mh_parser/vol_split/45 - Romans/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Rom.vii" n="vii" next="Rom.viii" prev="Rom.vi" progress="34.11%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Rom.vii-p0.1">R O M A N S.</h2>
<h3 id="Rom.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Rom.vii-p1">The apostle having at large asserted, opened, and
proved, the great doctrine of justification by faith, for fear lest
any should suck poison out of that sweet flower, and turn that
grace of God into wantonness and licentiousness, he, with a like
zeal, copiousness of expression, and cogency of argument, presses
the absolute necessity of sanctification and a holy life, as the
inseparable fruit and companion of justification; for, wherever
Jesus Christ is made of God unto any soul righteousness, he is made
of God unto that soul sanctification, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.1.30" parsed="|1Cor|1|30|0|0" passage="1Co 1:30">1 Cor. i. 30</scripRef>. The water and the blood came
streaming together out of the pierced side of the dying Jesus. And
what God hath thus joined together let not us dare to put
asunder.</p>
<scripCom id="Rom.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6" parsed="|Rom|6|0|0|0" passage="Ro 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Rom.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.1-Rom.6.23" parsed="|Rom|6|1|6|23" passage="Ro 6:1-23" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Rom.6.1-Rom.6.23">
<h4 id="Rom.vii-p1.4">On Sanctification. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Rom.vii-p1.5">a.
d.</span> 58.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Rom.vii-p2">1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in
sin, that grace may abound?   2 God forbid. How shall we, that
are dead to sin, live any longer therein?   3 Know ye not,
that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death?   4 Therefore we are buried with him by
baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead
by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life.   5 For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also <i>in the likeness</i> of
<i>his</i> resurrection:   6 Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified with <i>him,</i> that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.   7 For he that is
dead is freed from sin.   8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we
believe that we shall also live with him:   9 Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more
dominion over him.   10 For in that he died, he died unto sin
once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.   11 Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.   12 Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the
lusts thereof.   13 Neither yield ye your members <i>as</i>
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
<i>as</i> instruments of righteousness unto God.   14 For sin
shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but
under grace.   15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not
under the law, but under grace? God forbid.   16 Know ye not,
that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye
are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness?   17 But God be thanked, that ye were the
servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of
doctrine which was delivered you.   18 Being then made free
from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.   19 I
speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your
flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness
and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members
servants to righteousness unto holiness.   20 For when ye were
the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.   21
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?
for the end of those things <i>is</i> death.   22 But now
being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your
fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.   23 For
the wages of sin <i>is</i> death; but the gift of God <i>is</i>
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p3">The apostle's transition, which joins this
discourse with the former, is observable: "<i>What shall we say
then?</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.1" parsed="|Rom|6|1|0|0" passage="Ro 6:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. What
use shall we make of this sweet and comfortable doctrine? Shall we
do evil that good may come, as some say we do? <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.8" parsed="|Rom|3|8|0|0" passage="Ro 3:8"><i>ch.</i> iii. 8</scripRef>. <i>Shall we continue in sin
that grace may abound?</i> Shall we hence take encouragement to sin
with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the
more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? Is this a
use to be made of it?" No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles
at the thought of it (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.2" parsed="|Rom|6|2|0|0" passage="Ro 6:2"><i>v.</i>
2</scripRef>): "<i>God forbid;</i> far be it from us to think such
a thought." He entertains the objection as Christ did the devil's
blackest temptation (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.4.10" parsed="|Matt|4|10|0|0" passage="Mt 4:10">Matt. iv.
10</scripRef>): <i>Get thee hence, Satan.</i> Those opinions that
give any countenance to sin, or open a door to practical
immoralities, how specious and plausible soever they be rendered,
by the pretension of advancing free grace, are to be rejected with
the greatest abhorrence; for the truth as it is in Jesus is a truth
<i>according to godliness,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.1" parsed="|Titus|1|1|0|0" passage="Tit 1:1">Tit. i.
