Below is a breakdown of Romans 7 as written by Adam Clarke:
5 For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the
law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. {motions:
Gr. passions}
6 But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were
held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of
the letter. {that being...: or, being dead to that}
7 ¶ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had
said, Thou shalt not covet. {lust: or, concupiscence}
8 But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of
concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin
revived, and I died.
10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto
death.
11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it
slew me.
12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and
good.
13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
14 ¶ For we know that the law is spiritual: 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. {allow: Gr. know}
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is
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 how 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? {the body...: or, this body of 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.
(KJV)
Verse 7. Is the law sin?— The apostle had said, Romans 7:6: The
motions of sins, which were by the law, did bring forth fruit unto death;
and now he anticipates an objection, "Is therefore the law sin?" To which
he answers, as usual, mh gevoito, by no means. Law is only the means of
disclosing; this sinful propensity, not of producing it; as a bright beam
of
the sun introduced into a room shows; millions of motes which appear to
be dancing in it in all directions; but these were not introduced by the
light:
they were there before, only there was not light enough to make them
manifest; so the evil propensity was there before, but there was not light
sufficient to discover it.
I had not known sin, but by the law— Mr. Locke and Dr. Taylor have
properly remarked the skill used by St. Paul in dexterously avoiding, as
much as possible, the giving offense to the Jews: and this is particularly
evident in his use of the word I in this place. In the beginning of the
chapter, where he mentions their knowledge of the law, he says YE; in
{Romans 7:4} the 4th verse he joins himself with them, and says we; but
here, and so to the end of the chapter, where he represents the power of
sin and the inability of the law to subdue it, he appears to leave them
out,
and speaks altogether in the first person, though it is plain he means all
those who are under the law. So, Romans 3:7, he uses the singular
pronoun, why am I judged a sinner? when he evidently means the whole
body of unbelieving Jews.
There is another circumstance in which his address is peculiarly evident;
his demonstrating the insufficiency of the law under color of vindicating
it.
He knew that the Jew would take fire at the least reflection on the law,
which he held in the highest veneration; and therefore he very naturally
introduces him catching at that expression, Romans 7:5, the motions of
sins, which were by the law, or, notwithstanding the law. "What!" says
this Jew, "do you vilify the law, by charging it with favoring sin?" By no
means, says the apostle; I am very far from charging the law with favoring
sin. The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good,
Romans 7:12. Thus he writes in vindication of the law; and yet at the same
time shows: 1. That the law requires the most extensive obedience,
discovering and condemning sin in all its most secret and remote branches,
Romans 7:7. 2. That it gives sin a deadly force, subjecting every
transgression to the penalty of death, Romans 7:8-14. And yet, 3.
supplies neither help nor hope to the sinner, but leaves him under the
power of sin, and the sentence of death, Romans 7:14, etc. This, says Dr.
Taylor, is the most ingenious turn of writing I ever met with. We have
another instance of the same sort, Romans 13:1-7.
It is not likely that a dark, corrupt human heart can discern the will of
God. His law is his will. It recommends what is just, and right, and good
and forbids what is improper, unjust, and injurious. If God had not
revealed himself by this law, we should have done precisely what many
nations of the earth have done, who have not had this revelation-put
darkness for light, and sin for acts of holiness. While the human heart is
its
own measure it will rate its workings according to its own propensities;
for itself is its highest rule. But when God gives a true insight of his
own
perfections, to be applied as a rule both of passion and practice, then
sin is
discovered, and discovered too, to be exceedingly sinful. So strong
propensities, because they appear to be inherent in our nature, would have
passed for natural and necessary operations; and their sinfulness would
not have been discovered, if the law had not said, Thou shalt not covet;
and thus determined that the propensity itself, as well as its outward
operations, is sinful. The law is the straight edge which determines the
quantum of obliquity in the crooked line to which it is applied.
It is natural for man to do what is unlawful, and to desire especially to
do
that which is forbidden. The heathens have remarked this propensity in
man.
Thus LIVY, xxxiv. 4:—
Luxuria-ipsis vinculis, sicut fera bestia, irtitata.
"Luxury, like a wild beast, is irritated by its very bonds."
Audax omnia perpeti
Gens humana ruit per vetitun; nefas.
"The presumptuous human race obstinately rush into prohibited acts of
wickedness."
HOR. Carm. lib. i. Od. iii. ver. 25.
And OVID, Amor. lib. ii. Eleg. xix. ver. 3:—
Quod licet, ingratum est; quod non licet, acrius urit.
"What is lawful is insipid; the strongest propensity
is excited towards that which is prohibited."
And again, Ib. lib. iii. E. iv. ver. 17:—
Nitimur in vetitum semper, cupimusque negata.
"Vice is provoked by every strong restraint,
Sick men long most to drink, who know they mayn’t."
The same poet delivers the same sentiment it another place:—
Acrior admonitu est, irritaturque retenta
Et crescit rabies: remoraminaque ipsa nocebant.
METAM. lib. iii. ver. 566.
"Being admonished, he becomes the more obstinate; and his fierceness is
irritated by restraints. Prohibitions become incentives to greater acts of
vice."
But it is needless to multiply examples; this most wicked principle of a
sinful, fallen nature, has been felt and acknowledged by ALL mankind.
Verse 8. Sin, taking occasion by the commandment— I think the
pointing, both in this and in the 11th verse, to be wrong: the comma
should be after occasion, and not after commandment. But sin taking
occasion, wrought in me by this commandment all manner of
concupiscence. There are different opinions concerning the meaning of the
word aformh, which we here translate occasion. Dr. Waterland translates
the clause, Sin, taking ADVANTAGE. Dr. Taylor contends that all
commentators have mistaken the meaning of it, and that it should be
rendered having received FORCE. For this acceptation of the word I can
find no adequate authority except in its etymology-apo, from, and ormh,
impetus. The word appears to signify, in general, whatsoever is necessary
for the completion or accomplishment of any particular purpose.
