Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition)
An Sin and Death came by Adam, ROMANS' V so Righteousness and Life by Jesus Qh ist.
one rises Into the other—the transporting seusp of eternal simple meaning is, as nearly all interpreters agree, that Adam is a type of Him who was to come after him in the same public character, and so to be " the second Adam.") But (' Yet,' ' Howbeit ') not as the offence (' trespa.ss ') so also is the free gift (or 'the gracious gift,' 'the gift of grace')— (/.d.. The two cases present points of contrast as well as resemblance. For if, Ac—rather, ' For if t h rough the otf'ence of the one the many died (i. e., in that one man's first sin), much more did the grace of God, and the free gift by grace, even that of the one man, .lesus Clirist, abound unto the many.' By " the many" is meant the mass ot mankind represented respectively by Adam and Christ, as opposed, not to few, but to "the one" who represented them. By " the free gift" is meant (as in u. 17) the glorious gift ofjxistifying righteousness ; this is expressly distinguished from "the grace of God." as the eJTect from the cause; and both are said to "abound" towards us in Christ—in what sense will appear in the next two verses. And the " much more," of the one case tlian the other, does not mean that we get much more of good by Clirist than of evil by Adam (for it is not a case of quantity at all); bnt that we have much more reason to expect, or it
" roconeilialiou" passing into "glorlation in God" Himself—.tlien tlie lower is sanctified and sustained Ijy tlie higlier, and each feeling is perfective of tlie otlier (v. 11).
12-21. Comparison and Contrast between Adam AND Christ in their Relation to the Human Family. (This profound and most weiglity section lias occasioned an immense deal of critical and tlieological discussion, in which everj' point, and almost every clause, lias been contested. We can here but set down what appears to us to be the only tenable view of it as a wlioie anil of its successive clauses, witli some sliglit indication of tlie grounds of our judgment.) I'l. AVlicrcforc i.e.. Things being so; referring back to the wliole preceding argument, as by one iiiait (Adam) sin—considered liere in its guilt, criminality, penal desert. eiitci-e«I into the world, and deatli l»y (as the penalty of) sin; and so deatii passed vipon all men, for tltat all liave sinned ratlier, 'all sinned,' i.e., in that one man's first sin. Thus deatli reaches every individual of the liumaii I'amily, as the penalty due to himself. [So, in substam-e, Bengel, Hodge, Philippi.] Here we should have expected t.iie apostle to finish ills sentence, in some such way as tliis: 'Even so, by one man righteousness has entered into is much more agreeable to our ideas of God, that the many should be benefited by the merit of one, than that tliey should suffer for the sin of one ; and if tlie latter has happened, much more may we assure ourselves of the former. [Philippi, Hodge.] 16. And not as [it was] by one that sinned, so [is] the gift q.d., 'Another point of contrast may be mentioned.' for the judgment ('sentence ') was by one (rather, ' was of one,' meaning not ' one man, but, as appears from the next clause, 'one ollence') to condemnation, but tlie free gift ('gift of grace ') Is of many offences unto justification—a glorious point of contrast; tlie world, and life ty rigliteousness.' But, instead of tliis, we have a digression, extending to five verses, to Illustrate the important statement of v. 12; and it is only at V. 18 that ihe comparison is resumed and finished. 1314. For until tlie law sin was in the world— i. e., during ail the period from Adam "until the law" of Moses was given, God eontiuued to treat men as sinners. I»nt sin is not iin|mled where there is no law q. d.,
' There must therefore luive been a law during that period, because sin was 'hen imputed ;' as is now to be sliown. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over tlteiit tliat had not sinned after the siiiiilitiule of Adam's transgression — But who are they'-' — a iiiueh-roii tested question. In/nnts [say some), who Ijeing guiltless of nctwil siti. may be said not to have sinned in the way that Adam did. [Augitstin, Beza, Hodge.) But why should Infants be specially connected witli tlie period "from Adam to Moses," since tliey die alilce in every period? And if the apostle meant to express here tlie dealh of infants, why has lie done it so enigmatically? Besides, the dealh of infants is eompreheiuled in the universal mortality on account of the first sin, so enipliaticall.v expressed in v. 12; what need then to specify it here?
