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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Romans VI].</TITLE>
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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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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1721)
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</TD></TR></TABLE>
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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. VI.</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 at large asserted, opened, and proved, the great
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doctrine of justification by faith, for fear lest any should suck
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poison out of that sweet flower, and turn that grace of God into
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wantonness and licentiousness, he, with a like zeal, copiousness of
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expression, and cogency of argument, presses the absolute necessity of
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sanctification and a holy life, as the inseparable fruit and companion
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of justification; for, wherever Jesus Christ is made of God unto any
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soul righteousness, he is made of God unto that soul sanctification,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+1:30">1 Cor. i. 30</A>.
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The water and the blood came streaming together out of the pierced side
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of the dying Jesus. And what God hath thus joined together let not us
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dare to put asunder.</P>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>On Sanctification.</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 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace
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may abound?
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2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any
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longer therein?
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3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus
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Christ were baptized into his death?
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4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
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like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
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Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
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5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his
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death, we shall be also <I>in the likeness</I> of <I>his</I> resurrection:
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6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with <I>him,</I> that
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the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not
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serve sin.
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7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
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8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also
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live with him:
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9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;
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death hath no more dominion over him.
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10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he
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liveth, he liveth unto God.
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11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto
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sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye
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should obey it in the lusts thereof.
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13 Neither yield ye your members <I>as</I> instruments of
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unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those
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that are alive from the dead, and your members <I>as</I> instruments
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of righteousness unto God.
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14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not
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under the law, but under grace.
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15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law,
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but under grace? God forbid.
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16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to
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obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto
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death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
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17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye
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have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
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delivered you.
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18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
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righteousness.
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19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of
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your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to
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uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your
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members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
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20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
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righteousness.
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21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now
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ashamed? for the end of those things <I>is</I> death.
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22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to
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God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting
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life.
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23 For the wages of sin <I>is</I> death; but the gift of God <I>is</I>
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eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The apostle's transition, which joins this discourse with the former,
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is observable: "<I>What shall we say then?</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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What use shall we make of this sweet and comfortable doctrine? Shall we
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do evil that good may come, as some say we do?
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+3:8"><I>ch.</I> iii. 8</A>.
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<I>Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?</I> Shall we hence
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take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the
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more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our
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pardon? Is this a use to be made of it?" No, it is an abuse, and the
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apostle startles at the thought of it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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"<I>God forbid;</I> far be it from us to think such a thought." He
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entertains the objection as Christ did the devil's blackest temptation
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+4:10">Matt. iv. 10</A>):
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<I>Get thee hence, Satan.</I> Those opinions that give any countenance
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to sin, or open a door to practical immoralities, how specious and
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plausible soever they be rendered, by the pretension of advancing free
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grace, are to be rejected with the greatest abhorrence; for the truth
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as it is in Jesus is a truth <I>according to godliness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Tit+1:1">Tit. i. 1</A>.
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The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness in this
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chapter, which may be reduced to two heads:--His exhortations to
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holiness, which show the nature of it; and his motives or arguments to
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enforce those exhortations, which show the necessity of it.</P>
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<P>
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I. For the first, we may hence observe the nature of sanctification,
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what it is, and wherein it consists. In general it has two things in
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it, mortification and vivification--dying to sin and living to
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righteousness, elsewhere expressed by putting off the old man and
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putting on the new, ceasing to do evil and learning to do well.</P>
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<P>
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1. Mortification, putting off the old man; several ways this is
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expressed.
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(1.) We must <I>live no longer in sin</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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we must not be as we have been nor do as we have done. The time past of
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our life must suffice,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+4:3">1 Peter iv. 3</A>.
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Though there are none that live without sin, yet, blessed be God, there
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are those that do not live in sin, do not live in it as their element,
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do not make a trade of it: this is to be sanctified.
