Romans 6

Ver. 1. What shall we say then? &c.] The Apostle had before noticed the absurd and dangerous consequence, which some men were apt to draw from his expressions concerning the Divine mercy in our redemption. He now enters upon a more ample vindication of himself from such an unjust imputation. Pyle. The passage might be better rendered, ‘What do we say then? (do we say this?) let us continue in sin,’ &c. Drs. Whitby and Machnight.

The same Scriptures, which represent the death of Christ, as having that which belongs to the death of no other person, namely, an efficacy in procuring the salvation of man, are also constant and uniform in representing the necessity of our own endeavours, of our own good works, for the same purpose. They go further. The writers foresaw that in stating, and still more when they went about to extol and magnify the death of Christ, as instrumental to salvation, they were laying a foundation for the opinion, that men’s own works, their own virtue, their personal endeavours, were superseded and dispensed with. In proportion as the sacrifice of the death of Christ was effectual, in the same proportion were these less necessary; if the death of Christ was sufficient, if redemption was complete, then were these not necessary at all. They foresaw that some would draw this consequence from their doctrine, and they provided against it. The clearest passage to the purpose is that before us. St. Paul, after expatiating largely upon the “grace,” that is, the favour, kindness, and mercy of God, the extent, the greatness, the comprehensiveness of that mercy, as manifested in the Christian

— even so we also should walk in newness of life.] Not only “mortifying all our evil and corrupt affections,” but, as our baptismal service expresses it, “daily proceeding in all virtue and godliness of living.” The “newness” here spoken of, is a newness of notions, dispositions, desires, and conversation: which, when heavenly and virtuous, are deservedly styled new; because corrective of, contrary to, and superinduced after, those vicious and worldly ones, wherewith in this corrupt state of nature every man is born. This change is made by the grace of God’s Holy Spirit; which gives a fresh turn to our thoughts and affections, imprints a true sense of good and evil, puts a quite different bent upon the will, disposes it to walk by faith rather than by sight, to prefer pure and intellectual, before sensual and polluted pleasures, to overbalance present and mean with eternal, though future and invisible, advantages; and so by these, and many other like operations, renders us “new;” that is, quite other men from what it found us either actually being, or in a disposition to be. Of this change the resurrection of our Lord is very elegantly proposed for a pattern. Dean Stanhope.

—unto sin.] To be employed in the service of sin: “unto God,” in the end of the verse, to be employed in the service of God. Dr. Wells.

—alive from the dead.] ‘From among the dead.’ The Gentile world were dead in sins, Eph. ii. 1, 5; Col. ii. 13. Those, who were converted to the Gospel, were raised to life from amongst those dead. Locke.

Ver. 1. — I speak to them that know the law.] He addresses himself to his brethren of the stock of Abraham, whom he supposes, by their frequent bearing and reading of the law of Moses, to be well instructed in the nature of those laws, which give one person interest in, or power over another. Dr. Hammond.

— as long as he liveth? Rather, “as it,” that is, the law, “liveth.” The meaning is, Know ye not, that the Mosaical law hath dominion over any man, that is subject to it, so long as the said law is in force? Bp. Hall.

Romans 6:2

2.—How shall we, that are dead] Or, according to the original, ‘have died to sin,’ by our baptism or entrance into the Christian covenant, “live any longer therein!” Dr. Whitby.

To “live in sin” is, not to commit any one act of sin, for so all do live in sin, 1 John i. 8; Jam. iii. 2: but to have a habit and custom of sinning. Bp. Peil.

To continue in sin is altogether inconsistent with renouncing sin, which we profess to do at our baptism. Dr. Wells.

Romans 6:3

3. Know ye not, &c.] Know ye not, that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, have the full efficacy of Christ’s death sealed up unto us, and by virtue thereof die unto our sins? Bp. Hall. “To be baptized into Christ,” is to be baptized into the profession of Christ’s laws and doctrine. Bp. Pearce.

