For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
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There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. Those who are in the flesh can’t please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Parallel Translations
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For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
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For the lawe of the sprete that bringeth life thorowe Iesus Christ hath delivered me from the lawe of synne and deeth.
For what the lawe coulde not doo in as moche it was weake because of the flesshe: that performed God and sent his sonne in the similitude of synfull flesshe and by synne daned synne in the flesshe:
that the rightewesnes requyred of the lawe myght be fulfilled in vs which walke not after the flesshe but after the sprete.
For they that are carnall are carnally mynded. But they that are spirituall are gostly mynded.
To be carnally mynded is deeth. But to be spiritually mynded is lyfe and peace.
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For the Lawe of the Spirite of life, which is in Christ Iesus, hath freed mee from the lawe of sinne and of death.
For (that that was impossible to ye Lawe, in as much as it was weake, because of ye flesh) God sending his owne Sonne, in ye similitude of sinful flesh, and for sinne, condened sinne in the flesh,
That that righteousnes of the Law might be fulfilled in vs, which walke not after ye flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh, sauour the things of the flesh: but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
For the wisedome of the flesh is death: but the wisedome of the Spirit is life and peace,
Cross-references (86)
- Galatians 6:8 (v6) For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
- Romans 6:14 (v2) For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- 2 Corinthians 3:17 (v2) Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
- Romans 8:7 (v6) because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14 (v5) Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are…
Show all 86 cross-references
- Romans 8:13 (v6) For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- Romans 6:18 (v2) Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
- Galatians 5:19-25 (v5) Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred,…
- Romans 13:14 (v6) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- John 3:6 (v5) That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- 2 Corinthians 3:6 (v2) who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives…
- Romans 8:10-11 (v2) If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised…
- Colossians 3:1-3 (v5) If then you were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your…
- 1 Corinthians 15:45 (v2) So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
- John 8:32 (v2) You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
- John 8:36 (v2) If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
- Romans 6:23 (v6) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Acts 13:39 (v3) and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- Romans 8:6-7 (v5) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; because the mind of the flesh is hostile toward God; for…
- James 1:14-15 (v6) But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin. The sin, when…
- John 14:27 (v6) Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, I give to you. Don’t let your heart be troubled, neither let it be…
- Galatians 5:22 (v6) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,
- Romans 6:21 (v6) What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- Philippians 3:18-19 (v5) For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping, as the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,…
- Romans 6:22 (v2) But now, being made free from sin and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification and the result of eternal life.
- Galatians 4:4-5 (v3) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were…
- Romans 8:9 (v5) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of…
- Hebrews 7:18-19 (v3) For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect), and a…
- Romans 7:4 (v2) Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was…
- John 6:63 (v2) It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
- John 14:6 (v6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 (v3) For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Mark 8:33 (v5) But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of…
- John 4:10 (v2) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would…
- John 7:38-39 (v2) He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit,…
- Romans 7:5 (v6) For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death.
- Romans 14:17 (v6) for God’s Kingdom is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- John 4:14 (v2) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well…
- Galatians 3:13 (v3) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
- Romans 7:11 (v6) for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
- Galatians 5:1 (v2) Stand firm therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and don’t be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
- Galatians 5:16 (v4) But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh.
- Galatians 5:22-25 (v4) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things…
- John 17:5 (v6) Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.
- Romans 5:1 (v6) Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
- Romans 8:12-14 (v5) So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the…
- Galatians 2:19 (v2) For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
- Romans 5:10 (v6) For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his…
- Romans 5:21 (v2) that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Hebrews 10:14 (v3) For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
- Psalms 51:12 (v2) Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
- Romans 7:21 (v2) I find then the law that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present.
- Romans 6:6 (v3) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in…
- 1 Peter 2:24 (v3) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. You were healed by his wounds.
- Romans 3:27 (v2) Where then is the boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
- Romans 7:24-25 (v2) What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the…
- 2 Corinthians 10:3 (v5) For though we walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh;
- Revelation 22:1 (v2) He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
- Hebrews 10:1-10 (v3) For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which…
- 1 Peter 4:1-2 (v3) Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind; for he who has suffered in the flesh has…
- Galatians 3:21 (v3) Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly…
- Colossians 1:22 (v4) yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without defect and blameless before him,
- 2 Peter 2:10 (v5) but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to…
- Romans 3:20 (v3) Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
- Romans 8:32 (v3) He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- Ephesians 5:26-27 (v4) that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the assembly to himself…
- Hebrews 12:23 (v4) to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made…
- Ephesians 5:9 (v5) for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
- Revelation 11:11 (v2) After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who…
- 1 Corinthians 15:48 (v5) As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
- Hebrews 2:14 (v3) Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might…
- Jude 1:24 (v4) Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,
- Philippians 2:7 (v3) but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.
- Revelation 14:5 (v4) In their mouth was found no lie, for they are blameless.
- John 1:14 (v3) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 3:14-17 (v3) As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish,…
- Romans 2:26 (v4) If therefore the uncircumcised keep the ordinances of the law, won’t his uncircumcision be accounted as circumcision?
- Romans 7:5-11 (v3) For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law worked in our members to bring out fruit to death. But now we…
- Romans 9:3 (v3) For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brothers’ sake, my relatives according to the flesh
- Hebrews 2:17 (v3) Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things…
- Hebrews 4:15 (v3) For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like…
- Hebrews 10:12 (v3) but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
- 1 John 3:2 (v4) Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for…
- Mark 15:27 (v3) With him they crucified two robbers; one on his right hand, and one on his left.
- John 9:24 (v3) So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
- 1 John 4:10-14 (v3) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (27 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. For the law of the Spirit of life,…
2. For the law of the Spirit of life, etc. This is a confirmation of the former sentence; and that it may be understood, the meaning of the words must be noticed. Using a language not strictly correct, by the law of the Spirit he designates the Spirit of God, who sprinkles our souls with the blood of Christ, not only to cleanse us from the stain of sin with respect to its guilt, but also to sanctify us that we may be really purified. He adds that it is life-giving, (for the genitive case, after the manner of the Hebrew, is to be taken as an adjective,) it hence follows, that they who detain man in the letter of the law, expose him to death. On the other hand, he gives the name of the law of sin and death to the dominion of the flesh and to the tyranny of death, which thence follows: the law of God is set as it were in the middle, which by teaching righteousness cannot confer it, but on the contrary binds us with the strongest chains in bondage to sin and to death.
The meaning then is, — that the law of God condemns men, and that this happens, because as long as they remain under the bond of the law, they are oppressed with the bondage of sin, and are thus exposed to death; but that the Spirit of Christ, while it abolishes the law of sin in us by destroying the prevailing desires of the flesh, does at the same time deliver us from the peril of death. If any one objects and says, that then pardon, by which our transgressions are buried, depends on regeneration; to this it may be easily answered, that the reason is not here assigned by Paul, but that the manner only is specified, in which we are delivered from guilt; and Paul denies that we obtain deliverance by the external teaching of the law, but intimates that when we are renewed by the Spirit of God, we are at the same time justified by a gratuitous pardon, that the curse of sin may no longer abide on us. The sentence then has the same meaning, as though Paul had said, that the grace of regeneration is never disjoined from the imputation of righteousness.
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I dare not, with some, take the law of sin and death for the law of God, because it seems a harsh expression. For though by increasing sin it generates death, yet Paul before turned aside designedly from this invidious language. At the same time I no more agree in opinion with those who explain the law of sin as being the lust of the flesh, as though Paul had said, that he had become the conqueror of it. But it will appear very evident shortly, as I think, that he speaks of a gratuitous absolution, which brings to us tranquillizing peace with God. I prefer retaining the word law, rather than with Erasmus to render it right or power: for Paul did not without reason allude to the law of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Which mortifieth the old man, and quickeneth the new…
Which mortifieth the old man, and quickeneth the new man.
For Christ’s sanctification being imputed unto us, perfecteth our sanctification which is begun in us.
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A preventing of an objection: seeing that the virtue of the spirit which is in us, is so weak, how may we gather thereby, that there is no condemnation to them that have that virtue? because saith he, that virtue of the quickening spirit which is so weak in us, is most perfect and most mighty in Christ, and being imputed unto us which believe, causeth us to be so accounted of, as though there were no relics of corruption, and death in us. Therefore hitherto Paul disputed of remission of sins, and imputation of fulfilling the Law, and also of sanctification which is begun in us: but now he speaketh of the perfect imputation of Christ’s manhood, which part was necessarily required to the full appeasing of our consciences: for our sins are defaced by the blood of Christ, and the guiltiness of our corruption is covered with the imputation of Christ’s obedience: and the corruption itself (which the Apostle calleth sinful sin) is healed in us by little and little, by the gift of sanctification, but yet it lacketh besides that another remedy, to wit, the perfect sanctification of Christ’s own flesh, which also is to us imputed.
The power and authority of the spirit, against which is set the tyranny of sin.
To wit, absolutely and perfectly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2 For the law of the Spirit of life…
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Ver. 2. For the law of the Spirit] That is, Christ revived and risen hath justified me. {See Trapp on "Rom 4:25"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–6 The law of the Spirit of life; some understand…
The law of the Spirit of life; some understand hereby the doctrine of the gospel, which is called the law of the Spirit of life, because it is the ministry of the Spirit and of life. Others understand the efficacy and power of that grace and holiness, wherewith the living and quickening Spirit of God hath filled the human nature of Christ. Others rather understand a regenerating and working the new and heavenly life in the soul, with great power and efficacy.
In Christ Jesus; i.e. which was poured out upon him, and doth still reside in him after a very eminent manner: see Isa 11:2; Luk 4:1. Or, in Christ Jesus, is as much as by Christ Jesus, it is he that gives and conveys this Spirit, how, when and to whom he pleases.
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Hath made me free from the law of sin: by sin here he aims chiefly at original sin; he doth not say, that those who are in Christ are simply and absolutely delivered from sin, but from the law of sin; i.e. the power, dominion, and tyranny thereof.
And death; i.e. from sin that is deadly, or of a deadly nature; as the Spirit of life is the living Spirit, so sin and death is no more, say some, than deadly sin. Others take death to be distinct from sin, and think he speaks of a double deliverance; and then by death they understand eternal or the second death: see Rev 20:6. The sense of the whole is this: That the mighty power of the renewing and quickening Spirit did free the apostle, and does free all believers, from the command and rule of sin, so that it does not reign over them, as formerly it did; and being thus freed from the power of sin, they are also freed from the power of death and eternal condemnation. So it seems as a proof of the foregoing proposition, That there is no condemnation to them, &c.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv2–6 If by the law of the Spirit of life…
If by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, be meant the doctrine of the gospel, which is called the ministration of the Spirit, then the note is, that the gospel or new covenant is a law, that it is the law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus, and that it sets the sincere Christian at liberty from the slavery of sin, and the condemning power of the law.
If by the law of the Spirit of life be understood a real and vital principle of regenerating grace, working a new and heavenly life in the soul with great power and efficacy; thence we learn,
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1. That the holy and blessed Spirit of God is a spirit of life.
1. Essentially and formally in himself; as the Father hath life in himself, so the Spriit hath life in himself also.
And, 2. effectively or casually, with respect to us. He is a quickening or life-giving Spirit, being the original spring and frontal cause of that spiritual life which is in a gracious soul.
Learn, 2. That every person, before the Spirit of life takes hold of him, is under the law of sin and death.
Learn, 3. That such as are truly regenerate, are made free from the law of sin and death.
4. That it is by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, that any soul is made free from the law of sin and death.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law of the Spirit of life in…
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,.... These words are of difficult interpretation. They may be understood of the Gospel revealing and declaring deliverance from the law of Moses; wherefore there can be "no condemnation", Rom 8:1, by it. The Gospel may be designed by "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"; which may be called a law, not as succeeding the law of works, by which that is abrogated; nor as requiring conditions to be performed, or as enjoining duties to be observed, or as delivering out threatenings in case of disobedience; but as it is a doctrine, order, and chain of truths, as the Hebrew word signifies, and which is sometimes used for the Gospel, Isa 2:3 as is, Rom 3:27. It may be called the law, or doctrine "of the Spirit", because the Spirit is the author of it, and makes it powerful and effectual to the good of souls; by it the Spirit of God is conveyed into the heart; and the substance of it are spiritual things: and the "law of the Spirit of life", because it discovers the way of life and salvation by Christ; is the means of quickening dead sinners; of working faith in them, by which they live on Christ, and of reviving drooping saints; and also it affords spiritual food, for the support of life: and this may be said to be "in Christ", or by him, inasmuch as it comes from, and is concerning him; he is the sum, the substance, and subject matter of it:
the law of sin and death may intend the law of Moses, called "the law of sin"; not as if it was sinful, or commanded or encouraged sin, for it severely prohibits it; but because by it, through the corruption of man's nature, sin is irritated, and made to abound; it is the strength of sin, and by it is the knowledge of it: and it may be called "the law of death", because it threatened with death, in case of disobedience; it sentences and adjudges transgressors to death; and when it is attended with power, it strikes dead all a man's hopes of life, by obedience to it; it leaves persons dead as it finds them, and gives no life, nor hopes of it; by it none can live, or be justified: now, though Christ is the author of deliverance from it, yet the Gospel is the means of revealing and declaring this deliverance; which designs not an exemption from obedience to it, but freedom from the curse and condemnation of it; and this sense well agrees with Rom 8:1; likewise the words are capable of being understood of the power and efficacy of the Spirit of God, in delivering regenerate persons from the dominion and tyranny of sin; and which may be considered as a reason why they "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit", Rom 8:1, "life" may well be ascribed to the Spirit of God, or be called the Spirit of life, because he has life in himself as the Father and Son have; and is the author of life to others, of natural life to all men as creatures, and of spiritual life to the people of God in regeneration; and is a quickening spirit to them afterwards, as he will be to the dead bodies of the saints in the resurrection: by "the law" of the Spirit may be meant, the energy and power of the Spirit in conversion; which work requires power, and a man has no power of himself to effect it; but there is a power in the Spirit, which works irresistibly, though not by any force or compulsion to the will, but it moves upon it sweetly, powerfully, and effectually: and all this may be said to be "in Christ": the life which the Spirit is the author and giver of, is in Christ as the head of his people, the proper repository of all grace, and the fountain of life; the Spirit himself is in him, both as God and as man, and as Mediator, hence the saints receive him and his gifts and graces from him; and the law of the Spirit, or his power and efficacy in working, is "in" or "by" Christ, through his sufferings and death, and in consequence of his mediation: now this powerful and quickening efficacy of the Spirit delivers regenerate persons from the force and tyranny of sin, called here "the law of sin and death"; a "law of sin", because it has power and dominion over unregenerate persons, its throne is in the heart of man, and its laws are many and powerful; and "the law of death", because its reign is tyrannical, barbarous and cruel, it is unto death: and from its governing influence, and tyrannical power, does the Spirit of God free his people in regeneration; not from the being of sin; nor from the rage of it, and disturbance it gives; nor from such power of it, but that they may fall into sin; but so as that sin does not properly reign over them, nor legally, nor universally, or so as to bring a death on their graces, and their persons into condemnation. Once more, those words may be understood of the holiness of Christ's human nature, as a branch of our justification, and freedom from the guilt of sin, and condemnation by it: for as "the law of sin and death" may design inherent corruption, and the force and power of it in the saints; so the opposite to it, "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ", may mean the purity and holiness of his human nature. That Christ's human nature is pure and holy is certain, from express texts of Scripture, from its union to the Son of God, from the ends and purposes of its assumption, from the inefficacy of Satan's temptations, and from the whole course of his life and conversation; for though he was in the likeness of sinful flesh, was reckoned a sinner by men, was attended with infirmities, the effects of sin, though not sinful, had all the sins of his people imputed to him, and endured afflictions, and at last death; yet his nature was pure and untainted: for he did not descend from Adam by ordinary generation; and though made of a woman, yet the flesh he took of her was sanctified by the Holy Ghost; his body was prepared by God, and curiously wrought by the Spirit, from whom his whole human nature received a fulness of habitual holiness: and this may be called "the Spirit of life" in him, because he is a quickening Spirit in regeneration, justification, and the resurrection from the dead; "the law" of it, because the holiness of his nature lies in, arises from, and is conformable to a law that is within him, written on his heart; and because, together with his obedience and death, it has a force, power, and authority, to free from condemnation; for this is not a mere necessary qualification of him to be the Mediator, or what renders his obedience, sacrifice, and intercession, efficacious and valuable, or is merely exemplary to us, but is what is imputed to us, as a part of our justification. The law requires a holy nature of us, we have not one, Christ assumed one for us, and so is the end of the law, or answers the requirement of the law in this respect, as well as in all others: and hence, though sanctification begun in us, does not free us from the being of sin, and all its force and power, yet perfect sanctification in Christ frees from all condemnation by it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2–6 The law of the Spirit - That is, the…
The law of the Spirit - That is, the gospel. Hath freed me from the law of sin and death - That is, the Mosaic dispensation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–6 Verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of…
Verse 2. For the law of the Spirit of life] The Gospel of the grace of Christ, which is not only a law or rule of life, but affords that sovereign energy by which guilt is removed from the conscience, the power of sin broken, and its polluting influence removed from the heart. The law was a spirit of death, by which those who were under it were bound down, because of their sin, to condemnation and death. The Gospel proclaims Jesus the Saviour; and what the law bound unto death, IT looses unto life eternal. And thus the apostle says, whether of himself or the man whom he is still personating, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Most people allow that St. Paul is here speaking of his own state; and this state is so totally different from that described in the preceding chapter, that it is absolutely impossible that they should have been the state of the same being, at one and the same time. No creature could possibly be carnal, sold under sin, brought into captivity to the law of sin and death; and at the same time be made free from that law of sin and death, by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus! Until the most palpable absurdities and contradictions can be reconciled, these two opposite states can never exist in the same person at the same time.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5 Rom 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of…
Rom 8:2. For the law of the Spirit of life — That is, the doctrine of divine grace in the gospel, accompanied with the quickening, commanding influence of the Holy Spirit, hath made me free from the law of sin and death — That is, not only from the Mosaic dispensation, which, if relied on for justification, left men under the guilt and power of sin, and condemned them to the second death; but also and especially from the law, or constraining power of sin itself, which is attended with spiritual death, and, if not removed, brings men to death eternal. In other words, “The Spirit of Christ, giving me a new life, is now another law, or rule of my actions, freeing me from the motions and power of sin, to which I was subject while under the [Mosaic] law, and from the death to which that law subjected me; or, the gospel, attended with the Spirit, hath wrought this freedom in me.” So Whitby. The gospel, or covenant of grace, may be fitly termed the law of the Spirit, or a spiritual law; and that not only as it reaches to the spirit of man, but is such a law as gives spiritual life, or is the ministration of the Spirit, and of life, 2Co 3:6; 2Co 3:8; being accompanied with a divine power, which communicates spiritual life to the soul here, and prepares it for eternal life hereafter. It is observable, that the person who speaks in the foregoing chapter is introduced here as continuing the discourse, and showing the method in which his deliverance from the body of sin and death, mentioned Rom 7:25, was accomplished. And what is affirmed concerning him, is intended of other believers also. Here, therefore, we have a second motive to holiness, namely, that under the new covenant sufficient assistance being given to all who in faith and prayer apply for it, to free them from the law of sin and death, they cannot excuse their sins by pleading the strength of their sinful passions, or the depravity of their nature.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law - The word “law” here means…
For the law - The word “law” here means that “rule, command, or influence” which “the Spirit of life” produces. That exerts a control which is here called a law, for a law often means anything by which we are ruled or governed; see the notes at Rom 7:21, Rom 7:23. Of the Spirit. I see no reason to doubt here that this refers to the Holy Spirit. Evidently, at the close of Rom 8:1, the word has this reference. The phrase “the Spirit of life” then means the Holy Spirit producing or giving life; that is, giving peace, joy, activity, salvation; in opposition to the law spoken of in Rom. 7 that produced death and condemnation.