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(2.) <I>The body of sin must be destroyed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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The corruption that dwelleth in us is the body of sin, consisting of
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many parts and members, as a body. This is the root to which the axe
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must be laid. We must not only cease from the acts of sin (this may be
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done through the influence of outward restraints, or other
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inducements), but we must get the vicious habits and inclinations
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weakened and destroyed; not only cast away the idols of iniquity out of
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the heart.--<I>That henceforth we should not serve sin.</I> The actual
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transgression is certainly in a great measure prevented by the
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crucifying and killing of the original corruption. Destroy the body of
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sin, and then, though there should be Canaanites remaining in the land,
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yet the Israelites will not be slaves to them. It is the body of sin
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that sways the sceptre, wields the iron rod; destroy this, and the yoke
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is broken. The destruction of Eglon the tyrant is the deliverance of
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oppressed Israel from the Moabites.
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(3.) <I>We must be dead indeed unto sin,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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As the death of the oppressor is a release, so much more is the death
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of the oppressed,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:17,18">Job iii. 17, 18</A>.
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Death brings a writ of ease to the weary. Thus must we be dead to sin,
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obey it, observe it, regard it, fulfil its will no more than he that is
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dead doth his <I>quandam</I> task-masters--be as indifference to the
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pleasures and delights of sin as a man that is dying is to his former
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diversions. He that is dead is separated from his former company,
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converse, business, enjoyments, employments, is not what he was, does
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not what he did, has not what he had. Death makes a mighty change; such
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a change doth sanctification make in the soul, it cuts off all
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correspondence with sin.
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(4.) <I>Sin must not reign in our mortal bodies that we should obey
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it,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
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Though sin may remain as an outlaw, though it may oppress as a tyrant,
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yet let it not reign as a king. Let it not make laws, nor preside in
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councils, nor command the militia; let it not be uppermost in the soul,
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so that we should obey it. Though we may be sometimes overtaken and
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overcome by it, yet let us never be obedient to it in the lusts
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thereof; let not sinful lusts be a law to you, to which you would yield
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a consenting obedience. <I>In the lusts thereof</I>--<B><I>en tais
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epithymiais autou.</I></B> It refers to the body, not to sin. Sin lies
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very much in the gratifying of the body, and humouring that. And there
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is a reason implied in the phrase <I>your mortal body;</I> because it
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is a mortal body, and hastening apace to the dust, therefore let not
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sin reign in it. It was sin that made our bodies mortal, and therefore
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do not yield obedience to such an enemy.
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(5.) We must not <I>yield our members as instruments of
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unrighteousness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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The members of the body are made use of by the corrupt nature as tools,
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by which the wills of the flesh are fulfilled; but we must not consent
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to that abuse. The members of the body are fearfully and wonderfully
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made; it is a pity they should be the devil's tools of
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<I>unrighteousness unto sin,</I> instruments of the sinful actions,
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according to the sinful dispositions. Unrighteousness is unto sin; the
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sinful acts confirm and strengthen the sinful habits; one sin begets
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another; it is like the letting forth of water, therefore leave it
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before it be meddled with. The members of the body may perhaps,
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through the prevalency of temptation, be forced to be instruments of
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sin; but do not yield them to be so, do not consent to it. This is one
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branch of sanctification, the mortification of sin.</P>
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<P>
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2. Vivification, or living to righteousness; and what is that?
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(1.) It is to <I>walk in newness of life,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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Newness of life supposes newness of heart, for out of the heart are the
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issues of life, and there is not way to make the stream sweet but by
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making the spring so. Walking, in scripture, is put for the course and
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tenour of the conversation, which must be new. Walk by new rules,
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towards new ends, from new principles. Make a new choice of the way.
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Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after, new companions
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to walk with. Old things should pass away, and all things become new.
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The man is what he was not, does what he did not.
