UBHARV OF PRINCETON 
 
 JU! 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 BS 2665 .P47 1915 
 Pettingill, William L. 1866- 
 
 1950. 
 Simple studies in Romans 
 
rs^u-ei-m.^ I ^ <^ V» 
 
SIMPLE STUDIES 
 
 IN 
 
 ROMANS 
 
 LIBHARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 MAY 2 4 2000 
 
 BY 
 
 W1L1 LL\M L. PETTIMQ ILL 
 THEOLOfilffi^^EMINARY 
 
 Israel, Jehovah's Covenant People ; Simple Studies in 
 
 Daniel; Simple Studies in Matthew; Simple 
 
 Studies in Revelation 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 
 172t-23 SPRINQ GARDEN STRECST 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA„ 
 
Copyright, 1915 
 
 By FRED. KELKER 
 
 Harrisburg, Pa. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 It is fitting that Romans should be located at 
 the beginning of the New Testament epistles, be- 
 cause of its fundamental character, setting forth 
 as it does in logical order of sequence the things 
 that are elementary in "the faith which was once 
 delivered to the saints." 
 
 In these studies the purpose is to help the chil- 
 dren of God to a clear understanding of the won- 
 derful truths set forth in Romans, to the end that 
 they may be established. In the final chapter of 
 the book it is declared that God is able to estab- 
 lish His people, and it is pointed out that His 
 means of thus establishing them is according to 
 what Paul calls his own gospel, ''and the preach- 
 ing of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of 
 the mystery." Paul's gospel, including "the reve- 
 lation of the mystery," finds its beginnings in 
 Romans. The body of truth revealed to Paul 
 had been "kept secret since the ages began, but 
 now is made manifest," starting with Romans 
 (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:5-7). The Thessa- 
 lonian epistles, and some others, were written be- 
 fore this book, but it is hard to resist the con- 
 clusion that the Holy Spirit has superintended the 
 arrangement of the books of the New Testament, 
 and that among the epistles, Romans is rightly 
 first. 
 
 3 
 
4 SIMPLE. STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 The late Dr. Stifler, whose admirable outline 
 we have followed to a considerable extent, used 
 to tell his students that the chief difficulty con- 
 nected with the study of Romans was that the 
 Lord's people would not believe it. "It is not," 
 said he, "that the book is hard to understand, but 
 that so many who read it refuse to believe what it 
 says." Doubtless this is the main difficulty with 
 all Bible study: how can we understand what 
 God has said unless we begin by believing it? 
 May God Himself bring us to this study in the 
 right attitude of mind and heart, and deliver us 
 from the sin of unbelief, "which doth so easily 
 beset us !" 
 
 For we may not forget that this book speaks to 
 us with authority. Penned by the accredited rep- 
 resentative of the risen Christ, it is as if He Him- 
 self had written it. The words we read here are 
 God's words, written by God's man as he is 
 moved by the Holy Spirit. With all the Scrip- 
 tures, they are God-breathed (2 Tim. 3: 16). 
 
 Dr. C. I. Scofield says (''Correspondence 
 Course") : 
 
 "Not one word of the New Testament had been writ- 
 ten when Christ departed from the earth; but we have 
 His express authority for receiving it as the inspired 
 Word of God. (a) He said plainly that He would leave 
 the revelation of truth unfinished (Jno. 16:12); (b) 
 He promised that this revelation should be completed 
 after His departure (Jno. 16: 13) ; (c) He chose certain 
 persons to receive such additional revelations, and to be 
 His witnesses, preachers and teachers after His de- 
 parture (Jno. 16:13; 15:27; Ac. 1:8; Mt. 28:19, 20; 
 
FOREWORD. 5 
 
 Ac. 9 : 15-17) ; (d) Knowing beforehand what they would 
 write, He gave their words precisely the same authority 
 as His own (Mt. 10:14, 15; Lk. 10:16; Jno. 13:20; 
 17:20)." 
 
 All this, of course, applies equally to the writ- 
 ings of Paul, who received his commission from 
 the hands of the risen and glorified Christ. Paul 
 comes to us with the very words of Him Who is 
 Head over all things to the Church. To again 
 quote Dr. Scofield : 
 
 "We conclude, upon the testimony of Christ, and of 
 the writers themselves, that the Scriptures are verbally 
 inspired — that the Holy Spirit gave the words. The 
 notion that 'the inspiration is in the concept,' and not 
 in the words, is contrary to the express declaration of 
 the witnesses who knew." 
 
 Our epistle falls naturally into four great 
 parts, which may be indicated and easily remem- 
 bered by the use of four key-words, namely : 
 
 I. Sin. Here we are told the naked truth 
 about sin; here we see the awful guilt of man, 
 and his utter helplessness. This division reaches 
 to chapter 3 : 20, where every mouth is stopped 
 and the whole world brought in guilty before 
 God. 
 
 n. Righteousness. Having shown the des- 
 perate need resulting from the ravages of the 
 dread disease of sin, the Spirit of God comes to 
 pour oil and wine into the wounds, and to show 
 how our need is fully met in the gospel. This di- 
 vision extends to the end of the 8th chapter. 
 
6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 III. Vindication. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 are 
 a vindication of the ways of God in His deaHngs 
 with Israel. 
 
 IV. Walk. Growing out of the doctrines of 
 the epistle, and based upon them, are the exhor- 
 tations of the final chapters, 12 to 16, calling 
 upon Christians to walk in the way of holiness. 
 This is ever the Holy Spirit's method : first He 
 tells us the truth about our position, and then He 
 seeks to bring us practically into conduct be- 
 fitting that position. For example, in Eph. 5 : 8 
 it is written: 
 
 "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light 
 in the Lord: walk as children of light." 
 
 Indeed, this should be the object of all Bible 
 s.tudy. Truth itself is valueless except it be trans- 
 muted into life. "Knowledge," by itself, "puflf- 
 eth up." "If ye know these things, happy are ye 
 if ye do them." 
 
PROLOGUE 
 
 (Chapter 1:1-17) 
 
 The prefatory paragraphs in the first seventeen 
 verses of chapter i, are two : 
 
 I. The SA1.UTAT10N (1-7). 
 
 1. "Paul, Jesus Christ's slave" (i). This is 
 the true meaning of the opening phrase. The 
 word translated "servant" in the common ver- 
 sions is literally "bondman," that is "slave.'* 
 Thus this man at once identifies himself: he is 
 the Lord's slave; he has taken His yoke upon 
 him, and is His willing bondservant. He has 
 known the bondage of sin, but this is a bondage 
 of love. The yoke he now wears is easy, and the 
 burden is light (Mat. 11 : 28, 29). 
 
 2. "A called apostle" (i). Not merely 
 "called an apostle," and much less "called to be 
 an apostle." Many of the commentators, and 
 even the translators, break down here. Most of 
 them have "called to be," and the Twentieth Cen- 
 tury New Testament goes so far as to render it 
 "called to become an apostle." Alford points 
 out that in Paul's case, his call to the apostleship 
 was a very special one. He was "called, and that 
 to the very highest office, of an apostle ; and even 
 
 7 
 
8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 more — among the apostles, not one by original se- 
 lection, but one specially called." And on this 
 point Bengel says : 
 
 "The rest of the apostles were educated by long inter- 
 course with Jesus, and were called first to follow Him, 
 and obey Him, then put forth as apostles. Paul, before- 
 time a persecutor, was suddenly made an apostle by 
 special calling. In like manner, the Jews were God's 
 people by promise ; the Greeks, by simple calling. Thus 
 the called apostle had a similitude and relation to the 
 called saints" (verse 7). 
 
 Paul, then, was an apostle by call, even the call 
 of the risen Christ. It becomes us, therefore, to 
 heed well the message he brings us. He speaks, 
 not as a mere messenger, but as an apostle — a 
 "legate," as Murdock puts it. The word apostle 
 means "a sent one," but in its New Testament 
 sense it stands for one who is sent clothed with 
 full authority to speak and act for the divine 
 Sender. 
 
 3. "Separated unto the gospel of God" (i). 
 Paul had no difficulty in classifying himself ; he 
 knew where he belonged, and to Whom. He was 
 the Lord's slave, and his particular business was 
 in connection with "the gospel of God" — God's 
 good news. He was "a chosen vessel," dedicated 
 to a certain particular use (Ac. 9 : 15). His work 
 was marked out for him even from his birth 
 (Gal. 1 : 15), though it took a long time for him 
 to discover that fact. 
 
PROLOGUE. 9 
 
 "The theme of Romans," says Dr. Scofield 
 {"Reference Bible"), 
 
 "is the 'gospel of God' (i:i), the very widest pos- 
 sible designation of the whole body of redemption 
 truth, for it is He with Whom is 'no respect of 
 persons ;' and Who is not 'the God of the Jews only,' 
 but 'of the Gentiles also' (2:11; 3:29). Accordingly, 
 'all the world' is found guilty (3: 19), and a redemption 
 is revealed as wide as the need, upon the alone condition 
 of faith. Not only does Romans embody in the fullest 
 way the doctrines of grace in relation to salvation, but 
 in three remarkable chapters (9-11) the great promises 
 to Israel are reconciled with the promises concerning 
 the Gentiles, and the fulfilment of the former shown to 
 await the completion of the church and coming of the 
 Deliverer out of Zion (11:25-27). The key-phrase is 
 'the righteousness of God' (i : 17; 3: 21, 22)." 
 
 4. "Which He had promised afore by His 
 prophets in the Holy Scriptures" (2). In the 
 Greek there is no article preceding "Holy Scrip- 
 tures," though the Old Testament is clearly indi- 
 cated by the mention of God's prophets, and the 
 insertion of the article is therefore perhaps war- 
 ranted. The point in the statement is that the 
 gospel u^as revealed in fulfilment of promises 
 which God had made (compare i Pet. i : 11). 
 
 5. "Concerning His Son" (3). The person of 
 Christ is the very substance of the gospel of God. 
 According to the flesh He is, as the prophets pre- 
 dicted, a descendant of David. According to the 
 Spirit of Holiness, He was shown to be the Son 
 of God with power by resurrection : not His 
 own resurrection merely, but that of others also, 
 
10 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 "such as were dead" (1911 Bible, margin). Mr. 
 Darby says ("Synopsis") : 
 
 "The subject of this gospel is, first of all, the Son of 
 God. He has accomplished a work; but it is Himself 
 Who is the true subject of the gospel. Now He is 
 presented in a two-fold aspect: ist, the object of the 
 promises, Son of David according to the flesh; 2d, the 
 Son of God in power. Who, in the midst of sin, walked 
 by the Spirit in divine and absolute hoHness (resur- 
 rection being the illustrious and victorious proof of 
 Who He was, walking in this character). That is to 
 say, resurrection is a public manifestation of that power 
 by which He walked in absolute holiness during His 
 life — a manifestation that He is the Son of God in 
 power. He is clearly shown forth as Son of God in 
 power by this means. Here it was no question of prom- 
 ise, but of power, of Him Who could enter into con- 
 flict with the death in which man lay, and overcome it 
 completely; and that, in connection with the holiness 
 which bore testimony during his life to the power of that 
 Spirit by which He walked, and in which He guarded 
 Himself from being touched by sin. It was in the same 
 power by which He was holy in life absolutely that He 
 was raised from the dead. 
 
 "In the ways of God on the earth He was the object 
 and the fulfilment of the promises. With regard to the 
 condition of man under sin and death, He was com- 
 pletely Conqueror of all that stood in His way, whether 
 Hving or in resurrection. It was the Son of God Who 
 was there, made known by resurrection according to 
 the power that was in Him, a power that displayed itself 
 according to the Spirit by the holiness in which He 
 lived. 
 
 "What marvelous grace to see the whole power of 
 evil — that dreadful door of death which closed upon 
 the sinful life of man, leaving him to the inevitable judg- 
 ment that he deserved — ^broken, destroyed, by Him, 
 
PROLOGUE. II 
 
 Who was willing to enter into the gloomy chamber 
 which shut in, and take upon Himself all the weakness of 
 man in death, and thus completely and absolutely de- 
 livered him whose penalty He had borne in submitting 
 to death ! This victory over death, this deliverance of 
 man from its dominion, by the power of the Son of God 
 become man, when He had undergone it, and that as a 
 sacrifice for sin, is the only ground of hope for mortal 
 and sinful man. It sets aside all that sin and death have 
 to say. It destroys, for him who has a portion in 
 Christ, the seal of judgment upon sin, which is in death; 
 and a new man, a new life, begins for him who has 
 been held under it outside the whole scene. The whole 
 effect of his former misery — a life founded on the value 
 of that which the Son of God had there accomplished. 
 
 "In fine, we have, as the subject of the gospel, the 
 Son of God, made of the seed of David after the flesh ; 
 and, in the bosom of humanity in death, declared to be 
 the Son of God by resurrection,* Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 6. "J^sus Christ our Lord, through Whom 
 we receive grace and apostleship" (4, 5, R. V.). 
 Mr. Darby continues : 
 
 "The gospel was the gospel of God Himself; but it 
 is by Jesus Christ the Lord that the apostle received 
 his mission. He was the head of the work, and sent 
 forth the labourers into the harvest which they were 
 to reap in the world. The object of his mission, and 
 its extent, was the obedience of faith ( not obedience to 
 the law) among all nations, establishing the authority 
 and the value of the name of Christ. It was this name 
 which should prevail and be acknowledged. 
 
 *"It is not said *by His resurrection,' but *by resur- 
 rection' abstractly. His own was the great proof; but 
 that of every man is a proof likewise" (Mr. Darb/s 
 note). 
 
12 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 "The gospel according to Paul," says Dr. 
 Stifler, "is universal. It is not Jewish, but world- 
 wide, a gospel for the Gentiles, for by resurrec- 
 tion Jesus transcended all Jewish connection and 
 became the world's Saviour, a Saviour not by the 
 obedience to law which was Mosaic, but by the 
 power of an endless life. Life is universal. Thus 
 Paul, by linking his apostolate with the raised 
 Christ, gives first the character of his epistle, and 
 secondly its scope. It is the epistle of divine life 
 in Christ for all nations, on the condition of 
 faith/' 
 
 7. *' Among whom are ye also" (6, 7). The 
 children of God are here defined as : 
 . (i) "The called of Jesus Christ" (6). Not, 
 as in R. V., "called to be Jesus Christ's :" they 
 were already His — His called ones. His bidden 
 ones. Also, they are: 
 
 (2) "Beloved of God" (7). Surely they are 
 that. As Jude puts it, all who have come to God 
 by Jesus Christ are "called, beloved in God the 
 Father, and kept for Jesus Christ" (Jude i, R. 
 v.). But, further, they are, 
 
 (3) *'Called saints" (7). Here again we have 
 the question raised in the first verse. Christians 
 — God's children by the new birth — are saints. 
 They are not called to become saints; they be- 
 came saints, instantaneously, at their new birth. 
 This fact is set forth everywhere in the New 
 Testament; and yet there is much confusion 
 among the translators. Weymouth, for example, 
 after rendering the phrase in verse 7, "called to 
 
PROLOGUE. 13 
 
 be saints," without intimating that he has sup- 
 plied the words "to be" (which are certainly not 
 in the original), says in a footnote, 
 
 "Herein consists the supreme glory and supreme diffi- 
 culty of the Christian life— that we are not simply to 
 speak of Christ to others, and, if need be, do and dare 
 great things for Him. By the power of His own most 
 holy Spirit within us we are to be saints." 
 
 Undoubtedly we are called upon to live ''as be- 
 cometh saints" (Rom. 16: 2), but it is highly im- 
 portant to see that if we have received the gift 
 of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord we 
 are already saints — God's holy ones, set apart for 
 Him, belonging to Him, saints by His own desig- 
 nation. His own calling — called saints. As Mr. 
 Darby observes, " 'called to be saints' is not the 
 meaning of the passage." He translates, with 
 Young and many others, "called saints," and de- 
 fines the phrase as meaning "saints by calling." 
 
 8. "Grace to you and peace" (7). This is 
 ever the message for the saints, "from God our 
 Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 IL The Introduction (8-17). 
 
 I. '*First, I thank my God," etc., (8). It is 
 the Spirit's way to first of all point out things to 
 be commended ; and this is true even in the case 
 of epistles containing much severe censure, as, 
 for example, ist Corinthians. The occasion for 
 thanksgiving in the case before us is that the 
 Roman Christians were widely known for their 
 
14 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 faith. That was surely something for which to 
 be thankful. If the faith is held pure, the works 
 will be forthcoming. 
 
 2. "I long to see you" (ii). There were 
 those who declared that Paul had neither desire 
 nor intention to visit Rome. His message, they 
 said, might do well enough for the provinces, but 
 it would never do in Rome. Rome was too well 
 informed, too cultured, too sophisticated, to be 
 caught with such a message ! But Paul here ex- 
 presses a sincere longing to come to Rome. 
 
 3. "I purposed to come unto you and was 
 hindered hitherto" (13, i^. F.). In a similar 
 passage (i Thes. 2: 18), Paul had declared that 
 he had been hindered by Satan from visiting 
 Thessalonica ; doubtless that is his meaning here 
 (compare also Rom. 15:22). 
 
 4. "I am debtor" (14). To be sure! And so 
 is every Christian a debtor, to give the gospel to 
 the whole world as rapidly as possible. 
 
 5. "I am ready" (15). That is a splendid 
 companion-piece to the "I am debtor." 
 
 6. "I am not ashamed" (16, 17). No one can 
 be ashamed of the gospel, though it is natural 
 to be ashamed of some things that pass for the 
 gospel. Paul was not ashamed, 
 
 (i) Because of the nature of the gospel: "it 
 is the power of God." It is unthinkable that any 
 man should be ashamed of power — least of all, 
 God's power; and the gospel is just that: God's 
 power. Again, Paul was not ashamed, 
 
PROLOGUB. 15 
 
 (2) Because of the aim of the gospel: it is 
 "unto salvation." And it always brings salvation 
 — from the penalty, from the power, and finally 
 from the very presence of sin — wherever it is re- 
 ceived. Moreover, Paul was not ashamed, 
 
 (3) Because of the scope of the gospel: it is 
 to every one that believeth." No one is barred ; 
 whosoever will may come. Further, Paul was 
 not ashamed, 
 
 (4) Because of the sole condition attached to 
 the gospel : it brings "salvation to every one that 
 believeth." This is all worked out in detail 
 further on in the epistle. Finally, Paul was not 
 ashamed, 
 
 (5) Because of the revelation of the gospel: 
 "For therein is the righteousness of God re- 
 vealed." This gospel revelation of God's right- 
 eousness, bestowed as a gift to men of faith, is all 
 worked out in its proper place further on. Here 
 it is mentioned as the fulfilment of an Old Testa- 
 ment prophecy: "The just shall live by faith" 
 (Hab. 2:4), and perhaps also to mark the sharp 
 contrast between this gracious gospel revelation 
 and the terrible revelation of God's wrath so 
 vividly described in the language that follows. 
 
FIRST MAIN DIVISION: THE SIN OF 
 THE WORLD 
 
 (i: i8 to 3:20) 
 
 Sin is now brought before us. The naked, hor- 
 rid facts are dragged out and made to stand forth 
 in the blazing Hght of God's holy wrath. This is 
 needful and wholesome: for if we are ever to 
 know the blessedness of God's remedy for the 
 evil, we must first know something of the reality 
 of the evil, and realize in some measure its enor- 
 mity. 
 
 This terrible arraignment of guilty man at the 
 bar of God is set forth in three subdivisions : ( i ) 
 The guilt of the Gentiles; (2) The guilt of the 
 Jews; and (3) Every mouth stopped. 
 
 I. The Guilt of the Gentiles (i: 18-32). 
 
 I. "The wrath of God is revealed from heav- 
 en" (18). There are, then, two revelations from 
 heaven (compare verses 17 and 18). And, until 
 the matter is explained, these revelations bring 
 only terror to guilty man. The very last things 
 he wants to be reminded of are God's righteous- 
 ness and God's wrath. He has yet to learn the 
 marvel of the gospel, by which God's righteous- 
 ness actually becomes God's gift to sinful man, 
 16 
 
THB SIN OF THE WORLD. 17 
 
 and God's wrath gives place to God's loving- 
 kindness. Meanwhile the divine wrath is di- 
 rected ''against all ungodliness and unrighteous- 
 ness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteous- 
 ness." Ungodliness is the absence of conformity 
 to the will of God. It leads to unrighteousness 
 as to men's relation with each other. Beins: not 
 right with God, they cannot be right in their deal- 
 ings with one another. Then, too, they will not 
 heed the facts. They "hold the truth in unright- 
 eousness." Literally, it reads, as in the Revision, 
 that they "hold down the truth in unrighteous- 
 ness." The natural heart is desperately wicked 
 (Jer. 17:9), and it will not fairly face the 
 truth. This is the universal rule, whether the 
 truth be revealed through the light of nature, or 
 the moral sense, or the preaching of the gospel. 
 Men hate the truth: the carnal mind is enmity 
 against God; man holds down the truth in un- 
 righteousness (compare Heb. 10:26-31; 2 Pet. 
 2 : 21, 22). In the passage we are just now con- 
 sidering it is shown that the Gentiles are thus 
 guilty of turning from the truth, even before the 
 gospel is preached to them. They are guilty, and 
 the wrath of God is resting upon them. The rea- 
 sons for this are strong ones. 
 
 2. "Because that which may be known of 
 God is manifest in them ; for God manifested it 
 unto them" (19). Men may speak of "the dim 
 light of nature," but God does not so describe it. 
 
 3. "For the invisible things of Him since the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen" (20). 
 
i8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Not dimly, but clearly. And they are not only 
 seen, but understood. 
 
 4. "Being understood by the things that are 
 made" (20). This is the argument of the 19th 
 Psalm : "The heavens declare the glory of God ; 
 and the firmament sheweth His handywork." 
 Two things about God are thus ''clearly seen" and 
 "understood" by the heathen, whether they be 
 evangelized or unevangelized — two things, re- 
 vealed "by the things that are made :" ( i ) "even 
 His eternal power" and (2) His "Godhead." 
 That is to say, it is revealed through nature itself 
 that there is a Creator, and that that Creator is 
 God. He ought, then, to be worshipped. 
 
 5. "So that they are without excuse" (20). 
 There you have, in a word, God's own pronounce- 
 ment concerning the guilt of the heathen world : 
 "They are without excuse." This he proceeds to 
 prove by setting forth in detail the awful facts 
 of the world's history in connection with its re- 
 lation to God from the beginning. There is here 
 no "Ascent of Man." According to this truthful 
 record, man did not rise from protoplasm toward 
 the likeness of God. Far from it! God Himself 
 tells us here that man has been going downward 
 instead of upward. In the beginning he was in 
 fellowship with God. From this high estate he 
 fell, and his fall was complete. The apostasy of 
 the Gentile world is here set forth in seven stages. 
 And these are given as seven sufficient reasons 
 for the declaration that men "are without ex- 
 cuse." They were without excuse — 
 
THU SIN OF THE WORLD. 19 
 
 (i) "Because that, when they knew God, 
 they glorified Him not as God, neither were 
 thankful" (21). This in itself is a scathing ar- 
 raignment. Man in the beginning knew God: 
 what a wonderful privilege!' It is life to know 
 Him (Jno. 17 : 3), and this was surely great cause 
 for rejoicing and thanksgiving; but man utterly 
 failed to maintain himself in this position of grace. 
 He glorified not God as God, and he was ungrate- 
 ful. Real thanksgiving toward God is altogether 
 absent from the heart of the natural man to this 
 day ; and even among the chilren of God it is all 
 too rare (see Col. 3: 15). 
 
 (2) "But became vain in their imaginations, 
 and their foolish heart was darkened" (21). 
 The Revisers here read, "became vain in their 
 reasonings, and their senseless heart was dark- 
 ened." Man is always prone to turn to reason, 
 rather than to God. Preferring the tree of knowl- 
 edge to the tree of life, the inevitable result is 
 that he became vain and puffed up ( i Cor. 8:1). 
 The end of this process is darkness. The way into 
 light is not by knowledge, but by faith. Men 
 must believe God, or walk in darkness. 
 
 (3) "Professing themselves to be wise, they 
 became fools" (22). They were manifestly out 
 of God's way, for it is never His way to reveal 
 spiritual truth by means of worldly wisdom (i 
 Cor. 1:18-25). 
 
 (4) "And changed the glory of the uncor- 
 ruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man" (23). This is the first step in idol- 
 
20 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 atry — to represent God as being like man. It 
 grows out of the lie of the serpent : "Ye shall be 
 as God." 
 
 (5) "And to birds" (23). For idolatry does 
 not stop with its first step. It progresses, and its 
 progress is always progress in degradation. 
 
 (6) "And fourfooted beasts" (23). Yet an- 
 other downward step. 
 
 (7) *'And creeping things" (23). "The 
 odiousness of idolatry," says Dr. Stifler, "is not 
 alone in the immorality to which it leads, but that 
 it is a caricature of God and a slander. It be- 
 longs to His glory that He is imperishable. He 
 was likened to that which is corruptible. The 
 very material of the image was a dishonour, as if 
 one should erect a statute to a distinguished man 
 to-day not in marble or bronze, but in chalk or 
 putty. To liken God to man is idolatry. Men 
 were to make no image of Him. Had they pre- 
 served their original conception of Him they 
 would not have attempted it. In due time He 
 gave an image of Himself in a sinless Being Who 
 was animated with eternal life, 'the brightness of 
 His glory, and the express image of His person' 
 (Heb. 1:3). If Jesus was not more than mortal. 
 He was an idol. These professed sages did not 
 stop with likening God to man ; they figured Him 
 as a bird, then as a quadruped, and finally as a 
 reptile. There was the Apollo of the Greeks, the 
 eagle of the Romans, the bull of the Egyptians, 
 and the serpent of the Assyrians. Paul may be 
 giving in this verse (23) the historical develop- 
 
THE SIN OF THB WORLD. 21 
 
 ment of idolatry, from its highest phase to its 
 worst; or he may be setting* it forth in cHmactic 
 form; but certain it is that all these phases of the 
 sin existed. In this review of the world's religion 
 from the beginning, Paul teaches that man at the 
 first was not an idolater. The origin of this sin 
 is not contemporaneous with the appearance of 
 man on the globe. Man did not work his way 
 from fetishism through polytheism up to mono- 
 theism and the worship of the true God. His 
 course was the reverse. From the beginning he 
 did not grow better religiously, but worse. The 
 Bible gives no evidence of idolatry among the 
 antediluvians. Men in that age called on the 
 name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26). The earliest 
 mention of idolatry belongs to the days of Abra- 
 ham (Josh. 24:2). Paul here gives the history 
 and origin of idolatry. Men knew God and re- 
 fused to worship Him. Idolatry followed as a 
 psychological necessity. If there is a force of 
 development inherent in man, a force tending up- 
 ward, the gospel of the grace of God is an im- 
 pertinence, and Paul might well be ashamed of it. 
 And why has not this force manifested itself 
 somewhat in the last two thousand years in 
 Africa, in India, and in China? The idolatry of 
 to-day is no better than that which grieved Paul" 
 C'The Epistle to the Romam/' by J. M. Stifler). 
 6. "Wherefore God also gave them, up to un- 
 cleanness" (24, 25). God's call is not to un- 
 cleanness but to holiness (i Thes. 4:7). And 
 when there is response to His call, He directs our 
 
22 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 steps in the way of holiness. But when the truth 
 of God is exchanged for a lie, and when worship 
 is accorded to the creature instead of the Creator, 
 it must follow that men become ''slaves to un- 
 cleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity" (Rom. 
 6: 19). And could anything be sadder than to 
 read, "Wherefore God gave them up ?" 
 
 7. "For this cause God gave them up unto 
 vile passions" (26, 27). Let Dr. Stifler again 
 speak here. "This," he says (Ibid.), "is the next 
 long step downward. Originally man was chaste, 
 but when he cast God off, his animal passions 
 
 were unchained Twice in these verses we 
 
 are told that 'God gave them up,' not passively, 
 but actively. The reason is again given : 'Who 
 changed the truth of God into the lie' of idolatry. 
 They did not change a lie into truth. Man's 
 course was not in that direction. They took 'the 
 truth of God' which He gave them and perverted 
 it to the falsehood of idol-worship. This was the 
 cause of that vileness whose hideous description 
 we have here. 'For even their women!' There 
 is point in that word 'even.' Woman is the purer, 
 the more modest, of the sexes, has propensities 
 less ardent; but even she became worse than 
 beastly and equaled vile man in his depravity. 
 The corruption that got into the blood of the race 
 by the fall did not show itself at once. The earlier 
 families and tribes of the world were pure ; God 
 kept them so. Whatever morality there is in the 
 world is due not to human nature, but to the re- 
 straining power of God. When God 'gave them 
 
THB SIN OF THE WORLD. 23 
 
 up/ the original corruption in the blood showed 
 itself in foul moral ulcers, and human virtue 
 proved to be less than that of the beasts of the 
 field, among which the barriers of sex are not 
 crossed." 
 
 8. "And even as they refused to have God in 
 their knowledge, God gave them up unto a 
 reprobate mind" (28-32). And behold where 
 that "reprobate mind" has taken them. The cli- 
 max is reached in the final verse of the chapter, 
 which is also a summing up of the whole case 
 against the Gentile world. Men know the judg- 
 ment of God against sin, that its sure wages is 
 death ; and yet they not only go on in sin, but 
 actually take pleasure in the depravity of others. 
 This is the state of "things as they are." To meet 
 this condition calls for a remedy of tremendous 
 power, even "the power of God." 
 
 II. The Guilt of the: Ji:ws (2 : 1-29). 
 
 I. "Therefore thou art inexcusable" (i). In 
 chapter i the Gentiles were shown to be without 
 excuse, and here the same indictment is brought 
 against the Jew — "thou art without excuse" {R. 
 v.), "The address," says Alford, "passes grad- 
 ually to the Jews. They were the people who 
 judged — who pronounced all Gentiles to be born 
 in sin and under condemnation : doubtless there 
 were also proud and censorious men among the 
 Gentiles, to whom the rebuke might apply, but 
 these are hardly in the apostle's mind. This is 
 evident by comparing the charge, 'thou that judg- 
 
24 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 est doest the same things,' with vs. 21-23, where 
 the same charge is imphed in a direct address to 
 the Jew.'' 
 
 "In depicting the sin of the Gentile in the first 
 chapter," says Dr. Stifler, "Paul did not name 
 him. It was not necessary. The picture was so 
 true to Hfe that no one could fail to see who sat 
 for it. The author has been assured more than 
 once by returned missionaries from China and 
 India that when this first chapter was read to in- 
 telligent natives of these heathen lands they have 
 hesitated to believe that it was from the mission- 
 ary's sacred Book, suspecting that the missionary 
 had written it himself as a description of what he 
 had seen since he came among them. In this sec- 
 ond chapter Paul has no one but the Jew in view. 
 He does not mention his name until the discussion 
 has advanced some distance. It was easy to 
 prove the Gentile a sinner. He claimed nothing 
 for himself, and his immorality was patent to 
 every eye; Paul had only to point to the facts. 
 But in the case of the Jew all was different. He 
 had a divinely-given system of religion. In the 
 letter it was never better observed than when 
 Paul wrote. The Jew as a son of Abraham con- 
 sidered himself righteous by the law. To con- 
 vince him of sin was no easier than it is to-day to 
 convince a hollow Christianity of its fatal error. 
 Paul has still his statement in view, that the gos- 
 pel is the only power of God for salvation, and 
 nothing to be ashamed of. If Judaism can save 
 
THE SIN OF THE WORLD. 25 
 
 men, the gospel is an impertinence; hence the 
 radical failure of the Jew must be shown." 
 
 2. "The judgment of God is according to 
 truth" (2). This is the first of four principles 
 here laid down as to the judgment of God. The 
 Jew must not suppose that merely because he 
 knew the will of God he therefore was safe from 
 judgment. If he knew the Word of God, he must 
 know that by that Word he should be judged 
 (compare Jno. 12:47, 4^)- 
 
 3. "To every man according to his deeds" 
 (6). This is the second principle of judgment: 
 it shall not be according to how much a man may 
 know, but according to what he has done about it 
 — according to his deeds. Of course, this is not 
 the gospel : that is to come later ; here the point 
 is that the Jew, as well as the Gentile, is in sore 
 need of the gospel. 
 
 4. "For there is no respect of persons with 
 God" (11). This is the third principle of judg- 
 ment: it will be strictly impartial (compare 
 Deut. 10:17; Ezk. 18:4; Ac. 10:34; Rom. 3: 
 29, 30; 10:12, 13). The Gentiles who have 
 sinned without the law must perish, for "the 
 wages of sin is death ;" and the Jews who have 
 sinned under the law must likewise perish, for 
 "the wages of sin is death." Do not make the 
 mistake here of reading "gospel" for "law." This 
 is to miss the point entirely. What the Spirit by 
 the apostle is showing is that apart from the gos- 
 pel there could no flesh be saved, either Gentile or 
 Jew. He is paving the way for the gospel. 
 
26 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 5. "In the day when God shall judge the 
 secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my 
 gospel" (16). This is the fourth principle of 
 
 I judgment: ''according to my gospel." Not ac- 
 cording to the law, thank God ! for then no flesh 
 could be saved. As for the Jews — "the hearers 
 of the law" (v. 13) — they could not be justified, 
 for they had not done the law; and as for the 
 Gentiles, who had not the law (v. 14), they were 
 nevertheless condemned, for all had "sinned with- 
 out law." This will all be brought out "in the 
 day when God shall judge the secrets of men." 
 Ah, who can stand in such a day as that? — "the 
 day of wrath and revelation of the righteous 
 judgment of God !" Only righteousness will pass 
 muster in that day — real righteousness, right- 
 eousness of the heart, righteousness even as to 
 "the secrets of men!" "Because He hath ap- 
 pointed a day in the which He will judge the 
 world in righteousness by that Man whom He 
 hath ordained ; whereof He hath given assurance 
 unto all men in that He hath raised Him from the 
 dead" (Ac. 17:31). Except for the gospel, not 
 a man could stand in that day. And we have not 
 yet come to the gospel. Let us first see the great 
 need for it. 
 
 6. "Behold, thou art called a Jew" ( 17) . The 
 implication here is that one might be called a Jew 
 without being a Jew. Paul is proving that the 
 so-called Jew is a helpless sinner in spite of all 
 his boastings. He rested in the law, utterly fail- 
 ing to recognize it as an instruction in righteous- 
 
THE SIN OF THE WORLD. 27 
 
 ness (2 Tim. 3 : 16) ; and made his boast of God, 
 forgetting that God is a just God ; he knew His 
 will (18), and it never occurred to him that he 
 ought to be obeying that will ; he was a student 
 of the Scriptures, able to "distinguish the things 
 that differ" (18, R. V., margin), being instructed 
 out of the law ; he was therefore confident that 
 he was a guide of the blind, a light of them (the 
 Gentiles) which were in darkness (19), an in- 
 structor of the fooHsh, a teacher of babes, having 
 the form of knowledge and of the truth in the 
 law (20). Here is a complete picture of what the 
 Jew thought of himself. What God thought of 
 him was another matter : the Holy Spirit is here 
 proving him a lost sinner. Let us see. 
 
 7. "Teachest thou not thyself?" (21). Evi- 
 dently the Jews had not thought of that. For the 
 name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles 
 through them (v. 24), as had been written of 
 them beforehand (Isa. 52:5; Ezk. 36:20). 
 
 8. "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou 
 keep the law" (25). A big and important "if," 
 surely! The Jew must learn that circumcision 
 in itself could not save ; it was after all only the 
 sign of the covenant. " 'But,' says the replier, 
 'circumcision is a great fact.' *I confess It,' re- 
 joins the apostle, 'but when? When a man has 
 that which is inward in the heart.' And see here 
 the apostle's wisdom, how fittingly he has intro- 
 duced his argument about it. He did not begin 
 with it at once, since it was held in such great esti- 
 mation : but when he has shown that they were 
 
28 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 offenders in a still greater matter, and were guilty 
 of blasphemy towards God, then at length, hav- 
 ing secured his readers' condemnation of them, 
 and having lowered them from their pre-emi- 
 nence, he introduces his argument about circum- 
 cision, confident that no one ever will be found 
 as its unlimited apologist" (Chrysostom). 
 
 9. "For he is not a Jew, which is one out- 
 wardly" (28, 29). This summing up should be 
 connected with the 17th verse. "Behold, thou art 
 called a Jew." Well, "he is not a Jew, which is 
 one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, 
 which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, 
 which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that 
 of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; 
 whose praise is not of men, but of God." This 
 goes to the core of the matter. "Behold, Thou 
 desirest truth in the inward parts" (Ps. 51:6). 
 The circumcision which is merely outward is in 
 God's sight only "the concision." The true cir- 
 cumcision consists of those "which worship God 
 in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and 
 have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:2, 3). 
 
 III. Every Mouth Stopped (3: 1-20). 
 
 I. "What advantage then hath the Jew?" 
 
 (i, 2). Paulj in the question and answer given 
 here, is dealing with an imaginary objector, as 
 he often does in his writings. This objector, re- 
 plying to the sweeping indictment against the 
 Jew in chapter 2, asks what, then, is the use of 
 being a Jew ; what profit is there of circumcision ? 
 
THE SIN OP THE WORLD. 29 
 
 If it does not save, what is the use of it ? To this 
 the answer is "Much every way : first of all, that 
 they were intrusted with the oracles of God" 
 {R. v.). That was surely a great honour.. 
 
 2. "For what if some did not believe?" (3, 4) . 
 The King James Version is decidedly weak here. 
 The American Revision reads: *'For what if 
 some were without faith? shall their want of 
 faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God ? 
 God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but 
 every man a liar." The 191 1 Bible is even bet- 
 ter: "For what if some did not believe? shall 
 their faithlessness destroy God's faithfulness? 
 God forbid ! nay, let God be true, though every 
 man be false ; as it is written. That Thou mightest 
 be justified in Thy sayings, and mightest over- 
 come when Thou art judged." This citation from 
 the 51st Psalm voices the sentiment of every true 
 child of God: Let God be justified at all events! 
 The ways of Jehovah are right ways! He is 
 faithful ! 
 
 3. "Is God unrighteous?" (5). This from the 
 objector: as Paul explains, "I speak as a man." 
 The issue raised is this : If God's righteousness 
 is made manifest by men's unrighteousness, then 
 God does wrong in taking vengeance. The an- 
 swer is ready : "God forbid ! for then how shall 
 God judge the world ?" This is a reference, doubt- 
 less, to Gen. 18:25, where Abraham puts the 
 question to Jehovah, "Shall not the Judge of all 
 the earth do right?" (compare also Ac. 17:31). 
 What an unspeakable calamity it would be if God 
 
30 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 should ever do wrong ! Let God be found true ! 
 4. "Why yet am I also judged?" (7, 8). 
 Again, the objector. His point now is that if the 
 truth (i. e., the truthfulness) of God has been 
 made more manifest and glorious by the untruth- 
 fulness of men, then men ought not to be con- 
 demned, but commended instead. And in that 
 case it would be better to go on in evil for the 
 Lord's sake ! Indeed, some had slanderously re- 
 ported that Paul himself advocated this course of 
 conduct : "Let us do evil that good may come." 
 This principle of Jesuitism the apostle vehe- 
 mently repudiates. "Paul now with one stroke 
 brings the whole objection to its logically absurd 
 conclusion. If sin enhances the glory of God, 
 and therefore is no longer guilt, why, the more we 
 sin, the brighter this grace. Let us do all the 
 evil we can, for the more evil the more praise to 
 His name! Some had affirmed that this is the 
 apostle's own doctrine. In their righteous con- 
 demnation of it they condemn themselves in the 
 claim that God cannot punish sin, because it pro- 
 motes His glory, for this claim is the very essence 
 of the hateful sentiment. And thus he has come 
 around in most skilful fashion to the assertion 
 with which he began against the Jew : 'Thou art 
 inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that 
 judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou 
 condemnest thyself (2:1). He joins with them 
 in repudiating the godless maxim, but he does not 
 go with them in holding it. They 'slanderously 
 report' him who say he does" (Stifler). 
 
THE SIN OF THE WORLD. 31 
 
 5. "What then?" (9-20). The argument of 
 the first main division is brought to a conclusion 
 in this paragraph, and the whole world is de- 
 clared guilty. The query of verse 9, "What then ? 
 are we better than they?" is probably a wrong 
 reading. The marginal rendering in the 191 1 
 Bible is better, "What then? do we excuse our- 
 selves ?" The meaning of the question is evident- 
 ly this : "What then ? Have we an excuse ? Is 
 there any excuse left? Is there any escape from 
 the final verdict of universal guilt?" This, at 
 any rate, is the question answered in the verses 
 that follow : "No, in no wise ! for we have be- 
 fore accused both Jews and Greeks, that they are 
 all under sin" (9). He does not say, with the 
 King James Version, that he has proved this: 
 he has only "laid it to their charge" (R. V.), and 
 he is now about to bring forth the proof. For 
 this he goes to the Scripture : 
 
 (i) "There is none righteous, no, not one!" 
 (10-12). The first proof, to the end of the 12th 
 verse, is taken from Psalms 14 and 53. It is God's 
 Word, and there is not so much as a single excep- 
 tion to the sweeping declaration. In the whole 
 human race, not even one solitary individual can 
 stand before God in his own merit. "Not one!" 
 None righteous ; none that understandeth ; none 
 that seeketh after God ; all turned aside ; they are 
 together become unprofitable ; there is none that 
 doeth good, no, not so much as ONE ! So much 
 for human character. Now what of human con- 
 duct? 
 
