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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Romans VII].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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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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<!-- (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. VII.</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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We may observe in this chapter,
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I. Our freedom from the law further urged as an argument to press upon
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us sanctification,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:1-6">ver. 1-6</A>.
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II. The excellency and usefulness of the law asserted and proved from
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the apostle's own experience, notwithstanding,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:7-14">ver. 7-14</A>.
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III. A description of the conflict between grace and corruption in the
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heart,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:14-25">ver. 14, 15, to the end</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ro7_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_6"> </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>Observations Respecting the Law.</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 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the
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law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he
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liveth?
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2 For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to
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<I>her</I> husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead,
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she is loosed from the law of <I>her</I> husband.
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3 So then if, while <I>her</I> husband liveth, she be married to
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another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her
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husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no
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adulteress, though she be married to another man.
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4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by
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the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, <I>even</I>
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to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
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fruit unto God.
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5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which
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were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit
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unto death.
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6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead
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wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit,
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and not <I>in</I> the oldness of the letter.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Among other arguments used in the foregoing chapter to persuade us
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against sin, and to holiness, this was one
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
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that <I>we are not under the law;</I> and this argument is here further
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insisted upon and explained
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
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<I>We are delivered from the law.</I> What is meant by this? And how is
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it an argument why sin should not reign over us, and why we should walk
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in newness of life?
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1. We are delivered from the power of the law which curses and
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condemns us for the sin committed by us. The sentence of the law
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against us is vacated and reversed, by the death of Christ, to all true
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believers. The law saith, <I>The soul that sins shall die;</I> but we
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are delivered from the law. <I>The Lord has taken away thy sin, thou
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shalt not die.</I> We are <I>redeemed from the curse of the law,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+3:13">Gal. iii. 13</A>.
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2. We are delivered from that power of the law which irritates and
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provokes the sin that dwelleth in us. This the apostle seems especially
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to refer to
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>The motions of sins which were by the law.</I> The law, by
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commanding, forbidding, threatening, corrupt and fallen man, but
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offering no grace to cure and strengthen, did but stir up the
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corruption, and, like the sun shining upon a dunghill, excite and draw
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up the filthy steams. We being lamed by the fall, the law comes and
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directs us, but provides nothing to heal and help our lameness, and so
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makes us halt and stumble the more. Understand this of the law not as
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a rule, but as a covenant of works. Now each of these is an argument
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why we should be holy; for here is encouragement to endeavours, though
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in many things we come short. We are under grace, which promises
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strength to do what it commands, and pardon upon repentance when we do
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amiss. This is the scope of these verses in general, that, in point of
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profession and privilege, we are under a covenant of grace, and not
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under a covenant of works--under the gospel of Christ, and not under
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the law of Moses. The difference between a law-state and a gospel-state
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he had before illustrated by the similitude of rising to a new life,
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and serving a new master; now here he speaks of is under the similitude
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of being married to a new husband.</P>
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<P>
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I. Our first marriage was to the law, which, according to the law of
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marriage, was to continue only during the life of the law. The law of
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marriage is binding till the death of one of the parties, no matter
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which, and no longer. The death of either discharges both. For this he
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appeals to themselves, as persons knowing the law
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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<I>I speak to those that know the law.</I> It is a great advantage to
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discourse with those that have knowledge, for such can more readily
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understand and apprehend a truth. Many of the Christians at Rome were
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such as had been Jews, and so were well acquainted with the law. One
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has some hold of knowing people. <I>The law hath power over a man as
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long as he liveth;</I> in particular, the law of marriage hath power;
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or, in general, every law is so limited--the laws of nations, of
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relations, of families, &c.
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1. The obligation of laws extends no further; by death the servant who,
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while he lived, was under the yoke, is <I>freed from his master,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+3:19">Job iii. 19</A>.
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2. The condemnation of laws extends no further; death is the finishing
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of the law. <I>Actio moritur cum personâ--The action expires with
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the person.</I> The severest laws could but kill the body, and after
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that there is no more that they can do. Thus while we were alive to
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the law we were under the power of it--while we were in our
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Old-Testament state, before the gospel came into the world, and before
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it came with power into our hearts. Such is the law of marriage
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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the woman is bound to her husband during life, so bound to him that she
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cannot marry another; if she do, she shall be reckoned an adulteress,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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It will make her an adulteress, not only to be defiled by, but to be
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married to, another man; for that is so much the worse, upon this
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account, that it abuses an ordinance of God, by making it to patronise
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the uncleanness. Thus were we married to the law
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>When we were in the flesh,</I> that is, in a carnal state, under the
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reigning power of sin and corruption--in the flesh as in our
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element--then <I>the motions of sins which were by the law did work in
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our members,</I> we were carried down the stream of sin, and the law
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was but as an imperfect dam, which made the stream to swell the higher,
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and rage the more. Our desire was towards sin, as that of the wife
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towards her husband, and sin ruled over us. We embraced it, loved it,
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devoted all to it, conversed daily with it, made it our care to please
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it. We were under a law of sin and death, as the wife under the law of
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marriage; and the product of this marriage was fruit brought forth unto
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death, that is, actual transgressions were produced by the original
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corruption, such as deserve death. Lust, having conceived by the law
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(which is the strength of sin,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+15:56">1 Cor. xv. 56</A>),
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<I>bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth
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death,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jam+1:15">Jam. i. 15</A>.