Xenophon uses aformai eiv ton bion to signify whatever is necessary
for the support of life. There is a personification in the text: sin is,
represented as a murderer watching for life, and snatching at every means
and embracing every opportunity to carry his fell purpose into effect. The
miserable sinner has a murderer, sin, within him; this murderer can only
destroy life in certain circumstances; finding that the law condemns the
object of his cruelty to death, he takes occasion from this to work in the
soul all manner of concupiscence, evil and irregular desires and appetites
of
every kind, and, by thus increasing the evil, exposes the soul to more
condemnation; and thus it is represented as being slain, Romans 7:11. That
is, the law, on the evidence of those sinful dispositions, and their
corresponding practices, condemns the sinner to death: so that he is dead
in law. Thus the very prohibition, as we have already seen in the
preceding
verse, becomes the instrument of exciting the evil propensity; for,
although
a sinner has the general propensity to do what is evil, yet he seems to
feel
most delight in transgressing known law: stat pro ratione voluntas; "I
will
do it, because I will."
For without the law, sin was dead.— Where there is no law there is no
transgression; for sin is the transgression of the law; and no fault can
be
imputed unto death, where there is no statute by which such a fault is
made a capital offense.
Dr. Taylor thinks that cwriv nomon, without the law, means the time
before the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, which took in the space of
430 years, during which time the people were under the Abrahamic
covenant of grace; and without the law that was given on Mount Sinai, the
sting of death, which is sin, had not power to slay the sinner; for, from
the
time that Adam sinned, the law was not re-enacted till it was given by
Moses, Romans 5:13. The Jew was then alive, because he was not under
the law subjecting him to death for his transgressions; but when the
commandment came, with the penalty of death annexed, sin revived, and
the Jew died. Then the sting of death acquired life; and the Jew, upon the
first transgression, was dead in law. Thus sin, the sting of death,
received
force or advantage to destroy by the commandment, Romans 7:8, 11.
All manner of concupiscence.— It showed what was evil and forbade it;
and then the principle of rebellion, which seems essential to the very
nature of sins rose up against the prohibition; and he was the more
strongly incited to disobey in proportion as obedience was enjoined. Thus
the apostle shows that the law had authority to prohibit, condemn, and
destroy; but no power to pardon sin, root out enmity, or save the soul.
The word epiqumia, which we render concupiscence, signifies simply
strong desire of any kind; but in the New Testament, it is generally taken
to signify irregular and unholy desires. Sin in the mind is the desire to
do,
or to be, what is contrary to the holiness and authority of GOD.
For without the law, sin was dead.— This means, according to Dr.
Taylor’s hypothesis, the time previous to the giving of the law. See
before. But it seems also consistent with the apostle’s meaning, to
interpret the place as implying the time in which Paul, in his unconverted
Jewish state, had not the proper knowledge of the law-while he was
unacquainted with its spirituality. He felt evil desire, but he did not
know
the evil of it; he did not consider that the law tried the heart and its
workings, as well as outward actions. This is farther explained in the
next
verse.
Verse 9. I was alive without the law once— Dr. Whitby paraphrases the
verse thus:-"For the seed of Abraham was alive without the law once,
before the law was given, I being not obnoxious to death for that to which
the law had not threatened death; but when the commandment came,
forbidding it under that penalty, sin revived, and I died; i.e. it got
strength
to draw me to sin, and to condemn me to death. Sin is, in Scripture,
represented as an enemy that seeks our ruin and destruction; and takes all
occasions to effect it. It is here said to war against the mind, Romans
7:23;
elsewhere, to war against the soul, 1 Peter 2:11; to surround and beset
us,
Hebrews 12:1; to bring us into bondage and subjection, and get the
dominion over us, Romans 6:12; to entice us, and so to work our death,
James 1:14-16; and to do all that Satan, the grand enemy of mankind, doth,
by tempting us to the commission of it. Whence Chrysostom, upon those
words, Hebrews 12:4: Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, prov thn
amartian avtagwnizomenoi, striving against sin; represents sin as an
armed and flagrant adversary. When, therefore, it finds a law which
threatens death to the violater of it, it takes occasion thence more
earnestly
to tempt and allure to the violation of it, that so it may more
effectually
subject us to death and condemnation on that account; for the sting of
death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law, condemning us to death
for
transgressing it. Thus, when God had forbidden, on pain of death, the
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Satan thence took occasion to
tempt our first parents to transgress, and so slew them, or made them
subject to death; exhpathse, he deceived them, Genesis 3:13; 1 Timothy
2:14; which is the word used Romans 7:11. The phrase, without the law,
sin was dead, means, that sin was then (before the law was given)
comparatively dead, as to its power of condemning to death; and this
sense the antithesis requires; without the law, amartia nekra, egw de
ezwn, sin was dead, but I was living; but when the commandment came,
(i.e. the law,) sin revived, and I died. How were men living before the
law,
but because then no law condemned them? Sin, therefore, must be then
dead, as to its condemning power. How did they die when the law came
but by the law condemning them to death? Sin therefore revived, then, as
to its power of condemning, which it received first from the sin of Adam,
which brought death into the world; and next, from the law of Moses,
which entered that the offense might abound, and reign more unto death,
Romans 5:20, 21. For though sin was in the world from Adam to Moses,
or until the law was given, yet it was not imputed unto death, when there
was no law that did threaten death; so that death reigned from that
interval
by virtue of Adam’s sin alone; even over them who had not sinned after
the similitude of Adam’s transgression, i.e. against a positive law,
forbidding it under the penalty of death; which law being delivered by
Moses, sin revived; i.e. it had again its force to condemn men as before
to
death, by virtue of a law which threatened death. And in this sense the
apostle seems to say, Galatians 3:19, the law was added because of
transgressions, to convince us of the wrath and punishment due to them;
and that the law, therefore, worketh wrath, because where no law is there
is no transgression, Romans 4:15, subjecting us to wrath; or no such sense
of the Divine wrath as where a plain Divine law, threatening death and
condemnation, is violated." See Whitby, in loco.
Verse 10. And the commandment— Meaning the law in general, which
was ordained to life; the rule of righteousness teaching those statutes
which if a man do he shall live in them, Leviticus 18:5, I found, by
transgressing it, to be unto death; for it only presented the duty and
laid
down the penalty, without affording any strength to resist sin or subdue
evil propensities.
Verse 11. Sin, taking occasion— Sin, deriving strength from the law,
threatening death to the transgressor, (see Clarke’s note on "Romans
7:8",)
deceived me, drew me aside to disobedience, promising me gratification
honor, independence, etc., as it promised to Eve; for to her history the
apostle evidently alludes, and uses the very same expression, deceived me,
exhpathse me? See the preceding note; and see the Septuagint, Genesis
3:13.
