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

The blessed experience of those who are in Christ

I. They are freed from condemnation.

II. They are most clearly distinguished from those who remain under condemnation.

1. By the temper of their minds (verse 5).

2. By the condition of their hearts (verse 6).

3. By their relation to God (verses 7, 8).

4. By the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ (verse9).

III. They are blessed with the hope of a better life. The Spirit--

1. Lives in them, though their bodies are mortal through sin.

2. Is the earnest of a more glorious life.

3. Will ultimately quicken their mental bodies and fashion them like unto Christ (verses 10, 11). (J. Lyth, D. D.)

The saints’ union with Christ

Note, by way of introduction--

1. The difference betwixt saints being in Christ, and Christ being in them. Christ is in the believer by His Spirit (1 John 4:13; 1 Corinthians 12:13); the believer is in Christ by faith (John 1:12). Christ is in the believer by inhabitation (Ephesians 3:17); the believer is in Christ by implantation (John 15:2; Romans 6:3). Christ in the believer implieth life and influence from Christ (Colossians 3:4; 1 Peter 2:5); the believer in Christ implieth communion and fellowship with Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). When Christ is said to be in the believer, it is in reference to sanctification; when the believer is said to be in Christ, it is in order to justification.

2. This union in Scripture is set forth sometimes by the saints abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in them (John 15:4; 1 John 3:24); sometimes by Christ’s living in them (Galatians 2:20, etc.); sometimes by that oneness that is betwixt Christ and them (John 17:21-22). And some make that gathering together in one all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:10) to point to this union.

3. The Scripture speaks of a three-fold union.

I. Its nature. Here is--

1. Union but no transmutation, confusion, or commixtion. Believers are united to Christ, but yet not so as that they are changed or transformed into the very essence or being of Christ (so as to be Christed with Christ, as some too boldly speak); or that He is changed or transformed into the essence and being of believers. Christ is Christ still, and believers are but creatures still.

2. Union of persons, but not personal union. And here lies the difference between the mystical union and the hypostatical union. There is this nature and that nature in Christ, but not this person and that person. In the mystical union the person of Christ is united to the person of the believer, for faith being the uniting grace, and this faith receiving the person of Christ, it must also unite to the person of Christ. In the marriage-union it is person joined to person, and so it is in the mystical union.

3. But this union is not personal; it is but mystical. Otherwise it would be so many believers, so many Christs; and then the believer would have no subsistence but in Christ.

II. Its several kinds or branches.

1. The legal union. The ground of this is Christ’s suretyship (Hebrews 7:22). In law the debtor and the surety are but one person; and therefore both are equally liable to the debt; and if the one pay it it is as much as if the other had paid it. So it is with Christ and us.

2. The moral union. It is called moral from the bond or ground of it, which is love. There is a real oneness between friend and friend. There is a mutual, hearty love between Christ and believers, and by virtue of this there is a real and close union betwixt them.

III. The scripture resemblances by which it is set forth.

1. That of husband and wife. Christ and believers stand in this relation. He is their husband, they His spouse (2 Corinthians 11:2); married to Christ (Romans 7:4); betrothed to God and Christ (Hosea 2:19); their name is Hephzibah and Beulah (Isaiah 62:4). This union, in the very height of it, the apostle brings down to Christ and believers (Ephesians 5:28-29).

2. That of the head and members. In the body natural there is a near and close union between these two. Thus it is with Christ and believers in the body mystical; He is the Head, they are the several members (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 12:5).

3. That of the root and branches. There is also union betwixt these; otherwise how should the one convey juice, sap, nourishment, growth, to the other? So it is with Christ and believers; He is the Root, they the branches (John 15:5). You read of being planted and ingrafted into Christ (Romans 6:5; Rom_11:17, etc.); of being rooted in Christ (Colossians 2:7).

4. The foundation and the building. In a building all the stones and timber, being joined and fastened together upon the foundation, make but one structure. So it is here. Believers are God’s building, and Christ is the foundation in that building (1 Corinthians 3:9; 1Co_3:11; Ephesians 2:20). As a man builds upon the foundation and lays the stress of the whole building upon that; so the true Christian builds upon Christ; all his faith, hope, confidence, is built upon this sure foundation (Psalms 28:26). Hence also they are said, As lively stones to be built up in a spiritual house, etc. (1 Peter 2:5).

5. That of meat or food. That which a man feeds upon and digests, it is incorporated with, and made a part of himself. The believing soul by faith feeds upon Christ, so that Christ becomes one with him and he one with Christ (John 6:55-56).

