1. The leading doctrine of this section, and of the whole gospel, in reference to sanctification, is, that grace, instead of leading to the indulg- ence of ^n, is essential to the exercise of holiness. So long as we are under the influence of a self-righteous or legal spirit, the motive and aim of all good works are wrong or defective. The motive is fear, or some merely natural affection, and the aim, to merit the bestowment of good. But when we accept of the gracious offers of the gospel, and feel that our sins are gratuitously pardoned, a sense of the divine love shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, awakens all holy affections. The motive to obedience is now love, and its aim the glory of God, v. 14, &c.
2. Paul teaches that it is not only obligatory on Christians to renounce the service of sin, but that, in point of fact, the authority and power of their former master are destroyed, and those of their new master expe- rienced, whenever they embrace the gospel. This is the very nature of the change. The charge, therefore, that the gospel leads to the service of sin, is an absurdity, vs. 15 — 18.
3. Religion is essentially active. It is the yielding up of ourselves, with all our powers, to God, and the actual employment of them as instru- ments in doing good. Nothing can be at a greater remove from this, than making religion a mere matter of indolent profession ; a saying Lord, Lord, V. 12, &c.
4. Both from the nature of things, and the appointment of God, the wages of sin is death. It renders intercourse with God, who is the foun- tain of life, impossible. It consists in the exercise of feelings, in their own nature, inconsistent with happiness ; it constantly increases in ma- lignity and in power to destroy the peace of the soul. Apart from these essential tendencies, its relation to conscience and the justice of God, renders the connexion between sin and misery indissoluble. Salvation in sin is as much a contradiction, as happiness in misery, vs. 21, 23.
5. Eternal life is the gift of God. It does not, like eternal death, flow, as a natural consequence, from any thing in us. With the holy angels, who have never lost the favour of God, this may be the case. But the tendency of all that belongs to us, is to death ; this must be coun- teracted ; those excellences, in which life consists and from which it flows, must be produced, sustained and strengthened by the constant, condescending, and long-suffering grace of the Holy Spirit. The life thus graciously produced and graciously sustained, is at last graciously crowned with eternal glory, vs. 22, 23.