do not admit of being understood figuratively. The meaning, according to the common interpretation, is natural and consistent with the apostle's object. j?%e body, indeed, is dead, i. e. must die, is obnoxious to death, notwithstanding the indwelling of the life-giving Spirit, on account of sin* Sin is the cause of all infirmities and sorrows, and, finally, of the disso- lution to which our bodies are subject in this world. This fact is incon- sistent neither with our being in favour with God, nor with our being par- takers of the life of Christ. This is evident from two considerations ; first, our souls already participate in this life; and, secondly, our bodies shall be raised up again, and share for ever in that blessedness of which Christ is the author. The former of these considerations is presented in the next clause of the verse, hut the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If body, in one part of this antithesis, be understood of the external frame, Spirit must mean the soul. ' Though the body dies, the soul lives.' To live evidently includes, as it almost uniformly does when spoken of in relation to the results of Christ's work, the idea of a holy and happy existence in the favour of God. The soul thus lives because of right' eousness. From the opposition of this word to sin, in the other clause, its primary reference must be to the moral renovation of the soul. We shall continue in the enjoyment of the life just spoken of, because the principles of this new and immortal existence are implanted within us. Intimately connected with this meaning of the word rendered righteousness in this place, is the other idea which the word expresses, viz. justification. The soul shall live, in the fullest sense of the term, because it is reconciled to God and regarded by him as righteous for Christ's sake. Though both ideas are probably to be included, the former is the more prominent.
(II) But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. Such paraphrases for God as that which this verse con- tains are very common with the apostle (see Rom. 4 : 24, &c.), and are peculiarly appropriate when the force of the argument, in some measure, rests on the fact to which the descriptive phrase refers. Because God had raised up Christ, there was ground of confidence that he would raise his people up also. Two ideas may be included in this part of the verse ; first, that the very possession of that Spirit, which is the source of life, is a pledge and security that our bodies shall rise again ; because it would be unseemly that any thing thus honoured by the Spirit should remain under the dominion of death ; and, secondly, that the resurrection of Christ secures the resurrection of those that are his, according to Paul's doctrine in 1 Cor. 15 : 23.
He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mor- tal bodies. This clause cannot, with any regard to usage or the context, be understood of a moral resurrection, or deliverance from sin, as it is explained by Calvin and many others. See the analogous passage, 2 Cor. 4: 14.
By his Spirit that dwelleth in you, or, as it must be rendered according to another reading, " On account of his Spirit that dwelleth in you.^^ The