Bible Commentaries

The Pulpit Commentaries

Romans 6

Verses 1-23

EXPOSITION

Romans 8:1-39

(7) Moral results to true believers of the revelation to them of the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God having been announced as revealed in the gospel (Romans 1:17), set forth as available for all mankind (Romans 3:21-31), shown to be in accordance with the teaching of the Old Testament (Romans 4:1-25), viewed with regard to the feelings and hopes of believers fell Romans 5:1-11) and to the position of the human race before God (Romans 5:12-21), the necessary moral results of a true apprehension of the doctrine are treated in this section of the Epistle. And first is shown from various points of view—

Romans 7:1-6

(a) The obligation believers of holiness of life. The subject is led up to by meeting certain supposed erroneous conclusions from what has been said in the preceding chapter. It might be said that, if where sin abounded grace did much more abound—if in the obedience of the one Christ all believers are justified—human sin must be a matter of indifference; it cannot nullify the free gift; nay, grace will be even the more enhanced, in that it abounds the more. The apostle rebuts such antinomian conclusions by showing that they imply a total misunderstanding of the doctrine which was supposed to justify them; for that our partaking in the righteousness of God in Christ means our actually partaking in it—our being influenced by it, loving it and following it, not merely our having it imputed to us while we remain aloof from it; that justifying faith in Christ means spiritual union with Christ, a dying with him to sin and a rising with him to a new life, in which sin shall no longer have dominion over us. He refers to our baptism as having this only meaning, and he enforces his argument by three illustrations: firstly, as aforesaid, that of dying and rising again, which is signified in baptism (Romans 7:1-14); secondly, that of service to a master (Romans 7:15-23); thirdly, that of the relation of a wife to a husband (Romans 7:1-16). It will be seen, when we come to it, that the third of these illustrations is a carrying out of the same idea, though it is there law, and not sin, that we are said to be emancipated from.

Romans 6:1

What shall we say then? So St. Paul introduces a difficulty or objection arising out of the preceding argument (cf. Romans 3:5). Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Referring to the whole preceding argument, and especially to the concluding verses (Romans 5:20, Romans 5:21).

Romans 6:2

God forbid! ( ΄ὴ γένοιτο: St. Paul's usual way of rejecting an idea indignantly). We who ( οἵτινες, with its proper meaning of being such as) died (not, as in the Authorized Version, "are dead." The reference is to the time of baptism, as appears from what follows) to sin, how shall we live any longer therein! The idea of dying to sin in the sense of having done with it, is found also in Macrob., 'Somn. Scip.,' 1.13 (quoted by Meyer), "Mori etiam dicitur, cum anima adhuc in corpora constituta corporeas illecebras philosophia docente contemnit et cupiditatum dulces insidias reliquasque omnes exuit passiones."

Romans 6:3

Or know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death! ἢ, if taken in the sense of "or," at the beginning of Romans 6:3, will be understood if we put what is meant thus: Do you not know that we have all died to sin? Or are you really ignorant of what your very baptism meant? But cf. Romans 7:1, where the same expression occurs, and where ἢ appears only to imply a question. The expression βαππτίζεσθαι εἰς occurs also in 1 Corinthians 10:2 and Galatians 3:27; in the first of these texts with reference to the Israelites and Moses. It denotes the entering by baptism into close union with a person, coming to belong to him, so as to be in a sense identified with him. In Galatians 3:27 being baptized into Christ is understood as implying putting him on ( ἐνεδύσασθε) The phrases, βαπτιξεῖν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι, or ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι, or εἰς τὸ ὄνομα, were understood to imply the same idea, though not so plainly expressing it. Thus St. Paul rejoiced that he had not himself baptized many at Corinth, lest it might have been said that he had baptized them into his own name ( εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα), i.e. into such connection with himself as baptism implied with Christ alone. Doubtless in the instruction which preceded baptism this significance of the sacrament would be explained. And if "into Christ," then "into his death." "In Christum, inquam, totum, adeoque in mortem ejus baptizatur" (Bengel). The whole experience of Christ was understood to have its counterpart in those who were baptized into him; in them was understood a death to sin, corresponding to his actual death. This, too, would form part of the instruction of catechumens. St. Paul often presses it as what he conceives to be well understood; and in subsequent verses of this chapter he further explains what he means.

Romans 6:4

Therefore we were buried (not are, as in the Authorized Version) with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life. The mention here of burial as welt as death does not appear to be meant as a further carrying out of the idea of a fulfilment in us of the whole of Christ's experience, in the sense—As he died and was buried, so we die and are even buried too. Such a conception of burial being in our case a further process subsequent to our death in baptism, is indeed well expressed in our Collect for Easter Eve: but the form of expression, "buried into death," does not suit it here. The reference rather is to the form of baptism, viz. by immersion, which was understood to signify burial, and therefore death. So Chrysostom, on John 3:1-36., καθάπερ γὰρ ἐν τινι τάφῳ τῷ ὕδατι καταδύοντων ἡμῶν τᾶς κεφαλὰς ὁ παλαὶος ἄνθρωπος θάπτεται καὶ καταδὺς κάτω κρύπτεται ὅλος καθάπαξ. The main intention of the verse is to bring out the idea of resurrection following death in our case as in Christ's. The sense, therefore, is—As our burial (or total immersion) in the baptismal water was followed by entire emergence, so our death with Christ to sin, which that immersion symbolized, is to be followed by our resurrection with him to a new life. As to the δόξα τοῦ πατρὸς, through which Christ is here said to have been raised, see what was said under Romans 3:23. " δόξα est gloria divinae vitae, incorruptiblitatis, potentiae, et virtutis, per quam et Christus resuscitatus est, et nos vitae novas restituimur, Deoque conformamur. Ephesians 1:19, seqq." (Bengel). In some passages our Lord is regarded as having been raised from the dead in virtue of the Divine life that was in himself, whereby it was impossible that he should be holden of death. (see under Romans 1:4). And he said of his own ψυχή, "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (John 10:18). But here as most commonly elsewhere, his resurrection is attributed to the operation of the glory of the Father—the same Divine power that regenerates us in him (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:14; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 1:19, etc.; Colossians 2:12; also our Lord's own prayers to the Father previously to his suffering, as given by St. John). The two views are not inconsistent, and may serve to show Christ's oneness with the Father as touching his Godhead. The marked association here and elsewhere of union with Christ, so as to die and rise again with him, with the rite of baptism, supports the orthodox view of that sacrament being not only a signum significans, but a signum efficax; as not only representing, but being "a means whereby we receive" regeneration. The beginning of the new life of believers, with the power as well as the obligation to lead such a life, is ever regarded as dating from their baptism (cf. Galatians 3:27; Colossians 2:12). It is true, however, that in all such passages in the New Testament the baptism of ,adults is referred to; that is, of persons who at the time of baptism were capable of actual repentance and faith, and hence of actual moral regeneration, and they are supposed to have understood the significance of the rite, and to have been sincere in seeking it. Hence what is said or implied cannot fairly be pressed as applicable in all respects to infant baptism. This, however, is not the place for discussing the propriety of infant baptism, or the sense in which all baptized persons are regarded by the Church as in their very baptism regenerate.

Romans 6:5

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. So the Authorized Version. But the English word "planted" (though the idea expressed by it has the support of Origen, Chrysostom, and other ancient Fathers; also of the Vulgate, and, among moderns, Beza, Luther, and others; while some, including Erasmus, Calvin, Estius, Cornelius a Lapide, understand "engrafted") probably suggests what was not intended. σύμφυτος is from συμφύω (not συμφυτεύω), and need only express being made to grow together in close association. In classic authors it commonly means innate. It seems here used, not to introduce a new figure, whether of planting or grafting, but only to express the close union with Christ, already intimated, into which we entered in baptism. The Revised Version has "have become united with him," which may perhaps sufficiently express what is meant, though hardly a satisfactory rendering of σύμφυτοι, Tyndale and Cranmer translate "graft in deeth lyke unto him;" and perhaps "graft into" may be as good a rendering as any other. Meyer, Tholuck, Alford, and others take the dative τῷ ὁμοιώματι as governed by σύμφυτοι, equivalent to ὁμοίως ἀπεθάνομεν ὥσπερ αὐτὸς (Tholuck). But it may be better to understand χριστῷ: "Graft into Christ, in the likeness of his death," τῷ ὁμοιώματι being added because Christ's death and ours, in the senses intended, are not the same kind of death literally, ours only corresponding to, and in a certain sense like his. The main purpose of this verse, as of Romans 6:4, is to press resurrection with Christ as following death with him. But why here the future ἐσόμεθα? Did we not rise with Christ to a new life when we emerged from our baptismal burial? Future verbs are used also with a similar reference in Romans 6:8 and Romans 6:14. Now, there are three senses in which our resurrection with Christ may be understood.

If so, sense (1) might still be understood; so that the idea would be the same as in Colossians 2:12, etc., viz. that of our rising in baptism itself to a new life with Christ, in which sin need not, and ought not to, have dominion. But still the repeated use of the future tense (especially ἁμαρτία ὑμῶν οὐ κυριεύσει in Colossians 2:14), together with the whole drift of what follows, seems rather to imply sense (2); that is, our realization of our position in our actual lives subsequent to baptism. If it be objected that in this case we should expect "we ought to be" rather than "we shall be" it may be replied that it is what God will do for us, rather than what we shall do for ourselves, that the apostle has in view. If he has made us partakers in the atoning death of Christ, having forgiven us all trespasses, etc. (Colossians 2:13, seq.), he will also make us partakers, as our life goes on, in the power of his resurrection too, delivering us from sin's dominion. Further, if this be so, the thought may also include sense (3) For elsewhere the future resurrection seems to be regarded as only the consummation of a spiritual resurrection which is begun in the present life, Christians being already partakers in the eternal life of God, of which the issue is immortality; of. Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:6; Colossians 3:3, Colossians 3:4; Galatians 2:20; also our Lord's own words, which are peculiarly significant in this regard, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you. The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5:24, John 5:25). Again, "I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die' (John 11:25, John 11:26).

Romans 6:6, Romans 6:7

Knowing this (cf. ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, Romans 6:3), that our old man was (not is, as in the Authorized Version) crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed (or abolished, or done away, καταργήθῃ), that henceforth we should not serve ( δουλεύειν, expressing bondage, or slavery; and so throughout the chapter in the word δοῦλοι, translated "servants") sin. For he that hath died is freed from sin. The word "crucified" has, of course, reference to the mode of Christ's death into which we were baptized. It does not imply anything further (as some have supposed) as to the manner of our own spiritual dying, such as painfulness or lingering; it merely means that in his death our old man died (cf. Colossians 2:14, προφηλώσας αὐτὸ τῷ σταυρῷ). The term "old man" ( παλαὶος ἄνθρωπος) occurs also Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9. It denotes man's unregenerate self, when under sin and condemnation; the καινός or νεος ἄνθρωπος being his regenerate self. It is, of course, a different conception from that of ὁ ἐξω and ὁ ἔσωθεν ἄνθωππος of 2 Corinthians 4:16. In Ephesians and Colossians the old man is said to be put away, or put off, and the new one put on, as though they were two clothings, or investments, of his personality, determining its character. Here, by a bolder figure, they are viewed as an old self that had died and a new one that had come to life in its place (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:17, εἴ τις ἐν χριστῷ καινὴ κτίσις τὰ ἀρχαῖα παρῆλθεν). The idea of a new man being born into a new life in baptism was already familiar to the Jews in their baptism of proselytes (see Lightfoot, on John 3:1-36.); and our Lord, discoursing to Nicodemus of the new birth, supposes him to understand the figure; but he teaches him that the change thus expressed should be no mere change of profession and habits of life, but a radical inward change, which could only be wrought by the regenerating Spirit. Such a change St. Paul teaches to be signified by Christian baptism; not only deliverance from condemnation through participation in the benefits of the death of Christ, but also the birth or creation of a new self corresponding to his risen body, which will not be, like the old self, under the thraldom of sin. "The body of sin" may be taken as meaning much the same as "our old man;" sin being conceived as embodied in our former selves, and so possessing them and keeping them in bondage. It certainly does not mean simply our bodies as distinct from our souls, so as to imply the idea that the former must be macerated that the latter may live. The asceticism inculcated elsewhere in the New Testament is in no contradiction to the ideal of mens sana in corpore sano. Our former sin-possessed and sin-dominated personality being now crucified with Christ, dead, and done away with, we are no longer, in our new personality, in slavery to sin, and are both bound and able to renounce it; "for he that hath died is freed [ δεδικαίωταιa, literally, 'is justified'] from sin." In Scotland, one who is executed is said to be justified, the idea apparently being that he has satisfied the claims of law. So here ' δεδικαίωται. The word δουλεύειν, be it observed, in verse 6 introduces by the way the second figure under which, as above said, the apostle regards his subject, though it is not taken up till verse 16.

Romans 6:8

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him; i.e. as explained with regard to the future ἐσόμεθα under Romans 6:5. The explanation there given accounts for the phrase here, πιστεύομεν ὅτι, without its being necessary to refer our living with Christ exclusively to the future resurrection. For the continuance of God's vivifying grace during life after baptism is a subject of belief.

Romans 6:9

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. When it is implied here that death had once dominion over him, it is not, of course, meant that he was in his own Divide nature subject to death, or that 'it was possible that he should be holden of it." All that is implied is that he had made himself subject to it by taking on him our nature, and voluntarily submitted to it, once for all, as representing us (cf. John 10:17; Acts 2:24).

Romans 6:10

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. "Died unto sin" certainly does not mean here, as some have taken it, died by reason of sin, or to atone for sin, but has the sense, elsewhere obvious in this chapter, of ἀποθνήσκειν, followed by a dative, which was explained under Romans 6:2. Christ was, indeed, never subject to sin, or himself infected with it, as we are; but he "bore the sins of many;" "the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all." He submitted for us to the condition and penalty of human sin; but, when he died, he threw off its burden, and was done with it for ever (cf. Hebrews 9:28, "Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation"). The purpose of thus describing the permanent life to God of the risen Christ is, of course, to show that the new life of us who are accounted to have risen with Christ must in like manner be permanent and free from sin. "Quo docere vult hanc vitae novitatem tota vila esse Christianis persequendam, Nam si Christi imaginem in se repraesentare debent, hanc perpetuo durare necesse est. Non quod uno momento emoriatur caro in nobis, sicuti nuper diximus: sed quia retrocedere in ea mortificanda non liceat. Si enim in coenum nostrum revolvimur, Christum abnegamus; cujus nisi per vitae novitatem consortes esse non possumus, sicut ipse vitam incorruptibilem agit" (Calvin). The next verse expresses this clearly.

Romans 6:11

Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the verses which follow (12-14) the apostle exhorts his readers to do their own part in realizing this their union with the risen Christ, to give effect to the regenerating grace of God. For their baptism had been but the beginning of their new life; it depended on themselves whether sanctification should follow on regeneration, as it needs must do in order to salvation.

Romans 6:12

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof. (The reading of the Textus Receptus, "obey it in the lusts thereof," has but weak support.) Though our "old man" is conceived of as crucified with Christ—though this is theoretically and potentially our position—yet our actual lives may be at variance with it; for we are still in our present "mortal body," with its lusts remaining; and sin is still a power, not yet destroyed, which may, if we let it, have domination over us still. Regeneration is not regarded as having changed our nature, or eradicated all our evil propensions, but as having introduced into us a higher power—"the power of his resurrection" (Philippians 3:10)—in virtue of which we may resist the attempted domination of sin. But it still rests with us whether we will give our allegiance to sin or to Christ. οὐ γὰρ τὴν φύσιν ἦλθεν ἀνελεῖν ἀλλὰ τὴν προαίρεσιν διορθῶσαι (Chrysostom). The lusts, obedience to which is equivalent to letting sin reign, are said to be those of our "mortal body," because it is in our present bodily organization that the lusts tempting us to evil rise. But it is not in their soliciting us, but in the will assenting to them, that the sin lies. "Quia non consentimus desideriis pravis in gratia sumus". "Cupiditates corporis sunt fomes, peccatum ignis" (Bengel). The epithet θνητῷ ("mortal'') is fitly used as distinguishing our present perishable framework—the earthen vessels in which we have our treasure (2 Corinthians 4:7)—from our real inward personality, ἔσωθεν ἄνθρωπος (2 Corinthians 4:16), which is regarded as having risen with Christ, so as to live to God for ever. "Vos enim, viventes, abalienati estis a corpore vestro (cf. Romans 8:10)" (Bengel).

Romans 6:13

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. By our members seem to be meant, not merely the several parts of our bodily frame—eye. tongue, hand, foot, etc.—but generally all the parts or constituents of our present human nature, which sin may use as its instruments, but which ought to be devoted to God (cf. Colossians 3:5). Many commentators would translate ὅπλα "weapons" rather than "instruments," on the ground that St. Paul usually uses the word in this sense (Romans 13:12; 2 Corinthians 6:7; 2 Corinthians 10:4; Ephesians 6:11, Ephesians 6:13); and also that ὀψώνια in Romans 6:22, taken in the sense of the pay of a soldier (as in Luke 3:14; 1 Corinthians 9:7), is supposed to imply that the apostle has had all along the idea of warfare in view. The second of these reasons really proves nothing. Whatever the meaning of ὀψώνια in Romans 6:23, it is too far removed from the passage before us to be taken in any connection with it. Neither is the first reason at all cogent. ὅπλα bears the sense of instruments as well as of weapons, and may more suitably bear it here. When St. Paul elsewhere speaks of armour, it is the armour of light, or of righteousness, which we are told to take up, and to put on, in order to fight against our spiritual enemies. Such a conception is inapplicable to our own members, which we have already, which we may use either for good or evil, and which require the protection of heavenly armour rather than being themselves armour; and we certainly could not be told to take them up or put them on. We may, in the next place, observe that the two clauses of this verse are differently expressed in two respects.

Romans 6:14

For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace. As to the force of the future here, οὐ κυριεύσει, see what was said under Romans 6:5. Here also no more seems, at first sight, to be meant than that God, if we respond to his grace, will not let sin have dominion over us; we shall, in fact, if we are willing, be enabled to resist it. "Invitos nos non coget [peccatum] ad serviendum tibi" (Bengel). And the reason given is suitable to this meaning: "For ye are not under law" (which, while it makes sin sinful and exacts its full penalty, imparts no power to overcome it), "but under grace" (which does communicate such power). Thus understanding the verse, we see the distinction between βασιλευέτω in Romans 6:12 and κυριεύσει here. In Romans 6:12 we are exhorted not to let sin reign; we are to own no allegiance to it as a king whose rule we must obey. But it still will try to usurp lordship over us—in vain, however, if we resist the usurpation: οὑ κυριεύσει ἡμῶν. The sense thus given to the verse is what its own language and the previous context suggest. But Romans 6:15, which follows, suggests a different meaning. "What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace?" Such a question could not arise on the statement of the preceding verse, if its meaning were understood to be that grace will enable us to avoid sin; it rather supposes the meaning that grace condones sin. Hence, in Romans 6:15 at least, a different aspect of the difference between being under law and being under grace seems evidently to come in; namely, this—that the principle of law is to exact complete obedience to its behests; but the principle of grace is to accept faith in lieu of complete obedience. If, then, ἁμαρτία ὑμῶν ου) κυριεύσει in Romans 6:14 is to be understood in agreement with this idea, it must mean, "Sin, though it still infects you, shall not lord it over you so as to bring you into condemnation.'' Calvin has a good note on the verse. He allows the first of the expositions of it given above to be "una quae caeteris prohabilius sustineri queat." But he thinks that Romans 6:15, following, requires the other, and he concludes thus: "Vult enim nos consolari apostolus, ne animis fatiscamus in studio bene agendi, propterea quod multas imperfectiones adhuc in nobis sentiamus. Uteunque enim peccati aculeis vexemut, non petest tamen nos subigere, quia Spiritu Dei superiores reddimur: deinde in gratia constituti, sumus liberati a rigida Legis exactione." It may be that the apostle, when he wrote Romans 6:14, meant what the previous context suggests, but passed on in Romans 6:15 to the other idea in view of the way in which his words might be understood. In what follows next (Romans 6:15-23) is introduced the second illustration (see former note), drawn from the human relations between masters and slaves. It comes in by way of meeting the supposed abuse of the statement of Romans 6:14; but it serves as a further proof of the general position that is being upheld. The word κυριεύσει in Romans 6:14 suggests this particular illustration. We being under grace, it had been said, sin will not be our master, whence the inference was supposed to be drawn that we may sin with impunity, and without thereby subjecting ourselves to the mastery of sin. Nay, it is replied, but it will be our master, if in practice we consent to be its servants.

Romans 6:15, Romans 6:16

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace! God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey (literally, unto obedience), his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? This is not a truism, as it would seem to be if it only meant, "whoso servants ye become, his servants ye are." "Ye yield yourselves" ( παριστάνετε, cf. Romans 6:13) denotes acts of yielding. "Ye are" ( ἕστε) denotes condition. The meaning is that by our conduct we show which master we are under; and we cannot serve two (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; of. John 8:34, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin;" and 1 John 3:7, "He that doeth righteousness is righteous"). The two incompatible services are here said to be of sin and of obedience, with their respective tendencies or results, death and righteousness. A more exact antithesis to the first clause would have been "of righteousness unto life;" life being the proper antithesis of death, and righteousness being afterwards said, in Romans 6:18 and Romans 6:19, to be what we ought to be in bondage to. But though the sentence seems thus defective in form, its meaning is plain. ὑπακοῆς means here specifically obedience to God, not obedience to any master as in Romans 6:16; and though in English "servants of obedience,'' as though obedience were a master, is an awkward phrase, yet we might properly say, "servants of duty," in opposition to "servants of sin;" and this is what is meant. It may be that the apostle purposely avoided here speaking of believers being slaves of righteousness in the sense in which they had been slaves of sin, because subjection to righteousness is not properly slavery, but willing obedience. He uses the expression, indeed, afterwards (Romans 6:18), but adds at once, ἀνθρώπινον λέγω, etc. (see note on this last expression). Death, "unto" which the service of sin is here said to be, cannot be mere natural death, to which all are subject. Meyer (with Chrysostom, Theophylact, and other ancients) takes it to mean eternal death, as the final result of bondage to sin; δικαιοσύνη, antithetically correlative, being regarded as applying to the time of final perfection of the faithful in the world to come—"the righteousness which is awarded to them in the judgment." Seeing, however, that the word δικαιοσύνη is used throughout the Epistle to denote what is attainable in this present life, and that θάνατος is often used to express a state of spiritual death, which men may be in at any time (see additional note on Romans 6:12; and cf. Romans 7:9, Romans 7:10, Romans 7:13, Romans 7:24; Romans 8:6, Romans 8:13; also John 5:24; 1 John 3:14), it is at least a question whether the final doom of the last judgment is here at all exclusively in the apostle's view.

