TEXT. 7 For he that is dead, is freed from sin. 8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. 9 Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. PARAPHRASE. 7as vassals to it. For he, that is dead, is set free from the vassalage of sin, as a slave is from the vassalage of his 8 master. Now, if we understand by our being buried in baptism, that we died with Christ, we cannot but think and believe, that we should live a life conformable to his; 9 Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, returns no more to a mortal life, death hath no more lo10 minion over him, he is no more subject to death. For in that he died, he died unto sin, i. e. upon the account of sin, once for all: but his life, now after his resurrec NOTES. "servants of uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity, to be freed from " righteousness, to walk, live, or be after the flesh, to be carnally minded," all signify one and the same thing, viz. the giving ourselves up to the conduct of our sinful, carnal appetites, to allow any of them the command over us, and the conduct and prevalency in determining us. On the contrary," that "walking after the spirit, or in newness of life, the crucifixion of the old "man, the destruction of the body of sin, the deliverance from the body of "death, to be freed from sin, to be dead to sin, alive unto God, to yield your"selves unto God, as those who are alive from the dead, yield your members "servants of righteousness unto holiness, or instruments of righteousness unto "God, to be servants of obedience unto righteousness, made free from sin, "servants of righteousness, to be after the spirit, to be spiritually minded, to "mortify the deeds of the body," do all signify a constant and steady purpose, and sincere endeavour to obey the law and will of God, in every thing, these several expressions being used in several places, as best serves the occasion, and illustrates the sense. 7. The tenour of St. Paul's discourse here, shows this to be the sense of this verse; and to be assured that it is so, we need go no farther than ver. 11, 12, 13. He makes it his business in this chapter, not to tell them what they certainly and unchangeably are, but to exhort them to be what they ought and are engaged to be, by becoming christians, viz. that they ought to emancipate themselves from the vassalage of sin; not that they were so emancipated, without any danger of return, for then he could not have said what he does, ver. 11, 12, 13, which supposes it in their power to continue in their obedience to sin, or return to that vassalage, if they would. 10 f See Heb. ix. 26-28, 1 Pet. iv, 1, 2. TEXT. 11 Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin; but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it, in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead; and your members, as instruments of righteousness, unto God. PARAPHRASE. tion, is a life wholly appropriated to God, with which sin, or death, shall never have any more to do, or come in 11 reach of. In like In like manner, do you also make your reckoning, account yourselves dead to sin, freed from that master; so as not to suffer yourselves, any more, to be commanded, or employed by it, as if it were still your master; but alive to God, i. e. that it is your business now to live wholly for his service, and to his glory", 12 through Jesus Christ our Lord. Permit not, therefore, sin to reign over you, by your mortal bodies', which you 13 will do, if you obey your carnal lusts: Neither deliver up your members to sin, to be employed by sin, as instruments of iniquity, but deliver up yourselves unto God, as those who have got to a new life from among the dead', and choosing him for your Lord and Master, NOTES. 11 "Sin" is here spoken of as a person, a prosopopoeia made use of, all through this and the following chapter, which must be minded, if we will understand them right. The like exhortation upon the same ground, see 1 Pet. iv. 1-3. See Gal. ii. 19, 2 Cor. v. 15, Rom. v. 4. The force of St. Paul's argument here seems to be this: in your baptism you are engaged into a likeness of Christ's death and resurrection. He once died to sin, so do you count youFselves dead to sin. He rose to life, wherein he lives wholly to God: so must your new life, after your resurrection from your typical burial in the water, be under the vassalage of sin no more, but you must live intirely to the service of God, to whom you are devoted, in obedience to his will in all things. 12 "In your mortal bodies;", in the apostle's writings, often signifies, by. And he here, as also in the following chapters, ver. 18 and 24, and elsewhere, placing the root of sin in the body, his sense seems to be, let not sin reign over you, by the lusts of your mortal bodies. 13 k❝Sinful lusts," at least those, to which the gentiles were most eminently enslaved, seem so much placed in the body and the members, that they are called, "the members," Col. iii. 5. "from among the dead." The gentile world were dead in sins, TEXT. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid! PARAPHRASE. yield your members to him, as instruments of righteous14 ness. For if you do so, sin shall not have dominion over you", you shall not be as its slaves, in its power, to be by it delivered over to death. For" you are not under the law, in the legal state; but you are under grace, in the gospel-state of the covenant of grace. 15 What then, shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under the covenant of grace? God forbid! NOTES. Eph. ii. 1,5, Col. ii. 13, those, who were converted to the gospel, were raised to life, from among those dead. 14 "Sin shall not have dominion over you," i.e. sin shall not be your absolute master, to dispose of your members and faculties, in its drudgery and service, as it pleases; you shall not be under its control, in absolute subjection to it, but your own men, that are alive, and at your own disposal, unless, by your own free choice, you inthral yourselves to it, and by a voluntary obedience, give it the command over you, and are willing to have it your master. It must be remembered, that St. Paul here, and in the following chapter, personates sin, as striving with men for mastery, to destroy them. "For." The force of St. Paul's reasoning here stands thus: you are obliged, by your taking on you the profession of the gospel, not to be any longer slaves and vassals to sin, nor to be under the sway of your carnal lusts, but to yield yourselves up to God, to be his servants, in a constant and sincere purpose and endeavour of