《The Biblical Illustrator – Romans (Ch. 6b~8a)》

3. Social happiness.

4. Unspotted holiness.

5. Incessant activity.

6. Endless improvement.

II. The freeness of its disposition.

1. It cannot be purchased.

2. It is not the reward of merit.

3. It is everything; leading to it is the gift of God.

The promises by which the believer is led to expect it--the great change by which he has become entitled to it and qualified for its enjoyment--the Lord Jesus, by whose merit eternal life was purchased--all these are gifts of God.

III. The medium through which it flows.

1. For this end--to put men in possession of eternal life--the Redeemer was given; for this purpose He laboured, suffered, instituted His gospel, and sent forth His ministers.

2. We should, however, do great injustice to this subject, were we not to observe that Christ died--

Eternal life

I. Is not wholly in the future world. This life begins here at the moment of conversion, when the soul passes from death into life. He that hath the Son hath life. The righteous do enter into life, become heirs of life, enjoy ante-pasts of the infinite fulness which is to be hereafter revealed. These foretastes involve freedom from condemnation, communion with God, and growing likeness to Him. The soul is divested of the fear of death, and Christ fills the believer with His joy, and that joy is full. Satisfaction comes from what we are, and not from what we get. I have seen homes of princely wealth which were but brilliantly garnished sepulchres, their luxury a solemn mockery; and I have seen homes of poverty full of the joy of God, the peace of the eternal life begun. It is false to conceive of the Christian life as a joyless way of self-denial trod by us to purchase a bliss beyond.

II. Is the same and is not the same to every saved soul.

1. Heaven is not a sea of bliss in which each of us is to float in equal content. In heaven, as here, there is an infinite variety. What a vast transition from an oyster to the leviathan! There is one glory of the sun, another of the moon, another of the stars. The penitent thief is saved as truly as Paul; but one has built on hay, wood, and stubble, and is “scarcely saved”; the other receives “an entrance abundantly”; one gives the tag-end of a godless life to Christ and is “saved so as by fire”; the other can say, “I have fought a good fight.” The riches, joys, and capabilities of the celestial life are measured by the service rendered; “to every man according to his works,” “five cities,” or “ten cities,” as the case may be. Secular papers often make merry about the statement that “scaffold penitents” are received to heaven. It is true that grace does save such. But their heaven is not Paul’s heaven.

2. In three respects heaven is the same to all.

3. It may be objected that if one is wholly happy, according to his capacity, what matters it if there be those of larger capacities than his? A snail is happy, I answer, so is a lark. Is there nothing to choose between them? There is a short radius to a child’s circumference of happiness. A man has a thousand-fold larger scope. Is there no preference? The ear of one is satisfied with a rude melody; another man is thrilled to the depths of his being by delicious harmonies. Is there no preference? There is no room for question. What a contrast between one who is a single remove from a laughing idiot, and an angel of God! We are to “seek for honour and glory,” even an entrance that shall be “administered abundantly.”

III. Is increasingly glorious forever. Memory shall lose nothing, the mind pervert nothing, and the heart shall repel nothing. All that God has shall be spread out and open to us forever in riches of grace inconceivable in their glory and infinitude. The possibilities of the soul are beyond conception. God reveals Himself to the righteous through the ages, their capacities ever enlarging and the reality forever increasing--joy, power, blessedness, beyond all thought! These all are the gift of God, bought, and given to believers, (Prof. Herrick Johnson.)

Eternal life

I. The gift.

1. Life. Life, eternal life, and life everlasting, are very frequent designations of the salvation of the gospel (John 17:1-2). This life consists of--

2. The epithet, “eternal.”

II. Its gratuitous character.

1. It is the gift of God, inasmuch as--

2. We are to receive it as such, in simplicity of spirit and with grateful joy. And let us learn not to look at anything in ourselves to justify our expectation of it: and let us not, when we find nothing but demerit in ourselves, be disheartened, but believe that when we were fit only for everlasting punishment, God stepped forward to grant unto us eternal life. This He has done from the impulse of His own amazing generosity and love.

III. The medium of its bestowment.

1. God gives it to us through Jesus Christ, not in an arbitrary manner, but on the ground of what He has done and suffered in our stead.

2. So, we accept it through Christ (1 John 5:11). Indeed, we may say that Jesus is our eternal life. It is by being found in Him that we have pardon and holiness, happiness and heaven. When we reach the celestial world, we shall find that there as well as here, Christ is “all in all.” (T. G. Horton.)