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This is the posterity that springs from this marriage to sin and the
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law. This comes of the motions of sin working in our members. And this
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continues during life, while the law is alive to us, and we are alive
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to the law.</P>
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<P>
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II. Our second marriage is to Christ: and how comes this about?
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Why,</P>
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<P>
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1. We are freed, by death, from our obligation to the law as a
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covenant, as the wife is from her obligation to her husband,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>.
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This resemblance is not very close, nor needed it to be. <I>You are
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become dead to the law,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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He does not say, "The law is dead" (some think because he would avoid
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giving offence to those who were yet zealous for the law), but, which
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comes all to one, <I>You are dead to the law.</I> As the crucifying of
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the world to us, and of us to the world, amounts to one and the same
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thing, so doth the law dying, and our dying to it. We are <I>delivered
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from the law</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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<B><I>katergethemen</I></B>--<I>we are nulled</I> as to the law; our
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obligation to it as a husband is cassated and made void. And then he
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speaks of the law being dead as far as it was a law of bondage to us:
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<I>That being dead wherein we were held;</I> not the law itself, but
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its obligation to punishment and its provocation to sin. It is dead, it
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has lost its power; and this
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>)
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<I>by the body of Christ,</I> that is, by the sufferings of Christ in
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his body, by his crucified body, which abrogated the law, answered the
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demands of it, made satisfaction for our violation of it, purchased for
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us a covenant of grace, in which righteousness and strength are laid up
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for us, such as were not, nor could be, by the law. We are dead to the
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law by our union with the mystical body of Christ. By being
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incorporated into Christ in our baptism professedly, in our believing
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powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the law, have no more to do
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with it than the dead servant, that is free from his master, hath to do
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with his master's yoke.</P>
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<P>
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2. We are married to Christ. The day of our believing is the day of our
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espousals to the Lord Jesus. We enter upon a life of dependence on him
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and duty to him: <I>Married to another, even to him who is raised from
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the dead,</I> a periphrasis of Christ and very pertinent here; for as
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our dying to sin and the law is in conformity to the death of Christ,
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and the crucifying of his body, so our devotedness to Christ in newness
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of life is in conformity to the resurrection of Christ. We are married
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to the raised exalted Jesus, a very honourable marriage. Compare
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+11:2,Eph+5:29">2 Cor. xi. 2; Eph. v. 29</A>.
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Now we are thus married to Christ,
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(1.) <I>That we should bring forth fruit unto God,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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One end of marriage is fruitfulness: God instituted the ordinance that
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he might seek a <I>godly seed,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mal+2:15">Mal. ii. 15</A>.
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The wife is compared to the fruitful vine, and children are called the
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fruit of the womb. Now the great end of our marriage to Christ is our
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fruitfulness in love, and grace, and every good work. This is fruit
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unto God, pleasing to God, according to his will, aiming at his glory.
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As our old marriage to sin produced fruit unto death, so our second
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marriage to Christ produces fruit unto God, fruits of righteousness.
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Good works are the children of the new nature, the products of our
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union with Christ, as the fruitfulness of the vine is the product of
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its union with the root. Whatever our professions and pretensions may
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be, there is no fruit brought forth to God till we are married to
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Christ; it is in Christ Jesus that we are created unto good works,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+2:10">Eph. ii. 10</A>.
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The only fruit which turns to a good account is that which is brought
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forth in Christ. This distinguishes the good works of believers from
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the good works of hypocrites and self-justifiers that they are brought
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forth in marriage, done in union with Christ, in the name of the Lord
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Jesus,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Col+3:17">Col. iii. 17</A>.
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This is, without controversy, one of the great mysteries of godliness.
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(2.) <I>That we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the
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oldness of the letter,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Being married to a new husband, we must change our way. Still we must
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serve, but it is a service that is perfect freedom, whereas the service
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of sin was a perfect drudgery: we must now serve in newness of spirit,
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by new spiritual rules, from new spiritual principles, in spirit and in
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truth,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+4:24">John iv. 24</A>.
