This old man was crucified with Christ. This phrase and manner of speech is difficult, and therefore must be explained.
[1.] That Christ was crucified for us in honum nostrum, for our good, is past dispute with christians : ' Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows,' Isa. liii. 3 ; he endured the punishment which sin had made our due.
[2.] That he stood before the tribunal of God representing us, and so died loco et vice omnium nostri, in the room as well as for the good of his people, should as little be doubted : 2 Cor. v. 14, ' For if he died for all, then were all dead ; ' that is, in him : he died not on the cross as a ])rivate, but a public person.
[3.] Christ died not only to expiate our guilt, but to take away the power of sin ; at least, the end of Christ's suffering and dying on the ci-oss for our sins M-as to purchase grace that we might crucify sin, that is, forsake it with grief and shame : Heb. ix. 26, ' Now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
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himself ; ' that is, not only to expiate the guilt of our sins, but to abolish the power of them. He came to redeem us from the slavery of sin : Titus ii. 14, ' Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity.'
[4.] As soon as we are regenerated and converted to God, there is a oloser application of the death of Christ ; we partake of the influence and fruit of his merit and purchase, and the benefit is made ours ; and so our old man is said to be crucified with him. The merit of his passion beginneth then to take place, so that every good christian can say, ' I am crucified with Christ,' Gal. ii. 20 ; our old man beginneth then to receive its death-wound ; so that we are not the same men we were before, being made partakers of the fruit of Christ's death.
Secondly, The fruit of it, or what the Spirit is to do ; that is intimated in the next clause, ' That the body of sin might be destroyed.' Here — (1.) What is meant by the body of sin ; (2.) In what sense it is said to be destroyed.
1. What is meant by the body of sin ? Ans. — By the body of sin is meant the whole stock and mass of corruption, which is called a body of sin.
[1.] Because it is composed of many sinful passions and disorders, as the body is of divers members : Col. ii. 11, ' In putting off the body of the sins of the flesh ; ' and again, Col. iii. 5, ' Mortify your mem- bers upon the earth.' It is not meant of the natural, but sinful body ; for it follows, ' Fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence and covetousness, which is idolatry.'
[2.] Because they are executed by the body : Eom. vi. 12, ' Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies ;' and Kom. viii. 13, 'If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' Sin is gotten within us by the soul, but it hath taken possession of the body ; the gate of the senses let it in, and other powers of the body are as ready to let it out.
2. In what sense it is said to be destroyed ? The duty is ours, but the grace is from God ; it is done on God's part by the Spirit, but it is our duty : Rom. viii. 13, * If ye through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' Both agents carry it on to such a degree in this life as it may not reign in us. On God's part there needeth no more merit to get sin destroyed but that of Christ, nor a greater power than that of the Spirit to subdue it : and by degrees the work is accomplished ; its reigning power is taken away by con- verting grace, its very being is abolished by his final perfecting grace. The same Spirit that begun it at first ceaseth not to work till it be wholly abolished in us. On our part, we must yield up ourselves to be renewed by him, and obey his sanctifying motions, till our cure be perfectly wrought. Observe here —
[l.J It is the whole body of sin must be quitted and put off; not actions only, but lusts : 1 Peter ii. 11, ' Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.' Not some parts only and branches, but all sin. As the body compasseth about, and encloseth the soul, so doth the body of sin enclose us. The corrupt mass is made up of many sins ; it is an impure body that hath many members : now all these must be mortified
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[2.] It must be carried on to sucli a degree that sin may lie a-dyii)g. We must not cease to oppose sin till it be destroyed, not only scratch the face of it, but seek to root it out. Christians are said to destroy sin four ways : —