Romans 6:4

4. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: &c.] Yes, our baptism doth not only represent unto us our death to sin by the power of His death, but our burial also; and the continuance of that state of the death of sin in us, and our rising again to newness of life: that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the omnipotent power of God, even so we should by the power of His Spirit be raised from the grave of our sins, to walk before Him in the new life of holy obedience. Bp. Hall.

— we are buried with him &c.] The ceremony of immerging the body of the baptized in water represents the burial of a dead person under ground. The pouring of water upon the party, in cases where the former cannot conveniently be done, answers to covering and throwing earth upon a person so dead. But both agree in figuring a death and burial, as the emerging again figureth a new life. And this it is plain can only mean the mortification of some old, and the quickening of some contrary principle, in a spiritual sense. Dean Stanhope.

The practice of baptizing, by plunging the person under water, thereby burying him, as it were, in the water, and raising him out of it again, was anciently the more usual method: on which account St. Paul speaks of baptism, as representing both the death, and burial, and resurrection of Christ, and what is grounded upon

If we are dead to sin through Christ, we shall also live with him: Anno DOMINI 60.

by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Romans 6:5

5. For if we have been planted together] That is, have by baptism been so grafted into Christ, that we are become, as it were, the same tree with Him, partaking of the same juice with that root. Dr. Hammond. The sense of this and the following verse is, If we be so grafted in Him, that the power of His death works the like effect in us, that it did in Him; so also shall the same ingrafting convey unto us the same virtue of His resurrection, that we should also rise by and with Him from the grave of our sins, ver. 6. Knowing this, that this corrupt nature of ours, our unregenerate part, is crucified and dead together with Him, and by the power of His death; that the whole bulk of our maliciousness and depravation might be so far destroyed, that, however we may be drawn to sin, yet we should not serve sin any more. Bp. Hall. As the benefits of Christ’s real death are accomplished and assured to us by His real resurrection; so are those of our figurative death, by our resembling Him in the latter as well as in the former. Dean Stanhope.

Romans 6:6

6. — is crucified] Rather, ‘was crucified.’ Drs. Hammond, Whitby, and Macknight.

— the body of sin] That is, those irregular appetites of the body, which subject us to sin. Drs. Wells and Whitby.

— we should not serve sin.] It will conduce much to the understanding of St. Paul in this and the two

Romans 6:7

7. For he that is dead is freed from sin.] For, as a man truly dead is freed from the authority of all those that in his lifetime had power over him; so he, that is thus figuratively dead, is freed from the power of sin, which formerly acted in him. Dr. Hammond.

Romans 6:8

8. Now if we be dead with Christ, &c.] Now if we be thus dead with Christ to sin, we believe, or are assured, that we shall also by His grace be enabled to live with Him; that is, to live, in some degree, like Him, an holy life for the future. Dr. Wells. “We shall live with Him,” as having that Spirit, which is the Giver of life, and the pledge and earnest of it, imparted to us. Dr. Whitby.

Romans 6:9

9—11. Knowing &c.] Knowing therefore that Christ, being raised from the dead, and triumphing over death in that His resurrection, yieldeth not to death any more, nor suffereth death, thus by Him vanquished, to have any more power over Him. 10. For, in that He died, He died but once for the destroying of sin; but, in that He liveth, He liveth with God for ever, a life immortal and glorious. 11. Likewise ye that are regenerate, must make account that ye are, by virtue of His death, dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord; who hath raised us up to the life of new obedience, by the power of His resurrection. Bp. Hall. The resemblance of Christ, to which baptism brings us, implies a constant perseverance in our duty. St. Paul argues, “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more,” &c. ver. 8, 9: and then follows in the 10th verse, “Likewise reckon ye yourselves also to be dead indeed unto sin,” &c. The inference is strong, and the parallel close. Our Lord could die but once, because there

Anno DOMINI 60. And. therefore sin must no more reign in our mortal bodies. Anno DOMINI 40.

Romans 6:11

11.—sin.] “Sin” is here spoken of as a person, and so through this and the following chapter, which must be observed in order to a right understanding of them. Locke.

—alive unto God] All men being, through the disobedience of our first parents, subject to death; the rite of baptism, by which we are admitted into the religion of Jesus, “who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light,” 2 Tim. i. 10, is with great propriety called in the twenty-seventh Article of our Church “a sign of regeneration.” The original corruption of our nature is thus washed away, and we are born again to new hopes and new prospects, as is represented in the fourth verse, in which the Apostle says, that we are “buried with Christ by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The same is asserted in Tit. iii. 5; as also in the present verse. Thus is the inward effect of baptism constantly affirmed in Scripture. We are said to be “born again of water and the Spirit,” which are frequently mentioned together, the one applied externally, and the other operating internally. Baptism therefore is not a mere external badge or token of our being Christians: it is a new birth from the death of sin, and a regeneration to a new life in Christ: it is a change and renovation of nature by the Spirit and grace of God: it is an infusion of spiritual life into the soul, by which it is made capable of performing spiritual actions, and of living unto God. Bp. Tomline.

Romans 6:12

12. Let not sin therefore] Which is thus dead in you, or at least hath received his death’s wound, rule and reign as a tyrant in these mortal bodies of yours. Bp. Hall. The Apostle here states the natural consequence of what he had been previously alleging; namely, that, however his doctrine was calumnated, Christians are by their very profession of Christianity required not to obey sin, by satisfying the lusts or prohibited desires of their bodies. Drs. Wells and Hammond.

—it in the lusts thereof.] The word “it” refers to sin; “thereof” to the body. Dr. Wells.

Romans 6:13

13.—your members] The members of your bodies, and the faculties of your souls. Bp. Hall, Burkitt. The word appears to have this double sense; and consequently it signifies every thing in us, which is employed as “an instrument” in performing the works of the flesh, enumerated Gal. v. 19—21. For some of these do not require the members of the body to their being performed, but are wholly confined in their operation to the mind. Hence in Col. iii. 5, “evil concupiscence”

We have yielded ourselves to the service of righteousness. Anno DOMINI 60.

God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Romans 6:14

14. For sin shall not have dominion over you.] That is, if ye are not wanting to yourselves in making use of the means of grace, ye shall be able to overcome sin for the future: “for ye are not under the law,” which gives only the knowledge of sin, and not sufficient strength to withstand it; “but under grace,” that is, the gracious covenant of the Gospel, which gives you strength to withstand sin; so that it is now left to your own choice, inasmuch as it is left in your own power, whether ye will yield yourselves servants to God or sin. Wherein consists the strength, to which the Apostle here alludes, he teaches us in the eighth chapter, ver. 2; namely, in the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Wells.

It must be remembered, that St. Paul here and in the following chapter personifies “sin,” as striving with men for mastery to destroy them. Locke.

Romans 6:15

15. What then? shall we sin, &c.] I have sufficiently shewn you already that the mercy of God in the Gospel is so far from encouraging sin, that it is the strongest engagement against it. Pyle.

Romans 6:16

16. Know ye not, &c.] Remember also, there is no dividing and halving your service between God and Satan: to whomsoever you engage yourselves, his slaves you must entirely be, like men sold to bondage, or taken in war. If sin be your master, your psy is nothing but death and misery; if Christ, your reward is then no less than pardon and eternal salvation. Pyle. “Obedience” here signifies the Gospel: called “the obedience of faith,” chap. i. 5; xvi. 26; and “the obedience of Christ,” 2 Cor. x. 5; and here “obedience” simply. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 6:17

17. But God be thanked, &c.] The Apostle thanks God, not because they had been servants to sin, but because they, who had been servants to it, were become obedient to the precepts of Christianity. Compare Matt. xi. 25. As if he had said, God be thanked, that, although formerly ye were the servants of sin, yet since your conversion ye are become obedient to the Gospel. Dr. Whitby, Burkitt.

—that form of doctrine] That summary of Christian doctrine. Dr. Hammond. The Christian religion. Schleener.

—which was delivered you.] Or, according to the margin, to the belief and practice of which ye were delivered up, and solemnly consecrated at your baptism. Dr. Hammond.

Romans 6:18

18. Being then made free] The original word signifies the act of giving a slave his liberty; called by the Romans emancipation. Dr. Macknight. Having received a dismissal from that evil master, ye have given yourselves up to a more ingenuous service, obliging yourselves to live righteously for ever after. Dr. Hammond.

Romans 6:19

19. I speak after the manner of men &c.] I have thus represented the case to you by a comparison of slaves and masters, things very well known by you Romans; and I have made choice of this metaphor, the more easily to make you sensible, who are yet but little skilled in the notions of Christianity, and of spiritual matters. And the sum of what I intend by it is this: That as you, in your unregenerate state, both Jews and Gentiles, were the slaves of sin and death; so now under the Gospel, you are bound to a new master, and obliged to such a course of piety and virtue, as cannot fail to justify and save you. Pyle, Dr. Wells.

The metaphors in this chapter are extremely bold: yet being taken from matters well known, they were used with great advantage. For the influence of sinful passions, in constraining wicked men to commit evil actions, could not be better represented to those who were acquainted with the condition of slaves, and with the customs by which their lives and services were regulated, than by the power which a tyrannical lord exercised over his slaves. Neither could any thing more affecting be devised, to shew this miserable condition of a person habitually governed by his lusts, than to liken it to the state of a slave under a severe unprincipled master, who rigorously requires him to spend the whole of his time and strength in his work, who exacts from him things both painful and ignominious, and who, by the severity of the services which he imposes, miserably puts an end to the life of his slaves. On the other hand, the right which a lawful and humane lord has to the services of his slave, and the nature of the services in which he employs him, and the rewards which he bestows upon him for his faithful services, convey a clear and affecting idea of the obligation which the Gospel lays on men, to employ themselves wholly in works of righteousness, and of the happy consequences of such a course of life. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 6:20

20. —ye were free from righteousness.] Not so as to The freedom of the gospel. The extent of the law’s power. Anno DOMINI 60.

Romans 6:21

21. What fruit had ye then, &c.] The Apostle here presses the argument against sin, by a consideration of the little benefit or satisfaction, which it furnishes at the time; of the same, which ensues on the remembrance of it; and of its inevitable termination in death. Dr. Hammond. Death of the body, even when renounced and repented of; but otherwise death, that is, infinite and irreversible misery, of body and soul both. Dean Stanhope.

For the unprofitableness of sin, even at present, the Apostle appeals to the hearts and consciences of those with whom he argues, “What fruit had ye then in those things?” well knowing they must own, that upon trial they had found none: a confession, which very few have ever failed to make, when after a life, spent in wickedness, they came to reflect coolly what real advantage they had gained by it on the upshot. The language of those, who will be prevailed on to balance that great account, is almost universally the same, which Elihu in Job ascribes to the penitent, “I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not,” Job axali. 27. Abp. Becker.

Romans 6:22

22. — ye have your fruit unto holiness, &c.] Ye have abundance of contentment thereby; accompanied with present sanctification and holiness of life, and the promise of everlasting happiness. Bp. Hall, Dr. Hammond.

Romans 6:23

23. For the wages of sin is death; &c.] That is, the wages which are paid by sin, considered as a person, and so are opposed to what is “given” by God. Parkhurst.

“The wages of sin is death.” It is what God hath expressly threatened and given men sufficient warning of: and therefore what they, who know beforehand upon what terms they enslave themselves, and who have put into their hands so many assistance and opportunities of being free and happy, do by their obstinacy deserve. But the “eternal life” awarded to good men, is what the very best of them neither do, nor ever can deserve. We may indeed deserve our punishment, because sin is our own, entirely our own act. But we cannot reasonably be said to deserve a recompense for acts, not entirely, not originally, our own: and that at His hands too, whose free grace and good Spirit it is, that works in us both the will and the deed. Most justly therefore doth the Apostle put the difference here between “wages” and

KNOW ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?