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There must be a renovation of our spirits wrought by the spirit of God,
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and in that we must serve. <I>Not in the oldness of the letter;</I>
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that is, we must not rest in mere external services, as the carnal Jews
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did, who gloried in their adherence to the letter of the law, and
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minded not the spiritual part of worship. The letter is said to kill
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with its bondage and terror, but we are delivered from that yoke that
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we may serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+1:74,75">Luke i. 74, 75</A>.
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We are under the dispensation of the Spirit, and therefore must be
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spiritual, and serve in the spirit. Compare with this
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+3:3,6">2 Cor. iii. 3, 6</A>,
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&c. It becomes us to worship within the veil, and no longer in the
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outward court.</P>
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<A NAME="Ro7_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_13"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_14"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ro7_14a"> </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>Excellency of the Law; Usefulness of the Law.</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>7 What shall we say then? <I>Is</I> the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I
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had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust,
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except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
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8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me
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all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin <I>was</I> dead.
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9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the
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commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
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10 And the commandment, which <I>was ordained</I> to life, I found
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<I>to be</I> unto death.
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11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me,
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and by it slew <I>me.</I>
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12 Wherefore the law <I>is</I> holy, and the commandment holy, and
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just, and good.
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13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.
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But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that
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which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding
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sinful.
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14a For we know that the law is spiritual:--
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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To what he had said in the former paragraph, the apostle here raises an
|
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objection, which he answers very fully: <I>What shall we say then? Is
|
|
the law sin?</I> When he had been speaking of the dominion of sin, he
|
|
had said so much of the influence of the law as a covenant upon that
|
|
dominion that it might easily be misinterpreted as a reflection upon
|
|
the law, to prevent which he shows from his own experience the great
|
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excellency and usefulness of the law, not as a covenant, but as a
|
|
guide; and further discovers how sin took occasion by the commandment.
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Observe in particular,</P>
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<P>
|
|
|
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I. The great excellency of the law in itself. Far be it from Paul to
|
|
reflect upon the law; no, he speaks honourably of it.
|
|
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1. It is <I>holy, just, and good,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
The law in general is so, and every particular commandment is so. Laws
|
|
are as the law-makers are. God, the great lawgiver, is holy, just, and
|
|
good, therefore his law must needs be so. The matter of it is holy: it
|
|
commands holiness, encourages holiness; it is holy, for it is agreeable
|
|
to the holy will of God, the original of holiness. It is just, for it
|
|
is consonant to the rules of equity and right reason: the ways of the
|
|
Lord are right. It is good in the design of it; it was given for the
|
|
good of mankind, for the conservation of peace and order in the world.
|
|
It makes the observers of it good; the intention of it was to better
|
|
and reform mankind. Wherever there is true grace there is an assent to
|
|
this--that the law is holy, just, and good.
|
|
|
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2. <I>The law is spiritual</I>
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|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>),
|
|
|
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not only in regard to the effect of it, as it is a means of making us
|
|
spiritual, but in regard to the extent of it; it reaches our spirits,
|
|
it lays a restraint upon, and gives a direction to, the motions of the
|
|
inward man; <I>it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
|
|
heart,</I>
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+4:12">Heb. iv. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
It forbids spiritual wickedness, heart-murder, and heart-adultery. It
|
|
commands spiritual service, requires the heart, obliges us to worship
|
|
God in the spirit. It is a spiritual law, for it is given by God, who
|
|
is a Spirit and the Father of spirits; it is given to man, whose
|
|
principal part is spiritual; the soul is the best part, and the leading
|
|
part of the man, and therefore the law to the man must needs be a law
|
|
to the soul. Herein the law of God is above all other laws, that it is
|
|
a spiritual law. Other laws may forbid <I>compassing and imagining,</I>
|
|
&c., which are treason in the heart, but cannot take cognizance
|
|
thereof, unless there be some overt act; but the law of God takes
|
|
notice of the iniquity regarded in the heart, though it go no further.
|
|
<I>Wash thy heart from wickedness,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+4:14">Jer. iv. 14</A>.
|
|
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<I>We know this:</I> Wherever there is true grace there is an
|
|
experimental knowledge of the spirituality of the law of God.</P>
|
|
|
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<P>
|
|
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|
II. The great advantage that he had found by the law.
|
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|
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1. It was discovering: <I>I had not known sin but by the law,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>.
|
|
|
|
As that which is straight discovers that which is crooked, as the
|
|
looking-glass shows us our natural face with all its spots and
|
|
deformities, so there is no way of coming to that knowledge of sin
|
|
which is necessary to repentance, and consequently to peace and pardon,
|
|
but by comparing our hearts and lives with the law. Particularly he
|
|
came to the knowledge of the sinfulness of lust by the law of the tenth
|
|
commandment. By lust he means sin dwelling in us, sin in its first
|
|
motions and workings, the corrupt principle. This he came to know when
|
|
the law said, <I>Thou shalt not covet.</I> The law spoke in other
|
|
language than the scribes and Pharisees made it to speak in; it spoke
|
|
in the spiritual sense and meaning of it. By this he knew that lust was
|
|
sin and a very sinful sin, that those motions and desires of the heart
|
|
towards sin which never came into act were sinful, exceedingly sinful.
