false witness, blasphemies." In Rom. i, 24 : " Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts;" and ver. 26, it is not God who awakened the lusts, but man, who had withdrawn from God, and made gods unto himself to worsliiii. In view of its tinal object, this estrangement from (Jod is a mystery, as it is an act of free volition. So in Rom. vi, 12: "Let not sin, therefore, reign in j'our mortal body, that ye shoiUd obey it in the lusts thereof;" it can be understood how one coidd be good so far as intentions are concerned, while yet sin would reign in the lower ego — in the perishable body (compare with vii, 19, Gal. V, 17). But the apostle considers man, spiritually and bodily, as a whole. He who lives in God through Christ, and is dead unto sin (Rom. vi, 11), must not let lust govern his perishable body, or listen to his desire, but, on the contrary, these ought no longer to exist in him ; the body is to be made as subservient to right- eousness as the spirit, for it is the temple of the spirit, and therefore is the instrument wherewith the human mind, animated by the Holy Spirit, is to act. Accord- ingly it is stated in Rom. vii, 5, " For when we were in the flesh [before being regenerated], the motions [acts] of sins, which were by the law [which were shown by the law as such], did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." So in Rom. vii, 7, 8 : " What shall we say, then? Is the law sin [the original source of sin] ? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin [the fact of its existence within me] but by the law ; for I had not known lust [that it was evU] except the law had said. Thou shalt not covet. But [my natural] sin [the principle of sin, or lust], taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupis- cence [sinful desires resulting from the general lusts of the flesh]. For without the law sin was dead [i. e. not absent, but partly in the sense of not being recognised as sin or lust, and partlj' because the knowledge of the restrictions imposed by the law served but to increase the desire for what it forbade]." Xiopig yap voftov aj-iapria viicpa is a general and popularly expressed aphorism, which is not received in theory. In Gal. v, 16, 17, 24, we are directed, " Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh [sin] lusteth against [in contradiction Avith] the [Holy] Spir- it, and the Spirit against the flesh ; and these are con- trary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the thing that ye [simply] would ; but they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh (in the regeneration), with the affections and lusts." The effect of the strife between the flesh and the Spirit is to prevent the evil v.hich man desires after the flesh. The Holy Spirit helps man to triumph over lust. The image of God is never en- tirely obliterated, but the lusts of the flesh can lead into enormous sins, and have done so. In like manner, in Rom. i, 24, etc.; Eph. iv, 22 (Col. iii, 5 comp. with Eph. ii, 2 ; Tit, iii, 3) : " That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrujit according to the deceitfid lusts ;" lust (estrangement from Ciod), as an impulse of free volition, is the original source of error which obscures both the mind and the lieart. Further, Rom. i, 21, 22 ; 1 Tim. vi, 9 (" But they that will be rich fall into temptation, and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtfid lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition"); 2 Tim. ii, 22 ("Flee also youthful lusts"); Tit. ii, 12 ("Teaching us that, denying ungodhncss [aat- /3anv] and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, right- eously, and godly in this present world ).'' Christians can and must be in the world, but not of the world, and must hold themselves aloof from its contamination. So, again, James i, 27 ; 1 Pet, ii, 11 (" Dearly beloved, I be- seech you, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul") ; 1 Pet. iv, l-o (" He that has suffered in the flesh [ethically, is dead unto the flesh] hath ceased from sin ; that he no longer shoifld live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the Mill of God. For the time past of our life may sufHce us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we wallied in
LUSTRATION
563
LUTHER
lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquet- ings, and abominable idolatries") ; compare 1 Pet. i, 4 ; 2 Pet. ii, 10, 18 ; iii, 3 ; Jude 16. Once more, 1 John ii, 15-17 : "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the Hesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof."' Fi- nally, James i, 14,15: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death (or misery)." The N. T. teaches us that man should eagerly avail him- self of the power of sanctification proffered througli grace to overcome lust and the consequent sin. — Krelil, Neii-iest. Worterbuch. See Tkmptation.