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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>R O M A N S.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. V.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The apostle, having made good his point, and fully proved justification
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by faith, in this chapter proceeds in the explication, illustration,
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and application of that truth.
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I. He shows the fruits of justification,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>.
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II. He shows the fountain and foundation of justification in the death
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of Jesus Christ, which he discourses of at large in the
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6-23">rest of the chapter</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ro5_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Justification and Its Effects.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 58.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
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through our Lord Jesus Christ:
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2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
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we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
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3 And not only <I>so,</I> but we glory in tribulations also: knowing
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that tribulation worketh patience;
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4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
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5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
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abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are
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such as should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to
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ourselves that we are justified, and then to take the comfort it
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renders to us, and to do the duty it calls for from us. The fruits of
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this tree of life are exceedingly precious.</P>
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<P>
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I. <I>We have peace with God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us and God, creates not only
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a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God cannot in honour
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be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt of sin.
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Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And
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such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately
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upon the removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay
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hold of God's arm and of his strength, and so are at peace,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+27:4,5">Isa. xxvii. 4, 5</A>.
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There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is
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friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or
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the best friend. Abraham, being justified by faith, was called <I>the
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friend of God</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+2:23">Jam. ii. 23</A>),
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which was his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called
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his disciples <I>friends,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:13-15">John xv. 13-15</A>.
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And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than to have God his
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friend! But this is <I>through our Lord Jesus Christ</I>--through him as
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the great peace-maker, <I>the Mediator between God and man,</I> that
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blessed Day's-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in
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innocency, had peace with God immediately; there needed no such
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mediator. But to guilty sinful man it is a very dreadful thing to think
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of God out of Christ; <I>for he is our peace,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:14">Eph. ii. 14</A>,
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not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+1:20">Col. i. 20</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. <I>We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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This is a further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this
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favour. Observe,
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1. The saints' happy state. It is a state of grace, God's
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loving-kindness to us and our conformity to God; he that hath God's
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love and God's likeness is in a state of grace. Now into this grace we
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have access <B><I>prosagogen</I></B>--<I>an introduction,</I> which
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implies that we were not born in this state; we are <I>by nature
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children of wrath,</I> and <I>the carnal mind is enmity against
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God;</I> but we are brought into it. We could not have got into it of
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ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties in the way, but we have
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a manuduction, a leading by the hand,--are led into it as blind, or
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lame, or weak people are led,--are introduced as pardoned
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offenders,--are introduced by some favourite at court to kiss the
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king's hand, as strangers, that are to have audience, are conducted.
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<B><I>Prosagogen eschekamen</I></B>--<I>We have had access.</I> He
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speaks of those that have been already brought out of a state of nature
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into a state of grace. Paul, in his conversion, had this access; then
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he was made nigh. Barnabas introduced him <I>to the apostles</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:27">Acts ix. 27</A>),
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and there were others <I>that led him by the hand to Damascus</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
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but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand into this
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grace. <I>By whom we have access by faith.</I> By Christ as the author
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and principal agent, by faith as the means of this access. Not by
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Christ in consideration of any merit or desert of ours, but in
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consideration of our believing dependence upon him and resignation of
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ourselves to him.
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2. Their happy standing in this state: <I>wherein we stand.</I> Not
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only wherein we are, but wherein we stand, a posture that denotes our
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discharge from guilt; <I>we stand in the judgment</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+1:5">Ps. i. 5</A>),
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not cast, as convicted criminals, but our dignity and honour secured,
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not thrown to the ground, as abjects. The phrase denotes also our
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progress; while we stand, we are going. We must not lie down, as if we
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had already attained, but stand as those that are pressing forward,
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stand as servants attending on Christ our master. The phrase denotes,
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further, our perseverance: we stand firmly and safely, upheld by the
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power of God; stand as soldiers stand, that keep their ground, not
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borne down by the power of the enemy. It denotes not only our admission
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to, but our confirmation in, the favour of God. It is not in the court
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of heaven as in earthly courts, where high places are slippery places:
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but we stand in a humble confidence of this very thing <I>that he who
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has begun the good work will perform it,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+1:6">Phil. i. 6</A>.</P>
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<P>
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III. <I>We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.</I> Besides the
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happiness in hand, there is a happiness in hope, <I>the glory of
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God,</I> the glory which God will put upon the saints in heaven, glory
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which will consist in the vision and fruition of God.
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1. Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of
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God now may hope for the glory of God hereafter. There is no good hope
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of glory but what is founded in grace; grace is glory begun, the
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earnest and assurance of glory. <I>He will give grace and glory,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+84:11">Ps. lxxxiv. 11</A>.