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(2.) It is to be <I>alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
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To converse with God, to have a regard to him, a delight in him, a
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concern for him, the soul upon all occasions carried out towards him as
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towards an agreeable object, in which it takes a complacency: this is
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to be alive to God. The love of God reigning in the heart is the life
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of the soul towards God. <I>Anima est ubi amat, non ubi animat--The
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soul is where it loves, rather than where it lives.</I> It is to have
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the affections and desires alive towards God. Or, <I>living</I> (our
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live in the flesh) <I>unto God,</I> to his honour and glory as our end,
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by his word and will as our rule--in all our ways to acknowledge him,
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and to have our eyes ever towards him; this is to live unto
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God.--<I>Through Jesus Christ our Lord.</I> Christ is our spiritual
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life; there is no living to God but through him. He is the Mediator;
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there can be no comfortable receivings from God, nor acceptable regards
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to God, but in and through Jesus Christ; no intercourse between sinful
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souls and a holy God, but by the mediation of the Lord Jesus. Through
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Christ as the author and maintainer of this life; through Christ as the
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head from whom we receive vital influence; through Christ as the root
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by which we derive sap and nourishment, and so live. In living to God,
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Christ is all in all.
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(3.) It is to <I>yield ourselves to God, as those that are alive from
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the dead,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
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The very life and being of holiness lie in the dedication of ourselves
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to the Lord, giving our own selves to the Lord,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+8:5">2 Cor. viii. 5</A>.
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"Yield yourselves to him, not only as the conquered yields to the
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conqueror, because he can stand it out no longer; but as the wife
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yields herself to her husband, to whom her desire is, as the scholar
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yields himself to the teacher, the apprentice to his master, to be
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taught and ruled by him. Not yield your estates to him, but yield
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yourselves; nothing less than your whole selves;" <B><I>parastesate
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eautous</I></B>--<I>accommodate vos ipsos Deo</I>--<I>accommodate
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yourselves to God;</I> so <I>Tremellius,</I> from the <I>Syriac.</I>
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"Not only submit to him, but comply with him; not only present
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yourselves to him once for all, but be always ready to serve him. Yield
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yourselves to him as wax to the seal, to take any impression, to be,
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and have, and do, what he pleases." When Paul said, <I>Lord, what wilt
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thou have me to do?</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+9:6">Acts ix. 6</A>)
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he was then yielded to God. <I>As those that are alive from the
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dead.</I> To yield a dead carcase to a living God is not to please him,
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but to mock him: "Yield yourselves as those that are alive and good for
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something, a <I>living sacrifice,</I>"
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+12:1"><I>ch.</I> xii. 1</A>.
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The surest evidence of our spiritual life is the dedication of
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ourselves to God. It becomes those that are alive from the dead (it may
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be understood of a death in law), that are justified and delivered from
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death, to give themselves to him that hath so redeemed them.
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(4.) It is to yield <I>our members as instruments of righteousness to
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God.</I> The members of our bodies, when withdrawn from the service of
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sin, are not to lie idle, but to be made use of in the service of God.
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When the strong man armed is dispossessed, let him whose right it is
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divide the spoils. Though the powers and faculties of the soul be the
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immediate subjects of holiness and righteousness, yet the members of
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the body are to be instruments; the body must be always ready to serve
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the soul in the service of God. Thus
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
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"<I>Yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.</I> Let
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them be under the conduct and at the command of the righteous law of
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God, and that principle of inherent righteousness which the Spirit, as
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sanctifier, plants in the soul." <I>Righteousness unto holiness,</I>
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which intimates growth, and progress, and ground obtained. As every
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sinful act confirms the sinful habit, and makes the nature more and
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more prone to sin (hence the members of a natural man are here said to
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be servants to <I>iniquity unto iniquity</I>--one sin makes the heart
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more disposed for another), so every gracious act confirms the gracious
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habit: serving righteousness is unto holiness; one duty fits us for
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another; and the more we do the more we may do for God. Or serving
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righteousness, <B><I>eis hagiasmon</I></B>--<I>as an evidence of
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sanctification.</I></P>
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<P>
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II. The motives or arguments here used to show the necessity of
|
|
sanctification. There is such an antipathy in our hearts by nature to
|
|
holiness that it is no easy matter to bring them to submit to it: it is
|
|
the Spirit's work, who persuades by such inducements as these set home
|
|
upon the soul.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. He argues from our sacramental conformity to Jesus Christ. Our
|
|
baptism, with the design and intention of it, carried in it a great
|
|
reason why we should die to sin, and live to righteousness. Thus we
|
|
must improve our baptism as a bridle of restraint to keep us in from
|
|
sin, as a spur of constraint to quicken us to duty. Observe this
|
|
reasoning.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) In general, we are <I>dead to sin,</I> that is, in profession and
|
|
in obligation. Our baptism signifies our cutting off from the kingdom
|
|
of sin. We profess to have no more to do with sin. We are dead to sin
|
|
by a participation of virtue and power for the killing of it, and by
|
|
our union with Christ and interest in him, in and by whom it is killed.
