<hi type="bold">20-21. Moreover the law--</hi>"The law, however." The Jew might say, If the whole purposes of God towards men center in Adam and Christ, where does "the law" come in, and what was the use of it? Answer: It

<hi type="bold">entered--</hi>But the word expresses an important idea besides "entering." It signifies, "entered incidentally," or "parenthetically." (In <reference osisRef="Gal.2.4">Ga 2:4</reference> <hi type="bold">the same word is rendered, "came in privily.") The meaning is, that the promulgation of the law at Sinai was no primary or essential feature of the divine plan, but it was "added" (<reference osisRef="Gal.3.19">Ga 3:19</reference>) for a subordinate purpose--</hi>the more fully to reveal the evil occasioned by Adam, and the need and glory of the remedy by Christ.

<hi type="bold">that the offence might abound--</hi>or, "be multiplied." But what offense? Throughout all this section "the offense" (four times repeated besides here) has one definite meaning, namely, "the one first offense of Adam"; and this, in our judgment, is its meaning here also: "All our multitudinous breaches of the law are nothing but that one first offense, lodged mysteriously in the bosom of every child of Adam as an offending principal, and multiplying itself into myriads of particular offenses in the life of each." What was one act of disobedience in the head has been converted into a vital and virulent principle of disobedience in all the members of the human family, whose every act of wilful rebellion proclaims itself the child of the original transgression.

<hi type="bold">But where sin abounded--</hi>or, "was multiplied."

<hi type="bold">grace did much more abound--</hi>rather, "did exceedingly abound," or "superabound." The comparison here is between the multiplication of one offense into countless transgressions, and such an overflow of grace as more than meets that appalling case.

20-21. Moreover the law-- "The law, however." The Jew might say, If the whole purposes of God towards men center in Adam and Christ, where does "the law" come in, and what was the use of it? Answer: It entered-- But the word expresses an important idea besides "entering." It signifies, "entered incidentally," or "parenthetically." (In Ga 2:4 the same word is rendered, "came in privily.") The meaning is, that the promulgation of the law at Sinai was no primary or essential feature of the divine plan, but it was "added" (Ga 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 abound-- or, "be multiplied." But what offense? Throughout all this section "the offense" (four times repeated besides here) has one definite meaning, namely, "the one first offense of Adam"; and this, in our judgment, is its meaning here also: "All our multitudinous breaches of the law are nothing but that one first offense, lodged mysteriously in the bosom of every child of Adam as an offending principal, and multiplying itself into myriads of particular offenses in the life of each." What was one act of disobedience in the head has been converted into a vital and virulent principle of disobedience in all the members of the human family, whose every act of wilful rebellion proclaims itself the child of the original transgression. But where sin abounded-- or, "was multiplied." grace did much more abound-- rather, "did exceedingly abound," or "superabound." The comparison here is between the multiplication of one offense into countless transgressions, and such an overflow of grace as more than meets that appalling case.


<title type="x-s2">CHAPTER 6</title> <title type="x-s3"><reference osisRef="Rom.6.1-Rom.6.11">Ro 6:1-11</reference>. The Bearing of Justification by Grace upon a Holy Life.</title>

<hi type="bold">1. What, &c.--</hi>The subject of this third division of our Epistle announces itself at once in the opening question, "Shall we (or, as the true reading is, "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 such objection to it could have been made. Against the doctrine of a purely gratuitous justification, the objection is plausible; nor has there ever been an age in which it has not been urged. That it was brought against the apostles, we know from <reference osisRef="Rom.3.8">Ro 3:8</reference>; and we gather from <reference osisRef="Gal.5.13">Ga 5:13</reference>; <reference osisRef="1Pet.2.16">1Pe 2:16</reference>; 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.

CHAPTER 6 Ro 6:1-11. The Bearing of Justification by Grace upon a Holy Life. 1. What, &c.-- The subject of this third division of our Epistle announces itself at once in the opening question, "Shall we (or, as the true reading is, "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 such objection to it could have been made. Against the doctrine of a purely gratuitous justification, the objection is plausible; nor has there ever been an age in which it has not been urged. That it was brought against the apostles, we know from Ro 3:8; and we gather from Ga 5:13; 1Pe 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.


<hi type="bold">2. God forbid--</hi>"That be far from us"; the instincts of the new creature revolting at the thought.

<hi type="bold">How shall we, that are dead, &c.--</hi>literally, and more forcibly, "We who died to sin (as presently to be explained), how shall we live any longer therein?"

2. God forbid-- "That be far from us"; the instincts of the new creature revolting at the thought. How shall we, that are dead, &c.-- literally, and more forcibly, "We who died to sin (as presently to be explained), how shall we live any longer therein?"


<hi type="bold">3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ--</hi>compare <reference osisRef="1Cor.10.2">1Co 10:2</reference>.

<hi type="bold">were baptized into his death?--</hi>sealed with the seal of heaven, and as it were formally entered and articled, to all the benefits and all the obligations of Christian discipleship in general, and of His death in particular. And since He was "made sin" and "a curse for us" (<reference osisRef="2Cor.5.21">2Co 5:21</reference>; <reference osisRef="Gal.5.13">Ga 5:13</reference>), "bearing our sins in His own body on the tree," and "rising again for our justification" (<reference osisRef="Rom.4.25">Ro 4:25</reference>; <reference osisRef="1Pet.2.24">1Pe 2:24</reference>), 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," but "a new creature"; and as he cannot be in Christ to the one effect and not to the 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 live any longer therein?" The two things are as contradictory in the fact as they are in the terms.

3. Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ-- compare 1Co 10:2. were baptized into his death?-- sealed with the seal of heaven, and as it were formally entered and articled, to all the benefits and all the obligations of Christian discipleship in general, and of His death in particular. And since He was "made sin" and "a curse for us" (2Co 5:21; Ga 5:13), "bearing our sins in His own body on the tree," and "rising again for our justification" (Ro 4:25; 1Pe 2:24), 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," but "a new creature"; and as he cannot be in Christ to the one effect and not to the 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 live any longer therein?" The two things are as contradictory in the fact as they are in the terms.


<hi type="bold">4. Therefore we are--</hi>rather, "were" (it being a past act, completed at once).

<hi type="bold">buried with him, by baptism into death--</hi>(The comma we have placed after "him" will show what 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 death we are buried with Him"; in other words, "By the same baptism which publicly enters us into His death, we are made partakers of His burial also"). To leave a dead body unburied is represented, alike in heathen authors as in Scripture, as the greatest indignity (<reference osisRef="Rev.11.8">Re 11:8</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rev.11.9">9</reference>). It was fitting, therefore, that Christ, after "dying for our sins according to the Scriptures," should "descend into the lower parts of the earth" (<reference osisRef="Eph.4.9">Ep 4:9</reference>). As this was the last and lowest step of His humiliation, so it was the honorable dissolution of His last link of connection with 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.

<hi type="bold">that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father--</hi>that is, by such a forth-putting of the Father's power as was the effulgence of His whole glory.

<hi type="bold">even so we also--</hi>as risen to a new life with Him.

<hi type="bold">should walk in newness of life--</hi>But what is that "newness?" Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to "those things whereof we are now ashamed" (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.21">Ro 6:21</reference>), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and "forget that we have been purged from our old sins" (<reference osisRef="2Pet.1.9">2Pe 1:9</reference>). (Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to in this verse, as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does not seem to us of much consequence. Many interpreters think it is, and it may be so. But as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times was exclusively by immersion [see on Ac 2:41], so sprinkling and washing are indifferently used in the New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. And just as the woman with the issue of blood got virtue out of Christ by simply touching Him, so the essence of baptism seems to lie in the simple contact of the element with the body, symbolizing living contact with Christ crucified; the mode and extent of suffusion being indifferent and variable with climate and circumstances).