Eternal life a gift

1. Men are so accustomed to the exchange of equivalents, that any other course comes with an element of surprise. If the reward be not in the grosser form of money, or in that which money can purchase, still it is true that one earns his wages. These may be the wages that improved faculties would add--the reward of an approving conscience, of a sense of usefulness--perhaps a sense of increased influence for good, by reason of that which has been faithfully and unselfishly done; or in the very highest possible service of philosophic endeavour or Christian duty. In all these there is that feeling of reward expected, because it has been earned. The idea of a gift coming to one suddenly and undeserved he does not entertain, except as a fiction, such as may amuse him as a daydream. And more than all is one surprised to find that he is the recipient of such a gift from one unknown, or one to whom he has stood in the relation of neglect, perhaps of hostility.

2. At the same time it is true that men are receiving gifts from another, where they cannot make any return whatever. Everything that comes to us from the past is a gift. Individual minds have toiled and studied, and we reap the fruits of their patience, skill, and success. We make the lightning to run on our errands, and we take the vapour that lifts the lid of the kettle to propel the mammoth ship across the sea, or the car which carries us over mountains, or sets in motion thousands of factories all over our land. This we received from those to whom it came as an inspiration of Providence, and an operation of intelligent, unwearied power. The institution of society comes to us a grant from the past. We pay for our primary schooling; but for the great thoughts of men who have lived, what returns can we make? What to any of the great philosophers who brought us the laws and principles we possess? How shall we compensate the artist whose gifts quicken our minds to higher perceptions of beauty, or the poet who sings us into the Elysium of thought? There are still higher endowments that come to us from those whom we only know by those impressions made upon us by their chivalric career, and to whom we can make no more return than we by lighting matches can add to the splendour of the distant, brilliant sun. So, if a man should say, “I expect only that which I have earned, and demand only that which I have deserved and have properly acquired,” and should that prayer be answered, he would, today, be a beggared savage. Thus we see how many of the things which we enjoy have come to us as gifts. And it is the desire of every noble, unselfish mind to carry on to the future their beneficent influence that the coming generation may surpass the present,

3. Turn now to the things which come from God. For these many make no acknowledgments whatever; while He continues to shower His gifts upon them. He gives life through Christ. The life of the present is an undeserved gift. It is not the reward of our deserts. The faculties of mind, all opportunities for enjoyment, and all inspirations of thought and effort--these are not earned by us. No man can stand up and say, “I have done so and so, and God owes me that.” God gives the sunshine and the shower. They come, not because we deserve them. They come sometimes in the face of protest. He gives the great inspirations of thought to man, and great deliverance to nations from impending calamity. He gives to the individual soul all he possesses, and to society all it has. This argument as to the right of the race to eternal life lies at the basis of our thought this morning. The parallel in natural life is the same. No man has a right to exist in infancy. It is the gift of God; and no man has earned the right to happiness in the present, and to hops in the future. It is the gift of God. Eternal life, however, is the best gift of God. But it is a gift that comes only on certain conditions. Sunshine requires the open eye, but a man may refuse to open his eye; still it is God’s gift. So we do not receive inspiration from any great mind, except as we bring our mind into responsiveness to it. So we do not receive eternal life unless the conditions are accepted with which God invests His gift--humble penitence for sin and faith in Christ. Sin earns wages, but eternal life is the gift of God, as personal life is a bestowment: it crowns and glorifies all others. Here is--

I. A secret of the Christian’s unrest. Life is not something to be earned. The soul of the Christian who thus views it grows restless and troubled, like Galilee’s waves, till the feet of the Lord brought them to a level. It is dark, as was the mount, until the Lord rose, in the luminous majesty of His presence, above it.

II. The secret of peace, in simply accepting this Divine gift from the source of infinite compassion and grace. Sometimes this peace may come suddenly, filling the soul with glory; sometimes it may come after long, weary searching for it; sometimes at the end of life; when the light of life has almost gone out, as it flickers in the socket and speech falters, I say, “I can do nothing; I take the gift of God!” Then comes “the peace which passeth all understanding.”

III. The burden which rests on him who rejects eternal life. When one comes to us with a great thought or a rare opportunity, and we turn away to a trivial theme, we grieve him. Let us not thus treat God. Here is the gift of eternal life. Shall I put it aside as if it were the merest summer breeze which by my hand I could arrest and push back into the air? I may, as I may put aside sunshine itself, by shutting my eyes to it. The responsibility is mine.

IV. The impulse of Christian service. Freedom and gladness come from other gifts, but here is the supreme one of all. When received by us, what service is too hard, what sacrifice too vast, what worship too exultant! If this consciousness comes into our soul, then no sword or stake can fright us, for our life is interlocked with heaven. The realisation of it dispels our sorrows and forbids our tears.