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2. Those who hope for the glory of God hereafter have enough to
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rejoice in now. It is the duty of those that hope for heaven to rejoice
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in that hope.</P>
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<P>
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IV. <I>We glory in tribulations also;</I> not only notwithstanding our
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tribulations (these do not hinder our rejoicing in hope of the glory of
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God), but even in our tribulations, as they are working for us the
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weight of glory,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:17">2 Cor. iv. 17</A>.
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Observe, What a growing increasing happiness the happiness of the
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saints is: <I>Not only so.</I> One would think such peace, such grace,
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such glory, and such a joy in hope of it, were more than such poor
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undeserving creatures as we are could pretend to; and yet it is <I>not
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only so:</I> there are more instances of our happiness--<I>we glory in
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tribulations also,</I> especially tribulations for righteousness' sake,
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which seemed the greatest objection against the saints' happiness,
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whereas really their happiness did not only consist with, but take rise
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from, those tribulations. <I>They rejoiced that they were counted
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worthy to suffer,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+5:41">Acts v. 41</A>.
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This being the hardest point, he sets himself to show the grounds and
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reasons of it. How come we to glory in tribulations? Why, because
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tribulations, by a chain of causes, greatly befriend hope, which he
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shows in the method of its influence.
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1. <I>Tribulation worketh patience,</I> not in and of itself, but the
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powerful grace of God working in and with the tribulation. It proves,
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and by proving improves, patience, as parts and gifts increase by
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exercise. It is not the efficient cause, but yields the occasion, as
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steel is hardened by the fire. See how God brings meat out of the
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eater, and sweetness out of the strong. That which worketh patience is
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matter of joy; for patience does us more good than tribulations can do
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us hurt. Tribulation in itself worketh impatience; but, as it is
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sanctified to the saints, it worketh patience.
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2. <I>Patience experience,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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It works an experience of God, and the songs he gives in the night; the
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patient sufferers have the greatest experience of the divine
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consolations, which abound as afflictions abound. It works an
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experience of ourselves. It is by tribulation that we make an
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experiment of our own sincerity, and therefore such tribulations are
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called trials. It works, <B><I>dokimen</I></B>--<I>an approbation,</I>
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as he is approved that has passed the test. Thus Job's tribulation
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wrought patience, and that patience produced an approbation, that still
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he <I>holds fast his integrity,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+2:3">Job ii. 3</A>.
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3. <I>Experience hope.</I> He who, being thus tried, comes forth as
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gold, will thereby be encouraged to hope. This experiment, or
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approbation, is not so much the ground, as the evidence, of our hope,
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and a special friend to it. Experience of God is a prop to our hope;
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he that hath delivered doth and will. Experience of ourselves helps to
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evidence our sincerity.
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4. This <I>hope maketh not ashamed;</I> that is, it is a hope that
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will not deceive us. Nothing confounds more than disappointment.
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Everlasting shame and confusion will be caused by the perishing of the
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expectation of the wicked, <I>but the hope of the righteous shall be
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gladness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+10:28">Prov. x. 28</A>.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+22:5,71:1">Ps. xxii. 5; lxxi. 1</A>.
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Or, It maketh not ashamed of our sufferings. Though <I>we are counted
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as the offscouring of all things, and trodden under foot as the mire in
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the streets,</I> yet, having hopes of glory, we are not ashamed of
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these sufferings. It is in a good cause, for a good Master, and in good
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hope; and therefore we are not ashamed. We will never think ourselves
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disparaged by sufferings that are likely to end so well. <I>Because the
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love of God is shed abroad.</I> This hope will not disappoint us,
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because it is sealed with the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of love. It is
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the gracious work of the blessed Spirit to shed abroad the love of God
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in the hearts of all the saints. <I>The love of God,</I> that is, the
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sense of God's love to us, drawing out love in us to him again. Or, The
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great effects of his love:
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(1.) Special grace; and,
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(2.) The pleasant gust or sense of it. <I>It is shed abroad,</I> as
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sweet ointment, perfuming the soul, as rain watering it and making it
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fruitful. The ground of all our comfort and holiness, and perseverance
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in both, is laid in the <I>shedding abroad of the love of God in our
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hearts;</I> it is this which constrains us,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+5:14">2 Cor. v. 14</A>.
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Thus are we drawn and held by the bonds of love. Sense of God's love to
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us will make us not ashamed, either of our hope in him or our
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sufferings for him.</P>
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<A NAME="Ro5_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_15"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_16"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_17"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_18"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_19"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_20"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro5_21"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The First and the Second Adam; The Influence of Grace.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 58.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ
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died for the ungodly.
