
 God, all other things will be added. He gives 
 utterance to his joy in the form of a thanksgiving 
 to God through Jesus Christ, as the only way to 
 the Father, who, by the whole work of His re- 
 demption has opened to all fallen spirits the way 
 of return to God, to light, life, and truth. He 
 expresses an earnest wish, that it might please 
 God to direct his steps towards them ; but even 
 where he has the noblest object in view, he in- 
 dulges in this wish only in so far as it may har- 
 
 Eev. iii. 16; and Plat. Laches. 178. — ovtw Trapihdfioixtv. See also 
 Herm. ad Viger, p. 933. 
 
Chap. I. 8 — 15. 67 
 
 monize with the plans of Providence, which he 
 does not presume to scrutinize, sacrificing to them 
 unconditionally his own most ardent desires, and 
 aiming at nothing but to be found a faithful 
 servant of the Gospel. His object in meeting his 
 brethren, is the communication of the spiritual 
 gifts intrusted to him, and the extension of the 
 dominion of truth. He burns with a desire to 
 communicate the truth revealed to him, of which 
 Christ alone is the central sun. But as a ray of 
 the sun is refracted in manifold ways, each, though 
 in different colours, representing the whole image 
 of the sun, and as all the images will have to be 
 collected into one focus, in order to reflect the 
 sun in its purity and whiteness, so will the same 
 truth be reflected in manifold ways in different 
 minds, no one possessing the whole. On that 
 account, St. Paul, though he had surely more to 
 offer than his friends, expects to receive also 
 from them and to be comforted and strengthened 
 through their common faith_(xii. 3 — 7). There 
 is something truly beautiful in this Christian 
 communion or interchange of the innermost con- 
 ceptions and experiences of spiritual life, and a 
 great blessing does he lack, who is deprived thereof. 
 The convictions of the individual may, it is true, 
 and ought to become so firm and deeply rooted, 
 that even in a world of unbelief and error, he may 
 stand unshaken ; and truly admirable is the man, 
 
 f2 
 
68 Chap. I. 8—15. 
 
 who, though he imagines himself like Elijah, alone 
 in his belief, keeps his ground notwithstanding. 
 But until this point be reached, the community 
 of our convictions must be accounted a most 
 valuable help; and where it is of the right des- 
 cription, namely, a state of mind produced by 
 purification, reflection and experience, it differs 
 widely from that blind authoritative belief, which 
 is surely never able to send forth into other minds 
 a warming, enlightening, or quickening ray. The 
 Apostle expects an accession of strength to him- 
 self also, as a direct consequence of his own com- 
 munications, and this is the beauty of spiritual 
 conmunication, that it does not make the giver 
 poorer but richer, since, while he is giving, he 
 will receive from the fountain of light and truth, 
 as it were by reflection, one new ray of light 
 after another. The principal object of the Apos- 
 tle, however, is to be working at his calling. 
 As minister of the truth, he feels himself bound 
 to communicate, by the very fact of his having 
 something to communicate. As commissioned 
 steward, he must, of necessity, distribute, not 
 for a reward in this world, but because he cannot 
 do otherwise. Woe unto me he says elsewhere, 
 if I do not preach the Gospel. As much as in 
 him lies, and in as far as it depends on himself, 
 God not having otherwise decreed, he is ready to 
 preach the Gospel at Rome also, as he had hitherto 
 
Chap. I. 16—17. 69 
 
 done and is still bound to do, among all men, 
 whether wise or unwise. 
 
 16 — 17. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel 
 (of Christ) : for it is a power of God unto sal- 
 
 17 vation to every believer, to the Jews first, and 
 to the Greek. For in Him is the righteous- 
 ness of God manifest, from faith to faith, as it 
 is written : the righteous shall live by faith. 
 
 The Gospel, as St. Paul says in another place, 
 ( 1 Cor. i. 23), was a stumbling block to many of 
 the Jews, who were in expectation of a powerful, 
 earthly Messiah, and a foolishness, a subject for 
 ridicule, to the Greeks, because they knew not 
 how to reconcile it with their imaginary worldly 
 wisdom. Those, therefore, who were not yet 
 thoroughly imbued with its intrinsic power and 
 truth, might be deterred from preaching it by fear 
 of persecution, or of the opposition and ridicule 
 of such as conceited themselves wise. Not so 
 St. Paul. He knew it to be a power of God, for 
 the salvation of all who are capable of applying 
 it to themselves with living, earnest conviction. 
 He knew it to be the mysterious and hidden 
 wisdom of God, ordained before the world, unto 
 
 16 enaicrxweadai, to be ashamed, comprehends also the notion 
 of fearing and drawing back, an instance of which may be seen 
 in 2 Tim i. 8. M17 ovv eTraicrxvvdrjs to paprvpiov tov Kvplov 17/xwr, 
 " Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of onr Lord ;" which 
 is immediately preceded by ov yap edanev rjp.lv n Qeos nvevpa 
 Scikias. " For God hath not given us the spirit of fear." 
 
70 Chap. I. 16—17. 
 
 our glory (1 Cor. ii. 7). To him, therefore, the 
 preaching of the Gospel could not be aught but 
 a duty and a glory. The Gospel is the fountain 
 of grace, in the first place, to the faithful amongst 
 the Jews, not as though it had been principally 
 intended for them — for he says, both here and 
 further on, that it was intended for all nations — 
 but because it had been offered to them first, and 
 because it was a part of God's plan, that it should 
 be first preached in Judea. The Gospel is a 
 power unto salvation, because it reveals the 
 righteousness of God in its essential character and 
 bearing, not only showing wherein it consists, 
 but making it apparent in its effects — The term 
 righteousness of God (hucauHrwrn <9eo£>), bears a 
 twofold meaning. In the first place, it denotes 
 that righteousness, as a human attribute, which 
 alone is of value before G@d, acknowledged by 
 Him and required of man, namely that righteous- 
 ness which proceeds from a faithful acceptance 
 of the help of God, and the childlike reliance 
 upon Him, continually gaining strength within 
 itself, in contradistinction to the righteousness of 
 man, which rests on the observance of certain 
 laws, and which, even if such observance could 
 be perfect, has no power beyond that of exempt- 
 ing from punishment, and cannot lead to the 
 highest bliss or participation in the kingdom of 
 God, being, moreover, but too apt to engender 
 
Chap. I. 16—17. 71 
 
 self-righteousness and hypocrisy (Luke xvi. 15; 
 xviii 11). But this word denotes also justice 
 as an attribute of God, which, as the Gospel 
 teaches, is not, like human justice, to be consi- 
 dered as an exact adaptation of reward and pun- 
 ishment to the doings of man, according to which 
 no human being could stand before God, but on 
 the contrary, as a loving communication of that 
 which man requires, in order to be accepted by 
 Him.— In the same manner the word faith 
 (irk«), so significant in all the writings of St. 
 Paul, will be found to have a twofold meaning; 
 on the one hand, appropriation on the part of 
 man, and on the other, truthfulness and good 
 faith on the part of God. This will appear more 
 clearly as we proceed. Of course in concentrat- 
 ing in a few words the whole substance of his 
 doctrine, St. Paul, in his forcible style, assigns 
 to each word its fullest signification. 
 
 The Apostle is full of the great idea, that man 
 is intended by God to become a participator in a 
 spiritual, divine community, in the kingdom of 
 God promised by Christ, which St. faul himself 
 describes as a state of glory, compared to which 
 the sufferings which we have to endure in order 
 to attain it, are to be considered as nought, And 
 surely, this kingdom of God was before his 
 spiritual eye, when he represents the congrega- 
 tion of Christ under the image of a spiritual 
 
72 Chap. I. 16—17. 
 
 body, which cannot attain to the highest state of 
 life and bliss, unless each member has the positive 
 conviction of his being placed by God precisely 
 in that position in which he himself, together 
 with all others, is best able to contribute to his 
 own and to universal happiness, and consequently 
 to enjoy the highest possible bliss. But at the 
 same time, the fall of man and the sinfulness of 
 the whole human race are also present to his 
 mind ; he is fully impressed both with the im- 
 possibility of man's being brought by his own 
 strength from this state of sinfulness, in which 
 all participate, to that state of blessedness which 
 necessarily excludes all that is ungodly, and with 
 the necessity of that divine assistance and inter- 
 ference, which have been extended by Christ to 
 the human species. The Gospel is therefore not 
 merely a doctrine and a teaching, but a power of 
 God unto salvation, which, as soon as we become 
 conscious of our own sinfulness and utter help- 
 lessness, will beget a childlike and affectionate 
 dependence upon God, that is faith, which will 
 then, through the continuance of the same divine 
 influence, develope itself, and gradually gain 
 strength, and thus lead from faith to faith, from 
 the first dawn to the highest development of 
 faith and so to the highest state of perfection and 
 blessedness. It appears to me, that the force of 
 the expression " from faith to faith," will be 
 
Chap. I. 16—17. 73 
 
 more fully compassed, if we take the first word 
 "faith," for the truthfulness of God, His perse- 
 vering and affectionate guidance of mankind, by 
 which man is led to faith, to an acknowledgment 
 and joyful acceptance of the proffered help. — 
 That man can attain salvation through God and 
 through a faithful trust in Him only, and not 
 through his own works, St. Paul continues, was 
 intimated of old, for instance, by the prophet 
 Habakkuk in the words "the righteous shall live 
 by faith," (chap. ii. 4), where salvation is pro- 
 mised not to him who attempts to fly before a 
 threatening danger, but to him who, in the midst 
 of it, puts his trust in God. 
 
 These sublime and to himself most vital 
 truths, the Apostle developes in the following 
 verses in a complete though not exactly system- 
 atic manner, with especial reference to the preju- 
 dices of his nation. Carried away by the fulness 
 of his thoughts and the depth of his feelings, he 
 sometimes leaves certain necessary restrictions 
 and limitations for future occasions, and some- 
 times trusts to the reader to draw them out for 
 himself. 
 
 If we enter fully into the Apostle's state of 
 mind, we shall find the succession and connec- 
 tion of his ideas very natural. He had said that 
 he was neither ashamed nor afraid to preach the 
 Gospel, knowing it to be a power of God ; this 
 
74 Chap. I. 16—17. 
 
 naturally leads him to the consideration of the 
 state of those to whom the Gospel was a stum- 
 bling-block and a foolishness, who through their 
 own depravation and perversion of truth, would, as 
 it were, oppose a barrier to the kingdom of God. 
 What avails their impotent resistance against 
 the power of God, and their imaginary wisdom 
 against the might of His truth? Deeply sensible 
 of the utter antagonism that exists between the 
 kingdom of God, for which man is destined, and 
 the unbounded sinfulness which he witnessed 
 both among Jews and Gentiles, he declaims with 
 the wrath and in the fiery language of the Old 
 Testament against them, or rather against their 
 sinfulness; the wrath of God is revealed from 
 Heaven against all ungodliness, all ungodliness 
 whether of Jew or Gentile. He does not, how- 
 ever, advert to his contemporaries alone, but pro- 
 ceeds at once to the contemplation of former 
 times and of the nations of the past, for there 
 has been ungodliness from the beginning, and 
 from the beginning has the evil principle been 
 warring against the truth of God. The Apostle 
 contemplates the sinfulness of the whole human 
 race and justifies, as it were, the wrath of God, 
 because, he continues, they have never been 
 without some knowledge of God. From the 
 beginning, as long as there have been men 
 on earth, God has revealed himself to them 
 
Chap. I. 18. 75 
 
 through his works, and nevertheless they have 
 fallen into idolatry and sin. 
 
 18 For the wrath of God manifests itself from 
 heaven against all ungodliness and unrigh- 
 teousness of men, who oppose the truth in 
 unrighteou sness. 
 
 It may be hardly necessary to observe, that 
 " wrath of God" signifies the utter displeasure of 
 God, the utter irreconcilability of evil with the 
 nature of God, so that no ebullition of passion is 
 to be thought of. Even the Old Testament, 
 although in its powerful mode of expression 
 attributing to God passions, warns us not to 
 confound them with human passions. Thus we 
 find in Hos. xi. 9, "I will not execute the fierce- 
 ness of mine anger ; for I am God and not man ;" 
 and in Num. xxiii. 19, "God is not a man that 
 He should lie, neither the son of man that He 
 should repent ;" although on the other hand we 
 read in Gen. vi. 6, "and it repented the Lord 
 that He had made man on the earth, and it 
 grieved Him at His heart." The ungodly, as 
 such, cannot by any possibility participate in the 
 
 18 dXfjdeta means here the truth in its highest sense, the actual, 
 the kingdom of God, as Christ says — " He who is of the truth 
 heareth my voice," John xviii. 37 ; and — " He abode not in the 
 truth," John viii. 44, &c. 
 
76 Chap. I. 19—23. 
 
 kingdom of God or in real happiness, because 
 there is direct antagonism between them. The 
 displeasure of God against evil, becomes evident 
 — first, by its inherent debasing effects and evil 
 consequences ; then by the law which threatens 
 punishment, and still more clearly by the pro- 
 mise of a kingdom of peace and truth, with 
 which it is altogether inconsistent, because it ob- 
 structs, as it were, the kingdom of truth in the 
 individual as well as in the whole race, obstructs 
 God's plan of salvation and prevents its consum- 
 mation. Care must be taken not to suppose St. 
 Paul to be here speaking of the Gentiles of his 
 time or of Gentiles generally as distinguished from 
 Jews, which would altogether destroy his subse- 
 quent arguments. He is speaking of the whole 
 human race, which has had the opportunity of 
 witnessing the great works of the Creator from 
 the first beginning. 
 
 19 — 23. For that God may be known is visible 
 in them; for God has manifested Himself 
 
 20 to them: For His invisible attributes have 
 been visible since the creation of the world 
 
 21 through reflection on His works, viz.: His 
 eternal power and glory, so that they cannot 
 excuse themselves. But although they knew 
 God, they honoured Him not as God, and 
 thanked Him not, but fell into vanity in 
 
Chap. I. 19—23. 77 
 
 22 their conceits, and their senseless heart was 
 
 23 darkened. Giving themselves out for wise, 
 they became fools, and transferred the glory 
 of the immortal God to representations of 
 mortal men, and birds, and four-footed beasts, 
 and reptiles.* 
 
 That man in his fallen and sinful state has 
 never been without some knowledge of God, and 
 that his alienation from Him has never been such 
 as to leave him in absolute ignorance of Him, the 
 Apostle intimates, is evident from the history of 
 the human race itself. Indeed no people has 
 ever been found so totally degenerate, as not to 
 have some slight notion of a divine Being. If 
 man, who as St. Paul says, is the offspring of 
 
 19 "That God may be known," or "a (certain) knowledge of 
 God," for to yvcocTTou means knowledge itself as well as that which 
 may be known. Least of all would I translate, "that which or 
 as much as, men may know of God," for then it would follow, 
 from the sequel, that they could know little or nothing of God 
 from the mere contemplation of nature. For St. Paul is here 
 speaking of the mass of men, not of such individuals as attained 
 to a higher knowledge. The Apostle's meaning seems, therefore, 
 to be merely this, " that men in general have the capability of 
 knowing God, is manifest in them." Much depends on the right 
 understanding of this passage. — 20 ra do para, the invisible, that 
 which is not discernible by the bodily senses. — dno Krio-eas, since 
 and through (or "because of") the creation. — voovpeva, known by 
 reflection. 
 
 * It will not be superfluous to remember, in this place, that 
 the Jews fell into the same kind of perverseness and idolatry, as 
 is here spoken of. Compare Psalm cvi. 19, 20. 
 
78 Chap. I. 19—23. 
 
 God (Acts xvii. 28), could ever have fallen so far 
 from his divine origin, as to have lost every ves- 
 tige of his high descent, would not the possibility 
 of his recovery be inconceivable? Some spark of 
 knowledge of God has always remained, and this 
 is the only condition for the possibility of return. 
 For the purpose of resuscitating this spark, even 
 in those who had fallen the lowest, God has re- 
 vealed Himself to them through His works, so 
 far as this was compatible with their condition. 
 Ever since the creation, ever since there have 
 been men on earth, God has offered to their con- 
 templation the universe, as a work of His power 
 and majesty, in order to lead them to the idea 
 of some hidden invisible power, that had pro- 
 duced it. The visible manifestation of such 
 a power was intended and could not fail to 
 lead man to the notion of an invisible power, to 
 God ; whom he would thus learn to know, in the 
 first instance only as a most powerful and most 
 majestic Being. It would therefore be out of all 
 reason to acquit man and to throw the blame 
 upon God, as though He had withheld such com- 
 munications as might have guided his steps to 
 Him. God has at no time left himself without 
 a witness. He has from the very beginning dis- 
 played His power and glory throughout the uni- 
 verse; but man had become unable, in the state 
 of darkness to which the fall of man had reduced 
 
Chap. I. 19—23. 79 
 
 him, to form a clear conception of these His first 
 revelations. He felt the existence of a God, an 
 invisibly acting power; but instead of adoring 
 Him, as it appears natural to us that he should 
 have done, and instead of gratefully acknowledg- 
 ing in Him the giver of all the blessings of which 
 he found himself in possession, and instead of 
 giving thanks to Him, he fell into vain conceits. 
 His condition, which the Scripture everywhere 
 describes as the consequence of a fall and of his 
 own act (Rom. v. 12.) — and how could it pos- 
 sibly be otherwise reconciled with a just concep- 
 tion of God? — his condition was such as to make 
 him incapable of receiving the pure light of 
 God's revelation, it was refracted and obscured, 
 by the atmosphere of his impure heart. The 
 ray fell indeed upon the heart but instead of 
 remaining enlightened by the momentary bright- 
 ness, it closed itself against it, as the eye closes 
 when dazzled by intolerable brilliancy. — The ex- 
 pression "and their foolish heart was darkened," 
 is not to be so misunderstood as if the heart had 
 been pure up to this time and had been obscured 
 only, when this ray of revelation reached it 
 through the works of the creation. Let us re- 
 member that the Scripture does not date the fall 
 of man from the time of such revelation but from 
 an earlier period, so that darkness was already 
 within him at that time. St. Paul describes the 
 
80 Chap. I. 19—23. 
 
 facts as they would appear to an attentive ob- 
 server. Whoever has imparted a truth to an- 
 other, will consider him in possession of that 
 truth. Now if such a one, incapable of forming 
 a clear conception of the truth, speculates upon 
 it after his fashion with his dim and imperfect 
 faculties (StaXo7^6Tat), and evolves a result dif- 
 fering from and altogether inferior to it, his in- 
 formant may imagine his faculties and knowledge 
 impaired, while, in reality, the man is the same 
 as he ever was, and has never been in possession 
 of the truth at all. The knowledge might have 
 been received by his understanding and retained 
 by his memory, but it had never become an in- 
 ward or a living conviction. — The heart of these 
 men, St. Paul continues, was obscured to such a 
 degree, that in their degenerate state they pro- 
 fessed themselves wise, and in their vain imagi- 
 nations, incapable as they were of acknowledging 
 as of God that power whose manifestations they 
 observed, considered it as inherent in the visible 
 world, transferring the worship due to God alone, 
 to that of images of mighty men or even of beasts, 
 whom they found dangerous and desired to pro- 
 pitiate, thus falling into the most senseless idol- 
 atry and the vainest superstition. 
 
 24 — 32. Therefore God also gave them up in 
 the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, so 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 81 
 
 25 that they dishonoured their own bodies 
 among themselves, they who [inasmuch as 
 they] changed God's truth into lies, and 
 worshipped and honoured the creature in- 
 stead of the Creator, who is to be blessed 
 
 26 for ever. — Amen. Therefore [I say], God 
 gave them up to shameful lusts, for their 
 women changed the natural use for an un- 
 
 27 natural; and likewise the men forsook the 
 natural use of the woman, burned in their 
 lust for one another, men working shame- 
 fulness with men. and received in themselves 
 
 28 the fitting reward of their error. And even 
 as they cared not to attain to the knowledge 
 
 29 of God, God gave them up to a worthless 
 mind, to do what is unseemly : full of all 
 unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, 
 covetousness, malice; full of envy, murder, 
 
 30 strife, guile, malignity : whisperers, back- 
 biters, haters of God, overweening, proud, 
 
 31 boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to 
 
 32 parents, unscrupulous, faithless, loveless, 
 implacable, unmerciful: who, though they 
 know the law of God, that those who do 
 such things are worthy of death, neverthe- 
 less, not only themselves do them, but have 
 pleasure in those who do them. 
 
 25 d\r)6eta tov Qeov evidently denotes "the true God ;" as on 
 the other hand, yj/tvdos (a lie) stands for "idols," "false gods." But 
 
 G 
 
82 Citap. [. 24 32. 
 
 The leading idea of the above train of argu- 
 ment, which will be more and more recognised as 
 the truth by the intelligent observer, is this : — 
 All essential knowledge attainable by man (not 
 
 the thought is more forcibly expressed by the verbal translation 
 — " They have turned the truth of God, the true, actual, spiritual 
 kingdom of God,* the original divine order, into the kingdom of 
 vanity and delusion, of unreality and lies." Just as d\r]deia fre- 
 quently denotes that which alone is true and real, the kingdom 
 of God; so -^/evftos denotes the opposite, the kingdom of evil and 
 naught. — Tropa top Kriaavra, praeter, "besides," as it were, passing 
 over the Creator — 27 ifkavt), error, transgression, falling away. 
 Compare Ezek. xxxiii. 10. (Septuagint). — 28 ovk eboKifiaa-av rbv 
 Of 01/ exuv (v tniyvaxTif 8oKifid£eiv, to prove, to test the genuine- 
 ness of anything, and so, to accept and choose as tested. Hence 
 they have not proved, they have not considered the works of 
 God, which are submitted to their contemplation, in order there- 
 by to attain to the knowledge of the true God; they have not 
 searched after God, or they have not thought it worth while, in 
 their brutishness, to attain to a knowledge of God — Both ideas 
 blend into one. — napeduKev avrovs 6 Oe6y els ci86kihov vovv. "He gave 
 them up to a worthless mind." The Novs- (mind) of man is to prove; 
 if it either does not or cannot do so, it is no longer genuine and 
 of proof, but good for nothing but to be cast asvay. It is mani- 
 fest, however, that the ground of its being only to be cast away 
 as ungenuine, is this — that it has lost its power of proving, like 
 a touchstone which has lost its properties. Thus in dboicipos, a 
 word used here by St. Paul, on account of the paronomasia or 
 antithesis in sound, even taking it in its ordinary acceptation, of 
 not genuine, not of proof, rejected (like false coin), there is still 
 another meaning to be brought out, viz. — Incapable of proving, 
 dull. In imitation of the Greek, I have rendered it by worth- 
 less, which conveys at the same time the notion of dulness, and 
 inability to prove. 
 
 * i. e. the kingdom of God, in the sense of God's original 
 creation, before it was deformed by the entrance of evil — what 
 it would have been if those who were created had continued 
 innocent. 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 83 
 
 that acquired by the understanding alone) stands 
 in the closest relation to, and depends upon his 
 knowledge of God, his own intimate conscious- 
 ness of God (not his speculations respecting 
 Him). Whoever acknowledges God as the final 
 cause of all existence, will consider Him also as 
 the cause of all the mighty and beneficent work- 
 ings of nature; whoever does not so consider 
 Him, will, mistaking the visible manifestation of 
 power for the invisible power itself, either not 
 proceed beyond a certain link of the great chain, 
 and so attain only a material conception of the 
 universe, or he will be led into idolatry and 
 superstition by his awe or fear of unknown 
 spiritual influences. Whoever acknowledges God 
 as an all-wise Being, must needs feel that what- 
 ever he sees must have been ordained and can 
 have existence for the wisest purposes only; 
 whoever does not acknowledge Him as such, will 
 also fail to recognise the true order of nature ; 
 much will appear devoid of purpose, or incon- 
 sistent; and he will not acquiesce in a system 
 whose wisdom he ignores. Whoever acknow- 
 ledges God as a holy and benignant Being, to 
 whom all unrighteousness is repugnant and who 
 can desire only the happiness of all, must needs 
 feel assured that no enjoyment can be in accord- 
 ance with His will that is attained at the expense 
 of others: he will search after His plan of love 
 
 g 2 
 
84 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 and find his sole gratification in conforming his 
 practice to its rule ; he will use the world as not 
 abusing it. Whoever does not acknowledge God 
 as an all-holy and all-merciful Being, and thus 
 remains a stranger to His plans and to His king- 
 dom, will seek only the gratification of his 
 appetites and worldly desires, follow the ruinous 
 devices of his own selfishness, and by misappro- 
 priation and abuse of the goods of this world and 
 the neglect of the relative duties of life, work 
 mischief to himself and others. In short, there is 
 the closest connection between total ignorance of 
 God, and total ignorance of moral order —between 
 a perfect knowledge of the true God, and a life in 
 conformity with the divine order. In like manner 
 a defective knowledge of God engenders defective 
 morality and misconception as to the objects of the 
 world. St. Paul represents those of whom he is 
 here speaking, as in a state of the most defective 
 and perverted knowledge of God — in a state of 
 the most frantic superstition. Closely connected, 
 therefore, or in fact identical with such a state, 
 must be a total perversion of the understanding 
 or intellect and of the will, a total misconception 
 as to the value and object of things, as well as a 
 want of moral freedom, manifesting itself by 
 the bondage in which every noble feeling is held, 
 and a slavish subjection to sensual appetites. 
 The Apostle describes as a first consequence of 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 85 
 
 departing from the order established by God, 
 simultaneous with the defection from God and 
 the turning to idolatry, the perversion of the 
 sexes, and the falling into unnatural and dis- 
 gusting lust. He then shows how this gross 
 ignorance of God was naturally accompanied by 
 gross ignorance of all that is godly, and how a 
 host of abominations and vices was the conse- 
 quence, the dreadful catalogue of which he 
 concludes by the most dreadful of all, the plea- 
 sure in evil, which betokens a much greater 
 depravity than the doing of evil for the sake of 
 selfish enjoyment. " God," says the Apostle, 
 " gave them over to a worthless mind to do what 
 is unseemly;" that is to say, He permitted that 
 all this evil should develope itself from the 
 poisoned root and become apparent. Not as 
 though God had for ever given them up to the 
 unavoidable consequences of their evil doings. 
 Far from us be a thought so injurious to the 
 love of God. On the contrary, St. Paul preaches 
 the Gospel of salvation even to them that are 
 fallen most low ; he shows how all stand in need 
 of this redemption, and how it is prepared for 
 all ; neither does the Apostle mean to imply, that 
 God had not at all times concerned himself for 
 men. How would this be possible, since it is 
 through His will, that all are placed in the 
 position which they occupy, a position in which 
 
86 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 He would not have placed them, but in order to 
 attain that, which alone is of value in His sight, 
 and which they could at no time have attained 
 but by His help. As He has at all times let His 
 sun shine upon all, so also has His spiritual light 
 shone forth at all times ; indeed the one blessing 
 would have been useless without the other; but 
 before man becomes capable of receiving the rays 
 of this spiritual light, he requires a course of 
 training which is also a dispensation of God. 
 Every one has to go through this training, which 
 St. Paul calls the " times of ignorance " (Acts 
 xvii. 30), before he becomes capable of receiving 
 instruction of a higher order. Was it not such 
 a training in the times of ignorance, which 
 brought the Athenians, not indeed to a know- 
 ledge, but to a vague idea of the unknown God, 
 of which St. Paul availed himself to bring those 
 amongst them who really cherished this idea, to 
 a knowledge of the true God, thus leading them 
 to that which is godly ? Was it not such a pre- 
 paration which enabled Cornelius and others 
 amongst the Gentiles, to accept the Gospel? — If, 
 as St. Paul further on distinctly teaches, God is 
 also the God of the Gentiles, must not He who is 
 unchangeable have been so at all times? — We 
 should certainly betray a great want of true 
 knowledge of God, if we were to doubt that God 
 had at all times concerned Himself for all men, 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 87 
 
 or that He had not led them all in the manner 
 
 most conducive to their own welfare. This 
 would be to doubt either the wisdom or the 
 goodness of God. The very fact of God's having, 
 as St. Paul expresses it, given men over to 
 a worthless mind, so that they received the 
 reward of their iniquities and thus, through 
 most bitter experience, became acquainted with 
 the direful consequences of sin, this very circum- 
 stance must be considered as a part of such 
 preparatory training. And how could it be 
 otherwise? God could not have made evil 
 harmless, it being harmful in its very nature; 
 this would have been to change His eternal laws, 
 which is impossible. Suppose He had placed de- 
 generate man where he could not commit sin and 
 had no opportunity for sinning, would he not 
 have remained in the same state of wickedness 
 and not have advanced a single step? It is not 
 what man really accomplishes, that establishes 
 his real worth, his worth in the sight of God, 
 but what he is, what he would do, if tempted 
 with opportunity. Or should God have led men 
 to amendment by another revelation than that 
 which He vouchsafed to bestow on them ? What ! 
 while with the aid of the revelation given them, 
 they were not even able to gain the first step in 
 the knowledge of God? — The words of Christ, 
 " If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, 
 
88 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 neither will they be persuaded if one rose from 
 the dead," finds its application also here ; if 
 they did not avail themselves of the instruction 
 offered them according to the plans of God, and 
 which was consequently the most appropriate to 
 their state, how much less would they have been 
 capable of understanding and availing them- 
 selves of revelations of a higher order ! St. Paul 
 certainly, in this place, speaks only of the revela- 
 tions through the works of the creation, as it is 
 at once evident that these were at all times open 
 to every one, this being sufficient for his argu- 
 ment ; but he does not deny, nor could it have 
 been his intention to do so, that other instructions 
 have also been vouchsafed from the beginning. 
 According to Genesis, God himself instructed 
 Adam ; and even if we refer this account to an 
 earlier state, not standing in immediate connec- 
 tion with the men of a later date, it is to be 
 recollected, that Noah, who, according to Moses, 
 is to be considered as the parent of all succeeding 
 races, is also represented as having been favoured 
 with direct revelations from God, which were 
 then transmitted to his posterity, as far as 
 they were capable of understanding them. If 
 we really believe in God, who is all-good, and 
 must ever have been so according to the immuta- 
 bility of His being, we cannot but believe also 
 that He must at all times have accorded to all, 
 
Chap. I. 24— 32. 89 
 
 such teaching as their spiritual condition re- 
 quired. 
 
 In following hitherto the discourse of the 
 Apostle, we have explained the sense of verses 
 19 to 32, as it will most naturally force itself 
 upon those who, although susceptible of the truth 
 of God, are yet living in this world and subject 
 to its conditions, and as it appears most likely to 
 impress those, who do not feel the necessity of 
 elevating themselves to an objective view in this 
 investigation. It is very natural, that for such 
 St. Paul should represent God as manifesting 
 his displeasure of every individual evil deed, 
 visiting each with its appropriate punishment, 
 and man on the other hand, as if it depended 
 upon his own will to act in one way or another 
 in each individual case. It is obvious that this 
 mode of representation, which the Scripture so 
 generally adopts, is most advantageously em- 
 ployed on account of its clearness and impres- 
 siveness, and more particularly as it in no way 
 affects the intrinsic truth of the communication. 
 The objective truth communicated in this manner 
 remains unchanged, it becomes, as it were, trans- 
 lated from the language of spiritual perception 
 into that of the visible world. But in order to 
 comprehend as much as possible the vast idea of 
 the Apostle and to remove apparent contradic- 
 tions, we must endeavour to follow his objective 
 
90 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 view. According to this view, God's abhorrence 
 of evil and its essential contrariety to His nature 
 are absolute, and as through His omniscience 
 the whole heart of man is known to Him from 
 the beginning of his existence, " Thine eyes did 
 see my substance being yet imperfect: and in 
 thy book all my members were written, although 
 as yet there was none of them " ( Psa. cxxxix. 16); 
 and when God says : " before I formed thee in 
 the belly, I knew thee; and before thou earnest 
 forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee " 
 (Jer. i. 5); and as God therefore needs not to 
 await the development of man during this life, 
 in order to judge of his intrinsic worth : He will 
 have pleasure or displeasure in man according 
 to his state of purity at the time, and not 
 according to his outward acts. From this 
 absolute knowledge on the part of God, of the 
 intrinsic worth of man, as well as of the rela- 
 tive position in this world in which He has 
 placed him, the necessity of all human acts as 
 they develope themselves in the visible world, 
 must follow as a natural consequence, and 
 St. Paul distinctly teaches (ix. 16) that nothing 
 depends upon the will of man, but all upon the 
 mercy of God; and that man owes the beginning 
 and the end of his salvation to the help of Christ 
 alone. But it is impossible that St. Paul in this 
 place, where he appears to grant to man the 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 91 
 
 possibility of obtaining a knowledge of God 
 through His works, should advance an argument 
 which he afterwards contradicts. And if we 
 recollect how difficult it was even for the wisest 
 among the Gentiles to attain to the knowledge of 
 the One God, and how difficult for the Jews to 
 retain this knowledge, which had been revealed 
 to them — if we recollect that, even in our days, 
 the most scientific study of nature has not 
 always led to the true knowledge of God, we 
 shall certainly have to admit, that the attain- 
 ment of the most important of all knowledge, 
 cannot depend upon the will of man, and must 
 require a predisposition and certain state of the 
 mind. — This doctrine certainly militates against 
 the common notions of the freedom of man; it 
 even appears frightful at first sight, but it is not 
 so in reality, as will appear in the sequel; it 
 opens to us the only door to the most cheering 
 and indeed the only consistent insight into the 
 ways of God. When an object of such magni- 
 tude is in question, we need not be surprised, that 
 we should find difficulties in our path, neither will 
 they deter those who earnestly seek the truth. 
 
 If we recollect that St. Paul in ver. 18, and 
 not without deep reason, speaks of the wrath of 
 God, not as revealing itself against man or his 
 innermost nature, which being of His offspring 
 is unchangeable, and as such cannot have become 
 
92 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 hateful to Him (Acts xvii. 28), but against all 
 ungodliness and unrighteousness, which have 
 taken root or dwell in him as some extraneous 
 principle, as the Apostle also says, u Now if I do 
 that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but 
 sin that dwelleth in me" (vii. 20); and if we 
 further observe, that St. Paul connects the 18th 
 and 19th verses by the particle (Si6tl = Si o, n = eo 
 quod) because, thus placing them in the relation 
 of cause and effect, the following will most 
 clearly appear as his meaning: — The absolute 
 irreconcilability of godliness and sin in man is 
 apparent, through men's inability, in their state 
 of sinfulness, to recognise the true God, to whom 
 alone belong our praise and thanksgivings, while 
 in place of Him they recognised only a dark and 
 fearful power, which in their blindness they 
 sought for amongst the beings of this world, 
 offering thus a superstitious and idolatrous ado- 
 ration, and all this notwithstanding that the 
 capability of finding the true God was inherent 
 in them (for why else should God have offered 
 them revelations, if they were incapable of re- 
 ceiving them?) and notwithstanding that God 
 had displayed His power and majesty to their 
 contemplation, through the works of His creation, 
 so that they could not charge God with denying 
 them opportunities, but must take the blame 
 upon themselves. This darkened state of the 
 
Chap. I. 24—32. 93 
 
 divine principle within them, which was, as it 
 were, overlaid with an earthly incrustation, and 
 in which they had become incapable of recog- 
 nising the true God, had likewise rendered them 
 incapable of recognising the laws of His moral 
 order; and they had thus become subject to the 
 most inordinate passions and their baneful con- 
 sequences. The evil principle within them could 
 not but prove itself baneful in all its effects, not 
 in consequence of a particular dispensation of 
 God, but in consequence of its own inherent 
 nature. 
 
 It is thus that St. Paul, without in this instance 
 entering into the causes of the fall, describes the 
 fallen human race as in a state of incapability of 
 possessing a knowledge of the true God and of 
 true morality, and thus prepares his readers, 
 especially by using the words, " God gave them 
 up," for what he afterwards (xi. 32) expresses in 
 the words, " God has concluded them all in 
 unbelief." 
 
 However much this description of man's 
 natural sinfulness may offend his pride and 
 imaginary wisdom — and however little he may 
 be able to reconcile the fact of God's having 
 allowed man to proceed thus from the hand of 
 nature, with the attributes which he may assign 
 to Him: it is, nevertheless, most assuredly the 
 teaching of St. Paul and of all Scripture. The 
 
94 Chap. I. 24—32. 
 
 most ancient records begin their account of the 
 development of the human race with the history 
 of its fall, and all the writers of the Old Testa- 
 ment refer to it. David says : " Behold, I was 
 shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 
 conceive me" (Psa. li. 5) ; that is to say, when I 
 was born I was already a sinful being. Christ 
 says : " Except a man be born again, he cannot 
 enter the kingdom of God;" that is to say, he 
 must put off his old nature and put on a new 
 one, which would not be necessary if his old 
 nature were not ungodly or sinful. And St. Paul 
 says : " By nature we are children of wrath ;" 
 " The natural man knows nothing of the spirit 
 of God," etc. etc. 
 
 But, fortunately, this doctrine, without which 
 no true conception of Christianity is possible, 
 will be found quite reconcileable with the postu- 
 lates of a right reason, nay, the latter will even 
 require it; and, as we have already remarked, 
 we shall find this doctrine fully justified on the 
 sequel. 
 
CHAPTER THE SECOND. 
 
 1 11. Therefore thou art not to be excused, 
 
 man, whosoever thou art that judgest, 
 for in that thou judgest another thou con- 
 demnest thyself, since thou who judgest 
 
 2 doest the same thing. Now we know that 
 God's judgment is according to truth over 
 
 3 those who do such things. Thinkest thou 
 then, man, who judgest those who do 
 such things and doest the same, that thou 
 
 4 shalt escape the judgment of God? Or 
 despisest thou the riches of His goodness, 
 patience, and longsuffering, and considerest 
 not that God's goodness is leading thee to 
 
 5 change of heart? After thy hardness and 
 thine impenitent heart thou treasurest up for 
 
 6 thyself wrath against the day of wrath and 
 manifestation of the righteous judgment of 
 God, who will render to every man according 
 
 7 to his works ; to those who, enduring in the 
 good work, seek for imperishable honour 
 
 8 and glory, eternal life. But to those who are 
 contentious and disobedient to the truth 
 and followers of unrighteousness, indigna- 
 
96 Chap. II. 1—11. 
 
 9 tion and wrath ! Affliction and anguish 
 upon every man that doeth evil, the Jews 
 
 10 first and the Greeks. But glory, honour, 
 and peace to every one who worketh that 
 which is good, to the Jews first and to the 
 
 1 1 Greeks ! For with God there is no respect 
 of person. 
 
 Having taught in the foregoing chapter, that 
 all men, without exception, are in a state of sin- 
 fulness, and that this state is utterly irreconcile- 
 able with God and with happiness, St. Paul now 
 proceeds to show the error of those, who consider 
 themselves exempted from this state, or imagine 
 that as far as they themselves are concerned, sin 
 will not lead to the same unhappy results, no 
 matter whether such error be founded upon a 
 misconception as to their own superiority, upon 
 erroneous deductions of the understanding, or 
 upon religious prejudices. The consequences 
 of this error manifest themselves in the first 
 instance by the very prevalent disposition of 
 
 1 Kplveiv (to judge), for KaraKplveiv (to condemn) for it is plain 
 that mere judgment of the actions of others cannot be here meant. 
 7 Ao£a Ka\ rififj glory and honour, words so frequently found to- 
 gether, are followed by nal dcpdapaia (and immortality) instead of 
 an adjective, according to Hebrew usage. 8 rois ii- ipi6eias, properly 
 those who belong to the opposing party, and who therefore resist 
 and oppose the truth and that which is of God. 'AX^eta is here 
 again used for that which is of God, the kingdom of truth, and 
 abiKta for the contrary. 
 
Chap. II. 1—11. 97 
 
 judging and condemning others, as evincing, on 
 the part of the person so judging, a belief that he 
 is better or more highly favoured by God than 
 other men on account of his own superior worth ; 
 it is consequently a misconception of his own con- 
 dition as well as of the object of our existence upon 
 earth, which is no other than purification and 
 deliverance from sin. Who would condemn 
 others when he knows that he is equally sinful, 
 or is indebted for his present happier condition, 
 .not to his own power or merit, but solely to 
 God's help? The Apostle therefore directs his 
 attack, so to speak, against this disposition to 
 condemn others, and, in the first instance, quite 
 generally, as the nature of his subject requires. 
 The universality of the expression, and the use 
 of the second person singular, according to the 
 Apostle's practice, as we shall see more than 
 once in the sequel, when he addresses himself 
 not so much to individuals as to men in general, 
 clearly show that he does not allude to particular 
 modes of judging, or to particular members of 
 the Roman congregation, and also, that he is 
 not, as some have supposed, attacking Heathens 
 and Jews, to whom, indeed, the epistle was not 
 addressed. And this appears more clearly still 
 from the general tenour of the epistle; his object 
 being no other, as we see from the introduction 
 and from many other passages, than that of open- 
 
 H 
 
98 Chap. II. 1—11. 
 
 ing to his Christian and more advanced readers, 
 a deeper and more comprehensive insight into 
 the plan of salvation through Christ, for which 
 he lays the foundation by proving the vanity of 
 old prejudices and the universal need of re- 
 demption.* 
 
 Therefore, says the Apostle, since the whole 
 of the human race and every individual is by 
 nature in a state of sinfulness, no one can be 
 justified in judging others. He does not main- 
 tain that all men and of all times are equally sinful. 
 But even he, who is at this moment further ad- 
 vanced towards perfection, is not indebted for 
 this to his own exertions since all are ungodly by 
 nature ; and he is not to pride himself upon that 
 which has been given to him, " for what hast 
 thou that thou didst not receive?" (1. Cor. iv. 7.) 
 And even the man nearest perfection is still im- 
 pure and cannot stand before God; moreover, the 
 bare fact of his judging others would prove, that 
 he is yet far from God and from charity, this very 
 want of charity being sinfulness, whatever out- 
 ward form it may take. In judging others, there- 
 fore, he is committing sin, no matter whether it 
 
 * Those who refer verses 1 8 — 32 of the first chapter exclusively 
 to the Gentiles, and the 1st and following verses of the second chap- 
 ter exclusively to the Jews, not only arbitrarily make "man" in the 
 former passage to signify " Gentile " and in the latter " Jew " ; but 
 involves the Apostle in the absurdity of saying that the Jew 
 ought not to judge the Gentile because the Gentile is in the 
 highest degree sinful. 
 
Chap. II. 1—11. 99 
 
 be that same outward manifestation of sin which 
 he is condemning, or some other; while he judges 
 others, he condemns himself. We are certain, 
 however, that the judgment of God will be in 
 conformity to the unchangeable laws of His king- 
 dom, which cannot tolerate sin in any shape, how- 
 soever or by whomsoever committed. And this 
 being an incontrovertible truth, how canst thou, 
 thyself a sinful being, imagine that the absolutely 
 true and impartial judgment of God will make 
 an exception in thy favour, and that thy sinful- 
 ness, contrarily to the eternal laws of truth, will 
 be unattended by evil consequences ? Does not 
 this evince a misconception of the ways and inten- 
 tions of God, who would lead all by the gentlest 
 means to a consciousness of their sinfulness, to 
 purification, and to happiness? Is it not sheer con- 
 tempt of the infinite long-suffering, patience and 
 mercy of God, to consider the manifold benefits 
 bestowed upon thee, notwithstanding thy sinful- 
 ness, as due to thy merits while thou who, in thy 
 vain conceits, exaltest thyself above thy neigh- 
 bour, mayest possibly stand so much below him, 
 that the severe trials to which thou seest him ex- 
 posed, would altogether exasperate and lead thee 
 away from thy true happiness? Dost thou under- 
 stand so little of the ways of God, as not to know 
 that He would lead thee by the gentlest means 
 possible to that change of heart, which is an 
 
 h 2 
 
100 Chap. II. 1—11. 
 
 essential condition of happiness? Does not this 
 evince a state of impenetrable obduracy, which, 
 according to the unchangeable laws of God, can- 
 not but lead to misery? Instead of availing thy- 
 self of the opportunities, which God in His mercy, 
 has offered thee for throwing off thine imperfec- 
 tions, and of proceeding, thus lightened as it were 
 of a burden, where further opportunities Avill be 
 granted thee, thou retainest the old burden and 
 wilt have to bend under a double load, when ac- 
 cording to the merciful providence of God, thou 
 shouldest have cast off the first; for, with every 
 fault that we lay aside, our load is manifestly 
 lightened. Thou thyself, therefore, art heaping 
 up the evils of which God would rid thee. It is 
 the nature of evil, it is the curse which the judg- 
 ment of God has pronouned upon it, that it 
 must lead to unhappiness; as it is, on the other 
 hand, the nature of godliness, to be productive 
 of happiness to all eternity. For those, therefore, 
 who are steadfast in the good work and who ex- 
 cute the task of life in the unwearying pursuit of 
 its highest object, there is laid up eternal life, and 
 with it permanent and infinite bliss; for they 
 will have attained a knowledge of God and their 
 Redeemer, which, as Christ says, is life eternal. 
 (John xvii. 3.) Those, on the other hand, who 
 persevere in their defection from the kingdom of 
 God, who, disobedient to the laws of eternal 
 
Chap. II. 1— 11. 101 
 
 truth, follow the voice of untruth — be their out- 
 ward condition and position in this world what 
 it may — will remain in the realm of untruth, and 
 be visited by the consequences of their evil-doing. 
 "Affliction and anguish upon every man that 
 doeth evil, the Jews first and the Greeks. But 
 glory, honour and peace, to every one who work- 
 eth that which is good, to the Jew first and to the 
 Greeks ! for with God there is no respect of per- 
 sons." "In every nation, he that feareth Him and 
 worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." 
 
 We will not proceed any further at present 
 with the examination of this passage. After 
 considering the following verses, in which St. 
 Paul continues to represent God as sitting in 
 judgment, we shall see more clearly how we 
 have to understand this method of so represent- 
 ing Him. 
 
 In the last verses of the section just explained, 
 and in the verses immediately following, St. Paul 
 combats more particularly a vain and deep-rooted 
 prejudice of the Jews, that of believing them- 
 selves, on the sole ground of their descent and 
 of the law which had been vouchsafed to them, 
 as acceptable in the sight of God, thus look- 
 ing down with pride upon other nations. It is 
 of the greatest inportance for the Apostle to 
 shew the futility of this conceit, because there 
 
102 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 can be no greater obstacle to a true conception 
 of Christianity, than the belief that God has 
 in a partial manner favoured one nation more 
 than others. Those who had been formerly 
 Jews could not, while any portion of this pre- 
 judice remained, have any real conviction of 
 their own necessity of salvation; and neither 
 they, nor those who had been heathens, could 
 possibly have a correct view either of the real 
 object and value of the Jewish religion which 
 they had believed, and were still to believe, a 
 divine dispensation, or of the relation between 
 the Jewish religion and Christianity. St. Paul, 
 therefore, takes pains to shew that the mere 
 outward possession of this religion is of no 
 value in the sight of God, but that the real worth 
 and future destiny of man are independent 
 of all externals,- and that in this respect the Jew 
 has no advantage over the Gentile. At the same 
 time he gives important hints for the better 
 understanding of what he had before advanced 
 respecting the natural condition of man, and 
 shews, upon what the judgment of God must 
 alone depend. 
 
 12 — 16. For those who have sinned without 
 law, shall without law be miserable; but 
 those who have sinned under the law shall 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 103 
 
 13 be judged according to the law. For not 
 the hearers of the law are just before God, 
 but those who obey the law will be justified. 
 
 14 Now if Gentiles, who have not the law, do 
 by nature what the law requires, then these 
 who have not the law, are a law to them- 
 
 1 5 selves, and show that the essence of the law 
 is written in their hearts, in that their con- 
 science bears them witness, and accordingly 
 their thoughts alternately accuse or excuse 
 
 16 one another, in the day when God shall 
 judge the secrets of men, according to my 
 Gospel, by Jesus Christ. 
 
 St. Paul continues to represent God as 
 sitting in judgment, further developing his 
 
 12 dv6pa>s, without being under the Mosaic law. (Compare 
 1 Cor. ix. 21.)- anoXoiivrai shall be unhappy, miserable. It is well 
 known that this is often the meaning of the word. See Ecclus. x.2, 
 j3acriXfi)j dnaibevTos dnoXel tov Xaov avrov — an unwise king will 
 bring his people to misery. — 13 SUaLos, with respect to the law, 
 means here only undeserving of punishment. — diKaim&rjo-ovTai, 
 shall be declared undeserving of punishment, acquitted, as an 
 accused person. — 14 <fivcrei by nature, in consequence of their 
 moral standing-point at the time. — 15 to epyov tov vopov, the object 
 of the law, that which it is designed to effect, and for which it 
 exists ; the law according to its intent and essence. In the same 
 manner as the Jew tests his actions by the law, the Gentile tests 
 them by conscience. — ypawTov iv rais mpdiais avrwi/ is more than, 
 ' written upon stone ;' and denotes, therefore, a higher state of per- 
 fection. (Comp. 2 Cor. iii. 3.)' — 0-vp.p.apTvpovarjs avruiv ttjs o-vvetdrj- 
 afoos in that (or while) their inner voice testifies to them what is 
 right and what is not, and, accordingly, by this voice, their 
 thoughts, etc. — 16 8ia Irjo-ov Xpio-rov. Here, too, St. Paul speaks 
 of Christ as of Him to whom the whole guidance and perfecting 
 of the human race is committed. 
 
101 Chap. II. 12—1(3. 
 
 former declaration, that there is no respect of 
 persons with the impartial Judge. Let us first 
 consider the idea of the Apostle with respect to 
 the imagery he uses, in order to comprehend the 
 construction of the whole passage. Those who 
 have not received the law, will not be judged 
 according to the law ; if they have sinned, they 
 will be condemned, but not according to a law 
 to which they are strangers. How could an 
 impartial judge condemn according to a code 
 unknown to the offender? This reasoning contra- 
 venes the erroneous notion of many amongst the 
 Jews, who conceived that all the Gentiles would 
 be condemned, because they did not possess, and 
 consequently could not obey, the law. Those, 
 however, who are under the law, will be judged 
 by the law. If they sin against the law they 
 will be punished ; if they do not, they will escape 
 its penalties. How could an impartial judge 
 condemn to the same punishment, those who 
 offend against the law, and those who do not? 
 This, again, contravenes the erroneous notion, 
 that the mere possession of the law, the mere 
 belonging to the Jewish nation, would secure 
 favour in the sight of God. Now if the Gentiles, 
 without a positive law, constitute their conscience 
 the arbiter of their actions, and endeavour to 
 live according to its dictates, then will their own 
 conscience stand in the place of the law, during 
 
Chap. IT. 12—16. 105 
 
 their life as well as on the day of judgment, 
 when they will be judged according to their 
 conscience, as the Jews will be judged by their 
 law. As the Jew, in so far as he has kept the 
 law, may appeal to this circumstance in order to 
 obtain a milder sentence, so may the Gentile, in 
 so far as he has followed the dictates of his 
 conscience, expect a milder sentence on that 
 account on the day when God through Christ 
 will judge the innermost thoughts of the heart, 
 and when no deception and no vain excuses 
 will avail. In the same manner as St. Paul 
 opposes the Jews who keep the law, to those who 
 do not, he also opposes to each other amongst 
 the Gentiles, those whom their own conscience 
 will condemn, and those whom it will excuse. 
 
 In this manner, the whole passage admits of a 
 simple explanation, according to the natural 
 sequence of the ideas, and there is no occasion 
 to consider verses 13 to 15, as a parenthesis. 
 But in thus connecting verses 15 and 16, we 
 are far from following the opinion of those 
 who, in doing so, consider themselves bound 
 to assume, that the Gentiles will be accused, or 
 at least accused in an especial manner, by their 
 conscience on the day of judgment only ; when it 
 is consequently too late. St. Paul intends here 
 to oppose, in the most direct manner, the errone- 
 ous notion of the Jews, who considered that all 
 
106 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 the Gentiles would be condemned, by shewing 
 that the Gentiles have something also, that will 
 plead in their favour on the day of judgment. 
 He speaks only of such as really endeavour to 
 obey the dictates of their conscience; and if he 
 says even of these better Gentiles, that their 
 conscience will not excuse all their thoughts, 
 or all the motives of their actions on that day on 
 which all self-deception will cease, and that in 
 many instances their conscience will appear 
 against them, he does not in fact use stronger 
 language in their case than in that of the Jews, 
 not one of whom, he maintains, could have 
 altogether kept the law, so that no one had a 
 right to claim a total exemption from punish- 
 ment. If we make St. Paul say, in opposition 
 to the sense of the context, that the conscience 
 of the Gentiles will be roused only on the day 
 of judgment in order to make them acknowledge 
 the justice of their sentences, we should be 
 making him speak in favour of the erroneous 
 notion of the Jews, and disprove what it is his 
 object to maintain, namely, that God is an im- 
 partial judge, and no respecter of persons. 
 
 We must take care, however, not to draw 
 from the whole of the Apostle's discourse any 
 other conclusions than such as are justified by 
 its object and by the connection. We must 
 not, for instance, suppose it to be St. Paul's 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 107 
 
 intention to affirm, that the judgment of God will 
 have no other standard than that of the law for 
 the Jews, and of conscience for the Gentiles. It 
 will be easily perceived, that this is not his 
 opinion. As regards the Jews, it is evident that 
 the Apostle, throughout his writings, is very 
 earnest in shewing, that it is not by a literal 
 obedience to the law, that they will secure 
 acceptance with God and eternal happiness, but 
 solely by faith, by the entire disposition of the 
 mind towards godliness. He would consequently 
 be contradicting himself, if he were here to main- 
 tain, that the Jew who obeys the law to a certain 
 extent, from a slavish fear of punishment, would 
 be equally acceptable before God with another 
 who obeys the law to the same extent from his 
 innermost convictions, and from real delight in 
 the law of God ; or if he were to maintain that 
 the future fate of both would be the same. As 
 regards the Gentile, if the accordance of his 
 actions with the dictates of his conscience were 
 to be the real measure of his worth before God, 
 it would naturally follow that he, whose con- 
 science should be so hardened or so dull as to 
 allow him to commit the most deadly sins with- 
 out compunction, would have to receive a most 
 favourable judgment ; for no one would maintain 
 that conscience is originally alike and perfect in 
 the case of all men, and that it is solely through 
 
108 Chap. II. 12— 1G. 
 
 their own faults that it is first impaired, as this 
 would contradict our own experience as well as 
 the Scriptures, which depict man in his natural 
 1 state as a fallen beine far removed from g-odli- 
 ness, and certainly not gifted with the ni 
 power of discrimination between good and evil. 
 On the contrary, this gift developes itself in 
 every individual, in proportion as through prac- 
 tice he advances towards godliness: and without 
 the development of this discriminative power, 
 and the conviction, that harmony between the 
 will and knowledge is a condition of his in- 
 ward peace — without this development or 
 purification of the conscience, no moral ad- 
 vancement is conceivable. And this is also 
 the teaching of the Bible. In the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews, v. 14. we read, ''but strong meat 
 belongeth to them that are of full age, even those 
 who by reason of use have their senses exercised 
 to discern both good and evil." Those who 
 without a true knowledge of the real condition 
 of man and the ways of God, yet presume to sit 
 in judgment on them, may well find it irrecon- 
 cileable with their ideas of God, that He should 
 not have given man power and light to enable 
 him to live according to His will. Yet even 
 such, if only impressed with a feeling that no 
 real and permanent happiness is possible without 
 goodneas, must admit that no bad man, however 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 109 
 
 he may have become so, can possibly be happy 
 in a life freed from all the illusions of the visible 
 world. And St. Paul, with whose opinion we 
 are alone concerned here, declares most distinctly 
 that " as many as have sinned without law, will 
 also perish without law," " affliction and an- 
 guish upon every man that doeth evil!" He 
 says only of the better class of Gentiles, that 
 their regulating their actions according to the 
 dictates of their conscience, will be considered a 
 plea in their favour, but by no means that every 
 one will escape punishment or be happy, whom 
 his conscience does not reprove. 
 
 But what then is the measure by which the 
 future fate of man will be determined? Manifestly 
 no other than that of their purity and spiritual 
 worth. If, as St. Paul says, the wrath of God is 
 revealed against all ungodliness and unrighte- 
 ousness (i. 18), that is to say, if sin is utterly 
 and for ever irreconcileable with God and, con- 
 sequently irreconcileable with happiness, then 
 must the ungodly necessarily remain separated 
 from God, "on the day of wrath and revelation 
 of the righteous judgment of God" (ii. 5); that 
 is to say, when the irreconcilability of God and 
 evil will become most clearly apparent, afflic- 
 tion and anguish will be his fate. It is evident, 
 therefore, from the nature of evil, no matter 
 what may have been the first cause of its exist- 
 
110 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 ence, and however man may consider himself ex- 
 cusable — that he who persists in sin must remain 
 miserable; and therefore St. Paul tells us that 
 whoever has sinned without law, will be miser- 
 able, that his not having known the law will 
 not avail him; for it is impossible that God 
 should make those happy who continue to be 
 evil-doers, as this would be subverting His own 
 eternal laws. Obedience to the law,, whether 
 written or dictated by conscience, will secure a 
 milder judgment, because even the acknowledg- 
 ment of the law betokens a somewhat improved 
 condition of the mind. On the other hand, how- 
 ever, happiness and bliss are the sure concomi- 
 tants of godliness; and as God is all-good and 
 all-holy, so will the godly-minded also be happy, 
 according to the nature of godliness; and so St. 
 Paul promises eternal life and blessedness to 
 those, who persevere in the pursuit of everlasting 
 honour and glory. 
 
 What St. Paul here calls the judgment of God 
 is, then, the absolute consequence of evil, inherent 
 in its very nature. We may, therefore, look 
 upon this account of judgment as figurative, and 
 adapted to the conceptive powers of man, and 
 we may say, that the separation of good from evil 
 is continually going on throughout the whole 
 course of life, and not that there is a particular 
 day set apart for the purpose ; and we may further 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. Ill 
 
 adduce the word of Christ, a He who believeth not 
 is already judged, because he doth not believe/' — 
 .that is to say, whoever does not, with the simpli- 
 city of a child, confide in God and live in Him, is 
 in a state of unhappiness, from the very fact of 
 his being in a state of estrangement from God — 
 as a proof that this judgment is not to take place 
 at some future time, but has actually taken place. 
 Now if, from this word of Christ, and from what 
 St. Paul says respecting the origin of evil 
 (v. 12, etc.) and its concomitant misery (as a 
 judgment passed thereon), we may draw the 
 conclusion, that man is not proceeding towards a 
 state of misery yet to be prepared for him, but 
 that he is actually encompassed by it, in so far 
 as he is sinful — it is yet equally certain, that man, 
 in his present condition, is so much engrossed 
 by his relations with the visible world, that he 
 cannot at all times have the blessedness of god- 
 liness, and the misery of ungodliness present 
 before his mind, so that the evil-doer, although 
 he cannot be really happy, may yet be happy in 
 appearance ; and that, absorbed in the pursuit of 
 worldly interests, there are but few who are 
 aware of the judgment already passed on sin; 
 but nevertheless a time will come for every one, 
 when the material veil shall vanish, and all 
 things shall appear in their true light, clear 
 from earthly illusions, to the spiritual eye. This 
 
112 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 time when man, according to the design of God, 
 will so contemplate himself and his worldly rela- 
 tions, and when his happiness or unhappiness will 
 stand in direct proportion to his intrinsic worth, 
 is most appropriately compared to a judgment of 
 God. This is more than imagery; it is an in- 
 telligible subjective representation of the highest 
 truth. 
 
 It follows, however^ from all that has been 
 hitherto said, that St. Paul cannot have thought 
 of a Judge who, in strict accordance with their ac- 
 tions in this life, would condemn all men, imper- 
 fect and sinful as they would appear before Him, 
 to remain in a certain unchangeable condition; 
 thus making all farther development impossible. 
 The idea that God should Himself arrest the pro- 
 gress of good, cannot be reconciled with the 
 knowledge of God, for which we are indebted to 
 the Holy Scriptures. Neither does St. Paul say 
 a word which would warrant such a conclusion ; 
 still less does he advert to a so called last judg- 
 ment, which would separate millions on mil- 
 lions of beings into two classes, without any 
 reference to the degrees of their intrinsic worth, 
 apparent even to all of us, or to their capability 
 for blessedness, in order to award to the one 
 eternal happiness and to the other eternal and 
 unspeakable misery. To this doctrine, derived 
 from the letter which killeth, St. Paul, quickened 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 113 
 
 as he was by the Spirit, was altogether a stranger, 
 and whoever attributes it to him cannot but mis- 
 understand the whole of his subsequent argu- 
 ments. It is important, therefore, that not the 
 slightest doubt should remain on this subject 
 before we proceed. 
 
 If it should be maintained, in contradiction to 
 what we have stated above, that St. Paul in the 
 12th and 13th verses teaches, that the Jews are to 
 be judged according to the letter of the law, 
 without any reference to their intrinsic worth 
 or to the motives of their actions, and that their 
 sentence will be either eternal happiness or 
 eternal damnation — it would necessarily follow, 
 that all who were under the law, will without any 
 exception be doomed to eternal damnation, be- 
 cause St. Paul tells us most distinctly, that no one 
 can fulfil the whole of the law, and that no one 
 can be justified by legal performances. But it is 
 impossible that St. Paul could mean this in 
 reference to his own people, the people of God, 
 of whom he always speaks with heartfelt affec- 
 tion, and to all the extraordinary and great men 
 among the Jews ; neither could he possibly extol 
 the impartiality of a tribunal that would con- 
 demn all without any distinction. And as St. 
 Paul cannot intend to express a higher opinion 
 of the Gentiles in general than of the Jews, 
 and ns regarding them he does not go beyond 
 
 i 
 
114 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 saying, that their conscience will stand them in 
 place of the law, it would follow that eternal 
 damnation would await all the Gentiles also. 
 Again, then, how could St. Paul extol the impar- 
 tiality of a tribunal that would condemn all 
 without any distinction ! 
 
 It is not, therefore, by the success that a man 
 has had in his endeavours to model his actions by 
 that rule of conduct which he has received, that 
 his future fate will be determined, but by his in- 
 ward state, the motives which have induced him 
 to act. If any proof were required, that this 
 inward state is different in different men, we need 
 only refer to the words of Christ (Matt. v. 21, 22 ), 
 '•* Ye have heard that it was said by them of 
 old time, Thou shalt not kill;" etc. Here we 
 find the same rule differently applied, according 
 to the moral proficiency of the individual; if the 
 new interpretation could have been understood 
 by " them of old time," why should it not have 
 been given them, being so much superior? 
 We may see by the parable of the sower, in which 
 men are likened to ground of different qualities, 
 that the moral capabilities of man vary not only 
 at different times, but in different men of the 
 same time. It follows then, as a natural conse- 
 quence, that if the intrinsic worth of men before 
 the judgment-seat differs, their sentence and 
 future fate must also differ in degree, and cannot 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 115 
 
 be eternal happiness on one side, and eternal 
 misery on the other. Suppose, for instance, that 
 of two men to whom the commandment, " Thou 
 shalt do no murder," had been given, the one 
 should be capable only of understanding this com- 
 mandment according to the letter, the other, on 
 the other hand, should be capable of discerning 
 the nobler principle involved, " Thou shalt not 
 be angry with thy brother !" and suppose that 
 both should break the commandment, the one 
 by committing murder, the other under the same 
 exciting circumstances, by harbouring anger 
 against his brother for a moment, and both should 
 become disturbed in spirit in consequence of break- 
 ing this law, each according to his interpretation, 
 — can the judgment on both possibly be alike ? 
 Who could believe this even for an instant? The 
 one who has harboured anger against his brother 
 may possibly feel more anguish than the mur- 
 derer, and yet, nay on that very account, he will 
 surely be in a state of much greater purity. Or 
 let us suppose that the one does not commit 
 murder, but is not at all times free from angry 
 feelings against his neighbour, while the other, 
 however much provoked, always preserves his 
 even temper and charitable disposition, — can the 
 state of both after death be possibly the same, 
 when it differed so widely during life? Does 
 Christ in the parable of the ten pieces of money, 
 
 i 2 
 
116 Chap. II. 12—16. 
 
 mete out the same reward to the two servants, of 
 whom the one had gained ten pounds, the other 
 five ? or does He rebuke the servant who brought 
 Him the five, because he had not performed all 
 that was possible? And what should induce us 
 to impute such an erroneous opinion to the 
 Apostle? Does he not, on the contrary, say in 
 the 6th verse of the chapter, that " God will 
 render to every man according to his deeds " ? 
 that is to say, that each individual will be happy 
 or miserable in proportion to the purity of his 
 affections, manifested by his deeds, of which 
 God alone will judge? It is very evident, that 
 God would not render to every man according 
 to his deeds, if the fate of very different per- 
 sons should be alike. The Apostle promises 
 eternal life, that is endless happiness and glory, 
 to such only as by patient continuance in well- 
 doing seek for honour and glory, and consequently, 
 such as have attained the highest degree of purity 
 and godliness, of which man is capable in this 
 world. It is of such that Christ says (Lukexx. 35), 
 " they shall be accounted worthy to obtain that 
 world and the resurrection from the dead." 
 On the other hand, the Apostle holds out the 
 highest degree of misery to those only (ver, 8) 
 " who are contentious and disobedient to the 
 truth," and who are consequently in a state of 
 alienation from God. And even for them, be it 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 117 
 
 observed, he does not speak of eternal misery, but 
 only of misery as an unavoidable consequence. 
 In the 12th verse we find the Apostle speaking 
 of Jews and Gentiles generally, and more par- 
 ticularly of those who are in an intermediate 
 state, between the two extremes. Those amongst 
 the Jews, he says, who keep the law will be 
 exempt from punishment. It is, therefore, ex- 
 emption from punishment and not the highest 
 bliss, which he promises to such as obey the law, 
 so that it becomes evident that such as keep 
 the law are in an intermediate state; and this 
 corresponds fully with the doctrine of the Apo- 
 stle, that by the law no man can attain the highest 
 state of perfection, and intimates that after death 
 there will be different degrees of happiness or 
 misery. 
 