V. The sweetness of heaven. Gratitude for God’s gift impels every touch of the heavenly harp. It gives the melody to every song, and joy to all the work of heaven. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)

Life in Christ

A new convert said, “I could not sleep, thinking over that passage, ‘Whosoever believeth on the Son hath life;’ and so I got up, and lighted a candle, and found my Bible, and read it over, ‘Whosoever believeth on the Son hath life.’” “Why,” says someone, “didn’t you know that was in the Bible before?” “Oh, yes,” he replied, “I knew it was in the Bible, but I wanted to see it with my own eyes, and then I rested.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The gift of God

I was out on the Pacific coast, in California, two or three years ago, and I was the guest of a man that had a large vineyard and a large orchard. One day he said to me, “Moody, whilst you are my guest, I want you to make yourself perfectly happy, and if there is anything in the orchard or in the vineyard you would like, help yourself.” Well, when I wanted an orange, I did not go to an orange tree and pray the oranges to fall into my pocket, but I walked up to a tree, reached out my hand, and took the oranges. He said, “Take,” and I took. God says, “Take,” and you do it. God says, “There is My Son.” “The wages of sin is death; the gift of God is eternal life.” Who will take it now?

Eternal life the gift of God

A man may as well think of buying light from the sun, or air from the atmosphere, or water from the well spring, or minerals from the earth, or fish from the sea, etc., as think of buying salvation from God with any kind of price. The sun gives his light, the atmosphere its air, the well spring its water, the earth its minerals, the sea its fish; all man has to do is to take them and use them. So God has given salvation to man. All he has to do is to use it, in the use of means, and enjoy it. (J. Bate.)

07 Chapter 7
Verses 1-6

Romans 7:1-6

Know ye not, brethren … how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Believers not under the law as a covenant of works

I. All men are, naturally, under the law as a covenant of works.

1. As men. God made man capable of moral government; he was naturally bound to obey the will of his Maker. The moral law: perfect obedience to this law could never entitle him to any greater degree of happiness, yet God was pleased to superadd a promise of everlasting life upon obedience, to which He annexed His awful sanction, “In the day that thou sinnest, thou shalt surely die.” This is what we call a covenant: as such it was proposed on the part of God, and it was accepted on the part of man. Now as this covenant was made with Adam as the federal head, so all men are naturally under it.

2. As sinners. In this view sinners are under the law as a broken covenant, which therefore can afford no relief to them that seek salvation by it (Galatians 3:10-12).

II. To be under the law, and especially as a broken covenant, is a most dreadful thing.

1. The law requires perfect, universal, and everlasting obedience of all that are under it. Now this law is not abolished or made void, either by Christ or by any of His apostles. “I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil; for verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18; Romans 3:31). How dreadful then is such a state, since no mere man can thus keep it. And while the Christian betakes himself to the mercy of God in Christ, as his only hope, the sinner supports his vain confidence in the supposition that God will not insist on His claim.

2. It denounces against every transgressor the most awful curse (James 2:10-11; Galatians 3:10).

III. Many have obtained a glorious deliverance out of this dreadful state. In Christ they are made brethren: “Know ye not, brethren.”

IV. They who are delivered from this state are to be distinguished from others in the ministry of the Word. Addressing himself to believers, Paul appeals to their spiritual knowledge and judgment, “Know ye not.”

1. There is a knowledge peculiar to the saints, whereby they know the things that are excellent; they have judgment to distinguish betwixt truth and error; an inward principle (1 John 2:27; 1Jn_5:20) which teaches them the knowledge of every truth necessary for consolation or salvation.

2. One great reason why many know not the truth, is not merely owing to their ignorance of it, but often to their prejudice against it.

3. Sound and saving knowledge hath respect not only to the truth itself, but also to the use we are to make of it.

4. It is no inconsiderable part of our happiness when we are called to minister unto such as know the truth as it is in Jesus.

Conclusion:

1. If all men are naturally under the law as a covenant of works, who can wonder if they seek life by that covenant? Natural light, natural conscience can discover no other way of salvation.

2. If all are miserable who are under the law, especially as a broken covenant, this calls upon men who are under a profession of religion to examine themselves as to their state before God.

3. If believers are delivered from the law as a covenant, yet still let them remember, “They are under the law to Christ.”

4. If true believers are to be distinguished from others in the ministry of the Word, let them distinguish themselves, not only by a public profession, but also by a becoming walk and conversation. (J. Stafford.)

The believer’s relation to the law and to Christ

I. The believer’s former connection with the law.

1. The law, considered in the figurative capacity of a husband, had a right to full and implicit subjection. But alas! all mankind had violated the authority of this first husband; they had abused his rights, resisted his claims, and thus exposed themselves to the fatal consequences of his just denunciations.

2. Yet, miserable as this state is, men in general are insensible of it. They still show attachment to the law, despite their disobedience; and place, as a wife does on her husband, infatuated dependence. As God said to Eve, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband,” so it is with the sinner as to the law.