In Christ Jesus - Under the Christian religion; or sent by Christ to apply his work to people. Joh 16:7-14. The Spirit is sent by Christ; his influence is a part of the Christian scheme; and his power accomplishes what the Law could not do.
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Hath made me free - That is, has delivered me from the predominating influence and control of sin. He cannot mean that he was perfect, for the whole tenor of his reasoning is opposed to that. But the design, the tendency, and the spirit of the gospel was to produce this freedom from what the Law could not deliver; and he was now brought under the general power of this scheme. In the former state he was under a most bitter and galling bondage; Rom 7:7-11. Now, he was brought under the influence of a scheme which contemplated freedom, and which produced it.
The law of sin and death - The controlling influence of sin, leading to death and condemnation; Rom 7:5-11.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2–5 The law of the spirit of life, in Christ…
The law of the spirit of life, in Christ Jesus. That is, the new law, by which the Holy Ghost, or the spirit of life is given, hath delivered me from the law of sin and of death: that is, from the slavery of sin, that causeth death: though some think that the law of Moses may be here called the law of death, and of sin, because it occasionally brought death upon such as transgressed the known law. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law of the Spirit of life in…
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" (Isa 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 Rom 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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. Law—The ruling force. (See note on Rom_7:23.)
2. Law—The ruling force. (See note on Rom_7:23.)
Spirit of life— The Divine Spirit, the inspirer and giver of eternal life. Law… death. (See note on Rom_7:23.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. For the law, &c.] What is this law?…
2. For the law, &c.] What is this law? We take it to be a phrase by way of paradox, meaning the institute, or procedure, of the Gospel of Grace. Cp. “the law of faith,” Rom_3:27. It is the Divine Rule of Justification, (which alone, as the whole previous reasoning shews, removes “all condemnation,”) and is thus “a law” in the sense of “fixed process.” But also it is here “the law of the Spirit,” because its necessary sequel (indeed we may say its final cause as regards man) is the impartation of the Holy Spirit, (see Joh_7:39,) of whose influences so much is now to be said. And He is here specially “the Spirit of Life,” because He is the Agent who first leads the soul to believe in the Propitiation (see 1Pe_1:2), and so to escape sentence of “death;” and who then animates it with the energies of the new life. Lastly, this whole process is “in Christ Jesus,” who is the meritorious Cause of Justification, the Head of the Justified, and the Giver of the Spirit.—The sum of the meaning thus is that the deliverance from doom is by faith in the Justifying Merit of Christ, which faith is attended, as well as produced, by the influences of the Holy Spirit, given through and by Christ.
hath made me free] An aorist in the Gr.; probably referring to the definite past fact of the delivering Work. The phrase thus refers to Justification rather than Sanctification, which is a present process, not a past event.—“Me:”—there is another reading “thee;” but “me” is certainly right. The word is an echo from ch. 7, Cp. Gal_2:17-21, where the Apostle similarly turns from the plural of general truth to the singular of his own appropriation of it.—“Free:”—i.e. in respect of condemnation—not in respect of influence; which indeed (see next note) would be an alien idea here. He is here summing up the whole previous argument of the Epistle.
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the law of sin and death] i.e. the Law, which, as regards man apart from Christ, is invariably linked with sin, as evoking it, and with death, as thus, in the nature of things, calling it down on the sinner. In other words it is the Divine Law, (instanced in that of Moses,) which, as a Covenant, is by its very holiness the sinner’s doom. The word “law” is (though not at first sight) used in the sense of a fixed process in both parts of the verse: the “new covenant” is linked, by the chain of cause and effect, with the Spirit of Life; the “old covenant,” with sin and death.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 (2) A statement of the great antithesis, of which…
(2) A statement of the great antithesis, of which the rest of the section is a development, between the law of the Spirit of life and the law of sin and of death.
The law of the Spirit of life.—A phrase defining more fully the mode in which the union with Christ becomes operative in the believer. It begins by imparting to him the Spirit of Christ; this Spirit creates within him a law; and the result of that law is life—that perfect spiritual vitality which includes within itself the pledge of immortality.
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The Spirit.—That is, the Spirit of Christ, as in Rom_8:9, which is hardly as yet conceived of as a distinct personality, but representing the continued action and influence which the ascended Saviour exercises upon the believer.
In Christ Jesus.—These words are best taken with “hath made” (rather, made, when it was imparted to me) “me free.” The law of the Spirit of life, in Christ (i.e., operating through my union with Christ), made me free from the law of sin and of death.
From the law of sin and death.—The direct contrast to the foregoing. Not here the law of Moses, but the power of sin, the corrupt element in our nature, acting upon the soul, and itself erecting a kind of law, saying, “Thou shalt,” where the law of God says “Thou shalt not;” and “Thou shalt not,” where the law of God says “Thou shalt.” The effect of this reign of sin is death—spiritual death—bearing in itself the pledge of eternal death.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law of the Spirit of life in…
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free (not hath made me; the aorist refers to the time when the Christian became possessed of the Spirit of life in Christ) from the law of sin and death. Here is a distinct contrast to the state described in vers. 14, 23 of Ro 7, and a realization of what was yearned for in ver. 24, "the law of sin and of death" being evidently "the law of sin in the members" previously spoken of. The egw , before in captivity to this law, is now freed from it. And how? Not by its becoming a different egw ; not by a change of the constituent elements of human nature; but by the introduction of a new law the law of the Spirit of life which has emancipated the egw from its old unwelcome thraldom. In virtue of this new law, introduced into my being, I am now free to give my entire allegiance to the law of God. Nomov , be it observed, is here again used in a sense different from its usual one, and we thus have a still further nomov , in addition to those defined in the note after Rom_7:25. The designation of this new law is in marked opposition to that in which the egw was before said to be held; we have life in opposition to death, and the Spirit in opposition to the flesh, as well as freedom in opposition to captivity. The Spirit is, in fact, the Divine Spirit, taking possession of what is spiritual (now at length brought into view) in the inward man, making him partaker in the Divine life, and able to serve God freely. The expressions used bring out strikingly one essential distinction between Law and Gospel, viz. that the principle of the former is to control and discipline conduct by requirements and threats; but of the latter to introduce into man"s inner being a new principle of life, whence right conduct may spontaneously flow. Coercion is the principle of the one; inspiration of the other. An illustration may be found in the treatment of disease on the one hand by attempted repression of specific ailments, and on the other by imparting a new vitality to the system, which may of itself dispel disease. It is shown next how this new state of freedom has been brought about. First, by what God in Christ has done for us apart from ourselves; the subjective condition in ourselves being introduced at the end of ver. 4, toiv mh , etc.
For a new law the law of the Spirit of life is introduced into their being, by virtue of which they are freed from their old state of bondage to the law of sin and death.
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"The Spirit of life.
What interest we always feel in life! Among things earthly, the main distinction, to our minds, is that between the living and the lifeless. Among the snows of Alpine heights, the blue gentian flower is welcome to the eye of the mountaineer. Amid the hot wastes of the sandy deserts, sweet is the oasis of green shrubs and shady palm trees which spring up around the solitary fountain. The child loves to watch the butterfly fluttering from bush to bush, the lizard peeping out and darting in among the heather and the ling of the common, the dragon-fly weaving graceful dances over the sunny waters of the secluded peel. Who does not and a calm delight in marking the grayling leap from the silvery brook, the heron lift itself in slow flight from the reedy banks of the tidal river, the hawk circle in the blue sky, the antlered deer bound into the lake and fleet through the glades of the forest? Amidst the loneliness of the ocean, what a relief to the mariner to witness the gambol of the sea-monster, or even to hear the cry of the wild storm-bird! And, to the thoughtful mind, how far deeper the interest felt in the more complex, the more varied the moral life of men! Whether in the mountain or the plain, by the sea, in the well-tilled fields, or in the busy city where myriads throng and jostle, wherever human life meets the eye and ear, we feel ourselves in the presence of God"s greatest works. Here is the spiritual realm; here the moral conflict; here the probation, the discipline, which regard eternity. For the interest of the life of man lies not in its picturesque or its pathetic aspect, but in the working of great principles, to issues dear to the very heart of God. The life of the body engrosses indeed much of men"s energies and cares. Yet we all feel that it is the higher life. the soul-life that is of supreme moment and deathless interest to man. There is a life of the spirit, which multitudes may disregard, but which to the Creator, and to all enlightened minds, seems the one great end for which worlds were made and man was fashioned. It is the office of religion to summon men"s attention to this life, precious, beautiful, and immortal; to tell men that, unless they live this life, they live in vain; to assure them that the privileges and the probation of earth have a view to this higher conscious, spiritual existence and growth, And Christianity comes to men, telling them of a Divine Saviour, in whom "was life," and who came "that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly;" telling them of a spiritual agency provided by God to awaken them from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness; telling them of the presence and the power among men of "the Spirit of life." It is the spiritual life, enkindled and sustained by this Divine Spirit, which is the aim and the reward of a Father"s pity and a Saviour"s love. Contrasting with that death from which it is a deliverance, it is a preparation for that eternity which is the infinite scope for its development. Consisting in the exercise and growth of the highest and noblest powers with which the Creator has endowed mankind, amidst the circumstances which Providence has arranged for their manifestation, it brings the dependent being to share the Divine nature, and fits it to inherit the heavenly kingdom.
I THE APOSTLE SPEAKS OF THE LIVING SPIRIT the Spirit in whom is life. God is spoken of in the Scriptures as "the living God." The Holy Spirit is a living Agent; not merely conscious, but energetic. He has knowledge: "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." He works the work of God in the material world: "By his Spirit God hath garnished the heavens;" "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit; they are created." He is the Author of our conscious being: "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." He is the universal Presence of omniscient Deity: "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" He is the power that raised the Redeemer, who was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." He is the Divine Force of life to Christ"s followers: "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." In so much of nature as is accessible to our observation, life springs from life. So is it in the spiritual realm. The Holy Ghost is spoken of as the Source and Importer of the new and holy life; because he himself possesses, in infinite fulness, that which we receive according to measure. We recognize the presence of the Spirit of God in all God"s works and methods, in what are called nature and nature"s laws. But not simply the lower life the highest and the best also is his; his also is the life which is emphatically Divine. The Spirit of God is, accordingly, the Spirit of truth, the Spirit of holiness, the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of grace, the Spirit of life. Far from being merely contemplative, the Spirit of God is emphatically energetic. His omnipresence and universal activity bear witness to the justice and, the beauty of the designation applied to him Spirit of life.
II THE LIVING SPIRIT IS ALSO THE LIFE-IMPARTING SPIRIT. In the Nicene Creed, which has been in use in Christian Churches for fifteen hundred years, the Holy Ghost is termed "the Lord and Giver of life." Not only is life in him; it is from him. Wherever we observe the signs of spiritual life, we are justified in attributing them to the Divine influences. That life from the dead should result from the outpouring of the Spirit appears to have been constantly taught by the Hebrew prophets: "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring: and they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses;" and again, "The Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high. and the wilderness shall be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest." And when our Lord Jesus taught the great truths of his kingdom, he expressly referred to this same Divine agency the new life which was to be distinctive of his subjects. Using figurative language, drawn from the history of the bodily life, he said to Nicodemus, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God;" "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Examples of spiritual death are too common all around. A person may have abundance of life and health and strength of body, he may even be alive intellectually; yet he may be as dead in the sight of God. If there be in him no interest in the Divine presence, no reverence for the Divine Law, no submission to the Divine Word, no devotion to the Divine service, no faith in the Divine promises, the man is dead "dead in trespasses and sins;" there is "no life in him." A most striking picture of the condition of dead souls is given by the prophet who records the vision of the valley of dry bones: "There was no life in them." On the other hand, what is meant by spiritual life? A truly living Christian is alive to the presence and favour of God, is under the constraint of the love of Christ, delights in the Divine Word, and treasures up its precepts and its promises, is obedient to the commands of Jesus the Lord, and is devoted, gratefully and joyfully, to his service and glory. The things of earth, which are everything to the worldly, have comparatively little interest for such, except as they are connected with Christ"s kingdom. They "have purified their souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit." That a great change has passed over those who were spiritually dead, but are now "alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord," cannot be questioned. No change in condition, from beggary to opulence, from a dunghill to a throne, can for a moment be compared with this change. This is indeed "the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;" the "new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." No explanation of this change is reasonable and sufficient which does not refer it to the Spirit of God. To those spiritually awakened, brought to newness of life, the words of the apostle may be addressed: "Ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." If we can say, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren," we shall certainly be found forward to acknowledge, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." It is by the grace and energy of the Holy Spirit that human souls are born anew, are born from above. That this scriptural teaching is most reasonable seems as plain as can be. If we believe in the existence of human spirits, we must acknowledge their influence over our nature and character. The uprightness and magnanimity of a father, the tenderness and unselfishness of a mother, the ennobling and inspiring influence of a true friend, have all "told" upon us, and helped to make us what we are that is good. Is it credible that we owe so much to human spirits, and yet owe nothing to him who is "the Father of the spirits of all flesh in whom is all moral excellence, and whose benevolence is equal to his holiness? Do we behold his handywork in the vaulted heavens and the verdant earth; and shall we not recognize his mighty working in the spiritual realm, and admire his grace and love in all that is pure in human character, true in human speech, and beautiful in human life? If it is the Spirit of God that "renews the face of the earth," that turns the winter into spring, calling forth life and beauty, fragrance and song, where sterility and death have reigned; surely it is not enthusiasm to attribute to "the Spirit of life" the transformation of the human soul, the enkindling of the spiritual vitality and energy, that mark the new creation! The Spirit of life does not act independently of means. The human soul is affected by power, in accordance with its own laws. In order to live unto God, a soul must have some knowledge of God and of God"s purposes, must be awakened to a sense of sin and. need, must understand and accept the gospel of Divine grace, must receive in faith the promises of pardon, of help, of guidance, of salvation. Now, the Holy Spirit of God acts in connection with these means; for he is the Spirit of truth, as well as of power. He takes of the things of Christ, and reveals them unto us. This is why we are especially encouraged to seek the influences of the Holy Spirit when we are using the means which Divine wisdom has appointed for the conversion of sinners. The Spirit works with the Word, brings the gospel home with power to the heart of the hearer, at once gives energy to the truth itself and to the appeal of the heavenly message, and enlightenment and quickening grace to the nature of the hearer. The Word, alone, is lifeless; the soul, alone, is dead; but the Spirit imparts efficacy to the Word, and, so, vitality to the soul. Thus God accompanies the Word "with the demonstration of the Spirit and with power." There is a shaking among the dry bones; the Spirit is breathed into them, and they live, they stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army. What encouragement this doctrine should give to all who are labouring for the salvation of souls! They may be very ignorant and very weak, for they are but human. But the work is to be effected, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. We do but comply with the directions of him who alike reveals the truth and imparts the Spirit. Yes, we may be assured that he will honour his own agency, that he will not forsake his own servants, that he will prosper his own work, and so glorify his own Name, and hasten his own kingdom.
III IT IS THE OFFICE OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE, NOT ONLY TO AWAKEN, BUT TO SUSTAIN LIFE. Life is not a thing which is perfected at once. The blossom of the spring is fair and fragrant; yet months must pass, and all seasonable influences must have play, before the luscious fruit shall be found, where the bloom of promise cheered the eye and roused the hope. The child, in his helplessness and speechlessness, must be nurtured and taught through long years before the infantile nature shall develop into that of the philosopher or the statesman. Life is a thing of progress, a thing of growth; has its own divinely appointed order and processes and laws. So is it with the spiritual life. It is no dishonour to the Divine Spirit that the work of renewal is not an instantaneous and perfect work, leaving nothing further to be done. The new birth is, as a birth, complete; but it is only the commencement of a new life. To be "born again" is to begin to live anew, with higher principles and purer motives and nobler aims. Here, upon earth, the path of the Christian is one of progress; he is introduced to the right way in order that he may follow it that he may make progress therein, year by year, and day by day. It is not the will, the plan, of God that there should be either pause or (far less) retrogression. Two things are needful first, growth, always; and secondly, revival, sometimes. It were to be wished. that young Christians were more conscious of the requirement of growth in the Divine life. To be brought into a right relation with God is the first step in the spiritual life; but it remains to learn God"s truth, to do God"s will, to serve Christ"s people, and to promote Christ"s cause. It will take the whole of life to fulfil the "high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Character and usefulness, these, to use ordinary language, are the great ends of life. They who fail here fail altogether. Coming to religious services, reading the Bible, prayer, fellowship, these are means to an end; and that end is that men may be more like Christ. Aspire to this; be not satisfied unless you are making progress in this direction; let the fruit be seen, which is the effect and the evidence of life. It is by the Spirit of life that this result is to be effected by the Spirit of life working in the heart, and changing the character into the likeness of the Lord, and assisting to conquer sin, to resist Satan, to acquire a character congenial and akin to Christ"s. This is the Holy Spirit"s choicest, holiest work; to foster and promote the spiritual life, that it may be growingly vigorous and fruitful, to the praise and glory of the ever-living God. And it is the office of the same Spirit to revive the life that is feeble and sluggish. If, by negligence and sloth, the Christian has become cold to spiritual realities, and is not living in constant communion with the Unseen, there is but one power that can reanimate the slumbering soul, that can again enkindle the dying flame of devotion, that can save from selfishness and worldliness, that can make a man truly live unto God. Revival presumes that life is already in existence, but is, as it were, in abeyance or in a dormant state. In the use of divinely appointed means this condition may be escaped, this mischief may be remedied; but the power that alone can accomplish this good work is the power of the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Spirit that awakens first to the sense of deadness, so to speak, and then leads to the employment of those means by which the soul can be reanimated and refreshed. A little reflection will show that only the same Spirit can perfect life in immortality. The life which is awakened by this Divine agency is a life which knows no death. The change which passes upon the body at its dissolution does not affect the spiritual life; for this, begun in time, is perfected in eternity. "The Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies." In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus we have the pledge and earnest of a blessed immortality. "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith;" "Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the Earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory;" "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law of the Spirit of life in…
Rom_8:2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
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Law cancelling law
1. Few words are oftener on our lips than the word law. But we are in danger of using the word as though laws were impersonal forces, independently of a controlling mind.