4. Therefore we are-- rather, "were" (it being a past act, completed at once). buried with him, by baptism into death-- (The comma we have placed after "him" will show what 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 death we are buried with Him"; in other words, "By the same baptism which publicly enters us into His death, we are made partakers of His burial also"). To leave a dead body unburied is represented, alike in heathen authors as in Scripture, as the greatest indignity (Re 11:8, 9). It was fitting, therefore, that Christ, after "dying for our sins according to the Scriptures," should "descend into the lower parts of the earth" (Ep 4:9). As this was the last and lowest step of His humiliation, so it was the honorable dissolution of His last link of connection with 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. that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father-- that is, by such a forth-putting of the Father's power as was the effulgence of His whole glory. even so we also-- as risen to a new life with Him. should walk in newness of life-- But what is that "newness?" Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to "those things whereof we are now ashamed" (Ro 6:21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and "forget that we have been purged from our old sins" (2Pe 1:9). (Whether the mode of baptism by immersion be alluded to in this verse, as a kind of symbolical burial and resurrection, does not seem to us of much consequence. Many interpreters think it is, and it may be so. But as it is not clear that baptism in apostolic times was exclusively by immersion [see on Ac 2:41], so sprinkling and washing are indifferently used in the New Testament to express the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. And just as the woman with the issue of blood got virtue out of Christ by simply touching Him, so the essence of baptism seems to lie in the simple contact of the element with the body, symbolizing living contact with Christ crucified; the mode and extent of suffusion being indifferent and variable with climate and circumstances).


<hi type="bold">5. For if we have been planted together--</hi>literally, "have become formed together." (The word is used here only).

<hi type="bold">in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection--</hi>that is, "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 this is but partially realized in the present state. (See on <reference osisRef="Rom.5.19">Ro 5:19</reference>).

5. For if we have been planted together-- literally, "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-- that is, "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 this is but partially realized in the present state. (See on Ro 5:19).


<hi type="bold">6-7. Knowing this, &c.--</hi>The apostle now grows more definite and vivid in expressing the sin-destroying efficacy of our union with the crucified Saviour.

<hi type="bold">that our old man--</hi>"our old selves"; that is, "all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ" (compare <reference osisRef="Col.3.9">Col 3:9</reference>, <reference osisRef="Col.3.10">10</reference>; <reference osisRef="Eph.4.22-Eph.4.24">Ep 4:22-24</reference>; <reference osisRef="Gal.2.20">Ga 2:20</reference>; 5:24; <reference osisRef="2Cor.6.14">6:14</reference>).

<hi type="bold">is--</hi>rather, "was."

<hi type="bold">crucified with him--</hi>in order.

<hi type="bold">that the body of sin--</hi>not a figure for "the mass of sin"; nor the "material body," considered as the seat of 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 fall."

<hi type="bold">might be destroyed--</hi>(in Christ's death)--to the end.

<hi type="bold">that henceforth we should not serve sin--</hi>"be in bondage to sin."

6-7. Knowing this, &c.-- The apostle now grows more definite and vivid in expressing the sin-destroying efficacy of our union with the crucified Saviour. that our old man-- "our old selves"; that is, "all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ" (compare Col 3:9, 10; Ep 4:22-24; Ga 2:20; 5:24; 6:14). is-- rather, "was." crucified with him-- in order. that the body of sin-- not a figure for "the mass of sin"; nor the "material body," considered as the seat of 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 fall." might be destroyed-- (in Christ's death)--to the end. that henceforth we should not serve sin-- "be in bondage to sin."


<hi type="bold">8. Now if we be dead--</hi>"if we died."

<hi type="bold">with Christ, &c.--</hi>See on <reference osisRef="Rom.6.5">Ro 6:5</reference>.

8. Now if we be dead-- "if we died." with Christ, &c.-- See on Ro 6:5.


<hi type="bold">9-11. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him--</hi>Though Christ's death was in the most absolute sense a voluntary act (<reference osisRef="John.10.17">Joh 10:17</reference>, <reference osisRef="John.10.18">18</reference>; <reference osisRef="Acts.2.24">Ac 2:24</reference>), that voluntary surrender gave death such rightful "dominion over Him" as dissolved its dominion over us. But this once past, "death hath," even in that sense, "dominion over Him no more."

9-11. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him-- Though Christ's death was in the most absolute sense a voluntary act (Joh 10:17, 18; Ac 2:24), that voluntary surrender gave death such rightful "dominion over Him" as dissolved its dominion over us. But this once past, "death hath," even in that sense, "dominion over Him no more."


<hi type="bold">12. Let not sin therefore--</hi>as a Master

<hi type="bold">reign--</hi>(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).

<hi type="bold">in your mortal body, that ye should obey it--</hi>sin.

<hi type="bold">in the lusts thereof--</hi>"the lusts of the body," as the Greek makes evident. (The other reading, perhaps the true one, "that ye should obey the lusts thereof," comes to 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 those who are "alive from the dead." But the reign here meant is the unchecked dominion of sin within us. Its outward acts are next referred to.

12. 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 should obey the lusts thereof," comes to 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 those who are "alive from the dead." But the reign here meant is the unchecked dominion of sin within us. Its outward acts are next referred to.


<hi type="bold">13. Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin, but yield yourselves--</hi>this is the great surrender.

<hi type="bold">unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and--</hi>as the fruit of this.

<hi type="bold">your members--</hi>till now prostituted to sin.

<hi type="bold">instruments of righteousness unto God--</hi>But what if indwelling sin should prove too strong for us? The reply is: But it will not.

13. Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin, but yield yourselves-- this 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 of righteousness unto God-- But what if indwelling sin should prove too strong for us? The reply is: But it will not.


<hi type="bold">14. For Sin shall not have dominion over you--</hi>as the slaves of a tyrant lord.

<hi type="bold">for ye are not under the law, but under grace--</hi>The force of this glorious assurance can only be felt by observing the grounds on which 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 these. And as all power to obey can reach 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 helpless slave of sin. On the other hand, to be "under grace," is to be under the glorious canopy and saving effects of that "grace which reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.5.20">Ro 5:20</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.5.21">21</reference>). The curse of the law has been completely lifted from off them; they are made "the righteousness of God in Him"; and they are "alive unto God through Jesus Christ." So that, as when they were "under the law," Sin could not but have dominion over them, so now that they are "under grace," Sin cannot but be subdued under them. If before, Sin resistlessly triumphed, Grace will now be more than conqueror.

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 this glorious assurance can only be felt by observing the grounds on which 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 these. And as all power to obey can reach 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 helpless slave of sin. On the other hand, to be "under grace," is to be under the glorious canopy and saving effects of that "grace which reigns through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (see on Ro 5:20, 21). The curse of the law has been completely lifted from off them; they are made "the righteousness of God in Him"; and they are "alive unto God through Jesus Christ." So that, as when they were "under the law," Sin could not but have dominion over them, so now that they are "under grace," Sin cannot but be subdued under them. If before, Sin resistlessly triumphed, Grace will now be more than conqueror.


<hi type="bold">15-16. What then? ... Know ye not--</hi>it is a dictate of common sense.

15-16. What then?... Know ye not-- it is a dictate of common sense.


<hi type="bold">17. But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of Sin--</hi>that is, that this is a state of things now past and gone.

<hi type="bold">but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you--</hi>rather, "whereunto ye were delivered" (Margin), or cast, as in a mould. The idea is, that the teaching to which they had heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them.

17. But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of Sin-- that is, that this is a state of things now past and gone. but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you-- rather, "whereunto ye were delivered" (Margin), or cast, as in a mould. The idea is, that the teaching to which they had heartily yielded themselves had stamped its own impress upon them.


<hi type="bold">18. Being then--</hi>"And being"; it is the continuation and conclusion of the preceding sentence; not a new one.

<hi type="bold">made free from Sin, ye became the servants of--</hi>"servants to"

<hi type="bold">Righteousness--</hi>The case is one of emancipation from entire servitude to one Master to entire servitude to another, whose property we are (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.1.1">Ro 1:1</reference>). There is no middle state of personal independence; for which we were never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not that God should reign over us, we were in righteous judgment "sold under Sin"; now being through grace "made free from Sin," it is only to become "servants to Righteousness," which is our true freedom.

18. Being then-- "And being"; it is the continuation and conclusion of the preceding sentence; not a new one. made free from Sin, ye became the servants of-- "servants to" Righteousness-- The case is one of emancipation from entire servitude to one Master to entire servitude to another, whose property we are (see on Ro 1:1). There is no middle state of personal independence; for which we were never made, and to which we have no claim. When we would not that God should reign over us, we were in righteous judgment "sold under Sin"; now being through grace "made free from Sin," it is only to become "servants to Righteousness," which is our true freedom.