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7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet
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peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
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8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were
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yet sinners, Christ died for us.
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9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be
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saved from wrath through him.
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10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by
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the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be
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saved by his life.
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11 And not only <I>so,</I> but we also joy in God through our Lord
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Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
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12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
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death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have
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sinned:
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13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not
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imputed when there is no law.
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14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over
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them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
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transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
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15 But not as the offence, so also <I>is</I> the free gift. For if
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through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of
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God, and the gift by grace, <I>which is</I> by one man, Jesus Christ,
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hath abounded unto many.
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16 And not as <I>it was</I> by one that sinned, <I>so is</I> the gift:
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for the judgment <I>was</I> by one to condemnation, but the free gift
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<I>is</I> of many offences unto justification.
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17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more
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they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of
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righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
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18 Therefore as by the offence of one <I>judgment came</I> upon all
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men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one <I>the
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free gift came</I> upon all men unto justification of life.
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19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so
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by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
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20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But
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where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
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21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace
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reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our
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Lord.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle here describes the fountain and foundation of
|
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justification, laid in the death of the Lord Jesus. The streams are
|
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very sweet, but, if you run them up to the spring-head, you will find
|
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it to be Christ's dying for us; it is in the precious stream of
|
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Christ's blood that all these privileges come flowing to us: and
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|
therefore he enlarges upon this instance of the love of God which is
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shed abroad. Three things he takes notice of for the explication and
|
|
illustration of this doctrine:--
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1. The persons he died for,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6-8"><I>v.</I> 6-8</A>.
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2. The precious fruits of his death,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9-11"><I>v.</I> 9-11</A>.
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3. The parallel he runs between the communication of sin and death by
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the first Adam and of righteousness and life by the second Adam,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12-21"><I>v.</I> 12, to the end</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The character we were under when Christ died for us.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. <I>We were without strength</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
in a sad condition; and, which is worse, altogether unable to help
|
|
ourselves out of that condition--lost, and no visible way open for our
|
|
recovery--our condition deplorable, and in a manner desperate; and,
|
|
therefore our salvation is here said to come <I>in due time.</I> God's
|
|
time to help and save is when those that are to be saved are without
|
|
strength, that his own power and grace may be the more magnified,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+32:36">Deut. xxxii. 36</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is the manner of God to help at a dead lift,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. <I>He died for the ungodly;</I> not only helpless creatures, and
|
|
therefore likely to perish, but guilty sinful creatures, and therefore
|
|
deserving to perish; not only mean and worthless, but vile and
|
|
obnoxious, unworthy of such favour with the holy God. Being ungodly,
|
|
they had need of one to die for them, to satisfy for guilt, and to
|
|
bring in a righteousness. This he illustrates
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>)
|
|
|
|
as an unparalleled instance of love; herein God's thoughts and ways
|
|
were above ours. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+15:13,14">John xv. 13, 14</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Greater love has no man.</I>
|
|
|
|
(1.) One would hardly <I>die for a righteous man,</I> that is, an
|
|
innocent man, one that is unjustly condemned; every body will pity such
|
|
a one, but few will put such a value upon his life as either to hazard,
|
|
or much less to deposit, their own in his stead.
|
|
|
|
(2.) It may be, one might perhaps be persuaded <I>to die for a good
|
|
man,</I> that is, a useful man, who is more than barely a righteous
|
|
man. Many that are good themselves yet do but little good to others;
|
|
but those that are useful commonly get themselves well beloved, and
|
|
meet with some that in a case of necessity would venture to be their
|
|
<B><I>antipsychoi</I></B>--<I>would engage life for life,</I> would be
|
|
their bail, body for body. Paul was, in this sense, a very good man,
|
|
one that was very useful, and he met with some that for his life laid
|
|
down their own necks,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+16:4"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
And yet observe how he qualifies this: it is but some that would do so,
|
|
and it is a daring act if they do it, it must be some bold venturing
|
|
soul; and, after all, it is but a <I>peradventure.</I>
|
|
|
|
(3.) <I>But Christ died for sinners</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>),
|
|
|
|
neither righteous nor good; not only such as were useless, but such as
|
|
were guilty and obnoxious; not only such as there would be no loss of
|
|
should they perish, but such whose destruction would greatly redound to
|
|
the glory of God's justice, being malefactors and criminals that ought
|
|
to die. Some think he alludes to a common distinction the Jews had of
|
|
their people into <B><I>ndyqym</I></B>--<I>righteous,</I>
|
|
<B><I>hsdym</I></B>--<I>merciful</I> (compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+17:1">Isa. xvii. 1</A>),
|
|
|
|
and <B><I>rssym</I></B>--<I>wicked.</I> Now herein <I>God commended his
|
|
love,</I> not only proved or evidenced his love (he might have done
|
|
that at a cheaper rate), but magnified it and made it illustrious. This
|
|
circumstance did greatly magnify and advance his love, not only put it
|
|
past dispute, but rendered it the object of the greatest wonder and
|
|
admiration: "Now my creatures shall see that I love them, I will give
|
|
them such an instance of it as shall be without parallel."