2. But a law is not a force. It is only the invariable manner in which forces work. Better still, it is the unvarying method in which God is ever carrying out His infinite plans. How wise and good it is that God generally works in this way, so that we are able to calculate with unvarying certainty on natural processes.
3. And when He wills some definite end He does not abrogate the laws that stand in His way, but cancels their action by laws from higher spheres which counterwork them, e.g., The flight of birds is due to very different causes from a balloons. Balloons float because they are lighter, but birds are heavier. The law of the elasticity of the air sets the bird free from the law of gravitation that would drag it to the ground. In the autumn fields the children, in gathering mushrooms, unwittingly eat some poisonous fungus which threatens them with death. Some antidote is given, which, acting as the law of life, counterworks the poison, and sets the children free from the law of death, which had already commenced to work in their members. So the law of the spirit of life in spring sets the flowers free frown the law of death of winter. And the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, set Lazarus free from the law of sin and death which imprisoned him in the tomb. And, similarly, the law of life communicated through the Holy Spirit will set us free from the law of sin and death which reigns in our hearts.
I. There is in each one of us the law of sin and death.
1. This evil tendency is derived from our connection with the human family. Races and children alike are affected by the sins and virtues of their ancestors. In every man there is a bias towards evil, just as in the young tiger there is predisposition to feed on flesh, and in the duckling to swim.
2. That tendency survives conversion. The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. Its strivings may be suppressed; but it is still there, only waiting till His repressive influences are withdrawn to spring up in all its pristine vigour. Conversion is the insertion of a new principle of life, side by side with the old principle of death. Consecration is simply the act by which we put the culture of our spirit into the blessed hands of Jesus. There is nothing, therefore, in either of these acts to necessitate the crushing out of any principle of the old nature.
II. God does not mean us to be enslaved by sin. What a contrast between Rom_7:23-24, and the joyous outburst of this text! The one is the sigh of a captive, this the song of a freed bond slave.
1. Captivity: you have its symbol in the imprisoned lion, or royal eagle; you have it in the disease which holds the sufferer down in rheumatism or paralysis. But there are forms of spiritual captivity equally masterful. Selfishness, jealousy, envy, and ill will, sensual indulgence, the love of money.
2. But it is not Gods will that we should spend our days thus. We were born to be free; not, however, to do as we choose, but to obey the laws of our true being. When we free an eagle we never suppose that he will be able to dive for fish as a gull, or to feed on fruits as a hummingbird. But henceforth it will be able to obey the laws of its own glorious nature.
III. We become free by the operation of the law of the Spirit of life. The law of sin and death is cancelled by the law of the Spirit of life. Life is stronger than death; holiness than sin; the Spirit than man. The mode of the Holy Spirits work is thus--
1. He reveals to us that in the intention of God we are free. So long as you consider captivity your normal state and expect nothing better there is little hope of deliverance.
2. He makes us very sensitive to the presence of sin.
3. He works mightily against the power of evil.
4. He enables us to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin (chap. 6:11). This is the God-given way of overcoming the suggestions of sin. When sin approaches us we have to answer: He whom thou seekest is dead, he cannot heed or respond.
Conclusion:
1. Walk in the Spirit; live in the Spirit; yield to the Spirit. Do not be content to have merely His presence, without which you could not be a Christian, but seek His fulness. Let Him have His way with you. And in proportion as the law of the Spirit becomes stronger, that of the flesh will grow weaker, until as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity, you will now yield them to righteousness unto holiness.
2. And as you find the Spirit of life working within you you may be sure that you are in Jesus Christ, for He only is the element in whom the blessed Spirit can put forth His energy. He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The law of sin
I. The law of sin.
1. The word law taken properly is the edict of a person in authority, wherein he orders something to be done, backing his or their commands with promises of rewards, as also their prohibitions with threatenings of punishment. In this sense there is a law of sin. For--
(1) A law is a commanding thing: it lays its imperative injunctions upon men and expects their obedience (Rom_7:1). Now, in this respect sin is a law; therefore you read of the reigning of sin, of obeying sin, of the dominion of sin (Rom_6:12; Rom_6:14). The subject is not more under the law of his Sovereign, nor the servant of his master, than the sinner is under the laws of sin. As there is this domination on sins part so there is subjection on the sinners part; no sooner doth it command, but it is presently obeyed (Mat_8:9). And where it commands and is obeyed there it condemns, which distinguishes it from all other laws. It rules of itself properly, but it condemns as it lays the foundation of condemnation by another--the law of God. And this speaks the inexpressible misery of the unregenerate.
(2) A law is backed with rewards and punishments for the furtherance of mens obedience. Answerably now to this, sin will be pretending to rewards and punishments, which, though in themselves they are but sorry things, yet they have a great power. For instance, sinner, saith sin, do but obey me, and pleasure, honour, profit, shall be thine. But if these enticing arguments will not do, sin then threatens derision, poverty, persecution, and what not. But note--That sin considered as simply commanding is not a law, but it then becomes formally and completely a law when the sinner obeys; so then he owns the power of it. The laws of usurpers, merely as imposed by them, are no laws, because not made by persons in lawful authority; but if a people freely own these usurpers and willingly put themselves under subjection to them, then, to them their laws become valid and obligatory.
2. The word law is taken improperly for anything that hath an impelling virtue in it. It hath the force of a law, and doth that which a true law uses to do. And, therefore, when sin is the principle which efficaciously excites a person to those things which are suitable to its own nature, there sin may be called a law.
II. Its mode of operation.
1. Sin exerts its powers in its vehement urging to what is evil. Sin in the habit is altogether for sin in the act; indwelling sin is wholly for dwelling in sin. Though there was no devil to tempt the graceless sinner, yet that law of sin which is in himself would be enough to make him sin. Corrupt nature is continually soliciting and exciting the unsanctified man to what is evil; it will not let him alone day or night unless he gratify it. What an instance was Ahab of this. Sin put him upon the coveting of Naboths vineyard, and this it did with such violence that he would eat no bread because he could not have his will (1Ki_21:5; see Pro_4:16).
2. This law of sin shows itself in its opposing and hindering of what is good. It is a law which always runs counter to Gods law. Doth that call for such and such duties? Are there some convictions upon the sinners conscience about them? Doth he begin a little to incline to what is good? How doth sin now bestir itself to make head in the soul against these convictions and good inclinations!
III. Its miserable bondage. Such being under the law of sin, it follows that they are under bondage the very worst imaginable. We pity those who live under tyrants. But, alas! what is that if compared with this. The state of nature is quite another thing than what men imagine it to be; they think there is nothing but freedom in it, but God knows it is quite otherwise (2Pe_2:19). To better convince you of the evil and misery of this bondage, and excite to the most vigorous endeavours to get out of it, note--
1. That bondage to sin is always accompanied with bondage of Satan. The devils reign depends upon the reign of sin; he rules in the children of disobedience, and takes men captives at his will. Shall a damned creature be thy sovereign--he who will be thy tormentor hereafter?
2. What sin is.
(1) Look upon sin in itself. It is the vilest thing that is: the only thing which God never made. It is the only thing that God cannot do.
(2) Look upon sin in the management of its power. Usurpers often make good laws; and indeed they had need use their power well who get it ill. The philosopher tells us that the intention of the legislator is to make his subjects good; but sins intention is only to make its subjects bad. Then, this sin is not only out of measure sinful in the exercise of its power, but it is also out of measure tyrannical. All the Neros, Caligulas, Domitians, etc., that ever lived were nothing to it. This first acted the part of a tyrant in them before they acted the part of tyrants over others. The tyranny of sin appears in many things. Its commands are--
(a) Innumerable.
(b) Contrary. Lust clashes with lust (Tit_3:3).
(c) Rigorous. It must have full obedience or none at all (Eph_2:3).
(d) Never at an end.
(e) So imperious and cruel that its vassals must stick at nothing.
3. That it is a soul bondage. The bondage of Israel in Egypt was very evil, yet not comparable to this, because that was but corporal and external, but this is spiritual and internal. There may be a servile condition without and yet a free and generous soul within; but if the soul itself be under servitude then the whole man is in servitude.
4. That of all bondage this is the most unprofitable. As to ether bondage the master may be cruel enough, but then he makes some amends by giving good wages; but the sinner serves that master which pays him no wages at all--death excepted (Rom_6:21).
5. That the worst of this bondage is that they who lie under it are altogether insensible of it. Where it is external and civil bondage men groan under it, would fain be rid of it (Exo_2:23). But the poor deluded sinner, like some distracted persons, plays with his chains.
6. That it is the most hurtful and most dangerous bondage: for it makes way for and most certainly ends in eternal death. Death puts an end to other bondage (Job_3:18-19); but the worst of spiritual bondage follows after death. You have in the text the law of sin and the law of death coupled together (see also Rom_6:16; Rom_6:21; Rom_6:23). (T. Jacomb, D. D.)
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ
1. Men of the world think that the gospel has to do only, or chiefly, with death, and that its atmosphere is generally repressive. But the fact is the reverse. The gospel gives life for death, joy for sorrow; a conquering power of soul to meet the disability of the flesh; an abounding sphere beyond this world.
2. Every life force is mysterious. We cannot explain the forces of nature. Nor can we explain the mystery of this unique transformation, but we may study its effects and ask ourselves if they are realised in us. Contemplate the change wrought--
I. In human activities. I will not select one whose life has been abandoned, but who is no stranger to religion, and who has led an outwardly correct life under the guidance of self-respect, and with regard to the good opinion of others. When renewed by the Spirit of God and freed from the law of sin and death he comes under the control of new influences. The love of Christ constrains, not prudence or sagacity. The charm of the Scriptures and of the sanctuary is something never known before. Resistance to sin is not, as before, a feeble, prudential avoidance, but a vehement hate. Love for holiness is ardent, and Christian work not a burden, but a joy.
II. On ones mental convictions. I would not refer to the scoffer, but rather to one who regards himself orthodox. He accepts Christianity as the most rational interpretation of nature. He accepts also the historic Christ, and redemption as well. But when such a person is born again, and sees God as his own Father, and the Saviour as his own Redeemer; when he sees the atonement, not as a philosophic scheme, but as a transcendent fact, involving greater resources than those of creation, a patience and love that shrunk not from the Cross, then a flood of light bursts on epistle, gospel and apocalypse, and a glory in the future rises on his view which is unspeakable. This intellectual elevation comes not from a study of the catechism, from a course of eloquent sermons, or from mere reflection upon the Word of inspiration, but as the result of that transforming power called the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
III. On the temper of his heart. The ordinary attitude of a thoughtful mind toward the realities of religion is one of wonder and admiration. Yet all this sentimentality is inert and inoperative. There is no personal affection for the Saviour. Sometimes the character of an acquaintance is dim and commonplace, until some critical exigency arises which gives beauty and worth to that character. Then a personal and passionate attachment is roused. So with the waking of the new life in the soul, Christ appears in new and alluring loveliness. He seems no more afar off, but near at hand, in closest fellowship day by day. With such a Saviour, daily duties are delights however humble. The temper of heart is changed toward Christs followers as well. The Christian loves his brethren for the Masters sake. His love is not founded on social or intellectual considerations, but grows out of spiritual unity and kinship, because of likeness to Christ. This change of temper and taste is the result of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus alone.
IV. In the expectations of the future. All men, pagan as well as Christian, look forward to a future existence. Unconverted men hope to be Christians before they die, but their ideas of the future are dim. With the believer death is seen to be but a transitional step, the mere portal to the shrine. While the worlds law is death in life, the gospels law is life in death. So the gospel fronts the world. Which is the better? Conclusion: Learn--
1. That it is in this gospel that life asserts its freedom. All departments of thought and effort, religious and secular, are alike ennobled and quickened.
2. This is a life which tends to consummation and perfection. The snow-bound field lies bare beneath the fetters of frost. It seems dead and barren, but with the melting warmth of spring there comes a verdure in place of ice and snow. All things are changed. So when this spiritual life force is allowed to exert its renewing and transforming energy on the soul of man, life is perfected and crowned. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)
The Christian liberty achieved; or, the law of the Spirit of life making free from the law of sin and death
The therefore now does not introduce an inference from the immediately preceding argument--which could not warrant it--but one grounded on the previously affirmed effectiveness of the gospel to accomplish that for believers which the law never could. The justifying ground of this discharge from condemnation was set forth in Rom_3:21-26. The principle upon which it proceeds was illustrated in Rom_5:12-21. The persons to whom it is extended, and the new life of which they become the participators was specified in Rom_6:1-11. The reason for the impotence of the law was stated in Rom_6:14, and this impotence had supplied the theme for illustration in Rom_7:6-25, and the power of the gospel which had been distinctly stated in Rom_7:6, with an eye to which the apostle had penned (Rom_7:25). Note--
I. The law of sin and death from the power of which believers obtain deliverance in Christ. It will be observed that the apostle does not speak of two laws, but of the one. Not that the two things are one, but that the one law pervades them both, and binds them together (Rom_5:12-21; Eze_18:4; Jam_1:15; Eph_2:1-5; Eph_4:17-19). This one law renders it impossible that the sinner can of himself regain the possession of innocence and peace, and evermore impels him onwards and downwards in the fearful descending circle of transgression and punishment. Man in the very act of sinning dies; or, being already dead, plunges into a still deeper death (Heb_9:14).
II. The sphere within which liberation has been provided--In Christ.
1. In Christ the double necessity of mans case has been provided for; the two-fold difficulty has been solved; the one by the death of the Son of God, the other by His life (Rom_4:25; cf. Rom_5:18; cf. Rom_5:21).
2. The actual liberation is conferred on men only as they become united to Christ. It is indeed true that there has come a dispensation of grace and renewed probation to all men; but the actual discharge from condemnation, and the liberty from the law of sin and death, do not come to any but to those who are found in Christ by faith (cf. Eph_1:1-23)
.
III. For all those who are in Christ the liberation is actually accomplished.
1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ: He was condemned on their account, and they were condemned in Him. He died for their sins, and they died in Him (Rom_6:7-8).
2. The liberation from sin is secured to believers in the active life; for the law of the Spirit of life, etc.
(1) The law of sin is a law of death; and the law of the Spirit is a law of life. Sin deals death, and thereby perpetuates both itself and its punishment; but the Spirit inspires life, and thereby liberates both from sin and death, and insures everlasting victory and blessedness.
(2) But how does the law of this new life in Christ exert within us its liberating power? Does it seize upon us from without, as the Spirit of inspiration seized upon the prophets? Or does it come upon us as a new constituent element of being? Or is it not the law of a new life which is infused into our spirit by the Spirit of God?
(3) The new law acts upon the conscience through the medium of the light and truth of the gospel (Joh_17:3; 2Co_4:6; 1Pe_1:23). This living and abiding Word supplies--
(a) That precious knowledge of the redemption in Christ which provides peace for the guilty conscience.
(b) That knowledge of the royal and perfect law of liberty which is a sure and sufficient guide for conscience in the practical life.
(c) That knowledge of God, as a God of love, as our God and Father in Christ, which imparts joyous courage and prevailing power to conscience. Conclusion:
1. Secure this glorious liberty.
(1) Ponder well the terrible power of this law, and the dreadful consequences of remaining beneath its dominion.
(2) There is now in Christ a perfect liberty from this law available for all who will accept it. Lay hold, by faith, of the hope now set before you in the gospel of Christ.
2. Having secured this inestimable liberty see that you hold it fast. (W. Tyson.)
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ
I. The law of the Spirit signifies the power of the Holy Spirit, by which He unites the soul to Christ, in whose righteousness it therefore partakes, and is consequently justified. This law is the gospel, whereof the Holy Ghost is the Author, being the authoritative rule and the instrument by which He acts in the plan of salvation. It is the medium through which He promulgates the Divine testimony; by which also He convinces of sin and testifies of the almighty Saviour. The gospel may be properly denominated a law, because it bears the stamp of Divine authority, to which we are bound to submit (Rom_10:3). It requires the obedience of faith (Rom_1:5; Rom_16:26); and when men refuse this submission, it is said that they have not obeyed the gospel (Rom_10:16). Although, therefore, the gospel is proclaimed as a grace, it is a grace accompanied with authority, which God commands to be received. Accordingly, it is expressly called a law (Isa_2:3; Mic_4:2); and in Psa_110:2, referring to the power exerted by its means, it is said, The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies--namely, by thine almighty power. The gospel, then, is the law of the Spirit by which He rules, and the rod of His strength, by which He effects our salvation, just as, in Rom_1:16, it is denominated the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is itself called the Spirit, as being administered by the Holy Spirit (2Co_3:8).
II. The gospel is the law of the Spirit of life, the ministration of which giveth life, in opposition to the letter or old covenant that killeth (2Co_3:6; cf. Joh_6:63; Eze_37:14; 1Co_15:45). Christ is the life itself, and the source of life to all creatures. But here the life is that which we receive through the gospel, as the law or power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which the apostle calls the life of God (Eph_4:18).
III. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is set before us in two aspects. As God, the Spirit of life resides essentially in Him; but as Mediator, the Spirit of life has been given to Him to be communicated to all who are one with Him. On this account the Spirit was not given in His fulness (Joh_7:39) till Jesus Christ as Mediator had entered into heaven, when the Father, solemnly receiving His satisfaction, gave this testimony of His acceptance, in pouring out the abundance of the Spirit on His people (Joh_16:7; Eph_1:3). That the Spirit of life is in Jesus Christ, not only as God, but also as Mediator, is a ground of unspeakable consolation. It might be in Him as God, without being communicated to men; but as the Head of His people, it must be diffused through them as His members, who are thus complete in Him. Dost thou feel in thyself the sentence of death? Listen, then This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. I am come that they might have life. Because I live ye shall live also. This life, then, is in Jesus Christ, and is communicated to believers by the Holy Spirit, by whom they are united to Christ, and from whom it is derived to all who through the law of the Spirit of life are in Him. (R. Haldane.)
Law of the Spirit of life
The law in the text, whether that of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or that of sin and death, is a constraining influence--a moral force, an active power--an agency that acts mightily on the soul. And it is plain from the statements made regarding them, that these laws respectively are paramount at the time; they govern the whole being, either one or the other sits upon the inner throne of a man and governs him. It is a matter of life and death--of happiness or of misery, of freedom or of slavery, of everlasting weal or eternal woe.
I. The inquiry relates to the law of sin and death. This must be an influence or force which is evil, which is the parent of sin, driving us along in the path of transgression, and which is not only of the nature of spiritual death, but which also issues in eternal death.
1. In order that we may ascertain its nature, let some thought be given to the process by which it is first established in the human soul.
2. As a mighty force this law is seen in those ruling passions of mankind which discard the authority of God. What is supreme love of money but self-gratification at the expense of ones allegiance to the Most High.
3. We further discover the might of this law of sin and death in the sins of man against his fellow man. When one overreaches another in trade, does he not gratify his desire for gain at the expense of another?
II. Some general characteristics of this law.
1. It is often subtle in its actings.
2. It is a law of death as well as of sin.
3. It is slavery. This law of sin and death befools and degrades, and it is an unmitigated despotism. Woe to the soul under its unrestrained power!
4. It has had control universally.
III. We have to ask concerning the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
1. It is a Divine implantation. The Spirit of life is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, who is the Author of spiritual life in the soul. When He cometh, He shall convince the world of sin. Until He speaks inwardly, the mind seems unaware of the presence and power of the law of sin and death. It is also His gracious office to attract the soul to a vital union with Christ. Under the blessed light which He kindles around and within the heart, the redemption of Christ appears in its true aspect as most full, glorious, and adapted to save.
2. As the other is a law of Sin and death, this is one of obedience and life. Self-love now seeks its gratification in pleasing God and doing His will.
3. Observe throughout that it is in Christ Jesus. To those who receive Him, He gives the privilege to become the sons of God. The Cross of Christ slays the enmity of the heart.
IV. This law sets free from the other. If it be established as the governing principle the other cannot be. They are in their own nature opposites. Self-love is gratified in the one case, in opposition to the claims of God and the well-being of others; in the other, by obedience and devotion to the supreme law of our being, love to God and man. Conclusion:
1. The adaptation of the religion of Christ to man.
2. We discover where true freedom and true happiness are found.
3. What we all need, and what the world needs, is to be delivered from the law of sin and death by the working in us of this ennobling force. What a glorious object of pursuit! How well worth all self-sacrifice! (H. Wilkes, D. D.)
Believers are freed through the law of the Spirit of life
I. The deliverance obtained--
1. By nature we are all (chaps. 6, 7) in spiritual bondage. We are sold under sin, and so necessarily are under death (Rom_5:12). The law of sin and the law of death are one and the same principle disclosing itself in different manifestations and degrees. Poisonous fruit is sap worked up, legitimately developed.
2. This evil principle drives man from God.
(1) As it is darkness (1Jn_1:5-7; 1Jn_2:9), it drives him from the fountain of soul light.
(2) As it is death, from the fountain of life (Act_17:28).
3. From this evil principle believers are made free. Not from death, though its sting is taken away; nor even from sin perfectly. But over against death faith sees the resurrection placed, and over against sin the unblemished perfection of the redeemed.
II. The agency whereby this deliverance is accomplished. Law counteracting law.
1. The term law may mean--
(1) A certain code like the Decalogue and the laws of nations.
(2) A principle operating with all the regularity and fixedness of statute--in which sense laws of thought, gravitation, refraction, are laws.
2. The latter is the signification here.
(1) The law of the Spirit this new victorious law is called. It is contrary to whatever is of the flesh. In its origin, nature, mode of working, it is Divine. From God it comes. For God it moves. To God it leads.
(2) It is the law of the Spirit of life. As the same Spirit is named the Spirit of wisdom, counsel, etc. (Isa_11:2), of holiness (Rom_1:4), of truth (Joh_14:17; Joh_15:26), because He makes wise, holy, leads into all truth, so He is here named the Spirit of life, as He leads into life, and works life. Of all soul life He is the Author, Promoter, Regulator, Perfecter (Joh_6:63; 1Pe_3:18). This law of the Spirit of life as the stronger man casts out the strong (Luk_11:22). Water poured into a vessel expels the air.
III. The sphere within which this agency is so efficiently operative. Like laws of nature, it works within certain limits. Iron, not glass, will conduct electricity. Dews, droughts, hurricanes are conditioned by varied zones of atmospheric circumstances; so outside the region of being in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life does not effect its hallowing results upon our souls. Within that radius, however, its might is sovereign. It frees believers. Conclusion: Note--
1. The urgent importance of ascertaining which of these laws is supreme in our soul. If not conscious of resistance to the law of sin, we are under its sway. We may even be troubled about the commission of certain sins, and give heed to certain duties, and yet be in utter servitude to it (Eze_33:31).
2. The great need of asking the promised Spirit (Mat_7:11 : Luk_10:13). Regeneration, sanctification only obtainable through His power.
3. The duty of consciously living in this freedom, not confusing liberty with license (Luk_1:74-75). Carefulness against presumption and despondency alike is indispensable (Eph_6:11-13).
4. The strong consolation of knowing that ultimate perfection can be calculated upon with all the certainty of a result of law. Given the reign of the law of the Spirit of life in a soul, then amid and in spite of all conflicts the beauty of the renewed life will be patent and increase (Psa_138:8; Heb_12:23; Heb_13:21). (J. Gage, B. D.)
The law of the Spirit frees from the law of sin
Note--
1. The Spirit frees from the law of sin. In reference to this you may consider Him either essentially as He is God, or personally. As it is the Sons proper act to free from the guilt, so it is the Spirits proper act to free from the power of sin, it belonging to the Son to do all without and to the Spirit to do all within. That which God once said in reference to the building of the temple--Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit--is applicable here.
2. This is done by the Spirit of life. This refers either to the Spirit as He is a living Spirit, or refers to the time when the Spirit quickens and thus regenerates, or to the method of regeneration itself. The Spirit who renews, when He renews, by renewing, brings sin under.
3. It is the law of the Spirit by which this is done. Here is law against law, the power and efficacy of the Spirit against the power and efficacy of sin (Eph_3:20). The law of sin has a moral and a physical power; and so with the Spirit. He hath His moral power, as He doth persuade, command, etc.; and He hath His physical power, as He doth strongly, efficaciously incline and impel the sinner to such and such gracious acts; yea, as He doth effectually change his heart, make him a new creature, dispossess sin of its regency, and bring him under the government of Christ. And herein the law of the Spirit is above the law of sin. Set corrupt nature never so high, yet it is but a finite thing, and so hath but a finite power; but the Spirit is an infinite being, and puts forth an infinite power. For the better opening of the truth in hand, note--
I. The necessity, sufficiency, efficacy of the power of the Spirit in freeing men from the power of sin.
1. The necessity of the power of the Spirit. Omnipotency itself is requisite thereunto; that is the strong man which keeps the palace till Christ, through the Spirit (which is stronger than it), comes upon it and overcomes it. The power of nature can never conquer the power of sin, for natures greatest strength is on sins side. That the power of the Spirit is thus necessary if you consider that--
(1) Sin is in possession.
(2) It hath been so a long time.
(3) Its dominion is entire; it hath all on its side.
When there is a party within a kingdom ready to fall in with the foreign force that comes to depose the tyrant, he may with more facility be vanquished; but if all the people unanimously stick to him, then the conquest is the more difficult. Christ said, The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me; so the poor sinner may say, The sin-subduing Spirit comes, but He finds nothing in me to close with Him.
(4) The natural man likes the power of sin.
(5) Sin is very resolute for and in the maintaining of what it hath; it will fight it out to the last, and die rather than yield.
(6) Satan sets in with it, and upon all occasions gives it all the help he can, as allies do.
2. Its sufficiency. As Christ is able to save to the utmost from sins guilt, so the Spirit also is able to save to the utmost from sins power. God once said to Paul, My grace is sufficient for thee (2Co_12:9). Now, as that grace is sufficient to bear up under the heaviest afflictions, so this grace is sufficient to bring down the strongest corruptions. Who is sufficient for these things? Why He, and none but He, who hath infinite power.
3. Its efficacy.
(1) He doth not only in a moral way advise, counsel, persuade the sinner to cast off sins bondage, but puts forth an insuperable strength upon him, and so goes through with the work.
(2) When He comes about this or any other saving act, He doth not leave the sinners will in suspense, but, in a way congruous to its liberty, He overcomes and determines it for God against sin, so as that it shall neither hesitate nor make any resistance to His grace.
II. In what ways the Holy Spirit doth exert his power.
1. He effectually works upon the understanding, that being the leading faculty.
(1) Whereas He finds it under darkness, He acts as a Spirit of illumination, filling the soul with saving knowledge. It required Omnipotency to say, Let there be light; no less a power is requisite to the saving enlightening of the sinner (Eph_5:8). But this being done, sin is broken in its power by it; for ignorance is one of its royal forts.
(2) Whereas it lies under sad mistakes, therefore the Spirit doth rectify it and makes it to judge aright.
(3) Whereas it is full of high and proud thoughts, of strange imaginations and reasonings, He casts them down (2Co_10:5).
2. He then proceeds to the will.
(1) Of all the faculties, sin contends most for the will, which, when it hath once gained, it will not easily part with. And so, too, the Spirit contends most for the will. He puts forth the greatest efficacy of His grace for the setting of that right and straight for God, that it may choose and cleave to His holy commands in opposition to the laws and commands of sin.
(2) Yet though He acts thus efficaciously, He doth not at all violate its liberty, but exerts all this power in such a way as agrees with that liberty (Psa_110:3; Son_1:4). He removes that averseness, obstinateness, reluctancy, that is in it against what is holy and spiritual.
3. In acting on the affections, He disengages them from sin, and sets them directly against it, and so freeing the sinner from the love of sin.
Application:
1. Let such who desire this mercy betake themselves to the Spirit for it.
(1) See that you pray in faith, believing in the sufficiency of His power.
(2) Let all other means be joined with prayer. They are but means, and therefore not to be relied upon; yet they are means, and therefore not to be neglected.
2. Let such who are made free from this law of sin own the Spirit of life as the author of their freedom, and ascribe the glory of it to Him.
3. Greatly to love and honour the Spirit.
4. As you have found the law of the Spirit in your first conversion, so you should live under the law of the Spirit in your whole conversation.
5. Set law against law--the law of the Spirit against the law of sin. (T. Jacomb, D. D.)
The believers freedom from the law of sin
I. The leading terms of the text.
1. By the Spirit of life we are here to understand the Holy Ghost. Men are spiritually dead; the animal and intellectual life remains; but the spiritual life--the life which connects man with, and qualifies him for the enjoyment of God--was extinguished by the fall, and can only be restored by the Spirit of life. And hence we are said to be born again of the Spirit. And as it is His office to restore spiritual life, so He maintains it. All good comes from Him and depends on Him.
2. He is called the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Because--
(1) We are indebted to Christ for the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is owing to Christs meritorious sacrifice that we are enabled and entitled to receive the Spirit.
(2) It is the office of Christ to dispense the Spirit. From His fulness it is that we are to receive grace upon grace.
II. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. By this we are to understand the gospel, applied by the Spirits power to the hearts of men. The gospel is often called a law--The perfect law of liberty; The isles shall wait for His law; The law of Messiah shall go forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. What law ever went forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth but the gospel?
1. A law is an enactment or command issuing from supreme authority, fully published and made known, and enforced by sanctions of reward to the obedient, or of punishment against the disobedient. This constitutes, when it is published or made known, the rule of action, the standard of character, and the ground of decision and judgment; this is law in general. The gospel answers to this general definition in every particular.
(1) It is an enactment or command. It comes with authority. It is not a statement of historical facts, an exhibition of truth, a collection of promises only; it comes to us with authority, that the facts should be credited, the truths received, the blessings included in the promises sought by us; so it may be said of us that we are Gods witnesses that the gospel is a law. Where there is no knowledge of the gospel there can be no obligation to receive it; but the moment the gospel comes to a man, from that time it becomes binding upon his conscience, and it is at his peril if he neglect or disobey it.
(2) It is enforced by sanctions; there is reward to the obedient, punishment for the disobedient.
(3) It issues from the highest authority in the universe.
(4) It is duly published and made known. Whatever may be said of the condition of those who live in the dark places of the earth, generally speaking, at least, ignorance of the gospel among ourselves is wilful, and therefore criminal.
(5) It constitutes the standard of character and the rule of decision. God will judge the secrets of all hearts, says Paul, according to my gospel.
2. But why is it called the Spirits law? Because it is the instrument by which the Spirit most efficiently operates upon the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the character of the man. By, and with it, he operates with the force and the authority of a law, overcoming and reducing and governing the mind. The power that accomplishes the great work of regeneration is the power of the Spirit; but the instrument He employs is the Word of truth.
III. The law of sin and of death.
1. By this some understand the moral law considered in its application to fallen man, as the covenant of works. This law, when given to man innocent and holy, in the possession of Divine and spiritual life, was well adapted to his case. But when man became a transgressor, then that which was ordained unto life began to operate unto death. It is the law of sin to all the unconverted, its very object being to make sin appear exceeding sinful. By the law is the knowledge of sin. Let a man apply it to his own character, and it will prove, to the conviction of his conscience, that he is a sinner; and, of course, wherever it proves sin it pronounces the sentence of death. The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
2. But others understand (and the general scope of St. Pauls argument is favourable to the opinion) the sinning principle in the nature of fallen man. Wherever this principle of unsubdued enmity to God and holiness exists in the heart, it will manifest itself in outward acts of sin. And these acts become habits, by repetition; and thus sin becomes master. There his law is a law of death. Wherever there is sin in the root, there is death in the fruit; the end of these things is death. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
IV. The law of the Spirit of life makes us free from the law of sin and death.
1. This is true of the law of sin and death, understood as the covenant of works, the broken moral law. It is in reference to this that the apostle seems to be speaking in ver.
1. Before they were in Christ, they were condemned by the law for having broken it. But no sooner did they put their souls, by penitence and faith, into the Saviours bands, than all the mass of transgressions and guilt which rested upon them was removed. And now there is no condemnation, they are made free from the condemnatory demands of the moral law, from the curse of the covenant of works.
2. But true believers are delivered from the sinning principle which contaminates our fallen nature. Sin shall have no dominion over you.
V. Practical inferences. The salvation of Christ is--
1. Of indispensable necessity. It is, in fact, the one thing needful; our souls without it die.
2. A present salvation. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free.
3. That connected with satisfactory evidence of its existence. St. Paul does not speak as if he were at all doubtful; as if it were a business of mere conjecture or probability, of inference or anticipation. He had a consciousness of his freedom.
4. A personal affair. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free. (Jabez Bunting, D. D.)
Freedom from law achieved by law
We see this principle at work in the material world. A higher law comes into play and overrides ordinary law. Thus dynamic law subjugates mechanical force, as in the steam engine; chemical law, in turn, annihilates dynamic force; and intellectual power is superior to vital law, and moral to intellectual. The lower laws take effect upon the lower natures. The mechanical law of gravitation affects stones; but let a higher law of affinity come into operation, and those stones will be transformed into other combinations, such as gases, which will be above the laws of gravitation, and will form food for plants, etc. Mechanical law, however applied, cannot convert stones into bread. Chemical law can. If you mechanically pound ice or melt it, you can get nothing but water; but chemistry transforms it into power, and gas, and food. In the text the apostle is presenting to us in the kingdom of grace what is taking place in the kingdom of nature--law conquering law--e.g., a human body subject to chemical law ferments, putrefies, decays; but the vital law holds all these in check. It is only when the higher vital law is gone that the lower law reigns. (Percy Strutt.)
The two laws
I. What is meant by law.
1. Law is an authoritative code framed by a master for the regulation of his servants. But when we speak of the laws of nature, we denote the process by which events invariably follow each other. The law which accountable creatures are hound to obey is one thing; the law, in virtue of which creatures are always found to make the same exhibition in the same circumstances, is another.
2. It is not difficult, however, to perceive how the same term came to be applied to things so distinct. For law, in the first sense of it, is not applicable to a single command which may never be repeated. True, like all the others, it is obeyed, because of that general law by which the servant is bound to fulfil the will of his master; yet it does not attain the rank of such a denomination unless the thing enjoined be habitual. Thus the order that doors shall be shut, or that none shall be missing after a particular hour, or that Sabbath shall be observed, may be characterised as the laws of the family--not the random orders of the current day. Now this common circumstance of uniformity has extended the application of the term law. Should you drop a piece of heavy matter, nothing is more certain nor more constant than its descent--just as if constrained so to do by the authority of a universal enactment on the subject, and hence the law of gravitation. Or, if light be made to fall on a polished surface, nothing more mathematically sure than the path by which it will be given back again to the eye of the beholder, and hence in optics the law of reflection. Or if a substance float upon the water, nothing more invariably accurate than that the quantity of fluid displaced is equal in weight to that of the body which is supported; and all this from a law in hydrostatics. But the difference lies just here. The one kind of law is framed by a living master for the obedience of living subjects, and may be called juridical law. The other is framed by a living master also, for it is God who worketh all in all; but obedience is rendered by the force of those natural principles wherewith the things in question operate in that one way which is agreeable to their nature. This kind of law would by philosophers be called physical law.