And by it slew me.— Subjected me to that death which the law denounced
against transgressors; and rendered me miserable during the course of life
itself. It is well known to scholars that the verb apokteinein signifies
not
only to slay or kill, but also to make wretched. Every sinner is not only
exposed to death because he has sinned, and must, sooner or later, die;
but
he is miserable in both body and mind by the influence and the effects of
sin. He lives a dying life, or a living death.
Verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy— As if he had said, to soothe his
countrymen, to whom he had been showing the absolute insufficiency of
the law either to justify or save from sin: I do not intimate that there
is
any thing improper or imperfect in the law as a rule of life: it
prescribes
what is holy, just, and good; for it comes from a holy, just, and good
God.
The LAW, which is to regulate the whole of the outward conduct, is holy;
and the COMMANDMENT, Thou shalt not covet, which is to regulate the
heart, is not less so. All is excellent and pure; but it neither pardons
sin nor
purifies the heart; and it is because it is holy, just, and good, that it
condemns transgressors to death.
Verse 13. Was then that which is good made death unto me?— This is
the question of the Jew, with whom the apostle appears to be disputing.
"Do you allow the law to be good, and yet say it is the cause of our
death?" The apostle answers:-God forbid! genoito, by no means: it is not
the law that is the cause of your death, but sin; it was sin which
subjected
us to death by the law, justly threatening sin with death: which law was
given that sin might appear-might be set forth in its own colors; when we
saw it subjected us to death by a law perfectly holy, just, and good; that
sin, by the law, might be represented what it really is:-kaqÆ uperbolhn
amartwlov, an EXCEEDING GREAT and deadly evil.
Thus it appears that man cannot have a true notion of sin but by means of
the law of God. For this I have already given sufficient reasons in the
preceding notes. And it was one design of the law to show the abominable
and destructive nature of sin, as well as to be a rule of life. It would
be
almost impossible for a man to have that just notion of the demerit of sin
so as to produce repentance, or to see the nature and necessity of the
death of Christ, if the law were not applied to his conscience by the
light
of the Holy Spirit; it is then alone that he sees himself to be carnal,
and
sold under sin; and that the law and the commandment are holy, just, and
good. And let it be observed, that the law did not answer this end merely
among the Jews in the days of the apostle; it is just as necessary to the
Gentiles to the present hour. Nor do we find that true repentance takes
place where the moral law is not preached and enforced. Those who
preach only the Gospel to sinners, at best only heal the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly. The law, therefore, is the grand
instrument
in the hands of a faithful minister, to alarm and awaken sinners; and he
may safely show that every sinner is under the law, and consequently
under the curse, who has not fled for refuge to the hope held out by the
Gospel: for, in this sense also, Jesus Christ is the END of the LAW for
justification to them that believe.
Verse 14. For, we know that the law is spiritual— This is a general
proposition, and probably, in the apostle’s autograph, concluded the
above sentence. The law is not to be considered as a system of external
rites and ceremonies; nor even as a rule of moral action: it is a
spiritual
system; it reaches to the most hidden purposes, thoughts, dispositions,
and desires of the heart and soul; and it reproves and condemns every
thing, without hope of reprieve or pardon, that is contrary to eternal
truth
and rectitude.
But I am carnal, sold under sin.— This was probably, in the apostle’s
letter, the beginning of a new paragraph. I believe it is agreed, on all
hands,
that the apostle is here demonstrating the insufficiency of the law in
opposition to the Gospel. That by the former is the knowledge, by the
latter the cure, of sin. Therefore by I here he cannot mean himself, nor
any
Christian believer: if the contrary could be proved, the argument of the
apostle would go to demonstrate the insufficiency of the Gospel as well as
the law.
It is difficult to conceive how the opinion could have crept into the
Church, or prevailed there, that "the apostle speaks here of his
regenerate
state; and that what was, in such a state, true of himself, must be true
of
all others in the same state." This opinion has, most pitifully and most
shamefully, not only lowered the standard of Christianity, but destroyed
its influence and disgraced its character. It requires but little
knowledge of
the spirit of the Gospel, and of the scope of this epistle, to see that
the
apostle is, here, either personating a Jew under the law and without the
Gospel, or showing what his own state was when he was deeply
convinced that by the deeds of the law no man could be justified, and had
not as yet heard those blessed words: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, that
appeared unto thee in the way, hath sent me that thou mightest receive
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost, Acts 9:17.
In this and the following verses he states the contrariety between
himself,
or any Jew while without Christ, and the law of God. Of the latter he
says, it is spiritual; of the former, l am carnal, sold under sin. Of the
carnal
man, in opposition to the spiritual, never was a more complete or accurate
description given. The expressions, in the flesh, and after the flesh, in
Romans 7:5, and in Romans 8:5, 8, 9, etc., are of the same import with the
word carnal in this verse. To be in the flesh, or to be carnally minded,
solely respects the unregenerate. While unregenerate, a man is in a state
of
death and enmity against God, Romans 8:6-9. This is St. Paul’s own
account of a carnal man. The soul of such a man has no authority over the
appetites of the body and the lusts of the flesh: reason has not the
government of passion. The work of such a person is to make provision
for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof, Romans 13:14. He minds the
things of the flesh, Romans 8:5; he is at enmity with God. In all these
things the spiritual man is the reverse; he lives in a state of friendship
with
God in Christ, and the Spirit of God dwells in him; his soul has dominion
over the appetites of the body and the lusts of the flesh; his passions
submit to the government of reason, and he, by the Spirit, mortifies the
deeds of the flesh; he mindeth the things of the Spirit, Romans 8:5. The
Scriptures, therefore, place these two characters in direct opposition to
each other. Now the apostle begins this passage by informing us that it is
his carnal state that he is about to describe, in opposition to the
spirituality of God’s holy law, saying, But I am carnal.
Those who are of another opinion maintain that by the word carnal here
the apostle meant that corruption which dwelt in him after his conversion;
but this opinion is founded on a very great mistake; for, although there
may be, after justification, the remains of the carnal mind, which will be
less or more felt till the soul is completely sanctified, yet the man is
never
denominated from the inferior principle, which is under control, but from
the superior principle which habitually prevails. Whatever epithets are
given to corruption or sin in Scripture, opposite epithets are given to
grace
or holiness. By these different epithets are the unregenerate and
regenerate
denominated. From all this it follows that the epithet carnal, which is
the
characteristic designation of an unregenerate man, cannot be applied to
St.
