Romans 6
DODDRomans 6:1-14
The apostle shews, that the gospel, far from dissolving our obligations to practical holiness, does strongly increase them; which is a consideration tending highly to recommend it to the esteem and acceptance of all. Rom. VI. 1—14.
ROMANS VI. 1. WHAT shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
God forbid: how shall we, that are
ROMANS VI. 1.
THUS we have asserted the doctrine of justification by faith, or in other words, of salvation by grace. And now let us consider how it is to be improved. What shall we say then, concerning the practical inferences to be drawn from it?ᵃ Shall we say, Let us continue in the habitual practice of sin, that grace may abound so much the more, in pardoning and saving us? God forbid, that such an unworthy thought should ever arise in our hearts. We have disclaimed the consequence above, (chap. iii. 7, 8,) and we most solemnly disclaim it again.
ᵃ What shall we say then, &c.] The apostle here sets himself more fully to clear and vindicate the doctrine he taught, from the consequence suggested before, chap. iii. 7, 8. He had then only in strong terms denied, and renounced it, but here removes the very foundation of it.
His grace leads us to walk in newness
We, who are dead to sin, we, who by our profession are under such sacred engagements to mortify it with the greatest care, how shall we yet live in it? Surely it were the grossest contradiction that can be imagined. On the contrary, it is apparent, that nothing has so great a tendency to animate us to avoid sin, and to enable us to conquer it, as this doctrine of gospel grace.
What, Sirs, know ye not, and is it possible, that any of you should be ignorant of this great and obvious truth, that as many of us as have been baptized into Jesus Christ, that is, into the profession of the Christian faith; which is the case of us all; have been baptized into his death, and engaged to conform to the great purposes of it; which we know were to abolish sin? (1 Pet. iv. 1, 2; 1 John iii. 5.) Therefore, as this is the known obligation of this solemn initiatory ordinance, it may be said, that we are buried with him in that baptism which we received as bringing us into a kind of fellowship in [his] death; most evidently for this purpose, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and the operation of his illustrious, though mysterious power; so we also should continue, during the remainder of our days, to walk in newness of life; maintaining a course of conduct and actions entirely different from the former. For surely these two must go together; and we may conclude, that if we are thus made to grow together in the likeness of his death, so also shall we be united
Dead to sin] Elaner shews how frequently moral writers among the heathens speak of wise and good men as dead to sensualities and animal pleasures. Elaner, Observ. Vol. II. p. 28.
Baptized into Jesus Christ.] As the Church at Rome seems to have been planted about the year 43, and this epistle was written in the year 58, that Isaiah 15 years after, and yet the apostle speaks of the converted Romans in general as baptized, it must be supposed, as Dr. Gale well argues, that baptism was administered to those whose parents had been Christians at the time of their birth. Compare Col. 1. 12. See Gale’s Sermons, Vol. II. p. 202, 203.
Buried with him in baptism.] It seems the part of candor to confess, that here
is an allusion to the manner of baptizing by immersion, as most usual in these early times; but that will not prove this particular circumstance to be essential to the ordinance; and, in whatever manner it was administered, if it were intended as a declaration of faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, as it is well known Christ died for sin, it would infer an obligation to die to it, and rise again to a holy life, which is the main point the apostle labours.
Made to grow together.] Dr Wells observes, that this is the most exact import of eunæ, and that it does not signify merely being planted together. As there is something harsh in the construction of u and æxx here, Beza would for æxx read æux; but Raphelius, in his
For the man is crucified with
[in the likeness] of [his] resurrection, and shall rise up to a life spiritually new, as he rose to immortal life and vigour; As we know this, that our old man, that is, the whole system of our former inclinations and dispositions, which did by a fatal contagion spread themselves over the whole man, and were incorporated with it, hath now, as it were, been crucified together [with Christ,] the remembrance and consideration of his cross cooperating in the most powerful manner with all the other motives which the gospel suggests, to destroy the former habits of sin, and to inspire us with an aversion to it; that so the body of sin, of which this old man did as it were consist, might be enervated, deposed, and destroyed; that we might no longer be in bondage to sin; as we were before we were so happy as to know the gospel, and the efficacy of this great doctrine of a crucified Saviour. For he that is thus dead with Christ is set at liberty from sin; sin being crucified to him and he to sin, on the principles mentioned before; just as the death either of the master or the slave, and much more evidently of both, dissolves the relation, and destroys the oppressive power which might before be exercised. And let me farther remind you, that, as we are Christians, we believe that if we be thus dead with Christ, we shall also live together with him. We expect ere long to share with Christ in the complete holiness and glory
notes from Herodotus has produced many parallel constructions in which xxx signifies, so. As for the future ܐܰܠܝܬܐ, he shews that it signifies a necessary consequence from the premises.
