CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 1
The first chapter as far as verse 17 gives an introduction to that which follows. Then in the following verses of chapter 1 and as far as verse 19 of chapter 3 we get the character of the man who has been tested under every conceivable condition. The apostle then brings out what is connected with the Man that is. He develops the character of the man that was, in order to make room for God’s righteousness and for the Man that is. Righteousness and power are the prominent attributes of God which form the subject of His gospel, besides that He Himself is made known in love. The gospel is concerning His Son, but the first great point is making God known, of course by Christ, for in this epistle everything is referred to God. God is made known in His righteousness, power, and love.
As to the man that was. We may so speak of him, because God recognised man up to a certain point; he was under probation; he had a place which he has not now. We have in these early chapters a survey of man up to the cross. He has been completely tested, and proved to be unmendable; no good can come out of Him for God. This was always known to God, but had to be demonstrated so that man might know it. It was not fully demonstrated until God produced His Man; and these chapters show the state into which man had fallen. Christ came out, apart from the man that was. He came out in the order of the new man in resurrection. You do not properly get the new man in Romans, but Christ inaugurated that order.
The early part of Romans treats of individual sins and guilt, but as a demonstration of man’s state. We have the moral history of the man that sinned, his degradation is traced in chapter 3, “His throat is an open sepulchre”. What comes of an open sepulchre must be offensive; and there are besides, his lips, mouth, feet, etc.; but the point here in chapter 1 is that God begins with another Man. God’s gospel is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Christ is spoken of as of the seed of David because He came as One entitled to a throne on earth. It shows that God was not unmindful of His promises in the past, and He will yet have a throne on earth according to the sure mercies of David; but the great point in Romans is the introduction of another Man.
Verse 2 shows that God had spoken before, and you must have the link maintained with the past. In Abraham we have promise, and God’s determined purpose to bless is made known. Then in connection with David we see that God will have His throne here, and, according to His right to dispose of the earth as He sees fit, He will have David’s seed upon that throne. Christ takes that up, but the point here is the introduction of another Man; then to chapter 3: 19 the state of the first man. At the end of chapter 3 we have God’s righteousness established in Christ’s blood; in chapter 4 God’s power in raising the One who was delivered for our offences; then the offences are gone. In chapter 5 all is “through him”; that brings in the thought of administration. God’s benefits are administered to us through our Lord Jesus Christ. All is in connection with another Man; and people find it difficult to get into that. Then in chapter 6 we have the new Head, we reckon ourselves alive in Him, and now it is “in him” and not “through him”; we are in His line, descended from Him. In chapter 7 there is change of law, we are released from the old husband, but are [married] to another, even to Him that is raised from the dead. In chapter 8 we are not in the flesh but in the Spirit. We have there an entirely new thing, our relation to the Spirit.
[p. 33] In chapter 5 the thought is more of the last Adam than the second Man, because there everything is “through him”, and that involves administration. “Through him” implies instrumentality. It is when we come to “in him” that we get the thought of the second Man, the Head, involving descent and derivation. This does not go so far as new creation, but it involves it. Romans 6 does not really go beyond reckoning, you reckon yourself to be dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We do not get the positive doctrine of “in Christ” developed in this epistle.
The statement of chapter 1, verse 4, “declared to be Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection of the dead” — is abstract; and hence indicates the order of those in that line. Christ came after a completely new order according to the Spirit of holiness, everything now follows in that line. The link with Christ is after the Spirit of holiness. It is the divine state by the Holy Spirit, and is worked out as to us in chapter 8. It is true in Christ, and works down to the saints. Christ could not have made atonement if He had not come as man, the seed of David according to the flesh; but none can know Him according to the flesh now. If any man be in Christ there is new creation, but outwardly the believer is not new creation. A christian is much greater inwardly than he is outwardly. What is involved in the Spirit carries you far beyond what you are outwardly. You cannot get beyond a justified man outwardly, and outwardly you are not new creation. Outwardly we cannot now go beyond the appropriation of Christ as Lord, receiving all through Him; but in the Spirit’s power we enter into heavenly privilege; when Christ comes all will be made manifest.
