The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 163

(l) might i:till he understood; so that the man's unregenerate self, when under sin ideR won Id be- tl,c- i:ame as in Col. ii. 12, <'to., and oondcmno.tion; the ,1<a.111&s or 11los ll.vOpa,• TIE. th11t of onr rising in baptism itself t,:, a 1ros being his regonorato solf. It is, of new lif,, with Christ. in which sin need not. course, a different conctption from that of 6 imd 011,,E:ht n0t to. have dominion. But. still ./~o, and cl l1To,8,v ll.118po,,ros of 2 Oor. iv. 16. the 1"'p,'Rt~ use of the fuh11"' tonso (<lSJX'· In Ephosinns and Oolossiiins the old man is cially au"l""ia iJµaia• oi, rrupm'o,rfl in ver. H). Pid to bo put aroay, or put off, ond the new togethel' with the whole drift of whRt fol- one put on,as though they were two clothings, l0ws. ~ms rather to imply sen:'e (2); that or rnvestments, of bis persooality, deter- is. our l'l"&limtion of our position in our mining its oharacter. Hero, by a bolder ac-toal lives sub..sequent to bnpti,,--m. If it figure, they are viewed as an old self tho.t be obiedecl that in this ease we should had died and a new one that ho.d como to ex:i--i " we ought to be" rather th1m •· we life in its place (cf. 2 Cor. v. 17, Er r,s ,~ shall be," it m11v be replied that it is what Xp11Trcp, Kan,,) nllTis' 'l'G ilflxai'« wapijA.9eJi), God will do for us, rather th&11 what we The idea of a new mo.n being born into, 11 shall do for ourrelves, that the apostle has new lifo in baptism was already familiftl' to in view. If he has made us parf;Rkere in the the Jews in theil' baptism of proselytes (see atoning death of Christ. having forgiven us Lightfoot, on John iii.); and our Lord, dis- all trespasses. etc. (Col ii. 13, uq.), he will coursing to Nicodemus of the new birth, also make us partakers, as our life goes on, supposes him to understand the figure: but in the power of his resurTection too, deliver- he teaches him that the change thus ex- ing us from sin's dominion. Further, if this pressed should be no mere chauge of pro- be so, the thought may also include sense (8). fession and habits of life, but a radical For elsewhere tue future resurrection seems inward change, which could only be wrought l;o be rt'garded as only the consummation of by the regenerating Spirit. Such a ohange a spiritual reslll'l'eCtion which is begun in St. Paul teaches to be signified by Christian the present life, Christians being already baptism ; not only deliverance from con- parla.k~rs in the etern.e.l life of God, of which demnation through pru:ticipation in the the :is,,71e is immortality ; of. Eph. i. 5, 6 ; benefits of the death of Christ, but also the Col iiL 3, 4; Gal iL 20; also our Lord's birth or creation of a new self corresponding own words, which are peculiarly significant to his risen body, which will not be, like the in this regard, "He that hea.reth my word, old self, under the thraldom of sin. " The and believeth on him that eent me, hath body of sin" may be taken as meaning Di.uoh r:verhisting life, and shs.11 not oome into the same as "our old man;" sin being con- condernnatiou; but is paued from death ceived as embodied in our former selves, unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, and so possessing them aud keeping them T11e hour is coming, and fWID u, when the in bondage. It certainly does not me1m dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: simply Olll' bodies as distinct from our souls, and thev that hear shall liven (John v. 24, 80 as to imply the idea. that the former must 25). Again, " I em the Besnrrection, and be macerated the.t the latter may live, The the Life: he that br:lieveth in me, though he asceticism inculcated elsewhere in the New were dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever Testament is in no contradiction to the ideal liveth and believeili in me ahall flei,er die" of mens sana in corpore sano. Our former (John xi 25, 26). sin-possessed and sin-dominated personality Vers. 6, 7.