ROM. viii. 1.
_There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._
1. BY _them which are in Christ Jesus_, St. _Paul_ evidently means, those who truly believe in him: those who _being justified by faith, have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ_. They who thus believe do no longer _walk after the flesh_, no longer follow the motions of corrupt nature: but _after the Spirit_: both their thoughts, words and works, are under the direction of the blessed Spirit of God.
2. _There is therefore now no condemnation to_ these. There is no condemnation to them from God: for he hath _justified_ them _freely by his grace, thro’ the redemption that is in Jesus_. He hath forgiven all their iniquities, and blotted out all their sins. And there is no condemnation to them from within: for they _have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that they might know the things which are freely given to them of God:[23] Which Spirit beareth witness with their spirits, that they are the children of God_. And to this is added, _the testimony of_ their _conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God_, they _have had_ their _conversation in the world_.[24]
3. But because this scripture has been so frequently misunderstood, and that in so dangerous a manner, because such multitudes of _unlearned and unstable men_, (οἱ ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀστήρικτοι, men untaught of God, and consequently unestablished in _the truth which is after godliness_) have _wrested_ it _to their own destruction_. I propose to shew as clearly as I can, first, who those are _which are in Christ Jesus, and walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit_; and secondly, how _there is no condemnation to_ these. I shall conclude with some practical inferences.
I. 1. First, I am to shew, who those are that _are in Christ Jesus_. And are they not, those who believe in his name? Those who are _found in him, not having_ their _own righteousness, but the righteousness which is of God by faith_? These, who _have redemption through his blood_, are properly said, to be _in him_. For _they dwell in Christ and Christ in them_. They are _joined unto the Lord in one Spirit_. They are ingrafted into him as branches into the vine. They are united, as members to their head; in a manner which words cannot express, nor could it before enter into their hearts to conceive.
2. Now _whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not; walketh not after the flesh_. The flesh, in the usual language of St. _Paul_, signifies corrupt nature. In this sense, he uses the word, writing to the _Galatians_. _The works of the flesh are manifest_, Gal. v. 19. And a little before, _Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust_ (or desire) _of the flesh_ (_v._ 16.) To prove which, namely, that those who _walk by the Spirit, do not fulfil the lust of the flesh_, he immediately adds, _for the flesh lusteth against the Spirit; but the Spirit lusteth against the flesh (for these are contrary to each other) that ye may not do the things which ye would_. So the words are literally translated, (ἵνα μὴ ἃ ἂν θέλητε, ταῦτα ποιῆτε) Not, _so that ye cannot do the things that ye would_, as if the flesh overcame the Spirit: a translation which hath not only nothing to do with the original text of the apostle, but likewise makes his whole argument nothing worth, yea, asserts just the reverse of what he is proving.
3. _They who are of Christ_, who _abide in him have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts_. They abstain from all those works of the flesh; from _adultery and fornication_, from _uncleanness and lasciviousness_; from _idolatry_, _witchcraft_, _hatred_, _variance_; from _emulations_, _wrath_, _strife_, _sedition_, _heresies_, _envyings_, _murders_, _drunkenness_, _revellings_: from every design, and word and work, to which the corruption of nature leads. Altho’ they feel the root of bitterness in themselves, yet are they endued with power from on high, to trample it continually under foot, so that it cannot _spring up to trouble them_: insomuch that every fresh assault which they undergo, only gives them fresh occasion of praise, of crying out, _Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory, thro’ Jesus Christ our Lord_.
4. They now _walk after the Spirit_, both in their hearts and lives. They are taught of him to love God and their neighbour, with a love which is _as a well of water, springing up into everlasting life_. And by him they are led into every holy desire, into every divine and heavenly temper, till every thought which arises in their heart, is holiness unto the Lord.