II. In which of these two senses shall we understand law in the text. To determine this, we shall begin with the consideration of--
1. The law of sin and death. It is quite obvious that this is not a law enacted in the way of jurisprudence. It is neither more nor less than the sinful tendency of our constitution. It is called a law because, like the laws of gravitation or electricity, it has the property of a moving force, inasmuch as it incessantly aims after the establishment of its own mastery. Death comes as regularly and as surely in the train of our captivity to sin as the fruit of any tree, or the produce of any husbandry, does by the laws of the vegetable kingdom.
2. The law of the Spirit of life just expresses the tendency and the result of an operative principle in the mind that has force enough to arrest the operation of the law of sin and death. The affection of the old man meets with a new affection to combat and to overmatch it. If the originating principle of sin be shortly described as the love of the creature, the originating principle of the spiritual life might also be briefly described as the love of the Creator. These two appetites are in a state of unceasing hostility. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.
III. The second of these laws.
1. Is called--
(1) The law of the Spirit, because referable to the Holy Ghost, by whose agency the new moral force has been made to actuate the soul and give another direction to the whole history.
(2) The law of the Spirit of life, because he in whom this law is set a-going is spiritually minded; and as to be carnally minded is death, so to be spiritually minded is life. It is like the awakening of man to a new moral existence, when he is awakened to the love of that God whom before he was glad to forget; like a resurrection from the grave when, aroused from the deep oblivion of nature, man enters into living fellowship with his God. It is only now that he has begun to live.
2. When does this visitation of the Spirit descend upon the soul? This is shown by the words In Christ Jesus. As surely as when you enter a garden of sweets one of your senses becomes awakened to the perfumes; as surely as when emerging from the darkness of a close apartment to the glories of an unclouded day another of your senses is awakened to the light and beauty, so surely when you enter within the fold of Christs mediatorship, and are united with Him, then there is an awakening of the inner man to the beauties of holiness. We refer to a law of nature, the impression of every scene, in which he is situated, on the senses of the observer; and it is also by the operation of such a law that, if in Christ, we become subject to a touch that raises us to spiritual life, and maketh us susceptible of all its joys and all its aspirations.
3. What have we to do that we may attain this condition. I know of no other instrument by which the disciple is grafted in Christ Jesus, even as the branches are in the vine, than faith. And the Holy Ghost is given to those who believe. The promise of the Spirit is unto faith. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Delivered from the law of sin
Sin and death are partners of one throne and issue one law (cf. verses 14, 21)
. To obey the one is to obey the other. In former days Paul was compelled to do the bidding of sin. But the Holy Spirit has set him free by making His own will the rule of Pauls life. Just so a conqueror, by setting up his own laws in a conquered country, makes the former laws invalid. That the country obeys the new laws is a proof of conquest. Similarly, the presence and guidance of the Spirit have made Paul free front the rule of sin. This is not a change of bondage, but freedom from all bondage. For the law of the Spirit is the will of our Maker, and therefore the law of our being. And to obey the law of our being is the only true freedom. In Christ. Pauls deliverance took place objectively in the human body of Christ (Rom_3:24); subjectively, by Pauls spiritual union with the risen Saviour (Rom_6:11). (Prof. J. A. Beet.)
Free from the law of sin and death
I. The misery of all men by nature. And that it consists of a state of bondage and captivity, which is here in this Scripture called the law of sin and death. We shall speak of the law of sin. Sin, in those which are unregenerate, does exercise a tyrannical power and authority over them, therefore it hath the denomination of a law given unto it; not that it hath anything which is good or lawful or regular in it, for it is properly the transgression of a law. But it is called a law in regard of that rule which it bears in the hearts of all those that are entangled with it. This is the condition of sin, that it carries with it the nature of a law to the subjects of it. First, in the constant actings of it; sin is like a law so. Things which are acted by law they are acted with a great deal of constancy. The ordinances of heaven and earth, the sun, moon, and stars, they keep their course by a settled decree which is upon them. Even so is it also with those who are carried by this law of sin; it is that which is usual with them, they make a constant course and practice of it as their trade and life. Secondly, it hath the motion of a law in that men are carried to it powerfully and irresistibly without opposition. So is sin to an unregenerate person; it commands him and has power over him, it rules and reigns in him. This is first of all grounded upon that curse which was laid upon man for his first rebellion. But, secondly, sin gets a great deal of power by custom, which has the force of a second nature with it, and in that regard the notion of a law. The Ethiopian may as soon change his skin, and the leopard his spots, as they may cease to do evil that are accustomed to it. Now, for the further illustration of it, we may take notice of the misery of this bondage in these following aggravations. First, in the subject of this thraldom; and that is the soul itself--the immortal soul--that part of man which had the image of God in a special manner imprinted upon it. For this to be in slavery and servitude is a very sad business indeed. We know in the way of the world how bondage is usually aggravated from the quality and condition of the person that is brought into it. Secondly, consider it also in the persons which men are in thraldom to by it, and that is to Satan and his instruments. For a man to be in bondage to a stranger it is not very desirable, but to be in bondage to an enemy or adversary is very abominable. Thirdly, there is an aggravation also in it from the nature and quality and condition of the servitude itself, in all the circumstances of it. Of all servants we count them to be in the worse case that are sold. To this we may further add the insensibleness of this their condition which is usually attendant hereupon. We count them most desperately miserable who discern not the misery which they are in, as mad men that sing in their chains. And so much may be spoken of the first branch of a natural mans captivity, as it is considerable in his thraldom to evil expressed here in the text by the law of sin. The second is as it is considerable in his obligation to punishment: and that is here also expressed by the law of death, which is added and joined to the other and goes along with it. There is a three-fold death which the Scripture makes mention of, and they are all of them the wages of sin. First, natural death, which consists in the separation of the soul from the body (chap. 5:12). Secondly, there is also a spiritual death, which consists in a deprivation of the image of God upon the soul, and the withdrawing of His favour from it. When a man is void of all grace and comfort too, he is then thus far in a state of death (Eph_2:1). Thirdly, there is eternal death also, which consists in the separation of soul and body from God forever in hell. Therefore let us accordingly look upon sin and death in this conjunction. Let us not separate or divide these things which God hath thus put together, but in all temptations to the one think of the other.
II. The second is the happy recovery and restoration of believers by grace in these words, The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free. First, here is the remedy itself which is mentioned, The law of the Spirit of life which is, etc. Where, first, of the meaning of the words. First, there are three terms here before us; there is life, and the Spirit of life, and the law of the Spirit. By life here we are to understand the grace of holiness and sanctification. By the word Spirit joined to life we are to understand either the original, because it is wrought by the Spirit, or the activity and intention of it. By the law of the Spirit we are to understand the power and efficacy of it. For law it is a word of command and hath prevalency with it. Now the point which is here observable of us is thus much, that in the human nature of Christ there is a law of the Spirit of life. There is a fulness and sufficiency of all grace and holiness in Christ considered as He was man. This the Scripture doth sufficiently intimate and confirm unto us in sundry places of it, as in Col_1:19, It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. This was requisite thus to be upon a two-fold ground and consideration especially--First, in regard of the personal union of His human nature with His Divine. Secondly, as this was requisite in regard of His personal union, so also in regard of His work of mediatorship. First, take it in the preparatory reference; and so the Spirit of life in Christ, it did fit Him and dispose Him and qualify Him for the work of the mediatorship. This we may conceive it to have done in these respects--First, in the sanctifying of the flesh of Christ in the womb of the Virgin. Secondly, it also dignified this nature and advanced it above all other creatures. Thirdly, this Spirit of life in Christ it did also fill His human nature with as much grace as it was capable of, and with all these perfections whereunto the nature of grace doth reach and extend itself. Again, further, it is also considerable in the exertions and transactions of it. Whatever Christ did as mediator, He was more particularly enabled hereunto from this Spirit of life. As first of all, it was this which quickened Him and encouraged Him in His entrance upon it. Secondly, it likewise sustained Him, and upheld Him in the very performance itself. Thirdly, in that moreover it at last revived Him and raised Him from the dead. Adam, he brought down our nature and subjected it to a great deal of disparagement by his transgression; but Christ by His purity and holiness hath set it up, and taken off that disparagement from it which was formerly upon it. Again, further, here is comfort as to the point of continuance of grace and perseverance in it. Forasmuch as that grace and holiness which we now partake of under the gospel, it is in good and safe hands. The grace which we had given us in Adam we lost, but that grace which we have now in the new covenant we have it upon better and surer terms, being such as is now rooted in Christ as the proper subject of it. This law of the Spirit of life it is in Christ Jesus. The second is the efficacy of this remedy upon St. Paul and all other believers, Hath made me free from the law of sin and death: where the remedy is as large as the disease, and the plaster as broad as the sore. Here is the law of the Spirit in opposition to the law of the flesh, and the law of life in opposition to the law of death in us. First, as to matter of justification. This holiness of Christ it frees us from the law of death and condemnation. But secondly, it holds good in point of sanctification likewise. The pure and holy nature of Christ is the spring and original of all holiness in us. And of His fulness do we all receive, and grace for grace, as the apostle tells us (Joh_1:12). The Spirit of God does not bestow grace upon us immediately, but he bestows it upon us through Christ. Let us learn from hence to bless God for Christ, and give Him the glory of His own holiness in us. (Thomas Horton.)
Spiritual emancipation
The word law may denote commandment, or the customary habit or state of any creature. In the one sense we talk of the laws of God, or the laws of kings; in the other sense we talk of the laws of nature, of matter, or of mind. It seems much better to understand the verse according to the second or subjective use of the word law, and then its reference is seen to be to the believers sanctification.
I. Mans natural state of moral, thraldom.
1. There is a principle of depravity in every human heart (Rom_3:23; Gal_3:22). The whole work of Christ, as tasting death for every man, is based upon the assumption that all the world is guilty before God; for if not, there must be some for whom Christ has not died, inasmuch as they needed no atonement. Yet where are these to be found? This principle of evil may be described according to its various modes of manifestation. It is--
(1) The love of the creature, in opposition to the love of the Creator.
(2) Self-will, or self-assertion, in opposition to the will of God and the requirements of His law.
(3) Sensualism, in contrast with that which is intellectual and spiritual.
(4) Pride and self-preference.
(5) Selfishness and self-seeking.
(6) A tendency to falsehood and guile.
2. This principle operates with the regularity of a natural law, determining all our volitions and affections. Man sins with the same certainty that an apple, loosened from the tree, drops to the ground. It is natural for the sun to rise and set, for the moon to wax and wane, for the tides to ebb and flow, for the seasons to revolve, and for the generations of men to be born and die: to do otherwise, in any of these instances, would imply a miracle or a violence done to the uniformity of nature. So likewise it is natural and inevitable that men, unrenewed by grace, should sin.
3. This law of sin is likewise a law of death. God by express enactment has appointed death as the wages of sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But in addition to that external decree, there is an internal tendency in sin to fructify in death (Jam_1:15), and to destroy the life of the soul.
II. The state of moral freedom achieved for us by the gospel.
1. There is a principle of life in them that believe. They live, by having their minds enlightened with the knowledge of God, by feeling the burden of their sins removed, and by being able to look up to God with filial confidence and trust, by having the conscience cleansed from dead works to serve the living God, by being inspired with new emotions, animated by new aims.
2. This life is imparted and sustained by the Holy Ghost. It is not self-generated, but it is given from above. He who receives it is born of the Spirit.
3. This principle of life operates with the regularity of a law. The Spirit takes up His residence in the breast of the converted man, and goes on working till every thought is brought into subjection to Christ, and the work of the believers sanctification is complete.
4. This Spirit of life is realised only by our being in Christ. (T. G. Horton.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv2–6 2. For the law of the Spirit of life.…
2. For the law of the Spirit of life. The Spirit of life must be the Holy Spirit. The whole phrase is equivalent to the Gospel, which has been given to men by the agency of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has quickened us into a new life, and as we have died to the law and to sin, we are freed from them. Wesley says that the meaning is the “Gospel has freed us from the Mosaic law.” That the law of the Spirit of life describes the Gospel is shown by verse 3, which explains verse 2.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Rom_8:3.—The flesh of Christ alone is sinless. “Created in…
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_8:3.—The flesh of Christ alone is sinless. “Created in the likeness of sinful flesh,” that He might be in all points tempted as men are.
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Rom_8:4.—Might be fulfilled, be accomplished or done in us.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_8:3-4
The method of law and the method of love.—The method of law has failed as a justifying and sanctifying force. Perhaps not failed in the divine plans; even human failure may be divine success. Law has failed “in that it was weak through the flesh.” Law could not overcome the obstructive forces of human passions, of a depraved moral nature. The method of love must now be tried; and if that fail—we may say it reverently—the divine resources are exhausted. But this method has not failed. Law cannot show one instance of success. Love can indicate many. If the method of love had triumphed in only one case, it would prove itself a success. But it can refer to multitudes. The method of love must be allowed to run the same lengthened course in human history which has been allotted to law before a verdict is pronounced; the method of love must be examined when the final roll is completed, when the vast multitude of the children of love are gathered to the home of love, and then God’s wisdom and power will be vindicated. The method of love is here exemplified and illustrated by and in:—
I. The act of sending.—“God sending His own Son”—emphasis on the words “His own.” God plucked the choice treasure from His bosom of love, and sent it forth on a strange errand; God plucked the sweetest flower from the eternal garden, and sent it forth to fill another world with its fragrance.
1. Thus the words point us to the fact of the Saviour’s pre-existence. Let us not deny the eternal existence of Christ because it is to us unknowable. Here let us rise from the known to the unknown, from a temporary to an eternal existence, and believe in that which we cannot comprehend. “In the beginning was the Word,” and this beginning is before the present system of things. It answers to that declaration in the old Testament where Wisdom, which is Christ personified, says, “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old.” Here is eternal existence declared—or at least an existence which goes far beyond our powers of understanding, for it was before God’s works of old. Jesus Christ in His divine nature was not then the work of God, for He existed before all the works of God; and if Jesus be merely human, then He existed before Himself, which is absurd. And again, according to Micah, Jesus came out of Bethlehem as to His human nature, but as to His divine nature His goings forth have been from the days of eternity, from the days of old—old to us who are of yesterday; neither old nor young to Him who is “the same yesterday and to-day and for ever.” We are of yesterday, and had no previous existence. The doctrine of the migration of souls is futile, for it does not enrich consciousness or enlarge experience. Is there no growth in this migration? Why do not the great souls of the past show themselves with increased capacities in other human beings? Jesus Christ was before His birth. And His life shows a richness and a vastness which speak of pre-existence. Here is to be noted the coincidence between the Old Testament and the New, which reveal the divine unity of the Bible as proceeding from one God; for Jesus says, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world, and go unto the Father.” The personified Wisdom of the Old Testament and the incarnated Wisdom of the New are one. Jesus Christ was with the Father before His works of old. He came from the Father, from everlasting. Jesus Christ had a glory with the Father before the world was, the incomprehensible glory of an eternal existence, of being when there was no created being. Jesus Christ states the doctrine distinctly when He says, “Before Abraham was, I am”; or in other words, Before Abraham was I was. My existence is prior to the existence of him who gave tithes to Melchizedek. In this sense it was understood by the Jews when they took up stones to stone Him, as making Himself greater and older than Abraham. In this sense it must be understood by every intelligent student; and thus by this fact Melchizedek is a type of Christ, having neither beginning of days nor end of life. Therefore we say with St. Paul, “He is before all things, and by Him all things consist”; the universe subsists, keeps together, is held together in its present state, by the omnipotence of Jesus Christ. He is before all things, and thus had a prior existence, and is therefore divine. He is before all created things, and therefore uncreated. Our Saviour is glorious in the incomprehensibility of His eternal existence. He comes forth from eternity to save and rescue the sons of time, and with the treasures of eternity would enrich humanity. He comes forth from the sabbatic repose of eternity to the toils and anguish of time.
2. The words point us to the loving harmony which subsisted between the Father and the Son. It is to be observed that our Lord does not speak much of His own love to the Father, but rather lets it speak for itself, as all true love will. This agrees with His own utterance: “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do.” And the world, looking at the Saviour’s life, at His devotion to the Father’s will, at His loving determination through all pains, agonies, and self-sacrifices to accomplish the Father’s purpose, will come to the conclusion that His love to the Father was above and beyond all human comparison. Oh that bur love were one of deeds as well as of words! John the Baptist gives an emphatic utterance as to the Father’s love of the Son. John, in bearing witness to the glory of Christ, says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands.” This is a mysterious statement, and we cannot hope fully to understand its meaning, for we only “know in part and prophesy in part,” for “we now see through a glass, darkly,” a smoked glass, and nothing is clear to the vision. Our ideas are indistinct, and the words we use for their conveyance are inadequate. Human language is imperfect to express the thoughts which we have of the things seen; how much more must it be imperfect for converse about the things that are unseen! When we speak of God the Father and God the Son by means of our feeble language, we must remember that our terms and figures are bounded, and cannot express all that we think, far less all that may be thought, on such a sublime theme. Not only is our language poor, but our thought is feeble. The words “the Father loveth the Son” are familiar words enough. “Father” and “son” are primal words. They are as roots to the vast tree of humanity. Out of them spring families, tribes, nations, vast dynasties. And yet what are they in that connection? In what sense is God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son? The Father, and yet not superior to the Son? The Son, and yet equal to the Father? We cannot tell. Sublime mystery, and yet blessed thought, that our human relationships are employed to set forth divine relationships. And the love which exists between the divine Father and the Son must be something beyond the power of our intellects to comprehend. All our notions of love, gathered from earthly manifestations, must be far from doing justice to the bright flame which illumines the divine nature. Mostly in this world love is not a pure flame—too often it is but “fantasies’ hot fire, whose wishes soon as granted fly”; but God’s love is like Himself, free from all imperfections; and to change our figure, it flows from Himself a life-giving stream, filling heaven with joy and with glory, and then shaping for itself other channels along which to send its vast overflowings. And oh, how the love-stream went out towards the Son of God! The earthly father loves the son by virtue of the subsisting relationship. A magical influence is that which binds the father to the son, and we cannot analyse this subtle emotion. It is divinely implanted, and is the reflection of God’s love to the Son. That love refreshed the Son of God in a past eternity. Before time commenced its solemn march, in a far back eternity, God loved the Son; for Jesus was ever the Father’s delight, rejoicing always before Him. Through the power of this love we are to suppose them moving in harmony and dwelling together in sabbatic repose. For true love, then, there must be harmony of nature,—
“The secret sympathy,
The silver link, the silken tie,
Which, heart to heart, and mind to mind,
In body and in soul can bind.”