-Xnowing this (of. t, &.,.,,oei'Te, being now crucified with Christ, dead, and ¥er. 3), that our old man was (not u, as in done away with, we are no longer, in our the Authorized VerBion) cru.cified with him, new personality, in slavery to sin, and nre that the body of Bin might be destroyed (or both bou.nd and able to renounce it; •• for abolwied, or done away, 1<«ra.p-i/48p), tbat he that bath died is freed [Bd11<alo,ra1, henuforth ,re ahould not 1erve (llouA.,6u,,, literally, ' is j usti.fl.ed '] from sin." In Scot- expreslri..ng bcmdoge, or al,af!t!T'//; and 80 land, one who is executed is said to be throughout the chapter in the word 3oiiA.o', jUBtified, the idea apparently being that he translated " servauts ") Bin. 'Ror he that has satisfied the claims of law, So here- bath died u freed from 1m. The word '6,311<al,..,.a,. The word '6ouA.,6e111, be it ob- " crucified " Laa, of colll'B8, reference to the served. in ver. 6 introduces by the way the mode of Christ'• death into ,vhich we were second figure under which, 11s above said, haptized. It doee not imply anything fur- tho apostle regards his subject, though it is ther (as IOIIle ha\"e 811pposed) 11o11 to the not taken up till ver. 16. • roaUDer of our own spiritual dying, 1110h as Ver. 8.-Now if we died with ChrilJt, wo pe.infulnt9 or lingering; it merely meam believe that wuhall also live with him; 4.e. thl.t in his death our old man died (cl. CoL as explained with regard to the future ii. 14, "P"1111~'" avro r,j ITrrwptj). The lr1&µ,6a under ver. 5. 'fbe explanation 1erm "old man" (raAalor t.vB,-,ros) ocour■ there given accounts for the phro.se here, 11,i1,1, Epl,. iY. 22; Col. iii. O. It dt11ote11 -r11Tr,60µ,11 3-r,, witbont its being uc,oessary OH, VI, 1-28.J ·rnE EPISTLE OF PAUI, TO THE ROMANS. 159 ---------------------------------- to refor our living with Christ exclusivoly your mortal body, that ye should obey the to the future res111·rection, For the con- lusts thereof. (The reading of the Textae tinuunoe of God's vivifying gm.co daring Receptns, "obey it in the Josh thereor," life after bo.ptiem is o. eobjoct of belief. has but weak support.) Thoucrh rrnr "old Ver. 9.-Knowing that Christ being raised man" is conceived of e.a ~citied with from the dead dieth no more; death hath no Chriet;--though t~i~ is theoretically and more dominion over him. When it is implied potentially our po81tmn-yet our actual live11 here tliat death ho.d once dominion over him, may be at variance with it; for we are still it is not, of course, meo.nt that he wo.e in his in our present "mortal oody," with its Justa own Divine nature subject to death, or that remaining; and sin is still a power, not yet; "it we.a possible that he shoulcl be holden destroyed, which may, ir we let it, have of it." All that is implied is that he had domination over ns sLill. Regeneration ia made himself subject to it by taking on him not regarded as having changed our nature, our nature, and voluntarily submitted to it, or eradicated all oar evil propensions, bot once for all, as representing us (cf. John as having i □ t:rodaced into ns a higher power x. 17; Acts ii. 24). -" the power of his resurrection" (PhiL Ver. 10,-For in tha.t he died, he died iiL 10)-in virtue of which we may resiilt nnto sin once: but in tha.t he liveth, he liveth the attempted domination of sin. Bot it nnto God. "Died unto sin" certainly does still rests with us whether we will give on:r not mean here, as some have taken it, died allegiance to sin or to Chrut. 0b -,ap T¾• by reason of sin, or to atone for Bin, but hll8 f/>Ocrw ~.\6•11 a.ve.\e,11, rul.