1</scripRef>. The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of
holiness in this chapter, which may be reduced to two heads:—His
exhortations to holiness, which show the nature of it; and his
motives or arguments to enforce those exhortations, which show the
necessity of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p4">I. For the first, we may hence observe the
nature of sanctification, what it is, and wherein it consists. In
general it has two things in it, mortification and
vivification—dying to sin and living to righteousness, elsewhere
expressed by putting off the old man and putting on the new,
ceasing to do evil and learning to do well.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p5">1. Mortification, putting off the old man;
several ways this is expressed. (1.) We must <i>live no longer in
sin</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.2" parsed="|Rom|6|2|0|0" passage="Ro 6:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), we
must not be as we have been nor do as we have done. The time past
of our life must suffice, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.4.3" parsed="|1Pet|4|3|0|0" passage="1Pe 4:3">1 Peter iv.
3</scripRef>. Though there are none that live without sin, yet,
blessed be God, there are those that do not live in sin, do not
live in it as their element, do not make a trade of it: this is to
be sanctified. (2.) <i>The body of sin must be destroyed,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.6" parsed="|Rom|6|6|0|0" passage="Ro 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. The corruption
that dwelleth in us is the body of sin, consisting of many parts
and members, as a body. This is the root to which the axe must be
laid. We must not only cease from the acts of sin (this may be done
through the influence of outward restraints, or other inducements),
but we must get the vicious habits and inclinations weakened and
destroyed; not only cast away the idols of iniquity out of the
heart.—<i>That henceforth we should not serve sin.</i> The actual
transgression is certainly in a great measure prevented by the
crucifying and killing of the original corruption. Destroy the body
of sin, and then, though there should be Canaanites remaining in
the land, yet the Israelites will not be slaves to them. It is the
body of sin that sways the sceptre, wields the iron rod; destroy
this, and the yoke is broken. The destruction of Eglon the tyrant
is the deliverance of oppressed Israel from the Moabites. (3.)
<i>We must be dead indeed unto sin,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.11" parsed="|Rom|6|11|0|0" passage="Ro 6:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. As the death of the oppressor is
a release, so much more is the death of the oppressed, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.17-Job.3.18" parsed="|Job|3|17|3|18" passage="Job 3:17,18">Job iii. 17, 18</scripRef>. Death brings a
writ of ease to the weary. Thus must we be dead to sin, obey it,
observe it, regard it, fulfil its will no more than he that is dead
doth his <i>quandam</i> task-masters—be as indifference to the
pleasures and delights of sin as a man that is dying is to his
former diversions. He that is dead is separated from his former
company, converse, business, enjoyments, employments, is not what
he was, does not what he did, has not what he had. Death makes a
mighty change; such a change doth sanctification make in the soul,
it cuts off all correspondence with sin. (4.) <i>Sin must not reign
in our mortal bodies that we should obey it,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.12" parsed="|Rom|6|12|0|0" passage="Ro 6:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. Though sin may remain as an
outlaw, though it may oppress as a tyrant, yet let it not reign as
a king. Let it not make laws, nor preside in councils, nor command
the militia; let it not be uppermost in the soul, so that we should
obey it. Though we may be sometimes overtaken and overcome by it,
yet let us never be obedient to it in the lusts thereof; let not
sinful lusts be a law to you, to which you would yield a consenting
obedience. <i>In the lusts thereof</i>—<b><i>en tais epithymiais
autou.</i></b> It refers to the body, not to sin. Sin lies very
much in the gratifying of the body, and humouring that. And there
is a reason implied in the phrase <i>your mortal body;</i> because
it is a mortal body, and hastening apace to the dust, therefore let
not sin reign in it. It was sin that made our bodies mortal, and
therefore do not yield obedience to such an enemy. (5.) We must not
