Chapter XXVII (continued, part 3)
substantially, in the intermediate verses, as by tlie offence of one [ judgmeut came] (or, more simply, 'itcaine') upon all men to condemnation ; even so by tlie rigltteousnegs of one [the free gift cnme] (rather, ' it came ') upon all men to justiAcatlon of life — [So Calvin, Bengel, Olshausen, Tholuck, Hodge, Philipi'l] But
If the wliole purposes of God towards men centre in Adam and Christ, where does "the law" ('ome in, and what was the use of it? Atwwer: It entered—But the word expresses an important idea besides 'entering.' It
better, as we judge: 'As through one offence [it came] upon
all men to condemnation ; even so through one rigliteousness [it came] upon all men to justification of life.' [So Beza, Grotius, Febme, Meyer, De WErrE, Alfokd, Revised Version.] In this case, the apostle, resuming tlie statement of v. 12, expresses it in a more concentrated and vivid form—suggested no doubt by the expression in v. 16, "through one ofTence," representing Christ's whole work, considered as the ground of our justification, as "one RIGHTEOUSNESS." (Some would render the peculiar word here employed, ' one righteous act' [Alford, Revised Version, &c.] ; understanding by it Christ's death as tlie one redeeming act which reversed the one undoing act of Adam. But this is to limit the apostle's idea too much ; I'or as the same word is properly rendered " righteousness ' in ch. 8. 4, where it means " the righteousness of the law as
signifies, 'entered incidentally,' or ' parenthetically.' (In Galatians '2. 4 the same word is rendered ' came in privily.') The meaning is, that the promulgation of the law at Sinat was no primary or essential feature of the Divine plan, but it was " added" (Galatians 3. 19) for a subordinate purpose—the more fully to reveal the evil occasioned by Adam, and the need and glory of the remedy by Christ, that the offence might abonnd—(or, 'be multiplied'). But what offence? Throughout all this section "tho
offence' (four times repeated besides here) has one definite meaning, namely, ' the one first offence of Adam;' and
this, in our judgment, is its meaning here also: q. d., 'All our multitudinous breaches of the law are nothing but that one first offence, mysteriously in the bosom of every child of Ailam as an offending principal, and multiplying itself into myriads of particular offences in the life
fulfilled by us who walk not after the flesh, but alter the Spirit," so here it denotes Christ's whole " obedience unto death," considered as the one meritorious ground of the reversal of the condemnation which came by Adam. But on this, and on the expression, " all men," see on v. 19. The expression "justification of life," is a vivid combination of two ideas already expatiated upon, meaning 'justification entitling to and issuing in the rightful possession and enjoyment of life.') 19. For, &c.—better, ' For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so by the obedience of the One shall the many be made righteous.' On this great verse observe,
of each.' What was one ctci of disobedience in the iiead has been converted into a vital and virulent principle ot disobedience in all the members of the human family, whose every act of wilful rebellion procl-.iims itself the child of the original ti'ansgression. 13««t where sin abounded (or, • was multiplied') grace did iiinch mor<i abound— rather, 'did exceedingly abound,' or 'superabound.' The comparison here is between the multiplication of one offence into countless transgressions, and such an overflow of grace as more than meets that appalling case. That as sin—Observe, the word " offence" is no more used, as that had been sufficiently illustrated; but —what better befitted this comprehensive summation of the whole matter—the great general term Sin. hath reigned unto death—rather, 'in deatli,' triumphing and (as it were) revelling in that complete destruction of its victims, even so might grace reign—In v. 14, 17 we had the reign of death over the guilty and condemned in Adam; here it is the reign of the mighty causes of these— of Sin which clothes Death a Sovereign with venomous potver{l Corinthians 15. 56) and with awful authority (cli.6.
first, that by the "obedience" of Christ here is plainly not meant more than what divines call His ac^iue obedience, as distinguished from His sufferings and death ; it is the entire work of Christ in its obediential character. Our Lord Himself represents even His death as His great act of obedience to the Father: "This commandment (i.e., to lay down and resume His life) have I received of my Father" (John 10. 18). Second, The sigiiiticant word twice rendered "made," does not signify to work a change upon a person or thing, but to constitute or ordain, as will be seen from all the places where it is used. Here, accordingly.
It is intended to express Ihat judicial act which holds men. In virtue of their connection with Adam, as sinners; and, in connection with Christ, as righteous. Third, The change of tense from the past to the future—"as through Adam we were made sinners, so through Christ we shall be made righteous"—delightfully expresses the enduring character of the act, and of the econouiy to which such acts lielong. In contrast with the for-ever-past ruin of believers in Adam. (See on ch. 6. 5.) Fourth, The "all men" of v. 18 and the " many" of v. 19 are the same party, though under a slightly different aspect. In the latter
23), and of Grace, the gi-ace which originated the scheme of salvation, the grace which "sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world," the grace which " made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin," the grace which " makes us to be the righteousness of God in Him," so that " we who receive tlie abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness do reign in life by One, Jesus Christ!" through righteousness—not ours certainl.y ('the oliedience of Christians,' to use the wretched language of Grotius), nor yet exactly 'justification' [Stuart, Hodge]; but rather, 'the (justifying) righteousness of Christ' [BizA, Alford, and in substance, Olshausen, Meyer]; the same which in v. 19 is called His " obedience," meaninis; His whole mediatorial work in the flesh. This is here represented as the rigltteous mediu7n throufih which grace reaches its objects and attains all Its ends, the stable throne from which Grace as a Sovereign dispenses its saving benefits to as many as are brought under its benign sway, unto eternal life—which is salvation in its highest form and fullest development for ever, by Jesua 233
case, the contrast is between the one representative (Adam —Christ) and the manj/ whom he represented; iii the former case, it Is between the one ftearf (Adam—Christ) and the human race, affected for death and life respectively by the actings of that one. Only in this latter ca.se it is the redeemed family of man that is alone In view; It Is Humanity as actually lost, but also as actually saved, as ruined and recovered. Such as refuse to fall in with the blgh iiurpose of God to constitute His Son a "second AUum," the Head of a new race, and as impenitent and
Wha-e Sin Alounded, Grace did more Abound. ROMANS VI. TJic Bearing of Judifieatinn upon a IToli, Life.
CIrrist our JLord—Thus, on that " Name -which is above every name," the echoes of tliis hymn to the glory of "Grace" die away, and "Jesus is left alone." On reviewing tliis golden section of our Epistle, tlie following additional remarks occur: (1.) If this section do not teach that the whole race of Adam, standing in him as their federal head, 'sinned in him and fell with him iu his first transgression,' we may despair of any intelligible exposition of it. The apostle, after saying that Adam's sin introduced death into the world, does not say "and so death passed upon all men for that" Adam "sinned," but "for that all si7tncd." Thus, according to the teaching of the apostle, 'the death of all is for the sin of all;' and as this cannot mean the personal sins of each individual, but some sin of which unconscious infants are guilty equally with adults, it can mean nothing but the one
thenceforward ' dead while he lived." Such are all hi? poster! ty from their birth. Tlie separation of soul and body in temporal death carries the sinner's "destruction" a stag-e farther; dissolving his connection with tiiat world out of which he extracted a pleasurable, though unblest, existence, and ushering liim into the presence of his Judge—first as a disembodied spirit, but ultimately in the body too, in an enduring condition— "to be punished (and this is the final state) with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and fjora the. glory of His power." This final extinction in soul and body of all that constitutes life, but yet eternal consciousness of a blighted existence—this, in its amplest and most awful sense, is "death !" Not that Adam understood all that. It is enough that he understood " the day" of his disobedience to be the terminating period of his blissful "life." In that simple idea was wrapt up all the rest. But tliat he should comprehend its details was not necessary. Nor is it necessary to suppose all that to be intended in every passage of Scripture wliere the word occurs. Enougli that all we have described is in the bosom of the thing, and will be realized in as many as are not tlie happy subjects of the Reign of Grace. Beyond doubt, the whole of this is intended in such sublime and comprehensive passages as this : "God . . . gave His . . . Son that whosoever believeth in Him might not perish, but liave everlasting life" (John 3. 16). And should not the untold horrors of that "death"—already "reigning over" all that are not in Christ, and hastening to its consummation—quicken our flight into " the second Adam," that having " received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, we may reign iu life by the One, Jesus Christ?" * CHAPTER VI.