[Enervated, deposed, and destroyed: ܐܰܠܝܬܐ.] We render it destroyed, not only tormented or enfeebled, but utterly slain; and so the same word is rendered 2 Thess. ii. 18; and 1 Cor. xv. 26, perhaps not with exact propriety, Heb. ii. 14. The utter destruction of the body of sin in us is certainly intended in the gospel, but the particular import of this word is to make evil, debentate, enervate, disannul, abolish, or depose. Compare Rom. iii. 31; chap. iv. 14; 1 Cor. ii. 6; chap. xiii. 8; chap. xv. 24; Eph. ii. 15; 2 Tim. i. 10. I have joined the significations in
the paraphrase, and given the version, which appears to me most exactly to answer the import of the original. The body of sin in believers is indeed an enfeebled, conquered, and deposed tyrant, the stroke of death finishes its destruction.
[Set at liberty.] ܐܰܠܝܬܐ signifies to be justified, or vindicated; and here it seems to import being delivered from future claims of subjection. But this sense is so uncommon, that I am much in doubt whether it might not be rendered justified here, to intimate that a sense of justification by the cross of Christ is the great means of our delivery from the bondage of sin, as it animates and excites us to shake off its yoke.
VOL. 4.
Christians being dead with Christ, shall also li of the heavenly world; and you will easily understand, and I hope, easily feel the obligation, which that hope lays upon us, not only to cease from sin, but through his grace to cultivate universal holiness. We should ever be under the influence of these views, even to the very end of our course, as we know that Christ being raised from the dead, dies no more; death no more reigneth over him, as it seemed for a while to do. And thus your immortal life and happiness, if you pursue it according to his direction and intention, is secure. For whereas he died, he died once for all as a sacrifice for sin, to atone the injured justice of God, and repair the honours of his violated law. And as he liveth, he liveth to God for ever: his immortal life is entirely appropriated and devoted to his service, wherein we ought to make it our constant care to imitate his example. Suffer therefore the word of exhortation, grounded on this important principle, and so do ye also reckon yourselves to be once for all dead unto sin, never to return under its power any more; and being thus made alive, let it be your care, in imitation of your Divine Master, to devote your recovered life to the honour and service of Go in Christ Jesus our Lord, whose pattern and authority, in such a relation, concur to deman it of us. Therefore let not sin reign as an un controulable sovereign, now you have anothe Lord, so much greater and better; let not the irregular inclinations of your minds, when the may move in your mortal bodies, give law t them. The early conquest of sin over huma nature hath, alas, reduced them to the sa state of mortality: but do not go on, after suc a deliverance hath been wrought out for you in a servile and wretched manner, to obey i in its licentious desires and demands: Neithe present your members to sin [as] weapons an instruments of unrighteousness; but with al devout affection and holy zeal, present yourselves to God as those who by his rich merc and almighty power, are now made spirituali alive, and called out from that wretched state in which you lay as among the dead. Con scious therefore of the obligations you lie unde to him who hath raised ‘ou to this new an
Reflections on our obligations to holiness from the grace of Christ. 6
glorious life, present all your members and powers to God, as weapons and instruments of righteousness, to fight his battles, and to be for ever devoted to his service. Do it boldly and resolutely, and not as if you feared that your former master should recover his power and prove a severer tyrant, after you had thus attempted to revolt; for you may on the contrary be assured that sin shall not have any more dominion over you, as you are not under the law, a dispensation of bondage and terror, but under grace, under the merciful dispensation of the gospel; which affords such consolations, and inspires such hopes, as may animate the soul to a much more successful combat with sin than the law could do, and give a much nobler assurance of a complete victory over it. Rom. viii. 1—4.
IMPROVEMENT.