<hi type="bold">19. I speak after the manner of men--</hi>descending, for illustration, to the level of common affairs.

<hi type="bold">because of the infirmity of your flesh--</hi>the weakness of your spiritual apprehension.

<hi type="bold">for as ye have yielded--</hi>"as ye yielded," the thing being viewed as now past.

<hi type="bold">your members servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto--</hi>the practice of

<hi type="bold">iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to Righteousness unto holiness--</hi>rather, "unto (the attainment of) sanctification," as the same word is rendered in <reference osisRef="2Thess.2.13">2Th 2:13</reference>; <reference osisRef="1Cor.1.30">1Co 1:30</reference>; <reference osisRef="1Pet.1.2">1Pe 1:2</reference>:--that is, "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."

19. I speak after the manner of men-- descending, for illustration, to the level of common affairs. because of the infirmity of your flesh-- the weakness of your spiritual apprehension. for as ye have yielded-- "as ye yielded," the thing being viewed as now past. your members servants to Uncleanness and to Iniquity unto-- the practice of iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to Righteousness unto holiness-- rather, "unto (the attainment of) sanctification," as the same word is rendered in 2Th 2:13; 1Co 1:30; 1Pe 1:2:--that is, "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."


<hi type="bold">20. For when ye were the servants--</hi>"were servants"

<hi type="bold">of Sin, ye were free from--</hi>rather, "in respect of"

<hi type="bold">Righteousness--</hi>Difficulties have been made about this clause where none exist. The import of it seems clearly to be this:--"Since no servant can serve two masters, much less where their interests come into deadly collision, and each demands the whole man, so, while ye were in the service of Sin ye were in no proper sense the servants of Righteousness, and never did it one act of real service: whatever might be your conviction of the claims of Righteousness, your real services were all and always given to Sin: Thus had ye full proof of the nature and advantages of Sin's service." The searching question with which this is followed up, shows that this is the meaning.

20. For when ye were the servants-- "were servants" of Sin, ye were free from-- rather, "in respect of" Righteousness-- Difficulties have been made about this clause where none exist. The import of it seems clearly to be this:--"Since no servant can serve two masters, much less where their interests come into deadly collision, and each demands the whole man, so, while ye were in the service of Sin ye were in no proper sense the servants of Righteousness, and never did it one act of real service: whatever might be your conviction of the claims of Righteousness, your real services were all and always given to Sin: Thus had ye full proof of the nature and advantages of Sin's service." The searching question with which this is followed up, shows that this is the meaning.


21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? <hi type="bold">for the end of those things is death--</hi>What permanent advantage, and what abiding satisfaction, have those things yielded? The apostle answers his own question:--"Abiding satisfaction, did I ask? They have left only a sense of 'shame.' Permanent advantage? 'The end of them is death.'" By saying they were "now ashamed," he makes it plain that he is not referring to that disgust at themselves, and remorse of conscience by which those who are the most helplessly "sold under sin" are often stung to the quick; but that ingenuous feeling of self-reproach, which pierces and weighs down the children of God, as they think of the dishonor which their past life did to His name, the ingratitude it displayed, the violence it did to their own conscience, its deadening and degrading effects, and the death--"the second death"--to which it was dragging them down, when mere Grace arrested them. (On the sense of "death" here, see on <reference osisRef="Rom.5.12-Rom.5.21">Ro 5:12-21</reference>, Note 3, and <reference osisRef="Rom.6.16">Ro 6:16</reference>: see also <reference osisRef="Rev.21.8">Re 21:8</reference>--The change proposed in the pointing of this verse: "What fruit had ye then? things whereof ye are now ashamed" [Luther, Tholuck, De Wette, Philippi, Alford, &c.], seems unnatural and uncalled for. The ordinary pointing has at least powerful support [Chrysostom, Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Stuart, Fritzsche]).

21. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death-- What permanent advantage, and what abiding satisfaction, have those things yielded? The apostle answers his own question:--"Abiding satisfaction, did I ask? They have left only a sense of 'shame.' Permanent advantage? 'The end of them is death.'" By saying they were "now ashamed," he makes it plain that he is not referring to that disgust at themselves, and remorse of conscience by which those who are the most helplessly "sold under sin" are often stung to the quick; but that ingenuous feeling of self-reproach, which pierces and weighs down the children of God, as they think of the dishonor which their past life did to His name, the ingratitude it displayed, the violence it did to their own conscience, its deadening and degrading effects, and the death--"the second death"--to which it was dragging them down, when mere Grace arrested them. (On the sense of "death" here, see on Ro 5:12-21, Note 3, and Ro 6:16: see also Re 21:8--The change proposed in the pointing of this verse: "What fruit had ye then? things whereof ye are now ashamed" [Luther, Tholuck, De Wette, Philippi, Alford, &c.], seems unnatural and uncalled for. The ordinary pointing has at least powerful support [Chrysostom, Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Stuart, Fritzsche]).


<hi type="bold">22. But now--</hi>as if to get away from such a subject were unspeakable relief.

<hi type="bold">being made free from Sin, and become servants to God--</hi>in the absolute sense intended throughout all this passage.

<hi type="bold">ye have--</hi>not "ought to have," but "do have," in point of fact.

<hi type="bold">your fruit unto holiness--</hi>"sanctification," as in <reference osisRef="Rom.6.19">Ro 6:19</reference>; meaning that permanently holy state and character which is built up out of the whole "fruits of righteousness," which believers successively bring forth. They "have their fruit" unto this, that is, all going towards this blessed result.

<hi type="bold">and the end everlasting life--</hi>as the final state of the justified believer; the beatific experience not only of complete exemption from the fall with all its effects, but of the perfect life of acceptance with God, and conformity to His likeness, of unveiled access to Him, and ineffable fellowship with Him through all duration.

22. But now-- as if to get away from such a subject were unspeakable relief. being made free from Sin, and become servants to God-- in the absolute sense intended throughout all this passage. ye have-- not "ought to have," but "do have," in point of fact. your fruit unto holiness-- "sanctification," as in Ro 6:19; meaning that permanently holy state and character which is built up out of the whole "fruits of righteousness," which believers successively bring forth. They "have their fruit" unto this, that is, all going towards this blessed result. and the end everlasting life-- as the final state of the justified believer; the beatific experience not only of complete exemption from the fall with all its effects, but of the perfect life of acceptance with God, and conformity to His likeness, of unveiled access to Him, and ineffable fellowship with Him through all duration.


<hi type="bold">23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through--</hi>"in"

<hi type="bold">Jesus Christ our Lord--</hi>This concluding verse--as pointed as it is brief--contains the marrow, the most fine gold, of the Gospel. As the laborer is worthy of his hire, and feels it to be his due--his own of right--so is death the due of sin, the wages the sinner has well wrought for, his own. But "eternal life" is in no sense or degree the wages of our righteousness; we do nothing whatever to earn or become entitled to it, and never can: it is therefore, in the most absolute sense, "THE GIFT OF God." Grace reigns in the bestowal of it in every case, and that "in Jesus Christ our Lord," as the righteous Channel of it. In view of this, who that hath tasted that the Lord is gracious can refrain from saying, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen!" (<reference osisRef="Rev.1.5">Re 1:5</reference>, <reference osisRef="1Cor.1.6">6</reference>).

