THE BOOK OF ROMANS by w.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 28, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 50.

THE BOOK OF ROMANS.

By w.

WITH the next issue we begin a series of articles of a practical nature upon the book of Romans, designed to aid the Bible-reader to a better understanding of that portion of God's word, that he may read and study it with more pleasure and profit. Our plan is to make each article distinct and complete in itself as far as possible, so that whoever has only a single number of the paper, may read with profit the article which it contains; and yet, from the very nature of the case, many of the articles will depend much upon what has gone before. Under the heading of each article will appear the chapter and verse of Romans which is the subject of comment, so that all who desire to do so may keep the connection of thought.

Quite often a single sentence will furnish the basis for an entire article, and around it will be gathered other passages of Scripture relating to the same topic, so that as the thoughtful reader peruses the book of Romans each verse may teem with suggestions of deep spiritual truths. It is very true, as Chalmers says, that "people, in reading the Bible, are often not conscious of the extreme listlessness with which they pass along the familiar and oft-repeated words of Scripture, without the impression of their meaning being at all present with the thoughts,—and how, during the mechanical currency of the thoughts through their lips, the thinking power is often asleep

for whole passages together." One object of these articles will be to make this impossible to the reader of the book of Romans, by linking so many thoughts with each passage that they will involuntarily come to his mind as he reads it.

Very little heed will be given to the varying opinions of the numerous commentators, our object being to lead the mind of the reader directly to the truth contained in the sacred word, and help him to draw from it for himself some of its wealth. Questions which any who read this may wish to ask upon any portion of the epistle, will be thankfully received, and will be considered in their proper order.

As to the time and place of the writing of this epistle, there is little doubt. When the apostle wrote it, he had never visited Rome, but was planning to do so. Rom. 1:10, 11; 15:23-28. From this last text we learn that he was just about to visit Jerusalem, with the contributions which the Gentile Christians had made for the support of the poor saints in that city. Now this contribution was taken on Paul's last visit to Jerusalem. Acts 20:2, 3; 24:17. On this trip he was accompanied by certain brethren whose names are mentioned in the first epistle to the Corinthians, some of whom undoubtedly lived there; and the letter itself commends, and was evidently delivered by, Phebe, "a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea" (Rom. 16:1), the port of Corinth. The epistle to the Romans was, therefore, undoubtedly written from Corinth, about 58 A. D.

There is probably no other epistle of Paul to which Peter's words (2 Peter 3:16) have more special application than to the epistle to the Romans. In it there are "some things hard to be understood," and thousands of unlearned and unstable souls have wrested them to their own destruction. But the apostle does not say that there are things in Paul's writings that cannot be understood. That there are some things in the book of Romans, as well as in other portions of the Bible, that no man does fully understand, cannot be doubted. Yet no one will wrest these things to his own destruction, unless he has previously done so to the other portions of Scripture, which are more plain. That is, the man who has a sincere desire for truth, and who reverently accepts and firmly holds to those portions of Scripture which are comparatively simple, will not be harassed by doubts as to those things which seem utterly to baffle his comprehension. Believing that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God," he will know that the more obscure parts cannot conflict with any other part, and so will possess his soul in patience until prayerful study, or the arising of the Day-star, shall lighten up the whole.

That the epistle to the Romans is not a book for learned theologians alone, but that the common people may understand it, will be evident to all who think for a moment of the persons to whom it was written. It was written as a letter to the church in Rome. Although Rome was the metropolis of the world, it is not at all to be doubted that the apostle could have written to them as he did to the church in the proud and opulent city of Corinth: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." 1 Cor. 1:26. The church in Rome was doubtless principally composed, as most of the true churches of Christ have been in all ages, of the laboring classes, those whose station in life was lowly, and who had not enjoyed the advantages of what is known as a "liberal education." There were carpenters, and blacksmiths, and masons, and shop-keepers, and shoe-makers, and tent-makers, and gardeners, and housekeepers, among those to whom Paul wrote, and doubtless they formed the majority. Nevertheless the apostle wrote to them, expecting them to understand his letter. The apostle who wrote, "In the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue" (1 Cor. 14:19), could not write an epistle in language impossible to be understood by the common people which composed the church. Of course they needed to receive and study it in the spirit in which it was written. They needed the aid of the

Spirit of God, in order to understand it. But we have the promise of the same Spirit if we but ask for it, and so we may understand it as well as they. Surely that Spirit which indicted the epistle can make it plain to those who humbly put themselves in the way of being guided by it. On this point, the following remarks by Dr. Albert Barnes, in the introduction to his comments on this epistle, are most pertinent:—

“It cannot be denied that one reason why the epistles of Paul have been regarded as so difficult, has been an unwillingness to admit the truth of the plain doctrines which he teaches. The heart is by nature opposed to them, and comes to believe them with great reluctance. This feeling will account for no small part of the difficulties felt in regard to this epistle. There is one great maxim in interpreting the Scriptures, that can never be departed from. It is, that men can never understand them aright, until they are willing to suffer them to speak out their fair and proper meaning. When men are determined not to find certain doctrines in the Bible, nothing is more natural than that they should find difficulties in it, and complain much of its great obscurity and mystery.”

“Perhaps, on the whole, there is no book of the New Testament that more demands an humble, docile, and prayerful disposition in its interpretation than this epistle. Its profound doctrines; its abstruse inquiries; and the opposition of many of those doctrines to the views of the unrenewed and unsubdued heart of man, make a spirit of docility and prayer peculiarly needful in its investigation. No man ever yet understood the reasonings and views of the apostle Paul but under the influence of elevated piety. None ever found opposition to his doctrines recede, and difficulties vanish, who did not bring the mind in an humble frame to receive all that has been revealed; and that, in a spirit of humble prayer, did not purpose to lay aside all bias, and open the heart to the full influence of the elevated truths which he inculcates. Where there is a willingness that God should reign and do all his pleasure, this epistle may be in its general character easily understood.”

Olshausen, also, after giving an analysis of the epistle, says:—

“Such being the nature of the contents of the epistle to the Romans, it may be understood why it is usually regarded as very difficult. Indeed, it may be said that where there is wanting in the reader’s own life an experience analogous to that of the apostle, it is utterly unintelligible. Everything in the epistle wears so strongly the impress of the greatest originality, liveliness and freshness of experience; the apostle casts so sure and clear a glance into the most delicate circumstances of spiritual life in the regenerate; he can with such admirable clearness resolve the particular into the general, that the reader who occupies the low and confined level of natural worldly knowledge, now feels his brain reel as he gazes at those stupendous periods of development in the universe disclosed by Paul, and now finds his vision fail as it contemplates the minute and microscopic processes which Paul unveils in the hidden depth of the soul. Where, however, analogous inward experience, and the spiritual eye sharpened thereby, come to the task, the essential purport of the epistle makes itself clear, even to the simplest mind.”

We believe that both of these writers have stated the exact truth. A study of the epistle, with a prayerful, sincere desire to know and do God’s will, and to have him work his own will in the soul, will lead to a general understanding of it, and will aid in giving the spiritual experience of which it treats. But when the Spirit has performed its work so that the individual can exclaim, Oh, the blessedness of the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! Oh, the blessedness of the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile! he will study the epistle with an enjoyment so much more intense that it will seem as though he never before knew anything about it.

That the Holy Spirit, which is given to guide us into all truth, may so soften our hearts as to make them easily susceptible to its influence; that we may have such a longing desire and determined purpose to do the will of God, that he may cause us to know of the doctrine; and that so we may find in this epistle that reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, which shall make us perfect, “thoroughly furnished unto all good works,” is the sincere prayer of the writer. w.