sive term ; comp. avvszXsnjs , ch. xi. 32, etppovpov/A sOa, Gal. iii. 23. — sv Ttcuvorriri mev/uctrog, zai ov •7raXcci6rrin ypa^arog, in newness of spirit , and not in the oldness of the letter ) We have the same anti- thesis, ch. ii. 29 ; 2 Cor. iii. 6. The letter is not the law con- sidered in itself, inasmuch as, thus considered, it is spiritual and living [instinct with life] ver. 14 ; Acts vii. 38 [the lively oracles], but in respect of the sinner, to whom it cannot give spirit and life, but leaves him to death, nay even it to a more profound extent hands him over to its power : although he may in the mean time aim at the performance of what the letter and its mere sound command to be done ; so that the appearance and the name may still remain, just as a dead hand is still a hand. But the Spirit is given by the Gospel and by faith, and bestows life and newness, 2 Cor. iii. 6 ; comp. J ohn vi. 63. The words oldness and newness are used here by Paul in relation to the two testaments or covenants, although believers have now for a long time enjoyed the first fruits of the New Testament ; and at the present day unbelievers retain the remnants, nay rather the whole substance, of the Old Testament. Observe too, the sv, in, is put once, not twice [The Engl. Vers, wrongly supplies in before the oldness . But Beng. That we should not serve the old- ness, etc.] We have served oldness not God : comp. Gal. iv. 9, oTc, to which [The beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to he in bondage ] ; now we serve not newness, but [we serve] God in newness, ch. vi. 22.
7. ‘o vo(jjog a/tapr/a ; is the law sin ?) He, who has heard the same things predicated of the law and of sin, will perhaps make this objection : is, then, the law sin, or the sinful cause of sin ? comp. ver. 13, note. — rfiv d^apriav, sin) We must again observe the propriety of the terms, and the distinction between them :
6 vofiog • rb Xsysiv rou vo/mov.
the law ; the fact of the law saying [Taken out of, u Except the law had said”'].
i] a/xaprta' ij stfiQv/xta. sin ; lust.
ovz syvuv, (from yivojffzu') ovz ifhsiv, (from o Ida.) syvuv is the greater, olda the less. Hence the latter, since even the less