 The doctrine that those who have not obeyed 
 the law according to their own interpretation, 
 will all be doomed to the same fate, is pernicious, 
 unworthy, and full of contradictions; and this 
 becomes very clear when we consider that in 
 this case man could not be more unprofitably 
 engaged than in striving to attain a more perfect 
 knowledge of the will of God, a deeper insight 
 into, or a more perfect discrimination between, 
 right and wrong, a more sensitive conscience, or 
 a more perfect interpretation of the law, because 
 all such pursuits would expose him to a greater 
 
118 Chap. II. 12-16. 
 
 chance of eternal damnation; for the higher the 
 law, the more difficult the observance. How 
 can such a doctrine be reconciled with St. Paul's 
 teaching, that those only are to attain eternal 
 happiness, who, by patient continuance, seek for 
 immortality ? 
 
 We arrive, then, at this conclusion : the future 
 state of all men will be in direct proportion to 
 their purity and godliness at the time of their 
 death, without any partiality or reference to out- 
 ward circumstances, which they were unable to 
 control, and which did not depend upon them- 
 selves. The Apostle having established this fact, 
 now proceeds to show, that those among the Gen- 
 tiles who, by simply following the natural dictates 
 of their conscience, without being bound by any 
 positive law, lead a more blameless life than 
 many among the Jews who do not profit by 
 the guidance established for them — are assuredly 
 in a more godly condition, and will consequently 
 attain a higher degree of happiness. Gentiles of 
 this description prove that the essence of the law, 
 that for which the law was intended, is already 
 written in their hearts; their conscience and 
 their actions are not at variance, they have their 
 criterion within themselves, and there can be no 
 doubt, that such men are more advanced than 
 those who have to receive the law from without. 
 
 This important passage at the same time 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 119 
 
 confirms, in the clearest manner, what we have 
 advanced above, respecting the gradual moral 
 progress of man. According to St. Paul's doc- 
 trine, the Gentile may also proceed towards god- 
 liness, without possessing what we call revelation 
 in the stricter sense of the word, although, most 
 assuredly, not without divine aid and co-opera- 
 tion, which none can dispense with at any moment 
 of their existence. The Apostle is here speak- 
 ing of Gentiles who are in a much higher state 
 of morality than that which he had before de- 
 scribed as the general, original, or natural state 
 of man, though it is not and could not be his 
 meaning, that the Gentiles, any more than the 
 Jews, might attain the highest degree of godli- 
 ness and blessedness, without that special means 
 of grace which he preached — yet he allows their 
 preparatory approximation to such a state, and 
 does not denounce eternal damnation on such as 
 have been unable, hitherto, to attain it; but 
 describes their future lot as superior to theirs, 
 who persist in evil doing. Far from under- 
 rating or contemning the great men of antiquity, 
 who devoted their best energies to their own 
 moral development and that of their contempo- 
 raries, and whose endeavours, under the auspices 
 of Providence, have become and still continue to 
 be a blessing to their descendants, he metes out 
 to them the highest praise for having reached 
 
120 Chap. II. 12-16. 
 
 greater perfection and a higher capability for 
 happiness. 
 
 A s regards the means of which St. Paul speaks, 
 as necessary for all, both Jews and Gentiles, to 
 attain the highest state of blessedness, it is certain 
 that if it is to be embraced and appropriated by 
 each individual through his own exertions, it 
 must needs be placed within his reach at some 
 time or other; so that such as, according to the 
 divine scheme, have had no opportunity of be- 
 coming acquainted with it during this life, must 
 have such opportunity afforded them in some 
 future state, for "how shall they believe in Him 
 of whom they have not heard?" (x. 14). Other- 
 wise God would not be an impartial and all- 
 merciful God. It would be futile to object, that, 
 as God knew beforehand who would accept the 
 Gospel and who would not, there was no neces- 
 sity for offering it to those who would reject it. 
 There can be no doubt that God knows this 
 beforehand, u In thy book all my members were 
 written when as yet there were none of them." 
 (Ps. cxxxix. 16) But He also knows the future 
 course of every individual life, and needs not 
 await its actual development in order to ascertain, 
 whether a man be fit for blessedness or not, so 
 that He might grant it at once to those who have 
 such fitness, without subjecting them to the 
 troubles of this life, were it not that this life is 
 
Chap. II. 12—16. 121 
 
 in itself a necessary stage in the development 
 of man, in which he is to be purified and rendered 
 capable of higher happiness, all men being sinful 
 and there being "a great gulf fixed" between 
 sin and blessedness. If to those who attain not 
 perfection and happiness, their earthly existence 
 were given only to convince them that they have 
 deserved punishment, and that the judgment of 
 God against them is just — then it would have 
 been doubly requisite, that every possible oppor- 
 tunity for moral advancement should have been 
 afforded to every one, because it might else be 
 justly said, " Had the Gospel revelation been 
 offered me, I might possibly have accepted it." 
 And who would be bold enough to assert that of 
 all the great and noble characters of antiquity, 
 not one would have accepted the Gospel, if it 
 had been offered to him? 
 
 Away then with the doctrine, at once unscrip- 
 tural and inhuman, of those who would pass so 
 dreadful a judgment upon millions of their 
 fellow-creatures, many of whom may infinitely 
 surpass them in moral and intellectual excel- 
 lence! Let them recollect, that according to 
 St. Paul's own words, those who judge others 
 condemn themselves. It is impossible that God 
 should withdraw His fostering care from any 
 germ of good, though still only in the earliest 
 stage of its development. His wisdom and love 
 
122 Chap. II. 17—24. 
 
 will, at the fitting time, bestow fresh soil, new 
 sunshine, and reviving showers, for its further 
 development to perfect beauty. 
 
 The Apostle having thus proved the vanity of 
 the Jewish prejudices in respect to their ima- 
 gined superiority, now proceeds to shew the evil 
 consequences of such illusions. 
 
 17 — 24. If now thou callest thyself a Jew, and 
 
 18 restest thyself upon the law, and boastest 
 of God, and knowest the will [of God], and 
 canst distinguish, being instructed by the 
 
 19 law; and art confident in thyself as being 
 a leader of the blind, a light of those who 
 
 20 are in darkness, an instructor of the unwise, 
 a teacher of the ignorant, as one possess- 
 ing the embodiment of knowledge and 
 
 17 fTTovo/jidCrj, callest thyself, with, assumption, without being 
 so actually (ii. 28, 29 ; comp. Eev. ii. 9, and iii. 9). iiravanavr] t£ 
 voyici, stayest thyself, reliest upon thy having a law. Kav^da-ai 
 iv Qea, boastest of God, as though he belonged peculiarly to 
 thee and to thy people. — 18 8uKijid£eis to. SicKpepovra, under- 
 standest how to draw fine distinctions between what is per- 
 mitted and what is not. — 19 68r)y6s, a guide, (comp. Matt. xv. 14). 
 — 20 noptfiaxTiv rrjs yvmo-ecos, believest that thou possessest the 
 substance of knowledge, etc. Paul does not by any means employ 
 the expression in a contemptuous sense, but rather declares the 
 Mosaic religion itself to be a mere shadow and outline of the 
 truth : what he blames is this, that the Jews believed that they 
 possessed the substance in what was merely the form, and, con- 
 tenting themselves with the form of truth, disregarded the truth 
 itself. — 22 While thou expressest abhorrence of that which is 
 opposed to holiness (idols), thou violatest holiness itself (comp. 
 Matt.xxi.12, 13). 
 
Chap. II. 17.— 24. 123 
 
 21 truth in the law; but now teachest others 
 and not thyself; preachest a man should 
 
 22 not steal, and stealest; sayest a man should 
 not commit adultery, and committest adul- 
 tery; abhorrest idols, and violatest that 
 
 23 which is holy: thus, while thou boastest 
 thyself of the law, thou dishonourest God 
 Himself through transgression of the law. 
 
 24 As it is written, " through you is the name 
 of God blasphemed among the Gentiles." 
 
 St. Paul, addressing the Jews here, ex- 
 presses in the strongest possible terms what 
 follows as a natural consequence from what goes 
 before. He tells them: If, blinded by your 
 prejudices, you* misunderstand the nature of 
 the law, and lead a life repugnant to the law, 
 you stand below the Gentiles and incur much 
 greater responsibility, you desecrate the holy 
 name of God and commit a most dreadful crime, 
 by representing the very law, upon the posses- 
 sion of which you pride yourselves, as capable 
 of harbouring within its precincts men who tole- 
 rate and commit the grossest abominations. 
 It is you, he adds, referring to certain passages 
 of the Old Testament, who blaspheme the name 
 of God among the nations, it is you who dis- 
 grace the name of the Lawgiver, whose law, as 
 
 * i.e. If the Jew, etc. 
 
124 Chap. II. 25—29. 
 
 they infer from your vices, bears such dreadful 
 fruits. Oh ! that all who call themselves Chris- 
 tians, and carry the name of Christ, but not His 
 love and mercy, to the heathen, as well as all 
 those who desecrate the name of their divine 
 Master at home, through their life and teaching, 
 oh ! that they might all be duly impressed with 
 the deep significance of these words of the 
 Apostle ! 
 
 25 — 29. Circumcision is indeed profitable, if 
 thou observest the law; but if thou art 
 a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision 
 
 26 has become uncircumcision. Now if the un- 
 circumcision [the uncircumcised] observe 
 the precepts of the law, shall not his uncir- 
 
 27 cumcision be counted as circumcision ? And 
 thus that which by nature is uncircumcision 
 but fulfilleth the law, will judge thee who 
 
 25 nfpirofiT]. Circumcision for Judaism, the Mosaic religion. 
 cLKpofivvTia. Uncircumcision for heathenism, the Gentiles. It is 
 highly important to notice this expressive brevity of description, 
 in order to understand similar forcible expressions, which are 
 often misunderstood, e.g. "day of judgment," " high priesthood," 
 " the blood of Christ," etc., according to their true spiritual rather 
 than their literal meaning. — 27 Kpivet, will judge thee, i. e., will 
 shame thee, be found better than thyself. «c (pva-eas, according to 
 external circumstance, by birth. In 8ia ypdpparos, etc., is implied, 
 while thou art in possession, and mayest therefore use, but 
 neglectest to do so. This interpretation of 8«x with the genitive, 
 is fully justified by Rom. iv. 11; 2 Cor. v. 7 and 10, and other 
 passages. And also by law and circumcision. The letter furnishes 
 occasion and pretext to undervalue the spirit of the law. — 29 
 ov, refers to " Jew " and "circumcision." 
 
Chap. II. 25—29. 125 
 
 with the Scripture and circumcision, art a 
 
 28 transgressor of the law. For not he, who 
 is one outwardly, is a Jew; nor is that 
 which is outward, in the flesh, circumcision ; 
 
 29 But he who is a Jew inwardly, and the cir- 
 cumcision of the heart, according to the 
 Spirit and not according to the letter ; whose 
 praise is not of men but of God.* 
 
 It is most assuredly, says the Apostle, an 
 advantage to belong to a nation, to whom 
 a divine law has been given (he developes this 
 idea further in the beginning of the third chap- 
 ter), but an advantage only to those who obey 
 the law; whoever does not, separates himself 
 from his nation, rejects the advantages offered 
 him, and thus becomes a Gentile. Now, as the 
 Jew who disobeys the law becomes essentially a 
 Gentile, does not the Gentile who lives accord- 
 ing to the spirit of the law, thereby become 
 essentially a Jew? Not only will this be the 
 case, but he will stand higher than the Jew, inas- 
 much as he will do that from the natural impulse 
 of his heart, which the Jew neglected or left 
 undone notwithstanding the law, for names and 
 outward distinctions are as nothing before the 
 Lord, in whose sight moral perfection and purity 
 of heart alone are acceptable ! 
 
 * Deut. x. 16 ; xxx. 6 ; Col. ii. 11 ; Phil. iii. 3. 
 
CHAPTER THE THIRD. 
 
 1 — 20. What advantage then hath the Jew? 
 Or what is the profit of circumcision? 
 
 2 Much in every respect, but this before all 
 things, that the promises of God were en- 
 
 3 trusted to them. For what? if some did not 
 believe, shall their unbelief disannul the 
 
 4 faith of God? God forbid! Rather let 
 God be [alone counted by us] true, and all 
 men false ; as it is written "that thou 
 mightest be justified in thy words, and 
 mightest overcome when thou art judged." 
 
 5 But if it be found that our unrighteousness 
 brings out God's righteousness into clearer 
 light, what shall we say? That God is un- 
 just if he inflict punishment? (I speak 
 
 6 after the manner of men). God forbid! 
 For how then could God judge the world? 
 
 7 For if God's truth has through my falsehood 
 been more fully manifested to his glory, 
 why am I any longer judged as a sinner? 
 
 8 Or shall we say (as we be slanderously re- 
 ported, and as some maintain that we teach), 
 "Let us do evil that good may come of it"? 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 127 
 
 though the punishment of such is just. 
 
 9 What then? Have we yet any screen? In 
 
 no wise; for we have before said that all, 
 
 10 Jews as well as Greeks, are under sin. As it 
 is written, There is none righteous not even 
 
 1 1 one ; there is none wise ; none seeketh God. 
 
 12 All have gone astray, all are together be- 
 come unprofitable ; there is none that doeth 
 
 13 good, no not one. Their throat is an open 
 sepulchre, with their tongue they speak de- 
 
 14 ceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, 
 their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. 
 
 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruc- 
 
 17 tion and ruin are in their paths, and the 
 
 18 way of peace they know not. There is no 
 
 19 fear of God before their eyes. Now we 
 know that whatever the law saith, is spoken 
 to those who are under the law; so that 
 every mouth must be stopped, and the whole 
 world appear guilty before God, because by 
 
 20 the law of works shall no creature be justi- 
 fied before Him. For through the law 
 cometh the knowledge of sin. 
 
 2 wpcoTov fiev means, not "first" but "above all things." So 
 Luke xii. 1, irparov irpo<rex €Te eavrols and 1 Tim. ii. 1, in both of 
 which passages no " secondly" follows. Moreover the addition of 
 fiev does not justify us in assuming that St. Paul intended to 
 mention several things, but forgot to do so; for even in Rom. i. 8, 
 he has nprnrov p.ev where no "secondly" is to follow. — 3 maris, 
 faith, in the sense in which we say a man of truthfulness and 
 
128 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 In the first part of the second chapter, St. 
 Paul had, in order to subvert a dangerous preju- 
 dice, made use of some expressions which might 
 be misunderstood as though he would do away 
 with all distinction between Jews and Gentiles. 
 In the 25th verse he had certainly endeavoured to 
 
 faith, one who deserves confidence, trustworthy. — 4 The yiveaQco 
 was probably occasioned by the preceding pr) yevoiro. Far be the 
 thought ! Before adopting such a doctrine, let us rather consider 
 God alone trustworthy and all men in error, iv rca npivevBai o-e. 
 St. Paul means doubtless, to say, that if men were able to judge 
 God's ways according to truth, they would always find him in the 
 right. — 5 Oeov 8iKaio<rvvi] God's righteuusness, His goodness and 
 faithfulness in the fulfilment of His promises. This follows from 
 the word d\r)8eia, and in a like sense in ver. 7. — 6 eirci denotes 
 here — as it often does at the commencement of a question which 
 expects a negative answer — its relation to that which precedes, and 
 from which the negative follows.' — 7 y^evo-pa is the opposite of 
 truth and faithfulness, and generally of all godliness.— 8 This verse 
 has much perplexed commentators ; I know of no satisfactory 
 attempt to elucidate the construction. (See Dr. Tholuck's com- 
 mentary.) If pr), at the beginning of the sentence, has a negative 
 force — in which case we should have expected to find ol — the verb 
 to be supplied must necessarily stand in the subjunctive ; and 
 " why " is certainly not contained in it, and would have to be 
 understood, on can only be the introductory particle, i. e., in- 
 troducing quoted words, on account of the following conjunctive. 
 I think it the simplest and best way to regard pi) here as the 
 interrogative particle "num" just like pr) in ver. 5, (^17 aSiicoy 6 
 Qeos) where it cannot mean anything else, and to supply the 
 preceding ipovptv in both places — thus giving the kci\ at the 
 beginning of ver. 8 its just value. St. Paul exposes two absurd 
 consequences, resulting from the absurd proposition laid down, 
 in the form of questions, the first of which he sets aside by pr) 
 •yeVoiro, and the second by &v (of whom, i. e. of those who really 
 so teach and act) to npipa Zv8ik6v io-n. — 9 Trpoe^opeBa, have we 
 (the law) before us, like a shield to cover us ? or, does it serve 
 us for an excuse ? does it give us any privilege 1 nporjTiao-dpfBa 
 we have before brought in the charge or accusation. 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 129 
 
 guard against such a misconception, by pointing 
 out some advantages of the Jewish religion, but 
 not only had he made these advantages dependent 
 upon the right understanding and obeying of 
 its laws, as had been before done by several 
 writers in the Old Testament, but he had also 
 added that the outward Jew who does not live 
 according to the dictates of his religion is vir- 
 tually a Gentile, and that on the other hand, 
 a Gentile may be essentially a Jew without being 
 so outwardly. It was therefore important to 
 show in what the essence of that religion con- 
 sisted, which he had always revered as holy and 
 of divine origin, and what advantage might be 
 derived by its professors, and, at the same time, 
 to prove not only that these real advantages would 
 not be lost by giving up the prejudice alluded to, 
 but that, on the contrary, if this prejudice were 
 founded in truth, the fundamental truth of the 
 Jewish religion, namely, that God is Lord and 
 impartial Judge of the world, would necessarily 
 fall to the ground. This at once establishes the 
 untenableness of this prejudice, and St. Paul 
 proceeds immediately to the conclusion : since all, 
 both Jews and Gentiles, are sinners and deserv- 
 ing of punishment, and since neither possessing 
 nor obeying the law will justify man before God, 
 all, both Jews and Gentiles, require another 
 
 K 
 
130 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 help from above, which the Gospel reveals and 
 offers. 
 
 It was, therefore, not the object of the Apostle 
 to enumerate the several merits of the Jewish 
 religion ; he confines himself to mentioning the 
 principal one, in which all the others are in- 
 cluded, and which at once clearly proves it to 
 form a part of the divine scheme. With this 
 religion are deposited the divine oracles and 
 promises; it contains all that is necessary to 
 attract those who earnestly seek truth, and to 
 further them in their pursuit of godliness. It 
 contains the important revelation respecting 
 the unity of God, the Creator and Lord of 
 all ; revelations respecting the origin of man and 
 his fall; laws and rules, by obeying which, man 
 will increase his capability for happiness; and 
 the consolatory promise that through divine 
 grace, the fallen race is to be restored and led 
 to happiness. Who can doubt the infinite ad- 
 vantage of possessing these fundamental truths? 
 Suppose two individuals, in the same state of 
 moral excellence, the one in possession of these 
 truths, the other not, will not the former appear 
 immeasurably favoured ? although, according to 
 St. Paul's doctrine, God treats no one with par- 
 tiality. Is not the one, if he avail himself of it, 
 in possession of a real blessing, which should 
 produce gratitude towards the giver, although 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 131 
 
 he may not be able to understand why he in 
 particular should be in possession of such a 
 blessing ; in the same manner as the better dis- 
 posed amongst us will gratefully receive and use 
 the blessings bestowed upon them, although they 
 know that they are not indebted to their own 
 merit for their possession, and that an impartial 
 and merciful God cannot withhold a real blessing 
 from any of his creatures. Great, therefore, 
 most undoubtedly is the advantage of the Jew. 
 To him has been vouchsafed what, with diligent 
 use, cannot fail to aid him in spiritual progress. 
 
 But now, the Apostle continues, are we to 
 conclude, if God's promises be not verified with 
 respect to all the Jews, if being a Jew do not 
 secure a participation in them, that God's faith- 
 fulness is done away? Most assuredly not. 
 
 Whatever idea we may form of the nature of 
 such divine instructions or revelations, it is very 
 certain that only those can really receive, that is, 
 appropriate and possess them, who are in a state 
 of purity, enabling them to recognise what is 
 offered, for what it really is. If then God, who 
 alone can judge of the moral condition of man, 
 thought proper to communicate to this people in 
 preference to all others, certain fundamental 
 truths, in a form adapted to their time and 
 circumstances, their nation must have con- 
 tained individuals capable of availing themselves 
 k 2 
 
132 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 of such revelations, as they would else have been 
 of no real value for them ; or in other words, 
 God would in reality not have revealed Himself 
 to them. But if this nation contained also 
 such as were incapable of receiving spiritual re- 
 velations in a spiritual manner, and who changed 
 truth itself into a lie, would truth on that account 
 cease to be truth ? If the divine promises con- 
 ditionally dependent, as they must be, upon 
 purity of heart and submission to the will of 
 God, are not fulfilled where these conditions are 
 neglected ; can this impugn the veracity of God 
 or the certainty of His word? Far from us be 
 such a thought ! God is true and faithful to His 
 promises; it is only on the part of man, that 
 untruth and want of faith are to be found. This 
 thought is closely connected with what the Apostle 
 had before said : it is not the outward Jew who is 
 in possession of the truth and of the promises, 
 but he who is inwardly that which the outward 
 symbol betokens. Such only, as St. Paul says 
 further on, are true sons of Abraham. 
 
 The fact, then, that the possession of the law 
 does not conduce to justification or the greatest 
 happiness, is perfectly consistent with the truth- 
 fulness of God. But to what conclusions would 
 the contrary assumption lead us? If we hold,' 
 says the Apostle (as those do, who conceive that 
 God will fulfil His promises to the Jews in spite 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 133 
 
 of their disobedience to His law), if we hold that 
 our unrighteousness will make the truth of God 
 the more apparent, or in other words, if God 
 in fulfilling His promises in spite of our un- 
 righteousness and disobedience, is to prove His 
 goodness and truth, what shall we say? Shall 
 we say that God is unjust (if we may presume to 
 speak of Him as of a human being), because of 
 His wrath against sin? Far from us be such a 
 thought ! But how could God punish sin with- 
 out being unjust if this assumption were true? 
 For if the truth of God's promises is to be 
 glorified through the sinfulness of men, or to 
 be manifested thereby in a higher degree than by 
 their faith and obedience, how could God judge 
 the sinner, how could He condemn and punish 
 what would contribute to His glory ? But as 
 God is just, and yet could not punish sin with- 
 out being unjust, what should we say ? Should 
 we not have to say, " Let us do evil that good 
 may come of it and God may be glorified." Who 
 does not see the extravagance, the criminality of 
 such an argument? Away, then, with a doctrine, 
 which upheaves the fundamental truths of reli- 
 gion and derides the idea of a moral government 
 of the world ! 
 
 Let us now consider the immediate conse- 
 quences of this argument. Can the fact of the 
 divine oracles having been entrusted to us, justify 
 
134 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 pride or furnish an excuse for persevering in 
 sin? Can we possibly be held guiltless in 
 preference to the Gentiles on account of our 
 possessing the law ? Most assuredly not. The 
 reproach of sinfulness is general against both 
 Jews and Gentiles; and the Old Testament, 
 which is addressed to the Jews, contains the 
 very same declarations respecting the universal 
 corruption of man, which St. Paul repeats in 
 the first chapter, so that every one without 
 exception must consider himself as having 
 sinned against God. Now, if both Jews and 
 Gentiles be sinners, and all sin, by whomsoever 
 committed, be altogether at variance with God, 
 it necessarily follows, that the Jew also remains 
 guilty, notwithstanding the law, because, as St. 
 Paul significantly adds, by the law no one can 
 be justified before God, or attain righteousness 
 in His sight. The law has no other object than 
 to convince us of our sinfulness ; it has not the 
 power to free us from sin. 
 
 It is observable that St. Paul, after having so 
 powerfully combated the prejudice of the Jews as 
 to justification through the possession of the law, 
 does not in like manner also combat the other 
 prejudice as to justification through keeping the 
 law. I consider this as an additional reason 
 against the assumption, for which there are 
 indeed no grounds, that St. Paul considered 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 135 
 
 himself in this place as arguing against an ob- 
 stinate Jew. Such a one, if he had admitted 
 that possessing the law would not suffice, would 
 naturally, and from his point of view consistently 
 enough, object, that obeying the law must suffice, 
 because it cannot be supposed that a just God 
 would have given a law which no one can fulfil, 
 unless the sacrifices commanded, were to be 
 received as an atonement for occasional trans- 
 gressions. Indeed he might have quoted Leviti- 
 cus, xviii. 5, " He who keeps my statutes shall live 
 in them," so that there would here be no refuta- 
 tion of a hypocritical pharisee who depended 
 upon works. The former prejudice might be 
 combated by simple reasoning, and required 
 nothing for its refutation but a belief in the 
 justice of God; but the doctrine which lies at 
 the root of Christianity, that obedience to the 
 law or works is not sufficient for justification, 
 does not admit of so easy a proof. No one could 
 acknowledge it without being so far advanced as 
 to be impressed with a sense of the holiness of 
 God, and of His being in direct opposition to 
 all sinfulness. (Comp. p. 82 if.) St. Paul had a 
 right to consider his Christian readers as men 
 so far advanced in this respect, that he might 
 propound to them this doctrine, which he after- 
 wards confirms in chap. iv. by the history of 
 Abraham, and several declarations of David, 
 
136 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 and more particularly in chap, vii., where he 
 opens to our view a deeper insight into the 
 nature of man and the plan of salvation; this 
 mode of proof being the only one possible, but 
 at the same time accessible to such only as are 
 in a certain stage of moral advancement. 
 
 Although, in this place, St. Paul has chiefly 
 the Mosaic law in view, he nevertheless uses the 
 wider expression " law of works," and maintains 
 that no weak mortal in need of help (no flesh) can 
 be justified by the same. By the expression, 
 "law of works," he denotes the law as the out- 
 ward rule of our actions, the standard by which 
 they must be regulated. This, he says, gives us 
 the knowledge of sin, but not the power of good. 
 (Comp. Gal. iii. 21.) It is obvious that St. Paul, 
 in so far as he here adverts to the Mosaic law, 
 speaks of the whole body of the Mosaic law, and 
 not, as some have supposed, of the ceremonial 
 law alone, because if any part of the law were 
 capable of leading man to perfection, the Jew 
 would require nothing further, and St. Paul 
 would be contradicting himself. But even Moses 
 has set up a law of a higher order than that 
 which awards punishment to the transgressor, 
 and exemption from punishment to the fulfiller 
 of the law, namely, " Thou shalt love the Lord 
 thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, 
 und with all thy might;" (Deut. vi. 5.) and the 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 137 
 
 other which follows as a natural consequence, 
 " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 (Lev. xix. 18.) Of these rules Christ says, " on 
 these two commandments hang all the law and the 
 prophets," (Matt. xxii. 40.) while He reproaches 
 the scribes and pharisees with neglecting the 
 principal part of the law, which is righteous- 
 ness, mercy and faith. (Matt, xxiii. 23.) And 
 St. Paul also says, " Love is the fulfilling of the 
 law." (xiii. 10.) — This proves that St. Paul is 
 in this place opposing the law of works to the law 
 of love. The one commands and forbids actions, 
 with the view of leading degenerate man back to 
 the system of order from which he has deviated, 
 and of making him thereby capable of greater 
 happiness; but the threats and promises of the 
 law cannot regenerate — they cannot change 
 earthly affections into heavenly. As long as 
 this regeneration is not completed, man will 
 continue to be earthly; if he fulfil the dictates 
 of the law ever so much, his obedience will 
 spring from selfishness, fear of punishment or 
 hope of reward, and not from love. Man may, 
 by obedience to the law, attain that righteousness 
 which will secure to him exemption from punish- 
 ment before his Judge; but the law cannot 
 eradicate the cause of the disease, which is sinful- 
 ness, or create purity of heart, which alone is of 
 value in the sight of God, and enables man to 
 
138 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 become a member of His kingdom. Not that 
 man, while under the law, is incapable of drawing 
 or being drawn towards godliness. We should 
 else have to suppose that the greatest men 
 of the Old Covenant, had remained altogether 
 earthly, or that the Jews had received the re- 
 velations without being at all capable of deriving 
 any benefit from them. Neither does the Old 
 Testament, in the places which St. Paul quotes, 
 aver that the Jews, although all are sinful, were 
 addicted to the abominable vices which are 
 there enumerated. St. Paul had allowed the 
 Gentiles the possibility of an advance towards 
 godliness ; why should he deny it to the Jews ? 
 But it applies to all, that man is not what he 
 should be; not one is righteous in the sight of 
 God; all are corrupted and become unfit for 
 their high destination. Although St. Paul, re- 
 ferring this passage to the Jews also, speaks of 
 universal sinfulness, and admits degrees in the 
 moral station of these also, we may be sure that 
 even for the most advanced amongst them, he 
 admits only an approximation to the kingdom of 
 God, and not an actual life in it. Were this 
 otherwise, Christ could not have said of him 
 whom he called greater than all the prophets, 
 but who yet, for all his excellence, belonged to 
 the Old Covenant, that the least in the kingdom 
 of heaven was greater than he; meaning, of 
 
Chap. III. 1—20. 139 
 
 course, those who are actually of His kingdom, and 
 not those who acknowledge His name and doc- 
 trine only outwardly. At all events, it was not 
 the law of works from which this law of a 
 higher order proceeded ; and it is this which St. 
 Paul intends to point out in this place. And 
 every one who had the faintest idea of this 
 higher law, could not but feel himself incapable 
 of satisfying its requirements. Every outward 
 law is adapted to a certain state, and finds its 
 accomplishment at some time; but the law of 
 love is adapted to all states, and can never be 
 thoroughly accomplished. Christ comprises it 
 in these words : " Be perfect, as your Father in 
 heaven is perfect ;" which plainly shews that man 
 may draw towards perfection, but can never 
 reach it. The impossibility of satisfying this 
 last injunction, clearly proves that it is not an 
 observance or work of any kind, but a complete 
 change of the earthly principle into the heavenly, 
 the law of love, and a persevering pursuit of 
 godliness for its own sake, which leads to right- 
 eousness before God. This is the patient con- 
 tinuance in well-doing, of which St. Paul speaks in 
 the 7th verse of the second chapter, the perfect and 
 inalienable acquirement of the godly principle. 
 Whoever has undergone this change, will feel 
 himself transplanted, as it were, from an earthly 
 soil into the kingdom of heaven, from death to 
 
140 Chap. III. 1—20. 
 
 life, and will live no more unto himself, but unto 
 the Lord. His own insufficiency will no longer 
 make him doubt ; he knows, that the power work- 
 ing within him, is sufficient to overcome all 
 hindrances. But the law of works is unable to 
 produce this righteousness. Another power, 
 a divine light is required, which is Christ. 
 The Gospel, as St. Paul has before said, not 
 only shews us in what righteousness consists; it 
 contains also the power of imparting it. Whatever 
 degree of perfection man may have been able to 
 reach before the appearance of Christ, it was 
 never the law of works that raised him to 
 it, but the redeeming power of Christ, which 
 is the subject of the Gospel. (See 1 Cor.x.4.) 
 
 What has here been said of the law of works 
 is applicable to every law of works and all moral 
 systems, from whatever origin they may be de- 
 rived. They can furnish no power of perform- 
 ance, still less of regeneration. 
 
 21 — 26. But now hath God's righteousness been 
 revealed without law, to which (righteous- 
 ness) the law and the prophets have testi- 
 
 22 fied; namely, God's righteousness by the 
 faith of Jesus Christ unto all and over all 
 
 23 who believe. For there is here no distinc- 
 
 24 tion; for all have sinned and fallen short of 
 approbation before God, but are freely justi- 
 
Chap. III. 21—26. 141 
 
 fied by His grace, through the redemption 
 
 25 in Christ Jesus ; whom God hath set forth as 
 a Freer from sin, by fai'h, in His blood; 
 whereby He manifesteth His righteousness 
 by overlooking sins formerly committed, in 
 
 26 the forbearance of God, in order now to 
 manifest His righteousness, that He Himself 
 is just and justifieth him that believeth in 
 Jesus. 
 
 22 8ia niareois 'tyorov XpHrrov. Why I translate this literally 
 "by faith of Jesus Christ," will appear further on. — 26 I have ren- 
 dered ikaa-rrjpiov by Freer from sin, ((Sntffinbiger) oecause the 
 word — being a neuter adjective instead of a substantive, and ab- 
 stract for concrete — may unquestionably be so taken ; and because, 
 if St. Paul here makes use of a figure, this is nevertheless its un- 
 doubted sense. Thus also npoedtTo retains its meaning. He stands 
 forth, visible to all, in His blood ; (compare Gal. iii. 1.) and ev ra 
 avrov al/xart retains its most simple meaning, and need not be 
 changed into eir to aJfid. Aia rfjs Trio-rem may nevertheless be re- 
 ferred to man, because a faithful acceptance must always remain 
 a condition of help ; but I prefer referring it, in this place, to 
 Christ. (See my exposition.) By His faith, sealed with His own 
 blood, He stands forth as the Redeemer of mankind. Further- 
 more, it is not improbable that St. Paul had in mind the ark of 
 the covenant, which the High Priest sprinkled with blood on the 
 great day of Atonement, as a type of the Atonement. Of that 
 symbol — Christ sprinkled with His own blood is the true antitype. 
 The figure is perfectly apposite, and is appropriately introduced 
 here, as St. Paul was addressing such as were either Jews origin- 
 ally, or had become acquainted with the Jewish religion. To con- 
 sider Christ as represented under the figure of a sacrifice, seems 
 least of all to the purpose, and in no respect necessary. St. Paul 
 certainly makes use of the comparison, (Ephes. v. 2.) but not as a 
 figure of the redeeming power which is here spoken of, but of 
 self-sacrificing love ; just as elsewhere, (Rom. xii. 1.) he beseeches 
 his brethren to present themselves a sacrifice to God. 
 
142 Chap. III. 21—26. 
 
 After having thus proved, that all men are by 
 nature under sin, and consequently miserable, 
 and that, in order to attain to righteousness and 
 happiness, all stand in need of a help widely 
 different from the power that is in themselves or 
 in the law, St. Paul now returns to what he had 
 stated in the 16th and 17th verses of the first chap- 
 ter. The help required by all is offered in Christ, 
 to all who will accept it in faith. That divine 
 righteousness, which is independent of the law, 
 and for which the law and the prophets have 
 prepared us, is now manifested through the help 
 which Christ offers us, and of which we have to 
 avail ourselves through faithful acceptance. All 
 were sinful and consequently unfit for happiness, 
 and all will be justified, not through their own 
 insufficient works or their own merit, but of free 
 grace through the redemption of Christ. 
 
 We have now to direct our attention to two 
 points: first, what is here meant by the righte- 
 ousness of God ; and secondly, by the faith of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 Let us first consider the words "faith of Jesus 
 Christ," which admit of a twofold interpretation, 
 as we consider faith an attribute of Christ or 
 of man, in the latter case translating it by 
 "faith in Jesus Christ." The word Trio-™?, faith, 
 means truthfulness, dependence, as well as ac- 
 knowledgment and conviction, and is applied in 
 
Chap. III. 21—26. 143 
 
 the former sense to God, both in the Old and in 
 the New Testament. Now if, in this place, we 
 take faith in the latter signification, understand- 
 ing the words the righteousness of God by the faith 
 of Jesus Christ, to mean that righteousness as a 
 quality in man, which is acceptable to God, and 
 which man acquires through faith in Christ; 
 then we should be naturally led to ask, what is 
 it that he is to have faith in, and how is he 
 to acquire this faith? If man is to believe, 
 there must be some foundation of fact in which 
 he is to believe. Now this fact is the work of 
 Christ, that which He has accomplished for the 
 salvation of mankind. Even from the circum- 
 stance, that the Apostle would otherwise leave 
 this object of faith altogether unnoticed, it ap- 
 pears probable that he means to denote it by the 
 faith of Christ, by that which Christ has fulfilled 
 by His faithfulness and perseverance ; and this 
 becomes more probable still, from his adding, that 
 His work will become efficacious only through 
 the acceptance of man. If, on the other hand, 
 the " faith of Christ" were intended to mean faith 
 in Christ, Paul would clearly have left unnoticed 
 a subject of the highest importance, and have 
 mentioned the faith of man twice, without any 
 reason. And besides, how is man to acquire 
 the belief that Christ has done such great things 
 for his benefit? St. Paul describes man, as by 
 
144 Chap. III. 21— 2G. 
 
 nature estranged from God, as incapable of under- 
 standing and appropriating anything divine, and 
 consequently, this divine fact also. Now, as the 
 work of Christ is to become efficacious through 
 faithful acceptance on the part of man, (and this 
 could not be otherwise, because whoever is in- 
 capable of such acceptance would also be in- 
 capable of happiness, ) is he to acquire this capa- 
 bility for belief through his own power? This 
 is impossible, according to the whole showing 
 of the Apostle. Indeed, it would follow from 
 the opposite conclusion, that man would have 
 himself to accomplish a part of his redemption ; 
 and if he could effect this, if he had in his natural 
 state the power of recognising and appropri- 
 ating the most divine part of his salvation, he 
 would have no need of a Redeemer. Faith, then, 
 the most essential condition of happiness, must 
 be acquired by help from without ; and how else 
 than by the help of Christ, since Christ is re- 
 presented to us as the Author and Finisher of our 
 faith? (Heb. xii. 2; compare Ephes. ii. 8, and 
 Phil. i. 6.) — The whole work of Christ must 
 then necessarily include also His rendering us 
 capable of faith, and the sense of the passage will 
 be this : the righteousness of God is manifested 
 through the faithfulness of Christ, through His 
 unceasing faithful agency. Plis redeeming power 
 penetrates all men, (gains ground wherever it 
 
Chap. III. 21—26. 145 
 
 has entered and gradually spreads over the whole 
 man,)* it becomes efficacious in all who believe. 
 Whoever believes, believes through the redeem- 
 ing influence of Christ. f 
 
 Let it not be objected that this doctrine would 
 destroy the free will and independent action 
 of the individual and reduce him to a mere 
 instrument. If man, as the Scripture teaches, 
 is of divine origin, no divine influence can pos- 
 sibly reduce him to the level of the machine; and 
 if he were intended for nothing else, it would 
 surely not require such schemes on the part of 
 God to accomplish this end. It is, on the con- 
 trary, the object of redemption to emancipate 
 and call into free action the original divine powers 
 of man, which, as St. Paul teaches further on, are 
 fettered by sin ; and to the extent that this has 
 been accomplished, has man become faithful. And 
 although redemption is the work solely of the 
 Redeemer, yet it can never take effect without 
 man's co-operation. The powers set free will at 
 once begin to aid His designs. We cannot, with- 
 out anticipating, treat this subject more fully in 
 this place. It is our object to follow closely 
 the reasoning of the Apostle. 
 
 What we have here advanced will pave the way 
 
 * els ndvras kcu ori Trdvras. 
 
 t See what is said further on (viii. 35) on the expression dydinj 
 tov Xpio-Tov, love of Christ. 
 
 L 
 
146 Chap. III. 21—26. 
 
 for a more perfect understanding of what is meant 
 by divine righteousness, or more correctly the 
 righteousness of God. The term righteousness 
 often denotes that quality in man which renders 
 him acceptable to God, and we need not lose 
 sight of this signification ; but it does not convey 
 the full meaning in this passage, and we must not 
 confine ourselves to it. In the 20th verse St. Paul 
 had said, that man is not justified by the law or by 
 works. In this passage he shows us how justifica- 
 tion is alone to be attained ; namely, through the 
 influence of God, through that which God works 
 for man through Christ. Moses and the prophets 
 have already intimated that God purposed to show 
 His mercy to the whole human race through the 
 sending of the Redeemer; the Gospel teaches 
 that this has now been accomplished, that God 
 has now actually shown Himself in His mercy.* 
 
 The Gospel certainly shows us what we ought 
 to be, in order to become acceptable to God, but 
 woe unto us if this were all ! It shows us also 
 what God has done for us through Christ, and 
 how He is mercifully conducting us to salvation, 
 while the Old Testament speaks only of His 
 
 * Even if biKaioa-uvt] Qtov is taken, up to this point, to signify 
 human justice, it cannot he taken so in the 25th and 26th verses. 
 St. Paul says, in the 26th verse, that God manifests himself as 
 Sinaios, thus expressly attributing to Him the quality of ducaiocrvvr). 
 He had already done so in the 5th verse, and shown how the 
 Siicaioo-vvr) was not manifested ; here, on the contrary, he shows 
 how it is, and wherein it consists. 
 
Chap. III. 21—26. 147 
 
 justice, as an exact balancing of iniquity and 
 punishment. It shows us that, although we are all 
 sinful and worthless, God will lead us to felicity 
 through the redeeming power of Christ alone, 
 through mercy, without any merit of our own. 
 This attribute of God (His righteousness) pre- 
 sents itself to our view in two ways, first as 
 forbearance, as an overlooking, as it were, of 
 former transgressions — although we should hardly 
 acknowledge this manifestation of it as a proof 
 of His righteousness , but rather of His goodness^ 
 without being able to reconcile it with our ideas 
 of His holiness, — and then, in the person of the 
 Redeemer, as righteousness of a higher order, not 
 only perfectly reconcileable with His holiness, but 
 exalting our ideas of that holiness ; so that we can 
 no longer consider God's mercy at variance with 
 His justice ; for He does not prepare felicity for 
 the sinner, which would be impossible, but takes 
 away sin through the redeeming power of Christ, 
 renders us capable of felicity, and bestows it upon 
 us as soon as we are in a fit state to possess it. 
 
 And since at this time, as at all former times, 
 all men without exception, whether more or less 
 sinful, enter this world in a sinful state, every 
 one of us needs this paternal indulgence in re- 
 spect to former transgressions (committed before 
 we knew of the help prepared for us, and before 
 we were capable of availing ourselves of it) and 
 
 l 2 
 
148 Chap. III. 21—26. 
 
 we should commit a grave error if we were to 
 confine this period of the indulgence of God to 
 the time before the sojourn of Christ in this 
 world, and not to consider it intended for us 
 also. 
 
 But why, we may ask, does St. Paul call this 
 quality of God righteousness, which we should 
 be more disposed to call mercy or love? Because 
 he proceeds from the representations of the Old 
 Testament, where we find the idea of God's 
 severity predominating; and because every re- 
 presentation of different qualities in God must 
 be considered as a concession to human weak- 
 ness, which will cease when we shall be able 
 to see God as He is, the point towards which 
 St. Paul is conducting us. God, in His essence, 
 has not qualities inherent in human nature, 
 but will in the light of truth appear as all love ; 
 for this is the sum of the New Testament, " God 
 is love." 
 
 Thus then, as the Apostle teaches, the righte- 
 ousness of God is manifested, infinitely different 
 from human righteousness. God does not award 
 particular punishments for sins formerly com- 
 mitted, (although they continue to entail evil con- 
 sequences as long as man remains sinful,) neither 
 does He reject the sinner for ever; He bears with 
 him indulgently and mercifully, and releases him 
 through Christ, from the consequences of his 
 
Chap. III. 21—26. 149 
 
 transgressions. Thus the righteousness of God 
 develops itself to our view in the strongest light, 
 in as much as God, (with whose holiness all un- 
 godliness is irreconcileable, (i. 18.) who cannot 
 consequently unite what cannot exist together, 
 who cannot admit the sinner to His kingdom, or to 
 communion with Himself, ) releases him from sin 
 through Christ, and allows him to participate in 
 eternal felicity, when he is thus rendered fit for 
 such blissful participation. Thus the righteous- 
 ness of God displays itself as truthfulness in the 
 fulfilment of His promises, not by giving what 
 He had promised to those who might boast 
 of having acquired a right to it by keeping 
 the law, for the whole of the law no one 
 can keep, and no one can through his own 
 works attain to that state of godliness which 
 is a condition of the highest happiness. Still 
 less does God fulfil His promises by granting 
 the highest happiness to the Jews on account 
 of their descent from Abraham, notwithstanding 
 their persevering in sin ; He fulfils His promises to 
 an inconceivable extent, by eradicating, through 
 the power of Christ, the germ of evil, and thus 
 making us fit to receive what He had vouchsafed 
 to promise. 
 
 Indeed, if we consider that evil-doing and 
 happiness are ideas that contradict each other, 
 and cannot, consequently, exist in the same 
 
150 Chap. III. 21—26. 
 
 being; that evil and misery are inseparable, as 
 cause and effect, and essentially one and the same 
 thing, and that the individual will consequently 
 be miserable in the same degree as he is sinful 
 and ungodly, both here and still more in a 
 future spiritual existence, when self-deception 
 and unreal happiness will cease ; it will irresist- 
 ibly follow, that remission of sin, redemption, 
 and blessedness are inconceivable, without a 
 complete annihilation and eradication of evil. 
 And, indeed, the Scripture, although it often 
 touches the subject in a figurative manner, yet 
 always describes redemption as annihilation of 
 evil. The " Blood of Christ," that is, the re- 
 deeming power of Christ, "cleanseth us from all 
 sin" (1 John i. 7.)* "He is faithful and just to 
 forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all 
 unrighteousness." (1 John i. 9.)f "Ye know 
 that He was manifested to take away our sins." 
 (1 John iii. 5.) X "For this purpose the Son of 
 God was manifested, that He might destroy the 
 
 * Kadapi£a rjpas- 
 
 1" 7tKTT0S i(TTi Ka\ Sixains, Iva a(pfj rjfiiv ras apaprlas, Kai KaBaplarj 
 
 Tjpas ano wchtt)s abulias. St. John here, as St. Paul in this passage, 
 makes the diKaioavvrj Qeov consist in the remission of past sins, 
 and the purification from sinfulness, except that St. Paul, con- 
 formably with his object, speaks of all past sins in general, which 
 God will, as it were, pass over (napdvai), while St. John, on the 
 other hand, speaks of those sins which are acknowledged (con- 
 fessed) and repented of, on which account he uses the stronger 
 expression dcptivai (to remit). 
 t nprj. 
 
Chap. III. 27—31. 151 
 
 works of the devil." (1 John iii. 8.)* Human 
 forgiveness can be nothing beyond remission of a 
 penalty incurred; and can neither free the trans- 
 gressor from his tendency to evil, nor prevent 
 his again offending and deserving punishment. 
 Divine forgiveness goes infinitely beyond this ; it 
 would else be imperfect, like human forgiveness. 
 It destroys the very germ of evil in man, induces 
 him to a continual pursuit of all that is godly, 
 and secures to him eternal bliss. Such is the 
 fulness of the redemption of Christ ! Such the 
 righteousness of God towards the fallen race ! 
 
 27 — 31. Where is, then, the boasting ? It is 
 done away. By what law ? Of works ? Nay ; 
 
 28 but by the law of faith. For we have seen, 
 that a man is justified by faith, without the 
 
 29 law of works. Or is God the God of the 
 Jews only, and not of the Gentiles also? 
 
 30 Yea, of the Gentiles also; since it is but 
 one God who justifieth the circumcision by 
 faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. 
 
 31 Do we then invalidate the law through faith ? 
 not in the least ; we rather, confirm it. 
 
 What then, becomes, says St. Paul to the 
 Roman congregation of Jewish origin, what then 
 
 * Xixry. 
 
 28. Xoyi'fo/xat, is H I draw the conclusion, inference ; I am, 
 certain ;" as in Kom. v. 10, 2 Cor x. 7, Heb. xi. 19. 
 
152 Chap. III. 27—31. 
 
 becomes of the preference of which we vainly 
 boasted ? Can we still hope to attain salvation 
 through keeping the law, or through a partiality 
 of God for our nation ? How completely is the 
 narrow-minded conception we had of God, as if He 
 were exclusively the God of our people, dispelled 
 by the sublime truth of the Gospel, that God em- 
 braces with equal love the whole of the human 
 race. He does not require at our hands, what we 
 cannot accomplish ; He gives, of His unbounded 
 mercy, to all, without distinction, what is needful ; 
 and requires nothing but a faithful, childlike, and 
 pious acceptance of His infinite mercies ! How 
 does this insight into the plan of salvation heighten 
 and expand the value and meaning of our own 
 religion also ! Have we still to fear that the new 
 doctrine will make it appear useless or foreign to 
 the plans of God, now that we understand the 
 exalted meaning of His promises therein depo- 
 sited? (iii. 2.)* Is it not the one immutable plan 
 of God, of which we had there only the founda- 
 tion, but which we now see in its full and glorious 
 development? Are not the promises there made, 
 fulfilled in reality and truth, and in a manner 
 much more consonant with the glory of God, than 
 we were formerly able to imagine ? Does faith dis- 
 annul the law? On the contrary, it is faith which 
 displays the law in all its dignity and glory. 
 
 * Aciyta roi Qfov, oracles of God. 
 
CHAPTER THE FOURTH. 
 
 1 — 8. What can we then say, that our father 
 Abraham obtained according to the flesh? 
 
 2 For if Abraham was justified on account of 
 his works, he hath whereof to boast, but not 
 
 3 with God. For what saith the Scripture? 
 Abraham believed God, and this was counted 
 
 4 to him for righteousness. Now to a work- 
 man his wages are not reckoned as a matter 
 
 5 of grace, but as a debt. But to him, on the 
 contrary, not as a worker, but a believer in 
 Him who justifieth the ungodly, his faith is 
 
 6 counted for righteousness. Even as David 
 also pronounceth the man blessed, to whom 
 God imputeth righteousness without works. 
 
 7 " Blessed are they whose transgressions are 
 
 8 forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed 
 is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not 
 his sins." 
 
 5. tb 8e (if] ipya(ofiiv<a. But to him not as a worker. These 
 words would certainly appear at first sight to be of general appli- 
 cation, like the preceding ra 8e ipya^ofxiva. The reason of my, 
 notwithstanding, referring them, (with Schott and others,) to 
 Abraham, will appear from my exposition. I merely observe in 
 this place, that our so taking them is not precluded, either by the 
 
154 Chap. IV. 1—8. 
 
 The truth at which we have arrived, a truth 
 so highly important for a true conception of 
 Christianity, that man cannot by works or ob- 
 servances, attain that state for which he has been 
 destined by God; and that blessedness is not to 
 be acquired through his own merit, but can be 
 attained only through a faithful acceptance, as 
 a gift of God, altogether independent of the 
 law and of the circumcision : this truth St. Paul 
 proceeds to confirm by the example, so highly 
 important to all Jews, of Abraham, the father of 
 their nation, and the spiritual father and example 
 of all that believe. Can we, says the Apostle, 
 if we examine the story of Abraham with atten- 
 tion, can we say that he obtained acceptance 
 in the sight of God, and, in consequence, the 
 promises, according to the fashion of the flesh, in 
 the manner of one man's acquiring a possession 
 from another ? The expression, according to the 
 flesh, as opposed to the term spiritually, denotes 
 a mind and deeds grown in an earthly soil, deeds 
 which amongst men will be considered merito- 
 rious, in contradistinction to a mind of love, 
 
 M, (comp. 2 Cor. v. 21, and 2 Cor. vi. 6, where pr} refers to particu- 
 lar persons,) or by the present Xoyt'ferai, used in animated discourse 
 for the aorist. Thus, then, t(£ 8e, fifj ipyafaixiva k. t. X. But to him, 
 Abraham, in the case before us, not works, but faith, was counted 
 for righteousness. Those, however, who prefer translating — " To 
 one that worketh not, but believeth," etc., must, if they coincide 
 with the reasons hereinafter set forth, supply, " and such a one 
 was Abraham," and then it becomes essentially the same. 
 
Chap. IV. 1—8. 155 
 
 bringing forth deeds to which he will no more 
 be able to ascribe any merit. If Abraham was 
 righteous in his worldly relations, (we need not 
 use the word in its narrower meaning; if he was 
 kind-hearted, benevolent, noble-minded,) this 
 would procure him acknowledgment in the eyes 
 of man, he would be esteemed and praised as 
 righteous and noble-minded, and enjoy all the 
 advantages that accompany a well-founded reput- 
 ation, but righteousness or acceptance with God 
 he could never attain on that account For what 
 is there in such works deserving praise or re- 
 ward at the hand of God? May they not even 
 proceed from worldly motives, and have no other 
 object than worldly advantage, the result of 
 worldly maxims, which would entitle them to 
 nothing but worldly acknowledgment, however 
 well deserved? Integrity, for instance, even if 
 founded upon the best moral principles and free 
 from selfishness, cannot, considered as an outward 
 deed, be a reason for acceptance with God, because 
 the opportunities for its display do not depend 
 upon the will of man, but upon outward circum- 
 stances furnished by Providence; it can be ac- 
 ceptable to God only inasmuch as it proceeds from 
 a true, godly, and loving principle, or in other 
 words, inasmuch as it proceeds from faith. If 
 this were otherwise, God would love that man 
 most who had the best opportunities for manifest- 
 
156 Chap. IV. 1—8. 
 
 ing his good intentions by deeds, although such 
 opportunities do not, evidently, depend upon him, 
 but upon God who appointed him the place which 
 he occupies. (Comp. Mark xii. 43.) St. Paul re- 
 fers to the express testimony of Scripture, which 
 does not speak of any work of Abraham's as 
 earning God's approbation, but simply states that 
 " Abraham believed God, and this was counted to 
 him for righteousness." But faith, considered as 
 a principle, is intention or will, not works ; and 
 even the expression, " it was counted to him for 
 righteousness (iXoyia-07) dvrS ek hiKaioa-vvriv^ proves 
 that the Apostle speaks only of the will, of inten- 
 tions, and decidedly not of works done. So that 
 even where no opportunity had been afforded 
 him for evincing his will by outward works, what 
 he would have done if such opportunity had been 
 afforded, was counted to him by God, who looks 
 only to the inward motions of the soul. Abraham 
 believed God; he attended to the voice of God 
 within him, and knew how to distinguish it from 
 the voice of the world and of his own passions ; 
 and it is this bent of his mind, this walking be- 
 fore the Lord, which secured him acceptance. 
 This faith was not a holding of certain things for 
 true without convincing reasons, which, indeed, 
 could be of no account before the God of truth ; 
 it was an intimate and lively acknowledgment of 
 the divine principle, which in its intensity and 
 
Chap. IV. 1-8. 157 
 
 immediateness required no further proof from 
 without; it was a conscious living in the spi- 
 ritual world. Such a faith is an abiding but- 
 growing state of the mind, widely differing from 
 a momentary exaltation, inciting to marvellous 
 deeds. The promise which Abraham had received, 
 that a son should be born to him in his old age, 
 remained without fulfilment many years, and 
 yet his faith never wavered. Nay, when in 
 later years the severest trial of his faith came 
 upon him, we find him preparing himself for the 
 act, not in an excited state of mind, but calmly 
 and with imperturbable fortitude. It need hardly 
 be observed, that this trial was imposed upon 
 him not, as the ancient Record expresses it in the 
 poetical language of its time, to make God sure 
 of his faith, but to make Abraham himself more 
 sure, and to furnish a glorious example to pos- 
 terity. And it is only the fact of his executing 
 the divine command with the firm conviction that 
 it was the voice of God which spake to him, and 
 that the plans of God, which reach far beyond 
 the grave and far beyond all time, are to be 
 reverenced by the faithful worshipper, whether 
 understood or not — it is only this fact which 
 constitutes the act of Abraham such a glorious 
 example of faith. Had not this conviction been 
 living within him, it would not have been pious 
 but fanatical. 
 
158 Chap. IV. 1—8. 
 
 The Apostle adds a remark in this place, which 
 puts it beyond a doubt, that the words which he 
 had quoted from Scripture, "Abraham believed 
 God, and this was counted to him for righteous- 
 ness," are to be referred to his state of mind, not 
 to his actual deed. He says " to him that work- 
 eth is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of 
 debt;" consequently, if Abraham had earned, as 
 wages, what was granted to him, this could not 
 have been looked upon as a grace bestowed. But 
 he receives no recompense for a deed performed ; 
 for we know of no deed of his on this occasion, 
 we hear only of his faith, and are told that this 
 faith was pleasing to God, and counted to him for 
 righteousness.* 
 
 * We must accordingly refer the 5th verse to Abraham, and 
 not consider it as intended, in this place, for a precept of universal 
 application, though it is virtually such notwithstanding. It be- 
 longs necessarily to the establishment of St. Paul's arguments: 
 if it were only the enunciation of a general precept it would be a 
 mere repetition of what was before said, and which should here 
 be confirmed by an example, that of Abraham. The objection 
 that the definition " who justifieth the ungodly," which is added 
 to the words " one that believeth in Him," (irum-vowi be eVi tov 
 SiKaiovvra tov do-ffirj) cannot refer to Abraham, because in the act 
 of faith which St. Paul mentions, his faith in the justifying grac6 
 of God, is not at all in question, seems to me to be of no weight. 
 The Apostle is speaking, as we have seen, not of any single act of 
 faith on the part of the patriarch, but of the frame of his mind. 
 This frame of mind, this faith, was of the right sort, since it was 
 pleasing in God's sight, though it could not embrace in itself the 
 divine counsels, which could only receive their historical develop- 
 ment after the lapse of ages. But notwithstanding this apparent 
 doctrinal imperfection in the faith of Abraham, it could not but 
 contain the conviction of his own sinfulness, and that a deliver- 
 
Chap. IV. 1—8. 159 
 
 It is certainly to be considered as a divine 
 grace, and not as a reward due to Abraham, 
 that the disposition of his mind or his faith, al- 
 though it could not be perfect, should have been 
 counted to him as perfect, humanly speaking. 
 Abraham was by nature a weak, sinful man, like 
 all others, but at the time the story introduces 
 him to us, he had already made considerable pro- 
 gress towards purity of heart and faith, (and this 
 surely through the previous help of God, without 
 which this would have been impossible,) but he 
 had not reached perfection; for then he would 
 not have needed the command of God, to walk 
 before Him and be perfect. It was a grace 
 therefore, that his as yet imperfect faith was 
 counted perfect. It should not be said that 
 Abraham received the promises as a reward for 
 his faith; for, "who hath first given to Him, that 
 it should be recompensed to him again ?" Even 
 the promise was a grace in accordance with the 
 
 ance could only take place through divine assistance, (for had he 
 been proud and self-righteous he could not possibly have pleased 
 God,) and so it must likewise have contained faith in Him who 
 justifieth the sinner. And if possessed of such a faith, he could 
 tranquilly leave the way and manner of such assistance to the 
 wisdom and love of God, and the more unconditionally he did so, 
 the more perfect was his heart. It is true that our own faith, 
 now that we • know Christ, must also, to be a right one, involve 
 the conviction, that the divine assistance has been extended to 
 us through Christ. Abraham's faith neither involved nor needed 
 such a conviction, for, as it was, it wrought all that a true faith 
 can work — justification before God. 
 
160 Chap. IV. 1—8. 
 
 divine love, which gives to each man what he is 
 in a fit state to receive. Abraham's faith, there- 
 fore, was not counted for perfect in the sense of 
 God's counting him as perfect, and, at the same 
 time, leaving his imperfections upon him. This 
 would be impossible, according to what I have 
 before stated; and should not be lost sight of, 
 on account of what follows further on. It is 
 the nature of redeeming grace to send forth its 
 vivifying rays to every germ of godliness in man, 
 for its development and perfection. For this 
 reason, he in whom much divine seed has already 
 taken root, will visibly develop himself more, 
 " for whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and 
 he shall have more abundance." 
 
 It is evident that David also had the firm con- 
 viction that blessedness was to be attained only 
 by divine grace, and not by human merit ; for he 
 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is for- 
 given, whose sin is covered." He cannot cer- 
 tainly mean by this covering of sin, a concealing 
 or cloaking of sins committed, while the sinful 
 disposition still remains. He speaks both of 
 forgiving and covering, in order to remind us of 
 the divine manner of forgiving, which, as St. 
 Paul has taught us, consists in a complete eradi- 
 cation of sinfulness, upon which a complete for- 
 getting and covering of the past must follow, an 
 
Chap. IV. 9—17. 161 
 
 extermination of sin and all its consequences, as 
 if they had never existed. 
 
 After this digression, St. Paul returns to his 
 subject, to show, by the example of Abraham, 
 that justification, or the entering of man into the 
 proper childlike relation to God, is altogether 
 independent of circumcision and law. 
 
 9 — 17. Now, does this declaration of blessed- 
 ness apply to the circumcised or to the un- 
 circumcised? We say, indeed, that faith 
 was counted to Abraham for righteousness. 
 
 10 But how was it counted to him? When he 
 was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision ? 
 
 11 Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 
 And he received the sign of circumcision as 
 a seal of the righteousness [justification j 
 of faith, which he had in uncircumcision, in 
 order that he might be the father of all that 
 believe in uncircumcision, (so that righte- 
 
 12 ousness might also be counted to them,) and 
 the father of the circumcision, of those who 
 are not only in circumcision, but also walk 
 in the steps of the faith which our father 
 Abraham had while he was in uncircum- 
 
 13 cision. For, not through the law was the 
 promise made to Abraham or his seed, that 
 he should inherit glory, but through the 
 
 14 righteousness of faith. For if they who 
 
 M 
 
162 Chap. IV. 9—17. 
 
 are of the law are inheritors, faith is made 
 
 15 void, and the promise disannulled : for 
 the law worketh wrath : but where there is 
 
 16 no law there is no transgression. Therefore 
 (it was) through faith, so that it might be 
 of grace, in order that the promise might 
 stand sure to all the seed ; not only to that 
 which is of the law, but also to that which 
 is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father 
 
 17 of us all (as it is written, "I have made thee 
 a father of many nations,") before God in 
 whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead, 
 and nameth that which is not, as if it were. 
 