Paul after his conversion; nor, indeed, to any Christian in that state.
But the word carnal, though used by the apostle to signify a state of
death
and enmity against God, is not sufficient to denote all the evil of the
state
which he is describing; hence he adds, sold under sin. This is one of the
strongest expressions which the Spirit of God uses in Scripture, to
describe the full depravity of fallen man. It implies a willing slavery:
Ahab
had sold himself to work evil, 1 Kings 21:20. And of the Jews it is said,
in
their utmost depravity, Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold
yourselves, Isaiah 50:1. They forsook the holy covenant, and joined
themselves to the heathen, and WERE SOLD to do mischief, 1 Macc. i. 15.
Now, if the word carnal, in its strongest sense, had been sufficiently
significant of all he meant, why add to this charge another expression
still
stronger? We must therefore understand the phrase, sold under sin, as
implying that the soul was employed in the drudgery of sin; that it was
sold over to this service, and had no power to disobey this tyrant, until
it
was redeemed by another. And if a man be actually sold to another, and he
acquiesce in the deed, then he becomes the legal property of that other
person. This state of bondage was well known to the Romans. The sale of
slaves they saw daily, and could not misunderstand the emphatical sense
of this expression. Sin is here represented as a person; and the apostle
compares the dominion which sin has over the man in question to that of a
master over his legal slave. Universally through the Scriptures man is
said
to be in a state of bondage to sin until the Son of God make him free: but
in no part of the sacred writings is it ever said that the children of God
are
sold under sin. Christ came to deliver the lawful captive, and take away
the prey from the mighty. Whom the Son maketh free, they are free
indeed. Then, they yield not up their members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin; for sin shall not have the dominion over them,
because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made them free
from the law of sin and death, Romans 6:13, 14; 8:2. Anciently, when
regular cartels were not known, the captives became the slaves of their
victors, and by them were sold to any purchaser; their slavery was as
complete and perpetual as if the slave had resigned his own liberty, and
sold himself: the laws of the land secured him to his master; he could not
redeem himself, because he had nothing that was his own, and nothing
could rescue him from that state but a stipulated redemption. The apostle
speaks here, not of the manner in which the person in question became a
slave; he only asserts the fact, that sin had a full and permanent
dominion
over him. — Smith, on the carnal man’s character.
I am carnal, sold under sin.— I have been the more particular in
ascertaining the genuine sense of this verse, because it determines the
general scope of the whole passage.
Verse 15. For, that which I do, I allow not, etc.— The first clause of
this
verse is a general assertion concerning the employment of the person in
question in the state which the apostle calls carnal, and sold under sin.
The
Greek word katergaxomai which is here translated I do, means a work
which the agent continues to perform till it is finished, and is used by
the
apostle, Philippians 2:12, to denote the continued employment of God’s
saints in his service to the end of their lives. WORK OUT your own
salvation; the word here denotes an employment of a different kind; and
therefore the man who now feels the galling dominion of sin says, What I
am continually labouring at I allow not, ou ginwskw, I do not
acknowledge to be right, just, holy, or profitable.
But what I hate, that do I.— I am a slave, and under the absolute control
of my tyrannical master: I hate his service, but am obliged to work his
will.
Who, without blaspheming, can assert that the apostle is speaking this of
a
man in whom the Spirit of the Lord dwells? From Romans 7:7 to this one
the apostle, says Dr. Taylor, denotes the Jew in the flesh by a single I;
here, he divides that I into two I’s, or figurative persons; representing
two
different and opposite principles which were in him. The one I, or
principle, assents to the law that it is good, and wills and chooses what
the
other does not practice, Romans 7:16. This principle he expressly tells
us,
Romans 7:22, is the inward man; the law of the mind, Romans 7:23; the
mind, or rational faculty, Romans 7:25; for he could find no other inward
man, or law of the mind, but the rational faculty, in a person who was
carnal and sold under sin. The other I, or principle, transgresses the
law,
Romans 7:23, and does those things which the former principle allows not.
This principle he expressly tells us, Romans 7:18, is the flesh, the law
in
the members, or sensual appetite, Romans 7:23; and he concludes in the
last verse, that these two principles were opposite to each other;
therefore
it is evident that those two principles, residing and counteracting each
other in the same person; are reason and lust, or sin that dwells in us.
And
it is very easy to distinguish these two I’s, or principles, in every part
of
this elegant description of iniquity, domineering over the light and
remonstrances of reason. For instance, Romans 7:17: Now then, it is no
more I that do it, but SIN that dwelleth in me. The I he speaks of here is
opposed to indwelling or governing sin; and therefore plainly denotes the
principle of reason, the inward man, or law of the mind; in which, I add,
a
measure of the light of the Spirit of God shines, in order to show the
sinfulness of sin. These two different principles he calls, one flesh, and
the
other spirit, Galatians 5:17; where he speaks of their contrariety in the
same manner that he does here.
And we may give a probable reason why the apostle dwells so long upon
the struggle and opposition between these two principles; it appears
intended to answer a tacit but very obvious objection. The Jew might
allege: "But the law is holy and spiritual; and I assent to it as good, as
a
right rule of action, which ought to be observed; yea, I esteem it highly,
I
glory and rest in it, convinced of its truth and excellency. And is not
this
enough to constitute the law a sufficient principle of sanctification?"
The
apostle answers, "No; wickedness is consistent with a sense of truth. A
man may assent to the best rule of action, and yet still be under the
dominion of lust and sin; from which nothing can deliver him but a
principle and power proceeding from the fountain of life."
The sentiment in this verse may be illustrated by quotations from the
ancient heathens; many of whom felt themselves in precisely the same
state, (and expressed it in nearly the same language,) which some most
monstrously tell us was the state of this heavenly apostle, when
vindicating the claims of the Gospel against those of the Jewish ritual!
Thus OVID describes the conduct of a depraved man:—
Sed trahit invitam nova vis; aliudque cupido,
Mens aliud suadet. Video meliora, proboque;
Deteriora sequor.
OVID, Met. lib. vii. ver. 19.
My reason this, my passion that persuades;
I see the right, and I approve it too;
Condemn the wrong, and yet the wrong pursue.
— indignum facinus! nunc ego et
Illam scelestam esse, et me miserum sentio:
Et taedet: et amore ardeo: et prudens, sciens,
Vivus, vidensque pereo: nec quid agam scio.
