(Christ) as man on the
earth, and then perceived Him to be God.' It was, in other words,
through the {52} experience of His manhood that they arrived at His
Godhead. And the evidence of His divine sonship was in part
miraculous; but it was not mere miracle. It was miracle 'according to
a spirit of holiness.' It was miracle filled with spiritual and moral
meaning. It was a resurrection vindicating perfect righteousness.

3. The phrase 'the resurrection of the dead' is translated more
exactly by Wiclif 'agenrisynge of dead _men_! Christ's resurrection is
the great example of what is to be general.

4. The obedience of faith exactly describes the human faculty as it
showed itself in St. Paul himself at his conversion. With him to
believe was, without any possibility of question, to obey Him whom he
believed, and St. Paul knows no faith which does not involve a like
obedience; cf. xv. 18; xvi. 26; 1 Pet. i. 2.

[1] Acts xxiii. 26.

[2] The salutation of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, the
earliest epistle, is the most nearly formal. Those to the Romans and
to Titus are the fullest and richest.

[3] Num. vi. 25, 26; see Hort, _First Ep. of Peter_, p. 25.

[4] 2 Tim. ii. 8.

[5] Cf. 1 Tim. iii. 16, 'justified in the spirit,' where the use is
approximately the same.

[6] See 1 Thess. v. 23; 1 Cor. v. 5; James ii. 26; Matt. v. 3; xxvi.
41; 1 Pet. iii. 18; Mark viii. 12.

[7] Luke xxiv. 39; Heb. xii. 23; i. 14; Matt. viii. 16, &c.

[8] Matt. iii. 16; Luke x. 21, R.V. &c.

[9] John iv. 24.

[10] John vi. 63; Rom. ii. 29; 2 Cor. iii. 6.

{53}

CHAPTER I. 8-17.

_St. Paul's introduction._

The salutation is immediately followed by a passage in which St. Paul
introduces himself specially to the Christians at Rome. He had a
delicate task to perform. The Roman Christians had been gathered
probably from many parts of the empire, because Rome was the centre of
all the world's movements, and adherents of whatever was going on in
the empire were sure by force of circumstances to find their way to
Rome. Thus, though no apostle had yet preached at Rome, Christians had
gathered there. Many of them had not seen St. Paul's face. But they
had heard of him, no doubt, in Jewish circles as a very dangerous man
who was upheaving and subverting established traditions and principles.
He was a man to be looked at askance. He must introduce himself
therefore carefully. It was of the greatest imp