|
|
All this is in vain if we persist in sin; we contradict a profession,
|
|
violate an obligation, return to that to which we were dead, like
|
|
walking ghosts, than which nothing is more unbecoming and absurd. For
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>)
|
|
|
|
<I>he that is dead is freed from sin;</I> that is, he that is dead to
|
|
it is freed from the rule and dominion of it, as the servant that is
|
|
dead is freed from his master,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:19">Job iii. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now shall we be such fools as to return to that slavery from which we
|
|
are discharged? When we are delivered out of Egypt, shall we talk of
|
|
going back to it again?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) In particular, being <I>baptized into Jesus Christ, we were
|
|
baptized into his death,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
|
|
|
|
We were baptized <B><I>eis Christon</I></B>--<I>unto Christ,</I> as
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+10:2">1 Cor. x. 2</A>,
|
|
|
|
<B><I>eis Mosen</I></B>--<I>unto Moses.</I> Baptism binds us to Christ,
|
|
it binds us apprentice to Christ as our teacher, it is our allegiance
|
|
to Christ as our sovereign. Baptism is <I>externa ansa Christi--the
|
|
external handle of Christ,</I> by which Christ lays hold on men, and
|
|
men offer themselves to Christ. Particularly, we were baptized into his
|
|
death, into a participation of the privileges purchased by his death,
|
|
and into an obligation both to comply with the design of his death,
|
|
which was to redeem us from all iniquity, and to conform to the pattern
|
|
of his death, that, as Christ died for sin, so we should die to sin.
|
|
This was the profession and promise of our baptism, and we do not do
|
|
well if we do not answer this profession, and make good this
|
|
promise.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] Our conformity to the death of Christ obliges us to die unto sin;
|
|
thereby we know the <I>fellowship of his sufferings,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:10">Phil. iii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus we are here said to be <I>planted together in the likeness of is
|
|
death</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
<B><I>to homoiomati,</I></B> not only a conformity, but a conformation,
|
|
as the engrafted stock is planted together into the likeness of the
|
|
shoot, of the nature of which it doth participate. Planting is in
|
|
order to life and fruitfulness: we are planted in the vineyard in a
|
|
likeness to Christ, which likeness we should evidence in
|
|
sanctification. Our creed concerning Jesus Christ is, among other
|
|
things, that he was <I>crucified, dead, and buried;</I> now baptism is
|
|
a sacramental conformity to him in each of these, as the apostle here
|
|
takes notice. <I>First, Our old man is crucified with him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
The death of the cross was a slow death; the body, after it was nailed
|
|
to the cross, gave many a throe and many a struggle: but it was a sure
|
|
death, long in expiring, but expired at last; such is the mortification
|
|
of sin in believers. It was a cursed death,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:13">Gal. iii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Sin dies as a malefactor, devoted to destruction; it is an accursed
|
|
thing. Though it be a slow death, yet this must needs hasten it that it
|
|
is an old man that is crucified; not in the prime of its strength, but
|
|
decaying: that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+8:13">Heb. viii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Crucified with him</I>--<B><I>synestaurothe,</I></B> not in respect
|
|
of time, but in respect of causality. The crucifying of Christ for us
|
|
has an influence upon the crucifying of sin in us. <I>Secondly,</I> We
|
|
are dead with Christ,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ was obedient to death: when he died, we might be said to die