|
|
<I>Commendeth his love,</I> as merchants commend their goods when they
|
|
would put them off. This commending of his love was in order to the
|
|
shedding abroad of his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. He evinces
|
|
his love in the most winning, affecting, endearing way imaginable.
|
|
<I>While we were yet sinners,</I> implying that we were not to be
|
|
always sinners, there should be a change wrought; for he died to save
|
|
us, not in our sins, but from our sins; but we were yet sinners when he
|
|
died for us.
|
|
|
|
(4.) Nay, which is more, <I>we were enemies</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
not only malefactors, but traitors and rebels, in arms against the
|
|
government; the worst kind of malefactors and of all malefactors the
|
|
most obnoxious. The carnal mind is not only an enemy to God, but enmity
|
|
itself,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:7,Col+1:21"><I>ch.</I> viii. 7; Col. i. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
This enmity is a mutual enmity, God loathing the sinner, and the sinner
|
|
loathing God,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+11:8">Zech. xi. 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
And that for such as these Christ should die is such a mystery, such a
|
|
paradox, such an unprecedented instance of love, that it may well be
|
|
our business to eternity to adore and wonder at it. This is a
|
|
commendation of love indeed. Justly might he who had thus loved us make
|
|
it one of the laws of his kingdom that we should love our enemies.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The precious fruits of his death.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Justification and reconciliation are the first and primary fruit of
|
|
the death of Christ: <I>We are justified by his blood</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>reconciled by his death,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sin is pardoned, the sinner accepted as righteous, the quarrel taken
|
|
up, the enmity slain, an end made of iniquity, and an everlasting
|
|
righteousness brought in. This is done, that is, Christ has done all
|
|
that was requisite on his part to be done in order hereunto, and,
|
|
immediately upon our believing, we are actually put into a state of
|
|
justification and reconciliation. <I>Justified by his blood.</I> Our
|
|
justification is ascribed to the blood of Christ because <I>without
|
|
blood there is no remission</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:22">Heb. ix. 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>The blood is the life,</I> and that must go to make atonement. In
|
|
all the propitiatory sacrifices, the sprinkling of the blood was of the
|
|
essence of the sacrifice. It was <I>the blood that made an atonement
|
|
for the soul,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+17:11">Lev. xvii. 11</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. Hence results salvation from wrath: <I>Saved from wrath</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>saved by his life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
When that which hinders our salvation is taken away, the salvation must
|
|
needs follow. Nay, the argument holds very strongly; if God justified
|
|
and reconciled us when we were enemies, and put himself to so much
|
|
charge to do it, much more will he save us when we are justified and
|
|
reconciled. He that has done the greater, which is of enemies to make
|
|
us friends, will certainly the less, which is when we are friends to
|
|
use us friendly and to be kind to us. And therefore the apostle, once
|
|
and again, speaks of it with a <I>much more.</I> He that hath digged so
|
|
deep to lay the foundation will no doubt build upon that
|
|
foundation.--<I>We shall be saved from wrath,</I> from hell and
|
|
damnation. It is the wrath of God that is the fire of hell; <I>the
|
|
wrath to come,</I> so it is called,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Th+1:10">1 Thess. i. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
The final justification and absolution of believers at the great day,
|
|
together with the fitting and preparing of them for it, are the
|
|
salvation from wrath here spoken of; it is the perfecting of the work
|
|
of grace.--<I>Reconciled by his death, saved by his life.</I> His life
|
|
here spoken of is not to be understood of his life in the flesh, but
|
|
his life in heaven, that life which ensued after his death. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+14:9"><I>ch.</I> xiv. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>He was dead, and is alive,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:18">Rev. i. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are reconciled by Christ humbled, we are saved by Christ exalted.
