Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 12:12
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
12. Rejoicing in hope ] Better, In respect of the hope, rejoicing. Cp. ch. Rom 5:2; where see note. On this holy gladness cp. also 1Pe 1:3-9.
patient, &c.] Better, in respect of the tribulation, enduring. “ The tribulation: ” i.e. that which as Christians you are sure to find, in one form or another. Cp. Joh 16:33; also ch. Rom 5:3, Rom 8:35.
continuing, &c.] Better, in respect of the [duty, or act, of] prayer, persevering. Same word as Col 4:2. Cp. 1Th 5:16. Prayer would be either united (Act 12:12), or individual (Mat 6:6); but in any case it would be diligent, painstaking, and real.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Rejoicing in hope – That is, in the hope of eternal life and glory which the gospel produces; see the notes at Rom 5:2-3.
Patient in tribulation – In affliction patiently enduring all that maybe appointed. Christians may be enabled to do this by the sustaining influence of their hope of future glory; of being admitted to that world where there shall be no more death, and where all tears shall be wiped away from their eyes, Rev 21:4; Rev 7:17; compare Jam 1:4. See the influence of hope in sustaining us in affliction more fully considered in the notes at Rom 8:18-28.
Continuing instant in prayer – That is, be persevering in prayer; see Col 4:2; see the notes at Luk 18:1. The meaning of this direction is, that in order to discharge aright the duties of the Christian life, and especially to maintain a joyful hope, and to be sustained in the midst of afflictions, it is necessary to cherish a spirit of prayer, and to live near to God. How often a Christian should pray, the Scriptures do not inform us. Of David we are told that he prayed seven times a day Psa 119:164; of Daniel, that he was accustomed to pray three times a day Dan 6:10; of our Saviour we have repeated instances of his praying mentioned; and the same of the apostles. The following rules, perhaps, may guide us in this.
(1) Every Christian should have some time allotted for this service, and some place where he may be alone with God.
(2) It is not easy, perhaps not possible, to maintain a life of piety without regular habits of secret devotion.
(3) The morning, when we have experienced Gods protecting care, when the mind is fresh, and the thoughts are as yet clear and unoccupied with the world, when we go forth to the duties, trials, and temptations of the day; and the evening, when we have again experienced his goodness, and are about to commit ourselves to his protecting care, and when we need his pardoning mercy for the errors and follies of the day, seem to be times which commend themselves to all as appropriate seasons for private devotion.
(4) Every person will also find other times when private prayer will be needful, and when he will be inclined to it. In affliction, in perplexity, in moments of despondency, in danger, and want, and disappointment, and in the loss of friends, we shall feel the propriety of drawing near to God, and of pouring out the heart before him.
(5) Besides this, every Christian is probably conscious of times when he feels especially inclined to pray; he feels just like praying; he has a spirit of supplication; and nothing but prayer will meet the instinctive desires of his bosom. We are often conscious of an earnest desire to see and converse with an absent friend, to have communion with those we love; and we value such fellowship as among the happiest moments of life. So with the Christian. He may have an earnest desire to have communion with God; his heart pants for it; and he cannot resist the propensity to seek him, and pour out his desires before him. Compare the feelings expressed by David in Psa 42:1-2, As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God. My soul thirsteth for God for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God; compare Psa 63:1. Such seasons should be improved; they are the spring times of our piety; and we should expand every sail, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. They are happy, blessed moments of our life; and then devotion is sweetest and most pure; and then the soul knows what it is to have fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ, 1Jo 1:3.
(6) In addition to all this, Christians may be in the habit of praying to God without the formality of retirement, God locks upon the heart; and the heart may pour forth its secret desires to Him even when in business, when conversing with a friend, when walking, when alone, and when in society. Thus, the Christian may live a life of prayer; and it shall be one of the characteristics of his life that he prays! By this he shall be known; and in this he shall learn the way to possess peace in religion:
In every joy that crowns my days,
In every pain I bear.
My heart shall find delight in praise,
Or seek relief in prayer.
When gladness wings my favoud hour,
Thy love my thoughts shall fill,
Resignd when storms of sorrow lower,
My soul shall meet thy will,
My lifted eye, without a tear.
The gathering storm shall see.
My steadfast heart shall know no fear,
That heart shall rest on thee.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rom 12:12
Rejoicing in hope.
I. What is it to rejoice?
1. Negatively–
(1) Not to have the senses pleased.
(2) Nor does it consist in the imagination.
2. Positively; it consists in–
(1) The removal of sorrow from the heart (Psa 42:5).
(2) The souls content and satisfaction (Luk 1:47).
II. What is hope? It consists in–
(1) The belief of good things to be had (1Pe 1:13).
(2) The expectation of them (Psa 42:5).
(3) Making use of all lawful means for obtaining them (Heb 10:23-25; Est 4:14).
III. What is it to rejoice in hope? To rest satisfied with the expectation of the good things God has promised.
1. An interest in Christ (1Pe 1:8; Rom 8:32-34).
2. The pardon of sin (Psa 32:5).
3. The love of God (Rom 5:1).
4. The working together of all things for our good (Rom 8:28).
5. Continual supplies of grace (2Co 12:9).
6. A joyful resurrection (1Co 15:19-20).
7. The enjoyment of God for ever (Psa 42:2).
IV. What grounds have we to hope for these things, so as to rejoice in it?
1. The faithfulness of God (Tit 1:2).
2. His power (Mat 19:26).
3. The merits of Christ (2Co 1:20).
Conclusion: Rejoice in hope.
1. Otherwise you dishonour God by mistrusting His promises (Rom 4:20).
2. You dishonour religion by accusing it of uncertainties.
3. You deprive yourself of happiness.
4. The more joyful in hope, the more active in duty.
5. Rejoice in hope now; in sight hereafter. (Bp. Beveridge.)
Rejoicing in hope
I. The source of this joy–Hope.
1. Glorious.
2. Certain.
II. Its nature.
1. Sweet.
2. Solid.
3. Spiritual.
4. Purifying.
III. Its expression.
1. Lively.
2. Practical.
3. Constant.
IV. Its importance to–
1. Ourselves.
2. The Church.
3. The world. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Rejoicing in hope
1. Hope is an instinct of the soul. Thou didst make me to hope when I was upon my mothers breasts. As an instinct–
(1) It implies the existence of a prospective good, and the possibility of coming into its possession.
(2) It is one of the strongest and most operative forces in our nature. Hesiod tells us, that the miseries of all mankind were included in a great box, and that Pandoras husband took off the lid, by which means all of them came abroad, but hope remained still at the bottom,
2. The real worth of this instinct to man depends upon the direction it takes.
(1) Wrongly directed, it is a fawning traitor of the mind. The goodly scenes it spreads out to the soul turn out to be a mere mirage. False hopes are like meteors that brighten the skies of the soul for a moment, only to leave the gloom more intense. They are mere blossoms on fruitless trees, pleasing the eye for the hour, then fading away and rotting into dust. Few things are more distressing than the loss of hope. Longfellow compares it to the setting of the sun. Solomon speaks of it as the giving up of the ghost.
(2) Rightly directed, is among the chiefest of our blessings. It is that which gives sunshine to the sky, beauty to the landscape, and music to life. Such is the hope of which the apostle here speaks. Two things are essential to a joyous hope.
I. A right object.
1. It must not–
(1) Be selfish. So constituted is the soul, that the hope that is directed exclusively to its own happiness never satisfies. Down deep in the soul is the feeling that man has to live for something greater and nobler than himself.
(2) Be incapable of engaging all our powers.
(3) Less lasting than its own existence. Man can never be fully happy whose hope is directed to the transient and the dying.
2. That which will give a joyous hope is moral goodness–assimilation to the image of God.
II. A certain foundation. Unless a man has good reason to believe that the object he hopes for is to be gained, he cannot rejoice in his hope. Three reasons for believing that a soul, guilty and depraved, can be brought into possession of true goodness, and restored to the very image of God, are–
1. The provisions of the gospel. The life and death of Christ, the agency of the Spirit, and the disciplinary influences of human life are all divinely appointed methods to re-create the soul and to fashion it into the very image of God.
2. The biographies of sainted men. History abounds with examples of bad men becoming good.
3. The inward consciousness of moral progress. The man who has got this hope is conscious that he has made some progress, and that the steps he has taken have been the most difficult. His past efforts are aids and pledges to future success. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
Patient in tribulation.
I. what are tribulations? What-soever–
1. Is hurtful to us.
2. Vexeth us.
II. What is it to be patient?
1. Not to murmur against God (Exo 16:3).
2. Nor despair of deliverance (Psa 42:5).
3. Nor use unlawful means to get out of them.
4. To rest satisfied with them (1Sa 3:18).
5. To be thankful for them (Job 1:21-22; 1Th 5:18).
III. Why are we to be patient?
1. They come from God (2Sa 16:10-12; Psa 39:2).
2. Are no more (Lam 3:39), but less than we deserve (Ezr 9:13).
3. Impatience does not heighten them.
4. By patience we change them into mercies as in Job, Joseph, David.
Conclusion: Be patient.
1. No afflictions but others have borne (1Pe 4:12; 1Pe 5:9).
2. Christ has undergone more than we can (Rom 8:29; 1Pe 2:23; 1Pe 4:13).
3. God knows how to deliver us (2Pe 2:9).
4. By patience you make a virtue of necessity.
5. Will do you much good by them (Heb 12:6-8). (Bp. Beveridge.)
Patient in tribulation
I. Tribulation is unavoidable in this life.
1. Ordained of God.
2. For wise purposes.
II. Should be borne with patience.
1. Not indifference.
2. But in silence.
3. Without repining.
4. With resignation.
III. The reasons.
1. God is kind.
2. Life is but a probationary state.
3. Consolations are provided.
4. The results are glorious. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Patient in tribulation
Some have floated on the sea, and trouble carried them on its surface, as the sea carries cork. Some have sunk at once to the bottom, as foundering ships sink. Some have run away from their own thoughts. Some have coiled themselves up in stoical indifference. Some have braved the trouble, and defied it. Some have carried it, as a tree does a wound, until by new wood it can overgrow and cover the old gash. A few in every age have known the divine art of carrying sorrow and trouble as wonderful food, as an invisible garment that clothed them with strength, as a mysterious joy, so that they suffered gladly, rejoicing in infirmity, and, holding up their heads with sacred presages whenever times were dark and troublous, let the light depart from their eyes, that they might by faith see nobler things than sight could reach. (H. W. Beecher.)
Patient in tribulation
All birds when they are first caught and put into the cage fly wildly up and down, and beat themselves against their little prisons; but within two or three days sit quietly on their perch, and sing their usual notes with their usual melody. So it fares with us, when God first brings us into a strait; we wildly flutter up and down, and beat and tire ourselves with striving to get free; but at length custom and experience will make our narrow confinement spacious enough for us; and though our feet should be in the stocks, yet shall we, with the apostles, be able even there to sing praises to our God. (Bp. Hopkins.)
Continuing instant in prayer.–
I. What is prayer?
1. The hearty desire.
(1) Mental (1Sa 1:13; Eph 5:10).
(2) Oral (Joh 17:5).
2. Of necessary things.
(1) Spiritual, for the life to come.
(a) Sense of sin (Luk 13:3).