 12. The expression icai irarepa TreptTopr/s, rots ovk eV 7repiro/i?)s 
 povov aWa kcl\ rots o-Toi^o€(rt. k. t. X. can only mean, father of 
 those among the circumcised who, at the same time, believe, for 
 that Abraham should be father of the uncircumcised who believe, 
 has been said just before. It is clearly as a spiritual father 
 that Abraham is here spoken of, and to refer this to all the cir- 
 cumcised would be at variance with chap. ii. 28, 29. — 13 tthqpovopov 
 Koo-pov — Koapos denotes, as is well known, first, order, harmony, 
 decoration, honour etc. (It is used for personal adorning in 
 1 Pet.iii. 3, Isa. xlix. 18, lxi. 10, Ecclus. xxxii. 6, compare 1 Tim. ii. 9,) 
 and so, the world, in so far as it is the expression of the supreme 
 disposing Spirit. It is no where promised that Abraham or his 
 posterity should be inheritors of the world. St. Paul probably 
 had in mind Gen. xv. 7, where the possession of Canaan is pro- 
 mised to Abraham. Canaan was frequently employed as a type 
 of Heaven, of the dwelling of the blessed, a participation in 
 which is vouchsafed to those who have diKaioavvrjv rrjs 7riore<os. 
 Now it is not impossible that such types were rendered by the 
 Apostles in other words, for the purpose of showing that they 
 were not to be taken literally. And thus St. Paul, who obviously 
 takes the promise in its spiritual sense, referring it to the un- 
 circumcised spiritual posterity of Abraham, seems designedly 
 and significantly to employ Koapos to denote the most perfect 
 order and harmony, the dwelling of love and peace. Tr} must be 
 
Chap. IV. 9 — 17. 163 
 
 The Apostle now proves, by a simple and 
 cogent argument, from the example of Abraham, 
 that the declaration of blessedness pronounced 
 by David upon those who have received forgive- 
 ness, is not to be confined to the circumcised, but 
 extended to all who resemble Abraham in faith. 
 Abraham's faith was counted to him for right- 
 eousness while he was yet uncircumcised, which 
 proves that faith may be counted for righteous- 
 ness to the uncircumcised. Abraham received 
 circumcision as a symbol of deep significance. To 
 the spiritually- minded St. Paul, everything was 
 full of spiritual meaning — nor, indeed, can any 
 divine institution fail of being so. Circumcision of 
 the flesh betokens circumcision of the heart, as St. 
 Paul had before intimated, (ii. 28.) it is an out- 
 ward sign of an inward transformation ; and so to 
 
 similarly understood in Matt. v. 5. — 15 Why I take the second 
 yap as=8e, but, on the other hand, will be seen by my expo- 
 sition. For this use of yap see Hermann ad Vig. p. 846. Some 
 manuscripts, indeed, read 8e. — 16 The sense of the words navrl 
 r£> crneppaTi, ov t<5 i< tov vd/iou povov, aKXa icai tw «'k mo-Tfcos 
 'Aftpadp, is unmistakeable, for it can be no other than that which 
 is given in the 12th verse. But the construction also is easy, if we 
 understand with mo-Teas the explanation in the 12th verse, rrjs 
 iv rfj dicpopvo-Tlq, which St. Paul seems to have had in mind. The 
 promise remains sure for all his posterity that believe, not only 
 the Jews, but also those, who under the same outward circum- 
 stances as Abraham, that is without being circumcised, believe. — 
 17 Karevavri ov erriorevcre Qeov=naTevavTi tov Qeov, a eVtcrrevcre IS 
 an attraction of precisely the same kind as in Acts xxi. 16, •nap' 
 a £fvio-6£>ptv Mvdo-oovi nvi. I have preferred the literal transla- 
 tion of this verse because it seems to give the sense with the 
 greatest beauty. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Chap. IV. 9— 17. 
 
 Abraham it was not only a confirmation of 
 God's promise, but a warning that he required 
 further purification, and, that with him and his 
 descendants, the fulfilling of the promise was to 
 depend upon purity of heart. In this sense 
 Abraham is called an example and a father of 
 all the faithful, without distinction of times, na- 
 tions, and usages. All who believe in God, like 
 the uncircuracised Abraham, are to rejoice in 
 His helping, cleansing, and redeeming mercy; 
 they will find acceptance with Him, and blessed- 
 ness as they advance in purity of heart. 
 
 Many who suppose St. Paul to be arguing 
 with obstinate Jews, have regarded the 13th 
 verse as an additional argument, that God's 
 pardoning mercy is not confined to the Jews, 
 and therefore explain it thus : Neither was the 
 promise given to Abraham and his descendants 
 by the law, (under the law, or on account of his 
 fulfilling the law,) etc. But if St. Paul intended 
 to refute those who considered the mere posses- 
 sion of the law sufficient, in which case " they 
 which are of the law, (of e* vo/aov)" in the 14th 
 verse, would mean " those who possess the law," 
 they would not admit that the promise is an- 
 nulled or abrogated, since they do not make the 
 promise contingent upon faith but upon the pos- 
 session of the outward law. If, on the other 
 hand, St. Paul intended to refute those who make 
 
Chap. IV. 9—17. 165 
 
 the promise contingent upon the fulfilling of the 
 law, so that ''they which are of the law" would 
 mean "those who found their claim upon works" : 
 the words "faith is made void," would not tell 
 against them any more than against the former, 
 since they do not ascribe any efficacy to faith. 
 The words which follow, "the promise is dis- 
 annulled," because no man can fulfil the law, 
 (see p. 136) might embarrass but would not re- 
 fute them. Moreover the words "for where 
 there is no law, there is no transgression," would, 
 in that case, be quite superfluous, and lead to the 
 false conclusion that St. Paul was conceding to the 
 Gentiles an advantage over the Jews, on account 
 of their not having the law ; which would be a 
 contradiction of what he had before advanced, 
 namely, that all men are by nature in a state 
 which cannot find favour in the sight of God, 
 for it is immaterial whether the inward state of 
 an individual, which alone God regards, become 
 apparent by the breaking of a positive law or 
 not, as God would know beforehand whether he 
 would break the law or not if it were given him. 
 The simplest way, then, of understanding the 
 passage, seems to be this. The Apostle had 
 stated that all depends upon faith, and not upon 
 works and observances, and now confirms this 
 by adding^ that God has not made the ful- 
 filment of His promises dependent upon the 
 
166 Chap. IV. 9—17. 
 
 keeping of the law. The promise to Abraham 
 and his descendants, he says, was not that they 
 should be heirs through the fulfilling of the law, 
 but through the righteousness of faith.* For 
 if they who fulfil the law obtain what was pro- 
 mised, then faith, which was the sole cause and 
 condition of the promise, will become void, and 
 the whole promise also will be void and of no 
 effect, since no one can keep the law, which 
 
 * This is historical. The first words of the Lord to Abraham 
 that we have recorded, (Gen. xii. 1.) are an injunction to go into a 
 land which God would show him. and in which He would bless 
 him ; not so much, therefore, a commandment as a proof of God's 
 goodness. The following promises are all unconditional, but the 
 faithful and pious disposition of Abraham shines throughout ; 
 he follows the call of God ; he preaches the name of the Lord ; 
 he builds Him altars ; he is liberal to the priest of the Most 
 High God ; and generous to his conquered enemy. Even the 
 more definite promise, (ver. 15.) is made unconditionally. The 
 historian assigns as a reason, that Abraham believed God, and it 
 was counted to him for righteousness. To the repeated and 
 more abundant promises, (chap, xvii.) it is added, " Thou shalt 
 keep my covenant therefore," namely, circumcision ; but this is, 
 as St. Paul expressly says, a seal of righteousness, and therefore, 
 not a condition. Further on, God is represented as saying to 
 Himself (xviii. 19), "Abraham shall become a great and mighty 
 nation, and through him shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed ; for I know that he will command his sons and his 
 household after him, to keep the way of the Lord, and to do 
 justice and right, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what 
 He hath promised him." And when the promise was renewed 
 in the most solemn manner, after the great proof of faith which 
 he gave on the occasion of the command to offer up Isaac, it was 
 added, "Through thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
 blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." Thus fulfilment of 
 the law is now here made the condition of the fulfilment of the 
 promise, which is a free gift, though only to be possessed by 
 those who embrace it in faith. 
 
Chap. IV. 9—17. 167 
 
 only worketh wrath. But if, on the other hand, 
 the obtaining of what was promised depends 
 upon the faith of the individual, upon his con- 
 fiding disposition towards God, and not upon 
 the law, then there is no impediment to its ful- 
 filment, because faith has no law, and there- 
 fore there can be no transgression of the law. 
 So then the fulfilment of the promise depends 
 solely upon faith, because it is not a debt but 
 a free grace, and thus the promise will stand 
 for every real descendant of Abraham, for every 
 true believer without distinction of nations. It 
 is in this sense that Abraham is the father of 
 all the faithful; in this sense he is called the 
 father of many nations. He is accounted the 
 father not of the Jews only, but of all who shall 
 be faithful in their time, by Him in whom he 
 believed, before whom everything lives, even 
 future generations, aye, even what we call dead; 
 (Luke xx. 38,) who even quickeneth the dead, 
 and before whom even that has being, which we 
 consider as not existing because it has not yet 
 entered into the visible world ; who rules the in- 
 visible world also, and who knows the spirits 
 which shall enter only at some future time into the 
 visible world, and calls them as it were by name.* 
 
 • This rendering of Kakelp appears to me to express more 
 than "calling into existence," a meaning which is involved as 
 well. God knows the spirits of men before they enter upon their 
 human existence, and disposes their destinies and vocation ac- 
 cordingly. (Psa. cxxxix. 16 ; Jer. i. 5.) 
 
168 Chap. IV. 18—22. 
 
 18 — 22. Beyond hope he believed with hope, 
 that he should become the father of many 
 nations, (according to the declaration : " So 
 
 19 shall thy seed be!") and, not wavering in 
 faith, he considered not his body already 
 dead, as he was near one hundred years old, 
 
 20 nor the deadness of Sarah's womb, nor did 
 he, through unbelief doubt the promise of 
 God, but was strong in faith, giving God 
 
 21 the glory, and firmly persuaded that what 
 He hath promised He is also able to perform. 
 
 22 And therefore it was counted to him for 
 righteousness. 
 
 St. Paul here shews by an example the great- 
 ness of Abraham's faith — the mighty effect of 
 his confidence in God. Not as though the faith 
 which Abraham displayed on this particular 
 occasion had been the cause of God's approba- 
 tion ; the promise was a consequence of his faith- 
 ful attachment to God, as his confidence in God 
 was also the effect and proof of his firm attach- 
 ment. A mind less dependent upon God, less 
 convinced of the love, wisdom and power of 
 God, would have^ looked with doubt upon the 
 
 18 nap' e\ni8a. I have rendered this by "over and above," 
 "beyond" — •"more than," (comp.Luke xiii. 2.) because "against" 
 might be connected with the notion of opposition and impos- 
 sibility. What was promised to him lay beyond his hope, was even 
 more than he was justified in expecting according to the ordinary 
 course of things. But it was not against his hope, opposed to it, 
 nor impossible. 
 
Chap. IV. 23—25. 169 
 
 promise. It far exceeded his hopes. Consider- 
 ing his advanced age, and the age and barren- 
 ness of Sarah, he must have long given up all 
 hope of offspring. Nevertheless he joyfully em- 
 braced the promise, disregarding all that might 
 make it improbable in the common order of 
 things; his firm conviction of the truthfulness 
 and omnipotence of God carried him far beyond 
 the specious calculations of reason. He gave 
 God the glory. To him, true believer as he was, 
 nothing could appear impossible which accorded 
 with the goodness of God, and which did not 
 stand opposed to what he knew of the divine 
 character. This faith, this state of his mind 
 was counted to him for righteousness. 
 
 23 — 25. Yet it was not recorded on his account 
 
 24 alone that it was counted to him, but also 
 on our account, to whom also it will be 
 counted, (namely,) to us who believe in Him 
 who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 
 
 25 who was delivered up for our transgressions, 
 and raised for our justification. 
 
 But, continues the Apostle, not only as an 
 historical fact in honour of Abraham, have these 
 communications been made to us, but also for 
 our instruction and consolation. To all of us 
 who believe in God as Abraham did, shall faith 
 
170 Chap. IV. 23—25. 
 
 be counted for righteousness. We may all like 
 him be assured of God's mercy, of our own ad- 
 vancement in goodness, and the fulfilment of the 
 great promises which have been made to us. Our 
 faith, if it be in reality a firm reliance upon God, 
 must be of the same description as Abraham's; 
 but our assurance of His love, and our insight 
 into His plans for our salvation may be more 
 perfect, and must necessarily be so if the state 
 of our mind equal his. Abraham recognised 
 God as the quickener of the dead, before whom 
 there is no distinction between the present and 
 the future, and believed in Him ; but the plan 
 of His infinite mercy, the redemption of the 
 human race through Christ, he could not know, 
 and consequently could not make part of his 
 faith. To us this plan has been revealed; we 
 know that the Lord of Glory, in His boundless 
 love, left the habitations of eternal light, and 
 took upon Himself the conditions of humanity 
 and death, that He descended into the abyss to 
 loosen the bonds of the fallen, because no other 
 way of redemption was possible — we know that 
 He rose from the dead and lives in the world of 
 spirits and of truth, released from the bonds of 
 matter, to accomplish His great work of the 
 justification and salvation of the fallen. For 
 although the work of His redemption is but one, 
 and, viewed from the divine standing-point, com- 
 
Chap. IV. 23—25. 171 
 
 plete ; yet, viewed from our own standing-point, 
 it is still in progress. We all, though sure of 
 our redemption, feel ourselves bound by the 
 trammels of sin; and other generations both of 
 the present and future time, are and will be in 
 the same condition. For us and for all these, re- 
 deeming and justifying mercy continues in opera- 
 tion. If our faith be like that of Abraham, we 
 cannot fail to accept and gratefully avail our- 
 selves of this revelation in its divine simplicity 
 and truth. Abraham never opposed sceptical 
 doubts to the promise which was made to him, 
 neither can we oppose them to this greater 
 revelation, for it contains nothing in contradic- 
 tion to the most pure and sublime conception 
 of God ; it is, on the contrary, the demonstration 
 and visible manifestation of the sublimest love. 
 If we have faith like Abraham we shall feel as 
 he did, that to the divine love nothing is impos- 
 sible, and that in our frail condition we may 
 faintly conceive and reverence, but can never 
 fully comprehend the plans of such love, and 
 that it would be insane presumption for man in 
 his imperfect state, hourly exposed to number- 
 less errors, to consider himself competent to 
 understand and criticise the plans of the All- 
 wise. 
 
 This renders it perfectly intelligible what that 
 faith is, considered as a quality in man, which 
 
172 Chap. IV. 23—25. 
 
 St. Paul requires of those to whom he preaches 
 the Gospel in its purity, or rather of which he 
 says that it will be counted to us for righteous- 
 ness as in the case of Abraham, and which is 
 consequently the indispensable condition of our 
 attaining the proffered help. It is that con- 
 fidence in God, that pure consciousness of God, 
 from which the full and sincere acknowledgment 
 and appropriation of the divine aid proceed, and 
 must necessarily proceed when we have received 
 the tidings of it, pure and unadulterated. It 
 is that state of mind in which the knowledge of 
 Christ, when He has been revealed to us as He 
 is, and the knowledge of God, are one and 
 the same thing, (Johnxiv. 7,) because Christ is 
 the visible manifestation of God in this world, 
 and is One with the Father. So, then, faith is a 
 State of the mind, not a historical knowledge, 
 still less a thoughtless acknowledgment of arti- 
 cles and creeds of human devising. Abraham 
 knew nothing of a historical Christ, and yet his 
 faith was counted to him for righteousness ; 
 those to whom St. Paul preached the Gospel knew 
 nothing of articles of faith or synods, and yet he 
 tells them, that their faith will be counted to 
 them as that of Abraham had been counted to 
 him. Abraham knew how to distinguish in his 
 heart the voice of God from other voices, and 
 thus a true Abraham's faith will require the re- 
 
Chap. IV. 23—25. 173 
 
 jection of all human doctrine which does not 
 approve itself to our hearts as divine, because 
 such true faith is irreconcileable with the blind 
 faith of authority and fear. Abraham believed 
 without any prescribed creeds or form of religious 
 worship, and yet his faith was counted to him for 
 righteousness. And even so our own faith, if we 
 believe in Christ as Abraham would have believed 
 had Christ been revealed to him, will be counted 
 to us for righteousness, notwithstanding differ- 
 ences in the outward forms of religion. Accord- 
 ing to the plans of God, the historical Christ 
 could not be revealed to Abraham, and yet his 
 faith was the right one for him and acceptable to 
 God. Whence then, the dreadful delusion, that 
 those to whom, according to the plans of God, 
 Christ could not be revealed even after His 
 appearance on earth, should be for ever rejected 
 by God although believing in Him, and honestly 
 availing themselves of the means at their dis- 
 posal for attaining godliness: since St. Paul 
 shews by the example of the uncircumcised and 
 unbaptized Abraham, that the uncircumcised and 
 unbaptized may be acceptable with Him, who is 
 the God of the heathen as well as of Jews and 
 Christians; St. Peter tells us that with God 
 there is no respect of persons, and that every 
 one who feareth God and doeth right is pleasing 
 in His sight ; Christ says that He is not come 
 
174 Chap. IV. 23—25. 
 
 to judge the world, but to seek and to save the 
 lost. How dare we condemn those who do not 
 believe in Christ according to certain forms with 
 which they have had no means of becoming 
 acquainted: when Abraham was acceptable to 
 God without any such form, and when Christ 
 has prescribed no such form, and did not Him- 
 self condemn the rich young man, whom He 
 instructed, for being as yet incapable of acknow- 
 ledging Him aright, but loved him because he 
 endeavoured to attain godliness in the best way 
 that he knew, and it is impossible that He should 
 renounce for ever him whom He loves? (Mark 
 x. 21. ) Whence is this bigot faith, this passing of 
 judgment so repeatedly and solemnly forbidden? 
 Can he seriously consider himself to possess the 
 true faith which is to be counted for righteous- 
 ness, who thus bids defiance to the express teach- 
 ing and example of his divine Master? And can 
 mere forms or dead works, of which it is expressly 
 taught that they were not what rendered Abra- 
 ham acceptable with God, supply the place of the 
 true faith which He requires? 
 
 St. Paul, who nowhere preaches eternal con- 
 demnation, but, on the contrary, warns us so posi- 
 tively against condemning others, does not pass 
 sentence even upon those who so woefully misun- 
 derstand him and his Master; but he certainly 
 does not consider them to have that faith which 
 
Chap. IV. 23—25. 175 
 
 shall be counted for righteousness. To such, the 
 just but merciful Judge will appoint the place 
 which they are competent to fill according to 
 their intrinsic worth, which is known only to 
 Himself. But perfection or justification in its 
 highest sense, will be the lot of those only who 
 really believe in the God of love, who willeth 
 that all should receive His help, and who will 
 succour all in a manner far beyond our compre- 
 hension, through Jesus Christ our Redeemer. 
 
CHAPTER THE FIFTH. 
 
 • 1 — 11. Therefore being justified by faith we 
 have peace with God through our Lord 
 
 2 Jesus Christ; through whom we have also 
 been led in faith to this grace, wherein we 
 stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of 
 
 3 God. And not only this, but we rejoice also 
 in tribulation, knowing well, that tribulation, 
 
 4 worketh patience, and patience proof, and 
 
 5 proof hope, and hope maketh not ashamed : 
 for the love of God is poured out into our 
 hearts through the Holy Spirit which is 
 
 6 given to us. For when we were yet power- 
 less, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 
 
 7 Yet hardly doth any one die for a just man ; 
 though perchance for his benefactor some 
 
 8 one might venture to die. But God mani- 
 festeth His love to us in that while we were 
 
 9 yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more 
 then shall we now, being justified by His 
 
 10 blood be saved by Him from wrath. For if 
 while we were enemies we were reconciled to 
 God by the death of His Son, much more 
 shall we, having been reconciled, be saved by 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 177 
 
 1 1 His life. And not only this, but we also 
 triumph in God through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, through whom we have now obtained 
 our reconciliation. 
 
 The Apostle now shows, in few but wonder- 
 fully pregnant words, the infinite gain that 
 accrues to us from a justification and redemp- 
 tion, which, independent of works and of the 
 law, rests solely upon faith, and for which we are 
 indebted, in its beginning, progress and comple- 
 tion, to the help of Jesus Christ alone. At the 
 
 2 That npoo-ayayf) does not here denote free access to God, a 
 trustful communion with God as the culminating point of dprjvri 
 (peace), but rather, according to its literal and ordinary accepta- 
 tion, a leading towards, an approaching, and that it refers to the 
 following x«P l "i i s decisively shewn by the 6th verse, the purpose 
 of which is to proclaim, that we owe to Christ the first beginning 
 of our salvation, and which would otherwise stand quite uncon- 
 nected with what precedes, and almost without meaning. The 
 whole passage (6 — 11) is clearly intended as proof of the foregoing 
 verses (1 — 5). — 7 ydp — yap. The first ydp does not refer to any 
 corroborative proposition ; it means, therefore, " indeed," " yet," 
 and should be followed by Se or dX\a, instead of which we have 
 a second ydp, as in iv. 15. The signification of dyados and 8i<aios 
 in this passage, which has occupied commentators so much, can 
 no longer admit of doubt, after what Dr. Tholuck has said on the 
 subject in his Commentary, (comp. Matt. xx. 1 — 16,) where the 
 householder promises to pay the labourers whatsoever is right 
 (6 iav fi BUaiov.) Towards those, therefore, to whom he paid the 
 customary wages he was SUaios; but towards those whom he 
 gave more than they were entitled to ask, he shows himself 
 bountiful and beneficent, dyados. (ver. 15.) — 11 Kavx^p^oi is em- 
 phatically co-ordinate with KaraXKayivres. (Winer's Gram. i. 143.) 
 We are not only reconciled, and as such no longer fear punish- 
 ment, but more, we are triumphant, joyfully hoping in God for 
 the highest blessedness. 
 
 N 
 
178 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 same time he prepares us for the deeper view of 
 God's scheme of universal redemption, which he 
 displays in the subsequent verses. 
 
 Through this justification by faith, then, we 
 have peace with God, which was not attainable 
 in any other way. Faith places us in our pro- 
 per relation to God, and consequently to all 
 creation. The antagonism between our will and 
 that of God ceases ; and although the remaining 
 elements of our earthly nature continue to 
 hinder us from recognising His will at all times 
 and under all circumstances, and from leading 
 a life in perfect harmony with it, yet all inten- 
 tional opposition will have ceased. Our failings 
 from weakness will no longer disturb our peace 
 with God, or prevent our joyous looking up to 
 Him, since we have the firmest conviction that 
 our salvation does not depend upon particular 
 observances, or upon the keeping of a positive 
 law, but solely upon faith, upon the direction of 
 the whole of cur desires towards Hiin, and since 
 we know that His faith, His veracity in the ful- 
 filment of His promises, infinitely surpasses all 
 that we can imagine, for all that we have is 
 owing to His grace. Through Jesus Christ 
 alone, the sole appointed Kedeemer of the world, 
 we have obtained that peace which we now 
 enjoy, not that we had so far helped ourselves 
 through our own strength previously, as to have 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 179 
 
 become susceptible of it. No ! We owe all to 
 Him, the first direction of our mind, the first 
 step towards the grace wherein we stand, the 
 very beginning of our faith. He is the Author 
 and Finisher of our faith. This conviction of the 
 help begun and continued by Him, assures us 
 that it will be fully carried out, for it is im- 
 possible that He should leave His divine work 
 unfinished. In joyous hope we exult in Him, 
 who has promised us a participation in a state of 
 glory and blessedness far surpassing all human 
 powers of conception. Nor do we exult only in 
 moments of excitement and foretaste of the pro- 
 mised bliss, but at all times, even in moments 
 of tribulation and anguish; knowing that our 
 redemption, although spiritually or in God's 
 sight accomplished, yet temporally is still accom- 
 plishing. We know, that although the divine 
 principle has obtained the mastery within us 
 through the grace of Christ, the sinfulness that 
 still cleaves to us is not to be at once destroyed 
 by the fiat of the Almighty, but must gradually 
 disappear by our purification in this life, to the 
 end that by a practical knowledge of the dis- 
 astrous consequences of all alienation from the 
 supreme divine order, we may be imbued with 
 a holy abhorrence of all ungodliness, and so 
 may with our own consent be released from it 
 thoroughly and for ever. Thus we become 
 
 n 2 
 
180 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 impressed with the divine object of our life in 
 this world, and of the trials which we have to 
 undergo ; and this insight as yet imperfect but 
 completed by faith, makes us joyful even in 
 sufferings, convinced that under divine guidance 
 they must needs lead to happiness. Our patience 
 and endurance must be ripened by the tribula- 
 tions of this life. For how could these qualities, 
 so indispensable for the enjoyment of lasting 
 happiness, be acquired until we have learned 
 that impatience and inconstancy render us unfit 
 for the blessings within our reach or in prospect ? 
 And how could our faith increase and become 
 unconditional submission to the will of God, did 
 we not learn by experience that what we call 
 misfortunes will eventually prove a real blessing, 
 and lead the way to godliness? Thus patience 
 will bring forth settled conviction and constancy 
 in all the vicissitudes of life; thus by practice 
 we shall more and more recognise the voice of 
 God, and acquire that firmness of the will and 
 energy for action, without which there can be 
 no felicity, but which must remain imperfect 
 until we feel that our will fully coincides with 
 that of God. With such persevering constancy, 
 the brightest hope will go hand in hand, hope 
 which maketh not ashamed, because nothing can 
 withstand the will of God, and consequently our 
 own will, if it be in harmony with His. Pene- 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 181 
 
 trated with His love, which will have taken 
 possession of our heart, we shall know that 
 His will is universal blessedness, and that it 
 knows no obstruction or limits. Thus, through 
 the Holy Spirit which is poured out into our 
 hearts, we shall in hope enjoy the blessedness of 
 perfection. 
 
 This glorious conviction so confidently ex- 
 pressed by the Apostle, is to be traced to the fact 
 which he had before insisted upon, that we are 
 indebted for our salvation, even in its first be- 
 ginning, to the help of Christ alone. For if we, 
 who, as St. Paul so distinctly teaches, are all by 
 nature under the dominion of sin, and in a state 
 of alienation from God, had been able to raise 
 ourselves by our own strength to a certain 
 degree of acceptableness in the sight of God, 
 and had had to do this before God's mercy could 
 work upon us through Christ, then there would 
 be no reason for supposing that the same strength 
 which enabled us to make the first and naturally 
 most difficult steps, would not have been suffi- 
 cient also for the remainder. And we should be 
 without consolation for those who are as yet 
 living in the depths of guilt and misery, and 
 of whom we could not know whether their 
 own strength would be sufficient to fit them 
 for receiving the grace of Christ, so that Christ 
 would not be the Redeemer of all. St. Paul. 
 
182 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 therefore, again adverts to the truth he had 
 before enunciated in order to develop and 
 confirm it still further. From Christ, he had 
 before said, the beginning of our salvation has 
 proceeded, and to Him we are also indebted for 
 its progress and accomplishment. For, he con- 
 tinues, Christ has died for us, has manifested 
 upon us the effect of His redeeming power, not 
 when we had acquired a certain degree of recti- 
 tude and acceptableness with God, but when we 
 were as yet altogether powerless for good, and 
 alienated from God, nay, enemies of God. How 
 great beyond all human conception does the love 
 of Christ here evince itself? While scarcely any 
 one would sacrifice his life for a righteous per- 
 son, and while dying for a friend or benefactor 
 is the greatest sacrifice that man has ever accom- 
 plished, we see that Christ died for the ungodly, 
 for enemies ! This is the proof which God has 
 given of His love, that Christ died for us while 
 we were yet sinners. How firm then must our 
 conviction be, that we have no longer to fear the 
 wrath of God, or its unavoidable consequences ! 
 Christ, who began our salvation and died for us, 
 He lives for us to complete it. And not only 
 will He save us, but lead us on to eternal 
 blessedness. Therefore we rejoice in God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Having now considered this important passage 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 183 
 
 as a whole, it will be necessary to revert to some 
 parts in particular. 
 
 The expression used in the 6th verse : Christ 
 died in due time (/cark icaipov) for the powerless, 
 is not to be referred to the time of His bodily 
 death, but to the condition of those for whom He 
 died. This is evident from the position of the 
 words, but chiefly from the whole context. St. 
 Paul had here no occasion whatever to call atten- 
 tion to the fact of Christ having died in this world 
 at the proper time, or at the time appointed by 
 God ; the remark would have been simply un- 
 necessary. His object was to make it apparent 
 that Christ brought His help to those who were 
 yet without strength, and not to those who had 
 the strength to help themselves; that He had 
 not merely completed the happiness of such as 
 were already to some extent restored to a friendly 
 relationship towards God, or who had never fallen 
 from it, but that His redemption had begun while 
 they were in the greatest depths of misery. For 
 this reason he adds : Christ died for us while we 
 were yet sinners, His death reconciled us with 
 God while we were yet His enemies. 
 
 But who are they to whom Christ extended 
 His helping hand ? for whom He died while they 
 were yet enemies? Clearly not only those who, 
 as sinners and enemies of God, were living at 
 the time of His death ; as it would, in that case, 
 
184 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 have to be supposed, that those who were at 
 that time His friends, the disciples of Christ, and 
 many others, who, although not His immediate 
 followers certainly cannot be called enemies of 
 God, did not require His help, or, that it was 
 withheld from them, though better than those to 
 whom it was extended. And, in that case, the 
 death of Christ would have been no blessing to 
 those who lived before, or to those who were to 
 live after His death, while yet, according to the 
 positive and oft-repeated testimony of Scripture, 
 the redemption is a blessing for all men, because 
 all who ever have lived or ever will live on earth, 
 need the help of Christ, and receive it. 
 
 Thus it becomes apparent, first, that the death 
 of Christ does not here mean His bodily death.* 
 If in order to establish this more clearly, we re- 
 turn to the example of Abraham, it is evident 
 that he could not be called an enemy to God 
 at the time of Christ's death, as he had been 
 called His friend long before. Now if Christ 
 died for Abraham also, (and this cannot be 
 otherwise, since He died for all men,) the death 
 of Christ must signify something beyond His 
 
 * Let me not be misunderstood, as though I designed to raise 
 a doubt of the necessity and deep significance of Christ's bodily 
 death ; more will be said further on (viii. 3.) on the subject, on 
 this deepest of all mysteries. The point to which I would here 
 draw attention is this, that by the expression " death of Christ " 
 much more is to be understood than His bodily death. 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 185 
 
 bodily death. And that this is really the case, 
 and what it signifies is easily seen, if we recollect 
 that the sacred writers, and more particularly 
 St. Paul, often understand by the word death, 
 that which is opposed to the true and perfect 
 spiritual life in and with God. Now the Bible 
 represents Christ as Him who, before the crea- 
 tion of the visible world, was most intimately 
 united with the Father, (John xvii. 5.) and who, 
 in His boundless love of the fallen race, left the 
 regions of eternal glory and bliss, and took upon 
 Himself what was altogether inconsistent with 
 His own divine nature. Now if even we our- 
 selves justly call the death of a pious person an 
 entrance into life, how much more justly may 
 the entrance of the purest of all spirits into the 
 visible world, in spiritual language be called 
 death? What is death, even the most painful 
 and ignominious, leading as it does to life, com- 
 pared with the relinquishing of the most blissful 
 existence, for an entrance into the world of sin !* 
 It is not the death of the Redeemer in this world, 
 it is His entrance into the world of sin, which 
 constitutes His immeasurable sacrifice. — The 
 death of Christ, therefore, signifies the whole 
 
 * St. Paul, as is well known, frequently employs the expression 
 " death," to denote the transition from one state to another 
 totally different. The sinful man is dead to righteousness, the 
 truly baptised is dead to sin. Now, if we think of Christ, first 
 as intrinsically one with the Father, as all holiness, and light, 
 
186 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 of His redeeming agency in and for the mate- 
 rial world ; and thus it becomes conceivable 
 that this agency was necessary, and extended to 
 all human beings, both before and after His 
 time. For it did not begin with the visible ap- 
 pearance of Christ as the son of Mary, which even 
 the strictest adherers to the letter will not main- 
 tain to have been a less necessary portion of His 
 work of redemption than His death. The human 
 life of Christ was certainly, for us, the most 
 visible part of His work of redemption, and of 
 this, again, His death was the most prominent 
 and momentous part; and is chosen on that ac- 
 count to express, in the terse and forcible lan- 
 guage of the Bible, the whole of His redeeming 
 work; just as the blood of Christ is used to 
 denote the means of purification for all. Christ's 
 work of redemption is not confined to or com- 
 prised in His human life only, but as, according 
 to St. Paul's express declaration, in His life after 
 the resurrection, (iv. 24.) so also, in His life be- 
 fore the incarnation. He, who says of Himself, 
 "before Abraham was, 1 am;" of whom St. John 
 
 and as Himself knowing no sin ; (2. Cor. v. 21.) and then, as strip- 
 ping Himself, as it were, of His Godhead, (holiness before which 
 the sinful world could not stand,) as making Himself acquainted 
 and concerning himself with sin, in order to redeem the fallen, 
 we find an obvious contrast of conditions which justifies the 
 expression, notwithstanding that no real contrast is conceivable 
 between Christ and God, as in the case of sinful men, since lie 
 has ever been intrinsically one with the Father. 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 187 
 
 says, "He came unto His own;" (John i. 11.) 
 who is represented as working from the very- 
 beginning ; to whom the Father had surrendered 
 all things, from the first, and not only from the 
 time when He took upon. Himself the shape of 
 man; He must needs have been at all times 
 working for His own. As long as men, and 
 therefore sinners, have existed upon earth, He 
 could not but be working against sin and evil, 
 against that which is a hindrance to happiness; 
 He must needs, from the very beginning, have 
 been working as our Redeemer. He worked 
 for our salvation before His entrance into the 
 world. "He was the spiritual rock that followed 
 them." (1 Cor. x. 4.) As during His life on 
 earth, and after His resurrection, so will He work 
 until all enemies shall be put under His feet, sub- 
 dued by His infinite love; and He will then sur- 
 render the kingdom to His Father, that God 
 may be all in all. (1 Cor. xv. 25, 28.) 
 
 How infinitely more exalted and in accordance 
 with the whole tenour of the Scripture, and more 
 worthy of the God of love, is this view of the 
 death or rather the world-redeeming life of the 
 Saviour of mankind, than theirs who, misled by 
 isolated, figurative, though, it is true, deeply 
 significant expressions in which the voluntary 
 submission of Christ is compared to a sacrifice, 
 consider themselves bound to look upon the 
 
188 Chap. V. 1—11. 
 
 death of Christ as the means of propitiating an 
 offended Deity ; or theirs who consider the death 
 of Christ necessary in order to satisfy the justice 
 of God, while such an idea of justice, founded 
 upon human relations, pre-supposes a mutuality 
 of obligations, and is in no way applicable to 
 God; and while St. Paul teaches, (in. 21 — 26.) 
 that the righteousness of God consists in His 
 taking away sin, and rendering the sinner capa- 
 ble of blessedness. Let us remember that even 
 the Old Testament tells us : "I will not ex- 
 ecute the fierceness of mine anger." (Hos. xi. 9.) 
 " Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked 
 should die, and not that he should return from 
 his ways and live?" (Ezek. xviii. 23.) Let us 
 remember also that Christ teaches us to know 
 God as the Father of all men, as the Fountain 
 of love, and that He does not tell His disciples 
 that His death was necessary for them in order 
 to propitiate God, but that He was going to 
 prepare a place for them, (John xiv. 2, 3.) and 
 that, in fact, we nowhere read of a reconcilia- 
 tion of God to man, but only of a reconciliation 
 or conversion (/caraWayr/) of man to God. 
 
 As St. Paul expressly tells us that Christ 
 died, that is to say that He had begun His 
 redeeming work for men who were yet sinners 
 and enemies of God; and as His redemption 
 was necessa^ for all men, without reference to 
 
Chap. V. 1—11. 189 
 
 the time of their life in this world, and conse- 
 quently necessary also for Abraham and all 
 others who like him were not enemies but friends 
 of God during their life— it follows secondly, that 
 every man, even he who like Jacob was born a 
 favourite of God, must at some time have lived 
 as His enemy. Unexpected and strained as this 
 conclusion may appear to many, it is, neverthe- 
 less, irresistible and in full accordance with St. 
 Paul's doctrine respecting the universal sinful- 
 ness of man, and we shall find further confirma- 
 tion of it as we proceed. It is only by the most 
 consistent reasoning, and by keeping the lode- 
 star of truth steadily in view, that we may hope 
 to arrive at saving knowledge. — Lastly, since 
 the blessing of the redemption begins for every 
 individual while he is in the state of the greatest 
 alienation from God, and as St. Paul tells us, 
 this very fact is the greatest proof of God'& love 
 for us, it follows, that all who are saved through 
 the redemption of Christ, have been at all times 
 under the influence of divine grace. Thus, from 
 the very first, God's dealings with men have 
 been mercy unceasingly, as indeed they could 
 not fail to be, consistently with His immutable 
 nature. The grace in which St. Paul says, in 
 the second verse of this chapter, that we now 
 stand, is therefore not a new state in respect to 
 God, but solely in respect to man, who as soon 
 
190 Chap. V. 1-11. 
 
 as the divine principle has taken possession of his 
 heart, and has gained an ascendancy over his 
 originally degenerated nature, will, in consequence 
 of this very change, have been fitted to receive 
 and apprehend the influence of divine grace in 
 a manner up to that time unknown to him. As 
 the rays of the sun are poured on the barren 
 rock as well as on the fruitful soil, but mani- 
 fest their influence upon the seed there deposited 
 in widely different ways, not in consequence of 
 a difference in the rays but in the capacity of 
 the soil for receiving their influence, so also are 
 the spiritual rays of God's mercy the same for 
 all ; but their efficacy must necessarily vary ac- 
 cording to the condition of the minds of men. 
 Upon some, the divine grace will only have a 
 preparatory influence, while upon others its 
 effects will be quickening and beatifying. 
 
 Having thus displayed to our view the im- 
 measurable love of God, who does not await any 
 incipient development of man through his own 
 strength, but begins this development through 
 His own free grace ; and having prepared us for 
 a deeper insight into the mysteries of His world- 
 redeeming mercy, the Apostle now proceeds. 
 
 12 As then by one man sin came into the world, 
 so by sin [came] death : and so death passed 
 upon all men, because all have sinned. 
 
Chap. V. 12-14. 191 
 
 13 For until the law ['«'. e., even before the law] 
 sin was in the world. But sin is not reckoned 
 
 14 where there is no law: yet death reigned 
 from Adam to Moses, even over those who 
 had not sinned in the same fashion of trans- 
 gression as Adam, who is a type of what 
 was to come. 
 
 After shewing that the redeeming mercy of 
 Christ had been extended to all men, while yet 
 in a state of the greatest sinfulness and degene- 
 racy, it remained for the Apostle to prove that 
 every one has been at some time in such a state. 
 
 12 I must intreat my readers to examine the whole of this 
 most difficult aud important passage without prejudice, and 
 not to take it for granted, that St. Paul designed nothing more 
 than to draw a parallel between Adam and Christ, but forgot 
 what he wished to say while writing, and did not return to it till 
 further on (ver. 18), and that the expression, "Adam was the 
 figure of what was to come," means simply that Adam was " the 
 figure of Christ," etc. The second half of the chapter, begin- 
 ning at the 1 2th verse, stands obviously in the closest relation 
 to the first ; but I cannot, therefore, allow that it follows from 
 it, 8ia tovto thus signifying, " it follows from this." For what 
 had St. Paul said ? That we owe our salvation to justification 
 by faith in Christ ; that God, even when we were in the deepest 
 misery of sin, had given us the highest evidence of His love 
 through the mediation of Christ. Is it then a necessary conse- 
 quence from this, that by one man sin and death came into the 
 world, or even, (supposing St. Paul to assume this as known,) 
 that Christ is the sole cause of the extermination of sin ? This 
 does not follow as a consequence from what has been said, but 
 is the same thing in other words. I therefore take 8ia tovto 
 as a particle of transition and connection by which the Apostle 
 would express, " what has been said leads us to remark/' etc. — kcu 
 dia, k. t. X. I take*, with Erasmus and Beza, as introducing the con- 
 
192 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 He goes back, therefore, to the most ancient 
 Records, to the fall and to the origin of sin. This 
 most difficult of all problems, the origin of evil 
 in a world created by God, the All-good, in 
 which all must have borne a resemblance to 
 its Author, and consequently must have been 
 good; this problem, which as yet no system of 
 philosophy has been able to solve satisfactorily, 
 could certainly not be explained metaphysically 
 to the human race in its infancy. Neverthe- 
 less, the human race needed one admonition on 
 this subject, namely, that evil took its origin 
 in a wilful defection of the created beings from 
 the order established by God ; and that thus, 
 
 sequent proposition to &<rncp. This is not open to any gram- 
 matical objection, and is required by the context, unless we 
 arbitrarily assume St. Paul to have changed the construction. 
 The favourite parallel between Adam and Christ will not accord 
 with this simple mode of taking it, but this makes it still 
 more evident that St. Paul was not as yet thinking of such a 
 parallel. Moreover, the words 81 ivos avBpatnov retain their full 
 meaning according to this interpretation, as will be seen further 
 on. A further comparison of my interpretation of the whole 
 passage with earlier ones, according to the results to which they 
 lead, I must leave to my readers. — e<p' <», which generally denotes 
 the condition under which anything happens, has been rightly 
 rendered by Luther and all modern commentators by because. 
 But should it be referred by any one, with the older com- 
 mentators to av6pa>nov, in spite of the distance between them, 
 it cannot grammatically be rendered by in whom, but on account 
 of whom, or with whom, or after whose example, either of which 
 renderings suits my interpretation which follows. But the 
 construction as well as the sense require because, and this 
 is confirmed by 2 Cor. v. 4, and Phil. hi. 12. — 14 tou ptKkovros, 
 Erasmus, Chr. Schmidt and others, have taken this as neuter. 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 193 
 
 through their own fault, and not God's, they fell 
 into a state of disorder, sinfulness and misery, 
 from which, not having been able even to main- 
 tain themselves in their original state of bliss, 
 they were certainly unable to extricate them- 
 selves by their own strength, and without the 
 aid of God. The importance of this fundamental 
 truth must be apparent to every one, who lias 
 seriously reflected upon man's nature and aspira- 
 tions, in the light of his own experience. With- 
 out it no true religion, no true philosophy is 
 conceivable, as must be apparent to all who are 
 penetrated by this truth, but certainly to them 
 alone. And yet no man will in his fallen state 
 attain to this truth by his own strength; he will, 
 on the contrary, resist it if offered him, because 
 pride, one of the consequences of the fall, will 
 naturally prevent his taking upon himself the 
 cause of the evil which he finds encompassing 
 him, and the existence of which he cannot deny. 
 — This fundamental truth has been imparted to 
 man in a symbolical form, the only one fit for 
 the human race in its infancy, intelligible even 
 to a child, and yet in perfect accordance with the 
 reality symbolised. The circumstance of our 
 being in possession of this truth, if truth it be, 
 proves it to be a communication from above, 
 since if man be a fallen being, as it represents 
 him. to be, the fall must have made it impossible 
 
 o 
 
194 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 for him to discover it by himself. The ancient 
 Record states that man, originally created by 
 God pure and without a grossly material body — 
 that is to say, clothed with a body which we 
 may suppose similar to the spiritual body which 
 St. Paul speaks of, ( 1 Cor. xv. ) and with which 
 we are to be endowed after our restoration — was 
 induced by the temptation of attaining to a yet 
 higher state of perfection and resemblance to 
 God, to transgress a divine command, and thus 
 to violate that order, the observance of which 
 was the condition of his lasting happiness. This 
 temptation, in order to make the account more 
 intelligible, is represented as having come from 
 without. The voluntary deviation from the 
 divine order — which being divine was necessarily 
 also perfect, and alone in harmony with the 
 plans of God — must inevitably have produced 
 disorder and misery for the transgressor. The 
 Record informs us, that the originally spiritual 
 and immortal body became material and mortal, 
 and that the whole creation was involved in the 
 fall, (the earth was cursed,) and this could not 
 have been otherwise, because man is represented 
 as the lord of creation, and must consequently 
 have stood in the most intimate connection and 
 mutual relation with it.* 
 
 * The supplement at the end of the chapter contains some 
 further remarks in elucidation of what is here said. 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 195 
 
 This truth St. Paul might assume to be gene- 
 rally known and acknowledged. He, therefore, 
 merely recalls it to the recollection of his readers 
 — " As by one man sin came into the world, so 
 by sin came death." — Death, in the widest sense 
 of the word, denotes also in this place, an ex- 
 istence opposed to a pure and spiritual state and 
 to real life; it denotes existence in a material 
 body and in the material world, departure from 
 the true life in God, of which what is usually 
 called death — the separation of the spirit from 
 the material body, according to the laws of 
 dissolution universally reigning in this world — 
 is a necessary consequence. Now, if in this narra- 
 tive every individual recognised his own history 
 or in Adam what St. Paul calls him, a type of 
 the future, — that is to say, a type of the whole 
 race which was to enter the visible world, and 
 of himself, — he would feel convinced of having 
 himself fallen, as is said of Adam, by his own 
 voluntary transgression of the divine order, into 
 his present state of sinfulness and death ; he 
 would find the origin of evil within himself. 
 The object of this communication, which is, to 
 lead us to self-knowledge, humility and the de- 
 sire for help, would then be accomplished, and is 
 so accomplished in the case of every one whom 
 it leads to recognise his own sinfulness ; no mat- 
 ter whether the truth of his fall become evident 
 
 o 2 
 
196 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 to him from the depths of his own consciousness 
 without his being able to give a satisfactory ac- 
 count of its possibility, or whether he be able 
 to attain a satisfactory insight into the sub- 
 ject, or to harmonize his consciousness with his 
 philosophical system. But, as we have already 
 observed, the pride of man rejects this humili- 
 ating truth, and the redeeming power must have 
 prepared him for its reception, before he will 
 acknowledge himself to have been the author of 
 his own misery. He in whom the knowledge 
 of God as the All-holy, All-good, has taken root, 
 must needs have the firmest conviction that God 
 cannot be the Author of evil; and the most subtle 
 devices of the human understanding, for instance, 
 that the most absolute contrast may have been 
 necessary for the full manifestation of the Cre- 
 ator, or that what we call evil may not be so in 
 reality but only in appearance — all such devices 
 must vanish before his innermost conviction of 
 the all-goodness of God, without whose will not 
 a hair can fall to the ground. He will be 
 assured that with the will of such a Father, 
 against whose will nothing can come to pass, 
 no existing evil (the origin of which would still 
 remain unexplained) could ever have approached 
 His creatures in such a manner that they could 
 not possibly have resisted its influence. And this 
 must lead him to the conviction that he himself 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 197 
 
 must have been a partaker in the transgression 
 in which evil originated, because there remains no 
 other possibility for its origin ; and even though 
 this possibility remain inexplicable to him, he 
 will yet know it to be impossible that God should 
 have been the Author of evil. What is as yet 
 inexplicable to us may be true, an impossibility 
 never can. Whoever has not attained to a 
 knowledge of God preponderating over and 
 influencing all his other convictions, must, if he 
 endeavour to account for the origin of evil, ne- 
 cessarily fall into the grossest error in some 
 shape or other, supposing always, that he ac- 
 knowledge the law of necessity dominating in 
 the visible world. But it would lead us too far 
 away from our purpose, to develop this subject 
 more fully in this place. 
 
 It is sufficiently known what extraordinary 
 theories have been founded upon the Scriptural 
 account of the fall, by men who did not recog- 
 nise in the story of Adam the story of all men, 
 and who did not understand or believe that each 
 individual has voluntarily transgressed the di- 
 vine command, as Adam, the prototype of the 
 whole race, is related to have done. It was, they 
 tell us, through Adam, the progenitor of all, that 
 the whole race became degenerate and ungodly. 
 Now whoever penetrates to the inner meaning of 
 the narrative without dwelling on the outward 
 
198 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 form of its presentation, neither seeks nor finds 
 in it more than an account of his own sinfulness 
 through his own fault. But whoever would 
 understand it by reason only, however unobjec- 
 tionable the attempt, can never attain any satis- 
 factory result. He could not but find it incon- 
 sistent with his exalted conception of the Deity, 
 that through the transgression of one, the greatest 
 misery should have come upon so many millions, 
 who could not, like him, be charged with deviat- 
 ing from the divine order. 
 
 St. Paul destroys this error of ascribing our 
 own sin to another, root and branch. As Adam, 
 he says, through sin or voluntary transgression 
 of the divine law became mortal, so all men have 
 subjected themselves to the dominion of death, 
 because they have all sinned. No one has be- 
 come miserable through Adam's transgression 
 but through his own. That he may not, how- 
 ever, be misunderstood to mean, that every 
 descendant of Adam has brought misery upon 
 himself by the sins which he has committed in 
 the visible world (which would still be open to 
 the objection that the fall of Adam, and the sin- 
 fulness which he has inherited in consequence, 
 renders it impossible for him to withstand sin, so 
 that the burden of his guilt would still fall upon 
 another), the Apostle adds, in order to show that 
 every one has to share the guilt of the original 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 199 
 
 defection : for even before the promulgation of 
 the Mosaic law, there was sin in the world ; and 
 yet it cannot have first arisen at that time, since 
 where there is no law, none can become sinful 
 and punishable by transgressing the law.* The 
 origin of sin and culpability is inconceivable 
 without the transgression of a divine command ; 
 but the men who lived from Adam to Moses, had 
 no divine command given to them^ by the trans- 
 gression of which they might become sinful ; and 
 yet they were so. For death, which can have 
 no existence except where there is sinfulness, 
 as St. Paul expressly says in the 12th verse, was 
 among them at that time as well as after the 
 promulgation of the Mosaic law ; they were mor- 
 tal when they entered this world, and did not 
 become mortal and consequently sinful, while 
 they were living in it. (Compare page 94.) Now 
 as man has not first become sinful while in his 
 present existence, and yet, as St. Paul distinctly 
 
 * St. Paul cannot possibly mean by the words, " Sin is not rec- 
 koned where there is no law," that " sin remains unpunished, 
 has no evil consequences where there is no law." For this would 
 contradict his former representation of the natural state of man, 
 and in particular, the passage, "For those who have sinned with- 
 out law, shall without law be miserable." The inference which 
 he draws is rather the converse. Since even those men who 
 have not transgressed any positive law, experience the conse- 
 quences of sin, it follows that they must have been already sin- 
 ful when this positive law was given, and must have become 
 sinful by some other means than the transgression of this posi- 
 tive law. 
 
200 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 teaches, everyone has become sinful through his 
 own fault, it follows that he must have sinned 
 before he had existence in this world ; that he 
 must, like Adam, have voluntarily transgressed 
 the divine command in some previous spiritual 
 existence, in which he must from the immortal 
 being that he was created, have become mortal 
 like Adam, who is set before us as a type of all 
 other spirits who are to enter this world in the 
 shape of men. 
 
 Although the doctrine of the pre-existence 
 of souls and the fall follows so naturally and 
 irresistibly from what has been said, that no 
 unprejudiced mind can consider it a strained 
 deduction, yet it will not fail at first sight to be 
 considered objectionable by many, because it has 
 most singularly been thought to be at variance 
 with the teaching of the Bible, and consequently 
 of St. Paul, and because many do not find it re- 
 con cileable with their philosophical systems. It 
 will be well, therefore, to enter more fully into 
 the subject. 
 
 This doctrine cannot in any way be considered 
 as at variance with any positive declarations of 
 Scripture, or with any undoubted conclusions 
 drawn from such declarations, because they 
 are nowhere to be found. The Bible, on the 
 contrary, speaks of the fall of the spirits, and 
 thus not only explicitly acknowledges the possi- 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 201 
 
 bility but even the fact of such a fall, although 
 it does not say that the spirits which have fallen 
 were human spirits, or that human spirits were 
 included among them. All, therefore, that can 
 be said of this doctrine, in its relation to the 
 Bible, is this, that it is not expressly set forth. 
 But does it not appear quite consistent with the 
 object of the Bible, that this truth like many 
 others should not have been advanced as a posi- 
 tive tenet, or, as it were, an article of belief, but 
 only intimated, leaving its development to the 
 requirements of future times? The doctrine of 
 pre-existence is clearly not one, the acceptance 
 of which is a necessary condition of our appro- 
 priating all that is essential in Christianity ; and 
 for that reason St. Paul merely adverts to it in 
 this place, and leaves it to the consideration of 
 his readers, without entering deeply into the sub- 
 ject. The limits of his discourse confined him to 
 what was requisite for establishing the fact, that 
 every man has become sinful through his own 
 fault, and not through that of others. He insists 
 upon the acknowledgment of this fact, because 
 upon it is founded the necessity of redemption, 
 and of the appropriation of the help offered us 
 by Christ. 
 
 It is, however, well known, and must not be 
 forgotten, that this doctrine was also that of the 
 most ancient religions on earth, into which, 
 
202 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 during the infancy of the human race, it could 
 hardly have been introduced by reflection, and 
 from which it probably found its way, in a muti- 
 lated form, to the Greeks. Traces of this doctrine 
 may be found also in the Old Testament ; and 
 amongst the Rabbins the opinion has been pre- 
 served, that all souls were created at one and the 
 same time. And, in the first centuries of Christ- 
 ianity, we find the Gnostics teaching the fall of 
 the spirits during a previous existence, and yet 
 to some of them, notwithstanding the errors into 
 which they fell, no one can deny the merit of a 
 zealous searching after truth, or an earnest desire 
 to arrive at more exalted views ; and the pious 
 and intellectual Origen and many other most 
 exemplary fathers of the Church held the same 
 opinion. Free inquiry was not as yet limited by 
 ecclesiastical prescription as in later times, and 
 Origen himself tells us that even the Church had 
 come to no decision on this point. It maintained 
 its ground in the Christian world for many centu- 
 ries, notwithstanding the persecutions to which it 
 exposed Origen and his meanest followers. The 
 history of the Church shews us sufficiently, that 
 these persecutions of Origen and the condemna- 
 tion of his doctrine as heretical, were influenced 
 by the vilest passions and worldly interest, and 
 that the latter was by no means a consequence of 
 a solid refutation. But it is very natural that a 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 203 
 
 doctrine which had become suspicious should not 
 have been again adopted in times in which it be- 
 came more and more dangerous to differ from the 
 dominant party, and in which the dogmatic in- 
 terest had taken an opposite direction. Inde- 
 pendently of this, the Oriental Church was soon 
 after plunged into great difficulties from without ; 
 and in the West, where these spiritual views had 
 never taken any deep root, the philosophical 
 systems which prevailed at that time, prevented 
 their development; and so it has remained up to 
 our own time. 
 
 We see nothing, then, to prevent our making 
 the doctrine of a spiritual creation before that of 
 the visible world, to which St. Paul himself has 
 led us, the subject of a free inquiry; on the 
 contrary, the exigencies of our times appear to 
 require it most particularly. For although 
 Christianity may be practically understood and 
 applied independently of this doctrine, it is yet 
 of the highest importance for such a philo- 
 sophical conception of it as is evidently a de- 
 sideratum of our times, not only to meet the 
 presumption of shallowness, but also the arro- 
 gance of those who would tolerate Christianity 
 only as inferior or subservient to their philosophy. 
 Such an irreverent toleration, however, is irre- 
 concileable with the nature and dignity of the 
 Gospel, which is presented to us as a power of 
 
204 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 God for salvation, and as the hidden wisdom of 
 God become apparent, and which, founded upon 
 and completed within itself, far transcends all 
 human wisdom. St. Paul unfolds this hidden 
 wisdom of God in this Epistle; and if we are 
 entitled to expect that his doctrine should con- 
 tain all that is necessary to render it complete for 
 all times, we must certainly not neglect to avail 
 ourselves of any hint which he may give us, 
 if we would embrace it in all its depth and 
 fulness. But whether pre-existence be a hint of 
 this description, as we have inferred it to be 
 from the discourse of the Apostle, and whether 
 we understand him rightly, can be ascertained 
 only by examining whether it makes clear what 
 was incomprehensible before, and whether it 
 throws a light upon the whole system, worthy 
 of the exalted idea of God, for which we are 
 indebted to the revelation through Christ. That 
 this is the case with respect to that part of the 
 Epistle which we have hitherto considered must, 
 we believe, be admitted by every unprejudiced 
 reader, and it will have to be equally admitted 
 with respect to that part which we have still 
 to examine. 
 
 The complete proof that an investigation of 
 the free will of man, assuming the existence of 
 God, will also lead to the doctrine of pre- 
 existence by philosophical methods, must be 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 205 
 
 reserved for another work, but as we proceed we 
 shall find occasion to give several hints respect- 
 ing the importance of this doctrine in the 
 solution of the most difficult metaphysical 
 problems. We will here advert only to one 
 difficulty which many will at first sight raise 
 against this doctrine, namely, the want of all 
 recollection of a previous existence. This ob- 
 jection, may be most satisfactorily answered, 
 but we will, in this place, only remind our 
 readers, that the purer the idea which we are 
 able to form of the life of blessed spirits, the 
 more shall we be convinced that the state of 
 those who have left such a communion, must 
 have been such that the power of thinking as 
 they thought in their former state, and the clear 
 recollection of the state itself, must have ceased 
 together; just as a lunatic, although he continues 
 to be the same person, has lost all recollection 
 of his former state. St. Paul describes (more 
 particularly in the seventh chapter) the state 
 of man in his lowest condition, as a paralysis 
 of all the nobler faculties, as an obscuration of 
 the intellect, preventing the perception of the 
 true nature of things, (and consequently of the 
 spiritual world, to which he essentially belongs, 
 and from which he has fallen^) or, in fact, as a 
 state of insanity. Now, if we abandon the idea 
 of our being banished into the material world 
 
206 Chap. V. 12—14. 
 
 for the punishment or atonement of former guilt, 
 which is unworthy of the God of love, and 
 consider our present life as a divine scheme for 
 our restoration, will not this want of recollection 
 of the previous state appear explained, as well as 
 the fact of the longing for our former home 
 increasing with the progress of our restoration ; 
 although, according to our human organization, 
 this longing may more frequently exhibit itself 
 as a hope for the future, than as a remembrance 
 of the past? But do we not even now belong 
 to the spiritual world to which we shall belong 
 hereafter? Christ tells us that the kingdom of 
 God is within us ; and how is a past, present, or 
 future conceivable in reference to a spiritual 
 world ? The pride of man may resist the idea 
 of our being all in a state of delusion ; but does 
 not all knowledge that we acquire prove that we 
 were in error before? 
 
 After this, as it appeared to us, necessary 
 digression, we now return to our subject. 
 
 We have yet to notice that the Apostle says, 
 in accordance with the ancient Record, that sin 
 and death proceeded from one man, although he 
 had shown that the spirits who afterwards ap- 
 peared on earth in the shape of men, had all, 
 during their former spiritual existence, volun- 
 tarily taken part in the transgression of the 
 divine law which occasioned their own misery 
 
Chap. V. 12—14. 207 
 
 and the debasement of the spiritual creation to 
 a grosser or more material condition. This is 
 easily accounted for, if we assume the spirit, 
 who afterwards appeared on earth as the man 
 Adam, to have been the originator of the trans- 
 gression, and that all the others followed him. 
 Thus may the party who originates a rebellion 
 against a lawful sovereign, be justly called the 
 cause of all the evil which he occasions, notwith- 
 standing that all who join him voluntarily — and 
 compulsion is not to be thought of in a com- 
 munity of free spirits— are punishable in like 
 manner. But we need not even think of any 
 positive punishment, for the departure from the 
 divine order could not but bring misery on the 
 transgressor from its very nature. This spiritual 
 view which St. Paul takes of the ancient narra- 
 tive, does not in any way affect the historical 
 Adam. If the spiritual Adam had become 
 ungodly, the man Adam must needs develop 
 himself and act according to his nature, which 
 had become impure. 
 
 Thus then has St. Paul demonstrated in the 
 clearest manner what he intended to prove. All 
 spiritual beings had fallen through their own 
 fault into the depths of misery, and the redeem- 
 ing God began their salvation when He prepared 
 out of chaos the field for their development and 
 
208 Chap. V. 15—19. 
 
 restoration, when they were all as yet utterly 
 powerless for good, sinners and enemies of God. 
 
 It is impossible, that through the transgression 
 of one man misery should have been brought 
 upon all, without their having been partakers of 
 his guilt, (although this is an opinion very 
 generally adopted^) as God could neither punish 
 the guiltless in place of the guilty, nor allow 
 any being created by Him to suffer otherwise 
 than for his own benefit. But all have been 
 guilty; and yet in His mercy does God, through 
 Christ, the redeeming God, release all from the 
 consequences of their guilt, as St. Paul had 
 before shown. Although the transgression pro- 
 ceeded from One, and the salvation also from 
 One, the fall and the redemption must yet 
 not be simply set against each other, as might 
 be done if one only had committed the trans- 
 gression, and the one Saviour had made the 
 atonement for the consequences of such trans- 
 gression. But as it is, the mercy of God is 
 immeasurable in a twofold way. This the 
 Apostle expresses in the following verses : — 
 
 15 — 19. But it is not with the gift of grace as 
 with the transgression. For if by the trans- 
 gression of the one the many died, much 
 more hath the grace of God, and the gift 
 
Chap. V. 15—19. 209 
 
 which was bestowed by the grace of the one 
 man, Jesus Christ, fallen abundantly to the 
 
 16 share of the many. And it is not with the 
 gift as with that [which took place] by one 
 sin. For the punishment which followed 
 from one [sin] was death, but the gift of 
 grace leadeth us from many sins unto justi- 
 
 17 fication. For if by one transgression death 
 reigned by means of the one man, much 
 more shall they who receive the fulness of 
 the grace and the gift of righteousness 
 reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. 
 
 18 Therefore, as by one transgression (there 
 came) destruction for all men, so also by 
 one righteousness (came) for all men justi- 
 
 19 fication of life. For, as by the disobedience 
 of the one man, the many were made 
 sinners, so by the obedience of the one man 
 the many are made righteous. 
 
 If only one, Adam, had transgressed, accord- 
 ing to the opinion generally received, the re- 
 
 15 x«P lf seems to be here applied by the Apostle to God ; the 
 love of God, which is the ground of redemption ; do>p* a its carry- 
 ing out by Christ, the gracious devotion of Christ for the salvation 
 of the fallen ; ol noWoi are undoubtedly all men, as follows unques- 
 tionably from the 18th verse ; but not on that account 'all ' abso- 
 lutely. See my interpretation following. — 16 I follow the MSS. 
 which read a/zapi-t^aro?, and the authority of which is quite as 
 great as that of the rest which have a^apir]aavros ; and in the fol- 
 lowing verse, «V t<5 em instead of ™ tov ivos. According to the oi'- 
 
210 Chap. V. 15—19. 
 
 deeming mercy would have had to remove only 
 the consequences of that one transgression. But 
 many have been partakers in his guilt, and have 
 fallen into misery with him ; and all these have 
 attained salvation through the one Redeemer. 
 Had only one species of sin been committed, the 
 Redeemer would have had to take away the 
 consequences only of that one sin. But the 
 natural punishment, the consequence of the first 
 transgression, was universal sinfulness, because 
 it is the nature of sin or of deviation from 
 the divine law, that a multitude of sins should 
 develop themselves out of that first sin, as many 
 branches shoot from the same stem. The many- 
 headed monster sin, as St. Paul represents it in 
 the first chapter, when he depicts the state of 
 fallen man, sprang from the first transgression, 
 and produced that deplorable state, which the 
 Apostle so emphatically calls death, total aliena- 
 tion from God, in contradistinction to true life, 
 which is life in God. The unhappy beings fell 
 into the abyss of misery, as if a sentence of death 
 had been executed upon them. And out of this 
 
 dinary reading, the whole passage expresses but one thought, 
 one contrast, of which the one is a superfluous repetition of 
 the other. But according to the reading I have adopted, two 
 important contrasts, to which St. Paul wished to call attention, 
 are plainly brought forward. It is by no means clear why 
 St. Paul should have added 8ia rov evos in the 17th verse, if the 
 preceding ivos, as well as the following, were to be referred to 
 Adam — KaraKpifia. Sentence of death, and so, death, destruction. 
 
