they shall "see him as he is." So that, whether believers look to this life, or the life to come, they feel persuaded that "because he lives, they shall live also." 1 At the beginning of this section, I pointed out the gradation observable in the two clauses of the sixth verse; and I would now observe to you that, in the eighth and tenth verses, the apostle has employed terms still more emphatically descriptive of the misery of our fallen condition. Those for whom Christ died are not only without strength, and ungodly they are also sinners, i. e. not only negatively, but positively and actually wicked; and, to complete the picture, they are enemies, i. e. in open, determined warfare against God, and goodness! And if, therefore, when we were ENEMIES, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life! * But not resting here, St. Paul seems to soar, in the following verse, to the utmost height of devout and rapturous meditation, saying, And not only so, but we also JOY IN GOD, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. That is; It is much to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son; it is much also to look forward to eternal, complete salvation: 3 but while we thus contemplate the whole scheme 1 John xiv. 19. 3 *See Note 22. See ver. 10 and 2. of redemption, as the pledge of our heavenly Father's love, as the fruit and manifestation of his good will to his rebellious creatures, what an unspeakable privilege it is to have within us, even now, that well-spring of peace, and confidence, and joy, by which the Holy Spirit enables us to cry, "Abba, Father," and continually "witnesses with our spirit, that we are indeed the children of God!" 4 We have seen how, in describing the misery of our fallen condition, the apostle employs terms which rise, one above the other, in force and energy of expression. And we find him using a similar gradation of terms, in describing the privileges and blessedness of the justified. In the second verse, he says, in the person of all true believers, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. In the third verse he adds, And not only so, but we glory, or rejoice, in tribulations also. And now, as he dwells on the sure pledge of future and complete salvation which believers enjoy, in contemplating the love of God through Christ, he declares, not only that he, and all established believers, rejoice in hope of the glory of God, and in the tribulations which they endure for the sake of that risen Saviour, whom they regard as the King of grace and glory not only so, but that they also glory, or rejoice in God the Father, as their unchangeable : 4 Chap. viii. 15, 16. 5 5 The connexion of the second, third, and eleventh verses, is friend and all-sufficient portion, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom they have now received the atonement, or reconciliation. Yes, brethren, when believers thus contemplate "God in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," they argue within themselves, and say, Shall the Father thus show his love in his Son? And shall the Son thus shew his love in himself? And shall not we, then, deem it our highest and sweetest privilege, to make a daily and hourly return of humble, adoring love, and, through the blessed influence of the Holy Spirit, to joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the RECONCILIATION ?* more plainly marked, in the original, by the use of one and the same verb, κavxŵμai, glorior, which, in our English version, is rendered by different words; as rejoice and joy in the second and eleventh verses, and glory in the third. 6 See margin.—τὴν καταλλαγὴν. *See Note 23. 7 2 Cor. v. 19. SECTION XVI. CHAP. V. ver. 12-21. FOUNTAIN OF GRACE JESUS CHRIST A MORE ABUNDANT THAN ADAM OF SIN. St. Paul, having spoken of our enmity against God, and of our reconciliation with him, proceeds, in the sequel of the chapter, to point to Adam and to Christ, as being the respective sources of that enmity and that reconciliation. 2 Wherefore, he continues, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."1 It is evident, brethren, that, in the remarkable course of reasoning upon which we now enter, Adam is compared with Christ, both in what is similar, and in what is contrary. They are alike in this, that each of them shares what he has with his own. They are clearly unlike in this, that while sin reigns unto death, over "every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam," grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, for all who are "looking unto 2 Beza apud Scott. 1 Ver. 12. 4 Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith."5 We shall observe other points of difference between them, as we proceed with the passage before us; and I trust, that, as we dwell on this portion of the epistle, we may be led, on the one hand, to humble ourselves to the very dust on account of the evil and the guilt of sin, and on the other hand, to feel and to acknowledge the inestimable benefit, which we have derived from him, "by whom we have now received the reconciliation."6 You will observe, in your Bibles, that the thirteenth and four following verses are marked as being in a parenthesis. And accordingly you will find the construction of the whole passage more simple and perspicuous, if you consider St. Paul as resuming the comparison at the eighteenth verse, and as occupying the intermediate verses, first, in proving our union with Adam, and secondly, in showing what we derive respectively from Adam and from Christ. 1. It is to prove, then, in the first place, the reality of our union with Adam, and our universal concern in his first transgression, (a truth which the proud heart of man is so unwilling to admit,) that the apostle says, in the thirteenth and fourteenth verses, For until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the simi |