(b) Faith in Christ (Luk 17:5).
(c) Pardon of former transgressions (Psa 51:9).
(d) Subduing present corruptions (Psa 19:12; Psa 91:13; Psa 119:133).
(e) The continual influences of His grace and spirit (Psa 51:10; Luk 11:13).
(2) Temporal, for this life (1Ti 4:8; Pro 30:8).
3. From God.
(1) God alone is to be worshipped (Mat 4:10).
(2) God alone understands our prayers (Isa 63:16).
(3) He alone can answer them (Psa 65:2).
(4) He commands us to call to Him (Jer 33:3; Psa 50:15).
(5) Christ directs us to pray to Him (Mat 6:9).
See the error of Papists, who pray to the Cross. To the Virgin Mary, etc. St. Roche for the plague. St. Apollonia for the toothache. St. Eulogius for horses. St. Anthony for hogs. St. Gallus for geese, etc.
II. Why should we pray?
1. God hath commanded it (1Th 5:17).
2. Encouraged us with a promise (Psa 50:15; Mat 7:7).
3. Made it the condition of all promises (Eze 36:37).
4. It is part of Divine worship.
5. Hereby we give glory to God.
(1) Of omnipresence (Psa 139:2-3).
(2) Of omniscience (Psa 139:7).
(3) Of omnipotence.
6. All blessings are sanctified by it (1Ti 4:5).
7. Only by this we acknowledge our dependence upon Him.
III. How should we pray.
1. Before prayer, consider (Psa 10:17).
(1) Who is it you go to pray to (Exo 34:6).
(2) What you have to pray for (1Jn 5:14).
(3) How unworthy you are to ask or receive (Gen 32:10).
(4) That Christ is interceding for you (Eph 3:12; Heb 7:25).
2. In prayer.
(1) Pray with that humility, reverence, and submission, as becomes a sinful creature (Gen 18:27; Luk 18:13; Ezr 9:6).
(2) Utter nothing rashly before Him, nor mingle stories with petitions (Ecc 5:1-2).
(3) Let every petition proceed from the heart (Joh 4:24).
(4) Pray only in the name of Christ (Joh 14:13-14; Joh 16:23; Heb 7:25).
(5) Let your affections and apprehensions go together (1Co 14:15).
(6) Pray in faith (Mar 11:24; Jam 1:6).
(7) Without wrath (1Ti 2:8; Mat 6:14-15).
(8) For others as well as for yourselves (1Ti 2:1; Eph 6:18).
(9) To the right end (Jam 4:3).
(10) Add praise to prayers (Php 4:6; 1Ti 2:1).
(a) Praising God is all that He expects for His mercies.
(b) It is the best sacrifice we can offer (Psa 69:30-31).
(c) It is the work of Heaven (Rev 7:9-10; Rev 19:1).
3. After prayer.
(1) Consider what you have prayed for.
(2) Expect it (Psa 5:3).
(3) Use means for obtaining it.
IV. When should we pray? Or how continue instant in prayer (Eph 6:18; 1Th 5:17).
1. Be always in a praying frame.
2. Take all occasions of praying.
3. Never faint in prayer (Luk 18:1; 2Co 12:8-9).
4. Make prayer your daily exercise.
(1) We must serve God daily (Luk 1:75).
(2) The sacrifices of the Old Testament were daily (Num 28:3; Act 3:1).
(3) Christ directs us to ask our daily bread (Mat 6:11; Mat 6:33).
(4) The saints in all ages prayed daily (Psa 55:17; Psa 119:164; Dan 6:10; 1Ki 8:48; Luk 2:37).
(5) The heathen and the Turks do it.
(6) We need daily mercies.
(7) We receive them.
5. Objection. I have oft prayed, but am never heard (Job 21:15).
(1) However, we are bound to serve God.
(2) If we get no good it is our own fault.
(a) As to the matter (1Jn 5:14).
(b) Means (Jam 1:6).
(c) End, of prayer (Jam 4:3).
(3) Perhaps you never expected it.
(4) Or have not used the right means for it.
(5) You have not prayed long enough (2Co 12:9; Luk 18:1).
(6) Though you have not received that required, you have other mercies (2Co 12:9).
(7) You may be answered, and not know it.
Conclusion: Continue instant in prayer.
1. Otherwise ye live in continued sin.
2. Prayer is the most honourable work.
3. The most pleasant (Psa 84:10).
4. The only way of getting real mercies (Jam 1:5).
5. Right praying is a sign of a true convert (Act 9:11). (Bp. Beveridge.)
Instant in prayer
Prayer is the natural duty of religion. Its observance is as natural as conversation between men. The Scriptures urge a constant and careful performance, then, not only as a duty, but a privilege. The subject suggests an inquiry as to–
I. The matter and subject of prayer.
1. Generally, it is to petition God to bestow upon us all that is good, and to deliver us from all that is evil: the pursuit of virtue, the direction of our affairs, immortal happiness.
2. Particularly, our own individual requirements, according to our particular weaknesses and difficulties, should form the groundwork of our petitions.
II. The specific directions of the apostle–Continuing instant. We are not to make it a mere formal duty. It is to be the constant effort and breath of our very existence. We are hereby taught–
1. That worldly duties are not inconsistent with heavenly thoughts.
2. That God may be worshipped at all times.
3. That religion is not a thing to be put off till we have leisure and opportunity.
III. The contrast which this direction affords to all false systems. We are taught that God is worshipped by the mind and thoughts, and not by external observances. How different to heathen worship! Even the Jews religion was, to a great extent, formal. (J. Jortin, D.D.)
Instant in prayer
When a pump is frequently used, but little pains are necessary to have water; the water pours out at the first stroke, because it is high. But if the pump has not been used for a long while, the water gets low, and when you want it you must pump a long while, and the water comes only after great efforts. It is so with prayer; if we are instant in prayer, every little circumstance awakens the disposition to pray, and desires and words are always ready. But if we neglect prayer it is difficult for us to pray; for the water in the well gets low. (Felix Neff.)
Instant in prayer
doesnt exactly mean that we should be praying every instant, though we can be doing that also, but not if we are to think a prayer, or speak a prayer, for how could we then be getting on with other things that need all our attention at the time? But there are prayers that are not spoken or even thought of. You have seen the mariners compass. When the ship is tossing about, the compass trembles and swings to and fro, but it always comes back and points straight to the north. Thats where it wants to go to; every time it points to the north it seems to pray, Let me go there! Now why is this needle so constant about this wish to go northward? Because it has got in it a spirit that belongs to the distant Pole, and so, even while it is busy in telling the sailors how to steer, it is itself always turning to the north, because its life lies that way. So we may be very busy about other things, and need to fix all our attention upon them; but if our heart is right with Jesus, we shall be always wanting to do things for His sake, and do them right; and that big wish that is always in the heart is a continual prayer. (J. R. Howat.)
Instancy in prayer
I. The import of the injunction. This is indicated by the employment of the word in other Scriptures (e.g., Act 1:14; Act 2:42; Rom 13:6; Act 8:13; Act 10:7; Eph 6:18)
. These show the meaning of the word; steadfastness or perseverance as a habit. In this sense the passage has many parallels (Eph 6:18; Php 4:6; 1Th 5:17). In the widest sense, therefore, the injunction lays upon us–
1. The habitual maintenance of a prayerful spirit.
2. The embracing of opportunities for prayer.
3. The improvement of occasions of prayer. You will find these everywhere, in the commonest experiences of every day.
4. Watchfulness.
II. Considerations by which the injunction may be commended and enforced.
1. What a mighty power of restraint would such an instancy of prayer exercise!
2. What a spiritual elevation!
3. What peace amid conflicting cares!
4. What strength! (J. M. Jarvie.)
Prayer, daily
As those who keep clocks wind them up daily, lest the weights should run down, and the clock stop; so we must set apart some portion of every day for meditation and prayer, lest our hearts should so far descend, through the weight of the cares of this world, that our course in godliness should be hindered and stopped. (Cawdray.)
Prayer hindered, not defeated
For so I have seen a lark rising from his bed of grass and soaring upwards, singing as he rises, and hopes to get to heaven, and climb above the clouds; but the poor bird was beaten back with the loud sighings of an eastern wind, and his motion made irregular and inconstant, descending more at every breath of the tempest than it could recover by the liberation and frequent weighing of his wings, till the little creature was forced to sit down and pant, and stay till the storm was over; and then it made a prosperous flight, and did rise and sing, as if it had learned music and motion from an angel, as he passed sometimes through the air about his ministries here below. So is the prayer of a good man. (Jeremy Taylor.)
Prayer, nightly
It is said of that good old man, John Quincy Adams, that he never went to his rest at night until he had repeated the simple prayer learned in childhood–the familiar Now, I lay me down to sleep.
Perpetual prayer
I. What is here required?
1. Continuance in personal and secret prayer primarily. In these times Christs saying is reversed. Men seem to say, If you pray openly, the Father will reward you in secret. And if a man have a taste for prayer meetings and none for private prayer, he should give up the prayer meetings until he recover the taste for secret prayer.
2. Paul speaks of continuance in the sense of importunity and perseverance. Instant, means earnest, pressing, and urgent. The precept implies the danger of non-continuance–of a lack of earnestness and urgency. Now this danger arises from–
(1) Scepticism about prayer. Men are often tempted to ask, What profit shall we have if we pray to Him? Then we may be beset by unbelief as to Gods hearing our prayers in particular.
(2) Indifference. Men do not care to pray. There is no very pressing want; no very urgent danger. The man is looking simply on the surface of his life.
II. Why is this requirement made? Habitual prayer–
1. Keeps in habitual exercise the first principles of our religious life, etc. You cannot pray without bringing into exercise faith, trust, hope, and love. Now these principles are not intended to be within us like gems in a casket, but are like muscles. Work them, and they will be strengthened; give them nothing to do, and they will shrink, and when you want them, they will not be in a state to serve you.
2. Keeps a man face to face with God. This is the right position. We never see any matter as we ought to see it, except we look God in the face about it.
3. Recognises the two great blessings of the Christian economy. And what are these?
(1) The mediation of Christ.
(2) The ministration of the Holy Ghost.
4. Is the constant use of the highest agency which Christians can employ. What has prayer done? Conquered the elements, healed the diseased, restored life, etc. Prayer moves the band which moves the world.
5. Is second only to ceaseless praise in the loftiness and in the sacredness of the habit.
6. Is in harmony with Gods present method of government. The basis of that government is atonement, i.e., an embodied supplication for mercy. (S. Martin.)
Prayer unceasing
Fletchers whole life was a life of prayer; and so intensely was his mind fixed upon God that he sometimes said, I would not move from my seat without lifting up my heart to God. Wherever we met, says Mr. Vaughan, if we were alone, his first salute was, Do I meet you praying? And if we were talking on any point of divinity, when we were in the depth of our discourse he would often break off abruptly and ask, Where are our hearts now? If ever the misconduct of an absent person was mentioned, his usual reply was, Let us pray for him.
Constant, instant, expectant
I. Instant. The Greek word means always applying strength in prayer; blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee. Brooks saith that the word is a metaphor taken from hunting dogs, which will never give up the game till they have got it. Prevalent prayer is frequently spoken of in Scripture as an agony–striving together with me in your prayers, and as wrestling. We must go with our whole soul to God or He will not accept us. We are to pray as if all depended upon our praying. How are we to attain to this urgency?