Chap. V. 15— 19. 211 
 
 manifold misery did the One Redeemer release 
 them. As different diseases require different 
 treatment at the hands of the physician, so did 
 the Redeemer bring to each fallen being those 
 particular aids which he required, so did He 
 restore health and life to all who had fallen 
 under the dominion of death. His mercy and 
 wisdom knew how to apply to every evil its 
 appropriate remedy, for each individual sin the 
 proper means of deliverance and justification. In- 
 comparably greater, then, was the help brought 
 by the One Redeemer, so that it can in no way 
 be simply set against the transgression. The one 
 transgression occasioned the transgression of 
 many, and one sin produced a multiplicity of 
 sins, which encompassed the whole race and 
 kept it in bondage, so that even the remembrance 
 of the former freedom and independence was 
 lost, and death and misery reigned where once 
 in God's own likeness free and independent 
 spirits had reigned, who now, in disgraceful 
 bondage, were slaves to sin and death Out of 
 this multiplicity of sins and misery did the One 
 Redeemer release the many ; not by compulsion, 
 which would have been incompatible with their 
 original freedom, but, through His powerful help, 
 fitting the circumstances of their lives, so as to 
 furnish them opportunities and means for their 
 justification; from this state of degradation and 
 
 p 2 
 
212 Chap. V. 15—19. 
 
 misery does He restore them to a divine freedom ; 
 so that where not some mighty spirit, but death 
 and nothingness had reigned, (mark the power of 
 the expression.) the liberated spirits shall reign 
 in the fulness of true life, through Jesus Christ. 
 And not only shall they regain what they had 
 lost. They shall reign even more than in their 
 original state. They shall go forth triumphant 
 from the conflict, in which they had been 
 vanquished. If we compass this idea in all 
 its fulness we may certainly say: As through 
 the transgression of one a multiplicity of sins 
 resulted, so through one Redeemer, justifica- 
 tion; for the work of redemption is one, one 
 the atonement through which Christ perfects 
 and sanctifies all for ever. And as through 
 one man's disobedience the many became sin- 
 ners, so through the obedience of one, through 
 His constancy in adhering to the one order estab- 
 lished by God, through His steadfast adherence 
 to the great plan of redemption, have the many 
 been justified, who will now for ever persevere 
 with the firmest conviction in the one, the divine 
 order in which alone real peace and blessedness 
 are to be found. 
 
 It is not, I think, without reason that the 
 Apostle here uses the expression, the many, 
 instead of all. There can be no doubt what- 
 ever that he concedes the benefits of the re- 
 
Chap. V. 15—19. 213 
 
 demption to all the spirits, who have taken part 
 in the defection of the first transgressor. He 
 says, in the 18th verse, expressly and without 
 any reservation, that the justification of life 
 came upon all men, so that not one of them 
 can be considered as excluded, unless we would 
 put a strained meaning upon the most definite 
 and plain words of the Apostle. But not only is 
 it possible that not absolutely all the spirits who 
 lived in blissful communion with those who fell, 
 were involved in the fall, but, on the contrary, the 
 possibility of their remaining in their original 
 blissful state must necessarily be admitted, if 
 that state was one of perfect freedom. If, then, 
 some of the spirits participated not in the fall 
 through a voluntary transgression of the divine 
 law, or if St. Paul only meant to leave this un- 
 determined, he could not say all, but only the 
 many, who had really shared in the trans- 
 gression. 
 
 We have yet to notice that in the 14th 
 verse St. Paul calls the redeeming God the Man 
 Jesus Christ, although Christ lived in the 
 glory of the Father before the world was, and 
 although St. Paul does not consider Him as the 
 Redeemer of the world because of His having 
 taken on Him the state of man. In a similar 
 manner he might say of Adam, that through one 
 man sin and death came into the world, without 
 
214 Chap. V. 20—21. 
 
 meaning to imply that it was the man Adam 
 
 throug 
 
 world. 
 
 through whom sin and death came into the 
 
 20 — 21. But the law came in between, in order 
 that sin might develop itself with greater 
 power. But when sin came forward with 
 greater power, then grace became much 
 
 21 more overpowering; in order that as sin 
 reigned in death, so also grace may reign 
 through righteousness unto eternal life 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 Between the times of the most unbounded 
 sinfulness and the restoration, an intermediate 
 state, the law, was necessary, in order that the 
 dreadful consequences of sin might develop 
 themselves and become apparent in their fullest 
 deformity. A deep sense of his own misery and 
 of its cause was necessary, in order to create 
 an intense longing in man for his deliverance. 
 This was the object of the law; this it had power 
 to accomplish, although it had no power of lead- 
 ing to salvation. The Apostle touches only 
 slightly upon this subject here, and treats it 
 more fully in the seventh chapter. He merely 
 adverts to the fact, that this intermediate 
 state, or indispensable period of transition was 
 also devised by one and the same redeeming 
 
Chap. V. 20—21. 215 
 
 Power. He tells us, that although the most 
 complete development of sin was indispensable, 
 it is gloriously overpowered by redeeming grace ; 
 that in the visible world also it must needs be 
 that death and sin should reign in order to be 
 destroyed, so that grace alone may reign, which, 
 through righteousness, that is through the anni- 
 hilation of all evil, will lead to true freedom and 
 eternal life. 
 
 What a scene does the Apostle thus open to 
 our spiritual view ! What a glorious contempla- 
 tion ! How do the boldest nights of our imagina- 
 tion, and how does the wisdom of this world, 
 presumptuous in its nothingness, vanish before 
 this reality, this wisdom of God ! 
 
 Yet, alas ! how has this heavenly truth been 
 dragged down to the dust of earth! How 
 has this All-love been mistaken, which wills 
 that not one of God's creatures should be 
 lost, but that all should be saved, and which 
 has the power also to accomplish what it 
 wills ! St. Paul teaches that we have all trans- 
 gressed the divine law, in which alone is blessed- 
 ness, and that redeeming grace will restore us 
 to eternal felicity and freedom, notwithstand- 
 ing our guilt. Christ, on the cross, prays for 
 His murderers : u Father forgive them !" He who 
 said, "Father, I know that Thou hearest me at 
 all times," and who knew, therefore, that His 
 
216 Chap. V. 20—21. 
 
 prayer would be heard! — And men, adhering to 
 the letter which killeth, incapable of fathoming 
 the spirit of eternal love, which is hidden in the 
 letter, and which the quickening spirit alone can 
 interpret,— men have taught that through the 
 guilt of one man, myriads of spiritual beings 
 have become powerless for all godliness, that by 
 the guilt of one man unspeakable misery has 
 been brought into the world ! And of these who 
 are thus suffering, without any guilt of their 
 own, by far the greater number are to be doomed 
 for all eternity to misery surpassing all human 
 conception ; and this according to the predispos- 
 ing will of God, who is Love ! Verily, they know 
 not what they do ! 
 
Observations on the Mosaic History of the 
 Creation and the Fall. 
 
 For those who would enquire how far the view 
 we have taken is reeoncileable with what we 
 read on this subject in the first three chapters 
 of Genesis, we add the following observations. 
 We must confine ourselves to a few brief sugges- 
 tions, as a more extended investigation would 
 lead us beyond the limits of our undertaking. 
 We take it for granted that we have readers who 
 will neither search in these venerable Records 
 for instruction on metaphysical or physical sub- 
 jects in the sense of our schools, nor, on the 
 other hand, look upon them as historical facts 
 to be literally understood ; who will not consider 
 themselves bound to believe the days of creation 
 to have been solar days, when as yet no sun 
 was in existence, or the serpent to have been 
 a real serpent endowed with human speech, 
 created by God as an evil being and a tempter 
 to newly created man, thus unintentionally con- 
 stituting God the Author of evil. We look upon 
 
218 Supplement to Chap. V. 
 
 these Records as holy voices from the primeval 
 world, enunciating in the most inspired and glow- 
 ing language, truths of the highest importance 
 for our race in its infancy, as well as for all gene- 
 rations. God, they say ; is the Author of all 
 being. He created light in the darkness, and 
 produced order out of disorder. Evil took its 
 rise from the guilt of the created. They convey 
 information respecting the origin, progress, and 
 final destiny of man, in a form far exalted above 
 any invented by human wisdom, which always re- 
 mains exposed to the varying influences of times, 
 countries, and habits; comprehensible in their 
 essence to our race in its infancy; objects of 
 ridicule only to fools that pride themselves in 
 their ignorance ; but objects of veneration, and 
 fountains of ever deepening knowledge for all 
 who seek divine wisdom with an unprejudiced, 
 childlike mind. 
 
 Whoever reads the first three chapters of 
 Genesis with attention will easily find that they 
 contain at least two distinct Records, the one, 
 from the beginning to the 4th verse of the 
 second chapter, the other from thence to the 
 end of the third chapter. The former begins 
 with the most essential of all truths, " God 
 is the Cause of all being," and then considering 
 chaos, the origin of which it neither adverts to 
 nor explains, as already in existence, proceeds 
 
Supplement to Chap. V. 219 
 
 at once to describe with imposing truthfulness 
 the approach of God as the Author of light, the 
 first display of His power being the separation 
 of light and darkness. He organises the forces 
 of nature, brings them into activity for the 
 furtherance of His great designs, separates 
 what is above from what is below, divides the 
 waters, lets the dry land appear, and develops, 
 in their natural succession, first the vegetable 
 then the animal kingdom, and, last of all man, 
 the noblest of all animals, gloriously endowed and 
 destined for dominion over the whole creation, 
 but as male and female from the first, thus closing 
 the series of created beings. The blessing in this 
 place bestowed upon the new pair is this :"Be 
 fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth." 
 
 In the second Record or narrative, viewed 
 from its human and practical side, we certainly 
 notice, first a description of newly- created man 
 with dispositions and inclinations, which were 
 intended to find their first development in the 
 culture of the earth. The first education of 
 man is analogous to that of a wise human parent, 
 who, knowing that his child is not free from evil 
 dispositions, requires obedience from him while 
 inexperienced and incapable of judgment, and 
 punishes disobedience severely, although only 
 for the child's benefit. From this side also, does 
 this representation convey the most striking and 
 
220 Supplement to Chap. V. 
 
 instructive hints respecting human nature. But 
 if we examine more closely the purport of this 
 Record, we find that it conceals another and a 
 deeper sense. It speaks vaguely in the in- 
 troduction of an earlier period before any 
 vegetable creation, and then proceeds at once, 
 which is very observable, without adverting to 
 the creation of the earth, of vegetation and 
 animal life, to the creation of man; and it is 
 here that we find it stated, that God breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of life, which makes 
 man appear as the first and most immediate spi- 
 ritual production of God in the whole course of 
 this creation, and consequently as a being perfect 
 in its nature, as none other could proceed from 
 the hand of God. The scene of action allotted 
 to him is depicted with supernatural colours, 
 but under figures adapted to the requirements of 
 our senses, for how could anything be made ap- 
 parent to us otherwise ? We find the tree of life 
 growing in the midst of the garden, and with it 
 the tree of knowledge. A free exercise of his 
 powers, and a free enjoyment of all that is beau- 
 tiful and good, is permitted to newly-created 
 man; but he is required to remain within the 
 bounds of the higher order prescribed by God 
 Himself, in order to continue in this blissful 
 enjoyment, since all deviation from the di- 
 vine, order is fatal. God had certainly created 
 
Supplement to Chap. V. 221 
 
 man in His own image, but it was impossible 
 that he should be equal to his Creator. A 
 created being, he could not possess the intel- 
 ligence which the Uncreated alone possesses. If 
 the created with an intelligence ever so great 
 yet naturally limited, dared to set up a new 
 order of his own, the consequences of which his 
 finite knowledge could not foresee, he must 
 needs introduce disturbing elements into the 
 divine and alone perfect order. This is expressed 
 by the command : " Of the tree of knowledge thou 
 shalt not eat." Man had proceeded immortal 
 from the hand of God; for he is told that he 
 shall become mortal if he wilfully transgress 
 the divine command. How, indeed, could an 
 immediate production of the immortal God be 
 otherwise than similar to Him — immortal, spirit- 
 ual, immaterial? for all that is material is mortal. 
 Nor could the supernatural scene of action for 
 this supernatural being be material; it must 
 have been conformable to his spiritual nature. 
 How could an immaterial being stand in inti- 
 mate, mutual relation with a grossly material 
 nature, or how could the latter be even thought 
 of as the immediate production of God who is a 
 Spirit? And yet an intimate relation between the 
 created and nature, as it then existed, was in- 
 dispensable, if he was to exercise an active 
 influence upon it; and that this was intended, is 
 
222 Supplement to Chap. V. 
 
 significantly intimated by the expression : a Adam 
 called all the creatures," which, in the sense 
 of the ancient language, denotes a description 
 of the object so called according to its essential 
 character, and consequently pre-supposes an 
 intimate knowledge and relationship, if we 
 may not look for a still deeper sense. Indeed 
 St. Paul's saying (Rom. viii. 19.) that the 
 whole [present] creation groans for deliverance, 
 pre-supposes a previous state of freedom, and 
 consequently a higher state from which it has 
 fallen. From the person of the created, who 
 up to that time is to be considered as a unity, 
 another is taken, a second self, who is brought to 
 him as a helpmate ; both therefore are intimately 
 connected, and both together form but one; 
 the one an active, creative, the other a passive, 
 recipient, developing power. Considered as the 
 breath of the one indivisible God, the created 
 being, in likeness of his Creator, must needs be 
 thought of as a unity, as in reference to God 
 nothing can be conceived as external, that He 
 could receive unto Himself. A created spirit, 
 however, cannot be an indivisible creative power; 
 it must receive from without, and this is a 
 necessary difference between its Creator and' 
 itself. It is important to notice that we find 
 no blessing of fruitfulness pronounced upon this 
 unity divided into two. This Adam, says St. 
 
Supplement to Chap. V. 223 
 
 Paul, was the type of humanity ; what is said of 
 him is applicable to all created beings similar to 
 him. Consequently, in this state in which all al- 
 ready existed, there could be no multiplying, as in 
 the subsequent material world, when according to 
 the order established by God one pair was destined 
 to appear in the first instance and to furnish 
 by propagation, to all other fallen spirits of their 
 class, the opportunity of entering on humanity. 
 The created being, happy in the order established 
 by God, and organised for a free continuance 
 in that happy state, took occasion from his capa- 
 bility for contemplating and examining what was 
 given him, to devise and set up another order 
 of his own, and thus transgressed the limits 
 implied in the very idea of created beings, by 
 undertaking that of which with his finite though 
 ample intelligence, he could not foresee the con- 
 sequences and therefore took them upon himself. 
 Our narrative gives us no occasion to enter, in 
 this place, into an examination of the Cre- 
 ator's object in leaving to the created being 
 the possibility of error, or how it was possible 
 that in his state of bliss he should have been 
 tempted to desire a change. We shall merely 
 observe that this was requisite, if the created 
 being was to possess the highest similarity to 
 God, which is freedom ; and with that freedom 
 there must have been possibility for error, since 
 
224 Supplement to Chap. V. 
 
 the intelligence of the created could not be infinite 
 like the divine intelligence ; the tree of knowledge 
 is therefore a figure of deep significance. The 
 created fell, and disorder and sufferings were the 
 unavoidable consequence of his fall. The higher 
 creation, intimately connected with him, was in- 
 volved in this disorder. He is banished from 
 Paradise through his own guilt, and cannot re- 
 turn through his own strength. Cherubs with 
 flaming swords prevent his regress. Clothed in 
 a human body we find him again on earth, which 
 is involved with him in the direful consequences 
 of his fall, suffering and toiling in the degraded 
 nature which was a consequence of the order 
 which he had set up in opposition to God's ; but 
 suffering under the loving eyes of the Deity, 
 who never loses sight of him, suffering for his 
 own benefit, in order that through experience 
 he may be cured of his error, and that the con- 
 viction necessary for true felicity may gain life in 
 him, that no order is perfect but that established 
 by God. It is this knowledge, which we have ac- 
 quired through the power of the Redeemer, that 
 turns aside the flaming swords of the Cherubs 
 and introduces him into the new heaven, where 
 there is a tree of life, but no tree of the know- 
 ledge of good and evil. (Rev. xxii.) 
 
 If we now consider all that has been said, we 
 shall easily perceive the following succession of 
 
Supplement to Chap. V. 225 
 
 ideas. We find first the great fundamental truth 
 enunciated : God is the first cause of all being. 
 The narrative then exhibits to us, (ii. 4 — iii.) 
 in its spiritual import, the original spiritual 
 creation of God, blissful and free spirits, who 
 from causes as yet unexplained, fall from their 
 blissful state through abuse of their freedom 
 and involve the higher creation in their fall. 
 The consequence is disorder, darkness, chaos. 
 The redeeming God approaches this chaos, 
 (i. 2 — ii. 3.) and His approach brings light into 
 the darkness. His wisdom separates, regulates, 
 and imposes the salutary restraints of natural 
 laws on the warring elements, subjects all to 
 necessity in hope, (Rom. viii. 20.) that is for sal- 
 vation, and makes earth the scene of the gradual 
 development and restoration of the fallen spirits. 
 The same second narrative (ii. 4 — iii.) shows us 
 in a more comprehensive manner, the first man 
 originally in Paradise, where we find him as yet 
 totally unexperienced, and a bountiful nature 
 supplying all his wants. But here the evil within 
 hiin, of his own creating, develops itself necessa- 
 rily, though under divine guidance, for his good. 
 We find him subjected to the laws of necessity, 
 and to the toils and sufferings of life, in which 
 the progress of his history exhibits him. 
 
 To this view of the sublime Record we have 
 been led by St. Paul himself who teaches us 
 
 Q 
 
226 Supplement to Chap. V. 
 
 in many places, how under the veil of holy 
 traditions, without in the least detracting from 
 their historical importance, we may look for a 
 deeper sense, which, rightly understood, opens 
 for us a vast treasure of divine knowledge. 
 Thus when the Apostle speaks of the change 
 effected through Christ of the earthly into the 
 heavenly man, he regards the historical Adam as 
 the first man on earth, made into natural life, 
 and the natural body as the first body. ( 1 Cor. 
 xv. 45 ff.) But when, as in this place, he speaks 
 of the spiritual origin of evil, he regards him as 
 the type of the whole human race, and then he 
 carries his fall and theirs back to a former ante- 
 human existence. 
 
 Let him who finds these hints in accordance 
 with the spirit of the Apostle and with the spirit 
 of Christianity, make use of them with us ; and 
 let him who does not, lay them aside without 
 taking offence. All things are not for all men. 
 
CHAPTER THE SIXTH. 
 
 1 — 11. What shall we say then? Shall we per- 
 sist in sin, that grace may the more abound? 
 
 2 God forbid ! How shall we who are dead 
 
 3 to sin, any longer live in it? Or know ye 
 not that all of us who have been baptised 
 unto Jesus Christ, have been baptised into 
 
 4 His death ? We were then buried with Him 
 by baptism into His death, in order that as 
 Christ was raised from the dead by the glory 
 of the Father, so we also should walk in a 
 
 5 new life. For, if we have become united 
 with Him in the likeness of His death, then 
 we shall also be so in that of His resurrection ; 
 
 6 since we know, that our old man was cruci- 
 fied with Him in order that the body of sin 
 might be destroyed, so that we might no 
 
 7 longer serve sin. For he who is dead is 
 
 8 become free from sin. Now if we have 
 died with Christ we believe that we shall 
 
 9 also live with Him, because we know that 
 Christ who hath risen from the dead, dieth 
 not again, death ruleth over Him no more. 
 
 10 For that which died, died once for all unto 
 Q 2 
 
228 Chap. VI. 1—11. 
 
 sin ; but that which liveth, liveth unto God. 
 11 Thus do ye also account yourselves dead to 
 sin, but alive for God in Jesus Christ (our 
 Lord). 
 
 We have said, continues the Apostle, that 
 it was necessary that sin should be powerfully 
 displayed, that grace might be set forth still 
 more powerfully. Now can any one draw the 
 conclusion from this, that we should persist in 
 sin, in order that grace may be the mightier? 
 No one who has entered into the spirit of the 
 Apostle's views can possibly do so. Had St. 
 
 5. avfMpvToi, grown together, fully united with Him, expresses, 
 much more than, participators in fortune. If we are truly bap- 
 tised into His death, we are most intimately united with Him ; 
 whence it follows that as He is risen from the dead, so we also 
 being a part of Himself, participate in this resurrection. This 
 explains the use of the future quite simply. If any one has 
 entered into this intimate union with Christ, for him life with 
 Christ follows necessarily from death with Him. There can be 
 no allusion here to the future resurrection. — 7. St. Paul here 
 briefly expresses the same idea which he afterwards more fully 
 develops. As bodily death puts an end to bodily slavery so 
 our dying to sin releases us from its service, consequently the 
 perfect fcducatWai has neither the signification of the present, 
 (for whoever dies to sin SeSi*. anb t^s dp. is acquitted from 
 its service, is released from it, emancipated,) nor is a divine 
 acquittal of punishment, or justification, here spoken of; and 
 consequently Winer (Gramm. I. 104) is incorrect in supposing 
 that the word, "freed," is to be understood, and the passage to 
 be translated "is justified and freed from the punishment of 
 sin." — 10. 6 yap cmedave — 6 8e £jj } that which died of Christ, His 
 mortal part, died, etc. ; but that which liveth, i. e. His spirit, 
 liveth for God. 
 
Chap. VI. 1—11. 229 
 
 Paul chosen to shape his arguments according 
 to our methods, he might have said, since sin 
 and misery inevitably exist together, the wish to 
 continue in sinfulness is tantamount to the wish 
 to remain miserable and unhappy; and since 
 deliverance from sin is at the same time deliver- 
 ance from misery, and the peace with God, 
 which we enjoy through Christ, is incompatible 
 with perseverance in sin, it obviously follows, 
 that whoever imagines himself to be in a state of 
 grace, and yet continues in sin, deceives himself; 
 he is attempting to unite two things which 
 cannot exist together. We have said before, 
 that no one becomes a true son of Abraham 
 by the outward mark : in like manner, no 
 one becomes a true Christian by the outward 
 symbol of baptism. He alone is a true Christian, 
 who, penetrated with abhorrence of all ungodli- 
 ness, is firmly resolved to devote himself for ever 
 to godliness through Christ. St. Paul expresses 
 this idea in a much more powerful and impres- 
 sive manner, by a very striking metaphor. How 
 shall we that are dead to sin, we that have given 
 up our very existence with respect to it, still 
 continue in it? The very idea is self-contra- 
 dictory. And so again conversely, whoever 
 imagines that he can unite the life in God 
 through Christ with the life in sin, is not of 
 those whom the Apostle here speaks of. "Know 
 
230 Chap. VI. 1-11. 
 
 ye not the high import of baptism, by which 
 we are united with Christ?" When we are 
 plunged into the water (according to the an- 
 cient custom) and, as it were, into the purify- 
 ing Christ, (ek Xpicrov,) we are also plunged 
 into His death. A death must ensue within us, 
 and a new life commence. We are buried with 
 Him through baptism into His death, that as 
 Christ was raised to a new life through the power 
 and glory of the Father, working mightily and 
 gloriously in Him, so we also may rise to a new 
 life, to a perfectly changed existence. The im- 
 mersion is a symbol of the burial, and the emer- 
 sion of the resurrection to a new life. For if we 
 have become united with Him, become part of 
 Himself, and if we die and are buried with 
 Him, we cannot but be united with Him in 
 the resurrection, as He could not leave part of 
 Himself in the grave. If we die, like Christ and 
 with Christ, to sin, we must needs also live, with 
 Him and like Him, to godliness. Death to sin 
 is the commencement of life in God, so that who- 
 ever does not as yet live a new life, is not dead 
 to sin and deceives himself if he imagine that he 
 has been baptised indeed. Christ died the death 
 on the cross, and His human life — that life which 
 He took upon Himself on account of sin, in which 
 He, immaculate Himself, was exposed to the 
 outward dominion and persecutions of sin — was 
 
Chap. VI. 1—11. 231 
 
 brought to a close with His death. Now if we 
 are baptised into His death on the cross, our pre- 
 vious life, in which we were under the dominion 
 of sin, our old man, will be crucified and have 
 died with Him, that the body, as it were, in 
 which we lived our former life, and in which sin 
 within us had dominion over us, as the sin without 
 Christ had dominion over His mortal body, might 
 be destroyed, and that so through the death of 
 this body that was enslaved by sin, our bondage 
 to sin might cease. As the slave becomes liberated 
 by the death of his master, and as the relation 
 between them ceases with his death, so are we 
 liberated from sin, emancipated from the do- 
 minion which it exercised over us, as soon as the 
 death of the body of sin (not the death of our 
 fleshly body) has separated us from it. 
 
 This furnishes a complete explanation of the 
 expression body of sin in so far as it is figura- 
 tively used ; an expression of which so many ex- 
 planations have been attempted, and which has 
 been so generally misunderstood. It is clear that 
 St. Paul is not speaking of the death of the 
 material body, because if that death could re- 
 lease man from sin, and secure justification and 
 perfection, then death would be our Redeemer, 
 and not Christ, and all men would, after death, 
 be free from sin, no matter how they had spent 
 their lives, or in what state they were at the 
 
232 Chap. VI. 1—11. 
 
 time of their death. It is to be recollected also, 
 that St. Paul immediately after, (ver. 15.) enjoins 
 all who have died to sin, to consecrate their 
 members to the service of God, which presup- 
 poses a life in the body. 
 
 According to what we have .before seen, the 
 grossly material body is certainly a consequence 
 and production of sin, and must be destroyed 
 before the dominion of the spirit can become 
 complete and universal. (See viii. 10.) But this 
 cannot be accomplished by the mere natural de- 
 composition of the body in the grave, because, in 
 that case, all spirits would at once become pure 
 by their very separation from the body in death, 
 and there could be no unclean spirits. It is, 
 therefore, not the body alone which is carried to 
 the grave that belongs to sin, or constitutes the 
 body of sin. We shall have to return to this 
 subject hereafter; it is sufficient for our present 
 purpose to observe, that all in man that belongs 
 to sin because it is a production of sin, is to be 
 understood by the body of sin, which has been 
 crucified with Christ, and from which we are 
 separated by baptism into His death. 
 
 If then we have died with Christ and have left 
 the body of sin, as Christ at His death left 
 that body which He had taken upon Himself 
 for the sins of others, and which was therefore 
 also a consequence of sin, we have the blissful 
 
Chap. VI. 1—11. 233 
 
 conviction that we shall also live with Him and 
 remain with Him in that new existence, in which 
 sin and death have no more power over us. For 
 we know that Christ, having risen from the dead, 
 dieth not again, death ruleth over Him no 
 more. We know that Christ — who although 
 He was Himself free from sin, yet through His 
 boundless love, so completely subjected Himself 
 to the conditions of humanity and the out- 
 ward dominion of sin as to allow it to pour out 
 upon Him its utmost wrath, to persecute Him, 
 and even to put an end to His life by the most 
 painful and ignominious death — we know that 
 He is no more exposed to the persecutions and 
 to the dominion of sin, which is alien to His 
 nature. The powers of darkness were allowed 
 to exercise their dominion over Him but once ; 
 with His resurrection He has again taken His 
 sovereignty upon Him, and leads a life with 
 God. Not indeed, that He interests Himself no 
 longer in the sinful world; His present life as 
 God, continues to be devoted to the powerful 
 assistance of all who require His help ; it is He 
 who so orders the destinies of men, that each 
 receives what he requires according to his con- 
 dition in order to attain spiritual health and true 
 life. But as Sovereign He governs the world for 
 its salvation ; the power of sin can no more reach 
 Him, death and evil have no more dominion over 
 
234 Chap. VI. 12—14. 
 
 Him, who hath been raised to the glory of the 
 Father. He died, as it were, to sin, and was 
 rescued by His death, from its persecutions. 
 " Thus do ye also account yourselves dead to 
 sin, but alive for God in Jesus Christ." Al- 
 though you are as yet living in the world of 
 sin, exposed to its temptations and its persecu- 
 tions, although you have as yet to dwell, for 
 your own good, in this visible sphere of action, 
 in order to be fully purified, reckon yourselves 
 dead to sin, let not evil gain dominion within 
 you, and know that the evil without you has no 
 power over your true spiritual life, reckon your- 
 selves already belonging to a more exalted ex- 
 istence, and live unto God in Jesus Christ. 
 
 12 — 14. Let not sin then reign any more in 
 your mortal body, that ye should obey it; 
 
 13 give not up your members to sin as weapons 
 of unrighteousness, but give yourselves up 
 to God as risen from the dead, and your 
 members to God as weapons of righteous- 
 
 14 ness. For sin shall not reign over you, for 
 ye are not under the law but under grace. 
 
 The Apostle shows in these verses the practi- 
 cal inference to be drawn from what he has said. 
 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. 
 
 12. — Some MSS. have rais iniBvpiais airov, which is probably 
 a spurious insertion. 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 235 
 
 Although the body in which you are as yet living, 
 as a consequence of sin, is mortal, and in a cer- 
 tain sense the property of sin, yet sin is no more 
 to exercise dominion over it, after the body of sin 
 (ver. 6) has been surrendered to death, and you 
 have thereby died to sin. We shall find no con- 
 tradiction in this, if we recollect that matter, 
 although a production of sin, is so disposed by 
 the redeeming power, as to become the means of 
 purification, and to be more and more subjected 
 to the dominion of the spirit. In your mortal 
 body also you may and are to live in God. Is 
 not the life of Christ to be an example in this 
 respect also? He lived during His sojourn on 
 earth in a body formed of the same material as 
 our own; but His pure, divine spirit held such 
 dominion over it, that it could in no wise become 
 the occasion or the instrument of sin. In the 
 same manner are we, in proportion as we become 
 pure and godly, to consider even our bodies as 
 withdrawn from the dominion of sin. We are 
 no longer to imagine ourselves slaves to sin, or 
 suppose that our spirit has not full power over 
 the body. Do not faintheartedly, and slothfully 
 allow sin to abuse your members, as though you 
 were compelled to yield, or unable to withstand 
 its allurements; do not allow sin to use your 
 body as a weapon in its warfare against the king- 
 dom of light. Give yourselves up completely to 
 
236 Chap. VI. 12-14. 
 
 God, as men won for His kingdom, and yield 
 unto Him your bodies as weapons of righteous- 
 ness in the struggle of light against the power of 
 darkness. Give yourselves up to God, and take 
 your stand through His strength, as resolute 
 champions of truth and right; for sin has no 
 longer any claim upon you or power over you ; 
 you are sure of the help of your new lord, for 
 you are no more under the law, by the existence 
 of which the dominion of sin was acknowledged, 
 but under, grace, which is the end of the do- 
 minion of sin, so that you now belong to God 
 through Christ. 
 
 We are, therefore, not to underrate, neglect, or 
 mortify our mortal body, as if that were the 
 means to attain to a spiritual and godly life ; but 
 we are, on the contrary, to maintain it in vigour, 
 and to employ it in the service of God. For al- 
 though but for the spiritual fall our material 
 body would not have existed,* it does not by 
 any means follow, that it is to be despised or 
 made light of. God Himself has framed it most 
 wonderfully, to be instrumental in our purifica- 
 tion and the recovery of our lost freedom. To 
 despise this body, would be tantamount to de- 
 spising God's dispensations for our good. He 
 would never have clothed us with this body, if 
 
 * As Adam is described in his primitive condition in Paradise, 
 as without a mortal and consequently material body. 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 237 
 
 we could have reached our destination without. 
 (Compare page 180.) If we cast it from us, or 
 dream away in idle contemplation the life granted 
 us for the attainment of so high a purpose, we 
 cannot surely consider ourselves to have reached 
 that state of mind of which St. Paul here speaks, 
 and in which we are to fight resolutely in the 
 cause of truth. — It is through the Spirit, not 
 through the body, that the works of the flesh 
 are to be mortified, (viii. 13.) 
 
 But does not St. Paul make an excessive de- 
 mand upon mankind? Are even they who with 
 the most lively and deep-rooted convictions of its 
 divineness adopt Christianity, at once dead to 
 sin? Does not our daily experience, on the con- 
 trary, convince us that even they have many 
 a hard battle to fifrht against sin, and that in 
 reality no man is free from its assaults? And 
 is no one to consider himself in that state of 
 grace and peace with God, of which the Apostle 
 speaks, while yet exposed to such assaults? — 
 We must recollect, that although St. Paul makes 
 this claim, his principal intention was to mark 
 the contrast between the two states of mind, to 
 show that perfect peace with God excludes the 
 dominion of sin altogether ; indeed it follows from 
 what he had before stated, that all unrighteous- 
 ness is utterly repugnant to God, and incom- 
 patible with His kingdom. He sets forth the 
 
238 Chap. VI. 12—14. 
 
 ideal of such a state as Christ sets forth the 
 ideal of moral perfection in the words: "Be 
 perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect." 
 For although it might be supposed that St. Paul 
 intended to qualify his demand by the words : 
 " Let not sin reign in your mortal body," and 
 although they in whom godliness has gained the 
 ascendancy, and who regard the power of sin 
 as an alien and usurped power, and not as one to 
 whose dominion they owe allegiance, are undoubt- 
 edly in a state of peace with God, and are firmly 
 convinced that the work begun will be at some 
 time perfected ; it is nevertheless apparent that 
 the Apostle's claim is of a higher order, because 
 he enjoins us not to allow sin to use our mem- 
 bers as weapons against godliness by ever yield- 
 ing to it, but to resign ourselves to God un- 
 reservedly, and to fight on the side of truth. 
 It is of the highest importance for us to have 
 such an ideal of the perfection of human life 
 at all times before our eyes, that we may in 
 humility acknowledge how much yet remains 
 to be accomplished, and so avail ourselves more 
 and more of the proffered help, for " sin shall 
 not reign over us." Whoever has left the 
 region of the law and entered into that of 
 grace, is not separated from the former region, 
 as by a wall of brass ; he is still exposed to the 
 assaults of the enemy, but he recognises him as 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 239 
 
 an enemy ; he does not acknowledge his sove- 
 reignty, but fights against him. But if we raise 
 ourselves to an ideal view, if we imagine a state 
 of perfection, we see that the two regions are 
 totally distinct from each other without any pos- 
 sibility of communication. 
 
 But how is it that the Apostle demands any 
 activity at all on the part of man, when he 
 has before denied him all power of his own for 
 godliness, and described him as by nature power- 
 less for good ? when he has taught us that 
 Christ alone is the Author and Finisher of our 
 salvation, and that God works within us both to 
 will and to do ? It is a question of great import- 
 ance which here claims our attention, although 
 St Paul does not bring it under our immediate 
 notice. It is upon the absolute insufficiency of 
 man that the Apostle founds his whole doctrine 
 of salvation; in the course also of this Epistle, 
 he describes man as in a state of bondage to sin, 
 and altogether unfree ; he represents redemption 
 as God's scheme to lead man out of this bondage 
 to freedom, God having concluded all, (bound all 
 by positive laws and rules,) that He might have 
 mercy upon all, (xi. 32.) leaving nothing to the 
 will of man, (ix. 16.) but working all by His own 
 predetermined will, by unalterable, necessary 
 laws, since, being not the Author of confusion but 
 of order, He could not work otherwise than by 
 
240 Chap. VI. 12—14. 
 
 law and rule, and since His will, being alone per- 
 fect, must needs contain within itself the most 
 perfect, and consequently unalterable rule. St. 
 Paul, therefore, teaches the dependence of the 
 will and subjection of man to a law of necessity, 
 as positively as it has ever been assumed by any 
 philosophical inquirer after the laws of cause and 
 effect. (Comp, page 145.) And yet we find him 
 here speaking to men, as though it depended 
 altogether upon their own will to withstand 
 the assaults of sin, and so often admonishing 
 (which pre-supposes the possibility of obeying,) 
 and requiring us to work out our salvation with 
 fear and trembling. — How, then, are these appa- 
 rent discrepancies to be reconciled? — St. Paul 
 does not enter upon the solution of this difficulty, 
 because he knows that he may in this respect 
 trust to the consciousness of all who have not 
 been led astray by the treacherous workings 
 of their mere understanding. This conscious- 
 ness will not allow man, while he is doing 
 wrong, to doubt that he is himself the agent, 
 for otherwise he could not feel compunction 
 and repentance; nor can he fail to know, if 
 he has been acting rightly, that a power of 
 his own has been at work, even with the most 
 genuine Christian conviction of God's working 
 within him. For if he were a mere instrument 
 worked by the will of another, he could not feel 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 241 
 
 either content or discontent with respect to his 
 actions. And even so the thinker, who has been 
 brought by his own reasonings to consider him- 
 self a mere instrument of fate without a will of 
 his own, will, if he fall into danger, call the power 
 within him into action to extricate himself, in 
 spite of all his theories. Although there was 
 no occasion for St, Paul to solve difficulties of 
 this description in a systematic manner — the 
 Gospel which he preaches being not a meta- 
 physical inquiry, but a power of God unto sal- 
 vation—yet he has not overlooked the require- 
 ments of those who, like ourselves, must needs 
 have these difficulties solved for the sake of their 
 peace of mind. The doctrine of necessity in the 
 visible world, for which we have the double 
 authority of revelation and reason, and which 
 it would, therefore, be the veriest perversity to 
 set at nought, brings forth religious and philo- 
 sophical monstrosities * only in the case of our 
 supposing the spirit of man to be created at the 
 same time with his present body, which assump- 
 tion is warranted neither by revelation nor by 
 
 * Blind fate ; or ascribing the origin of evil to God ; or an evil 
 god of equal power and eternity with the good God ; or a God 
 of whom we allow on the one hand that he is Love, but maintain 
 on the other that He has created the greater part of men for 
 eternal misery ; or postulating a human freedom, the impossi- 
 bility of which is demonstrable, etc. 
 
 R 
 
242 Chap. VJ. 12—14. 
 
 reason.* St. Paul, however, does not say that 
 when we voluntarily gave ourselves up to sin we 
 were beings such as we now are, incapable of 
 good, clothed with the body of sin, and conse- 
 quently unable to withstand its assaults, which 
 
 * The spirit of an infant is evidently a power or aggregate 
 of powers, bound or tied in order to be developed during 
 life. This development, however, is from the first moment de- 
 pendent upon circumstances over which it has no control, such 
 as the place and time of its birth, parents, teachers, position 
 in life, etc., all of which are furnished by divine Providence. 
 The first manifestation, therefore, of independent action on the 
 part of the child, is a necessary consequence partly of the con- 
 dition of its spirit at the time of birth, and partly of the ex- 
 ternal circumstances in which it is placed, and will itself exercise 
 a developing inliuence upon its spirit. A second action must 
 again be dependent upon the condition of its spirit, influenced 
 and developed by the first, and also upon circumstances over 
 which it has no control. This will apply to all subsequent 
 actions during the whole course of man's life, of which, there- 
 fore, each is modified by the influence of his preceding ac- 
 tions, and also by the condition of his spirit at the time of 
 birth, and of external circumstances. Now, if this inward 
 cjndition of the spirit were also given by an outward power, 
 as the circumstances under which he acts unquestionably are, 
 or, in other words, if the spirit of the infant were first called 
 into existence by God in the state in which it is at the time of 
 its appearance in the visible world, it would undeniably follow, 
 that the whole series of developments during life must depend 
 solely upon the will of the Creator ; in which case man would 
 be only a passive instrument in the hands of Deity, so that all 
 the wrong which he commits would be necessarily done in 
 accordance with God's will, which is an absurdity, since it 
 would make God the author of evil. And if we assume the will 
 of man to be independent of all his other powers, and of the 
 external circumstances which influence him, we fall into still 
 greater difficulties, for the will would in this case also, as an 
 immediate gift of God, be His passive instrument, and, worst of 
 all, it could not be led towards good either by the other powers 
 acting in man, or by his own experience during life. The spirit, 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 243 
 
 indeed would involve a contradiction ; he tells us, 
 on the contrary, that the fall took place during a 
 former spiritual existence, in which, of our own 
 free will, we abused the divine powers which had 
 been entrusted to us ; for guilt presupposes free- 
 therefore, at the time of birth must be the result of a previous 
 existence in a state of freedom, as indeed we may infer from 
 St. Paul's teaching. The powers, which subsequently develop 
 themselves, are all clearly contained in it though bound, and, 
 as it were, in embryo ; and it is placed by the Redeemer in the 
 circumstances of life most appropriate to its condition, in order 
 that the evil existing in it by its own fault may be removed, 
 and it may regain freedom. Thus every action of man is his 
 own, the result of his own inward condition, but necessary as 
 considered in its relation to the visible world. This makes it 
 clear why man can suffer pain through his own fault and for 
 his own good, even though it cannot be shown that such fault 
 has been committed in this world ; and why the state of 
 man after, death must depend upon the condition of his spirit 
 upon leaving this world, and not only upon the agreement be- 
 tween his actions and the law or his conscience. (See page 106). 
 Thus, then, we remove the necessity for assuming a fanciful 
 theory of human freedom, in order to make man accountable for 
 his actions, and so to lay a basis for our ethics. All ethics are 
 based in the eternal order of God, and no one can be happy with- 
 out living conformably to that order. All deviations from it will 
 inevitably meet their punishment, whether the cause of such 
 deviation lie in man's present or in a former life. The conse- 
 quences or the punishment of evil, according to its nature, 
 would have been everlasting, because evil left to itself can bring 
 forth nothing but evil ; but by the divine redeeming power they 
 have been converted into a means of annihilating evil itself, and 
 of rendering man fit for blessedness. (See page 148.) Un- 
 questionably therefore, all human punishment, if man be actu- 
 ated by divine principles, should be altogether free from the 
 spirit of revenge for wrongs committed, and proceed exclusively 
 from the earnest desire for the amendment of the criminal. 
 
 I have thought it necessary to say thus much in this place 
 upon this most important and difficult matter. The further de- 
 velopment of the subject I reserve for another work. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Chap. VI. 12—14. 
 
 dom. It is true that St. Paul gives us no informa- 
 tion respecting this previous spiritual existence, 
 and it remains inexplicable in the present state 
 of our faculties, how a spirit created good, could 
 voluntarily leave the order established by God. 
 But this inquiry lies beyond our sphere. With- 
 drawn as we are from purely spiritual regions 
 to those of earthly necessity, we cannot possibly 
 account for what took place in the former by 
 means of rules deduced from the experience of 
 our senses or of the visible world, any more than 
 we can re-enter them by our own strength, pa- 
 ralysed as it is by the fall, or by any other means 
 than the gradual recovery of divine strength 
 and inward purity, without which no one can 
 see God. We have, then, gained at least one 
 important point, that, namely, of knowing the 
 reason of our ignorance on this subject. — But 
 what here most concerns us to know is that our 
 original spiritual and divine powers have not 
 been destroyed by the fall, for nothing that is of 
 divine origin can be destroyed,* but that they 
 are only held in bondage by sin. In that state of 
 complete bondage, which had become our na- 
 
 * It is worthy of remai'k here, that Origen also, in comparing 
 the two passages, John xii. 27 and xiii. 21, observes that there is 
 always in Scripture a distinction between yp-v^fj, soul, and nvevpa, 
 spirit, the former holding an intermediate place, being susceptible 
 of both vice and virtue, while the latter is unsusceptible of evil 
 Vol. iv. 432. Ed. de la Rue. 
 
Chap. VI. 12—14. 245 
 
 tural state, we were altogether powerless for 
 good, unfit for restoration to freedom and happi- 
 ness, and consequently in need of a Redeemer, 
 who should make the first beginning of our 
 restoration. This redemption could not be ac- 
 complished through mere instructions respecting 
 our condition. Our daily experience proves, that 
 whoever has given himself up to a dangerous 
 passion is not to be so freed from it but that 
 manifold appliances added to his own painful 
 experience of the evil consequences of vice, are 
 necessary for its eradication. But training and 
 learning are co-operating agencies of redemption ; 
 as might be expected in the case of originally 
 free and rational beings, who cannot be restored 
 to freedom but with the consent and application 
 of their own reason. One who has been long in 
 shackles will require animating encouragement 
 to employ his liberated arm; nor is exhortation 
 less necessary for those of whom we speak. But 
 a power really set free cannot, according to its 
 nature, fail to become an active power. And as 
 on the one hand the help proceeds solely from 
 the redeeming God, and the power in man which 
 has again become active for good is also of divine 
 origin, it is literally true that we have no power 
 for good except from God. On the other hand, 
 this divine power within us being a power vouch- 
 safed to and wholly identified with ourselves, it 
 
246 Chap. VI. 12—14. 
 
 is no less true that we are acting of our own 
 accord, and that, therefore, the call: "Work out 
 your own salvation," is no empty sound, but a 
 voice from God, calling forth our own co-opera- 
 tion. Instruction and encouragement are, there- 
 fore, absolutely necessary; and Christian ethics 
 and belief so inseparably connected, that their 
 severance is impossible without destroying the 
 vital principle of both. 
 
 After this, as it appears to me, necessary di- 
 gression, we now return to the discourse of the 
 Apostle. His principal object was to show that 
 the region of mercy is essentially different and 
 separated from that of sin and of the law, that 
 the state of mercy is an essentially new state, 
 and that we cannot belong partly to the one and 
 partly to the other. He employs two illustrations 
 taken from life, for the purpose of more clearly 
 elucidating this position, which he evidently con- 
 siders one of great importance. 
 
 15 — 23. What then? Shall we sin because we 
 are not under the law but under grace ? God 
 
 1 6 forbid ! Know ye not that to whomsoever 
 ye yield yourselves servants unto obedience, 
 his servants ye are and ye obey him, whether 
 it be of sin unto death, or of obedience unto 
 
 1 7 righteousness ? But, thanks be to God, that 
 ye have been the servants of sin but have 
 
Chap. VI. 15.— 23. 247 
 
 become obedient from the heart, to that pat- 
 tern of teaching to which ye are delivered, 
 
 18 Since then ye have been freed from sin, ye 
 have become the servants of righteousness. 
 
 19 I speak after the manner of men, on account 
 of the weakness of your flesh. As, then, ye 
 had given over your members as servants 
 to impurity and lawlessness, in order to law- 
 lessness, so now give your members to the 
 service of righteousness, in order to holiness. 
 
 20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye 
 
 21 were free in resppct to righteousness. What 
 fruit then had ye at that time? Such as ye 
 are now ashamed of, for their end is death. 
 
 22 But now that ye are freed from sin and 
 become servants of God, ye have the fruit 
 
 23 of holiness, whose end is eternal life. For 
 the wages of sin is death ; but the gift of 
 God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 17. on rjit SoCXot. The Apostle means to say, not only, 
 "Thanks be to God that though once bond servants of sin ye 
 now," etc., but, inasmuch as this bondage was a necessary 
 period of transition, he lays all emphasis on the word "been :" 
 Thanks be to God that this time of bondage is over. — virrjKovcraTf 
 be k. t. X. as well as ov rxmov Sidax^ nept8odr)re tovtco xnrtjKovcraTe 
 ex. Kapdlas ye are delivered to the teaching, given to it ; this is 
 the external influence ; but ye have from the heart, of your own 
 accord, submitted yourselves to the impressions, have received as 
 it were the stamp of the pattern, have become willing subjects 
 of obedience and order, as ye formerly were of disobedience and 
 sin. — 19. dvdpanLvov X«'y<o I make use of the figures and expres- 
 sions of common life, in order to make myself intelligible.— etc 
 rfjv dvofilav — els ayiacrpov, disorder (personified) has that object 
 in view, employs men as instruments for its attainment. 
 
248 Chap. VI. 15-23. 
 
 The Apostle's last words were : " Ye are not 
 under the law but under grace." " What then?" 
 he now continues : " Shall we sin because we are 
 not under the law but under grace ?" Shall we 
 sin because we have no more to fear the rigour 
 of the law? Are we to relinquish the law that we 
 may sin with impunity ? God forbid ! Man can 
 never become free from the law until he is free 
 from sin. Sin and the law belong to one and the 
 same condition. Law it is said, was not made 
 for the righteous, but for the unrighteous. So 
 long, then, as we remain in the state of unright- 
 eousness we remain subject to the law. Whoever 
 is free from the law must, therefore, be free also 
 from sin, he must have entered into a new state, 
 in which he can no more desire to sin. In order 
 to make the contrast between these two states 
 apparent to the most ordinary understanding, St. 
 Paul personifies, on the one hand, sin or the defec- 
 tion from the divine order — disorder; and, on the 
 other, righteousness, godliness, and order, calling 
 the latter, not without deep significance, obedi- 
 ence unto righteousness, to signify that in this 
 state, lawlessness, arbitrary self-will, or sin, that 
 is, deviation from the divine order, is impossible. 
 For the godly principle is the most perfect order 
 and harmony, and admits of no deviation; and 
 if there is no threatening law, it is only because 
 all who truly belong to this communion carry 
 
Chap. VI. 15—23. 249 
 
 the law within themselves. St. Paul then re- 
 presents sin and the divine order as two masters ; 
 and as a slave can have but one master, and 
 must be emancipated before he can enter the 
 service of another, but will then owe no more 
 obedience to his former master, even so man, 
 says the Apostle, belongs to one or the other 
 of these masters. (No one can serve two mas- 
 ters.) But God be thanked that the time has 
 gone by when you were slaves to sin ! that you 
 have now from the heart, with free will and from 
 innermost conviction, become obedient to the 
 higher law; that you have recognised in the 
 Gospel a copy of the divine order, by which to 
 remodel yourselves for your salvation. You 
 are discharged from the service of sin and 
 become the servants of righteousness. I use 
 this metaphor, taken from common life, adds the 
 Apostle, because human powers of conception 
 make it difficult to understand truth in the ab- 
 stract. In fact, this metaphor only applies in so 
 
 far as it demonstrates that man must have relin- 
 
 * 
 
 quished the service of sin before he can be in 
 communion with God ; of a new bondage there 
 is no question, for he who appertaineth to God 
 is not entered into a new bondage. He is free 
 indeed whom the Son maketh free. There can 
 be no real freedom for man but in a life volun- 
 tarily conformed to the divine order, which is 
 
250 Chap. VI. 15—23. 
 
 eternal because it is of God, and has for its 
 object the highest blessedness of all. Whoever 
 misconceives its true nature, is ignorant of what 
 is best for him and is in darkness and under the 
 dominion of sin. He must necessarily suffer, 
 because the stronger must necessarily prevail. 
 Whoever submits to this highest order by com- 
 pulsion, is under the law and as yet unfree. 
 Whoever acknowledges it as the object of his 
 most ardent desires, and submits himself to it 
 from conviction and an inward impulse, is in 
 reality free, because he has voluntarily made that 
 order his own, beyond which there is nothing 
 more high and glorious, and which, therefore, 
 cannot be disturbed, for it does not tolerate any 
 heterogeneous element within. As then, the 
 Apostle continues, ye formerly gave up your 
 members to serve disorder and its purposes, 
 so now give up your members to order, to 
 the service of holiness, and your own sanctifica- 
 tion. Formerly, when ye were as yet slaves to 
 sin, all your members were in bondage ; and the 
 divine order and holiness had no claim upon you 
 as the slaves of another master. And what fruit 
 had ye from the service of such a master? 
 Such as ye now look upon with shame and 
 sorrow. But now ye are free, emancipated from 
 sin ! Now ye appertain unto God, and the fruit 
 of this your service is sanctincation and life ! 
 
Chap. VI. 15—23. 251 
 
 It inspires you with a vigour ever young, it 
 gives you true life for evermore. For the wao-es 
 of sin is death, but the free gift of grace (not 
 reward) which God gives to His own, out of the 
 fulness of His love, is eternal life, the highest 
 never fading blessedness, in Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. 
 
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH. 
 
 1 — 6. Or know ye not, brethren, (I speak to 
 you as being acquainted with the law,) that 
 the law hath power over a man as long as 
 
 2 he liveth? So a married woman is bound 
 by the law to her husband during his life ; 
 but if the husband die she is freed from the 
 
 3 law of her husband. Accordingly she shall 
 be called an adulteress, if she become the 
 wife of another, while her husband liveth; 
 but if her husband die she is freed from the 
 law, so that she is no longer an adulteress, 
 
 4 if she become the wife of another. So, my 
 brethren, have ye also died to the law by 
 the body of Christ, in order that ye should 
 become the property of another, of Him who 
 is risen from the dead, that we may bring 
 
 5 forth fruit unto God. For when we were 
 in the flesh the sinful lusts which were 
 excited by the law, wrought in our mem- 
 
 6 bers to bring forth fruit unto death ; but 
 now, that we are become dead to it ; we are 
 
Chap. VII. 1—6. 253 
 
 freed from the law which bound us, so that 
 we serve in the new life of the spirit, and 
 not in the old life of the letter. 
 
 The Apostle had shown in the last chapter, 
 that those who have entered into the new order 
 of things are no longer under obligation to sin. 
 He now represents this truth to us once more 
 in another form, in order to bring it out more 
 clearly, illustrating, at the same time, his previ- 
 ous assertion that they are also under no further 
 obligation to the law. He had before likened sin 
 to a master, and the human race under its do- 
 minion to a slave whom death releases from his 
 servitude. He now compares the relation be- 
 tween the law and man to the relation between a 
 husband and his wife. The analogy does not 
 appear quite complete, as it is not the law that 
 dies but man ; we must, therefore, examine more 
 closely wherein the analogy consists. The Apos- 
 tle speaks of the whole Mosaic law, in so far as it 
 is a coercive impulse from without, acting upon 
 those in whom the divine law has not as yet taken 
 
 2 The 2nd verse is not a proof of the proposition contained in 
 the first, but an example in illustration of it. yap is, therefore, 
 not " for," but " so," " yet." Yet a married woman, etc. — 5. ra 
 8m tov vofiov. It will be most in accordance with what follows 
 after verse 7 to supply " excited " here. By no means " originated." 
 For by the law sin was to be brought to light, (ver. 5.) if it could 
 have originated sin which was not actually existing, if only in 
 the germ, it would have been itself sinful. 
 
254 Chap. VII. 1—6. 
 
 root, and which must, therefore, cease with the 
 commencement of a new life. This outward law, 
 he says, is binding only during life, and ceases 
 with it. Of this principle, (which we find as- 
 serted also in the Talmud,) he could not in its 
 widest application give a universally intelligible 
 example ; he confines himself, therefore, to one 
 easily understood, based upon the relation be- 
 tween husband and wife, which the law has 
 fixed for the duration of their lives. If we 
 consider the wife after death in a state in which 
 a new union would be possible, the right to form 
 such a union could not be denied to her, after 
 the former one had been dissolved by death. But 
 as we can have no conception of any such state 
 after death, he uses this example in the first 
 place only to show, that by the death of one 
 party the obligations of both are at an end. In 
 so far as the Apostle has in his mind only the 
 spiritual connection, he may, however, very pro- 
 perly carry the comparison still further, allowing 
 to the wife after her death, or in this case to 
 those who are dead to the law, the right of 
 forming new relations. By death is evidently 
 meant the transition from one state into another 
 totally different, in which the husband and wife 
 are mutually dead to each other ; that is to say, 
 one in which they have both ceased to exist 
 for each other. In both examples we find 
 
Chap. VII. 1—6. 255 
 
 allusions to new spiritual relations, which the 
 symbolic death brings about, for otherwise, 
 neither could the slave belong to a new mas- 
 ter, nor the wife to another husband. As 
 the wife, then, is amenable to the law, if she 
 become the wife of another before death has 
 released her from the marriage bond, so does 
 man expose himself to the penalties of the law 
 if he renounce his obligations to it before he 
 has died to sin, and consequently to the law 
 which exists only in reference to sin. And, as 
 the wife is set at liberty from the law of the 
 husband by death which separates them, so is 
 man by his death to sin set at liberty from the 
 law. To the law, with which you were for- 
 merly as intimately connected as a wife with 
 her husband, you are dead through the body 
 of Christ. As Christ died for sin, so have 
 you died with Him and are buried (vi. 5.) 
 through baptism into His death, and thus is 
 the bond dissolved which bound you to the law. 
 By your emersion from baptism you have en- 
 tered into a new state, in which your previous 
 relations are dead to you as you are dead to 
 them; and in your new state you have become 
 the bride of another, namely, of Christ raised 
 from the dead. And the consequences of this 
 union will be divine, while those of the former 
 were deadly, inasmuch as we belonged during 
 
256 Chap. VII. 7—13. 
 
 its continuance to sin, manifesting itself through 
 the law. At that time we were bound and judged 
 by the letter of the law, because we were not 
 then under the dominion of the spirit. But 
 now, being dead to the law, and free from its 
 dominion, we live and serve the spiritual and 
 divine principle in its real essence free from the 
 letter which killeth. 
 
 The Apostle had been obliged to speak in ap- 
 parently derogatory terms of the law. He had 
 said, (vi. 14.) " Sin shall have no more dominion 
 over you, for ye are not under the law," and in 
 the latter of the two examples he had used the 
 words sin and law almost as synonymous, de- 
 claring that man must die to the law in order 
 to be fully united with Christ. It was necessary 
 therefore to guard against misconceptions ; and 
 he does this in the following verses in the most 
 satisfactory and instructive manner, by painting 
 with a few powerful strokes the course of the de- 
 velopment of fallen man from his lowest state to 
 the period of the most complete influence of the 
 law upon him. 
 
 7 — 13. What shall we say then? Is the law 
 sin? God forbid! But I knew not sin 
 otherwise than by means of the law : for I 
 should not have known lust, had not the 
 
 8 law said, " Thou shalt not lust." But sin 
 
Chap. VII. 7—13. 257 
 
 took occasion by the commandment and 
 
 wrought out in me all [manner of] lust ; for 
 
 9 without the law sin is dead. Once indeed 
 
 I lived without law, but when the com- 
 
 10 mandment came sin revived, but I died, 
 and it was found that the law which was 
 
 11 for life, tended for me unto death. For sin 
 took occasion, deceived me by the law, and 
 
 12 by it slew me; so that the law indeed is 
 holy, and the commandment holy and just 
 
 13 and good. Has then the good become death 
 to me ? In no wise ! but sin : in order that sin 
 might be made manifest, as working death to 
 me by means of the good ; that sin might, 
 by the commandment, become above mea- 
 sure sinful. 
 
 It is now the object of the Apostle to show 
 that the law, against which he had been speak- 
 ing, and from the dominion of which he had 
 required man to free himself, is nevertheless by 
 no means an evil, but, on the contrary, a most 
 
 7 emdvpia, every sinful inclination. — 8 Kareipyaaaro, excited 
 and set in motion, drew it into action. — 13 It is worthy of re- 
 mark, that here also ddvaros, death, though opposed to the true life, 
 (as in the 10th verse, iyo> hi drredavov,) evidently does not stand 
 for eternal spiritual death, eternal separation from God, but a 
 transition state, for the Apostle shows in this very place that 
 this death, this manifestation of sin, was a necessary transition, 
 which it was the object of the law to bring about ; and further 
 on, that we are redeemed from this state by Christ. 
 
 S 
 
258 Chap. VII. 7—13. 
 
 efficacious means in the hand of Providence for 
 making man in the lowest depths of sinfulness 
 aware of his condition and of the causes of his 
 misery, a period of transition through which he 
 must pass in order to reach that higher state of 
 perfection for which he is destined. If the Apostle 
 has proved this, it at once becomes evident 
 why he uses the expressions " to be under sin " 
 and "to be under the law " as synonymous, (vi. 
 14.) why man must not remain within the region 
 of the law, and why a power widely differing 
 from the law is requisite to transfer him into 
 the region of a higher life and of true felicity. 
 
 St. Paul had previously shown that the evil 
 principle in man took its rise from his own 
 transgression, and not of any other being, 
 (v. 12.) so that when he entered this world in 
 the shape of man, he had it already within 
 him, as a constituent part of himself, although 
 it was alien to his original spiritual existence, 
 and objectively considered could never become ab- 
 solutely identified with him, so that the Apostle 
 is certainly justified in representing sin further 
 on as something foreign to and separable or dis- 
 tinguishable from the individual (vii. 17 — 20.) 
 He had expressly said that sin existed in the 
 world long before the law; (v. 13.) so that if he 
 now says "without the law sin is dead," he 
 had no reason to fear being supposed to mean 
 
Chap. VII. 7—13. 259 
 
 that no evil would have existed if no law had 
 been given. To say this, would be to stigma- 
 tise the law as the first cause of evil, as itself 
 actually sinful, the very contrary of which he 
 maintains. The expression cannot, therefore, 
 mean anything but this: without the law we 
 had no consciousness of sin, it was dead, not 
 recognised as such, we did not know sin, so 
 deeply was it ingrained in our nature, as some- 
 thing alien, opposed to our true nature, and caus- 
 ing our misery. We were so impregnated with 
 sin that we did not recognise it as a foreign ele- 
 ment dwelling within us, but were in fact uncon- 
 scious of its existence. What follows immediately 
 after, makes it still more clear that this is the 
 meaning of the Apostle. He says, "when the 
 commandment came sin revived;" which proves 
 that sin had existed before the law, and did not 
 originate at the same time with it. " Once I 
 lived," says St. Paul, "without law," and there- 
 fore in such a state as has been described. It was 
 necessary, then, that something should interpose 
 to make me aware of the existence of sin as a 
 heterogeneous element, and this was the law. 
 Without it I should never have recognised the 
 sin which I committed as sin; in my corrupted 
 and lawless state I should never have known 
 that the lusts of the flesh are evil and harmful, 
 if the law had not said " Thou shalt not covet." 
 
 s2 
 
260 Chap. VII. 7—13. 
 
 The first benefit which the law conferred on 
 man in the state of his lowest degradation, was 
 to raise in him a wholesome conflict, and to make 
 him aware that sin was not absolutely identified 
 with himself. He could not, however, at that time 
 consider the law as other than inimical or op- 
 posed to his interests, his abhorrence of all prin- 
 ciples of a higher order being such, that the 
 discipline leading towards them appeared to him 
 irksome and hateful. In his perversity he con- 
 sidered the law, and not sin, as the cause of the 
 disquieting sensations within him, and there- 
 fore opposed the law. The very fact of the 
 law forbidding certain things, and command- 
 ing others, induced him to leave undone what it 
 commanded, and to do what it forbade: sin 
 thus taking occasion by the law to excite his 
 evil propensities, so that through the law sin 
 became manifest and more powerful. Who does 
 not recognise in this picture, the state of man 
 in his lowest degradation. For although this 
 sad picture is literally true in respect to man 
 in his lowest condition, still it cannot surely 
 be maintained that such enmity against the 
 law, and wilful transgression of its dictates is 
 the general and lasting condition of all who are 
 as yet under the law, which would in fact be deny- 
 ing to the law all influence upon the moral pro- 
 gress of man. — When the commandment came, 
 
Chap. VII. 7—13. 261 
 
 sin revived, which had, up to that time, been 
 dead ; what I had considered as part of ray own 
 being, became apparent as having an existence 
 of its own; what had existed in the seed be- 
 came manifested in the fruit. And I died. 
 The conflict commencing within me, thrilled me 
 with death-pangs; my conscience reproved me, 
 the law condemned me. It appeared then, as 
 though the law, which had been given for my ad- 
 vantage, for life, had had the contrary effect, as 
 though the law had brought death ; but it was sin, 
 which had taken occasion by the commandment to 
 incite me to evil, and to destroy me through the 
 law. But if sin has led me astray, then the law 
 is not the cause of my death, or of my wretch- 
 edness, but the law is holy, just, and good in all 
 its parts. Can I then say, that the law, which 
 is good, has worked my destruction? God for- 
 bid ! but sin worked death in me by that which 
 is good. • It was necessary that the law should 
 have this effect ; I had to go through this pain- 
 ful and deathlike condition, that sin might show 
 itself in its pernicious effects, fatally perverting 
 even that which is good for evil purposes, that 
 sin in its development might become exceeding 
 sinful and manifest itself in all its hideousness. 
 The law works recognition of sin, it brings to 
 light that sin, which had indeed existed, but was 
 hidden in the bud. — We might compare man, in 
 
262 Chap. VII. 7—13. 
 
 his fallen state, in his greatest alienation from 
 God, to one considering himself healthy but carry- 
 ing within him the germ of some deadly malady ; 
 the physician does not allow the latent poison to 
 spread and to destroy the vital powers, he applies 
 his remedies to drive it to the external parts. 
 It is now that the patient first becomes aware of 
 his dangerous condition ; he feels sick unto death, 
 and believes himself near death, while at that 
 very moment, in his greatest pain and agony, he 
 is nearer health than before he was conscious 
 of harbouring the germ of a mortal disease. 
 
 We have yet to observe that, although St. Paul 
 had probably the Mosaic law more particularly 
 in view, what he says is equally applicable to the 
 law of the conscience or any beneficial human 
 law. The evil-doer resists the warnings of his 
 waking conscience, he struggles against all law 
 which opposes itself to his inordinate desires; 
 but the effect produced by either conscience or 
 the law is one and the same, namely, a whole- 
 some conflict, showing the evil consequences of 
 indulging his passions and preparing him for 
 the ultimate conviction that happiness is to be 
 found only in obedience to order. 
 