Romans 6:17, Romans 6:18

But thanks be to God, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine whereunto ye were delivered. (Not, as in the Authorized Version, which was delivered you). Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. There is no contradiction between what is here said and the fear previously implied lest the persons addressed might still serve sin. He refers them back to the time of their baptism, when he conceives them both to have understood their obligation (cf. Romans 6:3), and also to have been heartily sincere. The fear was lest they might have relaxed since, perhaps through infection with antinomian teaching. By the "form of doctrine" or "of instruction" ( τύπον διδαχῆς) is not at all likely to be meant (as some have supposed) any distinctive type of Christian teaching, such as the Pauline (so Meyer). Usually elsewhere, where St. Paul uses the word τύπος, it is of persons being examples or patterns to others (1 Corinthians 10:6; Philippians 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:7). Somewhat similarly, in Romans 5:14, Adam is τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος; and in 1 Corinthians 10:6 the things which happened to the Israelites in the wilderness were τύποι to us. These are all the instances of the use of the word in St. Paul's Epistles. Here, therefore, it may be best to understand it (so as to retain the idea of pattern) as the general Christian code into which converts had been indoctrinated, regarded as a norma agendi "Norma ilia et regula, ad quam se conformat servus, tautum ei per doctrinam ostenditur; urgeri eum non opus est" (Bengel on διδαχῆς).

Romans 6:19

I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. Here ἀνθρώπινον λέγω ("I speak humanly") may be taken as referring to the expression immediately preceding, viz. ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ. St. Paul may mean, "In saying you were made slaves to righteousness, I am using human language not properly applicable to your spiritual relations. For you are not really in bondage now; you have been emancipated from your former bondage to sin, and are now called upon to render a free willing allowance to righteousness; being, in fact, sons, not slaves." This view of the true position of the Christian being one of freedom recurs so often and so forcibly with St. Paul that it is peculiarly likely to be the thought before him here; the very word ἐδουλώθητε would be likely to suggest it (cf. Romans 8:15, seq.; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 4:4-7; Galatians 5:1, Galatians 5:13). If (he would say) you fully realized your position as sons of God, you would feel it impossible even to think of sinning willingly; but, in accommodation to your human weakness, I put the case as if you had only been transferred from one bondage to another, so as to show that, even so, you are under an obligation not to sin. According to this view of the meaning of the passage, "the infirmity of your flesh" has reference to dulness of spiritual perception, σάρξ being opposed in a general sense to πνεῦμα. Had they been πνευματικοὶ, they would have discerned τὰ τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ θεοῦ without need of any such human view of the matter being put before them (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14). Some, however, taking ἀσθένειαν τῆς σαρκὸς to denote moral weakness, which renders the attainment of holiness difficult for man, understand ἀνθρώπινον λέγω as meaning, "I require of you no more than is possible Ñ for your frail humanity; for I call on you only to render to righteousness the same allegiance you once rendered to sin." This interpretation gives a totally different meaning to the clause. It has the support of Origen, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Calvin, Estius, Wetstein, and others; but it does not appear so natural or probable as the other, which is accepted by most modern commentators. For as ye yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto sanctification (rather than holiness, as in the Authorized Version; the word is ἁγιασμός, always so translated elsewhere). This is a setting forth of what must follow in practice from the view that has been taken of the change in the Christian's position resembling the transference of bondservants from one master to another. They must devote their members (see above on Romans 6:13) to the service of the new master in the same way as they had done to that of the old one; the aims or results of the two services being also intimated. The old service was in giving themselves up to uncleanness (with reference to sins of sensuality), and generally to ἀνομίᾳ, i.e. lawlessness, or disregard of duty; and its result is expressed by a repetition of the latter word. For sin leads to nothing positive; lawless conduct only results in a habit or state of lawlessness; whereas the service of righteousness in itself leads to sanctification to the abiding result of participation in the holiness of God. "Qui justitiae serviunt, proficiunt; ἄνομοι, iniqui, sunt iniqui, nil amplius" (Bengel).

Romans 6:20-23

For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness (more literally, to righteousness; i.e. ye were not in any bondage to righteousness). What fruit had ye then (i.e. when you were formerly slaves of sin) in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?, for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and made servants to God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification; and the end life eternal. For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of god is life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord. The logical connection with the previous context of the above series of verses, beginning with Romans 6:20, as well as the sequence of thought running through them (intimated by the particles γὰρ σῦν, and δὲ), is not at once obvious. It seems to be as follows: the γὰρ in Romans 6:20 introduces a reason for the exhortation of Romans 6:19, παραστήσατε, etc. But Romans 6:20 is not in itself the reason, being only an introduction to the statement of it in the verses that follow. The drift of the whole passage seems to be this: Yield ye your members to the sole service of righteousness; for (Romans 6:20) ye were once in the sole service of sin, owning no allegiance to righteousness at all; and (Romans 6:21) what fruit had ye from that service? None at all; for ye know that the only end of the things ye did then, and of which ye are now ashamed, is death. But (Romans 6:22) your new service has its fruit: it leads to your sanctification now, and in the end eternal life. Authorities, however, both ancient and modern, are divided as to the punctuation, and consequent construction, of Romans 6:21. In the Vulgate and the Authorized Version (as in the interpretation given above) the stop of interrogation is placed after "ashamed;" the answer, none, being understood, and "for the end," etc., being the reason why there is no fruit The other way is to take the question as ending at "had ye then," and "those things whereof," etc., as the answer to it, and for the end, etc., as the reason why they are ashamed. Thus: "What fruit had ye then (when you were free from righteousness)? The works (or pleasures) of which you are now ashamed were the only fruit; you are ashamed of them now; for their end is death." The latter interpretation is defended by Alford on the ground that it is more consistent "with the New Testament meaning of καρπός, which is 'actions,' the ' fruit of the man' considered as the tree, not 'wages' or 'reward,' the 'fruit of his actions.'" This is true. But, on the other hand, it may be argued that such use of the word καρπός by St. Paul is always in a good sense; he usually regards sin as having no fruits at all; to the fruit of the Spirit is opposed, not any fruit of a different character, but the works ( ἔργα) of the flesh (Galatians 5:19, Galatians 5:22); and in Ephesians 5:11 (again in opposition to the fruit of the Spirit) he speaks of the unfruitful works ( ἔργοις τοῖς ἀκάρποις) of darkness. Thus the idea of Ephesians 5:21, understood as in the Authorized Version, seems closely to correspond with that of the passage last cited. "The things of which ye are now ashamed," in Ephesians 5:21, are "the works of darkness" of Ephesians 5:11; and in both places they are declared to have no fruit. Sin is a barren tree, and only ends in death. Cf. what was said above with respect to εἰς τὴν ἀνομίαν and εἰς ἁγιασμόν in Ephesians 5:19. It is true, however, that the expression in the next chapter, καρποφορῆσαι τῷ θανάτῳ (Romans 7:5), in opposition to καρποφορήσωμεν τῷ θεῷ, in some degree weakens the force of the above argument. We observe, lastly, on Ephesians 5:23, that to the "wages'' of sin ( ὀψώνια , used usually to denote a soldier's pay) is opposed "free gift" ( χάρισμα for sin earns death as its due reward; but eternal life is not earned by us, but granted us by the grace of God. As to the phrase, δουλωθέντες τῷ θεῷ, in Ephesians 5:22, it can be used without the need of any such apology as seems to be implied in Ephesians 5:19 (according to the meaning of the verse that has been preferred) for speaking of our becoming slaves to righteousness. For we do belong to God as his δοῦλοι, and to Christ, having been "bought with a price" (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:23); and St. Paul at the beginning of his Epistles often calls himself δοῦλος χριστοῦ (cf. also Luke 17:10). But it does not follow that our service should be the service of slaves; it may be a free, willing, enthusiastic obedience notwithstanding; we obey, not because we are under bondage to obey, but because love inspires us (cf. Galatians 4:6, etc., "Because ye are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no longer a servant, but a son").

HOMILETICS

Romans 6:1-11

The meaning of Christ's resurrection.

The prominent position occupied by the resurrection of our Lord in the apostolic writings and preaching need occasion no surprise; an event in itself so wonderful, and in its consequences so momentous, could not but be constantly in the minds and upon the lips of those to whom it was the supreme revelation of God. It may be well to gather up in a few sentences the import and significance of this central fact of Christianity.

I. AS A FACT, THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST HAS A GENERAL AND WORLD-WIDE INTEREST. The historian of humanity, the philosopher reflecting upon the most important factors in human life, is constrained to acknowledge the central and universal interest of our Lord's rising from the dead.

1. It was a fulfilment of predictions, and a realization of hopes sometimes dim and sometimes bright.

2. It was the starting-point of the Christian religion. The existence of the Church of Christ is only to be explained by remembering how firmly the first promulgators of the new faith held the belief that their Lord had risen from the dead.

3. It was, in the view of the Christian community, the pledge of the general resurrection of all men to another life; it gave definiteness and power to the belief in personal immortality.

II. AS A DOCTRINE, THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST HAS A SPECIAL CHRISTIAN INTEREST.

1. It is the chief external evidence of the Messiahship and Divinity of Jesus of Nazareth. It was in fulfilment of his own express declarations that, after enduring a death of violence, he rose victorious from the grave. His resurrection is in harmony with his claim to a nature and character altogether unique.

2. It is the seal of the efficacy of his mediatorial sufferings. However the humiliation and sacrifice of the Redeemer were related to the forgiveness and justification of men, it is certain that Christ's rising from the dead was the completion of his redemptive undertaking on man's behalf.

III. AS A POWER, THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST HAS A PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL INTEREST. This is the aspect of this great fact which is insisted upon most strenuously in this passage, and its practical importance to every individual Christian is manifest. The true believer in Christ shares in his Lord's resurrection.

1. Our sins were crucified in Christ's death upon the cross, and in his resurrection we were delivered from their power.

2. Our past sinful life became dead to us as Christ died; and our newness of life began in his rising from the tomb. We have the sign of this, the apostle teaches us, in baptism, with its teaching regarding renewal and consecration.

3. By our faith in the resurrection of our Saviour, we are raised above trial, doubt, temptation, darkness, and fear. The cross tells us that it may consist with the wisdom and the goodness of God that for a season we should endure trouble, disappointment, and seeming failure. But the empty tomb assures us that for every good man and for every good work there is a resurrection appointed. Death is for a season; God's people cannot be "holden of it." The corn of wheat dies, but it dies to live, and to bring forth much fruit.

4. In Christ's resurrection the Christian is begotten to a living hope of an immortal inheritance, His people are appointed to share his triumph and his glory.

Romans 6:4

"Newness of life:" a New Year's sermon.

