ded first of all is
the submission of the rebel, or much rather the return of the prodigal
son, simply to throw himself on the mercy of his Father and acknowledge
his utter dependence upon Him for the forgiveness of his disloyalty and
his outrages, as well as for the fellowship which he seeks in the
divine life. The fuller statement therefore of St. Paul's gospel must
be postponed to the uncloaking of what man is without it. The note of
severity must be struck before the message of joy. We must be brought
to acknowledge ourselves to be not men only, but corrupt men--men under
the divine wrath--doomed men powerless to deliver ourselves, and ready
therefore to welcome in simple gratitude the large offer of God's
liberal and almost unconditional love.

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It is to produce this acknowledgement that St. Paul now addresses
himself. This argument of the first part of the epistle is a very
simple one. It elucidates two plain propositions:--

1. that the wrath of God is, and is necessarily according to eternal
and unalterable principles of moral government, and in the case of
every man without any possibility of exception, upon sin.

2. that all men, Jews and Gentiles, are held in sin, and therefore lie
under the divine wrath.

Thus St. Paul immediately follows up his initial statement of the
revelation of a divine righteousness with the assertion of another
'revelation' made plain to the consciences of men. 'The wrath of God
is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men,' and he proceeds to demonstrate the prevalence
of sin first of all in the heathen world and to lay bare its meaning.

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DIVISION I. Sec. I. (CHAPTER I. 18-32).

_Judgement on the Gentile world._

Before we read this passage certain points should be plain to our minds.

1. By sin St. Paul means essentially wilfulness--wilful disobedience.
There is such a thing as an inheritance of moral weakness or perversity
which passes to men without their fault and without their knowledge.
This, the real existence of which hardly any one can deny, is what is
called original sin; and later on we shall find St. Paul speaking of
it. But it is not what is most properly called sin. God is absolutely
equitable. 'Sin is not reckoned' as sin in His sight, apart from
knowledge and will. Sin, most properly speaking, begins and ends where
wilful disobedience begins and ends. St. Paul on this matter is
complete