<i>yield our members as instruments of unrighteousness,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p5.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.13" parsed="|Rom|6|13|0|0" passage="Ro 6:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. The members of
the body are made use of by the corrupt nature as tools, by which
the wills of the flesh are fulfilled; but we must not consent to
that abuse. The members of the body are fearfully and wonderfully
made; it is a pity they should be the devil's tools of
<i>unrighteousness unto sin,</i> instruments of the sinful actions,
according to the sinful dispositions. Unrighteousness is unto sin;
the sinful acts confirm and strengthen the sinful habits; one sin
begets another; it is like the letting forth of water, therefore
leave it before it be meddled with. The members of the body may
perhaps, through the prevalency of temptation, be forced to be
instruments of sin; but do not yield them to be so, do not consent
to it. This is one branch of sanctification, the mortification of
sin.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p6">2. Vivification, or living to
righteousness; and what is that? (1.) It is to <i>walk in newness
of life,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.4" parsed="|Rom|6|4|0|0" passage="Ro 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
Newness of life supposes newness of heart, for out of the heart are
the issues of life, and there is not way to make the stream sweet
but by making the spring so. Walking, in scripture, is put for the
course and tenour of the conversation, which must be new. Walk by
new rules, towards new ends, from new principles. Make a new choice
of the way. Choose new paths to walk in, new leaders to walk after,
new companions to walk with. Old things should pass away, and all
things become new. The man is what he was not, does what he did
not. (2.) It is to be <i>alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.11" parsed="|Rom|6|11|0|0" passage="Ro 6:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. To
converse with God, to have a regard to him, a delight in him, a
concern for him, the soul upon all occasions carried out towards
him as towards an agreeable object, in which it takes a
complacency: this is to be alive to God. The love of God reigning
in the heart is the life of the soul towards God. <i>Anima est ubi
amat, non ubi animat—The soul is where it loves, rather than where
it lives.</i> It is to have the affections and desires alive
towards God. Or, <i>living</i> (our live in the flesh) <i>unto
God,</i> to his honour and glory as our end, by his word and will
as our rule—in all our ways to acknowledge him, and to have our
eyes ever towards him; this is to live unto God.—<i>Through Jesus
Christ our Lord.</i> Christ is our spiritual life; there is no
living to God but through him. He is the Mediator; there can be no
comfortable receivings from God, nor acceptable regards to God, but
in and through Jesus Christ; no intercourse between sinful souls
and a holy God, but by the mediation of the Lord Jesus. Through
Christ as the author and maintainer of this life; through Christ as
the head from whom we receive vital influence; through Christ as
the root by which we derive sap and nourishment, and so live. In
living to God, Christ is all in all. (3.) It is to <i>yield
ourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.13" parsed="|Rom|6|13|0|0" passage="Ro 6:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. The very life
and being of holiness lie in the dedication of ourselves to the
Lord, giving our own selves to the Lord, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.8.5" parsed="|2Cor|8|5|0|0" passage="2Co 8:5">2 Cor. viii. 5</scripRef>. "Yield yourselves to him, not
only as the conquered yields to the conqueror, because he can stand
it out no longer; but as the wife yields herself to her husband, to
whom her desire is, as the scholar yields himself to the teacher,
the apprentice to his master, to be taught and ruled by him. Not
yield your estates to him, but yield yourselves; nothing less than
your whole selves;" <b><i>parastesate
eautous</i></b>—<i>accommodate vos ipsos Deo</i>—<i>accommodate
yourselves to God;</i> so <i>Tremellius,</i> from the
<i>Syriac.</i> "Not only submit to him, but comply with him; not
only present yourselves to him once for all, but be always ready to
serve him. Yield yourselves to him as wax to the seal, to take any
impression, to be, and have, and do, what he pleases." When Paul
said, <i>Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.9.6" parsed="|Acts|9|6|0|0" passage="Ac 9:6">Acts ix. 6</scripRef>) he was then yielded to God.