|
|
Paul had a very quick and piercing judgment, all the advantages and
|
|
improvements of education, and yet never attained the right knowledge
|
|
of indwelling sin till the Spirit by the law made it known to him.
|
|
There is nothing about which the natural man is more blind than about
|
|
original corruption, concerning which the understanding is altogether
|
|
in the dark till the Spirit by the law reveal it, and make it known.
|
|
Thus <I>the law is a schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ,</I> opens and
|
|
searches the wound, and so prepares it for healing. Thus sin by the
|
|
commandment does appear sin
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>);
|
|
|
|
it appears in its own colours, appears to be what it is, and you cannot
|
|
call it by a worse name than its own. Thus by the commandment it
|
|
becomes <I>exceedingly sinful;</I> that is, it appears to be so. We
|
|
never see the desperate venom or malignity there is in sin, till we
|
|
come to compare it with the law, and the spiritual nature of the law,
|
|
and then we see it to be an evil and a bitter thing.
|
|
|
|
2. It was humbling
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I was alive.</I> He thought himself in a very good condition; he was
|
|
alive in his own opinion and apprehension, very secure and confident of
|
|
the goodness of his state. Thus he was <I>once,</I>
|
|
<B><I>pote</I></B>--<I>in times past,</I> when he was a Pharisee; for
|
|
it was the common temper of that generation of men that they had a very
|
|
good conceit of themselves; and Paul was then like the rest of them,
|
|
and the reason was he was then <I>without the law.</I> Though brought
|
|
up at the feet of Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, though himself a great
|
|
student in the law, a strict observer of it, and a zealous stickler for
|
|
it, yet <I>without the law.</I> He had the letter of the law, but he
|
|
had not the spiritual meaning of it--the shell, but not the kernel. He
|
|
had the law in his hand and in his head, but he had it not in his
|
|
heart; the notion of it, but not the power of it. There are a great
|
|
many who are spiritually dead in sin, that yet are alive in their own
|
|
opinion of themselves, and it is their strangeness to the law that is
|
|
the cause of the mistake. <I>But when the commandment came,</I> came in
|
|
the power of it (not to his eyes only, but to his heart), <I>sin
|
|
revived,</I> as the dust in a room rises (that is, appears) when the
|
|
sun-shine is let into it. Paul then saw that in sin which he had never
|
|
seen before; he then saw sin in its causes, the bitter root, the
|
|
corrupt bias, the bent to backslide,--sin in its colours, deforming,
|
|
defiling, breaking a righteous law, affronting an awful Majesty,
|
|
profaning a sovereign crown by casting it to the ground,--sin in its
|
|
consequences, sin with death at the heels of it, sin and the curse
|
|
entailed upon it. "Thus sin revived, and then I died; I lost that good
|
|
opinion which I had had of myself, and came to be of another mind.
|
|
<I>Sin revived, and I died;</I> that is, the Spirit, but the
|
|
commandment, convinced me that I was in a state of sin, and in a state
|
|
of death because of sin." Of this excellent use is the law; it is a
|
|
lamp and a light; it converts the soul, opens the eyes, prepares the
|
|
way of the Lord in the desert, rends the rocks, levels the mountains,
|
|
makes ready a people prepared for the Lord.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The ill use that his corrupt nature made of the law
|
|
notwithstanding.
|
|
|
|
1. <I>Sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner
|
|
of concupiscence,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
Observe, Paul had in him all manner of concupiscence, though one of the
|
|
best unregenerate men that ever was; as touching the righteousness of
|
|
the law, blameless, and yet sensible of all manner of concupiscence.
|
|
And it was sin that wrought it, indwelling sin, his corrupt nature (he
|
|
speaks of a sin that did work sin), and it took occasion by the
|
|
commandment. The corrupt nature would not have swelled and raged so
|
|
much if it had not been for the restraints of the law; as the peccant
|
|
humours in the body are raised, and more inflamed, by a purge that is
|
|
not strong enough to carry them off. It is incident to corrupt nature,
|
|
<I>in vetitum niti--to lean towards what is forbidden.</I> Ever since
|
|
Adam ate forbidden fruit, we have all been fond of forbidden paths; the
|
|
diseased appetite is carried out most strongly towards that which is
|
|
hurtful and prohibited. <I>Without the law sin was dead,</I> as a snake
|
|
in winter, which the sunbeams of the law quicken and irritate.