IV. Its properties. It is--

1. A sublime union, in respect of--

2. A real union. Not a notional, fantastic thing, or something that dull persons please themselves with the thoughts of (John 17:22).

3. A spiritual union. Not a gross, corporeal union. The husband and the wife are one flesh, but he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

4. A near, intimate union (1 Corinthians 6:17).

5. A total union (1 Corinthians 6:15).

6. An immediate union. Christ and the believing soul they touch each the other. There is nothing that doth intervene or interpose between Christ and it.

7. An indissoluble union. Christ and believers are so firmly joined together that none shall ever be able to part them. (T. Jacomb, D. D.)
08 Chapter 8
Verses 1-11

Verse 2

Romans 8:2

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Law cancelling law

1. Few words are oftener on our lips than the word law. But we are in danger of using the word as though laws were impersonal forces, independently of a controlling mind.

2. But a law is not a force. It is only the invariable manner in which forces work. Better still, it is the unvarying method in which God is ever carrying out His infinite plans. How wise and good it is that God generally works in this way, so that we are able to calculate with unvarying certainty on natural processes.

3. And when He wills some definite end He does not abrogate the laws that stand in His way, but cancels their action by laws from higher spheres which counterwork them, e.g., The flight of birds is due to very different causes from a balloon’s. Balloons float because they are lighter, but birds are heavier. The law of the elasticity of the air sets the bird free from the law of gravitation that would drag it to the ground. In the autumn fields the children, in gathering mushrooms, unwittingly eat some poisonous fungus which threatens them with death. Some antidote is given, which, acting as “the law of life,” counterworks the poison, and sets the children “free from the law of death,” which had already commenced to work in their members. So the law of the spirit of life in spring sets the flowers free frown the law of death of winter. And “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” set Lazarus “free from the law of sin and death” which imprisoned him in the tomb. And, similarly, the law of life communicated through the Holy Spirit will set us “free from the law of sin and death” which reigns in our hearts.

I. There is in each one of us “the law of sin and death.”

1. This evil tendency is derived from our connection with the human family. Races and children alike are affected by the sins and virtues of their ancestors. In every man there is a bias towards evil, just as in the young tiger there is predisposition to feed on flesh, and in the duckling to swim.

2. That tendency survives conversion. “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” Its strivings may be suppressed; but it is still there, only waiting till His repressive influences are withdrawn to spring up in all its pristine vigour. Conversion is the insertion of a new principle of life, side by side with the old principle of death. Consecration is simply the act by which we put the culture of our spirit into the blessed hands of Jesus. There is nothing, therefore, in either of these acts to necessitate the crushing out of any principle of the old nature.

II. God does not mean us to be enslaved by sin. What a contrast between Romans 7:23-24, and the joyous outburst of this text! The one is the sigh of a captive, this the song of a freed bond slave.

1. Captivity: you have its symbol in the imprisoned lion, or royal eagle; you have it in the disease which holds the sufferer down in rheumatism or paralysis. But there are forms of spiritual captivity equally masterful. Selfishness, jealousy, envy, and ill will, sensual indulgence, the love of money.

2. But it is not God’s will that we should spend our days thus. We were born to be free; not, however, to do as we choose, but to obey the laws of our true being. When we free an eagle we never suppose that he will be able to dive for fish as a gull, or to feed on fruits as a hummingbird. But henceforth it will be able to obey the laws of its own glorious nature.

III. We become free by the operation of “the law of the Spirit of life.” “The law of sin and death” is cancelled by “the law of the Spirit of life.” Life is stronger than death; holiness than sin; the Spirit than man. The mode of the Holy Spirit’s work is thus--

1. He reveals to us that in the intention of God we are free. So long as you consider captivity your normal state and expect nothing better there is little hope of deliverance.

2. He makes us very sensitive to the presence of sin.

3. He works mightily against the power of evil.

4. He enables us to reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin” (chap. 6:11). This is the God-given way of overcoming the suggestions of sin. When sin approaches us we have to answer: “He whom thou seekest is dead, he cannot heed or respond.”

Conclusion:

1. “Walk in the Spirit”; “live in the Spirit”; yield to the Spirit. Do not be content to have merely His presence, without which you could not be a Christian, but seek His fulness. Let Him have His way with you. And in proportion as the law of the Spirit becomes stronger, that of the flesh will grow weaker, until “as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity,” you will now yield them to righteousness unto holiness.