 Note, (1) As the most effectual refutation of the oft-repeated calumny, that the doctrine of Salvation by grace encourages to continue in sin, is the holy life of those who profess it, let such ever feel that the highest service they can render to that Grace which is all their hope, is to "yield themselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their members instruments of righteousness unto God" (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.12">Ro 6:12</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.6.13">13</reference>). 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 to Him that loved them. (2) The fundamental principle of Gospel 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 the law in order to be free" (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.14">Ro 6:14</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.15.18">15, 18</reference>). So long as we know no principle 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: whereas when Grace lifts us out of this state, and through union to a righteous Surety, brings us into a state of conscious reconciliation, and loving surrender of heart to a God of salvation, we immediately feel the glorious liberty to be holy, and the assurance that "Sin shall not have dominion over us" is as sweet to our renewed tastes and aspirations as the ground of it is felt to be firm, "because we are not under the Law, but under Grace." (3) As this most momentous of all transitions in the history of a man is wholly of God's free grace, the change should never be thought, spoken, or written of but with lively thanksgiving to Him who so loved us (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.17">Ro 6:17</reference>). (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.4">4</reference>) Christians, in the service of God, should emulate their former selves in the zeal and steadiness with which they served sin, and the length to which they went in it (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.19">Ro 6:19</reference>). (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.5">5</reference>) To stimulate this holy rivalry, let us often "look back to the rock whence we were hewn, the hole of the pit whence we were digged," in search of the enduring advantages and permanent satisfactions which the service of Sin yielded; and when we find to our "shame" only gall and wormwood, let us follow a godless life to its proper "end," until, finding ourselves in the territories of "death," we are fain to hasten back to survey the service of Righteousness, that new Master of all believers, and find Him leading us sweetly into abiding "holiness," and landing us at length in "everlasting life" (Ro 6:20-22). (6) Death and life are before all men who hear the Gospel: the one, the natural issue and proper reward of sin; the other, the absolutely free "GIFT OF God" to sinners, "in Jesus Christ our Lord." And as the one is the conscious 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 (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.23">Ro 6:23</reference>). Ye that read or hear these words, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live!" (<reference osisRef="Deut.30.19">De 30:19</reference>).  <chapter eID="Rom.6"/>

23. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through-- "in" Jesus Christ our Lord-- This concluding verse--as pointed as it is brief--contains the marrow, the most fine gold, of the Gospel. As the laborer is worthy of his hire, and feels it to be his due--his own of right--so is death the due of sin, the wages the sinner has well wrought for, his own. But "eternal life" is in no sense or degree the wages of our righteousness; we do nothing whatever to earn or become entitled to it, and never can: it is therefore, in the most absolute sense, "THE GIFT OF God." Grace reigns in the bestowal of it in every case, and that "in Jesus Christ our Lord," as the righteous Channel of it. In view of this, who that hath tasted that the Lord is gracious can refrain from saying, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen!" (Re 1:5, 6). Note, (1) As the most effectual refutation of the oft-repeated calumny, that the doctrine of Salvation by grace encourages to continue in sin, is the holy life of those who profess it, let such ever feel that the highest service they can render to that Grace which is all their hope, is to "yield themselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and their members instruments of righteousness unto God" (Ro 6:12, 13). 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 to Him that loved them. (2) The fundamental principle of Gospel 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 the law in order to be free" (Ro 6:14, 15, 18). So long as we know no principle 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: whereas when Grace lifts us out of this state, and through union to a righteous Surety, brings us into a state of conscious reconciliation, and loving surrender of heart to a God of salvation, we immediately feel the glorious liberty to be holy, and the assurance that "Sin shall not have dominion over us" is as sweet to our renewed tastes and aspirations as the ground of it is felt to be firm, "because we are not under the Law, but under Grace." (3) As this most momentous of all transitions in the history of a man is wholly of God's free grace, the change should never be thought, spoken, or written of but with lively thanksgiving to Him who so loved us (Ro 6:17). (4) Christians, in the service of God, should emulate their former selves in the zeal and steadiness with which they served sin, and the length to which they went in it (Ro 6:19). (5) To stimulate this holy rivalry, let us often "look back to the rock whence we were hewn, the hole of the pit whence we were digged," in search of the enduring advantages and permanent satisfactions which the service of Sin yielded; and when we find to our "shame" only gall and wormwood, let us follow a godless life to its proper "end," until, finding ourselves in the territories of "death," we are fain to hasten back to survey the service of Righteousness, that new Master of all believers, and find Him leading us sweetly into abiding "holiness," and landing us at length in "everlasting life" (Ro 6:20-22). (6) Death and life are before all men who hear the Gospel: the one, the natural issue and proper reward of sin; the other, the absolutely free "GIFT OF God" to sinners, "in Jesus Christ our Lord." And as the one is the conscious 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 (Ro 6:23). Ye that read or hear these words, "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live!" (De 30:19).


<title type="x-s2">CHAPTER 7</title> <title type="x-s3"><reference osisRef="Rom.7.1-Rom.7.25">Ro 7:1-25</reference>. Same Subject Continued.</title>
 Relation of Believers to the Law and to Christ (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.1-Rom.7.6">Ro 7:1-6</reference>).

 Recurring to the statement of <reference osisRef="Rom.6.14">Ro 6:14</reference>, that believers are "not under the law but under grace," the apostle here shows how this change is brought about, and what holy consequences follow from it.

<hi type="bold">1. I speak to them that know the law--</hi>of Moses to whom, though not themselves Jews (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.1.13">Ro 1:13</reference>), the Old Testament was familiar.

CHAPTER 7 Ro 7:1-25. Same Subject Continued. Relation of Believers to the Law and to Christ (Ro 7:1-6). Recurring to the statement of Ro 6:14, that believers are "not under the law but under grace," the apostle here shows how this change is brought about, and what holy consequences follow from it. 1. I speak to them that know the law-- of Moses to whom, though not themselves Jews (see on Ro 1:13), the Old Testament was familiar.


<hi type="bold">2-3. if her husband be dead--</hi>"die." So <reference osisRef="Rom.7.3">Ro 7:3</reference>.

2-3. if her husband be dead-- "die." So Ro 7:3.


<hi type="bold">4. Wherefore ... ye also are become dead--</hi>rather, "were slain."

<hi type="bold">to the law by the body of Christ--</hi>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 <reference osisRef="Rom.6.3-Rom.6.6">Ro 6:3-6</reference>, and <reference osisRef="Gal.2.20">Ga 2:20</reference>).

<hi type="bold">that ye should be married to another, even to him that is--</hi>"was."

<hi type="bold">raised from the dead--</hi>to the intent.

<hi type="bold">that we should bring forth fruit unto God--</hi>It has been thought that the apostle should here have said that "the law died to us," not "we to the law," but that purposely inverted the figure, to avoid the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law [Chrysostom, Calvin, Hodge, Philippi, &c.]. But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to illustrate the general principle that "death dissolves legal obligation." It was essential to his argument that we, not the law, should be the dying party, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," and not the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liberty to contract a new relation--to be joined to the Risen One, in order to spiritual fruitfulness, to the glory of God [Beza, Olshausen, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The confusion, then, is in the expositors, not the text; and it has arisen from not observing that, like Jesus Himself, believers are here viewed as having a double life--the old sin-condemned life, which they lay down with Christ, and the new life of acceptance and holiness to which they rise with their Surety and Head; and all the issues of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of this blessed union to the Risen One. How such holy fruitfulness was impossible before our union to Christ, is next declared.

4. Wherefore... ye also are become dead-- rather, "were slain." to the law by the body of Christ-- 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 Ro 6:3-6, and Ga 2:20). that ye should be married to another, even to him that is-- "was." raised from the dead-- to the intent. that we should bring forth fruit unto God-- It has been thought that the apostle should here have said that "the law died to us," not "we to the law," but that purposely inverted the figure, to avoid the harshness to Jewish ears of the death of the law [Chrysostom, Calvin, Hodge, Philippi, &c.]. But this is to mistake the apostle's design in employing this figure, which was merely to illustrate the general principle that "death dissolves legal obligation." It was essential to his argument that we, not the law, should be the dying party, since it is we that are "crucified with Christ," and not the law. This death dissolves our marriage obligation to the law, leaving us at liberty to contract a new relation--to be joined to the Risen One, in order to spiritual fruitfulness, to the glory of God [Beza, Olshausen, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The confusion, then, is in the expositors, not the text; and it has arisen from not observing that, like Jesus Himself, believers are here viewed as having a double life--the old sin-condemned life, which they lay down with Christ, and the new life of acceptance and holiness to which they rise with their Surety and Head; and all the issues of this new life, in Christian obedience, are regarded as the "fruit" of this blessed union to the Risen One. How such holy fruitfulness was impossible before our union to Christ, is next declared.


<hi type="bold">5. For when we were in the flesh--</hi>in our unregenerate state, as we came into the world. See on <reference osisRef="John.3.6">Joh 3:6</reference> and <reference osisRef="Rom.8.5-Rom.8.9">Ro 8:5-9</reference>.

<hi type="bold">the motions--</hi>"passions" (Margin), "affections" (as in <reference osisRef="Gal.5.24">Ga 5:24</reference>), or "stirrings."

<hi type="bold">of sins--</hi>that is, "prompting to the commission of sins."

<hi type="bold">which were by the law--</hi>by occasion of the law, which fretted, irritated our inward corruption by its prohibitions. See on <reference osisRef="Rom.7.7-Rom.7.9">Ro 7:7-9</reference>.

<hi type="bold">did work in our members--</hi>the members of the body, as the instruments by which these inward stirrings find vent in action, and become facts of the life. See on <reference osisRef="Rom.6.6">Ro 6:6</reference>.

<hi type="bold">to bring forth fruit unto death--</hi>death in the sense of <reference osisRef="Rom.6.21">Ro 6:21</reference>. Thus hopeless is all holy fruit before union to Christ.

5. For when we were in the flesh-- in our unregenerate state, as we came into the world. See on Joh 3:6 and Ro 8:5-9. the motions-- "passions" (Margin), "affections" (as in Ga 5:24), or "stirrings." of sins-- that is, "prompting to the commission of sins." which were by the law-- by occasion of the law, which fretted, irritated our inward corruption by its prohibitions. See on Ro 7:7-9. did work in our members-- the members of the body, as the instruments by which these inward stirrings find vent in action, and become facts of the life. See on Ro 6:6. to bring forth fruit unto death-- death in the sense of Ro 6:21. Thus hopeless is all holy fruit before union to Christ.


<hi type="bold">6. But now--</hi>On the same expression, see on <reference osisRef="Rom.6.22">Ro 6:22</reference>, and compare <reference osisRef="Jas.1.15">Jas 1:15</reference>.

<hi type="bold">we are delivered from the law--</hi>The word is the same which, in <reference osisRef="Rom.6.6">Ro 6:6</reference> and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in <reference osisRef="Rom.7.4">Ro 7:4</reference>) that "we were slain to the law by the body of Christ"; language which, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon the reader the violence of that death of the Cross, by which, as by a deadly wrench, we are "delivered from the law."

<hi type="bold">that being dead wherein we were held--</hi>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 with the strain of the argument; for the death spoken of, as we have seen, is not the law's, but ours, through union with the crucified Saviour.

<hi type="bold">that we should--</hi>"so as to" or "so that we."

<hi type="bold">serve in newness of spirit--</hi>"in the newness of the spirit."

<hi type="bold">and not in the oldness of the letter--</hi>not in our old way of literal, mechanical obedience to the divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to the state of our hearts; but in that new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (compare <reference osisRef="Rom.2.29">Ro 2:29</reference>; <reference osisRef="2Cor.3.6">2Co 3:6</reference>).

 False Inferences regarding the Law Repelled (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.7-Rom.7.25">Ro 7:7-25</reference>).

 And first, <reference osisRef="Rom.7.7-Rom.7.13">Ro 7:7-13</reference>, in the case of the UNREGENERATE.

6. But now-- On the same expression, see on Ro 6:22, and compare Jas 1:15. we are delivered from the law-- The word is the same which, in Ro 6:6 and elsewhere, is rendered "destroyed," and is but another way of saying (as in Ro 7:4) that "we were slain to the law by the body of Christ"; language which, though harsh to the ear, is designed and fitted to impress upon the reader the violence of that death of the Cross, by which, as by a deadly wrench, we are "delivered from the law." that being dead 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 with the strain of the argument; for the death spoken of, as we have seen, is not the law's, but ours, through union with the crucified Saviour. that we should-- "so as to" or "so that we." serve in newness of spirit-- "in the newness of the spirit." and not in the oldness of the letter-- not in our old way of literal, mechanical obedience to the divine law, as a set of external rules of conduct, and without any reference to the state of our hearts; but in that new way of spiritual obedience which, through union to the risen Saviour, we have learned to render (compare Ro 2:29; 2Co 3:6). False Inferences regarding the Law Repelled (Ro 7:7-25). And first, Ro 7:7-13, in the case of the UNREGENERATE.


<hi type="bold">7-8. What ... then? Is the law sin? God forbid!--</hi>"I have said that when we were in the flesh the law stirred our inward corruption, and was thus the occasion of deadly fruit: Is then the law to blame for this? Far from us be such a thought."

<hi type="bold">Nay--</hi>"On the contrary" (as in <reference osisRef="Rom.8.37">Ro 8:37</reference>; <reference osisRef="1Cor.12.22">1Co 12:22</reference>; Greek).

<hi type="bold">I had not known sin but by the law--</hi>It is important to fix what is meant by "sin" here. It certainly is not "the general nature of sin" [Alford, &c.], though it be true that this is learned from the law; for such a sense will not suit what is said of it in the following verses, where the 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 the law that I came to know what a virulence and strength of sinful propensity I had within me." 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 and desperate power of it the law alone discovered--in the way now to be described.

<hi type="bold">for I had not known lust, except, &c.--</hi>Here the same Greek word is unfortunately rendered by three different English ones--"lust"; "covet"; "concupiscence" (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.8">Ro 7:8</reference>)--which obscures the meaning. By using the word "lust" only, in the wide sense of all "irregular desire," or every outgoing of the heart towards anything forbidden, the sense will best be brought out; thus, "For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not lust; But sin, taking ('having taken') occasion by the commandment (that one which forbids it), wrought in me all manner of lusting." This gives a deeper view of the tenth commandment than the mere words suggest. The apostle saw in it the prohibition not only of desire after certain things there specified, \ <hi type="bold">but of "desire after everything divinely forbidden"; in other words, all "lusting" or "irregular desire." It was this which "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"--</hi>desire of every sort after what was forbidden.

7-8. What... then? Is the law sin? God forbid!-- "I have said that when we were in the flesh the law stirred our inward corruption, 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 contrary" (as in Ro 8:37; 1Co 12:22; Greek). I had not known sin but by the law-- It is important to fix what is meant by "sin" here. It certainly is not "the general nature of sin" [Alford, &c.], though it be true that this is learned from the law; for such a sense will not suit what is said of it in the following verses, where the 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 the law that I came to know what a virulence and strength of sinful propensity I had within me." 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 and desperate power of it the law alone discovered--in the way now to be described. for I had not known lust, except, &c.-- Here the same Greek word is unfortunately rendered by three different English ones--"lust"; "covet"; "concupiscence" (Ro 7:8)--which obscures the meaning. By using the word "lust" only, in the wide sense of all "irregular desire," or every outgoing of the heart towards anything forbidden, the sense will best be brought out; thus, "For I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not lust; But sin, taking ('having taken') occasion by the commandment (that one which forbids it), wrought in me all manner of lusting." This gives a deeper view of the tenth commandment than the mere words suggest. The apostle saw in it the prohibition not only of desire after certain things there specified, \ but of "desire after everything divinely forbidden"; in other words, all "lusting" or "irregular desire." It was this which "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 sort after what was forbidden.


<hi type="bold">9. For I was alive without the law once--</hi>"In the days of my ignorance, when, in this sense, a stranger to the law, I deemed myself a righteous man, and, as such, entitled to life at the hand of God."

<hi type="bold">but when the commandment came--</hi>forbidding all irregular desire; for the apostle sees in this the spirit of the whole law.

<hi type="bold">sin revived--</hi>"came to life"; in its malignity and strength it unexpectedly revealed itself, as if sprung from the dead.

<hi type="bold">and I died--</hi>"saw myself, in the eye of a law never kept and not to be kept, a dead man."

9. For I was alive without the law once-- "In the days of my ignorance, when, in this sense, a stranger to the law, I deemed myself a righteous man, and, as such, entitled to life at the hand of God." but when the commandment came-- forbidding all irregular desire; for the apostle sees in this the spirit of the whole law. sin revived-- "came to life"; in its malignity and strength it unexpectedly revealed itself, as if sprung from the dead. and I died-- "saw myself, in the eye of a law never kept and not to be kept, a dead man."


<hi type="bold">10-11. And--</hi>thus.

<hi type="bold">the commandment, which was, &c.--</hi>designed

<hi type="bold">to--</hi>give

<hi type="bold">life--</hi>through the keeping of it.

<hi type="bold">I found to be unto death--</hi>through breaking it.