Christ is marked out Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, that is where we get our line; the sixth, seventh, and eighth chapters [p. 34] give us the subjective side. What comes out in sons is the spirit of holiness. Christ was absolutely, even when down here, after that order. The privilege of being children of God does not give us dignity before men, it is a secret between the soul and God. As Son of God, Christ brings you into all the light of God. As Lord, He controls you, and you confess Him as such that it may be known whose you are. As Lord, He administers all that He has secured, and faith appropriates it. It is important that evangelists should present Christ as Lord, in whom all power is centred, and shows that God has placed Him within the reach of faith. In people’s thoughts the greatness of the world and of man eclipses that of the Lord. Christ administers peace and reconciliation. As responsible men outwardly on earth, we have nothing save that we are justified and have received the Holy Spirit. The proof of justification is that we have received the Holy Spirit. Justification refers not so much to state as to responsibility, and God’s judgment. The word of God inwardly, that is by the Spirit, carries you beyond that, it carries you on to divine purpose. We are justified by faith, and the gift of the Spirit is the proof of how completely we are justified.
The “man in Christ” did not need a thorn in the flesh, but the man down here did. Paul knew a man in Christ, but whether in the body or absent from it he knew not, such an one had great revelations. But when we come to the man down here, he needed a thorn in the flesh to keep him from elation. Paul fully recognises the responsibility of the man down here. There are certain things which are administered to us by the Lord down here, and there are things which are between the soul and God. To be a son of God is a dignity before God which the soul cherishes as something enjoyed between the soul and God. It is like election — there are blessings good to you, but you do not proclaim them world wide. You do [p. 35] preach justification. You proclaim Jesus as Lord — all power in His hands and blessing through Him. God’s Son is our Lord. There is the light of God which faith appropriates, and full administration in man. The One through whom the light comes is the One through whom the blessings of God come to men. If you get to the Lord you get to the light, and you are light in the Lord. He has secured all and administers all, and in that One we get the full light of God. God has placed Him within the reach of faith, and if we appropriate Him we get the gain of all that He has secured.
“Obedience of faith” is obedience to Him who is in this position of Lord. There is nothing to equal the goodness of God. Christ administers peace, reconciliation, and eternal life. He died and rose again that He might be Lord of all — dead and living. If there is one Man out of death, it shows that the power of death is broken. It shows that He is superior to it, and He brings every saint out of death. Death and the judgment of God are gone, and we who were sometime darkness are now light in the Lord. To faith the Lord is in victory and holds the field, not man, though he may appear to do so. He has been rejected here, and man is holding the things of God sentimentally, which is a perversion of the truth, and often holding the truth in unrighteousness.
The power spoken of in verse 16 is God’s power. In verse 4, in the expression “declared to be the Son of God with power”; we had that which is characteristic of the last Adam. It means the Son of God with life-giving power. This is displayed in resurrection, and is characteristic of that Person. It is different in Ephesians 1; there it is God’s power in raising Christ. Here resurrection is witness to the life-giving power of the Son of God. It is an abstract statement, “resurrection of dead” involving not only His resurrection but resurrection generally. It is a great thing [p. 36] to see that resurrection is the power that will set aside everything which exists. In John the power is seen to be in the Lord Himself; it was witnessed in figure in the beginning of that gospel in turning the water into wine. The christian is risen with Christ, and is thus superior to everything here. In Christ risen God has set forth all that is in His purpose with regard to man. Even Israel will be brought into blessing in the power and on the principle of resurrection. In the vision of the prophet (Ezekiel 37) the dry bones live. In verse 16 the power mentioned is that which is inherent and is set forth in the gospel; the gospel is the power of God to salvation. It is like the word, quick and powerful, it effectuates salvation. We have this also in 1 Corinthians 1; the preaching is foolishness to the Greek, and a stumbling-block to the Jews; but to us who are saved it is the power of God. The gospel is this power of God, it brings a man’s soul into the light of God, and thus links his soul with God. The glad tidings have to be announced to men, they would not be the power of God to salvation apart from the preaching. There is a great deal of preaching which is not gospel; the subject of the gospel is the setting forth of God Himself in love and in the declaration of His attributes of righteousness and power, and in the very nature of things this is salvation to man; it is the power for bringing man to Himself.
