Romans 5:1 I. We read in the New Testament, and especially in the writings of St. Paul, a good deal of the doctrine of justification by faith. Now, is there any distinction between this doctrine of justification, between this blessing of justification, and the blessing of pardon? Is pardon synonymou... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:1 The State of Grace. There are some who seem only to fear or to have very little joy in religion. These are in a more hopeful state than those who only joy and do not fear at all; yet they are not altogether in a right state. Let us consider how the persons in question come to have this... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:1 Immediate Results of Justification. To be acquitted of guilt through the death of Jesus is the most elementary blessing which the gospel brings to our condemned race, shut up in its prison-house of wrath. But it cannot come alone. It opens a door of hope through which each reconciled si... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:7 God's Love Magnified in Christ's Death. I. In considering how God appointed our Lord and Saviour to suffering and death as the most perfect proof of obedience, it seems necessary to begin by removing a difficulty which will certainly occur to every one: that is, that the death of the Sav... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:8 What Proves God's Love? I. It is a strange thing that the love of God needs to be either proved or pressed upon men. (1) There never was, there is not, any religion untouched by Christianity that has any firm grip of the truth "God is love." (2) Even among ourselves and other people tha... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:12 Perhaps there is no more awful thought than this, that sin is all around us and within us, and we know not what it is. We are beset by it on every side: it hangs over us, hovers about us, casts itself across our path, hides itself where our next footstep is to fall, searches us through... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:17 The Chapter of the Five Kings. Where do we find these five kings? There is King Sin, for Sin reigned. There is King Death, for I read "Death reigned." There is King Grace, for Grace reigned. There is King Jesus, for we reign by One, Jesus Christ; and then, as a consequence, you have ki... [ Continue Reading ]
Romans 5:20 Abounding Sin; Over-abounding Grace. I. Grace. Here are the two antagonists grace and sin. Both would be kings; one only has the power to reign. Grace is not just synonymous with love, though love is at the heart of it. It is love in a certain relation the love of a Redeemer working to... [ Continue Reading ]