1. Let us study the value of the mercy which we are seeking at Gods hand. Whatever it is that thou art asking for, it is no trifle. If it be a doubtful thing, lay it aside: but if thou art certain that the blessing sought is good and necessary, examine it as a goldsmith inspects a jewel when he wishes to estimate its worth.
2. Meditate on thy necessities. See thy souls poverty and undeservingness. Look at what will happen to thee unless this blessing come.
3. Endeavour to get a distinct consciousness of the fact that God must give thee this blessing, or thou wilt never have it.
4. Eagerly desire the good thing. Stand not before God as one who will be content whether or no. There are times when you must say, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
5. Now comes the tug of war; you are to plead with all your might. Gather up all your faculties to see whether this thing be a matter of promise or no. When you have found the promise, plead it by saying, Lord, do as Thou hast said. If you do not seem to prevail with one promise seek out another and another, and then plead, For Thy names sake, for Thy truths sake, for Thy covenants sake; and then come in with the greatest plea of all, For Jesus sake.
6. Still there is one thing more wanted, and that is strong faith. You cannot be instant in prayer, nay, you cannot offer an acceptable prayer at all except as you believe in the prayer-hearing God.
II. Constant–continuing. Go back to the hunting dog. We saw him rushing like the wind after his game, but this will not be enough if it only lasts for a little; he must continue running if he is to catch his prey. It is a sign of failure in the iron trade when the furnaces are blown out; when business flourishes the fire blazes both day and night; and so will it be with prayer when the soul is in a flourishing state. If prayer be the Christians vital breath, how can he leave off praying? That is difficult, says one. Who said it was not? All the processes of the Christian life are difficult; but the Spirit helpeth our infirmities. Prayer must be continuous, because–
1. It is so singularly mixed up with the whole gospel dispensation.
2. It is connected with every covenant blessing.
3. It has been connected with every living spiritual experience you have ever had.
4. There is no time when we can afford to slacken prayer.
5. Such remarkable gifts are vouchsafed to importunity.
6. The continuance of our instancy in prayer is the test of the reality of our devotion. Earnest men of business cannot afford to open the shop and do a little occasional trade, and then put up a notice, The proprietor of this shop has gone out for an excursion, and will resume his business when he feels inclined to. Beware of spasms of prayer.
III. Expectant. It is not in the text verbally, but it must be there really, because there will be no such thing as instancy or constancy unless there is an expectation that God can and will give that which we seek. Go back to our dog again: he would not run at so great a rate if he did not expect to seize his prey. If some people looked out for answers to prayer they might soon have them, for their prayers would be answered by themselves. I was reminded of that by a little boy whose father prayed in the family that the Lord would visit the poor and relieve their wants. When he had finished, his little boy said, Father, I wish I had your money. Why so? Because, he said, I would answer your prayers for you. I like better still that story of the good man at the prayer-meeting, who reading the list of prayers found one for a poor widow that her distress might be relieved, so he began to read it, but stopped and added, We wont trouble the Lord with that, I will attend to that myself. The Lord might well say to us, Thou sayest, Thy kingdom come; arise and help to make My kingdom come! I shall close by recommending to all of you one simple but very comprehensive prayer. It was offered by a poor man in Fife, and it was copied out by the Duchess of Gordon, and found among her papers when she died. O Lord, give me grace to feel my need of Thy grace! Give me grace to ask for Thy grace! Give me grace to receive Thy grace! And when in Thy grace Thou hast given me grace, give me grace to use Thy grace! (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Rejoicing in hope] Of that glory of God that to each faithful follower of Christ shall shortly be revealed.
Patient in tribulation] Remembering that what you suffer as Christians you suffer for Christ’s sake; and it is to his honour, and the honour of your Christian profession, that you suffer it with an even mind.
Continuing instant in prayer] . Making the most fervent and intense application to the throne of grace for the light and power of the Holy Spirit; without which you can neither abhor evil, do good, love the brethren, entertain a comfortable hope, nor bear up patiently under the tribulations and ills of life.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Rejoicing in hope; i.e. in hope of deliverance here in due time, and of eternal salvation hereafter: See Poole on “Rom 5:2“.
Continuing instant in prayer; be instant and constant in the duty. A metaphor from hounds, that give not over the game till they have got it: see Luk 18:1; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2; 1Th 5:17.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. Rejoicing, c.Here it ismore lively to retain the order and the verbs of the original: “Inhope, rejoicing in tribulation, enduring; in prayer, persevering.”Each of these exercises helps the other. If our “hope” ofglory is so assured that it is a rejoicing hope, we shall find thespirit of “endurance in tribulation” natural and easy; butsince it is “prayer” which strengthens the faith thatbegets hope and lifts it up into an assured and joyful expectancy,and since our patience in tribulation is fed by this, it will be seenthat all depends on our “perseverance in prayer.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Rejoicing in hope,…. Of the glory of God, than the hope of which nothing can make a believer more cheerful in this world; the saints’ joy is therefore called the “rejoicing of the hope”, Heb 3:6. This is placed between serving the Lord, and being patient in tribulation; for nothing tends more to animate the people of God to a cheerful serving of him, or to make them more patient under afflictions, than a hope of being for ever with the Lord:
patient in tribulation; whilst the saints are in this world they must expect tribulation; their way to heaven lies through it; and it becomes them to be patient under it, not murmuring against God, on the one hand, nor reviling of men, on the other.
Continuing instant in prayer: prayer is needful at all times, but especially in a time of tribulation and distress, whether inward or outward. This should be made without ceasing; saints should watch unto it with all perseverance; men should pray always, and not faint; never give out and over, or be discouraged. This advice is rightly given and placed here, to teach us that we are to go to the throne of grace continually for fresh supplies of grace, and strength to enable us to exercise the grace, and perform the duties exhorted to both in preceding and following verses.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Patient in tribulation ( ). So soon this virtue became a mark of the Christians.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Continuing instant [] . Compare Act 1:4; Act 6:4. Rev., steadfastly for instant, which has lost its original sense of urgent (Latin, instare to press upon). Thus Latimer : “I preached at the instant request of a curate.” Compare A. V., Luk 7:4; Act 26:7.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Rejoicing in hope,” (te elpidi chairontes) “Let each in hope be rejoicing,” in a state or condition of hope, let each be rejoicing, Rom 5:5. This hope is “Christ in you,” that one anchored-within the veil, assuring spiritual life until the resurrection of the body, Php_4:4; Col 1:27; Heb 6:18-19; 1Pe 1:3; The eternal life, for which we yet hope in faith, is the new resurrection body, Eph 1:13-14; Eph 4:31-32.
2) “Patient in tribulation,” (te thlipsei hupomenontes) “Let each with his charismatic gift or gifts be showing endurance or perseverance (even) in tribulation or time of affliction”; This means “fret not” when sorrows, trouble, and afflictions come, or when people do you wrong, Psa 37:1; Psa 37:7; Psa 73:1-3; Psa 73:16-17; Rom 15:3-5; Rom 5:3; Jas 1:2-4.
3) “Continuing instant in prayer,” (te proseuche proskarterountes) “In a state, attitude, or condition of prayer let each be steadfastly continuing, persevering, or going on for the Lord,” in constancy, hard continuity of prayer as an habit of Divine devotion to God. Our Lord advised “men ought always to pray,” Luk 18:1; 1Th 5:17; Col 4:2; Eph 6:18; 1Pe 4:7.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. Rejoicing in hope, etc. Three things are here connected together, and seem in a manner to belong to the clause “serving the time;” for the person who accommodates himself best to the time, and avails himself of the opportunity of actively renewing his course, is he who derives his joy from the hope of future life, and patiently bears tribulations. However this may be, (for it matters not much whether you regard them as connected or separated,) he first; forbids us to acquiesce in present blessings, and to ground our joy on earth and on earthly things, as though our happiness were based on them; and he bids us to raise our minds up to heaven, that we may possess solid and full joy. If our joy is derived from the hope of future life, then patience will grow up in adversities; for no kind of sorrow will be able to overwhelm this joy. Hence these two things are closely connected together, that is, joy derived from hope, and patience in adversities. No man will indeed calmly and quietly submit to bear the cross, but he who has learnt to seek his happiness beyond this world, so as to mitigate and allay the bitterness of the cross with the consolation of hope.
But as both these things are far above our strength, we must be instant in prayer, and continually call on God, that he may not suffer our hearts to faint and to be pressed down, or to be broken by adverse events. But Paul not only stimulates us to prayer, but expressly requires perseverance; for we have a continual warfare, and new conflicts daily arise, to sustain which, even the strongest are not equal, unless they frequently gather new rigor. That we may not then be wearied, the best remedy is diligence in prayer.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) In hope.The Christians hope, of which we have had more in Rom. 8:20-25.
Patient in tribulation.This virtue was, of course, specially needed in the troublous times through which the Church was passing. So, again, in the next verse, the hospitality of which the Apostle speaks is something more than the ordinary entertainment of friends. The reference is to a state of things in which the Christian was liable to be persecuted and driven from city to city, and often compelled to seek for shelter with those who held the same faith as himself.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. In, or in regard to, hope, be rejoicing; in tribulation, patient; in prayer, persistent.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer,’
Having spoken of the upward look (fervent in the Spirit, serving the LORD), Paul now considers the forward look by which Christians remain steadfast in the face of the future, thus maintaining the stability and strength of the church. We are to rejoice because of the hope that is set before us, we must patiently endure in whatever tribulation comes to us, and we must continue steadfastly in prayer, recognising that we can put all in His hands. The way ahead for God’s people will not be easy. That is why we need to walk step by step with the Spirit (Gal 5:25) with our hearts fixed on the goal, that is on the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (Php 3:14). This is our ‘hope’, that one day we will be with Him (1Jn 3:1-2). And it will enable us to face all that the future holds, as we recognise that tribulation counts for nothing in the light of our glorious future (Rom 8:17-18; Rom 8:23). Note that in Rom 8:26, where the Godward side was being considered, it was the Spirit Whose intercession on our behalf in the face of tribulation was to prevail. Here it is we who must continue steadfastly in prayer. Both are necessary if we are to prevail, with our prayer being sustained by His.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rom 12:12 . In virtue of hope (of the future , Rom 5:2 ) joyful . The dative denotes the motive (Khner, II. i. p. 380).
. .] in the presence of tribulation holding out , remaining constant in it. On the dative, comp. Khner, l.c . p. 385. Paul might have written . (1Co 13:7 ; 2Ti 2:19 ; Heb 10:32 , et al ., and according to the classical use); he writes, however, in the line of formal symmetry with the other expressions, the dative and then the absolute . (Mat 10:22 ; 2Ti 2:12 ; Jas 5:11 ; 1Pe 2:20 ).
