COMMENTARY.

(1) There is, therefore^ now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. It is a matter of considerable importance to the under- standing of this chapter, to decide what is its precise relation to the pre- ceding part of the epistle. The word therefore indicates that what fol- lows is an inference : but from what 1 From the conclusion of the seventh chapter, or from the whole previous discussion] The latter seems to be the only correct view of the context ; because the fact that there is no condemnation to believers is no fair inference from what is said at the close of the preceding chapter. Paul does not mean to say, as Luther and others explain v. 1, there is nothing worthy of condemna- tion in the Christian, because, with his mind, he serves the law of God. Nor does he mean, at least in the first few verses, to argue that believers shall not be condemned, because they are freed from the dominion of sin. But the inference, in the first verse, is the legitimate conclusion of all that Paul had previously established. Believers shall be saved, because they are not under the law, but under grace, which is the main point in