'first transgression' of their common head, regarded as the sin of each of his race, and punished, as such, with death. It is vain to start l)ack from this imputation to all of the guilt of Adam's first sin^ as wearing the appearance of injustice. For not only are all other theories liable to the same objection, in some other form —besides being inconsistent with the text—but the actual facts of human nature, which none dispute, and which cannot be explained away, involve essentially the same difficulties as the great principle on which the apostle here explains them. If we admit this principle, on the authority of our apostle, a flood of light is at once thrown upon certain features of the Divine procedure, and certain portions of the Divine oracles, which otherwise are involved iu much darkness; and if the principle itself seem hard to digest, it is not harder than the existence of
evil, which, as a fact, admits of no dispute, but, as a feature in the Divine administration, admits of no explanation la the present state. (2.) What is called original sin—or that depraved tendency to evil with which every child of Adam comes into the world—is not formally treated of in this section (and even In ch. 7. it is rather its nature and operation than its connection with the first sin which is handled). But indirectly, this section bears testimony to it; representing the one original olfence, unlike every other, as having an enditring vitality in the bosom of every child of Adam, as a principle of disobedience, wliose virulence has gotten it the familiar name of 'original sin.' (3.) In what sense is the word " deatli" used throughout this section ? Not certainly as mere temporal death, as Arminian commentators aftirm. For as Christ came to undo what Adam did, which is all comprehended in the word "death," it would hence follow that Christ has merely dissolved the sentence by wliich soul and body are parted in death; in other words, merely procured the resurrection of tiie body. But the New Testament throughout teaches that the salvation. of Christ is from a vastly more comprehensive "death" than that. But neither is death here used merely in the sense of penal en//, i. e., ' any evil inflicted in punishment of sin and for the support of law.' [Hodqe.] This is too indefinite, .making death a mere figure of speech to denote 'penal evil' in general—an idea foreign to the simplicity of Scripture—or at least making death, strictly so called, only one part of the thing meant by it, which ought not to be resorted to if a more simple and natural explanation can be found. By "death" then, in this section, we understand the sinner's destruction, in the only sense in which he is capalde of it. Even temporal death is called "destruction" (D'^uteronomy 7. 23; 1 Samuel 5. 11, Ac), as extinguishing all that men regard as lil'e. But a destruction ext<"ndlng to the soul as well as the body, and into the future world, is clearly expressed in Matthew 7. 13; 2 Thessalonians 1.9; 2 Peter 3. 16, &c. This is the penal "deatli" of our section, and In tiiis view of it we retain
Ver. 1-11. The Bearing of Justification by Grace UPON a Holy Life. 1. What, &c.—The subject of this
thirddivision of our Epistle announces itself at once in the ojiening question, "Shall we (or, as the true reading
' May we,' ' Are we to') continue in sin, that grace may abound ?" Had the apostle's doctrine been that salvation depends in any degree upon our good works, no sucli ob-
is,
jection to it could have been made. Against the doctrine ota purely gratuitous justification, the objection is plausible; nor has there ever been an age in wliich it has not been urged. That it was brought against the apostles, we know from ch. 3. 8; and we gather from Galatians S. 13; 1 Peter 2. 16; Jude 4, that some did give occasion to the charge; but that it was a total perversion of the doctrine of Grace the apostle here proceeds to show. a. Gotl forbid—' That be far from us;' the instincts of the new creature revolting at the thought. How kUoU wc, that are dead, &c. lit., and more forcibly, 'We who died to sin <as presently to be explained), how shall we live any longer therein?' 3. Know ye not, tUnt so many of us OS were baptized Into Jesus ClirUt(cf. 1 Corinthians 10.
2) were baptized Into Ills deatU 1—sealed with the seal of lieaven, and as it were formally entered and articled,
to all the benefits and all tlie obligations of Christian disoipleship in general, and of His death in particular. And since He was " made sin" and "a curse for us" (2 Corinthians 5. 21; Galatians 5.13), "bearing our sins in Hia own body on the tree," and "rising again for our justifl-. cation" (cli. 4. 2.5; 1 Peter 2. 21), our whole sinful case and condition, thus taken up into His Person, has been brought to an end in His death. Whoso, then, has been baptized into Christ's death has formally surrendered the whole state and life of sin, as in Christ a dead thing. He has sealed himself to be not only " the righteousness
of God in Him," l>ut "a new creature;" and as he cannot be in Christ to tlie one efl'ect and not to tlie other, for they are one thing, he has bidden farewell, by baptism into Christ's death, to his entire connection with sin. "How," then, "can he Uvo any longer therein?" The two things are as contradictory in the fact as they are
Its proper sense. Life—as a state of enjoyment of tlie favour of (Jod, of pure fellowship with Illm, and volun-
tarj' subjection to Him—Is a bliglited thing from the moment tliatstn is found In the creature's skirts; in that sense, the threatening, "In the day that tliou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," was carricxl into immediate eflfect In the case of Adam wlien he fell; wno was 234
in the term",. 4. Tliereforc we are (rather, 'were'— It being a past act, completed at once) burled wHh liiin, by baptUin Into dratli—(The comma we have placed
We are Dead to Sin. ROMANS VI End of tlie Reign of Sin,
most absolute sense a voluntary act (James 10. 17, 18; Acts
*fter "him" will show wliat the sense is. It is not, 'By baptism we are buried with Him into death,' which makes no sense at all; but 'By baptism with Him into
2. 24), that voluntary surrender gave death such rightful "dominion over Him" as dissolved its dominion over us. But tills once past, "death hath," even in that sense, "dominion over Him no more." For in that lie died, he died unto (i. e., in obedience to the claims of) death once (for all); but in tliat he llveth, he livetli unto (iu obedience to the claims of) God—There never, indeed, was a time when Christ did not " live unto God." But iu the days of his flesh he did so under the continual burden of sin "laid on Him" (Isaiah 53. 6; 2 Corinthians .j. 21); whereas, now that he has "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself," He " liveth unto God," the acquitted and accepted Surety, unchallenged and unclouded by the claims of sin. Likewise (even as your Lord Himself) reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed (' dead on the one hand') unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ—(The wol'ds, "our Lord," at the close of this vei'se, are wanting in the best MSS.)— ZVote (1.) ' Antinomianism
death we are buried with Him;' in other words, 'By the same baptism wliicli publicly enters us into His