32 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (2) "Their throat is an open sepulchre ; with 
 their tongues they have used deceit ; the poison 
 of asps is under their lips : whose mouth is full 
 of cursing and bitterness" (13, 14). This ter- 
 rible count is taken from Ps. 5:9; 140 : 3 ; and 
 10 : 7, and it deals with man's mouth, as to what 
 he speaks. This is an important part of con- 
 duct. But there is another part. How does man 
 act? What does he do? Let us go on. 
 
 (3) "Their feet are swift to shed blood: de- 
 struction and misery are in their ways : and the 
 way of peace have they not known" (15-17; 
 compare Prov. 1 : 16 ; 6:17; Isa. 59:7, 8). Man's 
 actions, then, are no better in God's sight than 
 his words. "So then they that are in the flesh 
 cannot please God" (Rom. 8:8). Long, long 
 ago, the end of all flesh came before Him. O, 
 what a need for the gospel ! How utterly hope- 
 less are we without it ! 
 
 (4) "There is no fear of God before their 
 eyes" (18; compare Ps. 36: i). Here is given 
 the reason for it all. It was because there was no 
 fear of God before their eyes that men departed 
 so far from Him. It was the same with the Jew 
 as with the Gentile : "When they knew God, they 
 glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful" 
 (Rom. 1 : 21). 
 
 Now we have come to the end of the indict- 
 ment against the world. As for the Gentile, he 
 was declared guilty and without excuse in chap- 
 ter I ; and the law itself settled the matter for the 
 Jew : "it speaketh to them that are under the. 
 
THE SIN OF THE WORLD. zz 
 
 law ;" with the result that every mouth is stopped, 
 and the whole world is brought in guilty before 
 God. 
 
 The word "Therefore" in verse 20 should read 
 "Because." The meaning is that the whole world 
 is brought in guilty because no flesh is justified 
 by works. Judged by their own merits, as to 
 their deeds, Gentile and Jew alike are guilty. 
 This is the end of the matter: God has spoken, 
 and He is the righteous Judge of all the earth. 
 He says : "Guilty !" 
 
 This ends the first main division of the epistle. 
 Sin has done its deadly work, and man is lost, and 
 undone, and guilty before God. Unless grace 
 find a way out, there is no hope. Through the 
 law has come only the knowledge of sin ; through 
 the law there never can come salvation. But, 
 thanks be to God ! He has found a way out ! 
 This we shall see in the next section. 
 
SECOND MAIN DIVISION : THE RIGHT- 
 EOUSNESS OF GOD 
 
 (3:21 to 8: 39) 
 
 In the foregoing studies it has been shown that 
 by sin man had been ruined, and rendered utterly 
 unable to help himself. He was guilty — every 
 man, without a solitary exception — and could do 
 nothing to make himself acceptable to God. 
 Judged by his own works — surely a righteous 
 judgment — he was condemned. 
 
 The Gentiles were guilty, because when they 
 knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither 
 were thankful ; and as a result of this they had 
 fallen into gross idolatry and indescribable im- 
 morality. The terrible picture of the state of 
 things in the Gentile world, drawn by the Spirit 
 of Truth in Rom. i, is reflected even in the writ- 
 ings of the heathen philosophers. "We must say 
 of ourselves," said Seneca, "that we are evil, 
 have been evil, and — unhappily, I must add — 
 shall be also in the future." "I am tossed," said 
 the same writer, "upon a sea of pure infirmity. 
 
 The human mind is by nature perverse, 
 
 and strives after what is forbidden and perilous." 
 And he uttered a word almost prophetic when he 
 wrote, "Nobody can deliver himself; someone 
 must stretch out a hand to lift him up." 
 34 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 35 
 
 As for the Jew, he was at least equally guilty 
 with the Gentiles, for, with a fuller revelation of 
 God, he failed miserably to walk in the light 
 vo.uchsafed to him. The law had only empha- 
 sized his sorry plight, for "through the law is 
 the knowledge of sin." Tested by the law every 
 Jew must ultimately find himself in the evil case 
 of Saul of Tarsus — Judaism's finest specimen — 
 and cry out, "O, wretched man that I am ! Wlio 
 shall deliver me?" The situation in Jewry had 
 become worse instead of better since the days of 
 the prophets, who had declared that judgment 
 was turned away backward, and justice stood 
 afar off; for truth was fallen in the street, and 
 equity could not enter. "Yea, truth faileth ; and 
 he that departeth from evil maketh himself a 
 prey!" (Isa. 59:14, 15). 
 
 Thus the whole problem was thrust back upon 
 God Himself. And, blessed be His name! He 
 found a way out. "Jehovah saw it, and it dis- 
 pleased Him that there was no judgment. And 
 He saw that there was no man, and wondered 
 that there was no intercessor : therefore His arm 
 
 BROUGHT SALVATION UNTO HiM ; AND HiS RIGHT- 
 EOUSNESS IT SUSTAINED Him" (Isa. 59: 15, 16). 
 He it was that was gracious to man, and delivered 
 him from going down to the pit ; He it was that 
 found a ransom (Job 33:24). Without sacri- 
 ficing His own righteousness — which would have 
 been, of course, impossible — He yet found a way 
 to bestow righteousness upon unrighteous man. 
 And that is the theme of the second main division 
 
36 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of the epistle to the Romans: righteousness, 
 gospel-righteousness, the gift of God. 
 
 I. GoSPEI^-RlGHTEOUSNESS IS BY FaITH (3:21- 
 
 31). 
 
 1. "But now the righteousness of God with- 
 out the law is manifested" (21). Gospel-right- 
 eousness is apart from the law. This is the mean- 
 ing of the expression, "without the law," in the 
 King James Version. The Revision reads cor- 
 rectly: "But now apart from the law a right- 
 eousness of God hath been manifested." We 
 have already seen that the law, instead of saving 
 guilty man, only increased and emphasized his 
 guilt. The righteousness of the gospel, then, 
 is entirely apart from the law. This is only 
 barely mentioned here, for it is to come up for 
 fuller discussion further on in the epistle. 
 
 2. "Being witnessed by the law and the 
 prophets" (21). Though gospel-righteousness is 
 "apart from the law," yet the law testifies to it. 
 We shall come to this again. That the righteous- 
 ness revealed in the gospel is not contrary to the 
 Old Testament Scriptures, is the theme of the 
 fourth chapter. There we shall see that salvation 
 has always been by grace through faith — and 
 that is the righteousness of the gospel ; it is the 
 revelation of it that is new. 
 
 3. "Even the righteousness of God" (22). 
 This gospel-righteousness is God's own righteous- 
 ness. And in the tenth chapter we shall see that 
 "the righteousness of God" is just Christ Him- 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. Z7 
 
 self, Who is "the end of the law for righteousness 
 to every one that beHeveth." "Under law," says 
 Dr. Scofield {''Correspondence Course"), "God 
 required righteousness from man; under grace 
 He gives righteousness to man." According to 
 Cunninghame, the righteousness of God in this 
 chapter is "that righteousness which God's right- 
 eousness requires Him to require." Hodge's def- 
 inition is "that righteousness of which God is the 
 Author, which is of avail before God, which 
 meets and secures His approval." Brookes says 
 it is "that righteousness which the Father re- 
 quires, the Son became, the Holy Spirit convinces 
 of, and faith secures." Moorehead says it is "the 
 sum total of all that God commands, demands, 
 approves, and Himself provides." And Paul de- 
 fines it as "Christ Jesus, Who of God is made 
 unto us righteousness" (i Cor. i : 30). 
 
 4. "Through faith in Jesus Christ unto all 
 them that believe" (22, R. V.). Gospel-right- 
 eousness is bestowed in response to faith. This 
 is a restatement of i : 16, 17, and it comes in for 
 full treatment in the tenth chapter. The point is 
 that the righteousness of the gospel is not a by- 
 works righteousness, but a by-faith righteous- 
 ness. 
 
 5. "For there is no difference" (22-26). The 
 way was prepared for this statement by the pre- 
 ceding phrase, " unto all and upon all them that 
 believe." This also was said in i : 16, 17. The 
 righteousness of the gospel is for all. As Stifler 
 says, "all need it, and no class of men has an/- 
 
38 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 thing else to present before God for salvation.'* 
 In Tit. 2: II, it is written that "the grace of God 
 that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." 
 A universal need must be met by a universal 
 remedy. "There is no distinction" (R. V.) : 
 
 ( 1 ) "For all have sinned, and come short of 
 the glory of God" (23). There is no distinction 
 as to the need. This has been very clearly shown 
 in the first main division. "The glory of God" 
 here may mean Christ Himself as God's standard, 
 "the brightness of His glory" (Heb. 1:3), and 
 surely all have come short of the glory of God 
 in this sense. But more likely it has the meaning 
 of the identical expression in Jno. 12:43, where 
 it is translated "the praise of God" in the King 
 James Version and changed to "the glory of 
 God" by the Revisers. God cannot praise or ap- 
 prove anything short of perfect righteousness, 
 and no man can therefore merit His approbation. 
 "All have sinned, and fall short." 
 
 (2) "Being justified freely" (24). There is 
 no distinction as to the remedy. This phase of 
 our Lord's redemptive work is reserved for the 
 fifth chapter. But here Paul has arrived at his 
 first statement in the epistle defining the gospel 
 itself. We have been seeing something of its 
 power, but we have now come to its description. 
 The gospel is the "good news" of salvation. Of 
 this salvation we here learn seven things : 
 
 (a) That it is free. This is the force of the 
 word "freely," i. e., without cost to the saved one. 
 He is justified (declared or pronounced right- 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 39 
 
 eous), and, so far as he is concerned, it is "with- 
 out money and without price." 
 
 (b) That it is by the unmerited favor of God 
 (24), "by His grace." 
 
 (c) That it is by means of Christ's redemp- 
 tive work (24, 25), "through the redemption that 
 is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth a 
 propitiation" (1911 Bible). Redemption is a buy- 
 ing back — "a buying off, by means of a price paid" 
 
 (Alford). Propitiation is the equivalent of "mer- 
 cy seat." 
 
 (d) That it is for those who believe (25) ; 
 it is "through faith." 
 
 (e) That it is based upon blood-shedding 
 (25), "through faith in His blood." There has 
 been much theological hair-splitting as to whether 
 this reading should not be changed to "by his 
 blood." "Philosophy and theology have busied 
 themselves here, without reaching unanimity," 
 says Dr. Stifler, "on a question which Paul does 
 not hint at — the relation of the sacrifice to its end. 
 God freely justifies men by means of the ransom 
 power in Christ Jesus. He is such because God 
 has set Him forth in His blood as a sufficient 
 propitiation. Whatever reason may say about 
 such a sacrifice, Paul is satisfied with it because 
 it is God's own. God is satisfied with the offering, 
 for He provided it. It becomes a propitiation 
 'through faith,' because faith says of it just what 
 God does — I accept what God has provided for 
 my sin. That ends the difference between God 
 and the sinner, and they are at one in Christ 
 
40 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Jesus. This is justification by faith." Dr. Sco- 
 field says : **It was upon the mercy seat that the 
 atoning blood was sprinkled on the great day of 
 atonement (Lev. i6: 14). The idea is not that 
 God was made loving toward the sinner by the 
 shedding of sacrificial blood, but that the sacri- 
 ficial blood evinced the sinner's acceptance of the 
 righteous sentence of God's holy law, so that God 
 could still be just and yet be propitious to the sin- 
 ner. The sinner's faith in Christ includes 'faith in 
 His blood' (Rom. 3 : 25) ; that is, faith in Christ 
 as 'the Lamb of God' voluntarily offering Him- 
 self on the sinner's behalf in vindication of God's 
 holy law. The cross enables God to 'be just, and 
 the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.' " 
 
 (f ) That it is retrospective in its effect (25), 
 "to show His righteousness because of the passing 
 over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbear- 
 ance of God." The King James Version is very 
 faulty here : our quotation is from the Revision. 
 The idea is that during the ages before the cross, 
 God had apparently been lax with reference to 
 sins. As Paul says in Ac. 17, He "winked at" 
 them. The death of the cross was needful to set 
 God right in the eyes of men, "to show His 
 righteousness." When the Lord Jesus died on 
 Calvary, it was as much for the sins of Adam as 
 for those of men living after the time of Calvary. 
 God had for centuries labored under the suspicion 
 that in the passing over of sins He had somehow 
 sacrificed His righteousness. It might be sup- 
 posed that He had shown mercy at the expense of 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 41 
 
 justice. This, of course, is impossible with a 
 righteous God, and the Lord Jesus "must be lifted 
 up," if for no other reason than to show that His 
 Father was righteous. "For four thousand 
 years," says Godet, "the spectacle presented by 
 mankind to the whole moral universe was, so 
 to speak, a continual scandal Divine right- 
 eousness seemed to sleep; one might even have 
 asked if it existed. Men sinned here below and 
 yet they lived. They sinned on and yet reached 
 in safety a hoary old age. Where were th^ 
 'wages of sin?' It was this relative impunity 
 which rendered a solemn manifestation of right- 
 eousness necessary." In the passage before us, 
 Dean Alford translates, "for the showing forth 
 of His righteousness, because of the passing 
 over of the former sins, in the forbearance of 
 God ;" and says : "i. e., because God had over- 
 looked the sins that had passed in His forbear- 
 ance ; and the words contain the reason why 
 God would manifest His judicial righteousness; 
 on account of the overlooking of the sins which 
 had passed, in the forbearance of God; i. e., to 
 vindicate that character for justice, which might 
 seem, owing to the suspension of God's righteous 
 sentence on sin in former ages in His forbear- 
 ance, to be placed in question : to show, that 
 though He did not then fully punish for sin, and 
 though He did then set forth inadequate means 
 of (subjective) justification, — yet He did both, 
 not because His justice was slumbering, nor be- 
 cause the nature of His righteousness was al- 
 
42 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 tered, — but because He had provided a way 
 whereby sin might be forgiven, and He might be 
 just. Observe, the fact mentioned is not for- 
 giveness, nor remission, as the Authorized Ver- 
 sion erroneously renders it, but passing over, or 
 overlooking, which is the work of forbearance 
 (see Ac. 17 : 30), whereas forgiveness is the work 
 of grace, — see chap. 2:4: nor do the former sins 
 mean, 'the sins of each man which precede 
 his conversion,' but those of the whole world 
 before the death of Christ, See the very similiar 
 words, Heb. 9: 15." 
 
 (g) That it is also prospective in its effect 
 (26). That is to say, the work of Christ on the 
 cross had in view those who should live after- 
 ward, as well as those who had lived before the 
 cross was set up. There is a second showing- 
 forth here. The supplied words, "I say," in 
 both the King James Version and the Revision, 
 spoil the sense. Paul is not merely repeating in 
 verse 26 what he has already said in verse 25 : 
 he is saying something new. Rotherham's read- 
 ing of the passage (vs. 25, 26) clears up the mat- 
 ter: 
 
 "Whom God hath set forth as a propitiatory covering, 
 through faith in His blood, for the showing forth of His 
 righteousness, by reason of the passing-by of the pre- 
 viously committed sins, in the forbearance of God, — 
 with a view to a showing forth of His righteousness in 
 the present season, that He might be righteous even 
 when declaring righteous him that hath faith in Jesus." 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 43 
 
 Here is the great triumph of the gospel. God 
 Himself is justified, and He succeeds in justifying 
 sinful men! By the gospel God's righteousness 
 is shown as to the past; His righteousness is 
 shown as to "the present time" ; and His right- 
 eousness is shown in His justification of those 
 who, on their own merits, are only unrighteous ! 
 Surely, this is a wonderful salvation, and He is 
 a wonderful Saviour ! 
 
 6. "Where is boasting then?" (27-30). The 
 gospel excludes human boasting, and this not on 
 the principle of works, but on the principle of 
 faith. The proof is given in v. 28, where "there- 
 fore" should read "for." Both the King James 
 Version and the Revision fail us here. The force 
 of the word is "Because." In this verse we have 
 the reason for the exclusion of all human glory- 
 ing; namely, "that a man is justified by faith 
 apart from works of the law" (ipii Bible). And 
 that this latter statement is true is shown by im- 
 plication in the queries that follow : "Or is God 
 the God of Jews only? is he not the God of 
 Gentiles also?" The Gentiles had not the law; 
 it had been given to the Jews alone. If therefore 
 justification was by means of the law, the Gen- 
 tiles were shut out. But this was impossible, for 
 God is the God "of Gentiles also: if so be that 
 God is one, and He shall justify the circumcision 
 by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." 
 Since there is but one God, there can be but one 
 means of justification. "A righteous judge could 
 not render contradictory decisions where all are 
 
44 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 alike guilty, and certainly He could not decide in 
 such a way that His judgment to save some 
 would necessarily exclude others. The unity of 
 God makes salvation by faith exclusive of every 
 other means" (Stifler). 
 
 7. "Do we then make void the law through 
 faith?" (31). The question raised here is a 
 natural one. If salvation is by grace and apart 
 from the law, does it not follow that the law is 
 made void ? *'God forbid !" says the apostle, 
 "nay, we establish the law." "The sinner es- 
 tablishes the law in its right use and honour," 
 says Dr. Scofield, "by confessing his guilt, and 
 acknowledging that by it he is justly condemned. 
 Christ, on the sinner's behalf, establishes the 
 law by enduring its penalty, death" ("Reference 
 Bible"). Moffatt's translation of verses 27-31 is 
 interesting : 
 
 "Then where is the exulting? Shut out. By what 
 kind of law? A law of deeds? No, by a law of faith. 
 For we reckon that a man is justified by faith apart from 
 deeds of law. What! is God only the God of Jews? 
 Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Assuredly, of Gen- 
 tiles also, seeing that it is one God who shall justify the 
 circumcision in consequence of faith and the uncircum- 
 cision through the same faith. Then 'through faith' 
 do 'we annul the law ?' God forbid ! we uphold the' law." 
 
 The theme of the fourth chapter is suggested 
 by this question and answer. "The law" here 
 means not only the Ten Words of Sinai, but the 
 Old Testament in its entirety. Is it set aside, or 
 made of none effect ? No, far from it ! In the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 45 
 
 fourth chapter it is shown that the righteousness 
 of God revealed in the gospel is indeed "wit- 
 nessed by the law and the prophets." 
 
 II. GoSPDIv-RlGHTEOUSNESS IS NOT CONTRARY 
 
 TO THK Old Testament (ch. 4.) 
 
 1. "What shall we say then that Abraham 
 our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath 
 found?" (i). The force of the language here 
 used is, "What then shall we say was gained by 
 Abraham our father after the flesh ?" What did 
 Abraham gain, and how did he gain it? If his 
 justification was by works, then he had ground 
 for boasting. 
 
 2. "But not before God" (2). This word, "be- 
 fore God," is the key to the seeming conflict be- 
 tween Paul and James (compare Jas. 2:21-24). 
 James speaks of justification in the sight of men, 
 while Paul is considering justification "before 
 God." That no flesh is justified by works "in the 
 sight of God" is Paul's contention, and James 
 supplements this by pointing out that the man of 
 faith can show his faith only by his works. 
 Faith is visible only to the eye of God ; it mani- 
 fests itself by its works. Faith, which only God 
 can see, justifies in His sight; works justify in 
 the sight of men. 
 
 3. "For what saith the Scripture?" (3). This 
 appeal "to the law and to the testimony" is to 
 prove that Abraham's salvation was by faith: 
 "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned 
 unto him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). This 
 
46 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 is righteousness by faith; it is not a by-works 
 righteousness; it is a by-faith righteousness — 
 that is, gospel-righteousness. As James again 
 points out, it took many years for this faith of 
 Abraham's to prove itself to outward observation, 
 but God knew all about it when Abraham be- 
 lieved Him. "The whole question," says Dean 
 Alford, "so much mooted between Protestants on 
 the one hand, and Romanists, Arminianists and 
 Socinians on the other, as to whether this right- 
 eousness was reckoned (i) by means of faith, 
 being God's righteousness imputed to the sin- 
 ner; or (2) on account of faith, so that God 
 made Abraham righteous on account of the 
 merit of his faith, lies in fact in a small com- 
 pass, if what has gone before be properly taken 
 into account. The apostle has proved Jews and 
 Gentiles to be all under sin : utterly unable by 
 works of their own to attain to righteousness. 
 Now faith, in the second sense mentioned above, 
 is strictly and entirely a work, and as such would 
 be the efficient cause of man's justification, — 
 which, by what has preceded, it cannot be. It 
 will therefore follow, that it was not the act of 
 believing which was reckoned to him as a 
 righteous act, or on account of which perfect 
 righteousness was laid to his charge, but that the 
 fact of his trusting God to perform His prom- 
 ise introduced him into the blessing promised. 
 God declared His purpose (Gen. 12: 3) of bless- 
 ing all the families of the earth in Abraham, and 
 again (Gen. 15:5) that his seed should be as the 
 
THE RIGHTBOUSNBSS OF GOD. 47 
 
 stars of heaven, when as yet he had no son. Abra- 
 ham believed this promise, and became par- 
 taker of this blessing. But this blessing was, 
 justification by faith in Christ. Now Abraham 
 could not, in the strict sense of the words, be 
 justified by faith in Christ, — nor is it necessary 
 to suppose that he directed his faith forward to 
 the promised Redeemer in Person ; but in so far 
 as God's gracious purpose was revealed to him, 
 he grasped it by faith, and that righteousness 
 which was implied, so far, in it, was imputed to 
 him. Some have said (for example, Tholuck) 
 that the parallel is incomplete — Abraham's faith 
 having been reckoned to him for righteousness, 
 whereas, in our case, the righteousness of Christ 
 is reckoned to us as our righteousness, by faith. 
 But the incompleteness lies in the nature of the 
 respective cases. In his case, the righteousness 
 itself was not yet manifested. He believed im- 
 plicitly, taking the promise, with all it involved 
 and implied, as true. This, then, was his way 
 of entering into the promise, and by means of his 
 faith was bestowed upon him that full justifi- 
 cation which that faith never apprehended. Thus 
 his faith itself, the mere fact of implicit trust in 
 God, was counted to him for righteousness. But 
 though the same righteousness is imputed to us 
 who believe, and by means of faith also, it is no 
 longer the mere fact of believing implicitly in 
 God's truth, but the reception of Christ Jesus 
 the Lord by faith, which justifies us (see vs. 
 23-25). As it was then the realization of God's 
 
48 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 words by faith, so now ; but we have the Person 
 of the Lord Jesus for the object of faith, ex- 
 plicitly revealed; he had not. In both cases 
 justification is gratuitous and is by faith; and 
 so far, which is as far as the argument here re- 
 quires, the parallel is strict and complete" ("The 
 New Testament for English Readers"). 
 
 4. "Now to him that v^^orketh is the reward 
 not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (4). "Now 
 a worker has his wage counted to him as a due, 
 not as a favour" (Moffatt's translation). "It is 
 no favour to a man to pay him what he is earning. 
 It is a 'debt' due him" (Stifler). Dr. Shedd 
 quotes Coriolanus here : 
 
 "Better it is to die, better to starve, 
 Than crave the hire which first we do deserve." 
 
 5. "But to him that worketh not, but believ- 
 eth, his faith is reckoned for righteous- 
 ness" (5). Here is a most explicit statement of 
 justification by grace through faith. Justification 
 is offered not to the worker but to the believer. 
 Works indeed have their place in the believer's 
 life — he is "created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works" (Eph. 2: 10), but his salvation is not a 
 reward for works : it is the gift of God through 
 faith. 
 
 6. "Even as David also" (6-8). This quota- 
 tion from the 32d Psalm is offered in further 
 proof of the proposition of the chapter, namely, 
 that gospel-righteousness is in keeping with the 
 Old Testament. David was an Old Testament 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 49 
 
 saint, and his justification was by faith. He "de- 
 scribeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom 
 God reckoneth righteousness apart from works, 
 saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are 
 forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed 
 is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin" 
 (191 1 Bible). Blessed, indeed! Wonderful sal- 
 vation ! 
 
 7. "Cometh this blessedness then upon the 
 circumcision only?" (9-12). Justification in the 
 Old Testament, as in the New, is independent of 
 ordinances. It was not a reward of circum- 
 cision, for Abraham was justified twenty-five 
 years before he was circumcised. Thus he is 
 "the father of all them that believe," whether 
 from among the Jews or from among the Gen- 
 tiles. "So then they which be of faith are 
 blessed with faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9). 
 
 8. "For the promise was not 
 
 through the law" (13-22). This justification, 
 in the Old Testament, as in the New, is in- 
 dependent of the law of Sinai. Abraham never 
 had the law, and without it he was justified. He 
 was saved by promise, and the law which came 
 430 years afterward did not make void the older 
 Covenant of Promise. The law was added to 
 the promise only until the Seed to Whom the 
 promise was made should come. He having 
 come, the law — which was a schoolmaster to 
 bring unto Him — is done away (2 Cor. 3; Gal. 
 
 3:19-29). "The promise was not 
 
 through the law, but through the righteousness 
 
so SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of faith" (Rom. 4: 13). There can be no ming- 
 ling of the two covenants, for their fundamental 
 principles are in sharpest contrast. "The law 
 worketh wrath," and not salvation (v. 15). 
 "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by 
 grace" (16). On no other basis could grace have 
 manifested itself. Let the principle of works 
 enter in, and grace is excluded. Abraham was 
 given a promise which was opposed to nature. 
 But because the Promiser was God, he considered 
 neither his own dead body, nor the deadness of 
 Sarah's womb ; he staggered not at the promise 
 through unbelief ; he believed God ; "and there- 
 fore" — therefore ; because he believed God — "it 
 was reckoned to him for righteousness" (22, 
 ipii Bible). 
 9. "Now it was not written for his sake 
 
 alone, but for us also" (23-25). Not "for 
 
 his sake alone," but "for us also." The Old 
 Testament and the New Testament are in perfect 
 concord. To the Old Testament saint, faith was 
 reckoned for righteousness ; and not only to him, 
 but to "us also, to whom it shall be reckoned, if 
 we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord 
 from the dead; Who was delivered up for our 
 offences, and was raised again for our justifi- 
 cation" (24, 25). "Why was this 25th verse 
 added?" asks Dr. Stifler. "Why did the story 
 not close with the 24th ? To show that the faith 
 that saves is not faith in the act of the resur- 
 rection, but in its import. He who is justified 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 51 
 
 must believe not only that Jesus died and rose 
 again, but why. He died 'for our offences.' This 
 word 'offences' brings to view again the whole 
 somber picture of the first main division of the 
 epistle, the division about sin. Sin was such that 
 nothing but the blood of Jesus our Lord could 
 atone for it. But His death does atone, and there- 
 fore no works of law find any place in justifi- 
 cation. And so it comes to pass that he who be- 
 lieves in the resurrection believes first of all that 
 his own personal sins sent Jesus to the cross and 
 the tomb, that He was the all-sufficient sacrifice 
 for sin. It is only painful conviction of sin that 
 can believe in this way. But if faith stopped at 
 the tomb it would be only an agony. It also sees 
 that, while Jesus died for sins, that death was ac- 
 cepted as the ransom price (3 : 24), and so Jesus 
 was raised again. He who became surety for 
 the sinner's debt could not have been released 
 from the prison-house of the tomb unless the 
 debt was paid. His appearance from the tomb 
 is an everlasting proof of the sufficiency of His 
 atonement for our sins; and he who really be- 
 lieves in the resurrection believes that the guilt 
 of his sins is cancelled. Faith is no longer an 
 agony, but a joy, and the believer's heart is set, 
 not merely on the historic (2 Cor. 5 : 16), but on 
 the raised Christ. That He was delivered for our 
 offences is pain: that He was raised again for 
 our justification is pure spiritual delight." 
 
52 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 III. Gospf:i.-Righteousne:ss Provides for the 
 Believer's Eternal Security (ch. 5). 
 
 I. "Therefore being justified by faith" (i- 
 11). The sevenfold resuh of justification is 
 shown in this passage. By reason of the gospel- 
 righteousness bestowed in response to faith, the 
 believer has 
 
 (i) "Peace with God" (i). Christ Himself 
 "is our peace" (Eph. 2 : 14). The American Re- 
 visers have changed the "we have" to "let us 
 have." In favor of the former are the American 
 portion of the Revision Committee, also H. A. 
 W. Meyer, Godet and others. Meyer says the im- 
 perative is "utterly unsuitable" to the sense. On 
 this Dr. Stifler says, "The question turns on the 
 length of a single vowel, and the manuscripts are 
 not trustworthy on this point; they frequently 
 confound the long and short o. The logic must 
 decide. 'Peace' does not mean primarily tran- 
 quility of mind, but that state of things ensuing 
 from a cessation of hostilities, freedom from 
 strife (3:17; Ac. 12:20). This peaceful state 
 came 'through our Lord Jesus Christ,' Who 
 averted the wrath of God. It is possible by not 
 noting this meaning of the word 'peace* that the 
 mode of the verb was changed. For justification 
 gives peace in this sense even when there may be 
 no settled tranquility of the heart" (compare 
 Phil. 4:7-9)- 
 
 (2) "Access by faith into this grace wherein 
 we stand" (2). Access means "a way in." Man, 
 
THE RIGHTBOUSNBSS OF GOD. 53 
 
 apart from Christ, is shut out from God's pres- 
 ence and has no way of approach unto Him. But 
 gospel-righteousness gives him an open door, 
 even Him who said, "I am the Door: by Me 
 if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall 
 go in and out, and find pasture" (Jno. 10:9). 
 By Him we have access by faith. A standing in 
 grace is now conferred upon the believer. The 
 gospel has been preached unto him, which also 
 he has received, and wherein he stands (i Cor. 
 15: i). His standing before God is the standing 
 of Christ Himself. He is "accepted in the Be- 
 loved" (Eph. 1:6). It is all of grace, and hav- 
 ing become a son, the believer is exhorted to be 
 strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 
 Tim. 2:1). All this is his through the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, Who, knowing no sin, was made 
 sin for us, that we might be made the righteous- 
 ness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21). This is 
 gospel-righteousness. 
 
 (3) "And rejoice in hope of the glory of 
 God" (2). "What was said above," says Dr. 
 Stifler, "on the reading *let us have' is equally 
 true here on the wrong reading 'let us rejoice.' 
 The King James Version is correct." Perhaps 
 the exhortation is necessary, in order to call our 
 attention to what is really ours as the result of 
 justification. The unregenerate sinner has no 
 joy in the prospective glory of God; but to the 
 believer it is given to "rejoice in hope" of that 
 glory. Christ "having made peace" for him 
 "through the blood of His cross" (Col. 1:20), 
 
54 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 thus opened for him "a way in" to God's pres- 
 ence and fellowship, and establishing his stand- 
 ing before God, the believer looks forward with 
 rejoicing to the time when the whole earth shall 
 be full of God's glory. 
 
 (4) "And not only so, but we glory in tribu- 
 lations also" (3). For "we glory" read "we re- 
 joice," as in verse 2. Not only do we rejoice in 
 the coming glory, but also the sufferings attend- 
 ing us on the way. The reason for this is given. 
 The Christian may exult even in tribulation, 
 knowing that tribulation worketh patience (i. e., 
 endurance) ; and patience (or endurance) work- 
 eth experience; and experience, hope (3, 4). 
 And as for this hope, it is a hope that maketh 
 not ashamed, a hope that can never bring disap- 
 pointment, a hope that is sure of fruition. The 
 reason for this is shown in the next clause of the 
 passage. 
 
 (5) "Because the love of God is shed abroad 
 in our hearts" (5). The love of God here 
 spoken of is not our love for God, nor God's love 
 for us, but just God's own love as it pours forth 
 from His great loving heart. Let it not be for- 
 gotten that this indwelling love is a proof that 
 the believer's hope will never shame him. He 
 may boldly confess his hope because he has God's 
 love in his heart. "We know that we have 
 passed from death unto life, because we love the 
 brethren. He that loveth not his brother abid- 
 
 eth in death Hereby perceive we the love 
 
 of God, because He laid down His life for us: 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 55 
 
 and we ought to lay down our lives for the breth- 
 ren Hereby we know that we are of the 
 
 truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him" 
 (i Jno. 3:14-19). 
 
 (6) "The Holy Spirit is given unto 
 
 us" (5). He not only puts God's love into our 
 hearts, but He Himself dwells in us (Rom. 8: 
 9). Love Is the Spirit's fruit (Gal. 5 : 22), borne 
 in us by His own presence. We know that He 
 liveth in us, because of the presence within us of 
 God's love. "If we love one another," that fact 
 is the proof that "God dwelleth in us, and (thus) 
 His love is perfected in us" (i Jno. 4: 12). "It 
 is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
 do of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2: 13). Nothing 
 is more clearly taught In the New Testament 
 than that the Holy Spirit is given to each be- 
 liever as an indwelling presence (i Cor. 6:19; 
 Rom. 8:9). 
 
 (7) "We also joy in God" (11). Thi^ is the 
 capstone of the magnificent temple of the believ- 
 er's inheritance resulting from gospel-righteous- 
 ness. He is brought to the place of joy in God. 
 Not merely In the blessings of God, but in God 
 Himself. His soul crieth out after God, the liv- 
 ing God, and only God can satisfy him. This jo}^ 
 in God is "through our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 through Whom we have now received the recon- 
 ciliation." "Atonement" is wrong here. The 
 word used Is the same as the one occurring twice 
 In verse 10. The reconciliation we have received 
 Is the changed relation between God and vis. 
 
56 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 The argument for the beHever's security in 
 Christ reaches its cHmax here, ending where it 
 began. "We rejoice in hope of the glory of 
 God;" that is to say, "We joy in God," and this 
 on account of the reconciUation which has been 
 accompHshed by the gospel. 
 
 The steps leading up to this climax are in 
 verses 6 to lo, which contain a threefold anti- 
 thesis arguing the proposition that the saved are 
 eternally safe. It sets forth that this is true be- 
 cause (i) God, on account of His great love for 
 His enemies, gave His Son to die for them; 
 "much more then," shall these enemies, now 
 justified, be kept safe, through Christ, from the 
 wrath to come (compare vs. 8, g with i Thes. 
 1 : 9, lo) ; it is true furthermore (2) because, 
 having reconciled us to Himself when we were 
 His enemies, He surely will preserve us who have 
 become His friends (compare verse 10 with Col. 
 1 : 21, 22) ; and it is true (3) because Christ, Who 
 died to save us, now lives to keep us saved 
 (compare verse 10 with Heb. 7 : 25 ; i Pet. 1:5). 
 
 We cannot doubt God's love toward us, for 
 Christ died for us while we were "without 
 strength" and "ungodly" (v. 6). Someone 
 might be found to die for a good man, but Christ 
 died for sinners, and this is another proof of God*s 
 love for us (vs. 7, 8). It follows, then, that being 
 justified by His blood, we shall be kept safe in 
 Christ from the wrath to come (v. 9). Since by 
 Christ's death we who were enemies were recon- 
 ciled to God, much more shall we, by Christ's 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 57 
 
 life at God's right hand, be kept safe. Because 
 He lives we shall live also (v. 10). 
 
 In a word the believer has been brought into a 
 new state of reconciliation, and it is made evi- 
 dent that God will keep him in this state. There- 
 fore he rejoices in God. 
 
 "To God I'm reconciled; 
 His pardoning voice I hear; 
 He owns me for His child ; 
 I can no longer fear. 
 With confidence I now draw nigh, 
 And 'Father, Abba, Father,' cry." 
 
 2. "Through our Lord Jesus Christ, through 
 Whom we have nov^^ received the reconcili- 
 ation" (11, i^. v.). "It has not been sufficiently 
 noted by expositors," said Dr. Stifler, "that the 
 word 'received' (v. 11) is not active, but passive, 
 equivalent to 'made recipients of.' The argu- 
 ment for the 'assurance of salvation secured for 
 the present and the future' (H. A. W. Meyer) is 
 conducted wholly from the divine side. .If it is 
 objected that, after all, faith is a necessary con- 
 dition of salvation, and if it fails, all fails, why 
 this very point is secured by the whole argument. 
 If when we were hateful to God He changed 
 toward us, will He — now that we have been made 
 recipients in His grace of that saving change — 
 will He now not insure the condition of its per- 
 petuity? Will God care for everything concern- 
 ing the believer, support him In trials, shield him 
 in temptation, shed His love abroad in his heart, 
 
58 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 but leave him to himself in the vital point, his 
 faith ? The reconciled man's faith is the first and 
 the chief object of the divine care. The single 
 aim of the argument is the performance of jus- 
 tification by faith." 
 
 3. "Wherefore" (12-21). The all-inclusive 
 aspect of Christ's redemptive v^ork on the cross 
 is set forth in this passage. Adam and Christ are 
 brought into contrast to show the effect of 
 Adam's sin on the one hand and Christ's atoning 
 death on the other. 
 
 Verses 13 to 17 being parenthetical, verses 
 12 and 18 should be read together. The ''Where- 
 fore" introducing verse 12 is literally "On this 
 account." This links the new paragraph begin- 
 ning here with the one preceding it, and shows 
 that the topic is unchanged. Verses 12 and 18 
 may be read, 
 
 "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the 
 world, and death through sin ; and so death passed unto 
 all men, for that all sinned ; so then, as through one 
 trespass it (the trespass) came to all men unto condem- 
 nation; so also through one righteous act it (the 
 righteous act) came to all men unto justification of life" 
 (Improved Version). 
 
 The argument here — and the argument is elab- 
 orated in the intervening parenthetical passage, 
 as we shall see — is that when Adam sinned all 
 mankind sinned in him. This is proved from the 
 fact that physical death was the common lot of 
 all men from Adam to Moses. Irresponsible 
 persons, including infants and the insane, died as 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OP GOD. 59 
 
 well as others ; and as these could not have died 
 as the result of any sins of their own, and as 
 death is the result of sin, it is argued that their 
 death was the outgrowth of their sin when they 
 were yet in Adam's loins. A similar argument is 
 found in Heb. 7 : 9, 10, where it is declared that 
 Levi paid tithes to Melchizedek in Abraham, "for 
 he was yet in the loins of his father, when Mel- 
 chizedek met him." 
 
 Before he had begotten a single child, Adam 
 fell into sin, and, as a result, his nature became 
 sinful and corrupt and death-dealing. And his 
 offspring, which of course includes the whole 
 human family, has inherited from him the poison 
 of his fallen nature and the seeds of death. It 
 is on this account that man dies. It is not a 
 man's own sinful acts in his own person that 
 cause his death. He dies because he has in- 
 herited a dying nature, and he has inherited a 
 dying nature because he sinned in his father 
 Adam. 
 
 This is unfolded in the parenthetical verses, 13 
 to 17. Sin was in the world before the law was 
 issued on Sinai, but, in the absence of law, sin is 
 not charged against men. Nevertheless men died 
 — "death reigned from Adam to Moses." Now, 
 why did they die, if death is the penalty for our 
 sinful acts? There was no law to transgress, 
 and yet death reigned "even over them that had 
 not sinned after the similitude (or likeness) of 
 Adam's transgression." Adam transgressed a 
 law when he sinned : God had said that of the 
 
6o SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 tree of the knowledge of good and evil he must 
 not eat, and that if he ate of it, he should die. 
 When he ate, he transgressed this law and in- 
 curred its penalty, therefore he died ; on the day 
 that he ate of it he died spiritually, being cut off 
 for the time being from the life of God; and in 
 due time he died physically, and this because he 
 had transgressed the law of God. His descendants 
 lived and multiplied through the centuries from 
 Adam to Moses; and, although they were not 
 under law, they died. This shows that they 
 died because they all had sinned against law in 
 the act of Adam while they were yet in his loins, 
 "who is a figure of Him that was to come." 
 
 This little word — "Him that was to come" — 
 points to the antidote provided of God for the 
 awful and deadly poison of sin, and the fact that 
 the antidote is ready and abundant and efficacious 
 delivers God from the suspicion of arbitrary and 
 unjust dealing with men. In the first place, their- 
 sinful condition was not due to any divine fiat; 
 it was rather the result of wilful disobedience on 
 man's part. And in the second place, God has 
 done what he needed not to do in providing the 
 remedy. He has done it, not to discharge an 
 obligation, but for "the great love wherewith he 
 loved us." 
 
 The language in verses 15 to 17 is very much 
 involved, and the translators are in confusion 
 about it. As given in the King James Version, 
 "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift 
 and not as it was by one that sinned, so is 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 6i 
 
 the gift," etc., it is awkward and hard to be 
 understood. The revisers only change the word 
 ''offence" to ''trespass" and do not help much. 
 Mr. Darby suggests a way out of the difficulty 
 by reading, "But shall not the act of favour be 
 
 as the offence? and shall not as by one that 
 
 sinned be the gift?" But even he gives the com- 
 mon reading in a foot-note, showing that he is 
 uncertain about the matter. 
 