-riw -rpoalp,cr,v 61op- the sense, elsewhere obvious in this chapter, 8cocr11, (Chrysostom). The lost&, obedience of a.1ro811ficr1m11, followed by a dative, which to which is equivalent to letting sin reign, was explained under ver. 2, Christ was, in- are said to be those of oar ~ mortal body," deed, never subject to sin, or himself infected becanse it is in our present bodily organiza- with it, as we are; bot he "bore the sins of tion that the losts tempting as to evil rise. many; '' "the Lord le.id on him the iniquity But it is not in their soliciting us, but in of us all." He submitted for us to the the will aesenting to them, that the sin lies. condition and penalty of human sin; but, "Qnia non consentimns desidertis pravie in when he died, he threw off its' burden, and grutia sumns" (Augustine, 'Prop.,' 35). was done with it for ever (cf. Heb. i.:x. 28, •· Cupiditates corporis snnt fomes, poocatum "Unto them that look for him shall he ignis" (Bengel). The epithet /hnrrqi ("mor- appear the second time without Bin unto tal") is tiily used as distin,,C70iahing our salvation"). The purpose of thus describing present perishable fmmewo:ck-the earthen the permanent life to God of the risen Christ vessels in which we have our 1:rea.5ure (2 Cor. is, of course, to show that the new life of us iv. 7)-from oar real inward pemonaJity, cl who are accounted to have risen with Christ fo.,o,., /L,8pr,nros (2 Cor. iv. 16), which u must in like manner be permanent and free rego.rded as having risen with Christ, so as to from sin. " Quo docere vult ho.no vitm live to God for ever. "Yos enim, viventes, novitatem tote. vita esse Christie.Dis perse- abalieno.ti estis II corpcre vestro (af. eh. viii. quend11m. Nam si Christi imaginem in se 10)" (Bengal). reprmsentare debcnt, hano perpetuo dumre Ver. 13.-Neither yield ye your memben neoesse est. Non quod uno momento emo- o.s instrnments of nnrighteoumess nnio sin: rio.tur caro in nobis, eiouti nu per di.ximus: but yield yo11Z11elve1 nnio God, as being sed quio. retrooedera in eo. mortifioando. noa alive from the dead, and your members a.s liceat. Si enim in ccauum noslrlllll revol- instruments of righteousness nnio God. By vimur, Christum abncgamus; oujue nisi per our members seem to be meant, not merely ,·itm novitatem oonsortes esse non possumus, the severnl parts of our bodily fr.1me-eye. siout ipse vit11m incorruptibilem ugit" tongue, hand, foot, eto.-but generally &11 (Calvin). The next verse e:spresses this the p11rts or constituents of our present. oleo.rly. huma.u nBture, which sin may 1186 118 its Ver. 11.-Even so reokon ye also your- instruments, but which ought to be devoted selves to be doo.d indeed nnto sin, but alive to God (cf. Col. iii. 5). Me.ny commentators unto God in Christ J'esus our Lord. Iii would trnnsll\te lfr.\11 " weapons" rather the verses which follow (12-H) tho 11posUe tlm.n "instruments," on the grolllld that St. exhorts his readers to do thdr own pnrt iu Paul usuru.ly uses the worn in this ~ose 1·ea.liziug this their union willi tha risen (oh. :xiii. 12; 2 Cor. vi. 7; :x. -1:; Eph. vi. Christ, to give oft'eot to the regener,1tiug 11, 13); and also that o,j,<»v,11 in var. 23, gro.oo of God. For their baptism had beeu to.ken in the scnso of the p11y of I\ soldier but the bogiuuing of their new lifo; it de- (o.s in Luke iii. H; 1 Cor. ix. 7), is suppos..>d pended oa themselves whether sanotifice.tion to imply tha.t the apo,:,tle hi\:! ha.d all along should follow on regeneration, o.e it noods the iclen of W<&rfaf'tJ in viow. Tho s~'l.'011,l ot must uo in. ordor to ~o.lv11tion, these mi.sons reoJ.ly prove.! uothin~. Wht\t- Vor. 12.-Let not sin therofore reign in ovor tho m0t111ing of o,j,<»~111 iu ver. 231 it i•  160 THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. [011. vx. 1-28.