Things new and old make up the sum of human experiences. All that is new becomes old, and the old disappears to come before us again in new combinations, in new shapes. The mind of man seems to have a natural leaning in both directions; we like the old because it is old, and the new because it is new. This is one of the contradictions inseparable from human nature. There is some truth in the common saying that the young prefer novelty and the aged cling to "use and wont." It is easy to see how, to the youthful, change should be welcome, for their knowledge is yet very limited, and new experiences are the appointed means of furnishing and equipping the mind. It is less easy to explain the conservatism of age and its dread of innovation, for experience must have taught the old how imperfect is everything that concerns man's culture and condition; this trait of character may be largely owing to the increasing feebleness which indisposes to the unwonted exertion of the faculties, or to accommodation to new circumstances. True religion takes advantage of both these tendencies of human nature. It appeals to the natural attachment we feel to what is ancient and sanctioned by prolonged existence; and it appeals also to the yearning for progress and for fresh experiences, which we all either have felt in the past or feel today. But observe in what way revelation makes use of these natural tendencies, and remark the harmony there is between the moral necessities of man and the Divine communications of Scripture. Broadly speaking, whatever concerns God is commended by its antiquity and unchangeableness; whilst that which refers to man approaches us with the charm and the allurement of novelty. A moment's reflection will show us why this should be so with true religion. Man, in his brief life, with his feeble purposes and his petty achievements, looks away from himself for the eternal and the unchanging. This he knows is not in himself or in his race; and he seeks it in the unseen God. And herein he is right. He does not seek these attributes in vain. For, knowing God, he knows that in him there is absolute being, unaffected by the changes to which all creation is subject. Man can find his true stability and his true peace only when he rests in the care and love of "the Father of lights, who is without variableness and shadow of turning." But, on the other hand, man, when he knows himself, is aware that his past has been a past unsatisfactory to himself, and blamable by his Creator and Judge. His changes have often been from evil to evil; and he looks forward, rather than behind him, for relief. His only hope is in his future. The old he can regard only with pain, with regret, with distress. If there is improvement, it must be in what is new—in a new condition, new impulses, new principles of the soul, in new associations and new help. Accordingly, Christianity comes to man with gifts of heavenly newness in her hand. Christianity establishes with man a "new covenant," and gives to him a "new commandment;" makes of him a "new creation," transforms him into a "new man." It opens up to him a "new way" unto the Father by the Mediator of a "new testament," gives him a "new name," and teaches him a "new song," and inspires him with the hope of a "new heaven anti a new earth." In short, it enables him to serve in "newness of spirit," and to walk in "newness of life." "Life" is, in the New Testament, used as equivalent to the history of the spiritual nature. The Lord Jesus professed to be "the Life," "the Life of men;" he came that "we might have life, and that more abundantly," and the acceptance of him as the Divine Saviour is designated the "passing from death unto life." This being understood, it will not be supposed that by "newness of life" the Apostle Paul refers to the life of the body, or to the outward circumstances in which physical life may be passed. And yet the context shows that he is not treating of the future and blessed life in the nearer presence of God. Accordingly, we understand by "newness of life" that which contrasts with the spiritual deadness which hung as a cloud of darkness over heathen humanity, and which contrasts also with the earlier and imperfect developments of spiritual vitality. It is a newness of life which is peculiar to the Christian dispensation, but is yet found wherever Christ is known, trusted, and loved. We greet the new year with gladness and with hope, because it seems to offer us the opportunity to begin life anew. We are thankful for the relief of leaving the past behind, and we cherish the hope that each new year will be one of greater spiritual progress and happiness than the years that are past. Christians wish to forget the things that are behind, and to reach forth to those things that are before. Some who have been undecided as to their course have resolved with the new year to make a fresh beginning in life, and henceforth to live by the faith of the Son of God, and to his service and glory. The subject ought, therefore, to be appropriate and welcome to such as are hopefully and prayerfully aspiring unto "newness of life."

I. The newness of the Christian life will appear from the consideration that it is A LIFE IS CHRIST. This very language must be at first unintelligible to a person unacquainted with the gospel. That life should be in a person seems monstrous and meaningless. Yet Christ himself has said, "Abide in me, and I in you;" and his Apostle Paul has taught us that "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." Christ is the Basis upon which the Christian builds, the Foundation of the edifice of his new and higher life. Christ is the Vine-stem into which the Christian is grafted, and from which he draws all his vitality, his vigour, and his fruitfulness. Christ is the Head, in dependence upon whom the Christian is a living, active, and obedient member. The signs and evidences of this life are these:

1. The renewed man learns who Christ is, and what Christ has done and suffered for him.

2. The renewed man admits the claim Christ has upon his gratitude, his faith, his love; and trusts in him.

3. The renewed man consciously accepts life as the gift of God in Christ.

4. The renewed man, by maintaining fellowship with Christ, advances in the new and higher life.

II. The newness of the Christian life is manifest from THE AGENCY BY WHICH IT IS EFFECTED.

1. A spiritual agency.

2. A Divine agency.

3. A freely acting and gracious agency.

4. A transforming agency.

5. A ceaseless and progressive agency.

III. The newness of the Christian life is displayed in THE MOTIVES AND PRINCIPLES BY WHICH IT IS GOVERNED.

1. The love of Christ revealed and responded to is the motive power of this life.

2. The law of Christ becomes a law of friendship.

3. The approval of Christ is an animating and cheering power in the heart.

4. Thus self and the world, the common motives to action, fall into their proper place, or are banished from the Christian's soul.

IV. NEW ASSOCIATIONS are a feature of the Christian's new life.

V. The Christian life tends and points to A FURTHER AND HIGHER REGENERATION IN THE FUTURE.

APPLICATION. Newness of life depends comparatively little upon outward circumstances. There is nothing in the colour of a man's skin, the climate of a man's birthplace, the nature of a man's occupation, his condition whether of poverty or wealth, his education whether scanty or liberal, his age or his station,—there is nothing in all these things which can interfere with or hinder him from becoming a new man in Christ. Does it seem to any one that for him this is an impossibility, because of the unfavorable circumstances in which he finds himself? Disabuse yourself of this illusion, for illusion it is. It may not be within your power to become a learned man, or an eloquent man, a rich man, or a powerful man; but the circumstances which may prevent you from becoming learned or wealthy, mighty or persuasive, have no force to hinder you from becoming "a new man." The obstacles to this renewal are to be sought within, not without; they are to be found in the will, which is often resolved to resist the authority, to reject the truth, and to ignore the love of God. If you take a savage from his native woods, clothe him in civilized attire, place him in a lordly palace, surround him with books and with music, with paintings and with flowers, does he cease to be a savage? Not until the mind is changed. The man himself may remain the same, whilst all his surroundings are altered. These external changes do not make of him a new man, and his life has not in virtue of them become a new life. So is it with man in relation to the kingdom of Christ. Deprive a human being of the liberty which he has abused, remove him from his evil companionships, shut out from him the temptations to which he has been wont to yield, introduce him into Christian society, constrain him to frequent the means of religious instruction; yet his life has not thereby become a new life. The old nature is still there. The Ethiopian has not changed his skin, nor the leopard his spots. The man's true life lies in the bent of his thoughts, the affections of his heart, the bias of his will; and whilst all these are toward evil, the old nature is supreme, and the new life is not yet. Love is the one only potentate at whose master-bidding old things will pass away. Before's Love's wizard wand alone, the ancient shadows will depart from the gloomy cave of the unregenerated soul, and that cave will become a temple peopled with the forms of the holy, and echoing with the songs of heaven. Divine love can make the wilderness a paradise, can change each thorn into a flower, and all the thistles into fruits. When Love smites the rock, the spring of health and of refreshing will gush forth. He who hears Love's voice shall forget the weakness and the weariness of the pilgrimage; and his footstep, erst so heavy and so dull, shall bound elastic onwards.

Romans 6:14

The enfranchisement by grace.

The Law, by exhibiting the heinousness of sin and its awful consequences, was the occasion of the introduction of the gospel and of the victories of God's grace. If, then, where sin abounds, grace much more abounds, some sophistical reasoner may propose to continue in sin. It is against this wretched argument that the apostle appeals in the language of the text. "Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace." The very fact which was adduced by some as an excuse for sin is shown to be the chief reason for freedom from sin.

I. SIN HAS HAD, AND HAS, MASTERY OVER MEN. Sinners are under the rule and bondage of a tyrannical and wicked lord. Turning away in a rebellious spirit from their rightful King and Ruler, they have submitted themselves to the usurper's sway. Sin takes possession of their affections, their judgment, and their will.

II. UNDER THE LAW, MEN WERE COMMONLY AND HABITUALLY UNDER THE MASTERY OF SIN. By the Law, the apostle means chiefly the Jewish Law; yet not this exclusively; for it appears that the unwritten law generally is intended in the argument of the Epistle. They were "under the Law" who lived under legal ordinances and sanctions, and who, in theory at all events, acknowledged its claim. Sin to them was transgression, and the motive for avoiding transgression was the fear of penalty to be inflicted by the Lawgiver and Judge. Now, it is urged that those under the Law were in very many cases the slaves of sin; for the Law entered that the offence might abound. History, sacred and profane, bears out these assertions. The standard of morality by which men judged themselves was low, and even to this they did not generally approach, much less attain. This was so with the Jews, and more conspicuously with the Gentiles.

III. IT IS THE EFFECT OF THE DISPENSATION OF GRACE TO SET MEN FREE FROM THE MASTERY OF SIN.

1. What is it to be "under grace"? It is voluntarily and consciously to receive the free favour of God bestowed through Jesus Christ upon all who believe. It is to participate in the new and distinctively Christian righteousness. It is in the exercise of faith to be brought into harmony with God's government and purposes. It is to come under the influence of a new, Divine, and powerful motive, furnished by the infinite love and clemency of God.

2. How does being "under grace" set and keep a man free from sin? The apostle explains the process by employing three figures. According to the first, by baptism, the initiative act of faith and consecration, the Christian is joined to his Saviour in his death upon the cross, and, thus being united to an almighty Saviour, must consequently rise in the likeness of his resurrection to a new and holy life. According to the second, the Christian, forsaking the service of sin, yields himself by faith to the service of Christ, and is therefore bound to fulfil the obligations which he has undertaken. The third figure represents his state under the Law as abolished by faith in Christ, just as a woman is released from her husband by his death; fidelity to Christ's service and law are as binding upon the Christian as is fidelity to her second husband on the part of the newly married woman. Duty and love combine to render the obligation to holiness stringent and effective.

IV. THE POWER OF GRACE EXCEEDS THE POWER OF THE LAW. In explaining how this is we may observe:

1. The principles appealed to are higher; love and gratitude are higher than fear and interest.

2. The aid afforded is greater; it is the aid of the Holy Spirit of God.

3. The example set before the Christian is more stimulating and inspiring.

4. The prospects presented are more alluring and glorious.

Romans 6:17

The mould of Christian doctrine.

The Christian, in remembering what he was, deepens his impression of Divine grace, to which he owes it that the. change has been effected in which he now rejoices. St. Paul took a peculiar satisfaction in reviewing his own experience, and acknowledging his indebtedness to that Divine grace which had fashioned his character anew. And if the Christian will consider the state in which he would have been apart from the supernatural doctrine and influences of Christianity, he will see reason for gratitude in the provision made for the transformation and renewal of his character. In this verse the change is attributed, instrumentally, to the power of Christian doctrine, which is, as it were, a pattern by which he is reconstructed, or a mould into which the metal of his nature has been cast, in order to its taking a new and divinely ordered shape and form.

I. THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE IS AS A MOULD PREPARED IN ORDER TO GIVE A NEW SHAPE AND FORM TO THE HUMAN CHARACTER. When iron is "cast," it is run, in a liquid state, into a shape or mould of earth or sand of the desired form; and thus the artificer produces a bolt or a cannon. Thus, in the intellectual and spiritual realm, ideas govern men; and the character and life are largely owing to the thoughts which are familiar and congenial And Christian doctrine is not an end, but a means; the righteousness and love of God, revealed in Christ, having power to reconstruct the character and to renew the life. The doctrine is alive with the power of the Holy Spirit of God.

II. THE CHRISTIAN DISCIPLE IS CAST INTO THIS SPIRITUAL MOULD, THAT HE MAY TAKE ITS NEW SHAPE AND FORM. The old elements of human nature, old errors and old sins, are dissolved and melted down when brought into contact with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Old things pass away, in order that all things may become new. We may fancy that the doctrine is delivered unto us, to do what we like with it; but the reverse is the case. We are delivered unto it, in order that it may do its work upon us. So it is with the Christian education of the young, and with the evangelization of the heathen. The mould of Christian doctrine imparts to him who is brought into living contact with it a new motive to holiness, in the redeeming and sacrificial love of the Saviour; a new rule of holiness, in his law and life; and new help towards holiness, in the provision of the Spirit's help and grace. A moral transfiguration is effected, as the natural result of intelligent acceptance and voluntary allegiance. For if faith is the soul of obedience, obedience is the body of faith. There is no change so wonderful and so admirable as that which is wrought in human character by the moulding power of Christian doctrine.

HOMILIES BY C.H. IRWIN

Romans 6:1-14

The practical power of the Resurrection.