“I am not ashamed of the gospel” — the apostle puts it in this negative way, because the gospel had put him into the place of shame, and he was writing to those who were in the great gentile metropolis, he was ready to preach the gospel to those at Rome also. But the gospel is what a man might well be proud of when we consider its greatness. It should not be here “the gospel of Christ”, but simply “the gospel”. Although the gospel is concerning God’s Son, yet it is a revelation of God, it brings God before you. It is really God’s glad tidings, and is the revelation of God in His moral attributes made known in the Son. It is God as God, though everything came out by Christ. God’s righteousness is declared in Christ’s blood, it is made known by the gospel, and came out to man that man might be justified and dwell in the light of His righteousness. It is by the sacrifice of Christ that God makes His righteousness known, and instead of repelling, it now conforms. God brings you to Himself, and according as you are in His presence, you are conformed to His righteousness, you become a servant of righteousness and are brought into moral conformity to Him.
Righteousness declared in the blood is involved in verse 17. Only by sacrifice could God make it known. Sin must be removed from under His eye. It no longer stands in the way of the accomplishment of God’s purposes, it has been removed, and death annulled. The first great consequence of the removal of sin is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same One who takes away sin also baptises with the Holy Spirit. Sin is removed because Christ was made sin; it is not yet removed from the world, but from the eye of God; the work has been done upon the ground of which it will be put out of the world. God could not set to work to accomplish His purpose, nor give the Holy Spirit, until everything had been removed on His side. In the removal of sin is manifested the truth that God is love. Christ went into death to annul death. Consequently we have in chapter 5 peace, reconciliation, and eternal life established through our Lord Jesus Christ; they could not exist if sin were not removed and death annulled. God condemned sin in the flesh, and death ends man’s state. The first five chapters in Romans show that all is clear on God’s side, the next three show the way out of all difficulties on our side. It is a great thing that all should be clear on our side; but there is no gospel [p. 38] if all is not clear on God’s side. He will weaken everything here in death and set it aside, and establish everything of His purpose in the power of resurrection. All will be on that ground, the church and Israel also. In chapter 3 the blood declares God’s righteousness; power came out in resurrection. Resurrection is the mighty power which will revolutionise everything. In Ephesians 1 the resurrection of Christ is according to the power of God to usward who believe.
The resurrection of Christ was a necessity, we read that it was not possible that He should be holden of death. In Psalm 16 we see such moral perfection in a man, that that man must go to the right hand of God. It is equally true that He was made sin, but in Psalm 16 we see the moral perfection of a man. In John 10 the Lord will not acknowledge the hand of man in His death. He says that He had authority to lay down His life and to take it again. He had received this commandment from the Father, no man took it from Him. His death was a necessity for the sheep. It is a very beautiful chapter.
The wrath of God from heaven is revealed at the same time as His righteousness. It is in contrast with governmental wrath in Old Testament times; it forms a dark background to the gospel. It will come into this scene, but will not stop here, but pass on into what is eternal. In the seven vials there is the direct pouring out of wrath from heaven. Wrath is universal and will lie upon all who obey not the gospel; it is the extreme of God’s displeasure. The one who is not subject to the Son has God’s wrath abiding on him; he will be obnoxious to God for ever. Eternal life is the extreme of God’s pleasure. Righteousness and wrath both came out in the cross.
“When they knew God” (verses 21). There was universal testimony to God. Man started with the knowledge of God, that is, of His eternal power and Godhead, then we get the downward steps. First, they [p. 39] changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, birds, beasts and creeping things. Second, they changed the truth of God into a lie. Third, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. They gave God up and God gave them up. We see further the moral depravity of man, in that even where man has light he is not affected by it. Men knew the righteous judgment of God, but that did not affect their practice. The first form of idolatry was bad enough, but the second was worse when they worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator. In idolatry God is not absolutely denied, but His glory is given to the creature. Then God gave man up to vile affections. There is great importance in these chapters as showing that there is nothing to be looked for from the man that is. Men have had light from God, they have had His law, know what the righteous judgment of God is, but they are not affected by it a bit. Nothing is to be expected from either Jew, philosopher, or gentile. The condition of the first man is irremediable. These two chapters pave the way for another Man, everything for God comes in in Him. The light and glory of God are there, and everything for man is established in Him and administered by Him. He is God’s Son. It is no use giving man, as man, more light; no use carrying the gospel to the heathen with the thought of reinstating man, though individuals may be blessed; for as to man, as man, the more light he has, the worse his state is; there are probably darker things connected with christendom than there ever were even with the heathen. Man is hopelessly lost. He first degraded God in his thoughts, and then he degraded himself and his fellow-man. They thought God was like themselves; this is what men do now, they bring God down to their level, but God rebukes such a thought, He says, “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee”, Psalm 50: 21. There is a fearful amount of moral depravity in christendom even though light is there.