. .] perseveringly applying to prayer , Col 4:2 ; Act 1:14 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
Ver. 12. Rejoicing in hope ] Hope makes absent joys present, wants, plenitudes, and beguiles calamity as good company doth the time. But without hope, patience is cold almost in the fourth degree, and that is but a little from poison. It was a dotage of the Stoics, that a wise man should be free, as from fear, so from hope too. How much better the Elpistici, another sort of philosophers, who held hope to be the only stay and staff of man’s life, without which to live were but to lie dying! This life would be little better than hell, saith Bernard, were it not for the hopes of heaven. Sed superest sperare salutem, and this holds head above water, this keeps the heart aloft all floods of afflictions, as the cork doth the line, as bladders do the body in swimming. Ibat ovans animis et spe sua damna levabat, He was going with a rejoicing spirit and hope of being released from his corruptions, saith Bembus concerning St Stephen going to his death. ( Vivere spe vidi qui moriturus erat. Ovid.) I look to live by hope who was about to die. He that seeth visions of glory, and hath sure hopes of heaven, will not matter a shower of stones; he that is to take possession of a kingdom will not stand upon a foul day. Hope unfailable is grounded upon faith unfeigned, which is seldom without its joy unspeakable and full of glory, 1Pe 1:8 .
Patient in tribulation ] Bearing up under pressures, as among many other martyrs Nicholas Burton, who by the way to the stake, and in the flame, was so patient and cheerful, that the tormentors said, the devil had his soul before he came to the fire, and therefore his senses of feeling were past. (Acts and Mon.)
Continuing instant in prayer ] Constant and instant, . A metaphor from hunting dogs, that give not over the game till they have got it. Nazianzen saith of his sister Gorgonia, that she was so given to prayer, that her knees seemed to grow to the very ground. Of Trasilla, it is reported, that being dead she was found to have her elbows as hard as horn, by leaning to a desk at which she used to pray. St James is said to have had knees as hard as camel’s knees, by his continual kneeling in prayer. And Paul the Eremite was found dead kneeling upon his knees, holding up his hands, lifting up his eyes; so that the very dead corpse seemed yet to live and to pray to God. (Jerome.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12 .] The datives here are not parallel. is the ground of the joy in , but the state in which the is found.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rom 12:12 . : the hope in which they are to rejoice is that of Christians: cf. Rom 5:2 . The meaning is practically the same as in that passage, but the mental representation is not. is not = there, but in a line with the other datives here: in point of hope, rejoicing. : . might have been construed with the accusative ( ), but the absolute use of it, as here, is common (see Mat 10:22 , Jas 5:11 , 1Pe 2:20 ), and its employment in this instance enables the writer to conform the clause grammatically to the others. : cf. Col 4:2 , Act 1:14 ; Act 2:42 . The strong word suggests not only the constancy with which they are to pray, but the effort that is needed to maintain a habit so much above nature.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Romans
ANOTHER TRIPLET OF GRACES
Rom 12:12
These three closely connected clauses occur, as you all know, in the midst of that outline of the Christian life with which the Apostle begins the practical part of this Epistle. Now, what he omits in this sketch of Christian duty seems to me quite as significant as what he inserts. It is very remarkable that in the twenty verses devoted to this subject, this is the only one which refers to the inner secrets of the Christian life. Paul’s notion of ‘deepening the spiritual life’ was ‘Behave yourself better in your relation to other people.’ So all the rest of this chapter is devoted to inculcating our duties to one another. Conduct is all-important. An orthodox creed is valuable if it influences action, but not otherwise. Devout emotion is valuable, if it drives the wheels of life, but not otherwise. Christians should make efforts to attain to clear views and warm feelings, but the outcome and final test of both is a daily life of visible imitation of Jesus. The deepening of spiritual life should be manifested by completer, practical righteousness in the market-place and the street and the house, which non-Christians will acknowledge.
But now, with regard to these three specific exhortations here, I wish to try to bring out their connection as well as the force of each of them.
I. So I remark first, that the Christian life ought to be joyful because it is hopeful.
To be glad is a Christian duty. Many of us have as much religion as makes us sombre, and impels us often to look upon the more solemn and awful aspects of Christian truth, but we have not enough to make us glad. I do not need to dwell upon all the sources in Christian faith and belief, of that lofty and imperatively obligatory gladness, but I confine myself to the one in my text, ‘Rejoicing in hope.’
Now, we all know-from the boy that is expecting to go home for his holidays in a week, up to the old man to whose eye the time-veil is wearing thin-that hope, if it is certain, is a source of gladness. How lightly one’s bosom’s lord sits upon its throne, when a great hope comes to animate us! how everybody is pleasant, and all things are easy, and the world looks different! Hope, if it is certain, will gladden, and if our Christianity grasps, as it ought to do, the only hope that is absolutely certain, and as sure as if it were in the past and had been experienced, then our hearts, too, will sing for joy. True joy is not a matter of temperament, so much as a matter of faith. It is not a matter of circumstances. All the surface drainage may be dry, but there is a well in the courtyard deep and cool and full and exhaustless, and a Christian who rightly understands and cherishes the Christian hope is lifted above temperament, and is not dependent upon conditions for his joys.
The Apostle, in an earlier part of this same letter, defines for us what that hope is, which thus is the secret of perpetual gladness, when he speaks about ‘rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.’ Yes, it is that great, supreme, calm, far off, absolutely certain prospect of being gathered into the divine glory, and walking there, like the three in the fiery furnace, unconsumed and at ease; it is that hope that will triumph over temperament, and over all occasions for melancholy, and will breathe into our life a perpetual gladness. Brethren, is it not strange and sad that with such a treasure by our sides we should consent to live such poor lives as we do?
But remember, although I cannot say to myself, ‘Now I will be glad,’ and cannot attain to joy by a movement of the will or direct effort, although it is of no use to say to a man-which is all that the world can ever say to him-’Cheer up and be glad,’ whilst you do not alter the facts that make him sad, there is a way by which we can bring about feelings of gladness or of gloom. It is just this-we can choose what we will look at. If you prefer to occupy your mind with the troubles, losses, disappointments, hard work, blighted hopes of this poor sin-ridden world, of course sadness will come over you often, and a general grey tone will be the usual tone of your lives, as it is of the lives of many of us, broken only by occasional bursts of foolish mirth and empty laughter. But if you choose to turn away from all these, and instead of the dim, dismal, hard present, to sun yourselves in the light of the yet unrisen sun, which you can do, then, having rightly chosen the subjects to think about, the feeling will come as a matter of course. You cannot make yourselves glad by, as it were, laying hold of yourselves and lifting yourselves into gladness, but you can rule the direction of your thoughts, and so can bring around you summer in the midst of winter, by steadily contemplating the facts-and they are present facts, though we talk about them collectively as ‘the future’-the facts on which all Christian gladness ought to be based. We can carry our own atmosphere with us; like the people in Italy, who in frosty weather will be seen sitting in the market-place by their stalls with a dish of embers, which they grasp in their hands, and so make themselves comfortably warm on the bitterest day. You can bring a reasonable degree of warmth into the coldest weather, if you will lay hold of the vessel in which the fire is, and keep it in your hand and close to your heart. Choose what you think about, and feelings will follow thoughts.
But it needs very distinct and continuous effort for a man to keep this great source of Christian joy clear before him. We are like the dwellers in some island of the sea, who, in some conditions of the atmosphere, can catch sight of the gleaming mountain-tops on the mainland across the stormy channel between. But thick days, with a heavy atmosphere and much mist, are very frequent in our latitude, and then all the distant hills are blotted out, and we see nothing but the cold grey sea, breaking on the cold, grey stones. Still, you can scatter the mist if you will. You can make the atmosphere bright; and it is worth an effort to bring clear before us, and to keep high above the mists that cling to the low levels, the great vision which will make us glad. Brethren, I believe that one great source of the weakness of average Christianity amongst us to-day is the dimness into which so many of us have let the hope of the glory of God pass in our hearts. So I beg you to lay to heart this first commandment, and to rejoice in hope.
II. Now, secondly, here is the thought that life, if full of joyful hope, will be patient.
And if there be that burning of the light under the water, like ‘Greek fire,’ as it was called, which many waters could not quench-if there be that persistence of gladness beneath the surface-sorrow, as you find a running stream coming out below a glacier, then the joy and the hope, which co-exist with the sorrow, will make life patient.
Now, the Apostle means by these great words, ‘patient’ and ‘patience,’ which are often upon his lips, something more than simple endurance. That endurance is as much as many of us can often muster up strength to exercise. It sometimes takes all our faith and all our submission simply to say, ‘I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it; and I will bear what thine hand lays upon me.’ But that is not all that the idea of Christian ‘patience’ includes, for it also takes in the thought of active work, and it is perseverance as much as patience .
Now, if my heart is filled with a calm gladness because my eye is fixed upon a celestial hope, then both the passive and active sides of Christian ‘patience’ will be realised by me. If my hope burns bright, and occupies a large space in my thoughts, then it will not be hard to take the homely consolation of good John Newton’s hymn and say-
‘Though painful at present,
‘Twill cease before long;
And then, oh, how pleasant
The conqueror’s song!’
And our hope will strengthen us, if it is strong, for all the work that is to be done. Persistence in the path of duty, though my heart be beating like a smith’s hammer on the anvil, is what Christian men should aim at, and possess. If we have within our hearts that fire of a certain hope, it will impel us to diligence in doing the humblest duty, whether circumstances be for or against us; as some great steamer is driven right on its course, through the ocean, whatever storms may blow in the teeth of its progress, because, deep down in it, there are furnaces and boilers which supply the steam that drives the engines. So a life that is joyful because it is hopeful will be full of calm endurance and strenuous work. ‘Rejoicing in hope; patient,’ persevering in tribulation.
III. Lastly, our lives will be joyful, hopeful, and patient, in proportion as they are prayerful.
But can I pray without ceasing? Not if by prayer you mean only words of supplication and petition, but if by prayer you mean also a mental attitude of devotion, and a kind of sub-conscious reference to God in all that you do, such unceasing prayer is possible. Do not let us blunt the edge of this commandment, and weaken our own consciousness of having failed to obey it, by getting entangled in the cobwebs of mere curious discussions as to whether the absolute ideal of perfectly unbroken communion with God is possible in this life. At all events it is possible to us to approximate to that ideal a great deal more closely than our consciences tell us that we ever yet have done. If we are trying to keep our hearts in the midst of daily duty in contact with God, and if, ever and anon in the press of our work, we cast a thought towards Him and a prayer, then joy and hope and patience will come to us, in a degree that we do not know much about yet, but might have known all about long, long ago.