<i>As those that are alive from the dead.</i> To yield a dead
carcase to a living God is not to please him, but to mock him:
"Yield yourselves as those that are alive and good for something, a
<i>living sacrifice,</i>" <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.12.1" parsed="|Rom|12|1|0|0" passage="Ro 12:1"><i>ch.</i>
xii. 1</scripRef>. The surest evidence of our spiritual life is the
dedication of ourselves to God. It becomes those that are alive
from the dead (it may be understood of a death in law), that are
justified and delivered from death, to give themselves to him that
hath so redeemed them. (4.) It is to yield <i>our members as
instruments of righteousness to God.</i> The members of our bodies,
when withdrawn from the service of sin, are not to lie idle, but to
be made use of in the service of God. When the strong man armed is
dispossessed, let him whose right it is divide the spoils. Though
the powers and faculties of the soul be the immediate subjects of
holiness and righteousness, yet the members of the body are to be
instruments; the body must be always ready to serve the soul in the
service of God. Thus (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.19" parsed="|Rom|6|19|0|0" passage="Ro 6:19"><i>v.</i>
19</scripRef>), "<i>Yield your members servants to righteousness
unto holiness.</i> Let them be under the conduct and at the command
of the righteous law of God, and that principle of inherent
righteousness which the Spirit, as sanctifier, plants in the soul."
<i>Righteousness unto holiness,</i> which intimates growth, and
progress, and ground obtained. As every sinful act confirms the
sinful habit, and makes the nature more and more prone to sin
(hence the members of a natural man are here said to be servants to
<i>iniquity unto iniquity</i>—one sin makes the heart more
disposed for another), so every gracious act confirms the gracious
habit: serving righteousness is unto holiness; one duty fits us for
another; and the more we do the more we may do for God. Or serving
righteousness, <b><i>eis hagiasmon</i></b>—<i>as an evidence of
sanctification.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p7">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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p8">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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p9">(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
(<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.7" parsed="|Rom|6|7|0|0" passage="Ro 6:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) <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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.3.19" parsed="|Job|3|19|0|0" passage="Job 3:19">Job iii.
19</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p10">(2.) In particular, being <i>baptized into
Jesus Christ, we were baptized into his death,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.3" parsed="|Rom|6|3|0|0" passage="Ro 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. We were baptized <b><i>eis
Christon</i></b>—<i>unto Christ,</i> as <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.2" parsed="|1Cor|10|2|0|0" passage="1Co 10:2">1 Cor. x. 2</scripRef>, <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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p11">[1.] Our conformity to the death of Christ
obliges us to die unto sin; thereby we know the <i>fellowship of
his sufferings,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.10" parsed="|Phil|3|10|0|0" passage="Php 3:10">Phil. iii.
10</scripRef>. Thus we are here said to be <i>planted together in
the likeness of is death</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.5" parsed="|Rom|6|5|0|0" passage="Ro 6:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>), <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> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.6" parsed="|Rom|6|6|0|0" passage="Ro 6:6"><i>v.</i>
6</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Gal.3.13" parsed="|Gal|3|13|0|0" passage="Ga 3:13">Gal. iii. 13</scripRef>.
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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.8.13" parsed="|Heb|8|13|0|0" passage="Heb 8:13">Heb. viii. 13</scripRef>.
<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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.8" parsed="|Rom|6|8|0|0" passage="Ro 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. 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> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p11.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.4" parsed="|Rom|6|4|0|0" passage="Ro 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p12">[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,
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.10" parsed="|Phil|3|10|0|0" passage="Php 3:10">Phil. iii. 10</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.11" parsed="|Col|1|11|0|0" passage="Col 1:11">Col. i. 11</scripRef>.
