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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Romans 13:1 - 13:1
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F. 12–15:13. THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL SEEN IN ITS EFFECT UPON BOTH THE COMMON AND THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE OF CHRISTIANS.
In this section S. Paul deals with the consequences of the principles he has worked out as they affect the character and the conduct of the Christian life. The main principles are two: (1) The Gospel offers to the Christian power to conform his life and conduct to the will of GOD (Rom 1:16), the use of that power depending solely on faith or trust, as man’s contribution to the result. (2) Service in the execution of GOD’s purposes is the fundamental demand made upon man by his relation to GOD; this principle has been exhibited as the explanation of Israel’s failure (9–11); and is now to be expounded in its positive bearing, as determining the main characteristics of the Christian life. In the course of this argument two main thoughts come into prominence. The power, as has been already shown (Rom 6:1 ff.), is the life of Christ in man, due to the living union given by the Spirit in baptism. And consequently the service is the service due from members of a spiritual society or body, conceived as potentially coextensive with humanity, the service due both to the Head and to the other members. The special instances of the operation of this power in service are determined by the conventions of the time and of the situation in which S. Paul found himself and those to whom he is writing. The section may be summarised as follows: