Ver. 1.—to them which are in Christ Jesus, &c.] That is, to Christians; provided they forsake sin, and perform that evangelical obedience, and preserve that inward true purity, required by Christ under the Gospel. Dr. Hammond. Fath in Christ, joined with repentance and a sincere endeavour to obey His commands, will, through the merits of His death, avert the punishment due to our sins, and procure us admission into the kingdom of heaven. Bp. Tomlins. “To walk after the flesh,” is to be governed by those inordinate appetites, which have their seat in the flesh: “to walk after the Spirit,” is to be habitually governed by reason and conscience, enlightened and strengthened by the Spirit of God. Hence such are said to be “led by the Spirit,” ver. 14. Dr. Macknight.

— the Spirit of adoption.] The Holy Spirit, who is so called, because He endures believers with a filial loving confidence in God, as their reconciled Father in Christ. He is here opposed to “the spirit of bondage,” or ‘of servitude,’ or that slavish fear of God, which the Mosaic law considered merely as the law of a carnal commandment, had a tendency to produce. Compare Gal. iv. 4—7; 2 Tim. i. 7. Forthorst.

— whereby we cry, Abba, Father.] Whereby we are emboldened to speak to God under the title of a loving Father. Rp. Hall.

The word “Abba” signifies Father in the Jewish language, that is, the Syro-Chaláick. Dr. Doddridge.

This was a phrase, in which the Jewish bond-servants might not presume to address their masters. It intimates our being authorized to claim the rank of God’s children. Abp. Secker.

Ver. 1. I say the truth in Christ, &c.] The Apostle seems to be extremely sensible of the unhappy bias the Jews lay under, and expresses the deepest concern on that account. He tells them that their rejection from being any longer the people of God is a subject he would not have touched upon, did not truth, and a deep regard for their own eternal happiness, extort it from him. He begins the chapter accordingly with a solemn protestation of the great love He bore them, and of the affliction he suffered on account of their continued obstinacy and unbelief. Dean Tucker.

The Apostle protests in the most solemn manner, that he was so far from being influenced by any prejudice or aversion against the Jews since his conversion to Christianity, that on the contrary, his grief and trouble of mind for their impenitency and infidelity, and for their consequent rejection, and the judgments which God would send upon them, were much greater and more uneasy to him than all the other afflictions and calamities he met with in the world. T. Edwards.

— in Christ, — in the Holy Ghost.] This verse not only shews, that in cases of great moment a Christian may establish his saying by an oath, but also that he may swear by Christ and the Holy Ghost, and call them to be witnesses of the sincerity of his own con-

Paul is sorry for the Jews. Amo DOMINI 64. Or, separated. Or, testaments.

Romans 8:2

2. For the law of the Spirit of life] That is, the Gospel, which commands spiritual inward purity, and quickens those who embrace it to new life by the grace of the Holy Spirit." Drs. Hammond and Wells.

—hath made me free from the law of sin and death.] Hath freed us Christians from the power and captivity of sin, chap. vii. 23; and so also from death, the wages of sin. Dr. Hammond. It is observable, that the person who speaks in the foregoing chapter is introduced here as continuing the discourse, and shewing the method in which his deliverance from “the body of death,” mentioned chap. vii. 24, was accomplished. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 8:3

3. For what the law could not do,] Or, ‘as to that which was impossible to the law.’ Dr. Hammond.

—in that it was weak through the flesh,] The fleshly desires of men carrying them headlong into all sin, in despite of the prohibitions of the law, the law of Moses was by this means weak. Dr. Hammond. The weakness of the law is here attributed to the prevalence of that sensual and carnal principle, which by betraying men into sin, rendered them still more obnoxious to death, in proportion as the precepts of the law were multiplied. Dean Stanhope.

—in the likeness of sinful flesh,] That is, in a

mortal body, which was like sinful flesh, and differed from it in nothing but in innocence. Dr. Hammond.

—and for sin,] Namely, that He might be a sacrifice for sin. Dr. Hammond. The phrase “for sin,” in the Old Testament, is the usual phrase for a sin-offering: the constant effect of which was, to make an abosement for the sin committed, that it might be forgiven, and the guilt of it might be done away. The effect of the sacrifice, delivered in these words, “and for sin condemned sin in the flesh,” should be interpreted agreeably to the constant design of all sacrifices for sin; and so the words signify that He took away the condemning power of sin; He condemned that, which before condemned us, enabling us to say, “who is He that condemns us? it is Christ that died;” ver. 34. He killed sin, or made it dead by that death, which caused it not to be imputed to us to death, 2 Cor. v. 19. And this is the thing which the law could not do; it could not give life to a person condemned to death, Gal. iii. 21: it could not justify or free us from condemnation. Dr. Whitby.