Here the apostle enlarges still more fully upon the truth that the Christian's faith leads not merely to the pardon of sin, but also to deliverance from its power. Because grace has abounded over sin, and our unrighteousness has commended the righteousness of God, it does not therefore follow that we are to continue in sin. If we have a real union with Christ, we have been baptized into his death. We are buried with him by baptism into death; "that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

I. THE FACT OF THE RESURRECTION. That the resurrection of Christ is surrounded with mystery, no one will deny. But the evidence by which the great central fact itself is established is so strong, so clear, so decisive, that even scepticism has sometimes to admit itself convinced. The effect of the most able and adverse criticism has only been to establish more and more certainly the fact of the Resurrection, and thus to confirm more strongly the Christian's faith. It is remarkable that two of the greatest rationalists of the present century, who doubted almost every fact of the New Testament history, admitted that the Resurrection was a fact which they could not doubt. Ewald, who deals destructively with most of the gospel incidents, "regarding some as mythical, some as admitting of a rationalistic interpretation, and some as combining the elements of both," is unable to destroy or explain away the Resurrection. "Rejecting all attempts to explain it, he accepts the great fact of the Resurrection on the evidence of history, and declares that nothing can be more historical." The testimony of De Wette is even more remarkable. He was more sceptical than Ewald; so much so that he was called "The Universal Doubter." Nevertheless, such is the force of the evidence, that this great rationalistic critic, in his last work, published in 1848, said that the fact of the Resurrection, although a darkness which cannot be dissipated rests on the way and manner of it, cannot itself be called in question any more than the historical certainty of the assassination of Julius Caesar.

1. The fact of the Resurrection is attested by the four evangelists. The four Gospels were written by men widely separated both in time and place. Their very variations are a proof of their substantial truth. They give varying accounts of the Resurrection, as would naturally be expected from men whom so great an event impressed in different ways, but they all agree in testifying that the event occurred.

2. The narrative of the Resurrection was accepted by the early Christians who lived at the time when the event took place. It is spoken of constantly in the Epistles to the various Churches as an event with which they were all familiar, and about which there was not the slightest doubt. When Peter is proposing the appointment of a successor to Judas, he speaks of the Resurrection as one of the great subjects of apostolic preaching. Indeed, it would appear that he regarded the preaching of the Resurrection as the great subject for which the apostle should be chosen. His words were, "Wherefore of these men who have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection."

3. The conversion of St. Paul, and his subsequent advocacy of the doctrine of the Resurrection, are perhaps the strongest proofs of its truth. Paul was a persecutor and a bigoted Pharisee. He suddenly became a member of the sect that was so hated and despised. The explanation that he himself gave of this change was that Jesus Christ had appeared unto him. It was not likely that Paul, a clear-headed man, accustomed to weigh evidence, would be deceived as to Christ's appearance. He could not be lightly led to take a step of such immense importance to his whole life. Something more than a mere dream or hallucination must be found to account for his whole subsequent career. He was not likely to undertake those missionary journeys through Asia Minor, through Macedonia, and through Greece, and to persevere in them, in the face of much opposition, ridicule, persecution, and many hardships and dangers, for the sake of a mere fancy. He was not a mere visionary or fanatic. His Epistles show him to have been a man of robust mind, great reasoning power, and soberness of judgment. And yet, in every instance in which a public speech of his is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles; in his address at Antioch in Pisidia, in his address at Athens, in his address to the multitude when he was taken prisoner at Jerusalem; whether he is in the presence of the high priest, of Felix, or of Festus and Agrippa, he most distinctly proclaims the fact of the resurrection of Christ.

4. As the life of the Apostle Paul was changed, so the lives of all the apostles were changed from the moment that the risen Christ appeared to them. Before that they were timid and frightened. The boldest of them became so cowardly as to deny that he knew Christ at all. They had all forsaken him and fled when the time of crucifixion drew near. After the crucifixion they became disheartened and depressed. We can easily see what would have become of Christianity had there been no resurrection, as we study the conduct and words of the disciples when they knew that their Master was so soon to be taken from them, and when they thought he was still in the grave. But the Resurrection altered everything. The change that occurred can only be explained by the actual reappearance of Christ to them. The timid became brave again. They cannot but speak the things which they have seen and heard. They endure persecution and suffering and martyrdom now, for the grave is no longer dark, and the crown of life is beyond the struggle and the pain.

II. THE DOCTRINES WHICH IT TEACHES.

1. That there shall be a general resurrection of the dead. "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).

2. That those who believe on the Lord Jesus shall live with him for ever. "I am the Resurrection, and the Life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" (John 11:25). And here the apostle says, "Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (verse 8). Christ has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. He has satisfied the yearning of the human heart for a life beyond the present—a yearning so strong that one of the greatest thinkers of our own time, though the logical conclusion of his system is universal death, nevertheless tries to avoid or overcome this dreary prospect by the suggestion that out of this death another life may spring. Our poet-laureate has expressed that yearning thus. Speaking of love, he says—

"He seeks at last

Upon the last and sharpest height

Before the spirits fade away,

Some landing-place, to clasp and say,

'Farewell! We lose ourselves in light!'"

Yes, it is when the grave is near, it is when our loved ones are suddenly taken from us by death, that we learn what a precious truth the resurrection of Jesus is to rest on.

III. THE PRACTICAL LESSONS WHICH IT CONVEYS. "That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (verse 4); "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (verse 12). Elsewhere the apostle expresses the same truth. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1). This is the practical power of the fact and doctrine of the Resurrection. If we have in our hearts the hope of being with Christ, what a transforming influence that hope should exercise upon our lives! We should "yield ourselves unto Cod, as those that are alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (verse 13). Thus the risen life of Christ enters into and becomes part of the present life of his people. Thus their life enters into and becomes part of his. "Our life is hid with Christ in God."—C.H.I.

Romans 6:15-23

The two services and their rewards.

In the closing part of the fifth chapter, and throughout this chapter, the apostle is contrasting the operation of two great principles. The one is the principle of sin; the other is the principle of righteousness. He compares them to two kings reigning in the world, controlling men's lives, and influencing men in certain directions and to certain actions. Sin reigns unto death. That has been its operation all through human history. But a new power has entered to dispute its influence. That power is the free grace of God, exhibited in Christ, God's Son. That power operates in righteousness. It provides a righteousness for men by the blood of Christ. It produces a righteousness in men. "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." And now in these immediate verses St. Paul is making an appeal to his readers. He has set before them the two great principles. He has contrasted them in their operation and their results. Now he makes the matter personal. He enforces his appeal by the question of the sixteenth verse, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sic unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" And then he says, "As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (Romans 6:19).

I. EVERY LIFE IS A SERVICE OF SOME SORT.

1. Some are servants of the love of money. Of money and how to make it they are always thinking; for the sake of it they will go through many risks and toils and hardships. Their first question about everything is, "Will it pay?" and all their money-grasping does not pay them in the end. They may have much goods laid up for many years; they may have good securities for their investments; but they have made no provision for their immortal souls; they have laid up no treasure that will be of use to them beyond the grave. That is a poor service for a being who must soon go into the presence of the eternal God.

2. Some are servants of the love of dress. Even in our Lord's time, he found it necessary to warn his hearers against thinking too much about their dress. Even Christian people, who profess to be the servants of Christ, are too frequently the servants of fashion. There is sometimes more attention given to the dress of our neighbours or of ourselves in the house of God than there is to the voice of our Creator and our Saviour, or than there is to the question whether we have the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, or the spotless robe of Christ's righteousness. It is said that St. Bernard of Clairvaux, who rebuked princes, and fired all Europe with a new crusade, all the while living himself in utter poverty, used to ask himself every day the stern question, "Bernarde, ad quid venisti?"—"Bernard, wherefore art thou here?" So it would be well if we would ask ourselves more frequently what is the purpose of our lives.

3. Others, again, are the servants of ambition. To be higher than their fellow-men, to be fawned upon and flattered, to receive the homage of the poor and the favour of the rich, to be talked about in the gossip of society,—that is the object for which many persons live. Yet, when attained, it brings no lasting peace or contentment to the mind. The praise of men, moreover, is a very fickle and uncertain thing. The hero of today will be forgotten tomorrow. Earthly fame has ever been—

"Like a snow-flake on the river,

A moment seen, then lost for ever."

Such are some of the services to which men devote their thoughts, their time, their energies. How vain and profitless are they all! When the hour of death draws nigh, let any one who has spent his life in the service of any of these masters ask them to help him in the death-struggle, to give him hope for the future: will they be able to give him any assistance? They cannot even keep his poor mortal body from the dust; much less can they give life to the soul. They have already helped to produce death in the soul. They have dragged him downwards to the earth. And so it is that, when the soul must go from this world into the unseen, it is earthly still. There is no fitness for heaven in it at all. The pleasures and possessions of the world, innocent in themselves, become positively harmful to many. They become sinful to them, because they keep the soul away from God.

II. THE SERVICE OF SIN AND ITS RESULTS. Even what we call the more innocent service of the world results in death at last. The death of the body is accompanied by the death of the soul. Much more is this true of all kinds of positive sin. The apostle seeks to point out here the result of being the servant of sin. "His servants ye are to whom ye obey, wether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness" (Romans 6:16); "The end of those things is death" (Romans 6:21); The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Even in this life there is a clear connection between sin and death. The service of sin is a fatal service. Take, for instance, those who are the servants of the craving for intoxicating drink. A special committee of the British Medical Association brought in a report at the meeting of 1887 on the relation of alcohol to disease, which stated that, after careful and prolonged examination of the subject from a scientific point of view, they came to the conclusion that every man who indulged in alcohol beyond the most moderate amounts shortened his life by at least ten years. The President of the United States, General Harrison, has testified that of a class of sixteen young men who graduated with him, almost all had gone to early graves through intemperate habits. Even in this world the sin of intemperance leads to death. But it brings a more lasting and more terrible death than this. The besotted mind, the darkened intellect, is but a beginning of blackness of darkness in the future. "No drunkard shall enter into the kingdom of heaven." When drink becomes the master, how terrible are the results for time and for eternity! In like manner it is true of all other sinful services, that they lead to death. "He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption;" "The wages of sin is death."

III. THE SERVICE OF CHRIST. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:18); "But now, being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life" (Romans 6:22). This is the only service that leads to everlasting life. It is the only service which is not slavery. It is the only service which men never regret entering into. It is the only service which can be called an unmixed good, the only service that brings perfect peace to heart and mind and conscience. It is an easy service, for it is a service of love. Instead of growing weaker by our efforts in the service of Christ, as we do by our efforts to serve sin, we grow stronger; for the true Christian is a better man, a stronger man spiritually, every day he lives. It is the only service that has a hope beyond the grave. It was because Christ saw us perishing in the service of sin, guilty, lost, and helpless, that he came to save us. He calls us now to believe on him, to follow him, and he promises to all who do so the gift of everlasting life. "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

"How long to Streams of false delight

Will ye in crowds repair?

How long your strength and substance waste

On trifles light as air?"

Over the triple doorways of the Cathedral of Milan there are three inscriptions spanning the beautiful arches. Over one is carved a beautiful wreath of roses, and underneath is the legend, "All that which pleases is but for a moment." Over the other is sculptured a cross, and there are the words, "All that which troubles us is but for a moment." But underneath the great central entrance to the main aisle is the inscription, "That only is important which is eternal." If we would only realize these three truths, we should not let the world or its pleasures keep us from Christ, we should not let trifles trouble us, we should not hesitate long about making our choice. "Choose ye this day whom ye will serve."—C.H.I.

HOMILIES BY T.F. LOCKYER

Romans 6:1-11

Buried and risen with Christ.

Attaching to almost all privileges and blessings there are dangerous possibilities of abuse. So with the blessed doctrine of justification by faith, which has been so largely dwelt on hitherto. So especially with that aspect of it just referred to (Romans 5:20). How readily the question might spring to the lip, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" But how readily, from every Christian heart, would spring the response, "God forbid! How shall we?" This answer amplified in the following verses: The relation of the believer, through the death and resurrection of Christ, to sin and holiness.