LET our hearts rise with indignation at the thoughts of so ungrateful an abuse of the Divine goodness, as to take encouragement from the aboundings of grace to continue in sin. Are verse not we likewise by profession dead to it? Are not we bound by our baptismal vow, as the ancient Christians, to whom Paul addresses himself, were? Or has the use and purpose of baptism been since altered, so as to allow a covenant with sin, and an agreement with hell, even to those who are listed under the banners of a Saviour? Is Christ then become the minister of sin, or shall his death lose all its effect, while we profess to honour the solemn memorials of it? Recollecting that we are not under the law, but under grace, let so glorious a dispensation animate us to resolutions proportionably heroic; and may the remembrance of the death of the Son of God, in concurrence with that of his resurrection, engage us to walk in newness of life, if we desire another day to be planted into the likeness of that resurrection, and to rise victorious and triumphant from the grave.
No more let us return under the power of that spiritual death, from which Christ, at the price of his own life, hath delivered to us; but let us live to God; solemnly presenting our bodies and
Instruments to fight his battles.] The word σπλα properly signifies weapons, and in this sense it has a beautiful propriety. Under the law.] The Mosaic law may be particularly intended; and the propriety of what is here said, when considered in reference to that, is illustrated by that excellent discourse of the apostle in the viiᵗʰ chapter: but it may very well imply that we are not so under any law, as to be utterly condemned for want of a legal, that is, a perfect righteousness: an apprehension of which would tend utterly to discourage the soul, in all its attempts to free itself for the future from the do minion of sin.
Christians are not the servants of sin :
our souls to him, to be honoured as the instruments of his service, xii. and employing each of our members, according to its proper office, for his glory. We are alive from the dead, we are raised by a Divine power. Let us therefore daily set ourselves as in the presence of the God of our renewed lives, and account that time lost in which we are not acting for him. Without this, in vain do we know the vital truths of his gospel, in vain do we plead for them, and amuse ourselves with a sanguine hope of bearing the image of Christ in glory, if all these powerful arguments cannot now engage us to bear it in holiness.
Romans 6:15
The apostle takes this opportunity of urging on the Christians at Rome, that holiness to which they were so strongly obliged by the gospel. Rom. VI. 15, to the end.
ROMANS VI. 15.
I HAVE just been reminding you, Christians, xiii. of your great privileges; that you are now Rom. under a dispensation of the most glorious grace vi. 15 in the gospel, and not under the restraints, nor under the terrors of the Mosaic law. And what then are we to infer? Shall we take encouragement from thence to offend him to whose distinguishing goodness we are so much obliged, and sin securely and presumptuously, because we are not under the law, but under the grace of the gospel? God forbid! The inference would be so odious, and so dangerous, that though I disclaimed it before, (ver. 1,) I cannot too frequently guard you against it. And should you allow yourselves to argue thus, it would sufficiently prove that you do not belong to Christ; however you may glory in a pre- 16 tended external relation. Know ye not, that to whomsoever ye present yourselves [as] servants, actually to obey his commands, his servants you are? Not his whose name ye may bear without practically acknowledging his authority, but his whom you in fact obey. Least of all can you divide yourselves between two contrary masters, but must either be entirely the servants of sin, which you know by a certain consequence leads to eternal death, or entirely the servants of God, by a course of resolute and ROMANS VI. 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
But, being free from sin, are the servants of righteousness :
persevering obedience ; which, notwithstanding your former failures, will securely lead to righteousness and life. But thanks be to God, that whereas you were once the servants of sin, this is to be spoken of as a bondage past and gone ; and that ye have now obeyed, not in profession alone, but from the heart, the model of doctrine into which ye were delivered, as into a mould ; that your whole temper and life might be formed and fashioned into an amiable and glorious correspondence with it. And therefore being thus made free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteousness, and are at once enabled, and obliged to lead a life of true piety and exemplary goodness.
I speak as a man, and upon the common principle of human equity and justice, as well as with a reference to civil customs, with which you Romans are so familiarly acquainted. And I reason thus with you, because of the weakness of your flesh, because of those infirmities and temptations arising from it ; against which I would endeavour to fortify you by every consideration that may render you victorious over it. As ye have in time past, while ignorant of the gospel, and many of you the slaves of heathen vice and idolatry, presented your members servants to uncleanness, and to other kinds of iniquity, into which that debauchery too naturally leads ; so let it now be your care to present your members servants of righteousness, in order to the practice of universal holiness.