 We must also avail ourselves of this opportu- 
 nity to remind our readers how often our judg- 
 ment is deceived when we consider a person in 
 whom we find some evil passion, which we had 
 
Chap. VII. 7—13. 263 
 
 not before noticed, developing itself, as having 
 retrograded or become more vicious. Just as 
 the patient, while the disease within him is being 
 acted upon, seems worse to the inexperienced 
 observer, so he may appear to those, who have 
 no means of judging otherwise than by outward 
 appearances, to have become worse, when in 
 reality he has not. Evil is not created by the 
 opportunity which caused its external manifesta- 
 tion-, but that which was apparently dead be- 
 comes revived. If it had not been existing in 
 the germ, complete though undeveloped, no out- 
 ward influence could have called it into action, 
 any more than the elements could develop the 
 seed without its possessing the capability of life 
 and growth within itself. If this were other- 
 wise, it would not be the seed that contains the 
 first cause of the fruit, but the outwardly acting 
 influences, which are evidently not capable of 
 producing it ; and then, to speak with St. Paul, 
 it would not be the inward sinfulness of man 
 but the law that is the cause of evil. The spirit 
 committed to an earthly body in order to its 
 purification requires, in the first place, a certam 
 development of the body, in order to enable it, 
 through its medium, to receive and to recipro- 
 cate external influences, and, in the second place, 
 it requires those influences themselves. As long 
 as both these conditions are, to a certain extent, 
 
264 Chap. VII. 7—13. 
 
 unfulfilled, we have no means of judging in what 
 manner it will be affected by the external world, 
 so that it is very natural that we should con- 
 sider the evil as not existing because it has no 
 means of manifesting itself to our view. This is 
 by no means contradicted by the undeniable fact, 
 that a person who gives himself up to vice, will 
 gradually become more proficient in it, and sink 
 deeper and deeper; this is nothing more than 
 a continued development of the evil principle 
 within him. — To obviate, however, all possible 
 misunderstandings and rash conclusions, we 
 must add, first, that every germ does not visibly 
 develop itself, many according to the wise and 
 loving dispensations of God, being never un- 
 folded by the operation of external influences, 
 but removed by more lenient means, such as 
 instruction, example, or education, in the widest 
 sense of the word ; for this reason, wise systems 
 of moral and intellectual education are to be 
 numbered among the most efficient means of 
 furthering the kingdom of God ; and our exer- 
 tions for their perfection are certainly to be con- 
 sidered a most sacred duty. — Most undoubtedly 
 every one of us who examines his former life, 
 must admit that many a temptation which has no 
 effect upon him in his present state, 'would have 
 overpowered and hurried him into evil actions 
 in former days, when his powers of resistance 
 
Chap. VII. 7—13. 265 
 
 were weaker. What a motive is here furnished 
 of judging the fallen with indulgence, while 
 filled with a holy abhorrence of evil in itself! 
 We have to adore the goodness of Providence in 
 averting so many dangers to which we should 
 have succumbed, if they had reached us earlier in 
 life ; for it was Providence, and not our own pre- 
 caution which averted them. But we are unable 
 to fathom the plans of the highest wisdom, which, 
 for the wisest and most loving purposes, allowed 
 others to succumb to temptations from which it 
 has graciously preserved ourselves. How do we 
 now understand the full import of the Apostle's 
 warning not to judge others! — In the second 
 place we must observe, that this view does not 
 contain any inducement or excuse for giving a 
 free course to the evil propensities within us. It 
 is fully established by experience, and stands in 
 the closest connection with this view, that sin 
 being at all times productive of misery, we can- 
 not yield to its allurements without having to 
 suffer ills, which we should have escaped if we 
 had withstood them. And further it is evident 
 that he who with equal outward incentives with- 
 stands sin, must be in a greater state of purity 
 than he who does not ; and as our purity is the 
 measure of our felicity in this life and our 
 blessedness in a future state, all excuses for sin- 
 fulness at once fall to the ground ; because it is 
 
266 Chap. VII. H-25. 
 
 in reality one and the same thing whether we say : 
 we shall be unhappy because we have sinned ; or, 
 we shall be unhappy because our inward state is 
 such as to make us unfit for happiness. 
 
 The doctrine of the Apostle, that the law, in 
 the widest sense of the word, interposed in order 
 to make evil apparent as such, and that sin with 
 all its evil consequences might be made manifest, 
 as also the doctrine of necessity with which it is 
 closely connected, (Comp. page 242,) can only 
 give offence or remain inexplicable, if we suppose 
 that the spirit of man is first created at the 
 time of his appearance on earth. In that case, 
 certainly both the germ of evil and evil itself 
 would be the gift of the Deity, and all the con- 
 sequences would be nothing but a dire and 
 unavoidable development of His gift. But St. 
 Paul teaches us, that the germ of evil, which man 
 brings with him into the world, and which may 
 be very differently developed according to the 
 preparatory stages, unknown to us, through 
 which each may have passed, is not a work of 
 God, but his own; and that the work of the re- 
 deeming God is its most wise and most merciful 
 development for the annihilation of evil, and the 
 beatification of all who have fallen through their 
 own transgression. 
 
 14 — 25. For we know that the law is spiritual; 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 267 
 
 15 but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that 
 which I practise I know not : for I perform 
 not that which I wish, but what I hate 
 
 16 that I do. If then I do what I wish not, I 
 
 1 7 consent to the law that it is good. But now 
 it is not I that do this, but sin that dwelleth 
 
 18 in me. For I know that in me, that is, in 
 my flesh, good dwelleth not: for I have 
 indeed the wish, but I am unable to do what 
 
 19 is good. For not the good which I wish, do 
 I, but the evil which I wish not, that I do. 
 
 20 Now if I do that which I myself wish not, it 
 is not I that do this, but sin that dwelleth in 
 
 21 me. I find then this law, that to me, though I 
 
 22 wish to do good, evil is near. For I have plea- 
 sure in the law of God after the inner man, 
 
 23 but I see another law in my members which 
 warreth against the law of my mind, and 
 maketh me a captive under the law, which is 
 
 24 in my members. Wretched man that I am ! 
 who shall deliver me from the body of this 
 
 25 death? I thank God through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord ! Thus then I myself with my 
 mind serve the law of God, but with my 
 flesh the law of sin. 
 
 St. Paul had before drawn a picture of man 
 in his most abject condition, in his most complete 
 alienation from God, when the consciousness of 
 
268 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 his true self was so completely destroyed by 
 sinfulness, that he was incapable of distinguish- 
 ing sin, which had become identified with his 
 own being to such a degree that he did not 
 consider himself a slave to sin, but imagined 
 himself to be acting while sin was acting through 
 him. The Apostle had then shown, how man 
 under the influence of the law learns by de- 
 grees to distinguish himself from sin, becomes 
 aware of its calamitous consequences, at the 
 same time acknowledging himself to be under 
 its dominion, and obliged to yield, although he 
 feels that it is leading him into unspeakable 
 misery. He feels himself encompassed by sin, 
 powerless, annihilated, dead, like one lying rigid 
 in his coffin, apparently dead, but conscious of 
 life, yet unable to give any sign of it, and com- 
 pelled to allow himself to be treated as a 
 corpse. This state, however, which St. Paul 
 also calls death, is not that which leads im- 
 mediately to life, it is, as it were, a crisis which 
 must precede it. Through spiritual baptism, of 
 which St. Paul has spoken in the beginning of 
 the sixth chapter, man must actually die to sin, 
 in order to feel himself in a new existence re- 
 leased from its dominion and capable of be- 
 ginning his true life. The consciousness of 
 this new birth and of spiritual life, is presup- 
 posed in the picture drawn by St. Paul of the 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 269 
 
 state of those without the law, and in that 
 which he now draws, to the end of the chap- 
 ter, of those in whom the consciousness of their 
 true selves, in contradistinction to sin, has 
 gained life, and who yet feel themselves com- 
 pelled to yield to its dominion, and thus unable 
 to comprehend their own position. Those only 
 can fully comprehend the real nature of this 
 condition who are no longer in it, and who are 
 able to contemplate, as it were, from a more 
 exalted position, their past history and the 
 course which they have run. This is highly 
 important, in order to understand the Apostle's 
 meaning, as it would else be difficult to see why 
 St. Paul, (who in order to give more life to his 
 discourse, speaks in the person of one in this 
 state,) should attribute to him so intimate a 
 knowledge of the spiritual condition and its 
 causes, as such a one could not possibly possess. 
 We must take care not to press the idea of death 
 too far in this simile, for the man who is de- 
 scribed as acting, although he acts with the 
 consciousness of his servitude and of the anni- 
 hilation of his own self, is nevertheless living 
 and acting in the external world. 
 
 We, continues the Apostle, who are initiated 
 into the plan of salvation and have attained life, 
 know that the law is spiritual, that it tends to a 
 higher divine order of things ; but I, that is man 
 
270 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 whose condition is here depicted, am carnal, sold 
 under sin, a slave to sin. Hence the conflict 
 between him and the spiritual law which urges 
 him on towards a higher order of things, to 
 which he has become and remains yet a stranger, 
 although he belongs to it agreeably to his ori- 
 ginal nature; hence this, to him, unaccount- 
 able conflict and perturbation of mind. That 
 which he does, which he performs as the slave of 
 a strange master, he does not acknowledge as 
 his own act. Without his own will, without con- 
 sciousness he executes the orders of a stranger, 
 knows not what he accomplishes through himself, 
 feels only the discrepancy between this coercion 
 and his former free state, of which a faint recol- 
 lection is reviving within him. He does not do 
 what he would ; the strange dominion is so power- 
 ful within him, that he does what he hates. This 
 may be understood in two ways. The Apostle 
 either takes the will for the original, free, ener- 
 getic tendency of the spirit, which according to 
 its nature is directed to good, but which, in the 
 state he describes being as yet fettered and un- 
 able to act, manifests itself only by a sensation 
 of uneasiness and conflict. In this case, the sense 
 would be: the actions of such a person are at 
 variance with his original and true being. Or 
 else he understands by "will" an undefined pow- 
 erless desiring or wishing, which cannot manifest 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 271 
 
 itself by deeds, because it is opposed by other 
 counteracting or impeding powers, because the 
 energetic tendency of his spirit, his real will, is 
 wanting.* In this latter case the Apostle would 
 mean : such a person would desire what is good, 
 he feels that it would render him happier, but yet 
 his evil desires and propensities retain the upper 
 hand, although he knows them to be hurtful and 
 even hateful, and is sure they will produce loath- 
 ing and remorse. The latter explanation ap- 
 pears to me the correct one ; for unless we con- 
 sider St. Paul as unnecessarily repeating, from 
 the 18th to the 21st verse, what he had already 
 said, we must assume that he is expressing from 
 the 15th to the 18th verse, the opinion of man 
 upon his own condition, and that, from the 18th 
 verse, he gives the explanation of this state from 
 a higher standing-point. Such a man, if he re- 
 flects upon himself, would say, I know not what 
 I do nor how I come to do it; what I should 
 wish to do, I do not, but what 1 dislike and dis- 
 approve of, that I do. I must admit then, that 
 the law is good, because it admonishes me to do 
 what I must acknowledge to be good; but the 
 power of my evil and sinful passions is such, 
 that I cannot but obey them. — Now follows the 
 
 * It is a pity that we have no word in our language to express 
 this wavering feeble kind of will. The schoolmen coined the 
 word velleiias for it, which is retained in the French velleite. 
 
272 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 explanation of the cause of this condition from 
 a higher standing-point. We know from the 
 teaching of the Apostle, that the spirit of man, 
 which proceeded pure and good from the hand 
 of the Creator, has sunk through the fall into 
 sensuality, that spiritual man has become carnal. 
 And this in fact explains at once the cause of the 
 twofold nature of man, the one inward, pure, 
 spiritual, the other outward, sinful carnal; and 
 St. Paul needs only to refer to our own ex- 
 perience for confirmation. I know, he says, 
 that good dwelleth not in carnal man, that is, 
 in so far as he is a being subjected to sinful- 
 ness and to the flesh. He possesses his mate- 
 rial body, subject to death only because he has 
 become sinful, on which account that which 
 is good cannot dwell in this body, nor in any 
 other which does not belong essentially to his 
 originally pure spirit; it dwells alone in his 
 spirit as it was first called into existence. The 
 condition of man, as his spiritual nature begins 
 again to manifest itself, proves this, as it is 
 only thus that this state becomes intelligible. 
 An acknowledgment of good, and a desire to 
 possess it, is apparent, but it amounts to no more 
 than a mere powerless desire. He would pre- 
 fer doing good, if it were possible without a 
 sacrifice of his favourite propensities and habits ; 
 but against his better conviction and powerless 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 273 
 
 desire he is compelled to do what he considers 
 wrong; he is not himself the cause of his acting, 
 but sin that dwells within him. This explains 
 the rule, the law of his present mixed nature; 
 he would do good, but evil acting as a clog 
 or an insurmountable hindrance, prevents the 
 execution of his desires. His inward beinsr, 
 his real spiritual self, has pleasure in the divine 
 order of things, and feels that happiness is only 
 to be found therein ; but a hostile power, the law 
 in his members, the power of sin wars within 
 him against the higher law, and is as yet more 
 powerful than the powers arrayed on the side of 
 the divine principle ; it exercises a dominion over 
 him, which is the more degrading, since he has 
 become conscious of his bondage. " wretched 
 man that I am!" exclaims the Apostle, who 
 feels the miserable condition of the unhappy 
 beings as intensely as if it were his own, "who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death," 
 from the deadly misery in which I am held by 
 the body of sin? (vi 6.) He then interrupts 
 himself, as it were, with a thanksgiving to God 
 through Christ, who in reality has already ac- 
 complished the salvation not of himself only, but 
 of all men ; and then concludes, as the result of 
 the whole investigation, with the words : " So 
 then with the mind man serves the law of God, 
 but with the flesh the law of sin." 
 
274 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 An additional proof of our having rightly un- 
 derstood the Apostle's meaning, appears to be 
 furnished by the fact, that having, in the last 
 words, pointed out the state of those who have 
 experienced the effect of the law upon themselves, 
 he proceeds at once to take a more elevated view, 
 in speaking of himself and of those above the law. 
 Had it been his intention to sketch the general 
 progress of fallen man to perfection, he would 
 have shown, how, on his becoming painfully con- 
 scious of his own misery, the helping hand of the 
 Saviour was extended to him, how he had been 
 led to the feet of the Redeemer and united with 
 him by spiritual baptism, and how he then felt 
 himself freed from the fetters of sin. Had he 
 intended to describe his own gradual progress — 
 as might be supposed from his using the first 
 person and a past tense while speaking of those 
 without the law, and the present tense when de- 
 picting the conflict under the law — he would, as 
 one who felt himself in such intimate commu- 
 nion with Christ, have told us the wondrous ways 
 by which he arrived at this point. He speaks of 
 himself in the 2nd verse of the second chapter, 
 as in a state of freedom from sin ; he could not 
 therefore mean to represent himself as still under 
 the law, since he could not belong at the same 
 time to both these states, which he so widely 
 distinguishes from each other. Still less could 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 275 
 
 he mean to depict the course of his own life as 
 the man Paul, for of himself he could not say, 
 that he had been once without law, since he 
 tells us in another place (Acts xxii. 3) that he 
 was born of Jewish parents, and consequently 
 under the law, and (Acts xxiii. 1, and xxiv. 16) 
 that he had lived in all good conscience before 
 God, and consequently according to the law, 
 until that day. 
 
 His object was, therefore, to show that the law 
 is good and holy, but that it has power only to 
 conduct us to a certain point and no further. 
 He breaks off as soon as he has proved this, 
 having spoken in his own person merely for the 
 purpose of giving force and animation to his 
 discourse. 
 
 And yet he sets forth at the same time, though 
 this was not his principal object, the history of his 
 own spiritual life, and that of all human spirits, 
 in its leading features ; not, however, the history 
 of one particular human life. He distinguishes 
 three different stages in the progress of man ; the 
 first, that of lawlessness or enmity with God and 
 godliness ; the second, that of coercion under the 
 law ; and the third, that of freedom from law and 
 sin. Every fallen spirit has to be conducted 
 through these three different stages; but they 
 are not all traceable in every individual life. 
 For there are most undoubtedly men who enter 
 
 T 2 
 
276 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 this world in a state of lawlessness, and who at 
 the time of their death have not, as far as we can 
 see, left that state or entered into that of a whole- 
 some conflict within themselves, that is acknow- 
 ledgment of the law. On the other hand, there 
 are also men who from their first development, 
 notwithstanding a certain admixture of sinfulness 
 from which no one is perfectly free while he in- 
 habits this world, have yet so marked a tendency 
 to godliness, that they cannot at any moment 
 of their lives be numbered among the enemies 
 of God, but must, on the contrary, from their 
 first appearance in this world be accounted His 
 friends. As it is certain that those in the lowest 
 state of degradation cannot have proceeded from 
 the hands of the Creator in that state, since it is 
 impossible that God should have created them 
 His enemies, and St. Paul has taught us that 
 each individual has fallen through his own fault ; 
 while, on the other hand, no one can have reached 
 that higher state of moral worth in which he 
 begins his present life otherwise than through 
 the redeeming power of God, and there is only 
 one Redeemer for all: it follows, that all who 
 from their very birth display a certain degree of 
 moral excellence, must have attained it, through 
 the redeeming power, in a former period of their 
 existence, be it that they have gone through a 
 preparatory training in a former ante-human 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 277 
 
 existence, or in a former life as men in this 
 world. (Comp. p. 188.) 
 
 It is well known that the belief in a return to 
 human existence, was prevalent among many of 
 the nations of antiquity. Even in the Bible we 
 find traces of it. It was, for instance, generally 
 believed that Elijah was to return in the shape 
 of man before the appearance of the Messiah. 
 The opinion expressed by many, that Christ was 
 Elijah, or John the Baptist, or one of the Pro- 
 phets, is indicative of a Avidely spread belief in 
 a return to life after death, as it would else be 
 inexplicable that such an opinion concerning 
 Christ should have been expressed at all. Christ 
 himself does not expressly teach such a return; 
 His words: "I tell you that Elias has already 
 come," may be understood to mean, that John 
 the Baptist was similar in appearance to Elijah, 
 or in the influence he exercised. Yet they may 
 also be understood literally to mean that the 
 spirit of Elijah had again entered the world in 
 the person of the Baptist, and, at all events, 
 Christ could not have held this opinion to be a 
 hurtful error; He would not else have missed 
 the opportunity of correcting it. 
 
 What we have said further back of the belief 
 in pre-existence is, however, applicable to this 
 subject also, with which it is intimately con- 
 nected. A positive belief of it is by no means 
 
278 Chap. VII. 14—25. 
 
 necessary for an insight into Christianity in its 
 innermost depths. It is, on the contrary, a glo- 
 rious privilege of Christianity that it may be 
 apprehended and applied independently of all 
 speculation. But what we have concluded from 
 the teaching of St. Paul, is of the greatest 
 importance for all who have at heart the attain- 
 ment of worthy and exalted conceptions of the 
 world. (2Settanftd;t.) It renders intelligible 
 much that we have already had under considera- 
 tion, and will throw a light on much that has 
 yet to follow, chiefly on the passage ix. 1 — 18. 
 It points out to us one of the chief causes of the 
 difference in the characters of men, and at the 
 same time, accounts for the diversity of the cir- 
 cumstances and relations in which they are placed 
 by Providence, for the one great purpose of sal- 
 vation. Although it may always remain inex- 
 plicable to the human understanding, why one is 
 further advanced and apparently more favoured 
 than another, we can yet imagine, (and this in 
 direct proportion to the truth and correctness of 
 our views respecting free-will, which even on our 
 path to salvation remains unrestricted,) that 
 spiritual beings so different from each other 
 cannot, without compulsion, be led to their true 
 happiness except by the most different means. 
 So, then, the impartiality and love of God re- 
 main the same for all, notwithstanding outward 
 
Chap. VII. 14-25. 279 
 
 appearances, for although St. Paul distinguishes 
 only three principal states of man, it is more 
 than probable that there may be in each of 
 them different grades, perhaps from causes 
 altogether unaccountable to us. We should 
 also recollect, as we have before stated, that 
 these different states, although none belong 
 essentially to more than one of them at a time, 
 are yet not so completely separated from each 
 other, that upon the transition from the one 
 into the other, all traces of the former disappear 
 at once. It is conceivable that the effect of 
 the redeeming power may be so different upon 
 different men belonging to the same class, (whe- 
 ther they have belonged to it from their birth, 
 or have entered it during their life in this 
 world,) that one may carry more than another 
 of his preceding condition into the new state. 
 St. Paul himself gives us a hint on this subject, 
 inasmuch as in the later chapters of this Epistle 
 he admonishes the strong in faith to treat with 
 love and forbearance the weak in faith, who as 
 yet adhere to certain observances of the law, 
 and are therefore to a certain extent still under 
 the law, but whom he nevertheless looks upon 
 as true brethren. And even the circumstance 
 of the strong in faith requiring such an admo- 
 nition, proves that St. Paul did not consider 
 them to have reached as yet the perfection of 
 
280 Chap. VII. 14 25. . 
 
 love and spiritual freedom, as otherwise such an 
 admonition would have been superfluous. 
 
 We must not omit to notice as a further con- 
 sequence from what has been said, that we can- 
 not expect to be conscious of the moment in 
 which we have made the transition into a more 
 advanced state, if we have really made it. Still 
 less may we allow ourselves to judge others in 
 this respect. We have in no case the right to 
 judge others, or to withdraw from them the 
 benefit of our instruction and example under 
 the plea that they may not as yet be in a condi- 
 tion to profit by them, for we have no means of 
 knowing how far any one may have advanced, 
 notwithstanding appearances. The state of man's 
 mind is known to God alone, and is often too 
 closely shrouded for human observation. His 
 preparatory training may have been so secret 
 and imperceptible, that what may appear to us 
 a giant stride or a sudden transformation, may 
 in the eye of a truly spiritual observer, be but a 
 regular and gradual development. Were we able 
 to take a really spiritual survey of the minds of 
 men, how often should we have to blush at the 
 erroneous judgments that we form, misled by 
 outward appearances ! But as to our own state 
 we may feel the more confident the more we know 
 that love towards God and to our brethren has 
 gained life within us ; and even if we continue 
 
Chap. VII. 14—25. 281 
 
 to make the painful experience that there are 
 traces left within us of our previous condition, 
 we shall not lose our peace of mind notwith- 
 standing, but retain the blessed conviction that 
 they will vanish by degrees, and that no real evil 
 can befall us, led as we are by the hand of our 
 Lord and Saviour! 
 
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH. 
 
 1 — 11. There is now therefore no condemna- 
 tion for them which are in Jesus Christ.* 
 
 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus 
 Christ hath made me free from the law of 
 
 3 sin and death. For, (which was impos- 
 sible to the law because it was made power- 
 less through the flesh,) God, by sending His 
 Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for 
 
 4 sin, destroyed sin in the flesh; that the re- 
 quirements of the law might be fulfilled in 
 us, who walk not after the flesh but after 
 
 5 the Spirit. For they that are according to the 
 flesh, strive after that which is carnal, but 
 they that are according to the Spirit strive 
 
 6 after that which is spiritual. But the striv- 
 ing of the flesh is death, but that of the 
 
 7 spirit is life and peace, inasmuch as the 
 striving of the flesh is enmity against God : 
 for it doth not submit itself to the law of 
 
 * The ordinary text has, " which walk not after the flesh but 
 after the spirit," an addition which is not found in many of the 
 manuscripts, and is by no means essential. 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 288 
 
 8 God, neither indeed can it. They then that 
 
 9 belong to the flesh cannot please God. But 
 ye belong not to the flesh, but to the spirit, 
 if at least the Spirit of God dwelleth in 
 you. But he who hath not the Spirit of 
 
 10 Christ, is not His. But if Christ is in 
 you, the body indeed is dead on account of 
 sin, but the spirit is life on account of 
 
 11 righteousness. Now if the Spirit of Him 
 who raised up Jesus from the dead, dwel- 
 leth in you, He who raised up Christ from 
 the dead will also quicken your mortal 
 bodies by His Spirit which dwelleth in you. 
 
 After having demonstrated the object and the 
 excellence as well as the limits of the outward 
 law, St. Paul now arrives at the joyful conclu- 
 sion : " There is, therefore, now no condemnation 
 for them which are in Christ Jesus," for them who 
 are most intimately united with Him ; because a 
 power above the law, a law of a higher order, 
 the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has 
 
 1 KaraKpifia can be taken as "a sentence of condemnation spoken 
 by the law," which is no more to be feared by those who are freed 
 from the law ; or, as " an actually fulfilled sentence," the misery 
 which came upon the fallen through the fall, but which is re- 
 moved by the reinstatement, (v. 16.) — 3 KareKpiue rrjv dfiapriav iv 
 Tt) a-apKi. " condemned sin in the flesh." He pronounced the sen- 
 tence of death and annihilation over the evil principle in man, over 
 the law of sin and death. — 4 Simiapa rov vopov, the full rights, 
 claims and requirements of the law. — 11 dv-qrbs might here also be 
 very well translated by defunct, dead. (See my interpretation.) 
 
284 Chap. VIII. 1—11. 
 
 made them free from the law of sin and death. 
 In order fully to comprehend the course of the 
 Apostle's thoughts, it will be necessary to ex- 
 amine the different meanings in which he uses 
 the word law. In the 22nd verse of the seventh 
 chapter he had spoken of one delighting, after 
 the inward man, in the law of God, that is, in the 
 spiritual law of the higher order to which he 
 essentially belongs, but that another law in the 
 members, the law of sin and death, wars against 
 that higher order. He now speaks of a law 
 of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which makes 
 us free from the law of sin and death, and at 
 the same time also from the outward law, to 
 which we were subject so long as we remained 
 under the law of sin. This spiritual law of life 
 in Christ Jesus is that redeeming power of 
 Christ which begins to operate when the efficacy 
 of the outward law ceases. The outward law, 
 although also of divine origin, could not accord- 
 ing to its nature lead to freedom ; threats, pro- 
 mises, and other outward incentives were too 
 weak to cope with the power of the law of sin ; 
 they were paralysed by it and unable to subdue 
 it. A power of a higher order was, therefore, 
 needed to accomplish what the outward law was 
 unable to effect, namely, the extinction of the 
 law of sin, and the annihilation of the principle 
 of evil within us, or of the body of sin. In 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 285 
 
 order, then, that after overcoming all resistance 
 the spiritual law might manifest itself in its 
 whole efficacy, and man might agreeably to his 
 original nature again live a godly life, it was 
 necessary that God should send Him into the 
 world in the semblance of sinful man, who is 
 called the Son of God, in a sense infinitely 
 higher and more glorious than any in which 
 the name has ever been applied, either before 
 or after Him. 
 
 The Apostle adverts here to the greatest mys- 
 tery of redeeming love, and well may we ask, how 
 we may approach with becoming reverence this 
 most sublime of all subjects. There is, however, 
 an immeasurable difference between the humble 
 and religious desire to search in the purest and 
 best way of which our powers admit, for the 
 deep sense of all that revelation offers us, and 
 an inquisitive prying into that which must ever 
 remain impenetrable to human reason. 
 
 If we consider the important doctrine, for 
 which we are indebted to the intimation of the 
 Apostle, of the free and blissful state of the 
 world of spirits, as created by God, and before 
 their inward law was opposed by a law in the 
 members, and of their fall through a voluntary 
 deviation from the divine order, which was alone 
 able to secure bliss and felicity — if we consider 
 this doctrine together with the sublime truth 
 
286 Chap. VIII. 1 — 11. 
 
 which St. John communicates as a revelation 
 from Christ Himself, that " God is light, and 
 in Him there is no darkness," (1 John i. 5,) 
 we must needs feel convinced that between the 
 God of light and the world of darkness there 
 can be no immediate communion. At the same 
 time, however, we feel that because there still 
 remains in the fallen race a divine spark, which 
 cannot be extinguished because of its being 
 divine; the God of love could not leave in 
 misery those who are His offspring, and we 
 have from experience the blissful conviction that 
 He has not left us without His aids. (Compare 
 page 245.) But how the union was brought 
 about between these conflicting extremes, is 
 shrouded in impenetrable mystery. A medi- 
 ating principle must have intervened, and this 
 mediating principle could be none but God ; but 
 not God in that holiness and glorious light, before 
 whom nothing that is unholy or obscured can 
 stand. (1 Tim. vi. 16.) The Eternal One and 
 Indivisible God produced, as it were, a division 
 or separation within Himself, leaving behind, as 
 it were, the brightness, the consuming fire of His 
 holiness, divesting Himself of the glory which 
 the darkened beings could not have endured, 
 and allowing the beams of mercy to prevail in 
 Christ our Redeemer. To Him, the All-wise, 
 All-merciful, and All-loving, God surrendered 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 287 
 
 the fallen world, to organise disorder, to loosen 
 the bound, to conduct the lost to freedom and 
 felicity, that He might reign until all His ene- 
 mies, subdued by love, should be laid at His feet, 
 and He should then restore the dominion to the 
 Father, that God may be all in all. ( 1 Cor. xv. 
 24 — 28.) — But the great general work of re- 
 demption comprehended a particular one, far 
 transcending all human conceptions; and to this 
 the Apostle alludes. It was necessary for Christ 
 Himself to appear in the visible world, in the 
 shape of sinful flesh. The human mind, not yet 
 lost in the depths of divine love, may here ask : 
 Why could not the redeeming God accomplish 
 the great work as He had conducted it before 
 His incarnation, without the visible appearance 
 of the Redeemer? Why could He not, if the 
 world required revelations of a higher order, 
 endow human beings with understanding, power, 
 and wisdom to make them? But who does 
 not feel the presumption of such a question, 
 the mad presumption of a human understanding, 
 which would dare, in the condition of a fallen, 
 sinful, and darkened being, to scrutinize and sit 
 in judgment upon the plans of Eternal Wisdom? 
 Who can doubt for an instant, that the human 
 race has derived immeasurable benefits from the 
 visible appearance of Christ on earth? He it 
 was who displayed the highest dignity of which 
 
288 Chap. VIII. 1—11. 
 
 human nature is capable, in its ideal glory; 
 through Him we have become assured that it is 
 not human greatness, wisdom, or power, but 
 love alone, obedient, self-sacrificing love, volun- 
 tarily submitting to the most ignominious death, 
 that overcomes the world. He it is in whom 
 we have an example which makes all other ex- 
 amples unnecessary, a teacher bearing within 
 Himself the fulness of divine wisdom, so that 
 we have no need of further instructions; one 
 who displayed the character of the divine pro- 
 ceedings so visibly before us, that He was justi- 
 fied in saying of Himself: "Whoever sees me 
 sees the Father." Who can doubt these blessings 
 and the powerful efficacy of the revelation of 
 Christ's death and resurrection? And whoever 
 is gratefully convinced of them, must needs ex- 
 claim with St. Peter: "Thou art Christ the Son 
 of the Living God," and may apply to himself 
 Christ's answer: "Blessed art thou, for flesh and 
 blood have not revealed it unto thee, but the 
 Father in heaven." Penetrated with these convic- 
 tions, no one will require proofs of the necessity 
 of Christ's appearance on earth; he will know 
 through the same revelation, that whatever is 
 accomplished according to the plans of divine 
 wisdom is accomplished by the means which are 
 both indispensable and all-wise. 
 
 The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews 
 
Chap. VIII. 1 — 11. 289 
 
 states, in a figurative but beautiful and touching 
 manner adapted to the faculties of those for 
 whom he was more immediately writing, one of 
 the reasons for Christ's incomprehensible conde- 
 scension. "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him 
 to be made like unto His brethren, that He might 
 be a merciful and faithful high priest in things 
 pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the 
 sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath 
 suffered, being tempted, He is able to succour 
 them that are tempted." (Heb. ii. 17, 18.) He 
 who in His holiness, in His light which knows 
 nothing that is obscure, could have no conception 
 of sin and human weakness, had to lower Him- 
 self to humanity, to take cognisance, as it were, 
 of evil and weakness, in order that He might 
 assist the weak and destroy evil. It is a figure 
 which must not be pressed too far, but how ex- 
 pressive and touching a figure ! St. Paul states, 
 as the effect of the appearance of Christ, that God 
 condemned sin in the flesh, pronounced the sen- 
 tence of death and annihilation (/caTe/cpive") upon 
 sin which had taken possession of man, dwelt and 
 reigned in his members, and had encompassed 
 him with the body of death. Through this sen- 
 tence of annihilation upon sin, the like sentence 
 passed before upon the fallen spirits as an un- 
 avoidable consequence of their fall, was revoked, 
 so that now there is no more condemnation to 
 
 u 
 
290 Chap. VIII. 1—11. 
 
 them which are in Christ Jesus. Through this 
 divine interference was accomplished, what the 
 law had begun but was not able to accomplish, 
 because sin as yet living in the flesh opposed its 
 influence. This, St. Paul continues, was done 
 that the highest demands of the law might be 
 satisfied in us who live according to the spirit 
 and not according to the flesh. The law means 
 righteousness; the highest divine law of which 
 the Apostle here speaks means, consequently, the 
 highest divine righteousness, and this, as we 
 have been already told in the third chapter, 
 manifests itself in the Christian economy as the 
 removal of the hindrances which prevented our 
 happiness, as the annihilation of evil itself. Thus 
 then the Apostle declares, that for the purpose of 
 this annihilation of evil, the appearance of Christ 
 Himself on earth was required and that through 
 its abiding influence upon those who live accord- 
 ing to the spirit, the highest demand of divine 
 righteousness or, as we should say, of divine 
 mercy, is fulfilled. And when we experience 
 the blessed effects of this great fact within our- 
 selves, through the restoration of our inward 
 peace, and feel ourselves released from the body 
 of sin, (vii. 24,) a release for which we have 
 sighed so long, and often, perhaps, unconsciously 
 to ourselves; is it possible then, that forgetting 
 what we are in our present condition, and that 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 291 
 
 we have nothing but what we have received 
 through grace, we should expect, by our own 
 powers, to fathom the mystery, why God re- 
 deems us by these means, or require that He 
 should instruct us in human fashion on a subject 
 which necessarily transcends all human power 
 of comprehension? Can we, who do not even 
 understand how evil took its origin within us, 
 expect to understand the means which God uses 
 for destroying it? Can we, who do not even 
 comprehend how the elements of disease are 
 destroyed in our bodies by counteracting reme- 
 dies, expect to comprehend the inward nature of 
 the most spiritual of all influences? 
 
 A vain and indiscreet desire to draw the most 
 spiritual divine act down to the level of the 
 human understanding, appears to me to have 
 had at least a share in establishing the doctrine, 
 that it was needful for Christ to become Man in 
 order to die the death of atonement, and that His 
 death was requisite to propitiate an offended God 
 or to satisfy the divine justice, which absolutely 
 required punishment for guilt, and inflicted it 
 upon the Innocent who voluntarily offered Him- 
 self, instead of inflicting it upon the guilty. In- 
 stead of adoring with St. Paul the justice of God 
 as a power to render us fit for blessedness by 
 annihilating sin, we thus degrade it even below 
 the level of the justice of any noble-minded 
 
 u 2 
 
292 Chap. VIII. 1-11. 
 
 human being. Who would attempt to vindicate 
 the noble-mindedness of any man, whose anger 
 was only to be appeased by blood, and that, 
 innocent blood? And what does even the under- 
 standing gain by such an explanation at the 
 expense of our better feelings? Is it possible 
 that the sinfulness of man should be annihilated 
 by the death of the innocent, or is it possible 
 that man in a state of sinfulness should be fit 
 for the enjoyment of the eternal bliss of heaven? 
 Let us, who have the fruits of the redemption 
 of Christ within ourselves through peace with 
 God, enjoy the great and blessed gift, without 
 attempting to analyse it by reason. We cannot 
 but glorify the human appearance of Christ as 
 a necessary part of His whole work of redemp- 
 tion; we cannot but glorify His death, not 
 only because it was a necessary consequence of 
 His appearance on earth, but also because we 
 feel it to be the most important moment of His 
 great work, of which, according to the myste- 
 rious representation of the Scripture, not only 
 the spiritual world, but all Nature felt the 
 mighty influence — because all Nature requires 
 and awaits redemption, (viii. 19 — 22,) which 
 they who communicate the great event express 
 most significantly, by an eclipse of the sun and 
 an earthquake. Let us glorify this great act in 
 the only way worthy of the God of Love, and 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 293 
 
 its blessed consequences to all past and future 
 generations ! 
 
 After saying : " He condemned sin in the flesh, 
 that the demand of the law might be satisfied," 
 St. Paul adds very significantly, " in us who 
 walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." 
 This shows us in the first place, that the highest 
 effects of redemption become apparent in those 
 only who have entered the spiritual life ; and also 
 in the second place, that during this spiritual life 
 these effects are continued and completed. And 
 there is much comfort in this, for it shows us that 
 with an earnest and preponderating tendency to 
 godliness, we may live a spiritual life, notwith- 
 standing the imperfections from which it is only 
 in such a state, and through the complete anni- 
 hilation of sin in the flesh, that we can be com- 
 pletely released. After all that has been before 
 stated on the subject, it need hardly be said, 
 that although the work of God through Christ 
 "He condemned sin in the flesh" is represented 
 as a fact already accomplished, (as, objectively 
 considered, it really is,) yet in each individual 
 this work is exhibited as still accomplishing in 
 the development of time. It is on this account 
 that the Apostle distinguishes the two states, 
 not by what is actually accomplished in them, 
 but by the tendency and earnest aspirations 
 which mark them. "They that are after the 
 
294 Chap. VIII. 1—11. 
 
 flesh do mind the things of the flesh," mind 
 that which is earthly and sinful, which leads to 
 death; their aims are opposed to godliness and 
 to the divine order, which is the condition of 
 the happiness of all, and cannot, therefore, be 
 pleasing in the sight of God. The spiritually- 
 minded, on the contrary, strive after what is 
 spiritual and godly, after true life and inwai'd 
 peace, and desire to enter into that order in 
 which alone life and peace can be enjoyed. 
 Measure yourselves therefore, the Apostle would 
 say, by this measure. If the Spirit of God mani- 
 fests itself within you by this yearning towards 
 the spiritual, then are you spiritual ; if not, then 
 are you not really united with Christ. But if 
 you are, if Christ lives within you, then although 
 your body is dead as a consequence of sin — St. 
 Paul does not say your body will die, but is 
 dead being a production of sin — yet the Spirit is 
 life, not shall attain life, but has actually attained 
 it through the perfecting righteousness of God. 
 This Spirit is the Spirit which raised Christ from 
 the dead, and if it lives in you, His influence 
 must needs quicken your mortal bodies. — I be- 
 lieve this passsge would be sadly misunderstood, 
 if it were considered as confined to a future 
 universal resurrection. The grossly material 
 elements of the body, St. Paul has declared to 
 pertain to sin, and consequently as essentially 
 
Chap. VIII. 1—11. 295 
 
 dead, unfit for a future life. He also tells us in 
 the second part of the fifteenth chapter of the 
 First Epistle to the Corinthians, that it is not the 
 material body which is put into the grave that 
 shall be raised, but the spiritual body, the vehicu- 
 lum of the spirit, without which no spirit can be 
 imagined. This spiritual body, which must attain 
 to life if the spirit is to enjoy its independent 
 existence and exert any influence upon others, 
 had been obscured or shackled by sin, powerless, 
 miserable, and mortal, nay more, it was dead, 
 utterly disposessed of life and of action. But 
 it shall be quickened through the Spirit of God 
 dwelling within you. The work of this quicken- 
 ing Spirit is to release what was bound, to illu- 
 mine what was darkened, to resuscitate what was 
 dead ; and this is accomplished by breaking the 
 shackles, by removing what obstructed the en- 
 trance of light, destroying the body of sin, and sin 
 itself in the body. As the diseased frame does not 
 become healthful by the removal of the cause of 
 disease to another part, but only by its anni- 
 hilation, so is our spiritual body to be restored 
 through the destruction of the cause of disease, 
 by the destruction of sin and its productions, 
 so that the spirit may again enjoy its restored, 
 youthful and vigorous existence. As then the 
 effects of the death of Christ take root within us, 
 and the ungodly principle within us is destroyed, 
 
296 Chap. VIII. 12—17. 
 
 the quickening divine Spirit manifests its power 
 within us, and effects our true spiritual resurrec- 
 tion, which is perfection ! 
 
 12 — 17. Therefore, brethren, we are not under 
 obligation to the flesh to live after the 
 
 13 flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye 
 must die: but if ye, through the Spirit, 
 mortify the works of the flesh, ye shall live. 
 
 14 For they who are led by the Spirit of God, 
 
 15 are sons of God. But ye have not received 
 a spirit of bondage, that ye should again 
 fear ; but ye have received the spirit of son- 
 
 16 ship, in which we cry, Abba, Father! The 
 Spirit itself testifieth to our spirit, that we 
 
 17 are children of God: but if children, then 
 heirs also ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Christ ; although we suffer with Him, that 
 we may be glorified with Him. 
 
 The Apostle had said, that those who have 
 entered into the state of grace and peace, have 
 altogether left behind them the realm of sin and 
 of law. After having carefully reviewed this 
 important proposition, and secured it against all 
 possible exceptions, he now repeats it once more 
 
 13 7rpu$eis rov crw/iaToy, all that sin accomplishes through the 
 instrumentality of the body of sin ; the influence of sin on and 
 through the body. — 16 avu^aprvpel is to be taken in its simplest 
 sense. What is here spoken of is a testimony which our spirit 
 
Chap. VIII. 12—17. 297 
 
 as a direct conclusion from his preceding argu- 
 ments. Therefore we are in no way debtors to 
 the flesh, to that which is earthly, it has no 
 further claim upon us, we are altogether released 
 from our servitude. Being now obedient ser- 
 vants of the divine law, we are no more under 
 the dominion of our former master, because we 
 cannot serve two masters. Either you obey the 
 former master, which will appear by your living 
 according to the flesh, by your propensities being 
 earthly, and "the end of those things is death." 
 (vi 21.) Or else you belong to the divine 
 order of things, your tendencies will be to- 
 wards godliness, and this will appear by your 
 restored originally divine powers opposing the 
 will of your former master, and overcoming 
 his yet remaining influence by the spirit; and 
 in that case you have your fruit unto holiness 
 and everlasting life. For they who are led by 
 the Spirit of God, are the sons of God, they 
 are no more servants who know not what their 
 
 receives — not a testimony among others, which might receive 
 confirmation from it : all other proofs sink into insignificance 
 in the presence of the Holy Spirit. — 17 elVep cannot be here 
 taken as conditional "provided that," for the state which is 
 here spoken of by the Apostle excludes all doubt. We are 
 co-heirs, although we must suffer with Him. The suffering 
 with Him, which is the necessary accompaniment of our being 
 glorified with Him, ought not to make us waver in faith. Comp. 
 1 Cor. viii. 5. <a\ yap e'mtp et«rl Xf-yii/xffoi Geo/, for although there 
 are so- called gods, f iVrep is used also by profane writers in the 
 sense of na\ d, even though. 
 
298 Chap. VIII. 12—17. 
 
 master doeth, but sons who are consciously 
 executing the will of their Father. This spirit 
 is not the spirit of bondage again to make you 
 fear, it is the spirit of adoption which shows 
 you God, whom you formerly dreaded, as a 
 loving Father. With this spirit you will ap- 
 proach the Father with joyous confidence. It 
 is the immediate witnessing of the divine Spirit 
 within us, which proves to us in the most posi- 
 tive and direct manner, that we are children of 
 God, rendering all further proof unnecessary. 
 (Comp. 2 Cor. i. 22.)* And with this lively in- 
 tuitive conviction, we have also the certainty of 
 eternal blessedness, for if children of God we are 
 also heirs. Fulfilled, then, will be the great 
 promise of Him who despised not to become our 
 Brother, and who said: "Father, I will that 
 they also, whom Thou hast given me, be with 
 me where I am, that they may behold my glory, 
 which Thou hast given me." (John xvii. 24.) Of 
 
 * It is an immediate witnessing of the divine Spirit in and to 
 our spirit, that gives us the most positive assurance of our hav- 
 ing re-entered into blissful relation with God. The assurance of 
 this, as well as of all other divine truths thus acquired, furnishes 
 at the same time an unquestionable proof of our living in the 
 world of spirits even during our present life, for this manner of 
 attaining such assurance would otherwise be impossible ; and it 
 is for this reason that the divine witnessing makes all other 
 proof, such as demonstrations of the understanding, which may 
 be useful considered as preparatory steps, altogether unnecessary 
 as soon as we have become capable of apprehending the imme- 
 diate witnessing of the divine Spirit within us. 
 
Chap. VIII. 18—23. 299 
 
 our participation in His glory we are even now 
 certain, although we shall yet have to suffer 
 tribulation and anguish in many ways, which 
 we now recognise as preparatory steps to that 
 glorious consummation, (v. 3 — 5.) 
 
 18 — 23. For I am convinced that the suffer- 
 ings of this present time are not worthy to 
 be named, in comparison with the glory 
 
 19 which is to be revealed in us. For the 
 yearning expectation of creation waiteth 
 
 20 for the revelation of the sons of God. For 
 creation was subjected to vanity, not will- 
 ingly, but through Him who hath subjected 
 
 21 it unto hope. For it also, creation, shall 
 be delivered from the bondage of destruc- 
 tion and attain to the glorious liberty of 
 
 22 the children of God. For we know that 
 the whole creation sixtieth and groan eth 
 
 23 together until now. And not it alone, but 
 also they who have received the first fruits 
 of the Spirit, and we ourselves groan within 
 ourselves, awaiting the sonship, the redemp- 
 tion of our body. 
 
 18 Aoyt'£o/xai, see iii. 28. agios for \6yov agios (worthy of note) 
 even in classical writers. — 19 ktlo-is. It is well known that many 
 significations have been assigned to this word. They are given 
 with sufficient fulness in Dr. Thulock's commentary. I have not 
 myself the slightest doubt that the Apostle, according to the 
 simplest and most ordinary signification of the word, means by it 
 
300 Chap. VIII. 18—23. 
 
 The Apostle had said that we have the certainty 
 of being children of God, even in our tribula- 
 tions and sufferings. The condition of the 
 
 in this place, the whole of Nature. No further proofs of this can 
 be given, than such as occur to every one from his own sense 
 of the connection of the passage, as well as from the Apostle's 
 whole theory. For from the fact that, according to the Jewish 
 doctrine, all nature is represented as involved in the fall, and 
 in expectation of a total renovation in the Messiah's kingdom, I 
 should draw no conclusion if I did not meet with the same re- 
 presentation also in the writings of St. Paul, a Christian Apostle. 
 It depends upon the idea we form of kt'ktis whom we are to under- 
 stand by ttjv dnap)(r)v tov TrvevpaTos e\ovres in the 23rd verse. — 
 20 eV ihiridt belongs to the preceding clause. For that the sub- 
 jection of Nature to vanity, should tend to her redemption, was 
 not hope in the case of Him who subjected Nature, but full 
 certainty. It was hope in the case of Nature, (here personified,) 
 as indeed the Apostle himself says, in the 24th verse, of those 
 who already experience the highest effects of redemption, so far 
 as is possible in this life, that they are saved in hope. — 23 By 
 ttjv cnrapxrjv tov irvev/xaTos e^owes (They who have received the 
 first fruits of the Spirit.) 1 do not understand, as many do, the 
 Apostles, the most perfected in Christianity, but those who actu- 
 ally possess the first fruits of the Spirit, who have received the 
 true baptism, but as yet are only beginners. (Compare v. 2.) The 
 climax seems to demand this, since the Apostle names, in the first 
 place, Nature, and last of all the most advanced, himself included. 
 What motive could the Apostle have for not associating himself, 
 in this place, with the other Apostles ? It would have been falsa 
 shame; and that was foreign to his nature. It is time that he once 
 calls himself, as if in a paroxysm of pain, the least of the Apostles, 
 (1 Cor. xv. 8 — 10.) but in quiet discourse, e.g. in all the introduc- 
 tions to his epistles, he expresses the full consciousness of his 
 Apostolic dignity, which he could not fail to be possessed with if 
 he were what he was, and if he were to effect what he did effect ; 
 and once, on the occasion of his Apostolic dignity being impugned, 
 he vindicates most plainly his title to perfect equality with the 
 highest Apostles. (2 Cor. xi. 5.) Indeed, the whole sense of the 
 passage seems to me to demand this interpretation. See the 
 following exposition. "'A.irapx'q means the first fruits which 
 were offered in sacrifice, not on that account the best, though the 
 
Chap. VIII. 18—23. 301 
 
 fallen beings required that even Christ Himself 
 should not return otherwise than through suffer- 
 ings to the glory which He had with the Father 
 before the world was; (John xvii. 5;) our 
 own condition therefore, most assuredly requires 
 that we should be conducted to purity and 
 blessedness through sufferings, which even the 
 all-merciful God cannot forbear to inflict, be- 
 cause there is no other way by which we can be 
 perfected. And now the Apostle exalts his view 
 to the boundless felicity which awaits us in the 
 state of our perfection. In ecstasy he exclaims, 
 "The sufferings of this present time are not wor- 
 thy to be named, in comparison with the glory 
 which is to be revealed in us." All things, the 
 whole creation, will be renewed, will be happy and 
 free in that glorious kingdom ! At present all is, 
 as yet, in a state of anxious, longing expectation. 
 All Nature groans and hopes for the restora- 
 tion of the sons of God, which will bring with 
 it her own restoration. The creation, which 
 was once the sphere of action for pure and free 
 spirits, itself spiritual (for nothing but what is 
 
 best of them were selected for the purpose of sacrifice. Here 
 too the notion of sacrifice is not brought in, for the men who are 
 here spoken of are not themselves called anapxr] but it is said of 
 them, that they have the anapxr). Thus (in xvi. 5.) dnapxr) is used 
 of the first, or one of the first, who went over to Christianity, 
 but clearly not one of the most advanced, an Apostle In the 
 same way the word signifies the first in order of time, 1 Cor. xv. 
 20, 23 ; xvi. 15. 
 
302 Chap. VIII. 18—23. 
 
 spiritual can emanate from God, who is a Spirit) 
 and once, in a manner incomprehensible to our 
 obscured intellect, intimately connected and in 
 mutual relation with the pure spirits, whose 
 organ it was, must necessarily have been drawn 
 into the fall of those spirits. (It would be folly 
 to inquire whether Nature which is here re- 
 presented as endowed with sense, participated 
 in the fall with or without coercion? Nothing 
 that is endowed with sense can suffer by the 
 divine will without guilt, or otherwise than for 
 its own benefit unto hope, as St. Paul expresses 
 it. But how can we possibly form any idea of 
 the original condition of Nature and of the 
 manner of her connection with the spirits which 
 we now call human spirits?) Nature herself 
 was after the fall subjected by the Restorer and 
 Redeemer of all things to the laws which she 
 now obeys, and which, although beneficial and 
 restorative, yet spiritually considered, belong to 
 a condition of perishableness and to a period of 
 transition, and must have an end when their 
 object is accomplished. Nature cannot have 
 subjected herself voluntarily to the dominion of 
 the laws which she now obeys, she must have 
 been coerced by the loving wisdom of the Re- 
 deemer, whose object she was incapable of com- 
 prehending, and who subjected her in hope. 
 With respect to the Redeemer, however, it was 
 
Chap. VIII. 18—23. 303 
 
 not hope that His plans would become a bless- 
 ing for all ; with Him it was a glorious certainty. 
 But hope was the gift of God to the whole crea- 
 tion, and this hope and longing it still expresses. 
 Who will not be struck by the deep truth of 
 this representation ? Does not all Nature impress 
 us with a feeling of relationship ? and could our 
 bodies have been moulded from the same ele- 
 ments, and vibrate every moment to her most 
 secret influences, if no such relationship existed? 
 And is not the creation which surrounds us, 
 with its impenetrable masses, its destructive 
 earthquakes and hurricanes, much more intel- 
 ligible even to our understanding, if we look 
 upon nature as struggling and travailing in pain, 
 as St. Paul expresses it, than if we consider it in 
 a state of perfection, or in its present condition as 
 an immediate production of the God of order and 
 peace? Does not nature appear to unsophisti- 
 cated, childlike minds, rather as living, feeling, 
 and suffering with us, than as an inanimate mass 
 devoid of all sympathy? 0, the vain wisdom 
 of this world, that would comprehend an inani- 
 mate creation proceeding from the hands of the 
 living God ! The Apostle tells us that it lives 
 and is proceeding to its glorious renovation ; it 
 will be delivered from the servitude of corrup- 
 tion and misery; it will participate in the glori- 
 ous freedom of the children of God, and again 
 
304 Chap. VIII. 18—23. 
 
 become the happy sphere for the operation of 
 blessed spirits. We look for a new heaven and 
 a new earth, (2 Pet. iii. 13, Rev. xxi. 1,) and 
 Nature likewise is groaning for her restoration. 
 
 And as all Nature unconsciously and in hope 
 sighs for redemption, so in a more positive and 
 more anxious manner do all those who have had 
 a foretaste of godliness, who have tasted the 
 first fruits of the Spirit. And we who are 
 already enjoying to a certain extent the bless- 
 ings of a spiritual existence, who have within us 
 the certainty of being children of God, never- 
 theless continue to sigh and to hope in our in- 
 nermost hearts for the fulness of our felicity, 
 which can only be perfected when we shall be 
 altogether released from the bondage of matter 
 and the external world. It is remarkable and 
 very significant, that the Apostle, in tracing the 
 series of the different developments from un- 
 conscious creation up to the beings nearest 
 perfection, does not advert in any way to those 
 who are as yet so thoroughly sensual, that the 
 mere gratification of their carnal passions leaves 
 them nothing further to desire, or who are un- 
 able to raise themselves to the idea of any happi- 
 ness beyond the sphere of their sensuality. These 
 unhappy beings, who in their poverty hold them- 
 selves rich, have not even a faint idea of their 
 wanting that which alone secures true and lasting 
 
Chap. VIII. 24-28. 305 
 
 happiness; they are so completely absorbed in 
 their nothingness, that not even a sigh expresses 
 a longing for the felicity of another world. And 
 even when they feel themselves poor in their 
 poverty, when their worldly hopes are not real- 
 ised, even then no solace reaches them from the 
 source of light, but they lose themselves in sullen 
 blank despair. 
 
 How happy, compared with these worldly- 
 minded, who have their fill of earthly enjoy- 
 ments but lack all desire for a future world and 
 its bliss, are the children of God in all their 
 anguish and tribulation, who although as yet 
 enjoying happiness only in hope, and awaiting 
 the fulness of their redemption with tears and 
 sighs, yet derive consolation from the glorious 
 certainty that the hour of that redemption draw- 
 eth nigh. 
 
 24 — 28. For in hope are we blessed. Now 
 hope that is seen is not hope ; for what any 
 
 25 one seeth, how can he still hope for it ? But if 
 we hope for that which we see not, we wait 
 
 26 with patience. Likewise the Spirit also 
 cometh to the help of our weakness: for 
 what we should pray as befit teth we know 
 not, but the Spirit itself pleadeth for us 
 
 27 with inexpressible sighing. But He who 
 searcheth hearts knoweth what is the desire 
 
 x 
 
306 Chap. VIII. 24—28. 
 
 of the Spirit, that He pleadeth for the saints 
 28 according to the will of God. But we know 
 that to those who love God all things work 
 together for the best, who are called ac- 
 cording to the decree. 
 
 Those who approach nearest towards perfec- 
 tion continue to feel themselves afflicted under 
 trials ; although their grief never breaks out into 
 unseemly complaints or sullen discontent with 
 the ways of Providence, for they know that "tri- 
 bulation worketh patience, and patience proof, 
 and proof hope." (v. 3.) Therefore we are happy 
 even here, but only in hope. Beyond this we 
 cannot advance during our present preparatory 
 state. The highest blessedness, the fullest ac- 
 quaintance with the designs of God 7 is reserved 
 for those who are completely freed from all 
 that is earthly. This blissful state cannot be 
 attained until we have, in previous stages of our 
 development, acquired a certainty of faith in 
 hope, and until, without seeing, we shall have 
 learned to feel it as an irrefragable truth that God, 
 though his ways are inscrutable, is unremittingly 
 leading us on to our salvation. This intensity 
 of faith and hope in God, is the last prepara- 
 tory step to an immediate existence in the world 
 of blessed spirits. This highest and purest hope 
 sheds a glory on our darkest paths ; it increases 
 
Chap. VIII. 24—28. 307 
 
 and strengthens that patience, from which it first 
 proceeded. But still it is not sight, bat hope. 
 By what means and at what time the Redeemer 
 will lead us to perfection, we are content not to 
 know, for the very reason that we are as yet in 
 a state of hope and not of sight, and therefore 
 we wait with entire resignation to the will of 
 God. Just in proportion as this faith and hope 
 have attained life within us, as self-conscious 
 beings acknowledging and rejoicing in the divine 
 order in the visible world, will the unchangeable 
 godly part of ourselves (Trvevpa) which was dark- 
 ened and fettered by the body of sin, again be- 
 come free and accessible to the bright beams 
 of the divine Spirit, and afford its aids to the 
 weakness of man, in his present conscious exist- 
 ence in the visible world. As members of this 
 visible world, even if we begin to comprehend 
 our life and destiny, we know not even to pray 
 as we ought. We survey with our limited intel- 
 lect so short a span of our own course of life 
 and of God's plans for us, that we ought not to 
 address positive wishes to Him in our prayers. 
 We are so completely in the dark as to our own 
 good, that there is danger in every positive 
 prayer of our praying for what might clash with 
 our real happiness. God's ways are not our 
 ways. What attentive observer has failed to 
 remark, with respect to himself as well as others, 
 
 x2 
 
308 Chap. VIII. 24—28. 
 
 that the attainment of the most ardent desires, 
 even such as we have considered the most inno- 
 cent, has often brought us unexpected affliction ; 
 and that we have, on the other hand, often wished 
 to ward off the very events which have ulti- 
 mately secured our true welfare? For this 
 reason every prayer, every reviewing before God 
 of our destinies and our desires, should resolve 
 itself into that one prayer: "Thy will be done!" 
 even when we wish for nothing but what we 
 believe to be pleasing in His sight. This, in- 
 deed, is the inward groaning of the spirit, that 
 desires nothing but release from the bondage in 
 which we are held, that desires nothing but the 
 coming of the kingdom of God. While we are 
 as yet unable in our prayers to submit all our 
 desires to the divine will, the still sighing of 
 the spirit within us will be the interpreter of 
 our most inward prayer. When we are so de- 
 pressed and helpless, that we know not what 
 to wish for or pray for, when our anguish can 
 find no words even before God, the silent groan- 
 ing of the spirit is the most eloquent prayer. He 
 who knows the heart of man, who needs no words 
 to understand our innermost desires, hears the. 
 groaning of our spirit ; He knows that the long- 
 ing of the divine principle within us, is the 
 longing for redemption, He knows that they 
 who truly belong to Him have no desires but in 
 
Chap. VIII. 24—28. 309 
 
 accordance with His will. And it is for this very- 
 reason that true inward prayer is always heard ; 
 for it is in accordance with the will of God, and 
 our whole life becomes a realisation of such 
 prayer. We then, who belong to Christ, who 
 are penetrated with the love of God, and have 
 recognised His love — we have the certainty of 
 this, it is the firm conviction of our faith, that 
 our prayers are heard, even if the visible proof 
 of it is withheld. If God denies what ap- 
 peared to us most desirable, and what was 
 therefore the subject of our outward prayer, we 
 know that He orders all things for our real 
 good, whether we understand His ways or not. 
 This is our firm conviction, founded on the most 
 positive certainty, that God, agreeably to His 
 eternal and immutable decrees, is leading us to 
 that blessedness for which we were destined. 
 There can be no doubt but that all God's dis- 
 pensations must lead those also to happiness 
 who do not yet share this glorious conviction — 
 for how could the All-merciful ordain anything 
 otherwise than in accordance with His own 
 nature? — and that nothing can occasion them 
 affliction but their own attempts in opposition 
 to the will and the ordinances of God ; but the 
 immeasurable advantage of knowing this, can be 
 the lot only of those who feel that they are 
 children of God, led by the hand of a loving 
 
310 Chap. VIII. 29—30. 
 
 Father; they alone can exult even in sufferings, 
 and ever hold fast the conviction that though 
 their path lead through the dark valley of death, 
 every step will bring them nearer to their bliss- 
 ful home. 
 
 29 — 30. For whom He knew beforehand, them 
 hath He also destined beforehand to be like 
 to the image of His Son, so that he may 
 be the first-born among many brethren. 
 
 30 Moreover whom he destined beforehand, 
 them hath he also called; and whom He 
 hath called them hath He also justified: 
 and whom He hath justified, them hath He 
 also glorified. 
 
 I take the words in their most simple and natural significa- 
 tion, in order to introduce nothing into this much disputed 
 passage which it does not necessarily contain. irpoyivaxrKftv may 
 indeed mean, to determine beforehand, to decree beforehand, but 
 it need not always have this signification. St. Paul is here 
 speaking of God conformably with human and temporal ideas, 
 for there could be no question of before and after in reference 
 to Him. But, according to this method of representation, know- 
 ledge must of necessity precede determination, as will be acknow- 
 ledged by any one who does not, to suit a preconceived dogma, 
 i. e. a human opinion, against all Scripture and reason, conceive of 
 God as a Being who forms His decrees capriciously and without 
 reason. Such a Being St. Paul no-where preaches, and most 
 certainly not in this passage. It is true that God's decrees are 
 not subject to external influence, but proceed solely from His 
 own essence ; but this essence is love ; and if we divide this 
 essence into various attributes, to suit human weakness, yet 
 omniscience must necessarily remain one among the number 
 There would also remain, whatever objections may be advanced, 
 a tautology in translating t " Those whom He destined beforehand 
 
Chap. VIII. 29—30. 311 
 
 The Apostle here expresses, his lively convic- 
 tion that the resolve of God to lead us all to 
 blessedness, can in no way be shaken. When we 
 have passed through all the preparatory stages, 
 so that the Spirit of God bears testimony to our 
 spirit, that we are children of God and heirs 
 with Jesus Christ, we have no more fear, we are 
 certain that the purposes of God will be accom- 
 plished, because the resolve of God is founded 
 upon His omniscience. He knew the germ and 
 the innermost essence of our spirit, before we 
 were born. Agreeably to His omniscience he 
 assigned to us our places in the visible world, 
 appointed our mutual relations, knew what 
 trials we should have to undergo, what conflicts 
 to encounter, what difficulties to overcome, and 
 provided us with the strength necessary for the 
 purpose. Nothing can befall us in the course of 
 our life, whether inwardly or outwardly, which 
 
 He destined to be like," etc. For if God destined any one before- 
 hand, He must have destined him to something, and that is 
 precisely likeness to His Son. It is just as arbitrary and 
 prejudiced a procedure to translate npoyiyvaxrueiv by "to love be- 
 forehand." For although, in the case of God, considered apart 
 from time, knowledge and love cannot be separated, yet if re- 
 solved into notions of time, as is done here by St. Paul, knowledge 
 precedes love. Kakelv is, according to its ordinary acceptation, 
 to invite, call ; God has called those whom He has destined, He 
 has caused the necessary call to be published to them. Wherein 
 this call consists is not taught by the Apostle in this place. We 
 are therefore by no means authorised to understand in a one- 
 sided manner, either an outward injunction or an inward call 
 of grace. 
 
312 Chap. VIII. 29—30. 
 
 He has not foreseen and taken into His great 
 account, so that nothing can happen to disturb 
 His plans or necessitate any modification of 
 them. All things must, under His guidance, 
 work together for salvation and further our 
 ultimate good, who are by divine predestination 
 intended for everlasting bliss, whom He, agree- 
 ably to His omniscience, has chosen as now 
 capable of conforming ourselves to the image of 
 His Son, of becoming united with Him, who in 
 His mercy condescended to become our Brother, 
 who was the first to enter into the glory of the 
 patrimony, of which He is willing to make us 
 partakers. To His predisposing and merciful 
 conduct we are indebted for the call which He 
 has sent forth, and for our capability of heark- 
 ening to it. He has removed all hindrances, 
 washed away our sins, which rendered us unfit 
 for holiness; He has justified us and rendered us 
 fit for happiness; He has glorified us in this 
 world in hope, and will hereafter glorify us in 
 blissful perfection. 
 