l(iea//i, we are made partalcei-s of His burial also.') To 'leave a doad l)ody unliuried is represented, alilte in heathen authors as in .Scripture, as the greatest indignity (Revelation U. S, 9). It was fitting, therefore, that Christ, after "dying for our sins according to the Scriptures," slioiild "descend into tl)e lower parts of the earth " 'Epliesians 4.9). As this was tlie last and lowest btep of His humiliation, so it was the honourable dissolution of His last litik of connection witli that life which He laid down for us; and we, in being "buried with Him by our baptism into his death," have by this public act severed our last link of connection with that whole sinful condition and life which Christ brought to an end in His death, tliat liUe as Clirist was raised from tlie dead by tl»e glorjof tlic Father i. e., by such a forthputting of the Father's power as was tlie eff ulgence of His whole glory—even so we also (as risen to a new life with Him) should walk ii» newness of life—But what is that "newness?" Surely if our oW life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, tlie new, to which we rise Willi the risen Saviour, must be altogether a tioly life ; so that every time we go back to "those things whereof we are now ashamed" (ii. 21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and " forget that we have been purged from our old sins" (2 Peter 1. 9). (Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to in this verse, as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does iTot seem to us of much consequence. Many interpreters tliink it is, and it may be so. But as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times was exclusively by immersion (see on Acts 2. 41), so sprinkling and wujshing are indifferently used in the New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. And just as the woman with the issueof blood got virtue out of Christ by simply lov<:hing Him, so the essence of baptism seems to lie in tlie simple contact of the element witli tlie body, symbolizing living contact witli Christ crucified; the mode and extent of sufTusion being indifTereiit and variable with climate and circumstances.) 5. For If we have been planted together— Za., 'have become formed together.' (The word is used here only.) In the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection—</. d., 'Since Christ's death and resurrection are inseparable in their efficacy, union with Him in the one carries with it participation in the other, for privilege and for duty alike.' The future tense is used of participation in His resurrection, because tliis is but partially realized in the present state. (See on ch. 5. 19.) 6, 7. Knowing this, &c.—The apostle now grows more definite and vivid in expressing the sin-destroying etficacy of our union witli the crucified Saviour, that our old man—7. (Z., 'our old selves;' i.e., 'all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union witli Christ ' (cf. Colossians 3. 9, 10; Ephesians i. 22-24; Galatians 2. 20; 5. 24; 6. 14). is (rather, 'was') crucified witli Him (in order) that the body of sin—not a figure for ' the mn.s*- of sin;' nor the 'material body,' considered as the sf^atof sin, which it is not; but (as we Judge) for ' sin as it dwells in us in our present embodied state, under the law of the
is not only an error; it is a falsehood and a slander. [Hodge.] That "we should continue in sin that grace may abound," not only Is never the deliberate sentiment of any real believer in the doctrine of Grace, but is abhorrent to every Christian mind, as a monstrous abuse of the most glorious of all truths (v. 1). (2.) As the death of Christ is not only the expiation of guilt, but the death of sin itself in all who are vitally united to Him ; so the resurrection of Christ is the resurrection of believers, not only to acceptance with God, but to newness of life (u. 2-
11). (3.) In the light of these two truths, let all who name the name of Christ " examine themselves whether they be in the faith."
13-23. What Practical Use Believers should make OP THEIR Death to Sin and Life to God through Union to the Crucified Saviour. Not content with showing that his doctrine has no tendency to relax the obligations to a holy life, the apostle here proceeds to enforce these obligations. 13. Let not sin therefore (as a Master) reign—(The reader will observe that wherever in this section the words "Sin," "Obedience," "Righteousness," " Uncleanness," "Iniquity," are figuratively used, to represent a Master, they are here printed in cap-
itals, to make this manifest to the eye, and so save explanation.) in your mortal body, that ye should obey
it (sin) in the lusts thereof— " the lusts of the body," aS' the Greek makes evident. (The other reading, perhaps the true one, ' that ye sliould obey the lusts thereof,' comesto the same thing). The "body" is here viewed as the Instrument by which all the sins of the heart become facts of the outward life, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites; and it is called "our mortal body," probably to remind us how unsuitable is this reign of sin in tiiose who are "alive from the dead." But the reign here meant
is tlie unchecked dominion of sin vtnlhin us. Its outward acts are next referred to. 13. Neither yield ye your members Instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin., but yield yourselves (tliis is the great surrender) unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and (as the fruit of this) your members (till now prostituted to sin) instruments ofrighteousness unto God—But what if indwelling sin should prove too strong for us? The reply is: But it will not. 14. For Sin shall not have dominion, over you (as the slaves of a tyrant lord): for ye are not under the law, but under grace—The force of tliis glori* ous assurance can only be felt by observing the groundu on wliich it rests. To be " under the law " is, first, to be under its claim to entire obedience; and so, next, under its curse for the breach of ihese^ And as all power to obey can reacli the sinner only through Grace, of which the law knows nothing,, it follows that to be "under the law" is, finally, to be shut up under an inability to keep it, and consequently to be the Jielp-
fall.' might be ilestroyed (in Christ's death), (to the end) that henceforth we should not ser»'e (or, ' be in bondage to') sin. For he that is dead (rather, 'liath died ') is freed Chatli been set free'; from ain—lit., 'justified,' 'acquitted,' 'got his disclinrge, from sin.' As death dissolves all claims, so the whole claim of sin, not only to "reign unto death," but to keep i(.s victims in sinful bondage, lia.s been discharged once for all, by the believer's penal death in the death of Christ; so that he is no onger a "debtor to the flesli to live after the llesli "
less slave of sin. On the other hand, to be " under grace," is to be under the glorious, canopy and saving effects pf that "grace whichi reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through JesusChrist our Lord" (see on ch. 5.20,21). The curse of the law has been completely lifted from, off, them; . they> are made "tho
ch. 8.12). 8. Now if we be dead ('If we died') with Christ, Ac.—.See on v. 5. 9-11. Christ liciiig rnistui from the dead dieth no more) dentit hatli no more dominion over him—Though Christ's death was in tlie 62
CIirislianK Olligec! to TLinnri^. ROMANS VI. 37if Waijc^ 'if Sin is Dmlh,
deadening and deftrailing eflTects, and tlie death—"th« second death'"—to which it was dragging Ihem uowu, when mere Grace arrestc^d them. (On the sense of "death" here, see on lOi. 12-21, ixite 3, and on v. IH: see also Ilevidation 21. K.—The change proposed in tiie pointing or tUirt vers<"
righteousness of God in Him ;" aiirl tl)ey !ir e "alive unto God throUKii Jesus t'hrist."' So Ihiit, as wlicn they Were "under tlie Uiw," Sin could nut. I>ut luive domiiiion over Iheui. so now that they are "under graee." Kin citinDot Out be subdued under then>. If before, Sin resistlewsly trtaniphed, Graee will now be more tlian conqueror. 13, 16. Wliat tCiienl . . . Know ye not (it is a dictate uf ooniinon .<ense), that to ^vl»om ye yield yonr»eiv«-.s strvants So «»l)ey (with tlie view of obeying him), l»is fcei--
' Wiiat fruit lia<1 ye then ? thingsi whereof ye are now ashamed' [JLurriKn, Tiioi^UfK, l)t Wi rTKj Plliiviri'i, Ai.FOUB, &e.], seems unnatural and uncalled for. The ordinary pointing hasal least powerful support. [t;i{KV.s<)sTo:>s,C.'*i.vjN, Hkza, Gkotuw, ISenoei,, Stuart,
