Bible Commentary (1871–1879 Edition) (continued)
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 if 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 corrui Jtion, 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 Righteousness, 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 constitutes a rational creature's highest " life" for evermore
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).
CHAPTER VII.
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. Vt, 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 disis 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 specisolves 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 dif Terent ') law In my members(see on v.
5), warring against the law of my 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-satisfied 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 vnregcnerate, 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.'—iVoe (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»trinnipli Autly 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 morof 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 of Him 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 fur Dished 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 thank God 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 that Clirist 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.
CHAPTER VIII.
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 likenesi 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