There is a verse in the Old Testament which we may well lay to heart: ‘They cried unto God in the battle, and He was entreated of them.’ Well, what sort of a prayer do you think that would be? Suppose that you were standing in the thick of battle with the sword of an enemy at your throat, there would not be much time for many words of prayer, would there? But the cry could go up, and the thought could go up, and as they went up, down would come the strong buckler which God puts between His servants and all evil. That is the sort of prayer that you, in the battle of business, in your shops and counting-houses and warehouses and mills, we students in our studies, and you mothers in your families and your kitchens, can send up to heaven. If thus we ‘pray without ceasing,’ then we shall ‘rejoice evermore,’ and our souls will be kept in patience and filled with the peace of God.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
hope = the hope. Compare Rom 5:2. Tit 2:13.
patient. Greek. hupomeno. Compare Mat 10:22. 1Co 13:7.
instant = steadfastly. See Act 1:14.
prayer. App-134.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] The datives here are not parallel. is the ground of the joy in ,-but the state in which the is found.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rom 12:12. , in hope) So far respecting faith and love, now also concerning hope, comp. ch. 5 and 8. Then concerning our duties to others, to the saints, Rom 12:13, to persecutors, Rom 12:14, to friends, strangers, enemies, Rom 12:15, etc.-, rejoicing) True joy is not only an emotion of the mind and a benefit [privilege], but also a Christian duty, Rom 12:15. It is the highest complaisance in God. He wishes us to rejoice and to spend our spiritual life joyously.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Rom 12:12
Rom 12:12
rejoicing in hope;-To the Christian is given a high and exalted hope of eternal glory with God. This so transcends in importance all earthly trials, troubles, disappointments, and afflictions that in the darkest hours he may find ground for rejoicing. Whom not having seen ye love; on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (1Pe 1:8). We are exhorted to look beyond the present trials and afflictions and, despite them all, rejoice in the Lord always. (Php 4:4). A despondent, complaining, disheartened spirit that always sees evil is not in accord with the divine will.
patient in tribulation;-When trials and afflictions come on us, we must learn to patiently bear them, for the inspired teacher says: Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. (Jas 1:2-3). A complaining, fault-finding spirit is not in harmony with the spirit of Christ. The Christian can afford to be patient under such trials, knowing that by patiently bearing them the character is completed, perfected, and fitted to dwell with God.
continuing steadfastly in prayer;-In our sufferings and trials, as well as in the hours of peace and prosperity, nothing so pleases God as constant, earnest, trusting, and faithful prayer. The following are given under various forms and frequently repeated in the Scriptures: Pray without ceasing. (1Th 5:17). I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. (1Ti 2:8).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
For the Battle
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer.Rom 12:12.
1. Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer. At first sight they are three separate injunctions. Let some whose lot has fallen in pleasant places rejoice; let others whose lot is dark suffer patiently; let still others devote themselves to continual prayer. Or musing on the exhortations the idea may come to us that they are a descending scale.
If I have faltered more or less
In my great task of happiness;
If I have moved among my race
And shown no glorious morning face;
If beams from happy human eyes
Have moved me not; if morning skies,
Books, and my food, and summer rain
Knocked on my sullen heart in vain:
Lord, Thy most pointed pleasure take
And stab my spirit broad awake;
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I,
Choose Thou, before that spirit die,
A piercing pain, a killing sin,
And to my dead heart run them in!1 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Underwoods.]
And if pain fails to waken my heart fully to God, let me cling humbly and continuously to prayer. Let me not fail of prayer so that at the end my spirit may be attuned to Gods, and my life be not in vain.
2. But St. Paul, when he wrote these words, addressed them to the Christians of the Roman Church for whom he foresaw persecution in the near future, even if they were not suffering from it at this very time. And he would have them practise hope and patience and prayer in their persecution, and all at the same time.
The old physicians tell us of two antidotes against poison, the hot and the cold, and they dilate upon the special excellence of each of these; in like manner the Apostle Paul gives us first the warm antidote, rejoicing in hope, and then he gives us the cool antidote, patient in tribulation. Either of these, or both together, will work wonderfully for the sustaining of the spirit; but it is to be observed that neither of these remedies can be taken into the soul unless it is mixed with a draught of prayer. Joy and patience are curative essences, but they must be dropped into a glass full of supplication, and then they will be wonderfully efficient.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
3. St. Pauls primary meaning in the word which is translated tribulation in our English version was persecution. But let us take tribulation in its usual sense of every kind of trial through which a man may have to pass. With this meaning let us see the dependence between the clauses and the possibility of the Christian following the three injunctions at the same time.
(1) Rejoice in hope; be patient in tribulation. This is an utter impossibility to the man whose hope is of this world, and who looks for mere ordinary happiness. To him tribulation is the supreme obstacle to hope and joy. If he suffers he cannot be joyful; he loses his hope. But for the man who is full of Christs hope all is different. Hope, which comes to all, outwears the accidents of life, and reaches with tremulous hand beyond the grave and death. The Christians hope alters his idea of tribulation. Poverty, that is tribulation enough. But the monk embraces a life of poverty and self-denial of his own free-will.
Nuns fret not at their convents narrow room;
And hermits are contented with their cells.
Poverty has lost its grimness. It wears a smiling face. But, further, though the tribulation may remain very real the Christian accepts itnay, welcomes itas helping him on his way. And because of his great abiding hope the tribulation is dwarfed.
People may lay down their lives with cheerfulness in the sure expectation of a blessed immortality; but that is a different affair from giving up youth, with all its admirable pleasures, in the hope of a better quality of gruel in a more than problematical, nay, more than improbable, old age.1 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, Crabbed Age and Youth.]
(2) Now let us take the last two clauses together. Continue stedfastly in prayer; be patient in tribulation. If we continue in prayer, does it follow that we shall be patient under trial? R. J. Campbell, in A Faith for To-Day, says: I well remember the curious feeling with which I once encountered a man who prayed long and earnestly for a certain academic distinctiona distinction which could fall to one and one only. He was greatly chagrined and disappointed, and inclined to reproach God, when the honour went to another instead of himself. The earnestness of his prayers was unquestionable. But not so did St. Paul conceive of prayer. His model was the Master who in His agony said, Thy will be done. So the Apostle would have these Roman Christians put themselves on Gods side in their praying.
And in all things he shall yield up his own will, saying and thinking in his heart, Lord, I am as willing to be poor and without all those things of which Thou hast deprived me as I should be ready to be rich, Lord, if Thy will were so, and if in that state I might further Thy glory. It is not my natural will which must be done, but Thy will and the will of my spirit. Lord, I am thine, and I should be Thine as gladly in hell as in heaven, if in that way I could advance Thy glory. So then, O Lord, fulfil in me the good pleasure of Thy will.2 [Note: Maurice Maeterlinck, Ruysbroeck and the Mystics, 135.]
And with this spirit in prayer patience under trial will not be denied. At this season the sun enters into the sign of Libra, for the day and night are equal, and light and darkness evenly balanced. Even so for the resigned soul Jesus Christ is in the sign of Libra; and whether He grants sweetness or bitterness, darkness or light, of whatever nature His gift may be, the man retains his balance, and all things are one to him, with the exception of sin, which has been driven out once for all. And the more steadfast the prayer the more will the link be strengthened which binds our soul to God, and the more grace we will receive to meet each need of life.
All trouble and anguish, loss and pain,
When theyve done their task appointed,
Vanish and fade; it is joy that lasts.
The seer, with vision anointed,
Beholds the flash of a rising dawn,
Though the midnight skies are gray
Patience, poor soul, with the present pain
There cometh a better day.
I
Rejoicing in Hope
There are those who stigmatize Christianity as a religion of sorrow. They tell us that, like a bitter wind, it withers the flowers, that it says of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What doeth it? They contrast it, still ignorantly, with the gay and careless humanism of the ancient world. They dare to say
Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from Thy breath.
We have drunken of things Lethean, and fed on the fullness of death.
But this is not Christianity after the mind of the Apostle Paul. Rejoice in hope, he says to the Roman Christians. It would be difficult to find a more decided expression of optimism. The cheery tone is never absent from St. Pauls speech. The buoyant and springy movement of his life is never changed. The light never dies out of his sky. Even the grey firmament reveals more hopeful tints, and becomes significant of evolving glory. The Apostle is an optimist, rejoicing in hope, a child of light, wearing the armour of light, walking in the light, even as Christ is in the light.
Nor was this Apostolic optimism a thin and fleeting sentiment begotten of a cloudless summer day. It was not born of sluggish thinking or of idle and shallow observation. The first chapter of this Epistle to the Romans contains as dark and searching an indictment of our nature as the mind of man has ever drawn. Let us rehearse the appalling catalogue, that the radiance of the Apostles optimism may appear the more abounding: Senseless hearts, fools, uncleanness, vile passions, reprobate minds, unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful. With fearless severity the Apostle leads us through the black realms of midnight and eclipse. And yet in the subsequent reaches of the great argument, of which these dark regions form the preface, there emerges the clear, calm, steady light of this optimistic text.
What was the cause of this courageous and energetic optimism? What can we do to imitate it? We can choose what we will look at. We can choose our atmosphere like the people of Italy who in frosty weather will be seen sitting in the market-place by their stalls with a dish of embers, which they grasp in their hands, and so make themselves comfortably warm on the bitterest day.
St. Paul looked at three things:
1. He fixed his eyes on the Redemption of Christ.In all the spacious reaches of the Apostles life the redemptive work of his Master is present as an atmosphere in which his thoughts and purposes and labours found their sustaining and enriching breath. Redemption was not degraded into a fine abstract argument, to which the Apostle had appended his own approval, and then, with sober satisfaction, had laid it aside, as a practical irrelevancy, in the stout chests of mental orthodoxy. It became the very spirit of his life. To him it was not a small device, an afterthought, a patched-up expedient to meet an unforeseen emergency. The redemptive purpose lay back in the abyss of the eternities; and in a spirit of reverent questioning the Apostle sent his trembling thoughts into those lone and silent fields. He emerged with whispered secrets such as these: fore-knew, fore-ordained, chosen in him before the foundation of the world, eternal life promised before times eternal, the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What a wonderful consciousness St. Paul has of the sweep and fulness of redemption. We know the variations of the glorious air: the unsearchable riches of Christ; riches in glory in Christ Jesus; all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ; the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering. And what is the resultant enfranchisement? Recall those wonderful sentences beginning with the words But now. It is a phrase that heralds a great deliverance. But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God. But now are ye light in the Lord. These represent no thin abstractions. To St. Paul the realities of which they speak were more real than the firm and solid earth. And is it any wonder that a man with such a magnificent sense of the reality of the redemptive work of Christ, who felt the eternal purpose throbbing in the dark backward and abyss of time, who conceived it operating upon our race in floods of grace and glory, and who realized in his own immediate consciousness the varied wealth of the resultant emancipationis it any wonder that for this man a new day had dawned, and the birds had begun to sing and the flowers to bloom, and a sunny optimism had taken possession of his heart which found expression in an assured and rejoicing hope?1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
2. St. Paul fixed his mind next on the reality and greatness of his present resources.By Christ redeemedyes, but that is only the Alpha and not the Omega of the work of grace. By Christ redeemed; in Christ restored. St. Pauls mental and spiritual outlook comprehended a great army of positive forces labouring in the interests of the Kingdom of God. Look at some of his auxiliaries: Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me! He breathes through all my aspirations. He thinks through all my thinking. He wills through all my willing. He loves through all my loving. He travails in all my labours. He works within me to will and to do of his good pleasure. That is the primary faith of the hopeful life. But see what follows in swift and immediate succession. If Christ is in you, the spirit is life. The spirit is life! And therefore we find that in the Apostles thought dispositions are powers. They are not passive entities. They are positive forces vitalizing and energizing the common life of men. To St. Paul love expressed more than a relationship. It was an energy productive of abundant labours. Faith was more than an attitude. It was an energy creative of mighty endeavour. Hope was more than a posture. It was an energy generative of a most enduring patience. All these are dynamics, to be counted as active allies, co-operating in the ministry of the Kingdom. And so the Epistles abound in the recital of mystic ministries at work. The Holy Spirit worketh! Grace worketh! Faith worketh! Love worketh! Prayer worketh! And there are other allies robed in less attractive garb. Tribulation worketh! Godly sorrow worketh!
