Fifthly, The apostle opposeth God to sin, that by the consideration of both masters we may return to our rightful Lord. It is otherwise expressed elsewhere : 1 Peter i. 24, ' That we might die unto sin, and live unto righteousness ;' but here it is, die to sin and live to God ; and this for two reasons —
1. That Christ came to restore us to our rightful Lord and master. Sin and the devil and the world are usurpers, and therefore are exauc- torated ; we are no longer bound to serve them ; but God hath a right to require love and service at our hands : Acts xxvii. 23, * The God whose I am, and whom I serve.' He hath a title by creation, as our proper owner : Ps. c. 3, * Know ye that the Lord he is God, it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves ;' by redemption: 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20, ' Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price ; there- fore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.' Christ came to recover us from our slavery.
2. To show the disadvantage between having sin and God for our master. What is more filthy than sin, and more mischievous than sin, and more holy and beneficial than God ? To serve sin is a })rutish captivity, and will prove our bane in the issue ; but to serve God is true liberty, and it will be our present and eternal happiness :
232 SERMONS UPON ROMANS VI. [SeR. IX.
Eom. vi. 22, * But now being made free from sin, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.'
Secondly, The grace to perform this duty : ' Through our Lord Jesus Christ.' We are to die to sin and live to Grod, not only ex prcescripto Christi, according to the precepts of Christ, which every- where run strongly against sin, and pleading God's right with us ; nor only ex imitatione Christi, to imitate our pattern and example, that we may be like Christ in these things, and express his dying and rising in our conversations ; but virtute Christi, by the power of Christ's grace, as by the force of his example. This power of Christ may be considered as purchased, or as applied, or as our interest in it is jjrofessed in baptism.
1. As it is purchased. He died and rose again to represent the merit of his death to God, that he might obtain grace for us to kill sin and live unto God, and that in such a continued course of obedience, till we live with God : 1 Thes. v. 10, ' He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him ;' i.e., to redeem us from all iniquity, and to preserve us in our obedience to eternal life. While we wake, or are alive, we live with him, and when we sleep, after we are dead, we still live with him ; we live a spiritual life here, and afterward an eternal life in glory. So that place, which otherwise hath some difficulty in it, may be expounded by Rom. xiv. 8, 9, ' Whether we live, Ave live unto the Lord ; or wdiether we die, we die unto the Lord ; whether therefore we live or die, we are the Lord's.' For this Christ died.
2. As it is applied. It is applied by the Spirit of Christ, by virtue of our union with him. Jesus Christ is the root and foundation of this life, in whom we do subsist ; for it is in the text, ev Xptaru) 'Iijaov, and in the context it is said, ver. 5, ' We are planted into his likeness ;' so that this conformity is the fruit of our union, and wrought in us by his Spirit, which is the sap we derive from our root,
3. As our interest in him is professed in baptism ; for then we are visibly graffed into Christ : Gal. iii. 27, ' As many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ.' Thence an obligation resulteth ; we ought to be like him. So that in short, the sum of the whole is this : the precepts and example of Christ do show us our duty ; the grace whereby we perform it is wrought in us by the Spirit, by virtue of our union with Christ ; and our baptismal engagement bindeth it on our hearts. Or thus ; it is purchased by Christ, effected by the Spirit, sealed and professed in baptism, which partly bindeth us to our duty, and assureth us we shall not want grace, but have help and strength from Jesus Christ.
Thirdly, The means of improvement, Xoyi^ere, ' reckon yourselves.' It may be inquired why the apostle saitli not simply, ' we are dead,' or ' be ye dead indeed,' but ' reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,' &c. Shall our reckoning ourselves dead or alive make it so ? Ans. (1.) Let us consider the import of the word; (2.) Why it is used.
1. For the import of the word. It is equivalent with 'yivcoaKovre';, ver. 6, TTcaTevofxev, ver. 8, etSoTe9, ver. 9 ; what they signify this signifieth. It is an act of judgment; the power of the mind is put forth in it.