tions, all differences vanish, which before separated men from one another and checked their fellowship in the highest relation of life; everything human is henceforth subordinated to the one spirit of Christ, the common principle of life; Gal. iii. 28. The only universal and constantly available principle of Christian worship which embraces the whole life, is faith in Christ working by love; Gal. v. 6.

The principle of the whole transformation of the life which proceeds from the Spirit of Christ is implanted at once in believing, by one act of the mind. Man by means of faith is dead to the former standing-point of a sinful life, and rises to a new life of communion with Christ. The old man is slain once for all; Rom. vi. 4-6; Coloss. iii. 3. Paul assumes that in Christians, the act by virtue of which they are dead to sin, and have crucified the flesh with its affections and lust, is already accomplished ideally in principle. Hence he infers, how can they who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Rom. vi. 2; Gal. v. 24. But the practice must correspond to the principle; the outward conformation of the life must harmonize with the tendency given to the inward life. Walking in the Spirit must necessarily proceed from living in the Spirit, Gal. v. 25; the former must be a manifestation of the latter. Hence Christians are always required to renew the mortification of the flesh, to walk after the Spirit, to let themselves be animated by the Spirit. The transformation of the old nature in man which proceeds from the divine principle of life received by faith, is not completed in an instant, but can only be attained gradually by conflict with sin; for the renewed as well as the old nature consists of two principles, the reμa and the σàpë, only with this difference, that no longer (as Paul represents the state of the natural man in Rom. vii.) the human self with its powerless desires after goodness opposes the principle of sinfulness, the 'rape, but instead of the human self, there is the divine principle of life which has become the animating one of human nature, the veõμa Oɛior, äyɩov, the Spirit of Christ, Christ himself by his Spirit; Gal. ii. 20. Hence it is not said from this standing-point that the Spirit wishes to do good but is hindered by the oap from accomplishing its wishes, so that the oup is the vital principle of action; but it is enjoined on those who have received the divine principle

of life, Gal. v. 16, "Walk in the Spirit,' so shall ye not fulfil the desires of the flesh for the Spirit and the flesh conflict with one another, so that you must distinguish what proceeds from the Spirit and what from the flesh, and you must not fulfil what you desire according to the carnal self, but what the Spirit within you desires."2 This marks the contrast to the standing-point described in Rom. vii. 15.

1 I cannot agree with Rückert, in referring the πveûμа here spoken of, not to the Spirit of God, but to the higher nature of man. Certainly the word veûua in this whole chapter is to be understood only in one sense, and taking everything into account, the idea of the Holy Spirit is the only one which suits Paul's meaning; as, for example, in v. 18. And generally in this epistle, the same idea of the Spirit is to be firmly held. Verse 17 contains no proof to the contrary; for Paul here assumes, that the veûua has pervaded the characteristic faculties of man, that the new principle of life has taken possession of human nature, and given it a new and peculiar vitality. He wishes to mark the new higher principle that is now the antagonist of the σap in man. Men may with the strictest propriety be called upon to surrender themselves to this higher principle, to allow themselves to be led by it, according to its impulses, for Paul considered the operation of the Divine Spirit in man, not as something magical, but constantly assumes the working together of the divine and the human. It is perfectly true that, according to Paul's doctrine, the higher nature in man, the capability of knowing God, which before was confined and depressed, is set at liberty by the Holy Spirit, and now serves as the organ for the operations of the Divine Spirit in human nature, and hence, that as this higher nature of man can now operate in its freedom as the organ of the Divine Spirit, so the latter can now operate in man by means of this organ, and hence the two are blended together in the Christian life. But when Paul wishes to infuse courage and confidence for the spiritual conflict, he directs the attention, not to what is subjectively human, but to the almighty power of God.

2 This passage, in my opinion, cannot be understood otherwise than in this manner, though later expositors have given a different interpretation. It has been supposed to mean, "So that ye cannot accomplish what you desire according to the spirit; ye are unable to follow the dictates of the better will;" -and referring these words to the state of the regenerate, this would form a special ground of exhortation for following the leadings of the Spirit, and withstanding the oap, if Paul said to them that they were prevented from following the motions which proceeded from the Spirit by the prevalence of the aàp. But if it is understood of the condition of the natural man, and v. 18 is considered as a contrast, we do not see how Paul, who had before addressed those whom he assumed to be Christians, could make such a sudden transition to a different class of persons. The correspondence of the last words of v. 17, with the last words of the foregoing sense, confirms the opinion, that the θέλητε relates to the ἐπιθυμίαν σαρκός.

CONVERSION OF NATURAL TALENTS INTO CHARISMS.