 These glorious words of comfort the Apostle 
 addresses to all who, even in the midst of suf- 
 erings, rejoice in the faithful assurance, through 
 the testimony of the Spirit of God, that they are 
 children of God How conies it that this over- 
 flowing of the warmest heart, glowing with 
 divine love, has been misconstrued into the 
 
Chap. VIII. 29—30. 313 
 
 cold and terrible doctrine of predestination, a 
 doctrine that does despite to the Fountain of 
 mercy and makes the God of love a tyrant, the 
 All-wise an arbitrary being who would doom 
 millions to eternal misery, millions of whom He 
 knew that they could not escape their destiny, the 
 destiny indeed of His imposing? — Can St. Paul 
 have held such a misconstruction possible, after 
 having taught that God designed, without par- 
 tiality and respect of persons, to save all who 
 had become miserable by their own transgression, 
 through Christ the only Redeemer; after having 
 taught that it was God's will that all should . be 
 restored, and that He has also the power to 
 execute His will? — Is it to be thought of for a 
 moment that St. Paul, in this transport of love 
 and thankfulness towards his Saviour, in the 
 firm conviction of the blessedness awaiting him 
 a"hd all like him, should have thrown a scornful 
 glance at those who were as yet less advanced 
 than himself, telling them : We are saved through 
 the inexplicable and arbitrary will of an unin- 
 telligible God, but you, do what you will, you 
 are doomed to eternal wretchedness ? No ! such 
 a doctrine was foreign to the affectionate heart 
 of the Apostle, and must be so to all who are 
 like him and his divine Master. His whole soul 
 was full of the thought: God has led us, in a 
 manner unintelligible to ourselves and agreeably 
 
314 Chap. VIII. 31—39. 
 
 to His unlimited knowledge of our nature, to the 
 likeness of His Son. From Him and not from 
 ourselves has the call proceeded; He has made 
 us capable of listening to it ; He has purified us 
 from our sins ; He has crowned us with eternal 
 glory ! His work alone is the blessedness which 
 we now enjoy in hope, and which we shall enjoy 
 in all eternity ! — Full of these thoughts, he con- 
 tinues his enraptured eifusion. 
 
 31 — 39. What then remaineth yet for us to 
 
 32 say? If God is for us who is against us? 
 He who withheld not His own Son, but de- 
 livered Him up for all, how shall He not 
 
 33 with Him confer upon us all things? Who 
 shall accuse the elect of God? God justi- 
 
 34 fieth them ! Who shall condemn ? Christ 
 died, nay more, He is risen again ! He is even 
 at the right hand of God; He even pleadeth 
 
 35 our cause ! Who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ? Affliction? Or anguish? 
 Or persecution? Or hunger? Or nakedness? 
 
 36 Or danger? Or sword? (As it is written, 
 For Thy sake are we killed all the day long, 
 we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.) 
 
 37 But in all this we are far the conquerors, 
 
 38 through Him who hath loved us. For I 
 am convinced that neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 
 
Chap. VIII. 31—39. 315 
 
 39 nor present, nor future, nor height, nor 
 depth, nor any other created thing shall be 
 able to separate us from the love of God, 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 32. tov l8iov vlov ovk ecjxiaaro. did not grudge, spare, or with- 
 hold Him from us. He did not esteem it too much even to 
 give Him up. Tt-apibwKev. It is by no means necessary to supply 
 ft? ddvarov, for redemption is here spoken of in general ; the death 
 of Christ is the subject of especial notice afterwards. — 33 eicXtKToi 
 cannot be better rendered than by the literal "chosen," although 
 many passages might be adduced from the New Testament ac- 
 cording to which it might be translated " beloved." Those are 
 meant who, according to the loving and wise plan of God, are now 
 (in the moment of which St. Paul is speaking) chosen, as it were, 
 from among all men, to participate in the highest blessings 
 of the Gospel. It is true that they are beloved of God, but not 
 partially preferred, or alone beloved, for God loved all men when 
 all were yet sinners. The Apostle does not here develope his 
 doctrine respecting this sequence of time in the work of redemp- 
 tion, but throws out significant hints on the subject further on. 
 He is here speaking only of and to those who belonged to these 
 chosen ones. — 34 iv bet-ia. A seat on the right hand of the 
 throne was a mark of the highest honour. — 35 Ws for rt. St. Paul 
 personifies the hindrances in order to add energy to his words. 
 dydn-rjs tov Xptorou The love of Christ towards us. The Apostle 
 does not set difficulties at defiance in his own strength, but adds, 
 "through Him we conquer." Our love towards Him must, it is 
 true, become so strong that nothing can overpower it ; but it can 
 only attain such strength if we live wholly in Him and He in us, 
 and this also is His work. He is the Finisher as well as the 
 Author of our faith. Compare ttio-tis 'lr]o-ov Xpiarov, hi. 22. — 
 38, 39 dpxai. • • 8vi>dfieis, etc. It is to no purpose to attempt to 
 prove what St. Paul meant by each word here. God is for us ; 
 this is his great argument ; therefore nothing apart from God, 
 whether spiritual or earthly, can harm us. In using v^rapa the 
 Apostle cannot certainly be supposed to have had philosophical 
 speculations in view, which if partial and perverse may indeed 
 place obstacles in the way of our access to Christ, but cannot 
 possibly separate those from Him who have attained to life in 
 Christ, and it is only of such that the Apostle is here speaking. 
 
316 Chap. VIII. 31—39. 
 
 Sublime, heavenly words, full of spirituality 
 and love! Dare we add a word of comment 
 without fear of weakening their effect? — The 
 Apostle has said, " From God, not from our- 
 selves has our salvation proceeded;" what fol- 
 lows then, what shall we say to these things? 
 He has planned our salvation, who then can 
 oppose His will? Were our redemption our 
 own work, did it depend upon our own strength, 
 we could not be certain that we should not meet 
 obstacles that might prove insurmountable. But 
 God is for us ! He knows no hindrances, and we 
 know no fear. He has done for us what tran- 
 scends all our conceptions. For His love there 
 was no sacrifice too great, He spared not His 
 own Son, a part, as it were, of His own being. 
 After such a proof of His love, what are we to 
 fear, what can He withhold from us? How can 
 we imagine that such a design of God should fail 
 of its purpose? — St. Paul now returns to his 
 picture of God sitting in judgment. Who shall 
 dare to lay anything to the charge of God's 
 elect ? God has made them righteous ; there is no 
 blemish, no guilt left ; who shall condemn them ? 
 Christ, Himself the Judge, has purified them 
 through His love reaching unto death and beyond 
 death, and even in His glory He pleads their 
 cause. Who, then, can have power to separate us 
 from the love of Christ? Who can make His love 
 
Chap. VIII. 31—39. 317 
 
 waver? When tribulation, distress, persecution, 
 famine, nakedness, peril, or sword encompass 
 us — the Apostle here remembers the vicissitudes 
 of his own life — shall we fear that His love will 
 abandon us ? Have not all true servants of God 
 at all times been exposed to the persecutions 
 and malignity of wickedness? Do we not know 
 that all these sufferings must lead to our glory? 
 Do we not feel His help nearest in such hours 
 of distress ? Is it not He who leads us to victory, 
 and who even in the very moment of anguish 
 enables us to look up to Him who is our strength, 
 and to triumph in His love? — ''I am persuaded 
 beyond all possibility of doubt, that as in life no 
 earthly power, so in death no spiritual power, 
 that neither heaven nor hell, nor aught else con- 
 ceivable, shall ever separate us from the love 
 with which God loves us in Christ Jesus!" 
 
 It was the power of his life in Christ that 
 exalted the Apostle to this glorious certainty of 
 the immutable love of God, and to the happiness 
 which was based upon it. And yet what raised 
 him so much above all relations of the present 
 and the future was, as he has said before, not 
 blessedness in sight, in undisturbed unchange- 
 able enjoyment^ but blessedness in hope. He 
 had again to descend to the life of the present, 
 the life of development, where together with the 
 
318 Chap. VIII. 31—39. 
 
 comparatively few whom he saw like himself 
 approaching towards perfection, his eye fell on 
 the immense number of those who were as yet 
 far from the kingdom of God; it fell, first, on 
 his beloved kinsmen, who in the proud belief 
 that they were the people of God, the elect 
 among the nations, shut their eyes to the light 
 which should have directed their steps in the 
 path of peace. His affeetionate heart is over- 
 whelmed with emotion, and thoughts many and 
 sad arise within him at the sight. His soul is 
 subdued by sorrow for the unhappy beings. How 
 could he himself be happy in hope now; how 
 could he be happy even in heaven itself, with 
 the thought that so many would be excluded 
 from the happiness which awaited him and the 
 favoured few ! How was what he now saw, to be 
 reconciled with the promise formerly given to his 
 nation, in which he himself trusted? How was it 
 to be reconciled with the conviction of his soul, 
 which he had so often expressed, that Christ is 
 the Redeemer of all men, that it is the will of 
 God that all should be saved through Him, and 
 that nothing can shake the will of the All-merci- 
 ful? — These momentous questions, so infinitely 
 important to every loving heart, the Apostle 
 developes and answers from this place to the end 
 of the eleventh chapter, in a manner which leaves 
 the heart of such as have found God nothing 
 
Chap. VIII. 31—39. 319 
 
 more to desire. A light beaming forth from the 
 love of God in Christ, brightens the dark paths 
 of the divine course of development, and gives 
 him to see in faith what no mortal eye can see 
 by the light of human wisdom. But in attempt- 
 ing to make the revelations which he has received 
 as accessible as possible to human faculties, he 
 must needs lead us by the thorny path of human 
 intelligence. And alas! how many who have 
 striven to follow in his steps without that power 
 of love which alone can make rough places 
 smooth, have become entangled in the thorns 
 which beset the way, and never yet attained the 
 height from which alone the traveller can enjoy 
 the blissful prospect ! 
 
 We will endeavour to follow the Apostle ; and 
 when we are in danger of going astray, may we 
 find a guide in the words which he has spoken: 
 " It is impossible that God should be unjust." 
 (ix. 14.) But the justice of God is one and the 
 same with His love ! 
 
CHAPTER THE NINTH. 
 
 1 — 18. I say the truth in Christ! I lie not, 
 my conscience beareth me witness of it in 
 
 2 the Holy Ghost ! Great is my sorrow, and 
 
 3 continual the anguish of my heart. I could 
 wish to be myself banished from Christ for 
 my brethren, my kinsmen according to the 
 
 4 flesh. They are Israelites, to whom per- 
 taineth the son ship, and the glory, and the 
 covenants, and the law-giving, and the ser- 
 
 5 vice, and the promises; to whom belong the 
 fathers, from whom Christ also sprung ac- 
 cording to the flesh, who is God over all, 
 
 6 blessed for ever. Amen. It is not possible, 
 however;* for the word of God is gone forth. 
 
 7 For not all who are of Israel are Israel, 
 neither because they are of the seed of Abra- 
 ham, are they all children, but, " In Isaac 
 
 8 shall thy seed be called." That is, "Not the 
 children of the flesh are the children of God 
 also, but the children of the promise are reck- 
 
 9 oned for seed. For the word of the promise 
 
 * Namely, that I should now purchase the salvation of the 
 Jews by the sacrifice of myself. 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 321 
 
 runs thus: According to this time will I 
 
 10 come, and Sarah shall have a son." And 
 not this only, but Rebecca also, having con- 
 
 11 ceived by one, Isaac our father, for when 
 they [the children] were not yet born, and 
 had done neither good nor evil, (that the 
 predestination of God according to election 
 might stand, not according to works, but the 
 
 12 will of Him that calleth;) it was said to her, 
 
 13 " The elder shall serve the younger," as it 
 is written, " Jacob have I loved, Esau have 
 
 14 I hated." What shall we say then? Is 
 
 15 God unrighteous? God forbid ! For He saith 
 to Moses, To whomsoever I am merciful, to 
 him I am merciful, and on whomsoever I 
 have compassion, on him I have compassion. 
 
 16 It depends not, therefore, on the will or the 
 
 17 haste of any, but on God's mercy. So the 
 Scripture also saith to Pharaoh, "Even for 
 this purpose have I raised thee up, that I 
 may show my power in thee, and that my 
 name may be declared throughout all the 
 
 18 earth." Therefore He is merciful to whom 
 He will, and hardeneth whom he will. 
 
 3 avddefia elvai drro tov XpioroO inrep to>v dbek<fia>v fiov. The 
 sense of this much disputed passage cannot be doubted — " I 
 could wish to take upon myself the hardest and most impossible 
 task." In order to express the powerful thought, St. Paul chooses 
 a powerful image. He could not seriously think of an eternal 
 banishment from Christ, since he had immediately before so 
 
322 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 Deep sorrow fills the soul of the Apostle upon 
 contemplating the great mass of his nation, who 
 were not as yet in a condition to partake of the 
 
 decidedly expressed his conviction that nothing could separate 
 him from the love of Christ. Sooner than this, we might sup- 
 pose some easier and less enduring proscription, or one that 
 might be withdrawn ; and that St. Paul had figuratively imagined 
 the Jews under such a one, in reference to Christ, since he ex- 
 pressly says afterwards, that even they would not be separated 
 from Him for ever. The meaning would then be, " If I could 
 transfer them all to my own spiritual standing-point, I should be 
 willing to be myself still at the same distance from Christ as 
 they are, and consequently to undergo all the sufferings which 
 such a standing-point necessarily involves." This would indeed 
 be the highest proof of love, which any one could be capable of 
 giving ! — 6 oi>x oiov Se on iKntirTuxev 6 \6yos tov Qeov. The 
 oldest commentators take olov as an abverb for a>s, in which case 
 we must understand tovto Xe'yw after ov, or as Luther translates, 
 " But I say not such a thing [as this] that God's word has, there- 
 fore, come to nothing." But this rendering is obviously too 
 tame, after the impassioned language which precedes, and is not 
 sufficiently connected with what follows. On this account 
 others, and among them Erasmus, Beza, Grotius and de Wette, 
 translate: "But it is not possible that God's promise (or 
 word) should be without effect." Of the grammatical reasons 
 adduced against this rendering by Dr. Tholuck, there is only one 
 that is of weight, namely, that the use of olov on, followed 
 by a finite tense instead of an infinitive, is not supported by 
 authorities. It may be said, however, against this translation, 
 that, although quite in keeping with the tone of the Apostle, 
 it is not connected with sufficient closeness with what pre- 
 cedes and follows. I therefore prefer Casaubon's translation, 
 which takes eKnmTfiv in the sense of "proceeding from the 
 mouth," and quotes 2 Maccabees vi. 8, where the word is used, 
 of a decree that has gone out. There is no grammatical objection 
 to his translation : " at id fieri non potest, nam a Deo profectus 
 est hie sermo ;" (for olos is essentially the same as olos re, and 
 might, therefore, easily be exchanged with it. See Buttmann 
 Gr. § 137, and Matthisa 896 ;) moreover it is quite connected 
 with the preceding thought : " I would that I could purchase 
 the immediate admission of my kinsmen by my own sacrifice, 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 323 
 
 blessings of the kingdom of God. Neither is 
 this a momentary sorrow such as the occupa- 
 tions and distractions of the world might re- 
 move, nor an idle sorrow which might allow 
 him to fall into a melancholy brooding. On the 
 contrary, we find him ready to lend his aids to 
 the utmost extent of his powers; we find him 
 ready to sacrifice for the sake of his brethren his 
 
 but it is impossible, for God has otherwise decreed." And it 
 is likewise connected with what follows, namely, the divine 
 decrees which are the ground of the impossibility. (Gen. xxi. 
 12, etc.) Dr. Tholuck objects, 1st, that \6yos must here signify 
 a promise ; but he does not show why the more general expres- 
 sion word or decree should not here be its meaning, though in 
 the 28th verse we find it employed to signify " announcement," 
 or "decree," as in many other passages, e.g., 1 Kings viii. 56, 
 while, on the other hand, St. Paul uses ra \6yia for promises ; 
 2ndly, that eKTrinreiv cannot be used in the sense of "going 
 forth," of a command or oracle, because in Joshua xxi. 45, 
 1 Kings viii. 56, and 2 Kings x. 10, as well as in the New 
 Testament, it is used of failing promises. But in the Septuagint, 
 (which alone can be in question,) the word does not appear in 
 any of the three passages referred to, for in the first we find 
 SianiTTTeiv, in the second 8ia<}>a>velv, and in the third ninreip ei? 
 ttju yrjv. In the New Testament it is never united with \6yos or 
 any other similar word, and consequently is not used either of 
 accomplished or of failing promises. On the other hand, for the 
 use of eKiriTTTeiv to express the giving or the coming to pass of 
 oracles, etc., see Perizonius on ./Elian Var. Hist. iii. 45. But what- 
 ever translation be preferred, it does not affect the sense of the 
 whole, but only our appreciation of the Apostle's train of 
 thought. The leading idea, on which all that follows is based, 
 is this : — The promises of God are immutable ; no man can alter 
 them in the least. But the translation which I have chosen 
 possesses a decided superiority over the rest, because it shows 
 the connection of the thoughts, as St. Paul proceeds immediately 
 after to show why all Jews could not at once ' embrace the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 own advantages, his position in the world, nay, 
 his very life. And how have his deeds justified 
 the sincerity of his intentions! Does not his 
 whole life furnish proof, how earnestly he re- 
 mained at all times interested in the welfare of 
 his nation, how he addresses to them in the first 
 instance his admonitions, how he has the case of 
 their poor at heart, how even through his preach- 
 ing among the Gentiles he endeavours to exercise 
 
 O CD 
 
 an influence upon them. (xi. 13, 14.) — "Are 
 they not my brethren?" he exclaims, justifying, 
 as it were the excess of his attachment, " are 
 they not those whose very name, Israelites, (i. e. 
 wrestlers with God,) marks their high destina- 
 tion? Has not God guided them as His children, 
 and given them a glorious inheritance? Has 
 He not continued with them in the most in- 
 timate connection, given them laws, established 
 for them a peculiar religious service, made them 
 the depositaries of His most glorious promises? 
 Are they not those to whom God has vouchsafed 
 all these blessings, whom He has exalted above 
 all nations? Was not Christ Himself, according 
 to the flesh, descended from them, He who was 
 God according to His spiritual nature, exalted 
 above all> who is to be blessed for ever?" (1, 3, 4.) 
 But it is impossible, continues the Apostle, 
 that my most ardent desires, my most earnest 
 aspirations for my nation, should as yet be re- 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 325 
 
 alised. God lias spoken. He has decreed other- 
 wise; and it is impossible that a divine decree 
 should be without effect, be it of threatening or 
 promise. 
 
 In proceeding to give us a Theodicy in the 
 highest sense of the word, and to prove that it 
 is in conformity with the divine plans, that the 
 Jews should as yet be incapable of availing 
 themselves of the blessings of the Gospel, but 
 that, notwithstanding the apparent contradiction, 
 all the promises to that nation will be fulfilled in 
 a glorious and unforeseen manner; and that the 
 destinies of that nation are wonderfully connected 
 with the development of the whole human race, 
 the Apostle now lays down in the first place, the 
 important truth, so often misunderstood, that in 
 the development of the life of each individual 
 as well as of the whole, all is subjected to the 
 law of necessity, and that nothing can be changed 
 through the interference of any created being. — 
 Before we enter into his arguments, it will be 
 necessary to observe, that notwithstanding his 
 firm convictions of this unchangeable necessity, 
 St. Paul is far from remaining an inactive 
 spectator of this development, but that, on the 
 contrary, we find him contributing with all the 
 energies of his spirit to the accomplishment of 
 all that he considers beneficial and desirable. 
 Hence it follows, that the necessity which he 
 
326 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 teaches is widely different from that fatalism 
 which considers all things as subjected to a 
 blind necessity, thus degrading the whole crea- 
 tion and man himself to the level of a piece cf 
 machinery evolving in the visible world without 
 any will of their own, a series of events and 
 phenomena as a spectacle to the Creator, and fre- 
 quently a torment to the created. If we were to 
 believe in a law of necessity of this description, it 
 would be idle to consider our own will as of any 
 importance, or indeed to consider ourselves as 
 acting at all. In the divine system of necessity 
 which St. Paul teaches, every spiritual being is 
 placed by God Himself, to whom his inmost 
 heart is known agreeably to his inward condi- 
 tion, in that position in which he will best 
 developehis faculties for his own benefit, and for 
 that of the whole community, and in which he 
 will act agreeably to the law of his own spiritual 
 nature, in so far as it is developed, that is, in 
 a human point of view, with freedom. Every 
 deed of man, therefore, because he accomplishes 
 it in the sphere appointed to him, and in con- 
 formity with his spiritual condition at the time, 
 is his own deed, as, indeed, is clearly proved by 
 the joy which he feels in having done well, and 
 the remorse which his evil deeds occasion him. 
 Nevertheless, every individual action is neces- 
 sary, because it is both a product of the inward 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 327 
 
 being of man, which at each moment is what it 
 is and cannot at the same time be something 
 different, and also a product of outward in- 
 fluencing circumstances, which cannot at the 
 same time be as they are and yet different. 
 Now, if every individual deed is necessary, then 
 must the whole series of deeds, as they follow 
 from each other, be necessary also. (Compare 
 note page 242.) If, for example, St. Paul from 
 affection for his own nation, takes upon himself 
 the greatest hardships, and exposes himself to 
 dangers to which he is compelled, not by any 
 outward power, but by his own inward man, 
 this is his own free act, because it proceeds from 
 his own inward condition at the time, or from 
 the sum of his own spiritual powers, agreeably to 
 which he uses the outward circumstances as he 
 does; and it is this tendency of his will which 
 constitutes him the man Paul. He would have 
 been the same Paul, if shackles or other hin- 
 drances had prevented his acting according to 
 his will. His act, however, is at the same time 
 necessary, because the same spiritual powers 
 which constitute him Paul, could not under 
 the same circumstance have allowed him to act 
 otherwise than he does. And this necessity 
 is divine, because it was God who so disposed 
 the circumstances under which Saul, who was 
 formerly in a much lower condition, became 
 
328 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 Paul; because it was God who so regulated 
 these circumstances, which were independent of 
 the will of Paul, that the tendency of his will 
 became such, that he could not act otherwise 
 than he now does. 
 
 This view of the law of necessity to which, as 
 St. Paul had before said, the whole creation also 
 is subjected - as indeed must be the case, unless 
 we foolishly consider the power displayed in the 
 creation, as a distinct Godhead opposing or hin- 
 dering the plans of God — this view is of the 
 greatest importance for the understanding of the 
 Apostle's doctrine, that each individual is sub- 
 jected to the same necessity, because we see that 
 this necessity, conducive to the benefit of all, is 
 perfectly consistent with the freedom of the in- 
 dividual. They must have a most distorted 
 conception of the wisdom and love of God who 
 can for a moment suppose, that He has regulated 
 the mutual relations of men, which must of 
 course depend entirely upon His own will, in 
 such a manner that a man's position obliges him 
 to retrograde, or obstructs the development of the 
 principle of good within him. The divine problem 
 of adjusting the destinies of so many millions of 
 fallen beings, in whom so many conflicting and 
 disturbing powers must necessarily clash with 
 each other, in such a manner that each may de- 
 velope himself with freedom and yet with the least 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 329 
 
 possible detriment to others and the greatest bene- 
 fit to himself, is certainly so intricate that the 
 human mind can hardly grasp the question itself, 
 and certainly cannot compass its solution. But 
 let us recollect that it is a problem for the wisdom 
 and love of God, and that His workings, of which 
 with St. Paul we are here speaking, must sur- 
 pass all human understanding, because of their 
 being divine and eternal. 
 
 It had been the expectation of the Jews, that 
 with the advent of the long hoped-for Messiah a 
 new and better era would commence for the whole 
 nation, and that under the sceptre of a mighty 
 and wise king of their own, they would not only 
 be liberated from foreign oppression, but would 
 be raised to a degree of consideration and happi- 
 ness hitherto altogether unknown. Although 
 the hopes of individuals must have differed 
 according to their spiritual condition, some 
 amongst them thinking only of outward splen- 
 dour and greatness, others rather of a spiritual 
 change; yet most of them, if not all, had cer- 
 tainly indulged in the hope that the whole 
 nation would more or less participate in this 
 happy change. Even the disciples of the Lord, 
 after His death, confessed the disappointment 
 of their hopes, when they said, " We trusted 
 that it had been He which should have redeemed 
 Israel." And St. Peter, even after the impres- 
 
380 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 sive events of the Pentecost, was surprised that 
 the Gentiles were to participate in the kingdom 
 of the Messiah. (Acts x.) It is not, therefore, 
 to be wondered at, that, at the time when the 
 Apostle wrote this Epistle, and when few of the 
 Jews had as yet been converted to Christianity 
 and fewer still had formed just ideas of the 
 kingdom which is not of this world, even the 
 most advanced amongst them should have been 
 perplexed by the question, how these results were 
 to be reconciled with the promises which God 
 had given to His people. — The Apostle points 
 out, in the first place, that these promises, be- 
 cause of their being of a spiritual character, 
 could not be fulfilled to the whole of the nation 
 at the time of the Messiah's visible appearance 
 on earth. He repeats first, what he had before 
 stated, (ii. 28,) that not all the descendants of 
 Abraham according to the flesh were children 
 of the promise in a spiritual sense ; not, as some 
 have thought, for the sake of correcting the 
 erroneous notions of stubborn Jewish disputants, 
 but, (for how could he imagine that by repeating 
 the same argument which he had used before, 
 he should convince those whom he had then 
 failed in convincing?) in order to prove directly, 
 from the divine decree itself, the impossibility 
 of the whole Jewish nation entering at that 
 time into the kingdom of the Messiah, and to 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 331 
 
 deduce the important conclusion, that all things 
 in this world are developed according to the 
 immutable and eternal will of God, which no 
 mortal can fathom! — The spiritually advanced 
 alone can accept the spiritual gifts offered them, 
 and their spiritual progress does not depend 
 upon descent according to the flesh ; not all are 
 Israelites in the true sense of the word, who 
 belong to the Israelites outwardly, not all who 
 descend from Abraham are children of the pro- 
 mise. Even the privileges of the Theocracy 
 were not shared by all the descendants of 
 Abraham, because, even in this sense, the pro- 
 mise went only to the descendants of Isaac, and 
 not even to all of them, but only to the children 
 of Jacob. It might be said that the other de- 
 scendants of Abraham were not included because 
 they did not descend from Sarah ; but Jacob and 
 Esau were children of the same father and mo- 
 ther, and yet even Esau's children were excluded. 
 If then the descent according to the flesh did not 
 establish a right to participate in the privileges 
 of the Theocracy, how much less could it secure 
 a right to participate in the promise in a spiritual 
 sense ? It evidently does not depend upon descent 
 or upon human will or disposition, who shall have 
 part in the latter, or in what order they shall 
 be admitted to the glorious privilege, but solely 
 upon the inscrutable and unchangeable will 
 
332 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 of God who has foreseen and disposed all things. 
 Neither therefore does it depend upon outward 
 works which man accomplishes during his human 
 existence. The outward act in so far as it is 
 brought about by the circumstances assigned by 
 God, can be of no value in His sight ; in so far, 
 however, as it proceeds from the inward man it 
 may be estimated by the inward condition of the 
 human spirit at its entrance into the world, 
 according to which God assigned its place in 
 the world, account being taken, so to speak, 
 of the relations of the whole, which are known 
 to God alone. But as God knows the nature of 
 the individual, as well as the circumstances which 
 Avill influence him during the whole course of 
 his life, so does He also know before his birth 
 the whole series of the influences which will act 
 upon him during his life, and need not, there- 
 fore, await their effect in order to determine the 
 worth of man and His own love. Of this divine 
 knowledge of men before their birth, and the 
 consequent regulation and disposal of the events 
 of their lives, we have a most impressive ex- 
 ample in the history of the twin brothers Jacob 
 and Esau. Before the children were born, and 
 consequently before there were either good or 
 bad actions to record of them in this world, 
 their destinies were fixed, and so fixed for 
 misuns known alone to the Omniscient; All-wise, 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 333 
 
 and All- merciful, whose decrees man must adore 
 in humility, as all human judgment of them 
 would be criminal presumption. — It does not 
 in any way alter the case if we refer the sentence, 
 " The elder shall serve the younger," not to Jacob 
 and Esau, but to the nations which were to take 
 their descent from them, because what is said 
 would apply to the descendants as well as to 
 their progenitors. The descendants likewise 
 had not performed any actual deeds either for 
 good or for evil, and therefore the decree of God 
 when He thus fixed their future destinies could 
 not have been influenced by their deeds, but 
 solely by the condition of their spirits, which 
 was known to Himself alone. — Neither would it 
 alter the case to refer this predestination to their 
 outward fate only, to their participation in or 
 exclusion from the benefits of the Theocracy, 
 since what we call outward destinies can be 
 ordained by God only for spiritual purposes and 
 from spiritual causes. —-That the expression, 
 " Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated," 
 is not to be understood literally or in the sense 
 which we apply to hatred, need hardly be no- 
 ticed, not only because it is a Hebrew idiom 
 to call love of a lesser degree in comparison 
 with love of a higher degree hatred; but be- 
 cause a God of hatred would be a contradic- 
 tion, and would in reality be synonymous with 
 
334 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 a hating love ; because God is Love. But even 
 degrees of love are inadmissible in reference to 
 God, without a cause inherent in the object. 
 And, as Solomon so beautifully expresses it, 
 (Wisd. xi. 24.) "For Thou lovest all things that 
 are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made, 
 for never wouldest Thou have made anything if 
 Thou hadst hated it" ; so might we say with 
 equal justice : God cannot have made one thing 
 less deserving of His love than another; the 
 reason of God's loving one being less than another 
 can be inherent only in the object itself, and a 
 consequence of its own transgression. 
 
 After what has been said, who can any longer 
 find these words of the Apostle harsh, or wish to 
 assign to them any other signification ? The idea 
 which many have grounded on them that God 
 does not guide the destinies of man according to 
 His omniscience, wisdom, and love, but that ac- 
 cording to a despotic and arbitrary will He 
 dooms millions to everlasting misery, is as fo- 
 reign to the Apostle as it is to God Himself. 
 St. Paul wishing to explain why, at the time of 
 which he is speaking, all the Jews were not fit 
 to become partakers of the Messiah's kingdom, 
 shows that God never made any such promise ; 
 that the fitness of men to participate in the 
 highest spiritual blessedness, and the manner of 
 their being conducted to such a fitness, depending 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 335 
 
 upon the time, place and other circumstances of 
 their lives, cannot be fathomed by human reason, 
 but is to be adored in humility as a divine de- 
 cree and as the result of God's omniscience, 
 all- wisdom, and love. 
 
 " What shall we say then," the Apostle con- 
 tinues, "is God unrighteous?" God forbid! How 
 dark and intricate soever our paths or those of 
 others may appear to us, how little soever we 
 may be able to recognise God's love in the 
 course of our lives, or in the history of mankind, 
 let the firm conviction "it is impossible that 
 God should be unjust" ever prevent all criminally 
 presumptuous judgment, and all doubts of the 
 wisdom of the All-wise, and the love of the All- 
 merciful. that many of the interpreters of 
 this passage had kept before their eyes and in 
 their heart this warning of the Apostle ! From 
 what awful errors would they have been saved ! 
 
 Moses says, " All His ways are judgment, a 
 God of truth and without iniquity, just and 
 right is He;" (Deut. xxxii. 4;) and, " I will be 
 gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will 
 show mercy on whom I will show mercy." (Exod. 
 xxxiii. 19.) The last words then, must be con- 
 sistent with the former, and consequently if God 
 does not vouchsafe to give such visible proofs of 
 His love to some as He does to others, this dis- 
 
336 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 tinction must yet be reconcileable with His 
 righteousness. The gifts and manifestations of 
 His love are also gifts and manifestations of His 
 righteousness, and do not in any way depend 
 upon man's own will and aspirations, upon what 
 is not as yet restored to godliness.. Man can 
 neither determine his own destinies, nor by his 
 own exertions merit the love and blessings of 
 God, which are the free gifts of His mercy. Nor 
 can the mightiest and proudest king by his 
 impotent attempts thwart the ways of God in 
 the most trifling degree; even what he accom- 
 plishes against the divine law, must, in the hands 
 of an all-disposing God, tend to the promotion 
 of His purposes. Pharaoh, in his obstinacy, 
 acted his own part in conformity with his de- 
 graded nature, in opposing himself to God's 
 behests, and yet he was only a means in the 
 hands of God, whose providence made use of 
 his very depravity to accomplish His purposes. 
 " For this cause have I raised thee up, for 
 to show in thee my power, and that my name 
 may be declared throughout all the world." 
 (Exod. ix. 16.) It was the will of God that 
 the Jews should leave Egypt under difficulties 
 and against the will of the king, for which 
 one reason at least is very apparent, namely 
 that the nation might be impressed with the 
 
Chap. IX. 1—18. 337 
 
 power of their God, and their wavering reliance 
 
 on Him be strengthened, and that other nations 
 
 also might recognise His greatness. It was for 
 
 this reason that so obstinate a king then sate 
 
 on the throne of Egypt; for under the sway of 
 
 an obedient king, these results would not have 
 
 been brought about. Not that God created an 
 
 obstinate and hateful being and made him kino- 
 es o 
 
 of Egypt, only to find him hateful and to punish 
 him ; He placed one of the human spirits ready 
 to his hand, upon the throne at that time, so 
 that while the act of the king was his own act, 
 its beneficial consequences are to be ascribed 
 to God alone. — What a warning is this to des- 
 pots and perverters of nations ! They imagine, 
 in the insolence of their pride, that they sway the 
 destinies of the nations subjected to their rule, 
 and lo, they are themselves slaves who execute 
 the will of their unknown Lord. Their wicked- 
 ness is their own, and certain punishment awaits 
 them ; but the good resulting from their doings, 
 which they neither intended nor were able to 
 prevent, is the work of God. Those on whom 
 they look down with scorn and contempt, the 
 victims of their cruelty, will say in their hearts, 
 if they really belong to Christ's flock : " Thou 
 couldest have no power over me if it were not 
 given thee; w they will rejoice inwardly, assured, 
 
 z 
 
338 Chap. IX. 1—18. 
 
 because they love God, that their sufferings must 
 lead to their good. 
 
 Thus, then, the words, " Therefore He is 
 merciful to whom He will, and hardeneth whom 
 He will," are explained in a most simple and 
 natural manner. It remains to observe, with 
 reference to the words " God hardeneth," which 
 taken by themselves would certainly be em- 
 barrassing, that according to the forcible mode 
 of expression usual in Oriental languages, all 
 secondary causes are passed over, and the result 
 referred immediately to God. God created Pha- 
 raoh ; God placed him in circumstances in which 
 his stubbornness rose to its highest pitch, so that 
 he appeared harder of heart than he had formerly 
 shown himself; all which is compressed into the 
 words " He hardened him." That this expression 
 means no more than " Pharaoh hardened him- 
 self," may be clearly perceived by comparing 
 Exod. viii. 15, 32, and ix. 34.* 
 
 But even for Pharaoh himself and his ser- 
 vants, who hardened their hearts with him, these 
 results, brought about by the divine will, could 
 not possibly be in reality pernicious. As he did 
 not become worse than he was, by Moses' speak- 
 ing to him, but only found occasion thereby to 
 
 * The passages which Dr. Tholuck quotes from Origen in 
 reference to this verse, are extremely well worth reading. 
 
Chap. IX. 19—21. 339 
 
 show himself as he really was, these results could 
 not, humanly speaking, subject him to greater 
 punishment. On the contrary, the result which 
 he had not anticipated or brought about, might 
 become beneficial to himself. If the experiences 
 of his life were not lost upon him, he must have 
 learnt after his death, that it is madness to fight 
 against God ; his hardened heart must have been 
 softened, though perhaps through sufferings of 
 which we can have no conception. 
 
 19 — 21. Thou wilt now reply, Why then doth 
 He yet find fault? For who can resist His 
 
 20 will? But, man, who art thou that rea- 
 sonest with God? Does the thing formed 
 say to Him that formed it, Why hast thou 
 
 2 1 so made me ? Or hath not the potter power 
 over the clay, from the same mass to make 
 one vessel for honourable use, and another 
 for dishonourable? 
 
 The doctrine of necessity, of which St. Paul, 
 having only his principal object in view, gives a 
 bold outline without entering into the details, 
 adducing only a few passages from the Old Tes- 
 tament by way of proof, cannot but lead a 
 reflecting mind to the question : How, then, if 
 all things happen by the unchangeable will of 
 God, whom nothing can resist, can He require 
 
 z 2 
 
340 Chap. IX. 19—21. 
 
 that anything should happen otherwise than it 
 does? How can He make man responsible 
 for what he performs according to this law of 
 necessity? The question is so natural, that St. 
 Paul, who himself so acute a thinker constantly 
 exhorts others to think for themselves, cannot 
 reproach any one for raising it, especially as by 
 his own theory the question wherever it is raised, 
 is raised by necessity, and consequently cannot 
 be avoided. — I cannot, therefore, agree with such 
 as here again suppose an allusion to stiff-necked 
 Jews who intentionally mistook the Apostle's 
 words, and whom, in anticipation of such a ques- 
 tion, he would put off with an evasive answer. 
 I believe, on the contrary, that it is a question 
 which must often in former times have engaged 
 his own attention, and which he must, therefore, 
 have looked for from many well-meaning per- 
 sons. Neither is what St. Paul advances in lieu 
 of a positive answer, calculated to silence an 
 obstinate Jewish disputant, because these sen- 
 tences taken likewise from the Old Testament, 
 (Jer. xlv. 9; comp. Jer. xxix. 16 and Jer. xiii. 6,) 
 only express the same idea in appropriate similes, 
 and in most forcible language. If, therefore, the 
 Jew would not accept the passages before quoted 
 as proofs, but give them another meaning, why 
 should he not treat these in the same manner? 
 Such a Jew, however, would not deny, God's 
 
Chap IX. 19—21. 341 
 
 power to govern all things according to His will ; 
 nay, he would himself insist upon it, but with 
 the addition that his God uses this His power in 
 order to bless him in preference to all others. 
 It was this prejudice which St. Paul wanted 
 to remove ; and for that" very reason the Jews 
 opposed him. If, then, St. Paul, in quoting 
 the passsage : " Hath not the potter power over 
 the clay?" intended also to express his conviction 
 that God has power to bring the Gentile also into 
 His kingdom, the Jew would not deny this in 
 respect to the power, but in respect to the will 
 of God ; and he would have no reason for com- 
 bating the assertion of the Apostle, that all 
 things are brought to pass by the immutable 
 will of God. 
 
 It is evident therefore, that St. Paul does not 
 address his reply to a Jew from whom he might 
 have anticipated contradiction; neither had he 
 any occasion to do so while he was making com- 
 munications regarding the divine government of 
 the world to Christians, his faithful brethren united 
 with Christ through spiritual baptism — communi- 
 cations which could be comprehended by none 
 else. For such, however, the new question, 
 which he puts instead of answering the first, 
 contains within itself the most instructive and 
 satisfactory reply, inasmuch as it defines the 
 proper limits of an intellectual inquiry, beyond 
 
342 Chap. IX. 19—21. 
 
 which human reason does not reach. The under- 
 standing can do no more than draw conclusions 
 from given premises by combinations and ac- 
 cording to the laws of thought ; and the more 
 acute the understanding, the more perfect will 
 be the conclusions at which it arrives. But 
 according to these very laws, the results must 
 be homogeneous with the premises. It would be 
 an abnegation of the understanding, madness 
 indeed, to attempt drawing supernatural and 
 infinite conclusions from natural and finite pre- 
 mises. The human understanding as such, or 
 man indeed, in so far as he belongs to this world, 
 has no premises at his command but such as are 
 derived from this world, and cannot possibly 
 through the operations of his understanding, 
 arrive at results pertaining to another. The 
 premises derived from a spiritual world are ac- 
 cessible to him only in so far as, through purity 
 of heart, he has again become a member of the 
 spiritual world; but, when once in possession of 
 them, he can and ought to treat them according 
 to the laws of thought, in order to make them 
 available in his present condition. It would be 
 as foolish for a human being, to seek for heavenly 
 premises in a sphere which he has not yet 
 reached, as if he proposed to himself to collect 
 experiences in another world, to which all access 
 is denied him. — Thus a philosopher, starting 
 
Chap. IX. 19—21. 343 
 
 from his observations of terrestrial phenomena, 
 and logically combining them, may arrive at a 
 knowledge of the motion of the universe and its 
 organisation dependent thereon; but he cannot 
 by these means arrive at a knowledge of the 
 object for which it was constructed, except in so 
 far as he presupposes some final cause. This 
 presupposition, however, he must attain from 
 another source, widely differing from earthly 
 experience and calculation. It is for this reason 
 that equally great astronomers, while their sci- 
 entific results agree in every particular, have 
 entertained the most different views as to the 
 final cause of the universe; and in this respect, 
 the most ignorant peasant not unfrequently sur- 
 passes the greatest natural philosopher. 
 
 If we apply what has been said to the question 
 before us, we cannot but be struck with the 
 power of the Apostle's words : " man, who art 
 thou that reasonest with God?" Who art thou 
 that callest Him to account? What finite being 
 can have the presumption to scrutinize the plans 
 of the Infinite? What canst thou know of the 
 purposes of God but what He chooses to reveal to 
 thee, and what He reveals to thee of the infinite, 
 can it be measured by any earthly measure? — 
 Must not every one, wise as he may think him- 
 self, confess that he is a vessel from the hand of 
 the inscrutable God, and that he has no answer 
 
344 Chap. IX. 19—21. 
 
 and can have no answer to give to the question : 
 Why am I shaped as I am, except that it has so 
 pleased God? The most learned philosopher 
 knows nothing of the laws according to which 
 our bodies are formed ; and if he did, he would 
 only know what they were without knowing 
 wherefore. And would he presume to discover 
 this by his own powers? To sit in judgment 
 upon God's wisdom? What is there, then, so 
 terrible in this comparison of the Apostle, which 
 has been found so terrible by many, when it says 
 in reality no more than what every one must 
 admit, that we are formed by a higher Power, 
 whether we call that inscrutable Power God, or 
 the Spirit of the Universe, or Nature? What 
 we think so terrible, lies not in the comparison 
 which the Apostle uses, nor in the truth which 
 it is intended to convey, but solely in the manner 
 of our interpretation, which is dependent upon 
 our own spiritual condition. To him who knows 
 not God, it is frightful because it would lead him 
 to fatalism, and place him at the mercy of a 
 Power to which he is altogether a stranger. He 
 who knows God only as an almighty Being, 
 would be led by it to slavish fear and supersti- 
 tious observances, by which to propitiate this 
 fearful Power; or to an infatuated belief in a 
 partial and capricious demon. He who knows 
 the God of love and cherishes Him in his inner- 
 
Chap. IX. 19—21. 345 
 
 most heart, knows no fear, for " love casteth out 
 fear." To him the thought that God governs and 
 disposes all things according to His will, is so far 
 from being terrible that he finds in it his most 
 cheering solace. In whose hands could he wish 
 to see the government of the world, but in those 
 of the God of love? To what necessity, could 
 he subject himself Avith greater confidence and 
 hope, than to that assigned by God, who, he 
 knows, hath subjected all things in hope, that 
 they may be conducted to divine freedom and 
 felicity ? 
 
 The comparison which the Apostle uses be- 
 comes of still greater significance, if we think of 
 the Redeeming God, who, out of chaos, which was 
 a product of the fall, formed all things according 
 to His wisdom, to lead them to their spiritual re- 
 generation. Shall we who have changed order 
 into disorder, the original creation into chaos, 
 presume to prescribe to God the methods by 
 which He is to restore order? Who but God 
 could know the real worth and usefulness of 
 each for His purposes, and assign to each his 
 place accordingly, making one a vessel unto 
 honour, and another a vessel unto dishonour? 
 
 The Apostle has thus most clearly demon- 
 strated that all things in this world develope 
 themselves according to His immutable and 
 eternal will. He now proceeds as follows : 
 
346 Chap. IX. 22—33. 
 
 22 — 33. But if God, willing to show His wrath 
 and to make known His power, endured with 
 much longsuffering the vessels of wrath, 
 prepared for destruction, even for the pur- 
 
 23 pose of making known the fulness of His 
 glory towards the vessels of mercy which 
 
 24 He before made ready to glory:— among 
 whom He hath also called us, not of the 
 
 25 Jews only but also of the Gentiles: — as He 
 saith also in Hosea, " I will call them my 
 people, which were not my people, and her 
 
 26 beloved which was not beloved. And it 
 shall come to pass, that in the place where 
 it was said unto them, Ye are not my peo- 
 ple, there shall they be called the Sons of the 
 
 27 Living God." And Esaias crieth concerning 
 Israel, "Though the number of the children 
 of Israel be as the sands of the sea, yet a 
 
 28 remnant shall be saved. For, finishing His 
 decree, He doth it in the shortest way in 
 righteousness: yea, quickly shall the Lord 
 accomplish His decree upon the earth." 
 
 29 And as Esaias said before, "Had not the 
 Lord of Sabaoth left us a seed, we had been 
 as Sodom and been made like Gomorrha." 
 
 30 What shall we say then? Gentiles, which 
 did not pursue after righteousness, have 
 attained righteousness, even the righteous- 
 
 31 ness which is from faith. But Israel, which 
 
Chap. IX. 22—33. 347 
 
 pursued after a law of righteousness, hath 
 not yet attained to the law of righteousness. 
 
 32 Wherefore? Because [they pursued] not 
 by faith, but by the law of works. For they 
 stumbled at the stone of stumbling, as it 
 
 33 is written : " Behold I lay in Zion a stone 
 of stumbling and a rock of offence, and 
 whosoever belie veth on Him shall not be 
 ashamed." 
 
 The first words of this paragraph fall harshly 
 on our ear, but, after what has been said, they 
 will present no new difficulty. The wrath of 
 God, as we have before observed, signifies the 
 utter displeasure of God at evil. This incom- 
 patibility of evil with God, necessitates His sepa- 
 rating the evil from the good in His capacity of 
 a Redeemer, whose design is to re-unite with 
 
 23 /cat, for this too among other purposes. — 28 \6yos, the word 
 of God=decree. He utters, as it were, only what is irrevocable, 
 and, in fulfilling His decree, avvreXav, He does it withal in the 
 shortest way avvre/xvav (cutting short). Thus these words 
 taken in their ordinary acceptation appear to me to render best 
 the sense of the passage. (See Ecclus. x. 22 — 23.) It involves, 
 moreover, a confirmation of the proposition : God doeth every- 
 thing according to His decree, without any exception, but with 
 righteousness. — 30 St. Paul had interrupted, at the end of the 
 23rd verse, the passage commencing at the 22nd verse, in order 
 to introduce the parenthesis "Which He had afore prepared," etc. 
 He now resumes with the words, " What shall we say then ? " 
 ti ovv epovpev. See the exposition. Thus ovv means "accordingly," 
 "consequently," "then." — 32 vopos, as in vii. 23, in the sense 
 of rule, standard. The Words ovk e<pdaae involve the meaning, 
 "did not attain to the law sooner than, or so soon as, the others." 
 
348 Chap. IX. 22—33. 
 
 Himself those who have become sinful. And 
 as such a separating process cannot but be 
 painful, it makes what is in reality the love of 
 God, since it occasions pain, appear as wrath.* 
 The expression "vessels of wrath and of mercy," 
 is used very appropriately in this place, as sug- 
 gested by the comparison before employed. Ves- 
 sels of wrath are those which are filled with the 
 cause of wrath, with evil; they are doomed to 
 misery and destruction, but not to everlasting 
 misery, which is nowhere mentioned, because 
 misery is the inseparable consequence of evil. 
 They are formed by God in so far as He has 
 given them their present form; but the potter 
 did not make the clay, God did not create evil ; 
 
 * If any one were to charge it as a reproach on the writers of 
 the New Testament, that they speak of the wrath of God, after 
 having represented Him as the immutably All-loving, or from such 
 expressions were to draw the conclusion, that they were still 
 thinking of God as a Being full of wrath, he might not inaptly 
 be compared to a student of astronomy, who, after having been 
 taught that the sun and stars do not change their places, but that 
 the cause of their apparent change of position is to be explained 
 by the motion of the earth, should imagine, on hearing his master 
 continue to talk of the rising and setting of the sun, that he was 
 contradicting himself, or had changed his opinion. All instruc- 
 tion must start from external phenonena ; and, therefore, it was 
 necessary the Old Testament also should begin its teaching 
 respecting God from the phenomena with which man was con- 
 versant in his condition at the time. But after we have been 
 taught that all change lies not in the immutably all-loving God, 
 but in us, we may certainly be allowed to continue using the 
 expressions to which we have become accustomed, and which 
 recommend themselves by their brevity and force, since no mis- 
 conception is to be feared on the part of the initiated. 
 
Chap. IX. 22-33. 349 
 
 He has given to the evil matter the form most 
 appropriate for His merciful designs, and formed 
 of it that for which it was fit. We must recollect, 
 that it is not the Apostle's object to speak, 
 in this place of the judgment of God as such, 
 and that his object is only to show, why at the 
 time of the visible appearance of the Messiah, 
 all Jews were not fit to enter His kingdom. 
 
 The Apostle had said, that the decrees of God 
 are fixed and immutable, but founded upon His 
 righteousness. No human being can alter the 
 course of the divine developments; no mortal 
 eye can penetrate the plans of God ; we must all 
 confess that we are vessels shaped by Him for 
 His purposes, instruments in His hands. — He 
 now continues: If in the development of the 
 divine plan, in the separation of good and evil, 
 and the manifestation of the power of God 
 therein, we find that He endures, with much 
 long suffering, even those that are sinful, and 
 unfit to enter into the kingdom of truth and 
 felicity, the well-disposed may therein find a 
 proof of His mercy and forbearance, but the 
 great plans of His mercy they will not thereby 
 understand. Some might even rashly suppose 
 or fear that God's forbearance might retard 
 the ultimate felicity of the godly, and thus 
 prove a hindrance to those also who are further 
 advanced. But what if this lon^suffering prove, 
 
350 Chap. IX. 22—33. 
 
 not only salutary to those who are its objects, 
 but a blessing also to the more advanced, to the 
 elect? (St. Paul here prepares us for what he 
 afterwards explains more fully, that the obduracy 
 of the Jews has become a benefit to the more 
 perfected amongst the Gentiles.) What, if all 
 who were then fit to enter the Messiah's kingdom, 
 and such only, had been born Jews, and all others 
 heathens? Is it not. easy to see that a community 
 composed of vicious members only, without the 
 benefit of good example and instruction would 
 infallibly have been impeded in the course of 
 their progress, while, on the other hand, a com- 
 munity of well-disposed but still imperfect beings 
 would have wanted many opportunities of bring- 
 ing out and laying aside their faults, and of 
 exercising patience, forbearance and resignation ? 
 God has distributed the good and the bad in such 
 wise, according to His loving wisdom, that each 
 exercises upon the other a beneficial influence. 
 For that reason there were placed amongst the 
 heathens many who were capable of appropriating 
 the blessings proffered by the Gospel; and we 
 may venture to add without presumption, that it 
 was expedient that many such, both among Jews 
 and heathens, should remain among their former 
 co-religionists, in order to exercise a wholesome 
 influence upon them, although certainly without 
 prejudice to themselves. These elect, amongst 
 
Chap. IX. 22—33. 351 
 
 whom we number ourselves also, were not among 
 the Jews only, but also among the heathen ; and 
 this agrees fully, the Apostle tells us, with the 
 revelations which God has vouchsafed to us 
 respecting His eternal decrees. Did not the 
 ancient prophets declare, that many who did 
 not belong to the Jewish nation should enter 
 the kingdom of the Messiah? Did they not 
 distinctly tell us, that of the Israelites but a 
 proportionably small number would be fit to 
 enter, and that the whole nation would become 
 degenerate if God had not so ordered it that 
 a number of the godly should remain amongst 
 them ? Now, if we can discern even now such 
 loving wisdom in God's eternal dispensations, 
 must not all doubt vanish, all presumptuous 
 scrutiny be at an end, and nothing but joy and 
 thanksgiving remain, that all things are ordered 
 by the immutable will of God? Do we not 
 recognise in the conduct of our race, not only 
 an unchangeable but also a righteous decree, 
 founded not upon partiality, but upon the in- 
 trinsic worth of the elect ! Heathens, who 
 did not strive for righteousness, who did not 
 attribute to themselves a vain righteousness, 
 self-devised and self-sufficient, have attained that 
 righteousness which is pleasing in the sight of 
 God, while Israelites who were labouring for a 
 righteousness of their own devising, have not 
 
352 Chap. IX. 22—33. 
 
 attained that true righteousness. And why? 
 Because their striving did not originate in faith, 
 in purity of heart, but sprang from an earthly 
 soil, and was directed towards selfish purposes ; 
 because, in their self-sufficiency, they expected to 
 attain righteousness through works and observ- 
 ances. With this tendency of their mind they could 
 not but stumble at that stumbling-block which was 
 laid in Zion, they could not but take offence at 
 Him, who condemning all self-justification and 
 self-sufficiency, required humility, acknowledg- 
 ment of their own un worthiness and helpless- 
 ness, and a resigned dependence on the Saviour. 
 They who have faith in this Rock of their salva- 
 tion, who, penetrated with the truth of His divine 
 teaching, offer up their whole being for a sacrifice, 
 they, and they alone, shall never be confounded. 
 
CHAPTER THE TENTH. 
 
 1 — 4. Brethren, the desire of my heart, and 
 my prayer to God for them is directed to- 
 
 2 wards their salvation. For I bear witness 
 to them, that they have zeal for God, but 
 
 3 not with knowledge. For not knowing the 
 righteousness of God, and seeking to es- 
 tablish their own righteousness, they are 
 not subjected to the righteousness of God. 
 
 4 For the end of the law is Christ, for righte- 
 ousness to every one that believeth. 
 
 The Apostle had stated, in the 32nd verse of 
 the preceding chapter, the causes why so 
 many of the Jews as yet remained unfit for 
 the kingdom of the Messiah. In proceeding to 
 develope them still further, and to show that the 
 fact depended not upon any arbitrary decree 
 on the part of God, but upon their own spiritual 
 condition and purity, he once more gives utter- 
 ance to the most affectionate desire of his heart 
 
 1 It seems to be more in accordance with the connection to 
 take liT€Tayr)<Tav in the ordinary passive meaning, than to assign 
 to it a middle force. 
 
 A A 
 
354 Chap. X. 1-4. 
 
 for the salvation of his own people. He praises 
 them for all that he finds in them worthy of his 
 praise ; he does not accuse them of indifference 
 towards God, on the contrary, he commends 
 their earnestness and zeal ; but at the same time 
 he laments that this zeal is not directed in a 
 right channel, nor founded upon the true know- 
 ledge of God, and, therefore, sure to fail of its 
 purpose. They are ignorant, he tells them, of 
 the righteousness of God, which leads to blessed- 
 ness through purification and annihilation of 
 evil, and, therefore, demands purity of heart 
 and a willing and faithful adherence to the 
 divine order. They are endeavouring to attain 
 justification and blessedness by their own de- 
 vices, by works and observances, unwilling to 
 relinquish their selfish pursuits, and for this 
 reason they cannot be received within the com- 
 munity of the godly, or become members of 
 the kingdom of the Messiah, which sets forth 
 that higher order, the divine righteousness, 
 and does not admit what is at variance with it. 
 For Christ is the end of the law, of the old 
 order of things and of all former aspirations, 
 for all believing in Him belong truly to the new 
 order, the righteousness of God. Whoever desires 
 to belong to His kingdom, must have recognised 
 and acknowledged Him as his only Saviour, and 
 must, therefore, have renounced all self-justi- 
 
Chap. X. 5—11. 355 
 
 fication, and relinquished all ideas of merit 
 founded upon works. He must have died to the 
 law, to live alone in Christ. This simple sense of 
 words, so variously interpreted, follows naturally 
 from the connection. Neither the Mosaic law nor 
 any other law was to cease on the appearance of 
 Christ ; it has not ceased, nor was it expedient 
 that it should cease, so long as there were men 
 who required to be controlled by positive laws. 
 There are at this moment men below the law, 
 (in a lawless state,) and men under the law, 
 (page 275 ff,) and so long as this is the case, the 
 restraints of the law cannot be dispensed with. 
 But for those who have advanced to a state above 
 the law, there is no further law ; they are free 
 from the law, because they live in Christ; for 
 them, Christ is the end of the law. 
 
 5 — 11. For Moses describes the righteousness 
 of the law, " The man who doeth these 
 
 6 things [the law] shall live by them." But 
 the righteousness by faith speak eth thus: 
 Say not in thine heart, Who shall go up 
 to heaven ? that is to bring down Christ : 
 
 7 or, Who shall go down into the deep? that 
 
 8 is, to bring up Christ from the dead. But 
 what saith it? Near is the word to thee, in 
 thy mouth and in thine heart, that is, the 
 
 9 word of faith which we preach ; for if thou 
 
 a a 2 
 
356 Chap. X. 5—11. 
 
 with thy mouth confessest the Lord Jesus, 
 and in thine heart believest that God hath 
 raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be 
 
 10 blessed. For by the faith of the heart 
 we are made righteous, and with the con- 
 
 11 fession of the heart we are blessed. For 
 the Scripture saith, " Whosoever believeth 
 on Him shall not be ashamed." 
 
 Moses, continues the Apostle, has already 
 made a distinction between the law of works 
 and the law of faith,* and has pointed out the 
 far more blessed effects of the latter; whence 
 it follows, that whoever would attain the bles- 
 sings of the latter must have renounced the 
 principle of the former, and made the prin- 
 ciple of the latter his own. Of the positive 
 law it is said : " Ye shall, therefore, keep 
 my statutes and my judgments; which if a 
 man do, he shall live in them." (Lev. xviii. 5.) 
 The transgressions of the law were often punish- 
 able with death, so that to live denotes, in the 
 first place, exemption from punishment ; but if we 
 admit that the word expresses also a state of 
 happiness, St. Paul cannot in this place mean it 
 to express more than an experiencing of benefi- 
 cial results, not the highest blessedness, which 
 would destroy the force of the opposition. When 
 
 * Compare what has been said on chap. iii. 1 — 20, page 136. 
 
Chap. X. 5— 11. 357 
 
 Moses in his glorious charge to the assembled 
 people, shortly before his death, set before them 
 blessings and curses as the consequences of obe- 
 dience and disobedience ; and told them that not- 
 withstanding the transgressions of the law, God 
 would be gracious to those who would again turn 
 to Him with heart and soul, that He would give 
 them the promised land, and circumcise their 
 hearts, that they might love Him with all their 
 heart and all their soul, he added : "For this com- 
 mandment which I command thee this day, it is 
 not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is 
 not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who 
 shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto 
 us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it 
 beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who 
 shall go over the sea* for us, and bring it unto 
 us, that we may hear it and do it? But the 
 word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and 
 in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Deut. 
 xxx. 11 — 14.) St. Paul most properly considers 
 this to allude to justification by faith, and as 
 the cry of those in whose heart the deeper 
 sense of the divine law, the law of love, has 
 gained life. Moses could not mean to say, that 
 the divine law in its deepest significance had 
 
 * St. Paul here uses the word " deep," instead of " sea," per- 
 haps inadvertently, as he was quoting from memory, or perhaps 
 in order to give additional force to the expression. The sense 
 remains the same. 
 
358 Chap. X. 5—11. 
 
 attained life in the whole of the assembled 
 multitude, since in that case the admonition 
 to keep it would have been uncalled for. He 
 means, according to St. Paul's interpretation: 
 Those whose hearts are truly circumcised, who 
 are fit to re-enter into the Land of Promise in its 
 higher sense, will no more seek for the divine 
 law, neither in heaven nor in the deep ; it will be 
 in their mouth and in their heart. They have it 
 in their mouth because it lies in their heart. The 
 Giver of the divine law, of this law of love, is 
 Christ and only Christ. It is for this reason 
 that the Apostle speaks of ascending into heaven, 
 and descending into the deep for the divine law : 
 bringing Christ down from above, and bringing 
 up Christ again from the dead. Whoever has 
 found Him, has no further occasion to seek, he 
 carries in his heart all that he can need. This 
 is the faith which we preach. We must relin- 
 quish the law of works, the service for reward, 
 to be with Christ; and hence it becomes evident 
 that no one can be with Him who continues to 
 adhere to the observance of the outward law. 
 They would have learned this of Moses, if they 
 had understood the depth of his preaching.* To 
 
 ~* When Aben Esra says that Moses promises eternal posses- 
 sions to them who know the mystery of the law, and temporal 
 possessions to them who do not, we must recollect that, accord- 
 ing to St. Paul, the mystery of the law consists in this, that it 
 refers to divine principles, leads to Christ, and finds its accom- 
 plishment in Him. 
 
Chap. X. 12—21. 359 
 
 acknowledge Christ with mouth and heart for 
 the only Redeemer, to be assured that the power 
 of God lived in Him and raised Him from the 
 dead, this is that faith which leads to eternal 
 blessedness. This conviction of the heart is an 
 earnest of righteousness in its highest sense : this 
 deep-seated persuasion is blessedness. It is of 
 Him, of our Redeemer, that the Scripture says : 
 " He who belie veth in Him, shall never be con- 
 founded." 
 
 12—21. For there is no distinction between 
 Jew and Greek, for the same is Lord of all, 
 
 13 rich unto all that call upon Him. For, 
 " Every one that calleth upon the name of 
 
 14 the Lord shall be saved." But how can 
 they call upon Him in whom they believe 
 not? And how can they believe in Him of 
 whom they have not heard? And how can 
 
 15 they hear without a preacher? And how 
 can they preach if they are not sent? As 
 it is written : " How welcome are the feet 
 of them who proclaim peace, who bring 
 
 16 good tidings!" But not all hearkened to 
 the good tidings. For Esaias saith, "Lord 
 
 17 who believeth our report?" Faith then 
 cotneth from preaching, and preaching by 
 
 18 the word of God. Now I ask: have they 
 not heard? Nay: "Into all lands went 
 
360 Chap. X. 12—21. 
 
 forth their sound, and to the ends of the 
 
 19 world their call." I ask further; did 
 Israel not know ? But already Moses saith, 
 " I will move you to jealousy by that which 
 is no nation, I will provoke you to wrath 
 
 20 by a foolish people." But Esaias goes so 
 far as to say: "I am found by them who 
 
 2 1 sought me not, I am made manifest to them 
 who enquired not after me." Of Israel, on 
 the other hand, he saith : " The whole day 
 I stretch out my hands to a disobedient and 
 rebellious people." 
 
 The Apostle had said that no one will be lost 
 who has recognised the Redeemer for what He 
 is, and turns to Him with confidence — so says 
 the Scripture. This does not apply to the Jews 
 alone but to the Gentiles also, because one God 
 is the God of all, one Redeemer the Redeemer of 
 all. He is rich enough to bless all, He has not 
 to withhold from one what He would grant to 
 another, His boundless riches are not diminished 
 by what He dispenses, whoever asks of Him 
 shall be satisfied. It is not by chance that the 
 Apostle, in this place, refers to what he had so 
 often stated before, that the love of God and 
 
 15 The significations " timely," and " beautiful," "lovely," 
 blend here in copaios. For the divine message can then only be 
 indeed lovely and welcome, when it meets with matured and pre- 
 pared dispositions. 
 
