The harmony of Law and faith. God's dispensations cannot possibly disagree; they may not have the same immediate purport, but they must harmonize. This verse is a triumphant challenge at the close of a conclusive argument. The harmony of Law and faith.
I. LAW. The great aim of the dispensation of Law was to teach man his sin and helplessness.
1. "Through the Law cometh the knowledge, of sin" (Romans 3:20). The Law within man fades in proportion as his disregard of it increases, and only by an objective Law can he then be taught his guilt. So did God, by a presentation of righteousness in the demands of the Law, bring home to man's conscience his condemnation.
2. This objective holiness, by its claims upon man's endeavours, not merely wrought condemnation in the conscience, but was designed to produce an intensest consciousness of incapacity. This not so directly intended by the apostle's words now, but falls legitimately within their scope. We see, we desire; we cannot attain.
II. FAITH. When the dispensation of Law has done its disciplinary work, the dispensation of faith shall take its place.
1. A universal condemnation prepares for the reception of the gift of grace. The world is brought to its knees before God, stricken with guilt; and now he may speak words of pardon, to be received by faith. God the Giver, man the recipient at his hands; this the relation now. Faith annulling the Law? Nay, supplementing it, and justifying its work.
2. And so the new life of faith—faith in the forgiving love of God, a faith which brings hope and inspiration—does but supplement, in no wise contradicts, the state of helplessness realized through the Law. We are at one with God; the chasm is bridged; and by his own loving help we can do his will.
To us Christians? Christ's perfect life serves for Law. How great our guilt! how utter our impotence! But he stoops to die for us, and we receive forgiveness by faith; and, being in trustful and loving fellowship with him, we now can live by him. The "Law" of his life is established, not annulled, by faith.—T.F.L.
HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE
A sacred trust.
Questions break the even flow of a course of argumentation, and, by diversifying the stream, quicken the sluggish interest of the spectators. The catechetical method is characteristic of the Apostle Paul in his most vehement moods.
I. EXPLAIN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE QUERY IN THE TEXT. It might seem strange for any to question the unexampled privileges enjoyed by the Jews, but the apostle has been laying the axe to the root of some barren trees of Jewish pretensions. He ruthlessly exposed the pleas of those who tried to shelter their non-compliance with God's statutes behind the fact that they belonged to an elect race, as if to be an Israelite were in itself a guarantee of salvation. He showed that only the doers
speaks of the chief hindrance to profiting by the oracles, viz. a want of faith. Faith is the practical employment of gospel truth; not the comprehending of all its connections and relationships, or the sounding of its fathomless depths with our tiny plummet, but the utilization of its plain declarations and directions. The road to the cross no wayfarer can mistake.
2. We too have the Bible as a sacred charge for the benefit of our fellows. Israel was to serve all generations and all races of mankind, and the Church of Christ exists for no exclusive selfish ends, but for the enlightenment of every home and land. The very position of Great Britain in the carrying-trade of the globe marks our glory and responsibility. To have a deposit entrusted to our care involves vigilance lest it suffer damage. A mutilated library condemns its guardians, and closed doors mean the flight of the glory of the Lord from the sanctuary.—S.R.A.