 Conybeare and Howson render it: 
 
 "But far greater is the gift than was the transgression ; 
 for if by the sin of one man (Adam), death passed upon 
 the many, much more in the grace of the one man Jesus 
 Christ has the freeness of God's bounty overflowed unto 
 the many. Moreover the boon (of God) exceeds the 
 fruit of Adam's sin ; for the doom came, out of one of- 
 fence, a sentence of condemnation ; but the gift comes, 
 out of many offences, a sentence of acquittal. For if 
 the reign of death was established by the one man 
 (Adam), through the sin of him alone; far more shall 
 the reign of life be established, in those who receive 
 the overflowing fulness of the free gift of righteousness, 
 by the one man Jesus Christ." 
 
 Moffatt's ''Historical New Testament" reads : 
 
 "But very different is the free gift from the trespass. 
 For since the many died by the one man's trespass, much 
 more did the grace of God and that free gift which is 
 by the grace of the man Jesus Christ abound to the 
 many. And the free gift is not occasioned as by one 
 that sinned. For while the judgment passed from one 
 into condemnation, the free gift passed from many tres- 
 passes into justification." 
 
62 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Dr. Weymouth translates: 
 
 "But God's free gift immeasurably outweighs the 
 transgression (or, false step). For if through the trans- 
 gression of the one individual the mass of mankind have 
 died, infinitely greater is the generosity with which 
 God's grace, and the gift given in His grace which 
 found expression in the one man Jesus Christ, have been 
 bestowed on the mass of mankind. And it is not with 
 the gift as it was with the results of one individual's sin ; 
 for the judgment which one individual provoked re- 
 sulted in condemnation, whereas the free gift after a 
 multitude of transgressions results in acquittal. For if, 
 through the transgression of the one individual, death 
 made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, 
 all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing 
 grace and gift of righteousness reign as kings in life 
 through the one individual, Jesus Christ." 
 
 The parenthesis ends with verse 17. The 
 American Revision should be consulted in the 
 study of the final verses of the chapter, for the 
 Revisers have preserved to us the definite article 
 used in the Greek throughout the passage. Thus 
 we read: 
 
 "So then as through one .trespass the judgment 
 came unto all men to condemnation; even so through 
 one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all 
 men to justification of life. For as through the one 
 man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even 
 so through the obedience of the one shall the many be 
 made righteous. And the law came in besides, that the 
 trespass might abound ; but where sin abounded, grace 
 did abound more exceedingly: that, as sin reigned in 
 death, even so might grace reign through righteousness 
 unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
THB RIGHTEOUSNESS OP GOD. 63 
 
 This passage clearly teaches that over against 
 the fact that men are "by nature children of 
 wrath" God has set the other fact that by His 
 grace the Lord Jesus on the cross "tasted death 
 for every man." If in Adam's sin, "the many 
 were constituted sinners," it is also true that in 
 Christ's death, "the many were constituted 
 righteous." 
 
 The reason for the law is given in verse 20. 
 It "entered, that the offence might abound." As 
 Gal. 3: 19 puts it, "It was added (to the Abra- 
 hamic covenant) because (literally, for the sake) 
 of transgressions" ; and it was given only tem- 
 porarily, "till the Seed (i. e., Christ) should come, 
 to Whom the promise was made." In other 
 words, the law was given to magnify the sinful- 
 ness of sin, "that sin by the commandment might 
 become exceeding sinful" (Rom. 7:13). But 
 even for this condition, God's remedy was at 
 hand. 
 
 "Where sin increased, grace has overflowed ; in order 
 that as sin has exercised kingly sway in inflicting death, 
 so grace, too, may exercise kingly sway in bestowing a 
 righteousness which results in the Life of the Ages 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord" (vs. 20, 21, Weymouth). 
 
 We conclude our study by quoting a para- 
 phrase of this passage from the pen of Professor 
 George Barker Stevens : 
 
 "In view of the truths which have been established, 
 we may compare Christ, His work, and its result, sal- 
 vation, with Adam, his fatal transgression, and its con- 
 
64 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 sequence, physical death, which became the portion of 
 all because his sin involved as its result the sinning of 
 all his descendants. I affirm this relation between sin 
 and death on the ground that even before the law 
 came in to condemn sin and to stamp it as transgression, 
 all were falling a prey to death; even those who lived 
 duing this period and had, unlike Adam, no explicit, 
 positive command which they could break, continued to 
 die. (But, before carrying out the comparison between 
 Adam and his work, and Christ and His work, note 
 certain differences. The grace of God in Christ is more 
 than a match for the sin which began with Adam and 
 spread itself over all mankind. Man's condemnation 
 issued from one trespass, but God's restoring grace has 
 more power than many trespasses even, since it saves 
 man from the power of many. We may be sure of this 
 because it is more easily conceivable and more certain 
 that those who receive God's gift in Christ will triumph 
 over sin than that all should have become involved in 
 death in consequence of Adam's trespass). So then — 
 as we began to say — as by Adam's sin all became in- 
 volved in death, by Christ's work of righteous obedience 
 is acceptance with God opened to all, for the two cases 
 are parallel. Christ is the second Adam, come to re- 
 store to God's favor those who as descendants of the first 
 Adam, are lost to it. Now the Old Testament system, 
 whose saving function I deny, had just the purpose to 
 bring out this indwelling sin into its greatest strength, 
 so that the case of man was rendered even more hope- 
 less than before; but the grace of God in Christ is able 
 to overcome even this power of sin when thus intensified 
 by the law and to bring man back to divine favour and 
 assure him of eternal bliss." 
 
 IV. GoSPEL-RlGKTEOUSNESS DoES NoT PRODUCE 
 
 A Sinful Life (ch. 6). 
 
 The sixth chapter brings up and answers a 
 question which naturally grows out of the fifth. 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 6s 
 
 In the fifth chapter, the eternal security of the 
 believer is dealt with, and it is there shown that a 
 saved man is safe. The argument of the chapter 
 is summed up in the statement with which it 
 closes: "Where sin abounded, grace did much 
 more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto 
 death, even so might grace reign through right- 
 eousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our 
 Lord." 
 
 The question now very naturally presents 
 itself: will not this teaching as to gospel-right- 
 eousness encourage and promote a life of sin? 
 If a man is assured that since he is born again 
 he is beyond all possibility of condemnation and 
 cannot fail of final salvation, will this not result 
 in careless living? The answer is that in his 
 new birth the believer has come into possession 
 of a new nature, which is ''created in righteous- 
 ness and true holiness," and that therefore he has 
 new desires: and not only new desires, but new 
 power to live according to those desires. The 
 matter is beautifully worked out in the chapter 
 before us. 
 
 I. "What shall we say then? Shall we con- 
 tinue in sin, that grace may abound? (i). 
 Grace abounding is a thing greatly to be desired. 
 If it is produced by abounding sin, must we not 
 then cpnclude that we are to persist in sin, in 
 order that it may result in more and more grace ? 
 The answer to the question raised in verse i ex- 
 tends to the 14th verse. 
 
 (i) "God forbid!" (2). This is the language 
 
66 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of every Christian heart. The name of God does 
 not really occur in the Greek text here, which 
 would be more literally rendered, "Far be it!" 
 But, as Dean Alford suggests, after following 
 the King James Version, 
 
 "God forbid is the only adequate rendering of the 
 expression in the original, Let it not be: for it implies 
 a reference to an averting Power; and the occasion is 
 solemn enough to justify, in our language, the mention 
 of that Power. The phrase is used of some inference in 
 itself abhorrent from reverence or piety, or precluded 
 by some acknowledged fact inconsistent therewith. The 
 latter is here the ground of rejection. An acknowl- 
 edged fact in the Christian life follows, which precludes 
 our persisting in our sin." 
 
 (2) "We who died to sin, how shall we any 
 longer live therein?" (2, R. V.). This is the 
 force of this verse, literally translated. It is rot 
 that we "are dead, ' for we are not dead. We 
 died, but we have risen from the dead. Both of 
 these great and wonderful facts — our death and 
 our resurrection — are dealt with in this para- 
 graph. 
 
 (3) "Are ye ignorant that all we who were 
 baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into 
 His death?" (3, R. V.). To understand this 
 reference, we must go to i Cor. 12: 12, 13, where 
 we learn that all who are born again — and when 
 they are born again — are made members of the 
 body of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit : 
 "For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one 
 body." The same subject is discussed also in 
 
THB RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 67 
 
 Gal. :^:26-2%: ''For ye are all sons of God, 
 through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of 
 you as were baptized into Christ did put on 
 Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, 
 there can be neither bond nor free, there can be 
 no male and female; for ye all are one man in 
 Christ Jesus" (R. V.). Now, here, in Rom. 6: 3, 
 we are taught not only that we have been baptized 
 into Christ, but that through this baptism into 
 Him we have been "baptized into His death." 
 The death referred to is of Christ's death on the 
 cross of Calvary. Our baptism into His death 
 took place when we, having believed, were born 
 again and joined to Him by the Holy Spirit. We 
 were then made "members of His body, of His 
 flesh, and of His bones" (Eph. 5:30), and from 
 that time we have been reckoned as partakers in 
 whatever the Lord Jesus Christ ever did for us. 
 He died for us, and according to God's reckoning, 
 we died in that death. He was also buried for 
 us, and He rose again for us, and our baptism 
 into Him includes all these things. We were 
 baptized into His burial and into His resurrection. 
 But the great fact which must first be grasped 
 and apprehended is the fact of our death in Him. 
 For "we thus reckon, that if one died for all, 
 then all died" (2 Cor. 5: 14). Of course there 
 is a sense in which all this was accomplished in 
 the reckoning of God before we believed and even 
 before we were born. In the sight of Him Who 
 sees the end from the beginning, we were chosen 
 in Christ from before the foundation of the 
 
68 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 world, and in God's book all Christ's members 
 were written, when as yet there was none of them 
 (Ps. 136:16); but viewed from our present 
 human standpoint, we may say that this was 
 actualized for us when we believed on Christ and 
 were joined to Him, being baptized into Him by 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 (4) "Therefore" (4). In this verse the sym- 
 bol of water baptism is taken up, and its warrant 
 pointed out. Because we have been joined to 
 Christ by the baptism with the Holy Spirit, thus 
 being "baptized into His death," therefore we 
 submit ourselves to the rite of water baptism, in 
 vrhich are symbolized the death and burial and 
 resurrection of the Lord Jesus in our room and 
 stead, and our death and burial and resurrection 
 in Him. And in water baptism the believer not 
 only looks backward to what has been done for 
 him in Christ, and to what, in God's reckoning, 
 he himself is accounted to have done in Christ, 
 but he also looks forward to a "walk in newness 
 of life." Baptism in water is indeed "a form," 
 but it is also more than a form. When rightly 
 entered into and intelligently apprehended, it 
 signifies the believer's faith, not only in what God 
 hath wrought for him in the person of His divine 
 Substitute, but also in what God will do for him, 
 and in him, and through him "in newness of life." 
 
 (5) "For if we are become identified with 
 Him in the likeness of His death, so also we 
 shall be of His resurrection" (5, Darby). "This 
 verse tells why there may be a new walk in point- 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 69 
 
 ing out the power of that walk. The reason is 
 that, as we are one with Him in His death, so 
 are we also in His resurrection, being endowed in 
 the latter with the same life which He received 
 in rising from the tomb. The reference is not 
 to our future bodily resurrection. *For if (or 
 "as") a graft in a tree (Jno. 15), we became (not 
 "planted," but) grown together (with him) in the 
 likeness of his death (viz: our baptism), so shall 
 we be also still grown together (with Him) in 
 the likeness of His resurrection (viz: our emer- 
 gence from the watery grave).' To state this 
 idea of union Paul has not abandoned his figure 
 of baptism. Grafting, to be sure, is not done in 
 water, but the union in baptism is as vital as that 
 between the graft and the tree. It must be noted 
 that none can share in Christ's resurrection life 
 except by first dying. We are buried in order to 
 be raised (Jno. 12:24). Now for the first time 
 Paul has clearly asserted union with Christ. For 
 the thought is, if we went into the baptism in 
 union, why should we not come out in union? 
 The oneness in the immersion is proof of the one- 
 ness in the emersion" (Stifler) . 
 
 (6) "Our old man was crucified with Him" 
 (6, R. v.). This definite assertion is repeated in 
 Gal. 2 : 20, "I have been crucified with Christ ;" 
 and the reason for this crucifixion is given in the 
 verse before us, "that the body of sin might be 
 done away, that so we should no longer be in 
 bondage to sin." The emphasis here is on the 
 "so." Before our regeneration, we were in slav- 
 
70 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ery — "sold under sin." God's way of delivering 
 us from this slavery was to cause us to pay the 
 penalty, and this we did in the person of our 
 Substitute; and so we are no longer in bondage 
 to sin. 
 
 (7) "For he that hath died is released from 
 sin" (7, R. V. margin). The believer is here 
 pictured as the criminal who has paid the penalty 
 for his crime. He was guilty, he was sentenced 
 to death, he was executed, and now there is noth- 
 ing against him, he is freed from sin. If he ap- 
 prehends this, he may sing from a full heart : 
 
 "I do believe, 1 now believe, 
 
 That Jesus died for me ; 
 And through His blood, His precious blood, 
 I am from sin set free." 
 
 (8) "But if v^^e died with Christ, we believe 
 that we shall also live with Him" (8-10, R. V.). 
 The reason for this wonderful statement, based 
 upon the "full assurance of faith," is given in 
 verses 9 and 10. Christ Who died, has been 
 raised from the dead, and djeth no more; death 
 hath no more dominion over Him ; and this being 
 true for Him, it is also true for those who died 
 in Him. For them, as well as for Him, the death 
 that took place on Calvary accomplished the full- 
 est vindication of the law, and answered all the 
 demands of righteousness. It was "once for all" 
 (see R. V. margin; compare Heb. 7:27). As to 
 the life unto which we are raised, it is not a life 
 unto sin, for sin has no claim upon it. It is to be 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, 71 
 
 lived unto God (v. 10). "One died for all, there- 
 fore all died ; and He died for all, that they that 
 live should no longer live unto themselves, but 
 unto Him Who for their sakes died and rose 
 again" (2 Cor. 5: 14, 15, R. V.). 
 
 (9) "Even so reckon ye also youselves to be 
 dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ 
 Jesus" (11, R. v.). This is an exhortation to 
 adopt for ourselves the reckoning of God. He 
 reckons us to have died to sin : let us also reckon 
 it. He reckons us to have been brought again 
 from the dead and into a life which is to be unto 
 Him. And there is more than reckoning here, 
 for by His grace and power we have been born 
 again, and are really and actually in possession 
 of a new life;, and this new life is "unto God," 
 because it is God's own life. We have become 
 "partakers of the divine nature." We are God's 
 beloved children. Having heard the words of 
 Jesus and believed Him that sent Him, we have 
 eternal life and shall not come into judgment, but 
 have passed out of death into life (Jno. 5 : 24). 
 
 (10) "Let not sin therefore reign in your 
 mortal body, that ye should obey its desires" 
 (12, iQii Bible). Dr. Weymouth translates 
 here: 
 
 "Let not sin therefore reign as king in your mortal 
 bodies, causing you to be in subjection to their cravings ; 
 and no longer lend your faculties as unrighteous weap- 
 ons for sin to use ; on the contrary surrender your very 
 selves to God as living men who have risen frorri the 
 dead, and surrender your several faculties to God, to be 
 used as weapons to maintain the right" (vs. 12, 13). 
 
^2 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (ii) "For sin shall not be lord over you, 
 since you are subjects not of law but of grace" 
 
 (14, Weymouth). Here is a statement which 
 confuses the legaHst, for he would put it exactly 
 the other way about. He would say, "Sin shall 
 have dominion over us unless we see ourselves 
 to be under law and not under grace." He rea- 
 sons that Christians are to be kept from sinning 
 through the terror of the law ; and thus he would 
 make the law to be a ministration, not of con- 
 demnation and death, but of justification and life 
 (compare 2 Cor. 3). The statement of Rom. 6: 
 14 can be apprehended only by the believer who 
 sees that in Christ there is an absolute end of the 
 law (Rom. 10: 4). "The sting of death is sin, 
 and the strength of sin" — the thing that empow- 
 ers sin to sting unto death — "is the law. But 
 thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ" (i Cor. 15:56, 
 57). This victory is brought about by the utter 
 abolition of the law, "which is done away in 
 Christ" (2 Cor. 3: 14). The gospel In its power 
 and beauty can never be fully seen until this point 
 is settled. 
 
 "For as many as are of the works of the law are under 
 
 the curse The law is not of faith Christ hath 
 
 redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a 
 
 curse for us Wherefore then serveth the law? It 
 
 was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should 
 
 come to Whom the promise was made But before 
 
 faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the 
 faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore 
 the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 73 
 
 that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith 
 is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Gal. 
 3:10-25). 
 
 ''Free from the law, oh, happy condition, 
 Jesus hath bled, and there is remission; 
 Curs'd by the law and bruised by the fall, 
 Grace hath redeemed us once for all. 
 
 "Now we are free — there's no condemnation, 
 Jesus provides a perfect salvation ; 
 'Come unto Me,' or, hear His sweet call, 
 Come, and He saves us once for all. 
 
 " 'Children of God,' oh, glorious calling. 
 Surely His grace will keep us from falling; 
 Passing from death to life at His call, 
 Blessed salvation ©nee for all !" 
 
 2. "What then? shall we sin, because we are 
 not under law, but under grace?" (15, R. V,). 
 The argument of verses 1-14, is that the believer 
 is not led into a sinful life by the consideration of 
 his eternal security in Christ. Having received 
 a new nature by regeneration, he is now actuated 
 by new desires, and not only by desires, but by 
 new power. It would be indeed pitiful if the 
 new-born child of God, with his new desires 
 toward God, should be left without power 
 to accomplish these desires. God has not 
 left him thus. Having died to sin, he is 
 alive unto God, and God is working in him both 
 to will His good pleasure and to do it (Phil. 2: 
 13). The concluding statement of the section is 
 that sin has no dominion over the believer be- 
 
74 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 cause he is freed from law, and is under grace. 
 Sin cannot inflict its deadly sting, for "the 
 strength of sin," which ''is the law" (i Cor. 15: 
 56), is "done away" (2 Cor. 3:11-14). In the 
 7th chapter this freedom from law is taken up in 
 detail. 
 
 But a new question confronts us here, growing 
 naturally out of this statement of the believer's 
 freedom from law: "What then? shall we sin, 
 because we are not under law, but under grace ?" 
 (15). The behever's response to this question is 
 identical with the response of verse 2, "God for- 
 bid," and the remainder of the chapter is oc- 
 cupied with a fuller answer to the question raised. 
 
 (i) **Do you not knoy^ that you are the 
 slaves of him whom you obey, to whom you 
 present youselves as obedient slaves, be it of 
 sin for death or of obedience for uprightness? 
 But, thank God, though you were slaves of sin 
 you became cordially obedient to that type of 
 teaching to which you were handed over. 
 Freed from sin you became slaves to upright- 
 ness. (I am speaking from a human stand- 
 point, owing to the weakness of your flesh)" 
 (vs. 16-19, Moffatfs translation). The apostle 
 is here addressing himself to the question raised 
 in the 15th verse. "This question," says Dr. 
 Stifler, *'was sure to arise, because human so- 
 cieties and governments know of no way to re- 
 strain sin but by law and its penalty. The state's 
 ruler is 'the minister of God, a revenger to 
 execute wrath upon him that doeth evil' (13:4) 
 
THB RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 75 
 
 in breaking the law. The assertion *ye are not 
 under law' was made to turn the justified man's 
 gaze from Moses to Christ, from law to grace. 
 It is natural to suppose that God's method in the 
 gospel would follow the method of human gov- 
 ernment, but the principle of fear is not strong 
 enough to keep men in the path of duty. Union 
 with Christ is God's method of giving man victory 
 over sin. Says Mr. Grant : 
 
 "Everything here will be questioned, however, by 
 the soul ignorant of itself and of God, and such ques- 
 .tions, because of their importance, must have careful an- 
 swer. Again, therefore, we have the objection of the 
 mere moralist taken up to be indignantly set aside: 
 'What then ? Are we to sin, because we are not under law, 
 but under grace? Far be the thought.' Yet the heart 
 of man is in fact capable of such abuse of divine good- 
 ness ; yes, but what would such an argument mean ? A 
 soul set free willingly yielding itself to that from which 
 God has delivered it? Is this deliverance when the heart 
 is still deliberately seeking that from which it assumes 
 to be delivered? Well, says the apostle, if I am ad- 
 dressing any in such a condition, let me remind them 
 that here the whole nature of God is in question. Does 
 not then the way of sin, deliberately pursued, end in 
 death? Does the gospel change this relation of sin to 
 death? Does it not manifest God, and in all His at- 
 tributes? His hoHness being more shown indeed in the 
 agony of the cross, than even the uttermost punishment 
 of the sinner could have shown it. Thus then, if one 
 freely yields himself to obey a master, he cannot but 
 be reckoned as belonging to the master he has chosen, 
 whether on the one hand to sin with its terrible wages, 
 or of obedience to God for righteousness. In all this 
 there rules a fundamental necessity, which the gospel 
 
76 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 could not subvert and be still a gospel" ("Numerical 
 Bible"). 
 
 In verse 17 the apostle gives thanks concern- 
 ing the Roman believers for their escape from the 
 former bondage of sin. This escape had been by 
 means of their obedience to that mold of teaching 
 into which they had been delivered. The Revis- 
 ion is to be preferred here, as the King James 
 Version reverses the figure. It does seem natural, 
 as Stifler points out, to say a "form of doctrine 
 which was delivered you." But that is not what 
 Paul says here. "If it were, one shining point 
 would be lost, that both they and God conjoined 
 in the act of their salvation. They obeyed from 
 the heart the type of teaching — the gospel — into 
 whose power His grace delivered them." 
 
 The statement of verse 7 is repeated in verse 
 18, namely, that the believer is free from sin, and 
 in the latter passage the reverse of the proposi- 
 tion is also set forth. In becoming free from sin 
 the Christian has become the bondservant of 
 righteousness, that is to say, he has, by the won- 
 drous change wrought in him in regeneration, 
 come into the place where righteousness becomes 
 his master instead of sin. And this not through 
 fear of law, but by the power of the indwelling 
 Christ ; "not after the law of a carnal command- 
 ment, but after the power of an endless life" 
 (Heb. 7:16). 
 
 (2) "I speak after the manner of men" (19- 
 22). The chapter closes with a practical ex- 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 77 
 
 hortation growing out of all this. The believer 
 is pointed to the new life with its new possibilities. 
 The paragraph is paraphrased thus by Dr. 
 George Barker Stevens: 
 
 "I am applying to these high spiritual truths terms 
 derived from human relations so as to make the con- 
 trast between the characteristic of the old life and that 
 of the new plain to the most undiscerning. And I apply 
 this truth thus: just as you used to allow your bodily 
 powers to be dominated by sin, so you should now, as 
 Christians, make them the means of serving and pro- 
 moting holiness of life. For (to repeat my distinction 
 between the two kinds of life) in your old life you 
 were freemen in respect of righteousness, and bondmen 
 in respect of sin ; the opposite is now true ; you are now 
 free from sin and bound to righteousness. But looking 
 away from the principle to the consequences of the old 
 sinful life, what reward did it bring? Only a fruitage 
 of which you are ashamed, for all its results are in the 
 line of that final issue, moral death. But the opposite 
 of all this is your case now. Being freemen in relation 
 to sin and bondmen in relation to God, you have holi- 
 ness and everlasting life as your portion." 
 
 (3) "For the wages of sin is death; but the 
 free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord" (23, R. V.). Our eternal life is not 
 only "through Jesus Christ our Lord," as in the 
 King James Version. It is in Christ Himself and 
 is never separated from Him. It is in us of 
 course, but that is because we are in Him. ''This 
 is the record, that God hath given to us eternal 
 life, and this life is In His Son. He that hath the 
 Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of 
 God hath not life" (i Jno. 5: 11, 12). 
 
78 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 This cannot be too strongly insisted upon. 
 There is no such thing as eternal life apart from 
 Christ. The gospel does not offer to man a life 
 detached from Christ. In the gospel God has 
 provided a place in Christ and a share in His life 
 to all who come unto Him. The gospel finds man 
 dead as "the wages of sin;" it brings him "out 
 of death into life" ( Jno. 5 : 24) ; and from the 
 moment of his regeneration the believer has 
 Christ in him as his life (Col. 3:4). 
 
 "Buried with Christ, and raised with Him too; 
 What is there left for me to do? 
 Simply to cease from struggling and strife, 
 Simply to 'walk in newness of life.' 
 
 " 'Risen with Christ/ my glorious Head, 
 Holiness now the pathway I tread ; 
 Beautiful thought, while walking therein : 
 'He that is dead is freed from sin,' 
 
 "Living with Christ, Who 'dieth no more,' 
 Following Christ, Who goeth before ; 
 I am from bondage utterly freed, 
 Reckoning self as 'dead indeed.' 
 
 "Living for Christ, my members I yield, 
 Servants to God, for evermore sealed; 
 'Not under law,' I'm now 'under grace,' 
 Sin is dethroned, and Christ takes its place. 
 
 "Growing in Christ: no more shall be named 
 Things of which now I'm truly ashamed; 
 'Fruit unto holiness' will I bear, 
 Life evermore, the end I shall share." 
 
THH RIGHTBOUSNBSS OP GOD. 79 
 
 V. The Law Cannot Produce a Holy Life 
 (ch. 7). 
 
 We now come to the 7th chapter, in which it 
 is set forth, that the law being powerless to justi- 
 fy, is equally unable to sanctify. In the first six 
 chapters three wonderful statements concerning 
 the law have been made, namely: (i) "By the 
 deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified 
 in His sight" (3:20); (2) "The law entered, 
 that the offence might abound" (5:20); (3) 
 "Ye are not under the law" (6:14). These three 
 propositions, as has been pointed out by others, 
 furnish a working analysis of the 7th chapter, as 
 follows: (i) The believer's freedom from law 
 (vs. 1-6) ; (2) Though the law makes sin to 
 abound, the law nevertheless is not sinful (vs. 
 7-13) ; (3) "^^^ l^w cannot deliver from the 
 flesh (vs. 14-25). We will consider the chapter 
 in the order thus indicated. 
 
 I. "Ye also were made dead to the law" (i- 
 6). This statement of verse 4, as given by the 
 Revision, is the core of the paragraph. 
 
 (i) "The law hath dominion over a man 
 as long as he liveth" (i). The marriage re- 
 lation is used as the basis of an illustration show- 
 ing how and why the Christian is freed from law. 
 "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them 
 that know the law)." The word for brethren 
 here is "adelphoi," and stands for the whole 
 brotherhood in the Roman Church, and is not, 
 as some writers have insisted, confined to the 
 
8o SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Jewish believers in that brotherhood. It is true 
 that only the Jews had been actually under the 
 law of Sinai, for the Gentiles have not the law 
 (Rom. 2: 14), yet the apostle here, by the Spirit, 
 is proceeding to show the absence of the legalistic 
 principle in God's dealings with His people in the 
 gospel. They are not under law, but under 
 grace, and these are two contrasting principles 
 which cannot be yoked together. They pull in 
 opposite directions. If a man is under law, he 
 is not under grace ; and if he is under grace, he 
 is not under law. This proposition ought to be 
 self-evident. The apostle writes further, "I 
 speak to them that know law." He was address- 
 ing intelligent people who knew the working of 
 law as a principle. They lived in Rome, where 
 the very meaning of law, and of force through 
 law, had been taught to the world. There is no 
 definite article before the word "law'* in the 
 parenthetical passage of verse one. He is speak- 
 ing for the moment of law as a principle, rather 
 than the law of Sinai ; howbeit, he has in view all 
 the time throughout the illustration the freedom 
 of the believer from the thunderings of Sinai. 
 
 (2) "The woman which hath an husband'* 
 (2). Here the case is brought before us of a 
 married woman "bound by the law to her hus- 
 band so long as he liveth ; but if the husband be 
 dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.'* 
 This is simple enough. The marriage relation 
 continues of force between the two parties enter- 
 ing into it so long as they both shall live. 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 8i 
 
 (3) "But if her husband be dead, she is free" 
 (3). This also is perfectly clear. A married 
 woman, if she marries another man than her hus- 
 band, is guilty of bigamy: *'she shall be called 
 an adulteress : but if her husband be dead, she is 
 free from that law ; so that she is no adulteress, 
 though she be married to another man." 
 (4) "Ye also are become dead to the law by 
 the body of Christ" (4). Much confusion is 
 found just here among the commentators. It 
 is objected that Paul is mixed in his metaphor, 
 since, in the illustration, it is the husband that 
 dies, whereas, in the application, it is the wife 
 who is "become dead." But the matter is clear 
 enough when it is kept in mind precisely what the 
 apostle writes. He does not say merely "ye are 
 dead," but "ye also were made dead to the law 
 through the body of Christ" (R. V.). A wife, by 
 her husband's death, has ceased to be a wife. Be- 
 fore the event of his death, there was a wife; 
 after that event, the wife is no more. The woman 
 remains, but she has become dead to the law 
 which bound her to her husband, and her death to 
 that law has been brought about by the death of 
 her husband. It is not the metaphor of the apostle 
 that is mixed, but the commentators. 
 
 (5) "That ye should be married to another" 
 (4) . Let the reader be very careful at this point. 
 It at first seems strange that we should read here 
 in the same sentence of "the body of Christ," 
 and "another, even to Him Who is raised from 
 the dead." For was it not the same Christ that 
 
82 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 died Who was raieed from the dead ? How, then, 
 can He be called "another?" Second Cor. 5 will 
 help us here. In verses 14 to 16 of that chapter it 
 is written : "One died for all, therefore all died ; 
 and He died for all, that they that live should no 
 longer live unto themselves, but unto Him Who 
 for their sakes died and rose again. Wherefore 
 we henceforth know no man after the flesh : 
 even though we have known Christ after the 
 flesh, yet now we know Him so no more." By 
 this statement we learn: (i) That, in the reck- 
 oning of God, when Christ died on the cross, the 
 believer died with Him. So, here in Romans, the 
 wife, as a wife, died in her husband's death ; (2) 
 that, when Jesus arose from the dead, we rose 
 from the dead with Him, that henceforth we 
 should live not unto ourselves, but unto Him in 
 Whom we died and rose again; and (3) that 
 the Christ we now know is not the Christ ac- 
 cording to the flesh. Of course there is a sense 
 in which He is the same Jesus as before the 
 cross, but, in the gospel sense. He is far dif- 
 ferent. Our trust centers not in the Christ 
 of Galilee, but in the Christ of glory; not 
 in the Man Jesus, Who walked about doing 
 good in the land of Palestine nineteen centuries 
 ago, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, Who sits to- 
 day at the right hand of the Majesty on high 
 making intercession for us — "managing our con- 
 cerns for us" (Heb. 7:25, Wakefield's transla- 
 tion). This point needs to be emphasized in this 
 day. The subtle appeal found everywhere that 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 83 
 
 we should go "back to Christ," rejecting the 
 teaching of the epistles and looking for our in- 
 struction to His kingdom teachings found in the 
 synoptic gospels, is nothing short of an invention 
 of the adversary. The epistles of the New Testa- 
 ment are the teachings of Christ as truly as His 
 own words quoted in the gospels. And they are 
 the teachings of the risen Christ, the glorified 
 Christ, the present Christ, the Man Christ Jesus, 
 the Man with Whom we have to do, the Man to 
 Whom we are now married. 
 
 (6) "That we should bring forth fruit unto 
 God" (4). In our natural condition, being "chil- 
 dren of wrath, even as others" (Eph. 2:3), and 
 joined, or married, to sin, our fruit, the issue of 
 that marriage, the offspring of that relation, was 
 such as to make us ashamed. But now, being 
 made free from sin and having become servants 
 to God, we have our fruit unto holiness (6: 22). 
 The purpose of the marriage relation is that chil- 
 dren may be born and reared ; they are the logi- 
 cal issue of this relationship. Just so, as in our 
 former marriage to sin, the issue was uncleanness 
 and iniquity (6: 19), it is the purpose of our 
 new marriage, being joined in this holy relation 
 to the risen Christ, that we should bring forth 
 fruit unto God. This is all brought out in the 
 5th and 6th verses of our chapter : "For when we 
 were in the flesh, the sinful passions (Gr. passions 
 of sins), which were through the law, wrought 
 in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 
 But now we have been discharged from the law, 
 
84 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 having died to that wherein we were held" (the 
 King James rendering, ''that being dead wherein 
 we were held," is incorrect). 
 
 (7) "So that we serve in newness of the 
 Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter" (6, R. 
 V. ) . The Revised Version is to be preferred here 
 above the King James. It is not merely that we 
 have been delivered from the bondage of sin in 
 order "that we should serve in newness of spirit," 
 but "so that we serve in newness of the Spirit." 
 The contrast between "Spirit" and "letter" here 
 is the same as in 2 Cor. 3, where the Spirit means 
 the Holy Spirit, Who is living and working in 
 and through the Christian; while the letter means 
 the law of Sinai, the old covenant — a covenant of 
 letters written and engraven in stones. To this 
 Dean Alford agrees, who says, that the Spirit 
 here refers to the Holy Spirit of God, Who or- 
 iginates and penetrates the Christian life; and 
 that the letter signifies the law, being only a col- 
 lection of precepts and prohibitions, while the 
 gospel is a service of freedom, ruled by the 
 Spirit, Whose presence is liberty. "The qualita- 
 tively expressed pneiimatos, meaning in concrete 
 application the Holy Spirit as the efficient prin- 
 ciple of the Christian life, and the qualitative 
 grammatos, characterizing the law according to 
 its nature and character as non-living and drawn 
 up in letters, are the specifically heterogeneous 
 factors on which the two contrasted states are 
 dependent" fH. A. W. Meyer). "The newness is 
 the new spiritual state, or union with Christ; 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OP GOD. 85 
 
 the oldness of the letter was their former state 
 under the law. The letter means the law. This 
 new service produced holy fruit; the service 
 under law brought forth fruit for death" (Stif- 
 ler). ''Being married to a new husband we must 
 change our way ; still we must serve, but it is a 
 service that is perfect freedom, whereas the serv- 
 ice of sin was a perfect drudgery There 
 
 must be a renovation of our spirit wrought by 
 the Spirit of God, and in that we must serve. 
 . . . . . We are under the dispensation of the Spirit, 
 and therefore must be spiritual, and serve in the 
 
 Spirit It becomes us to worship in the veil 
 
 and no longer in the outer court" (Matthew 
 Henry). 
 
 "Awaked by Sinai's awful sound, 
 My soul in bonds of guilt I found, 
 
 And knew not where to go ; 
 Eternal truth did loud proclaim, 
 'The sinner must be born again, 
 
 Or sink in endless woe.' 
 
 "Amazed I stood, but could not tell 
 Which way to shun the gates of hell, 
 
 For death and hell drew near ; 
 I strove, indeed, but strove in vain : 
 'The sinner must be born again' 
 
 Still sounded in my ear. 
 
 "When to the law I trembling fled, 
 It poured its curses on my head ; 
 
 I no relief could find. 
 This fearful truth increased my pain : 
 'The sinner must be born again' 
 
 O'erwhelmed my tortured mind. 
 
86 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 "I heard the law its thunders roll, 
 While guilt lay heavy on my soul — 
 
 A vast oppressive load ; 
 All creature-aid I saw was vain ; 
 'The sinner must be born again,' 
 
 Or drink the wrath of God. 
 
 "But while 1 thus in anguish lay. 
 The bleeding Saviour passed that way. 
 
 My bondage to remove. 
 The sinner, once by justice slain, 
 Now by his grace is born again, 
 
 And sings redeeming love." 
 
 2. "The law is holy" (7-13). In this second 
 paragraph of the chapter it is shown that, though 
 the law makes sin to abound, the law nevertheless 
 is not sinful. 
 
 (i) "What shall we say then? Is the law 
 sin (or sinful)?" (7). This question naturally 
 arises out of what has gone before. 
 
 (2) "God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, 
 but by the law" (7). That the law is not sinful 
 is proved by the very fact that *'by the law is the 
 knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). A sinful law 
 would be incapable of revealing the sinfulness of 
 sin. It is because the law is perfect as a standard 
 of righteousness that it so clearly manifests the 
 presence of evil, and by this heavenly standard, 
 every man is convicted of sin. "There is no dif- 
 ference : for all have sinned, and come short of 
 the glory of God" (Rom. 3:22, 23). 
 
 (3) "For I had not known coveting, except 
 the law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (7). 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS Of GOD. 87 
 
 The Revision is right here in adhering to uni- 
 formity in the translation of this Greek word, 
 rendered, in the King James Version, lust, covet, 
 concupiscence, etc. 
 
 (4) "But sin, finding occasion, wrought in 
 me through the commandment all manner of 
 coveting" (8). Without the commandment, sin, 
 though present in the heart of Saul of Tarsus, 
 v^as unsuspected even by himself. His conscience 
 was not aroused, he was not troubled — "for with- 
 out the law sin was dead." 
 
 (5) "For I was alive without the law once" 
 (9). Conybeare and Howson render here: "I 
 felt that I was alive before, when I knew no law." 
 And MacKnight paraphrases as follows : "Ac- 
 cordingly I was in my own imagination entitled 
 to life while without the knowledge of law for- 
 merly." There is a similar use of the word "Hfe" 
 in I Thes. 3 : 8, ''For now we live, if ye stand fast 
 in the Lord." The apostle's meaning very evi- 
 dently is, that he feels himself to live on account 
 of the gratifying steadfastness and growth in 
 grace of his beloved fellow-saints whom he had 
 led into the knowledge of Christ. 
 
 (6) "But when the commandment came, sin 
 revived, and I died" (9). What does Paul mean 
 here by the expression, "When the commandment 
 came?" He was brought up on the command- 
 ments, doubtless, at his mother's knee, and the 
 commandments were studied assiduously at the 
 feet of Gamaliel ; but there came a day when his 
 eyes were opened, and he was given to see what 
 
88 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 the commandments really meant, and that, far 
 from being a means of grace and salvation, they 
 were the means of death and condemnation. Sin 
 was there all the time, but, until the day that the 
 commandment came with all its crushing force 
 upon his consciousness, sin gave him no dis- 
 quietude. The strength of sin to sting him to 
 death was the law, and when the law was joined 
 to sin in his consciousness, sin, which until then 
 had been dead, came to life, and he died (com- 
 pare I Cor. 15:56, 57; 2 Cor. 3^7-9). 
 
 (7) "And the commandment, which was or- 
 dained to life, I found to be unto death" (10). 
 "Ordained" is a supplied word, and is really not 
 in place, for, as a matter of fact, the command- 
 ment was not ordained to life. The law is not a 
 ministration of life, but of death (2 Cor. 3:7). 
 And yet Paul could write of the commandment as 
 being "unto life" because Moses has said, "He 
 that doeth these things shall live by them" (Lev. 
 18: 5; Rom. 10: 5). Saul of Tarsus, like every 
 other sinner, found himself without power to do 
 these things, and so the law, which was unto 
 life, he found to be unto death. As Conybeare 
 and Howson render it: "I felt that I was alive 
 before, when I knew no law ; but when the com- 
 mandment came, sin rose to life, and I sank into 
 death ; and the very commandment whose end is 
 life, was found to me the cause of death ; for my 
 sin, when it had gained a vantage ground by the 
 commandment, deceived me to my fall, and slew 
 me by the sentence of the law." 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 89 
 
 (8) "Wherefore the law is holy, and the 
 commandment holy, and just, and good" (12). 
 This conclusion grows out of the statement of the 
 iith verse. The holiness and justice and good- 
 ness of the law is proved by the fact that it slays 
 every sinner with whom it comes in contact. This 
 it must do, else it would be neither holy nor just 
 nor good. The law of Sinai has been described by 
 some one as "the concept of the mind of God as 
 to what a man ought to be," and it has its penalty : 
 "The soul that sinneth it shall die." So then, if 
 a soul under law sins and. dies not, that is indu- 
 bitable proof that the law is unholy and unjust 
 and evil. A holy law must of necessity impose 
 and enforce its penalty. This explains the con- 
 nection between verses 11 and 12: "For sin 
 seized the advantage, and by means of the com- 
 mandment it completely deceived me, and also 
 put me to death. So that the law itself is holy, 
 and the commandment is holy, just and good" 
 (Weymouth). 
 
 (9) "Was then that which is good made 
 death unto me?" (13). Rather, "Did then that 
 which is good become death unto me?" (R. V.). 
 This question logically grows out of what has 
 gone before it. Is it then possible that the law, 
 being holy and just and good, could become death 
 to a man? 
 