Now it is almost impossible to secure this perfect oneness in human relationships. But between God the Father and God the Son there could be no disparity of either tastes or tendencies or years. They are one in nature, though two in person. Their perfect harmony is seen most strikingly in the scheme of human redemption. God the Father beheld human misery with divine compassion. When He was devising schemes whereby His banished ones might not be expelled from Him, God the Son said, I delight to do Thy will, O God. Here am I; send Me. I am ready to go, travelling in the greatness of My strength, mighty to save. We are not then to view the loving Father as a mere vindictive God, from whom the Son extracts salvation. The lovo of the Father as well as of the Son are equally manifest in the plan of redemption. There was perfect harmony in heaven, and this harmony between the Father and the Son is communicative and productive of harmony among the angelic hosts. In confirmation of this Jesus Christ says, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.” In loving harmony they dwell together in eternity. And as we think of this loving harmony, we are induced to reflect how much is involved in the expression, “God sending His own Son.”
II. By the manner of sending.—“In the likeness of sinful flesh.” How great is Jesus Christ, and yet how He humbled Himself and took upon Himself the form of a servant! He assumed a true human nature. He was bone of Our hone and flesh of our flesh. In all things, sin excepted, He was made like unto His brethren. He was in the world identifying Himself with its deepest needs and highest interests. Ho had indeed infinite pity for the infinite pathos of human life. The tears of the world’s Creator are the world’s great boon. They crystallise themselves into jewels of undying hope for humanity. They mingle themselves with the world’s tears, and these lose more than half their bitterness. The Saviour’s tears flow on fields of mourning, and there spring up harvests of joy—on valleys of death, and they bloom with the sweet life of light and immortality. He did not shut Himself up in seclusion, but went about doing good. Christ was more concerned to show His divinity by the attribute of love than by the attribute of either omnipotence or omniscience. Omnipotence belonged unto Christ, but He ever kept it in check. He spake of His power, but seemed to speak of it as if to show to men how great was the restraining force of that love which could hold omnipotence in chains. Christ had power and love, and in the conflict love was allowed the victor’s place. Our Lord was omniscient, but He seldom used the attribute. Omnipotence was kept in abeyance; omniscience did not often appear; love never slept.
III. By the purpose of the sending.—“And for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.”
1. He destroyed sin in the flesh by a holy life. It is said that the direction which Socrates gave to philosophical inquiry was expressed in the saying that he brought “philosophy down from heaven to earth.” But Jesus Christ did a greater work, for He brought goodness down from heaven to earth, embodied it in His own person, and manifested it in all His actions. Socrates dreamt philosophical visions; but Jesus worked out schemes of benevolence, showed Himself the rare and radiant vision of goodness incarnate. We by no means undervalue Socrates and his work, and yet we must feel that he stands at an immense distance behind that vision of goodness which gladdened our sphere when Jesus Christ moved, full of grace and of truth, a being too good for earth, whom earth neglected and rejected, and yet by whose presence earth has been highly blessed, and to whose action earth owes a more glorious aspect. Some are bold enough to place Jesus Christ on a level only with Socrates, and in doing this they forget the unchallenged purity of the Saviour’s life, and do not bear in mind the facts brought before us in the utterances of Jeremy Taylor: “The best and most excellent of the old lawgivers and philosophers among the Greeks had an alloy of viciousness, and could not be exemplary all over: some were noted for flatterers, as Plato and Aristippus; some for incontinency, as Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno, Theognis, Plato, and Aristippus again; and Socrates, whom their oracle affirmed to be the wisest and most perfect man, yet was by Porphyry noted for extreme intemperance of anger, both in words and actions; and those Romans who were offered to them for examples, although they were great in reputation, yet they also had great vices; Brutus dipped his hand in the blood of Cæsar, his prince, and his father by love, endearments, and adoption; and Cato was but a wise man all day—at night he was used to drink wine too liberally; and both he and Socrates did give their wives unto their friends; the philosopher and the censor were procurers of their wives’ unchastity; and yet these were the best among the Gentiles.” These charges were made by writers who lived very close upon the time at which the men flourished of whom they wrote, and yet an attempt at refutation was not made. And yet we do not know of any attempt to convict Jesus Christ of immorality near to the time in which He flourished. The verdict which Pilate uttered, “I find no fault in Him,” was practically unchallenged by the chief priests, scribes, Sadducees, Pharisees, and angry Jews. It was a verdict which all felt to be just, and which brought conviction to every mind. If there had been but one spot on this Sun of righteousness, there were not wanting men of microscopic power to find it out. Plate’s wife referred to Jesus as a just man. The centurion and they that were with him said, “Truly this was the Son of God,” “Certainly this was a righteous man.” The centurion had the conception of a divine-human, holy being. He felt that Jesus was just in claiming to be the Son of God, and he confessed further that Jesus was holy, and none were present to contradict. The suborned blasphemers, the two false witnesses, could only declare, “This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.” Jesus Christ stood the trying test of His own time, of the envenomed spirits that sought His destruction, who, if there had been any discovery to make, would have succeeded in the attempt; but His moral glory was superior to the fangs of jealousy and of wickedness. Thus the sanctity and holiness of Jesus were glorious in these darknesses, “as a beauty, artificially covered with a thin cloud of Cyprus, transmits its excellency to the eye, made more greedy and apprehensive by that imperfect and weak restraint.” Thus were found confessors and admirers even in the midst of those despites which were done Him upon the opposing designs of malice and contradictory ambition. Eighteen hundred years have passed away, and it has been reserved for a modern French writer to draw sensual pictures of the lascivious dalliances of the holy Jesus with beautiful Jewish maidens.[2] But the picture is a proof rather of the evil mind that gave it birth than of any reality in the case it is supposed to represent. If there had been anything of this kind, we may be sure that it would not have waited eighteen hundred years for the pen of a modern romancer to reveal. The opponents of Jesus, whether political, intellectual, or religious, must be crushed; while the adherents of Jesus shall live and flourish by the power of His undying life and by virtue of His ever-increasing justice. The Sun of Righteousness sails on in sublime tranquillity, shedding His beneficent beams in spite of telescopic glare, of the romancer’s daring, and of the sceptic’s bold denunciations. Yes, of all the great and good men who have walked this earth, dignified the race, and whose names have adorned the pages of history, Jesus Christ is by far the noblest, not only on account of His intellectual greatness, though here He was without rival, but on account of His pre-eminent goodness. His life was a thrilling record of goodness, shining through every feature, suggesting every thought, ennobling every action, clothing every utterance with beauty, and endowing Him with superhuman influence. So that we may indeed stand before Him and say, Thou art fairer than the sons of men,—fairer not in physical form, though thus He was comely; fairer not in mental capacity, though thus He was mighty; but fairer in holiness and in purity. So fair that, if we range the fields and gardens for types, we must gather the loveliest of flowers, for He is the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley; if we explore the mineral world, we must take the most precious, for He is the treasure hid in the field and the pearl of great price; if we ascend to the heavens and travel from star to star, we must fix upon the most brilliant, for He is the bright morning star; if we retrace our course and go back to Israel’s history, we must think of Israel’s noblest characters, for Moses the world’s greatest lawgiver, Aaron the head of the priesthood, and David the noblest of Israel’s kings and the world’s richest poet, are types of David’s greater Son. Earth can give but faint types of Christ’s moral beauty, and He will transcend all the glories of heaven.
2. He destroyed sin in the flesh by a painful death. “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many,” as the climax of His self-sacrificing ministry. Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows, and yet He moved with sublime tranquillity along the highways of life, and thus He was the best helper the children of sorrows ever met as well as a welcome guest at the feast. It is true that in the final issue sorrow broke His heart. This sorrow, however, was not His sorrow as a man, but as a mediator. We can neither climb the heights nor fathom the depths of the Saviour’s sorrow in the period of His crucifixion. In that one fearful cup of sorrow was compressed the world’s sin. He suffered for others in a sense in which no other has suffered, and therefore the heart-breaking nature of that calamity. If He had appeared in this world but not as a mediator, sorrow would have touched and yet would not have destroyed. Love to the eternal Father and love to the race induced Jesus Christ to tread the course of the lonely sufferer. And the solitariness of Jesus brings to our view the greatness of His love most vividly. As in lonely prayer He agonises on the mountain’s side, His mighty love comes beaming from His person and clothes the barren mountain with celestial beauty. When in lonely grandeur He treads the billows, they gleam with the brightness of His ineffable love. When in His solitary struggles He sweats as it were great drops of blood, His love transforms for devout souls the bead-drops of sweat into pearls radiating divine colours of attractive brilliance. When He cries, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” that cry is but the sad yet gracious musical strain which indicates the wondrous force of His all-mastering passion. The heavens were darkened, the sun was eclipsed, the earth reeled in its steady course, as if in astonishment that love so vast should meet a doom so fearful. No wonder that all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, beholding love incarnate rejected, crucified, tortured, beholding the way in which men treat the embodied perfection of virtue, smote their breasts and returned sorrowing! No wonder that the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, as if to see if it were indeed true that love could find so ungrateful a return, and that none were found so enamoured of divine love’s charms as to rally round the Saviour in His defence and to His protection! The Saviour’s crucifixion is indeed calculated to give us an exalted view of the force of the Saviour’s love; but it is also calculated to give a depressing view of the degradation of our humanity. The darkness of earth’s sins and miseries and want of power to appreciate the highest goodness clouded over and eclipsed the light of heaven’s goodness. Earth has no darker sin, history has no blacker page, humanity has no fouler spot, than that of the Saviour’s crucifixion.
[2] “Les jeunes filles qui auraient peut-être consenti à l’aimer,” etc.
IV. By the gracious results of the sending.—Earth was darkened by the Saviour’s crucifixion, but through the darkness came ever-expanding streams of light. Thus Jesus was sin’s destroyer. Thus was opened up a way for the justification and sanctification of those who “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” We mourn that our sins crucified the Lord of light and of glory; but we rejoice that out of the sinless Sufferer’s offering arises the moral betterment and enrichment of mankind. Let us show our true gratitude by not crucifying the Son of God afresh, by triumphing over sin, by walking after the Spirit of light and of purity.
The coming of God’s own Son in the flesh.—The third verse may be read literally, and more intelligibly, by reversing the order of the clauses, thus: “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh—a thing which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” Without entering on many collateral controversies, ancient or modern, which these words may suggest, we observe that the great lesson conveyed is that there was something which the law could not do, and which the incarnation of the Son of God did. He sent “His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” Not in sinful flesh, but “in the likeness of it.” Does this mean that Christ’s nature was a mere likeness of humanity? Surely, to put this question is to answer it; if Christ’s manhood were not real, then there is no solid footing for faith, hope, and charity on this stricken earth. But let us mark the very words of Holy Writ. God sent His Son in the likeness—not of flesh, but—of sinful flesh. It was in its very essence humanity; but it was not in essence sinful humanity. But it never was stained with sin, and He could not know the bitterness of remorse. And yet He knew that hiding of the Father’s face, that darkness of desolation, which is for us the first, last, worst result of transgression. I believe that though He never sinned He was really tempted to sin; and that therefore there must have been something in the nature of the God-man upon which the evil one could lay hold; that the chords which bound the heart of holy Jesus to the Father’s bosom were not so screened from assault, but that the devil seized and strained them till they moaned as though they would break. Yet were they not broken. How this was we cannot tell; but I will admit all mysteries and take my stand on the Scriptures which tell us that He suffered in soul and body from the mighty tempter’s power; suffered, as the strong wrestler suffers ere he hurls his antagonist upon the ground, as the soldier suffers ere he can rest his reeking sword on the trampled sod where the dead foe is stretched. He came in the flesh, but only in the likeness of sinful flesh. His was a true, a tried, but not a sinful humanity. What, then, did this mission of God’s Son accomplish that was beyond the power of the law? We answer:—
I. It showed that human nature is not essentially or originally sinful.—Into our world, thus explaining away its iniquity and shortcoming, Christ has brought vivid picture of holiness in His own life, teaching us that the law of God is at once true to the nature of man and to the nature of God. For when men looked at Him as He fulfilled the law, and saw how good He was, how pure and sinless, the first thought was, “How true a man!” and the next, “How divine!” There were indeed times when the sense of His perfection was insupportable, and the cry of the stricken heart was, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Yet even this very cry led up to the confident conviction which said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
II. But, further, the mission of God’s Son in the flesh also enabled us to see at once the hatefulness of sin and the loveliness of holiness.—We can now hardly realise what a change in the nature of religious profession Christ has made. We now look upon a world into which Christ’s life has been infused, upon men and women who know that He is at once their model and their strength. But this is the result of a revolution. There was nothing in the world when Christ came, nothing in known history, to attract men to what we now understand by “holiness,” and gentle words never heralded such a revolution as did that cry of the great Teacher, “Take up My yoke and learn of Me.”
III. But, further, the mission of God’s Son effected the severance of the sinner from his sin.—That, as we have already seen, was what the law could not effect. But Christ has brought it about in fact and in our consciousness. It is in this strange division between the sinner and his sin that the power of Christ’s cross is seen.
IV. The mission of God’s Son thus brings it to pass that “the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”—Although this be the result in the blessed experience of very many, it is a fact resting on a further mystery. And some who can go along with us in what has been already said may now stop in uncertainty. The present life of Christ is imparted to me. It is not only that my sins are forgiven, but that the power of sin is taken away. It is not only that if I were like Christ I should be happy, but it is that Christ comes into me, and by His Spirit renews me day by day. Life could never come by law, and therefore righteousness could never come by law; but now life comes to men by Christ, a new life,—a life of holy thoughts and pure desires; a life of love, joy, patience, peace; a life which is like Christ’s life, rather which is Christ’s life. What is it to you and me that Christ has come? Is it the power of a new life? Is your religion only in your Bible, or is it in your heart? Is your Saviour in heaven or in you?—A. H. Charteris.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_8:3-4
The presence of the Son proclaims the death of sin.—“Condemned sin”: proclaimed the doom of sin. Since sin has been represented as a ruler, its doom must be dethronement. “In the flesh.” By sending His own Son in a body of flesh like that in which sin had set up its throne, and by sending Him because of sin and to save us from sin, God proclaimed in the midst of the empire of sin that that empire will be overthrown. The birth of Christ was an invasion of a province which sin had seduced into revolt and brought under its own sway. When we see the King’s Son enter the revolted province without opposition, and know that He has come because of the revolt, we are sure that the King is both able and determined to overthrow the rule of the usurper. The presence of the King’s Son proclaims the usurper’s coming dethronement.—Beet.
The Son’s pre-existence.—The term “sending,” by itself, would not necessarily imply the pre-existence of Christ; for it may apply to the appearance of a mere man charged with a divine mission. But the notion of pre-existence necessarily follows from the relation of this verb to the expression “His own Son,” especially if we take account of the regimen: “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” It is evident that, in the view of one who speaks thus, the existence of this Son preceded His human existence. The expression “His own Son,” literally “the Son of Himself,” forbids us to give to the title “Son” either the meaning of “eminent man,” or “theocratic king,” or even “Messiah.” It necessarily refers to this Son’s personal relation to God, and indicates that Him whom God sends He takes from His own bosom. Paul marks the contrast between the nature of the envoy (the true Son of God) and the manner of His appearing here below: “in the likeness of sinful flesh.” This expression “sinful flesh” (strictly, “flesh of sin”) has been understood by many, especially most recently by Holsten, as implying the idea that sin is inherent in the flesh—that is to say, in the bodily nature. It would follow therefrom—and this critic accepts the consequence—that Jesus Himself, according to Paul, was not exempt from the natural sin inseparable from the substance of the body. Only Holsten adds that this objective sin never controlled the will of Jesus, nor led Him to a positive transgression. The pre-existing divine Spirit of Christ constantly kept the flesh in obedience. We have already seen (Rom_6:6) that if the body is to the soul a cause of its fall, it is only so because the will itself is no longer in its normal state. If by union with God it were inwardly upright and firm, it would control the body completely; but being itself since the Fall controlled by selfishness, it seeks a means of satisfaction in the body, and the latter takes advantage therefrom to usurp a malignant dominion over it. Thus, and thus only, can Paul connect the notion of sin so closely with that of “body” or “flesh.” Otherwise he would be obliged to make God Himself, as the creator of the body, the author of sin. What proves in our very passage that he is not at all regarding sin as an attribute inseparable from the flesh is the expression he uses in speaking of Jesus: “in the likeness of a flesh of sin.” Had he meant to express the idea ascribed to him by Holsten, why speak of likeness? Why not say simply “in a flesh of sin”—that is to say, sinful like ours. While affirming similarity of substance between the flesh of Jesus and ours, the very thing the apostle wishes here is to set aside the idea of likeness in quality (in respect of sin). This is done clearly by the expression which he has chosen. Thus we understand the connection between the “condemned” of Rom_8:3 and the “no condemnation” (Rom_8:1). In His life He condemned that sin which, by remaining master of ours, would have brought into it condemnation. The relation between Rom_8:3-4 becomes also very simple. The condemnation of sin in Christ’s life is the means appointed by God to effect its destruction in ours.—Godet.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv2–5 2. “For the law of the Spirit of life…
2. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death.” One definition of “law” is a rule of action, which is pertinent in this verse, where. the Holy Spirit, the Author of life, has actually given you perfect freedom from all the power and influence of sin and death.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v5 Subdivision 4. (Rom 8:5-27.)
Subdivision 4. (Rom 8:5-27.)
The walk in the Spirit.