|
|
|
|
2. It <I>deceived men.</I> Sin puts a cheat upon the sinner, and it is
|
|
a fatal cheat,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>By it</I> (by the commandment) <I>slew me.</I> There being in the
|
|
law no such express threatening against sinful lustings, sin, that is,
|
|
his won corrupt nature, took occasion thence to promise him impunity,
|
|
and to say, as the serpent to our first parents, <I>You shall not
|
|
surely die.</I> Thus it deceived and slew him.
|
|
|
|
3. It <I>wrought death in me by that which is good,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
That which works concupiscence works death, for sin bringeth forth
|
|
death. Nothing so good but a corrupt and vicious nature will pervert
|
|
it, and make it an occasion of sin; no flower so sweet by sin will such
|
|
poison out of it. Now in this sin appears sin. The worst thing that
|
|
sin does, and most like itself, is the perverting of the law, and
|
|
taking occasion from it to be so much the more malignant. Thus the
|
|
commandment, which was ordained to life, was intended as a guide in the
|
|
way to comfort and happiness, proved unto death, through the corruption
|
|
of nature,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Many a precious soul splits upon the rock of salvation; and the same
|
|
word which to some is an occasion of life unto life is to others an
|
|
occasion of death unto death. The same sun that makes the garden of
|
|
flowers more fragrant makes the dunghill more noisome; the same heat
|
|
that softens wax hardens clay; and the same child was set for the fall
|
|
and rising again of many in Israel. The way to prevent this mischief is
|
|
to bow our souls to the commanding authority of the word and law of
|
|
God, not striving against, but submitting to it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_14b"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ro7_25"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Conflict between Grace and Corruption.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT VALIGN=BOTTOM><FONT SIZE=-1>A. D.</FONT> 58.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>14b -- But I am carnal, sold under sin.
|
|
15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I
|
|
not; but what I hate, that do I.
|
|
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law
|
|
that <I>it is</I> good.
|
|
17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
|
|
in me.
|
|
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no
|
|
good thing: for to will is present with me; but <I>how</I> to perform
|
|
that which is good I find not.
|
|
19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I
|
|
would not, that I do.
|
|
20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it,
|
|
but sin that dwelleth in me.
|
|
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
|
|
present with me.
|
|
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
|
|
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law
|
|
of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin
|
|
which is in my members.
|
|
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body
|
|
of this death?
|
|
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the
|
|
mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of
|
|
sin.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is a description of the conflict between grace and corruption in
|
|
the heart, between the law of God and the law of sin. And it is
|
|
applicable two ways:--
|
|
|
|
1. To the struggles that are in a convinced soul, but yet unregenerate,
|
|
in the person of whom it is supposed, by some, that Paul speaks.
|
|
|
|
2. To the struggles that are in a renewed sanctified soul, but yet in a
|
|
state of imperfection; as other apprehend. And a great controversy
|
|
there is of which of these we are to understand the apostle here. So
|
|
far does the evil prevail here, when he speaks of one sold under sin,
|
|
doing it, not performing that which is good, that it seems difficult to
|
|
apply it to the regenerate, who are described to walk not after the
|
|
flesh, but after the Spirit; and yet so far does the good prevail in
|
|
hating sin, consenting to the law, delighting in it, serving the law of
|
|
God with the mind, that it is more difficult to apply it to the
|
|
unregenerate that are dead in trespasses and sins.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Apply it to the struggles that are felt in a convinced soul, that is
|
|
yet in a state of sin, knows his Lord's will, but does it not, approves
|
|
the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law,
|
|
and yet lives in the constant breach of it,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+2:17-23"><I>ch.</I> ii. 17-23</A>.
|
|
|
|
Though he has that within him that witnesses against the sin he
|
|
commits, and it is not without a great deal of reluctancy that he does
|
|
commit it, the superior faculties striving against it, natural
|
|
conscience warning against it before it is committed and smiting for it
|
|
afterwards, yet the man continues a slave to his reigning lusts. It is
|
|
not thus with every unregenerate man, but with those only that are
|
|
convinced by the law, but not changed by the gospel. The apostle had
|
|
said
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+6:14"><I>ch.</I> vi. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Sin shall not have dominion, because you are not under the law, but
|
|
under grace,</I> for the proof of which he here shows that a man under
|
|
the law, and not under grace, may be, and is, under the dominion of
|
|
sin. The law may discover sin, and convince of sin, but it cannot
|
|
conquer and subdue sin, witness the predominancy of sin in many that
|
|
are under very strong legal convictions. It discovers the defilement,
|
|
but will not wash it off. It makes a man weary and heavy laden
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+11:28">Matt. xi. 28</A>),
|
|
|
|
burdens him with his sin; and yet, if rested in, it yields no help
|
|
towards the shaking off of that burden; this is to be had only in
|
|
Christ. The law may make a man cry out, <I>O wretched man that I am!