|
|
with him, as our dying to sin is an act of conformity both to the
|
|
design and to the example of Christ's dying for sin. Baptism signifies
|
|
and seals our union with Christ, our engrafting into Christ; so that we
|
|
are dead with him, and engaged to have no more to do with sin than he
|
|
had. <I>Thirdly, We are buried with him by baptism,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Our conformity is complete. We are in profession quite cut off from all
|
|
commerce and communion with sin, as those that are buried are quite cut
|
|
off from all the world; not only not of the living, but no more among
|
|
the living, have nothing more to do with them. Thus must we be, as
|
|
Christ was, separate from sin and sinners. We are buried, namely, in
|
|
profession and obligation: we profess to be so, and we are bound to be
|
|
so: it was our covenant and engagement in baptism; we are sealed to be
|
|
the Lord's, therefore to be cut off from sin. Why this burying in
|
|
baptism should so much as allude to any custom of dipping under water
|
|
in baptism, any more than our baptismal crucifixion and death should
|
|
have any such references, I confess I cannot see. It is plain that it
|
|
is not the sign, but the thing signified, in baptism, that the apostle
|
|
here calls being buried with Christ, and the expression of burying
|
|
alludes to Christ's burial. As Christ was buried, that he might rise
|
|
again to a new and more heavenly life, so we are in baptism buried,
|
|
that is, cut off from the life of sin, that we may rise again to a new
|
|
life of faith and love.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] Our conformity to the resurrection of Christ obliges us to rise
|
|
again to newness of life. This is <I>the power of his resurrection</I>
|
|
which Paul was so desirous to know,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:10">Phil. iii. 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Christ was raised up <I>from the dead by the glory of the Father,</I>
|
|
that is, by the power of the Father. The power of God is his glory; it
|
|
is glorious power,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+1:11">Col. i. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now in baptism we are obliged to conform to that pattern, to be planted
|
|
in the <I>likeness of his resurrection</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>),
|
|
|
|
to <I>live with him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+2:12">Col. ii. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
Conversion is the first resurrection from the death of sin to the life
|
|
of righteousness; and this resurrection is conformable to Christ's
|
|
resurrection. This conformity of the saints to the resurrection of
|
|
Christ seems to be intimated in the rising of so many of the bodies of
|
|
the saints, which, though mentioned before by anticipation, is supposed
|
|
to have been concomitant with Christ's resurrection,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+27:52">Matt. xxvii. 52</A>.
|
|
|
|
We have all risen with Christ. In two things we must conform to the
|
|
resurrection of Christ:--<I>First,</I> He rose to die no more,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
We read of many others that were raised from the dead, but they rose to
|
|
die again. But, when Christ rose, he rose to die no more; therefore he
|
|
left his grave-clothes behind him, whereas Lazarus, who was to die
|
|
again, brought them out with him, as one that should have occasion to
|
|
use them again: but over Christ <I>death has no more dominion;</I> he
|
|
was dead indeed, but he is alive, and so alive that he lives for
|
|
evermore,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Re+1:18">Rev. i. 18</A>.
|
|
|
|
Thus we must rise from the grave of sin never again to return to it,
|
|
nor to have any more fellowship with the works of darkness, having
|
|
quitted that grave, that land of darkness as darkness itself.