x'aiits ye nie to whom yc obey (to wliora j'e yield tliut obedieni'e); \vl\etl>er of Sin onto ilcatH—i. e,, 'issuin:^ in
Kkitzmciik.]) 23. Bnt now—as if to get away from sncli a sijljcct v/ere niispi>a Stable relief—I)elng made free from
dcatii,' in the awful sense of cli. 8. (>, as the sinner's final condition—or of Obedience unto rigliteonsness— (. e., obedience resulting in a righteous cliaracter, as the enduring condition of the servant of new Oljedience (1 Jolni
.Si>x, aetil become servnnits to God (in the absolute sense iir.endcd thronghont all this )>assage), ye have (not Niuglit to have,' but 'do have,' in point of fact) yoiir fn-nij Misto holiness—'sanctilicaiion,' as in v. 19; meaning t)]a( pernvuie^ttty holi/ 'itate and charaefer which is liuilt upooi of il>e wiiole •'fruits of righteousness," which lie-
2.17; Jolin S. 34; 2 Peter 2. 19; Matthew G. 21). 1^. l.-iit God l)c titanketl, that ye were the servants of Sin i. that this is a state of tilings now pa.st and gone, but ye have obeyed from the heai-t tiiat form of «loi trine which was delivered yon—rather {Margin), ' wliereuiilo ye were delivered,' or cast, as in a mould. The id< si is, that the teaching to whicli they had heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them. 18. Being then—'And being:' it is the continuation and conclnsion of the preceding sentence; not a new oik— made free from Sin, ye became the servants of ('s<'rvants to') Righteousness—Tlie case is one of enititu-ipation from entire servitude to o)ie Master to entire servitude to another, whose property we are {see on ch. I. 1). There is no middle state of personal independence ; lor which we were never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not tiiat God should reign over
lie vers .succissiveiy bring forth. Tiiey "have their fruif iDitothiv, i. e., a\] going towards this blessed result, and the end everlasting life—as the final stateof the justified lielievi r ; the beatific experience not only of complete exeniplion from the fall with ail its eliects, but of the perfect lil«' of acceptance with God, and conformity to His likeness, of unveiled access to Him, and inetfahle fellowship with Him through all duration. 23. For tlie wages of sin is draih; hut the gift of God is eternal life thffougli ('ill') .TesMs Christ our I^ord—This concUiding verse—as pointed as it is brief—contains the marrow, the n>(mt fine gold, of Hie Gospel. As the labourer is worthy of his iiire, ami feels it to be his due—his own of right so is tlealh the due of sin, the wages the sinner has well wroug'hl for, his own. But "eternal life" is in no sense or degree the wages of our righteousness; we do nothing wliatevcr to earn or become eiilitled to it, and nevef can
U6, we were in righteous judgment "sold under sin;" now being through grace "made free from Sin,'" it is only to become " servants to Rigliteousness," wliich is our true freedom. 19. I speak after the manner of men (deBcending, for illustration, to the level of common ati'.iirs) because of the infti-mity of your flesh (tl)e weakness of your spiritual apprehension) : for as ye have yielded—
il is therefore, in the most ahsoiute sense, "thk gift of God." Grace veigus in the b*'stowal of it in every case, and that ''in .lesus Christ our Lord," as the righteouu Channel of it. In view of this, who that hath tasted that
'as ye yielded,' the thing being viewed as now past—
I he Lord is gracious can refrain from saying, "Urto Hiitj
yon»- n»embers servants to Unelennness and to Iniquity unto (the practice of) iniquity ; even so now yield yonr members servants to Kigliteousues-s unto holiness-rather, 'unto (the attainment of) sanctitica-
tliat loved us, and washed us from our sins in His owa lilood, aixl hath njade ns kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen !" (Hevclalion 1. !>, (1.)—A'o/e (1.) As the most etTeclual refutation of the oft-repeated calumny, that the doctrine of Malv.ation by graee encourages to continue in sin, is the holy life of those who profess it, let such ever
tion,' as the same word is rendered in 2 Thessalonians 2.
13; 1 Corinlhians 1. 30; I Peter 1. 2i—g. d., 'Looking back upon the heartiness with which ye served Sin, and the lengths ye went to be stimulated now to like zeal and like exuberance in the service of a better Master.' ao. l'"or when ye were tlie servants (' were servants') of Sin. y* were free from (ratlier, ' in respect of) Kighltoitstuss— DifBcullies have been made about this clause where none
feel that the highest service tlxey can render to that Grace which is all their hope, is to "yield theinselvea unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their niemiiers instruments of righteousness unto God"
(i'. 12, i;l). By so doing they will "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men," secure their own peace, carry out the end of their calling, and give substantial glory
exist. The import of it seems clearly to be this:—'Since no servant can serve "two masters," niucli less wliere their interests come into deadly collision, and each demands the whole man, so, while ye were in the service
tiO Him that loved (hem. (2.) The fundamental principle of (lospej-obedience is as original as it is divinely rational; that 'we are set free from the law in order to keep it, and are brought graciously under servitude to
of Sin, ye were in no proper sense the servants of Kigliteousness, and never did it one act of real service: whatever miglit be your conviction of tlie claims of Uighteousness, your real services were all and always given to Sin: Thus had ye full proof of the nature and ad vantajii s of Sin's service.' The searching (inestiou wilii which this is followed up, shows that Ibis is the meaning, ai. What fruit had ye then [in those tb!ni;s| ivlirrjof ye me now ashamed! for the end of tliose things Is death What permanent advantage, and what abiding satisfac-
tlie law in order to be free' (r'. 11, I'l, 18). So long as wo know no in inciple of obedience but the terrors of the law, which condemns all the breakers of it, and knows nothing whatever of grace, either to pardon the guilty or to purify the stained, we are shut up under a moral impossibility of genuine and acceptable obedience: wlieieao when (irace lifts hs out of this state, and tlirou.gh iniioi to a righteous Surety, brings us into a state of conscious <u conciliation, and loving surrender of heart to a Gou ot salvation, wc immediately feel the glorious liberli/ xte holy, and the assurance that "Sin shall not luivt' domlnIon over us" is as sweet to our renewed tastes :ind aspl-
tion, have those things yielded 7 The apostle answers his own question :—'Abiding satisfaction, did I ask? Tliey have left only a sense of "shame.". Permanent ad\antage? "The end of them is death," ' By saying they were "now ashamed," lie makes it plain that he Is notreferi ing
rati<iiis as the ground of it is felt to be firm, "liecause wO are not uncier the Law, but under Grace." (;!.) As Ihia most momentous of all Irnnsltions in the hisli>"y of a man is wltoUy of God's free grace, the change should
to tliat disgvist at themselves, jind remorse of conscience by which lliose who are the most helph^ssly "sold under
fcin" are often stung to the (juick; but tliat ingenuous feeling of self-reproach, which pierces and weiglis down
ni.'vcr bo thought, spoken, or written of but with lively Ibanksgiving to Ilim who so loved us(r. 17). (I.) Chiln*
the children of God, as they thin it of the dishonour whlcli their past lite did to His name, the Ingralilude it displayed, the violence it did to their own conscience, its
tiaiis, in tile service of God, should emulate their former selves in tlie zeal and steadiness witli which tUey servail
The Law without Puwcr ufter Death. EOMANS VIT. Tlie Law not Sin, but Holy and Jusl.
