And now having convicted the Gentile world of sin, the Apostle turns to the Jews.

Ch. ii. 1: Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things. . . . . . Thou bearest the name of a Jew and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God, and knowest His will.... being instructed out of the law, and .... having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth. Thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? . . . . Thou who gloriest in the law, dishonourest thou God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Ch. iii. 10: [Thus have we] laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin . . . . that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God ....

But now apart from the Law a Righteousness of God hath been manifested, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified (empowered for righteousness) freely by His grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, by His Blood, to shew His righteousness, that He might Himself be just, and the Justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.... (Ch. iv. 25) who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification, (for our renewal to righteousness). (Ch. v. 1) Being therefore justified (empowered for righteousness) by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In dealing with the Jews, S. Paul had a harder task. What he had said about the heathen world would have been sadly assented to by thoughtful Gentiles; but in dealing with the Jews, he had to combat their self-righteousness. If to condemn sin and sinners were righteousness, then the Jews were

M

righteous enough; but while they condemned sin in others, they lived in the practice of it themselves.

Then having shown that both Jew and Gentile were guilty before God, and without excuse, he goes on to declare that in the Gospel God had revealed a way by which all who believed in Christ might reach a real righteousness; and that this righteousness was made possible to man by the Redemption or Atonement which Christ had made by His death, for He died for our sins, and was raised to bring us to righteousness.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS

(continued).

T. Paul, you will remember, has been showing that what neither Jew nor Gentile could have done for themselves, God had done

for them by sending His Son to live and die for them. That righteousness which they could never have attained to by themselves, was brought near to them in Christ, and could be embraced and made their own by faith.

Now he goes back again and speaks of the condition of the world before Christ came.

man as being "weak, without strength."

He speaks of

Man was powerless for good, sensible of guilt, and not without a sense of righteousness, but without strength. Mankind was like the man in the parable who fell among robbers, lying by the wayside wounded and bleeding to death. Priest and Levite could do nothing, there was no chance for him till the Good Samaritan should come.

Ch. v. 6: For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly. For.... God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified (empowered for righteousness) by His Blood, shall we be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if, while

we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by His Life.

Man's extremity is God's opportunity. And so we read, "In due season Christ died for the ungodly." "In due season," that is, at the proper time. So in Gal. iv. 4, "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son."

In this way He commended His love to us. It was not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. "God so loved the world, that He gave His onlybegotten Son." "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." This truth is so mysterious and so important that S. Paul repeats it over and over again.

We are justified by Christ's blood: we are reconciled by His death.

By the shedding of Christ's blood upon the cross the whole race was justified; when Christ resigned His Spirit into His Father's hands the whole world was reconciled. We are so used to this expression, saved or reconciled by the blood of Christ, that perhaps we hardly attach any very distinct meaning to it.

"The blood of Christ "-says a living divine, whom I have often had occasion to quote-" represents Christ's life as rendered in free sacrifice to God. The blood of Christ is the Life of Christ given for man, and the Life of Christ now given to men.'

And if this be so, much more, the Apostle argues, shall we be saved by His life. What are we to understand by being saved by His life? It does not mean that we are saved by Christ's life, as something apart from His death, for it is only through His death that Christ's life can be given to us. Our

Lord's own words may help us to understand this— “Because I live, ye shall live also." We can only live by sharing in His life. So we are saved by His life, by drawing His life into our souls. There is another saying in the New Testament that helps us to understand this—“Christ ever liveth to make intercession for us; wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.” (Heb. vii. 25.)

We are saved by His Life, then, will also mean that we are saved by the present work of Christ on our behalf, by His continual intercession.

The Apostle then goes on to say that—

Ch. v. 12: Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned.

Following out this argument he proceeds to say

For if, by the trespass of the one [i.e. Adam], death reigned through the one; much more shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. 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.... where sin abounded grace did abound more exceedingly,.... through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Now we must remember that S. Paul has already shown that all men-both Jews and Gentiles-were under sin, and could not of themselves attain to righteousness and salvation: but that God by sending His Son had reconciled the world unto Himself, and had brought righteousness and salvation to man. But now comes the question, how far does this