|
|
who shall deliver me?</I> and yet leave him thus fettered and
|
|
captivated, as being too weak to deliver him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:3"><I>ch.</I> viii. 3</A>),
|
|
|
|
give him a spirit of bondage to fear,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+8:15"><I>ch.</I> viii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
Now a soul advanced thus far by the law is in a fair way towards a
|
|
state of liberty by Christ, though many rest here and go no further.
|
|
Felix trembled, but never came to Christ. It is possible for a man to
|
|
go to hell with his eyes open
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+24:3,4">Num. xxiv. 3, 4</A>),
|
|
|
|
illuminated with common convictions, and to carry about with him a
|
|
self-accusing conscience, even in the service of the devil. He may
|
|
<I>consent to the law that it is good,</I> delight to know God's ways
|
|
(as they,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+58:2">Isa. lviii. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
may have that within him that witnesses against sin and for holiness;
|
|
and yet all this overpowered by the reigning love of sin. Drunkards and
|
|
unclean persons have some faint desires to leave off their sins, and
|
|
yet persist in them notwithstanding, such is the impotency and such the
|
|
insufficiency of their convictions. Of such as these there are many
|
|
that will needs have all this understood, and contend earnestly for it:
|
|
though it is very hard to imagine why, if the apostle intended this, he
|
|
should speak all along in his own person; and not only so, but in the
|
|
present tense. Of his own state under conviction he had spoken at
|
|
large, as of a thing past
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>,
|
|
|
|
&c.): <I>I died; the commandment I found to be unto death;</I> and if
|
|
here he speaks of the same state as his present state, and the
|
|
condition he was now in, surely he did not intend to be so understood:
|
|
and therefore,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. It seems rather to be understood of the struggles that are
|
|
maintained between grace and corruption in sanctified souls. That there
|
|
are remainders of indwelling corruption, even where there is a living
|
|
principle of grace, is past dispute; that this corruption is daily
|
|
breaking forth in sins of infirmity (such as are consistent with a
|
|
state of grace) is no less certain. If we say that we have no sin, we
|
|
deceive ourselves,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+1:8,10">1 John i. 8, 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
That true grace strives against these sins and corruptions, does not
|
|
allow of them, hates them, mourns over them, groans under them as a
|
|
burden, is likewise certain
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ga+5:17">Gal. v. 17</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the
|
|
flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot
|
|
do the things that you would.</I> These are the truths which, I think,
|
|
are contained in this discourse of the apostle. And his design is
|
|
further to open the nature of sanctification, that it does not attain
|
|
to a sinless perfection in this life; and therefore to quicken us to,
|
|
and encourage us in, our conflicts with remaining corruptions. Our case
|
|
is not singular, that which we do sincerely strive against, shall not
|
|
be laid to our charge, and through grace the victory is sure at last.
|
|
The struggle here is like that between Jacob and Esau in the womb,
|
|
between the Canaanites and Israelites in the land, between the house of
|
|
Saul and the house of David; but great is the truth and will prevail.
|
|
Understanding it thus, we may observe here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. What he complains of--the remainder of indwelling corruptions, which
|
|
he here speaks of, to show that the law is insufficient to justify even
|
|
a regenerate man, that the best man in the world hath enough in him to
|
|
condemn him, if God should deal with him according to the law, which is
|
|
not the fault of the law, but of our own corrupt nature, which cannot
|
|
fulfil the law. The repetition of the same things over and over again
|
|
in this discourse shows how much Paul's heart was affected with what he
|
|
wrote, and how deep his sentiments were. Observe the particulars of
|
|
this complaint.
|
|
|
|
(1.) <I>I am carnal, sold under sin,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
He speaks of the Corinthians as carnal,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:1">1 Cor. iii. 1</A>.
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Even where there is spiritual life there are remainders of carnal
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affections, and so far a man may be <I>sold under sin;</I> he does not
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sell himself to work wickedness, as Ahab did
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+21:25">1 Kings xxi. 25</A>),
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but he was sold by Adam when he sinned and fell--sold, as a poor slave
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that does his master's will against his own will--sold under sin,
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because conceived in iniquity and born in sin.
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(2.) <I>What I would, that I do not; but what I hate, that do I,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>.
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And to the same purport,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:19,21"><I>v.</I> 19, 21</A>,
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<I>When I would do good, evil is present with me.</I> Such was the
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strength of corruptions, that he could not attain that perfection in
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holiness which he desired and breathed after. Thus, while he was
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|
pressing forward towards perfection, yet he acknowledges that he had
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not already attained, neither was already perfect,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Php+3:12">Phil. iii. 12</A>.