2. And as you find the Spirit of life working within you you may be sure that you are in Jesus Christ, for He only is the element in whom the blessed Spirit can put forth His energy. He is “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The law of sin

I. The law of sin.

1. The word “law” taken properly is the edict of a person in authority, wherein he orders something to be done, backing his or their commands with promises of rewards, as also their prohibitions with threatenings of punishment. In this sense there is a law of sin. For--

2. The word “law” is taken improperly for anything that hath an impelling virtue in it. It hath the force of a law, and doth that which a true law uses to do. And, therefore, when sin is the principle which efficaciously excites a person to those things which are suitable to its own nature, there sin may be called a law.

II. Its mode of operation.

1. Sin exerts its powers in its vehement urging to what is evil. Sin in the habit is altogether for sin in the act; indwelling sin is wholly for dwelling in sin. Though there was no devil to tempt the graceless sinner, yet that law of sin which is in himself would be enough to make him sin. Corrupt nature is continually soliciting and exciting the unsanctified man to what is evil; it will not let him alone day or night unless he gratify it. What an instance was Ahab of this. Sin put him upon the coveting of Naboth’s vineyard, and this it did with such violence that he would eat no bread because he could not have his will (1 Kings 21:5; see Proverbs 4:16).

2. This law of sin shows itself in its opposing and hindering of what is good. It is a law which always runs counter to God’s law. Doth that call for such and such duties? Are there some convictions upon the sinner’s conscience about them? Doth he begin a little to incline to what is good? How doth sin now bestir itself to make head in the soul against these convictions and good inclinations!

III. Its miserable bondage. Such being under the law of sin, it follows that they are under bondage the very worst imaginable. We pity those who live under tyrants. But, alas! what is that if compared with this. The state of nature is quite another thing than what men imagine it to be; they think there is nothing but freedom in it, but God knows it is quite otherwise (2 Peter 2:19). To better convince you of the evil and misery of this bondage, and excite to the most vigorous endeavours to get out of it, note--

1. That bondage to sin is always accompanied with bondage of Satan. The devil’s reign depends upon the reign of sin; he rules in the children of disobedience, and takes men captives at his will. Shall a damned creature be thy sovereign--he who will be thy tormentor hereafter?

2. What sin is.

(a) Innumerable.

(b) Contrary. Lust clashes with lust (Titus 3:3).

(c) Rigorous. It must have full obedience or none at all (Ephesians 2:3).

(d) Never at an end.

(e) So imperious and cruel that its vassals must stick at nothing.

3. That it is a soul bondage. The bondage of Israel in Egypt was very evil, yet not comparable to this, because that was but corporal and external, but this is spiritual and internal. There may be a servile condition without and yet a free and generous soul within; but if the soul itself be under servitude then the whole man is in servitude.

4. That of all bondage this is the most unprofitable. As to ether bondage the master may be cruel enough, but then he makes some amends by giving good wages; but the sinner serves that master which pays him no wages at all--death excepted (Romans 6:21).

5. That the worst of this bondage is that they who lie under it are altogether insensible of it. Where it is external and civil bondage men groan under it, would fain be rid of it (Exodus 2:23). But the poor deluded sinner, like some distracted persons, plays with his chains.

6. That it is the most hurtful and most dangerous bondage: for it makes way for and most certainly ends in eternal death. Death puts an end to other bondage (Job 3:18-19); but the worst of spiritual bondage follows after death. You have in the text the law of sin and the law of death coupled together (see also Romans 6:16; Rom_6:21; Rom_6:23). (T. Jacomb, D. D.)

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ

1. Men of the world think that the gospel has to do only, or chiefly, with death, and that its atmosphere is generally repressive. But the fact is the reverse. The gospel gives life for death, joy for sorrow; a conquering power of soul to meet the disability of the flesh; an abounding sphere beyond this world.

2. Every life force is mysterious. We cannot explain the forces of nature. Nor can we explain the mystery of this unique transformation, but we may study its effects and ask ourselves if they are realised in us. Contemplate the change wrought--

I. In human activities. I will not select one whose life has been abandoned, but who is no stranger to religion, and who has led an outwardly correct life under the guidance of self-respect, and with regard to the good opinion of others. When renewed by the Spirit of God and freed from the law of sin and death he comes under the control of new influences. The love of Christ constrains, not prudence or sagacity. The charm of the Scriptures and of the sanctuary is something never known before. Resistance to sin is not, as before, a feeble, prudential avoidance, but a vehement hate. Love for holiness is ardent, and Christian work not a burden, but a joy.

