The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 161

of the one Ohriet all believers are justified thus : Do you not know tlu\t we have n.11 -human sin rnnst be a matter of indif- died to sin P Or are you really ignol'll,nt of fereuoo; it <lllnnot nullify the free git\; nay, what your very baptism meant P But of, eh. Tii. l, where the so.me expression ooours, gra<'e will be eTiln the moTe enhanced, in a.nd where ~ appears only to imply 11. ques- that it abounds the more. The apostle re- tion. The expression 1311'll'TIC«r611, ,ls ooours buts 1mch antinomian conclusions by showing also in 1 Cor. x. 2 11.nd Ge.I. iii. 27 ; in the that they imply a total misunderstanding first of these texts with referenoe to the of the doc.trine which was supposed to Israelites and Moses. It denotes the enter- ing by baptism into close union with a justify them; for thn.t our partal..i.ng in the person, coming to belong to him, so ns to be right.eousnese of God in Christ me.ans our in e. sense identified with him. In Ge.I. aotually pana.king in it~nr being in- iii. 27 being baptized into Christ is under- fluenoed. by iL, lonng it and following it, stood as implying putting him on ( i11i6ot111t1- not merely our hanng it imputed to us 6,). The phrases, 1311,,..,.,(,iv brl -rrj lw&µ11T1, or while we remain aloof from it; that justi- iv Ttp ov&µmT.., or .ls TO ll11oµa, Xp,a-roii, were understood to imply the so.me idee., though fying faith in Christ means spiritual union not so plainly expressing it. Thus St. Paul with Christ, a dying with him to sin and rejoiced that he had not himself baptized a rising with him to a new life, in which siu many at Corinth, lest it might have been shall no longer have dominion over us. He so.id that he had baptized them into his own refers to our baptism as having this only name ( ,ls TO iµov livoµm), i.e. into such con- nection with himself as baptism implied meaning, and he enforces his argument by with Christ alone. Doubtless in the in- three illustrations: firstly, as aforesaid, that struction which preceded baptism this signi- of dying and rising again, which is signified ficance of the sacrament would be explained. in baptism (vers. 1-14); secondly, that of And if" into Christ," then "into his death." senice to a mi,ster (vers. 15-23); thirdly, "In Christnm, inquam, totum, adeoqne in mortem ejus baptizatur" (Bengel). The that of the relation of a wife to a husband whole experience of Christ was understood (eh. vii.1-16). It will be seen, when we come to have its counterpart in those who were to it, that the third of these illcstrations is b~ptized into him; in them was understood a carrying out of the same idea, though it is a aeath to sin, corresponding to his e.ctue.l there lau:, and not sin, that we a.re said to death, This, too, would form part of the instruction of ce.techumens. St. Paul often be emancipated from. presses it as what he conceives to be well understood ; and in snbseqnent verses of Ver. 1.-What shall we say then t So this chapter he further explains what he St. Paul introduces a difficulty or objection means. arising out of the preceding argument (cf. Ver. 4.-Therefore we were buried (not eh. iii 5). Shall we continue in Bin, that are, as in the Authorized Version) with him grace may a.bound ! Referring to the whole by baptism into death: that like as Christ preceding argument, and especially to the was raised from the dead by ihe glory of the concluding verses (eh.. v. 20, 21). Father, so we also should walk in newneas Ver. 2.-God forbid! (M~ --yevo1To: St. of life. The mention here of burial e.s well Paul's usual way of rejecting an idea in- as death does not appear to be meant as a dignantly). We who (o1TwES, with its pro- flll'ther carrying out of the idea, of a fulfil- per meaning of being such as) died (not, e.s ment in us of tho whole of Christ's ex- in the Authorized Version. "a.re dead." The perience, in the sense-As he died e.nd wa,s reference is to the time of baptism, as burier], so we die e.nd are even buried too, appears from '\\"hat follows) to sin, how shall Such a conception of burial being in our case we live any longer therein f The idea of a further process subsequent to our death dying io siII in the sense of having done in baptism, is indeed well expressod in our with it, is found also in Macrob., ' Bomn. Collect for Easter Eve: but the form of Seip.,' i. 13 (quoted by Meyer), "Mori etiam expression, " buried into death," does not dicitur, cum e.nima e.dhuc in eorpore con- suit it here. 'fhe reference rather is to the etitnta eorporeu illecebrae philosophia form of baptism, viz. by immorsion, which dooente eontemnit et cupiditatum dulces Wll.ll understood to signify buria,l, a,nd there- iueidiM reliqnasqne omnea exnit passiones." fore death. Bo Ohrysoatom, on John iii., Yer. 3.--0r know ye not that ao many of K1160.1r,f --ya.p Iv -rw, TO.</>'fl, T<p ~B11T1 ,c11-r1166- ns u were baptized into Christ 1e,u were 0VT"1v 1]µoW TaS IWflaAO.S, 6 WaAll)OJ /i116ponroJ baptised imo hi.I death t •ff, if taken in the 0o.wn-r111, «Ill 1<11-r11Bl,s KO.T"1 1<pinr-rET111 8A.01 llellile of "or," at the l,eginning of ver. 8, ""od,,.11!. Tim main intention of tho verso will l,~ undentood if we: i,ut what i.B mermt ii:t to l1ring out tbo i<leu. of rcsurrccUua (lH, VI, 1-28,] 1'IIE EPIB'rLE OF PAUL TO '£HE ROMANS. 157