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Fain he would be free from all sin, and perfectly do the will of God,
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such was his settled judgment; but his corrupt nature drew him another
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way: it was like a clog, that checked and kept him down when he would
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have soared upward, like the bias in a bowl, which, when it is thrown
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straight, yet draws it aside.
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(3.) <I>In me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.
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Here he explains himself concerning the corrupt nature, which he calls
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flesh; and as far as that goes there is no good to be expected, any
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more than one would expect good corn growing upon a rock, or on the
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sand which is by the sea-side. As the new nature, as far as that goes,
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cannot commit sin
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Jo+3:9">1 John iii. 9</A>),
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so the flesh, the old nature, as far as that goes, cannot perform a
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good duty. How should it? For the flesh serveth the law of sin
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>),
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it is under the conduct and government of that law; and, while it is
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so, it is not likely to do any good. The corrupt nature is elsewhere
|
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called flesh
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+6:3,Joh+3:6">Gen. vi. 3, John iii. 6</A>);
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and, though there may be good things dwelling in those that have this
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flesh, yet, as far as the flesh goes, there is no good, the flesh is
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not a subject capable of any good.
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(4.) <I>I see another law in my members warring against the law of my
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mind,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
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The corrupt and sinful inclination is here compared to a law, because
|
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it controlled and checked him in his good motions. It is said to be
|
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seated in his members, because, Christ having set up his throne in his
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|
heart, it was only the rebellious members of the body that were the
|
|
instruments of sin--in the sensitive appetite; or we may take it more
|
|
generally for all that corrupt nature which is the seat not only of
|
|
sensual but of more refined lusts. This wars against the law of the
|
|
mind, the new nature; it draws the contrary way, drives on a contrary
|
|
interest, which corrupt disposition and inclination are as great a
|
|
burden and grief to the soul as the worst drudgery and captivity could
|
|
be. <I>It brings me into captivity.</I> To the same purport
|
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>),
|
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<I>With the flesh I serve the law of sin;</I> that is, the corrupt
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|
nature, the unregenerate part, is continually working towards sin.
|
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(5.) His general complaint we have in
|
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>,
|
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<I>O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of
|
|
this death?</I> The thing he complains of is a body of death; either
|
|
the body of flesh, which is a mortal dying body (while we carry this
|
|
body about with us, we shall be troubled with corruption; when we are
|
|
dead, we shall be freed from sin, and not before), or the body of sin,
|
|
the old man, the corrupt nature, which tends to death, that is, to the
|
|
ruin of the soul. Or, comparing it to a dead body, the touch of which
|
|
was by the ceremonial law defiling, if actual transgressions be dead
|
|
works
|
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|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Heb+9:14">Heb. ix. 14</A>),
|
|
|
|
original corruption is a dead body. It was as troublesome to Paul as if
|
|
he had had a dead body tied to him, which he must have carried about
|
|
with him. This made him cry out, <I>O wretched man that I am!</I> A
|
|
man that had learned in every state to be content yet complains thus of
|
|
his corrupt nature. Had I been required to speak of Paul, I should have
|
|
said, "O blessed man that thou art, an ambassador of Christ, a
|
|
favourite of heaven, a spiritual father of thousands!" But in his own
|
|
account he was a wretched man, because of the corruption of nature,
|
|
because he was not so good as he fain would be, had not yet attained,
|
|
neither was already perfect. Thus miserably does he complain. <I>Who
|
|
shall deliver me?</I> He speaks like one that was sick of it, that
|
|
would give any thing to be rid of it, looks to the right hand and to
|
|
the left for some friend that would part between him and his
|
|
corruptions. The remainders of indwelling sin are a very grievous
|
|
burden to a gracious soul.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. What he comforts himself with. The case was sad, but there were some
|
|
allays. Three things comforted him:--</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(1.) That his conscience witnessed for him that he had a good principle
|
|
ruling and prevailing in him, notwithstanding. It is well when all does
|
|
not go one way in the soul. The rule of this good principle which he
|
|
had was the law of God, to which he here speaks of having a threefold
|
|
regard, which is certainly to be found in all that are sanctified, and
|
|
no others.
|
|
|
|
[1.] <I>I consent unto the law that it is good,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>,
|
|
|
|
<B><I>symphemi</I></B>--<I>I give my vote</I> to the law; here is the
|
|
approbation of the judgment. Wherever there is grace there is not only
|
|
a dread of the severity of the law, but a consent to the goodness of
|
|
the law. "It is a good in itself, it is good for me." This is a sign
|
|
that the law is written in the heart, that the soul is delivered into
|
|
the mould of it. To consent to the law is so far to approve of it as
|
|
not to wish it otherwise constituted than it is. The sanctified
|
|
judgment not only concurs to the equity of the law, but to the
|
|
excellency of it, as convinced that a conformity to the law is the
|
|
highest perfection of human nature, and the greatest honour and
|
|
happiness we are capable of.