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> He rose to live unto God
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>),
|
|
|
|
to live a heavenly life, to receive that glory which was set before
|
|
him. Others that were raised from the dead returned to the same life
|
|
in every respect which they had before lived; but so did not Christ: he
|
|
rose again to leave the world. <I>Now I am no more in the world,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+13:1,17:11">John xiii. 1; xvii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
He rose to <I>live to God,</I> that is, to intercede and rule, and all
|
|
to the glory of the Father. Thus must we rise to live to God: this is
|
|
what he calls <I>newness of life</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
to live from other principles, by other rules, with other aims, than we
|
|
have done. A life devoted to God is a new life; before, self was the
|
|
chief and highest end, but now God. To live indeed is to live to God,
|
|
with our eyes ever towards him, making him the centre of all our
|
|
actions.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. He argues from the precious promises and privileges of the new
|
|
covenant,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
It might be objected that we cannot conquer and subdue sin, it is
|
|
unavoidably too hard for us: "No," says he, "you wrestle with an enemy
|
|
that may be dealt with and subdued, if you will but keep your ground
|
|
and stand to your arms; it is an enemy that is already foiled and
|
|
baffled; there is strength laid up in the covenant of grace for your
|
|
assistance, if you will but use it. <I>Sin shall not have
|
|
dominion.</I>" God's promises to us are more powerful and effectual for
|
|
the mortifying of sin than our promises to God. Sin may struggle in a
|
|
believer, and may create him a great deal of trouble, but it shall not
|
|
have dominion; it may vex him, but shall not rule over him. <I>For we
|
|
are not under the law, but under grace,</I> not under the law of sin
|
|
and death, but under the law of the spirit of life, which is in Christ
|
|
Jesus: we are actuated by other principles than we have been: new
|
|
lords, new laws. Or, not under the covenant of works, which requires
|
|
brick, and gives no straw, which condemns upon the least failure, which
|
|
runs thus, "Do this, and live; do it not, and die;" but under the
|
|
covenant of grace, which accepts sincerity as our gospel perfection,
|
|
which requires nothing but what it promises strength to perform, which
|
|
is herein well ordered, that every transgression in the covenant does
|
|
not put us out of covenant, and especially that it does not leave our
|
|
salvation in our own keeping, but lays it up in the hands of the
|
|
Mediator, who undertakes for us that sin shall not have dominion over
|
|
us, who hath himself condemned it, and will destroy it; so that, if we
|
|
pursue the victory, we shall come off more than conquerors. Christ
|
|
rules by the golden sceptre of grace, and he will not let sin have
|
|
dominion over those that are willing subjects to that rule. This is a
|
|
very comfortable word to all true believers. If we were under the law,
|
|
we were undone, for the law curses every one that continues not in
|
|
every thing; but we are under grace, grace which accepts the willing
|
|
mind, which is not extreme to mark what we do amiss, which leaves room
|
|
for repentance, which promises pardon upon repentance; and what can be
|
|
to an ingenuous mind a stronger motive than this to have nothing to do
|
|
with sin? Shall we sin against so much goodness, abuse such love? Some
|
|
perhaps might suck poison out of this flower, and disingenuously use
|
|
this as an encouragement to sin. See how the apostle starts at such a
|
|
thought
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God
|
|
forbid.</I> What can be more black and ill-natured than from a friend's
|
|
extraordinary expressions of kindness and good-will to take occasion to
|
|
affront and offend him? To spurn at such bowels, to spit in the face of
|
|
such love, is that which, between man and man, all the world would cry
|
|
out shame on.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. He argues from the evidence that this will be of our state, making
|
|
for us, or against us
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>To whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you
|
|
are.</I> All the children of men are either the servants of God, or the
|
|
servants of sin; these are the two families. Now, if we would know to
|
|
which of these families we belong, we must enquire to which of these
|
|
masters we yield obedience. Our obeying the laws of sin will be an
|
|
evidence against us that we belong to that family on which death is
|
|
entailed. As, on the contrary, our obeying the laws of Christ will
|
|
evidence our relation to Christ's family.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. He argues from their former sinfulness,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:17-21"><I>v.</I> 17-21</A>,
|
|
|
|
where we may observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) What they had been and done formerly. We have need to be often
|
|
reminded of our former state. Paul frequently remembers it concerning
|
|
himself, and those to whom he writes.