And it is very fit that this should be your entire employment ; for when ye were servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness, you never did any single action that was truly good, and on the whole acceptable to God, because
a Model of doctrine, &c. ις ον παρε- δωθητι πυπον διδαχη. That πυπον may properly be rendered model, see note on Rom. v. 14, and add to the instances there given Elsner’s note on this place ; and see Dr. Sykes of Christianity, p. 178. Mr. Locke thinks it is an elegant metaphor, to represent the delivery of a servant over from one master to another, and that the gospel, expressed by the form of sound words, is the master succeeding to the law. But it seems more probable, that
it may allude to melted metal being formed by the mould into which it is poured ; and it finely expresses that pliancy of temper with respect to the gospel, which constitutes so lovely a part of the true Christian’s character.
b As ye have. It is in the original απε- γαφ : but γαρ is here most evidently an ex- pictive, as in Greek it often is. It is of some moment to observe this ; and I think it had been better, if our translators had more frequently attended to it.
For the wages of sin is death; the gift of God, eternal i e.
none was performed from such principles as could entitle it to his complete approbation. Now surely you should be as ready to obey righteousness as you have been to obey sin, and shew as much zeal in the best as you have done in the worst of causes. To engage you therefore to this, consider, what fruit or advantage did you then derive from those things, of the very remembrance of which you are now heartily ashamed; which you would not be, if you had indeed obtained any solid advantage by them; whereas this is far from being the case, for the certain end of those things [is] death. But remember, you have now what is most honourable and most advantageous in your view; for being set free from sin, and engaged to God as his servants and property, you have your fruit unto holiness, in which you find a present and most solid advantage; and the end you have in view is nothing less than eternal life: such is the infinite difference, and so advantageous the exchange you have made. For eternal death [is] the proper wages and desert of sin, and is all the gain which its wretched slave will have to shew from the hand of his tyrannical master in the great day of future account: but eternal life [is,] not as in the former instance, the justly deserved retribution of the action, but the gift of a gracious and bountiful God in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom we are to ascribe it, that any of our services are accepted, and much more that they are recompensed with a munificence worthy the Lord of all.
IMPROVEMENT.
BEING set at liberty from the condemning sentence of God’s law, let us charge our souls, by all the ties of gratitude, that we do not turn his grace into wantonness; or deceive ourselves with vain words in a matter of infinite importance. We cannot
Eternal death — in the great day of might also, contrary to the opinion of future account.] I see no imaginable reason to believe, as some late writers have intimated in their paraphrase on this verse, that death here signifies being cast out of existence. See chap. ii. 12, note i. If this could be inferred with relation to wicked heathens from the laces before us, it called death, Rev. xxi. 8.
Reflections on the wages of sin, and the fruits of righteousness. 71
be at the same time the servants of God and the servants of sin; and certainly our understandings must be darkened to infatuation if we can long doubt whose service we should prefer. The work of righteousness is peace, the effect of it quietness and assurance for ever; (Isa. xxxii. 17;) but death is the wages of sin, and it shall be repayed to all that go on in it. And O what, and how terrible a death! to be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. How merciful are all the repeated admonitions which warn us to flee from it! Let us all judge, that it is already too long that we have yielded ourselves the servants of sin: too long that our members, made for the service of their Creator, devoted perhaps with great solemnity to our Redeemer, have been abused and prostituted as the instruments of unrighteousness. Surely it is too much time that we have already spent, too much vigour that we have already exerted, in so base a servitude. For the future let us act as those who who are made free from sin.
And to animate us to it, let us often reflect how unfruitful the works of darkness have been found; in what shame they have already ended; in what shame and everlasting contempt they must end, if they be finally pursued. And let us daily direct our eye to that everlasting life, that crowns the happy prospect of those who have their fruit unto holiness. Blessed effect of serving God now, to serve and enjoy him for ever! to enjoy, through eternal ages, the pleasures of a nature thoroughly sanctified, and the sight and favour of that God, who is the original source and pattern of sanctification! It is the glorious mark at which we are aiming. Let us pursue it steadily and resolutely; yet always remembering that it is the gift of God, and never presuming to think of so glorious a remuneration as the wages of any duty we can perform. Alas! the imperfections of our best services daily forfeit the blessings of time: how impossible then is it, that the sincerity of them, amidst so many frailties and defects, should purchase the glories of eternity!