Chap. X. 12—21. 361 
 
 redemption is not confined to the Jews, but 
 extends to all the children of God. He repeats 
 this, because it forms a necessary link in the 
 chain of his argument. He could not show 
 why so many of the Jews remained as yet 
 excluded from the kingdom of the Messiah, and 
 what were God's designs with respect to their 
 nation, without adverting to the whole of God's 
 plans, which include the beatification of all. 
 Indeed it is his main object to make it clear 
 that the plan of redemption includes the whole 
 race, although he had first spoken of the Jews, 
 and appears to keep them chiefly in view. If 
 then, he continues, all who invoke the name of 
 the Redeeming God are to be saved, without any 
 reference to outward circumstances, if all are to 
 be saved who put their trust in the power of His 
 love, what follows? They cannot invoke His 
 name or turn to Him without believing in Him, 
 without being firmly convinced that it is He who 
 can and will succour them. This again, they 
 cannot do, without having heard of Him ; their 
 general belief in God, their undefinable longing 
 for help requires instruction and direction to- 
 wards its object, they require being led to the 
 source from which they may draw grace for 
 grace. But for this end preachers are required, 
 and these do not go forth according to their 
 own will and pleasure, it is a call from God 
 
362 Chap. X. 12—21. 
 
 which leads theni at all times where they are 
 required. Therefore it is to them that the beauti- 
 ful words of Isaiah refer: (lii. 7 :) "Welcome are 
 the messengers that preach peace and salvation!" 
 But they can be welcome only to those who have 
 a longing for the tidings of salvation, who are 
 prepared to receive them. Those who have no 
 longing for the peace offered them, could not re- 
 ceive the messengers as offering them happiness, 
 and therefore Isaiah exclaims; "Lord, who 
 believeth our report?" — Christ, therefore, must 
 be preached, that the longings of the heart may 
 be directed to their proper object, that belief in 
 Christ may grow. But how and when He is 
 to be preached, will depend upon the call of 
 God, who disposes all things. — Christ had, there- 
 fore, to be preached amongst Jews and Gentiles, 
 because there were amongst both such as were 
 fit to receive the tidings of peace, and were at 
 that time ready to enter the kingdom of the 
 Messiah, according to the will of God. — And has 
 not Christ been preached to them? Can the 
 Jews complain that He has not been preached to 
 them? Has not the sound of the preaching gone 
 forth from their land into all lands? They 
 cannot certainly plead any want of opportunity 
 for becoming acquainted with Christ ; they have 
 remained unfaithful because they did not want 
 peace, because they would not accept the tidings 
 
Chap. X. 12 — 21. 363 
 
 of the salvation offered them. The preaching 
 of the Gospel was necessary for belief, but the 
 outward hearing of the word does not beget 
 belief. — Was it not also proclaimed to Israel 
 that the tidings of grace would be carried to 
 other nations, if they rejected it? Do not our 
 Holy Scriptures proclaim it, and can they com- 
 plain if this now comes to pass? Moses says: 
 " I will provoke you to jealousy by them that 
 are no people, and by a foolish nation I will 
 anger you;" that is, if you will not hear my 
 voice, if you reject the messengers which I 
 have sent you, their message shall be carried to 
 other nations. And Isaiah, although his bold 
 denunciations gathered dangers around him, 
 declares that other nations would hearken to 
 the voice of God, while the people to whom he 
 was sent, opposed his zealous and indefatigable 
 preaching with contempt and contradiction. What 
 happened then, happens in our own days. It is 
 the immutable decree of God which is fulfilled. 
 
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH. 
 
 1 — 6. Now I ask, Hath God then cast off His 
 people ? God forbid ! I myself am also an Is- 
 raelite, of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of 
 
 2 Benjamin. God hath not cast off His people 
 which He foreknew. Or know ye not what 
 the Scripture saith, when Elias complained 
 
 3 of Israel to God ; "Lord, thy prophets have 
 they killed, and destroyed thine altars; I 
 alone am left, and they seek after my life ?" 
 
 4 And what said the divine answer to him ? 
 "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand 
 men who have not bowed the knee before 
 
 5 Baal." Even so also at this present time 
 there is left a remnant according to the 
 
 6 election of grace. But if of grace, then it 
 is no longer on account of works ; for else 
 grace would not be grace.* 
 
 * The ordinary text contains an additional clause, which is 
 wanting in many of the MSS. " But if it be for the sake of 
 works then it is no more grace, for otherwise work is no more 
 work." 
 
 It is quite inconsistent with the view of the Apostle to supply 
 ZnravTa or oXov with the words tov Xaw avrov. Not only is it 
 quite contrary to the express teaching of St. Paul, that God 
 should cast off any one, since he himself shows that even a 
 
Chap. XL 1-6. 365 
 
 After having fully demonstrated that the fact 
 of so many Israelites not having entered the 
 kingdom of the Messiah, is perfectly in accord- 
 ance with the declarations of the Holy Scrip- 
 tures, and cannot, therefore, occasion astonishment 
 or unbelief in those who understand their deep 
 import ; the Apostle now approaches a question 
 of the greatest interest to his benevolent heart. 
 He asks : u What, then, is to be the fate of those 
 who have rejected the salvation offered them? 
 Has God cast off His people? Has He with- 
 drawn His helping hand from those to whom He 
 had formerly vouchsafed so many distinguishing 
 tokens of His love and merciful guidance? God 
 forbid ! He has not rejected the people which 
 He, to whom all things are known beforehand, 
 had called His own." The words, "I myself am 
 also an Israelite," are to be understood only as 
 an expression of his love, affected as he was by 
 the thought of so many being rejected, with 
 
 temporary holding back is man's fault and not God's ; but he 
 shows in this very chapter, that God, in spite of the opposition 
 of the Jews, which rendered their immediate participation in the 
 Messianic kingdom impossible, will nevertheless lead them all 
 to it. — 2 irpoeyva. Here, too, what was remarked at viii. 29, is 
 applicable. God has not cast off His own people, that people to 
 whom He has given such distinguished marks of His gracious 
 guidance, which was to be the subject of such a great and fruitful 
 development, as though He had made a mistake in His choice. 
 He knew His people beforehand, knew how they would act, and 
 yet chose them. We shall return to this election of the 
 Israelites further on. 
 
366 Chap. XI. 1—6. 
 
 whom he found himself so intimately connected 
 by friendship and affinity. — There are no grounds 
 for supposing that St. Paul is here speaking of 
 the Jews as a nation, and not of individuals, as 
 though he meant only to say that God had not re- 
 jected the Jews as a nation. St. Paul could not 
 have thought of the continued existence of the 
 Jews as the people of God in the old sense, even 
 had he not been aware of Christ's prediction of 
 the approaching subversion of their state, 
 since this would be in direct contradiction 
 to his teaching respecting Christ as the spiritual 
 Messiah and Redeemer, after whose advent the 
 Jews, as a nation, were to expect no other Messiah. 
 And what solace could his loving heart have 
 derived from the belief that God had not, indeed, 
 rejected the nation, but that many of the indi- 
 viduals composing it were doomed to eternal 
 perdition? As little could he be supposed to 
 speak of the more advanced amongst the Jews, 
 which he had before called Israel in a spiritual 
 sense, as distinguished from the great mass 
 of the Jews. (ix. 6, 7.) He is evidently speak- 
 ing of the whole nation, and the individuals 
 composing it, of all the descendants of Abraham 
 belonging to their community, since amongst 
 them he again distinguishes expressly the true 
 worshippers of God, the elect, and those who 
 are not included in that number. The question, 
 
Chap. XL 1— G. 367 
 
 therefore, is this: What will be the fate of 
 all the members of the Israelitish nation, who 
 do not as yet acknowledge Christ, who have 
 not declared themselves His followers? Are they 
 rejected for ever? God forbid! He who wills 
 that no one shall be lost, and who has the power 
 to execute His will, will lead them to salvation 
 in a manner surpassing all hope. He shows in 
 the first place, that amongst those who have not 
 publicly acknowledged Christ, there are many 
 who are not far from His kingdom; he then 
 elevates his view to the divine plans in the con- 
 duct of the world, which, hidden from the human 
 eye, so ordains and disposes all things, that 
 what may appear to us retrogression, debasement 
 and misery, becomes conducive to the benefit of 
 the whole as well as of the individual; and, 
 lastly, he promises salvation in the distant 
 future to all, who are not as yet sufficiently 
 purified to receive it. 
 
 In the first place, then, the Apostle points out, 
 that many among those who appear to have re- 
 jected the Gospel, are in a condition shortly to 
 receive it with heart and soul. It was impossible 
 to express this in a more impressive manner, 
 than by the example which is furnished by the 
 well-known story of Elijah. When this zealous 
 friend of God imagined the whole nation to have 
 forsaken Him, and believed himself to be His 
 
368 Chap. XL 1 — 6. 
 
 only remaining worshipper, he was told that God 
 had reserved to Himself seven thousand men, who 
 had not bowed the knee to Baal. How consola- 
 tory and instructive is this for all times ! Conso- 
 latory, since we see that even in times of the 
 greatest defection, the number of God's true 
 worshippers is not so small as many may in their 
 despondency fear ; for he adds, " as it was then 
 so is it now also." There have always been men 
 who have not bowed the knee to the idols of 
 their times — and all times have their idols. — 
 And instructive, since it shows us the wide 
 difference between the judgment of God who 
 looks into the heart, and that of even the best 
 disposed of men ; while it warns us not to judge 
 by outward appearances or the interest which 
 men display in what we may consider the right 
 form of worship, but to prove, if we can, the 
 intrinsic worth of their hearts, or if we cannot, 
 to leave all judgment to God. "As it was then," 
 says the Apostle, "so is it now also." There is 
 always a remnant of God's true worshippers 
 although they may be hidden from our view, 
 according to the election of grace ; for all things 
 are by election, by divine disposal and mercy. 
 If man could work out his salvation by his own 
 strength, divine conduct, predestination, and re- 
 demption, would be empty sounds. 
 
Chap. XL 7—10. 369 
 
 7 — 10. What then? that which Israel sought 
 after, it obtained not, only the elect obtained 
 
 8 it, the rest were hardened ; as it is written, 
 " God hath given to them a spirit of slumber, 
 eyes with which they see not and ears with 
 which they hear not, even unto this day." 
 
 9 And David saith: "Let their table be to 
 them for a snare, and for a net, and for a 
 
 10 stumbling-block, and for a retribution. Let 
 their eyes be dark that they may not see, 
 and ever bow Thou down their back." 
 
 If then, says the Apostle, the fate of man 
 does not depend upon his own exertions, but 
 altogether upon God's conduct and merciful 
 predestination, how can we be surprised that 
 the whole nation attained not that for which it 
 had been vainly striving? or that those only 
 attained it, who had by God been elected as fit 
 at the time, and had their places in the world 
 assigned to them accordingly, while the rest 
 were blinded ? The passages quoted from the 
 Old Testament will not appear harsh after what 
 we have observed on ix. 1 — 18. "God hath given 
 to them the spirit of slumber, eyes with which 
 they see not and ears with which they hear not," 
 means that as God gives all things, He appears, 
 
 8 Karduvt-ts from vv<rTci£eiv, vevetv, nutare, to nod, especially in 
 sleep ; to sleep. 
 
370 Chap. XL 11—16. 
 
 according to human ideas, to have given also 
 that which is evil. But God cannot have created 
 evil, His giving it, therefore, means no more than 
 that according to His gracious predestination 
 He assigns to the evil already existing, according 
 to His inscrutable plan, a place where it may be 
 least harmful, may even promote the general 
 progress, and itself be changed from evil to good. 
 The words of David would appear intolerably 
 selfish and repulsive, if they were understood as 
 an imprecation upon his personal enemies, for 
 the sake of averting some temporal danger that 
 threatened him. But they are not spoken against 
 his own enemies, except in so far as these are also 
 enemies of God, {e.g. Ps. cxxxix, 21, 22, and 
 other places,) and it is evident from their rela- 
 tion to the context that they mean only this : 
 Even the security of the festive board must 
 tend to the destruction of the plans of the un- 
 godly, their cunning machinations will be con- 
 founded, their strength will fail them, because 
 they acknowledge not righteousness. It is God 
 alone that executes His plans. Evil itself must 
 serve Him as an unwilling instrument in the 
 execution of His great purposes ! 
 
 11 — 16. Now I ask: Have they stumbled in 
 order to fall? God forbid! But through their 
 fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, in 
 
Chap. XI. 11—16. .371 
 
 12 order to excite them to emulation. But if 
 their fall was the world's gain, and their 
 diminution the Gentiles' gain, how much 
 
 13 more their full number! For this I say to 
 you, Gentiles: while I am Apostle of the 
 
 14 Gentiles I praise my office, if by any means 
 I may excite my kinsmen to emulation and 
 
 15 lead some of them to salvation. For if their 
 rejection were the reconciliation of the world, 
 what else would their reception be but life 
 
 16 from death? If the first fruits are holy, 
 the mass also is holy : and if the root is holy, 
 so also are the branches. 
 
 1 2 It appears to me unquestionable, after all that has been 
 said, that rjrTrjfia as well as eXdrrcofxa may denote a state of 
 diminution and numerical inferiority; and it is obvious that such 
 a signification gives the best sense here. Who is not reminded 
 of our Lord's parable of the marriage-feast, in which the very 
 circumstance of the lessening of the number of the guests by 
 the staying away of so many of those who were originally invited, 
 was the cause of strangers being admitted to the feast ? That 
 St. Paul meant to express the same idea, is shown by the whole 
 context, and especially the 25th verse. I should not translate 
 fJTTTjua with Dr. Tholuck by "decay," or "moral degradation," 
 which indeed is its meaning in the only other place in the New 
 Testament where it occurs, (1 Cor. vi. 7.) if only for the reason 
 that rJTTrjfia must then be taken as synonymous with Trapdwrmfia, 
 or else as a milder expression of the same idea. In the first case, 
 St. Paul would have said the same thing twice over to no pur- 
 pose ; in the second, we must suppose that he considered the 
 word 7rapdirT(ofia too strong, and was anxious to soften it, which 
 no one can believe. Moreover, why may we not suppose St. Paul 
 to have used the word, which certainly carries with it the notion 
 of diminution, in relation to quantity, as he does in that passage 
 in its relation to quality, even without adducing authorities? 
 
 BB 2 
 
372 Chap. XL 11—16. 
 
 St. Paul now proceeds to consider the future 
 prospects of such of his kinsmen as are still in 
 the state of obduracy which he has depicted. 
 That he is speaking of all these and not of the 
 true worshippers of God, whom he compares with 
 those seven thousand who had not bowed the 
 knee to Baal, is evident, since his question, 
 " Have they stumbled in order to fall, never to 
 rise again?" is not applicable to the latter. It 
 cannot be imagined that God would permit His 
 own worshippers, whom He Himself had elected 
 from the mass of the disobedient, to be lost. But 
 from the whole context and the conclusions at 
 which he arrives in the 32nd verse, for which he 
 here prepares his readers, it is still more evident 
 that he is speaking of the whole people of the 
 Israelites. Has God so conducted all of them, 
 
 7r\ripa>iia has thus its not unfrequent meaning of "the whole." — 
 13 1 see no reason for translating e'</>' oa-ov by "since." St. Paul 
 boasts of his Apostleship to the Gentiles, not because he is the 
 Apostle of the Gentiles, but because this furnishes him with the 
 opportunity of reacting beneficially on the Jews. e<f oaov is 
 never found in the New Testament in the sense of because or 
 since, but in the sense of during, in Matt. ix. 15, and 2 Pet. i. 13. 
 e<j> ocrov xp° v0v Rom. vii. 1, and 1 Cor. vii. 39. — anofioKri total 
 annihilation, spiritual death. It is well known how many ex- 
 travagant, unsatisfactory, and even absurd constructions have 
 been put upon this verse, because air&v has been always under- 
 stood with TrpoaKij^is and applied to the Jews. By laying the 
 emphasis on dno^oKr) and not on KardXXayrj, which seems quite 
 in keeping with the impassioned character of the discourse, and 
 applying TrpdcrXrj-^is to the Gentiles, not only is the difficulty 
 removed, but the best sense of all is elicited, and the one which 
 is most in keeping with the train of thought. 
 
Chap. XL 11—16. 373 
 
 he asks, that they could not but stumble against 
 the stumbling block set up, and that their stum- 
 bling should be a fall from which to rise no more ? 
 God forbid ! Their stumbling, their rejection of 
 the means of salvation, was destined rather to 
 give occasion to other nations to become partakers 
 of the blessings of the Gospel, so that the happiness 
 vouchsafed to them might react upon the Jews 
 and provoke them to emulation. St. Paul ex- 
 presses this idea in this place with reference only 
 to the object in view, he afterwards adverts to it 
 again with reference to the consequences. This 
 emulation was very likely to become the means of 
 leading to Christianity those who were ripe for 
 it, but whom outward circumstances had pre- 
 vented from receiving it ; and therefore, St. Paul 
 magnifies his Apostolic mission to the Gentiles 
 with respect to this reaction also, (13, 14,) with- 
 out, however, meaning to confine such effects of 
 his preaching, to the Jews of his own time. If 
 the stumbling and remaining behind of so many 
 in their course was gain to so many others, if 
 the diminishing of the number of those who 
 reached the goal, and the circumstance of their 
 number being so small, was gain to the Gentiles, 
 how much greater will their happiness be when 
 all the Israelites are partakers! God is abun- 
 dantly rich for all, the Apostle had before said, 
 lie is not like an earthly parent who could leave 
 
374 Chap. XI. 11—16. 
 
 more to one son only in proportion as he left 
 less to the others. His boundless riches are not 
 diminished by the number of the partakers, nay 
 every partaker becomes richer as the number in- 
 creases. Indeed, would not the blessedness of 
 beings, who are not only free from envy but full 
 of love in the highest sense of the word, as they 
 must be, who have attained to the highest state 
 of perfection, be necessarily diminished by the 
 thought, that while they are enjoying the most 
 perfect felicity, many are utterly shut out from it ? 
 And if the idea which the Apostle so often ex- 
 presses, that Christ is the Head and His followers 
 the members, is to be considered as anything 
 more than a metaphor, how can the health and 
 happiness of this body be considered perfect until 
 no single member be wanting, and the fulness 
 (irXTjpofjia) be realised in its highest sense? It 
 was necessary that this sublime conception of 
 Christianity should be communicated to the Gen- 
 tiles, not only to those who were already mem- 
 bers of the Christian community, but to all who 
 should become members of it in time to come, 
 in order to preserve them from the exclusive 
 and narrow-minded idea of the Jews, and from 
 imagining that the fate of the Jews had become 
 indifferent to the great Apostle, who displayed 
 such extraordinary energy for their own con- 
 version. He, therefore, interrupts his discourse 
 
Chap. XI. 11—16. 375 
 
 and addresses himself, in the 13th and 14th 
 verses, expressly to the Gentiles ; and the word 
 "for" with which he opens his apostrophe to 
 them, shows plainly that he is speaking with 
 reference to what he had just before said. "For 
 this I say to yon, Gentiles : while I am Apostle of 
 the Gentiles, I praise my office, if by any means I 
 may excite my kinsmen to emulation and lead 
 some of them to salvation." St. Paul here ex- 
 presses himself in the most delicate manner to 
 prevent, on the other hand, the misconception 
 that he had the conversion of the Gentiles at 
 heart only in so far as it might become the 
 means for the conversion and salvation of his 
 own people. Away, then, he exclaims, with the 
 idea so inconsistent with your own happiness 
 as well as my Apostolic dignity, that the Jews 
 who now remain behind that you may be saved, 
 are thereby lost eternally ! If your life, your 
 restoration, were accomplished through their 
 everlasting rejection and spiritual death, if they 
 had to die that you might live, what then would 
 your acceptance be but life from the dead? 
 But this is impossible. Spiritual death can 
 never become a means of spiritual life. God, 
 Himself Life, cannot allow the one to die, that 
 the other may live. They have remained behind, 
 but they are not rejected, they still belong to the 
 same consecrated people, whose fathers received 
 
376 Chap. XL 17 — 24. 
 
 such distinguished proofs of the love of God. 
 They are branches from the same root, sancti- 
 fied and beloved by Him. He loves them still, 
 and has not cast them out ! 
 
 17 — 24. Now if some of the branches were 
 broken off, and thou, a wild olive, wert 
 grafted in, and made a partaker of the root 
 
 18 and fatness of the olive-tree; boast not thy- 
 self proudly [self-complacently] above the 
 branches: but if thou dost boast thyself 
 [then know that] thou bearest not the root, 
 
 19 but the root thee. Thou wilt say then; 
 The branches were broken off, that I might 
 
 20 be grafted in ! True ! on account of unbe- 
 lief they were broken off, but thou standest 
 on account of faith. Be not presumptuous, 
 
 2 1 but look well before thee : for if God spared 
 not the natural branches he may also not 
 
 22 spare thee. Behold now the mercy and the 
 severity of God ; towards the fallen severity : 
 towards thee mercy, provided thou abide in 
 that mercy, else thou also mayest be cut off. 
 
 23 But they also if they persist not in unbelief, 
 shall be grafted in : for God is able to graft 
 
 24 them in again. For if thou hast been cut 
 out of the naturally wild olive-tree, and 
 unnaturally grafted into the good olive-tree, 
 how much more shall they who naturally 
 
Chap. XL 17—24. 377 
 
 belong k to it be grafted into their own 
 olive-tree ! 
 
 The Apostle had called the fathers of the 
 Jewish nation a root, and their descendants 
 branches. This leads him to compare the whole 
 nation, which occupied so conspicuous a place in 
 the divine economy, to a grafted, and the Gentiles 
 to a wild olive tree,* more fully developing the 
 important declaration, that the unbelieving Jews 
 are by no means to be considered as lost for ever, 
 and showing from a human point of view the 
 
 * The analogy does not appear complete, since it is the tree 
 that is improved by grafting, and not the shoot. Nor are we 
 helped out of the difficulty, by the places quoted by Dr. Tholuck, 
 {Columella de re rust., B. v. 9, and Palladius de re rust., B. 
 xiv. 53 and 54,) which inform us that a withered olive-tree 
 may be revived by inserting a wilding graft into it. For St. 
 Paul does not mean to say that the withered stem of Judaism 
 has been brought to new life by the insertion of the graft of 
 heathenism, since it is the power of Christ alone which has im- 
 bued that withered stem with new life. It might, however, per- 
 haps be said : as all stems are not capable of the highest culture, 
 so also all human races were not capable of bearing that most 
 glorious spiritual regeneration, for which the Jewish nation alone 
 had been reserved. It is historical, that this actually took place 
 and, therefore, according to St. Paul's doctrine of divine neces- 
 sity, it could not take place otherwise than it actually did. The 
 stem, therefore, was already ennobled, at the time of which St. 
 Paul speaks, and did not then require to be ennobled. This 
 also explains the observation that the wild olive tree, (dypUXaios,) 
 although fruitful by nature, yields useful and pleasant fruit only 
 by the insertion of the good graft. In the same manner, all that 
 has developed itself without the influence of Christianity, be- 
 comes really applicable to spiritual life, and attains to real value 
 and significance only after it has been penetrated by the vital 
 principle of Christ. 
 
378 Chap. XL 17—24. 
 
 condition of their attaining that blessing, to 
 which, according to their external position, they 
 appeared to have the first claim. In taking this 
 view, he could not speak of their future accept- 
 ance as a fact of necessity and without fail to 
 be accomplished; but only as dependent upon 
 their own state of mind and future progress in 
 godliness, since, according to the whole tenour 
 of his teaching, it is impossible that they should 
 become fit for spiritual blessedness, without 
 a complete change of disposition. St. Paul 
 avails himself also of the opportunity which here 
 offers itself, to point out to the former Gentiles, 
 that their own participation is by no means 
 secured by an outward profession of Christianity, 
 but must depend upon the purity and godliness 
 of their heart, upon faith. If some of the 
 branches pf the good olive tree, he says, have 
 been broken off, and thou, being a wild olive 
 tree, wert grafted in among them, and in them 
 partakest of the root and fatness of the tree, 
 let not this produce in thee any overbearing 
 presumption, do not ever forget thine original 
 position in respect to them.* They have cer- 
 
 * In this place also St. Paul speaks in the second person 
 singular, in order to make his address more general. He is not 
 thinking of one or more former heathens who might stand in 
 particular need of this admonition, but of all who might pride 
 themselves upon their position, quite irrespectively of time and 
 place. Compare page 97. 
 
Chap. XL 17—24. 379 
 
 tainly been broken off, that thou mightest be 
 grafted among them; this is, in fact, a reitera- 
 tion in other words of the same idea which he 
 had before expressed: through their stumbling, 
 salvation is come unto you — but they have not 
 been broken off never to be grafted in again. 
 This has not been done without cause ; not arbi- 
 trarily and irrespectively of the whole plan of 
 the All-wise and All-merciful, has His favour 
 been withdrawn from them and transferred to 
 thee. They were broken off, they obtained 
 not salvation, because they were unfit on ac- 
 count of their unbelief. Thou hast attained 
 it, if such be the case, through faith, with which 
 boasting and pride are incompatible. Prove 
 thyself, therefore, and remove them if they still 
 dwell within thee, the outward profession of 
 Christianity will else be as nothing. If the 
 cause of thine acceptance fail, how can the effect 
 be lasting? Why should God have greater for- 
 bearance towards the stranger than He had 
 towards His own people, or why should He be 
 partial in thy case? Acknowledge that the 
 plans of God in the conduct of the world have 
 nothing in them that is arbitrary, and that His 
 goodness and His severity are evidences of the 
 same wisdom! They experience His severity 
 without respect to their external position, 
 because they could not be saved by gentle means ; 
 
380 Chap. XL 25-32. 
 
 thou now experiencest His goodness, but only so 
 far as thou art fit to benefit by it, otherwise thou 
 also must experience His severity. But they are 
 treated with severity for their own good alone, 
 and as soon as the cause ceases, the effect also 
 will cease. If they who were not to be led to 
 a salutary change of their own disposition by 
 gentle means, are led to it by severity, if they 
 remain not in unbelief, they will be again ac- 
 cepted. How should God, who grafted in the 
 branches of the wild olive tree, be unwilling 
 to graft also the natural branches into the olive 
 tree! No! of a truth they are not rejected! 
 
 25 — 32. For I will not withhold from you, 
 brethren, this mystery, lest ye should con- 
 sider yourselves wise. Blindness has come 
 upon a part of Israel, until the fulness of 
 
 26 the Gentiles shall be come in: and so shall 
 all Israel be saved, as it is written, " From 
 Zion shall the Deliverer come, and turn 
 
 27 away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is 
 my Covenant with them, when I shall take 
 
 28 away their sins." In respect to the Gospel, 
 they are enemies for your sakes, but in re- 
 spect to the election, they are beloved for 
 
 29 the fathers' sakes. For God's gifts and 
 
 30 calling He can not repent of. As ye were 
 once unbelieving towards God, but have 
 
Chap. XL 25—32. 381 
 
 now found mercy through their unbelief: 
 
 31 so they now are unbelieving that they may 
 obtain mercy through the mercy shown to 
 
 32 you. For God hath concluded all in un- 
 belief, that He may have mercy upon all. 
 
 The Apostle in completing his grand delinea- 
 tion of the course of the divine government of 
 the world, yet throws another beam of light upon 
 it which illumines all remaining obscurity, and 
 renders it impossible for any one who follows 
 the Apostle's arguments with attention, to retain 
 an erroneous impression. One more impor- 
 tant truth I will communicate to you, he 
 says, that you may not, relying upon your 
 own judgment, and led astray by pre-conceived 
 opinions, misinterpret my words or the great 
 events which you are witnessing, and in which 
 you are yourselves so deeply concerned. What, 
 then, is this truth which St. Paul proclaims 
 as so necessary for the due understanding of 
 the whole of his teaching? It is the all-im- 
 portant declaration, that God has subjected all 
 the fallen spirits to the laws of necessity, that 
 He has so distributed the more advanced and the 
 less advanced, and assigned to each of them the 
 place most conducive to the realisation of His 
 great purposes, and to their mutual furtherance 
 and development, that all without exception may 
 
382 Chap. XL 25—32. 
 
 be led to freedom and true felicity. We must 
 not forget that St. Paul could not place this 
 most important of all truths (which as we have 
 anticipated it in our exposition^ cannot now sur- 
 prise us,) at the head of the investigation which 
 he begins in the ninth chapter, because, agree- 
 ably to the requirements and standing-point 
 of his readers, he was obliged to commence 
 with a view of the time present, or of that 
 which then engaged their most lively attention, 
 and in the historical development of which 
 they were so deeply interested, in order to 
 show them that this development was taking 
 place in accordance with the declarations of God, 
 which he interprets in the most spiritual manner. 
 As he traced it through the rigid system of 
 necessity so inexplicable to man, he could only 
 point to the undeniable fact of its existence, 
 and with respect to its inexplicability refer to 
 the positive declaration : "It is impossible that 
 God should be unjust." In the whole course of 
 his exposition, this revelation of the mystery of 
 God's workings is, therefore, the illuminating 
 ray, the acme of the whole development. It 
 is the key which opens to us the visible world, 
 the link which connects it with the invisible 
 world. St. Paul here enunciates this mystery of 
 divine love, to which he had often alluded, in 
 the most positive manner. But recollecting the 
 
Chap. XI. 25—32. 383 
 
 requirements of his readers, he enunciates it 
 first in reference to the Jewish nation, from the 
 consideration of whose part in the development 
 of the great scheme he had set out, and then 
 with the most comprehensive sweep, in reference 
 to the whole race. He had before represented 
 the future salvation of those Jews who were 
 as yet in a state of obduracy as a possibility 
 only, depending upon the change of their affec- 
 tions and dispositions ; and he might have 
 been understood to mean that their acceptance 
 might possibly never take place, if they now 
 persisted in their obduracy and unbelief. The 
 Apostle had certainly no reason to fear such a 
 misconception on the part of those who had fully 
 understood his previous communications, and 
 who had become assured that even the best and 
 most perfect, without any exception, had at one 
 time been alienated from God, and were indebted 
 for their present advanced condition as well as 
 for their ultimate perfection solely, to the mercy 
 of the Redeeming God, and not to their own 
 merit. They could not doubt that the same 
 immutable love which had conducted them so 
 far, would do as much for those who were still in 
 the state in which they themselves had formerly 
 been. Yet on a question of such moment, so 
 unfathomable to the human understanding, that 
 it cannot in itself be duly understood without a 
 
384 Chap. XL 25—32. 
 
 deep insight into spiritual freedom, the Apostle 
 was desirous of leaving no uncertainty whatever, 
 lest it . should entail grief beyond measure for 
 the possible fate of their unhappy brethren, or 
 produce a vain conceit of their own superiority. 
 He, therefore, adds in the most positive terms : 
 Their obduracy will not last for ever, but only 
 for a time, (the divine wisdom and love has un- 
 failing and inexhaustible means for conducting 
 the most obdurate to their salvation, without 
 putting constraint upon their true freedom,) 
 the distribution amongst each other of the more 
 and the less perfected, and the remaining behind 
 of the latter will cease when the object of the 
 divine arrangement is fulfilled ; and this distri- 
 bution furnishes in itself the means for their 
 advancement in due time. And thus* shall all 
 Israel be saved. This is the meaning, St. Paul 
 continues, of that glorious prediction, "from 
 Zion will the Saviour come, and this will be His 
 redemption that he will turn away ungodliness 
 from Jacob." This is the new Covenant, that 
 their sins shall be taken away. And in order 
 not to leave the remotest doubt that he is speak- 
 ing of all the Israelites, he adds : They are as yet 
 enemies to the Gospel, and that too for your ad- 
 vantage, but they are and will remain the people 
 which God has chosen, that the salvation of the 
 
 * ovTa involves the notion both of time and manner. 
 
Chap. XL 25—32. 385 
 
 world may proceed from them, whose fathers He 
 conducted in so miraculous a manner, and to 
 whom He gave such glorious promises for all 
 their descendants. But God cannot err in His 
 election, neither can He repent of His gifts and 
 promises ! 
 
 St. Paul had before distinctly said : Not all 
 Israelites are true Israelites, not all the descend- 
 ants of Abraham are children of the promise. 
 In this place he tells us as distinctly that all 
 Israelites belong to the people of election, and 
 extends the promise to all ivithout exception. 
 How are these apparent contradictions to be re- 
 conciled ? Obviously, and in the only satisfactory 
 way, by admitting that St. Paul is speaking of 
 development in the visible world and in reference 
 to time. All are destined for salvation, and all 
 shall be saved. But no one can attain salvation 
 before he is matured, before the godly principle 
 or faith has quickened him, before he has become 
 a true Israelite, a son of Abraham in faith. 
 They only who are now such can now attain 
 salvation ; the rest, only when their preparatory 
 course shall be completed, and completed it most 
 assuredly will be through the development of 
 God's immutable counsel, in which all things 
 work in furtherance of the great object, even 
 such as, to us, appear insurmountable hindrances. 
 The true Israelites, the people of election in the 
 
 cc 
 
386 Chap. XL 25—32. 
 
 higher sense of the word, from whom the salva- 
 tion of the world was visibly to proceed and, as 
 the event has confirmed, has in reality proceeded, 
 were indeed only the most distinguished, and 
 exalted of that people. They were called the 
 people of election justly and not from national 
 vanity ; because, according to the thoroughly con- 
 sistent doctrine of St. Paul, all things come to 
 pass according to election, that is, according to 
 the immutable predestination of God. But in 
 accordance with this inscrutable predestination 
 it was necessary that the noble stem should bear 
 many ignoble branches, and so we find a Judas 
 among the immediate disciples of the Lord, "that 
 the Scripture might be fulfilled," that is, because 
 this was necessary according to the plans of the 
 divine wisdom. But this blending together of 
 good and wicked men, while it displayed the 
 latter in all their deformity could not, accord- 
 ing to the plans of God, prove any detriment 
 to them. They were, as St. Paul distinctly 
 tells us elsewhere, worse than many of the Gen- 
 tiles and had to yield precedence to them. St. 
 Paul, therefore, in saying that they still belong 
 to the people to whom God gave His merciful 
 promises, does not intend to flatter their national 
 prejudices, but only to apply to them the uni- 
 versal truth, that all the promises of God will 
 most surely be fulfilled, and that consequently 
 the hour of their salvation will also come. 
 
Chap. XL 25—32. 387 
 
 If then we have rightly understood the 
 thoughts of the Apostle, as simple as they 
 are divinely sublime, it follows that we are not 
 to look upon the words of the 25th verse, "until 
 the fulness (ir\rjpo)fia) of the Gentiles be come in," 
 as a positive prediction that the whole nation of 
 the Israelites will not acknowledge Christianity 
 until all the heathen, without exception, have 
 first accepted it. St. Paul must, beyond all 
 doubt, have meant this word to express a great 
 number of heathens, predestined according to 
 God's decree. The word itself would leave it 
 undetermined whether he meant all or only a 
 great number, and it may remain so without any 
 prejudice to ourselves, if we are only assured 
 that neither Jews nor Gentiles will ultimately 
 remain excluded. It is certainly not probable 
 that the great mass of the Jews should remain 
 in utter obduracy until the last of the heathens 
 should become a true Christian, if only because a 
 change in the whole disposition of man is never 
 brought about on a sudden impulse, but is de- 
 pendent upon gradual progress. — In the 12th 
 verse of the chapter the word Tr^rjpwfia cannot 
 be taken to mean anything but the whole, because 
 the sense of the passage absolutely requires it. 
 
 St. Paul tells us, then, distinctly, that every 
 individual member of the nation will in due time 
 partake of all the blessings of the Messiah's 
 
 c c 2 
 
388 Chap. XL 25—32. 
 
 kingdom. But how was this happy consumma- 
 tion to be attained by the mass of those who in 
 the mean time should die in unbelief? What 
 was to become of his relations and friends, 
 whom St. Paul saw dying in this state, and 
 whose fate he must naturally have had more 
 nearly at heart than the fate of those who should 
 be born thousands of years after him? — If the 
 assertion that "Thus all Israel shall be saved," 
 is more than an empty sound, and if St. Paul 
 considers this earth as the arena assigned for 
 the purification of the fallen spirits, and their 
 rehabilitation for eternal blessedness, what a 
 weight of probability is added to the conjecture, to 
 which the Apostle's suggestions have already led 
 us, (Comp. pp. 188 and 277,) that those who have 
 not reached the object of their life, will have to 
 appear again as inhabitants of this earth, perhaps 
 after a very long interval, to repair what has been 
 neglected, to make amends, under God's conduct, 
 for their evil deeds, since no one is to come out 
 thence till he has "paid the uttermost farthing." 
 (Matt. v. 26.) St. Paul does not express himself 
 distinctly on this subject, as his purpose did not 
 require it; but he adds: As you were once in 
 unbelief and have attained salvation against your 
 expectation, and not through your own merit, but 
 through the mercy of God, and as this unbelief 
 has become the means of your furtherance, so will 
 
Chap. XL 25—32. 389 
 
 they also who are now in unbelief, through the 
 same mercy of God be saved ; and your salvation 
 will, under divine providence, become the means 
 of their furtherance. — And now the Apostle 
 crowns the whole of his sublime discourse with 
 the glorious and pregnant words; "God hath 
 concluded them all in unbelief, that he might 
 have mercy upon them all." Unbelief is here, in 
 the widest sense of the word, separation from God, 
 as an unavoidable consequence of the disorder 
 engendered by the fall, which would have doomed 
 all fallen spirits to everlasting misery, if the 
 Redeeming God had not interposed. He circum 
 scribed and limited the realm of darkness and dis- 
 order, subjected it to the wise laws of necessity, 
 disposed all things according to the wise and 
 loving plans of His immutable will, that dark- 
 ness might be turned into light, disorder into 
 divine order, misery into blessedness, and that 
 through His mercy all things might be restored 
 to harmony and liberty, truth and goodness.* 
 
 Lost in the contemplation of these mysterious 
 workings of God, who thus disposes with equal 
 love, the destinies of so many millions, who, out 
 of the fulness of His riches, dispenses to each at 
 every moment of his existence what is needed 
 
 * Several manuscripts have ra iravra in the 32nd verse, instead 
 of tovs irdvras which gives an excellent sense if we bear in mind 
 viii. 20, 21. 
 
390 Chap. XL 33—36. 
 
 for his real good, who, notwithstanding the appar- 
 ently unequal distribution of His mercies, never 
 withholds from one in order to give to others, but 
 who with divine foresight and wisdom appoints 
 to each his place, and regulates the course of his 
 life so as to secure the blessedness of all, which 
 is the great object of His love, — the Apostle now 
 breaks forth in the inspired words : 
 
 33_36. the depth of the riches, both of 
 the wisdom and knowledge of God ! How 
 unsearchable are His decrees, how untrace- 
 
 34 able His ways ! Who hath known the mind of 
 the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? 
 
 35 Or who hath first given to Him that it 
 
 36 might be repaid to him? For from Him, 
 and through Him, and in Him are all things. 
 To Him be glory for ever ! Amen. 
 
 Unsearchable, indeed, to the human under- 
 standing are the plans of divine wisdom, un- 
 fathomable to the human eye the ways by which 
 the eternal love of God accomplishes His glorious 
 purposes ! However much we may be able in the 
 course of our own lives, or in all that we know of 
 the history of humanity, to trace the mysterious 
 
 33 xpifia, judgment. This word, which is here used in its most 
 pregnant meaning, throws light on all that has been said previously 
 of the judgments and decrees of God. 
 
Chap. XL 33—36. 391 
 
 workings of God, (and alas! how often are the 
 best of us deceived by erroneous impressions!) 
 never are we indebted for any true knowledge 
 to our own researches, never can the most 
 acute human understanding comprehend any 
 decree of God; no mortal was ever His counsel- 
 lor! What we know, what we hope for in faith, 
 we owe alone to the revelation which it has 
 pleased the Almighty to pour into the hearts of 
 those who are fit in purity and humility to hear 
 His voice ! No one hath seen God at any time, 
 but He who is one with the Father hath revealed 
 it to us. And what He has vouchsafed to impart 
 in the shape of revelations or in visible gifts, 
 intended for our guidance to heaven, is to be. 
 accepted as flowing only from His mercy; for 
 we can have no merit on which to found a claim. 
 We had lost all through our own transgression, 
 and He gives us all back; but at the time and 
 in the order appointed by His wisdom and love. 
 Well is it for us that we are creatures of His 
 hand, that our destinies do not lie in our own 
 power, but that divine necessity prevails ! All 
 that was created by Him can by Him alone be 
 restored and perfected. To Him, and Him alone, 
 be the glory ! 
 
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH. 
 
 1 — 2. I entreat you, therefore, brethren, by the 
 mercy of God to devote your bodies as a 
 living holy sacrifice, acceptable to] God, as 
 
 2 your rational service, and not to conform 
 yourselves to this world, but let yourselves 
 be transformed to the renewing of your 
 mind, so that ye may prove what is the will 
 of God, even that which is good and accept- 
 able and perfect. 
 
 The Apostle had completed his sublime pic- 
 ture of the divine government of the world, by 
 showing that mercy is at once the unchanging 
 principle and final cause of the divine proceed- 
 ings, that all fallen spirits had been subjected 
 to necessity, in order that all might be saved 
 and restored to peace and blessedness. By this 
 mercy of God, this highest conception of which 
 the human mind is capable, he enjoins his breth- 
 ren to give themselves up, heart and soul, to 
 His compassionate love, and no longer to hinder 
 
 2 I follow here the in every way preferable reading, ow^/m- 
 ri^aBai .... n(Tafj.opcj)ov<j6iu. These infinitives depend on the 
 preceding TrnpaKaXo). 
 
Chap. XII. 1—2. 393 
 
 its blessed effects through the pursuit of selfish 
 purposes in opposition to the will of God and, 
 consequently, to their own happiness and tha 
 of the whole community. — Indeed, how can he 
 who is truly initiated into this deep mystery 
 of divine mercy, and penetrated by the firm 
 assurance, that a voluntary defection from the 
 divine and only blissful order, has been the 
 cause of all our misery; that the abandoning 
 the one central point, and the selfish striv- 
 ing of so many to constitute themselves the 
 central point, brought forth discord, chaos, 
 darkness and hell; that the darkened spirits had 
 no light of their own to illuminate the path for 
 their return, and that the bonds which held 
 them could not be broken by the strength of the 
 fettered beings, but only by the strength of the 
 Redeeming God; that He, the Redeeming God, 
 could desire to receive nothing for Himself, but 
 only to give, and required of us nothing but 
 acceptance of His proffered blessings ; that, with 
 boundless self-sacrificing love, He brought the 
 fulness of His divine blessedness a willing sacri- 
 fice for our redemption; that, by obedience or 
 unremitting adherence to the one and immu- 
 table plan of the divine mercy, He restored light 
 and felicity; how can he who is fully impressed 
 in his inmost soul with the truth of this Gospel, 
 
394 Char XII. 1—2. 
 
 which is the power of God unto salvation, desire 
 to attain salvation by any other means than 
 those appointed by divine mercy ? How can 
 he by prosecuting his own plans in opposition 
 to those of God, desire to stand in the way 
 of his own salvation and that of others? How 
 can he have any wish but to yield himself up 
 with all his aspirations and hopes, a sacrifice in 
 return for the sacrifice of Christ? How can he 
 wish to bring only a partial sacrifice retaining 
 a portion of his self-will, when his so doing was 
 originally the cause of the fall and its direful 
 consequences ? How can he think by the sacri- 
 fice of animals and first fruits to compensate, as 
 it were, the sacrifice which Christ offered in 
 Himself? — No! he will desire to offer himself 
 with all that he has and all that he is, a living 
 sacrifice; he will feel that he has no exclusive 
 existence; he will sacrifice to the all-love of 
 God his very body, and all that distinguishes 
 him from others. A pure and holy life dedicated 
 to godliness is the only sacrifice acceptable to 
 God, arid can alone lead to the full enjoyment of 
 the felicity for which we are destined. This, 
 the Apostle adds, is the only service which the 
 purified intellect will admit. — Therefore con- 
 form not yourselves to the world, look not to 
 worldly advantages, measure nothing by the 
 
Chap. XII. 1—2. 395 
 
 measure of your self-love or imaginary advan- 
 tage, comfort, or reputation ; desire, not to shape 
 the course of your own lives ; but let it be shaped, 
 as a proof of your resignation, to a perfect reno- 
 vation by the influence of redeeming love. Then 
 will you learn what is the will of God, and be- 
 come partakers of what is good, well-pleasing 
 in His sight, and perfect, which is impossible 
 while your will differs from the will of God, 
 while by following your own desires, you remain 
 incapable of accepting what God of His ful- 
 ness offers you. Then will you have no more 
 uncertainty as to your actions in particular 
 cases; the will of God, the divine law, what is 
 acceptable in the sight of God, will be written 
 within your heart. You will search for 
 the will of God, but you will have another 
 measure than that of your own worldly advan- 
 tage, convenience, and imaginary wisdom. By 
 the worldly measure, one duty clashes with an- 
 other, one intention with other intentions, and 
 what is good and perfect cannot be attained. 
 Measure by the principle of self-sacrificing love, 
 which yields itself up for the benefit and happi- 
 ness of all. There will then be no conflicting 
 duties, there will be but one, which is the further- 
 ance of the kingdom of God ; interests will not 
 war with interests, for there will be but one, 
 the beatification of all, and the sacrifice of self- 
 
396 Chap. XII. 3-8. 
 
 will. And the proof that you have attained what 
 is good and perfect will be a heavenly peace, and 
 the love of God shed abroad in your hearts. 
 
 3 — 8. For I say unto each of you, by the 
 grace given unto me, that he think not 
 more highly of himself than he ought to 
 think, but as leadeth to modesty, according 
 as God hath imparted to each the measure 
 
 4 of faith. For as in one body we have many 
 
 5 members, but all members have not the 
 
 6 same office, so we, being many, are one body 
 in Christ, and members one of another, but 
 have different gifts according to the grace 
 given unto us, if prophecy [let it be esteemed] 
 according to the proportion of faith ; if minis- 
 
 7 tration, [in the same way according to the 
 faith shown] in ministration; if teaching [in 
 like manner] in teaching; if exhorting, in 
 
 8 exhortation. But he who distributeth, [let 
 him esteem himself according as he doeth it] 
 with simplicity; he who superintendeth, [in 
 like manner] with diligence; he who exe- 
 cuteth mercy with cheerfulness. 
 
 5- 8 efre Trpo(f>r)Teiav. k. t. X. The construction of these sen- 
 tences is broken and varying. The passage cannot be simply 
 taken as a description of the various gifts according to their 
 effects, on which account the majority of commentators find 
 in it admonitions as to their right application and exercise, 
 supplying the corresponding verbs accordingly. The above way 
 of taking it seems to me the best, because St. Paul is exhibiting 
 
Chap. XII. 3-8. 397 
 
 This entire submission to the influences of the 
 divine Spirit to which the Apostle invites us, 
 requires, on the part of man, humility in the 
 estimation of himself, for whoever over-rates 
 himself will thereby diminish the power of the 
 divine influence, or, dissatisfied with the sphere 
 of action assigned to him, will strive to raise 
 himself above others, or to procure for himself 
 selfish advantages. The Apostle connects this 
 advice with the exhortation he had before given 
 by the copula /<?r, to show that, without a correct 
 estimation of oneself, this exhortation cannot be 
 complied with. This, however, is widely differ- 
 ent from an underrating of the gifts which have 
 been vouchsafed to us, which would render us 
 incapable of using them in a becoming manner; 
 and it would also betoken a want of grateful 
 acknowledgment on our part of what divine re- 
 demption has already accomplished for us. It 
 is our duty, on the contrary, to acknowledge with 
 thankfulness the gifts which we have received 
 as bestowed by God, and entrusted to us in con- 
 formity with the plans of redeeming love, and for 
 the purposes of salvation ; and to estimate their 
 extent and value by the standard of faith, — by 
 
 a proper self-estimation according to the measure of faith, as the 
 ground of complete submission, and thus only the comparison be- 
 twee n persons endowed with different gifts and the members of 
 the body attains its full significance. 
 
398 Chap. XII. 3—8. 
 
 the powers of our mind as they are directed 
 towards Christ, and quickened for the advance- 
 ment of His kingdom. This is what the Apostle 
 calls "thinking soberly of ourselves," for it not 
 only excludes all self-praise but reminds us also, 
 that all gifts, powers, talents, wealth, and honours 
 are of value, and are to be considered as real 
 blessings and advantages only in so far as we 
 apply them in faith for the furtherance of the 
 kingdom of God. We are to have no other 
 measure for temporal and spiritual gifts but that 
 which is the measure in heaven, namely, a faith- 
 ful, submissive and loving ministration in the 
 kingdom of God. In so far then, as we value or 
 use otherwise any gifts entrusted to us, they are 
 to us not heavenly but temporal gifts, which 
 must be foregone until changed into heavenly 
 ones. Until then we cannot think of ourselves 
 as we ought to think. St. Paul illustrates this 
 idea by likening the Christian community to the 
 human body, which can enjoy perfect health 
 and strength only so long as every member ful- 
 fils to the utmost extent the object for which 
 it was intended. If we imagine a body in which, 
 independently of the life of the whole, every 
 member has an individual conscious existence, 
 as indeed must be the case in a spiritual commu- 
 nity — no perfect well-being of the whole body can 
 be thought of, while certain members, exalting 
 
Chap. XII. 3—8. 399 
 
 themselves above the others, refuse the service 
 for which they were designed, or desire to sepa- 
 rate themselves ; or even while any of them con- 
 sider themselves neglected or mean in comparison 
 with others, and perform their duties with dis- 
 content or disgust. The eye, separated from the 
 body, would lose its power of vision ; and, even 
 during its connection with the body, would be 
 useless if the foot refused to convey it to the 
 object upon which to exercise its powers; and so 
 with other members. The whole body can enjoy 
 a full, healthy and vigorous existence only while 
 each member, with a perfect knowledge of its 
 own duties, has also the conviction that it is 
 wisely placed, where a cheerful performance of 
 its duties and a voluntary submission to the 
 whole body may secure its own happiness to- 
 gether with that of the whole community. (See 
 1 Cor. xii.) But in order to appreciate justly 
 ourselves and our relation to others, individually 
 and collectively, we must never forget that we 
 are not indebted for them to our own merit or 
 choice, but to the mercy of God. The Apostle 
 enumerates, by way of illustration, a few of the 
 many endowments and functions of the different 
 members of the spiritual body, but leaves it un- 
 determined, and probably not without good 
 reason, whether he alludes to private or public 
 duties; it appears, at least from the want of 
 
400 Chap. XII. 3—8. 
 
 regularity in the enumeration of them, that it 
 was his principal object to show, that no one is 
 to overrate his office to the detriment of the 
 whole body. All appointments and offices are 
 to be estimated as divine gifts in so far only as 
 they are used for the furtherance of the kingdom 
 of Christ in faith, in a spirit turned devoutly 
 towards God, and in self-sacrificing love. Pro- 
 phecy^ insight into divine truth and its inter- 
 pretation, is really a divine gift and to be valued 
 as such by the possessor in so far only as he is 
 desirous of using it for the purpose of instruction 
 and real advancement of the community, and not 
 for the sordid purpose of furthering his own 
 influence and authority among men; for how 
 could such an ignoble admixture of selfishness 
 be a gift from God, opposed as it is to godliness ? 
 What beneficial effects soever the communication 
 of a divine truth may have upon those who ac- 
 cept it in purity of heart, the impure lips from 
 which it proceeds will not thereby be sanctified, 
 any more than the leaf upon which holy truths 
 are written, considered as a material leaf, will 
 thereby become holy. In the same manner, 
 whoever is entrusted with ministry is not to 
 consider the outward office as that which makes 
 it a gift from God ; let him consider himself a 
 minister in so far as in his ministry he displays 
 the spirit of faith. So also the teacher and he 
 
Chap. XIT. 3—8. 401 
 
 that exhorteth. He also who dispenses to others 
 from his worldly stores, let him not over-estimate 
 himself on account of his disposition to give, 
 for that very disposition is a gift from God as 
 well as the ability to give; let him rejoice in 
 such a disposition only in so far as he gives with 
 cheerfulness and in simplicity of heart, in so far 
 as he bestows his gifts in the spirit of love and 
 faith without any corrupt, secondary purpose. 
 So also he who administrates, only in so far as 
 his diligence does not proceed from the desire of 
 outward acknowledgment or similar corrupt in- 
 tentions ; and he who shows mercy, let him not 
 judge himself by his outward deeds, but only in 
 so far as they proceed with cheerfulness from 
 faith and love. 
 
 If we thus judge of our inward worth solely 
 by the standard of faith, how will all self-praise 
 be at an end, how much shall we find ourselves 
 in need of divine help continually; and how 
 much shall we, on the other hand, have to praise 
 and glorify our Father in heaven for what we 
 through His mercy possess ! How will what has 
 been vouchsafed to us, become an earnest of 
 greater gifts in store for us ! 
 
 The Apostle now adds a series of short ex- 
 hortations, of which, from their construction, it 
 remains doubtful whether they are intended as 
 a mirror for self-examination, or as positive in- 
 
 D D 
 
402 Chap. XII. 3—8. 
 
 junctions. They may be looked upon as either 
 the one or the other, according to the different 
 stages of our progress. It will be worth while 
 to develope this more fully, in order to establish 
 the proper relations between Christian morals 
 and doctrine. 
 
 If we were possessed of perfect faith, as we 
 have described it elsewhere, we could be in no 
 doubt as to our duties in any situation in life, 
 because from such faith would spring the in- 
 tuitive knowledge of what we should do as well 
 as the power necessary for performance just, as 
 fruit springs naturally from a healthy tree. 
 But no one possesses this perfection of faith; 
 and even the most faithful with all due con- 
 sciousness of his faith, cannot but exclaim, 
 "Lord, increase our faith!" It is, therefore, of 
 immeasurable advantage, that the Gospel exhibits 
 to us the fruits of faith in their fulness, so that 
 even the most perfected may, by comparing them 
 with the fruits of his own faith ascertain what 
 degree of faith he has as yet attained, that he 
 may not think of himself more highly than he 
 ought, and may at all times continue to long for 
 the further help from above which is held out by 
 the Gospel. But not all who belong to the out- 
 ward community of Christians are to be num- 
 bered among the more advanced. Not only at 
 the time of the first planting of Christianity 
 
Chap. XII. 3-8. 403 
 
 did many enter its communion who were neither 
 able to understand nor willing to apply its divine 
 essence, who were not buried and raised from the 
 dead with Christ, but this must have been the case 
 even to a much greater extent when Christianity 
 had become the religion of many nations, and 
 when birth alone insured reception within its 
 pale. It is evident that it lay not in the plan of 
 divine Providence, that such only should make 
 outward profession of Christianity, as were fit 
 also to embrace it inwardly or spiritually, but 
 that many should go through the preparatory 
 stages of which St. Paul speaks in the seventh 
 chapter of our Epistle, as outward Christians, 
 just as among the members of the Jewish The- 
 ocracy there were many who were not Israelites 
 in the spiritual sense of the word. What St. 
 Paul says of the Jews, (ii. 27 — 29,) is, therefore, 
 applicable also to the Christian community ; 
 he is not a Christian who outwardly professes 
 Christianity, who adheres to the letter, but he 
 only who is penetrated by its spirit. The in- 
 junctions given or confirmed by the New Testa- 
 ment are intended for all such as are, in this 
 sense, still under the law. Their non-fulfil- 
 ment will make them aware of their sinfulness ; 
 their fulfilment, on the other hand, will pave the 
 way to a higher degree of excellence ; for they 
 cannot consider the words of the Apostle " ye 
 dd 2 
 
404 Chap. XI L 3—8. 
 
 are no more under the law," as spoken in re- 
 ference to themselves. But as the regions of 
 law and of grace are not absolutely separated 
 from each other in this life, all rules clearly 
 expressive of the will of God, must be considered 
 as a law binding even upon those who are essen- 
 tially in the region of grace, and, therefore, 
 released from the spirit of servitude and fear, 
 until they are acknowledged and fulfilled as the 
 natural fruit of faith. For this reason, the 
 preaching of repentance, in its proper sense, 
 finds its place in the Christian economy as well 
 as the proclamation of mercy; and we have 
 still greater reason to magnify the Gospel for 
 expounding to us the will of God in respect to 
 our duties and observances, than St. Paul had 
 to reckon this as an advantage of the Jewish 
 dispensation, (iii. 2; ix. 4.) 
 
 But in no way are the rules which are given 
 by St. Paul and the writers of the New Testa- 
 ment generally, to be looked upon as a new law 
 to replace the laws of the Old Testament, through 
 the fulfilment of which man is to merit accept- 
 ance with God, or blessedness ; and in this sense 
 we are certainly justified in saying, that we 
 are no longer under the law. The declaration, 
 that by the law of works no one can be justified, 
 would apply to the most perfect system of 
 Ethics considered as a law. "If there had been 
 
Chap. XII. 3—8. 405 
 
 a law given which could have given life, verily 
 righteousness should have been by the law," 
 (Gal. iii. 21,) and we might say, if such a law 
 could have been given by man, nay, by God 
 Himself, there would have been no need for 
 God to send His Son into the world in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, to accomplish that which 
 is impossible for all law, namely, to destroy sin 
 in the flesh, (viii. 3.) It is, therefore, positively 
 taught by the Gospel, that no moral system can 
 give life, or is possessed of redeeming power; 
 and thus Christian Ethics are not the root but 
 the fruit, the fruit of faith. Without faith it is 
 impossible to please God! 
 
 This makes it evident, that they who imagine 
 that a perfect moral code is all that we have to 
 look for in Christianity, or who consider Chris- 
 tianity merely as a foundation upon which to 
 construct some perfect moral system, (upon the 
 highest end of which, however, there has ever 
 been a diversity of opinions,) are altogether in 
 error as to the very essence of Christianity, and 
 consequently as to the nature of man. All 
 moral systems hitherto constructed, have only 
 confirmed the declaration of St. Paul, that no 
 law has any quickening power, a declaration 
 which all future systems must of necessity con- 
 firm, because it lies in the nature of the subject. 
 Christian morality, as we have seen, arrogates 
 
406 Chap. XII. 3—8. 
 
 to itself no such power. No such system, con- 
 sidered as a law or rule, but only the Gospel, 
 is a power of God unto salvation, (i. 16.) It is 
 the Gospel that at once shows us the way, and 
 furnishes the power to walk in it. How, then, 
 should a code of morals of man's devising have the 
 power to accomplish what the divine law cannot 
 accomplish ? To recognise the utter emptiness 
 of such a misconception, let us recollect, on the 
 one hand, the natural state of the fallen race, 
 and the diversity in the spiritual condition of 
 the human beings living at any given time, as 
 described by the Bible and confirmed by daily 
 experience ; and, on the other hand, let us con- 
 sider the high and infinite destiny of man. " We 
 have been called unto liberty," and we are to " be 
 perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect." This, 
 then, is our destination : to be perfect with free- 
 dom. From inward impulse without any ex- 
 ternal compulsion and without requiring any 
 further guidance at the hands of man, we shall 
 desire and perform nothing but what is godly; 
 (John vi. 45 ;) subjecting ourselves with freedom 
 as members of the great spiritual body, we shall 
 be unable to have any desire but that of accom- 
 plishing in our place what may further the 
 happiness of the whole body, and so of our- 
 selves! What created being, fallen through 
 his own transgression and requiring restoration, 
 
Chap. XII. 3-8. 40? 
 
 what darkened being requiring light from above 
 would dare to set himself in the place of the 
 Deity, by his own strength to fathom the plans 
 of the Eternal in respect to the final destiny of 
 the whole human race, of which so great a por- 
 tion is as yet in the lowest condition, and to lay 
 down positive rules for all imaginable cases, and 
 for so many millions differing infinitely in their 
 pursuits and aspirations? And the problem of 
 constructing a perfect system of morals would 
 certainly be no less ! But even assuming that the 
 task could be performed, what power is to unite 
 so many clashing interests, or to secure to such a 
 system universal acceptance ? An influence from 
 without is not to be thought of, because, in that 
 case, the law would again be only preparatory 
 like the Mosaic law; and, not working from 
 within, it would not be a law of life and free- 
 dom. No limited human understanding can 
 fathom the highest or infinite purposes; no 
 demonstrations of the understanding can have 
 power to induce all men, under all circum- 
 stances, to sacrifice that to which their passions 
 or their imaginary interests excite them, for the 
 sake of a distant and uncomprehended advantage 
 of a higher order; and even if this were possible, 
 the sacrifice and the choice would evidently pro- 
 ceed from interested motives, inducing them to 
 give up a lesser benefit for the sake of a greater, 
 
408 Chap. XII. 3—8. 
 
 and not from love, for which God has destined 
 man. — Or can we expect reason, the highest 
 divine principle in man for the apprehension of 
 the things of God, to accomplish the task? But 
 it was precisely this divine principle in man, that 
 was darkened by the fall and fettered by sin, 
 which has made and still makes us unfit to re- 
 cognise God and godliness, in so far as we are yet 
 sinful. How, then, could we assume all men 
 to possess in like measure what they all lack, 
 though in different degrees? or how could all 
 make up their deficiencies with that very strength 
 which they are without? 
 
 No moral code, then, either of human or 
 heavenly origin has the power of leading to 
 salvation. It could never have any efficacy of 
 its own, but must require confirmation from 
 without, and thus be only preparatory, and 
 still in need of the inward quickening power 
 which is in Christ. 
 
 It was impossible, therefore^ that Christianity, 
 without contradicting itself, should establish a 
 permanent and complete system of morals, or 
 casuistry, in which man might find for all pos- 
 sible contingencies a positive rule of absolutely 
 perfect action, by which to become pleasing in 
 the sight of God. Christianity is intended to 
 lead man to ultimate perfection, but that which 
 is in its nature unlimited, cannot be confined 
 
Chap. XII. 3-8. 409 
 
 within human rules; the higher the state the 
 higher the rule that it requires. But even if a 
 law of the highest order could be devised, it 
 would never be accepted without external cre- 
 dentials, it would require a coercive influence 
 from without, so that it could never lead man 
 to freedom, for which, according to the sublime 
 declaration of the Gospel, he is intended. Had 
 man been intended to be only an instrument of 
 Deity destitute of free will, the fall and sin would 
 be inconceivable, and the whole work of redemp- 
 tion inconceivable also. God would then surely 
 have created man as He intended him to be and 
 to remain. 
 
 Therefore, if Christ says : " Do the things 
 which I say," He does not promise that this 
 shall secure our blessedness, but: u so shall ye 
 know that they are of God." It is this in- 
 creasing consciousnesss of the godly principle, 
 illuminating the mind through the power of re- 
 demption, which changes the human will into 
 the divine, and renders man fit to see God in 
 purity of heart. If we have become conscious 
 of the existence within ourselves of that which 
 is really divine, which restores to us our true 
 nature ; and if we feel that without it no happi- 
 ness is possible, how can we but strive to appro- 
 priate it ? It is for this reason that Christianity 
 gives its moral precepts in terms which are 
 
410 Chap. XII. 3-8. 
 
 capable of higher interpretations as man ad- 
 vances towards godliness and love, which, being 
 infinite, cannot be confined within rules. It is 
 for this reason that the Apostle invites us to 
 prove all things, since no apprehension and 
 appropriation with full power of will, that is with 
 freedom, is otherwise possible; and it is only 
 with freedom that the human will can be changed 
 into the divine. But we are to prove, not with 
 the reason blinded by passion or darkened by 
 sin, but with the reason as prepared by obedience 
 to the law and the experiences of life, and thus 
 restored to the full consciousness of the divine 
 principle ; we are to prove, as St. Paul expresses 
 it, by the measure of faith. We cannot, there- 
 fore, presume with our limited reason, however 
 purified and enlightened, to fathom the deep 
 plans of the infinite intelligence of God, nor to 
 establish a law of works for all spiritual beings 
 and all times; but we shall more and more 
 recognise what is the will of God in every 
 particular case; we shall recognise that in no 
 stage of our existence we are able to do more 
 than our duty, (Luke xvii. 10,) but that in 
 every succeeding stage higher duties await us. 
 And the more we recognise the redeeming power 
 which alone has conducted us so far, the more 
 shall we be desirous to yield ourselves up to its 
 further influences, to offer ourselves as a sacrifice, 
 
Chap. XII. 9—21. 411 
 
 and to prove more and more what is the will of 
 God. Limited as our insight must ever be, this 
 proving, this experience which we acquire as we 
 advance in purification of life — as our former 
 faults produce disgust instead of pleasure — will 
 result in our delighting only, as freed from all 
 sinfulness, in the highest divine order, and freely 
 desiring nothing but to be members of that 
 glorious spiritual body, of which Christ is the 
 head,* 
 
 9 — 21. Let love be without dissimulation. 
 Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that 
 
 10 which is good. Be hearty in brotherly love 
 towards one another; with honour prefer 
 
 11 one another. In zeal be unwearied. Be 
 
 12 fervent in spirit, serve the Lord, f Be 
 joyful in hope, patient in affliction, persever- 
 
 13 ing in prayer. Minister to the necessities 
 
 * It need hardly be observed that this is not intended to dis- 
 credit or undervalue systematic inquiries into the duties of 
 man. They are to be considered as a useful exercise for all of 
 us, to which we ought to apply ourselves according to our re- 
 spective standing-points. But no physician can effect a thorough 
 cure without knowing the seat and source of the disease, or 
 without knowing what health is. Hence the insufficiency of all 
 moral systems which are not founded on Christianity. But in 
 order to be Christian, no moral system must relinquish its root 
 or lose sight of its standing-point; it would else degenerate 
 into casuistry or law in the old sense. 
 
 t Or, according to another reading, Conform yourselves to 
 the times. 
 