|
|
The dying Jesus laid the foundation, in satisfying for sin, and slaying
|
|
the enmity, and so making us salvable; thus is the partition-wall
|
|
broken down, atonement made, and the attainder reversed; but it is the
|
|
living Jesus that perfects the work: <I>he lives to make
|
|
intercession,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+7:25">Heb. vii. 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is Christ, in his exaltation, that by his word and Spirit
|
|
effectually calls, and changes, and reconciles us to God, is our
|
|
Advocate with the Father, and so completes and consummates our
|
|
salvation. Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+4:25,8:34"><I>ch.</I> iv. 25 and viii. 34</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ dying was the testator, who bequeathed us the legacy; but Christ
|
|
living is the executor, who pays it. Now the arguing is very strong. He
|
|
that puts himself to the charge of purchasing our salvation will not
|
|
decline the trouble of applying it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. All this produces, as a further privilege, our <I>joy in God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
God is now so far from being a terror to us that he is our <I>joy, and
|
|
our hope in the day of evil,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+17:17">Jer. xvii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>We are reconciled and saved from wrath.</I> Iniquity, blessed be
|
|
God, <I>shall not be our ruin. And not only so,</I> there is more in it
|
|
yet, a constant stream of favours; we not only go to heaven, but go to
|
|
heaven triumphantly; not only get into the harbour, but come in with
|
|
full sail: <I>We joy in God,</I> not only saved from his wrath, but
|
|
solacing ourselves in his love, and this through Jesus Christ, who is
|
|
the Alpha and the Omega, the foundation-stone and the top-stone of all
|
|
our comforts and hopes--not only <I>our salvation, but our strength and
|
|
our song;</I> and all this (which he repeats as a string he loved to be
|
|
harping upon) by virtue of the atonement, for by him we Christians, we
|
|
believers, have now, now in gospel times, or now in this life,
|
|
<I>received the atonement,</I> which was typified by the sacrifices
|
|
under thee law, and is an earnest of our happiness in heaven. True
|
|
believers do by Jesus Christ receive the atonement. Receiving the
|
|
atonement is our actual reconciliation to God in justification,
|
|
grounded upon Christ's satisfaction. To <I>receive the atonement</I>
|
|
is,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To give our consent to the atonement, approving of, and agreeing
|
|
to, those methods which Infinite Wisdom has taken of saving a guilty
|
|
world by the blood of a crucified Jesus, being willing and glad to be
|
|
saved in a gospel way and upon gospel terms.
|
|
|
|
(2.) To take the comfort of the atonement, which is the fountain and
|
|
the foundation of our joy in God. Now <I>we joy in God,</I> now we do
|
|
indeed <I>receive the atonement,</I>
|
|
<B><I>kauchomenoi</I></B>--<I>glorying</I> in it. God hath received the
|
|
atonement
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+3:17,17:5.28:2">Matt. iii. 17; xvii. 5; xxviii. 2</A>):
|
|
|
|
if we but receive it, the work is done.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The parallel that the apostle runs between the communication of
|
|
sin and death by the first Adam and of righteousness and life by the
|
|
second Adam
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12-21">
|
|
<I>v.</I> 12, to the end</A>),
|
|
|
|
which not only illustrates the truth he is discoursing of, but tends
|
|
very much to the commending of the love of God and the comforting of
|
|
the hearts of true believers, in showing a correspondence between our
|
|
fall and our recovery, and not only a like, but a much greater power in
|
|
the second Adam to make us happy, than there was in the first to make
|
|
us miserable. Now, for the opening of this, observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. A general truth laid down as the foundation of his discourse--that
|
|
Adam was a type of Christ
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Who is the figure of him that was to come.</I> Christ is therefore
|
|
called the <I>last Adam,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:45">1 Cor. xv. 45</A>.
|
|
|
|
Compare
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
In this Adam was a type of Christ, that in the covenant-transactions
|
|
that were between God and him, and in the consequent events of those
|
|
transactions, Adam was a public person. God dealt with Adam and Adam
|
|
acted as such a one, as a common father and factor, root and
|
|
representative, of and for all his posterity; so that what he did in
|
|
that station, as agent for us, we may be said to have done in him, and
|
|
what was done to him may be said to have been done to us in him. Thus
|
|
Jesus Christ, the Mediator, acted as a public person, the head of all
|
|
the elect, dealt with God for them, as their father, factor, root, and
|
|
representative--died for them, rose for them, entered within the veil
|
|
for them, did all for them. When Adam failed, we failed with him; when
|
|
Christ performed, he performed for us. Thus was Adam <B><I>typos tou
|
|
mellontos</I></B>--<I>the figure of him that was to come,</I> to come
|
|
to repair that breach which Adam had made.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. A more particular explication of the parallel, in which observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) How Adam, as a public person, communicated sin and death to all
|
|
his posterity
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>By one man sin entered.</I> We see the world under a deluge of sin
|
|
and death, full of iniquities and full of calamities. Now, it is worth
|
|
while to enquire what is the spring that feeds it, and you will find it
|
|
to be the general corruption of nature; and at what gap it entered, and
|
|
you will find it to have been Adam's first sin. It was <I>by one
|
|
man,</I> and he the first man (for if any had been before him they
|
|
would have been free), that one man from whom, as from the root, we all
|
|
spring.
