Romans 1:7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I. ITS CONTENTS. 1. Grace. (1) Favour bestowed by God in conviction, conversion, sanctification, comfort, help, etc. (2) Consciously enjoyed. Not something placed to our account in a heavenly record, but actually experienced in the heart and life. (3) Through the use of means. Not a mysterious endowment, but received by the exercise of a rational faith working through prayer, meditation, communion, etc. (4) Exhibited in the ever ripening fruits of the Spirit. Not an inward enjoyment merely, but an outward expression by which, in grace of character and usefulness, a Christian is read and known of all men. (5) Issuing in glory. As grace originates in heaven, so it works through our earthly experience only to return to its source. Its final issue is eternal fellowship with the God of all grace. 2. Peace. (1) Its nature. (a) Reconciliation with God — indifference of fear replaced by love and confidence. (b) Inward tranquillity — freedom from mental and moral disturbance; all can cast upon God. (c) Amity with all men. When men are at peace with God they will be at peace with each other. Wars and dissentions are utterly foreign to the family of the God of peace. (2) Its relation to grace. (3) It originates in grace. God makes overtures of peace; says, "roll thy burden upon the Lord"; "the fruit of the Spirit is...peace"; as grace ripens, peace increases. II. THEIR SOURCE. 1. God as Father delights to bestow — (1) Grace. It is His pleasure — (a) To confer the highest benefit. (b) To see its blessed operation. (c) To contemplate its lovely effects. (d) To enjoy its everlasting fruits. (2) Peace. The supreme desire of a father is to see his children in amity with himself and with one another and free from care. 2. God as our Father is the warrant for our confidence in — (1) Supplicating these highest blessings. (2) Anticipating their presence here and their full perfection hereafter. III. THEIR MEDIUM — "The Lord Jesus Christ." 1. As God He has grace and peace to give. 2. As Man He exhibited the perfect enjoyment of these blessings. He was "full of grace"; and He had peace to such an extent that He regarded it peculiarly as His own — "My peace." 3. As God-Man Mediator He is qualified and commissioned to bestow them. (1) He purchased both by the blood of the Cross. (2) He gives both (2 Corinthians 12:9; John 14:17, 27; John 20:19; Philippians 4:7). (J. W. Burn.) Parallel Verses KJV: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. |
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