412 Chap. XII. 9—21. 
 
 14 of the saints; practise hospitality. Bless 
 those who persecute you, bless, and curse 
 
 15 not! Rejoice with those who rejoice, and 
 
 1 6 weep with those who weep. Be of the same 
 mind one towards another. Strive not after 
 high things, but condescend to men of low 
 
 17 estate. Consider not yourselves as wise. 
 Recompense to none evil with evil. Pursue 
 
 18 that which is honest before all men. If it 
 be possible, as much as in you lieth, have 
 
 19 peace with all men. Avenge not yourselves, 
 beloved, but give place (yield) to wrath. 
 For it is written: "Vengeance is mine, I 
 
 20 will repay, saith the Lord." If then, thine 
 enemy hunger, feed him; if he be thirsty, 
 give him to drink. For if thou so doest, 
 thou shalt heap fiery coals upon his head. 
 
 21 Let not thyself be overcome by evil, but 
 overcome evil by good. 
 
 These beautiful and heartfelt words of the 
 Apostle are not to be looked upon as a cold and 
 formal catalogue of duties ; they are exhortations 
 such as the spirit of love would suggest for the 
 manifold relations and emergencies of life, and, 
 like them, interwoven in a mingled wreath. And 
 yet, although each of them has a significance of 
 its own easily deducible from the preceding, 
 and extending its range as the spirit of love 
 
Chap. XIL 9—21. 413 
 
 increases, a close connection is discernible. The 
 Apostle observes first, that that only is to be 
 considered love, which springs from the heart, 
 and is free from all dissimulation. If it is to be 
 like divine love, it must be extended to all men, 
 even to the wicked, as St. Paul has taught us 
 that divine love encompasses all, that God has 
 loved us while we were yet sinners. But as 
 divine love is absolutely incompatible with evil, 
 so also our love must co-exist with an utter 
 abhorrence of all sinfulness. We are to love 
 the sinner while we abhor sin. In our more 
 intimate relations with those with whom we are 
 connected as brethren in spirit and faith, who 
 have more immediate claims upon us, as we have 
 upon them, there must be the spirit of brotherly, 
 filial and parental affection. (<f>L\ocrTopyia.) As 
 parents, children and brothers, if their relations 
 amongst each other are what they should be, have 
 both the spiritual and worldly advantage of each 
 other at heart, so we also are to be kindly af- 
 fectioned towards our brethren. And as these 
 family relations should be founded upon mutual 
 esteem, forbearance and affection, so also should 
 all our relations with our brethren. Every 
 business of life requires earnest and unremitting 
 exertion, from which, if exercised in faith and 
 with a fervent spirit, spiritual advantage may 
 also be derived, and thus become a service of the 
 
414 Chap. XII. 9-21. 
 
 Lord and a furtherance of His kingdom. Joy- 
 fulness, intrepidity and confidence attend the 
 true disciple of Christ, to whom such great 
 hopes and infallible promises have been given ; * 
 he is firm, patient and cheerful in tribula- 
 tion, constant in prayer, ready at all times to 
 ponder his desires, plans and sorrows before 
 God, leaving the issue to Him who turns all 
 things for his good. All help comes from the 
 Lord; but He permits the godly to act, so to 
 speak, as His vicegerents. Avail yourselves of 
 this inestimable privilege, for which present 
 circumstances furnish you more than ordinary 
 opportunities. Be hospitable and benevolent, 
 even to those who persecute and oppress you. 
 As God dispenses sunshine and rain to the 
 evil and the good, so do you show kindness to 
 all; never let your heart harbour an unkind 
 thought. Never confine your benevolence to 
 outward gifts; affectionate sympathy comforts 
 men more than alms-giving. Feel with and for 
 all your fellow-creatures, share their joys and 
 sorrows with kindly feelings, advise with them, 
 sacrifice your wishes to theirs wherever it can 
 be done without detriment to the community, 
 and thus avoid dissension and strife. Aim not 
 at authority and high offices, but fill the places al- 
 lotted to you, whatever they may be, in humility ; 
 
 * 2 Cor. xiii. 11 ; Phil. iii. 1 ; iv. 4 ; 1 Thess. v. 16. 
 
Chap. XII. 9.— 21. 415 
 
 for before God all are equal, and the dignity 
 which is pleasing in His sight is, to serve others 
 for the benefit of all, without overrating our own 
 worth. If any one offend against you, let not this 
 induce you to retaliate, but let goodness of heart 
 prevail and become more and more apparent 
 in all the relations of life. Be ready, as much 
 as in you lies, and is consistent with the general 
 good, to live at peace with all men; and in 
 no case let any offence induce you to indulge 
 in vindictive feelings. Vengeance is the desire 
 to punish without the desire to reform the 
 offender; and consequently in direct antagonism 
 with love, and can only work evil. No evil 
 can remain unpunished, according to the divine 
 system of the government of the world, into 
 which we have gained an insight; but God 
 has reserved judgment to Himself, as even the 
 Old Testament teaches us. God can punish only 
 in loving wisdom for the true benefit of all; 
 it is your duty only to bring the offender in all 
 meekness to a just sense of the injury he has 
 done you. Therefore do not withdraw from him 
 your helping hand, when you see him in need of 
 your assistance; feed him when you find him 
 in want, and thus create in him a salutary 
 pain for the injury committed. Whoever takes 
 revenge does not overcome evil, but allows him- 
 self to be overcome; and thus evil will triumph 
 
416 Chap. XII. 9—21. 
 
 over the injured as it before triumphed oyer 
 the offender. Through love alone is evil to be 
 overcome. 
 
 One great means in the hand of Providence 
 for repressing the violence of evil passions with- 
 out exciting vengeance, is to be found in the 
 institution of civil governments. This idea, it 
 would seem, leads the Apostle to the following 
 considerations. 
 
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH. 
 
 1 — 7. Let every one be subject to the 
 supreme magistracies. For there is no ma- 
 gistracy except from God; and the existing 
 
 2 [magistracies] are ordained of God. Who- 
 ever, therefore, resisteth the magistracy, 
 resisteth God's ordinance ; and they who 
 
 3 resist shall draw upon themselves punish- 
 ment. For the magistracies are not terrible 
 
 4 to good works but to evil. Wilt thou then 
 be without fear of the magistracy? Do that 
 which is right, and thou shalt receive praise 
 from it; for it is God's servant, for thy 
 benefit: but if thou doest evil, fear; for 
 not in vain doth it bear the sword, since it 
 is God's servant, an avenger to [execute] 
 punishment upon him that doeth evil. 
 
 5 Therefore it is necessary to be subject, not 
 alone because of punishment, but also for 
 
 f> conscience' sake. Therefore also pay tribute, 
 
 for they are God's ministers who occupy 
 
 7 themselves with this duty. Render unto 
 
 B B 
 
418 Chap. XIII. 1—7. 
 
 every one his due, tribute to whom tribute 
 is due, custom to whom custom is due, fear 
 to whom fear, honour to whom honour. 
 
 Many differing opinions have existed upon the 
 Apostle's object in giving these exhortations 
 respecting obedience to existing governments. 
 It was natural to suppose that they were writ- 
 ten in a great measure, with reference to the 
 peculiar circumstances of the community to 
 whom the Epistle is addressed. It is very pro- 
 bable that this Epistle was written about the 
 year 60, (certainly not later,) which would be 
 the fifth of the reign of Nero, who had up to 
 that time distinguished himself by extraordi- 
 nary clemency, so that the Jews who had been 
 banished from Rome under Claudius, and the 
 Christians in all probability with them, ventured 
 to return. The picture of a government (verses 
 3 and 4) from which the malefactor alone has to 
 fear, while the well-disposed derives protection 
 and advantage, might, therefore, be referred to 
 that government. But as the Roman congrega- 
 tion had not been founded by St. Paul, so that 
 
 1 egovaiai vneptxovo-ai, potestates eminentes, elevated magistra-. 
 cies. The adjective is a mere expression of reverence, without 
 any notion of the possession of power at the time being, as 
 though the duty of obedience were based upon that. In the same 
 way inepexovres alone is used for magistrates, e. g., Diog. Laert 8 
 vi. 2, 11, § 78, and Plutarch Philos. esse cum, princip., not far from 
 the beginning. 
 
Chap. XIII. 1—7. 419 
 
 they were not likely to ask his advice in parti- 
 cular cases, as other congregations might be in 
 the habit of doing, with whom he was more 
 intimately connected ; and as they had probably 
 but lately returned to Rome, we have no reason 
 to look, in this Epistle, for special instructions 
 occasioned by particular circumstances. Even the 
 exhortations in the following chapter, although 
 it is not impossible that they may have re- 
 ference to dissensions which had actually taken 
 place, are of so general a character, and so 
 similar in their subject and tone to the pre- 
 ceding ones, that we see no reason to assume a 
 particular occasion for them. Again, if we 
 consider these exhortations to obedience to the 
 magistrates as directed against the generally 
 mutinous tendency of the Jews, who, in the 
 expectation of an earthly Messiah, that should 
 rid them of the dominion of the Romans, and 
 restore the outward glory of their nation, were 
 ever ready to listen to any agitator who pro- 
 claimed himself such — they would be applicable 
 only to Jews, and not to a Christian community 
 who, as is shown by the whole tenour of the 
 Epistle, had acknowledged the Spiritual Messiah, 
 and His kingdom, which is not of this world. 
 
 We are, therefore, bound to consider these ex- 
 hortations to obedience as general and applicable 
 to all rightful governments administering the 
 
 EE 2 
 
420 Chap. XIII. 1—7. 
 
 laws for the maintenance of order; for St. Paul 
 represents the magistracy of which he is speak- 
 ing as a minister of God, and wielding the 
 sword for the punishment of evil-doers, and the 
 protection of the well-disposed.* The obliga- 
 tions of Christians towards a usurped or despotic 
 government, which neither protects the just nor 
 punishes the evil-doer, and consequently acts 
 against the laws of God, are not touched upon 
 by the Apostle; and it would be improper, 
 therefore, to apply his injunctions uncondition- 
 ally to a case which he did not contemplate. 
 There can be no doubt that obligations to a 
 legitimate government must differ widely from 
 obligations to a government thrust upon a na- 
 tion by force. The former are founded upon 
 affection, mutual engagements and acknowledg- 
 ment, which would be of little value if they 
 were easily transferable to any one who might 
 possess cunning or power sufficient to sup- 
 plant a legitimate government. The Apostle, 
 therefore, says generally and without reference 
 
 * It is contrary to the whole account which St. Paul here gives 
 of the work of the magistracy, to assume that he is speaking 
 solely, or even especially, of sedition as punishable by them. 
 This is just as untenable as to apply Ztraivos, with Augustine, to 
 the crown of martyrdom. What idea must we have of the 
 destination for which men are prepared by Christianity, to 
 change: "Act uprightly, so shalt thou expect the praise of the 
 magistracy," into "Act uprightly, and so shalt thou receive 
 from the hands of the magistracy the crown of martyrdom !" 
 
Chap. XIII 1—7. 421 
 
 to usurped power, that it is our duty to be sub- 
 ject to the magistracy, because the relation be- 
 tAveen the head and the members of a state is of 
 God's ordering; and consequently opposition to 
 it would be guilty resistance to the divine order. 
 The existing authorities, he continues, are estab- 
 lished by God ; and this may mean either that 
 the relation between the governor and the go- 
 verned generally, or that the government actu- 
 ally existing at the time, is disposed by God; in 
 which latter case, it would apply to the lawful 
 authorities of which St. Paul had been speaking. 
 According to the whole system of the Apostle, 
 which makes all development dependent on the 
 plans of God, and, therefore, even despots also 
 instruments in His hands; (see page 337;) it 
 may certainly be said that hostile powers which 
 subvert governments appointed by God, are also, 
 in a certain sense, of His appointing; but only 
 in the same manner as inundations, pestilence 
 and other destructive calamities, whose progress 
 we are bound to resist with all our might. 
 Governments that have thus acquired power 
 through evil deeds, can certainly never be said 
 to be fearful only to the evil-doer.— It is not 
 without great beauty, in my opinion, that St. 
 Paul, by adopting the second person singular, 
 indicates that what follows in the 3rd and 4th 
 verses is to be taken as a general observation, and 
 
422 Chap. XIII. 1—7. 
 
 not as addressed to his readers in particular. 
 " Wilt thou then be without fear of the magis- 
 tracy? Do that which is right and thou shalt 
 receive praise from it." It is only the evil-doer 
 who has to fear the servant of God, not the 
 Christian who endeavours to do what is right 
 from inward conviction, and is not a subject 
 through fear. How could a Christian subject 
 himself to the divine order from fear of punish- 
 ment? Called to divine liberty, how could he 
 act the part of a slave? or how could the divine 
 order be worthily represented with such a spirit? 
 He will subject himself to the law from the love 
 of order as such, he will not desire to be no 
 more in the state than a member, willingly and 
 with all his energies subservient to the benefit 
 of the whole community, and this from inward 
 conviction, and for conscience' sake. Render then 
 to the state cheerfully, says St. Paul, all that is 
 its due, and look upon those who require such 
 service at your hands, not as enemies but as the 
 ministers of divine order. 
 
 It was certainly not the Apostle's immediate in- 
 tention to remind the Roman authorities of their 
 duties towards their subjects ; and yet how beau- 
 tifully and impressively does he advert to these 
 obligations, in general terms ! The powers that 
 be are servants of God, administrators of the 
 divine order, protectors of the good, punishers of 
 
Chap. XIII. 1—7. ■ 423 
 
 the evil-doer. It is only when fulfilling these 
 conditions that a government is to be considered 
 as appointed by God. And if it be the duty of 
 Christians generally to represent in the visible 
 world, with steadily increasing perfection, the 
 spiritual body of which Christ is the head; it is 
 certainly also the duty of Christian governments, 
 to accept all wholesome advice and co-operation 
 in promoting and maintaining order. Christ- 
 ianity is, therefore, far from requiring adherence 
 to antiquated systems on account of their anti- 
 quity ; on the contrary, as every individual is to 
 raise himself from the bondage of the law to 
 spiritual freedom, in which, while carrying the 
 divine law within his bosom, he submits himself 
 from conviction and love, so also is the whole 
 body of the state steadily to grow in life and 
 vigour. What the Apostle says, (1 Cor. vii. 21 ; ) 
 " Art thou called, being a servant, care not for it : 
 but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather," 
 is here also applicable ; but it is only by order, 
 wisdom, and love, that the liberty of the indi- 
 vidual and of the whole state is to be secured; 
 and it would be in direct opposition to the 
 spirit of Christianity to attempt, even under 
 the greatest oppression, to overcome evil by evil, 
 as this would increase evil, which can in no way 
 be truly overcome but with good. (xii. 21.) 
 
424 Chap. XIII. 8—10. 
 
 8 — 10. Owe no man anything, except love to 
 one another ; for he who loveth another hath 
 
 9 fulfilled the law. For this " Thou shalt not 
 commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, (thou 
 shalt not bear false witness,) thou shalt 
 not covet;" and every other commandment, 
 is comprehended in this precept, " Love thy 
 10 neighbour as thyself." Love worketh no 
 evil to his neighbour. So then love is the 
 fulness of the law. 
 
 These words are immediately connected with 
 the preceding. St. Paul had enumerated several 
 particular obligations; he now generalises the 
 thought : Give to every one what you owe him, 
 but while thus performing the duties which 
 justice demands, forget not that you remain 
 debtors to each other in love. The demands 
 of love, which in its perfection is beyond our 
 reach, can never be satisfied like an outward 
 observance, or a debt. The law of the high- 
 est order can be accomplished in love alone; 
 we fulfil it in so far only as we love. All laws 
 that can be laid down in words, are contained 
 and find their highest interpretation in the in- 
 junction : " Love thy neighbour as thyself." As 
 thyself! These are solemn words. Every one 
 desires his own well-being, as far as he is able to 
 
Chap. XIII. 8—10. 425 
 
 understand it; it is, therefore, part of the love 
 we bear ourselves, that we should unremittingly 
 endeavour to increase in the knowledge of our 
 real well-being, and to prefer whatever may lead 
 to it before all imaginary advantages. So, then, 
 the love of neighbour and children, of husband 
 and wife, of brothers and sisters, will not consist 
 in a weak and unreasonable concession of that 
 which for the moment may appear most desirable 
 and conducive to momentary gratification, but 
 in the due weighing and willing furtherance of 
 what will prove of lasting advantage to the real 
 happiness of those whom we love. We must not, 
 therefore, under any circumstances do from a 
 misjudging affection for our neighbour what we 
 cannot justify to ourselves; nor permit ourselves 
 to do for those whom we love, what we should 
 consider wrong to do for ourselves ! And, under 
 circumstances which render the task of ascer- 
 taining what is right in our relations to others 
 difficult, let us ever be guided by the golden rule : 
 Do unto others as thou wouldst have them do 
 unto thee in like circumstances. We all wish 
 to be treated with affection by others. Beyond 
 the love which has gained life in us, we cannot 
 go, and the neglecting of any office of love is an 
 evil. Love, then, is the epitome of the law in 
 its fullest significance. 
 
426 Chap. XIII. 11 — 14. 
 
 1 1 — 14. And this also : considering the time 7 
 that it is the hour for us to awake out of 
 sleep : — for now is our salvation nearer than 
 
 12 when we [first] believed; the night is past 
 and the day is at hand, — let us, therefore, 
 put off the works of darkness, and put on 
 
 13 the armour of light. As in the day, let 
 us walk becomingly; not in revelling and 
 drunkenness, not in fornication and wanton- 
 
 14 ness, not in strife and envying; but put ye 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ, and take not 
 forethought of the body, to fulfil its lusts. 
 
 In general, the Apostle continues in reference 
 to all the preceding exhortations, let us recol- 
 lect, that we have gone through our novici- 
 ate, that we have enjoyed the blessings of our 
 glorious revelations long enough to prove their 
 value, and that we have made some steps towards 
 divine knowledge and salvation. Let us, then, 
 shape our life accordingly ; let us no longer sleep ; 
 night has passed away, the day of clearer 
 
 11 It seems to me unnatural to refer ical tovto to the /^§ej>i 
 firjbev ofalXeie which precedes in the 18th verse, and to assume 
 that St. Paul wished to enforce the highest obligation to 
 which he exhorts by a subordinate consideration. According to 
 my view, St. Paul was not thinking here of the second coming of 
 Christ. Had he wished to employ this thought as an earnest 
 exhortation to prepare for the worthy reception of the expected 
 Friend, he would have done so in a very different manner. 
 
Chap. XIII. 11—14. 427 
 
 knowledge has dawned for us. — The Apostle 
 now passes from the representation of those who 
 sleep in the darkness to that of those who work in 
 it, hating the light. Such works, he says, become 
 us no longer. Let us, as bold champions of the 
 truth, prove that we are of the light. Let us 
 walk as becometh the day, and avoid all that 
 loveth darkness and concealment. Let Christ be 
 in all things your Example, in Him let your 
 whole being be swallowed up ! Even in the care 
 of your bodies observe due moderation, that you 
 may avoid all incentives to that which is un- 
 worthy of yourselves. 
 
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH. 
 
 1 — 23. Receive with, love him that is weak in 
 the faith, but not so that decisions may arise 
 
 2 about thoughts.* One believeth that he 
 may eat everything, but the weak eateth 
 
 3 herbs. Let not him who eateth despise him 
 who eateth not : for God hath accepted him. 
 
 4 Who art thou thatjudgest the servant of 
 another? To his master he standeth or 
 falleth ; and he shall stand, for God is able 
 
 5 to keep him standing. One man esteemeth 
 one day above another, another esteemeth 
 all days alike. Let every one be certain in 
 
 6 his own mind. He who observeth days 
 observeth them unto the Lord. And he 
 who eateth, eateth unto the Lord, for he 
 
 7 thanketh God. For none of us liveth unto 
 
 8 himself, and none dieth unto himself; if we 
 live, we live unto the Lord, and if we die, 
 we die unto the Lord. Whether, therefore, 
 
 9 we live or die we are the Lord's. For to 
 
 * Or, so that there may not arise any difference on account of 
 opinions, either of parties among themselves or in the con- 
 science of individuals. 
 
Chap. XIV. 1—23. 429 
 
 this purpose Christ both died and revived, 
 that He might be the Lord of the dead and 
 JO of the living. But thou, why dost thou 
 judge thy brother? Or thou, why dost thou 
 despise thy brother? We shall all stand 
 
 1 1 before the judgment-seat of Christ. For it 
 is written : " As I live, saith the Lord, every 
 knee shall bow to Me, and all tongues 
 
 12 shall acknowledge God." Accordingly every 
 one of us shall give an account of himself 
 
 13 to God. Let us, then, not judge one an- 
 other, but rather direct your attention to 
 this, that ye give a brother no occasion of 
 
 14 stumbling or offence. I know and am per- 
 suaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is 
 unclean in itself; but to him who thinketh 
 
 15 anything unclean, to him it is unclean. But 
 if through meat thy brother be grieved, 
 thou walkest no more according to love. 
 Hurt not by thy meat him for whom Christ 
 
 16 died. Let not, then, your good be evil 
 
 17 spoken of. For the kingdom of God con- 
 sisteth not in eating and drinking, but in 
 righteousness, and peace, and joy in the 
 
 18 Holy Ghost. He who in these things serveth 
 Christ, is well pleasing to God and esteemed 
 
 19 among men. Let us, therefore, strive after 
 that which tendeth to peace and to mutual 
 
 20 furtherance. Destroy not God's work on 
 
430 Chap. XIV. 1—23. 
 
 account of meat. Everything, indeed, is 
 clean, but it is hurtful to the man who 
 eateth* to (give) offence. It is well neither 
 to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do 
 anything at all whereby thy brother stum- 
 
 22 bleth or is offended. Hast thou faith? Have 
 it for thyself before God. Happy is the man 
 who doth not accuse himself in that which 
 
 23 he alloweth. But he who doubteth, and yet 
 eateth is guilty, because he acteth not from 
 faith: for everything that cometh not of 
 faith, is sin. 
 
 It is evident from this part of the Epistle 
 also, that St. Paul knew, or had good reason to 
 suppose, that many members of the Roman con- 
 gregation had made considerable progress in 
 spiritual knowledge and conversation, and that it 
 is to them chiefly that he addresses his discourse, 
 although we meet also with exhortations to the 
 less perfected. He says, in the beginning of the 
 chapter: " Him that is weak in the faith, receive 
 ye," and in the first verse of the following chap- 
 ter, in continuation of the same subject : " We 
 then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities 
 of the weak," and further on, in the fourteenth 
 
 * Or, so as to receive offence ; to the offence of his own con- 
 science. 
 
 15 dnoWve, see note to Chap. ii. verse 12, page 103. 
 
Chap. XIV. 1—23. 431 
 
 verse: "I am persuaded of you, my brethren, 
 that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all 
 knowledge." And since the Apostle knew many 
 members of the congregation personally, as 
 appears from greetings in the concluding chap- 
 ter, who had probably derived much benefit 
 from their direct intercourse with him, it is 
 reasonable to suppose that he thought of them 
 chiefly, while he was writing. 
 
 It is precisely to this circumstance that the 
 Apostle was addressing men who were qualified 
 for initiation into the deeper mysteries of Chris- 
 tianity, and that he was not under the necessity 
 of devoting his chief attention to particular oc- 
 currences, that this Epistle is indebted for the 
 grandeur of its plan, and the universality of its 
 special exhortations. Even those which refer to 
 certain prejudices and opinions, were probably 
 not occasioned by particular occurrences, as we 
 have before observed. St. Paul might presume, 
 from the experiences which he had collected in 
 other Christian communities, that similar causes 
 would produce similar effects, that former 
 Jews would continue to consider abstinence 
 from certain kinds of food, and from meat 
 offered to idols, as very important, and that 
 .others would dee.ni an ascetic severity indicative 
 of superior piety. I do not think it necessary 
 as many have done, to assume that the Apostle 
 
432 Chap. XIV. 1—23. 
 
 had either the one or the other of these errors 
 exclusively in view: he may have thought of 
 them both, and for that reason not have named 
 either of them. Admitting that a part of his 
 observations has reference chiefly to the adher- 
 ence to Jewish observances, the 2nd and 21st 
 verses may yet be considered as applicable to 
 ascetic tendencies, since abstinence from wine, 
 which the Mosaic law did not require, cannot 
 apply to the adherence to the Jewish law. This 
 would explain also, why St. Paul does not so 
 positively and strongly object to Jewish observ- 
 ances in this place as elsewhere, in the Epistle to 
 the Galatians for instance, but confines himself 
 to the declaration of his own opinion in this re- 
 spect, as matured by his life in Christ. (14.) He 
 is here thinking of a mere possibility, while in 
 the other place he had positive facts to deal 
 with, which had actually exercised a baneful 
 influence. 
 
 The cause of both these errors is the same in 
 the human mind, namely, a defective apprehen- 
 sion of the essentials of Christianity, and, there- 
 fore, their consequences also are the same ; self- 
 sufficiency instead of real piety, spiritual pride, 
 contempt of those who hold different opinions, 
 want of unity and perplexity of conscience. 
 It is to these chiefly that St. Paul directs his 
 exhortations. He enjoins the strong to adminis- 
 
Chap. XIV. 1—23. 433 
 
 ter with affectionate care to the wants of the 
 weak, which is indeed the only worthy use 
 to make of strength; he enjoins them not to 
 constitute themselves judges of thoughts and 
 opinions, not to occasion schism and unprofitable 
 doubts. We find this exhortation also expressed 
 in general terms, and founded upon the utter 
 incapability of men to judge others, of which the 
 Apostle never ceases to remind us. No man is 
 the lord of any other; we have all of us but One 
 Lord, who will uphold the weak, because His 
 will is that all shall be perfected, (ver. 4.) We 
 are all of us in life and in death the Lord's, who 
 has died for our sake and is living for us. To 
 Him alone, and not to any mortal being, shall we 
 have to render an account of the most secret 
 motives of our actions, (vers. 7 to 12.) Let every 
 one, therefore, be steadfast of purpose, and do, 
 according to the purity of his conscience at the 
 time, what he deems right and pleasing to God. 
 (ver. 6.) The Apostle is far from saying that 
 in following the dictates of our conscience we 
 shall do what is absolutely right ; and that we 
 must, therefore, always retain our present con- 
 victions, and thus shut out all further improve- 
 ment. How would this accord with that progress 
 to perfection which St. Paul and Christianity in 
 general hold out to us? Should not he who 
 shows by the tendencies of his heart that he is, 
 
 F F 
 
434 Chap. XIV. 1—23. 
 
 in some respects at least, still under the law, 
 strive earnestly to attain to the full freedom of 
 the children of God. And how could St. Paul 
 express his own opinions on these subjects with 
 so much confidence, if he did not desire that all 
 should by degrees become able to share them 
 with him? But as long as there is any point 
 upon which we have not attained to perfect 
 insight, what can we do but act according to 
 our own insight, or according to the faith that 
 is in us ? Does not our very freedom require 
 this? It is only thus that man remains in 
 every moment of his life the servant of the 
 Lord. Were he to act upon the authority of 
 any other man, he would be the servant of that 
 man. But St. Paul says ; " Ye are bought with 
 a price, be ye not the servants of men." (1 Cor. 
 vii. 23.) Whoever, therefore, acts according to 
 his own conscience, with the lively desire to 
 do what is pleasing to the Lord, does what is 
 right in his present condition, and no man may 
 presume to condemn or judge him. A glorious 
 and consoling doctrine, without which no inward 
 peace would be secure, as no one can hope to 
 attain perfect knowledge. If thou hast not been 
 able with the talent entrusted to thee to gain ten 
 talents, and if thou canst not, therefore, be set 
 over ten cities, be of good cheer, the one talent 
 that thou hast gained with honest intention 
 
Chap. XIV. 1—23. 435 
 
 shall be repaid thee. But whoever acts while he 
 remains in doubt, without exerting himself to 
 acquire the insight which in his position he 
 might acquire — without, or against, conviction, 
 is certainly guilty, for he does not listen to the 
 voice of the Lord, does not strive to recognise 
 the will of the Lord, and is, therefore, evidently 
 in a lower condition than one who endeavours 
 to act agreeably to the will of God, according as 
 he understands it. Whatever a man does with- 
 out, or against, conviction, (for that is, in this 
 instance, faith,) to him it is sin. (ver 23.) 
 
 Therefore, even if your opinions in a par- 
 ticular case be perfectly correct, you will not act 
 agreeably to the principles of love, if by your 
 conduct you exasperate the weak, provoke them 
 to uncharitable judgments, or induce them in 
 levity, or without or against conviction, to 
 do after the example of others what they cannot 
 justify to their own conscience; when by a lov- 
 ing forbearance and a wise consideration of cir- 
 cumstances, you might gradually lead them to 
 sounder views. Through want of love, forbear- 
 ance and circumspection, you will become the 
 cause of guilt in others ! The Apostle then adds 
 a most beautiful and touching appeal. Do not, 
 he says, through your want of love, bring evil 
 upon those for whom Christ has evinced the 
 greatest of all love ! Do not expose the invalu- 
 
 ff 2 
 
436 Chap. XIV. 1—23. 
 
 able blessing of Christian liberty to misconstruc- 
 tion, by using it to the prejudice of others. 
 " All things," says the Apostle elsewhere, " are 
 lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient." 
 The kingdom of God consists not in outward 
 freedom, but in righteousness, peace and joy in 
 the Holy Ghost. Let us earnestly follow all that 
 will conduct ourselves and others to this blessed 
 end. So shall we preserve our inward freedom 
 before God, even when in the spirit of love we 
 make a sacrifice of it outwardly. 
 
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH. 
 
 1 — 13. * We who are strong must bear with the 
 infirmities of the weak, and not live to please 
 
 2 ourselves. Let each one of us live to please 
 his neighbour, for his profit and furtherance. 
 
 3 For even Christ lived not to please himself, 
 
 * As the doxology (xvi. 25 — 27) is found in many MSS. at the 
 end of the fourteenth chapter ; in others, at the close of the 
 Epistle ; and in others, again, in both places ; its original position 
 is doubtful. Berthold conjectures, (Introd. vi. § 715,) that it was 
 transferred at a later period from the end of the sixteenth 
 chapter to that of the fourteenth ; because, while it was custom- 
 ary to omit the greetings in the public reading of the Epistle, it 
 was nevertheless thought advisable to retain the beautiful con- 
 clusion, which could not, however, be placed immediately before 
 the greetings, because there also something similar occurs, 
 (xv. 33.) There would be much probability in this conjecture, 
 were it not that the doxology would then stand in a place where 
 it clearly interrupts the connection. If St. Paul had really placed 
 it at the end of the sixteenth chapter, where it is immediately 
 preceded by a benediction, the similar benediction in the last 
 verse of the fifteenth chapter could furnish no objection to its 
 being transferred thither. See also Rink's conjecture in his 
 Lucubratio Critica in Acta Apostolorum, etc. Basle, 1830. p. 135. 
 I prefer Dr. Tholuck's supposition, that St. Paul at first intended 
 to close his Epistle with the fourteenth chapter, but that the 
 beautiful thought, which might serve to enforce what he had 
 been saying from yet another point of view, suggested the 
 addition of a postcript. I have, nevertheless, placed the three 
 verses at the end of the Epistle, so as not to interrupt the 
 connection. 
 
438 Chap. XV. 1 — 13. 
 
 but, as it is written, " The reproaches of thern 
 who reproach Thee, are fallen upon me." 
 
 4 But that which was written of yore was 
 written for our instruction, in order that 
 through patience and the comfort of the 
 
 5 Scriptures we may have hope. Now may 
 the God of patience and comfort grant you 
 to bo of like mind towards each other, ac- 
 
 6 cording to Jesus Christ: that with one 
 mind and with one mouth ye may praise 
 God and the Father of our Lord Jesus 
 
 7 Christ. Therefore receive ye one another 
 lovingly, even as Christ hath received 
 
 8 you to the glory of God. For I say 
 that Christ became a servant of the circum- 
 cision on account of the truth of God, for 
 the confirmation of the promises to the 
 
 9 fathers, but the Gentiles praise God on 
 account of His mercy, as it is written, 
 " Therefore will I glorify Thee among the 
 nations, and sing praises unto Thy name." 
 
 10 And again it is said, " Rejoice, ye Gentiles, 
 
 11 with His people." And again, "Praise the 
 Lord, all ye Gentiles; laud Him, all ye 
 
 12 people." And again, Esaias saith, " There 
 shall be a root of Jesse, and it shall 
 raise itself to rule over the Gentiles; in 
 
 13 Him shall the Gentiles hope." Now may 
 the God of hope fill you with all joy and 
 
Chap. XV. 1—13. 439 
 
 peace in believing, that ye may be rich in 
 hope, in the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Another important reason for charitable for- 
 bearance towards the infirmities of others, is 
 here held out by the Apostle, namely, the ex- 
 ample of Christ Himself. We that are strong, 
 he says, ought to have regard to the condition 
 of the weak, that we may by our actions, 
 aid their endeavours after godliness in matters 
 which, considered in reference to ourselves only, 
 might appear indifferent. For Christ did not 
 regard Himself, but had the infirmities of the 
 helpless at heart; He bore with meekness the 
 perverseness of the depraved, even of those 
 who reviled God and godliness, in order that 
 He might aid them. But He bore our infir- 
 mities, not by leaving perverseness uncensured 
 to please the wicked, but by approaching their 
 condition with loving forbearance, and gradually 
 training them to improvement. Thus we are not 
 to please our neighbour by ministering to his 
 prejudices, but by lending a helping hand to 
 further him on the path to godliness. St. Paul 
 quotes several passages from the Old Testament 
 which have reference to this example of the 
 
 5 Kara Xpiarov 'irjaovv. According to His pattern. — 8 Aey&> 
 Se. This S« refers to the example of Christ. For He became 
 servant or minister, etc. 
 
440 Chap. XV. 1—13. 
 
 forbearance and patience of Christ, as well as 
 the great consolation to be derived from the fact 
 that this patience has proved a real blessing to 
 us in its effects, and that Christ has thereby 
 fulfilled His sublime designs, and will yet further 
 accomplish them through ourselves, if we tread 
 in His steps; he, therefore, calls this patience 
 most expressively the patience and comfort of 
 the Scriptures, by which our hope is to be 
 increased and strengthened. God, who in the 
 whole course of our training and redemption 
 has exhibited Himself as the God of patience 
 and consolation, grant you to be like-minded one 
 towards another, looking up to Christ for an 
 example. (Comp. Heb. xii. 1 — 3.) God grant that 
 the mind of Christ be in you, so that with one 
 mind and one mouth ye may glorify God, even 
 the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ 
 received us, and led us to the glory of the Father, 
 so do ye also receive one another. He refused not 
 to submit to the law for the sake of those who 
 were under the law, and thus fulfilled the pro- 
 mise given to the fathers. And while He thus 
 fulfilled the decree of God, He became the 
 Saviour of all nations; fulfilling also the pro- 
 mises of God to them, He became the Hope of 
 all nations. God, the Author of all hope, in 
 whom all hope has its foundations, fill you with 
 all joy and peace, the fruit of hope and faith, 
 
Chap. XV. 14—21. 441 
 
 that ye may abound in hope through the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 14 — 21. I myself, indeed, have confidence in 
 you, my brethren, that ye are full of kindly 
 intention, filled with all knowledge, and able 
 
 15 to admonish one another. Nevertheless I 
 have written unto you boldly, in part, to 
 remind you, because of the grace which is 
 bestowed upon me by God, to be a servant 
 
 16 of Jesus Christ among the Gentiles, and to 
 fill the holy office (of the ministry) of the 
 Gospel, that the offering of the Gentiles 
 may be acceptable, being sanctified by the 
 
 17 Holy Spirit. I have, then, whereof I may 
 glory in Christ Jesus, in matters relating to 
 
 18 God. For I will not presume to mention 
 anything which Christ hath not wrought by 
 me,* in order to the obedience of the Gen- 
 
 19 tiles, by word and deed, by the power of 
 signs and wonders, by the power of the 
 Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and 
 round about unto Illyricum, I have spread 
 
 20 abroad the Gospel of Christ, yet so as that I 
 held myself bound not to proclaim it where 
 the name of Christ was already known, lest 
 I should build on other men's foundations, 
 
 * i. e. to speak of anything else, (to appropriate anything else 
 to myself,) than what Christ has actually done through me. 
 
442 Chap. XV. 14—21. 
 
 21 but as it is written: " They to whom no- 
 thing was preached respecting it, shall see 
 it, and they who have heard nothing of it, 
 shall understand. 
 
 The Apostle here justifies in the most delicate 
 manner some passages of his Epistle which might 
 possibly induce some of his readers to suppose 
 that he intended to arrogate to himself some 
 authority over the congregation at Rome, as 
 though it had been founded by himself, when 
 it was probably the work of his disciples. I 
 myself, he says, am persuaded that you have 
 goodness of heart, knowledge sufficient to ad- 
 monish each other, and my exhortations may not 
 have been needed. Nevertheless I have written 
 to you with freedom, to admonish you and to 
 recall to your remembrance some facts which 
 you well know. I felt myself bound to do so as 
 the minister of Christ amongst the Gentiles, and 
 as such, a priest, as it were, of the new Covenant, 
 which knows of no sacrifice but that of man 
 yielding himself up to God. It is this sacrifice 
 which I feel myself bound to consecrate to God 
 and to make pleasing in His sight. I have, then, 
 through the mercy of God, an office in which I 
 may glory. He has, through his power, blessed 
 my exertions in spreading the Gospel in remote 
 parts ; far be it, therefore, from me to consider 
 
Chap. XV. 22—33. 443 
 
 as my work what Christ has wrought through 
 others. I have at all times considered it my 
 privilege to preach the Gospel where it had not 
 been preached before. I have never wished to 
 build upon the foundation laid by others or to 
 arrogate to myself the honour due to them. 
 (Comp. 2 Cor. x. 13 if.) 
 
 From this it will appear also, what description 
 of knowledge it is which St. Paul attributes to 
 the Romans in the 14th verse, and that he cer- 
 tainly did not mean to imply that they might, 
 through their own exertions, have succeeded in 
 gaining an insight into the glorious mysteries of 
 God's government of the world, which the earlier 
 parts of his Epistle display in so sublime a 
 manner as to entitle them to the name of divine 
 revelations, as much as any which have been 
 vouchsafed unto us. 
 
 22 — 33. On this account* I have been greatly 
 hindered from coming to you. But now 
 that I have no longer any business in these 
 parts, and for many years have cherished 
 
 24 a longing wish to come to you, I hope, on 
 my journey to Spain, to see you and to be 
 sent by you thither after I have been 
 first in part satisfied with your society. 
 
 25 But now I journey to Jerusalem to carry 
 
 * On account of this enlarged sphere of action. 
 
444 Chap. XV. 22—33. 
 
 26 help to the saints. For Macedonia and 
 Achaia have been pleased to collect a con- 
 tribution for the poor amongst the saints at 
 
 27 Jerusalem. They have been pleased, and 
 they were also bound, to do it for them — for 
 if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual 
 good, they are bound to assist them in the 
 
 28 temporal. — Now, when I have accomplished 
 this, and secured to them this fruit, I will 
 
 29 journey through your city into Spain. I 
 know, moreover, that when I come to you 
 I shall come with the full blessing of the 
 
 30 Gospel of Christ. But I pray you, brethren, 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love 
 of the Spirit, to strive together with me in 
 
 31 prayer to God for me, that I may be saved 
 from the unbelieving in Judaea, and that my 
 
 32 designed service for Jerusalem may be ac- 
 ceptable to the saints, in order that, by 
 God's will, I may come to you with joy and 
 
 33 refresh myself with you. The God of peace 
 be with you all. Amen. 
 
 The circumstances here mentioned, of the completion of the 
 Apostle's business in those parts, of his plan of journeying with 
 a contribution to Jerusalem, and then to Rome, of the danger 
 which he anticipates at Jerusalem — compared with Acts xix. 21. 
 xx. 3 and 22 ff. ; 1 Cor. xvi., 2 Cor. viii. and ix. — make it highly 
 probable that this Epistle was written from Corinth in the year 
 60, towards the middle of the fifth year of Nero's reign. See 
 Hug's Introd. ii, § 11 7, and the chronological table on p. 325. 
 De Wette's Introd. § 137, and Tholuck's Commentary on the 
 Epistle to the Romans, p. 5. 
 
Chap. XV. 22—33. 445 
 
 In conclusion St. Paul most earnestly invites 
 the members of the congregation at Rome to 
 join with him in prayer, that God may avert 
 the perils threatening him at Jerusalem. Not 
 that he was unwilling to bear with cheerfulness 
 the dangers which he might have to encounter 
 by the will of God; for when his friends at 
 Caasarea endeavoured to persuade him not to 
 go to Jerusalem, he said : I am ready not to be 
 bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
 name of the Lord Jesus. (Acts xxi. 13.) Neither 
 could he have imagined that the eternal plans 
 of God could be changed by human prayers; 
 for he teaches us in the whole of this Epistle, 
 that no man can in any way alter the decrees 
 of God. But he prays and invites to prayer, 
 because there is nothing more calculated to 
 purify our will and resolutions, to strengthen 
 our courage and resignation, to reconcile our 
 love towards our brethren, than a childlike and 
 faithful consideration of our plans before God. 
 And although the resolves of God are immutable 
 and cannot be changed by acts or prayers, it is 
 this which proves their infinite wisdom and 
 love, that they do not coerce the inward state 
 and freedom of man, as developed at the time, 
 but that (humanly speaking) they take them into 
 account. The plans of God would be different 
 if man, his actions and his prayers were different. 
 
446 Chap. XV. 22—33. 
 
 Whoever comprehends this important thought, 
 will feel that he ought to act in every situation 
 of life as if success depended upon his own 
 action, firmly convinced at the same time that 
 all depends solely upon the will of God; that 
 he ought to pray as if his prayer in the name of 
 Christ, brought about blessings or averted evils, 
 with the most lively conviction, at the same time, 
 of the immutability of the plans of God. 
 
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH. 
 
 1 — 20. I commend to you Phoebe our sister, 
 who is a deaconess of the church at Cen- 
 
 2 chrese, that ye may receive her in the Lord, 
 as befitteth saints, and assist her in every- 
 thing wherein she hath need of you; for 
 she also hath been a succourer of many, 
 
 3 and of me also. Salute Prisca and Aquila, 
 
 4 my fellow-labourers in Jesus Christ: who 
 for my life risked their own neck : to whom 
 not I alone owe thanks, but also all the con- 
 
 5 gregations of the Gentiles. Salute also the 
 
 6 congregation in their house. Salute Epame- 
 tus, my beloved, who is the first-fruit of Asia 
 
 7 in Christ.* Salute Mary, who hath laboured 
 
 8 so much on my behalf. Salute Andronicus 
 and Junias, my kinsmen f and fellow-prison- 
 ers, and honourably known to the Apostles, 
 
 9 and who were Christians before me. Salute 
 10 Amplias, my beloved in the Lord. Salute 
 
 Urbanus, my fellow-labourer in Christ, and 
 
 * Who was the first believer in Christ in proconsular Asia. 
 t Or countrymen. 
 
448 Chap. XVI. 1—20. 
 
 Stachys, my beloved. Salute Apelles, the 
 approved in Christ. Salute the household 
 
 1 1 of Aristobulus. Salute Herodion, my kins- 
 man. Salute the household of Narcissus, 
 
 12 who are in the Lord. Salute Tryphama and 
 Tryphosa, who have laboured in the Lord. 
 Salute the beloved Persis, who hath much 
 
 13 laboured in the Lord. Salute Rufus, elect 
 in the Lord, and his mother and mine. 
 
 14 Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Pa- 
 trobaSj Hermes, and the brethren with them. 
 
 15 Salute Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his 
 sister, and Olympas, and all the saints with 
 
 16 them. Salute each other with a holy kiss. 
 All the congregations of Christ salute you. 
 
 17 Moreover I beseech you, my brethren, to 
 beware of those who excite division and 
 offences, contrary to the teaching which ye 
 have learned, and keep aloof from them. 
 
 18 For such serve not our Lord, but their own 
 belly, and by flattery and fair words, they 
 
 19 seduce the hearts of the simple. Your 
 obedience has become well known to all, 
 wherefore I rejoice on your account; but I 
 wish that ye may be wise unto that which 
 is good, and simple unto that which is evil. 
 
 20 And the God of peace shall tread down 
 Satan under your feet shortly. The grace 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
 
Chap. XVI. 21—27. 449 
 
 St. Paul does not express himself very dis- 
 tinctly in speaking of the promulgators of false 
 doctrines, and originators of discord, against 
 whom he cautions his readers. He says enough, 
 however, to make it probable that he had in mind 
 those chiefly who were endeavouring to uphold 
 the authority of the Jewish ceremonies and ob- 
 servances, and to subject even the converted 
 Gentiles to their observance. But the very 
 circumstance of this caution being couched in 
 indefinite and general terms, makes us suppose 
 that St. Paul is not speaking in reference to 
 any positive information which had reached him 
 from Rome, as to the actual existence of such 
 false teachers, but that he merely surmised that 
 they would find their way there as they had 
 done to other places. While commending the 
 obedience of the congregation, he expresses the 
 desire that they may not be wanting in that 
 wisdom which is necessary for the discrimination 
 and acceptance of what is taught in conformity 
 with the true doctrine, and, therefore, leads to 
 good; and that their simplicity and plainness 
 may secure them against all perverse innovations. 
 If you remain in singleness of mind, he adds, 
 the God of peace will avert discord and schism, 
 or destroy them and their author. 
 
 21 — 27. Timothy, my fellow-labourer, and Luke, 
 
 G G 
 
450 Chap. XVI. 21—27. 
 
 and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, sa- 
 
 22 lute you. I, Tertius, who have written this 
 
 23 Epistle, salute you in the Lord. Gaius 
 saluteth you, my host, and that of the whole 
 church. Erastus saluteth you, the treasurer 
 
 24 of the city, and the brother Quartus. The 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with 
 
 25 you all. Amen. Now unto Him who is 
 able to strengthen you, according to my 
 Gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, 
 according to the revelation of the mystery 
 that has been hidden from eternal times, 
 
 26 but has now been brought to light, and by 
 the prophetic Scriptures, [and] according to 
 the decree of the eternal God, made known 
 among all nations for the obedience of faith, 
 
 27 [To Him] the only wise God be glory, 
 through Jesus Christ for ever ! 
 
 25 The construction of the three last verses is confused, but the 
 sense is not hard. The mystery is revealed through the mani- 
 festation of Jesus Christ. St. Paul cannot, therefore, mean that 
 it is now revealed only through the prophetic writings, though 
 these also, whose sense we can now better understand, have 
 contributed to the revelation. I, therefore, separate cpavtpco- 
 devros 8e vvv from the following words, 8id re ypaCpav 7rpo(pr)TiK(ov. 
 Nor can St. Paul mean that the announcement has been made 
 to all nations through the prophetic writings, or even mainly so. 
 — 27 w is probably used by St. Paul, if it be the right reading, 
 for air a, just as in Eph. iii. 21, where avra> is used almost super- 
 fluously. It certainly creates ambiguity, as a might also be 
 referred to 'I^o-ov Xpiarov. 
 
 Although it is a little out of place here, I cannot but call atten- 
 tion to the fact, that the use of alwvios in agreement with xpovos, 
 
Chap. XVI. 21—27. 451 
 
 In this sublime conclusion, the Apostle once 
 more sums up the essence of the Gospel and 
 his own interpretation of it, namely, that all 
 succour and strength come from God alone, 
 through Jesus Christ. This, he says, is the 
 sum and substance of the great mystery of re- 
 demption, of the eternal decree of God, of which 
 the prophets have spoken, and which therefore is 
 proclaimed as His one great purpose throughout, 
 (comp. i. 2,) but which now only is disclosed 
 through Jesus Christ and made known to all 
 nations, that the will of God may be fulfilled 
 which is the blessedness of all. 
 
 This wisdom, revealed through Jesus Christ, 
 has stood and will stand immovable amid the 
 rise and fall of all human wisdom in its varying 
 forms, because it is the wisdom of the only-wise 
 God. It is for this reason alone that the hostility 
 of human perverseness, and the distortions of 
 human presumption have never been able to 
 
 proves incontrovertibly that the writers of the New Testament 
 do not necessarily connect with alwvios the metaphysical idea of 
 eternity as opposed to time, but that it must in each case be 
 shown by the context whether it means " eternal" or only "of 
 long duration." An eternal time is a self-contradictory notion, 
 if we take " eternal " in its strongest sense; and no one will 
 wish to maintain, in spite of common sense, that St. Paul 
 means to say of time, that it is eternal, because in the next 
 verse he predicates alwvios of God, who unquestionably is eternal. 
 And can we maintain with any greater reason, that Ko'Ana-u 
 alwvLos (in Matt. x.xv. 46) must necessarily denote eternal punish- 
 ment, because fat) alavios is mentioned immediately after, and 
 this foorj unquestionably is eternal ? 
 
 GG 2 
 
452 Chap. XVJ. 21—27. 
 
 counteract its influence, or weaken the divine 
 power which animates it, and which proves its 
 eflicacy upon all who approach it with a fervent 
 desire for light and help. 
 
 Oh ! that it might be more and more acknow- 
 ledged, that this heavenly wisdom includes all 
 that man can ever need to walk with confidence 
 and cheerfulness the path which alone leads to 
 his blessed home; and that it is the problem 
 of true wisdom not to find another path, but 
 to remove the obstructions with which human 
 hands have rendered it inaccessible or difficult 
 to so many! Oh! that the divine declaration 
 may be more and more understood and felt, that 
 there is no other salvation, no other name, no 
 other power under heaven given among men, by 
 which we may be saved, but Jesus Christ alone; 
 that before Him every knee may bow, and all 
 tongues acknowledge that He is Lord, to the 
 glory of God the Father ! 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter by the author to 
 Dr. Liicke, Professor of Divinity at Gottingen, occasioned by 
 his notice of this Exposition in the " Studien und Kritiken." 
 It is inserted as elucidating and still further developing the 
 author's views on some important matters treated of in this 
 work, and therefore likely, it is hoped, to prove interesting to the 
 
NOTE. 
 
 453 
 
 reader. " You speak," he says, " very kindly and favourably of my 
 work in general, and promise me at some future time to com- 
 municate certain doubts and objections with regard to particular 
 parts. As I am conscious of having written with no other 
 object than the furtherance of truth, nothing could be more 
 welcome than a promise from a man of such distinguished 
 learning, to lend a helping hand towards the accomplishment of 
 my wishes. But, for the purpose of promoting this common 
 view, I think it necessary (judging from what you have thought 
 proper to premise in your notice) to establish a preliminary 
 understanding between us, as to a main feature of my book — its 
 Christian-philosophic tendency ; on which account I beg to sub- 
 mit the following remarks in aid of your critical examination. 
 
 "I fancied that I had stated with sufficient clearness in my 
 Introduction, that it was one of the chief objects of my work, 
 while considering the human system of the Apostle, *. e. the 
 form in which he found it necessary to clothe his teaching, 
 viewed from his own standing point, and with reference to his 
 immediate purpose, — to search also for the absolute truth, di- 
 vested of the form under which it lies, without which truth 
 the unity and luminous connection, which meet the spiritual 
 reader in all the Apostle's writings, would be altogether incon- 
 ceivable. I have indicated, p. 54, the manner in which we may 
 discover this, while faithfully adhering to the Apostle's train of 
 thought, and even his very words, in their simplest and most 
 natural meaning; adding, that the proof of our having given no 
 arbitrary interpretation, but of having found truth, according to 
 the measure of our ability, must lie in our thus attaining ' to a 
 view of the world more worthy than any other of the God of Love 
 whom the Gospel has revealed to us, and a wisdom according to the 
 inspired declaration of the Apostle, immeasurably surpassing all 
 human wisdom, a power of God, the hidden wisdom of God.' But 
 as the Apostle was not writing a system, and, consequently, his 
 interpreter, as such, being bound to follow him step by step, can 
 write none, but must confine himself to paving the way for 
 such a system — all that he can do in that way is to make such 
 use of the particular passages most appropriate to the purpose, 
 that the attentive reader may be readily enabled to construct a 
 
454 NOTE. 
 
 whole for himself, by uniting the several parts. Among the 
 number of these passages are the two against which you have 
 deemed it necessary te enter a protest, namely, my explanation 
 of the expression, 'The death of Christ,' v. 1 — 11, and my de- 
 duction from v. 12 — 14 of the origin of sin in an ante-human 
 existence. They stand in intimate connection with what is said 
 in pp. 215 and 239, on the unavoidableness of sin in the con- 
 dition of humanity, as also in pp. 177 and 266, on the probability 
 of a return to human life, and many other passages, e. g., p. 286, 
 which are designed mutually to fill up each other's deficiencies, 
 and to form a whole conjointly. It was precisely these pas- 
 sages which induced me to ask, p. 56, that a 'judgment upon 
 particular parts, which might startle the reader, might be de- 
 ferred until they could be reviewed at the close, and appreciated 
 in their connection with the whole.' That the deeper explana- 
 tion which I endeavour to establish does not lie in the sphere of 
 idle speculation, but must be of the most blissful consequence 
 to many, my whole book will best furnish proof, as, thank God ! 
 it has already done. In particular passages I have expressed 
 myself more distinctly on the points in question, e. g. pp. 202 
 and 277, but there also I have added an observation which may 
 suffice to obviate offence. With regard to the passage on v. 1 — 11, 
 you say, ' The author understands by the death of Christ, not 
 His bodily death, but the entrance of this purest of all spirits 
 into the visible world, and so, the incarnation of Christ.' I must 
 beg you to read once more p. 184 ff., where I state expressly and 
 repeatedly that I do not understand by it the incarnation of 
 Christ but ' the whole of His redeeming agency in and for the 
 material world,' which comprehends the human life of Christ, 
 and in particular His death, as the most prominent and momen- 
 tous part of it. The whole weight of my reasons rests upon the 
 consideration that the redeeming power of Christ ought not to 
 be limited to any single moment of His earthly life. That 
 the Apostle attributes this agency on behalf of fallen hunanity 
 to the Redeemer both before His appearance as Man and after 
 His ascension, I have proved, p. 187, by the well known texts. 
 But that he here understands by His death, not merely His 
 bodily death, but the whole of His redeeming work, cannot, of 
 
NOTE. 455 
 
 course, be established by reference to forms of speech but only 
 from the spiritual connection of the whole ; and I assure you 
 that, after repeated and careful examination of my argument. I 
 cannot find that it is founded on analogies arbitrarily assumed 
 and interpreted. Further, I feel persuaded that you cannot, any 
 more than myself, limit what Christ has done for humanity to 
 His bodily death. With regard to the New Testament usage, 
 besides what I have said in my note, page 185, I need only re- 
 mind you of what I there observed in the text, and, again, as far 
 back as page 124, in the note on verse 25, on the energetic 
 brevity of expression which employs some important circum- 
 stance as a description of the whole. You add further : ' The 
 connection of the passage is clear enough if we take it through- 
 out according to ordinary usage.' Yet the passage so taken, 
 without regard to its spiritual reference, has given occasion to 
 the misinterpretation that it was necessary that Christ should 
 be slain in order to propitiate the wrathful God. It is necessary 
 therefore, that the spirit should come in, in order to free us 
 from the letter of ordinary usage. And, if so, why should we 
 not strive by the spirit to grasp the deepest sense of the spirit 1 
 This will then stand in the same relation to the former, itself 
 also containing truth, as the true solar system to the old, which 
 made the earth the centre of the universe. This also contains 
 truth ; it teaches the courses of the stars, for practical applica- 
 tion in the measurement of time, navigation, etc., correctly 
 enough up to a certain point. But the inward connection and 
 satisfactory unity of the system can only be discerned by him 
 who is able to refer all to the true centre. 
 
 " With reference to verses 12 — 14 I have to observe, in addi- 
 tion to such of my foregoing remarks as apply here also, that I 
 am far from saying or thinking that in this passage, or in the 
 Mosaic account of the Creation and the Fall, the Pre-existence 
 is taught in express words. I only maintain that the Apostle's 
 argument leads us quite naturally to assume it. ' Death,' says 
 St. Paul, 'is a consequence of sin, and all men are mortal, not 
 because Adam sinned, but because all have sinned.' But even 
 from Adam to Moses, men who received no positive law, by 
 transgressing which they might sin and become mortal, died 
 
456 NOTE. 
 
 notwithstanding, and must, therefore, have been sinners, since 
 such only are mortal. Where, then, could they have transgressed 
 a divine law, for they had none given them in their human exist- 
 ence ? I put it to yourself and every unprejudiced thinker, whe- 
 ther, allowing the premises, any other answer can be given than 
 that which I have drawn from them ; namely, in an ante-human 
 existence ! Indeed, how could they otherwise have been bom 
 mortal, when, according to St. Paul, he only is mortal who has 
 sinned ? With regard, then, to my brief observations on the 
 Mosaic narrative, I say expressly, p. 2 1 7, that they are merely 
 designed to show that the narrative, spiritually understood, (as, 
 indeed, it must be unless all that is excellent in it is to be 
 degraded to the level of a childish tale,) is perfectly reconcilable 
 with the assumption of a Pre-existence ; and I conclude, p. 226, 
 with the words, ' Let him who finds these hints in accordance 
 with the spirit of the Apostle, and with the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, make use of them with us ; and let him who does not, 
 lay them aside without taking offence.' Taking these cautions, 
 together with my express declaration on pp. 201 and 277, that 
 the Pre-existence, and all the consequences deducible from it, 
 are not by any means indispensable to a worthy and profound 
 conception and practical application of Christianity, but that it 
 is decidedly not at variance with Scripture, p. 200, and so cannot 
 be opposed to any Scriptural creed, I must confess that I do 
 not see the necessity of your protest. Is not a protest of 
 the kind, from the pen of such a man, calculated to arouse the 
 unmerited prejudice against my book, that it is full of idle 
 speculations, and seeks to establish them from the Bible ? Per- 
 mit me, .as I have had no opportunity hitherto of expressing my 
 sentiments on the subject, to state briefly, to what I have been 
 myself led by this doctrine, and to what I would earnestly wish 
 it to lead others also. By its help I have learnt, after a thought- 
 ful search of many years, to understand mysteries both of 
 Scripture and nature, of which I had before but a dim presenti- 
 ment. It has disclosed to me the connection of the two worlds, 
 the natural and spiritual, which are in fact the work of one God, 
 and to both of which, in our position of humanity, we belong. 
 It has taught me to abandon the one sided separating tendency 
 
NOTE. 457 
 
 in Theology, Philosophy and Natural Science, and to acknowledge 
 as true such speculation only as, led by the hand of Revelation, 
 combines all in one great unity. It has prepared me for the 
 solution of the vast problem, ' the origin of evil,' in a world 
 created by the only-good God, and the co-existence of Necessity 
 and Freedom in it, and so has preserved me from a Pantheism 
 which, more or less concealed, has gained but too much as- 
 cendancy in Theology and Philosophy, but which is directly 
 opposed to the teaching of the Old and New Testaments, as also 
 to the requirements of a purified and self-conscious intellect. 
 It has led me to a view of the world, a firmly grounded and 
 thoroughly Scriptural philosophic knowledge, which need no 
 more fear the theories or demonstrations of any present or 
 future advances in Natural Science. And, since I have found it 
 in manifold ways established and confirmed by Scripture, I could 
 not but allude to the foundation which exists for it in a passage 
 which met me so unsought, and from which it throws so much 
 light on the writings of the Apostle. 
 
 " It may be asked, ' Why, then, did not Christ and His Apos- 
 tles teach the Pre-existence plainly and unmistakably, if it 
 lead to such important consequences V I could only introduce 
 a few hints towards answering this question, in my book. The 
 condition of humanity, and its high destination to divine per- 
 fection and freedom, necessarily requires the independent and 
 actively-exerted development of the divine powers which lie 
 undeveloped in the human spirit. But sensuality and evil would 
 always divert this development from its true course, were it not 
 guided by the training hand of the Redeeming God. 
 
 " One important means of this divine training, indeed the 
 greatest and most glorious, is that which we call Revelation, in 
 its narrower sense. Now this could of its deep wisdom give to 
 humanity, from time to time, only what was needed according to 
 its condition, and what it could not otherwise attain ; the lode- 
 star, as it were, of the nightly voyage. Openly and expressly, it 
 could only declare what was needed for the time being ; more 
 obscurely and only by remote hints, what would have thrown the 
 present into confusion, and diverted it from its more urgent 
 needs. On this account the last and most glorious Revelation. 
 
458 NOTE. 
 
 after which we have no other external Revelation to expect, 
 discloses in plain terms much important matter, of which we 
 find only hints in the earlier Revelations, and also, in embryo, all 
 that will be needed in times to come. On this account, too, 
 Christ promises to His people, that in later times the Spirit 
 shall reveal to them what they have hitherto been unable to 
 comprehend. Not something new and different ! but, 'He shall 
 take of Mine and shall declare it unto you.' Revelation is not 
 designed to anticipate development according to time, any more 
 than to aid idleness of intellect and heart : and, therefore, we 
 have no revelation of Physical and Astronomical Science and the 
 like, or even of such speculative truths as could not be turned 
 into dogmatic formulas, without losing all vital power of pro- 
 gress. All human effort, and especially scientific effort, must, 
 under divine guidance, work together towards redemption from 
 evil and error. It is one important object of sound Science to 
 convince men that, of itself, however proud its triumphs, it cau 
 never secure inward peace and blessedness, which must flow 
 from a widely different source ; but its principal object is that, 
 penetrated and enlightened by the spirit of true revelation, it 
 may assist in raising the glorious structure of the temple of 
 God. 
 
 " On these accounts, then, I can never allow myself to imagine 
 that the glorious results which I have gained from that fruitful 
 germ, and which have already proved so rich in blessings to 
 myself and many others, are of my own unauthorised introduc- 
 tion. I can allow nothing that I have said to be such, unless it 
 can be shown that it is opposed or derogatory to divine Truth. 
 (Comp. p. 54.) On the other hand, I require no one to see exactly 
 as myself, but expressly contend for universal freedom of spiritual 
 insight. Least of all would I place him, who has need of the same 
 medium as myself, higher than him who attains the same end 
 without it. (Comp. pp. 42 — 45.) Some of the advantages above 
 enumerated, for which I am indebted to a careful examination 
 and use of the doctrine of Pre-existence, I have stated in my 
 book, from the reasons before mentioned, only as opportunity 
 allowed ; on which account it should be judged as a whole, and 
 tested by continuous and careful reference to Revelation, Science 
 
NOTE. 459 
 
 and Life ; some, however, I could only hint at, while there were 
 many which I found it necessary to pass over entirely, reserving 
 them for another work. (pp. 205, 243.) If, however, I have con- 
 tributed in my book only some few particulars for investigation, 
 and if I have succeeded in removing certain doctrinal difficulties, 
 e.g., by retaining the strict deductions of an Augustine and a 
 Calvin in the doctrine of Predestination, which is undoubtedly 
 taught in express words by the Apostle, but at the same time 
 resolving what is frightful in it, by yet more strict deductions 
 into the blessed harmony of divine love ; if I have set forth 
 satisfactorily the relation of Christian Morals and Doctrine, etc., 
 I am anxious to commend what I have done to the interest of the 
 scientific theologian, as well as of the educated layman, for which 
 reason also I dedicate my book, p. 55, expressly to all, without 
 distinction of profession, who feel the need of conforming their 
 faith and knowledge, in a word, their whole being, to that unity 
 without which any lasting inward peace is inconceivable. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 WER'i'HEIMER AND CO., miNTERS, P1NSBURY CIRCUS. 
 
DATE DUE 
 
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