I. THE DEATH.

1. The relation of the death of Christ to sin. Two elements entering into the atoning work of Christ, each of which, in its bearings, must be distinguished from the other—the Divine, and the human.

(a) Divinely: condemnation for ever;

(b) humanly: expiation for ever.

(a) Divinely: stamp of condemnation; the thing which has brought guilt that must be expiated by death, is by that very death a branded thing;

(b) humanly: renunciation and conflict; the thing which is branded, in the atonement, on the part of God, is forsworn on the part of man.

2. Our relation through the death of Christ to sin. A natural identification of Christ with us, as federal Head of the race; and a spiritual—this latter of voluntary, sympathetic oneness. So a corresponding identification of ourselves with Christ: natural and spiritual. This latter, by faith; the spiritual analogue corresponding with the historical fact, or, in other words, our voluntary spiritual sympathy with Christ's own work.

(a) Acquiescence in the condemnation: every mouth stopped;

(b) acquiescence in the. expiation: for me!

(a) A thing condemned of God: so we regard it henceforth, as bearing a stigma of evil;

(b) a thing forsworn by us: so we regard it henceforth; perpetual war.

Therefore our faith in Christ not merely gives us pardon and peace with God, but commits us too a stern and uncompromising battle with all that is opposed to God. "Ye see your calling, brethren!" Your very baptism is your pledge to wage such warfare.

II. THE LIFE.

1. The relation of the life of Christ to God. Two elements entering into the resurrection-life of Christ: raised by God, raised as Man.

(a) Divinely: the accepted sacrifice; "through the glory of the Father;"

(b) humanly: from darkness into light; "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" (Luke 24:26).

(a) Divinely: God could not suffer his Holy One to see corruption; "having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:33);

(b) humanly: "he liveth unto God;" for us.

2. Our relation through the life of Christ to God. Identification as before—potential for all, actual through faith.

(a) Acquiescence in the approval: gratitude;

(b) acquiescence in the joy: for me!

(a) A life claimed by God: henceforth we bear these "marks;"

(b) a life yielded to God: "the likeness of his resurrection."

So our faith in Christ has regard, not only negatively to sin, but positively to God. We are his; freemen in Christ; risen ones!

"Reckon ye" this! The potential fact will but aggravate our condemnation and our woe, if it be not actualized through faith. Enter into spiritual sympathy with the work of the Redeemer; be dead to the past, be alive to all the glorious future of an immortality in God.—T.F.L.

Romans 6:12-14

The two dominions.

A renewed application of the subject just discussed. The reign of sin; the reign of grace.

I. THE REIGN OF SIN.

1. The self yielded to sin. Man's higher self—reason, conscience, and will—should dominate over the "soul" and the "flesh," the mere passions and lusts; man's spirit should be king. But the true self has been discrowned, and the lower self—the lusts—has gained the mastery. And in this false mastery of the flesh, sin reigns. Oh, degradation! we are led in chains, and sin lords it over us!

2. The members yielded to unrighteousness. Man's lower nature should be the instrument of the higher, for the working of all that is just and good. In Paul's philosophy of human nature the "body" is synonymous with all the active life; and is not the activity of our whole life to be used subordinately to the dictates of the enlightened will? But the activity of life is yielded to the usurping power of sin, instrumental to unrighteousness.

II. THE REIGN OF GRACE.

1. The self yielded to God. Man is not an irresponsible ruler of his own nature; his sovereignty is delegated by God. And only in absolute devotion to God does he realize a true self-conquest. God claims again possession of the spirit which has been torn from him by the power of sin. The claim is one of authority; but the authority is the authority of love.

2. The members yielded to righteousness. God requires the homage of the heart; he also requires the service of the life. Only through the heart can the life be rightly swayed. "Not under law." A resurrection, and a resurrection-power. Yes, because he lives, we may live also! But the appropriation of this power is of man: "Present yourselves." Here is the marvellous gift of human freedom, which may be a freedom unto death; but there is the boundless power of love and life! Therefore choose life, that thou mayest live!—T.F.L.

Romans 6:15-23

Servants to obey.

A slight but suggestive difference between the question of Romans 6:15 and that with which the chapter opens. "Shall we continue in sin," the apostle had asked, "that grace may abound?" And he had flung away such a thought by the presentation of the believer's new life as a life pledged to God through Christ. In Romans 6:12-14 also he had insisted on the consistent fulfilment of the pledge. But now he supposes another and more subtle question—Shall we, not "continue" in sin, but sin, once and again, as we may please, presuming on the easily procured pardon of a gracious God? Alas! how this question insinuates itself into the Christian consciousness: how readily we condone our carelessness by thoughts of the restoring mercy of God! But we are grievously wrong if we think to ourselves that sin and obedience may be played with. We have the dread power to choose our master; but he is a master, and our choice in either case commits us to a course, and. to a consequence. The train may be turned on to this line or that, but the line must be followed, and the destinations are wide as the poles apart. Let us look at these three thoughts—A choice, a course, a consequence.

I. A CHOICE. The false doctrine of law in the necessarian scheme of morals—so many weights upon the scale. But man's will is not a dead scale, determined by weights; it is a living thing, and unless its peculiar life be taken into account all calculations must be wrong. True, if we know the causes, we can predict the result, And certain teachers have said—These are the causes: man's own susceptible nature, and the divers influences which play upon it. Therefore, given the temperament and the influences, we can predict the result. Very plausible. True, if these are the only causes, the result may thus be known. But the cause of causes is the will itself. This is the great factor in the problem. And, after all, when the most scientific calculations have been made, this self-determining power in man may defy all your calculations to predict a right result. Let us not attempt to prove this freedom by elaborate arguments; we need but appeal to each one's consciousness. "I know that I am free; I have power of choice; when I have willed, I know that I might have willed otherwise." This must be each one's true confession. Just as surely as we know that we exist, by the same intuition, which is deeper and truer than all reasoning, do we know that we can yield ourselves to any one of all the manifold motives that are playing upon our will. Does not the history of the Fall illustrate this freedom? For what is the essential truth of that history, but that man had it in his power, either to obey God or to gratify himself, and that he chose self-gratification rather than obedience? But the results were not by any means so transient as the choice itself might seem to be. In the highest sense, freedom was gone. There still remained freedom of choice among the various objects of self-gratification, but there was no longer the power to serve God as before. A great gulf was fixed between man and God. And in this consists what is called the total depravity of man: totally separated from God, and without the power to return. And certain, moreover, to drift from bad to worse. But under the redeeming influences with which God visits the heart of man, and more especially in view of the great redeeming fact with which God has visited the world, this total depravity becomes in some sense neutralized, man's enfeebled will receives new power, and it is once more possible for him to place his choice on God. The freedom of true duty is once more within his reach; from the depths he may yet climb back to God. So, then, taking men as they now are, and especially taking them as we find them in contact with the redeeming truths of the gospel of Christ, we see that each has his alternative choice between godliness and ungodliness, truth and falseness: the right and good, and the wrong and bad, or, in the words of St. Paul, between obedience and sin. "Ye yield yourselves:" the supreme fact of every one's life is wrapped up in those words. From childhood upwards good and bad influences contend for the mastery. God and sin ask for our service, and we cannot but "yield ourselves" to the one or the other. We make our choice, whether consciously and with full deliberatenes of purpose, or well-nigh unconsciously and with careless neglect. We choose sin, and thereby' set the seal on our own death; or we choose God, and thereby rise to newness of life. But in either case our own choice determines our course, and the course to which we commit ourselves works out its inevitable consequence.

II. A COURSE. Let us now consider the course to which our choice in either case commits us.

1. In the one case we become servants, or slaves, of sin. Our Lord's words (John 8:32-36). Man may refuse to bow to sin; but when he does bow, sin holds him fast. Nay, he may yet rise from his thraldom and be free; but every yielding is the taking on of a new chain, and every continuance in sin is the rivetting of the chain. The slave of sin? Oh, it is no fiction! The man who yields to sin is led captive by a master stronger than himself. So with the inebriate, the man of passion, the miser. Yes; dragged in chains. And yet it is a "free" man, forsooth, who has thus sold himself to serve sin!

2. In the other case we become servants, or slaves, of obedience. The same law works, whatever the material of its working. Hence the degrading slavery of the servant of sin is but the dark side of the result of that same law which, in its brighter results, is the safeguard and glory of our righteousness. But is not the result slavery still? Ah! let us ask, what is slavery? Mere service—intent, earnest, unremitting service—is not. Service is slavery when it is forced. Contrast the service of a Crusader, and that of a captive among the Moors. It is slavery also when, even if not forced, it is degrading and low. Contrast slave-trader, and pure, virtuous man enthralled. So Epictetus. The service of sin, then, is slavery because it is degrading and base; whereas, to yield obedience to God, and thenceforth to serve him with unremitting ardour and with the enthusiasm of lofty joy, that is not slavery, that is freedom of the highest kind (so John 8:36). Yes; this the secret of liberty: the "spirit of a son" (Galatians 4:6, Galatians 4:7).

III. A CONSEQUENCE. But now let us consider the consequence to which such a course of conduct in either case must lead.

1. "Sin unto death." Yes, towards this inevitable result the service of sin must tend. A fixity of corrupt character. Recovery of freedom possible now; not always. Death—the death of man's best nature,—this the doom which the service of sin ensures. The victims of Circe: so the slaves of sin. But no wizardry can undo that death!

2. "Obedience unto righteousness." A fixity again. This the process of all true moral life. So was it to have been with the first man; so was it with the second ("yet learned he obedience "). So, doubtless, with the angels. And so with us: we are fighting towards the crown which Paul desired (Philippians 3:12; 2 Timothy 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:8), the crown of a consummate righteousness, or, in other words Revelation 2:10), "the crown of life." Such the two consequences of the two courses, to one or other of which each man, by his free choice, commits himself. But whereas death is the wages of sin, the eternal life is God's free gift.

And to all of us, in words of hope, the voice from heaven says, "Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on eternal life! "—T.F.L.

HOMILIES BY S.R. ALDRIDGE

Romans 6:3, Romans 6:4

The significance of baptism.

To suppose that the acceptance of the grace of God in Christ renders us careless about the further committal of sin is to misapprehend the nature of redemption. We cannot dissociate the external results of Christ's work from a consideration of its inward effects upon the mind and heart of the man who profits by it. For a practical refutation of the supposition, the apostle points to the acknowledged meaning of the ceremony wherein each believer indicates his close relationship to the Saviour.

I. BAPTISM THE SYMBOL OF AN ALTERED LIFE. What can more forcibly set forth an abandonment of former feelings and, behaviour than being "dead and buried"? The allusion here to immersion is questioned by none, and a water grave speaks eloquently of a changed attitude to sin and the world. We are so constituted that this appeal to the senses powerfully impresses both the actual participator in the act and the spectators of the living picture.

II. A SYMBOL OF COMPLETE FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST. The follower of Christ repeats in his inward experience the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. These were necessitated by the presence and enormity of sin, and to "put on Christ" as our Redeemer is to adopt his crucifixion and subsequent triumph as our expression of hatred against all that perverts the moral order of the world. To be immersed into the death of Christ is to be completely surrendered to the claims of the Son of God, and to share his hostility to evil, rejoicing in his conquest over death and the grave, and the adversary of mankind. By compliance with his commandment does the disciple signify his entire dedication to his Master's service.

III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS NEW LIFE. Emerging from the Burial, the candidate rises with Christ as his Example and Companion. His is to be an active life, "a walk," not a dreamy repose of self-absorption into the bliss of Nirvana. The contrast to the old career was exemplified in the resurrection gladness and glory of the Lord. No more was sin to exert its baleful influence; the body of the risen Lord no longer could be tortured with hunger and thirst and suffering. The Saviour was limited no longer by material barriers; he was endowed with full authority from on high, and crowned with ever-increasing splendour. When the Apostle Paul saw his Lord, the Brightness excelled the noonday sun. These triumphs are in their degree repeated in the spiritual life of the baptized believer. He casts off the works of darkness and puts on the armour of light. He keeps his body under, so that the spirit rules. The voice from heaven proclaims him God's beloved son. Instead of anguish there is peace and joy. He sits in heavenly places, and God causeth him always to triumph in Christ Jesus. Such is the ideal life of fellowship with Christ in his resurrection, shadowed forth By the ascent from the baptismal waters.—S.R.A.