— TERENT. Eun. ver. 70.
An unworthy act! Now I perceive that she is wicked, and I am wretched. I
burn with love, and am vexed at it. Although prudent, and intelligent, and
active, and seeing, I perish; neither do I know what to do.
Sed quia mente minus validus, quam corpore toto,
Quae nocuere, sequar; fugiam, quae profore credam.
HOR. Ep. lib. i. E. 8, ver. 7.
More in my mind than body lie my pains:
Whate’er may hurt me, I with joy pursue;
Whate’er may do me good, with horror view.
Francis.
epei gar o amartanwn ou qelei amartanein,
alla katorqwsai? dhlon oti, o men qelei,
ou poiei, kai omh qelei, poiei.
ARRIAN. Epist. ii. 26.
For, truly, he who sins does not will sin, but wishes to walk uprightly:
yet
it is manifest that what he wills he doth not; and what he wills not he
doth.
-alla nikwmai kakoiv,
kai manqanw men, oia tolmhsw kaka?
qumov de kreisswn twn emwn bouleumatwn,
Æosper megistwn aitov kakwn brotoiv.
—
EURIP. Med. v. 1077.
— But I am overcome by sin,
And I well understand the evil which I presume to commit.
Passion, however, is more powerful than my reason;
Which is the cause of the greatest evils to mortal men.
Thus we find that enlightened heathens, both among the Greeks and
Romans, had that same kind of religious experience which some suppose
to be, not only the experience of St. Paul in his best state, but to be
even
the standard of Christian attainments! See more examples in Wetstein.
The whole spirit of the sentiment is well summed up and expressed by St.
Chrysostom: otan tinov epiqumwmen, eite kwluwmeqa, airetai
mallon thv epiqumiav h flox? If we lust after any thing which is
afterwards prohibited, the flame of this desire burns the more fiercely.
Verse 16. If then I do that which I would not, etc.— Knowing that the
law condemns it, and that therefore it must be evil. I consent unto the
law;
I show by this circumstance that I acknowledge the law to be good.
Verse 17. Now then it is no more I— It is not that I which constitutes
reason and conscience, but sin-corrupt and sensual inclinations, that
dwelleth in me-that has the entire domination over my reason, darkening
my understanding, and perverting my judgment; for which there is
condemnation in the law, but no cure. So we find here that there is a
principle in the unregenerate man stronger than reason itself; a principle
which is, properly speaking, not of the essence of the soul, but acts in
it,
as its lord, or as a tyrant. This is inbred and indwelling sin-the seed of
the
serpent; by which the whole soul is darkened, confused, perverted, and
excited to rebellion against God.
Verse 18. For I know that in me, etc.— I have learned by experience that
in an unregenerate man there is no good. There is no principle by which
the soul can be brought into the light; no principle by which it can be
restored to purity: fleshly appetites alone prevail; and the brute runs
away
with the man.
For to will is present with me— Though the whole soul has suffered
indescribably by the FALL, yet there are some faculties that appear to
have suffered less than others; or rather have received larger measures of
the supernatural light, because their concurrence with the Divine
principle
is so necessary to the salvation of the soul. Even the most unconcerned
about spiritual things have understanding, judgment, reason, and will. And
by means of these we have seen even scoffers at Divine revelation become
very eminent in arts and sciences; some of our best metaphysicians,
physicians, mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, etc., have been
known-to their reproach be it spoken and published-to be without religion;
nay, some of them have blasphemed it, by leaving God out of his own
work, and ascribing to an idol of their own, whom they call nature, the
operations of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Most High. It is
true that many of the most eminent in all the above branches of knowledge
have been conscientious believers in Divine revelation; but the case of
the
others proves that, fallen as man is, he yet possesses extra-ordinary
powers, which are capable of very high cultivation and improvement. In
short, the soul seems capable of any thing but knowing, fearing, loving,
and serving God. And it is not only incapable, of itself, for any truly
religious acts; but what shows its fall in the most indisputable manner is
its enmity to sacred things. Let an unregenerate man pretend what he
pleases, his conscience knows that he hates religion; his soul revolts
against it; his carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither
indeed
can it be. There is no reducing this fell principle to subjection; it is
SIN, and
sin is rebellion against God; therefore sin must be destroyed, not
subjected; if subjected, it would cease to be sin, because sin is in
opposition to God: hence the apostle says, most conclusively, it cannot be
subjected, i.e. it must be destroyed, or it will destroy the soul for
ever.
When the apostle says, to will is present with me, he shows that the will
is on the side of God and truth, so far that it consents to the propriety
and
necessity of obedience. There has been a strange clamor raised up against
this faculty of the soul, as if the very essence of evil dwelt in it;
whereas
the apostle shows, throughout this chapter, that the will was regularly on
God’s side, while every other faculty appears to have been in hostility to
him. The truth is, men have confounded the will with the passions, and
laid to the charge of the former what properly belongs to the latter. The
will is right, but the passions are wrong. It discerns and approves, but
is
without ability to perform: it has no power over sensual appetites; in
these the principle of rebellion dwells: it nills evil, it wills good, but
can
only command through the power of Divine grace: but this the person in
question, the unregenerate man, has not received.
Verse 19. For the good that I would I do not— Here again is the most
decisive proof that the will is on the side of God and truth.
But the evil which I would not— And here is equally decisive proof that
the will is against, or opposed to evil. There is not a man in ten
millions,
who will carefully watch the operations of this faculty, that will find it
opposed to good and obstinately attached to evil, as is generally
supposed. Nay, it is found almost uniformly on God’s side, while the
whole sensual system is against him. — It is not the WILL that leads men
astray; but the corrupt PASSIONS which oppose and oppress the will. It is
truly astonishing into what endless mistakes men have fallen on this
point,
and what systems of divinity have been built on these mistakes. The will,
this almost only friend to God in the human soul, has been slandered as
God’s worst enemy, and even by those who had the seventh chapter to
the Romans before their eyes! Nay, it has been considered so fell a foe to
God and goodness that it is bound in the adamantine chains of a dire
necessity to do evil only; and the doctrine of will (absurdly called free
will,
as if will did not essentially imply what is free) has been considered one
of
the most destructive heresies. Let such persons put themselves to school
to their Bibles and to common sense.
