The life and work of St. Paul

FRUITS OF FAITH. SOS
moral wickedness of the world, which had a wholly different application: 1
and therefore Paul, with his usual firmness, lays down in unmistakable terms
the rule which, humanly speaking, could alone save the rising Church from
utter extinction the rule, namely, of holding aloof from political distur-
bances. On thj whole, both Jews and Christians had learnt the lesson well,
and it was. therefore, the more necessary that the good effects of that faithful
fulfilment of the duties of citizenship, to which both Jewish historians and
Christian Fathers constantly appeal, should not be obliterated by the fanatical
theories of incipient Manichees.
The question as to the payment of civil dues leads St. Paul naturally to
apeak of the payment of other dues. The one debt which the Christian owes
to all men is the debt of love that love which prevents us from all wrongdoing,
and is therefore the fulfilment of the law. To this love he invites them
in a powerful appeal, founded on the depth of the night and the nearness of
the dawn, so that it was high time to put away the works of darkness and put
on the arms of light 2
nay, more, to put on, as a close-fitting robe, by close
spiritual communion, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. 3
The fourteenth chapter again reveals the existence of Ebionitic elements
in the Roman Church. In a strange city, and especially if he were ont free,
a scrupulous Jew, uninfluenced by Hellenism, would find it so impossible to
fulfil the requirements of the Law respecting clean and unclean meats, and
still more the many minute additions which Rabbinic Pharisaism had made to
those requirements, that he would be forced either to sacrifice his convictions,
or to reduce his diet to the simplest elements. As St. Paul does not allude
even more
fco the Law, it is probable that he is here dealing with scruples
deeply seated. HIB object is to reconcile the antagonistic feelings of two
classes of Christians, whom he calls respectively the " strong " and the " weak."
The " strong " regarded all days as equally sacred, or, as the " weak " would
have said, as equally profane ; whereas the " weak " surrounded the Sabbath
and the Jewish festivals with regulations intended to secure their rigid observ-
ance. 4
Again, the " strong " ate food of every description without the smallest
scruple, whereas the " weak " looked on all animal food with such disgust
and suspicion that they would eat nothing but herbs. 6
It is obvious that in
adopting so severe a course they went far beyond the requirements of Levit-
1 John Xli. 81. 6 apx