Romans 6:16

Not masters, but servants.

The knowledge of a truth is not synonymous with its practical recognition in our daily life. "Know ye not? ' calls plain attention to the consequences of behaviour. It is the business of Scripture and preaching to emphasize the importance of our personal acts. We are not really masters in any condition. The curbed or uncurbed steed of our desires is working in some service, be it of sin or of God.

I. THE ALTERNATIVE. 'We yield to the motions either of "sin unto death" or of "obedience unto righteousness." No middle course is possible. Though the notorious transgressor may do a kind action, and the distinguished saint disappointingly err, yet the distinction is real. Characters are only of two sorts; they verge to good or evil. It is not for others, but ourselves, to estimate our position and tendency. Men are deluded by the imaginary difficulty of drawing a boundary-line because of the way in which apparently the good shades off into evil. In the one service or the other we are actually enlisted.

II. THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE. There is the option of the two careers; we are not compelled to either. Motives, longing, circumstances, do not amount to constraint. The apostle pictures men as voluntarily yielding themselves, presenting themselves to the chosen employer. This does not mean that men willingly elect sin as such. The moral bent, the image of God, is shown in their use of terms to hide the viciousness of actions; "a gay life" instead of debauchery; "embellishing a story" instead of a perversion of the truth. Milton describes sin as leaping from the head of the arch-fiend, a form that struck the rebel host at first with horror, "but familiar grown she pleased." That is the death of the soul when evil is deliberately selected: "Evil, be thou my good." And the freedom of choice does not imply the absence of obligations to serve God. To delay is to adhere to sin.

III. THE SERVICE OF SIN A DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD. The statement of the alternative, by its sharp antithesis of "sin" and "obedience," indicates the essential nature of sin. Disobedience is the wanting our own way in opposition to some command of a rightful authority. God's government being moral, to elect a course of life which violates his laws is to give one's self to the service of God's enemy. As compliance with some small order evinces the loyalty of the soldiers; so with us, like our first parents, it may be a so-called trifling matter which tests our disposition. To sin is to disobey a physical, moral, or religious commandment, and this transgression is not merely an individual concern; it affects the Ruler of the universe. Treason is the worst crime against the state, and no man can be allowed to become a centre of infection to the body politic. The disobedience may be in thought, affection, or will, apart from any outward act. Human laws can rarely take note of the inner man; but it is the perfection of Divine laws to regard the heart of the agent.

IV. THE HAPPY RESULT OF OBEDIENCE. Obedience to "the highest we know" is justified by its consequences, "righteousness" and "life." Men are often afraid lest, by keeping the commandments, they may be debarred from gain and enjoyment; yet is it obedience which augments true power and satisfaction. The laws of God were framed and written upon the heart of man to secure his well-being; to break them is to mar the working of the beautiful machine. If conscience warn you of danger, only folly will silence the monitory voice and darken the beacon-light. Note the work of Christ in removing hard thoughts of the Lawgiver, and exhibiting the beauty of a blamelessly obedient life. He manifested the goal of obedience to be peace, joy, triumph. Our obedience is not the life of despotism, where to reason is illegal; nor of slavery, where is work without a recompense; nor of penance, where merit is sought by righteous deeds as a title to heaven; but Christian obedience is rendered as the joyous intelligent outcome of salvation through Christ, bringing us righteousness and life. Persevering obedience begets a habit of virtue, and surrounds us with a holy environment, wherein it is easier to do right than wrong. Conscience as the approving faculty ministers constant delight. This, at least, is the ideal, to which we may increasingly conform. Compare the lines, spoken by Adam to Michael, in the 'Paradise Lost'—

"Henceforth I learn that to obey is best,

And love, with fear, the only God, etc.;

and the angel's reply—

"This having learnt, thou hast attained the sum

Of wisdom: hope no higher," etc.

S.R.A.

Romans 6:17

The gospel a mould of obedience.

Some memories are best forgotten, like a horrid dream. Not so the Christian's recollection of his conversion. As the Corinthians were reminded of their previous wretched career—" such were some of you"—so here the Romans. In reading the Authorized Version stress must be laid on the past tense, "were;" then it suggests the clearer translation of the Revised edition.

I. THE FORMER SLAVERY. Absolute freedom is impossible to man, who is surrounded by higher powers, and has a Divine law impressed on his nature. The headstrong youth is really in bondage to sin; and the recluse in his solitude, whilst free from some of the restrictions of civilization, yet deprives himself of some advantages, and thereby imposes on himself certain limits. The description of sin as bond-service is just when we think of the manner in which men are worn out by vice. The silken cords of pleasure become adamantine bonds. The man who delays to reform his life becomes a prisoner, unable to turn the key in the rusty lock. Dislike of the epithet, "servants of sin," must not blind us to its accuracy, in spite of the euphemistic terms which would hide the flagrancy of our transgressions. Without supposing that statistics of the members of Churches accurately embrace all servants of righteousness, the condition of slavery is all too common, even in Christian England. Press home this fact, and remember that the great, question is not whether we can fix the date and enumerate the details of our conversion, but whether we are conscious of a renewed heart and life.

II. THE NEW SERVICE. The text speaks of a changed state of obedience to God and adoption of righteousness—a state sanctioned by conscience, ratified by the judgment, pleasing to the Almighty, and every way beneficial to ourselves and others. Its cause is the new teaching concerning Jesus Christ. The tense is definite; these Christians had received the doctrine and embraced it gladly. Perhaps the good news is today too much encumbered with technical phraseology, or, having been frequently listened to from infancy, fails to excite in us the glad wonder which it evoked when fresh to the ear. To the Romans it brought tidings of the abrogation of the Sinaitic Law as a covenant of life; it told of the one perfect Offering whereby those that believe are sanctified; it spoke of the all-providing love of the Father for his erring children. The gospel comes as a law to be obeyed, but supplies adequate motives and spiritual power for its fulfilment. The code is discipleship to Christ, hearkening to his preaching and copying his life. This doctrine is represented in the text as "a mould" into which the life of the obedient is cast, imparting to them a righteous form—a likeness to their teacher—Christ. And in hearty obedience true freedom is realized. The father, toiling home laden with gifts for his children, does not look upon his load as a wearisome burden. The mother, with her fresh responsibilities and cares, delights in the maternal yoke. Love alters the bias, oils the wheels of duty. Christ has won the hearts of his people, and to serve him is an honour and a joy. He strikes off the shackles of sin, and we welcome the golden chains of righteous obedience. We do not deny that sin has its pleasures; but, in comparison with the sense of purity and elevation which the service of Christ furnishes, there is the difference between the hot, stifling atmosphere of the music-hall and the sweet bracing air of the mountain-top.

III. THE THANKSGIVING FOR THE DELIVERANCE. None could think that the rendering of the Authorized Version implied Paul's delight at the former unrighteousness; but the Revised rendering is less ambiguous to the hurried reader. The phrase, "thank God," used to be a stock insertion in ordinary letters. Here it is no unmeaning ascription, filling up the interstices of speech, but a devout acknowledgment of sincere gratitude to him who instituted the gracious plan of salvation, giving up his beloved Son, and by his Spirit opens the hearts of an audience to attend to the message of everlasting life. It is the outpouring of the heart for the safety and honourable obedience of fellow-Christians. A pastor may offer it for his flock, a teacher for her scholars. Give glory to God! thank him with lip and life, by seeking to understand and obey the statutes and principles of the Word of truth, and by leading others to know the joys of redemptive obedience.—S.R.A.

Romans 6:23

Covet the best gift!

Contrast heightens effect, as artists by a dark background throw the foreground into brighter relief. So the apostle places two careers in close proximity. He will not allow that it makes little difference which path men tread, in which condition they are found, or what qualifications they seek.

I. A MOMENTOUS BLESSING. "Eternal life." All life is wonderful Easy is it to destroy the ephemeral life of a moth, but to restore it is beyond human skill. The disciples were assured of eternal life, yet they died; consequently the life they received was not to be measured in ordinary scales, nor to be probed by a material dissecting knife. Eternal life is a different kind of life from mere transitory existence; it passes unharmed through the crucible of animal death, for spiritual powers are untouched by earthly decay and corruption. Eternal life means the quickening of the moral nature, its resuscitation from the sleep of trespasses and sins. And as ordinary life in its fulness involves freedom from pain and sickness, and a vigorous activity, so spiritual life, when fully realized, implies peace of mind and the power to do right. They are feeble Christians who do not know the joyous energy of children "with quicksilver in their veins," delighting to exercise their limbs and thus to develop their growing faculties.

II. THIS BLESSING RECEIVED AS A GIFT. By a sinful course of action we merit death, as a soldier by his service earns his rations and his pay. We disobey the Law, and bring the sentence upon ourselves. But we have no power available to procure for ourselves acquittal and favour. Much as the youth joys to see his first-earned sovereign glittering in his palm, he could take no delight in the stripes which his disobedience brings upon him. Human weakness has been provided for in God's plan of salvation. He who breathed natural life into man comes again graciously to inspire his creatures with spiritual life. God knows the needs of his creatures, and the gift is pre-eminently suitable. The Romans loved the games of the amphitheatre; but when famine threatened the city, the curses were loud and deep against Nero because the Alexandrian ships expected with corn arrived instead with sand for the arena. And men like a beautiful present; let us not, therefore, hang back from accepting the royal bounty so adapted to our wants. Treat the gilt with care, prize and use the treasure.

III. THE BEARER OF THE GIFT. It comes "through Jesus Christ our Lord." He is the Channel through which new life streams into us, the envelope containing the promise of life. Life in the abstract we cannot comprehend; it is ever connected with some person or organism. "In him was life; .. Your life is hid with Christ in God." Life has been scientifically declared to consist in the harmonizing of our external and internal conditions. The chief condition on our part is sinfulness, on God's part righteousness; and it is Christ who reconciles us unto God, putting away sin by the cross, and investing us with the righteousness of the Holy One. In his words, example, and offices we find all help and blessedness. As the navigator passing through the Straits of Magellan into the Pacific connected its tranquility with the southern cross gleaming in the sky above, so can we rejoice in the peace which Christ brings. It is not a creed we are invited to accept, but a living Person, with whom we may hold converse, and be instructed in perplexity and cheered when despondent. We have this earthly life as the period and opportunity of "laying hold on eternal life."—S.R.A.

HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR

Romans 6:1-11

Justification securing sanctification.

St. Paul has been speaking in the previous paragraph of "grace abounding," and a very natural insinuation might be made that continuance, permanent abiding, in sin would be the condition of the most abounding grace. If, therefore, our pardon and acceptance are secured through Christ's obedience unto death, what motive can the justified have in warring with sin? Why not sin up to our bent, that grace may abound? It is this immoral insinuation that the apostle combats, and combats successfully, in the present section. He does so by bringing out the full significance of Christ's death to the believer. Now, the peculiar beauty of our Lord's history lies in this, that, as Pascal long ago pointed out, it may have, and is intended to have, its reproduction in the experience of the soul. The salient facts of Christ's history—for example, his death, burial, and resurrection—get copied into the experience of the regenerated soul. The apostle had experienced this himself. At Damascus he had experienced

This he believes to be the normal experience of the believer in Jesus. Let us see how these facts of Christ's history, death, burial, and resurrection, get duplicated in our experience.