The plain state of the case is this: the soul is so completely fallen,
that it
has no power to do good till it receive that power from on high. But it
has
power to see good, to distinguish between that and evil; to acknowledge
the excellence of this good, and to will it, from a conviction of that
excellence; but farther it cannot go. Yet, in various cases, it is
solicited and
consents to sin; and because it is will, that is, because it is a free
principle,
it must necessarily possess this power; and although it can do no good
unless it receive grace from God, yet it is impossible to force it to sin.
Even Satan himself cannot do this; and before he can get it to sin, he
must
gain its consent. Thus God in his endless mercy has endued this faculty
with a power in which, humanly speaking, resides the salvability of the
soul; and without this the soul must have eternally continued under the
power of sin, or been saved as an inert, absolutely passive machine; which
supposition would go as nearly to prove that it was as incapable of vice
as
it were of virtue.
"But does not this arguing destroy the doctrine of free grace?" No! it
establishes that doctrine. 1. It is through the grace, the unmerited
kindness,
of God, that the soul has such a faculty, and that it has not been
extinguished by sin. 2. This will, though a free principle, as it respects
its
nilling of evil and choosing good, yet, properly speaking, has no power by
which it can subjugate the evil or perform the good. We know that the eye
has a power to discern objects, but without light this power is perfectly
useless, and no object can be discerned by it. So, of the person
represented
here by the apostle, it is said, To will is present with me, to gar qelein
parakeitai moi. To will is ever in readiness, it is ever at hand, it lies
constantly before me; but how to perform that which is good, I find not;
that is, the man is unregenerate, and he is seeking justification and
holiness
from the law. The law was never designed to give these-it gives the
knowledge, not the cure of sin; therefore, though he nills evil and wills
good, yet he can neither conquer the one nor perform the other till he
receives the grace of Christ, till he seeks and finds redemption in his
blood.
Here, then, the free agency of man is preserved, without which he could
not be in a salvable state; and the honor of the grace of Christ is
maintained, without which there can be no actual salvation. There is a
good
sentiment on this subject in the following words of an eminent poet:—
Thou great first CAUSE, least understood;
Who all my sense confined
To know but this, that thou art good;
And that myself am blind.
Yet gave me in this dark estate
To see the good from ill;
And binding nature fast in fate,
Left free the human will.
POPE’S Universal Prayer.
Verse 20. It is no more I— My will is against it; my reason and
conscience condemn it. But sin that dwelleth in me-the principle of sin,
which has possessed itself of all my carnal appetites and passions, and
thus subjects my reason and domineers over my soul. Thus I am in
perpetual contradiction to myself. Two principles are continually
contending in me for the mastery: my reason, on which the light of God
shines, to show what is evil; and my passions, in which the principle of
sin works, to bring forth fruit unto death.
This strange self-contradictory propensity led some of the ancient
philosophers to imagine that man has two souls, a good and a bad one; and
it is on this principle that Xenophon, in his life of Cyrus, causes
Araspes,
a Persian nobleman, to account for some misconduct of his relative to
Panthea, a beautiful female captive, whom Cyrus had entrusted to his
care:-"O Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two souls; if I had but one
soul, it could not at the same time pant after vice and virtue; wish and
abhor the same thing. It is certain, therefore, that we have two souls;
when
the good soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous actions; but when the
bad soul predominates, I am constrained to do evil. All I can say at
present
is that I find my good soul, encouraged by thy presence, has got the
better
of my bad soul." See Spectator, vol. viii. No. 564. Thus, not only the
ancients, but also many moderns, have trifled, and all will continue to do
so who do not acknowledge the Scriptural account of the fall of man, and
the lively comment upon that doctrine contained in the seventh chapter of
the Epistle to the Romans.
Verse 21. I find then a law— I am in such a condition and state of soul,
under the power of such habits and sinful propensities, that when I would
do good-when my will and reason are strongly bent on obedience to the
law of God and opposition to the principle of sin, evil is present with
me,
kakon parakeitai, evil is at hand, it lies constantly before me. That, as
the will to do good is constantly at hand, Romans 7:18, so the principle
of
rebellion exciting me to sin is equally present; but, as the one is only
will,
wish, and desire, without power to do what is willed, to obtain what is
wished, or to perform what is desired, sin continually prevails.
The word nomov, law, in this verse, must be taken as implying any strong
or confirmed habit, sunhqeia, as Hesychius renders it, under the influence
of which the man generally acts; and in this sense the apostle most
evidently uses it in Romans 7:23.
Verse 22. I delight in the law of God after the inward man— Every Jew,
and every unregenerate man, who receives the Old Testament as a
revelation from God, must acknowledge the great purity, excellence and
utility of its maxims, etc., though he will ever find that without the
grace
of our Lord Jesus he can never act according to those heavenly maxims;
and without the mercy of God, can never be redeemed from the curse
entailed upon him for his past transgressions. To say that the inward man
means the regenerate part of the soul, is supportable by no argument. Æo
esw anqrwpov, and o entov anqrwpov, especially the latter, are
expressions frequently in use among the purest Greek ethic writers, to
signify the soul or rational part of man, in opposition to the body of
flesh.
See the quotations in Wetstein from Plato and Plotinus. The Jews have the
same form of expression; so in Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 10, 3, it is said: The
flesh is the inward garment of the man; but the SPIRIT is the INWARD man,
the garment of which is the body; and St. Paul uses the phrase in
precisely
the same sense in 2 Corinthians 4:16, and Ephesians 3:16. If it be said
that
it is impossible for an unregenerate man to delight in the law of God, the
experience of millions contradicts the assertion. Every true penitent
admires the moral law, longs most earnestly for a conformity to it, and
feels that he can never be satisfied till he awakes up after this Divine
likeness; and he hates himself, because he feels that he has broken it,
and
that his evil passions are still in a state of hostility to it.
The following observations of a pious and sensible writer on this subject
cannot be unacceptable: "The inward man always signifies the mind;
which either may, or may not, be the subject of grace. That which is
asserted of either the inward or outward man is often performed by one
member or power, and not with the whole. If any member of the body
perform an action, we are said to do it with the body, although the other
members be not employed. In like manner, if any power or faculty of the
mind be employed about any action, the soul is said to act. This
expression, therefore, I delight in the law of God after the inward man,
can
mean no more than this, that there are some inward faculties in the soul
which delight in the law of God. This expression is particularly adapted
to
the principles of the Pharisees, of whom St. Paul was one before his
conversion. They received the law as the oracles of God, and confessed
that it deserved the most serious regard. Their veneration was inspired by
a sense of its original, and a full conviction that it was true. To some
parts
of it they paid the most superstitious regard. They had it written upon
their phylacteries, which they carried about with them at all times. It
was
often read and expounded in their synagogues: and they took delight in
studying its precepts. On that account, both the prophets and our Lord
agree in saying that they delighted in the law of God, though they
regarded
not its chief and most essential precepts." See farther observations on
this
point at the end of the chapter.
