THE NATURE. POWER, DECEIT, AND PREVALENCY
REMAINDERS OE INDWELLING SIN IN BELIEVERS.
CHAPTER I.
Indwelling sin in believers treated of by the apostle, Rom. vii. 21 — The place
explained.
It is of indiuelling sin, and that in the remainders of it in persons after their conversion to God, with its power, efficacy, and effects, that we intend to treat. This also is the great design of the apostle to manifest and evince in chap. vii. of the Epistle to the Romans. Many, indeed, are the contests about the principal scope of the apostle in that chapter, and in what state the person is, under the law or under gi-ace, whose condition he expresseth therein. I shall not at present enter into that dispute, but take that for granted which may be undeniably proved and evinced, — namely, that it is the condition of a regenerate person, with respect unto the remaining power of in- dwelling sin which is there proposed and exemplified, by and in the person of the apostle himself In that discourse, therefore, of his, shall the foundation be laid of what we have to offer upon this sub- ject. Not that I shall proceed in an exposition of his revelation of this truth as it lies in its own contexture, but only make use of what is delivered by him as occasion shall offer itself And here first occurreth that which he affirms, verse 21 : "I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." There are four things observable in these words: — First, The appellation he gives unto mdwelling sin, whereby he expresseth its power and efficacy: it is "a law;" for that which he terms " a law " in this verse, he calls in the foregoing, " sin that dwelleth in him."
Secondly, The way whereby he came to the discovery of this law; not absolutely and in its own nature, but in himself he found it : "I find a law."
158 THE NATURE AND POWER OF INDWELLING SIN.
Thirdly, The frame of his soul and inward man with this law of sin, and under its discovery: "he would do good."
Fourthly, The state and activity of this law when the soul is in that frame when it would do good : it " is present with him." For v/hat ends and purposes we shall show afterward.
The first thing observable is the compellation here used by the apostle. He calls indwelling sin " a law." It is a law.
A law is taken either properly for a directive rule, or improperly for an operative eff'ective principle, which seems to have the force of a law. In its first sense, it is a moral rule which directs and com- mands, and sundry ways moves and regulates, the mind and the -will as to the things which it requires or forbids. This is evidently the general nature and work of a law. Some things it commands, some things it forbids, with rewards and penalties, which move and impel men to do the one and avoid the other. Hence, in a secondary sense, an inward principle that moves and inclines constantly unto any actions is called a law. The principle that is in the nature of every thing, moving and carrying it towards its own end and rest, is called the laiu of nature. In this respect, every inward principle that in- clineth and urgeth unto operations or actings suitable to itself is a law. So, Rom. viii. 2, the powerful and effectual working of the Spirit and grace of Christ in the hearts of believers is called " The law of the Spirit of life." And for this reason doth the apostle here call indwelling sin a law. It is a powerful and effectual indwelling principle, inclining and pressing unto actions agreeable and suitable unto its own nature. This, and no other, is the intention of the apostle in this expression: for altliough that term, "a law," may sometimes intend a state and condition, — and if here so used, the meaning of the words should be, " I find that this is my condition, this is the state of things Avith me, that ' when I would do good evil is present with me,' " which makes no great alteration in the princi- pal intendment of the place, — yet properly it can denote nothing here but the chief subject treated of; for although the name of a law be variously used by the apostle in this chapter, yet when it relates unto sin it is nowhere applied by him to the condition of the person, but only to express either the nature or the power of sin itself. So, chap, vii. 23, " I see another law in my members, wamng against the law of my mind, and bringing mo into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members." Tiiat which he here calls the " law of his mind," from the princii)al subject and seat of it, is in itself no other but the " law of the Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus," chap. viii. 2 ; or the effectual power of tlie Spirit of grace, as was said. But " the law," as applied unto sin, hath a double sense: for as, in the first place, " I see a law in my members," it denotes the being and nature of