I. OUR BAPTISM INTO CHRIST IMPLIES A BAPTISM INTO HIS DEATH. The apostle speaks to the baptized Roman Christians in these terms: "Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death" (Revised Version). What we have got first to determine here is the exact meaning of being baptized in or into the name of a Person. In a remarkable essay on ' Baptism and the Third Commandment,' a thoughtful writer says, "There is an evident connection between these two. We are baptized in the Name of the Lord our God. And that is the Name which we are commanded not to take in vain It is to tell that we are the Lord's, claimed by him for his service, called to be followers of him 'as dear children' (Ephesians 5:1). This is the real meaning of a phrase, much used but little reflected on—a Christian name. Such are the names, John, James, Thomas, among men; Jane, Mary, Elizabeth, among women. They tell that the bearers belong to Christ. We have two names. The latter of these, our surname, distinguishes us as the children of our earthly father; the former avouches us as the children of a Father in heaven. And let us mark well what comes out of this solemn verity. If we have upon us the name of the God of gentleness while we ourselves are men of strife, or the name of the God of purity while our own lives are impure, or the name of the God of truth while we are given to lying, we are taking that name in vain." ^£ Following out this clue, let us notice that baptism into Christ implies a baptism into his death. For Jesus "died unto sin once;" "he died for the ungodly;" "he died for us;" that is, he passed through the experience of crucifixion to save the lost. Now, the counterpart of this death for sin is found in us if we believe upon him. We realize that we have died in him unto or for sin. "If One died for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Accordingly, we are to "reckon ourselves to be dead" in Jesus Christ "unto sin." Coleridge has rightly remarked, in his 'Literary Remains,' that "in the imagination of man exist the seeds of all moral and scientific improvement;" and it is by placing ourselves imaginatively on the cross with Christ, and realizing in his atoning sacrifice our death for sin, that we come to appreciate our individual justification before God. We are thus baptized into his death.

II. OUR BAPTISM INTO DEATH IMPLIES A BURIAL WITH JESUS. For our blessed Lord not only died upon the cross; he was also buried in the tomb. Friends begged the body, took it down tenderly from the accursed tree, wrapped it in spices, and laid it in Joseph's well-known sepulchre. Now, in burial one thought overpowers all others; it is the putting of the dead out of sight, out of all relation to the struggling world around. As long as a man's body remains in the tomb

"He has no share in all that's done

Beneath the circuit of the sun."

Such a separation took place through burial between the once-living Christ and the bustling world. The throngs might seethe around the temple court and settle down to selfishness again, but the Master-spirit who had been among them is now withdrawn, and sleeping for a season in his tomb. Now, the apostle implies in this passage that a similar sharp separation is experienced by the truly Christian soul from the world. In casting in his lot with Christ, he is buried out of sight, so to speak, and becomes a stranger in the world. His reception by baptism into the Christian community implies his withdrawal from the previous worldly relations in which he stood to other men. And here it is only right to guard against the superficial use made of the burial reference, as if it implied a mode in baptism. "This word ( συνετάφημεν), 'we were entombed,' contrary to the opinion of many commentators," says Dr. Shedd, "has no reference to the rite of baptism, because the burial spoken of is not in water, but in a sepulchre Burial and baptism are totally diverse ideas, and have nothing in common. In order to baptism, the element of water must come into contact with the body baptized; but in a burial, the surrounding element of earth comes into no contact at all with the body buried. The corpse is carefully protected from the earth in which it is laid. Entombment, consequently, is not the emblem of baptism, but of death." Consequently, the idea of the apostle is that we are spiritually separated from the world by our reception into the Christian community by baptism, just as Jesus was physically separated through his burial in the tomb. Godet, in a note to his comment upon this passage, gives a beautiful illustration of the truth from what a Bechuana convert said to the missionary Casalis some years ago. The convert was a shepherd, and thus expressed himself: "Very soon I shall be dead, and they will bury me in my field. My sheep will come and pasture above me. But I shall no more attend to them, nor go out of my tomb to seize them and carry them back with me into the sepulchre. They will be strange to me and I to them. Behold the image of my life in the midst of the world, from the time that I have believed in Christ." The idea, therefore, is that by our baptism, i.e. by our union with the Christian Church, we are buried out of the world. The Church proves, so to speak, the cemetery where, in holy peace and blissful fellowship, God's people rest. And so, as we manfully throw in our lot with Christ, we pass into the grave-like peace of the Christian Church, and enjoy therein fellowship with Christ and his peaceful people. It is to this burial out of the world and into the kingdom of God we are called.

III. ALONG WITH THIS DEATH AND BURIAL WITH CHRIST THERE IS EXPERIENCED A CRUCIFIXION OF OUR OLD NATURE. Historically the crucifixion precedes the death, but experimentally we shall find that, as the apostle here puts it, it succeeds it (verse 6). It is when we have realized our death in Jesus for sin, and our burial with Jesus out of the world, that the crucifixion and mortification of our old nature begin. A counterpart of the crucifixion is realized within us. The "body of sin," elsewhere called "the flesh" ( σάρξ), must be destroyed, and we nail it to the cross, so to speak, with as much alacrity as the Roman soldiers crucified Christ. We "crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts;" we "mortify our members which are upon the earth" (Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:5). We feel that "our old man" is incapable of amendment; that the only way in which to improve him is to improve him off the face of the earth and out of existence. This is, consequently, the steady effort of the regenerate soul to kill, by patient crucifixion, the old nature within. As the Saviour was several hours on the cross, as crucifixion, though in his case comparatively speedy, is yet a tardy ordeal, not a momentary execution; so the death of our old nature takes time for its accomplishment, and must be patiently passed through. We must be crucified with Christ, as well as feel that we have died in Christ for sin (Galatians 2:20).

IV. OUR BURIAL WITH JESUS IS WITH A VIEW TO OUR RESURRECTION WITH HIM INTO NEWNESS OF LIFE. After death and burial there came to Jesus, as the Father's glorious gift, resurrection to a new life. Let us consider what resurrection as an experience brought to Jesus. From the cradle to the cross Christ had been the "Man of sorrows." The weary weight of all this sinful, sorrow-stricken world lay on him; the Father had laid on his strong and willing shoulders the iniquity of us all. It was not wonderful, then, that his life was one long burden, taking end only on the cross. But the first glimpse we get of the risen Saviour conveys the notion of sturdy, stalwart strength, for the Magdalene mistakes him for the gardener. And all that we can gather from subsequent interviews with his disciples goes to show that life has ceased to be the burden it was once, and is now free, joyous, triumphant. All sense of sin-bearing is gone like a dream of the night; he is out in the glad morning of the resurrection with everlasting joy upon his head. Now, such a joyful experience should be the possession of every regenerate soul. We should feel not only that guilt is cancelled through the death of Jesus for us, and that we are "accepted in the Beloved," but also that a new life is ours—a life of fellowship with God. For just as Jesus during "the great forty days" was more in the unseen with the Father than in the seen with the disciples, so in our new life we shall largely cultivate fellowship with the Father.

V. THE NEW LIFE WE LEAD WILL BE LIKE OUR LORD'S, ONE OF ENTIRE CONSECRATION TO GOD. Now, of the risen Saviour it may well be said that he lived unto God. All his faculties and powers were instruments of righteousness unto God. So it is in the Christian life. It is one of entire consecration. In this way it will be seen that justification leads necessarily to sanctification. The leading facts of our Lord's history get duplicated in our experience, and death, burial, resurrection, and consecration become ours.—R.M.E.

Romans 6:12-23

The reign of grace.

We saw in last section how the leading facts of our Lord's life get copied into the experience of the regenerate; so that we have a death and burial, and crucifixion, and resurrection, and new life along with Christ. Sanctification in this way naturally issues out of justification. ^£ The apostle consequently proceeds to show that the dominion of sin is broken by the same means as the removal of our condemnation, viz. by outlook to Jesus. We find ourselves to be no longer under law as a condemning power, but under a reign of grace. But if we are under a reign of grace, and not under a condemning law, might we not be tempted to think lightly of sin; nay, more, to sin that grace may abound? To meet this objection, the apostle discusses the reign of sin, and contrasts it with the reign of grace. Sin may be our master, but as the slave of sin we shall get rewarded in shame and death; or righteousness, that is, the God of grace himself may be our Master, and, as the slave of righteousness or slave of God, we shall have our reward—a reward of grace, in the development of holiness, and in the gift of eternal life. We cannot do better, then, than contrast the reign of sin with the reign of grace.

I. THE REIGN OF SIN. (Romans 6:12, Romans 6:13, Romans 6:21.) And in this connection let us notice:

1. Sin is a very exacting tyrant. In fact, when we become slaves of sin, we cease being our own masters. We lose the dignity of our nature; we lose self-command; we lose will-power and decision of character. Our bodies become the instruments of unrighteousness, and the lusts of the flesh are obeyed. The prodigal in the parable presents vividly the condition of one under the tyranny of sin (Luke 15:11-25). ^£ Then we notice:

2. Sin is a very poor paymaster. For even allowing that it has pleasures to bestow, these are found to be only for a season (Hebrews 11:25). After these come shame, remorse, and the horrible tempest which infuriated sin entails. Then comes death, the real wages, or rations ( ὀφώνια from ὄφον, "cooked meat," see Shedd, in loc.). This means, of course, alienation from God, and, when it sets finally into the experience, proves a hopeless and helpless condition.

3. The sooner all slaves of sin change their master the better. The reign of sin only tends to torment. The soul that sells itself to such a tyrant is a fool. He is beside himself, like the prodigal, when he does so. He comes to himself when he renounces the tyranny and transfers his allegiance.

II. THE REIGN OF GRACE. (Romans 6:16-23.) Now, in this passage the apostle uses no less than three terms to express the new and better reign. These are "grace," "obedience," "righteousness." And then, dropping personification altogether, he shows how we become subjects and slaves of God. From the slavery of sin it is possible to pass into the service and slavery of God. We may get free from sin, and then shall we be at liberty to serve God and be his slaves. We shall not make much mistake if we take up Paul's teaching under the idea of a reign of grace, ^£ And here we have to notice:

1. We enter of our own free-will into the slavery of the God of grace. We are not forced into it; we are "made willing in the day of God's power" (Psalms 110:3). The slavery to God is voluntary. It is a yielding of ourselves. In both slaveries we must remember that the will is not forced, but free. We are free in our slavery to sin; we are free when we turn from it to the slavery of a God of grace. No one forces our hand.

2. We enter our state of grace through obeying from the heart "that form of teaching whereunto we were delivered" (Revised Version). This refers clearly to the all-important doctrine of justification by faith, through the reception of which we get delivered from condemnation, and started on our course of sanctification. It is most important, therefore, that that doctrine should be faithfully and clearly stated to the soul which is enslaved through sin. It is the very charter of its spiritual freedom.

3. We find that in serving a God of grace we secure holiness of character. For this voluntary and gracious slavery implies the dedication of all our powers to God. We lay ourselves as "living sacrifices" on God's altar. We find ourselves in consequence visited by an increasing sense of consecration. We learn to live not unto ourselves, but unto him who died for us and rose again (2 Corinthians 5:14). This sense of consecration becomes habitual. We feel that we are not our own, but bought with a price, and therefore bound to glorify God with our bodies as well as spirits, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:20).

4. We find this service of grace happy as well as holy. In other words, we find in God an excellent Paymaster. His service is delightful. Feeling that we are less than the least of all his mercies, feeling that we are at best but unprofitable servants, we accept joyfully whatever he sends; we feel that he daily loadeth us with his benefits, and then, regarding the great future, he gives us therein "eternal life." Doubtless we do not, strictly speaking, deserve such rewards; they are rewards of grace, not of debt; they are free" gifts" from a gracious Master. Yet they are none the less welcome. Let us, then, renounce the reign of sin, and accept the reign of grace. Its fruit, increasing with the consistent years, is unto holiness, and its end is everlasting life. ^£ We are real freemen only when we have become the slaves of a gracious God.—R.M.E.

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