reigning in life. Without that knowledge the usurper will still claim his dues, even

though they are claimed wrongfully.

The apostle uses the word "ignorant" several times in Romans, and in each instance

we find that ignorance leads to trouble and misunderstanding (Rom. 1: 13-16). Ignorance

of the apostle's attempts to visit Rome seems to have led to a suspicion that he was not

quite prepared to preach the gospel "at Rome also", and that he was somewhat ashamed

of the gospel when he considered the magnificence of Rome. This suggestion he entirely

Ignorance of the fact that the goodness of God leads to repentance made some despise

the longsuffering and forbearance of God, and erroneously conclude that "wrath" could

have no place with Him (Rom. 2: 4-11). The apostle, dealing with the important fact that

death ends the jurisdiction of Mosaic law, asks, "Are you ignorant, brethren, how that the

law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?" (Rom. 7: 1). The Hebrew believers

were timid in breaking free from the dominion of the law, and the apostle uses the figure

of marriage to show them their true position. Israel had a zeal of God, but not according

to knowledge, for they were ignorant of God's righteousness, and so remained under the

delusion that by their own efforts they could produce a righteousness acceptable before

God (Rom. 10: 3). Ignorance of the purpose of God regarding the future restoration of

Israel would have led the Gentile believers into a false conception of their place in the

scheme of things during the Acts period. They are shown in Rom. 11: 25 that the full

Gentile dispensation had not then commenced. In connection with the repudiation of the

old man with which Rom. 6: deals, the apostle in Col. 3: 9, 10 says:--

Adam's fall was an act of disobedience, seeking knowledge apart from righteousness

and apart from God.  The history of man, since that tragic moment, has been

characterized by an insatiable thirst for knowledge, drinking only to thirst again. Man

boasts of his scientific advance;  the store of knowledge now at his disposal is

immense--yet with all this advance sin abounds, death reigns, evil grows, and the world

sinks in decay and ruin.

Those who have been justified by faith and are now "in Christ" have received a

renewal of knowledge, linked with a time before the fall, after "the image of Him that

created him. They know Christ; they know the truth. As the Lord Himself said:--

Rom. 6: contains truth, which, if known, makes free. We shall therefore seek grace

from the Lord to enter into this knowledge for ourselves, and also that we may be enabled

to pass on this liberating truth to others.