II. On one’s mental convictions. I would not refer to the scoffer, but rather to one who regards himself orthodox. He accepts Christianity as the most rational interpretation of nature. He accepts also the historic Christ, and redemption as well. But when such a person is born again, and sees God as his own Father, and the Saviour as his own Redeemer; when he sees the atonement, not as a philosophic scheme, but as a transcendent fact, involving greater resources than those of creation, a patience and love that shrunk not from the Cross, then a flood of light bursts on epistle, gospel and apocalypse, and a glory in the future rises on his view which is unspeakable. This intellectual elevation comes not from a study of the catechism, from a course of eloquent sermons, or from mere reflection upon the Word of inspiration, but as the result of that transforming power called “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”

III. On the temper of his heart. The ordinary attitude of a thoughtful mind toward the realities of religion is one of wonder and admiration. Yet all this sentimentality is inert and inoperative. There is no personal affection for the Saviour. Sometimes the character of an acquaintance is dim and commonplace, until some critical exigency arises which gives beauty and worth to that character. Then a personal and passionate attachment is roused. So with the waking of the new life in the soul, Christ appears in new and alluring loveliness. He seems no more afar off, but near at hand, in closest fellowship day by day. With such a Saviour, daily duties are delights however humble. The temper of heart is changed toward Christ’s followers as well. The Christian loves his brethren for the Master’s sake. His love is not founded on social or intellectual considerations, but grows out of spiritual unity and kinship, because of likeness to Christ. This change of temper and taste is the result of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus alone.

IV. In the expectations of the future. All men, pagan as well as Christian, look forward to a future existence. Unconverted men hope to be Christians before they die, but their ideas of the future are dim. With the believer death is seen to be but a transitional step, the mere portal to the shrine. While the world’s law is death in life, the gospel’s law is life in death. So the gospel fronts the world. Which is the better? Conclusion: Learn--

1. That it is in this gospel that life asserts its freedom. All departments of thought and effort, religious and secular, are alike ennobled and quickened.

2. This is a life which tends to consummation and perfection. The snow-bound field lies bare beneath the fetters of frost. It seems dead and barren, but with the melting warmth of spring there comes a verdure in place of ice and snow. All things are changed. So when this spiritual life force is allowed to exert its renewing and transforming energy on the soul of man, life is perfected and crowned. (R. S. Storrs, D. D.)

The Christian liberty achieved; or, the law of the Spirit of life making free from the law of sin and death

The “therefore now” does not introduce an inference from the immediately preceding argument--which could not warrant it--but one grounded on the previously affirmed effectiveness of the gospel to accomplish that for believers which the law never could. The justifying ground of this discharge from condemnation was set forth in Romans 3:21-26. The principle upon which it proceeds was illustrated in Romans 5:12-21. The persons to whom it is extended, and the new life of which they become the participators was specified in Romans 6:1-11. The reason for the impotence of the law was stated in Romans 6:14, and this impotence had supplied the theme for illustration in Romans 7:6-25, and the power of the gospel which had been distinctly stated in Romans 7:6, with an eye to which the apostle had penned (Romans 7:25). Note--

I. The law of sin and death from the power of which believers obtain deliverance in Christ. It will be observed that the apostle does not speak of two laws, but of the one. Not that the two things are one, but that the one “law” pervades them both, and binds them together (Romans 5:12-21; Ezekiel 18:4; James 1:15; Ephesians 2:1-5; Eph_4:17-19). This one law renders it impossible that the sinner can of himself regain the possession of innocence and peace, and evermore impels him onwards and downwards in the fearful descending circle of transgression and punishment. Man in the very act of sinning dies; or, being already dead, plunges into a still deeper death (Hebrews 9:14).

II. The sphere within which liberation has been provided--“In Christ.”

1. In Christ the double necessity of man’s case has been provided for; the two-fold difficulty has been solved; the one by the death of the Son of God, the other by His life (Romans 4:25; cf. Rom_5:18; cf. Rom_5:21).

2. The actual liberation is conferred on men only as they become united to Christ. It is indeed true that there has come a dispensation of grace and renewed probation to all men; but the actual discharge from condemnation, and the liberty from the “law of sin and death,” do not come to any but to those who are found in Christ by faith (cf. Ephesians 1:1-23)
.

III. For all those who are in Christ the liberation is actually accomplished.

1. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ”: He was condemned on their account, and they were condemned in Him. He died for their sins, and they died in Him (Romans 6:7-8).

2. The liberation from sin is secured to believers in the active life; “for the law of the Spirit of life,” etc.