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The principles of a walk in the Spirit are now set before us. As already said, we shall still find the flesh present and in opposition. Conflict there is still, but captivity no more, and even conflict is, if I may say so, no more the normal condition of the Christian in this respect. Enjoying my own things, I find a sphere into which flesh cannot and will not enter. It was not in the third heavens that the apostle needed a thorn for the flesh: it was when he came down out of them. And true it is that we thus find ourselves in conflict, how much I need not say, but the Spirit of God has not set before us, as it were, the duty of conflict with the flesh or with its lusts. We are to "abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." That is not the same as warring with them. If we are entangled, if our eyes have been allowed to rest upon something not of God, which has attracted them, then indeed there will be of necessity a struggle, but the being entangled was not a necessity, and it is a totally different thing to be reckoning oneself dead to sin and to be fighting it. We fight it when we have allowed it, when we have not been reckoning ourselves dead to it. There is, of course, a conflict with sin in the world around, a conflict which the Lord Himself had of necessity, because of what He was, but of which we are not speaking here. "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood," says the apostle to the Hebrews, "fighting against sin;" but that, of course, is not the, sin in us, it is the sin which characterizes the world around us, the corruption which is in it through lust.
1. The first thing, therefore, that is now put before us is the governing power. "They that are according to flesh, mind the things of the flesh, and they that are according to Spirit, the things of the Spirit." The flesh seeks what is according to its mind, and the Spirit seeks what is according to His mind; but notice now, that these two are two companies. "They that are according to flesh" cannot, of course, be confounded with those that are according to the Spirit. The Spirit is for the Christian the One who has come to possess us in Christ’s name and for Him; and in Him we find a power which is not of ourselves, and which leaves us still and all the way through, in conscious weakness. This is a great necessity for us, that the power should be power which is fully available for us and yet which is not our own, for the realization of which we have to lean upon Another. It is when we are weak, then we are strong. The sense of weakness is most helpful to us every way. It not only checks all self-complacent thoughts, but it makes us realize in the strength which is constantly ministered to us, the continual care and love of God. We can promise ourselves nothing even yet as to ourselves, and we need not promise anything. We need only the assurance that the love which holds us fast has all things in its control, and that in Christ there is fulness for us from which we can draw at all times. Thus, as has already been said, the "I myself" has really disappeared. The knowledge of the new man is that Christ is all. Faith does not know itself, and its object is never self.
2. The opposition between the two, the Spirit and the flesh, is now put before us. "The mind of the flesh," not "the carnal mind" as if it were a fleeting condition, but what the flesh is in its character at all times, "is death." "The mind of the flesh is enmity against God"; that is death truly. Death is separation from the source of life, and the flesh is willingly separate. Thus then, it "is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be," and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God." "In the flesh" we find here, therefore, to be a spiritual condition, although it is related to the old creation place out of which we have passed. One who is in Christ cannot be in the flesh. On the other hand, the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. How blessed a thing is such peace! At one with God, everything else is at one with us. All things of necessity, therefore, "work together for good to them that love" Him. "If God be for us, who can be against us?"
3. But immediately we are assured, "ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." This which has put us in the condition here is not to be looked at as if it were possible to be absent from the child of God. We are immediately warned "if any one have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." There are no Christians that are not Christ’s, and here, in fact, we are assured that the Spirit of God is found in all who are such. He is the seal upon those who belong to God.
The word is not found here: we must look for it in Ephesians; but the idea is clearly expressed. A seal is the mark put upon what is one’s own, with the idea of inviolability attaching to it. The 144,000 sealed out of all the tribes of Israel in the book of Revelation are a sample of this. They are sealed on their foreheads, and we find afterwards that the Name of the Lamb and of His Father is written there, evidently the effect of the sealing. This Name is their preservative from the power of the locusts in the ninth chapter. "Seals were employed," says Kitto, "not for the purpose of impressing a device on wax, but in place of a sign manual to stamp the name of the owner upon any document to which he determined to fix it." The Lord expressly speaks of the descent of the Spirit upon Himself as His being sealed of God the Father. It was then, we know, that His being the Son was fully declared. The seal was the witness of emphatic approbation. In us it is also the token of sonship. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, but with us there cannot, of course, be the approbation of a condition in us, but rather of Him in whom we are recognized as standing before God. Thus, it is not by sealing that we are made to be in Christ. We must be in Christ in order to be sealed. God could not put His seal upon the least evil, the least taint of sin. We are in Christ, moreover, as the apostle says in the epistle to the Corinthians, by new creation. "If any one be in Christ, it is new creation"; and he adds, as what connects itself with it: "Old things are passed away, behold all things are become new." As soon as ever the work begins in us, we belong to that new creation which abides in the value of its blessed Head before God; and thus alone could it be said that "old things are passed away." In Ephesians we find also that we are "created in Christ Jesus." Creation speaks of the divine work in us from the very beginning.
It is, however, said that in this case, the "none of His" should be rather "not of Him," which is confessedly the literal rendering; and that this refers to a condition not attained by all in whom divine work has begun. The way ill which simple belonging to Christ would be expressed, it is said, would be, "He is not to Him" instead of "of Him"; but in the second chapter of the second epistle to Timothy, we find the same expression exactly where most certainly the whole extent of those belonging to Him is intended to be expressed. "The Lord knoweth them that are His," "those that are of Him"; where, amid all the confusion of a day in which profession and reality are inextricably confused for us, the Lord yet unfailingly recognizes His own. Thus, in every way, it is clear that the seal marks out those who are children of God, and that therefore it can be fully said that if any one have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. There is no middle condition, however confused the experience may be, or dull the faith in a child of God.
Let us notice the way in which the Spirit is set before us here. First, it is the Spirit of God that dwells in us. Divine power thus keeps us for Him; but next, we have the Spirit of Christ, the One who glorifies Christ and who produces in us also a likeness to Him. Following this, we have, "If Christ be in you"; for the Spirit, in fact, as glorifying Christ, does not testify of Himself. It is not, therefore, the Spirit in you, but Christ in you. This, however, is the expression of life itself, as we have already seen abundantly in the Gospel of John. The Lord’s parable of the vine and the branches conveys to us fully the relation between one in Christ and Christ in him The branch is in the vine; as a consequence, the sap is in the branch. The sap is the life derived from the vine stock. So here, "Christ in you" is the expression of life; but then to this the Spirit alone gives its proper energy. We have already seen this fully in the experience of the seventh chapter, where, although life in fact is, yet it is not in its proper power. Thus, it is said here, that the Spirit is life. As we have seen all the way through here, the "I myself," as it were, drops out. It is the Spirit who is the governing power, the Leader; and the attitude of faith is that of entire dependence upon Him.
"If Christ be in you," then, the apostle says, "the body still is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." The body has not yet the effect of redemption manifested in it. It is not yet quickened. Quickening is to come. "If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies on account of His Spirit who dwelleth in you." That is the redemption for which we wait. In the meanwhile, the body is to be reckoned simply as an instrument in the hands of the spiritual man. If it manifests its individual life that will be seen, and so the apostle speaks directly of our mortifying the deeds of the body. Not that the body and the flesh are the same thing: the flesh may include, as we have seen, spirit and soul, the whole man; and moreover, necessarily describes an evil condition. The body is not in itself evil, and spite of the condition in which it is yet found, it is in the body that the Spirit of God dwells. (See 1Co 6:19.) Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. We see fully how the work of Christ enables thus the taking up of that in which there is not yet the power of redemption. This will reflect again upon the experience that we have had in the previous chapter. If the Spirit can dwell in a body that is dead and that clearly through the work of Christ alone, in the same way the Spirit can dwell surely in one who is not yet in the mind of the Spirit, who needs to be delivered from the power of evil, the law of sin in his members. But "the body is dead on account of sin, while the Spirit is life on account of righteousness," -evidently the righteousness which the Spirit produces. Nothing but that which is righteous before God could possibly be counted "life." We go on to the coming of Christ for the deliverance: "He who raised up Christ from among the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies on account of His Spirit who dwelleth in you." The pledge has been given us in Christ’s own resurrection. Notice, however," that it is not exactly resurrection as to ourselves that is spoken of. Our "mortal bodies" implies a stage of the living and not of the dead, and quickening is that which delivers them from the state of mortality. The reason of this is plain. We are not taught, as people commonly put it, that we must all die. On the contrary, our proper state is to be waiting for the Lord. Thus here, the quickening of the mortal body refers distinctly to those who shall be living when He comes, and for them the Spirit who already dwells in the body, makes good His title to it in the most absolute way. The Spirit is, as we see all through, the earnest of that which is to come. Here then, is the complete answer to the question: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Complete deliverance is what we wait for and yet that does not in the least imply any necessity of sin in the present time. The presence of the Spirit in us is, of course, fulness of power over it, and the delivered man who is in the power of the Spirit works out the righteousness of the law. Whatever we may have to say with regard to ourselves, in fact, we have ever the responsibility of walking in the power of the Spirit, and therefore, as those free from the power of sin.
4. The practical test is now found here again. As we have seen, it is freedom that tests, not bondage. The slave does his master’s will; the freeman does his own; and yet even in the state of bondage which has been described to us, the will of the converted man is testified to be for God and good. Freedom is the only thing that is needed by him. The heart to serve God and to please Him he already has. Thus, amongst the professing people of God, freedom, as already said, is the test of reality. There is a way of life and a way of death. The gospel does not alter that, but, on the contrary confirms it. "So, then, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh, for if ye live according to the flesh, ye are on the way to die." That is spoken absolutely: we have no need to qualify it in the least. If a man lives "according to the flesh," it does not say, "acts" at a given time, but if he lives, if that is the tenor of his life, "according to the flesh," then he is on the road to death. On the other hand, if a man has the Spirit, by the Spirit he mortifies the deeds of the body. The body is held for dead. It is used and can be fully used for God. There is not the least thought of asceticism in the apostle’s language here. God has no pleasure in a man’s ill-treating his body. On the contrary, it is meant to be maintained in vigor for the Lord who owns it, and yet it is to be the mere dead instrument, so to speak, of Another’s will. "If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." There is no other way. That marks out, as alone this can mark out, the sons of God.
But, notice the beautiful difference between what is said here upon the one side and upon the other. If men live according to the flesh, they are on the way to death. It does not say that they will die. God’s grace is always free to come in, but then if it comes in it takes one off the road to death; it does not speak in such a manner as if sin were of no consequence. On the other hand, if, by the Spirit, you mortify the deeds of the body, not, you are on the way to life, because there is no uncertainty about the result, but "you shall live." Of course, the full and final result is intended there. We live at the present time and we shall go on to live forever. Thus then, the sons of God are marked out. We are called to enforce the condition which the apostle has made so absolute, whatever we may speak of grace or of faith, -and we cannot enforce these too absolutely when we are speaking of them, -yet, on the other hand, we must be just as absolute as to the way of life and the way of death. We have no right, whatever the profession may be, to consider any one as a son of God whose life does not mark him out as devoted to God.
5. But then the spirit of all this has to be carefully kept in mind. What the apostle has said might tend to produce a spirit of bondage -the fear of the result, of the issue, in unestablished souls, -but he says: "Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear." Legality is not at all what is implied here, and it does not and cannot produce the holiness which it claims and seeks; nor can it secure for itself the final result. Take our Lord’s words, for instance, in proof of this. "Whosoever will save His life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it." There is the condition, the marking out, as here, of the way of life and the way of death. But it is not simply, whosoever will lose his life shall save it, but "whosoever will lose his life for My sake." Clearly that is not the legal principle. As long as a man doubts his final security, he will, of necessity, be working for himself, but that is not "for My sake." The legal gospel, whatever spice of legality may come into it, is so far unholy, and can be nothing but unholy. We live as Christians, not to ourselves, but to Him who died for us and rope again"; but there is a religious way of living to one’s self which is just as fully that as any course of sin and self-indulgence. Thus here, therefore, we are expressly told that there is no spirit of fear for the Christian, but, on the other hand, we have received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, "Abba, Father." It is the heart renewed and realizing the power of the grace of God which "teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world." The witness of the Spirit with our spirit, therefore, is dwelt upon here. A double witness; there is the witness of our own spirit, and that is implied, here in the first place. The spirit of man is that which makes him an intelligent being. "No one knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him." Here, therefore, the testimony of the Word, as understood and received is that which is really implied. The apostle has been in the fullest way unfolding to us this testimony, and we are not left merely, as it were, to reasoning out things; we are not left merely to our own intelligence in the matter; nor even simply to faith. We need that which is more powerful than this, and we have it in that witness of the Spirit with our spirit, which indeed, we may be little able to distinguish from the witness produced by faith in the gospel, but which gives divine power to this witness. The witness of the Spirit in this way produces a full consciousness of what God is to us, while, at the same time it is founded and must be founded upon the word of God itself. We must have the Word in proof, or we are entitled to nothing. The Spirit of God acts from and with the Word, never sets it aside, and therefore whatever "feeling" there may be, as people are accustomed to say, all this can be questioned. If it is not justified by the word of God itself, it will not do to talk of the witness of the Spirit. The two, therefore, come together, the Spirit of God and our spirit. Faith receives God’s testimony in the Word, and the Spirit of God joins to this a divine power which otherwise it would not have. We cry, "Abba, Father"; we serve with the joyful consciousness that we serve as children, -the most absolute service that can possibly be; for the Father has entire claim to His child; but at the same time where there is, as in this case there must of necessity be, the true affection of children, the service is itself liberty.
Thus then, the Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God; but immense consequences follow. If children, we are heirs. As with regard to God, this might be even thought to be out of place. We inherit from our parents that which is left us when they pass away; but God never passes away. How are we to be His heirs? Only He, Himself, could have inspired such a thought as this. If we want to realize what it means, we have a beautiful example of it in the case of Israel, whose land is expressly claimed to be God’s land. They are to be pilgrims and sojourners with Him, thus put into possession on His part, to hold that which is nevertheless His. How perfect the security that is given in this way to their possession of it! When they shall hold it after this manner, how impossible for them to lose it again, and even now the land being God’s renders it absolutely impossible that any failure on their part can disturb His purposes with regard to it. They might forfeit it. If it were left to them, they surely would, altogether; but God cannot forfeit it, and if He puts them in possession of that which is His own, then they have an unfailing right to that possession. So with regard to our higher and more wonderful inheritance. We are heirs of God. The things that He has created, He has not created for Himself. He has no need of them. His whole heart goes with the gift of them to His people, yet so that in the sense in which we have spoken, the things inherited remain always God’s, while we possess and enjoy them fully. There is another thing added here. We are joint heirs with Christ. How wonderfully does this certify to us the extent of the inheritance! Christ is the heir of all things, and to be joint heirs with Christ gives, as one may say, the thought of a limitless inheritance; but not merely so, it assures us of the perfect way in which Christ abides still and ever the Man Christ Jesus. He means to associate us with Himself for ever. The joy of the inheritance will be the joy of being associated with Christ in it.
But then immediately there comes in what may seem to be a condition; "If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him." Suffering then is necessary to glory, but surely not in any sense as a legal condition, -the suffering with Him, not mere suffering in itself, but suffering with Him, suffering as He suffered in the world which was contrary to Him entirely, suffering because of the knowledge of God and joy in Him which were His ever, in view of evil and all its consequences: this, on our part, is the necessary training for that association with Him, of which our being joint heirs speaks. We are preparing to have fully His mind, learning in the midst of evil, learning what evil is in its Ml character even in ourselves, as we have already seen. In ourselves we are brought into the closest possible connection with it, surely that we may realize forever its nature, that we may hate it as God hates it, and that we may be fully competent to walk with Him who has solved in His own person the whole question of good and evil, and who is the glorious Conqueror over sin by suffering. Thus then, our present lives have a meaning with reference to the future which we must never lose sight of. The suffering by the way is part of our very need, in order that we may be fit for the coming glory. But, as already said, we must not think of this as mere suffering, but, as with Christ Himself, that which was most truly such to Him sprang out of the very joy that He had in God (we are not speaking of atonement now, or that which was necessary for it), -so for us, suffering must have this character. It must put us ever in fellowship with Him in order to be of any value.
6. Immediately upon this, the apostle goes on to speak more at large of the character of the present time for us. It is a time of travail. Creation itself is groaning in the bondage of corruption. It waits for liberty. It waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. Connected with man as its head, the fall of man has brought about this groaning condition. Notice that in himself man is a microcosm. He has the soul of the beast. He has the very dust of the earth in him. He is linked in the fullest possible way with creation throughout, and how blessed it is to realize that in this way Christ, in taking humanity, has linked Himself even, one may say, with the very material universe. How this assures us that it cannot lie under the condition which the fall has produced. There is yet to be a liberty for it. The liberty of grace it could not enjoy, but the liberty of the glory it shall enjoy.
The typical character which we find everywhere in nature connects itself with all this. It is a remarkable thing that even before man was upon the earth, death seems to have reigned in it, and that this for the lower creation is in no wise (chronologically) the effect of the fall. Man was created in a world which, so to Speak, prophesied of that fall itself and was prepared for him by the goodness of God in view of it. Thus, if you look at nature, you will find not a condition such as we would imagine. Strife and evil (not moral evil, surely) are in every part of it; and thus alone could it present to man the lessons which he needs, but of which, alas, he is so little heedful. The witness of Christ in creation comes in in this connection. God has given us, in the most abundant way thus, a testimony of nature itself, which does not leave out His purposes of grace, but, on the contrary, bears fullest. witness to them. Natural theology has been, alas, but too much divorced from this. Nature has been supposed simply to bear witness in the characters of design which are everywhere in it, of a Maker, a Creator. A Saviour has been supposed to be what lies beyond its testimony; but thus it has been made, if one may so say, more pagan than Christian. How could God Himself be rightly expressed in it, if Christ be not expressed? But this, as already said, involves the very evil and strife winch we find in it. God has in all this, wrought for us, and nature is linked with us in its present groanings, as it will by and by be linked with us also in its redemption.
"For we, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption," that is, the full manifestation of what we are as sons of God, now hidden. That involves the body being glorified. We wait, therefore, for the adoption, that is, the redemption of the body. The firstfruits of the Spirit would seem to imply that after all what we possess in this way is but a pledge in anticipation of that which is to come, and we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, on that very account, are made to groan. The hope we have of a condition so different from the present makes us only the more groan over the present. Our salvation is in hope, as to the full character of it. Of course, there is a salvation of which we can say already that God hath saved us. If it be a question simply of guilt and condemnation, then we are already completely saved; but salvation is very commonly looked at in a very different way from this, and it implies deliverance of the body itself and the fulfilment of all God’s purposes as to us. We are saved now in hope, but then that means that we have not got before us that which we hope for. If we behold it, how can we still hope for it? "If we hope for what we behold not, then do we with patience wait for it." How beautiful a thought it is that this hope is so perfect, there is such complete assurance with regard to it, that the not having it only produces patience in us -not doubt, but patience! All human hopes may possibly disappoint, but die hope which God has given us is as sure as if we already possessed it. We wait with patience, and the patience itself is holy discipline for us. We wait upon His will, but all that He can give us in the way of assurance is already ours.
