The final commendation.
The final commendation, left imperfect as regards mere form; but hearts were full, his and theirs, and full hearts do not utter all they feel. "I commend you"—so in Acts 20:32. But they will understand his meaning, without the utterance of the words, and he need but Point upwards, and say, "To him" etc Shall we reverently gaze on this prayer of an apostle's full heart? So we note—the power of God; the principles of the exercise of Gods Power; the glad committal to that wise power through Jesus Christ.
I. God was "able to stablish" them. Paul had expressed the desire in Romans 1:11 to impart to them some spiritual gift, that they might be established. He yet hopes to see them with that intent. And surely he may well trust that this letter, written in fulfilment of his mission from Christ, may have such result. But only God's Power can effect the result, when man has done his best. And God's power can accomplish all things; he is "able to stablish." The manifold stablishment: we need but glance along the line of the Epistle to determine that. In their faith, surely, in God's forgiving love, which was the basis of the new life; in their death to sin, and new life unto God, which such true faith in God's love through Christ must work; in their humility and love amongst one another as Christians; in their submission to the rightful Powers of the state, and their true, love-inspired justice towards their fellow-citizens; in their hope of the coming of God's perfect kingdom; and in their determined resistance of all incoming evil: in this God could stablish them, and God alone.
II. And, "according to my gospel." The reception of God's power was conditioned upon the reception of God's truth, for "the Power of God can act only in agreement with the thought of God" (Godet). If they would be firm in the faith, and in the new life of faith, they must intelligently believe the gospel of Christ. Yes, for Paul's gospel was Christ's gospel, and he preached not himself, but Christ Jesus. And this preaching of Christ was not according to his own skill and wisdom; it had been revealed from heaven (see Galatians 1:11, Galatians 1:12, Galatians 1:16). It had not been always revealed; a "mystery' once, "kept in silence through times eternal" hidden in the thought of God from the beginning, and through the earlier ages of the world's history. Oh, these blessed secrets of God, ready to burst upon us with a shock of surprise! This secret had broken on the world; the mystery was "manifested," and "made known unto all the nations," manifested to the apostles, pre-eminently to Paul, and made known by them. not as an absolutely new thing, but as hinted at in earlier prophecies; made known in their teaching and writing, that all the world might know. And the end, as before, "obedience of faith "—the yielding of the whole mind and heart to the message and grace of the eternal God, that so his power might work in them to their salvation and eternal stablishment.
III. To such a One he commends them, and to the word of his grace. He had taught them according to his best wisdom; should he see them, he will build them up according to his best power. But his wisdom and power are nothing apart from the power of God "only wise;" and when his wisdom and power have done their best, still God's wise power must work all. He may see them; he may not: but, in any case, the eternal God is their Refuge, and round and underneath are the everlasting arms!
To him be the glory, through Christ! "For of him, and through him, and to him are all things. Amen."—T.F.L.
HOMILIES BY S.F. ALDRIDGE
A Christian commendation.
It is an honour and a help to receive an introduction from one high in authority. Men of exalted station incur a serious responsibility in the matter of granting or withholding letters of recommendation. The Apostle Paul had known what it was to be treated with scant courtesy by the Church at Jerusalem, until he was warmly taken by the hand by Barnabas. Doubtless this remembrance quickened his desire to support and shield others in a similar position. How strongly he advocates the cause of Phoebe!
I. CLAIMS TO THE REGARD OF A CHURCH.
1. As a fellow-believer, a "sister" in Christ. To the instinctive sympathy which nature fosters, grace adds a further reason in the reminder of the one communion to which all belong who have professed loyalty to the one Lord. "Work good toward all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of faith." This mark of distinction is of necessity more visible where the surroundings are not even nominally Christian, and where a confession of faith in the new doctrine is a signal for tribulation and persecution.
2. As an officer of a sister Church. She was a deaconess, a servant of the Church, set apart for special ministration to the female portion of the community. "Render honour to whom honour is due." Office is prima facie an indication of worth, of high estimation by the electing body. There are ranks and orders in the heavenly hierarchy, as on earth.
3. As one in need of hospitable succorer. Need is itself an argument for attention and aid. Other things being equal, the call of the necessitous is paramount. The prosperous can manage well enough, whereas the situation of the distressed is an opportunity for benevolence. Phoebe's errand to Rome implied difficulty and insufficiency, whether she sought redress in an imperial court of law, or the discovery of some lost relations, or the pursuit of some handicraft, or surgical assistance.
4. As having herself contributed to the relief of the suffering. This is the lex talionis in its benignant form. Who is such a proper recipient of charity as the man who has done good according to his means? With the merciful does God show himself merciful. "Give, and it shall be given unto you." The idle vagabonds are not the deserving poor. Charity organization can alone bestow alms without pauperizing.
5. As having ministered to the writer. Though Phoebe's privilege of tending the apostle in one of his sicknesses was also a duty, the grateful invalid by no means forgets her services. What is done to ourselves strikes us more forcibly than the aid we witness rendered to our neighbours. It is like a lantern whose rays are turned full upon our face; we perceive its brightness. Hence the impulse to Christian devotedness felt when with individual consciousness of indebtedness to Christ we say, not only, "He died to save sinners," but also, "He loved me, and gave himself for me."
II. THE RECEPTION BEFITTING THE CHURCH. This is an illustration of the general maxim insisted on in Romans 15:7.
1. A hearty welcome beseems the saints. Reserve and coldness melt away under the inspiring beams of kinship to the Saviour. The deeps of apathy are for ever broken up by the entrance of Christ into the heart. To receive a fellow-member "in the Lord" is to display some of the love and tenderness which Christ manifested towards his disciples. It is quite incompatible with that frigid etiquette which suspects new-comers, and resents as vulgar every outward token of emotion.
2. To render aid to the whole body of Christ is an essential part of every Church's functions. A Church exists, not for its own aggrandizement and glorification, but as an instrument for strengthening and enlarging the one kingdom of Christ. And every power at its command must be utilized as the very law of its life. Where a community or an individual wraps itself up in seclusion, indifferent to the welfare of others, there the process of decay and death has begun. And it is not in the mass, but by single persons, that the world is regenerated and service rendered. The recognition of the real brotherhood of Christians will usher in millennial days. Affection is the central fire of sainthood, burning up what is mean and selfish, and glowing like a coal from the altar of him whose incarnate love is our clearest revelation of Deity.
3. That is poor admiration of an apostle which is content with a grudging compliance with his bidding. Here was a chance presented to the Roman Christians at once to be generous to a visitor, and to fill the apostle's heart with thankfulness. And we today do best mark our reverence for apostolic authority and for the Master whose instructions are thus communicated by a whole-hearted endeavour to carry out the principles of New Testament liberality and beneficence. They have good security who lend unto the Lord.
4. To honour woman for her place and work is a sign of high civilization. It may not be true that only Christianity has treated woman with befitting dignity, but it is certain that Christ paid her signal respect, and that she has been foremost in the acceptance and promulgation of the faith. The prominence of woman in the primitive Church was succeeded by somewhat of obscurity and depreciation; but the Christian idea has again triumphed, and woman's special mission to soothe the aching head, and succour the weary, and to minister to distress as an angel of God, was never so fully discerned and so warmly appraised as now.
"Rise! woman, rise
To thy peculiar and best altitudes
Of doing good and of enduring ill—
Of comforting for ill, and teaching good,
And reconciling all that ill and good
Unto the patience of a constant hope."
Female labour in schools and missions affords the brightest prospects of evangelizing the world.—S.R.A.