<hi type="bold">For sin--</hi>my sinful nature.

<hi type="bold">taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me--</hi>or "seduced me"--drew me aside into the very thing which the commandment forbade.

<hi type="bold">and by it slew me--</hi>"discovered me to myself to be a condemned and gone man" (compare <reference osisRef="Rom.7.9">Ro 7:9</reference>, "I died").

10-11. And-- thus. the commandment, which was, &c.-- designed to-- give life-- through the keeping of it. I found to be unto death-- through breaking it. For sin-- my sinful nature. taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me-- or "seduced me"--drew me aside into the very thing which the commandment forbade. and by it slew me-- "discovered me to myself to be a condemned and gone man" (compare Ro 7:9, "I died").


<hi type="bold">12-13. Wherefore--</hi>"So that."

<hi type="bold">the law is--</hi>"is indeed"

<hi type="bold">good, and the commandment--</hi>that one so often referred to, which forbids all lusting.

 holy, and just, and good.

12-13. Wherefore-- "So that." the law is-- "is indeed" good, and the commandment-- that one so often referred to, which forbids all lusting. holy, and just, and good.


<hi type="bold">14. For we know that the law is spiritual--</hi>in its demands.

<hi type="bold">but I am carnal--</hi>fleshly (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.7.5">Ro 7:5</reference>), and as such, incapable of yielding spiritual obedience.

<hi type="bold">sold under sin--</hi>enslaved to it. The "I" here, though of course not the regenerate, is neither the unregenerate, but the sinful principle of the renewed man, as is expressly stated in <reference osisRef="Rom.7.18">Ro 7:18</reference>.

14. For we know that the law is spiritual-- in its demands. but I am carnal-- fleshly (see on Ro 7:5), 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 unregenerate, but the sinful principle of the renewed man, as is expressly stated in Ro 7:18.


<hi type="bold">15-16. For, &c.--</hi>better, "For that which I do I know not"; that is, "In obeying the impulses of my carnal nature I act the slave of another will than my own as a renewed man?"

<hi type="bold">for, &c.--</hi>rather, "for not what I would (wish, desire) that do I, but what I hate that I do."

15-16. For, &c.-- better, "For that which I do I know not"; that is, "In obeying the impulses of my carnal nature I act the slave of another will than my own as a renewed man?" for, &c.-- rather, "for not what I would (wish, desire) that do I, but what I hate that I do."


<hi type="bold">17. Now then it is no more I--</hi>my renewed self.

<hi type="bold">that do it--</hi>"that work it."

<hi type="bold">but sin which dwelleth in me--</hi>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 affirm of the unregenerate what is untrue. That coexistence and mutual hostility of "flesh" and "spirit" in the same renewed man, which is so clearly taught in <reference osisRef="Rom.8.4">Ro 8:4</reference>, &c., and in <reference osisRef="Gal.5.16">Ga 5:16</reference>, &c., is the true and only key to the language of this and the following verses. (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." Early heretics thus abused his language; but the whole strain of the passage shows that his sole object in thus expressing himself was to bring more vividly before his readers the conflict of two opposite principles, and how entirely, as a new man--honoring from his inmost soul the law of God--he condemned and renounced his corrupt nature, with its affections and lusts, its stirrings and its outgoings, root and branch).

17. Now then it is no more I-- my renewed self. that do it-- "that work it." but sin which 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 affirm of the unregenerate what is untrue. That coexistence and mutual hostility of "flesh" and "spirit" in the same renewed man, which is so clearly taught in Ro 8:4, &c., and in Ga 5:16, &c., is the true and only key to the language of this and the following verses. (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." Early heretics thus abused his language; but the whole strain of the passage shows that his sole object in thus expressing himself was to bring more vividly before his readers the conflict of two opposite principles, and how entirely, as a new man--honoring from his inmost soul the law of God--he condemned and renounced his corrupt nature, with its affections and lusts, its stirrings and its outgoings, root and branch).


<hi type="bold">18. For, &c.--</hi>better, "For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is in my flesh, any good."

<hi type="bold">for to will--</hi>"desire."

<hi type="bold">is present with me; but how to perform that which is good--</hi>the supplement "how," in our version, weakens the statement.

<hi type="bold">I find not--</hi>Here, again, we have the double self of the renewed man; "In me dwelleth no good; but this corrupt self is not my true self; it is but sin dwelling in my real self, as a renewed man."

18. For, &c.-- 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 how to perform that which 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; "In me dwelleth no good; but this corrupt self is not my true self; it is but sin dwelling in my real self, as a renewed man."


<hi type="bold">19-21. For, &c.--</hi>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 <reference osisRef="Rom.7.22">Ro 7:22</reference> is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renewed.

19-21. 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 Ro 7:22 is such as cannot be ascribed, with the least show of truth, to any but the renewed.


<hi type="bold">22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man--</hi>"from the bottom of my heart." The word here rendered "delight" is indeed stronger than "consent" in <reference osisRef="Rom.7.16">Ro 7:16</reference>; but both express a state of mind and heart to which the unregenerate man is a stranger.

22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man-- "from the bottom of my heart." The word here rendered "delight" is indeed stronger than "consent" in Ro 7:16; but both express a state of mind and heart to which the unregenerate man is a stranger.


<hi type="bold">23. But I see another--</hi>it should be "a different"

<hi type="bold">law in my members--</hi>(See on <reference osisRef="Rom.7.5">Ro 7:5</reference>).

<hi type="bold">warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members--</hi>In this important verse, observe, first, that the word "law" means an inward principle of action, good or 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 <reference osisRef="Gal.5.17">Ga 5:17</reference>, <reference osisRef="Gal.5.24">24</reference>) "the flesh which lusteth against the spirit," "the flesh with the affections and lusts," that is, the sinful principle in the regenerate; the other, "the law of the mind," or the holy principle of the renewed nature. Second, when the apostle says he "sees" the one of these principles "warring against" the other, and "bringing him into captivity" to itself, he is not referring to any actual rebellion going on within him while he was writing, or to any captivity to his own lusts 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 renewed 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.

23. But I see another-- it should be "a different" law in my members-- (See on Ro 7:5). 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 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 Ga 5:17, 24) "the flesh which lusteth against the spirit," "the flesh with the affections and lusts," that is, the sinful principle in the regenerate; the other, "the law of the mind," or the holy principle of the renewed nature. Second, when the apostle says he "sees" the one of these principles "warring against" the other, and "bringing him into captivity" to itself, he is not referring to any actual rebellion going on within him while he was writing, or to any captivity to his own lusts 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 renewed 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.


<hi type="bold">24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?--</hi>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 finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.6.6">Ro 6:6</reference>, and <reference osisRef="Rom.7.5">Ro 7:5</reference>); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death (<reference osisRef="Rom.6.21">Ro 6:21</reference>, and <reference osisRef="Rom.7.5">Ro 7:5</reference>) into which it dragged him down. But 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 off 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 divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.

24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?-- 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 finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on Ro 6:6, and Ro 7:5); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death (Ro 6:21, and Ro 7:5) into which it dragged him down. But 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 off 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 divinely provided remedy which immediately follows.


<hi type="bold">25. I thank God--</hi>the Source.

<hi type="bold">through Jesus Christ--</hi>the Channel of deliverance.

<hi type="bold">So then--</hi>to sum up the whole matter.

<hi type="bold">with the mind--</hi>the mind indeed.

<hi type="bold">I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin--</hi>"Such then is the unchanging character of these two principles within me. God's holy law is dear to my renewed mind, and has the willing service of my new man; although that corrupt nature which still remains in me listens to the dictates of sin."