 (10) "God forbid" (13). In the last analysis, 
 it was not the law that put Saul to death, but sin, 
 by means of the law. What an awful thing sin is, 
 that by the holy and just law of God it can bring 
 
90 SIMPLH STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 death to God's creatures ! Surely, by this means, 
 sin does in reality ^'appear sin, working death in 
 me by that which is good ; that sin by the com- 
 mandment might become exceeding sinful." "Far 
 be that from me. But I say that sin wrought 
 this; that so it might be made manifest as sin, 
 in working death to me through the knowledge 
 of good ; that sin might become beyond measure 
 sinful, by the commandment" (Conybeare and 
 Howson). "The misuse and perversion of good 
 is one of the tests whereby the energy of evil is 
 detected, so that sin by its perversion of the good 
 commandment into a cause of death was shown 
 in its real character as sin" (Dean Alford). Says 
 Dr. Stifler: 
 
 "This assertion about the goodness or beneficence of 
 the law starts an acute objection: 'Was then that which 
 is good made death unto me?' Can wholesome bread 
 prove poison to the hungry man who eats it? Does 
 fresh, pure water start a fever instead of allaying thirst? 
 How can that which is admitted to be 'good,' the law, 
 prove to be 'death to me?' This subtle objection is not 
 only answered, but turned into an argument. It was 
 not the law that brought death, 'but sin.' And sin 
 wrought death, 'that (in the purpose of God in giving 
 the law) it might appear sin (inasmuch as it, sin, worked 
 death in me by that which is good).' How desperate the 
 disease that only grows worse under the appropriate 
 remedy to heal it ! But God had an additional purpose 
 in giving the holy law to sinful man, viz : 'that (in order 
 that) sin by the commandment might become exceeding 
 sinful.' The coward is not known until he hears the 
 command to march against the foe." 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OP GOD. 91 
 
 3. "But I see another law, bringing me 
 
 into captivity" (14-25). This wail of the 23d 
 verse is the burden of the closing paragraph of 
 the chapter, which is a demonstration of the 
 proposition that the law of Judaism could not de- 
 liver from the flesh. 
 
 ( 1 ) "The law is spiritual : but I am carnal" 
 (14). The apostle has been thinking of himself, 
 up to this point in the chapter, as in the days be- 
 fore he was born again, but the struggle he now 
 proceeds to describe is not that of an unregen- 
 erate man trying to save himself, but rather of a 
 regenerate man trying to be good. It is the con- 
 flict between the old nature and the new, sub- 
 sisting together in the believer. The new nature 
 cannot sin, while the old nature can do nothing 
 else. The newly regenerate man, before he learns 
 the better way, is apt to seek victory over the old 
 nature by means of his own efforts. The result 
 of such efforts is always failure, and it takes much 
 bitter experience to teach the believer how help- 
 less he is. It is natural for the human heart to 
 put itself under law, and to seek to perfect itself 
 by means of law-works. By this closing para- 
 graph of chapter 7, we are to learn that, as the 
 law was unable to justify the sinner and make 
 him a child of God, so it is equally unable to 
 sanctify the saint as to his walk. The way of 
 victory is indicated in the 8th chapter. 
 
 (2) "Sold under sin" (14). This expression 
 describes the condition of the carnal man. He 
 is a slave sold into the captivity of sin. And let 
 
92 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 us remember that the carnal man here is not an 
 unsaved man. He has been saved from the pen- 
 alty of sin, but he has not yet learned the way of 
 dehverance from the power of sin. He still looks 
 to the law for liberty, whereas the law can bring 
 him only bondage. He is still a sinful man, 
 though saved, and being a sinful man and putting 
 himself under law, there can be but one result, 
 he at once finds himself in a condition of slavery. 
 **For as many as are of the works of the law are 
 under the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every 
 one that continueth not in all things which are 
 written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 
 3 : lo). It is not enough to approximate the law, 
 and to do the best you can to keep it. Whoever 
 fails, even in one point, is guilty of all (Jas. 2: 
 10). It follows, then, that as none of us has 
 reached perfection and as the law tolerates no 
 imperfection, therefore every one who puts him- 
 self under the law thereby brings upon himself 
 the curse of the law. It is often said that, while 
 we are free from the law as a means of life, we 
 are under it as a rule of life; but there is no 
 Scripture for this; indeed, there is much of 
 Scripture against it. The Christian is promised 
 that sin shall not have dominion over him just 
 because he is not under law, but under grace 
 (Rom. 6 : 14). The very moment he is put under 
 the law sin does have dominion over him, and he 
 soon discovers that the sting of death is sin, and 
 the strength of sin is the law, 'for, while the law is 
 holy, he is carnal, sold under sin. 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 93 
 
 (3) "For that which I do I allow not; for 
 what I would, that do I not ; but what I hate, 
 that do I" (15). The two I's here, contending 
 with each other, represent the old nature in Paul 
 and the new. For convenience sake, we might say 
 the struggle here is between Saul of Tarsus and 
 Paul the apostle, abiding together in one body. 
 The change in the tense from past to present 
 in this section, beginning with verse 14, will be 
 observed. ''Hitherto," says Dean Alford, "the 
 passage has been historical: now the apostle 
 passes to the present time, keeping hold yet of 
 the carnal self of former days, whose remnants 
 are still energizing in the renewed man." 
 
 (4) "I consent unto the law that it is good" 
 (16). This is shown, as the apostle points out, 
 by the fact that he does not himself approve of the 
 evil things he is doing. 
 
 (5) "It is no more I that do it, but sin that 
 dwelleth in me" (17). "His failure to lead a 
 good life cannot be ascribed to his wrong at- 
 titude toward the law ; that failure must be as- 
 cribed to indwelling sin. The T is just himself, 
 body, soul, and spirit, that have been seized upon 
 by the alien master which he calls sin" (Stifler). 
 
 (6) "For I know that in me (that is, in my 
 flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (18). This is 
 shown from the fact, that while he is able to will 
 that which is good, he is powerless to perform it. 
 The argument grows pathetic, and he again 
 reaches the same conclusion in verse 20 as in 
 
94 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 verse 17: "It is no more I that do it, but sin that 
 dwelleth in me." 
 
 (7) "I find then a law" (21). By this he re- 
 fers to a principle he has discovered in his Hfe, 
 namely, that when he would do good, evil is pres- 
 ent with him. He delights in the law of God 
 after the inward man, and this is a proof that he 
 is a converted man and is relating his experience 
 as such. But he sees another law in his members, 
 warring against the law of his mind, and bringing 
 him into captivity to sin which is in his members 
 (22, 23). Four laws are in view in this passage : 
 (i) the law of God; (2) the law of Paul's mind, 
 consenting to the law of God; (3) the law of 
 sin, or the tendency to evil in his own members ; 
 and (4) the law, or principle, that this law of sin 
 is stronger in him than the law of his mind. It 
 was a great discovery when he learned that he 
 was utterly helpless in this unequal struggle, and 
 cried out for deliverance. 
 
 (8) "O wretched man that I am! who shall 
 deliver me from the body of this death?" (24). 
 He is evidently crying out against his own physi- 
 cal body which is the instrument whereby he is 
 led captive to the law of sin and death. He 
 called it a body of sin in chapter 6 : 6, and now 
 he calls it a body of death, for it is the seat of 
 sin and death, and he had not yet discovered the 
 way of deliverance from the power of sin and 
 death. 
 
 (9) "I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord" (25). This is the ready answer to the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 95 
 
 despairing question jitst preceding it, and is a 
 proof that, when Paul is writing the words, he is 
 looking back to a past experience through which 
 he has come. Dean Alford says : "This excla- 
 mation and thanksgiving more than all convince 
 me, that St. Paul speaks of none other than him- 
 self, and carries out as far as possible the 
 misery of the conflict with sin in his members, 
 on purpose to bring in the glorious deliverance 
 which follows. — Compare i Cor. 15:56, 57, 
 where a very similar thanksgiving occurs." 
 
 (10) "So then with the mind I myself serve 
 the law of God; but with the flesh the law of 
 sin" (25). This is a recapitulation of the whole 
 paragraph. The deliverance out of the hopeless 
 warfare indicated in that paragraph is brought 
 into full light in the 8th chapter. The contrast 
 between the victory life of chapter 8 and the life 
 of defeat of chapter 7 is beautifully set forth by 
 Leighton in a sermon on Rom. 8 : 35 : "Is this he 
 that so lately cried out, O wretched man that T 
 am! who shall deliver me? that now triumphs ? 
 O happy man ! who shall separate us from the 
 love of Christ? Yes, it is the same. Pained then 
 with the thoughts of that miserable conjunction 
 with the body of death, and so crying out who 
 shall deliver, now he hath found a Deliverer to 
 do that for him, to whom he is forever united. 
 So vast a difference is there between a Christian 
 taken in himself and in Christ !" 
 
o6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 VI. Gospel-Righteousness Provides for a 
 Holy Liee by Means oe the Holy 
 Spirit Indwelling the Believer (ch. 8). 
 
 Spener, an old German commentator, once said 
 that, "If Holy Scripture was a ring, and the 
 epistle to the Romans its precious stone, chapter 
 8 would be the sparkUng point of the jewel." 
 Everybody agrees that this chapter is one of the 
 loftiest mountain peaks in the whole realm of 
 revealed truth. Here we find the climax of the 
 argument begun at chapter 3:21 on the great 
 subject of gospel-righteousness. This is the 
 second main division of the epistle. That gospel- 
 righteousness is by faith was shown in 3:21-31. 
 That it is not contrary to the Old Testament 
 Scriptures we saw in chapter 4. The 5th chapter 
 teaches that by gospel-righteousness the believer 
 is kept in eternal security. The 6th chapter shows 
 that a sinful life is not produced nor encouraged 
 by the gospel, but that, on the contrary, the be- 
 liever, made eternally safe, has partaken of the 
 divine nature and therefore of the divine hatred 
 for sin. In the 7th chapter, the believer's sancti- 
 fication by means of law is shown to be im- 
 possible, and now in our 8th chapter, we are to 
 learn that through the indwelling Spirit of God 
 the believer is led into a godly life. The chapter 
 may be analyzed as follows : ( i ) The indwelling 
 Holy Spirit as the Spirit of power (vs. i-ii) ; 
 (2) The indwelling Holy Spirit as the Spirit of 
 adoption (vs. 12-17) ; (3) '^^^ indwelling Holy 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 97 
 
 Spirit as the Spirit of hope (vs. 18-27) 5 (4) 
 The Christian's assurance (vs. 28-39). 
 
 I. "The law of the Spirit of life hath 
 
 made me free" (i-ii). It is a wonderful thing 
 for the believer to discover the indwelling Holy 
 Spirit as the Spirit of Hfe and power. But first 
 he must know his safety from wrath or con- 
 demnation : 
 
 (i) "There is therefore now no condem- 
 nation to them which are in Christ Jesus" ( i ) . 
 The first verse stops with this wonderful state- 
 ment, the remainder of the verse, as found in the 
 King James Version, being, as all commentators 
 agree, an unwarranted interpolation. The propo- 
 sition squarely set forth, then, is that, the born 
 again one is absolutely and for ever free from 
 condemnation. This is what the gospel has done 
 for him. It has bestowed upon him a righteous- 
 ness that nothing can mar nor soil in the slightest 
 degree; even the righteousness of God, that is 
 God's own righteousness. This righteousness is 
 imputed unto him at the beginning, and it does 
 not vary afterward with his varying states and 
 conditions, frames and feelings. It is his stand- 
 ing in Christ. This imputation is followed by 
 the actual impartation of God's righteousness, 
 but the process of impartation is gradual and con- 
 tinues to the end of earthly life, while imputation 
 is not a process, but one definite act of God. Dr. 
 Scofield's definition of imputation is: "(i) Im- 
 putation is the act of God whereby He accounts 
 righteousness to the believer in Jesus Christ. (2) 
 
98 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Because of a believer's faith in Jesus, God will 
 not impute sin against , him." . And the same 
 writer defines justification as "the act of God 
 whereby He declares righteous one who believes 
 on Jesus Christ." "The connection by the word 
 'therefore,' " says Dr. Stifler, "is with the first 
 clause of the preceding verse, and through it with 
 that to which the clause refers. 'Now' — as the 
 argument at present stands. The 'no' is emphatic 
 — no condemnation from the law, and none on 
 account of inherent sinfulness ; none from any 
 source nor for any cause. Those who make the 
 'now' temporal miss the shining point that 'no 
 condemnation' means none possible, none forever. 
 This happy condition belongs only to those in 
 Christ Jesus. The rest of the verse is not genu- 
 ine and is omitted by all modern editors of the 
 text." 
 
 (2) "For the law of the Spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin 
 and of death" {2, R. V.). The preposition "of" 
 is repeated in the original and by the Revisers. 
 The statement is, that by the higher and more 
 powerful law of the Spirit of life, the believer is 
 made free from two other laws, namely, the law 
 of sin and the law of death. The law of sin is 
 defined in the preceding chapter (7: 21-23). ^^^ 
 believer, in the 7th chapter, seeking to live a 
 righteous life by obedience to law, found another 
 law in his members, that is, within himself, war- 
 ring against the law of his mind and bringing 
 him into captivity under the law of sin in his 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 99 
 
 members. In the 8th chapter, deliverance has 
 come, for he has discovered that the Holy Spirit 
 is indwelling him, and that by the indwelling 
 Spirit he may have victory over the law of sin 
 which has heretofore dragged him down. 
 
 And not only so, but he is delivered also from 
 the law of death. And the law of death is also 
 defined in the 7th chapter, verses 7-1 1. The be- 
 liever had not known sin except through the law, 
 that is, the law of Sinai. He had not known 
 coveting until he heard the law saying, ''Thou 
 shalt not covet." And sin, finding occasion, 
 wrought in him, through the commandment, all 
 manner of coveting. Apart from the law sin was 
 dead, and apart from the law Saul of Tarsus had 
 once considered himself alive, but when the com- 
 mandment came, sin revived, and he died; and 
 the commandment, which was unto life, he found 
 to be unto death, for sin, finding occasion through 
 the commandment, beguiled him and through it 
 slew him. So the law of Moses, though in itself 
 spiritual, holy, righteous and good, became unto 
 him a law of death. It was indeed unto Israel a 
 yoke which they were not able to bear (Ac. 15: 
 10). In our present chapter, the believer is seen 
 as yielding himself to the indwelling Spirit of 
 God, Who, by divine power, frees him from this 
 law of death. 
 
 (3) "For what the law could not do" (3, 4). 
 The law was unable to produce in man the obedi- 
 ence it demanded. It was weak through the 
 flesh, for how could sinful flesh obey a holy law ? 
 
TOO SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Therefore, what the law could not do, God did; 
 and this He did by sending His own Son in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh and as a sin offering. Men 
 had all gone astray ; they had turned each one to 
 his own way, and the Lord caused to meet upon 
 His devoted Son the iniquity of them all (Isa. 53 : 
 6). And then came the condemnation. Sin in 
 the flesh, all centering in the Lamb of God on 
 the tree, was put to death, in order that the 
 righteous requirement of the law might be ful- 
 filled in the believer. The believer is defined in 
 the final clause of the fourth verse as one who 
 walks not according to the flesh, but according to 
 the Spirit. To walk according to the flesh, in the 
 meaning of this passage, is to reject the gift of 
 gospel-righteousness in Christ, and to seek to 
 establish one's own righteousness by law-works. 
 This is the natural thing and is what the flesh is 
 ever prone to try. On the other hand, to walk 
 according to the Spirit is to receive the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as He is revealed by the Spirit. 
 
 (4) "For they that are after the flesh do 
 mind the things of the flesh; but they that 
 are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit" 
 (5). This section (vs. 5-8) draws a contrast be- 
 tween the unregenerate and the regenerate, and 
 they are defined as those who are after the flesh 
 and those who are after the Spirit. That this 
 is the correct understanding is shown from the 
 statement of the 9th verse, in which it is declared 
 that the Christian is not in the flesh in the sense 
 employed here. Rotherham's translation of the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. loi 
 
 passage reads : "For they who according to 
 flesh have their being the things of the flesh do 
 prefer, but they according to the Spirit the things 
 of the Spirit ; for what is preferred by the flesh is 
 death, whereas what is preferred by the Spirit 
 is life and peace ; — inasmuch as what is preferred 
 by the flesh is hostile towards God, for unto the 
 law of God it doth not submit itself, neither in 
 fact can it, — they moreover who in flesh have 
 their being cannot please God." Dr. Moffatt ren- 
 ders the passage thus: "For those who fol- 
 low the flesh have their interests in the flesh, and 
 those who follow the Spirit have their interests in 
 the Spirit. The interests of the flesh mean death, 
 the interests of the Spirit mean life and peace. 
 For the interests of the flesh are hostile to God ; 
 they do not yield to the law of God (indeed they 
 cannot) . Those who are in the flesh cannot satis- 
 fy God." 
 
 The emphatic statement at the close of the 
 passage is of great importance. The words "so 
 then," introducing the 8th verse, in the King 
 James Version, are incorrect. It ought to read 
 simply: "And they that are in the flesh cannot 
 please God." The assertion is not a deduction 
 from the preceding verses, but a solemn declara- 
 tion of God's attitude toward those out of Christ. 
 They are without faith, and "without faith it is im- 
 possible to please Him" (Heb. ii : 6). God deals 
 with men through Christ, and only through Christ. 
 Whosoever will may come, but all who come 
 must approach unto God through Him Who said, 
 
i62 SIMPLE STUDIBS IN ROMANS. 
 
 "I am the way, the truth, and the life ; no man 
 cometh unto the Father, but by Me" ( Jno. 14 : 6). 
 Coming through Him, all may come and welcome, 
 but those who would climb up some other way 
 are thieves and robbers (Jno. 10:1), and they 
 must always fail of access to the Father. "He 
 that despised Moses' law died without mercy 
 under two or three witnesses : of how much 
 sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought 
 worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of 
 God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, 
 wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, 
 and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 
 For we know Him that hath said. Vengeance be- 
 longeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the 
 Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His 
 people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands 
 of the living God" (Heb. 10:28-31). 
 
 Let it be understood, then, before we go for- 
 ward in tliis chapter, that the flesh, the natural 
 man, is under God's condemnation, the wrath of 
 God abideth upon him. Apart from Christ is no 
 salvation and no means of approach to God. 
 "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." 
 There may be those in the flesh, as there are, and 
 many of them, who can please men, and who are 
 pleased with themselves, but God is not pleased 
 with them ; no matter what they do, and no mat- 
 ter how much their fellowmen may commend 
 them for what they do, God is not pleased. How 
 could He be pleased with men who tread under 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 103 
 
 foot His Son and repudiate the blood of the ever- 
 lasting covenant ? 
 
 (5) "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the 
 Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in 
 you" (9). In this section (vs. 9-1 1), four phras- 
 es are employed, all meaning the same thing and 
 haying reference to the indwelling of the Holy 
 Spirit in the believer. They are: "the Spirit of 
 God" (v. 9), ''the Spirit of Christ" (v. 9), 
 "Christ" (v. 10), and "the Spirit of Him that 
 raised up Jesus from the dead" (v. 11). The 
 doctrine of the indwelling Spirit is found in i 
 Cor. 6: 19, 20: "Know ye not that your body 
 is a temple of the Holy Spirit Which is in you, 
 Which ye have from God? and ye are not your 
 own; for ye were bought with a price: glorify 
 God therefore in your body" (R. V.). The Holy 
 Spirit does not enter the believer at some time 
 subsequent to his regeneration, but the moment he 
 believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, and is born 
 again by the power of the Holy Spirit, he is in- 
 dwelt by that Holy Spirit, who thereafter abides 
 in him continually. And in the paragraph before 
 us in our present study, we are assured that, if 
 the Spirit of God is dwelling in us, we are not in 
 the flesh, according to God's reckoning; and if, 
 oh the other hand, the Spirit of Christ, that is, 
 the Holy Spirit, is not indwelling us, we are none 
 of His, that is, we are not Christians at all, we 
 are not born again, we are not children of God. 
 In the second place, if Christ be in us, that is, 
 if we are children of God and have the Holy 
 
104 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Spirit indwelling us, then, though the body is 
 still counted a dead thing because of sin, the 
 spirit is life because of righteousness. And, 
 thirdly, the assurance is given us that even these 
 mortal bodies, which have not yet entered into 
 the fulness of the inheritance of sonship, will be 
 revivified by the indwelling Spirit. 
 
 These statements of verses lo and ii may re> 
 quire further examination, though the doctrine 
 intimated in them will be developed as we go on 
 with the chapter. The meaning of the 9th verse 
 is that, in the case of every one in whom Christ is 
 dwelling, that is, of every Christian, the body, 
 according to God's reckoning, is dead because of 
 sin, and is yet to be redeemed from death (com- 
 pare v. 23) ; and meanwhile, the spirit, that is, 
 the saint's own personal spirit, is life because of 
 righteousness. The life of Christ is imparted to 
 the believer's spirit on the ground of gospel- 
 righteousness, and it will never again be made 
 subject to death. The body, on the other hand, is 
 not yet redeemed from death. The redemption 
 price has been paid even for the body, but the re- 
 demption itself has not yet reached the body, and 
 will not until our Lord catches us up to Himself 
 at the rapture of the church. For this present 
 time the bodies of Christians are just as truly 
 bodies of death as the bodies of unbelievers. 
 Christians grow sick and die just like other peo- 
 ple, and this will go on until "the adoption, to 
 wit, the redemption of our body," is fully ac- 
 complished at the first resurrection. But, in the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 105 
 
 meantime, while saints equally with sinners are 
 subject to bodily death, they are not subject to 
 spiritual death. As to their spirits, they have all 
 entered into eternal life, and death hath no more 
 dominion over them. And this is all "because of 
 righteousness," the righteousness wrought out 
 for us by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of 
 Calvary. He is "the Lord, our Righteousness." 
 
 The believer, having the Holy Spirit indwelling 
 him, may find in the fact of that indwelling a 
 pledge and guaranty of the coming redemption 
 of His body, for "if the Spirit of Him that 
 raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He 
 that raised up Christ from the dead shall also 
 quicken (that is, make alive) your mortal bodies 
 by His Spirit that dwelleth in you"(ii). The 
 same argument is found in the words of the Lord 
 Jesus in Jno. 14: 1-3: "Ye beHeve in God, be- 
 lieve also in me H I go and prepare a place 
 
 for you, I will come again, and receive you unto 
 myself." And the same argument is found again 
 in I Thes. 4:14: "If we beHeve that Jesus died 
 and rose again, even so them also which sleep in 
 Jesus will God bring with Him." 
 
 2. "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption" 
 (12-17). This paragraph discusses our new re- 
 lationship in the family of God : 
 
 ( I ) "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not 
 to the flesh, to live after the flesh" (12). The 
 two verses following (13 and 14) should be read 
 as a parenthetical statement in connection with 
 the 1 2th verse : ("For if ye live according to the 
 
io6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 flesh ye are to die. But if by the Spirit ye mortify 
 the practices of the body ye will live, for they 
 who are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
 sons of God") (Murdoch's translation). Which 
 is to say that, in the sense of this passage, a Chris- 
 tian is one who lives according to the Holy Spirit, 
 and that any one who lives according to the flesh 
 is not a Christian, he is not a son of God. Sons 
 of God are those who are led by the Spirit of 
 God, and none others are children of God. This 
 is the argument throughout the chapter from the 
 beginning (compare vs. 5-8). 
 
 The Christian incentive is set forth here. We 
 are debtors, we have a debt and our debt is not to 
 the flesh to live according to it. We are warned 
 against the deeds of the body in view of the fact 
 that the body is still a dead thing in God's sight — 
 "our body is a corpse" (Bengel). The Christian's 
 aim should always be to make the Holy Spirit 
 the dominant power in his life. 
 
 (2) "Ye have received the Spirit of adop- 
 tion" (15). Adoption, in the Scriptures, means 
 literally, placing as a son. Under the old Roman 
 law, when a* son reached the age of maturity he 
 was publicly inducted into partnership with his 
 father, and recognized as his heir and successor, 
 and this public function was designated by the 
 word "adoption," or "son-placing." Under the 
 Old Testament, Israel's relation was not that of 
 full sonship, but, under the new covenant, the 
 believer at his new birth is at once given the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 107 
 
 place of full-grown sonship. This is his position 
 as the gift of God's grace, and when the Holy 
 Spirit thereupon takes up His abode in the be- 
 liever's body, He enters as the Spirit of adoption, 
 giving the believer deliverance from bondage and 
 fear, and causing him to cry, "Abba, Father." 
 The expression here is, "Abba, the Pater," Abba 
 being the Hebrew and Chaldean word for father, 
 and Pater the Greek form of the same word. As 
 Paul uses it here, the expression is a repetition 
 of the words used by the Lord Jesus in Mk. 14: 
 36, and they are found again, in much the same 
 connection as here, in Gal. 4 : 6. 
 
 (3) "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with 
 our spirit, that we are children of God" (16). 
 This great fact of sonship is the thing for which 
 justification through faith paved the way. Sal- 
 vation does not, by any means, stop with justi- 
 fication. God's purpose in delivering us from 
 sin was that He might make us His sons. This 
 He could not righteously do until our sins were 
 righteously disposed of, but the blood having 
 been shed which cleanseth us from all sin, He 
 has been enabled to exercise His divine power 
 in our regeneration, and then to open wide His 
 arms of love and receive us unto Himself as His 
 "dear children" (Eph. 5:1). 
 
 (4) "And if children, then heirs" (17). 
 Think of it, God's heirs and Christ's co-heirs! 
 Not joint-heirs in the sense of dividing with Him 
 the inheritance, but rather, in the sense of enter- 
 ing together with Him into the whole inheritance. 
 
io8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (5) "If SO be that we suffer with Him, that 
 we may be also glorified together" (17). The 
 "if" here is not conditional; it is rather to be 
 read, "since indeed we suffer with Him," for 
 this is the common lot of Christians. It is an- 
 other descriptive phrase to define what a Chris- 
 tion is. A Christian is one who suffers with 
 Christ. "For even hereunto were ye called" (i 
 Pet. 2:21), and "unto you it is given in the be- 
 half of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but 
 also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1 129). The 
 apostle does not here enter into discussion as to 
 the degrees of suffering through which Chris- 
 tians may pass. It is doubtless true that some 
 Christians know more of the ministry of suffer- 
 ing than others, but it is also true that to every 
 child of God there is appointed a ministry of 
 suffering which he cannot fully escape, even if he 
 would. "Yea, and all that will live godly in 
 Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3 : 
 12). "It is almost an axiom of the gospel," 
 says Dr. Stifler, "that the path to glory is the 
 path of pain (Mk. 10:38; Phil. 2:9). There- 
 fore the intelligent believer does not hesitate to 
 undergo sorrow in his service to Christ; he 
 rather covets it in order that he may be glorified 
 with Him ; for the joint heirs are those who suf- 
 fer that they may be glorified. Suffering is the 
 seed that ripens in fruit of glory." 
 
 3. "In hope were we saved" (18-27). The 
 Holy Spirit indwelling God's children as the 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 109 
 
 Spirit of hope, leads them to look forward into 
 the future, *'for that blessed hope" of their Lord's 
 return : 
 
 ( 1 ) "For I reckon that the sufferings of this 
 present time are not worthy to be compared 
 with the glory which shall be revealed to us- 
 ward" (18). The "in us" of the King James 
 Version is incorrect. The glory has already been 
 revealed in us in great measure, but there is a 
 glory to be revealed toward us when our Lord 
 shall come again. In i Pet. i : 11 and elsewhere, 
 the sufferings of Christ are linked with the glory 
 that shall follow, and our sufferings and glory 
 are of course closely identified with His. When 
 He shall appear, or be manifested, we are to be 
 manifested with Him in glory (Col. 3:4). Our 
 manifestation as the sons of God shining in the 
 glory of our Father is dealt with in the passage 
 before us, but prior to our manifestation with the 
 Lord Jesus, when He shall be revealed in the 
 clouds of heaven with power and great glory, 
 there is to be a revelation of His glory unto, or 
 toward, us. We are to see Him as He is in order 
 that we may become like Him (i Jno. 3:2, 3). 
 And this glory that shall be revealed toward us 
 is so great that the present sufferings, however 
 great they may be, are not worthy to be com- 
 pared with the coming glory. 
 
 (2) "For the earnest expectation of the 
 creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of 
 God" (19, R, v.). The material world itself is 
 
no SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 pictured here as upon the tiptoe of expectancy, 
 so great is the glory about to be revealed, when 
 the children of God shall be manifested in His 
 likeness. 
 
 (3) "For the creation was subjected to van- 
 ity" (20, 21, R. v.). Upon this complicated 
 passage we quote Dr. Stifler at length : 
 
 "As God's sons look with longing to the future, first, 
 because their present condition is painful and is not the 
 ideal condition, and, secondly, because the future will 
 bring them redemption, just so the creation, personified 
 all through this passage, looks to the same future, first, 
 because it is now under the curse, and, secondly, in the 
 future, in the glorification of the faithful, it will find 
 deliverance. The 20th verse gives a reason for the 
 'earnest expectation' drawn from the present condition 
 of creation, and the next verse a reason (when we read 
 'because') drawn from the future. 'Was made subject 
 to vanity' is ambiguous. Creation was not made so, 
 for originally creation was 'good,' and it was subjected 
 to vanity, that is, to attain to no good end permanently. 
 Any good that comes from creation must be evoked by 
 man's hard toil. This condition did not come about by 
 its own will ('willingly'), but because of Him (God) 
 Who subjected it to vanity, not finally, but upon a basis 
 of some provision for the future, called 'hope.' This 
 verse clearly implies that creation ('all nature') is 
 neither in its original condition nor in its final condition. 
 It fell when man fell (Gen. 3: 17-19) ; it shall be re- 
 stored when he is, and shall be no longer subject to 
 vanity, but to him (Heb. 2: 5-9). It is eagerly awaiting 
 the revelation of God's sons, because that is the time 
 when it 'also shall be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption (the subjection, v. 20) into the liberty of the 
 glory ('glorious Hberty' is wrong) of the children of 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. in 
 
 God.' The creation is promised the liberty of the glory, 
 not the glory." 
 
 (4) "For we know that the whole creation 
 groaneth" (22, 23). No one with the anointed 
 eye can fail to discern the universal sufferings of 
 "this nether world," and the Spirit of God tells 
 us here why the whole creation is groaning and 
 travailing in pain. This reason is given in the 
 23d verse, where the supplied word "they" should 
 read "it," for it refers to "the whole creation" of 
 the preceding verse. Not only it, but ourselves 
 also, though we have the firstfruits of salvation 
 in the presence of the indwelling Spirit of God, 
 groan within ourselves, and we are all waiting 
 for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our 
 body. Christians are already sons of God in the 
 fullest sense, but that fact has not yet been made 
 manifest to the world. Adoption, in the New 
 Testament sense, is already ours (Gal. 4:5; 
 Eph. 1:5), but it is a matter of faith for the 
 present time, and our sonship is not pubUcly pro- 
 claimed, so to speak, and will not be until the glad 
 day of redemption to which this passage points. 
 Then, even our bodies, these bodies of our hu- 
 miliation, shall be transformed into the likeness 
 of Christ's glorious body, by that same power by 
 which He is able also to subdue all things unto 
 Himself (Phil. 3:21). Our bodies, in common 
 with the material creation generally, are now 
 suffering in the bondage of corruption. They 
 are "dead because of sin" (v. 10), but in that 
 
112 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 day their deliverance will come. 'For this cor- 
 ruptible must needs put on incorruptibility, and 
 this mortal put on immortality. But when this 
 corruptible shall have put on incorruptibility, and 
 this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
 shall come to pass the word written : Death has 
 been swallowed up in victory" {Darby's Trans- 
 lation). 
 
 (5) "For in hope were we saved" (24, 25, R. 
 v.). The King James Version breaks down 
 again here. The 191 1 Bible reads: ''For in that 
 hope were we saved." The Holy Spirit of God, 
 immediately upon the believer's regeneration, di- 
 rects his attention to the blessed hope set before 
 him. Things are not to go on forever as they 
 are at present. The grace of God that bringeth 
 salvation has not only delivered us from the con- 
 sequences of sin by the death of the Lord Jesus 
 on the cross, but it has also put us under instruc- 
 tion, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
 we should live soberly and righteously and godly 
 in this present age; and it has put before us a 
 blessed hope in connection with the coming again 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great God and our 
 Saviour (Tit. 2 : 11- 13). It is in that hope, there- 
 fore, that we have been saved. The hope for the 
 present is a matter of faith, for "hope that is seen 
 is not hope : for what a man seeth, why doth he 
 yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see 
 not, then do we with patience wait for it." 
 
 (6) "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS Of GOD. 113 
 
 infirmity" (26, 27, ipii Bible). It is not ''in- 
 firmities," as the King James Version puts it. 
 The reference is to one particular infirmity, 
 namely, in that *Ve know not how to pray as we 
 ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh interces- 
 sion for us with groanings which cannot be ut- 
 tered." This is the third groaning mentioned in 
 this chapter: the burdened creation groans, the 
 children of God groan, and the indwelling Holy 
 Spirit groans; and all these groanings are ex- 
 pressive of a longing for the glorious deliverance 
 that is coming in the salvation ready to be re- 
 vealed in the last time (i Pet. 1:5). The 27th 
 verse pictures God the Father as He that search- 
 eth the hearts. And He knows the meaning 
 even of the Spirit's unutterable groaning ''be- 
 cause He (the Spirit) maketh intercession for the 
 saints (even in the groanings which cannot be ut- 
 tered) according to the will of God." There is 
 surely comfort here for the weakest saint of 
 God, who often finds himself unable even to 
 pray. "The Spirit Himself helpeth our infirm- 
 ity." 
 
 4. "We are more than conquerors" (28-39). 
 The Holy Spirit is the Spirit. of truth, and He as- 
 sures the Christian's heart by the wonderful lan- 
 guage of this closing paragraph of this wonder- 
 ful chapter : 
 
 (i) "And we know that all things work to- 
 gether for good to them that love God, to them 
 who are the called according to His purpose" 
 
114 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (28). "His purpose" is the great thing in this 
 passage. Who can withstand the eternal pur- 
 pose of God? If salvation were offered to the 
 believer conditionally ; if something were left to 
 his faithfulness, or his obedience, or his prayer- 
 fulness, then, indeed, the case would be hopeless, 
 for the history of man shows that, whenever he 
 is put under a system of probation, he breaks 
 down. The law was such a system, and under it 
 life was offered as a condition of obedience : "He 
 that doeth these things shall live by them ;" but 
 the law proved an intolerable burden (Ac. 15: 
 10), a ministration of condemnation and a minis- 
 tration of death (2 Cor. 3: 7, 9). In the gospel, 
 all conditions are swept aside, and whosoever will 
 may come. He is only to come, and God does 
 all the rest. Let hirrl come in all his vileness and 
 weakness, and God will not so much as mention 
 either his vileness or his weakness, but will just 
 take him into His loving arms, and undertake for 
 him, and thereafter see to it that all things work 
 together for good unto him. This is His eternal 
 purpose which He purposed before the world was, 
 and of course, with such a salvation, based upon 
 such a purpose, it cannot be otherwise than that 
 all things shall work together for good unto the 
 children of God. 
 
 (2) "For whom He did foreknow" (20, 30). 
 The word **for" has the force of "because," and 
 it introduces the reason for our assurance that 
 all things are working together for our good. 
 
rHB RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 115 
 
 He foreknew us ; He also predestinated us to be 
 1 conformed to the image of His Son, that He 
 I might be the first born among many brethren ; 
 f He also called us with an effectual calling; and 
 He also justified us, and He has also glorified 
 us. The past tense continues through the whole 
 passage, although the glorification is yet future, 
 for God is able to count things done even when 
 they have not yet been done. Our glorification 
 is according to His purpose, and nothing is to be 
 f^ suffered to thwart His purpose. Having been 
 foreknown and predestinated and called and jus- 
 tified, we shall also be glorified. 
 
 (3) "What shall we then say to these 
 things?" (31). What indeed can be said? "If 
 God be for us, who can be against us?'* And 
 what matters it whether any power is against us ! 
 Shall we be afraid of anything, with God on our 
 side ? 
 
 (4) "He that spared not His own Son, but 
 delivered him up for us all, how shall He not 
 with Him also freely give us all things?" (32). 
 It would, indeed, be strange if God should with- 
 hold any good thing from those to whom He had 
 given His Son. In Christ, all things are ours, 
 for we are Christ's, and Christ is God's (i Cor. 
 3:21-23). 
 
 (5) "Who shall lay anything to the charge 
 of God's elect?" (33). It is probable that in this 
 whole passage Paul has followed the form of 
 queries, and that the rest of this verse should 
 
ii6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 read, as in the 191 1 Bible, "Shall God, that justi- 
 fieth?" And surely, if God — Who has justified, 
 and Who has therefore precluded any possibility 
 of bringing a charge against us — if He has noth- 
 ing to accuse us of, then it matters very little that 
 we be judged of man's judgment (i Cor. 4:3). 
 And as for Satan, who accuseth the brethren day 
 and night before God, we need not fear him, for 
 God has justified us, and that ends the matter. 
 Satan is unable to bring anything new against us, 
 for God knoweth us altogether, and He has 
 found a way to be just and at the same time our 
 Justifier. 
 
 (6) "Who is he that condemneth? Is it 
 Christ, Who died, yea rather, Who is risen 
 again. Who is even at the right hand of God, 
 Who also maketh intercession for us?" (34, 
 igii Bible) . This surely ought to comfort every 
 believer's heart. There is nothing to fear from 
 Him who died for us, and rose again, and Who 
 now ever liveth to make intercession for us (Heb. 
 7--25). 
 
 (7) "Who shall separate us from the love 
 of Christ?" (35-37). Shall it be tribulation, or 
 distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, 
 or peril, or sword? God's children have always 
 been hated by the world, and whenever such per- 
 secution has been permitted, they have been "ac- 
 counted as sheep for the slaughter;" and yet all 
 these things have only tended to increase their 
 devotion and their faithfulness, and to establish 
 their integrity as witnesses unto Christ. 
 
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. 117 
 
 (8) "Nay, in all these things we are more 
 than conquerors through Him that loved us" 
 
 (37). To be more than a conqueror means to be 
 unconquerable. A man might be a victor at one 
 time, and a victim at another ; but not so here, for 
 through Him that loved us we are kept, *'kept 
 by the power of God through faith unto salvation 
 ready to be revealed" (i Pet. 1:5). 
 
 (9) "For I am persuaded" (38, 39). This 
 joyful song of triumph with which the chapter 
 closes has been a tower of strength to the chil- 
 dren of God ever since it was written. The 
 chapter opened with "no condemnation," and it 
 closes with "no separation." God will never 
 condemn one of His children, though He may be 
 compelled in faithfulness to chasten him (i Cor. 
 II : 31, 32) ; and God will never lose one of His 
 children who has come unto Him through Christ. 
 For such a one these words come from the 
 Father's own heart: "Neither death, nor life, 
 nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor height, 
 nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
 to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Thus endeth the main argument of the epistle. 
 The dreadful malady of sin was described in all 
 its hideousness in the first main division, but, if 
 the disease was terrible, the remedy is quite suffi- 
 cient. God, in the gospel, has provided a right- 
 eousness without spot, that saves and cleanses 
 and keeps the believer, even unto eternity. 
 
ii8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ''My sheep," says the Good Shepherd, "hear 
 My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me : 
 and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall 
 never perish, neither shall any one pluck them 
 out of My hand. My Father, Which gave them 
 Me, is greater than all ; and no one is able to 
 pluck them out of My Father's hand" (Jno. lo: 
 27-29). 
 
THIRD MAIN DIVISION : THE VINDICA- 
 TION OF GOD'S WAYS 
 
 (Chapters 9 to ii) 
 
 We now come to a new section of our epistle, 
 consisting of the 9th, loth, and nth chapters, and 
 containing the ''theodicy," or the vindication of 
 the ways of God in His dealings with Israel. 
 
 "In chapters 9 to 11," says Dwight, 
 
 "the second main objection to the doctrine of justi- 
 fication by faith is considered — namely, that, by reason 
 of the rejection of all unbelieving Jews which it in- 
 volves, it contradicts the promises of God and His cove- 
 nant with His chosen people." 
 
 "Paul could not do otherwise," says H. A. W. 
 Meyer ; 
 
 "he must settle this great problem; this is inevitably 
 demanded by all that had gone before. For if the whole 
 previous treatise had as its result, that only believers 
 were the recipients of the promised salvation, and if 
 nevertheless the Messianic promise and destination to 
 salvation had their reference in the first place (com- 
 pare 1 : 16) to the Israelites, concerning whom, how- 
 ever, experience showed that they were for the most 
 part unbelieving (compare Jno, i:ii), this contra- 
 dictory relation thus furnished an enigma, which Paul, 
 with his warm love for his people, could least of all 
 evade, but in the solution of which he had on the con- 
 
 119 
 
120 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 trary to employ all the boldness and depth of his cle«ir 
 insight into the divine plan of redemption (Eph. 3:4, 
 ff.) The defence of the efficacy of his Gentile apostle- 
 ship (Th. Schott, and in another way Mangold and 
 Sabatier) is not the object of the section— that object 
 Paul would have known how to meet directly — but such 
 a defence results indirectly from it, since we see from 
 the section how fully the apostle had recognized and 
 comprehended his place in. connection with the divine 
 plan of salvation. The problem itself, the solution of 
 which is now taken in hand by the apostle, was suf- 
 ficiently serious and momentous to be treated with so 
 much detail in this great and instructive letter to the 
 important mixed community of the world's capital, 
 which, however, does not thereby appear to have been 
 a Jewish-Christian one." 
 