Biu, and the length to which they went in it (v. 19). (5.) To stiniulnte this holy ri Viilry, let, us often " loolt haclc to the
vent in action, and become facts of the life. See on ch. 6,
G. to bring forth fruit unto death—death in the sense of ch. 6. 21. Thus hopeless is all holy fruit before union to Clirist. G. but now—See on the same expression incn.
roclc wlience we were liewn, tlie liole of the pit whence we were digged," in search of the enduring ad viintages and permanent satisfactions wiiicli tlie service of Sin yielded; and wneu we find to our " shame" only gall and wfirmwood, let us follow a godless life to its proper "end,"
C. 2'2, and cf. James 1. 15—we are delivered from t5»c law —The word is the same wiiicli, in cii. 6. ti and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in I'. 4) that " we were slain to tiie law by the body i^f Christ;" language whicii, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon tlie reader the violence of lliat death of the Cross, by which, as bj' a deadlj' wrench, we are "delivered from the law." that being de.:«d wherein we were held—It is now universally agreed that the true reading here is, ' being dead to that wherein we were held.' The received reading has no authority whatever, and is inconsistent wltlj the strain of the argument; for tiie death spoken of, as we have seen, is not t!ie law's, but eurs, through union with the crucified Saviour, that we sliould (' so as to' Or 'so that we') serve in newness of s;iirll ('in the newness Of the spirit'), and not in tlie oldiiess of tlie l«-tttr—not in om' old way of literal, mechani<'al obedience to the Divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to tlie slate of our hearts; but in tliat new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (cf. ch. 2.29; 2 Corinthians ."5. 6). 7-25. Fat.se Inferences recjarding tlie Law repelled. And first, v. 7-13, In the case of the UNiiEfiENEKATE, 7, 8. What . . . titenl Is the law sin! God forbid I q. d.. 'I have said that when we were in tlie flesh the law stirred our inward corruiJtion, and was thus the occasion of deadly fruit: Is then the law to blame for this? Far from us be such a thought.' Nay—'On the contraVy' (as in cli. 8.37; I Corhitliians 12.22; Gree/c). I had not knoivn sin but by tlie law— tt is important to fix wl-.at
until, finding ourselves in the territories of "death," we are fain to hasten Ijack to survey the service of Righteous-
ness, that new Master of all believers, and find Him leading us sweetly into abiding " holiness," and landing usat length in "everlasting life" (c. 20-22). (C.) Death and life are before all men who hear the Gospel : the one, tlie natural issue and proper reward of sin ; tlie otiier, the absolutely free "gift of God" to sinners, "in Jesus Christ our Lord." And as the one is the conscioiu^ sense of the hopeless loss of all blissful existence, so the other is the conscious possession and enjoyment of all that con-
stitutes a rational creature's highest " life" for evermore
{v. 2;1). Ye that read or hear these words, " I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have
set before 3'ou life and deatli, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live!" (Deuteronomy 30. 19).
Ver. 1-25. Same Subject cojttinued. 1-6. ReUdion of believers to the Law and to ChrUl. Recurring to the statement ofch. 6.H, that believers are "not under the law but under grace," the apostle here shows how this change
is brouglit about, and what holy consequences follow from it. 1. I speak to tliein Kuit Icjiow ttie law (of Moses)—to whom, thougli not themselves Jews (see on cli.
1. V^t, the Old Testament was familiar. 'Z, 3. if Iier hiisbautl be dead ('die')—Sou. 3. sUe be'intirriecl— 'joined.' So I', i. 4. Wlierefore . . . ye also are become dead
is meant by "sin" liere. It certainly is not
' the general nature of sin' [Alford, &c.], though it be true tlial this
(rather, ' were slain'; to tlie law by f!ic body of C'UrisS —through His slain body. The apostle here departs from his usual word "died," using the more expressive phrase 'were slain,' to make it clear that he meant their being "crucified with Christ" (as expressed in cli. 0. 3-(i, and Oalalians 2. 2u I, tUat ye should be married to aiiotlicr, tven to lilm that Is (' was') raised from tJic dead, (to the Intent) that we slioiald bring fortli fruit unto God—It has been thouglit that the apostle should here haVe said that ' the law died to us,' not ' we to the law,' but that he purposely inverted the figure, to avoid the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law. [CiiKYsosroM, Calvin, Hodge, Philippi, &c.] But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to Illustrate the gener.il principle that 'death dis-
is learned from tire law; for such a sense will not suit what is said of it in tlie following verses, wlieretlie meaning is the .same as here. The only meaning which suits
all that is said of it in this place is ' the principle of sin in the heart of fallen man.' The sense, then, is this: 'It was by means of tlie law tliat I came to know what a virulence andlitrength of sitiful propensity I liad within rae.' The existence of this it did not need the law to reveal to him; for even the heathens recognized and wrote of it. But the dreadful nature ami ilesperate power of it the law alone discovered—in the waynovvto be ciescribed. forlhadnol known iust, except, &c.—Here the same Greek word is unfortunately rendered by three different English ones "lust;" "covet;" "concupiscence"—whicii obscures the meaning. By using tlie word "lust" onlj', in the wide sense of all 'irregular ilesire,' or every outgoing of the heart towards anything forbidden, the sense will best be brought out; thus, ' For I liad not known lust, except the law had said. Thou shalt not lust; But sin, taking (' having taken ') occasion by the commandment (that one wliich forbids it), wrougiitin me all manner of lusting.' This gives a deeper view of tlie teuf h commandment than the mere words suggest. The apostle saw in it the proliibition not only of desire after certain tilings there speci-
solves legal oblif/alion.' It was essential to his argument thai we, not the law, should be tiie dying pa i-ty, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," anil not the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liijerty to cotitract a new relation— to be joined to tlie Risen One, in order to spiriiual li uitfulncss,
to tlie glory of God. [Hhua, Oi.SHACspN, Mevku, .\r-rouD,
&C.J The confusion, then, is in the expositois, not the text; and it lias arisen from not observing that, lilce .lesus Himself, believers are here viewed as having a double life—the old gin-condemned life, which thi'y lay down
fied, but of 'desire after everything divinely forbidden ;^ In other words, all 'lusting' or ' irregular desire.' It was this wliich "he had not known but by the law." The law forbidding all such desire so stirred his corruption that it wrought in him " all manner of lusting"'—desire of every
witii Christ, and the new life of acei'ptan!:e and holiness
to which they rise with their .Stircty and Head; and all the Issues of tills new life, in Chrisi ian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of tills l)lesse<l union to the llisi n One. How such h<dy fruitful ne.ss was Impossible b. lbie our union to Christ, is next declared. 5. For wheit we were in the flesh-in our iinicgcneiate state, as w came Into the woriil. See on John 3.0 ; and eh. K. o-O. (he iiiotloiw—' passions' (Margin), 'aH'cciion''' (as in (Jalaii un •>.
