Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

5. “But hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost who has been given unto us.” Here is a beautiful reference to the gift of the Holy
Ghost to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, when the Son of God poured Him out on them from
heaven, gloriously sanctifying and filling them with the blessed Holy Spirit, inundating them with
perfect love casting out all fear and shame. “Shed abroad” in E.V. is wrong, the translators
following the Latin, which in this passage has diffusa, whereas it should be effusa. “Shed abroad”
is only an incorrect translation of the Greek ekkechutai from ek, “out,” and cheoo, “pour,” simply
meaning to pour out; but it is illusory, involving the idea that the love is already in the heart, and is
merely diffused abroad, which might consist with philia, human love, which is indigenous in fallen
humanity, and utterly graceless, being simply carnal affection peculiar to the unregenerate, not only
in this world but, as we see in the case of Dives, in the world to come, who even in the flames of hell
loved his brethren so that he wanted to send them a missionary to save their souls. The word here
is agape, divine love, which is the nature of God (1 John 4), and imparted to us by the Holy Ghost
in regeneration, making us “partakers of the divine nature.” The reference in this passage is really
to the sanctified experience, because it speaks of the “Holy Ghost having been given unto us,” which
is none other than the Pentecostal experience here beautifully described in verses 2-5.
6. “For we being yet without strength, yet in due time Christ died for us:
7. “For scarcely will one die for a righteous man: for in behalf of a good man one even dares to
die:
8. “And God commendeth his love toward us because we being yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
A good man, in the primary sense, is one who never sinned. Hence in this original sense it applies
to Christ only. In case of the rich young man who called Him good master,” and to whom He
responded, “Why callest thou me good? for there is none good but one, and that is God,” many
persons erroneously think that our Savior refused to be called good, referring to this passage as an
argument against the possibility of entire sanctification in this life. They utterly misapprehend the
whole matter. Our Savior did not refuse to be called good, but simply turned the young man’s
appellation, “calling him good master,” into a confession of His divinity: “You call me good, and
such I am. Now as there is none good but God, do you not see that you have recognized my divinity,
calling me God?” While in this primary sense no fallen beings are good, yet there is a gracious
possibility for us all to be righteous and holy, from the fact that a righteous man is simply a pardoned
sinner, and a holy man a purified sinner. The case was an extreme one. If a good man were on the
earth, such would be his glory and majesty that some one might die for him, while it is scarcely
probable that any one would die for a righteous man, i.e., a pardoned sinner; but Jesus even died not
only for people utterly destitute of any resources or commendation, but even His enemies.
9. “Then how much more now, being justified in his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through
him.
10. “For if we, being enemies, were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much
more, being reconciled, should we be saved by his life.