St. Paul never mentions the enemy timidly. He never seeks to underestimate his strength. Nay, again and again he catalogues all possible antagonisms in a spirit of buoyant and exuberant triumph. However numerous the enemy, however towering and well-established the iniquity, however black the gathering clouds, so sensitive is the Apostle to the wealthy resources of God that amidst it all he remains a sunny optimist, rejoicing in hope, labouring in the spirit of a conqueror even when the world was exulting in his supposed discomfiture and defeat.
3. And, thirdly, he fixed his thoughts on the wonder of the glory to come.Can we safely exile this thought from our moral and spiritual culture? We know that this particular contemplation is largely absent from modern religious life, and we know the nature of the recoil in which our present impoverishment began. Let us hear less about the mansions of the blest, and more about the housing of the poor! Men revolted against an effeminate contemplation which had run to seed, in favour of an active philanthropy which sought the enrichment of the common life. But we have lost immeasurably by the uprooting of this plant of heavenly contemplation. We have built on the erroneous assumption that the contemplation of future glory inevitably unfits us for the service of man.
Were Richard Baxters labours thinned or impoverished by his contemplation of the saints everlasting rest? When we consider his mental output, his abundant labours as Father-confessor to a countless host, his pains and persecutions and imprisonments, we cannot but think he received some of the powers of his optimistic endurance from contemplations such as he counsels in his incomparable book. Run familiarly through the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem; visit the patriarchs and prophets, salute the apostles, and admire the armies of martyrs; lead on the heart from street to street, bring it into the palace of the great King; lead it, as it were, from chamber to chamber. Say to it, Hear must I lodge, here must I die, here must I praise, here must I love and be loved. My tears will then be wiped away, my groans be turned to another tune, my cottage of clay be changed to this palace, my prison rags to these splendid robes; for the former things are passed away.
Hope, though slow she be, and late,
Yet outruns swift time and fate;
And aforehand loves to be
With remote futurity.
Hope is comfort in distress,
Hope is in misfortune bliss,
Hope in sorrow is delight,
Hope is day in darkest night.
Hope cast upward is to where
Storms do never domineer;
Trust and hope will welcome thee
There to full security.1 [Note: Francis Beaumont.]
Our thought of future glory must have several elements in it if it is to nourish our hope as it nourished his.
(1) It must have an element of personality in it. It must be a hope which means future fulfilment to me. It must not, like Buddhism, represent the loss of personalityannihilationas the reward. It must not offer us even the stimulus of the positivists. You desire hope, they say; there is hope; we will grant immortalityan immortality of influence. The good you do shall live after you. No. There must be an immortality in the vision and communion of Him whom to serve is eternal life.
(2) It must have an element of recovery in it. How we crave the recovery of lost friends! Is it all over when they leave us? The heart refuses to think so. It clings to the thought of reunion. Christ is the pledge of thatChrist the Uniter, who as on earth at the house of Jairus, at the bier of Nain, at the grave of Bethany, is the Joiner of parted hands and sundered lives, delivering divided ones to each other. We crave also the recovery of lost energies. Capacities that are checked by its ungenial conditions, aspirations that are thwarted by its narrow limits, expenditures of effort and affection that are made void by its thankless receptions, we think of them all. Has God created them only that they may be thrown away? Shall He not rather have respect to the work of His hands, and perfect that which concerneth us? Our hope is in Christ, who not only pledges their recovery, but promises that they shall be recovered by us, as the ultimate witnesses of His faithfulness, the ultimate sharers of His joy.
(3) It must have an element of catholicity in it. Hope, if it is to be true and complete, must embrace in its comprehensive sweep not only good for ourselves, in the attainment of a personal immortality and the re-establishment of personal ties, but good for the whole wide creation. It must include the purifying and the rectifying of society, the evangelizing of the nations, and the transforming of nature itself. No expectation would be perfect which does not blend with its pictures of individual and mutual blessedness the picture of a regenerate world, free from the curse and crowned with the blessing, bathed in the glory of God most precious, the brightness of His perfect purity, the beauty of His finished plan.
Lo! crowned with unutterable calm
And robed in light, came up the day-star Hope,
The virgin mother of the Christ of Joy.
Clear were her eyes with innocence, and deep
With dreams. Her lips were full with mysteries.
A crystal globe she held, wherein were seen
New vistas unimaginably fair.
Her presence seemed a kiss of God, which all
Rose up to take. In the diffused light
Of her adorable simplicity
Each man threw down his habit of disguise
And stood before his fellows, candid, brave,
Yet wearing weakness meekly, as a babe
Will wear it.1 [Note: Anna Bunston, The Porch of Paradise, 12.]
II
Patient in Tribulation
St. Paul is his own best commentary on his own counsels. His purposes were frequently broken by tumultuous shocks. His plans were destroyed by hatred and violence. His course was twisted here, diverted there, and wrenched a hundred times from its appointed goings by the mischievous plots of wicked men. The little churches he had founded were in chronic disturbance and unrest. They were often infested with puerilities, and sometimes they were honeycombed by heresies which consumed their very life. And yet how sound and noble his patience! With what fruitful tenderness he waits for his lagging pupils! His very reproofs are given, not with the blind, clumsy blows of a street mob, but with the quiet, discriminating hand of a surgeon. This man, more than most men, had proved the hygienic value of endurance, and he, more than most men, was competent to counsel his fellow-believers to discipline themselves to patience in tribulation.
i. Tribulation
What is tribulation? Tribulation is comprehensive enough. It denotes every possible loss, cross, trouble that can enter into the mind of man; whatever we passively suffer, whatever we actively endure.
Let us look at tribulation, then, in some of its different aspects. Patient in tribulation? Yes. But make sure first of all that the tribulation is real, not fancied. Did we ever try to estimate the proportion in which the fanciful, the fictitious, the imaginary ills in life stand to the actual? Is it not the case that many a man makes his own sorrows, and that the things we anticipate, but which never happen, have more in them of calamity and burden than what we are forced in Providence to endure? Real tribulation we can divide into two kindsthat which comes to us from others, and that which comes from ourselves.
1. Tribulation from without.This kind of tribulation has both a positive and a negative side. Take the positive firstthat is, actual suffering caused us by others. This kind of tribulation was most immediately in the mind of the Apostle Paul when he wrote the words first to the little Roman Church. Dark clouds were gathering, threatenings of coming trouble. Days of persecution were at hand. Nero, hardening himself in vice, would soon need some one upon whom he could charge his guilt, and wreak his spite; no suffering would be too cruel with which to afflict the Church of God. To-day persecution does not take the same form. It is not so much bodily as mental persecution. The young man of to-day who follows Christ has no fear of death, imprisonment, or injury in any way to his body, but if he be thoroughgoing he is still persecutedpersecuted by jeers and laughter and even by calumny.
One of our bishops, when he was a London incumbent, was at one time deeply distressed by the persistent calumnies of a certain obnoxious parishioner. He wrote for advice to a high legal luminary, who was also a very religious man. His answer was laconic; it was a quotation: Jesus stood before the governor. And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing, insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Dear So-and-so, let the governor marvel greatly.1 [Note: Basil Wilberforce.]
There is a kind of negative tribulation which also comes from without. It is the disappointment that others cause usthe things we have to do without. Some glowing purpose has been suddenly frustrated; some bit of found work has been rudely broken. We suffer profound disappointment. And disappointment is apt to kindle irritation, and when that fire begins to burn much valuable furniture is in danger of being consumed.
One of the greatest crises in Principal Rainys life was when the House of Lords delivered judgment against the United Free Church. Rainy had given the strength of his life to promoting the union between his own Church and the United Presbyterian Church, and now it seemed as though he had only brought his own Church into grave trouble. He was in the House of Lords when judgment was given. After the decision he took Mr. Haldanes arm and passed out with him. He was his guest in London. Mr. Haldane says that on the way home he never spoke. When they reached home he sat down and without any bitterness or resentment spoke, and the one expression of regret that fell from his lips was that he was old.
Loitering progress is tribulation of an allied kind. Things are walking, and we want them to run; or they are running, and we want them to fly. We hear one and another say: Things dont go fast enough for me; or Things are too slow for me. And we become irritated, and then irritable, and we lose our patience, and in losing our patience we lose the very spirit and instrument of progress. How true this is in our relationship to little children, and especially to little children who are not highly gifted, and who have the misfortune to be dull-witted and slow. How fatal is the mistake to become impatient with them. To become impatient is to deprive them of the very atmosphere they require for journeying at all; impatience never converts dull-wittedness into quick-wittedness, and the teacher or parent who becomes impatient is robbing the child of its heritage, increasing its load of disadvantage, and making its little pilgrim journey prematurely dark and hard.
O comrade bold, of toil and pain!
Thy trial how severe,
When severd first by prisoners chain
From thy loved labour-sphere!
Say, did impatience first impel
The heaven-sent bond to break?
Or, couldst thou bear its hindrance well,
Loitering for Jesus sake?
O might we know! for sore we feel
The languor of delay,
When sickness lets our fainter zeal,
Or foes block up our way.
Lord! who Thy thousand years dost wait
To work the thousandth part
Of Thy vast plan, for us create
With zeal a patient heart.1 [Note: J. H. Newman.]
2. Tribulation from within.Quite as much of our tribulation is internal; it is not occasioned by others. Such trouble may be physical, as St. Pauls own thorn in the flesh. Or it may be mental and spiritual. There is no one who does any thinking at all but has entered the dark, cold, chilling circle of apparently insoluble mystery. It may be the burdensome presence of immediate and palpable realities, such as the presence of suffering and pain. Or it may be those problems lying upon the borderland, or well within that mysterious realm where we seem to have neither eyes nor ears, hands nor feet: the mystery of God, the mystery of Providence, the mystery of Jesus ChristHis incarnation, His resurrection, His glorification, His relation to sin and hope and human endeavour and the veiled to-morrow; and all the great pressing problems of human birth, and human life, and human destiny. What shall we do with them? Or, what shall we not do with them? Let us make it an essential in all our assumptions that a prerequisite to all discovery is patience in tribulation. Do not let us deal with them as though they were Christmas puzzles, to be taken up at odd moments and cursorily examined, and then thrown aside again in irritation and impetuous haste.
Dr. Jowett says, I am amazed to observe how hastily men and women drop these things; they cannot be bothered with them, and so they retreat into a perilous indifference or into a fruitless agnosticism. George Eliot dropped her vital faith in the course of eleven days. Robert Elsmere dropped his vital faith with almost equal celerity. I heard from one young fellow who was burning all his boats and refusing to sail these vast, mysterious, glorious seas, and all because he had read a little pamphlet of not more than fifty pages from cover to cover!
O why are darkness and thick cloud
Wrapped close for ever round the throne of God?
Why is our pathway still in mystery trod?
None answers, though we call aloud.
The seedlet of the rose,
While still beneath the ground,
Think you it ever knows
The mystery profound
Of its own power of birth and bloom,
Until it springs above its tomb?
The caterpillar crawls
Its mean life in the dust,
Or hangs upon the walls
A dead aurelian crust;
Think you the larva ever knew
Its gold-winged flight before it flew?
When from the port of Spain
Columbus sailed away,
And down the sinking main
Moved towards the setting day,
Could any words have made him see
The new worlds that were yet to be?