469

Accordingly, the divine life in the inner man must be in continual conflict with the operations of the σapă, and progressively converts the body hitherto under the control of sinful habits, into an organ for itself (Rom. vi. 11—13), so that the μέλη τοῦ σώματος become ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης ; all the powers and faculties which hitherto have been in the service of sin, being appropriated and sanctified by the divine life, are employed as organs of grace for the service of the kingdom of God; and here the doctrine of charisms finds its point of connexion; (ante, pp. 131-140). All the peculiar capabilities or talents founded in the nature of each individual, are to be transformed into charisms and employed as such. And it is the province of Christian morals to show in what manner human nature must be pervaded in all its powers by the higher principle of life, and appropriated as an organ of its manifestation; how all human relations are set at liberty and referred to the kingdom of God; and how what is individual belonging to the representation of the image of God in man is not suppressed and annihilated, but is to be transformed and elevated to a peculiar form and manifestation of the higher principle of life. We here see the difference between Christian principle as Paul_represents it, and a one-sided ascetic direction in morals. Paul brings forward as one side in the process of the development of the Christian life, the negative operation; to mortify the principle of sin which has hitherto reigned in the body, Rom. v. 3, to mortify the members as far as they serve sin, Coloss. iii. 5;' but this is only one side. The other is the positive operation, the positive appropriation, that as believers are now dead with Christ to sin, the world, and themselves, so now they lead a new divine life, increasingly devoted to him; the Spirit of Christ that dwells in them constantly animates their bodies afresh as his organ, Rom. viii. 11, so that the μλn consecrated to God, are employed in his service according to the station God has indicated to each individual, as örλa δικαιοσύνης. As the πνεῦμα ἅγιον is the common vital principle of all believers, the animating Spirit of the Church of God, so the diversity of the form in which he operates in and through each individual, varied by their sanctified 1 The μέλη ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, which belong to a carnal earthly course of life are directly opposed to the heavenly mind in v. 2.

peculiarities and characteristics, is designated by the term χάρισμα.

But since this appropriation and pervasion of the old nature is a continual conflict, and the further a man advances in holiness the more capable he is rendered by the illumination of the Holy Spirit of distinguishing what proceeds from the Spirit and what from the flesh, and of discerning all the disturbing influences of the latter; hence the distinction between the objective justification and subjective sanctification is always necessary, in order that the confidence of man may not be wavering as it must be, if he looks only to himself, Philip. iii. 12, but may maintain its firm unchangeable ground, by being fixed on the objective, the grace of redemption, the love of Christ, from which no power of hell can separate the redeemed; Rom. viii. 31, 32. In the Pauline idea of the justification and righteousness available before God, which is granted to man by the redeeming grace of God, and appropriated by faith, the objective is always primary and predominant. At the same time something subjective is imparted with it, something new is deposited in the inner life which must be progressively developed; the righteousness of Christ appropriated by faith, is transferred to the inner life of the believer, and becomes a new principle, forming the life according to the example of Christ.' And when this process of development shall be completed, believers will attain the possession of an eternal, divine, and blessed life, inseparable from perfect righteousness; then the objective idea of justification will be wholly transferred to the subjective, Rom. v. 19-21; but till this is accomplished, in order to lay a firm foundation for the confidence of the soul, it is always necessary, while conceiving both ideas according to their essential and ultimate connexion, still to keep in mind their distinction from one another.

Since the whole Christian disposition is produced from faith, and thereby the whole life is determined and formed, the term TOTIS has been employed to designate the whole of the Christian disposition and of Christian ability. Thus the predicate

1 The scholastic expression, "Justitia Christi per fidem habet esse in animo," perfectly corresponds to Paul's meaning.

2 Hence the measure of faith as the measure of Christian ability, and the measure of grace bestowed on each individual, are correlative ideas:

duvaros T TiOTEL designates the standing-point, where faith in the Redeemer, confidence in the justification obtained through him, has become to such a degree the animating principle of the convictions, and has so pervaded the whole tone of thinking, that a man is enabled to judge and act in all the relations of life according to it; that he cannot be drawn aside, as he otherwise would be, by any foreign element of other views which formerly influenced him; since otherwise it might happen that his earlier religious standing-point would exercise a kind of power over his conscience, from which he could not altogether free himself, even when raised to the Christian standing-point; as in the case of one who had become a believer from the Jewish standing-point; such a person would only by degrees free himself from its influences on his judgment of all the relations of life; as the new Christian principle proceeding from faith in the Redeemer gradually impregnated his whole mode of thinking. This power of faith over the judgment is shown for example in this, that a man certain of his salvation in fellowship with the Redeemer, will no longer allow himself to be agitated by scruples in the use of outward things, which he before indulged on the Jewish standing-point, as if this or that thing could defile him. So we are to understand what Paul says, Rom. xiv. 2, öç μèv πιστεύει φαγεῖν πάντα, ύ. e. δυνατός ἐστι τῇ πίστει ὥστε φαγεῖν Távτa; he can no longer be misled by a mixture of scruples arising from his earlier legal standing-point. The doberεir Ty Tiσr forms the opposite to this strength of faith, in which, along with faith, another element arising from the former standing-point controlled the convictions, and hence the internal strife between the principle founded in Christian conviction or ioris, and the doubts that rebelled against it; Rom. xiv. 1. Though Paul took occasion from existing relations to develop his views on this subject with a special reference to the Jewish legal standing-point, yet they would apply to the relation subsisting between any other standing-point and the Christian, or that of the rightecusness by faith. The power of faith governing the life gives an independence and Rom. xii 3. Christians are only to aim at rightly applying the measure of ability they have received; to do everything according to its proportion; Rom. xii. 6. They are not to indulge conceit, or to pass beyond the limits of their own standing-point.