sort after what was forbidden. For witlkout tine law
1. e.. Before its extenslvedemamlsand ))rohibitionsc(niie to operate upon our corrupt nature. t,in was (rather, 'is') dead i.e., the sintul principle of our nature lies so dormant, so torpid, that its virulence and power are unknown, and to our reeling it is as good as "dead." 9. For 1 was alive without tUc la w once-7. d.,
' In the days of iny ignorance, wiien, in tliis sense, a stranger to the law, I deenieil myself a righteous man, and, as such, enti I led to
21), or 'stirrings.' (Revised Version.] of mIhsi. c, •prompting to tlie commission of sins.' wblvh »vere by
tile law—by occasion of the law, which fretted, irritated our inward corruption by its prohibitions. See on v. 7-i). did werk lu our membcrti—the members of the body, RS iho instrumenla by wlilch these iuwurd stirrings find
life at the hand of God.' but Aviieiii the commnndnient came— forbi<ldiiig .all i rregular desire ; for tlie a post le S('ei«
in tills tlie spirit of the whole law. «ln revi ved—(' o'.um
ROMANS VII. Paul Confesses his Inability to Keep the Law. The Law (if Sin in our Members.
as a new man—honouring from his Inmost soul the law of God—he condemned and renounced his corrupt nature, with its affoetlnns and lusts, its stirrings and its outgoings, root and branch.) 18. For, <Sic.—better, 'For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is in my flesh, any good.' for to will (' desire ') is present with me ; but to perform that wliich is good (the supplement " how,"' in our version, weakens the statement) I find not— Here, again, we have the double self of the renewed man ; q. d., ' In me dwelleth no good; but this corrupt self is not my true self;
to life '); in its malignity and strength it unexpectedly revealed itself, as if sprung from the dead, and I <Ue«l
' saw myself, in the eye of a law never kept and not to be kept, adead man.' 10,11. And (thus) the commandment, wlilcH was . . . (designed) to (give) Jife (through the keeping of it) I found to be nnto death (througli breaking it). For sin (my sinful nature), taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me (or 'seduced me') — drew me aside into tlie very thing which the commandment forbade, and by it slew me—discovered me to myself to be a condemned and gone man (cf. f . 9, "I tlied").
it is but sin dwelling in my real self, as a renewed man.' 19-31. For, &c.—The conflict here graphically described between a self that 'desires' to do good and a self that in spite of this does evil, cannot be the struggles between conscience and passion in the unregenerate, because the description given of this " desire to do good " in the verse immediately following is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renetved. 23. For I flelight in the law of God after the inward man q. d.,
13,14-. Wlierefore ('So that') the law is ('is indeed') ^ood, and the commandment (that one so often referred
to, which forbids all lusting) holy and Just, and goo<l. Was then that which is good made ('Hath then that which is good become') death unto mel God forbid—
q. d., ' Does the blame of my death lie with the good law ? Away with such a thought.' But sin (became death unto me, to the end) that it might appear sin (that it miglit
' from the bottom of my heart.' The word here rendered "delight" is indeed stronger than "consent" in t'.16; but both express a state of mind and heart to which the unregenerate man is a stranger. 33. But I see another
lie seen in its true light), working deatli in (rather, ' to ') me by that which is good, that sin by tike commnndmeut m4ght become exceeding sinful — 'that its enormous turpitude might stand out to view, through its turning God's holy, just, and good law into a provocative
(it should be ' a difTerent ') law In my members(see on v.
5), warring against the law ofmy mind, and bringing me Into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members—In this important verse, observe, first, that the word " law" means an inward principle of action, good or
to the very thing which it forbids.' So much for the law in relation to the unregenerate, of whom the apostle takes himself as the example; first, in his ignorant, self-satis-
fied condition ; next, under humbling discoveries of his inability to keep the law, through inward contrariety to
evil, operating with the fixedness and regularity of a law. The apostle found two such laws within him ; the one " the law of sin in his members," called (in Galatians 5. 17, 24) " the flesh which lusteth against the spirit," "the flesh with the affections and lusts," i. e., the sinful principle in the regenerate ; the other, " the law of the mind," or the holy principle of the renewed nature. Second, when the apos-
It; finally, as self-condemned, and already, in law, a dead man. Some inquire to what period of his recorded history these circumstances relate. But there is no reason to think they were wrought into such conscious and explicit discovery at any period of his history before he "met the Lord in the way ;" and though, " amidst the multitude of his thoughts within him " during his memorable three days' blindness immediately after that, such views of the law and of himself would doubtless be tossed up and down
tle says he "sees" the one of these principles "warring against" the other, and "bringing him into captivity" to
itself, he is not re/erring to any actual rebellion going cn within him while he was writing, or to any captivity to
till they took shape much as they are here described (see on Acts 9. 9); we regard this whole description of his inward struggles and progress rather as the finished result o{
his own Iwits then existing. He is simply describing the two conflicting principles, and pointing out what it was the inherent property of each to aim at bringing about. Third, when the apostle describes himself as "brought into captivity" by the triumph of the sinful principle of his nature, he clearly speaks In the person of a renexved man. Men do not feel themselves to be In captivity In the territories of their own sovereign and associated with their own friends, breathing a congenial atmosphere, and acting quite spontaneously. But here the apostle describes himself, when drawn under the power of his sinful nature, as forcibly seized and reluctantly dragged to his enemy's camp, from which he would gladly make his escape. This ought to settle the question, whether he is here speaking as a regenerate man or the reverse. 34. O wretched man tliat I am I who shall deliver me from the body of this death 1 — The apostle speaks of the " body" here with reference to " the law of sin" which he had said was "In his members," but merely as the instrument by which the sin of the heart flnds vent in action, and as Itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on ch. 6. 6, and on v. 5); and he calls
all his past recollections and subsequent reflections on his unregenerate state, which he throws into historical form only for greater vividness. But now the apostle proceeds
to repel false inferences regarding the law, secondly, v. H-
In the case of the regenekate; taking himself here
al.so as the example. 14. For we know that tli« law is spiritual—in its demands, but I am carnal—fleshly (see on t). 5), and as such, incapable of yielding spiritual obedience, sold under sin—enslaved to it. The " I " here, though of course not the regenerate, is neither the vnregcn-
erate, but thesinful principle of the renewed man, as is expressly stated in v. 18. l.'>, 16. For, etc.—better, ' For that which I do I know not;' g.d., ' In obeying the impulses of my carnal nature I act the sl.ave of another will tlian my own as a renewed man.' for, Ac.—rather, ' for not what I would (' wish,' ' desire ') that do I, but what I hate that I do. But if what I would not that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good—the judgment of my inner man going along with the law.' 17. Now then it is no more I («i.i/ reneived self) that do It ('that work it '), but sin whicli dwelleth in me—that principle of sin that still has its abode In me. To explain this and the following statements, as many do [even Bengel and Tholuck], of the sins of unrenewed men against their better convictions, is to do painful violence to the apostle's language, and to athrm of the unregenerate what is untrue. TImt coexistence and mulual hostility of "flesh" and "spirit" in the
it " the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death (ch. 6. 21, and v.