obeying him in all things: this if you do, sin shall not be able to procure you death, for you gentiles are not under the law, which condemns to death for every the least transgression, though it be but a slip of infirmity; but, by your baptism, are entered into the covenant of grace, and, being under grace, God will accept of your sincere endeavours in the place of exact obedience; and give you eternal life, through Jesus Christ; but if you, by a willing obedience to your lusts, make yourselves vassals to sin, sin, as the lord and master to whom you belong, will pay you with death, the only wages that sin pays. 15 What is meant by being "under grace," is easily understood, by the undoubted and obvious meaning of the parallel phrase, "under the law." They, it is unquestioned, were under the law, who having by circumcision, the ceremony of admittance, been received into the commonwealth of the jews, owned the God of the jews for their God and King, professing subjection to the law he gave by Moses. And so, in like manner, he is under grace, who, having by baptism, the ceremony of admittance, been received into the kingdom of Christ, or the society of christians, called by a peculiar name, the christian church, owns Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messias, his King, professing subjection to his law, delivered in the gospel. By which it is plain, that being under grace, is spoken here, as being under the law is, in a political YOL. VIII, TEXT. 16 Know ye not, that, to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are, to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin; but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered you. PARAPHRASE. 16 Know ye not that, to whom you subject yourselves as vassals, to be at his beck, his vassals you are whom you thus obey, whether it be of sin, which vassalage ends in death; or of Christ, in obeying the gospel, to the obtain17 ing of righteousness and life. But God be thanked, that you who were the vassals of sin, have sincerely, and from your heart, obeyed, so as to receive the form, or be cast into the mould of that doctrine, under whose di NOTES. and national sense. For whoever was circumcised, and owned God for his king, and the authority of his law, ceased not to be a jew or member of that society, by every or any transgression of the precepts of that law, so long as he owned God for his Lord, and his subjection to that law; so likewise, he who, by baptism, is incorporated into the kingdom of Christ, and owns him for his sovereign, and himself under the law and rule of the gospel, ceases not to be a christian, though he offend against the precepts of the gospel, till he denies Christ to be his king and lord, and renounces his subjection to his law in the gospel. But God, in taking a people to himself to be his, not doing it barely as a temporal prince, or head of a politic society in this world, but in order to his having as many, as in obeying him perform the conditions necessary, his subjects for ever, in the state of immortality restored to him in another world; has, since the fall, erected two kingdoms in this world, the one of the jews, immediately under himself; another of christians under his Son Jesus Christ, for that farther and more glorious end, of attaining eternal life, which prerogative and privilege, of eternal life, does not belong to the society in general, nor is the benefit granted nationally, to the whole body of the people of either of these kingdoms of God; but personally, to such of them, who perform the conditions required in the terms of each covenant. To those who are jews, or under the law, the terms are perfect and complete obedience to every tittle of the law, " do this and live:" to those who are christians, or under grace, the terms are sincere endeavours after perfect obedience, though not attaining it, as is manifest, in the remaining part of this chapter, where St. Paul acquaints those, who ask whether they sha!! sin, because they are not under the law, but under grace? that, though they are under grace, yet they, who obey sin, are the vassals of sin; and those, who are the vassals of sin, shall receive death, the wages of sin. 16 P Taxon," obedience." That which he calls here simply zech, bedience," he in other places calls branch wisews," obedience of faith, and inaxon rou Xgıçoũ, “obedience of Christ," meaning a reception of the gospel of Christ. TEXT. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righ teousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness. 20 For, when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righte ousness. PARAPHRASE. rection or regulation you were put, that you might con18 form yourselves to it. Being therefore set free from the vassalage of sin, you became the servants or vassals of 19 righteousness. (I make use of this metaphor, of the passing of slaves from one master to another, well known to you romans, the better to let my meaning into your understandings, that are yet weak in these matters, being more accustomed to fleshly than spiritual things.) For as you yielded your natural faculties obedient, slavish instruments to uncleanness, to be wholly employed in all manner of iniquity"; so now ye ought to yield up your natural faculties to a perfect and ready obedience 20 to righteousness. For, when you were the vassals of sin, you were not at all subject to, nor paid any obedience to righteousness: therefore, by a parity of reason, now righteousness is your master, you ought to pay no NOTES. 17 q Eiç öv mapedóents," unto which you were delivered;" no harsh, but an elegant expression, if we observe that St. Paul here speaks of sin and the gospel, as of two masters, and that those, he writes to, were taken out of the hands of the one, and delivered over to the other, which they having from their hearts obeyed, were no longer the slaves of sin, he whom they obeyed being, by the rule of the foregoing verse, truly their master. 18 EdeλwonTe Th dixaιoσurn, "ye became the slaves of righteousness." This will seem an harsh expression, unless we remember that St. Paul, going on still with the metaphor of master and servant, makes sin and righteousness here two persons, two distinct masters, and men passing from the dominion of the one into the dominion of the other. 19 'Arpúπivos yw, "I speak after the manner of men." He had some reason to make some little kind of an apology, for a figure of speech, which he dwells upon, quite down to the end of this chapter. "Members," see chap. vii. 5. Note. "To iniquity unto iniquity," see Note, chap. i. 17. |