As if the apostle had said, "You Jews, who study the law and are well acquainted with it, cannot but know that the law of God hath power over. man to require of him exact, perfect, and perpetual obedience, and to accuse, condemn, and bind him over to the curse for the least breach and violation of i... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the apostle doth exemplify and illustrate the foregoing assertion, namely, That believers are freed from the law, by. similitude taken from the law of marriage: As death freeth husband and wife from the law which bound them to each other, and empowereth the survivor to marry to another person;... [ Continue Reading ]
As if the apostle had said, "When we lived under the dispensation of the law, and were married to the law, we brought forth fruit suitable to that state and condition. But now being freed from the law, and married unto Christ, it is meet and right, equal and fit, that we should bring forth fruit ans... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe here, 1. The objection (which the apostle answers) that some were ready to make against the holiness of the law. He had affirmed at that THE MOTIONS OF SIN WERE STIRRED UP BY THE LAW. Romans 7:5 "If so, say some, then the law may seem to be the cause of sin;" GOD FORBID: says the apostle. th... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe here,. concession or grant made by the apostle, that although the law was not the formal cause of sin, yet sin was an accidental event of the law, through the depravity and corruption of our natures; lust or concupiscence in us being stirred up more strongly, and breaking forth more violentl... [ Continue Reading ]
As if the apostle had said, "Formerly, when. lived. Pharisee, and had the law in my hand, but did not consider in my heart what exactness and perfection it required in my life,. contented myself with an outward observation of it, and concluded my state to be good and safe: But when. came to. right u... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe here, 1. The natural end and use of the commandment or law of God, IT WAS ORDAINED UNTO LIFE; that is, it was given for. rule of life,. promised eternal salvation to the perfect fulfilling of it. But no man since the fall being able perfect the law in his own person, can be justified by the... [ Continue Reading ]
As if the apostle had said, " SIN, or the corruption of my heart and nature, being stirred up by the commandment which forbids lust, and condemns it, enticed me, and persuaded me, and prevailed over me, to yield to the lusts of my own heart, and then condemned me, and slew men for yielding to them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe here, What care and holy caution the apostle uses to vindicate and clear the holy law of God from all fault and blame, charging his guilt, not upon the commandment, but upon the corruption of his own heart, which took occasion to be stirring in him, and by the commandment slew him; affirming... [ Continue Reading ]
From what the apostle had said in the former verse, he moves an objection unto this verse: "Seeing the law was holy, and just, and good, how comes it to be unto death? WAS THAT WHICH WAS GOOD MADE DEATH UNTO ME? " To this he replies, both by way of negation, GOD FORBID; for to find fault with the la... [ Continue Reading ]
Still observe, How the apostle goes on to assert the purity and spirituality of the law of God: THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL; spiritual in the author of it, God, who is an Holy Spirit; spiritual in the matter of it, requiring perfect purity both of heart and life. Learn hence, That the moral law of God is... [ Continue Reading ]
These words are an argument to prove what the apostle had asserted in the foregoing verse; namely, That he was held under the power of sin unwillingly, because he did not allow or approve of any evil which he did contrary to the holy law of God, but did hate and abominate it, was displeased with it,... [ Continue Reading ]
Note, 1. How readily the apostle consented to the equity and holiness of God's law; he did love the law of God, which made holiness his duty: I CONSENT, says he, TO THE LAW, THAT IT IS GOOD; he assented to it in his judgment, he complied with it in his will, he clave to it in his inward affections.... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe here, 1. The apostle's proposition; I KNOW THAT IN ME, THAT IS, IN MY FLESH, DWELLETH NO GOOD THING: That is in my corrupt and unregenerate nature, there is nothing truly and spiritually good; and this. myself am sensible of, and privy to, and very well acquainted with. Learn thence, That g... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the apostle repeats what he had before asserted; namely, That he did not always do that good which he desired to do, but sometimes being overpowered by the flesh, did what the law prohibits, and what he would not do. And further adds, That it was no longer himself, (chusing and approving the a... [ Continue Reading ]
As if the apostle had said, "I verily find sin, having an impelling power and impulsive virtue in it, like. law in my members, thwarting and contradicting the inclinations of my mind, and the resolutions of my will, that WHEN. WOULD DO GOOD, EVIL IS PRESENT WITH ME to oppose and hinder me from the d... [ Continue Reading ]
If by the inward man we understand the mind and understanding of. man only, then the unregenerate person may be said to delight in the all of God, with Ezekiel's hearers, Ezekiel 33:32; with Herod, Mark 6:20; with the stony ground, Matthew 13:20. That is, they delight and satisfy themselves with the... [ Continue Reading ]
Here observe, That in this and the foregoing verses, mention is made of four laws contending one against another, whereof two are on one side, and two on the other; namely, the law of God, and the law of the mind; the law of the members, and the law of sin. By the law of God is understood the word o... [ Continue Reading ]
These words are. sad and sorrowful complaint of the present and too great prevalency of indwelliung sin and unsubdued corruption; and in them observe, 1. The person complaining, St. Paul. 2. The matter of the complaint, not of affliction, but of sin; not of. death, but of. body of sin and death, w... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the apostle spies. deliverer, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST; one that had delivered him from the condemning and reigning power of sin, and would ere long deliver him from the presence as well as prevalency of sin. And whereas the apostle styles Christ Jesus not his Lord, but OUR LORD; that is, the Lor... [ Continue Reading ]