5) Into which It dragged hira down. Bnt the language Is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his
lost state; it is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weighed down under a burden which Is not himself, but which he longs to shake ofl" from his renewed self. Nor does the question imply Ignorance of the way of relief at the time referred to. It was designed only to prepare the way for that outburst of thankfulness for the divinelyprovided remedy which immediately follows. 35. I thank God (the Source) through Jesus Christ (the Chan« nel of deliverance). So then (to sum up the whole mat*
same renewed man, which is so clearly taught in ch. K. 4,
&c., and Galatians 6. 16, Ac, is the true and only key to the language of this and the following viM-ses. (It is hardly necessary to say that the apostle means not to disown the blame of yielding to his corruptions, by saying " it is not he that does it, but sin that dwelleth in him.;' Karly Heretics thus abuse/! his language; l)ut the whole strain of the passage shovvs that his sole object In thus expressing himself was to bring more vividly before his readers tne coufltct of two opposite principles, and how entirely,
ter), with the mind (' the mind Indeed') I myself serre
tlie law of God, but with the tiesh the law of slu q. dU, 'Such then Is the unchanging characterof these two principles within me. God's lioly law Is dear to my renewed
Omdwion of the Whole Argument. ROMANS VIII. The Sanctijication of Selicvenk
mind, and has the willing service of my new man; al> though that corrupt nature which still remains in me
righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5.21); and thus, one with him in the Divine reckoning, there is to such "NO condemnation." (Cf. John 3. 18; 5. 24 ; ch. 5. K
listens to llie dictates of sin.'—iVo^e (1.) Tliis wliole chap-
19.) But this is no mere legal arrangement : it is a union in
ter was of essential service to the Reformers in their conteudings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt Church, in a Pelagian spirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen nalure, vvhicli they
life; believers, through the indwelling of Christ's Spirit iu them, having one life with Him, as truly as the head and the members of the same body have one life, [who -walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit]—(The evidence of MS.S. seems to show that tliis clause formed no part of the original text of this verse, but that the first part of it was early introduced, and the second later, from
called 'Concupiscence,' and which is commonly called •Original Sin,' had the nature of xin at all, they wer»trinnipliAutly answered from tliis chapter, where—both in the first section of It, which speaks of it in tlie unregen-
V. 4, probably as an explanatory comment, and to make the transition to v. 2 more easy.) a. For tlie law of the Spirit of life In Christ Jesus hath made me free (rather,
erate, and in the second, which treats of its presence and actings in believers—it is explicitly, empliatically, and repeatedly called "sin." As such, they held it to be damnable. (See the Confessions both of the Lutheran and Reformed churches.) In the following century, the orthodox in Holland had tlie same controversy to wage with 'the Remonstrants' (the followers of Arminius), and they waged it on the field of this chapter. (2.) Here we see that Inability is consistent witli Accountability. See V. 18; Galatians 5. 17. 'As the Scriptures constantly recognize the truth of these two things, so are they constantly united in Christian experience. Every one feels that he cannot do the things tliut he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing tliem. Let any man
' freed me'—referring to the time of his conversion, wlieii first he believed) from the law of sin and deatlt—It is the Holy Ghost who is here called "The Spirit of life" as opening up in the souls of believers a fountain of spiritual life (see on John 7.38, 39; p. 7ot, 2d col.); just as He is called "the Spirit of truth," as "guiding tliem into all truth " (John 16. 13), and "the Spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isaiali 11. 2), as the inspirer of these qualities. And He is called "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," because it is as members of Christ tliat He takes up His abode in believers, who in consequence of this have one life witli their Head. And as the word " iatu" here has the same meaning as in ch. 7. 23, namely, ' an inward principle of action, operating with the fixedness and rcguhirity of a law,' it thus appears that " ttie law
test his power by the requisition to love God perfectly at
all times. Alas! how entire our inability ! Yet how deep our self-loathing and self-condemnation !' [Hodge.J (3.) If the first sight of the Cross by the eye of faith kindles feelings never to be forgotten, and in one sense never to be repeated—like the first view of an euclianting landscape—the experimental discovery, in tlie latter stages of the Christian life, of its power to beat down and mor-
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" here means, ' tliat new principle of action which the Spirit of Christ, has opened up within us—the law of our new being.' This "sets us free" as soon as it takes possession of our inner man, "from the l*w of sin and (lealh " i. e.. from the enslaving power of that corrupt principle which carries death in its bosom. Tlie "strong man armed" is overpowered by the ".Stronger than he;" the weaker principle is dethroned and expelled by the more powerful ; the principle of spiritual life prevails against and brings into captivity the principle of spiritual death—"leading captivity captive." If this be the apostle's meaning, the whole verse
tify inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from longcontinued backslidings and frightful inconsistencies, and so to triumphover all that threatens todestroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them sale over the temnestuous seas of this life into theliaven of eternal rest—is attended with yet more heart-alfecting wonder, draws lorth deeper thankfulness, and issues in more exalted adoration ofHim wliose work Salvation is from first to last {v. 24, 25). (4.) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere questions of biblical interpretation or Bystematic theology. Our great apostle could not treat Of them apart from personal expei'ience, of which the facts of his own life and the feelings of his own .soul furDished him with illustrations as lively as they were apposite. When one is unable to go far into the investigation of indwelling sin, without breaking out into an "O wretched man that I am !" and cannot enter on the way of relief without exclaiming, " I thankGod through Jesus Christ our Lord," he will find his meditations rich in fruit to his own soul, and may expect, through Him who presides in all such matters, to kindle in his readers or hearers tlie like blessed emotions (d. 24, 25). So be it even now, O Lord
is to this eflect: That the triumph of believers over their inward corruption, through the power of Christ's Spirit in them, proves them to be in Christ Jesus, and as such absolved from condemnation. But this is now explained more fully. 3, 4:. For what tlie law could not do, &c. a difficult and much controverted verse. But it is clearly, we think, the law's inability to free vs from the dominion
of sin that the apostle has in view; as has partly appeared already (see on v. 2), and will more fully appear presently. Tlie law could irritate our sinful nature into more virulent action, as we have seen in ch. 7. 5, but it could not secure its own fulfilment. How that is accomplished comes now to be sliown. in that it was weak through the flesh—j. e., having to address itself to us tlirough a corrupt nature, too strong to be influenced by mere commands and threatenings. God, &c.—The sentence is somewhat imperfect in its structure, which occasions a certain obscurity. The meaning is, that wherects the law was powerless to secure its own fulfilment for the reason given, God took the method now to be described lor attaining that end. sending {' having sent') his own Son —This and similar expressions ])laiiily imply thatClirist was God's "OWN Son" before He was sent—that is, in His own proper Person, and independently of His mission and appearance in the flesh (see on ch. 8. 32; Galatians i.
Ver. 1-39. Conclusion of tue whole Argument— The Glorious Completeness of them that are in Christ Jesus. In this surpassing chapter the several streams of the preceding argument meet and flow in one "river of tlie water of life, clear as crystal], proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," until it seems
to lose itself in the ocean of a blissful eternity.