 Dr. Scofield remarks that 
 
 "this great passage is really a parenthesis. Chapter 
 12, which begins, *I beseech you, therefore, brethren, 
 by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies,' 
 etc., is the resumption of the line of thought and 
 revelation abruptly interrupted at the end of chapter 
 8. But, as Professor Stifler has pointed out with a 
 clearness and force unequalled by any other commen- 
 tator on Romans, logic required the apostle to insert 
 this section at this precise point. It is convenient for u-s 
 to forget the Jew. It is easy, too, for usually Chris- 
 tians know almost nothing of distinctive Jewish cove- 
 nant and promise. Futhermore, there still lingers in 
 some minds the old and often disproved notion that 
 Christians are now the true Israel. But to the apostolic 
 church the question of the relation of Judaism to the 
 new institution, the church, was the most living and 
 burning of questions. Having, therefore, brought the 
 entire race into one common condemnation as sinners, 
 and opened the one and only salvation in the gospel, the 
 question inevitably emerges. What, then, becomes of the 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 121 
 
 Davidic covenant, confirmed by the oath of God and 
 renewed to the mother of Jesus by the angel Gabriel? 
 What becomes of the repeated, specific, and absolutely 
 unconditional promises of the restoration of all Israel 
 to the land of their fathers, and the establishment again 
 of the monarchy in the person of a Messiah, Who should 
 be Son and Heir of David? This section is the apostle's 
 answer. Just as James, in the Jerusalem council, showed 
 that the acceptance of the Gentiles by faith without cir- 
 cumcision not only did not contradict the prophets, but 
 'agreed' with them, since they had predicted the restor- 
 ation as occurring after the return of the Lord (Ac. 15: 
 14-17) ; so Paul, only more at length, explains that this 
 gospel age is an interregnum fully foreseen by the 
 prophets, and that, so far ^rom having done with 
 national Israel, the Deliverer shall yet come out of 
 Zion, and 'all Israel (not 'every Israelite') shall be 
 saved'" {"Sco field Correspondence Course"). 
 
 In introducing this section, Mr. Darby says 
 that 
 
 "there remained one important question to be consid- 
 ered, namely, how this salvation, common to Jew and 
 Gentile, both alienated from God — this doctrine that 
 there was no difference — was to be reconciled with the 
 special promises made to the Jews. The proof of their 
 guilt and ruin under the law did not touch the promises 
 of a faithful God. Was the apostle going to do away 
 with these to place the Gentiles on the same footing? 
 They did not fail also to accuse the apostle of having de- 
 spised his nation and its privileges. Chapters 9, 10 and 
 II reply to this question; and, with rare and admirable 
 perfection, set forth the position of Israel with respect 
 to God and to the gospel. This reply opens, in itself, 
 a wide door to intelligence in the ways of God" {"Syn- 
 opsis"). 
 
122 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 "The grace of the gospel has now been carried 
 to its issue in glory," says Mr. Grant {"Numer- 
 ical Bible"). 
 
 "The doctrine of the epistle is so far concluded ; but we 
 have yet to see the bearing of all this upon Israel, and 
 special promises given to her of God. The sin of man at 
 large and of Israel, we may say especially, has been fully 
 proved. 'There is no difference; for all have sinned, 
 and come short of the glory of God ;' but that does not 
 affect at all the question of the faithfulness of God to 
 His own Word. Let man be what he may; if God has 
 spoken, He will surely fulfil what He has promised, 
 and here we have to remember that the promise to 
 Abraham was indeed not directly to the nation at all, 
 and therefore the standing or fall of the nation could not 
 affect it. It was absolute grace in its nature, and as we 
 see in the 15th chapter of Genesis, if trial and suffering, 
 if the furnace were needed as well as the lamp, the 
 covenant included both, in order to work out the pur- 
 pose of God. When the law came in, it was exceptional 
 entirely, as the apostle says, 'it came in by the 
 way,' and for the purpose, not of putting Israel's title 
 to the inheritance upon a new foundation, but really in 
 order to show that nothing but absolute grace could be 
 the foundation of such promises as hers. The law was 
 the ministration of death and condemnation, as we have 
 fully seen, and if the inheritance were of law, as the 
 apostle tells us afterwards, it were no more of promise. 
 Law and promise are in absolute contrast, in contra- 
 diction, one may say, to one another. Israel chose the 
 law, and so far, therefore, as she could do it, gave up 
 the grace in which God in fact had been hitherto deal- 
 ing with her, to accept the recompense of her own de- 
 sert. She found this in result ; and it was seen from 
 the beginning that it would be terribly against her. The 
 new covenant, which still remains to be fulfilled, pro- 
 vides for the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant, but 
 
THE VINDICATION OP GOD'S WAYS. 123 
 
 to a people who have sinned, and expressly in view of 
 their sins; but it is absolute grace once more. It is all 
 God's 'I will,' not the legal, 'Thou shalt.' Thus, these 
 unconditional promises must be fulfilled. The prophets 
 fill them out and show us Israel on their conversion as 
 a nation not lost in the midst of the Gentiles, but, on the 
 contrary, the centre of the divine rule for the earth and 
 in special nearness to the divine King. The promises 
 of the Old Testament have nothing to do with heaven, 
 no thought of any one going there. They concern the 
 earth; and here the blessing for the earth of necessity 
 implies the blessing for Israel. Isaiah affirms the eternal 
 perpetuity of their seed and name, not merely for the 
 millennium, but 'as the new heavens and the new earth,' 
 says God, 'which I will make, shall remain before Me, 
 so shall her seed and her name remain.' Thus Israel's 
 distinct existence, and as it is implied, distinct privilege, 
 remains eternal. There is no escape from this, except 
 into the utter confusion in which so many are, between 
 the earthly people and the heavenly, Israel and the 
 church. If we will only read Scripture with the sim- 
 plicity which belongs to it, if we will only allow that 
 God means exactly what he says, there will be no diffi- 
 culty at all in discerning that Israel's promises abide in 
 spite of all that has come in apparently to set them aside, 
 and (for a time) in fact has done so." 
 
 Before proceeding to the study of the sectioti, 
 let us heed this word of caution from Dean Al- 
 ford: 
 
 "In no part of the epistles of St. Paul, is it more requi- 
 site than in this portion to bear in mind his habit of in- 
 sulating the one view of the subject under consideration 
 with which he is at the time dealing. The divine side of 
 the history of Israel and. the world is in the greater part 
 of this portion thus insulated: the facts of the divine 
 dealings and the divine decrees insisted on, and the mun- 
 
124 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 dane .or human side of that history kept for the most 
 part out of sight, and only so much shown as to make 
 it manifest that the Jews, on their part, failed of at- 
 taining God's righteousness, and so lost their share in 
 the gospel. It must also be remembered that, whatever 
 inferences, with regard to God's disposal of individuals, 
 may justly lie from the apostle's arguments, the asser- 
 tions here made by him are universally spoken with a 
 national reference. Of the eternal salvation or rejection 
 of any individual Jew there is here no question: and 
 however logically true of any individual the same con- 
 clusion may be shown to be, we know as a matter of 
 fact that in such cases not the divine but the human 
 side is that ever held up by the apostle — the universality 
 of free grace for all — the riches of God's mercy to all 
 who call on Him, and consequent exhortations to all to 
 look to Him and be saved. The apparent inconsistencies 
 of the apostle, at one time speaking of absolute de- 
 crees of God, and at another of culpability in man, — at 
 one time of the election of some, at another of a hope 
 of the conversion of all, — resolve themselves into the 
 necessary conditions of thought under which we all are 
 placed, being compelled to acknowledge the divine 
 sovereignty on the one hand, and human free will on 
 the other, and alternately appearing to lose sight of one 
 of these, as often as for the time we confine our view 
 to the other." 
 
 Proceeding now to the consideration of the 
 section in detail, we find it yielding itself readily 
 to simple analysis, in keeping with the chapter 
 divisions: (i) Israel's failure and rejection ac- 
 knowledged (ch. 9) ; (2) Israel's rejection is 
 the result of Israel's failure (ch. 10) ; (3) Is- 
 rael's rejection is neither complete nor final (ch. 
 11). The object of the Spirit of truth in the 
 
THB VINDICATION OP GOD'S WAYS. 125 
 
 whole section is to show that "the ways of the 
 Lord are right ways." 
 
 I. IsRAEi^'s Failure and Rejection Acknowl- 
 edged (Chapter 9.) 
 
 1, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my 
 conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy 
 Ghost, that I have great heaviness and con- 
 tinual sorrow in my heart" (i, 2). The change 
 from the triumphant strain of the preceding 
 chapter is startling. Dr. Stifler suggests that it 
 may be accounted for psychologically. "The 
 apostle," says he, "had just been contemplating 
 the certainty of the glory of the sons of God ; 
 his heart goes now to the other extreme, the fail- 
 ure and misery of his own countrymen. The 
 vehement language was necessary, because in giv- 
 ing the gospel to the heathen Paul was looked 
 upon by the Jew as the enemy of his own nation. 
 Some of the Roman church, knowing as they did 
 the exclusiveness of the Jews, might be persuaded 
 that Paul was an apostate rather than an apostle 
 of God. He must defend himself. He is about 
 to outline Israel's shame. Let it be seen that the 
 picture is drawn not by an enemy, but by a lov- 
 ing friend, whose heart is breaking as he paints." 
 
 2. "For I could wish that myself were ac- 
 cursed from Christ for my brethren, my kins- 
 men according to the flesh" (3). Many and 
 varied are the comments on this verse, the writers 
 often shrinking from the obvious meaning of the 
 
126 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 words as they stand. Wakefield cuts the trouble- 
 some knot at one stroke by reading: *'I have 
 great grief and continual sorrow of heart (for I 
 also was once an alien from Christ) on account 
 of my brethren," etc. In a note he says : "I see 
 no method of solving the difficulty in this verse, 
 which has so exercised the learning and ingenuity 
 of commentators, but by the euchomai einai of 
 Homer — I profess myself to be. This solution 
 makes the passage rational and plain." Alford 
 holds that the literal reading is, "I was wishing," 
 etc., and says : "This imperfect tense is not his- 
 torical, alluding to his days of Pharisaism, as 
 some have supposed, but implies, as very often, 
 a half-expression of a desire: *I was wishing, 
 had it been possible.' " Darby reads, "For I 
 have wished, I myself, to be a curse from Christ 
 for my brethren," and remarks : "Moses, in his 
 anguish, had said, 'Blot me out of Thy book.' 
 Paul had not been behind him in his love." In 
 his "New Testament in Braid Scots," William 
 Wye Smith renders: "There is muckle dool to 
 me, and constant sorrow i' my heart, for I mysel' 
 coud hae wiss't mysel' devotit by Christ, for my 
 brethren's sake, my kin eftir the flesh." In a 
 note he says: "Sinder't frae ony common use; 
 as was an offeran i' the temple. The sense is ob- 
 scure: and we haena Paul to expone it. While 
 it may mean torn frae a' things in this life, and 
 frae life itsel', it disna mean sinder't frae Christ 
 for eternity." And John Wesley, in his Notes on 
 
THH VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 127 
 
 the New Testament, says of the passage: "Hu- 
 man words cannot fully describe the motions of 
 souls that are full of God. As if he had said, I 
 could wish to suffer in their stead ; yea, to be an 
 anathema from Christ in their place. In how 
 high a sense he wished this, who can tell, unless 
 himself had been asked, and had resolved the 
 question? Certainly he did not then consider 
 himself at all, but only others, and the glory of 
 God. The thing could not be ; yet the wish was 
 pious and solid ; though with a tacit condition, 
 if it were right and possible." "The language," 
 says Stifler, "is startling and has troubled many ; 
 but it is in the very spirit of Israel's great leader, 
 Moses (Ex. 32 : 32), and may we not say, though 
 the word is different, in the spirit of Christ (Gal. 
 3: 13) ? Besides, this is not the language of de- 
 liberation, but of heart-breaking passion, in 
 which he says, 'I could (were it permitted or 
 were it possible) wish myself accursed (away) 
 from (not 'by') Christ.' It is this grief at the 
 loss of men, this intense yearning for their sal- 
 vation, that made Paul the preacher he was." 
 
 3. "Who are Israelites" (4). In chapter 3 
 the question was raised, "What advantage then 
 hath the Jew?" And the answer was ready: 
 "Much every way." That answer is amplified in 
 the sevenfold summary found in our 9th chapter. 
 Surely, Israel's position before God was one to 
 be coveted ; for to this people pertaineth : 
 
 (i) "The adoption." They were adopted as 
 
128 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 God's people from among the nations. Their 
 adoption, as spoken of here, is not individual, but 
 national. It is a different thing from the New 
 Testament adoption, but it is yet a thing to be 
 greatly desired, and a thing for which to be deep- 
 ly grateful. 
 
 (2) "And the glory." The Shekinah cloud 
 of glory led them and followed them in their 
 wilderness wanderings. Thus they had been 
 made companions of the Holy Spirit (Heb. 6:4). 
 
 (3) "And the covenants." The Abrahamic 
 covenant, the Mosaic covenant, the Davidic cove- 
 nant — all were theirs, and all are yet theirs, de- 
 spite their failure. The Gentiles, on the con- 
 trary, are "aliens from the commonwealth," and 
 therefore "strangers from the covenants of 
 promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
 world" (Eph. 2: 12). 
 
 (4) "And the giving of the law." The Gen- 
 tiles "have not the law" (Rom. 2:14). "If 
 others boasted of their Solons and Lycurguses, 
 how far juster ground of boasting is there of the 
 Lord as lawgiver" {Calvin). 
 
 (5) "And the service." They alone, among 
 all the nations of the world, had an authorized 
 form of worship; they were taught the way of 
 approach to God. 
 
 (6) "And the promises." Even the promise 
 of the Redeemer was peculiarly Israel's, though 
 it was first given to the whole race in Eden, for 
 it was ultimately confined to the seed of Abra- 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 129 
 
 ham, Isaac and Jacob, the tribe of Judah, and 
 house of David. Let it not be forgotten that the 
 Lord Jesus Christ was primarily "a minister of 
 the circumcision for the truth of God, to con- 
 firm the promises made unto the fathers," and 
 that the showing of mercy to the Gentiles was a 
 thing that came afterwards (Rom. 15 : 8, 9). In 
 Heb. 7 : 6, Abraham is described as "him that 
 had the promises." 
 
 (7) "Whose are the fathers." What other 
 nation ever had such fathers? "Abraham, the 
 head of many nations, Isaac, and Jacob, were 
 theirs; other nations had great ancestors, but 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have the honor of 
 being not merely natural, but divinely chosen 
 chiefs" {Stiiier). 
 
 4. "And of whom as concerning the flesh 
 Christ came" (5). "Besides these seven all 
 their own, the Israelites had one other honor in 
 which they shared, an honor that overtops all the 
 rest. The 'whose' changes to *of whom.' The 
 fathers were theirs, but the Christ, though He 
 came from them in His human relation, belongs 
 to the world" {StiUer). "The expression ('and 
 of whom is Christ, so far as regards the flesh') 
 implies that He was not entirely sprung from 
 them, but had another nature; *on His human 
 side/ — *as far as pertains to His human body' " 
 {Alford). 
 
 5. "Who is over all, God blessed for ever. 
 Amen" (5). There has been much controversy 
 
130 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 over the punctuation and application of this 
 Scripture. Those who deny our Lord's deity in- 
 sist that we should read here, "Blessed for ever 
 be the God Who is over all !" and that the words 
 are to be understood as a doxology to the Father. 
 By the early church, however, it was generally 
 rendered as in our English Bible, and applied to 
 Christ. This rendering, says Dean Alford, "is 
 not only that most agreeable to the usage of the 
 apostle, but the only one admissible by the rules 
 of grammar and arrangement. It also admirably 
 suits the context: for, having enumerated the 
 historic advantages of the Jewish people, he con- 
 cludes by stating one which ranks far higher than 
 all, — that from them sprung, according to the 
 flesh. He Who is God over all, blessed for ever." 
 H. A. W. Meyer, though opposing this view, yet 
 acknowledges that the words may be interpreted 
 as referring to Christ; and both Weiss and 
 Dwight, Meyer's editors, agree with Alford's 
 conclusions as above. Stifier says that "Sanday, 
 after an exhaustive examination of all the argu- 
 ments bearing on the punctuation of this passage, 
 *with some slight, but only slight, hesitation,' ad- 
 mits that Paul here applies the name God to 
 Christ." 
 
 The claim is made that Paul does not any- 
 where else call Christ God. But this is an error, 
 for Paul calls Christ God in Ac. 20: 28; in Col. 
 1 : 16 he declares that "all things were made by 
 Him and for Him ;" and in Col. 2 : 9 he writes 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 131 
 
 that "in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
 head bodily." In addition to this, there is little 
 doubt that Hebrews was written by Paul, and in 
 the first chapter of that epistle Christ is repeated- 
 ly called by names of deity. 
 
 However, no one who really knows Christ de- 
 nies or doubts His deity. By His supernatural 
 birth (Isa. 7 : 13, 14; Mat. i : 22, 23), and by His 
 supernatural resurrection from the dead (Jno. 8: 
 46 ; Rom. 1:4), as well as by all that lay be- 
 tween, He was shown to be God in the flesh. 
 We receive Him as such, and adore Him as such, 
 bowing before Him with His disciple Thomas, 
 and worshipping Him as our Lord and our God. 
 
 6. "Not as though the Word of God hath 
 taken none effect" (6-13). There had been 
 failure, but the failure was not God's. The peo- 
 ple had broken down, but the great promises of 
 the covenant were not conditional promises, they 
 were not made to depend upon the faithfulness 
 of the people. The Word of God must be ful- 
 filled. "If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; 
 for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim. 2: 13, R. 
 v.). In the paragraph before us, all this is 
 brought out in answer to the natural questionings 
 that would arise in regard to God's dealings with 
 Israel. The case is not "as though the Word of 
 God hath taken none effect," or as though it 
 "hath come to nought" {R. V.), or as though it 
 "had failed" (ioit Bible). The Word of God 
 still remained unbroken. The promise of God 
 
132 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 had not been set aside. The proof of this is in 
 what follows : 
 
 (i) "For they are not all Israel, which are 
 of Israel" (6). The promise was not for all the 
 nation of Israel. The apostle is making a dis- 
 tinction here between natural Israelites and those 
 among them who were men of faith. Believing 
 Gentiles are not in view just now, though they 
 are elsewhere called Abraham's spiritual seed. 
 In the passage before us, he is considering only 
 the two kinds of Israelites, the natural and the 
 spiritual Israel (compare Rom. 4: 1-3; Gal. 3: 
 6,7; Jno. 8:37-39). 
 
 (2) "Neither, because they are the seed of 
 Abraham, are they all children : but. In Isaac 
 shall thy seed be called" (7). Abraham had 
 other children besides Isaac. Ishmael was born 
 before Isaac, and there were many sons born 
 afterward of Keturah (Gen. 25 : 1-4), and yet the 
 Messianic promise was confined to Isaac and his 
 seed. The principle of God's sovereign elective 
 grace is thus established at the outset. The Jew 
 could not deny this principle, and thus shut out 
 the Gentiles from the promise, unless he was will- 
 ing to include the Ishmaelites and the descendants 
 of Keturah with himself in the promise. ''That 
 is. They which are the children of the flesh, these 
 are not the children of God : but the children of 
 the promise are counted for the seed. For this 
 is the word of promise. At this time will I come, 
 and Sarah shall have a son" (vs. 8, 9, compare 
 Gen. 21 : 12; 18: 10). 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 133 
 
 (3) "And not only this" (10). The apostle 
 now cites the case of Jacob and Esau, the twin 
 sons of Isaac and Rebecca. While these children 
 were yet in their mother's womb, before they had 
 done any good or evil, 'It was said unto her, The 
 elder shall serve the younger" (v. 12, compare 
 Gen. 25:23). The reason given for this decree 
 is simply, "that the purpose of God... might 
 stand." It is "according to election ... not of 
 works, but of him that calleth" (v. 11). In the 
 case of Ishmael, it might be objected, that, being 
 born of a slave woman, he was set aside on that 
 account, but this objection cannot stand as touch- 
 ing the case of Esau and Jacob. Though they 
 were twins, Esau was yet the first-born, and God 
 decreed that this first-born should be subject to 
 his younger brother, and, as we have observed, 
 the only reason given for it is that it was accord- 
 ing to the purpose of God. The decree itself 
 went far beyond the persons of Esau and Jacob, 
 as will be seen by reference to the Scripture cited. 
 Gen. 25 : 23 : "And Jehovah said unto her. Two 
 nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall 
 be separated from thy bowels : and the one peo- 
 ple shall be stronger than the other people ; and 
 the elder shall serve the younger" (R. V.). On 
 this Dean Alford says: "But the nations must 
 be considered as spoken of in their progenitors, 
 and the elder nation is in fact that sprung from 
 the elder brother. History records several sub- 
 jugations of Edom by the kings of Judah ; first 
 
134 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 by David (2 Sam. 8:14); — under Joram they 
 rebelled (2 Ki. 8:20), but were defeated by 
 Amaziah (2 Ki. 14:7), and Elath taken from 
 them by Uzziah (2 Ki. 14: 22) ; under Ahaz they 
 were again free, and troubled Judah (2 Chron. 
 28:16, 17, compare 2 Ki. 16:6, 7) — and con- 
 tinued free, as prophesied in Gen. 27 : 40, till the 
 time of John Hyrcanus, who reduced them final- 
 ly, so that thenceforward they were incorporated 
 among the Jews : as it is written, Jacob I loved, 
 but Esau I hated (there is no necessity here to 
 soften the 'hated' into 'loved less' : the words in 
 Malachi proceed on the fullest meaning of hate, 
 see V. 4, 'The people against whom Jehovah hath 
 indignation for ever')." 
 
 7. "What shall we say then? Is there un- 
 righteousness with God?" (14-18). The apos- 
 tle's exclamatory reply, "God forbid !" is the lan- 
 guage of faith, for faith cannot for a moment 
 tolerate the insinuation that there is unrighteous- 
 ness with God : 
 
 (i) "For he saith to Moses, I will have 
 mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will 
 have compassion on whom I will have compas- 
 sion" (15). "Paul finds the argument for his 
 vehement denial of injustice in God," says Dr. 
 Stifler, "not by abstract reasoning about the idea 
 of justice, but in the Scriptures. The quotation 
 is from Ex. 33 : 19. The great Jewish captain 
 is earnestly seeking grace from God. It might 
 be supposed that he could attain it on the ground 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 135 
 
 of his office and merit ; but even 'to Moses,' God 
 saith, He gives mercy not because he is Moses, or 
 because he seeks it, but just because it is God's 
 *wiir to do so. It is a bold, crisp assertion of the 
 divine freedom in bestowing grace. 'In any case 
 through human history vv^herein I shall be seen 
 to have mercy, the one account I give of the radi- 
 cal cause is this — I have mercy' (Moule). 
 Mercy is the outward manifestation of the feel- 
 ing of compassion." And according to Dean Al- 
 ford, "The meaning apparently is, 'Whenever I 
 have mercy on any, it shall be pure mercy, no 
 human desert contributing;' which agrees better 
 with the next verse than the ordinary rendering, 
 which lays the stress on the ^whomsoever ;' and 
 is not inconsistent with v. 18, 'he hath mercy on 
 whom he will ;' because if God's mercy be pure 
 mercy without any desert on man's part, it nec- 
 essarily follows that He has mercy on whom He 
 will, His will being the only assignable cause of 
 the selection." 
 
 (2) "So then it is not of him that willeth, 
 nor of him that runneth, but of God that shew- 
 eth mercy" (16). The human element is sim- 
 ply excluded. Mercy is shown not according as 
 men will to receive it, or run after it, but accord- 
 ing to God's own purpose. We shall return to 
 this a little further on in the chapter. 
 
 (3) "For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, 
 Even for this same purpose have I raised thee 
 up, that I might shew My power in thee, and 
 
136 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 that My name might be declared throughout 
 all the earth" (17). The quotation here is from 
 Ex. 9: 16, and it leads to the conclusion of our 
 i8th verse: "Therefore hath He mercy on whom 
 He will have mercy, and whom He will He hard- 
 eneth." 
 
 "Ten times in the Scripture," says Dr. Stifler, 
 "about Pharaoh it is said he hardened himself; 
 but Paul makes no account of this, for his clear 
 intention is to account for Pharaoh's overthrow 
 by the free purpose of God. 
 
 And yet God did not harden him for the sake of the 
 hardening, but that the divine power might have a field 
 of display and that the divine name might become known. 
 If Pharaoh had willingly and sweetly allowed the peo- 
 ple to depart, there could have been no miracles 'in 
 Egypt and in the Red Sea' (Ac. 7: 36), and the children 
 of Israel would have had no fame as God's own chosen, a 
 
 fame that endured for centuries (i Sam. 5:8) 
 
 God is absolute sovereign, allowing nothing to direct 
 His activity but His own will. His Word is true, as 
 true, as He is, but He has never uttered a word to 
 abridge His freedom. This hardening process is going 
 on to-day; it can be read as clearly in current history 
 as in God's Word. And yet man is also free in choosing 
 God and free in refusing Him. The reconciliation of 
 these two is a question of philosophy, and philosophy 
 fails in the effort. The Bible does not attempt it, but 
 stops with asserting that both are realities." 
 
 Augustine says : 
 
 "Let it be enough for the Christian, living as yet 
 by faith, and not yet seeing what is perfect, but know- 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS, 137 
 
 ing it only in part, to know, or to believe, that God 
 acquits none except of His free mercy, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and condemns none, except of most 
 equitable justice, through the same our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. But why He acquits or does not acquit one 
 rather than another, let him who can, search into the so 
 great deep of His judgments: but — let him beware of 
 the precipitous descent." 
 
 Mr. Darby says, that God's sovereignty is the 
 first of all rights. 
 
 "But in what case had He exercised this right? In 
 a case that concerned that right of Israel to blessing, 
 of which the Jews sought to avail themsleves. All 
 Israel would have been cut off, if God had dealt in 
 righteousness ; there was nothing but the sovereignty of 
 God which could be a door of escape. God retreated into 
 His sovereignty in order to spare whom He would, and 
 so had spared Israel (justice would have condemned 
 them all alike, gathered round the golden calf which 
 they set up to worship) — this, on the side of mercy; on 
 that of judgment, Pharaoh served for an example. The 
 enemy of God, and of His people, he had treated the 
 claims of God with contempt, exalting himself proudly 
 against Him — 'Who is Jehovah that I should obey Him? 
 I will not let His people go.' Pharaoh being in this 
 state, Jehovah uses him to give an example of His 
 wrath and judgment. So that He shows mercy to whom 
 He will, and hardens whom He will. Man complains of 
 it, as he does of the grace that justifies freely." 
 
 8. "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth 
 He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His 
 will?" (19-24). The objector has taken an ad- 
 vanced step here. Up to this point he has been 
 content merely to call God's justice into question, 
 
138 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 but now he practically charges God with injus- 
 tice: 
 
 ( 1 ) "Nay but, O man, who art thou that re- 
 pliest against God?" (20). "Such replying," as 
 Mr. Grant points out, "must necessarily be in 
 vain. Could one succeed in establishing his 
 cause against Him, what could it be? It would 
 be the ruin of everything. Think of being able 
 to show that God was not the righteous, holy, 
 gracious God He is! Think of the disaster 
 everywhere which would result from such a 
 thing! The moment we speak of God, we must 
 be still and know that He is God ; and the apostle 
 insists upon this in the first place." 
 
 (2) "Shall the thing formed say to him that 
 formed it. Why hast thou made me thus? 
 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the 
 same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and 
 another unto dishonour?" (20, 21). The word 
 "power," in this passage, the Revision changes 
 to "right" — "Hath not the potter a right over the 
 clay?" There is reference here to Isa. 29: 16, 
 where it is written: "Shall the work say of him 
 that made it, He made me not ? or shall the thing 
 framed say of him that framed it, He had no un- 
 derstanding?" Again, in Isa. 45:9, we read: 
 "Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, 
 What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no 
 hands ?" In the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus, 
 33 : 13, there is similar language : "As the clay is 
 in the potter's hand to fashion it at his pleasure, 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 139 
 
 so man is in the hand of Him that made him to 
 render to them as Uketh Him best." Again, in 
 the book of Wisdom, 15:7, it is written: "For 
 the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every 
 vessel with much labour for our service : yea, of 
 the same clay he maketh both the vessels that 
 serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as 
 serve to the contrary: but what is the use of 
 either sort the potter himself is the judge." 
 There is a word from Jehovah in Jer. 18: 6, say- 
 ing, **0 house of Israel, cannot I do with you as 
 this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay 
 is in the potter's hand, so are ye in Mine hand, O 
 house of Israel." The same figure is employed 
 in 2 Tim. 2 : 20, 21, though with a different pur- 
 pose in view. What we have in the 9th of Ro- 
 mans is the free sovereignty of God. It is well 
 to remember this, and to follow Dean Alford's 
 example. He says: 
 
 "I must pause here to remind the student, that I 
 purposely do not enter on the disquisition so abundant 
 in some commentaries on this part of Scripture, by 
 which it is endeavored to reconcile the sovereign election 
 of God with our free will. We shall find that free 
 will asserted strongly enough for all edifying pur- 
 poses by this apostle, when the time comes. At pres- 
 ent, he is employed wholly in asserting the divine sov- 
 ereignty, the glorious vision of which it ill becomes us 
 to distract by continual downward looks on this earth. 
 
 It is in parts of Scripture like this, that we must 
 
 be especially careful not to fall short of what is writ- 
 ten: not to allow of any compromise of the plain and 
 awful words of God's Spirit for the sake of a caution 
 which He Himself does not teach us." 
 
140 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (3) "What if God, willing to shew His 
 wrath, and to make His power known, endured 
 with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath 
 fitted to destruction : and that He might make 
 known the riches of His glory on the vessels of 
 mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory, 
 even us, whom He hath called, not of the Jews 
 only, but also of the Gentiles?" (22-24). The 
 word "willing," in the 22d verse, should be read, 
 "wishing," or "purposing." The meaning of the 
 passage is, that, while God has a perfect right 
 to destroy all sinners at once, He has also a right 
 to show mercy where He wills, and to restrain 
 His wrath where He wills, in order to fulfill His 
 purpose. 
 
 9. "As he saith" (25-29) : 
 
 (i) Two quotations from Hosea (2:23; i: 
 10) are cited in vs. 25 and 26. By referring to 
 the prophecy itself, it will be seen that, in both 
 cases, the direct application was to Israel, while 
 the citation in Romans has reference to the Gen- 
 tiles. "Both passages," Mr. Grant remarks, "re- 
 fer to God's purposes with regard to Israel in 
 the time to come, but as a principle they equally 
 show how He is acting and how He has title to 
 act in His present grace. The men of the Gen- 
 tiles, who were not His people, He is calling His 
 people,; and where He had said unto them, *Ye 
 are not My people,' there they are now called of 
 Him His children. The apostle does not say that 
 this is an exact fulfillment of Hosea's words. 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 141 
 
 It is a fulfillment in principle, and that is all that 
 is implied in his quotation." 
 
 (2) Two quotations from Isaiah are also found 
 here. They are from Isa. 10 : 22, ff ., and 1:9; 
 and the apostle quotes them to prove that it is 
 only by God's grace that even the remnant out of 
 Israel is saved. 
 
 10. "What shall we say then?" (30-33). 
 The question raised finds its answer in the words 
 following : 
 
 (i) "That Gentiles, who followed not after 
 righteousness, have obtained righteousness, 
 even the righteousness which is of faith" (30, 
 191 1 Bible). The article ''the," before Gentiles, 
 is wrongly found in both the King James and the 
 Revised Versions. The statement would not be 
 true as applied to "the Gentiles" en masse. It is 
 true, however, of certain Gentiles that they have, 
 by the sovereign grace of God, attained unto a 
 righteousness which is of faith. In this and the 
 next verse, we have a commentary upon the i6th 
 verse above : "It is not of him that willeth, nor 
 of him that rUnneth, but of God that sheweth 
 mercy." These Gentiles who have attained to 
 righteousness have not attained thereto through 
 their own willing, or their own running, but 
 through the sovereign, elective grace of God. 
 
 (2) "But Israel, following after a law of 
 righteousness, did not arrive at that law" (31, 
 R. v.). Here was a nation pursuing after a law 
 of righteousness and failing in the pursuit. They 
 
142 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 said, when the covenant of law was proposed to 
 them, "All that Jehovah hath spoken we will do" 
 (Ex. 19:8). 
 
 (3) "Wherefore? Because they sought it 
 not by faith, but as it were by the works of the 
 law" (32). The loth chapter takes up this sub- 
 ject and works it out in detail, showing the differ- 
 ence between "the righteousness which is of the 
 law" and "the righteousness which is of faith" 
 (compare Rom. 10:5, 6). Chrysostom and 
 others think that, in these final verses of the chap- 
 ter, there is a solution of the whole doctrinal 
 difficulty raised by the chapter, but Alford dis- 
 sents from these, and says : 
 
 "This solution is simply in the creative right of God, 
 as declared in v. 18;— but they are a commefit on v. 16, 
 that it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that 
 runneth: the same similitude of running being here re- 
 sumed, and it being shown that, so far from man's run- 
 ning having decided the matter, the Jews, who pressed 
 forward to the goal, attained not, whereas the Gentiles, 
 who never ran, have attained. If this is lost sight of, 
 the connection of the whole is much impaired, and, from 
 doctrinal prejudice, a wholly wrong turn given to the 
 apostle's line of reasoning, — who resolves the awful fact 
 of Israel's exclusion not into any causes arising from 
 man, but into the supreme will of God." 
 
 Stifler says: 
 
 "It is at this point that Paul passes from the sov- 
 ereignty of God to the responsibility of man. The 
 two cannot be harmonized in the human understanding, 
 except as the Scriptures harmonize them; that is, by 
 insisting on and holding to both. The Scriptures and 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 143 
 
 reason assert the absolute sovereignty of God, and 
 Scripture and the human conscience assert with equal 
 force the responsibility of man; so that the practical 
 error arises when either one of these is denied or when 
 one is explained in a way to exclude the other. It must 
 also be remembered that, while man cannot save him- 
 self, moral inability does not relieve from responsibility. 
 Man's inability lies in his sinful nature (8:7), and God 
 cannot be made responsible for sin. The sinner's ina- 
 bility to do right, to do God's will, is the acme of his 
 sin. A world of sin is a world of confusion. Sin intro- 
 duced confusion between God and man, and confusion 
 cannot be explained. The real difficulty between God's 
 absolute sovereignty and man's responsibility is meta- 
 physical and not Biblical. How can there be one sov- 
 ereign free will and other free wills? And when 
 Fritzsche says that Paul's view is 'absolutely contra- 
 dictory,' he is virtually demanding that Paul cease 
 preaching and turn philosopher to solve the insoluble. 
 But Paul leaves the question where he found it, and 
 goes on now in this and the next chapter to show that 
 Israel's failure was their own fault." 
 
 (4) "They stumbled at that stumbling- 
 stone" (32). The word *'for," found here in 
 the King James Version, is omitted by the best 
 authorities, and confuses the sense, making it ap- 
 pear that Israel had failed to pursue by faith be- 
 cause of their stumbling over the stumblingstone, 
 which of course is Christ. Now, the fact is just 
 the opposite from this. They stumbled at the 
 stumblingstone because they were not pursuing 
 righteousness by faith (compare i Cor. 1:23). 
 As the R. V. footnote has it, "Because doing it 
 not by faith, but as it were by works, they stum- 
 bled." 
 
144 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 (5) "As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion 
 a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and 
 whosoever believeth on Him shall not be 
 ashamed" (33). The quotation is from Isa. 28: 
 16. Peter uses the same Scripture in i Pet. 2: 
 6, along with other Scriptures employing the 
 same figure of Christ (compare Ps. 118:22 and 
 Isa. 8: 14). 
 
 This chapter is a test of faith, and a reasona- 
 ble test. Faith trusts God. She believes that 
 God is not only omnipotent, that is, all-powerful, 
 but also all-wise and altogether righteous. She 
 believes this in spite of everything, and to her 
 the suggestion is intolerable that the Judge of all 
 the earth should ever fail to do right. She reads 
 in God's Word, that He hardeneth whom He will, 
 and also that God is not willing that any should 
 perish. These things may be irreconcilable to 
 human reason, and they probably are, but human 
 reason has no authority over faith. Faith be- 
 lieves God. 
 
 In the very nature of the case, it is of necessity 
 that finite man should fail at some point to com- 
 prehend the infinite God. Faith follows on, 
 walking with God, even when reason fails to 
 comprehend. Faith trusts God in the dark. 
 That is, after reason has entered into darkness 
 and obscurity, faith goes on, walking not in dark- 
 ness, but in the light of God, because she trusts 
 God. Otherwise, faith need not be at all, for to 
 walk by faith is essentially opposed to walking by 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 145 
 
 sight. When sight comes in, there is no further 
 need for faith. Let us thank God for the privi- 
 lege of trusting Him, and of walking quietly with 
 Him, leaving our hand in His, for, though we 
 may not know, it is always true that He knoweth 
 the way that we take. 
 
 n. Israel's Rejection Is the Result of Is- 
 rael's Failure (Chapter 10). 
 
 1. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer 
 to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" 
 (i). Paul's expression of affection here is very 
 strong. Rotherham renders it, "Brethren ! the 
 delight of my own heart and my supplication 
 God-ward in their behalf are for salvation." 
 
 2. "For I bear them record that they have a 
 zeal of God, but not according to knowledge" 
 (2). The zeal is for God rather than of God 
 (see R. v.). They were zealous for God, but 
 their zeal was not based upon correct knowledge 
 of God. 
 
 3. "For they being ignorant of God's right- 
 eousness, and going about to establish their 
 own righteousness, have not submitted them- 
 selves unto the righteousness of God" (3). It 
 was because of their ignorance of God's right- 
 eousness that they sought to establish their own. 
 Had they known the meaning of righteousness 
 from God's viewpoint they would not have ad- 
 mitted such a thing. 
 
 4. "For Christ is the end of the law for right- 
 eousness to every one that believeth'* (4). 
 
146 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 This verse explains the meaning of the closing 
 words of the preceding verse. Their failure to 
 submit themselves unto the righteousness of God 
 consisted in their rejection of the Lord Jesus, 
 v^ho is The Righteousness of God, and *'the end 
 of the law for righteousness to every one that be- 
 lieveth." The promise is written large in the 
 Old Testament Scriptures, that one day Israel 
 shall receive the Lord Jesus Christ and salute 
 Him as "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUS- 
 NESS" (Jer. 23 : 6). This will be in the day of 
 the fulfillment unto them of the new covenant 
 (Jer. 31 : 31-34 ; compare Heb. 8:8-12 and Rom. 
 11:25-27). 
 
 5. "The righteousness which is of the law" 
 (5). Moses's description of this legal righteous- 
 ness is, of course, "That the man which doeth 
 those things shall live by them." This is the 
 first Old Testament citation in the chapter. It is 
 from Lev. 18: 5. 
 
 6. "The righteousness which is of faith" (6). 
 In this verse, reference is had to a passage in 
 Deut. 30: 12-14. This is not because gospel- 
 righteousness is found in that passage, but the 
 passage serves to illustrate the perfectly plain 
 statement of gospel-righteousness. The word of 
 the new covenant is as clear and as comprehensi- 
 ble as was the plain command uttered by Jehovah 
 through Moses unto Israel in the wilderness. It 
 is not needful that any one should ascend into 
 heaven to bring Christ down from above, nor 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 147 
 
 into the deep to bring Him up again from the 
 dead (vs. 6, 7). The word of the gospel "is 
 nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: 
 that is, the word of faith, which we preach" (8) : 
 (i) "That if thou shalt confess with thy 
 mouth the Lord Jesus" (9). This is a needful 
 condition of salvation under the new order of 
 things. This is the way of obtaining "the right- 
 eousness which is of faith." 
 
 (2) "And shalt believe in thine heart that 
 God hath raised him from the dead" (9). 
 There must be heart belief. Mr. Rotherham 
 points out that the contrast in this passage is be- 
 tween heart and mouth, and not between heart 
 and head — "a distinction of which the Bible 
 knows nothing." Doubtless there is such a thing 
 as an intellectual assent, even to the proposition 
 of the gospel, which falls short of saving faith. 
 To believe, in the gospel sense, is to receive the 
 Lord Jesus Christ as one's personal Saviour, and 
 any so-called belief which falls short of this defi- 
 nite reception of the Saviour is not New Testa- 
 ment faith. "As many as received him, to them 
 gave he power to become the sons of God, even 
 to them that believe on his name" (Jno. i : 12). 
 Saving faith is perhaps better understood as per- 
 sonal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as one's own 
 Saviour. 
 
 (3) "Thou shalt be saved" (9). In this 
 verse we have one of the clearest settings forth 
 of the gospel to be found anywhere in the Scrip- 
 tures. 
 