g. d., 'The condemnation by Adam was for one sin; but the justification by Clirist is an absolution not only from tlie guilt of that first oflence, mysteriously attaching to every individual of the race, but from the. countless offences into which, as a germ lodged in the bosom of every child of Adam, itunfolds itself in his life.' Thisisthe meaning of "grace abounding towards us in the abundance of the
of righteousness." It is a grace not only rich in its character, but rich in detail; it is a " righteousness " not only rich in a completejustiflcation of the guilty, condemned sinner; but rich in the amplitude of the ground which it covers, leaving no one sin of any of the justified uncancelled, but making him, though loaded with the guilt of myriads of offences, " the righteousness of God in Christ." 17. For If l)y (' the ') one man's offence death reigned by one ('through the one'); much more shall they which receive (' tlie') abioidance of grace and of the gift of (justifying) righteousness . . . reign in life by one (' through the one '), Jesus Christ—We iiave hero tlie two ideas of y. 15 and 16 sublimely combined into one, as
why, if not necessary, should we presume it to lie meant liere, unless the language unmistakably point to it —which it certainly does not? Tiie meaning tlien must be, that 'death reigned from Adam to Moses, even ovcr those that liad not, like Adam, transgressed against a positive (commandment, threatening death to the disobedient.' (So most interpreters.) In this case, tlie particle "even," instead of specifying one particularclass of those who lived " from Adam to Moses " (as the other interpretation supposes), merely explains what it was -tliat made the case of those who died from Adam to Moses wortliy of special notice—namely, that ' though unlike Adam and all since Moses, those who lived between the two had no positive threatening of death for transgression, " nevertheless, death reigned even over them."' who Is the figure (or, 'a t.vpe') of him [that was] to come (Christ)— 'This clause is inserted on the first meiilion of the name "Adam," the one man ot whom li.e is spealcing, to recall the purpose for which he is treating of Wwn.aithc fuiure of if the subject had grown upon the apostle as he advanced in his comparison of the two cases. Here, for the first lime in tills section, he speaks of that! life wlilcli springs out of justification, in contrast witli the deatli which springs IVom sin and follows condemnation. The proper idea of
'— life possessed and enjoyed with the good-wlU, and in confoi'mity it therefore is, ' Right to live
' Righteous life witli the eternal law, of "Him that sitteth on the Throne ;"' life therefore in its widest sense— life in tlie whole man and throughout the whole duration of human existence, the life of blissful and loving relationship to God in soul and body, forever and ever. It is worthy of note, loo, that while he says death " reigned over " us through Adam, he does notsay Life " reigns over us " througli Christ; lesthe should seem to invest this new life with the very attribute of death—that of fell and malignant t,yrann.v, of which we were the hapless victims. Nor does he say Life reigns in us, wliich would have been a scriptural enough idea; bnt, which is much more pregnant, "He shall reign in life." Whlle/reerfoniand TOiff/iZare Implied in the figure of " reigning," " life " is represented as the glorious ttnritory or atniospliero of that reign. And by recurring to the idea of d. Hi, as to the " many olt'ences" whose complete pardon shows " the abundance of grace and of tlie
Christ.' IAlfokd.] The point of analogy intended here is plalnl.v the piihllc character which both sustained, neither of the two being regarded in the Ui vine procedure towards men as Int i e individual men, but both alike as representative men. (Some take the proper supplement here to bo "Him |tliatls| to come;" underslanding the apostle to speak from his own time, and to refer to (,'lirist's seconrl coming. (Krit/.sciie, Db Wette, Ali-okd.] But this is nniiatural, since the analog.y of the second Adam to the fli sl bus been in full development ever since " God exall(>d BImtobea Prince and a Saviour," and it will onl.y romuin to be consummated at His second coming. The 232 gift of righteousness," the wholestatenient i.'S to this efleot
Death came by the Offence of Adam, EOMA^'S V. and Life by the ilifl oj CkriM, unbelieving finally perish, have no ))lace in this section of the tljiistle, whose sole obji-v-t is to show how God
one man's one offence let loose against us the tyrant power ot Death, to hold us as its victims in helpless4)Oiulrcpiiii-s ill till- .second Aihiiii Ilic I'vil done by the nrsl. (Thus the docirine cil iinicer.sul rcslnnilion has no place here. Thus toi) the forced inleriire Uition by which the "justi Ilea lion of all" is made to iiic;;in a justification merely in posaibilily and qi?«- to all, ami the "justification of the many" to mean the actual justihcatioii of as many as believe [Alford, Ac], is completely avoided. And thus the harshness of comparing a whole fallen family with a recovered part is got rid of. However true it be in
Oge, "much more," when we stand loi th enriched witli Oud's "abounding grace " and in the beauty of a complete absolution from countless of Tences, shall we expatiate in allle divinely owned and legally secured, " reigning " in exultant freedom and unchallenged might, througli that Other matchless " One," Jesus Christ !' (On tlie import of the future tense in this last clause, see on t'. 19, and on ch.
6.5.) 18. Therefore—now at length resuming the unlin Ished comparison of v. 12, in order to give formally the concluding member of it, which had been done once and again fact that part of mankind are not saved, this is not the aapect in which the subject is here presented. It is totals tliatare compared and contrasted; and it is the sninc total in two successive conditions—namely, //i liuman race as ruined in Adam and I'ecovered in Christ.) ^0,^1. flloreover the law—'The law, however.' The Jew might say, 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 justi Acatlon 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 of Tence," 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 aciue 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 obis, 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 voluntarj' 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 bapt Uin 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
"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 suf Tusion being indif Tereiit 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 sfatof 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 capitals, 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 Jielpfall.' 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