<hi type="bold">Note, (1) This whole chapter was of essential service to the Reformers in their contendings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt church, in a Pelagian spirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen nature, which they called "Concupiscence," and which is commonly called "Original Sin," had the nature of sin at all, they were triumphantly answered from this chapter, where--</hi>both in the first section of it, which speaks of it in the unregenerate, and in the second, which treats of its presence and actings in believers--it is explicitly, emphatically, 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 the 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 with Accountability. (See <reference osisRef="Rom.7.18">Ro 7:18</reference>; <reference osisRef="Gal.5.17">Ga 5:17</reference>). "As the Scriptures constantly recognize the truth of these two things, so are they constantly united in Christian experience. Everyone feels that he cannot do the things that he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing them. Let any man 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]. (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 enchanting landscape--the experimental discovery, in the latter stages of the Christian life, of its power to beat down and mortify inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from long-continued backslidings and frightful inconsistencies, and so to triumph over all that threatens to destroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them safe over the tempestuous seas of this life into the haven of eternal rest--is attended with yet more heart--affecting wonder draws forth deeper thankfulness, and issues in more exalted adoration of Him whose work Salvation is from first to last (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.24">Ro 7:24</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.7.25">25</reference>). (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.4">4</reference>) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere questions of biblical interpretation or systematic theology. Our great apostle could not treat of them apart from personal experience, of which the facts of his own life and the feelings of his own soul furnished 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 the like blessed emotions (<reference osisRef="Rom.7.24">Ro 7:24</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.7.25">25</reference>). So be it even now, O Lord! <chapter eID="Rom.7"/>

25. I thank God-- the Source. through Jesus Christ-- the Channel of deliverance. So then-- to sum up the whole matter. with the mind-- the mind indeed. I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin-- "Such then is the unchanging character of these two principles within me. God's holy law is dear to my renewed mind, and has the willing service of my new man; although that corrupt nature which still remains in me listens to the dictates of sin." Note, (1) This whole chapter was of essential service to the Reformers in their contendings with the Church of Rome. When the divines of that corrupt church, in a Pelagian spirit, denied that the sinful principle in our fallen nature, which they called "Concupiscence," and which is commonly called "Original Sin," had the nature of sin at all, they were triumphantly answered from this chapter, where-- both in the first section of it, which speaks of it in the unregenerate, and in the second, which treats of its presence and actings in believers--it is explicitly, emphatically, 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 the 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 with Accountability. (See Ro 7:18; Ga 5:17). "As the Scriptures constantly recognize the truth of these two things, so are they constantly united in Christian experience. Everyone feels that he cannot do the things that he would, yet is sensible that he is guilty for not doing them. Let any man 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]. (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 enchanting landscape--the experimental discovery, in the latter stages of the Christian life, of its power to beat down and mortify inveterate corruption, to cleanse and heal from long-continued backslidings and frightful inconsistencies, and so to triumph over all that threatens to destroy those for whom Christ died, as to bring them safe over the tempestuous seas of this life into the haven of eternal rest--is attended with yet more heart--affecting wonder draws forth deeper thankfulness, and issues in more exalted adoration of Him whose work Salvation is from first to last (Ro 7:24, 25). (4) It is sad when such topics as these are handled as mere questions of biblical interpretation or systematic theology. Our great apostle could not treat of them apart from personal experience, of which the facts of his own life and the feelings of his own soul furnished 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 the like blessed emotions (Ro 7:24, 25). So be it even now, O Lord!


<title type="x-s2">CHAPTER 8</title> <title type="x-s3"><reference osisRef="Rom.8.1-Rom.8.39">Ro 8:1-39</reference>. Conclusion of the Whole Argument--The Glorious Completeness of Them That Are in Christ Jesus.</title>
 In this surpassing chapter the several streams of the preceding argument meet and flow in one "river of the 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.

 First: The Sanctification of Believers (<reference osisRef="Rom.8.1-Rom.8.13">Ro 8:1-13</reference>).

<hi type="bold">1. There is therefore now, &c.--</hi>referring to the immediately preceding context [Olshausen, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The subject with which the seventh chapter concludes is still under consideration. The scope of <reference osisRef="Rom.8.1-Rom.8.4">Ro 8:1-4</reference> is to show how "the law of sin and death" is deprived of its power to bring believers again into bondage, and how the holy law of God receives in them the homage of a living obedience [Calvin, Fraser, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, &c.].

<hi type="bold">no condemnation: to them which are in Christ Jesus--</hi>As Christ, who "knew no sin," was, to all legal effects, "made sin for us," so are we, who believe in Him, to all legal effects, "made the righteousness of God in Him" (<reference osisRef="2Cor.5.21">2Co 5:21</reference>); and thus, one with Him in the divine reckoning. there is to such "NO CONDEMNATION." (Compare <reference osisRef="John.3.18">Joh 3:18</reference>; <reference osisRef="John.5.24">5:24</reference>; <reference osisRef="Rom.5.18">Ro 5:18</reference>, <reference osisRef="Rom.5.19">19</reference>). But this is no mere legal arrangement: it is a union in life; believers, through the indwelling of Christ's Spirit in them, having one life with Him, as truly as the head and the members of the same body have one life.

<hi type="bold">who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit--</hi>The evidence of manuscripts seems to show that this 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 <reference osisRef="Rom.8.4">Ro 8:4</reference>, probably as an explanatory comment, and to make the transition to <reference osisRef="Rom.8.2">Ro 8:2</reference> easier.

CHAPTER 8 Ro 8:1-39. Conclusion of the 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 the 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. First: The Sanctification of Believers (Ro 8:1-13). 1. There is therefore now, &c.-- referring to the immediately preceding context [Olshausen, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. The subject with which the seventh chapter concludes is still under consideration. The scope of Ro 8:1-4 is to show how "the law of sin and death" is deprived of its power to bring believers again into bondage, and how the holy law of God receives in them the homage of a living obedience [Calvin, Fraser, Philippi, Meyer, Alford, &c.]. no condemnation: to them which are in Christ Jesus-- As Christ, who "knew no sin," was, to all legal effects, "made sin for us," so are we, who believe in Him, to all legal effects, "made the righteousness of God in Him" (2Co 5:21); and thus, one with Him in the divine reckoning. there is to such "NO CONDEMNATION." (Compare Joh 3:18; 5:24; Ro 5:18, 19). But this is no mere legal arrangement: it is a union in life; believers, through the indwelling of Christ's Spirit in 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 manuscripts seems to show that this 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 Ro 8:4, probably as an explanatory comment, and to make the transition to Ro 8:2 easier.


<hi type="bold">2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free--</hi>rather, "freed me"--referring to the time of his conversion, when first he believed.

<hi type="bold">from the law of sin and death--</hi>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 <reference osisRef="John.7.38">Joh 7:38</reference>, <reference osisRef="John.7.39">39</reference>); just as He is called "the Spirit of truth," as "guiding them into all truth" (<reference osisRef="John.16.13">Joh 16:13</reference>), and "the Spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (<reference osisRef="Isa.11.2">Is 11:2</reference>), as the inspirer of these qualities. And He is called "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," because it is as members of Christ that He takes up His abode in believers, who in consequence of this have one life with their Head. And as the word "law" here has the same meaning as in <reference osisRef="Rom.7.23">Ro 7:23</reference>, namely, "an inward principle of action, operating with the fixedness and regularity of a law," it thus appears that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" here means, "that 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 law of sin and death" that is, from the enslaving power of that corrupt principle which carries death in its bosom. The "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 is to this effect: 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.

2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free-- rather, "freed me"--referring to the time of his conversion, when first he believed. from the law of sin and death-- 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 Joh 7:38, 39); just as He is called "the Spirit of truth," as "guiding them into all truth" (Joh 16:13), and "the Spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Is 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 that He takes up His abode in believers, who in consequence of this have one life with their Head. And as the word "law" here has the same meaning as in Ro 7:23, namely, "an inward principle of action, operating with the fixedness and regularity of a law," it thus appears that "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" here means, "that 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 law of sin and death" that is, from the enslaving power of that corrupt principle which carries death in its bosom. The "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 is to this effect: 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.


<hi type="bold">3-4. For what the law could not do, &c.--</hi>a difficult and much controverted verse. But it is clearly, we think, the law's inability to free us from the dominion of sin that the apostle has in view; as has partly appeared already (see on <reference osisRef="Rom.8.2">Ro 8:2</reference>), and will more fully appear presently. The law could irritate our sinful nature into more virulent action, as we have seen in <reference osisRef="Rom.7.5">Ro 7:5</reference>, but it could not secure its own fulfilment. How that is accomplished comes now to be shown.

<hi type="bold">in that it was weak through the flesh--</hi>that is, having to address itself to us through a corrupt nature, too strong to be influenced by mere commands and threatenings.