The boy with laugh and play
Fills out his little plan,
Still lisping, day by day,
Of how hell be a man;
But can you to his childish brain
Make aught of coming manhood plain?
Let heaven be just above us,
Let God be eer so nigh,
Yet howsoeer He love us,
And howeer much we cry,
There is no speech that can make clear
The thing that doth not yet appear.
Tis not that God loves mystery.
The things beyond us we can never know,
Until up to their lofty height we grow,
And finite grasps infinity.1 [Note: Minot Hudson Savage.]
ii. Patience
That which passes muster for the spirit of patience is sometimes only constitutional amiability, or lymphatic indifference and stagnation.
1. Let us look first, then, at this spiritthe spirit of indolence. Perhaps its most frequent cause is a want of sensitiveness. The person is not finely developed, and so does not feel the tribulation, unless it is very material indeedor at least does not feel it to anything like the same extent as his more sensitive brother. To the superficial onlooker he seems to be bearing his trial with patience; but he makes no progress, his capacity for sympathy is still dormant. Or his apparent patience may be the result of mere idleness.
Browning in The Statue and the Bust teaches the paltriness of this kind of patience. From mere indolence the Bride of the Riccardi did not leave her husband and flee to the Great Duke Ferdinand whom she loved. It was no thought that she would be committing a sin that deterred her, and so her patience was worthless. She says:
If I spend the night with that devil twice,
May his window serve as my loop of hell
Whence a damned soul looks on Paradise!
I fly to the Duke who loves me well,
Sit at his side and laugh at sorrow
Ere I count another ave-bell.
Tis only the coat of a page to borrow,
And tie my hair in a horse-boys trim,
And I save my soulbut not to-morrow.
And he on his part argues:
Yet my passion must wait a night, nor cool
For to-night the Envoy arrives from France,
Whose heart I unlock with thyself, my tool.
Be sure that each renewed the vow,
No morrows sun should arise and set
And leave them then as it left them now.
But next day passed, and next day yet,
With still fresh cause to wait one day more
Ere each leaped over the parapet.
I hear you reproach, But delay was best
For their end was a crimeOh, a crime will do
As well, I reply, to serve for a test,
As a virtue golden through and through,
Sufficient to vindicate itself
And prove its worth at a moments view!
The counter our lovers staked was lost
As surely as if it were lawful coin:
And the sin I impute to each frustrate ghost
Is, the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin,
Though the end in sight was a vice, I say
You of the virtue, (we issue join)
How strive you? De te, fabula!
2. But there is a finer spiritthe spirit of stoicismwhich animates some. It also, however, is a spirit of stagnation. It is no more than a surrender to the inevitable.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever Gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud,
Under the bludgeonings of chance,
My head is bloody but unbowed.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.1 [Note: W. E. Henley.]
3. The spirit of progress. Wherein, then, lies the difference between the Christian spirit of progress and this old pagan spirit of stoicism?
(1) Take the two attitudes towards death. Seneca, like a Stoic, argues thus: Death is universal, all men have died; death is inevitable, we must die. It is no good for any man to complain about the inevitable and the universal. It is better for us simply to submit to what we cannot alter. Now here stands St. Paul, face to face with death. It is not a pleasant death, any more than it was a pleasant life. But St. Paul says, To me to die is gain. I have a wish to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. If the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a house, builded of God, eternal in the heavens.
Such was the patience of Lazarus after his resurrection when his heart and brain moved there in glory, and his feet stay here.
How, beast, said I, this stolid carelessness
Sufficeth thee, when Rome is on her march
To stamp out like a little spark thy town,
Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?
He merely looked with his large eyes on me.
The man is apathetic, you deduce?
Contrariwise he loves both old and young,
Able and weakaffects the very brutes
And birdshow say I? flowers of the field
As a wise workman recognizes tools
In a masters workshop, loving what they make.
Thus is the man as harmless as a lamb:
Only impatient, let him do his best,
At ignorance and carelessness and sin
An indignation which is promptly curbed.1 [Note: Browning, Epistle of Karshish.]
(2) Now if we have this spirit of patience in tribulation our pilgrim journey will be furthered; for to Christian patience there are two sides, a passive but also an active. We usually think of patience as a passive virtue, resignation, calm waiting for something to happen, as in Shakespeares classic lines:
She sat like patience on a monument
Smiling at grief.
But the word has an active side, even in our common speech, as in the phrase a patient investigator, implying untiring industry. It carries with it the idea of fortitude and high courage, willing to suffer, to endure, working out great ends undiscouraged, without repining or fretfulness.
The rock upon which the water drops, abides amidst the flux of the tides of the water, and is firm; but the camel, patient, moving across the thirsty desert, scenting by its wondrous instinct the oasis, or the city that is afar, is patientendures.
(3) And, lastly, let us note that there are stages in Christian patience. We must begin with the true perspective and the feeling towards God of children to a Father, but after that we must sedulously cultivate the grace, advancing from step to step. Trustful acceptance of the will of God as the best possible for ushow difficult it is. But there are those who have risen to a still greater height and who not only accept the tribulation with patience, but feel actual joy in it.
Dr. Griffith John has told us that one day, when he was surrounded by a hostile Chinese crowd, and violence was used, he put up his hand to his smitten face, and when he withdrew it, and saw it bathed in blood, he was possessed by an extraordinary sense of exaltation, and he rejoiced that he had been counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. David Hill records a similar experience of unspeakable ecstasy, when his hand hung limp from a brutal blow. But, indeed, the witnesses are multitudinous; they can be found in every corner of the great fields of service, suffering men and women, wearing their scars like medals, feeling as though there had been conferred upon them some heavenly title and degree, and stepping out in the assured companionship of the once crucified but risen Lord.
III
Continuing Stedfastly in Prayer
The essence of prayer consists in drawing nigh; in other words, holding communion. The simplest and best test of a good prayer is: Did we draw nigh? Did we enter Gods Presence? Were we conscious that God was very nigh? Many times we have said our prayers but have never prayed; and this because our hearts were far from God. At other times, perhaps, we said no words but we entered the Presence with longing hearts. We looked, we thirsted, we wanted, and so we very truly prayed.
Prayer is intercourse; it is praise; it is congratulation; it is adoration of the Infinite Majesty; it is a colloquy in which the soul engages with the All-wise and the All-holy; it is a basking in the sunshine, varied by ejaculations of thankfulness to the Sun of Righteousness for His light and His warmth. In this larger sense, the earlier part of the Te Deum is prayer as much as the latter part; the earliest and latest clauses of the Gloria in Excelsis as truly as the central ones; the Sanctus or the Jubilate no less than the Litany; the Magnificat as certainly as the fifty-first Psalm.
St. Paul is addressing Christians, and so he does not simply say pray. He takes it for granted that they pray. But what he fears in them is a relaxing of their efforts, a losing of their first zeal in prayer, and so his exhortation is Continue stedfastly in prayer. Do not let the strength of your prayerful spirit escape, and do not let your acts of prayer, your special seasons diminish or grow less strenuous. It is an exhortation to hold fast.
Let us look at the prayerful spirit; and then at occasions of prayer. It is almost impossible to separate them, for they act and react the one on the other.
1. The prayerful spirit.We cannot fulfil the Apostles exhortation even if we keep our regular seasons of prayer unless we have the prayerful spirit, the spirit of harmony with the will of God. It is the aspiration after all good, the wish, stronger than any earthly passion or desire, to live in His service only. It is the temper of mind which says in the evening, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; which rises up in the morning, to do thy will, O God; and which all the day regards the actions of business and of daily life as done unto the Lord and not to menWhether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. The trivial employments, the meanest or lowest occupations may receive a kind of dignity when thus converted into the service of God. This is the life of prayer, or rather the life which is itself prayer, which is always raised above this world, and yet is always on a level with this world; the life which has lost the sense of consciousness of self, and is devoted to God and to mankind, which may almost be said to think the thoughts of God, as well as do His works.
2. Acts of prayer.But the prayerful spirit cannot exist unless special acts of prayer are practised. A passive desire to live in the atmosphere of prayer is dangerous, unless it finds its proper activity in definite exercises of prayer. We shall succeed in maintaining the spirit of constant prayer only when we foster it by stated periods of devotion.
If a man is right, and puts the practice of praying in its right place, then his serving and giving and speaking will be fairly fragrant with the presence of God. The great people of the earth to-day are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. This something else is important. Very important, and pressing, but less important and less pressing than prayer.1 [Note: S. D. Gordon, Quiet Talks on Prayer, 12.]
3. Such continuance will not be without its effects. Its effects will be twofold.
(1) The effect on the man who prays.No one denies that prayer has a subjective effect. It has an intellectual effect. Thus it has been observed that persons without natural ability have, through the earnestness of their devotional habits, acquired in time powers of sustained thought, and an accuracy and delicacy of intellectual touch, which would not otherwise have belonged to them. The intellect being the instrument by which the soul handles religious truth, a real interest in religious truth will of itself often furnish an educational discipline; it alone educates an intellect which would otherwise be uneducated.
It has also a moral effect. Habitual prayer constantly confers decision on the wavering, and energy on the listless, and calmness on the excitable, and disinterestedness on the selfish. It braces the moral nature by transporting it into a clear, invigorating, unearthly atmosphere; it builds up the moral life, insensibly but surely remedying its deficiencies, and strengthening its weak points, till there emerges a comparatively symmetrical and consistent whole, the excellence of which all must admit, though its secret is known only to those who know it by experience.
It has a social effect. Prayer makes men, as members of society, different in their whole bearing from those who do not pray. It gilds social intercourse and conduct with a tenderness, an unobtrusiveness, a sincerity, a frankness, an evenness of temper, a cheerfulness, a collectedness, a constant consideration for others, united to a simple loyalty to truth and duty, which leavens and strengthens society.
It is not too much to say that prayer has even physical results. The countenance of a Fra Angelico reflects his spirit no less than does his art; the bright eye, the pure elevated expression speak for themselves It was said of Keble that in his later years his face was like that of an illuminated clock; the colour and gilding had long faded away from the hands and figures, but the ravages of time were more than compensated for by the light which shone from within.
(2) The effect on those prayed for.The subjective effect of prayer does not cover the whole ground. Prayer has also an objective effect. A man may say, I can quite understand the good of praying for oneself; I can quite see that, according to Gods will, these gifts of grace are to be worked for by prayer, like the gifts of God in nature; but where is the evidence that there is the slightest good in praying for others? He might even take this linehe might say, It is presumptuous for me to imagine that I can affect the destiny of another soul! It is against what I read of the struggle for existence by each individual in nature. It is unfair, for what is to happen to those for whom no one prays? And where is the evidence that intercession for others does any good at all?
Gilmour of Mongolia said: Unprayed for, I feel like a diver at the bottom of a river, with no air to breathe; or like a fireman with an empty hose in a blazing building.
For nearly twenty years it was the daily practice of Cardinal Vaughans mother to spend an hourfrom five to six in the afternoonin prayer before the Blessed Sacrament asking this favourthat God would call every one of her children to serve Him in the Choir or in the Sanctuary. In the event all her five daughters entered convents, and of her eight sons six became priests; even the two who have remained in the world for a time entered ecclesiastical seminaries to try their vocations.1 [Note: J. G. Snead-Cox, Life of Cardinal Vaughan, i. 11.]
