The Pulpit Commentary — Romans — Section 205

the l!(lttl, having died in Jesus to the Law, and having thus dlBSolved the unhappy' union, gets mised along wit.h Christ and is united to him 1\8 the eecond and better husbsnd. It is to a risen Saviour that the risen soul is 1111lted. Jesus is the Bride- !!room, and t.he soul the bride (cf. John iii. 29). And regarding this secor.d marriBge of the soul, it is a happy one; for: 1. The 8oul reC6it1es the Spfrit of Oh1·i8t, and so becomes o,ie with him. There can be in this case no ill-assorted union, Christ can make his bride one in spirit with himself, and so the sweetest unity of spirit prevails. 2. .As tJ,,e risen Satliour, he secures the devotwn of the soul in a way that abstract law , i a w could. The devotion of a true wife to her husband is something essentially different from and infinitely higher than obedience to a code of laws. It is here that l!llnctification is secured. The soul is led to feel that a Saviour, who has lived and died for its redemption, deserves the homage of the heart. In this way obedience passes into the enthusiastic devotion of the whole nature, and becomes a passion of the soul. This is the "newness of the spirit," as distinguished. from the "oldness of the letter," to which the apostle declares the renewed soul comes. 3. The fruit of this marriage tmth Oliri&t is a m ~ to God. The sonl is joined to the risen Saviour that " we might bring forth fruit nnto God." Now, just as in married life, when children come, they are consecrated nnt.o God, so the fruits of our union with Christ consist in those "good works which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God." Good works are the united product of Christ- and the believing soul. "Without me ye can do nothing," he tells us. And so we are to rejoice in them as the fruit of that spiritual union ui.st.ing between the Saviour and the soul. It is for us to test ourselves by these facts, and see to it that we are united to Christ, as the bride is to her husband.1-R. M. E. Vers. 7-13.-2'1.e work of the Law in awakening the soul. After the general statement about the two marriages of the soul, the apostle proceeds to exhibit the soul in its 1llll"t\,"eilerate sta.te, and how it is awakened. through Law to a sense of its guilt and danger. In the section now before us we have the soul presented in its state of security, and then passing into its st.a.te of alarm. The subsequent section, as we shall see, presents the soul in its regenerate condition contending successfully against its remaining corruption. Let us, then, look at- L Tm: soUL's SECUll.lTY UNDBB sm. Two distinct ideas are suggested about this &ta~fint, that Bin without Law is "dead," by which the apostle means that it lies i.11 a state of latency or dormancy, and is not ronsed into active struggle; secondly, the aml before the advent of Law is "alive," that is, apparently alive, fancying itself quite 88 good and well-to-do as its fellows. It lives by its instincts, and yet has no idea of the guilt of doing so. "The child or savage," to take an illustration from De 11.ougemont, "'is selfish, addicted to appetite (gowrmand), cruel, hateful, freely and naively ; he dot'JI not imagine that he is doing wrong in following his natural instincts, and 88 he satisfie11 his passions without/remorse, he is content, he lives." 2 It bas been very properly said, "Unbelief in the Law is as common a., unbelief in the gospel. If men believe the gospel, they soon feel the power of it. So of the Law; if they truly believe it, they will feel the power of its condemning voice. No man can be found who will deny that he has Binned. Let a man, then, only believe, in reality, that death eternal is, according t.o the Law of God, annexed to his sin as a punishment, and he will be afra.id--hlll heart will sink within him. He will have no rest, he will have fearful forebodings of wrath ; and if this be not the case, then, plainly he , does not beline the Law. . . . To hear the Law, and yet be as hopeful and merry-hearted and 1IDCOilC8nled u if the Law were an idle tale or a mere man of straw, that shows a most miser&ble state of blindnea11 and want of feeling-a state which can be accounted for only by the fact that the Law is_ not credi~d,_tbat its threateninge are not ~elieved. at all."• Now, thia state of secunty under Bin 111 one of danger as well as guilt. It 1s a 1 On fruit-bearing through union with Obrist, cf. Monle'a • Union with Chrillt,' p. 67 ; nlso Arcllar Butler'• '8ermoIU1,' ii. p. 12L • Of. 'La Vie Hurne.ille avec et San, la ll'oi,' p. 108. • Cf. Bewi!Mon'• 'lit:.IWWI.I!,' vol. ii pp. 93, 9i; HOO also GriJlith'a 'From Sin to Balvaiioo.' pp. ia-51!.  olt. vn. l--2fl.] THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS. 203