I. On these verses a late learned editor and critic of the New Testament* remarks:-"There is perhaps no passage of the apostle more difficult than the present, or on which the opinions of commentators are more various." You will be able to form some faint idea of the perplexity and confusion, when we assure you that the single word which occurs four times, and is in our version thrice translated "creature," and once "creation," has been understood by some to mean "the lower animals-the brute creation"—while by another class of interpreters it is supposed that "the Jews" are intended, and by another "the Gentiles ;"—some, again, choose to refer it generally to "the saints"—others to "the wicked;"-some to "the holy angels "-and others to "the devils." It is not my purpose, certainly, to take * Dr. Bloomfield. up your time in explaining how these several opinions are carried out in their application. I trust that it will be more for our edification, if I simply give you that view of the whole passage, which appears to me, after a somewhat careful examination of all the theories, by far the most obvious, and the best. 1. This 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is properly regarded as a triumphant survey of the privileges of that state of justification and progressive holiness, into which, as had been shown in the previous chapters, a sinner is introduced by the divine mercy, as soon as he believes in Christ for the salvation of his soul. Amongst the rest the apostle mentions, in the 16th verse, the filial relation which christians sustain to the blessed God;—and this, by an association direct and natural, instantaneously reminds him of "the inheritance of saints." The v. 17, "if children, then heirs." inference is as certain, as it is transport ing. 2. But you will notice that, while thus "rejoicing in hope," Paul is in no danger of forgetting his obligations to the Saviour. He knew well that to the same hand, from which the church has already "received the atonement," she must now look for the crown. If her true members enjoy the witness of the "Spirit of adoption," v. 15, it is "the Spirit of Christ that is in them." If they are "the children of God," v. 16, it is because the Only-Begotten and Well-Beloved is "not ashamed to call them brethren." Being children, they are also heirs; but the title, on which they rest all their claim, runs in the name of the "First-Born." V. 17, "They are joint-hcirs with Christ." The prize, on which the eye of their divine ambition is seen to rest, is "glory, honour, and immortality;"-but what more is that than a participation with Christ? As they "run the race set before them in the Gospel," they "declare plainly, that they seek a country ;”—and that country is "Immanuel's land." Is. viii. 8. 66 They suffer with Him, that they may be also glorified together." Nor shall that hope "make them ashamed." To "the least in the kingdom of Heaven" it shall one day be given to sit upon a throne;-but that too is the Throne of the Crucified, which the love of Jesus will share with his disciples. 3. This personal, indefeasible interest, however, which every believer possesses in the fortunes of his Lord, as it expresses * Very plainly distinguished from the throne of the Eternal Father; Rev. iii. 21, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in мy throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in HIS throne." the nature of his right to "the recompense of the reward," so is it also the best guarantee for the sufficiency-the excellency-the "exceeding greatness" of the reward itself. We cannot wonder at the conclusions of the Apostolic Martyr;— “For I reckon ”—says he, v. 18,—such is the arithmetic, or, if you please, such the logic of faith-"I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." This was no enthusiastic fancy, nor yet any random guess; but a deliberate, solemn estimate of the comparative importance of these two things. And the ecstatic emotions, which this "full assurance of faith " never failed to enkindle in the bosom of "our beloved brother Paul," he pours forth in the highly figurative language of our text;-in a burst of poetry, we might have said, worthy of |