II. The dissolution of this connection. This consists in the sinner’s deliverance from the obligation to obedience as the condition of life, and from the curse attending disobedience.

1. When and how does this take place? The answer is--“The law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth.”… “Ye are become dead to the law.” Here is the decease of one of the parties, by which the union is dissolved.

2. This decease refers to the death of the believer in Christ (Romans 6:7-8), who bore the curse of the law in his stead (Galatians 3:13). Thus the effects of the first husband’s displeasure cannot reach them.

3. And not only is the curse of the law removed, but our connection with it, as a condition of life, is forever done away, as effectually as the relation between husband and wife is dissolved by death.

III. He is then “married to another,” etc., which expresses the believer’s new relation with Jesus (see also Ephesians 5:30-32; John 3:29; Revelation 21:2).

1. To this new husband all believers are subject. They feel his authority as that at once of rightful claim and of tender affection. They delight in obeying Him who loves them. And in Him they are truly blessed. He smiles upon them, and enriches them with a dowry of spiritual treasures.

2. This connection, being with “Him who is raised from the dead,” is indissoluble (Romans 6:9). The Husband never dies; nor do they ever die to whom He stands thus related. “Joined to the Lord, they are one spirit;” and the spiritual union is lasting as eternity.

IV. The consistency of this new connection with all the rights and claims of the first husband. These claims were just, and had a right to be fully implemented. The believer has not satisfied them in his own person; but his Substitute has by His obedience and death “magnified the law and made it honourable.” Hence the law’s claims upon him cease as completely as the claims of a husband when dead on the surviving wife.

V. The absolute necessity of the dissolution of all connection with the law, in order to a sinner’s being joined to Christ. The two connections cannot subsist together. The sinner who is joined to Christ must die completely to the law. While he retains any connection with it, in the way of seeking or expecting life from it, he is not united to Christ. As the worship of idols was styled adultery, when practised by that people whom Jehovah had espoused to Himself--so all such connection with the law is unfaithfulness to our Divine Husband. He must be “all our salvation, and all our desire.” Let no one, however, think that we are pleading for freedom from the law as the rule of life. Its obligation in this sense remains immutable (Romans 3:31; 1 Corinthians 9:21, etc.).

VI. The blessed effects of the dissolution of the connection with the law, and the formation of the union with Christ. The “bringing forth fruit unto God.” The fruit meant is, no doubt, holy obedience and service (Romans 6:22). Such fruit is as naturally the effect of union to Christ, as the fruit of the womb is the expected result of the marriage relation. No fruit acceptable in the sight of God can be produced while the former connection continued (Romans 7:5). They who are “under the law are in the flesh”; and can bring forth no fruit but “unto death.” All is devoid of the only principle of acceptable service--“faith working by love.” There is no true fruit unto God produced till the connection with the law has been dissolved, and that with Christ has been formed (Romans 7:6). The fears of the law, uniting with the pride of self-righteousness, may produce considerable outward conformity to the precepts of the law; whilst there is no true principle of godliness within. There may be much in the eyes of men that is amiable; while in the sight of God all the service is rendered in the “oldness of the letter”--under the influence of the principles of the old, is service in “newness of spirit,” i.e., to serve God in sincerity, under the influence of those principles and views and dispositions which constitute a mind renewed by the Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:26). (R. Wardlaw, D. D.)

True Christian liberty implies

I. Freedom from the compulsory action of law. It can neither--

1. Alarm;

2. Condemn;

3. Become a source of bondage.

II. The freedom of devoted love to Christ.

1. Who has won the heart;

2. Constrains our service;

3. By His death and resurrection. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Dead to the law, married to Christ

1. The apostle has illustrated the transference that takes place at conversion by the emancipation of a slave whose services are due to the lawful superior under whom he now stands enrolled. The apostle now turns to those who know the law, and deduces from the obligations which attach to marriage, the same result, i.e., an abandonment by the believer of those doings which have their fruit unto death, and a new service which has its “fruit unto God.”

2. There is a certain obscurity here arising from the apparent want of sustained analogy. True, the obligations of marriage are annulled by the death of one party; but Paul only supposes the death of the husband. Now the law is evidently the husband, and the subject the wife. So that, to make good the resemblance--the law should be conceived dead, and the subject alive. Yet, in reading the first verse, one would suppose that it was on the death of the subject, and not of the law, that the connection was to be dissolved. It is true that the translation might have run thus, “The law hath dominion over a man so long as it liveth”; but this does not suit so well with Romans 7:4, where, instead of the law having become dead unto us, we have become dead unto it; so that some degree of that confusion which arises from a mixed analogy appears unavoidable. It so happens, too, that either supposition stands linked with very important truth--so that by admitting both, this passage becomes the envelope of two important lessons.