|
|
|
|
[1.] By him <I>sin entered.</I> When God pronounced all very good
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:31">Gen. i. 31</A>)
|
|
|
|
there was no sin in the world; it was when Adam ate forbidden fruit
|
|
that sin made its entry. Sin had before entered into the world of
|
|
angels, when many of them revolted from their allegiance and left their
|
|
first estate; but it never entered into the world of mankind till Adam
|
|
sinned. Then it entered as an enemy, to kill and destroy, as a thief,
|
|
to rob and despoil; and a dismal entry it was. Then entered the guilt
|
|
of Adam's sin imputed to posterity, and a general corruption and
|
|
depravedness of nature. <B><I>Eph ho</I></B>--<I>for that</I> (so we
|
|
read it), rather <I>in whom, all have sinned.</I> Sin entered into the
|
|
world by Adam, for in him we all sinned. As,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:22">1 Cor. xv. 22</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>in Adam all die;</I> so here, <I>in him all have sinned;</I> for it
|
|
is agreeable to the law of all nations that the acts of a public person
|
|
be accounted theirs whom they represent; and what a whole body does
|
|
every member of the same body may be said to do. Now Adam acted thus
|
|
as a public person, by the sovereign ordination and appointment of God,
|
|
and yet that founded upon a natural necessity; for God, as the author
|
|
of nature, had made this the law of nature, that man should beget in
|
|
his own likeness, and so the other creatures. In Adam therefore, as in
|
|
a common receptacle, the whole nature of man was reposited, from him to
|
|
flow down in a channel to his posterity; for all mankind are made <I>of
|
|
one blood</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+17:26">Acts xvii. 26</A>),
|
|
|
|
so that according as this nature proves through his standing or
|
|
falling, before he puts it out of his hands, accordingly it is
|
|
propagated from him. Adam therefore sinning and falling, the nature
|
|
became guilty and corrupt, and is so derived. Thus in him all have
|
|
sinned.
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>Death by sin,</I> for death is the wages of sin. Sin, when it
|
|
is finished, brings forth death. When sin came, of course death came
|
|
with it. Death is here put for all that misery which is the due desert
|
|
of sin, temporal, spiritual, eternal death. If Adam had not sinned, he
|
|
had not died; the threatening was, <I>In the day thou eatest thou shall
|
|
surely die,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+2:17">Gen. ii. 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
[3.] <I>So death passed,</I> that is, a sentence of death was passed,
|
|
as upon a criminal, <B><I>dielthen</I></B>--<I>passed through</I> all
|
|
men, as an infectious disease passes through a town, so that none
|
|
escape it. It is the universal fate, without exception: death passes
|
|
upon all. There are common calamities incident to human life which do
|
|
abundantly prove this. <I>Death reigned,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
He speaks of death as a mighty prince, and his monarchy the most
|
|
absolute, universal, and lasting monarchy. None are exempted from its
|
|
sceptre; it is a monarchy that will survive all other earthly rule,
|
|
authority, and power, for it is the last enemy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:26">1 Cor. xv. 26</A>.