148 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 7. "For with the heart man believeth unto 
 righteousness ; and with the mouth confession 
 is made unto salvation" (10). In the para- 
 graph closing with this verse we have one of the 
 most important statements in the Bible. Here 
 the Holy Spirit of truth brings into sharpest con- 
 trast the two righteousnesses. One is God's 
 righteousness and the other is man's righteous- 
 ness. One is divine and the other is human. 
 One is by works ; it comes to the man who doeth. 
 The other is by grace through faith — to every 
 one that believeth. One is called the righteous- 
 ness which is of the law. The other is called 
 the righteousness which is of faith. One is the 
 result of man's own efforts. The other is the 
 gift of God in Christ to any man who will re- 
 ceive it. The failure of Israel is the matter un- 
 der discussion. They, being ignorant of God's 
 righteousness, went about seeking to establish 
 their own righteousness; and when Christ, the 
 end of the law for righteousness, came and of- 
 fered Himself to them, they refused to submit 
 themselves unto Him. The principle involved, 
 however, is applicable not only to Jews. It is 
 general, and applies to all men, Jews and Gentiles 
 alike. Seven fundamental propositions may be 
 drawn from this passage of Scripture. This is 
 the gospel of God. In this sevenfold statement 
 He gives us a complete unfolding of the way of 
 life. In the midst of the awful confusion of 
 these last days it is refreshing to get back to first 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 149 
 
 principles and examine the foundations upon 
 which we are building. May God deliver His 
 people from error, and ever show us His way 
 more perfectly ! 
 
 (i) Man by nature is unrighteous. Noth- 
 ing is more strongly emphasized than this in the 
 Word of God. Humiliating to the flesh though 
 it be, it is nevertheless true that man is naturally 
 corrupt. Theologians may quarrel over ques- 
 tions of ''original sin" and ''total depravity," but 
 God has been faithful in pointing out that "the 
 heart is deceitful above all things and desperate- 
 ly wicked" (Jer. 17:9). Out of the heart are 
 the issues of life, and "from within, out of the 
 heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, 
 fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wick- 
 edness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blas- 
 phemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things 
 come from within" (Mk. 7 : 21-23) . Man, apart 
 from God, is unrighteous and only unrighteous. 
 This is shown in the terible history of the race, 
 as given by the Holy Spirit of truth in Rom. i. 
 When God "gave them up," it was "unto vile 
 affections." When he "gave them over," it was 
 "to a reprobate mind," and they were found to 
 be "filled with all unrighteousness" (vs. 26, 28, 
 29). It is easy for men to "compare themselves 
 with themselves," and derive satisfaction from 
 the comparison, but God declares that "there is 
 none righteous, no not one" (Rom. 3:10). 
 "There is no difference, for all have sinned, and 
 
150 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:22, 
 23). As for the Jews, "the name of God is blas- 
 phemed among the Gentiles through" them 
 (Rom. 2:24). As to the Gentiles themselves, 
 they are ''without Christ, having no hope, and 
 without God in the world." They walk *'in the 
 vanity of their mind, having the understanding 
 darkened, being alienated from the life of God 
 through the ignorance that is in them because of 
 the blindness of their heart." They are "dead in 
 trespasses and sins," and "past feeling" (Eph. 2: 
 I, 12; 4: 17-19). The Scriptures declare that the 
 natural man "is corrupt according to the deceitful 
 lusts" (Eph. 4:22); that his mind is "enmity 
 against God," that it is not and cannot be subject 
 to God's law ; and that he "cannot please God" 
 (Rom. 8 : 7, 8). They further assert that he can- 
 not receive "the things of the Spirit of God : for 
 they are foolishness unto him : neither can he 
 know them, because they are spiritually discerned" 
 (i Cor. 2 : 14). Such, according to the Scriptures 
 of God, is the helpless, hopeless, undone condi- 
 tion of the natural man. And in this we are all 
 alike — we are "by nature the children of wrath, 
 even as others" (Eph. 2:3). Man by nature is 
 unrighteous. 
 
 (2) Man by nature is ignorant of God's 
 righteousness. Man is corrupt, and he has a 
 corrupt mind. Therefore, his view of righteous- 
 ness is distorted. He has his own "ideas of 
 right and wrong," and they are false ideas. For 
 
The vindication of god's way^. 151 
 
 as a* matter of simple fact, the righteousness of 
 God is the only kind of righteousness there is. 
 In this discussion we have spoken of two right- 
 eousnesses, but we shall find on examination that 
 the human righteousness here spoken of is not 
 righteousness at all. Righteousness is simple 
 right-ness, and if a thing is right it cannot be 
 more. On the other hand if it be not right it is 
 of necessity wrong. And the standard of right- 
 eousness is God's righteousness. He is abso- 
 lutely righteous. The ways of the Lord are 
 right. God is light, and in Him is no darkness 
 at all. In Him there is no variableness, neither 
 shadow of turning. God cannot lie, because He 
 is righteous. He cannot repudiate a promise, 
 because He is righteous. He cannot forget His 
 Word, because He is righteous. But God's 
 standard is not man's standard. The character- 
 istic distinction between God and man is that 
 "God is not a man that He should lie" (Num. 
 23:19). Man's ideas of right and wrong are 
 low ideas, corrupt ideas, evil ideas, because they 
 are conceived in corrupt and evil minds. Man's 
 conception of God is distorted. It is written that 
 "when they knew God, they glorified Him not as 
 God." They conceived that God was like them- 
 selves. They "changed the glory of the incor- 
 ruptible God into an image made like to cor- 
 ruptible man" (Rom. i : 21-23). Having there- 
 fore corrupted their very conception of the char- 
 acter of God, they of course lost the true view 
 
152 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of His righteousness. What is the natural 
 man's idea of the righteous requirements of a 
 holy God? Ask the first man you meet, and he 
 will probably tell you that "if a man tries to do 
 right, that is all that will be expected of him." 
 Or perhaps he will say, "If I do the best I can, 
 God will be satisfied." Does it never occur to 
 the natural man that in these very words he 
 speaks there is an implied admission of his cor- 
 rupt nature ? For, according to these replies, he 
 can only try to do right: he rarely succeeds. 
 He may do the best he can, but of course what 
 he does is not perfect. But the point here is that 
 man who is so complacent about his own trying 
 and doing, has an idea that God is complacent, 
 too. Man says, "Of course, we are all sinners, 
 and all we can do is to do the best we can." This 
 satisfies his perverted conscience, and he thinks 
 it also satisfies God. This is all wrong. God's 
 demands are inflexible. He says to man, "Walk 
 before me, and be thou perfect." He says, "Be 
 ye holy, for I am holy." And His declaration is 
 most explicit that without holiness no man shall 
 see the Lord. And though holiness and right- 
 eousness are not the same thing, yet there cannot 
 be the one without the other. God's new crea- 
 tion is "in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 
 4: 24). All this, however, is unintelligible to the 
 natural man. For man by nature is ignorant of 
 God's righteousness. 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 153 
 
 (3) Man by nature, because of this igno- 
 rance, goes about to establish his own right- 
 eousness. Of course he would never try such 
 a thing if he had any real appreciation of what he 
 was attempting. If he realized how high God's 
 righteousness is, and then realized how low his 
 own "ideas of right and wrong" are, he would 
 give up at once, and be ready to wait for the 
 grace of God. But it is not so. From the days 
 of Cain until now, the natural man has sought to 
 make himself presentable to God. The carnal 
 mind is proud, and it rebels against the truth of 
 God. Even when the truth is apprehended, man 
 holds it down in unrighteousness (Rom. i : 18, 
 R. v.). The Scriptures declare that "that which 
 may be known of God (i. e., to the natural man) 
 is manifest in them,. . . .so that they are without 
 excuse." God has not left Himself without wit- 
 ness even among unregenerate men, but they 
 have turned from Him : "they did not like to re- 
 tain God in their knowledge" (Rom. i: 19, 20, 
 28). So it is that men, having "rejected the 
 counsel of God against themselves," are continu- 
 ally seeking to establish a righteousness of their 
 own. Instead of consulting the Word of the 
 living God, they consult their own consciences — 
 i. e., their own corrupt "ideas of right and 
 wrong." The unenlightened conscience is a most 
 elastic thing, besides being corrupt, and the more 
 it is Hstened to, apart from the testimony of the 
 Word of God, the more accommodating it be- 
 
154 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 comes; until finally, instead of accusing, it ex- 
 cuses almost any act of evil. It becomes not only 
 defiled and polluted — it is all that by nature — 
 but it becomes also seared as with a hot iron (i 
 Tim. 4:2). Man by nature, because he is igno- 
 rant of God's righteousness, goes about to estab- 
 lish his own righteousness. 
 
 (4) The only conceivable way for the natural 
 man to establish his own righteousness is by 
 means of his own works. This goes without say- 
 ing. If I am to have a righteousness of my own 
 "establishing," it must be the result of my own 
 good works. This was the method put to the test 
 in the case of Israel. The righteousness which 
 is of the law had only this word : ''The man which 
 doeth those things shall live by them." Not try- 
 ing, mark you ! but doing. And not "doing the 
 best we can," but doing those things. The natu- 
 ral man has an idea that his good deeds and his 
 evil deeds are to be weighed in a balance ; and if 
 the good weigh more than the evil, then "every- 
 thing will be all right." His case would be bad 
 enough even then; but that is not the method. 
 Far from it ! In the law, God said to Israel : 
 "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 might," and, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as 
 thyself." This has been called "the concept of the 
 mind of God." Well, at least it is "the concept of 
 the mind of God as to what man ought to be ;" it 
 is God's "idea of right and wrong." It is a state- 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. i55 
 
 ment of God's righteousness, the righteousness 
 of God. There is nothing arbitrary about it. God 
 demanded of Israel only that which was right, or 
 righteous. It was their duty, even before He is- 
 sued the law, to love God supremely, and their 
 neighbours as themselves. It follows, therefore, 
 that if the people of Israel were to establish their 
 own righteousness, they could do it only by doing 
 those things. There was no other possible way. 
 And the same principle obtains with men every- 
 where and always. The Gentiles, though they 
 have not the law, are yet bound by the same prin- 
 ciple of righteousness as that contained in the 
 law. As it is written, "They show the work of 
 the law written in their hearts" (Rom. 2 : 14, 15). 
 It is their duty, as much as Israel's, to do right. 
 And to do right means to do righteously. They, 
 as well as Israel, are bound to love God supreme- 
 ly, and their neighbours as themselves. If they 
 are to establish their own righteousness, this is 
 the only way to do it. It is true universally that 
 only he that doeth those things shall live by them. 
 The only conceivable way for the natural man to 
 establish his own righteousness is by means of his 
 own works. 
 
 (5) But it is impossible for any man thus 
 to establish his own righteousness. We have 
 seen that the only conceivable way for the 
 natural man to establish his own righteousness is 
 by means of his own good works. But what if he 
 is incapable of good works? What then? Ah, 
 
156 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 then is his case a hopeless one, indeed. And is 
 not this the true state of the case? If it be true 
 that man by nature is unrighteous, how then can 
 he do a righteous act? "Who can bring a clean 
 thing out of an unclean? Not one!" (Job 14: 
 4). "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the 
 leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good, 
 that are accustomed to do evil" (Jer. 13:23). 
 Man may do things which he considers righteous, 
 but in God's sight "we are all as an unclean thing, 
 and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags'* 
 (Isa. 64:6). "There is a way which seemeth 
 right unto a man, but the end thereof are the 
 ways of death" (Prov. 14:12). "The Lord 
 seeth not as man seeth ; for man looketh on the 
 outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the 
 heart" (i Sam. 16: i). In the days before the 
 flood, men supposed they were making great 
 progress. "There were giants in the earth in 
 those days." There were "mighty men which 
 were of old, men of renown." But what God 
 thought of the matter was a far different thing. 
 "God saw that the wickedness of man was great 
 in the earth, and that every imagination of the 
 thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" 
 (Gen. 6:4, 5). The end of all flesh came before 
 God in that day, and never to this present time 
 has God put any confidence in the flesh. The 
 flesh, corrupt then, is corrupt now, and its works 
 — the doings of the natural man — "are manifest, 
 which are these : adultery, fornication, unclean- 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. i57 
 
 ness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, 
 variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, 
 heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, rev- 
 ellings, and such like" (Gal. 5:19-21). Now, 
 how can righteousness come from such a source ? 
 When the fountain is poisoned, how can the 
 stream be pure? What can the law of God, 
 which is holy and righteous and good, do for 
 the natural man, who is unholy and unrighteous 
 and evil? Surely, it cannot produce righteous- 
 ness in him. It can only condemn him and show 
 him his helplessness. And this is the very pur- 
 pose of the law. When it speaks, every mouth is 
 stopped, and all the world is brought in guilty 
 before God. By the deeds of the law no flesh is 
 justified in God's sight, for by the law is the 
 knowledge of sin (Rom. 3: 20, 21). The law 
 of Moses, the ten commandments, "written and 
 engraven in stones," is not a ministration of 
 life, but of death. It is not a ministration of 
 righteousness but of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:9). 
 Let us remember that the law is an inflexible 
 thing. It demands a flawless life of perfect obe- 
 dience from the cradle to the grave. It brooks 
 no slightest disobedience. If man keeps the 
 whole law and stumbles in one point, he is guilty 
 of all (Jas. 2: 10). It is not enough to ''try to 
 be good." It will not do to "try to do right." 
 It will not suflice to have done "the best we 
 could." If a man is establishing his own right- 
 eousness, why, then, let him^do it. But the Word 
 
158 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of God will never call wrong by the name of 
 right ; it will never call evil good. Now, where 
 is our natural man ? Is he justified? Far from 
 it! He is cursed. As the Scripture saith, "As 
 many as are of the works of the law are under 
 the curse : for it is written, Cursed is every one 
 that continueth not in all things which are writ- 
 ten in the book of the law to do them. But that 
 no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, 
 it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 
 And the law is not of faith : but. The man that 
 doeth them shall live in them" (Gal. 3: 10-12). 
 Thus it is seen that it is impossible for any man 
 to establish his own righteousness. 
 
 (6) On the other hand, to obtain the gift 
 of God's righteousness in Christ is possible 
 for every man. Whosoever will may come. 
 The gift is for anyone who will have it. As 
 there is no difiference in God's sight between sin- 
 ners, so there is no difference in respect of those 
 invited. It is true that righteousness is not at- 
 tainable by law-works, "but now the righteous- 
 ness of God apart from the law is manifested, 
 being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 
 even the righteousness of God which is by faith 
 of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that 
 believe: for there is no difference" (Rom. 3: 21, 
 22). Not one member of the human race is ex- 
 cluded. White or black, rich or poor ; whatever 
 you are, whoever you are, wherever you are ; no 
 matter how sinful, no matter how vile, no matter 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 159 
 
 what you have done, no matter what your record 
 — "God so loved the world that He gave His only 
 begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life" 
 (Jno. 3:16). "He is the propitiation for our 
 sins : and not for ours only, but also for the sins 
 of the whole world (i Jno. 2:2). He is "the 
 living God, Who is the Saviour of all men" ( i 
 Tim. 4: 10). Hallelujah, what a Saviour! "Be- 
 hold, the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the 
 sin of the world !" Think of it ! God's right- 
 eusness, offered to every man! The Lord Jesus 
 Christ, the end of the law for righteousness 
 when He died on Calvary, tasted death for every 
 man (Heb. 2:9). No man will be able to plead 
 that he was omitted from the great provision of 
 salvation. The Lamb of God is the Saviour of 
 all men. "All we like sheep have gone astray; 
 we have turned every one to his own way; and 
 the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." 
 This text (Isa. 53:6) opens and closes with the 
 big-little word "all." It is like a door, placed at 
 each end of the text. If you are included in the 
 former all, you are also included in the latter all. 
 All includes everybody. As the little boy said of 
 the like word, whosoever, "it means you, or me, 
 or anybody else." And He died for all. He 
 died, for you, and me, and everybody else. He 
 "died for all, therefore all died ; and He died for 
 all, that they that live should no longer live unto 
 themselves, but unto Him Who for their sakes 
 
i6o SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 died and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). He 
 died for you. Whoever you are He died for 
 you. True, He died for others, but He died for 
 you. If He had not died in your room and 
 stead; if He had not died for you — for you — 
 then you must needs perish for your sins. But 
 He died for you that He might bring you to God 
 — the living God, the giving God, Who waits for 
 you to come to Him, that you might not perish 
 but have everlasting Hfe. He died for you! 
 He died for me! Blessed be His holy name! 
 For me ! I must die if He had not — but He died 
 for me — and now I have His promise that I shall 
 never perish: that I shall never be plucked out 
 of His hands : that I am accepted in the Beloved, 
 that I am called, beloved in God the Father, and 
 kept for Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! He died 
 for me ! He died for everybody else ! Every- 
 body! Everybody! From Adam down to the 
 last man in the human race, He died for them 
 all. Before He died, many had been saved by 
 faith in the Coming One; and since His death 
 many have been saved by faith in the One Who 
 came and died. He died for them all. But 
 many were lost, before Calvary, and after. Yet 
 He died for them. All their iniquities were laid 
 upon Him. If they were lost, it was not His 
 fault. If they went down to perdition, it was in 
 spite of all He did for them. He died for them. 
 He died for you, and me, and everybody else. 
 To obtain the gift of God's righteousness in 
 Christ is possible for every man. 
 
THE VINDICATION 'OF GOD'S WAYS. i6i 
 
 (7) God's way of bestowing His right- 
 eousness upon unrighteous man is by grace 
 through faith. We have seen man's helpless- 
 ness to attain to righteousness by means of law- 
 works. The law could show him the need of 
 righteousness; it could show him what right- 
 eousness was. But it could go no further. It 
 could not make him righteous; it could not 
 produce righteousness in him. But God, 
 through the gospel of Christ, has met man's need 
 just here. '*For what the law could not do, in 
 that it was weak through the flesh, God sending 
 His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and 
 for sin, condemned sin in the flesh : that the 
 righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, 
 who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit" 
 (Rom. 8:3, 4). What the law could not do, 
 God did. But it had to be by grace, which is un- 
 merited favor. Man could never have earned 
 such a boon as the righteousness of God. He 
 could not have deserved it. He deserved death, 
 for that is the wages of sin. "But God, who is 
 rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He 
 loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath 
 quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye 
 are saved) ; and hath raised us up together, and 
 made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ* 
 Jesus : that in the ages to come He might show 
 the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness 
 toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace 
 are ye saved through faith ; and that not of your- 
 
i62 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 selves : it is the gift of God : not of works, lest 
 any man should boast" (Eph. 2:4-9). And the 
 gift by grace is through faith. As it is written, 
 "it is of faith, that it might be by grace" (Rom. 
 4: 16). It is not a hard thing that is asked of 
 man. No man may say in his heart, Christ must 
 again be brought down from above, or up from 
 the deep. The word is nigh us, even in our 
 mouth and in our heart. We have only to re- 
 ceive God's perfect salvation, already wrought 
 out and finished. It is all very simple. *'If thou 
 shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and 
 shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised 
 Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Noth- 
 ing could be clearer; nothing more beautiful. 
 "With the heart man believeth unto righteous- 
 ness, and with the mouth confession is made unto 
 salvation." What a wonderful gospel! "The 
 gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ 
 our Lord." Eternal life, mind you! Not tem- 
 poral, but eternal. Not temporary, but perpetual. 
 Eternal ! Everlasting ! Not something you get 
 now and lose after a while. Not that, but life, 
 life, eternal life. The Good Shepherd, just be- 
 fore giving His life for the sheep, said, "My 
 sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they 
 .follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; 
 and they shall never perish, neither shall anyone 
 pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which 
 gave them Me, is greater than all; and no one 
 is able to pluck out of My Father's hand. I and 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 163 
 
 My Father are one" (Jno. 10:27-30). There 
 are many persons in the world who will tell you 
 they were once Christians, "but not now." Sure- 
 ly, they could never have received the gift of 
 God, which is eternal life. Eternal life is ever- 
 lasting — it lasts for ever! No, Christ does not 
 suffer His sheep to perish. He is not a man 
 that He should lie ; and His own word is, "they 
 shall never perish." The gift is by faith. It is 
 unto all and upon all that believe. And to be- 
 lieve, Scripturally, is to receive the Lord Jesus 
 as one's personal Saviour. *'He came unto His 
 own, and His own received him not. But as 
 many as received him, to them gave He power to 
 become the sons of God, even to them that be- 
 lieve on His name" (Jno. i: 11, 12). He that 
 thus believeth is not condemned : but he that be- 
 lieveth not is condemned already, not because he 
 is a sinner, but "because he hath not believed 
 in the name of the only begotten Son of God" 
 (Jno. 3: 18). Do you ask what you are to be- 
 lieve? The answer is. You must believe God. 
 "If we receive the witness of men, the witness 
 of God is greater : for this is the witness of God 
 which He hath testified of His Son. He that 
 believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in 
 himself. He that believeth not God hath made 
 Him a liar ; because he believeth not the record 
 that God gave of His Son. And this is the 
 record : That God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and this life is in His Son. He that hath the 
 
i64 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Son hath life; and he that hath not the 
 Son of God hath not life" (i Jno. 5:9-12). 
 May God Himself help all who read these words 
 to believe Him! For to beHeve Him is to ob- 
 tain His gift of eternal life, which is in Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. God's way of bestowing His 
 righteousness upon unrighteous man is by grace 
 through faith. "How shall we escape, if we 
 neglect so great salvation ?" 
 
 8. "For the Scripture saith" (n). From 
 this point in the chapter the writer's purpose is 
 evidently the same as in chapter 4, namely, to 
 show that this gospel-righteousness is no new 
 thing; that this justification by faith has always 
 been God's way of salvation. On this point sev- 
 eral proof-texts are gathered from the Old Tes- 
 tament: "For the Scripture saith, Whosoever 
 beheveth on Him shall not be put to shame (com- 
 pare Isa. 28:16). For there is no distinction 
 between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is 
 Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon 
 him : for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of 
 the Lord shall be saved" (vs. 11-13, R. V., com- 
 pare Joel 2:32). 
 
 9. "How then shall they call on Him in 
 Whom they have not believed?" (14) At this 
 point the inspired writer anticipates an objection, 
 and again he sets up the imaginary opponent who 
 puts these queries : 
 
 "How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have 
 not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of 
 
THE VINDICATION OP GOD'S WAYS. 165 
 
 Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear 
 without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except 
 they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the 
 feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring 
 glad tidings of good things ! (Isa. 52 : 7). But they have 
 not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who 
 hath believed our report? (Isa. 53:1). So then faith 
 cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." 
 
 10. "But I say, Have they not heard?" (18). 
 The imaginary opponent having availed himself 
 of Old Testament quotations also, in an attempt 
 to thrust back upon God the responsibility for Is- 
 rael's failure, the apostle replies in the passage 
 beginning at the i8th verse. We quote from the 
 Revision here : 
 
 "But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily. Their 
 sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto 
 the ends of the world (Ps. 19:4). 
 
 "But I say. Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, 
 I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no 
 nation, with a nation void of understanding will I anger 
 you (Deut. 32: 21). 
 
 "And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of 
 them that sought Me not ; I became manifest unto them 
 that asked not of Me (Isa. 65: i). 
 
 "But as to Israel He saith. All the day long did I 
 spread out My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying 
 people" (Isa. 65:2). 
 
 Here are more quotations from the Old Testa- 
 ment, all tending to show that God had warned 
 His chosen people. The first quotation is from 
 the 19th Psalm, and the Holy Spirit's purpose in 
 referring to it is to show that even where the 
 
i66 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 message of God has not been carried by personal 
 messengers, God has not left Himself without 
 witness. Indeed, the entire Psalm is written to 
 prove precisely that thing. 
 
 Nature itself reveals God to man. And that 
 revelation is sufficient to make man responsible 
 to God. Enough of God is revealed to man — 
 every man — to make it his duty to worship the 
 Maker of heaven and earth acording to the meas- 
 ure of that revelation. The revelation through 
 nature is not a small revelation ; it is not, as has 
 been said, "the dim light of nature." God de- 
 clares that by it the invisible things of Him "are 
 clearly seen," even His eternal power and divin- 
 ity, "so that they are without excuse" (Rom. i : 
 20). 
 
 "The heavens declare the glory of God ; 
 
 The skies show forth the work of His hands. 
 Day unto day is pouring out speech, 
 
 And night unto night breathing knowledge. 
 Without speech and without language, 
 
 Without their voice being heard, 
 Into all the earth their sound goes forth. 
 To the end of the world their words." 
 
 (Ps. 19: 1-4, De Witt's rendering.) 
 
 This Scripture from Ps. 19 bears with crush- 
 ing force upon the people of Israel. Surely, if 
 the Gentile nations were held responsible before 
 God, how much more the nation of Israel ! The 
 oracles of God had been committed to them. 
 They were doubly responsible. Furthermore, 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 167 
 
 they had been repeatedly warned that if they con- 
 tinued to despise the Word of God, it should go 
 to the Gentiles. The quotations from Moses and 
 Isaiah, cited above, are sufficient proof of this. 
 "Where Israel was groping and failing to find 
 the Messiah, those who sought Him not clearly 
 discerned Him. How can Israel be excused for 
 ignorance of a worldwide gospel, when even the 
 heathen discovered it?" (StiHer). 
 
 III. IsRAi:i.'s Re:je:ction Is Neither Compi^ete 
 NOR Final, (Chapter ii). 
 
 I. "I say then, Hath God cast away his peo- 
 ple?" (i). Dr. Stifler says: 
 
 "This chapter from the historical point of view is 
 logically necessary. The Old Testament clearly promises 
 Israel headship or leadership in the world's worship. 
 This primacy they had held from the days of Moses 
 until the days of Paul, when the latter became the chief 
 instrument in transferring it to 'another nation' (Mt. 
 21:43), composed of elect persons called from all peo- 
 ples (i Pet. 2:9, 10). This promise of headship was 
 made to Israel not on the ground of their national de- 
 scent, as the 9th chapter above shows, but, after all, it 
 was a national promise. It belonged to the natural de- 
 scent, and constituted their 'advantage.' It could not 
 possibly be realized in the church, because the latter 
 knew no racial distinctions. The essence of Judaism 
 was separation from other people. Two facts stood out 
 prominently in Paul's day : first, that the church for the 
 present had displaced Israel in the leadership' of God's 
 worship in the world ; secondly, that Israel had a prom- 
 ise in their 'oracles' that was not realized in the church 
 and could not be; for the aim of the latter was not 
 
i68 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 national separation, but diffusion, or, more exactly, 
 election from all nations. The first question Paul has 
 already considered in the Qth and loth chapters. Israel 
 was justly displaced, and by their own fault. With the 
 second fact the present chapter deals. Israel as a sepa- 
 rate people is to be restored and to realize the promises 
 made to them in the Old Testament. God's far-reaching 
 plans in the riches of His wisdom for the salvation of 
 the world are here disclosed, provoking the exultant 
 hymn in verses 33-36. Israel's present failure proves to 
 be the world's wealth now and their own finally" {Stif- 
 ler). 
 
 2. "God forbid!" (i). This is Paul's wish, 
 that God would forbid and prevent such a thing 
 as the casting away of Israel. They were still 
 "His people," though they were "disobedient and 
 gainsaying." 
 
 3. "For I also am an Israelite" (i). If Is- 
 raelites as such were cast off, then Paul would be 
 included; and the fact that he had been saved 
 was a strong argument to show that God had not 
 yet cast away His people which He foreknew 
 
 (v. 2). 
 
 "That Israel has not been forever set aside is the 
 theme of this chapter, (i) The salvation of Paul proves 
 that there is still a remnant (v. i). (2) The doctrine of 
 the remnant proves it (vs. 2-6). (3) The present 
 national unbelief was foreseen (vs. 7-10). (4) Israel's 
 unbelief is the Gentile opportunity (vs. 11-25). (S) 
 Israel is judicially broken off from the good olive tree, 
 Christ (vs. 17-22). (6) They are to be grafted in again 
 (vs. 23, 24). (7) The promised Deliverer will come 
 out of Zion and the nation will be saved (vs. 25-29). 
 That the Christian now inherits the distinctive Jewish 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 169 
 
 promises is not taught in Scripture. The Christian is 
 of the heavenly seed of Ah^raham (Gen. 15:5, 6; Gal. 
 3:29), and partakes of the spiritual blessings of the 
 Abrahamic covenant (Gen. 15 : 18) ; but Israel as a 
 nation always has its own place, and is yet to have its 
 greatest exaltation as the earthly people of God" {"Sco- 
 field Reference Bible"). 
 
 4. "Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of 
 Elias?" (2-4). The reference is to i Ki. 19: 
 10-18. Elijah supposed that he alone of all Is- 
 rael remained true to God. He was mistaken, 
 for God had preserved a remnant of seven tho^a- 
 sand who had not turned aside to Baal worship. 
 
 5. "Even so then at this present time also 
 thefe is a remnant according to the election of 
 grace" (5). Paul himself was a proof of this, 
 as well as the others in Israel who had accepted 
 the Messiah and found salvation in Him. 
 
 6. "And if by grace, then is it no more of 
 works: otherwise grace is no more grace" 
 (6). We have quoted the entire verse, the re- 
 maining words in the King James Version being 
 spurious. "The *no more' is not temporal, but 
 logical. Grace and works are mutually exclu- 
 sive methods. If the remnant was selected on 
 the ground of grace, their legal works had no 
 part whatever in the selection, else the grace 
 would have lost its character as grace" (Stifler). 
 
 7. "What then?" (7). What is the conclu- 
 sion? This: "Israel hath not obtained that 
 which he seeketh for." Israel sought for right- 
 
170 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 eousness but failed to find it, ''because they 
 sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works 
 of the law" (ch. 9:31, 32). 
 
 8. "But the election hath obtained it*' (7). 
 The elect remnant obtained what the nation as a 
 whole failed to find. 
 
 9. "And the rest were hardened" (7, R. V.). 
 The nation of Israel as such is lying under the 
 judicial chastening of God. 
 
 10. "According as it is written" (8). The 
 parenthesis here should be omitted, for the clos- 
 ing words of the verse are included in the quota- 
 tion. The point is that in the Jew's own Scrip- 
 tures all this had been clearly predicted before- 
 hand ; therefore he had been fully warned of the 
 consequence of turning from God. 
 
 11. "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes 
 that they should not see, and ears that they 
 should not hear, unto this very day" (8,R. V.). 
 Isa. 29 : 10 and Deut. 29 : 4 are combined in the 
 citation, and the passages should be pondered, 
 with their contexts. The teaching is very solemn. 
 Long-continued abuse of God's grace brought a 
 terrible punishment upon Israel. 
 
 The principle is unfolded in Isaiah's dreadful 
 commission (Isa. 6). Let the reader carefully 
 meditate upon that impressive scene. Isaiah had 
 seen a vision of the King, Jehovah of hosts (v. 
 5). It filled him with horror on account of his 
 own sinful condition, and that of his people. 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 171 
 
 There is nothing Hke a look at the Lord Himself 
 to reveal to man his utter uncleanness. 
 
 "Then said I, Woe is me ! for I am undone ; because 
 I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of 
 a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the 
 King, Jehovah of hosts." 
 
 A seraph thereupon flew unto the prophet, 
 with a live coal from the altar, and, touching his 
 mouth with it, announced the purging and for- 
 giveness of his sins. Then came the voice of the 
 Lord: "Whom shall I send? Who will go for 
 Us?" The prophet answered, "Here am I; send 
 me." Now, carefully observe the precise terms 
 of his commission. We quote from the Revised 
 Version : 
 
 "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed 
 ('continually,' margin), but understand not; and see ye 
 indeed ('continually,' mg.), but perceive not. Make the 
 heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and 
 shut their eyes ; lest they see with their eyes, and hear 
 with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and 
 turn again, and be healed." 
 
 The horror of the prophet at hearing these ter- 
 rible words may well be imagined. His agonized 
 query was, "Lord, how long?" 
 
 "And he answered. Until cities be waste without in- 
 habitants, and houses without man, and the land become 
 utterly waste, and Jehovah have removed men far away, 
 and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the 
 
172 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 land. And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in 
 turn be eaten up : as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose 
 stock remaineth, when they are felled ; so the holy seed 
 is the stock thereof." 
 
 Over and over again this Scripture is quoted 
 in the New Testament and its fulfillment pointed 
 out. In Mt. 13, replying to a query as to why 
 He had begun to teach the people in parables, our 
 Lord replied: 
 
 "Because they seeing see not ; and hearing they hear 
 not, neither do they understand. And unto them is ful- 
 filled the prophecy of Isaiah which saith, By hearing ye 
 shall hear, and shall in no wise understand ; and seeing 
 ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive : for this peo- 
 ple's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of 
 hearing, and their eyes they have closed ; lest haply they 
 should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, 
 and understand with their heart, and should turn again, 
 and I should heal them. 
 
 "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your 
 ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that 
 many prophets and righteous men desired to see the 
 things which ye see, and saw them not ; and to hear the 
 things which ye hear, and heard them not" (Mt. 13: 
 10-16; compare Mk. 4: 12; Lk. 8: 10). 
 
 In Jno. 12 : 39 it is declared that certain of our 
 Lord's hearers were unable to believe. The 
 whole passage is in verses 37-41, as bearing upon 
 this point : 
 
 "But though He had done so many signs before them, 
 yet they believed not on Him : that the word of Isaiah 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 173 
 
 the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, 
 who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the 
 arm of the Lord been revealed? (Isa. 53: i). For this 
 cause they could not believe, for Isaiah said again. He 
 hath blinded their eyes, and He hardened their heart; 
 lest they should see with their eyes, and perceive with 
 their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them. 
 These things said Isaiah, because he saw His glory ; and 
 he spake of Him." 
 
 The passage is again cited in Ac. 28 : 26, 27. 
 The connection there also is full of solemn im- 
 port. Paul had reached Rome in chains, and had 
 called together the leaders among the Jews in 
 that city (v. 17). We quote verses 23-28 : 
 
 "And when they had appointed him a day, they came 
 to him into his lodging in great number ; to whom he 
 expounded the matter, testifying the kingdom of God, 
 and persuading them concerning Jesus, both from the 
 law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning till 
 evening. And some believed the things which were 
 spoken, and some disbelieved. And when they agreed 
 not among themselves, they departed after that Paul had 
 spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Spirit through 
 Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers, saying, Go thou 
 unto this people, and say. By hearing ye shall hear, and 
 shall in no wise understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and 
 shall in no wise perceive : for this people's heart is 
 waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their 
 eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive 
 with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand 
 with their heart, and should turn again, and I should 
 heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that this 
 salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles: they will 
 also hear/' 
 
J 74 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 Thus there had come upon Israel to the utter- 
 most the thing that was threatened, the inevitable 
 consequence of hearing the Word of God and do- 
 ing it not (compare Jas. 1:22-25). And this 
 judicial hardening continues upon Israel "unto 
 this very day" also. Although nineteen cen- 
 turies have come and gone since the epistle to 
 the Romans was written, Israel is still hardened, 
 still far from God, still *'a people scattered and 
 peeled," still dispersed and despised, still reckon- 
 ed "a curse among the nations." 
 
 12. "And David saith" (9, 10). The Scrip- 
 ture quoted in these two verses is from one of the 
 confessedly Messianic Psalms, the 69th (vs. 22, 
 23). If anyone doubts that Christ is the theme 
 of this Psalm, let him compare the 9th verse with 
 Jno. 2: 17 and Rom. 15:3; the 21st verse with 
 Mt. 27:34, 48; Mk. 15:23; Lk. 23:36; Jno. 
 19:28-30; the 22d verse with Rom. 11:9, 10; 
 and the 25th verse with Mt. 23 : 38; Lk. 13 : 35 ; 
 Ac. 1:20. The Speaker throughout the 69th 
 Psalm is undoubtedly Christ. At verse 20 He 
 says : 
 
 "Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of 
 heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, -but there 
 was none; and for comforters, but I found none. They 
 gave Me also gall for My food ; and for My thirst they 
 gave Me vinegar to drink." 
 
 This was fulfilled, as we know, on the cross 
 (Jno. 19:28). Then the divine Sufferer goes 
 
THB VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 175 
 
 on, in the words of verses 22, 23, the words 
 quoted in the passage we are now studying in 
 Romans : 
 
 "Let their table before them become a snare; and 
 when they are in peace, let it become a trap. Let their 
 eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; and make 
 their loins continually to shake." 
 
 Again we have quoted from the Revised Ver- 
 sion. The form of the words in Romans is that 
 of the Septuagint, where the passage reads : 
 
 "Let their table before them be for a snare, and for a 
 recompense, and for a stumbling-block. Let their eyes 
 be darkened, that they should not see; and bow down 
 their back continually." 
 
 "In the word 'table,' " says Dr. Stifler, "there 
 is a picture of men feasting, eating and drinking, 
 unconscious that their enemies are just upon 
 them. The Jew's carnal security while trusting 
 in the law proved his spiritual ruin. But the quo- 
 tation is poetic, and need not be rigidly defined. 
 'And bow (Thou) down their back alway' under 
 the heavy legal yoke (Ac. 15: 10). The 'alway' 
 does not mean for ever, or the whole discussion 
 concerning Israel must end here. 'Alway,' con- 
 verted in a few cases by some editors into a 
 phrase, occurs about seven times, and means con- 
 tinuously or without interruption (Lk. 24:53; 
 Heb. 13: 15). It is not an indefinite, but a lim- 
 ited term, limited by the circumstances of which 
 it speaks." 
 
176 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 13. "I say then, Have they stumbled that 
 they should fall?" (11). That they have fallen 
 cannot be denied; but is this the end? Has 
 Israel no future in God's purpose ? Must we con- 
 clude that, since Israel has been unfaithful to 
 God, therefore God will be unfaithful to Israel? 
 Shall He forget His covenant? "Shall not the 
 Judge of all the earth do right?" Israel has 
 stumbled, and fallen. Is this the end ? 
 
 14. "God forbid!" (11). This is not the final 
 outcome of their history. God had a purpose even 
 in their stumbling and fall, and that purpose was 
 a gracious and benign one. "Through their fall 
 salvation is come unto the Gentiles." And even 
 this was not for the sake of the Gentiles only, for 
 it was in God's mind by this means "to provoke 
 them (that is, the Jews) to jealousy." ''Emula- 
 tion" stands for the same Greek word in verse 
 14, and is to be preferred, notwithstanding the 
 action of the Revisers in using "jealousy" in both 
 verses. Parazeloo is, literally, "to stimulate along- 
 side," and its force here is "to excite to rivalry" 
 (Strong). The same word occurs in Rom. 10: 
 19 and I Cor. 10:22. Dr. Moule calls attention, 
 in connection with this chapter to "the divine 
 benignity which lurks even under the edges of 
 the cloud of judgment." Continuing, he says: 
 
 "And observe, too, thus close to the passage which has 
 put before us the mysterious side of divine action on 
 human wills, the daylight simphcity of this side of that 
 action; the loving skill with which the world's bless- 
 ing is meant by the grace of God to act, exactly in the 
 line of human feeling, upon the will of Israel. 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. I77 
 
 "But would that 'the Gentiles' had borne more in 
 heart that last short sentence of St. Paul through these 
 long centuries since the apostles fell asleep! It is one 
 of the most marked, as it is one of the saddest, phe- 
 nomena in the history of the church, that for ages, 
 almost from the days of St. John himself, we look in 
 vain either for any appreciable Jewish element in 
 Christendom, or for any extended effort on the part 
 of Christendom to win Jewish hearts to Christ by a 
 wise and loving evangelization. With only relatively 
 insignificant exceptions this was the abiding state of 
 things till well within the eighteenth century, when the 
 German Pietists began to call the attention of believing 
 Christians to the spiritual needs and prophetic hopes 
 of Israel, and to remind them that the Jews were not 
 only a beacon of judgment, or only the most impressive 
 and awful illustration of the fulfilment of prophecy, 
 but the bearers of the yet unfulfilled predictions of 
 mercy for themselves and for the world. Meanwhile, 
 ail through the Middle Age, and through generations 
 of preceding and following time also, Christendom did 
 little for Israel but retaliate, reproach, and tyrannize. 
 It was so of old in England: witness the fires of 
 York. It is so in this day in Russia, and where the 
 'Judenhetze' inflames innumerable hearts in central 
 Europe. 
 
