WE assume that our many friends who have become regular readers of Edification, have given themselves the pleasure of reading the first eight chapters of the Epistle to the Romans eight times over.
We should be very glad to hear from any who care to write to us, c/o The Publishers, to know what impression they have Editor’s to compare notes, and, with the Editor’s permission, to consider some in a later issue if the Lord permit.
In our first paper we dealt only with the early portion of chapter one which, as we remarked, gives us the introduction to the Epistle. We observed that, in verse sixteen, the supremacy of the Gospel is brought before us in the Apostle’s exclamation, “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” The words “of Christ” are omitted in other and reliable versions, and here it is really “the gospel of God” as stated in verse one.
We have then, in verses sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, three remarkable words, viz:
The Gospel of God.
The Righteousness of God.
The Wrath of God.
The conjunction of the two latter we can understand, for we should conclude that if God were to act in righteousness towards His creatures, He must of necessity pour out His wrath upon them. The first word indicates, however, that a way has been found by which God’s wrath can be averted and yet His righteousness can be maintained.
Shall we, just at this point, take up our Bibles and read chapters one, two three and four, which comprise the scope of our present study. Here we learn that God has formed a wondrous plan by which He can just as righteously justify an ungodly sinner (4:5) as He must, apart from that plan, have visited him with His wrath.
We find that in chapters one to four the three prominent words are: —
Righteousness
Redemption
Justification.
The center word gives us the keyword of the Gospel; the foundation of the divine Man; and the basis of our blessing.
Let us consider what is meant by the term “the righteousness of God.” We have already noted that this is the grand secret of the gospel. It is that which is so much in evidence in this Epistle. We fear that many who may be true believers fight shy of it. They say, “We like to think of the love of God, but the thought of the righteousness of God frightens us.” That indicates that they have not yet got right thoughts about God. Their idea is that God took pity on them in their lost estate, gave His Son to die, and now offers to forgive their sins if they will believe in Jesus. This is true, thank God, but it leaves the persons concerned without any idea as to why and how God has come out in this way at all, and not knowing that, they have no real, settled, lasting peace.
Let us get hold of this in the first place. God is righteous, we are unrighteous. We have only got to read the awful yet only-too-true description of what man is by nature as found from 1:18. —3:18, to see how unrighteous man is. There we see man —we mean man representatively—described at his worst and at his best, but 3:19 and 23 make it clear that whether at his best or at his worst, all are alike “guilty” for “all have sinned.” If God, then, were to deal with His creatures—and these chapters describe every reader of this Magazine—in righteousness, only one thing was possible, viz., WRATH. He wanted however, to act in GRACE. What a contrast there is between wrath and grace. If God’s righteousness demanded His visiting wrath upon His creatures, then how could He in consistency with His righteousness deal with them in grace?
Therein lies the grand secret of God’s glorious gospel. Look at 3:23-26. Let us read the verses again and again until our hearts are thrilled with the grandeur of them. Here we have in plain, simple, easy-be-understood language,
MAN’S RUIN.
GOD’S REMEDY.
No verdict could be more sweeping than that of verse twenty-three, and what should we expect to follow but a declaration of God’s wrath.
Instead of that we have the proclamation of His grace. We read of how those described in verse twenty-three may be not judged but justified. Who proposes to justify them? God. How can He do it? “By His grace.” On what ground will He do it? “The redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Why does He do it? Ah! that is the unanswerable question. The word “FREELY” in verse twenty-four is very interesting. It is the same word which in John 15:2525But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. (John 15:25) is translated “Without, a cause.” There, the Lord Jesus was speaking of His enemies’ treatment of Him, and He said, “They hated Me without a cause.” Why were they His enemies? What cause had they for it, and for hating Him as they did? None whatever. On the contrary, they had every reason for loving Him. What cause had God for justifying the ungodly? None. On the contrary, He had every reason for judging them. But just as man, naturally, is incapable of loving God, so it is not possible for God to hate man, and “freely,” “without a cause,” because of the grace that ever tilled his heart, He determined to justify him.
This is a new word in the Epistle: GRACE, and it is indeed “a charming sound.” But what about God’s righteousness? Note the three outstanding words in these verses: —
Grace.
Redemption.
Righteousness.
Twixt grace and righteousness there comes redemption as the beautiful connecting link. In Christ Jesus God has found a propitiation, more truly a mercy-seat, a meeting-place. In the blood of Christ God has found a way by which He can meet and justify the ungodly. At the cross “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psa. 85:1010Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. (Psalm 85:10)). God’s glory has been maintained, His righteousness has been vindicated, every claim of His throne has been met, and now He can be “just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (3:26). We do not know a more wonderful word than that in all the Bible.
Now note. In chapter 1, the righteousness of God is manifested. In chapter 4, those who believe in Him that justifieth the ungodly are reckoned righteous. That does not mean that the righteousness of God is imputed to us (nor do we ever read in Scripture the oft-used expression “the imputed righteousness of Christ,”) but it does mean that those who, receiving the testimony contained in the gospel, believe in God, are justified by Him, and by Him are accounted righteous.
We must, however, have regard for the Editor’s space, and we therefore leave the development of this important subject to be dealt with in another paper.
In closing, we would suggest that there is no reason why we should cease reading Romans 1 to 8 after having perused it eight times.
We might with much profit go on reading these magnificent chapters again and again, and yet again.
W. BRAMWELL DICK.