The Globe-republican., 1893-09-29
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
Internatis1al Lesson for October I, 1880
The Power Of the Gospel-E0mans 1:8-17.l

10eeT08e1003l Lesson Tor Oct00ef L. 10SS~1
The Power Of the Gospei-Eonans l:s-17.l
Especially Arranged from PcIoubet's Notesl
GOLDEN TExr.-I am not ashamed OF the
Gospel Of Christ; fer il is the power OF God
unto salvation to every one that beiieveth-
Rom lila
TNE-Written early in the spring OF A D.
S. soon after the Epistle TO the Galatians
Nero was emperor at this time
PLAcE.-Written to the church Of Rome from
Corinth. At the close Of the three months resi-
dence there Of Acts s0:S, the ''winterins" of
Cor. 1874
COMPOSITION was composed apparent
IL, in the house Of Corinthian Christian.
Gaius or Caius Rom 1873. see Cor. l:l4);
dictated by St. Paul. and written down by one
Tertius.
LASGUAGE-Paul writes in Greek because
a. Greek was universally understood among
the lf-foreign poorer classes Of the imperial
city. e. Greek was the more familiar Ian
guage TO Paul. his native language and be
could write more perfectly in this language
81 Greek was by far the most perfect Ian
guage in which TO embalm for all ages the word
OF God Paul had to speak
THE EPIsrLE " AS SENT by q Christian worl-
an. deaconesS named Phabe, who was about
to sail from one Of the ports OF Corinth Ia home
THE CHURCH AT ROME was composed Of
Jews and Gentiles. the latter predouinaiing.
The name Of the original founder OF the Roman
church has not been preserved TO Us By history
nor even celebrated By tradition Early
church tradition" says Farrar, lis indeed al
most unanimous in asserting that St Peter
was martyred az Rome, but his visit TO
the city did not long precede his death"
It is probable that private Christians
converted in Palestine, even as early as the
great outpouring Of the spirit on PentecoSt
tActS 2:l0), made their way to Rome; but
probably the larger number Of those who intro
Z hal mol AZ converted I
various places under the preaching OF Paul
himself There was continual Intercourse be-
/ tween Rome and the cities OF Greece and Asia
/ Minor. We know too from the greetings in
/ chapter 16 that Paul was acquainted with
/ number of Christians there. According TO Dr.
! Schan the Jews in Rome itself numbered from
/ twenty to thirty THOUSAND souls, md seven
! synagogues and three cemeteries
THE OBJECT OF THE EPISTLE, written to
church he had never visited, was apparently
/ % TO send greeting 10 his many friends who
/ had gone there, and assure them OF his abiding
affection: (2) to prepare the way tor his visit 20
/ them which he was planning to make; 81 TO
! comfort and instruct those who hal been strug-
! Cling along without any apostle to keep them
from error or to lead them into larger truth
THE POWER OF GOD.
The End; Unto Salvation. This
I power has a particular object-salva-
ton. What is salvation? Forgiveness
( of sins. return to God the Father, de-
Hverance from the punishment of sin.
welcome to Heaven. restoration of the
soul to its true condition of spiritual
| health. 1t is deliverance from the ruin
wrought by sin and restoration to the
holy will, the Heavenly character. the
loving nature. the spiritual life and
health. the grace and glory imaged in
Jesus Christ.
Christ the Power of God. |. Christ is
the power OF God because in the Di-
vine-Human Saviour are all the sources
OF power by which sin can be over
come. 81 Conviction OF sin; (2) way
of forgiveness; (3) a revela ton OF God
and Heaven and duty: O. Divine aU-
thority: (5) human sympa thy: 90 Di-
vine aid in the Holy Spirit; O. rev
citation of our danger; IS q kindlirg
of hope: 90 the drawing of the love
God; QO) perfect example. II. Christ
is shown to be the power OF God By the
obsta cles it overcoclcs. Power is meas
ured in two ways-by the difficulties il
overcomes. and by what it docs in spite
of these difficulties. Now the cleans
ing of the human heart from sin. the
removal of sin from the world. is the
most difficult achievement proposed
to man. Human art and civiliza-
ton and labor can do almost every
thing but this. Here human religions
and philosophers are a failure. Here
is that which says: Thus far. and no
farther, and here shall thy proud waves
I l. &c 70 hS,
the power of God by what it has ac-
complished Notwithstanding this OBJ
stacle 1t has changed the face of the
world. it has renovated its morals. it
has lifted whole nations to high state
of civilization. it is renewing the worst
of men. and yearly changing null
t:.udes of lives for the better. 1t has
doubled the number of Christians in the
last eighty years. If you take map
of the world like those made by the
government census bureau. and put
the countries in white where is the
highest morality and the greatest hap
piness. and darken the color as the
morality darkens, and place beside 1t
a missionary map with the Christian
lied countries in white. while the color
darkens as the Christianity grows i'm
pure, and the countries descend into
the blackness of heathenism, the
two maps will almost exactly coincide.
Where is the most of Christ crucified,
there are the purest morality and the
happiest lives. ". Christ is the power
OF God. not only in overcoming sin,
but for destroying all other evils
sickness. sorrow, death. temptation.
ignorance. ITO every one that be-
lieveth:" Believing is the means by
which the salvation is received. The
light of the sun is abundant for every
one who will open his eyes Water is
unlimited for every one who will
drink Salvation is offered to all the
world. to every one who accepts it. re-
ceiving it in his heart by faith See
next verse. ITO the Jew first" In
time. Christ was jew and preached
!, first to them. but it was meant ''also to
the Greek" the representative OF all
Gentiles.
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
/ =. -&-,Iv - 1e