7. We have now finally, in this part, the Spirit Himself entering into this groaning condition. The Spirit joins His help to our infirmity. In such a condition of trial and sorrow, our weakness is made fully evident, but that only opens to us more the heart of God and produces in us a healthful dependence upon Him every step of the way. Notice, therefore, that in connection with the Spirit helping our infirmities, prayer is that upon which the apostle dwells. Prayer is the expression of dependence. It is the expression of the creature-place which we have with God. It is the expression, also, if it be that which can rightly be called prayer, of our confidence in God. Prayer is thus, as one may say, a large part of the Christian life, or rather, it is that which links itself with every part of it. If the Lord, in the sermon on the mount, would give us a special example of righteousness Godward, He illustrates this by prayer; but the very prayer itself manifests our infirmity. We do not know even what to pray for as we ought. How blessed to know that here we have a divine Intercessor; as we have Christ before God for us, so we have the Spirit of God in us, and He makes intercession for us according to God. The prayer that He makes is, of course, absolutely according to God; yet as wrought in our hearts it may be on that very account simply a groaning which cannot be uttered intelligibly, -a wonderful thing to realize that these groanings which are the evidence of our own infirmity may, nevertheless, be the fruit of the Spirit within us; that in the ear of God they may speak intelligently, and in absolute accordance with His mind concerning us. We do not know what to pray for, and yet we pray; and God who searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, little as we may know it and blunder as we may. "He maketh intercession for the saints according to God." That does not mean simply that it is God’s will that He should make the intercession, as our common version might lead some to suppose, but that the intercession itself, as being; His, is of necessity in complete accordance with His thought and character. We are not, however, to suppose by all this, that the Spirit’s prayer is simply groaning. The groaning accompanies the prayer and is part of the prayer. "With groanings that cannot be uttered." Nevertheless, these groanings express, as it were, after all, that which is higher in character, it may be, than the very prayers themselves, however intelligent. Our intelligence fails to accompany them. They go beyond it. But if they go beyond it, all the more they express the power of the Spirit in them -of Him who has come to join His help to our infirmities, and to carry us along the lighted road which leads to God.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv2–3
Romans
‘THY FREE SPIRIT’
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Rom 8:2.
We have to distinguish two meanings of law. In the stricter sense, it signifies the authoritative expressions of the will of a ruler proposed for the obedience of man; in the wider, almost figurative sense, it means nothing more than the generalised expression of constant similar facts. For instance, objects attract one another in certain circumstances with a force which in the same circumstances is always the same. When that fact is stated generally, we get the law of gravitation. Thus the word comes to mean little more than a regular process. In our text the word is used in a sense much nearer the latter than the former of these two. ‘The law of sin and of death’ cannot mean a series of commandments; it certainly does not mean the Mosaic law. It must either be entirely figurative, taking sin and death as two great tyrants who domineer over men; or it must mean the continuous action of these powers, the process by which they work. These two come substantially to the same idea. The law of sin and of death describes a certain constancy of operation, uniform and fixed, under the dominion of which men are struggling. But there is another constancy of operation, uniform and fixed too, a mighty antagonistic power, which frees from the dominion of the former: it is ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.’
I. The bondage.
The Apostle is speaking about himself as he was, and we have our own consciousness to verify his transcript of his own personal experience. Paul had found that, by an inexorable iron sequence, sin worked in himself the true death of the soul, in separation from God, in the extinction of good and noble capacities, in the atrophying of all that was best in himself, in the death of joy and peace. And this iron sequence he, with an eloquent paradox, calls a ‘law,’ though its very characteristic is that it is lawless transgression of the true law of humanity. He so describes it, partly, because he would place emphasis on its dominion over us. Sin rules with iron sway; men madly obey it, and even when they think themselves free, are under a bitter tyranny. Further, he desires to emphasise the fact that sin and death are parts of one process which operates constantly and uniformly. This dark anarchy and wild chaos of disobedience and transgression has its laws. All happens there according to rule. Rigid and inevitable as the courses of the stars, or the fall of the leaf from the tree, is sin hurrying on to its natural goal in death. In this fatal dance, sin leads in death; the one fair spoken and full of dazzling promises, the other in the end throws off the mask, and slays. It is true of all who listen to the tempting voice, and the deluded victim ‘knows not that the dead are there, and that her guests are in the depth of hell.’
II. The method of deliverance.
The previous chapter sounded the depths of human impotence, and showed the tragic impossibility of human efforts to strip off the poisoned garment. Here the Apostle tells the wonderful story of how he himself was delivered, in the full rejoicing confidence that what availed for his emancipation would equally avail for every captived soul. Because he himself has experienced a divine power which breaks the dreadful sequence of sin and of death, he knows that every soul may share in the experience. No mere outward means will be sufficient to emancipate a spirit; no merely intellectual methods will avail to set free the passions and desires which have been captured by sin. It is vain to seek deliverance from a perverted will by any republication, however emphatic, of a law of duty. Nothing can touch the necessities of the case but a gift of power which becomes an abiding influence in us, and develops a mightier energy to overcome the evil tendencies of a sinful soul.
That communicated power must impart life. Nothing short of a Spirit of life, quick and powerful, with an immortal and intense energy, will avail to meet the need. Such a Spirit must give the life which it possesses, must quicken and bring into action dormant powers in the spirit that it would free. It must implant new energies and directions, new motives, desires, tastes, and tendencies. It must bring into play mightier attractions to neutralise and deaden existing ones; as when to some chemical compound a substance is added which has a stronger affinity for one of the elements, a new thing is made.
Paul’s experience, which he had a right to cast into general terms and potentially to extend to all mankind, had taught him that such a new life for such a spirit had come to him by union with Jesus Christ. Such a union, deep and mystical as it is, is, thank God, an experience universal in all true Christians, and constitutes the very heart of the Gospel which Paul rejoiced to believe was entrusted to his hands for the world. His great message of ‘Christ in us’ has been wofully curtailed and mangled when his other message of ‘Christ for us’ has been taken, as it too often has been, to be the whole of his Gospel. They who take either of these inseparable elements to be the whole, rend into two imperfect halves the perfect oneness of the Gospel of Christ.
We are often told that Paul was the true author of Christian doctrine, and are bidden to go back from him to Jesus. If we do so, we hear His grave sweet voice uttering in the upper-room the deep words, ‘I am the Vine, ye are the branches’; and, surely, Paul is but repeating, without metaphor, what Christ, once for all, set forth in that lovely emblem, when he says that ‘the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.’ The branches in their multitude make the Vine in its unity, and the sap which rises from the deep root through the brown stem, passes to every tremulous leaf, and brings bloom and savour into every cluster. Jesus drew His emblem from the noblest form of vegetative life; Paul, in other places, draws his from the highest form of bodily life, when he points to the many members in one body, and the Head which governs all, and says, ‘So also is Christ.’ In another place he points to the noblest form of earthly love and unity. The blessed fellowship and sacred oneness of husband and wife are an emblem sweet, though inadequate, of the fellowship in love and unity of spirit between Christ and His Church.
And all this mysterious oneness of life has an intensely practical side. In Jesus, and by union with Him, we receive a power that delivers from sin and arrests the stealthy progress of sin’s follower, death. Love to Him, the result of fellowship with Him, and the consequence of life received from Him, becomes the motive which makes the redeemed heart delight to do His will, and takes all the power out of every temptation. We are in Him, and He in us, on condition, and by means, of our humble faith; and because my faith thus knits me to Him it is ‘the victory that overcomes the world’ and breaks the chains of many sins. So this communion with Jesus Christ is the way by which we shall increase that triumphant spiritual life, which is the only victorious antagonist of the else inevitable consequence which declares that the ‘soul that sinneth it shall die,’ and die even in sinning.
III. The process of the deliverance.
Following the R. V. we read ‘made me free,’ not ‘hath made me.’ The reference is obviously, as the Greek more clearly shows, to a single historical event, which some would take to be the Apostle’s baptism, but which is more properly supposed to be his conversion. His strong bold language here does not mean that he claims to be sinless. The emancipation is effected, although it is but begun. He holds that at that moment when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and he yielded to Him as Lord, his deliverance was real, though not complete. He was conscious of a real change of position in reference to that law of sin and of death. Paul distinguishes between the true self and the accumulation of selfish and sensual habits which make up so much of ourselves. The deeper and purer self may be vitalised in will and heart, and set free even while the emancipation is not worked out in the life. The parable of the leaven applies in the individual renewal; and there is no fanaticism, and no harm, in Paul’s point of view, if only it be remembered that sins by which passion and externals overbear my better self are mine in responsibility and in consequences. Thus guarded, we may be wholly right in thinking of all the evils which still cleave to the renewed Christian soul as not being part of it, but destined to drop away.
And this bold declaration is to be vindicated as a prophetic confidence in the supremacy and ultimate dominion of the new power which works even through much antagonism in an imperfect Christian. Paul, too, calls ‘things that are not as though they were.’ If my spirit of life is the ‘Spirit of life in Christ,’ it will go on to perfection. It is Spirit, therefore it is informing and conquering the material; it is a divine Spirit, therefore it is omnipotent; it is the Spirit of life, leading in and imparting life like itself, which is kindred with it and is its source; it is the Spirit of life in Christ, therefore leading to life like His, bringing us to conformity with Him because the same causes produce the same effects; it is a life in Christ having a law and regular orderly course of development. So, just as if we have the germ we may hope for fruit, and can see the infantile oak in the tightly-shut acorn, or in the egg the creature which shall afterwards grow there, we have in this gift of the Spirit, the victory. If we have the cause, we have the effects implicitly folded in it; and we have but to wait further development.
The Christian life is to be one long effort, partial, and gradual, to unfold the freedom possessed. Paul knew full well that his emancipation was not perfect. It was, probably, after this triumphant expression of confidence that he wrote, ‘Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.’ The first stage is the gift of power, the appropriation and development of that power is the work of a life; and it ought to pass through a well-marked series and cycle of growing changes. The way to develop it is by constant application to the source of all freedom, the life-giving Spirit, and by constant effort to conquer sins and temptations. There is no such thing in the Christian conflict as a painless development. We must mortify the deeds of the body if we are to live in the Spirit. The Christian progress has in it the nature of a crucifixion. It is to be effort, steadily directed for the sake of Christ, and in the joy of His Spirit, to destroy sin, and to win practical holiness. Homely moralities are the outcome and the test of all pretensions to spiritual communion.
We are, further, to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, by ‘waiting for the Redemption,’ which is not merely passive waiting, but active expectation, as of one who stretches out a welcoming hand to an approaching friend. Nor must we forget that this accomplished deliverance is but partial whilst upon earth. ‘The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.’ But there may be indefinite approximation to complete deliverance. The metaphors in Scripture under which Christian progress is described, whether drawn from a conflict or a race, or from a building, or from the growth of a tree, all suggest the idea of constant advance against hindrances, which yet, constant though it is, does not reach the goal here. And this is our noblest earthly condition-not to be pure, but to be tending towards it and conscious of impurity. Hence our tempers should be those of humility, strenuous effort, firm hope. We are as slaves who have escaped, but are still in the wilderness, with the enemies’ dogs baying at our feet; but we shall come to the land of freedom, on whose sacred soil sin and death can never tread.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv2–6 For the law of the Spirit of life in…
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death . [From all that I have written, it is a just conclusion that, under Christ, we are so fully justified from sin that those who are in him shall stand uncondemned at the last judgment, since there is now no ground for their condemnation. For the gospel, or law, given by the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of life, has made me free from law (whether given by Moses or otherwise) which produces sin and death. Laws which can not be obeyed result in sin, and sin ends in death.]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Hitherto in Romans the Holy Spirit has been mentioned…
Spirit
Hitherto in Romans the Holy Spirit has been mentioned but once Rom 5:5 in this chapter He is mentioned nineteen times. Redemption is by blood and by power. (See Scofield "Exo 14:30").; Rom 3:21 to Rom 5:11; speaks of the redemptive price; Romans 8. of redemptive power.
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sin Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 5:21").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The difference between the carnal mind and the spiritual…
The difference between the carnal mind and the spiritual mind:
v. 5. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
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v. 6. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace,
v. 7. because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither, indeed, can be.
v. 8. So, then, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
v. 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
v. 10. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness.
v. 11. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
In this section there is a further illustration and amplification of the contrast between flesh and Spirit and between those that are devoted to either. Those that are after the flesh, that have the moral nature and essence of the flesh, have their entire mind taken up with the things of the flesh; the interests of the flesh engage their entire attention. All their imagination, their lusts and desires are centered upon the gratification of sensual, worldly thoughts and ideas, Gal 5:24. But those that have the nature of the Spirit, that are born anew out of the Spirit, have only one aim, namely, that of performing the works of the Spirit and bringing forth His fruits, Gal 5:22. For the thinking of the flesh, the object and goal of the imagination of the natural, sinful heart, is death. The carnal joys and pleasures of man will finally result in death, in eternal death. But the thinking of the Spirit, the result of the Spirit’s desiring, the object upon which the anxious longing of the Spirit is centered, as He lives in the mind of regenerated man, is life and peace. The spiritual life of a Christian, as manifested in all its thinking, is not the cause of the life in peace with God, of the realization of the reconciliation with God, but this life and peace is given by God to the spiritual life. This contrast between flesh and Spirit is emphasized from another side: Because the mind, the disposition, of the flesh is enmity toward God. The flesh finds the goal of its thinking to consist in eternal death because of its hostility to God, the Fountain of life. The people that follow the dictates of their flesh deliberately choose the works of the flesh, because they are evil, opposed to God and His holy will. To the Law of God the flesh will not yield obedience, the very idea of doing so being foreign to its nature. The contrast between the flesh, the sinful nature of man, and the pure and holy Law of God is so great that an agreement is out of the question: the chasm between them cannot be bridged. Those that are in the flesh, that bear in themselves the nature, the peculiarity of the flesh, cannot please God. The essence of the carnal mind is rebellion and hatred against God, and this disposition cannot be shown in any other way but by a deliberate expression of this tendency in acts which are displeasing to the Lord. The Christians are thoroughly distinct from people that exhibit such hostility toward God: You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit; the Spirit of God that lives in the believers is their sphere of life and activity, in Him they live and move. And they cannot but be under the rule and guidance of the Spirit, if the Spirit indeed, truly, lives in them. The entire life and bearing of the Christians is in full accord with the demands of the true spiritual life, because that is the natural, the inevitable result and consequence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. It is necessary to stress this point; for if anyone have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. A person must be regenerated in truth, and not merely in appearance; he must actually have received the Spirit of Christ and have this Spirit dwelling in Him, otherwise Christ will not acknowledge him as one of His own. Note that the Spirit is here called the Spirit of Christ, that Christ is therefore placed on an equality with the Father as the One from whom the Spirit proceeds.
And now the apostle presents his conclusion: If, however, Christ is in you, if He is the impelling power of your lives, brought into your hearts by the work of His Spirit, Joh 14:16-18; Joh 14:23, then the body indeed, the instrument of sin, is dead, that is, subject to death on account of sin from the first moment of its existence; but the spirit, the human spirit regenerated and renewed, the new man, is life because of righteousness. The spirit, the soul of man, having received the perfect righteousness of Christ in justification, has the spiritual life which will secure for it immortal and blessed existence. By faith in Christ the Christians become partakers of eternal life So it is implied here also that the supreme blessing of eternity is based upon Christ only, in order that no one might have any reason for boasting. And we not only have the pledge of immortal life in and through Christ, so far as our soul is concerned, but we have the assurance also that our bodies will rise again: If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead live in you, then He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will quicken, will return to life your dead bodies through the Spirit that has His dwelling in you. The life which we have in our soul by faith will finally result in a complete triumph over death. Note how appropriate this description of God is in this connection Mark also that the three persons of the Godhead are here mentioned as taking part in the final resurrection of the dead, just as they all have been active in the conversion of man. The same God that raised up Jesus from the dead, thus proving that He is the Source, the almighty Fountain of life, will make alive, will give life to, our dead bodies; and this work He will perform through His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Son Christ is the Mediator of our salvation, having died and risen again for our sakes, having prepared for us the life of glorification. Our resurrection and glorification has its basis in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Thus the spiritual life of the Christians, the Spirit of God and of Christ that lives in the Christians, has for its goal eternal life, with the glorification of our bodies.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 6 For what the law was unable to do because…
For what the law was unable to do because it was weak through the flesh, God did
Here the law is described as a person who could not break the power of sin. AT: "For the law did not have the power to stop us from sinning, because the power of sin within us was too strong. But God did stop us from sinning" (See: Personification)
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through the flesh
"because of people's sinful nature"
He ... sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh ... an offering for sin ... he condemned sin
The Son of God forever satisfied God's holy anger against our sin by giving his own body and human life as the eternal sacrifice for sin.
Son
This is an important title for Jesus, the Son of God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
in the likeness of sinful flesh
"who looked like any other sinful human being"
to be an offering for sin
"so that he could die as a sacrifice for our sins"
he condemned sin in the flesh
"God broke the power of sin through the body of his Son"
the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us
You can translate this in an active form. AT: "we might fulfill what the law requires" (See: Active or Passive)
we who walk not according to the flesh
Walking on a path is a metaphor for how a person lives his life. The flesh is an idiom for sinful human nature. AT: "we who do not obey our sinful desires"
but according to the Spirit
"but who obey the Holy Spirit"
translationWords
law
flesh
God
Son of God
sin
sacrifice
condemn
fulfill
walk
Holy Spirit
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2–6 8:2 the power (literally the law) of the life-giving…
8:2 the power (literally the law) of the life-giving Spirit: This reference to power or law could refer to the law of Moses, which the Spirit can use to produce life. But because Paul does not portray the law as a life-giving entity, “law” here, as in 7:23, probably means principle or power. The Holy Spirit is a power that frees the believer from the power of sin that leads to death.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.