 "No doubt there is more than one side to the per- 
 sistent phenomena. There is a side of mystery; the 
 permissive sentence of the Eternal has to do with the 
 long affliction, however caused, of the people which 
 once uttered the fatal cry, 'His blood be on us, and on 
 our children!' (Mat. 27:25). And the wrong-doings 
 of Jews, beyond a doubt, have often made a dark 
 occasion for a 'Jew-hatred,* on a larger or narrower 
 scale. But all this leaves unaltered, from the point of 
 view of the gospel, the sin of Christendom in its tre- 
 mendous failure to seek, in love, the good of erring 
 Israel. It leaves as black as ever the guilt of every 
 
178 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 fierce retaliation upon Jews by so-called Christians, of 
 every slanderous belief about Jewish creed or life, of 
 every unjust anti-Jewish law ever passed by Christian 
 king or senate. It leaves an undiminished responsi- 
 bility upon the church of Christ, not only for the 
 flagrant wrong of having too often animated and di- 
 rected the civil power in its oppressions of Israel, and 
 not only for having so often neglected to seek the 
 evangelization of Israel by direct appeals for the true 
 Messiah, and by an open setting forth of His glory, 
 but for the deeper and more subtle wrong, persistently 
 inflicted from age to age, in a most guilty unconscious- 
 ness — the wrong of having failed to manifest Christ 
 to Israel through the living holiness of Christendom. 
 Here, surely, is the very point of the apostle's thought 
 in the sentence before us : 'Salvation to the Gentiles, 
 to move the Jews to jealousy/ In his inspired idea, 
 Gentile Christendom, in Christ, was to be so pure, so 
 beneficent, so happy, finding manifestly in its Messianic 
 Lord such resources for both peace of conscience and 
 a life of noble love, love above all directed towards 
 opponents and traducers, that Israel, looking on, with 
 eyes however purblind with prejudice, should soon see 
 a moral glory in the church's face impossible to be 
 hid, and be drawn as by a moral magnet to the church's 
 hope. Is it the fault of God (may He pardon the 
 formal question, if it lacks reverence), or the fault 
 of man, man carrying the Christian name, that facts 
 have been so woefully otherwise in the course of his- 
 tory? It is the fault, the grievous fault of us Christians. 
 The narrow prejudice, the iniquitous law, the rigid 
 application of exaggerated ecclesiastical principle, all 
 these things have been man's perversion of the divine 
 idea, to be confessed and deplored in a deep and in- 
 terminable repentance. May the mercy of God awaken 
 Gentile Christendom, in a manner and degree as yet 
 unknown, to remember this our indefeasible debt to 
 this people, everywhere present with us, everywhere 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 179 
 
 distinct from us ;— the debt of a life, personal and 
 ecclesiastical, so manifestly pure and loving in our 
 Lord the Christ as to move them to the jealousy which 
 shall claim Him again for their own. Then we shall 
 indeed be hastening the day of full and final blessing, 
 both for themselves and for the world" {Handley C. 
 G. Moule). 
 
 15. "Now if the fall of them be the riches 
 of the world, . . . how much more their 
 fullness?" (12-15). Everything worth while has 
 come to the Gentile world through Israel. If 
 such blessing has come through their stumbling 
 and falling, far greater blessing is to come 
 through their return to their own place in God's 
 love and favor. Paul, as the apostle to the Gen- 
 tiles, sought to stir his own kinsmen to emulation, 
 for only through Israel's recovery is the world- 
 wide blessing to come. Their casting away has 
 brought reconciliation to Gentiles, but their own 
 reconciliation will be as "life from the dead.'* 
 It is ever God's plan to bless the world through 
 the Jew. In His own time, 
 
 "He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take 
 root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of 
 the world with fruit" (Isa. 27:6). 
 
 It is to this nation that the prophet calls, saying, 
 
 "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory 
 of Jehovah is risen upon thee. For, behold, the dark- 
 ness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the 
 peoples : but Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and His 
 glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall 
 come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy 
 rising (resurrection from the dead!)" (Isa. 60:1-3). 
 
 This is the order everywhere in the Scriptures 
 of God. Israel must first come into the blessing, 
 
i8o SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 and then the Gentiles. Hear God's nation sing, 
 in the 67th Psalm : 
 
 "God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause His 
 face to shine upon us; that Thy way may be known 
 upon earth, Thy salvation among all nations. . . . 
 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth 
 shall fear Him." 
 
 1 6. "For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is 
 also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the 
 branches" (i6). Numbers 15:21 interprets the 
 former of these two figures. A handful of dough 
 was presented to God as a token of the lump 
 from which it was taken. By the firstfruit here 
 Paul means the saved Jewish remnant, including 
 himself and all believers in Israel. By the lump 
 he means the whole nation. The root, strictly 
 speaking, is Abraham (Gal. 3:29), and the na- 
 tural branches are his descendants according to 
 the flesh through Isaac and Jacob, ''the heirs 
 with him of the same promise." 
 
 17. "And if some of the branches be broken 
 off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert 
 grafifed in among them, and with them par- 
 tcikest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 
 boast not against the branches" (17-24). In 
 this discussion the point is that just as the nation 
 of Israel through unbelief has temporarily lost 
 its place of primacy and favor in the counsels of 
 God, exactly so shall the Gentile peoples, if they 
 believe not, be also cast aside. Men do not graft 
 wild branches into good trees. God has acted 
 "contrary to nature" in bringing salvation to 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. i8i 
 
 Gentiles. To bring salvation to His own cov- 
 enant people, which He will surely do in due 
 time, will be a perfectly logical proceeding. And 
 "God is able." 
 
 1 8. "For I would not, brethren, that ye 
 should be ignorant of this mystery" (25-27). 
 The Spirit of God here whispers a secret into the 
 ear of the church of God — a revelation concern- 
 ing God's eternal purpose for His beloved ancient 
 people. Lest we "should be wise" in our "own 
 conceits," God would have us to know "that 
 blindness (a hardening, R. V.) in part is hap- 
 pened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles 
 be come in." The reader's attention is directed 
 to the comments on verses 7-10, above. Ob- 
 serve, in addition, that the blindness, or harden- 
 ing, is neither complete or final. It is not com- 
 plete, for it is only "in part." A remnant in 
 Israel is turning to the Messiah (verse 5, above). 
 And it is not final, for it is only "until" the 
 church is complete, "which is His body, the ful- 
 ness of Him" (Eph. i : 22, 23). , 
 
 19. "And so all Israel shall be saved" (26, 
 2y). The difficulty connected with these verses, 
 which has given so much concern to commenta- 
 tors, will disappear when the punctuation is cor- 
 rected. The statement is clear enough when we 
 read, "And so all Israel shall be saved as it is 
 written." Everything is bound to come to pass 
 "as it is written." The Scriptures are emphatic 
 in predicting that a time is coming when God 
 will save the nation of Israel as such. Not a 
 
i82 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 remnant, but the whole nation then living shall 
 be converted and saved. This does not touch the 
 case of Israelites who die in this present age re- 
 jecting the salvation of God, but it covers the 
 whole nation that shall be left upon the earth at 
 the time when the great blessing comes. All this 
 will be brought about, of course, by the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. He it is that "shall come out of 
 Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungod- 
 liness from Jacob." He has already come as the 
 Redeemer, the Goel, "to Zion, and unto them that 
 turn from transgression in Jacob" (Isa. 59:20) ; 
 but the nation refused to receive Him. Yet ''the 
 foundation of God standeth sure," and "all 
 Israel shall be saved as it is written." He has not 
 forgotten His promise, and in due time He will 
 fulfill it in every jot and tittle. "For this is my 
 covenant unto them, when I shall take away 
 their sins." Let us look at the terms of His 
 covenant unto them : 
 
 "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will 
 make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and 
 with the house of Judah : not according to the covenant 
 that I made with their fathers in the day that I took 
 them by the hand to bring them out of the land of 
 Egypt; which My covenant they brake, although I was 
 an husband unto them, saith Jehovah : but this shall be 
 the covenant that I will make with the house of 
 Isreal; After those days, saith Jehovah, I will put My 
 law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts ; 
 and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 
 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, 
 and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah : 
 for they shall ALL know Me, from the least of 
 
THE VINDICATION OF COD'S WAYS. 183 
 
 them unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for 
 ] will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember 
 their sin no more" (Jer. 31:31-35). 
 
 20. "As concerning the gospel, they are 
 enemies for your sakes; but as touching 
 the election, they are beloved for the fathers' 
 sakes (28-31). The Jews have rejected the 
 gospel, and that puts them in the place of 
 God's enemies for the time being. Let the '' 
 Gentiles take advantage of the opportunity; this 
 is preeminently the Gentiles' day. Let them not 
 forget, though, that Israel is still an elect nation, 
 and that to the fathers God made great and sure 
 promises. "The gifts and calling of God are 
 without repentance." Having bestowed "gifts 
 and calling" upon Israel, God will never take 
 those gifts or that calling back; they are theirs 
 for ever ; he does not change. The Gentiles have 
 by their disobedience brought upon themselves 
 the mercy of God ; and just so shall the children 
 of Israel by their disobedience bring upon them- 
 selves the mercy of God. 
 
 21. "For God hath concluded them all in 
 unbelief" (32). The Revision is to be preferred 
 here : "For God hath shut up all unto disobedi- 
 ence, that He might have mercy upon all." 
 
 "His whole action with both Jew and Gentile comes 
 to this, that He 'hath concluded (locked up as in a 
 prison), them all in unbelief (with this grand pur- 
 pose), that He might have mercy upon all.' There is 
 nothing richer than His mercy. If the Jews, for in- 
 stance, had obeyed Him, they could have experienced 
 only His fidelity. Mercy, which wholly excludes privi- 
 
i84 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 lege or merit, is the grand idea (Eph. 2:4, 5). The 
 Jew wjU find his gifts and caUing, but they come to 
 Him as a matter of mercy — mercy that excludes 'boast- 
 ing' (3:27). 
 
 "Authorities are divided on the meaning of 'all.* It 
 certainly does not refer to the elect; the whole context 
 forbids that. But does it mean all men, all individuals 
 {Meyer, Alford), or all nations, the Jews and the 
 Gentiles about whom Paul has been speaking? The 
 context is decisive for the latter. This general princi- 
 ple, as some have failed to notice, describes God's 
 attitude toward men, and not the outcome of that at- 
 titude. It does not contradict other plain Scriptures 
 by teaching universal salvation, or salvation without 
 faith. 'The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that 
 the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to 
 them that believe' (Gal. 3: 22). The principle says 
 nothing about the outcome of the divine mercy toward 
 all. It simply declares that God has actively and di- 
 rectly locked up all in sin so that he may have mercy 
 toward all; and that if they are saved they are saved 
 by mercy. 
 
 "This is the final and complete explanation of the 
 Jew's fall. He was by nature a sinner: God hedged 
 that nature about with a rigid law to show him what his 
 real character was. He tried to find liberty within 
 its iron bars, but gets only slavery. Mercy alone can 
 deliver him. 
 
 "The Gentile in Paul's day had no law, but sought 
 liberty in wisdom, his own wisdom (1:21, 22), and in 
 his quest became a fool and a slave to his lust. God 
 knows that man cannot save himself, that no form of 
 civil government and no system of ethics, even though 
 it be that of the Old or of the New Testament, can 
 attain to liberty. But man does not know it; he i* in 
 the rough prison, shut up under sin to learn it, to learn 
 that salvation cannot be reached bv human effort, that 
 
THE VINDICATION OF GOD'S WAYS. 185 
 
 it comes down from God, the absolute gift of His 
 mercy. 
 
 "This divine purpose of mercy is not only the ex- 
 planation of the Jew's fall, but of the continuance of 
 the world in sin. It is the key to those terrible first 
 chapters of the epistle. Universal condemnation leads 
 to the universal principle of mercy. And what Paul 
 saw in his world-wide view in his day, is still sadly 
 true. The nations are in sin ; Israel still refuses the 
 Christ. The lesson of sin's prison-house is not yet 
 learned; but what the elect have found out all along — 
 that there is no hope in themselves — the nations will 
 learn in due time, and man's works will cease, and 
 God's principle of mercy toward all will bring salva- 
 tion. God now elects men from both Jew and Gentile; 
 Jew • and Gentile will then elect God. This thirty- 
 second verse is the climax of the epistle" (Stiiier). 
 
 22. "O the depth of the riches both of the 
 wisdom and knowledge of God!" (33-36). 
 Here the chapter, and the section, closes with a 
 song of praise to God. "How unsearchable are 
 His judgments, and His ways past finding 
 out!" It is only as He reveals Himself that we 
 can know Him at all (Compare Job 5:9; 11:7; 
 15:8). "For who hath known the mind of 
 the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?" 
 (Isa. 40: 13, 14). "Or who hath first given to 
 Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him 
 again?"' (Job 35: 7; 41 • 0- "For of Him, and 
 through Him, and unto Him, are all things: 
 to Whom be glory for ever. Amen." 
 
FOURTH MAIN DIVISION: THE CHRIS- 
 TIAN WALK 
 
 (Chapter 12: i to 15: 13) 
 
 The strictly doctrinal portion of our epistle 
 ends with the nth chapter, and the remainder is 
 occupied chiefly with exhortations to a Christian 
 walk in accordance with what has been taught. 
 This is ever the Holy Spirit's way, as seen 
 throughout the Scriptures. Doctrine determines 
 duty. Creed characterizes conduct. What a 
 man really believes is revealed by what he does. 
 ''For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 
 
 23:7). 
 
 This method of teaching is illustrated in Eph. 
 5 : 8, where it is written, "Ye were sometimes 
 darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord : walk 
 as children of light." The doctrine precedes the 
 exhortation, and furnishes the basis for it. And 
 so it is in the closing section of Romans : these 
 hortatory chapters are the outgrowth of the won- 
 derful teaching of the preceding doctrinal ones. 
 Here we shall find the whole ground of Chris- 
 tian life fully covered. First of all, the life must 
 be yielded to God, and He must be in full posses- 
 sion (12: I, 2). This is fundamental, and with- 
 out it the Christian life cannot be normal. But 
 let this point be settled — settled right, and once 
 186 
 
THB CHRISTIAN WALK. 187 
 
 for all— and great fruitfulness and blessing will 
 result. 
 
 I. The Living Sacrifice (12: i, 2). 
 
 1. "I beseech you" (i). The verb here is 
 parakaleo, from Paraclete, the Holy Spirit's title 
 so often translated "Comforter." It is also ap- 
 plied to the Lord Jesus as our "Advocate" ( i 
 Jno. 2:1). The verb itself is frequently found 
 in the New Testament, and is variously trans- 
 lated, "beseech," "call for," "comfort," "desire," 
 "exhort," "intreat," and "pray." It is a strong 
 word, hard to render into English. But the 
 Spirit uses it here, in seeking to induce His peo- 
 ple to fully yield themselves to Him. It is as if 
 God Himself were on His knees before His peo- 
 ple, if we may so speak, begging them to once 
 and for all give themselves over to Him, and thus 
 enter into the fulness of the blessing of the gos- 
 pel of Christ. 
 
 2. "Therefore" (i). This word calls atten- 
 tion to all that has preceded it in the epistle. 
 Doubtless, the special connection is with the ar- 
 gument which ends with the 8th chapter, the 
 theodicy of chapters 9 to 11 being paren- 
 thetical ; and yet it may well be that even those 
 chapters were also in the writer's mind as he 
 wrote the "therefore." The practical exhorta- 
 tions which are to follow are based upon the doc- 
 trines already set forth. "What the eye is in the 
 body, that faith is to the soul, and the knowledge 
 
i88 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of divine things. Yet it has need of practical 
 virtue, as the eye has need of hands and feet aiid 
 the other parts of the body. And therefore the 
 divine apostle in his doctrinal argument subjoins 
 ethical instruction also" (Theodoret) . 
 
 3. "Brethren" (i). It is a message for the 
 brethren, and not for the unbeliever. Let no one 
 distort this passage into a gospel text. The un- 
 saved sinner cannot give himself to God, and if 
 he could the offering would not be acceptable. 
 The only thing for a lost man to do is to receive 
 the Lord Jesus as his personal Saviour. After 
 that is done, he may speak of making an offering. 
 
 4. "By the mercies of God" (i). The mer- 
 cies of God are surely exhibited in the gospel, 
 as so graphically portrayed in the preceding chap- 
 ters of our epistle. "By these very facts, he 
 says, I beseech you, by which ye were saved : as 
 if any one wishing to make an impression on one 
 who had received great benefits, were to bring his 
 benefactor himself to supplicate him" (Chrysos- 
 tom). 
 
 5. "That ye present your bodies" (i). The 
 verb is connected with sacrifice. "Present," says 
 Dr. Stifler, "is a temple term for the bringing 
 thither of anything to God. So Jesus was pre- 
 sented (Lk. 2:22), and so Paul would present 
 each believer (Col. i : 28). He entreats the Ro- 
 mans to make themselves a sacrificial offering to 
 God. The word 'present' occurs first in the 
 epistle at 6: 13, a verse which this chapter now 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 189 
 
 unfolds. It is there translated 'yield,' 'Bodies' 
 is the comprehensive term for the whole man, 
 body, soul, and spirit (i Thess. 5: 23). It is 
 equivalent to 'yourselves,' but better suited than 
 the latter word to Paul's sacrificial idea." 
 
 6. "A living sacrifice" (i). The sacrificial 
 victims under the old covenant were slain. But 
 since the onei sacrifice for all has been accom- 
 plished on Calvary there is no further need of 
 dead sacrifices. What God wants is that we 
 make a present of ourselves to Him, as living 
 sacrifices, putting ourselves into His hand, for 
 His pleasure. 
 
 7. "Holy" (i). We are "holy brethren" 
 (Heb. 3:1), by reason of the substitutionary 
 sacrificial work of the Son of God on our behalf ; 
 "we are sanctified (made holy) through the offer- 
 ing of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" 
 (Heb. 10: 10). 
 
 8. "Acceptable unto God" (i). How won- 
 derful it is that we are permitted and enabled to 
 make an acceptable offering, who were once "sin- 
 ners of the Gentiles !" The glory for it all be- 
 longs to the Lord Jesus Christ ; we are "accepted 
 in the Beloved, in Whom we have redemption 
 through His blood" (Eph. 1:6, 7). 
 
 9. "Which is your reasonable service" (i). 
 The adjective here is "logical." Alford renders 
 it "rational," and remarks that it "is opposed to 
 carnal or fleshly (see Heb. 7: 16)." So Chrysos- 
 tom: "having in it nothing corporeal, nothing 
 
I90 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 gross, nothing subject to sense." The contrast 
 is between the fleshly sacrifices of Judaism and 
 the "spiritual sacrifices" of the new dispensation 
 (compare i Pet. 2:5; Jno. 4:23, 24). 
 
 10. "And be not conformed to this age: but 
 be ye transfigured" (2). The two verbs used 
 here, usually translated ''conformed" and "trans- 
 formed," are radically different from each other : 
 
 (i) The former is from suschematiso, "to 
 fashion alike" {Strong), or "to become like- 
 shaped" (//. A. W. Meyer). To be conformed 
 to this age is to yield oneself to it, following the 
 line of least resistance, as jelly in a mould, until 
 one becomes like the age, having given up "the 
 good fight of faith." Thus Demas forsook Paul, 
 "having loved this present age" (2 Tim. 4: 10), 
 and forgot Him "Who gave Himself for our sins 
 that He might deliver, us from this present evil 
 age, according to the will of God and our Father" 
 (Gal. 1:4). The word translated "conformed" 
 is rendered in i Pet. i : 14, "fashioning your- 
 selves according." 
 
 (2) On the other hand, the word translated 
 "transformed" is from metamorphoo, which 
 gives us our English word "metamorphosis," and 
 means literally "transfigured." The same Greek 
 word is used in the gospel accounts of the trans- 
 figuration on the mount (see Mt. 17:2; Mk. 9: 
 2). Our Lord's transfiguration did not result 
 from outward conditions, but rather from an un- 
 veiling of that which was within. So we are 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 191 
 
 called upon here to "be transfigured." Quite a 
 different word is rendered "transform" in 2 Cor. 
 II : 13-15, where Satan and his agents are said to 
 be transformed into angels and messengers of 
 light and righteousness. The word there is 
 metaschematizo, and is defined by Strong as 
 meaning "to disguise." The same word reads 
 
 "transferred" ifi i Cor. 4:6 — "These things 1 
 
 have in a figure transferred to myself and to 
 Apollos for your sakes." 
 
 II. "By the renewing of your mind" (2). 
 "Renewing" occurs but once elsewhere in the 
 New Testament. In Tit. 3 : 5 it is written, "Not 
 by works of righteousness which we have done, 
 but according to His mercy He saved us, by the 
 washing of regeneration, and renewing of the 
 Holy Spirit." This "renewing" is not our work, 
 but the Spirit's. We are not called upon to re- 
 new our minds in order that we may be trans- 
 figured : we are only to yield ourselves unto God, 
 and He does all the rest. In other words, as Al- 
 ford puts it, "the renewing of your mind is not 
 the instrument by which, but the manner in 
 which the metamorphosis takes place: that 
 wherein it consists." The process is set forth 
 clearly enough in 2 Cor. 3:18, where it is writ- 
 ten, "But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as 
 a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transfigured 
 (metamorphoumetha) into the same image from 
 glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord" (Im- 
 proved Version). 
 
192 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 12. "That ye may prove what is that good, 
 and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (2). 
 The R. V. marginal rendering here is : "that ye 
 may prove what is the will of God, even the thing 
 which is good and acceptable and perfect." 
 "Prove" here has the force of "discern" or 
 "recognize." 
 
 Dr. Stifler warns us to 
 
 "beware of the chapter mark which cuts off these two 
 verses from what precedes, as if an entirely new 
 thought were taken up with chapter 12. These two 
 verses are intimately connected with the summing 
 up at the close of chapter 11. That summary led 
 Paul to adoring worship as' he viewed God's wide- 
 reaching plans. And the idea of these two verses is 
 worship evoked and provoked by the same view. The 
 Romans are to present themselves for a rational service, 
 a worship in which the spiritual reason leads. This 
 worship is impossible except by men dissevered from 
 conformity to the world. He who is ruled by the world's 
 spirit and pursuits, to whom the world is the only great 
 thing, cannot worship. The spring of the worship, as 
 well as its power, is just what it was in Paul, a mind that 
 discerns God's will in the dispensational ordering of the 
 world to bring about its ultimate salvation (see Eph. 3: 
 14-21), a mind that sees that will as good and acceptable 
 and perfect. When the corner-stone of creation was laid, 
 all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38: 6, 7) ; and 
 he, too, will worship, who sees the corner-stone laid by 
 God in Christ for the new creation. It takes mind (v. 2) 
 to know mind (11:34). These two mentions of the 
 word look each other in the face across the chapter bar, 
 and man's mind in its mortal activity never acts normally 
 except in adoring worship. 'Present your bodies' is the 
 first step. 'That ye may prove the will' is then, first of 
 
THB CHRISTIAN WALK. 193 
 
 all, His will in Christ for the redeeming of the nations, 
 Jew and Gentile. And only as this will is known can 
 any one see how he is himself to act. The renewed 
 mind dwelling on the sublime purposes of God gains an 
 increasing delicacy of discernment of its own moral 
 action, and is prepared for personal guidance in all ques- 
 tions of duty and living, and to occupy spiritual offices 
 acceptably. It is at this point that Paul branches off on 
 duties. The qualification to discharge them is a knowl- 
 edge of God's ways." 
 
 II. The Yielded Life in Service (12:3-8). 
 
 1. "For I say" (3). The apostle speaks with 
 authority, "through the grace (i. e., the gift) 
 given unto" him. 
 
 2. "To every man" (3). "He says it not to 
 this person or that person only, but to ruler and 
 ruled, to bond and free, to simple and wise, to 
 woman and man" (Chrysostom.) 
 
 3. "Not to think of himself more highly than 
 he ought to think" (3). "There is a play on 
 the words here in the original, which can only 
 be clumsily conveyed in another language : 'not 
 to be highminded, above that which he ought to 
 be minded, but to be so minded as to be sober- 
 minded' " (Alford). 
 
 4. "According as God hath dealt to every 
 man the measure of faith" (3). Reference is 
 made here to the differing gifts for service in the 
 church which is the body of Christ. "But now 
 hath God set the members every one of them in 
 the body, as it hath pleased him" (i Cor. 12 : 18). 
 
194 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 5. "We are one body in Christ, and every 
 
 one members one of another" (5). This is il- 
 lustrated in verse 4, as in i Cor. 12: 12, by the 
 human body, which, though it is one body, has 
 many members with differing functions. 
 
 6. "Having then gifts" (6-8). As these gifts 
 differ "according to the grace that is given to us," 
 that is according to the will of God Who bestows 
 the gifts, we are to minister, each one according 
 to his own gift and place in the body. There are 
 seven gifts enumerated (compare Eph. 4:8-12; 
 I Cor. 12:28). The seven gifts are named in 
 order in this passage, and believers are here ex- 
 horted, each to minister according to his own 
 gift from God by the Spirit : 
 
 ( I ) "Whether prophecy, let us prophesy ac- 
 cording to the proportion of faith" (6). The 
 New Testament prophet is one that "speaketh 
 unto men to edification and exhortation and com- 
 fort" (i Cor. 14:3). A prophet is a forth- 
 teller of the mind of God. The Old Testament 
 prophets were called upon to do this apart from 
 the written Word, for the Word of God was not 
 yet complete; but, now that the Scriptures are 
 finished, the prophet of God speaks according to 
 that which is written. To be a prophet is a high 
 privilege, and this gift is the first named here. 
 In I Cor. 14: I we are exhorted to "follow after 
 love, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye 
 may prophesy." It is a great thing to be a 
 mouthpiece for the Spirit of God. Yet this must 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK, 19s 
 
 be done within certain well-defined limits : the 
 prophet must "prophesy according to the propor- 
 tion of faith." Dr. Stifler says that "faith does 
 not mean here body of doctrine. It is the proph- 
 et's own personal trust. There was dealt to him 
 a measure of faith (verse 3 above) for this work. 
 God gave him an insight into the gospel of Christ. 
 Let his prophecy not go beyond that and become 
 vainglorious and arrogant. Men who have an 
 office are under strong temptation to go beyond 
 what they know in it. Thus they greatly injure 
 themselves in coming to believe the utterances of 
 their own ignorance, and they mislead others, 
 who believe them because they are accredited 
 teachers. Let the prophet rigidly limit his gift 
 by the faith of his gift." 
 
 (2) "Or ministry, let us wait on our min- 
 istering" (7, R. F.). Preachers are often spoken 
 of as "the ministry," as if they were the only 
 ministers in the church. In a very true sense the 
 whole church is a body of ministers, for the word 
 means a servant. The passage here reads, ''eite 
 diakonian, en te diakonia," — "if service, in the 
 service." But, it may be observed that the Greek 
 word for servant is the word for deacon ; and 
 possibly the office of deacon is in view here. 
 Let them be occupied with their diaconate, that 
 is, their ministry or service. In connection with 
 the word, "ministry," it is interesting to note the 
 change made by the Revisers in Eph. 4: 11, 12, 
 where the purpose of the risen Christ in bestow- 
 
196 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ing gifts upon His church is set forth. The King 
 James Version reads : 
 
 "And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ;" 
 
 These persons are what the modern church calls 
 "the ministry." They are only Christ's gifts be- 
 stowed upon "the church which is His body," for 
 a very definite purpose ; namely, according to the 
 common Version : 
 
 "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
 ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ :" 
 
 This is confusing, for it seems to separate "the 
 ministry" into a class distinct from "the saints." 
 Now observe the Revised rendering of the pas- 
 sage: 
 
 "And He gave some to be apostles ; and some, proph- 
 ets ; and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teach- 
 ers; for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of 
 ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ." 
 
 Still clearer is the 191 1 Bible: 
 
 "And he hath given some, apostles ; and some, proph- 
 ets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and 
 teachers ; unto the perfecting oe the saints eor the 
 DOING OF SERVICE, for the building up of the body of 
 Christ." 
 
 (3) "Or he that teacheth, on teaching" (7). 
 The gift to teach is necessarily in some degree 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 197 
 
 included in the gift of prophecy. The teacher 
 is an expounder of the Word of God. Let him 
 expound that Word "according to the proportion 
 of faith." Let him "teach in the sphere, within 
 the bounds, of the teaching allotted to him by 
 God, or for which God has given him the faculty" 
 (Alford). 
 
 (4) "Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation" 
 (8). A most interesting word is this : ''eite ho 
 parakalon, en te paraklesei." Notice here that 
 the root word for Paraclete is used. The same 
 word in its verb form is translated "beseech" in 
 the first verse of our chapter. Within limita- 
 tions, the exhorter is to be a paraclete or com- 
 forter to his fellow-believers. This gift also is 
 closely connected with the gift to prophesy. In 
 I Cor. 14: 31 it is written: 
 
 "For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may 
 learn, and all may be comforted (Gk., parakalontai) .'^ 
 
 In I Tim. 4 : 13 the gift of teaching is linked with 
 that of exhortation : 
 
 "Till 1 come, give attendance to reading, to exhorta- 
 tion (paraklesei), to doctrine" {didaskalia, translated 
 "teaching" in Rom. 12:7). 
 
 (5) "He that giveth, let him do it with sim- 
 plicity" (8). Some have supposed that this re- 
 fers to those who were appointed in the church 
 for the giving of alms to the poor, while others 
 hold that it includes those who give money to the 
 
198 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 church for the support of the gospel. In any 
 case, the principle is the same. For ''simplicity" 
 the Revision reads "liberality;" the Greek is 
 "singleness" (compare Mt. 6:22; Lk. 11:34; 
 Eph. 6:5; Col. 3:22). 
 
 (6) "He that ruleth, with diligencse" (8). 
 "This," declares Dr. Stifler, "is a faulty render- 
 ing. The apostolic church had no rulers. It 
 ought to be, 'He that presides' or 'superintends.' 
 Paul may have referred in this term to their 
 elders (i Thess. 5:12; i Tim. 5:17)." Dean 
 Alford says: "He that ruleth or presideth — 
 but over w^hat? If over the church exclusively, 
 we come back to offices again: and it is hardly 
 likely that the rulers of the church, as such, 
 w^ould be introduced so low down in the list, or 
 by so very general a term, as this. In i Tim. 3 : 
 4, 5, 12, we have the verb used of presiding over 
 a man's own household: and in its absolute 
 usage here, I do not see why that also should not 
 be included." Mr. Grant has a helpful note. 
 He says : "Next, we have 'He that ruleth' or 'He 
 that leadeth.' The leader is of necessity, to a 
 large extent, the ruler also, but there is no abso- 
 lute rule, except that of the Spirit, in the church . 
 of God; but he that realizes that he is leading 
 others has, of necessity, much responsibility at- 
 taching to this. If his word is weighty, he must 
 be the more careful. The apostle says here, he 
 must rule or lead 'with diligence,' that is, not 
 careless of what he is doing, not at random, but 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK, 199 
 
 as giving thought and care to that which is hav- 
 ing effect upon the minds of others." 
 
 (7) "He that sheweth mercy, with cheerful- 
 ness" (8). The word "mercy" as used here has 
 no reference to sins, nor to the forgiveness of 
 sins. The reference is to those in the church 
 having a special gift to aid those who are in 
 trouble. Let them do it ''with cheerfulness," for 
 it is a glad service. Perhaps this is the gift of 
 ''helps" mentioned in i Cor. 12:28. 
 
 III. The Yikldkd Ltfk in Fellowship (12: 
 9-i6a). 
 
 1. "Let love be without dissimulation" (9). 
 The Revision reads, "without hypocrisy," and 
 others translate, "Let love be unfeigned." Love 
 is not love unless it be real. This exhortation 
 comes first in the paragraph on Christian com- 
 munion, for love is the basis of all real fellow- 
 ship in the body of Christ. The fruit of the 
 Spirit is, first of all, love (Gal. 5 : 22). 
 
 2. "Abhor that which is evil ; cleave to that 
 which is good" (9). The love of evil and the 
 love of good are mutually exclusive passions. 
 Therefore, "ye that love Jehovah, hate evil" (Ps. 
 97: 10). If ye would "learn to do well," then 
 ye must "cease to do evil" (Isa. 1:16, 17). 
 Good and evil are two masters which no man can 
 serve together (Mt. 6:24). Let us not fail to 
 observe the connection in which we find this ex- 
 hortation ; it is preceded and followed by words 
 
2QO SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 about love. Our love for one another, then, is 
 not to blind us to the evil that we may see in one 
 another. We are to abhor the evil, even while 
 loving the person in whom we may find the evil. 
 And in such a case we shall be the more faithful 
 in seeking to deliver the person from the evil that 
 entangles him and help him to cleave to that 
 which is good. 
 
 3. "Be kindly affectioned one to another 
 with brotherly love" (10). Weymouth reads 
 here, "As for brotherly love, be affectionate to 
 one another." It is not enough to love: we 
 ought to demonstrate the love we have toward 
 one another. "Demonstrativeness" is hateful 
 when true affection is absent; but where love 
 abides it ought to manifest itself. 
 
 4. "In honor preferring one another" (10). 
 This is true humility, or meekness, always the 
 fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:23). In Eph. 5: 18- 
 21 the Spirit-filled church is seen, with the mem- 
 bers submitting themselves "one to another in the 
 fear of Christ" (R. V.). William Wye Smith's 
 Scotch New Testament has it: "And be-na ye 
 f ou' wi' wine, in whilk is riot ; but be ye fou' o' 
 the Spirit, speakin' amang yersels in psalms and 
 hymns, and godly sangs, liltin' and makin' music 
 i' yere hearts till the Lord, at a' times giean 
 thanks for a' things, i' the name o' oor Lord Jesus 
 Christ, till yere God and Faither. Pittin' yersels 
 aneath ane anither, in the fear o' Christ." There 
 is no power in the universe that can produce a 
 
THB CHRISTIAN WALK. 201 
 
 picture like that but the power of the Holy Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 5. "Not slothfulin business" ( 1 1 ) . A wrong 
 translation! The Revisers render the phrase, 
 "In diligence not slothful." So also, Young, the 
 Englishman's Greek New Testament, Grant, and 
 many other translators. Darby reads, "As to 
 diligent zealousness, not slothful." Weymouth's 
 rendering is, "Do not be indolent when zeal is 
 required." This is somewhat paraphrastic, but 
 it probably hits upon the true meaning of the 
 passage. 
 
 6. "Fervent in spirit" (11). Lukewarmness 
 has no place in the Christian life (Rev. 3:15, 
 16). It is "the effectual fervent prayer of a 
 righteous man" that "availeth much" (Jas. 5: 
 16). 
 
 7. "Serving the Lord" (11). This is the 
 climax of all that precedes in the entire chapter. 
 Moffatt puts the whole of the nth verse thus: 
 "Never let your zeal flag; maintain the spiritual 
 glow ; serve the Lord." 
 
 8. "Rejoicing in hope" (12). "Rejoicing in 
 the hope" is how it is written in the Greek. 
 What is referred to is "the hope of the gospel" 
 (Col. 1:23), the "blessed hope" of our Lord's 
 return (Tit. 2: 11-13). 
 
 9. "Patient in tribulation" (12). This we 
 had in the 5th chapter, with the basis for it. The 
 Christian is able to glory in tribulation: know- 
 ing that tribulation worketh patience; and pa- 
 
202 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 tience, experience; and experience, hope; and 
 hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of 
 God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy 
 Ghost which is given unto us." 
 
 10. "Continuing instant in prayer" (12). 
 For "instant," read "steadfastly" {R. V.). This 
 entire verse also ought to be read together. 
 Conybeare and Hov^son translate it : "In your 
 hope be joyful ; in your sufferings be steadfast ; 
 in your prayers be unw^earied." 
 
 11. "Distributing to the necessity of saints" 
 (13). "Distributing" is better than the Revis- 
 ers' "communicating;" but the 1911 Bible is bet- 
 ter than either : "contributing to the necessities 
 of the saints." We are to share w^hat v^e have 
 v^ith one another and thus relieve each other's 
 needs (Heb. 13: 16). 
 
 12. "Given to hospitality" (13). The Greek 
 is "pursuing hospitality" — running after it. We 
 have here not the usual word for "given," and it 
 is not elsewhere in the New Testament so trans- 
 lated. We have the same English expression, 
 "given to hospitality," in i Tim. 3 : 2, but in the 
 original it is merely "hospitable" — philoxenon, 
 literally, fond of guests. But in the passage now 
 before us in Rom. 12: 13 it is "hospitality pur- 
 suing" — philoxenian diokentes, literally, running 
 after a fondness for guests — addicted to hospi- 
 tality as to a strong habit. It is a fine old habit, 
 all the sweeter as it becomes rarer. Let us "be 
 not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK, 203 
 
 some have entertained angels unawares" (Heb. 
 13:2; Gen. 18: 3; 19: 2). 
 
 13. "Bless them which persecute you; bless, 
 and curse not" (14). This is the principle of 
 Mt. 5:44; Lk. 6:28; I Cor. 4: 12. Unnatural, 
 and impossible, except by the power of the Holy 
 Spirit; but this is the way of blessedness. 
 
 14. "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and 
 weep with them that weep" (15). This is true 
 sympathy, or fellow-feeling. It is often more 
 natural to weep with weeping ones than to re- 
 joice with rejoicing ones, for this latter form of 
 sympathy is frequently hindered by envy ; but in 
 "the church which is His body," the organism 
 consisting of His born-again ones, the indwelling 
 Holy Spirit, when unhindered, always produces 
 sympathy among the members of the body ; "and 
 whether one member suffer, all the members suf- 
 fer with it ; or one member be honoured, all the 
 members rejoice with it" (i Cor. 12: 26). 
 
 15. "Be of the same mind one toward an- 
 other" (16). The thought is closely connected 
 with that which precedes it. Weymouth trans- 
 lates: "Have full sympathy with one another." 
 Darby: "Have the same respect one for an- 
 other." Moffatt: "Keep in harmony with one 
 another." 
 
 16. "Mind not high things, but condescend 
 to men of low estate (16). "Condescend" is 
 rejected by Stifler as an unfortunate word: 
 "Condescension has no place in the church. Some 
 
204 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 render, 'be carried away with' the lowly — give 
 yourself to them. The world neglects and de- 
 spises them; Christ loves them and died for 
 them. There is often more genuine worth and 
 manhood in the alleys than in the avenues ; and 
 Christian love goes where love is most needed. 
 It is 'carried away' in the service of need. Christ 
 in help to one lowly woman was so 'carried away' 
 that He had no desire to eat (Jno. 4:31, 32)." 
 The 191 1 Bible reads: "Set not your mind on 
 high things, but go along with the lowly." Wake- 
 field has it : "Set not your mind on high things, 
 but be guided by humility." 
 
 IV. The Yielded Life in Relation to the 
 World (12: i6b-2i). 
 
 1. "Be not wise in your own conceits. Rec- 
 ompense to no man evil for evil" (16, 17). 
 This is quoted from Prov. 3 : 7, which, according 
 to the Septuagint version, reads: "Be not wise 
 in thine own conceit ; but fear God, and depart 
 from evil." Rotherham, in the Romans citation, 
 reads: "Be not getting presumptuous in your 
 own opinion: unto one evil for evil rendering." 
 In I Pet. 3 : 9 it is written : "Not rendering evil 
 for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise 
 blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, 
 that ye should inherit a blessing." 
 
 2. "Provide things honest in the sight of all 
 men" (17). This intensely important word, re- 
 peated in effect in 2 Cor. 8:21, and elsewhere 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 205 
 
 often insisted upon, is another Old Testament 
 quotation, being from Prov. 3:4, in the Sep- 
 tuagint. 
 
 3. "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, 
 live peaceably with all men" (18). This is 
 closely connected with what follows. Dr. Young 
 gives the whole paragraph thus: "If possible 
 — so far as in you — with all men being in peace ; 
 not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place 
 to the wrath, for it hath been written, 'Ven- 
 geance is mine, I will recompense again, saith 
 the Lord;' if, then, thine enemy hunger, feed 
 him; if he doth thirst, give him drink; for 
 this doing, coals of fire thou shalt heap upon his 
 head ; be not overcome by the evil, but overcome, 
 in the good, the evil." The first part of the quo- 
 tation is from Deut. 32 : 35 and is cited again in 
 Heb. 10:30. The remainder of the passage is 
 from Prov. 25:21, 22. "He who cannot be 
 moved from the basis of love," says Dr. Stifler, 
 "is a victor even though he cannot win his enemy. 
 To win himself is a much greater triumph." 
 
 Now let the reader look back over this marvel- 
 lous chapter. It is full of impossibilities from 
 the natural standpoint, yet it is the practical, 
 normal Christian life. Victory comes through a 
 definite yielding of the body into God's hands as 
 a living sacrifice. This is indeed our "reasona- 
 ble service." Here is where world-conformity 
 ends and heavenly transfiguration begins. Thus, 
 and thus only, is the goal to be reached — the goal 
 
2o6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 of triumph. Thus, and only thus, can God's 
 child avoid being overcome of evil. Thus only 
 can he overcome evil with good. 
 
 V. The Yielded Liee in Relation to Civil 
 Government (13:1-7).. 
 
 1. "Let every soul be subject unto the high- 
 er powers" (i). "It has been well observed," 
 says Alford, "that some special reason must have 
 given occasion to these exhortations. We can 
 hardly attribute it to the seditious spirit of the 
 Jews at Rome, as their influence in the Christian 
 church there would not be great; indeed, from 
 Acts 28 the two seem to have been remarkably 
 distinct. But disobedience to the civil authorities 
 may have arisen from mistaken views among the 
 Christians themselves as to the nature of Christ's 
 kingdom, and its relation to existing powers of 
 this world. And such mistakes would naturally 
 be rifest there, where the fountain of earthly 
 power was situated: and there also best and 
 most effectually met by these precepts coming 
 from apostolic authority. The way for them is 
 prepared by verses 17 ff. of the foregoing chap- 
 ter. I Pet. 2 : 13 ff. is parallel." The word for 
 "be subject" is more literally rendered, "submit 
 himself." And the exhortation is for "every 
 soul :" on which Dr. Stifler remarks that "none 
 is exempt, not even the pope." 
 
 2. "For there is no pov^rer but of God: the 
 powers that be are ordained of God" ( i ) . The 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 207 
 
 word for ''power" throughout this passage is 
 exousia, and refers to civil governmental au- 
 thority. "Civil government has its source in 
 God, and all constituted power is appointed and 
 ordained by him. The cruel abuses in govern- 
 ment are no necessary part of them and do not 
 invalidate their divine charter any more than the 
 abuses of marriage rob it of its sacredness. Any 
 government is preferable to anarchy, just as 
 poorly enforced marriage laws are better than 
 none. Man abuses all God's gifts" {StiUer). 
 