So far, then, is it from being true that none but a REGENERATE man can
delight in the law of God, we find that even a proud, unhumbled PHARISEE
can do it; and much more a poor sinner, who is humbled under a sense of
his sin, and sees, in the light of God, not only the spirituality, but the
excellence of the Divine law.
Verse 23. But I see another law in my members— Though the person in
question is less or more under the continual influence of reason and
conscience, which offer constant testimony against sin, yet as long as
help
is sought only from the law, and the grace of Christ in the Gospel is not
received, the remonstrances of reason and conscience are rendered of no
effect by the prevalence of sinful passions; which, from repeated
gratifications, have acquired all the force of habit, and now give law to
the
whole carnal man.
Warring against the law of my mind— There is an allusion here to the
case of a city besieged, at last taken by storm, and the inhabitants
carried
away into captivity; antistrateuomenon, carrying on a system of
warfare; laying continual siege to the soul; repeating incessantly its
attacks; harassing, battering, and storming the spirit; and, by all these
assaults, reducing the man to extreme misery. Never was a picture more
impressively drawn and more effectually finished; for the next sentence
shows that this spiritual city was at last taken by storm, and the
inhabitants who survived the sackage led into the most shameful, painful,
and oppressive captivity.
Bringing me into captivity to the law of sin— He does not here speak of
an occasional advantage gained by sin, it was a complete and final victory
gained by corruption; which, having stormed and reduced the city, carried
away the inhabitants with irresistible force, into captivity. This is the
consequence of being overcome; he was now in the hands of the foe as the
victor’s lawful captive; and this is the import of the original word,
aicmalwtizonta, and is the very term used by our Lord when speaking
of the final ruin, dispersion, and captivity of the Jews. He says,
aicmalwtisqhsontai, they shall be led away captives into all the
nations, Luke 21:24. When all this is considered, who, in his right mind,
can apply it to the holy soul of the apostle of the Gentiles? Is there any
thing in it that can belong to his gracious state? Surely nothing. The
basest
slave of sin, who has any remaining checks of conscience, cannot be
brought into a worse state than that described here by the apostle. Sin
and
corruption have a final triumph; and conscience and reason are taken
prisoners, laid in fetters, and sold for slaves. Can this ever be said of
a man
in whom the Spirit of God dwells, and whom the law of the Spirit of life
in
Christ Jesus has made free from the law of sin and death? See Romans 8:2.
Verse 24. O wretched man that I am, etc.— This affecting account is
finished more impressively by the groans of the wounded captive. Having
long maintained a useless conflict against innumerable hosts and
irresistible
might, he is at last wounded and taken prisoner; and to render his state
more miserable, is not only encompassed by the slaughtered, but chained
to a dead body; for there seems to be here an allusion to an ancient
custom
of certain tyrants, who bound a dead body to a living man, and obliged him
to carry it about, till the contagion from the putrid mass took away his
life! Virgil paints this in all its horrors, in the account he gives of
the tyrant
Mezentius. AEneid, lib. viii. ver. 485.
Quid memorem infandas caedes? quid facta tyranni?
MORTUA quin etiam jungebat corpora VIVIS,
Componens manibusque manus, atque oribus ora;
Tormenti genus! et sanie taboque fluentes
Complexu in misero, longa sic morte necabat.
What tongue can such barbarities record,
Or count the slaughters of his ruthless sword?
‘Twas not enough the good, the guiltless bled,
Still worse, he bound the living to the dead:
These, limb to limb, and face to face, he joined;
O! monstrous crime, of unexampled kind!
Till choked with stench, the lingering wretches lay,
And, in the loathed embraces, died away!
Pitt.
Servius remarks, in his comment on this passage, that sanies, mortui est;
tabo, viventis scilicet sanguis: "the sanies, or putrid ichor, from the
dead
body, produced the tabes in the blood of the living." Roasting, burning,
racking, crucifying, etc., were nothing when compared to this diabolically
invented punishment.
We may naturally suppose that the cry of such a person would be,
Wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this dead body? And
how well does this apply to the case of the person to whom the apostle
refers! A body-a whole mass of sin and corruption, was bound to his soul
with chains which he could not break; and the mortal contagion, transfused
through his whole nature, was pressing him down to the bitter pains of an
eternal death. He now finds that the law can afford him no deliverance;
and
he despairs of help from any human being; but while he is emitting his
last,
or almost expiring groan, the redemption by Christ Jesus is proclaimed to
him; and, if the apostle refers to his own case, Ananias unexpectedly
accosts him with-Brother Saul! the Lord Jesus, who appeared unto thee in
the way, hath sent me unto thee, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and
be filled with the Holy Ghost. He sees then an open door of hope, and he
immediately, though but in the prospect of this deliverance, returns God
thanks for the well-grounded hope which he has of salvation, through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Verse 25. I thank God through Jesus Christ— Instead of eucaristw tw
qew, I thank God, several excellent MSS., with the Vulgate, some copies
of the Itala, and several of the fathers, read h cariv tou qeou, or tou
kuriou, the grace of God, or the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; this is
an
answer to the almost despairing question in the preceding verse. The
whole, therefore, may be read thus: O wretched man that I am, who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? ANSWER-The grace of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus we find that a case of the kind
described by the apostle in the preceding verses, whether it were his own,
before he was brought to the knowledge of Christ, particularly during the
three days that he was at Damascus, without being able to eat or drink, in
deep penitential sorrow; or whether he personates a pharisaic yet
conscientious Jew, deeply concerned for his salvation: I say, we find that
such a case can be relieved by the Gospel of Christ only; or, in other
words, that no scheme of redemption can be effectual to the salvation of
any soul, whether Jew or Gentile, but that laid down in the Gospel of
Christ.