F1R.ST: The fkinctijieation of Jiclievers (v. 1-13). 1. There
la therefore uo«v, &c.—referring to the immediately pie-
4); and if so, He not only has the very nature of God, even as a son of his father, but is essentially of the Father, though in a sense too mysterious for any language of ours Iiroperly to define (see on ch. 1.—I). And this peculiar
c«idlng context. [Olshausen, Philipi-i, Meyei{, AlFORO, &.C.] Tlie subject with wliich ch. 7. concludes is BtlU under consideration. Tinscope of the four opening verses is to show how "tlie law of sin and death" is deprived of its power to bring believers again into IfondBge, and how the holy law of God receives in them the homage of a living obedience. (Calvi.v, Fkaskk, PhilIPPI, MlCYER, Alkukd, &c.
relations!] ip is put forward here lo enhance the greatness and define the nature of the relief provided, as coming from beyond the precincts of sinful humanity altogether, yea, imuiediately from the Godhead itself, in the likenes^i of
I i>o «'.on<lei»uation to tliein which are iu Chrlut Jenu*-As Christ, wlio "knew no Bin," was, lo all legal eflecis, "made sin lor us," so are we, who believe in Him, to all legal eflecU, "made the
KinfiiJ flesh— iiY., 'of the Uesh of sin ;' a ver.v reniarkalile and pregnant expression. He was inacle in the realit.v of our flesh, but only in the likeness o( Its sinful condition
23'J
The Simctification of Believers. ROMANS Viri. WImI Ila'cm cometh of the Flah,
Ke took o\ir nature as it is in us, compassed with infirm- .
'if the Jhily Ghost dwell in you' (see 1 Corinthians 6. II, 19;
itiet^, with uotliing todistinguisli Him as man from sinful men, save that He was witliout sin. Nor does tliis mean
3. 16, itc). (It tlius appears that to be "in the spirit" means here to be under tlie dominion of our oum renewed mind; because the indwelling of God's Hpirit is given a.s the evidence that we are "in the spirit.") Now ('But')
tiiat III! took our nature with all its properties save one;
for sin is no properly of humaiiily at all, hut only the disordered slate of our souls, as the fallen family of Adam, a disorder afl'ecting, indeed, and oversjn-eading our entire nature, but still purely oj«jown. and for sin—Zi7., 'and about sin ;' q. d., ' on the business of sin.' The expression
if any man !»ave not tlie Spirit of Christ—Again, this does not mean 'the disposition or mind of Christ,' l)ut the Holy Gliost ; here called " the Spirit of Christ," just as He
is (^lled "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (see on v. 2).
It is as "the Spirit of Christ" that the Holy Ghost takes possession of believers, introducing into them all the gracious, dove-like disposilion which dwelt in Him (Matthew 16; John 3. 31). Now if any man'.s heart be void, not of such dispo.sitioiis, but of the blessed Author of them, "the Spirit of Christ
is purposely a general one, because the design was not to speak of Christ's mission to alone for sin, bul in virtue of
tliat atonement to destroy its dominion and cxlirpnle it
alloyctlicr from believers. \\'e think it wron;;. tiierefore, to render the words (as in Jl/«)Y/i>4j ' by a sacnfii'e for sin' (suggested hy the language of the LXX.,and aiiproved by Calvin, &c.); for this sense is too definite, and makes the Idea of expiation more prominent than it is. coiiclenmed sin—
'—he is none of liis—even though int(dlectually convinced of the truth of Christianity, and in a general sense influenced by its spirit. Sharp, solemn statement this ! 10, 11. And if Christ be in you—by His indwelling Spirit in virtue of which we have one life with him. the body—'the body indeed.'
' condemned it to lose its power over men.' [Bez A, BenGKL, FUASEK, Meyek, Tholuck, Philippi, Alfokd.] In
this glorious sense our Lord says of His approaching death (John 12. 31), "Now is the judgment of this world; now
is dead because of (' by reason of) sin ; but the spiiiS Is
life because (or, ' by reason') of ri^Iiteousness—The word 'indeed,' which tae original requires, is of the nature of a concession q. d., ' I grant you that the body is dead, &c., and so far redemption is incomplete, 6i//,' <fcc. ; q. d., 'If Christ be in you by His indwelling Spiri/, tliough your "bodies" have to pass through the stage of "death" in consequence ofthe first Adam's "sin," your spirit is instinct with new and undying "life," brought in by the " righteousness" of the second Adam.' [Tholxtck, Meyer, and Alfokd in part, but only HoDOE entirely.] But
s'aall the prince of this world be cast out;" and again (see on John 16. 11), " When He (the Spirit) shall come, He shall convince the world of . . . judgment, because the prince of tins world is judged," i. e., condemned to let go his hold of men, who, through the cross, shall be emancipated into the liberty and power to be holy, in tlie flesU— /. e., in human nature, hencefortli set free from the grasp of sin. Tliat tUe rigliteousness of the law—'the righteous demand' [Revised Vep.sion], ' the requirement' [Ai.foud], or ' the precept' of the law ; for it is not precisely the word so often used in this Epistle to denote ' the righteousness which justifies' (ch. 1. 17; 3. 21; 4. 5, 6; 5. 17, 18, '21), but another form of the same word, intended to express the enactment of the law, meaning Iiere, we believe, tlie prac-
(' And') if the Spirit of lnim that raised up Jesus from
tiie dead dwell in yon i.e., 'If He dwell in yon as the Spirit of the Clirist-r.aising One,' or, 'in all the resin-rection-pou'cr which He put forth in r;\ising Jesus.' hettiat raised tip Cliirist from tlie dead—Observe the change of natne from Jksus, as the historical Individual whom God raised from the dead, to Christ, the same Individual, considered as the Lord and Head of all His members, or of redeemed Humanity. [Alford.] shall also quielcen (rather, 'shall quicken even') your mortal bodies by ^llie true reading appears to be ' by reason of) his Spirit that dwelletli in you q. d., 'Your bodies indeed are not exempt frym the death which sin brought in; but your spirits even now have in them an undying life, and if the
tical obedience which the law calls for. mijjUt be fiil-
filletl in us—or, as we say, 'realized in us.' wlio walk— the most ancient expression of the bent of one's life, whether in the direction of good or of evil (Genesis IS. 1.5; I\salm 1. 1; Isaialr 2. 5; Micah 4. 5; Ephesians 4. 17; 1 John
1. (i, 7). not after (j. e., according to the dictates of) tJie ticsU, but nfter the spirit—From v. i) it would seem that what is more immediately intended by "the spirit" here
is iiiir own mind as renewed and actuated by tlie Holy Ghost. 5. For they that are after the flesh (i. e., under the influence of tlie lleshly principle) do mind (give their attention to, Philippians 3. li),) tlte things of tlic flesh, &c.—Men fmist be under the predominating intluence of one or other of these two principles, and, accoj ding as the one or tile other has the marstery, will be the eomjilexion of their life, the character of their actions. G. For—
Sjiirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, even these bodies of yours, though they yield to the last enemy and the dust of them return to the dust as It was, shall yet experience tlie same resurrection as that of their living Head, in virtue of the indwelling of the same
S|)irit in you that quickened Him.' I'S, 13. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after
mere particle of transition here [THOLtrcK], like 'but' or
' now.' to be earnallyirilnded li/., ' the mind' or ' minding of the flesh' [Murnin), i. e., the pursuit of fleshly eiuls.
tlie flesh—7. d., ' Ouce we were .sold under sin (ch. 7. 14); but now that we have been set free from that liard master and liecome servants to Righteousness (ch. 6. '22), we owe nothing to the flesh, we disown its unrighteous claims and are ileaf to its imperious demands.' Glorious sentiment! For if ye live after the flesli, ye shall die (in the sense of cli. (1. 21); but if ye throu$;h the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body (see on ch. 7. 23), ye sliall live
is dentil—not only 'ends in' [Alford, &c.J, but even now