peace
that is God's gift comes only through the breaking up of the peace of
soul which comes from ignoring God. The Pharisee on the temple steps
was at peace when he thanked God that he was not as other men are--at
peace in his misplaced pride. The mass of men in heathen Corinth,
where St. Paul was writing, were at peace in their sins. And St. Paul
has set himself with all his might, as in his preaching generally, so
in this particular letter, to break up this false peace of conscience.
Like the prophet of old he spurns those who would 'heal the hurt of the
daughter of God's {176} people lightly, saying, Peace, peace, when
there is no peace.' Thus he has been arousing the conscience of
Gentiles and Jews equally, and forcing upon them the conviction that
their present life is a condemned life, under the doom of a righteous
God. But when the conviction is driven home, when the wound is fairly
recognized and probed, comes in due course the healing remedy. It lies
in the recognition of what God really is--of the sort of character
which He is manifesting now in His Son Jesus Christ. For behold!
wholly apart from any question of what we are or have been, God is
found waiting for us with the offer of His love, which is also the
power to accomplish what He offers. It is pardon and new life He
offers to us. It is for us simply to take Him at His word, and without
any delay or reckoning up of accounts, to be acquitted and accepted for
righteous simply because we have believed His word.

The secure ground of peace in the soul, therefore, lies in the frank
and severe recognition of our own sinfulness, but also, and even more,
in looking away from ourselves and simply fixing our whole
consideration on the character of God, who in certain acts has shown
His {177} good-will toward us, and His power to make His goodwill
effectual. All hope for us starts simply from God and His mind of love
toward us. 'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his
Son.'

Thus we find St. Paul, in the passage we are now to consider, beginning
a fresh appeal to believers in Christ on this basis, which he has
already made so secure. Seeing, he says, that we have now been
accepted simply because we believed, let us enter into that heritage of
peace which our Lord Jesus Christ by His redemption has won for us.
For what is our present condition? Through His redeeming sacrifice we
have received an introduction, at no other cost than