 3. "Whosoever therefore resisteth the power 
 resisteth the ordinance of God" (2). The 
 writers have labored hard and long over this sen- 
 tence. Dr. Stifler says that teaching and agita- 
 tion for better government is not forbidden here 
 "if these do not lead to resistance, but under this 
 principle it is hard to see how a Christian can 
 lead in a rebellion. Paul's words are unmistaka- 
 ble, and yet there stand Cromwell and Washing- 
 ton !" H. A. W. Meyer says that "Paul has cer- 
 tainly expressed the divine right of magistracy, 
 which Christian princes specially designate by the 
 expression 'by the grace of God' (since the time 
 of Louis the Pious). And ai de ousai, the ex- 
 tant, actually existing, allows no exception such 
 as that possibly of tyrants or usurpers (in oppo- 
 sition to Reiche). The Christian, according to 
 Paul, ought to regard any magistracy whatever, 
 provided its rule over him subsists de facto, as di- 
 vinely ordained, since it has not come into exist- 
 
2o8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ence without the operation of God's will; and 
 this appHes also to tyrannical or usurped power, 
 although such a power, in the counsel of God, is 
 perhaps destined merely to be temporary and 
 transitional. From this point of view, the Chris- 
 tian obeys not the human caprice and injustice, 
 but the will of God, who — in connection with His 
 plan of government inaccessible to human insight 
 — has presented even the unworthy and unright- 
 eous ruler as the ousa exousia (the existing au- 
 thority — the power that is), and has made him 
 the instrument of His measures. Questions as 
 to special cases — such as how the Christian is to 
 conduct himself in political catastrophes, what 
 magistracy he is to look upon in such times as the 
 ousa exousia, as also, how he, if the command of 
 the magistrate is against the command of God, 
 is at any rate to obey God rather than men (Ac. 
 5:29), etc. — Paul here leaves unnoticed, and 
 only gives the main injunction of obedience. By 
 no means, however, are we to think only of the 
 magisterial office as instituted by God (Chrysos- 
 torn, Oecumenius, and others), but rather of the 
 magistracy in its concrete persons and members 
 as the bearers of the divinely ordained office." 
 Dean Alford observes "that the apostle here pays 
 no regard to the question of the duty of Chris- 
 tions in revolutionary movements. His precepts 
 regard an established power, be it what it may. 
 It, in all matters lawful, we are bound to obey. 
 But even the parental power does not extend to 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 209 
 
 things unlawful. If the civil power commands 
 us to violate the law of God, we must obey God 
 before man. If it commands us to disobey the 
 common laws of humanity, or the sacred institu- 
 tions of our country, our obedience is due to the 
 higher and more general law, rather than to the 
 lower and particular. These distinctions must 
 be drawn by the wisdom granted to Christians in 
 the varying circumstances of human affairs; 
 they are all only subordinate portions of the great 
 duty of obedience to law. To obtain, by lawful 
 means, the removal or alteration of an unjust or 
 unreasonable law, is another part of this duty: 
 for all authorities among men must be in accord 
 with the highest authority, the moral sense. But 
 even where law is hard and unreasonable, not 
 disobedience, but legitimate protest, is the duty 
 of the Christian." 
 
 4. "And they that resist shall receive to 
 themselves judgment" (2). The King James 
 Version's "damnation" here is far too strong. 
 The Revisers' word, "judgment," is to be pre- 
 ferred above "condemnation;" for, although 
 God may judge a Christian, He cannot condemn 
 him. The thought is precisely parallelled in i 
 Cor. 1 1 : 29-32, where Christians are exhorted to 
 take heed how they partake of the Lord's Sup- 
 per: 
 
 "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth 
 and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the 
 Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and sickly 
 
210 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge 
 ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are 
 judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not 
 be condemned with the world." 
 
 The teaching here, then, is that God Himself 
 will deal with those who resist the authority of 
 * civil government. In resisting ''the powers that 
 be," they are resisting Him ; and they "shall re- 
 ceive to themselves judgment" from Him. The 
 judgment may come through the powers, but it is 
 from God, nevertheless. 
 
 5. "For rulers are not a terror to good works, 
 but to the evil" (3). Tholuck and others infer 
 from this verse that Paul wrote the epistle prior 
 to the terrible persecutions of the Christians dur- 
 ing Nero's reign; and Alford thinks that had 
 this been otherwise, the principle stated by the 
 apostle would have been the same, though he 
 could hardly have passed so apparent an excep- 
 tion to it without remark. It is clear that the 
 general principle is what is in mind here, rather 
 than its application in specific instances. Gen- 
 erally speaking, rulers are not a terror to good 
 works but to the evil. If one would be free from 
 fear of the civil power, then, let him do good and 
 he will have praise rather than punishment. It 
 is true, as observed by Meyer, that when Paul 
 wrote these words, "it was still the better time of 
 Nero's rule ;" but, as the same writer goes on to 
 say, "the proposition has a general validity, 
 which is based on the divinely-ordained position 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 211 
 
 of the magistracy, and is not annulled by their in- 
 justices in practice, which Paul had himself so 
 copiously experienced." Let the ruler remember 
 
 that "he is a minister of God for good" (v. 
 
 4), and not for evil. 
 
 6. "But if thou do that which is evil, be 
 afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain" 
 (4). Those who advocate the abolition of capi- 
 tal punishment forget that the state has divine 
 authority for bearing the sword and using it. 
 The ruler is not only a minister of God for good 
 unto well-doers, but he is also "the minister of 
 God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that 
 doet'h evil." The original charter of human gov- 
 ernment is written in the Noahic Covenant, and 
 this has never been abrogated ; it remains in full 
 force : 
 
 "At the hand of every man's brother will I require the 
 life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall 
 his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man" 
 (Gen. 9:5, 6). 
 
 7. "Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not 
 only for wrath, but also for conscience sake" 
 
 (5). Christians are to submit themselves to the 
 civil authority, not in fear of its wrath, but in obe- 
 dience to their own consciences as enlightened by 
 the Word of God. They obey the government 
 ''for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, 
 as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them 
 that are sent by him for the punishment of evil- 
 
212 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 doers, and for the praise of them that do well. 
 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye 
 may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men : 
 as free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of 
 maliciousness, but as the servants of God. Hon- 
 our all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. 
 Honour the king" (i Pet. 2: 13-17). 
 
 8. "For for this cause pay ye tribute also" 
 (6). The public officers must be supported, 
 since "they are God's ministers, attending con- 
 tinually upon" the exercise of their duties in ad- 
 ministering the affairs of government. ''Trib- 
 ute," here, is direct taxation for the expenses of 
 state. Custom, in verse 9, is toll, or tax upon 
 produce. Tertullian declared that what the Ro- 
 mans lost by the Christians refusing to bring of- 
 ferings to the heathen temples was more tha"-! 
 made up by their willing payment of taxes. 
 
 9. "Render therefore to all their dues" (7). 
 Whether tribute, or custom, or fear, or honour, 
 let not the Christian fail in any respect towards 
 these public ordained ministers of God who oc- 
 cupy places of authority over him. 
 
 VI. The Law of the Yielded Liee (8-14). 
 
 I. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one 
 another" (8). The law of Sinai provided 
 against debt : "Thou shalt not defraud thy neigh- 
 bour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is 
 hired shall not abide with thee all night until the 
 morning" (Lev. 19:13). And elsewhere the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 213 
 
 Word warns against debt : "The rich ruleth over 
 the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lend- 
 er*' (Prov. 22 :y). But there is one debt that can 
 never be fully cancelled ; namely, the debt of love. 
 We must go on loving, and as we do so we are 
 in principle fulfilling the law : ''for he that loveth 
 another hath fulfilled the law," so far as that other 
 is concerned. The law against adultery, killing, 
 stealing, lying, coveting, and every other sin 
 against men, is all summed up in one word, "Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love work- 
 eth no ill to his neighbour : therefore love is the 
 fulfilling of the law" (vs. 9, 10; compare Mt. 22 : 
 39; Lk. 10:29-37). 
 
 2. "And that, knowing the time, that now it 
 is high time to awake out of sleep" (11). The 
 great New Testament incentive to holiness is now 
 brought forth. "And that" ought rather to read 
 "And this." That is, "and let us do this"— live 
 without debt except to love — for this great reason 
 added to all the others ; nanjely, that "now is out 
 salvation nearer than when we (first) believed" 
 (see R. v.). Our Lord's return is the "salvation 
 ready to be revealed in the last time" ( i Pet. i : 
 5). "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: 
 let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, 
 and let us put on the armour of light. Let us 
 walk honestly, as in the day ; not in rioting and 
 drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, 
 not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, 
 to fulfill the lusts thereof" — i. e., make no pro- 
 
214 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 vision for the gratification of selfish desires. All 
 this will be accomplished if we really put on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. **So we say of friends," says 
 Chrysostom: " 'Such an one has put on such an 
 one,' when we mean to describe great love and un- 
 ceasing intercourse." 
 
 Our Lord Himself often used the truth of His 
 return to stimulate His disciples to watchfulness 
 and holiness, and so also did the writers of the 
 New Testament epistles. It is to this blessed hope 
 that Paul directs his readers in the closing para- 
 graph of Romans 13. On this paragraph Dean 
 Alford says : 
 
 ''Without denying the legitimacy of an individual ap- 
 plication of this truth, and the importance of its con- 
 sideration for all Christians of all ages, a fair exposition 
 of this passage can hardly fail to recognize the fact that 
 the apostle here as well as elsewhere (i Thes. 4: 17; i 
 Cor. 15 : 51), speaks of the coming of the Lord as rapidly 
 approaching. Prof. Stuart and others are shocked at the 
 idea, as being inconsistent with the inspiration of his 
 writings. How this can be, I am at a loss to imagine. 
 'Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the 
 
 ANGELS IN HEAVEN, NOR EVEN THE SoN, BUT THE Fa" 
 
 ther' (Mk. 13: 32). And to reason, as Stuart does, that 
 because St. Paul corrects in 2 Thes. 2 the mistake of im- 
 agining it to be immediately at hand (or even actually 
 come, see note there), therefore he did not himself 
 expect it soon, is surely quite beside the purpose. The 
 fact that the nearness or distance of that day was un- 
 known to the apostles, in no way affects the prophetic 
 announcements of God's Spirit by them, concerning its 
 preceding any accompanying circumstances. The 'day and 
 hour' formed no part of their inspiration; the details 
 of the event did. And this distinction has singularly 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 215 
 
 and providentially turned out to the edification of all 
 subsequent ages. While the prophetic declaration of the 
 events of that time remain to instruct us, the eager 
 expectation of the time, which they expresed in their 
 day, has also remained, a token of the true frame of 
 mind in which each succeeding age (and each succeeding 
 age more strongly than the last) should contemplate 
 the ever-approaching coming of the Lord. On the cer- 
 tainty of the event our faith is grounded : by the un- 
 certainty of the time our hope is stimulated, and our 
 watchfulness aroused" ("The New Testament for En- 
 glish Readers"). 
 
 Hallelujah! Maranatha ! Amen! Even so, 
 come, Lord Jesus ! 
 
 VII. The Yielded Liee in Relation to 
 Weak Brethren (14: i to 15 : 7). 
 
 1. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye" 
 
 (14: i). The believer's normal attitude towards 
 his weak brother in Christ is epitomized in this 
 brief exhortation. Despite his weakness, he is a 
 brother, and he ought to be acknowledged as 
 such, received as such ; and every action towards 
 him should be in view of this relationship. The 
 all-sufficient reason is given in the final verse of 
 the section: "Wherefore receive one another, as 
 Christ also received us to the glory of God" (15 : 
 
 7). 
 
 2. "But not to doubtful disputations" (i). 
 The margin here is, "Not to judge his doubtful 
 thoughts." The English Revisers have in their 
 margin, "not for decisions of doubts;" and the 
 American Revision has, in the text, "not for de- 
 
2i6 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 cision of scruples." The meaning is plain. We 
 are to receive our weak brethren as brethren, and 
 not merely for purposes of argumentation. Re- 
 ceive them "as Christ also received us, to the 
 glory of God." 
 
 3. "For one believeth that he may eat all 
 things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs" 
 (2). This 14th chapter of Romans and the 8th of 
 1st Corinthians are devoted to the question 
 v^hether Christians should eat meat vvrhich had 
 been offered to idols. It v^as a ''burning ques- 
 tion" in the early churches. Large quantities of 
 meat were brought to the numerous heathen tem- 
 ples and presented in the worship of idols. Of 
 course, the idols had no use for it, and even the 
 priests could not consume all of it, and therefore 
 it was sold to the public through the markets. 
 This made it almost if not quite impossible for 
 one to discover whether the meat on his own 
 table had not come from an idol's temple. The 
 stronger Christians cared not for this, believing 
 that they might "eat all things." They knew 
 that "an idol is nothing in the world, and that 
 there is none other God but one" (i Cor. 8:4). 
 "Howbeit there is not in every man that knowl- 
 edge," and these weaker brethren found them- 
 selves unable to eat of "a thing offered to an 
 idol" ( I Cor. 8:7). To go on eating these things 
 was to defile their conscience, and in order to be 
 on the perfectly safe side, they ate herbs; that 
 is, they confined their diet to vegetables. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 217 
 
 4. "Let not him that eateth despise him that 
 eateth not; and let not him that eateth not 
 judge him that eateth" (3). The need for this 
 exhortation may be readily understood. The 
 strong in faith would be under temptation to de- 
 spise or ''set at nought" his weaker brother (see 
 verse 10) ; while the weak in faith would be liable 
 to censure his stronger* brother. But this must 
 be avoided : we must not despise our brother, nor 
 judge him, "for God hath received him. Who 
 art thou that judgest the servant of another? 
 {R. v.). To his own master he standeth or 
 falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up : for God is 
 able to make him stand" (vs. 3, 4). 
 
 5. "One man esteemeth one day above an- 
 other: another esteemeth every day alike" (5). 
 Here was another problem, and one that may 
 come nearer home, for it is a present-day prob- 
 lem. What is to be done in such a case? Some 
 are stronger than others, and clearer on the doc- 
 trines of grace. They deny any man's right to 
 judge them, "in meat, or in drink, or in respect 
 of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sab- 
 bath : which are a shadow of things to come, but 
 the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,17). They de- 
 clare their liberty from the law, and insist that 
 their freedom has been too dearly bought to be 
 easily surrendered; they are constantly exhort- 
 ing us to "stand fast therefore in the liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not 
 entangled again in the yoke of bondage" (Gal. 5 : 
 T ) . On the other hand, there are weaker breth- 
 
2i8 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ren who cannot see this at all. These dear ones 
 are fearful; they are shocked to hear men talk 
 of their "eternal security in Christ:" they are 
 timid ; they hope it will be all right and that they 
 will somehow be "saved at last ;" but they insist 
 that "there is such a thing as being too sure." 
 What then? how shall these dear ones be dealt 
 with? are they to be despised? or, are we to 
 enter into "doubtful disputations" with them, and 
 seek to decide their scruples for them? Nay, 
 since "God hath received" them, let us also re- 
 ceive them, and love them, and pray for them, 
 and bear with them. Meanwhile, "let every man 
 be fully persuaded in his own mind." True it is, 
 "brethren," that "ye have been called unto liber- 
 ty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the 
 flesh, but by love serve one another" (Gal. 5: 
 13). Ye must "take heed lest by any means this 
 liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them 
 that are weak" (i Cor. 8:9). 
 
 6. "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it 
 unto the Lord" (6). The remainder of this 
 sentence is omitted from the Revision, because it 
 is not found in the best manuscripts. Dr. Moffatt 
 translates : "The man who values a particular 
 day does so to the Lord. The eater eats to the 
 Lord, since he thanks God for his food; the 
 non-eater abstains to the Lord, and he too thanks 
 God. For none of us lives to himself, and none 
 of us dies to himself ; if we live, we live to the 
 Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. Thus 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 219 
 
 we are the Lord's whether we live or die" (vs. 
 6-8). 
 
 7. "For to this end Christ died and lived 
 again" (9). We quote the Revision, much to be 
 preferred here. The purpose in Christ's death 
 and resurrection was to establish His lordship 
 over all — "that He might be Lord of both the 
 dead and the living." In 2 Cor. 5: 14, 15, it is 
 written "that One died for all, therefore all died : 
 and He died for all, that they that live should no 
 longer live unto themselves, but unto Him Who 
 for their sakes died and rose again." 
 
 8. "But why dost thou judge thy brother?" 
 (10). This challenge, addressed to the weaker 
 Christian, is at once followed by another aimed at 
 the stronger one: "Or why dost thou set at 
 nought thy brother?" This is not the time for 
 judging. There is a time coming when "the 
 saints shall judge the world" (i Cor. 6:2), but 
 meanwhile, we are to "judge nothing before the 
 time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to 
 light the hidden things of darkness, and will 
 make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and 
 then shall every man have praise of God" ( i Cor. 
 
 4:5)- 
 
 9. "For we shall all stand before the judg- 
 ment seat of God" (10). This is the correct 
 reading, rather than "the judgment seat of 
 Christ," as in the King James Version. The 
 thought of the passage is that each individual 
 must answer for himself and not for another, 
 
220 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 "for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every 
 knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall con- 
 fess to God. So then every one of us shall give 
 account of himself to God" (vs. ii, 12; compare 
 Isa. 45:23; Phil. 2:10, 11). The exhortation 
 of the thirteenth verse follows logically : *Xet us 
 not therefore judge one another any more: but 
 judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling- 
 block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." 
 The judgment that is needed' is self-judgment 
 rather than the judging of others (i Cor. 11 : 31, 
 
 32). 
 
 10. "I know, and am persuaded by the Lord 
 Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself" 
 (14). Paul saw his liberty fully; he was not 
 under law, but under grace (Rom. 6: 14) ; he 
 knew that the Lord Jesus had brought an end to 
 the law (Rom. 10: 4) ; that he had set aside the 
 dietary requirements of the law of Moses, "mak- 
 ing all meats clean" (Mk. 7: 19, R. V.) ; and he 
 taught clearly in all his epistles that "every crea- 
 ture of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if 
 it be received with thanksgiving : for it is sancti- 
 fied by the Word of God and prayer" (i Tim. 4: 
 
 4,5). 
 
 11. "But to him that esteemeth any thing to 
 be unclean, to him it is unclean" ( 14) . In such 
 a case, it is better to abstain, because "he that 
 doubteth is condemned (that is, self -condemned) 
 if he eat, because he eateth not of faith; and 
 whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (v. 23) ; there- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 221 
 
 fore he writes : "If your brother is being injured 
 because you eat a certain food, then you are no 
 longer living by the rule of love. Do not let that 
 food of yours ruin the man for whom Christ 
 died. Your rights must not get a bad name" (vs. 
 15, 16, Mo ffatt). 
 
 12. "For the kingdom of God is not meat 
 and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and 
 joy in the Holy Ghost" (17). It is as if the 
 Holy Spirit Himself had become tired of writing 
 about eating and drinking, and longed to lead the 
 Lord's people out of such low considerations and 
 into the higher atmosphere of the kingdom of 
 God. Observe the order of these elements in the 
 kingdom of God ; first righteousness, then peace, 
 then joy, in the Holy Spirit. No peace apart 
 from righteousness! It is when we have been 
 justified by faith that we enter into peace with 
 God (Rom. 5:1), and this peace leads to joy. 
 "We have peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ,. . . .and rejoice in hope of the glory 
 of God" (Rom. 5:1, 2). This is the right view 
 of Christian living. As Moff att again translates : 
 "You must not break down God's work for the 
 mere sake of food! Everything may be clean, 
 but it is wrong for a man to prove a stumbling- 
 block by what he eats ; the right course is to ab- 
 stain from flesh or wine or indeed anything that 
 your brother feels to be a stumbling-block. Cer- 
 tainly keep your own 'conviction on the matter, as 
 between yourself and God ; he is a fortunate man 
 
:>22 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 who has no misgivings about what he allows him- 
 self to eat. But if anyone has doubts about eat- 
 ing and then eats, that condemns him at once ; it 
 was not faith that induced him to eat, and any 
 action that is not based on faith is a sin" (vs. i8- 
 
 23)- 
 
 13. "We then that are strong ought to bear 
 the infirmities of the weak, and not to please 
 ourselves" (15: i). The rule of Christian love 
 given in 14:21 is here -reiterated and amplified: 
 "Let every one of us please his neighbour for his 
 good to edification" (v. 2), and for the very good 
 reason that "even Christ pleased not Himself; 
 but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that 
 reproached Thee fell on Me" (vs. 2, 3 ; compare 
 Ps. 69:9; I Pet 2: 23). 
 
 14. "For whatsoever things were written 
 aforetime were written for our learning, that 
 we through patience and comfort of the Scrip- 
 tures might have hope" (4). This illuminating 
 reference to the Old Testament Scriptures is used 
 here to sum up the exhortation begun in 14: i, 
 and is followed by the prayer of 15:5, 6, and 
 the final word of v. 7. 
 
 VIII. Confirming Promises and Showing 
 Mercy (15:8-13). 
 
 I. "Now I say" (8). The true reading is, 
 "For I say," as given in the Revision, and Dr. 
 Stifler explains that the "for" introduces "the 
 long passage following to show how Christ re- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN WALK. 22.3 
 
 ceived both parties. The word 'meat' and the 
 words 'strong' and 'weak' are r^ot again used ; but 
 instead the two nationalities in the church appear, 
 the Jew and the Gentile, showing that the divi- 
 sion in dietary matters ran in the main between 
 these two. The Jew would be the weak man, the 
 Gentile the strong ; but there were doubtless ex- 
 ceptions on both sides." 
 
 2. "That Jesus Christ was a minister of the 
 circumcision for the truth of Godj to confirm 
 the promises made unto the fathers" (8). The 
 ministry of Christ was "to the Jew first." Great 
 and wonderful promises had been made to Israel, 
 and these promises must be redeemed ; so Christ 
 "became a servant to the circumcised in order to 
 prove God's honesty" (Moffatt) ; or, "in vindica- 
 tion of God's truthfulness — in showing how sure 
 are the promises made" to the fathers (Weyr 
 mouth). Many of these Old Testament prom- 
 ises were fulfilled in connection with the first ad- 
 vent of Christ. Every jot and tittle was accom- 
 plished which had relation to "the sufferings of 
 Christ," and the remaining promises were re- 
 iterated and confirmed. The Lord Jesus is com- 
 ing again to fulfill in every jot and tittle the prom- 
 ises having to do with "the glory that should fol- 
 low" (i Pet. i: 11). 
 
 3. "And that the Gentiles might glorify God 
 for his mercy" (9). "Mercy" is the emphatic 
 word here, and is in contrast with "the prom- 
 ises" of the preceding verse. God had made no 
 
224 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 promises directly to the Gentile nations, and so 
 the ministry of Christ to the Gentiles is a matter 
 of pure mercy. 
 
 4. "As it is written" (9). The apostle now 
 brings forward four Old Testament Scriptures to 
 prove that this showing of mercy to Gentiles was 
 foreseen. These quotations have not the char- 
 acter of promises to Gentiles, but are neverthe- 
 less predictive of the work of the gospel among 
 them : ( i ) "For this cause I will confess to Thee 
 among the Gentiles, and sing unto Thy name" 
 (Ps. 18: 49) ; (2) "Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with His 
 people" (Deut. 32:43); (3) "Praise the Lord, 
 all ye Gentiles; and laud Him, all ye peoples" 
 (Ps. 117:1); (4) "There shall be a root of 
 Jesse, and He that shall rise to reign over the 
 Gentiles; in Him shall the Gentiles trust" (Isa. 
 11: I, 10). 
 
 5, "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy 
 and peace in believing, that ye may abound in 
 hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost" 
 (13). "Hope," in this verse, is the same as is 
 translated "trust" in the 12th verse (see R. V.), 
 and in the 13th verse it is preceded in both in- 
 stances by the definite article. It is the hope that 
 is referred to — "that blessed hope" of Tit. 2: 13. 
 The 191 1 Bible translates: "Now the God of the 
 hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, 
 that ye may abound in the hope, through the 
 power of the Holy Spirit," 
 
THE EPILOGUE 
 
 (15: 14—16:27) 
 
 The body of the epistle closes with the benedic- 
 tion of 15:13. However, there is much im- 
 portant teaching in the concluding paragraphs. 
 
 1. "And I myself also am persuaded of you, 
 my brethren" ( 14, 1 5 ) . Paul had written to the 
 Romans not because they were not ''full of good- 
 ness," but because they were. The case is not as 
 in Jude 3, but more like that in i Jno. 2 : 21, 27. 
 He writes not so much to instruct, as to "put 
 them in mind" of what they already know. 
 
 2. "That I should be the minister of Jesus 
 Christ to the Gentiles" (16). This verse is 
 highly figurative. Paul writes of "ministering as 
 a priest (see the Greek) in the gospel of God, 
 that the offering up of the Gentiles might be ac- 
 ceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Spirit." 
 Dean Alford says : "The apostle is using a figure 
 in which he compares himself to a priest, and the 
 Gentiles to the sacrifice which he was offering. 
 The Gentiles themselves are the offering; so 
 Theophylact, 'This is my priesthood, to preach 
 the gospel. My knife is the Word, ye are the 
 sacrifice.' The language is evidently figurative, 
 and can by no possibility be taken as a sanction 
 for any view of the Christian minister as a sacri- 
 
 22s 
 
226 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ficing priest, otherwise than according to that 
 figure, namely, that he offers to God the accepta- 
 ble sacrifice of those who by his means believe on 
 Christ." Conybeare * and Howson translate : 
 "Yet I have written to you somewhat boldly in 
 parts (of this letter), to remind you (rather than 
 to teach you), because of that gift of grace which 
 God has given me, whereby He sent me to min- 
 ister for Jesus Christ, bearing His glad-tidings to 
 the Gentiles, that I might present them to God, as 
 a priest presents the offering a sacrifice well- 
 pleasing unto Him, hallowed by the working of 
 the Holy Spirit;" and a footnote by the same 
 translators reads : "literally, *to minister for 
 Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles, a priest present- 
 ing an offering in respect of the glad-tidings of 
 God that the Gentiles might be offered up as an 
 offering wellpleasing unto Him/ The same 
 thing is said under a somewhat different meta- 
 phor, 2 Cor. 11:2." Dr. Stifler says: "He thus 
 writes because of the apostolic 'grace' (Rom. i: 
 5 ; Eph. 3 : 8) given him by God that he should 
 be a minister, a spiritual priest, to the Gentiles, 
 not to offer a sacrifice for them, which was al- 
 ready done, but to minister to them the gospel, 
 that they themselves might be an acceptable 'of- 
 fering' to God (Eph. 5:26, 27; 2 Cor. 11:2). 
 The offering is acceptable because it is sanctified, 
 made holy, by the presence of the Holy Spirit. 
 Paul gave men the gospel, and God gave such of 
 them as believed the Holy Spirit, and by these two 
 
THE BPILOGUB. 227 
 
 means they became a fit offering to God." Num. 
 8: 14-16 is an illustrative passage on this point. 
 Moses was commanded to separate the Levites 
 from among the children of Israel : "And thou 
 shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offer- 
 ing." 
 
 3. "I have therefore whereof I may glory 
 through Jesus Christ" (17-21). In this para- 
 graph Paul speaks of his great privilege as a min- 
 ister of the gospel to the Gentiles, and points to 
 the "mighty signs and wonders" accompanying 
 his ministry as a proof that Christ was working 
 through him "by the power of the Spirit of God." 
 He had preached the gospel "from Jerusalem, 
 and round about unto Illyricum," not building 
 upon foundations already laid, but preaching 
 where Christ had not been named, thus fulfilling 
 the Word of God as written in Isa. 52: 15, "To 
 whom He was not spoken of, they shall see : and 
 they that have not heard shall understand." 
 
 4. "For which cause also I have been much 
 hindered from coming to you" (22-24). He 
 declares his purpose to come to Rome when he 
 should take his journey into Spain. Whether 
 Paul ever reached Spain is uncertain, but we 
 know that he did reach Rome, though as "a pris- 
 oner of Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1:9-15; 15:22- 
 24; Eph. 3: i; 4:1). 
 
 5. "But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister 
 unto the saints" (25-33). Paul's reference here 
 is to the collection which he was engaged in gath- 
 
228 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 ering for the poor among the Christians at Jeru- 
 salem. There are numerous references to this 
 collection in his epistles (see also Acts 24: 17). 
 The churches of Macedonia and Achaia had been 
 pleased to make this contribution, and Paul com- 
 mends them for it, for "their debtors they are. 
 For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of 
 their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister 
 unto them in carnal things" (compare i Cor. 9: 
 11). When he has finished this task of minister- 
 ing to his brethren in Jerusalem, he intends to go 
 via Rome to Spain, and he is sure that when he 
 comes he will "come in the fulness of the blessing 
 of the gospel of Christ." He beseeches the Ro- 
 man brethren to pray for him in connection with 
 this Jerusalem mission, and he makes this appeal 
 "for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the 
 love of the Spirit." We read in Galatians that 
 "the fruit of the Spirit is love," and here we are 
 reminded of the love which the Holy Spirit bears 
 unto His people. The chapter closes with the 
 apostolic benediction : "Now the God of peace be 
 with you all. Amen." 
 
 6. "I commend unto you Phebe our sister" 
 (16: 1-16). This chapter is headed by Dr. Sco- 
 field, "The outflow of Christian love." It is 
 beautiful to observe the variety of the greetings 
 sent to those in Rome who were personally 
 known to Paul. He himself had never visited the 
 Roman church, but all roads led to Rome, and it 
 had come to pass that many of his personal 
 
THE BPILOGUB. 229 
 
 friends had gone to Rome from the churches 
 which he himself had been instrumental in found- 
 ing. We have heard before of Priscilla and 
 Aquila, and of some of the others mentioned in 
 this list. The 13th verse is particularly touch- 
 ing: ''Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his 
 mother and mine." This is a pathetic reference 
 to the tender relationship between God's children. 
 Rufus was Paul's brother in the Lord, and Rufus' 
 mother had at some time ministered to Paul as 
 a mother, and so he speaks of her as his own 
 mother. 
 
 7. "Now I beseech you, brethren" (17-20). 
 He warns them against those who would cause 
 divisions and introduce schism into the sweet at- 
 mosphere of spiritual unity suggested by these 
 relationships of which he has been speaking. 
 These false teachers were to be avoided, for they 
 "by good words and fair speeches deceive the 
 hearts of the simple." The obedience of the Ro- 
 man saints is known far and wide. Paul is glad 
 on this account, but he exhorts them to further 
 obedience in turning away from false doctrines, 
 for he would have them "wise unto that which is 
 good, and simple concerning evil." The promise 
 of the 20th verse is to encourage them in patient 
 waiting: "The God of peace shall bruise Satan 
 under your feet shortly" (compare Gen. 3: 15). 
 This section also closes with a benediction : "The 
 grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 
 Amen." 
 
230 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS. 
 
 8. "Timotheus my workfellow, and Lucius, 
 and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen, salute 
 you" (21-24). Paul has been sending saluta- 
 tions to Christians in Rome ; he now sends salu- 
 tations from Christians who are with him. 
 "Timotheus" and ''Lucius" are better known to 
 us as "Timothy" and "Luke." Tertius is Paul's 
 amanuensis. Gaius, now Paul's host, is doubtless 
 the man alluded to in i Cor. i : 14. He is also 
 the host "of the whole church," for the Corin- 
 thian church was probably holding its meetings in 
 his house. A striking contrast is presented by 
 "Erastus the chamberlain of the city," a high 
 municipal official, and "Ouartus a brother," who 
 joined in these Christian salutations. Quartus' 
 name means fourth, just as Tertius is also a 
 Latin numeral, and means third. These men, it 
 has been conjectured, were formerly occupied as 
 galley slaves, or in some other occupation where 
 they were numbered instead of named. The 
 Greek, in verse 23, reads, "Quartus the brother," 
 instead of "a brother ;" he is just "Brother Quar- 
 tus." From a nameless condition he had been 
 exalted to the position of a holy brother (Heb. 
 3:1) in Christ (compare i Sam. 2 : 6-8), and was 
 in an equal brotherhood with the city chamber- 
 lain. 
 
 9. "Now to him that is of power to stablish 
 you" (25-27). This closing paragraph is of 
 great doctrinal importance as touching the person 
 of Christ, (i) God is "of power to stablish" His 
 
THE EPILOGUE. 231 
 
 people; (2) He stablishes them according to 
 Paul's gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ ; 
 (3) this preaching of Jesus Christ by which God 
 stablishes His people must be a "preaching of 
 Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the 
 mystery." There is much preaching of Jesus 
 Christ which does not establish God's people, be- 
 cause it is not according to Paul's gospel, nor "ac- 
 cording to the revelation of the mystery, which 
 was kept secret since the world began," but was 
 made manifest by revelation to the apostle Paul 
 (compare Eph. 3: 1-7). The Lord Jesus Christ 
 "according to the revelation of the mystery" is 
 (i) "the Mighty God" from eternity (Isa. 9: 
 6) ; (2) "Immanuel, God with us" in flesh 
 (Isa. 7:14; Mt. 1:21-23); (3) "our Pass- 
 over sacrificed for us" (i Cor. 5:7; compare 
 Ex. 12 : 12) ; (4) "the Great Shepherd" in res- 
 urrection (Heb. 13:20, 21; Rom. 1:4); (5) 
 "High Priest over the house of God" (Heb. 10: 
 21 ; 3 : 14) ; (6) "Christ in us, the hope of glory" 
 (Col. 1:26, 2y; Gal. 2:20); (7) the coming 
 King over the whole earth (Zech. 14 : 9 ; Jer 23 : 
 5, 6). 
 
 "TO GOD ONLY WISE, BE GLORY 
 THROUGH JESUS CHRIST FOR EVER. 
 AMEN." 
 
Serving-and-Waiting 
 
 Treating the International Sunday School Lesson 
 A Monthly Bible Study Magazine 
 
 Each issue containing a sermon by Dr. C. L Sco- 
 field; ably written articles on fundamental doctrines 
 and a thorough treatment of the Sunday School 
 lesson. 
 
 Edited by 
 
 WILLIAM L. PETTINGILL 
 
 The author of "God's Prophecies for Plain People;" "Simple 
 
 Studies in Matthew;" "Romans;" "Daniel;" "Revelation;" 
 
 "Israel, Jehovah's Covenant People;" "The Coming 
 
 One," etc. 
 
 The estimate of Charles G. Trumbull, Editor of 
 the "Sunday School Times," of Mr. Pettingill: 
 
 "Mr. Pettingill has the Spirit-given gift of teach- 
 ing mentioned by Paul in his letters to the Corinthians 
 and the Ephesians in a marked degree. A keen sense 
 of humor is only one of the elements that enter into 
 his magnetic personality. Like Moody, he realizes the 
 value of a sanctified imagination. My soul was 
 thrilled as I heard him several years ago at a Bible 
 Conference picture a scene that would take place in 
 the Cave of Macpelah at the resurrection." 
 
 $1.50 PER YEAR IN ADVANCE 
 15 cents for single copy 
 
 In clubs of 10, either one or separate addresses, 
 $1.25 per year with one free subscription to the club 
 leader. Build a club — write for samples. 
 
 SERVING-AND-WAITING 
 
 1721-1723 Spring Garden Street 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
There are Great Highways Through the Bible 
 
 MOST PEOPLE J^J^ DO YOU 
 DON'T SEE ^j^K WANT TO 
 THEM HIP SEE THEM? 
 
 If you cannot come to the school for oral teaching then you 
 should study 
 
 The Scofield Bible Study Leaflets 
 
 WHICH WILL PROVE AN EXCELLENT GUIDE 
 
 Eighty-one outline lessons or studies, on sixty-four 
 
 fundamental subjects arranged to require first-hand 
 
 study of the Bible itself. Most excellent for Bible 
 classes and Sunday-school work. 
 
 3_ , Series 1. — 27 Lessons _ _ Unbound Leaflets 
 
 SpriP^ Series 2. — 27 Lessons \ rOmiS Teacher's Books 
 *^"^^ Series 3.— 27 Lessons *' i^u^a Combination Book 
 
 PRICES: 
 
 Unbound leaflets at 20c for the 27 lessons of any one series; 8c per 
 dozen of any one lesson. The lessons of Series 1, 2 and 3 are bound 
 separately in book-form for Teachers' use at 25c each. A lirnited 
 number of the three series bound in one book with flexible fabrikoid 
 cover, price, $1.50. Postage extra. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE 
 
 1721-23 SPRING GARDEN STREET - PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
, Five Books 
 
 By WILLIAM L. PETTINGILL 
 
 Dean Philadelphia School of the Bible and Editor 
 "Serving-and- Waiting" 
 
 Simple Studies Series 
 
 The Truth Made Plain 
 
 These books are just what the name adopted 
 indicates — Simple Studies — easily comprehended 
 studies avoiding difficult questions and technical 
 language and presenting the truth clearly, forcibly 
 and scripturally. They are within the comprehen- 
 sion of any, but, nevertheless, are well worth the 
 attention of every student of God's Word. 
 
 SIMPLE STUDIES IN DANIEL 
 
 Paper Covers, 50 cents. Cloth Covers, $1.00 
 
 SIMPLE STUDIES IN MATTHEW 
 Paper Covers, 50 cents. Cloth Covers, $1.00 
 
 III 
 
 SIMPLE STUDIES IN ROMANS 
 Paper Covers, 50 cents. Cloth Covers, $1.00 
 
 IV 
 
 SIMPLE STUDIES IN REVELATION 
 Paper Covers, 50 cents. Cloth Covers, $1.00 
 
 ISRAEL, JEHOVAH'S COVENANT PEOPLE 
 
 Being Reprinted 
 
 PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE 
 1721-23 Spring Garden Street, Philadelphia, Penna. 
 
PHILADELPHIA 
 SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE 
 
 C. I. SCOFIELD WM. L. PETTINGILL 
 
 President Dean 
 
 J. DAVIS ADAMS, General Secretary 
 
 DAY AND EVENING COURSES 
 
 THREE TERMS PER YEAR 
 
 TUITION FREE 
 
 To one who is interested in the things of God and in the 
 ministry of the Word of God, certainly the outstanding need 
 today is the training of preachers, teachers and missionaries 
 BibHcally. The strength of the false teachers' position lies in 
 the ignorance of the Bible on the part of God's people. 
 
 The full course of instruction in the Day School covers two 
 years and in the Evening School four years, of three terms each 
 year, each of which has its specific work. While students may 
 secure the privilege of entering at such times as conditions 
 warrant, it is obviously of advantage to enter at the beginning 
 of a term and especially of the Fall Term. 
 
 The object of the School is to train men and women in the 
 knowledge and use of the English Bible and to deepen the 
 spiritual life. It also proposes to give a practical knowledge of 
 preaching, Bible teaching, evangelism, missionary work, Gospel 
 music and of the methods of Christian work that are necessary 
 for the equipment of the believer for witness-bearing and service. 
 
 As a center of testimony to fundamental truth to a wide 
 and rapidly increasing territory, the School has advantages that 
 attract students and stewards of the Lord's money. 
 
 Young Man! Young Woman! Have you answered the 
 Lord's question, "Who will go for us.'"' and are you prepared to 
 go into the harvest field at home or abroad? 
 
 For information write 
 
 PHILADELPHIA SCHOOL OF THE BIBLE 
 
 1721-23 Spring Garden Street 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
vl nliKL y??r ''•»''!' "d tY n I 
 
 ^^^^^^,^^^^^ Bibles, and ^^^^^_^,^^ 
 
 THREE REASONS 
 for you to consider carefully and prayerfully 
 
 1. All profits from its book business go to the 
 support of the Philadelphia School of the Bible 
 — no profits go to any person or persons. 
 
 The management of the school wants to increase the pro- 
 fits of its book business until these profits are sufficient to 
 meet (as they do now in part) the entire cost of taxes, 
 light, office expenses, clerical help, management, etc., so 
 that all contributions may be used exclusively for teachers, 
 Bible classes, conferences, evangelistic and other lines 
 of work. 
 
 2. No unscriptural books are or will be know- 
 ingly sold under any circumstances — orders for 
 such when received are refused. 
 
 It is of common knowledge that you can buy a doctrin- 
 ally unsound book from almost any book store, and that 
 such books are sometimes put on sale in book stores con- 
 ducted by Christian men and denominations and 
 brought to the attention of customers. Surely believers 
 should support a store that excludes books that oppose 
 the truth. 
 
 3. Prices are as reasonable as can be obtained 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Even were our prices higher in rare instances, we might 
 reasonably expect those that love the truth to buy from 
 the school — how much more might we then ask you to 
 give the management a chance to meet lower prices before 
 you buy elsewhere unless such reduction is refused you. 
 
 BUY YOUR BOOKS AND BIBLES FROM 
 
 Philadelphia School of the Bible 
 
 Publishers, Importers and Sellers of 
 
 Doctrinally correct Books and Pamphlets 
 
 1721-23 Sprint Garden St. Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
 ry LiDrane: 
 
 1 1012 01206 4061 
 
i