The Apostle in the two preceding chapters having represented “sin” as a person, he expresses himself very appositely here, when he tells us, Christ put sin to death in the flesh, that is, in our body, where he (sin) had introduced himself at the fall. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 8:4

4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us] That is, the inward purity and righteousness which the law required. The phrase occurs only here and chap. ii. 26; where it plainly signifies the righteousness contained in the moral law, or those internal principles of holiness, justice and goodness, which are comprised in it, these being “the weightier matters of the law,” Matt. xxiii. 23; and the only things in which the uncircumcision, or the Gentiles, could keep the “righteousness of the law.” Here therefore the phrase appears to bear the same sense, and so confutes the vain imaginations of the Antinomans. Dr. Whitby.

The first benefit obtained for us by Christ’s death is justification, or a release from the guilt and punishment of sin. The second is sanctification, which is effected by the assistance and influence of God’s Holy Spirit, enabling us to correct the corrupt principle called “flesh.” Dean Stanhope.

“Fulfilled” here does not signify a complete exact obedience, but such an unblamable life, by sincere endeavours after righteousness, as shews us to be the faithful subjects of Christ, exempt from the dominion of sin: see chap. xiii. 8; Gal. vi. 2. A description of such who thus fulfilled “the righteousness of the law,” we have in St. Luke, chap. i. 6. As Christ in the flesh was wholly exempt from all taint of sin, so we, by that Spirit which was in Him, shall be exempt from the dominion of our carnal lusts, if we make it our choice and endeavour to live after the Spirit, ver. 9—11. For that which we are to perform by that Spirit, is the mortification of the deeds of the body, ver. 13. Locke.

—who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.] The terms of Scripture represent the Spirit of God as an assisting, not a forcing power; as not suspending our own powers, but enabling them; as imparting

What harm cometh of the flesh, Anno DOMINI

Romans 8:5

5. — do mind the things of the flesh;] The original verb signifies, to set one’s affection on an object, and to use great pains in obtaining it, Col. iii. 2. Dr. Macknight. They that are carried by their own carnal inclinations, or by customs and habits of sin, do generally mind and meditate on carnal things. Dr. Hammond.

— but they that are after the Spirit &c.] They that are led by the Spirit of Christ, the conduct of the Gospel, study and mind those things, wherein inward purity and sanctity consists. Dr. Hammond.

Romans 8:6

6. For to be carnally minded is death; &c.] As if he had said, And so one pursues the things which tend to death, and the other those things which tend to life. “For to be carnally minded is” the way which tends to “death,” &c. Dr. Whitby.

Romans 8:7

7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; &c.] The carnal man can look for no better issue than “death,” ver. 6; for his affections and desires are no better than mere enmity against God, utterly rebelling against the law of God; as those which neither are subject unto it, neither indeed, while they so continue, can be. Bp. Hall.

Here the Apostle gives the reason, why even those, that are in Christ Jesus, have received the Gospel, and are Christians, for to such he is here speaking, are not saved, unless they cease to walk after the flesh, because

that runs directly counter to the law of God, and can never be brought into conformity and subjection to His commands. Such a settled contravention to His precepts cannot be suffered by the supreme Lord and Governor of the world in any of His creatures, without foregoing His sovereignty, and giving up the eternal immutable rule of right, to the overturning of the very foundations of all order and moral rectitude in the intellectual world. This, even in the judgment of men themselves, will be always thought a necessary piece of justice, for the keeping out of anarchy, disorder, and confusion, that those refractory subjects, who set up their own inclinations for their rule, against the law which was made to restrain those very inclinations, should feel the severity of the law, without which the authority of the law and law-maker cannot be preserved. Locke.

Romans 8:8

8. — they that are in the flesh] That is, they who live a worldly carnal life. Dr. Whitby. They who are not purified by the spiritual religion of Christ. Bp. Tomlinson.

Romans 8:9

9. But ye are not in the flesh, &c.] As if he had said, “But” it is not so with you Christians, that you cannot please God, for, “ye are not in the flesh,” &c. Dr. Whitby.

— if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.] Enlightening your understandings, renewing your wills and affections, and inspiring your souls with an earnest desire after the favour and grace of God. The phrase “dwell” imports intimate fellowship, active operation, and constancy of abode. Burkitt.

— Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.] Hence it is evident, that none are truly said to be in Christ, see ver. 1, by a profession of faith, unless they live in a manner answerable to that profession, and be renewed in mind, will, affections, and conversation. Dr. Whitby.

— the Spirit of Christ.] Called, in the former part of the verse, “the Spirit of God,” to teach us that He is “the Spirit of Christ,” as Christ is God, and that Christ is truly God, one with the Father: otherwise the same Spirit could not be the Spirit of Christ and of God too. And as He is thus usually in Holy Scripture called, sometimes “the Spirit of God,” and sometimes “the Spirit of Christ,” so, at other times, He is called absolutely “the Holy Spirit,” or, which is the same thing, “the Holy Ghost,” especially where the three Divine Persons are all named together, as Matt. xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; 1 John v. 7; to shew, that, although He be the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son, yet He is so in such a manner as to be a distinct Person from both, as each of the other Persons also is. Bp. Beveridge.

Romans 8:10

10. And if Christ be in you.] If ye be Christians indeed, your lives corresponding to the purity of the Gospel of Christ. Dr. Hammond. Christ, or His Spirit, being in us; His Spirit, or God’s Spirit being in us, are expressions of the same import. Bp. Fell.

— the body is dead because of sin; &c.] That is, Though your bodies indeed be liable to present death, like those of other men, by the unavoidable effect of Adam’s transgression: yet will the power of the Divine

and what good of the Spirit. Anno DOMINI 60. Or, because of his Spirit.

Romans 8:11

11. — by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.] It was the opinion of the Jews, derived from Ezek. xxxvii. 9, 10, that the resurrection shall be effected by virtue of the Holy Spirit. Thus was our Lord raised from the dead, 1 Pet. iii. 18. Thus, saith this verse, shall we be raised, who are “the temple of the Holy Ghost.” The promise of being raised by “the Spirit of Christ” belongs only to them, whose bodies shall be raised to the resurrection of life eternal. As for others, they being only Christians in name, and not in truth and sincerity, and persons, to whom Christ will then say, “I never knew you;” they shall be raised by the power of Christ, but not by virtue of any union with the Spirit of Christ. Dr. Whitby.

The Apostle here contends, that happiness and immortality are, by means both of justification and of sanctification, privileges, which give a just preference to the Christian religion over any other religion whatsoever. He does not attempt the absurdity of denying that Christians die in common with other men: but he places their privilege in being restored to life, and such a future life, as far excels any advantages possible to be reaped from their continuance in the present life by never dying at all. This he alleges to be a benefit entirely derived from Christ. Dean Stanhope.

Romans 8:12

12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, &c.] That is, seeing the Holy Spirit dwelleth in us, quickening our souls for the present, in order that He may raise our bodies in time to come; furnishing the one with grace here, and fitting the other for glory hereafter; therefore we ought to live unto God, and not unto the flesh. Burkitt.

Romans 8:13

13. — the deeds of the body.] It means all sin, relating both to the inward and outward man: all evil dispositions, deprived habits, corrupt affections, as well as irregular actions; though “the body” only is mentioned, because there sin especially shews itself. Burkitt.

Romans 8:14

14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God.] Living after Christ’s example, and doing what He commands and enables us to do. Dr. Hammond.

— they are the sons of God.] The strength of the argument will be clear from these considerations: 1st, That the adopted “sons of God” are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ,” and so must reign with Him, ver. 17, which till they live again, and be raised from the dead, they cannot do; and that their adoption is “the redemption of their bodies” from corruption, ver. 23: 2dly, That we are then completely “the sons of God,” when we are “children of the resurrection,” Luke xx. 36; when we have “overcome,” according to those words in Rev. xxi. 7, “He that overcrowds shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” Dr. Whitby.

Romans 8:15

15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage &c.] The Gospel does not load us, like bondslaves, with the intolerable yoke of numerous rites and ceremonies; nor does it only tell us our moral duties, without affording

Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Anno DOMINI 60.

Romans 8:16

16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit.] Or with our consciences, “that we,” being thus led by the Spirit of God dwelling in us, “are the children of God.” Dr. Wells.

This testimony with our spirits is the sanctification of them, the subjecting of our wills and affections to His influences, acting upon us by the mediation of our own thoughts, yet discoverable to be from Him, by their opposition to our natural corruption. It is by the sanctifying grace of this Spirit dwelling in us, that we are enabled to “mortify the deeds of the body:” they that do so are “led by Him:” and as many as are so led have thereby a testimony that they are the children of God. Our wills and affections had contracted by their corruption an enmity against God, and a love of the world and vanity: the Holy Ghost unheeds this perviveness, and directs them towards heaven. Dr. Gloucester Ridley.

The Spirit of God doth not bear witness with the spirits of the faithful that they are the children of God, by an immediate oracle, voice, or whisper within them, in express words pronouncing their pardon and acceptation with God, or saying that they are the sons of God. This is a vain imagination, and as dangerous as it is vain: it being apt to lead some good men into despair, as not finding any such whisper within them, and to expose others to presumption and the delusion of the evil spirit. Such a vocal testimony of the Spirit is no where promised in Scripture, and therefore not to be expected by us. And that St. Paul means not here any such vocal testimony of the Spirit, is evident from hence, that this vocal testimony would be the immediate testimony of the Spirit alone, whereas the Apostle speaks of a testimony of the Spirit concurring and adjoining with the testimony of our spirits, that is, our minds and consciences. This testimony the Spirit bears, 1st, by those gracious fruits and effects, which He hath wrought in us; which when we discern and perceive, we do or may from thence conclude that we are the sons of God, those

Romans 8:17

17. And if children, then heirs:] According to the customs of all nations. It was a law among the Jews, as well as among the Romans, that adopted sons, in respect of inheriting, were equal with natural. Dr. Hammond. To be a child of God in the Scripture phrase, is to be an heir of immortality, or to be an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven: that is to say, either in actual possession of it, or in right and title to it. Abp. Sharp.

—heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ:] All having our share in this glorious inheritance. Dr. Whitby.

—if so be that we suffer with him, &c.] That is, in conformity to Him, when called out to it for the honour of God, and for the testimony of a good conscience. Dr. Doddridge.

the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Romans 8:18

18. For I reckon &c.] The course of the Apostle’s argument appears to be, that we have reason cheerfully to suffer with Christ, to the end that we may be glorified with Him, “forasmuch,” says he, ‘as I justly reckon,’ &c. Dr. Wells.

—are not worthy to be compared] St. Paul here pronounces the glorious reward of a future world so vastly superior to the sufferings in the present, that it is an indignity offered to the former, so much as to name them together, or to suppose a proportion between them, fit to be made the ground of a comparison. Dean Stanhope.

Romans 8:19

19. For the earnest expectation of the creature] Or, the rational creation. Parkhurst. Every human creature, mankind in general, Jews as well as Gentiles. This seems to be the meaning of the word rendered “creature,” in this and the two following verses; and of the phrase, “the whole creation,” in the 22d verse. Dr. Macknight.

—waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.] Mankind in general eagerly expect that glorious reward, which shall one day prove us to be the sons of an immortal God. The Apostle here proceeds to make good his estimate of the glory to be revealed in us, by the common sense and wants of mankind in general. Such seems to be the meaning of this and the three following verses. For “the manifestation of the sons of God,” denotes that resurrection of the body, and immortality of the whole man, which is a privilege entirely owing to Christ, and an operation effected by the power of that Almighty Spirit, which raised Him from the dead. And though it cannot be affirmed, that all mankind have constantly, and every where, entertained a firm and positive persuasion of such an immortality; yet have some dark and indistinct presages of, and wishes for, it been very general. Dean Stanhope.

Romans 8:20

20. For the creature was made subject to vanity.] That is, the whole race of men became liable to corruption. Dr. Whitby, Dean Stanhope. The state of man, in this frail short life, subject to inconveniences, sufferings, and death, may very well be called “vanity,” compared to the impassable estate of eternal life, the inheritance of the sons of God. Locke.

—not willingly.] Not by the personal misbehaviour of those, who are now most deeply affected with it. Dr. Doddridge. Not by their own act. Dr. Macknight. —but by reason of him &c.] But through the just dispensation of God, who, for the disobedience of the first man, hath inflicted death upon them: yet this not without end or hope. Dean Stanhope, Dr. Macknight.

Romans 8:21

21.—the creature itself also] Even the heathens themselves. Dr. Macknight. —from the bondage of corruption] “Corruption”

We are saved by hope. The intercession of the Spirit. AND DOMINI 60. Or, every creature.

Romans 8:22

22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth &c.] That is, that the whole Gentile world has all along been deeply sensible of the miseries and frail state of human life; full of longings and eager wishes after a better and more durable condition. Pyle. The ancient heathens rightly observed, that the soul of man gave many indications of a principle nobler than matter. They considered the unsatisfactory nature of its present enjoyments. They felt a continual inclination to look beyond the narrow limits of this life. They lamented the very unequal mixture of bitter cast into every man’s cup. And hence they were apt to conclude, that God had some better things in store for so excellent a creature; and that His wisdom and goodness would never have endued man with qualifications for happiness peculiar to a rational being, without some provision for his attainment of it. By these considerations they supported themselves under temporal evils, with the thought of some amends to be made for their virtue and patience. These seem to be the “earnest expectation,” the melancholy sense of their “bondage to corruption,” the “hopes of liberty,” the “groaning and travailing in pain,” meant by St. Paul in this passage. Dean Stanhope.

Romans 8:23

23. — which have the firstfruits of the Spirit.] Namely, those gifts of the Holy Spirit, which believers obtain in this life, as a foretaste and earnest of their eternal inheritance. Compare Eph. i. 14; Heb. vi. 5. Parkhurst.

— even we ourselves groan within ourselves, &c.] That is, we long with great earnestness for the evidence and completion of our sonship; even the final rescuing of these mortal and now afflicted bodies from death and corruption, and their admission into our eternal inheritance with Christ, in the kingdom of the Father. Dean Stanhope. See the note from Dr. Whitby on ver. 14.

— the redemption of our body.] This phrase is probably used, because the resurrection of the children of God to eternal life is obtained by the merit of the blood of Christ, agreeably to the meaning of the original word. See the note on chap. iii. 24. Dr. Macknight.

Romans 8:24

24. For we are saved by hope:] Of this resurrection and redemption of the body, “being begotten to a lively hope,” &c. See 1 Pet. i. 3; see also Rom. v. 2; and Gal. v. 5. Dr. Whitby.

— but hope that is seen is not hope:] “Hope,” by

Romans 8:26

26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities:] Succoureth and relieveth them. Bp. Hall.

— but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us] Namely, the Spirit of God, who is said to intercede for us, not as an advocate or mediator betwixt God and us, that being the office of our great High Priest; but as an exriter or director of us in our addresses to God, to render them, for matter according to the will of God, and for manner fervent and effectual; and to make our very sighs and groanings prevalent. See Exod. ii. 24; vi. 5; Judg. ii. 18; Ps. xxxviii. 9; cii. 20; Acts vii. 34. Thus when our Lord had “groaned in the Spirit,” John xi. 33, He said, “Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me.” Dr. Whitby.

— with groanings which cannot be uttered.] Guiding and inspiring us with such good notions and desires, as we cannot oftentimes in words express. Pyle.

The Spirit maketh intercession for us, not as Christ doth in heaven; but, as it is explained in the beginning of the verse, by “helping our infirmities:” that is, by directing our intentions, by strengthening our faith, by exciting our desires, by supplying us, not, as some vainly imagine, with words, but “with groanings which cannot be uttered,” with such fervent and earnest affections, which no words are able to express, and none can know, but He that “searcheth the hearts, and knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,” ver. 27. Bp. Beveridge.

Romans 8:27

27. — knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,] That is, His desire and intention, without any need of its being articulately formed in words. Dr. Hammond.

— because he maketh intercession &c.] Rather, as in the margin, ’that He maketh intercession,’ &c.: the meaning is, that He assists the minds of all distressed Christians, so that they do nothing but what is consistent with God’s holy will and religion. Pyle.

Romans 8:28

28. — to them who are the called according to his purpose.] That is, those that according to God’s counsels revealed in the Gospel are the men to whom God’s favour and so His promises belong. Dr. Hammond. The proper way to ascertain the meaning of the Apostle in this and the two following verses, seems to be by settling the true import of the “purpose” mentioned in this, and of “foreknow” in the next. By the “purpose” then, mentioned here and in other places of St.

Romans 8:29

29. — to be conformed to the image of his Son.] Both in holiness; see 2 Cor. iii. 18; Eph. i. 3—7, 11, 12; and in glory; see 1 Cor. xv. 49; Phil. iii. 21. Parkhurst.

— that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.] And thus He will be truly the head and chief of all true Christians, whom He is pleased to condescend to call His “brethren.” Pyle.

Romans 8:30

30. — then he also glorified.] He either hath rewarded, or certainly will reward, with eternal glory. Dr. Hammond. Though some of the things mentioned

Romans 8:31

31. What shall we then say] Or, ‘What say we then to these things?’ That is, what further ground of assurance, and so of patient waiting for these things, can we want? Dr. Whitby.

— If God be for us.] That is, ‘Since God is for us, who can be against us?’ Can Satan, or the world, or the unbelieving Jews, with any success oppose our enjoying the inheritance of the children of God, with the other blessings promised to the seed of Abraham? Dr. Macknight.

Romans 8:32

32. He that spared not his own Son.] The original word, rendered “his own,” is highly emphatical, as it is likewise in John v. 18. Christ is called God’s own Son, to distinguish Him from others who are sons of God by creation, or by adoption, that is, by some temporal dignity conferred upon them. No argument, equal to this, was ever addressed to creatures, capable of being persuaded and obliged. For while it convinces the understanding, it raises every tender and devout feeling of the heart, and is a continual source both of hope and gratitude. Dr. Macknight.

— all things?] Namely, all that are profitable for us, and conducive to our eternal happiness. Dr. Wells.

Romans 8:33

33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?] See Isaiah i. 8, 9. Who shall produce any accusation against those, whom God approves of? This the Jews did most bitterly against the Christians, and especially against St. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, judging them for breakers of the law, &c. chap. ii. 1. Dr. Hammond. It appears from the context, that the “elect” here are those who are approved and accepted by God. See 28th and following verses. Parkhurst.

Romans 8:34

34. — who also maketh intercession for us.] Presenting there His obedience, His sufferings, His prayers, and our prayers sanctified through Him. Bp. Fell.

Romans 8:35

35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?] Namely, that love which He hath showed in procuring this redemption for us, ver. 37. Dr. Whitby. It is not in the power of any persecutor upon earth to put us out of the favour of God, or to deprive us of the benefits of His love to us, when Christ hath thus fortified us, and ordered even afflictions themselves to tend to our good. We may now challenge all present or possible evils to do their worst. Dr. Hammond. See below note on ver. 38.

Romans 8:36

36. As it is written, For thy sake we are killed &c.] The Apostle here quotes a passage, spoken by the

We are conquerors through Christ. Paul is sorry for the Jews. Amos DOMINI 60.

Romans 8:37

37. — we are more than conquerors] For we not only bear, but “glory in tribulations,” chap. v. 3. Dr. Whitby.

— [through him that loved us.] Through the assistance of the grace of Christ. Dr. Hammond.

Romans 8:38

38. — that neither death, nor life, &c.] That neither fear of death, nor hope of life, nor evil angels, nor persecuting princes or potentates, nor the pressures that are already upon us, nor those that are now ready to come, nor sublimity of honours, nor depth of ignominy, nor any thing else, (that is, whatever else can be named, as having any influence to separate believers from the love of God, exercised towards us through Christ, Dr. MacKnight;) shall be able to annul or make vain the promises of the Gospel, or deprive us of those advantages which belong to Christians, according to God’s faithful promises, immutably, irreversibly. Dr. Hammond.

The Apostle here observes, that they who truly love God, and testify that love by their obedience to His commands, John xv. 10, and by their patient sufferings for His sake, shall not be separated from his affections towards them; and he accordingly intimates, that such persons, continuing in the love of God, shall be preserved by Him from the temptations here mentioned, or enabled by His grace and Holy Spirit to overcome them. Dr. Whitby.

The latter part of this chapter, beginning at ver. 31, contains a description, in most forcible and glowing expressions, of the privileges, the hopes, and the temper of a true Christian, and shews what magnanimity, and what greatness of sentiment the Gospel is able to infuse into them who understand and believe its doctrines. It is therefore a most proper conclusion of a discourse, in which, by the strongest reasoning, practices are recommended, which ennoble the human mind, yield the greatest and the most permanent joys, and prepare men for becoming the companions of angels, and for dwelling with God Himself through all eternity. Dr. MacKnight.

Christ, by the merit of those very sufferings which He proposes to our imitation, has purchased for us all such extraordinary aids and assistances, as are requisite to support us under them. By what He underwent for our sakes in His life and at His death, He obtained of God, not only a release from the punishment of our sins, but new powers to qualify us for a further increase in virtue; not only the pardoning, but sanctifying grace of His Spirit; by the means of which we can now “crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts,” Gal. v. 24; mortify and subdue all our irregular passions; undervalue pleasures; rejoice in afflictions; and “walk even as He walked,” in humility and patience, in purity and holiness. Weak and impotent we are, but “His grace is sufficient for us,” 2 Cor. xii. 9: we can do nothing of ourselves, but “we can do all

CHAP. IX.