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>You were the servants of sin.</I> Those that are now the
|
|
servants of God would do well to remember the time when they were the
|
|
servants of sin, to keep them humble, penitent, and watchful, and to
|
|
quicken them in the service of God. It is a reproach to the service of
|
|
sin that so many thousands have quitted the service, and shaken off the
|
|
yoke; and never any that sincerely deserted it, and gave themselves to
|
|
the service of God, have returned to the former drudgery. "<I>God be
|
|
thanked that you were so,</I> that is, that though you were so, yet you
|
|
have obeyed. You were so; God be thanked that we can speak of it as a
|
|
thing past: you were so, but you are not now so. Nay, your having been
|
|
so formerly tends much to the magnifying of divine mercy and grace in
|
|
the happy change. God be thanked that the former sinfulness is such a
|
|
foil and such a spur to your present holiness."
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>You have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, and to
|
|
iniquity unto iniquity,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is the misery of a sinful state that the body is made a drudge to
|
|
sin, than which there could not be a baser or a harder slavery, like
|
|
that of the prodigal that was sent into the fields to feed swine.
|
|
<I>You have yielded.</I> Sinners are voluntary in the service of sin.
|
|
The devil could not force them into the service, if they did not yield
|
|
themselves to it. This will justify God in the ruin of sinners, that
|
|
they sold themselves to work wickedness: it was their own act and deed.
|
|
<I>To iniquity unto iniquity.</I> Every sinful act strengthens and
|
|
confirms the sinful habit: to iniquity as the work unto iniquity as the
|
|
wages. Sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind; growing worse and worse,
|
|
more and more hardened. This he speaks <I>after the manner of men,</I>
|
|
that is, he fetches a similitude from that which is common among men,
|
|
even the change of services and subjections.
|
|
|
|
[3.] <I>You were free from righteousness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:20"><I>v.</I> 20</A>);
|
|
|
|
not free by any liberty given, but by a liberty taken, which is
|
|
licentiousness: "<I>You were</I> altogether void of that which is
|
|
good,--void of any good principles, motions, or inclinations,--void of
|
|
all subjection to the law and will of God, of all conformity to his
|
|
image; and this you were highly pleased with, as a freedom and a
|
|
liberty; but a freedom from righteousness is the worst kind of
|
|
slavery."</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) How the blessed change was made, and wherein it did consist.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>You have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was
|
|
delivered to you,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
This describes conversion, what it is; it is our conformity to, and
|
|
compliance with, the gospel which was delivered to us by Christ and his
|
|
ministers.--<I>Margin. Whereto you were delivered;</I> <B><I>eis hon
|
|
paredothete</I></B>--<I>into which you were delivered.</I> And so
|
|
observe, <I>First,</I> The rule of grace, <I>that form of
|
|
doctrine</I>--<B><I>typon didaches.</I></B> The gospel is the great
|
|
rule both of truth and holiness; it is the stamp, grace is the
|
|
impression of that stamp; it is the form of healing words,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ti+1:13">2 Tim. i. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> The nature of grace, as it is our conformity to that
|
|
rule.
|
|
|
|
1. It is to <I>obey from the heart.</I> The gospel is a doctrine not
|
|
only to be believed, but to be obeyed, and that from the heart, which
|
|
denotes the sincerity and reality of that obedience; not in profession
|
|
only, but in power--from the heart, the innermost part, the commanding
|
|
part of us.
|
|
|
|
2. It is to be <I>delivered into it,</I> as into a mould, as the wax is
|
|
cast into the impression of the seal, answering it line for line,
|
|
stroke for stroke, and wholly representing the shape and figure of it.
|
|
To be a Christian indeed is to be transformed into the likeness and
|
|
similitude of the gospel, our souls answering to it, complying with it,
|
|
conformed to it--understanding, will, affections, aims, principles,
|
|
actions, all according to that form of doctrine.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>Being made free from sin, you became servants of
|
|
righteousness</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
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<I>servants to God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
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Conversion is, <I>First,</I> A freedom from the service of sin; it is
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the shaking off of that yoke, resolving to have no more to do with it.
