Romans 6:1-14. Justification organically connected with sanctification: grace the supreme motive to obedience 1. _What shall we say then?_ Here begins the direct treatment of a great topic already suggested, (Romans 3:5-8,) the relation of gratuitous Pardon to Sanctity. This discussion occupies ch.... [ Continue Reading ]
_we, that are dead_, &c. More lit. and fully, WE, AS THOSE WHO DIED TO SIN. The reference is again to a single past act; the death of the Second Adam, _at which_His brethren too, regarded as "in Him," "died to sin." See last note on ch. Romans 5:12. _dead to sin_ See below, Romans 6:10: "He died to... [ Continue Reading ]
_so many of us_, &c. Not implying that some were, and some were not. This is plain from the Gr. _All_Christian believers are contemplated; for each his baptism was all this, if a true baptism. This and Romans 6:4 contain the only mentions of Baptism in the Epistle. He refers the converts to their ba... [ Continue Reading ]
_we are buried with him_ Better, WE WERE BURIED, &c.; the reference being to the past fact of baptism. _Burial_is the final token of death, and so the strongest expression of death as a fact. Perhaps there is an allusion to the immersion of baptism, as a quasi-burial. (The only parallel passage is C... [ Continue Reading ]
_if_ i.e. "_as;_" an assumed fact _planted together_ Better (with regard to the form of the Gr. word), VITALLY CONNECTED. Not _implanting_but _coalescence_is the idea. (The word occurs nowhere else in N. T.) _in the likeness_ Not His Death, but its Likeness; i.e. _our_"death unto sin" in Him. (See... [ Continue Reading ]
_knowing this_ Not precisely = "for we know this;" but more fully, "_as those who know this_." This _knowledge_is to be a working motive in the new life. _our old man_ Cp., for illustrative passages, Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 4:22; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:9; 1 P... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he that is dead_, &c. Better, with a slight paraphrase, FOR HE WHO HAS ONCE DIED TO SIN NOW STANDS FREE FROM ITS CLAIM. The _legal claim_of sin is meant here, not its _moral dominion_, for the Gr. word rendered "freed" in E. V., is lit. (see margin of E. V.) JUSTIFIED. The argument is that, sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now_, &c. This ver. and Romans 6:9-11 carry on, in a brief paragraph, the truth just stated, with special reference to the permanence and power of the Lord's resurrection-life, which is the pledge of the Christian's "new life." Here too the view of His resurrection-life as a life "_unto God_" is di... [ Continue Reading ]
_knowing_ As an admitted foundation-truth. Christian _faith_is always viewed as grounded upon _knowledge_, upon _fact_. _dieth no more_ His life is continuous and endless; such then also is that of those to whom He is the Second Adam; who therefore "shall live with Him." Through this whole context... [ Continue Reading ]
_in that he died_ LIT. THAT WHICH HE DIED; His dying, in all that it involved. So below, THAT WHICH HE LIVETH. _unto sin_ i.e., as the previous argument shewed, "with reference to the _claim_of sin;" to meet and cancel it; and therefore so as now to be out of reach of its doom. _once_ ONCE FOR ALL,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Likewise_ Here is the _strict result_of the truth just stated, when the position of Christ as the Second Adam is remembered. What He did and does, as such, was done and is done by those who are "in Him" as their Head. _reckon_ This word, just as in Romans 3:28, (E. V., "conclude,") marks a solid i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let not sin therefore reign_ Here begins the direct moral appeal to the will. This till now has been either withheld, (while the _Divine motive_was being explained,) or made only indirectly, as in Romans 6:2; Romans 6:6, and Romans 3:31. Notice how perfectly free and natural is the appeal to the wi... [ Continue Reading ]
_your members_ YOUR LIMBS; the bodily organs and their constitution. The words thus = "your body," (see Romans 12:1,) only with the suggestion of its _varied_powers for good or evil. See on Romans 6:6 (on "the body." Cp. Colossians 3:5). _instruments_ Lit., WEAPONS. The word in classical Gr. has ve... [ Continue Reading ]
_For sin_, &c. It is not quite clear whether this verse closes or opens a paragraph. Meyer takes it as opening the new section of argument. But it is quite in place as closing the previous one, while yet pointing forward also. On this view, St Paul makes the statement on purpose to animate the disci... [ Continue Reading ]
The same subject. Illustration from slavery 15. _What then?_ This takes up the question of Romans 6:1, and introduces the explicit answer, for which the passages between have fully prepared us. The form of the question here, as there, helps further to fix the reference of Romans 6:14 to _justificat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Know ye not_ As a self-evident truth, that bond-service, once accepted, becomes binding. This general principle is at once applied to the special cases of Sin and Obedience regarded as personified Masters. The clauses to the end of Romans 6:18 may be thus summarized: "All bond-service, once accepte... [ Continue Reading ]
_that ye were_ i.e. obviously, "that whereas you were, &c." _servants of sin_ Such, without exception, was the former state and position of the justified. They were ruled by the principles, and under the claim, of sin; the will alienated from God, the person liable to doom. _ye have obeyed_ Better... [ Continue Reading ]
_Being then_, &c. This verse is a brief summary, in more direct terms, of the previous two verses. The emphasis is the reality, and immediateness, of the new servitude. "_Then:_" better, BUT. A slight contrast of thought is indicated, between the _willingness_of the obedience (Romans 6:17), and the... [ Continue Reading ]
_after the manner of men_ More lit., HUMANLY. He apologizes, so to speak, for using the peculiarly earthly image of the slave-market to enforce a truth of the most exalted spiritual dignity; namely, the necessary conformity of the wills of the justified to the will of God. _because of the infirmity... [ Continue Reading ]
_For when_, &c. This verse enforces the exhortation just given, by reminding the Christian that once he was emphatically _not_the "bond-servant of righteousness." _free from righteousness_ Lit. FREE UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS; i.e. with respect to it, both as to its mercy and as to its consequent claim. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_What fruit had ye then_ "Then," or "therefore," points to the _resulting practice_due to their just-described _position_. _fruit_ The word is very often used as a figure for "result," and almost always in a good sense. The probable meaning here will thus be, "_Did you find any happiness or profit r... [ Continue Reading ]
_now_ i.e. AS THINGS ARE, by Divine mercy. _to God_ The real Master of the justified. The figures, "Obedience," "Righteousness," "Rule of Doctrine," &c., are now laid aside, that He to whom they refer may at last appear in the Divine simplicity of His ownership over the soul. _ye have your fruit_... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ The "for" refers to the last statement. The verse may be paraphrased, "For whereas the wages of sin is death, the gift of God _is_, as we have now said, _eternal life_." _wages_ The Gr. is same word as Luke 3:14; 1Co 9:7; 2 Corinthians 11:8. It strictly denotes pay for military service; and t... [ Continue Reading ]