Let any or all means be used which human wisdom can devise, guilt will
still continue uncancelled; and inbred sin will laugh them all to scorn,
prevail over them, and finally triumph. And this is the very conclusion to
which the apostle brings his argument in the following clause; which, like
the rest of the chapter, has been most awfully abused, to favor
anti-evangelical purposes.
So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God— That this clause
contains the inference from the preceding train of argumentation appears
evident, from the ara oun, therefore, with which the apostle introduces
it. As if he had said: "To conclude, the sum of what I have advanced,
concerning the power of sin in the carnal man, and the utter insufficiency
of all human means and legal observances to pardon sin and expel the
corruption of the heart, is this: that the very same person, the autov egw,
the same I, while without the Gospel, under the killing power of the law,
will find in himself two opposite principles, the one subscribing to and
approving the law of God; and the other, notwithstanding, bringing him
into captivity to sin: his inward man-his rational powers and conscience,
will assent to the justice and propriety of the requisitions of the law;
and
yet, notwithstanding this, his fleshly appetites-the law in his members,
will war against the law of his mind, and continue, till he receives the
Gospel of Christ, to keep him in the galling captivity of sin and death."
1. THE strong expressions in this clause have led many to conclude that
the apostle himself, in his regenerated state, is indisputably the person
intended. That all that is said in this chapter of the carnal man, sold
under
sin, did apply to Saul of Tarsus, no man can doubt: that what is here said
can ever be with propriety applied to Paul the Apostle, who can believe?
Of the former, all is natural; of the latter, all here said would be
monstrous
and absurd, if not blasphemous.
2. But it is supposed that the words must be understood as implying a
regenerate man, because the apostle says, Romans 7:22, I delight in the
law
of God; and in this verse, I myself with the mind serve the law of God.
These things, say the objectors, cannot be spoken of a wicked Jew, but of
a regenerate man such as the apostle then was. But when we find that the
former verse speaks of a man who is brought into captivity to the law of
sin and death, surely there is no part of the regenerate state of the
apostle
to which the words can possibly apply. Had he been in captivity to the
law of sin and death, after his conversion to Christianity, what did he
gain
by that conversion? Nothing for his personal holiness. He had found no
salvation under an inefficient law; and he was left in thraldom under an
equally inefficient Gospel. The very genius of Christianity demonstrates
that nothing like this can, with any propriety, be spoken of a genuine
Christian.
3. But it is farther supposed that these things cannot be spoken of a
proud
or wicked Jew; yet we learn the contrary from the infallible testimony of
the word of God. Of this people in their fallen and iniquitous state, God
says, by his prophet, They SEEK me DAILY, and DELIGHT to know my
ways, as a nation that did RIGHTEOUSNESS, and FORSOOK not the
ORDINANCES of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of JUSTICE, and
TAKE DELIGHT in approaching to God, Isaiah 58:2. Can any thing be
stronger than this? And yet, at that time, they were most dreadfully
carnal, and sold under sin, as the rest of that chapter proves. It is a
most
notorious fact, that how little soever the life of a Jew was conformed to
the law of his God, he notwithstanding professed the highest esteem for
it,
and gloried in it: and the apostle says nothing stronger of them in this
chapter than their conduct and profession verify to the present day. They
are still delighting in the law of God, after the inward man; with their
mind
serving the law of God; asking for the ordinances of justice, seeking God
daily, and taking delight in approaching to God; they even glory, and
greatly exult and glory, in the Divine original and excellency of their
LAW;
and all this while they are most abominably carnal, sold under sin, and
brought into the most degrading captivity to the law of sin and death. If
then all that the apostle states of the person in question be true of the
Jews, through the whole period of their history, even to the present time;
if they do in all their professions and their religious services, which
they
zealously maintain, confess, and conscientiously too, that the law is
holy,
and the commandment holy, just, and good; and yet, with their flesh, serve
the law of sin; the same certainly may be said with equal propriety of a
Jewish penitent, deeply convinced of his lost estate, and the total
insufficiency of his legal observances to deliver him from his body of sin
and death. And consequently, all this may be said of Paul the JEW, while
going about to establish his own righteousness-his own plan of
justification; he had not as yet submitted to the righteousness of God-the
Divine plan of redemption by Jesus Christ.
4. It must be allowed that, whatever was the experience of so eminent a
man, Christian, and apostle, as St. Paul, it must be a very proper
standard
of Christianity. And if we are to take what is here said as his experience
as
a Christian, it would be presumption in us to expect to go higher; for he
certainly had pushed the principles of his religion to their utmost
consequences. But his whole life, and the account which he immediately
gives of himself in the succeeding chapter, prove that he, as a Christian
and
an apostle, had a widely different experience; an experience which amply
justifies that superiority which he attributes to the Christian religion
over
the Jewish; and demonstrates that it not only is well calculated to
perfect
all preceding dispensations, but that it affords salvation to the
uttermost
to all those who flee for refuge to the hope that it sets before them.
Besides, there is nothing spoken here of the state of a conscientious Jew,
or of St. Paul in his Jewish state, that is not true of every genuine
penitent;
even before, and it may be, long before, he has believed in Christ to the
saving of his soul. The assertion that "every Christian, howsoever
advanced in the Divine life, will and must feel all this inward conflict,"
etc.,
is as untrue as it is dangerous. That many, called Christians, and
probably
sincere, do feel all this, may be readily granted; and such we must
consider
to be in the same state with Saul of Tarsus, previously to his conversion;
but that they must continue thus is no where intimated in the Gospel of
Christ. We must take heed how we make our experience, which is the
result of our unbelief and unfaithfulness, the standard for the people of
God, and lower down Christianity to our most reprehensible and dwarfish
state: at the same time, we should not be discouraged at what we thus
feel,
but apply to God, through Christ, as Paul did; and then we shall soon be
able, with him, to declare, to the eternal glory of God’s grace, that the
law
of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, has made us free from the law of
sin
and death. This is the inheritance of God’s children; and their salvation
is
of me, saith the Lord.
I cannot conclude these observations without recommending to the notice
of my readers a learned and excellent discourse on the latter part of this
chapter, preached by the Rev. James Smith, minister of the Gospel in
Dumfermline, Scotland; a work to which I am indebted for some useful
observations, and from which I should have been glad to have copied
much, had my limits permitted. Reader, do not plead for Baal; try, fully
try, the efficiency of the blood of the covenant; and be not content with
less salvation than God has provided for thee. Thou art not straitened in
God, be not straitened in thy own bowels.