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<I>Secondly,</I> A resignation of ourselves to the service of God and
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righteousness, to God as our master, to righteousness as our work. When
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we are made free from sin, it is not that we may live as we list, and
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|
be our own masters; no: when we are delivered out of Egypt, we are, as
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|
Israel, led to the holy mountain, to receive the law, and are there
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|
brought into the bond of the covenant. Observe, We cannot be made the
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|
servants of God till we are freed from the power and dominion of sin;
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|
we cannot serve two masters so directly opposite one to another as God
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and sin are. We must, with the prodigal, quit the drudgery of the
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citizen of the country, before we can come to our Father's house.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) What apprehensions they now had of their former work and way. He
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appeals to themselves
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
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whether they had not found the service of sin,
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[1.] An unfruitful service: "<I>What fruit had you then?</I> Did you
|
|
ever get any thing by it? Sit down, and cast up the account, reckon
|
|
your gains, what fruit had you then?" Besides the future losses, which
|
|
are infinitely great, the very present gains of sin are not worth
|
|
mentioning. <I>What fruit?</I> Nothing that deserves the name of fruit.
|
|
The present pleasure and profit of sin do not deserve to be called
|
|
fruit; they are but chaff, ploughing iniquity, sowing vanity, and
|
|
reaping the same.
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[2.] It is an unbecoming service; it is that of which we <I>are now
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|
ashamed</I>--ashamed of the folly, ashamed of the filth, of it. Shame
|
|
came into the world with sin, and is still the certain product of
|
|
it--either the shame of repentance, or, if not that, eternal shame and
|
|
contempt. Who would wilfully do that which sooner or later he is sure
|
|
to be ashamed of?</P>
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<P>
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5. He argues from the end of all these things. it is the prerogative of
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|
rational creatures that they are endued with a power of prospect, are
|
|
capable of looking forward, considering the latter end of things. To
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|
persuade us from sin to holiness here are blessing and cursing, good
|
|
and evil, life and death, set before us; and we are put to our choice.
|
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|
(1.) The end of sin is death
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
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<I>The end of those things is death.</I> Though the way may seem
|
|
pleasant and inviting, yet the end is dismal: at the last it bites; it
|
|
will be bitterness in the latter end. <I>The wages of sin is death,</I>
|
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|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
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|
Death is as due to a sinner when he hath sinned as wages are to a
|
|
servant when he hath done his work. This is true of every sin. There is
|
|
no sin in its own nature venial. Death is the wages of the least sin.
|
|
Sin is here represented either as the work for which the wages are
|
|
given, or as the master by whom the wages are given; all that are sin's
|
|
servants and do sin's work must expect to be thus paid.
|
|
|
|
(2.) If the fruit be unto holiness, if there be an active principle of
|
|
true and growing grace, the end will be everlasting life--a very happy
|
|
end!--Though the way be up-hill, though it be narrow, and thorny, and
|
|
beset, yet everlasting life at the end of it is sure. So,
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>,
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|
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|
<I>The gift of God is eternal life.</I> Heaven is life, consisting in
|
|
the vision and fruition of God; and it is eternal life, no infirmities
|
|
attending it, no death to put a period to it. This is the gift of God.
|
|
The death is the wages of sin, it comes by desert; but the life is a
|
|
gift, it comes by favour. Sinners merit hell, but saints do not merit
|
|
heaven. There is no proportion between the glory of heaven and our
|
|
obedience; we must thank God, and not ourselves, if ever we get to
|
|
heaven. And this gift is <I>through Jesus Christ our Lord.</I> It is
|
|
Christ that purchased it, prepared it, prepares us for it, preserves us
|
|
to it; he is <I>the Alpha and Omega,</I> All in all in our
|
|
salvation.</P>
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