Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
CIirislianK Olligec! to TLinnri. ROMANS VI. 37if Waijc 'if Sin is Dmlh, deadening and deftrailing efl Tects, and tlie death—"th« second death'"—to which it was dragging Ihem uowu, when mere Grace arrestcd 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 citin Dot 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, TiioiUfK, 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( pernvuiettty 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 Iord—This conc Uiding 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) sanctiticatliat 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 et Teclual 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 satisfactlie 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' domln Ion over us" is as sweet to our renewed tastes :ind aspltion, 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 helphssly "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