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Those sons of Belial that will be subject to no other rule cannot avoid
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being subject to this. Now all this we may thank Adam for; from him
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sin and death descend. Well may we say, as that good man, observing
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the change that a fit of sickness had made in his countenance, <I>O
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Adam!</I> what hast thou done?</P>
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<P>
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Further, to clear this, he shows that sin did not commence with the law
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of Moses, but was <I>in the world until,</I> or <I>before,</I> that
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law; therefore that law of Moses is not the only rule of life, for
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there was a rule, and that rule was transgressed, before the law was
|
|
given. It likewise intimates that we cannot be justified by our
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|
obedience to the law of Moses, any more than we were condemned by and
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for our disobedience to it. Sin was in the world before the law;
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witness Cain's murder, the apostasy of the old world, the wickedness of
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Sodom. His inference hence is, Therefore there was a law; for <I>sin is
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|
not imputed where there is no law.</I> Original sin is a want of
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conformity to, and actual sin is a transgression of, the law of God:
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therefore all were under some law. His proof of it is, <I>Death reigned
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from Adam to Moses,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
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It is certain that death could not have reigned if sin had not set up
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the throne for him. This proves that sin was in the world before the
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law, and original sin, for death reigned over those that had not sinned
|
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any actual sin, that <I>had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's
|
|
transgression,</I> never sinned in their own persons as Adam did--which
|
|
is to be understood of infants, that were never guilty of actual sin,
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|
and yet died, because Adam's sin was imputed to them. This reign of
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|
death seems especially to refer to those violent and extraordinary
|
|
judgments which were long before Moses, as the deluge and the
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|
destruction of Sodom, which involved infants. It is a great proof of
|
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original sin that little children, who were never guilty of any actual
|
|
transgression, are yet liable to very terrible diseases, casualties,
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|
and deaths, which could by no means be reconciled with the justice and
|
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righteousness of God if they were not chargeable with guilt.</P>
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|
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<P>
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|
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(2.) How, in correspondence to this, Christ, as a public person,
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|
communicates righteousness and life to all true believers, who are his
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|
spiritual seed. And in this he shows not only wherein the resemblance
|
|
holds, but, <I>ex abundanti,</I> wherein the communication of grace and
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love by Christ <I>goes beyond</I> the communication of guilt and wrath
|
|
by Adam. Observe,</P>
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<P>
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[1.] Wherein the resemblance holds. This is laid down most fully,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:18,19"><I>v.</I> 18, 19</A>.</P>
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<P>
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<I>First, By the offence and disobedience of one many were made
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sinners, and judgment came upon all men to condemnation.</I> Here
|
|
observe,
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1. That Adam's sin was disobedience, disobedience to a plain and
|
|
express command: and it was a command of trial. The thing he did was
|
|
therefore evil because it was forbidden, and not otherwise; but this
|
|
opened the door to other sins, though itself seemingly small.
|
|
|
|
2. That the malignity and poison of sin are very strong and spreading,
|
|
else the guilt of Adam's sin would not have reached so far, nor have
|
|
been so deep and long a stream. Who would think there should be so much
|
|
evil in sin?
|
|
|
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3. That by Adam's sin many are made sinners: <I>many,</I> that is, all
|
|
his posterity; said to be many, in opposition to the one that offended,
|
|
<I>Made sinners,</I> <B><I>katestathesan.</I></B> It denotes the making
|
|
of us such by a judicial act: we were cast as sinners by due course of
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
4. That judgment is come to condemnation upon all those that by Adam's
|
|
disobedience were made sinners. Being convicted, we are condemned. All
|
|
the race of mankind lie under a sentence, like an attainder upon a
|
|
family. There is judgment given and recorded against us in the court of
|
|
heaven; and, if the judgment be not reversed, we are likely to sink
|
|
under it to eternity.</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
<I>Secondly,</I> In like manner, <I>by the righteousness and obedience
|
|
of one</I> (and that one is Jesus Christ, the second Adam), <I>are many
|
|
made righteous,</I> and so the <I>free gift comes upon all.</I> It is
|
|
observable how the apostle inculcates this truth, and repeats it again
|
|
and again, as a truth of very great consequence. Here observe,
|
|
|
|
1. The nature of Christ's righteousness, how it is brought in; it is by
|
|
his obedience. The disobedience of the first Adam ruined us, the
|
|
obedience of the second Adam saves us,--his obedience to the law of
|
|
mediation, which was that he should fulfil all righteousness, and then
|
|
make his soul an offering for sin. By his obedience to this law he
|
|
wrought out a righteousness for us, satisfied God's justice, and so
|
|
made way for us into his favour.
|
|
|
|
2. The fruit of it.
|
|
|
|
(1.) There is a <I>free gift come upon all men,</I> that is, it is made
|
|
and offered promiscuously to all. The salvation wrought is a <I>common
|
|
salvation;</I> the proposals are general, the tender free; whoever will
|
|
may come, and take of these waters of life. This free gift is to all
|
|
believers, upon their believing, <I>unto justification of life.</I> It
|
|
is not only a justification that frees from death, but that entitles to
|
|
life.