4. The encouragement.Be sure that no true prayer remains unanswered, though thousands of prayers remain ungranted. He who alone knows all the things we have need of sees fit again and again to refuse the thing we ask, or to deny even the most unselfish of requests, and to delay satisfaction of the purest desires on behalf of those whose sins or sorrows we have carried to His Throne of Grace. And yet, assuredly, all such prayer enters into His ears, and all such prayer is duly answered, if not granted, by Him. Do we not sometimes discover, it may be long after, how, in ways we little dreamt of, through channels of which we knew nothing, the blessing for which we pleaded in vain was vouchsafed at last? And when there is no such discovery, where the refusal of the good we asked seems absolutely decreed and final, is it not our wisdom to leave all in the Fathers hands, and believe that what we know not now we shall know hereafter? No disclosure which awaits us behind the veil could surpass in interest the revelation of what has been achieved for ourselves and others by genuine yet ungranted prayer.
Two brothers freely cast their lot
With Davids royal Son;
The cost of conquest counting not,
They deem the battle won.
Brothers in heart, they hope to gain
An undivided joy;
That man may one with man remain,
As boy was one with boy.
Christ heard; and willd that James should fall,
First prey of Satans rage,
John linger out his fellows all,
And die in bloodless age.
Now they join hands once more above,
Before the Conquerors throne;
Thus God grants prayer, but in His love
Makes times and ways His own.1 [Note: J. H. Newman.]
For the Battle
Literature
Berry (C. A.), Vision and Duty, 99.
Black (H.), Christs Service of Love, 130.
Body (G.), The Guided Life, 101.
Candlish (R. S.), The Two Great Commandments, 183.
Drury (T. W.), The Prison-Ministry of St. Paul, 105.
Gray (W. A.), Laws and Landmarks of the Spiritual Life, 137.
James (F.), A National Pentecost, 44.
Jowett (J. H.), Apostolic Optimism, 1.
Jowett (J. H.), The Transfigured Church, 149.
Keenleyside (C. B.), Gods Fellow-Workers, 115.
Liddon (H. P.), Some Elements of Religion, 168.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Romans, 273.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxv. (1879), No. 1480.
Wilberforce (B.), Sanctification by the Truth, 160.
Christian World Pulpit, x. 250 (Jarvie); xlvii. 248 (Fairbairn).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Rejoicing: Rom 5:2, Rom 5:3, Rom 15:13, Psa 16:9-11, Psa 71:20-23, Psa 73:24-26, Pro 10:28, Pro 14:32, Lam 3:24-26, Hab 3:17, Hab 3:18, Mat 5:12, Luk 10:20, 1Co 13:13, Phi 3:1, Phi 4:4, Col 1:27, 1Th 5:8, 1Th 5:16, 2Th 2:16, 2Th 2:17, Tit 2:13, Tit 3:7, Heb 3:6, Heb 6:17-19, 1Pe 1:3-8, 1Pe 4:13, 1Jo 3:1-3
patient: Rom 2:7, Rom 5:3, Rom 5:4, Rom 8:25, Rom 15:4, Psa 37:7, Psa 40:1, Luk 8:15, Luk 21:19, Col 1:11, 1Th 1:3, 2Th 1:4, 2Th 3:5, 1Ti 6:11, 2Ti 3:10, Heb 6:12, Heb 6:15, Heb 10:36, Heb 12:1, Jam 1:3, Jam 1:4, Jam 5:7, Jam 5:10, Jam 5:11, 1Pe 2:19, 1Pe 2:20, 2Pe 1:6, Rev 13:10
continuing: Gen 32:24-26, Job 27:8-10, Psa 55:16, Psa 55:17, Psa 62:8, Psa 109:4, Jer 29:12, Jer 29:13, Dan 9:18, Dan 9:19, Luk 11:5-13, Luk 18:1-8, Luk 18:9-43, Act 1:14, Act 2:42, Act 6:4, Act 12:5, 2Co 12:8, Eph 6:18, Eph 6:19, Phi 4:6, Phi 4:7, Col 4:2, Col 4:12, 1Th 5:17, Heb 5:7, Jam 5:15, Jam 5:16, 1Pe 4:7, 1Jo 5:14, 1Jo 5:15
Reciprocal: 1Sa 8:20 – General Job 2:10 – shall we receive Pro 15:15 – but Ecc 3:22 – nothing Act 16:25 – sang Rom 8:24 – saved 2Ti 4:2 – be Heb 6:11 – of hope 1Pe 1:6 – ye greatly Rev 2:3 – hast patience Rev 2:9 – tribulation
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
:12
Rom 12:12. Rejoicing in hope. A Christian does not have to be in possession of the crown of life to rejoice, but he can rejoice over the hope of receiving it; that will cause him to be patient in tribuation, and continue to be a prayerful disciple.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rom 12:12. In hope, rejoicing. The hope, i.e., the thing hoped for, is the ground rather than the object of the joy.
In tribulation, patient, i.e., steadfast as usually. This clause follows, probably because the Christians joyous hope produces endurance in affliction.
In prayer, persevering (see marginal references). Neither joy nor endurance is abiding without such constant prayer.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The apostle next directs the converted Romans how they should manage themselves under afflictions; namely, to endure them patiently, to rejoice in hope of present deliverance, or future happiness; and, in order to both, to be much in the duty of prayer.
Learn hence, that hope, patience, and prayer, are powerful supports under all afflictions, and will render them not only tolerable, but joyous. By patience, we possess ourselves; by hope, we possess God; by prayer, we are enabled unto both.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rom 12:12-18. Rejoicing in hope Of perfect holiness and everlasting happiness; or of the glory of God; (Rom 5:2;) and of eternal life, Tit 1:2; patient in tribulation To which you may be exposed for the cause of Christ, or in whatever you may be called to suffer, according to the wise disposals of Gods gracious providence; continuing instant in prayer That you may stand firm in the faith, and have a seasonable deliverance from your trouble. Distributing to the necessities of the saints As far as is in your power; accounting nothing your own which their relief requires you to communicate. It is remarkable that the apostle, treating expressly of the duties flowing from the communion of saints, yet never says one word about the dead. Given to, , pursuing hospitality Not only embracing those that offer, but seeking opportunities to exercise it: a precept this, which the present circumstances of Christians rendered peculiarly proper, and indeed necessary; especially toward those strangers that were exiles from their own country, or were travelling in the cause of Christianity. To which we may add, that the want of public inns, (which were much less common than among us,) rendered it difficult for strangers to get accommodations. Bless That is, wish well to, and pray for, them which persecute you That pursue you with evil intentions, and find means to bring upon you the greatest sufferings. Bless, and curse not No, not in your hearts, whatever provocations you may have to do so. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, &c. Maintain a constant sympathy with your Christian brethren, as the relation in which you stand to them, as members of the same body, requires. Be of the same mind one toward another Desire for others the same good which you wish for yourselves. Or, let each condescend to the rest, and agree with them as far as he fairly and honourably can: and where you must differ, do not by any means quarrel about it, but allow the same liberty of sentiments you would claim. So Doddridge. Mind not high things Desire not riches, honour, or the company of the great; but condescend to men of low estate To the meanest concerns of the meanest Christians, and stoop to all offices of Christian kindness toward them. Be not wise in your own conceits So as to think you do not need the guidance of the divine wisdom, or the advice and counsel of your Christian brethren, Pro 3:5; Pro 3:7. Recompense to no man evil for evil Nor imagine that any mans injurious treatment of you will warrant your returning the injury. Provide things honest in the sight of all men Think beforehand: contrive to give as little offence as may be to any. Take care that you do only such things as are justifiable and unexceptionable; such as may be above the need of excuse, and may appear, at the first view, fair and reputable. The word , rendered provide, signifies, to think of the proper method of doing a thing, before we proceed to action. If it be possible That is, so far as it may be done, 1st. Without dishonouring God; 2d, With a good conscience; 3d, If mens abuses be not insufferable; that is, as far as is consistent with duty, honour, and conscience; live peaceably with all men Even with heathen and unbelievers, with whom you have any dealings.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 12. Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, persevering in prayer.
The fervor of devotion, referred to in Rom 12:11, has no more powerful auxiliary than joy; for joy disposes us to kindness and even to self-sacrifice. But this applies only to Christian joy, to that which is kept up in the heart by the glorious hopes of faith.
The passage, chap. Rom 5:3-4, shows the intimate bond which unites this joy of hope with the patient endurance which the believer should display in the midst of trial; comp. 1Th 1:3.
And what are we to do to keep up in the heart the joyful spring of hope, and that firmness of endurance which holds out? Persevere in prayer, says the apostle; such is the fruitful principle of those admirable dispositions. The following is Hofmann’s paraphrase of the verse: In so far as we have cause to hope, let us be joyful; in so far as we have cause of pain, let us hold out; in so far as the door of prayer is open to us, let us continue to use it. The force of the datives which head the three propositions could not be better rendered.
Paul came down from charity and its external manifestations to the depths of the inner life; he now returns to the practical manifestations of this feeling, and points out the blessings of active charity extending to three classes of persons: brethren, strangers, enemies.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing stedfastly in prayer [In this triplet the apostle directs the manner in which the Christian life is to inwardly manifest its love toward God. The hopes of his begetting which make bright the future are to fill it with joy; the chastisements of his sending which make heavy the present are to be endured with loyal, unmurmuring patience, as from him (Heb 12:3-11), and both hope and patience are to be augmented and sustained by prayer which grants us the consolation of his presence. Persecutions added greatly to the afflictions of the church in Paul’s day, and it was often beyond expectation that the Christian should rejoice in his present circumstances, but he could always be cheered by hope. “By patience,” says Burkitt, “we possess ourselves; by hope we possess God; by prayer we are enabled to possess both”];
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
12. Rejoicing in hope. The vivid, brilliant and triumphant anticipations of heaven and glory, speedily entered and sweeping on forever, should constantly inspire us with a hopeful buoyancy, riding victoriously over every corroding care and lugubrious difficulty. Being patient in tribulation. This word is from the Latin tribulum, a flail, setting forth the work of the devil to beat us over head and back with his cruel cudgel. Continuing constant in prayer. Though we can not always be in the meditation of prayer, yet we can incessantly be in the spirit of prayer, which is an impregnable fortification against all the assaults of the enemy.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
12:12 {7} Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;
(7) He reckons up different virtues together with their effects, that is, hope, patience in tribulation, evenness of mind, continuance in prayer, liberality towards the saints, hospitality, moderation of mind even in helping our enemies, feeling the same as others in their adversity as well as their prosperity, modesty, endeavouring to maintain honest agreement as much as we are able with all men, which cannot be extinguished by any man injuring us.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
We must never lose sight of our hope of things in the future that God has promised us. This will help us persevere in tribulation (cf. Rom 5:3-4). Prayer is our great resource whenever we feel stress and strain (cf. Php 4:6-7). Note the same progression from hope to perseverance to prayer in Rom 8:24-27. We should not just pray, but we should be devoted to prayer (cf. Act 1:14). [Note: See Dan R. Crawford, compiler, Giving Ourselves to Prayer.] It should have high priority in our lives. Frequent attendance at prayer meetings is one indication of devotion to prayer.