<hi type="bold">God, &c.--</hi>The sentence is somewhat imperfect in its structure, which occasions a certain obscurity. The meaning is, that whereas the law was powerless to secure its own fulfilment for the reason given, God took the method now to be described for attaining that end.

<hi type="bold">sending--</hi>"having sent"

<hi type="bold">his own Son--</hi>This and similar expressions plainly imply that Christ 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 <reference osisRef="Rom.8.32">Ro 8:32</reference> and <reference osisRef="Gal.4.4">Ga 4:4</reference>); 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 properly to define (see on the first through fourth chapters). And this peculiar relationship is put forward here to enhance the greatness and define the nature of the relief provided, as coming from beyond the precincts of sinful humanity altogether, yea, immediately from the Godhead itself.

<hi type="bold">in the likeness of sinful flesh--</hi>literally, "of the flesh of sin"; a very remarkable and pregnant expression. He was made in the reality of our flesh, but only in the likeness of its sinful condition. He took our nature as it is in us, compassed with infirmities, with nothing to distinguish Him as man from sinful men, save that He was without sin. Nor does this mean that He took our nature with all its properties save one; for sin is no property of humanity at all, but only the disordered state of our souls, as the fallen family of Adam; a disorder affecting, indeed, and overspreading our entire nature, but still purely our own.

<hi type="bold">and for sin--</hi>literally, "and about sin"; that is, "on the business of sin." The expression is purposely a general one, because the design was not to speak of Christ's mission to atone for sin, but in virtue of that atonement to destroy its dominion and extirpate it altogether from believers. We think it wrong, therefore, to render the words (as in the Margin) "by a sacrifice for sin" (suggested by the language of the Septuagint and approved by Calvin, &c.); for this sense is too definite, and makes the idea of expiation more prominent than it is.

<hi type="bold">condemned sin--</hi>"condemned it to lose its power over men" [Beza, Bengel, Fraser, Meyer, Tholuck, Philippi, Alford]. In this glorious sense our Lord says of His approaching death (<reference osisRef="John.12.31">Joh 12:31</reference>), "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out," and again (see on <reference osisRef="John.16.11">Joh 16:11</reference>), "When He (the Spirit) shall come, He shall convince the world of ... judgment, because the prince of this world is judged," that is, condemned to let go his hold of men, who, through the Cross, shall be emancipated into the liberty and power to be holy.

<hi type="bold">in the flesh--</hi>that is, in human nature, henceforth set free from the grasp of sin.

3-4. For what the law could not do, &c.-- a difficult and much controverted verse. But it is clearly, we think, the law's inability to free us from the dominion of sin that the apostle has in view; as has partly appeared already (see on Ro 8:2), and will more fully appear presently. The law could irritate our sinful nature into more virulent action, as we have seen in Ro 7:5, but it could not secure its own fulfilment. How that is accomplished comes now to be shown. in that it was weak through the flesh-- that is, having to address itself to us through 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 whereas the law was powerless to secure its own fulfilment for the reason given, God took the method now to be described for attaining that end. sending-- "having sent" his own Son-- This and similar expressions plainly imply that Christ 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 Ro 8:32 and Ga 4:4); 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 properly to define (see on the first through fourth chapters). And this peculiar relationship is put forward here to enhance the greatness and define the nature of the relief provided, as coming from beyond the precincts of sinful humanity altogether, yea, immediately from the Godhead itself. in the likeness of sinful flesh-- literally, "of the flesh of sin"; a very remarkable and pregnant expression. He was made in the reality of our flesh, but only in the likeness of its sinful condition. He took our nature as it is in us, compassed with infirmities, with nothing to distinguish Him as man from sinful men, save that He was without sin. Nor does this mean that He took our nature with all its properties save one; for sin is no property of humanity at all, but only the disordered state of our souls, as the fallen family of Adam; a disorder affecting, indeed, and overspreading our entire nature, but still purely our own. and for sin-- literally, "and about sin"; that is, "on the business of sin." The expression is purposely a general one, because the design was not to speak of Christ's mission to atone for sin, but in virtue of that atonement to destroy its dominion and extirpate it altogether from believers. We think it wrong, therefore, to render the words (as in the Margin) "by a sacrifice for sin" (suggested by the language of the Septuagint and approved by Calvin, &c.); for this sense is too definite, and makes the idea of expiation more prominent than it is. condemned sin-- "condemned it to lose its power over men" [Beza, Bengel, Fraser, Meyer, Tholuck, Philippi, Alford]. In this glorious sense our Lord says of His approaching death (Joh 12:31), "Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out," and again (see on Joh 16:11), "When He (the Spirit) shall come, He shall convince the world of... judgment, because the prince of this world is judged," that is, condemned to let go his hold of men, who, through the Cross, shall be emancipated into the liberty and power to be holy. in the flesh-- that is, in human nature, henceforth set free from the grasp of sin.


<hi type="bold">5. For they that are after the flesh--</hi>that is, under the influence of the fleshly principle.

<hi type="bold">do mind--</hi>give their attention to (<reference osisRef="Phil.3.19">Php 3:19</reference>).

<hi type="bold">the things of the flesh, &c.--</hi>Men must be under the predominating influence of one or other of these two principles, and, according as the one or the other has the mastery, will be the complexion of their life, the character of their actions.

5. For they that are after the flesh-- that is, under the influence of the fleshly principle. do mind-- give their attention to (Php 3:19). the things of the flesh, &c.-- Men must be under the predominating influence of one or other of these two principles, and, according as the one or the other has the mastery, will be the complexion of their life, the character of their actions.


<hi type="bold">6. For--</hi>a mere particle of transition here [Tholuck], like "but" or "now."

<hi type="bold">to be carnally minded--</hi>literally, "the mind" or "minding of the flesh" (Margin); that is, the pursuit of fleshly ends.

<hi type="bold">is death--</hi>not only "ends in" [Alford, &c.], but even now "is"; carrying death into its bosom, so that such are "dead while they live" (<reference osisRef="1Tim.5.6">1Ti 5:6</reference>; <reference osisRef="Eph.2.1">Ep 2:1</reference>, <reference osisRef="2Cor.2.5">5</reference>) [Philippi].

<hi type="bold">but to be spiritually minded--</hi>"the mind" or "minding of the spirit"; that is, the pursuit of spiritual objects.

<hi type="bold">is life and peace--</hi>not "life" only, in contrast with the "death" that is in the other pursuit, but "peace"; it is the very element of the soul's deepest repose and true bliss.

6. For-- a mere particle of transition here [Tholuck], like "but" or "now." to be carnally minded-- literally, "the mind" or "minding of the flesh" (Margin); that is, the pursuit of fleshly ends. is death-- not only "ends in" [Alford, &c.], but even now "is"; carrying death into its bosom, so that such are "dead while they live" (1Ti 5:6; Ep 2:1, 5) [Philippi]. but to be spiritually minded-- "the mind" or "minding of the spirit"; that is, the pursuit of spiritual objects. is life and peace-- not "life" only, in contrast with the "death" that is in the other pursuit, but "peace"; it is the very element of the soul's deepest repose and true bliss.


<hi type="bold">7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God--</hi>The desire and pursuit of carnal ends is a state of enmity to God, wholly incompatible with true life and peace in the soul.

<hi type="bold">for it is not subject--</hi>"doth not submit itself."

<hi type="bold">to the law of God, neither indeed can be--</hi>In such a state of mind there neither is nor can be the least subjection to the law of God. Many things may be done which the law requires, but nothing either is or can be done because God's law requires it, or purely to please God.

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God-- The desire and pursuit of carnal ends is a state of enmity to God, wholly incompatible with true life and peace in the soul. for it is not subject-- "doth not submit itself." to the law of God, neither indeed can be-- In such a state of mind there neither is nor can be the least subjection to the law of God. Many things may be done which the law requires, but nothing either is or can be done because God's law requires it, or purely to please God.


<hi type="bold">8. So then--</hi>nearly equivalent to "And so."

<hi type="bold">they that are in--</hi>and, therefore, under the government of

<hi type="bold">the flesh cannot please God--</hi>having no obediential principle, no desire to please Him.

8. So then-- nearly equivalent to "And so." they that are in-- and, therefore, under the government of the flesh cannot please God-- having no obediential principle, no desire to please Him.