|
|
|
|
(2.) <I>Many shall be made righteous</I>--many compared with one, or as
|
|
many as belong to the election of grace, which, though but a few as
|
|
they are scattered up and down in the world, yet will be a great many
|
|
when they come all together. <B><I>Katastathesontai</I></B>--<I>they
|
|
shall be constituted</I> righteous, as by letters patent. Now the
|
|
antithesis between these two, our ruin by Adam and our recovery by
|
|
Christ, is obvious enough.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Wherein the communication of grace and love by Christ goes beyond
|
|
the communication of guilt and wrath by Adam; and this he shows,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:15-17"><I>v.</I> 15-17</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is designed for the magnifying of the riches of Christ's love, and
|
|
for the comfort and encouragement of believers, who, considering what a
|
|
wound Adam's sin has made, might begin to despair of a proportionable
|
|
remedy. His expressions are a little intricate, but this he seems to
|
|
intend:--<I>First,</I> If guilt and wrath be communicated, much more
|
|
shall grace and love; for it is agreeable to the idea we have of the
|
|
divine goodness to suppose that he should be more ready to save upon an
|
|
imputed righteousness than to condemn upon an imputed guilt: <I>Much
|
|
more the grace of God, and the gift by grace.</I> God's goodness is, of
|
|
all his attributes, in a special manner his glory, and it is that grace
|
|
that is the root (his favour to us in Christ), and the gift is by
|
|
grace. We know that God is rather inclined to show mercy; punishing is
|
|
his strange work. <I>Secondly,</I> If there was so much power and
|
|
efficacy, as it seems there was, in the sin of a man, who was of the
|
|
earth, earthy, to condemn us, much more are there power and efficacy in
|
|
the righteousness and grace of Christ, who is the Lord from heaven, to
|
|
justify and save us. The <I>one man</I> that saves us is Jesus Christ.
|
|
Surely Adam could not propagate so strong a poison but Jesus Christ
|
|
could propagate as strong an antidote, and much stronger.
|
|
|
|
3. It is but the guilt of one single offence of Adam's that is laid to
|
|
our charge: <I>The judgment was</I> <B><I>ex henos eis
|
|
katakrima,</I></B> <I>by one,</I> that is, by one offence,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Margin.</I> But from Jesus Christ we receive and derive an
|
|
<I>abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness.</I> The stream
|
|
of grace and righteousness is deeper and broader than the stream of
|
|
guilt; for this righteousness does not only take away the guilt of that
|
|
one offence, but of many other offences, even of all. God in Christ
|
|
forgives all trespasses,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+2:13">Col. ii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
4. By Adam's sin <I>death reigned;</I> but by Christ's righteousness
|
|
there is not only a period put to the reign of death, but believers are
|
|
preferred to <I>reign of life,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
In and by the righteousness of Christ we have not only a charter of
|
|
pardon, but a patent of honour, are not only freed from our chains,
|
|
but, like Joseph, advanced to the second chariot, and made unto our God
|
|
kings and priests--not only pardoned, but preferred. See this observed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:5,6,5:9,10">Rev. i. 5, 6; v. 9, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
We are by Christ and his righteousness entitled to, and instated in,
|
|
more and greater privileges than we lost by the offence of Adam. The
|
|
plaster is wider than the wound, and more healing than the wound is
|
|
killing.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. In the
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:20,21">last two verses</A>
|
|
|
|
the apostle seems to anticipate an objection which is expressed,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:19">Gal. iii. 19</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>Wherefore then serveth the law?</I> Answer,
|
|
|
|
1. <I>The law entered that the offence might abound.</I> Not to make
|
|
sin to abound the more in itself, otherwise than as sin takes occasion
|
|
by the commandment, but to discover the abounding sinfulness of it. The
|
|
glass discovers the spots, but does not cause them. When the
|
|
commandment came into the world sin revived, as the letting of a
|
|
clearer light into a room discovers the dust and filth which were there
|
|
before, but were not seen. It was like the searching of a wound, which
|
|
is necessary to the cure. <I>The offence,</I> <B><I>to
|
|
paraptoma</I></B>--<I>that offence,</I> the sin of Adam, the extending
|
|
of the guilt of it to us, and the effect of the corruption in us, are
|
|
the abounding of that offence which appeared upon the entry of the law.
|
|
|
|
2. <I>That grace might much more abound</I>--that the terrors of the
|
|
law might make gospel-comforts so much the sweeter. Sin abounded among
|
|
the Jews; and, to those of them that were converted to the faith of
|
|
Christ, did not grace much more abound in the remitting of so much
|
|
guilt and the subduing of so much corruption? The greater the strength
|
|
of the enemy, the greater the honour of the conqueror. This abounding
|
|
of grace he illustrates,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+5:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
As the reign of a tyrant and oppressor is a foil to set off the
|
|
succeeding reign of a just and gentle prince and to make it the more
|
|
illustrious, so doth the reign of sin set off the reign of grace.
|
|
<I>Sin reigned unto death;</I> it was a cruel bloody reign. But
|
|
<I>grace reigns</I> to life, <I>eternal life,</I> and this <I>through
|
|
righteousness,</I> righteousness imputed to us for justification,
|
|
implanted in us for sanctification; and both by <I>Jesus Christ our
|
|
Lord,</I> through the power and efficacy of Christ, the great prophet,
|
|
priest, and king, of his church.</P>
|
|
|
|
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