|
|
|
|
[2.] <I>I delight in the law of God after the inward man,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>.
|
|
|
|
His conscience bore witness to a complacency in the law. He delighted
|
|
not only in the promises of the word, but in the precepts and
|
|
prohibitions of the word; <B><I>synedomai</I></B> expresses a becoming
|
|
<I>delight.</I> He did herein concur in affection with all the saints.
|
|
All that are savingly regenerate or born again do truly delight in the
|
|
law of God, delight to know it, to do it--cheerfully submit to the
|
|
authority of it, and take a complacency in that submission, never
|
|
better pleased than when heart and life are in the strictest conformity
|
|
to the law and will of God. <I>After the inward man;</I> that is,
|
|
<I>First,</I> The mind or rational faculties, in opposition to the
|
|
sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh. The soul is the inward man,
|
|
and that is the seat of gracious delights, which are therefore sincere
|
|
and serious, but secret; it is the renewing of the inward man,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Co+4:16">2 Cor. iv. 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>Secondly,</I> The new nature. The new man is called the <I>inner
|
|
man</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eph+3:16">Eph. iii. 16</A>),
|
|
|
|
the <I>hidden man of the heart,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Pe+3:4">1 Pet. iii. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
Paul, as far as he was sanctified, had a delight in the law of God.
|
|
|
|
[3.] <I>With the mind I myself serve the law of God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is not enough to consent to the law, and to delight in the law, but
|
|
we must serve the law; our souls must be entirely delivered up into the
|
|
obedience of it. Thus it was with Paul's mind; thus it is with every
|
|
sanctified renewed mind; this is the ordinary course and way;
|
|
thitherward goes the bent of the soul. <I>I myself</I>--<B><I>autos
|
|
ego,</I></B> plainly intimating that he speaks in his own person, and
|
|
not in the person of another.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(2.) That the fault lay in that corruption of his nature which he did
|
|
really bewail and strive against: <I>It is no more I that do it, but
|
|
sin that dwelleth in me.</I> This he mentions twice
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:17,20"><I>v.</I> 17, 20</A>),
|
|
|
|
not as an excuse for the guilt of his sin (it is enough to condemn us,
|
|
if we were under the law, that the sin which does the evil dwelleth in
|
|
us), but as a salvo for his evidences, that he might not sink in
|
|
despair, but take comfort from the covenant of grace, which accepts the
|
|
willingness of the spirit, and has provided pardon for the weakness of
|
|
the flesh. He likewise herein enters a protestation against all that
|
|
which this indwelling sin produced. Having professed his consent to the
|
|
law of God, he here professes his dissent from the law of sin. "It is
|
|
not I; I disown the fact; it is against my mind that it is done." As
|
|
when in the senate the major part are bad, and carry every thing the
|
|
wrong way, it is indeed the act of the senate, but the honest party
|
|
strive against it, bewail what is done, and enter their protestation
|
|
against it; so that it is no more they that do it.--<I>Dwelleth in
|
|
me,</I> as the Canaanites among the Israelites, though they were put
|
|
under tribute: dwelleth in me, and is likely to dwell there, while I
|
|
live.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
(3.) His great comfort lay in Jesus Christ
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:25"><I>v.</I> 25</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.</I> In the midst of his
|
|
complaints he breaks out into praises. It is a special remedy against
|
|
fears and sorrows to be much in praise: many a poor drooping soul hath
|
|
found it so. And, in all our praises, this should be the burden of the
|
|
son, "Blessed be God for Jesus Christ." <I>Who shall deliver me?</I>
|
|
says he
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+7:24"><I>v.</I> 24</A>),
|
|
|
|
as one at a loss for help. At length he finds an all-sufficient friend,
|
|
even Jesus Christ. When we are under the sense of the remaining power
|
|
of sin and corruption, we shall see reason to bless God through Christ
|
|
(for, as he is the mediator of all our prayers, so he is of all our
|
|
praises)--to bless God for Christ; it is he that stands between us and
|
|
the wrath due to us for this sin. If it were not for Christ, this
|
|
iniquity that dwells in us would certainly be our ruin. He is our
|
|
advocate with the Father, and through him God pities, and spares, and
|
|
pardons, and lays not our iniquities to our charge. It is Christ that
|
|
has purchased deliverance for us in due time. Through Christ death
|
|
will put an end to all these complaints, and waft us to an eternity
|
|
which we shall spend without sin or sigh. <I>Blessed be God that giveth
|
|
us this victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!</I></P>
|
|
|
|
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