Now in baptism we are obliged to conform to that pattern, to be
planted in the <i>likeness of his resurrection</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.5" parsed="|Rom|6|5|0|0" passage="Ro 6:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), to <i>live with him,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.8" parsed="|Rom|6|8|0|0" passage="Ro 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Col.2.12" parsed="|Col|2|12|0|0" passage="Col 2:12">Col. ii. 12</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Matt.27.52" parsed="|Matt|27|52|0|0" passage="Mt 27:52">Matt. xxvii. 52</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.9" parsed="|Rom|6|9|0|0" passage="Ro 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.18" parsed="|Rev|1|18|0|0" passage="Re 1:18">Rev. i. 18</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.10" parsed="|Rom|6|10|0|0" passage="Ro 6:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>), 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> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:John.13.1 Bible:John.17.11" parsed="|John|13|1|0|0;|John|17|11|0|0" passage="Joh 13:1,17:11">John xiii. 1; xvii. 11</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.4" parsed="|Rom|6|4|0|0" passage="Ro 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p13">2. He argues from the precious promises and
privileges of the new covenant, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.14" parsed="|Rom|6|14|0|0" passage="Ro 6:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. 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 (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.15" parsed="|Rom|6|15|0|0" passage="Ro 6:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p14">3. He argues from the evidence that this
will be of our state, making for us, or against us (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.16" parsed="|Rom|6|16|0|0" passage="Ro 6:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p15">4. He argues from their former sinfulness,
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.17-Rom.6.21" parsed="|Rom|6|17|6|21" passage="Ro 6:17-21"><i>v.</i> 17-21</scripRef>, where we
may observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p16">(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> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.19" parsed="|Rom|6|19|0|0" passage="Ro 6:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>.
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> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.20" parsed="|Rom|6|20|0|0" passage="Ro 6:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>); 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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p17">(2.) How the blessed change was made, and
wherein it did consist.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p18">[1.] <i>You have obeyed from the heart that
form of doctrine which was delivered to you,</i> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.17" parsed="|Rom|6|17|0|0" passage="Ro 6:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. 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,
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.1.13" parsed="|1Tim|1|13|0|0" passage="1Ti 1:13">2 Tim. i. 13</scripRef>.
<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 class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p19">[2.] <i>Being made free from sin, you
became servants of righteousness</i> (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.18" parsed="|Rom|6|18|0|0" passage="Ro 6:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>), <i>servants to God,</i>
<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.22" parsed="|Rom|6|22|0|0" passage="Ro 6:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>. Conversion is,
<i>First,</i> A freedom from the service of sin; it is the shaking
off of that yoke, resolving to have no more to do with it.
<i>Secondly,</i> A resignation of ourselves to the service of God
and righteousness, to God as our master, to righteousness as our
work. When we are made free from sin, it is not that we may live as
we list, and be our own masters; no: when we are delivered out of
Egypt, we are, as Israel, led to the holy mountain, to receive the
law, and are there brought into the bond of the covenant. Observe,
We cannot be made the servants of God till we are freed from the
power and dominion of sin; we cannot serve two masters so directly
opposite one to another as God and sin are. We must, with the
prodigal, quit the drudgery of the citizen of the country, before
we can come to our Father's house.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p20">(3.) What apprehensions they now had of
their former work and way. He appeals to themselves (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.21" parsed="|Rom|6|21|0|0" passage="Ro 6:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), whether they had not
found the service of sin, [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. [2.] It is an unbecoming service; it is that of which we
<i>are now 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>
<p class="indent" id="Rom.vii-p21">5. He argues from the end of all these
things. it is the prerogative of rational creatures that they are
endued with a power of prospect, are capable of looking forward,
considering the latter end of things. To 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. (1.) The end of
sin is death (<scripRef id="Rom.vii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.21" parsed="|Rom|6|21|0|0" passage="Ro 6:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>):
<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> <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.23" parsed="|Rom|6|23|0|0" passage="Ro 6:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>.
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, <scripRef id="Rom.vii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.23" parsed="|Rom|6|23|0|0" passage="Ro 6:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>, <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>
</div></div2>