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

(a) That precious knowledge of the redemption in Christ which provides peace for the guilty conscience.

(b) That knowledge of the royal and perfect law of liberty which is a sure and sufficient guide for conscience in the practical life.

(c) That knowledge of God, as a God of love, as our God and Father in Christ, which imparts joyous courage and prevailing power to conscience. Conclusion:

1. Secure this glorious liberty.

2. Having secured this inestimable liberty see that you hold it fast. (W. Tyson.)

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ

I. The law of the Spirit signifies the power of the Holy Spirit, by which He unites the soul to Christ, in whose righteousness it therefore partakes, and is consequently justified. This law is the gospel, whereof the Holy Ghost is the Author, being the authoritative rule and the instrument by which He acts in the plan of salvation. It is the medium through which He promulgates the Divine testimony; by which also He convinces of sin and testifies of the almighty Saviour. The gospel may be properly denominated a law, because it bears the stamp of Divine authority, to which we are bound to “submit” (Romans 10:3). It requires the obedience of faith (Romans 1:5; Rom_16:26); and when men refuse this submission, it is said that they have not “obeyed the gospel” (Romans 10:16). Although, therefore, the gospel is proclaimed as a grace, it is a grace accompanied with authority, which God commands to be received. Accordingly, it is expressly called a “law” (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2); and in Psalms 110:2, referring to the power exerted by its means, it is said, “The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies”--namely, by thine almighty power. The gospel, then, is the law of the Spirit by which He rules, and the rod of His strength, by which He effects our salvation, just as, in Romans 1:16, it is denominated “the power of God unto salvation.” The gospel is itself called “the Spirit,” as being administered by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:8).

II. The gospel is the law of the Spirit of life, the ministration of which “giveth life,” in opposition to the “letter” or old covenant that killeth (2 Corinthians 3:6; cf. John 6:63; Ezekiel 37:14; 1 Corinthians 15:45). Christ is the life itself, and the source of life to all creatures. But here the life is that which we receive through the gospel, as the law or power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which the apostle calls “the life of God” (Ephesians 4:18).

III. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is set before us in two aspects. As God, the Spirit of life resides essentially in Him; but as Mediator, the Spirit of life has been given to Him to be communicated to all who are one with Him. On this account the Spirit was not given in His fulness (John 7:39) till Jesus Christ as Mediator had entered into heaven, when the Father, solemnly receiving His satisfaction, gave this testimony of His acceptance, in pouring out the abundance of the Spirit on His people (John 16:7; Ephesians 1:3). That the Spirit of life is in Jesus Christ, not only as God, but also as Mediator, is a ground of unspeakable consolation. It might be in Him as God, without being communicated to men; but as the Head of His people, it must be diffused through them as His members, who are thus complete in Him. Dost thou feel in thyself the sentence of death? Listen, then “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son.” “I am come that they might have life.” “Because I live ye shall live also.” This life, then, is in Jesus Christ, and is communicated to believers by the Holy Spirit, by whom they are united to Christ, and from whom it is derived to all who through the law of the Spirit of life are in Him. (R. Haldane.)

Law of the Spirit of life

The “law” in the text, whether that of “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” or that “of sin and death,” is a constraining influence--a moral force, an active power--an agency that acts mightily on the soul. And it is plain from the statements made regarding them, that these laws respectively are paramount at the time; they govern the whole being, either one or the other sits upon the inner throne of a man and governs him. It is a matter of life and death--of happiness or of misery, of freedom or of slavery, of everlasting weal or eternal woe.

I. The inquiry relates to the law of sin and death. This must be an influence or force which is evil, which is the parent of sin, driving us along in the path of transgression, and which is not only of the nature of spiritual death, but which also issues in eternal death.

1. In order that we may ascertain its nature, let some thought be given to the process by which it is first established in the human soul.

2. As a mighty force this law is seen in those ruling passions of mankind which discard the authority of God. What is supreme love of money but self-gratification at the expense of one’s allegiance to the Most High.

3. We further discover the might of this law of sin and death in the sins of man against his fellow man. When one overreaches another in trade, does he not gratify his desire for gain at the expense of another?

II. Some general characteristics of this law.

1. It is often subtle in its actings.

2. It is a law of death as well as of sin.

3. It is slavery. This law of sin and death befools and degrades, and it is an unmitigated despotism. Woe to the soul under its unrestrained power!

4. It has had control universally.

III. We have to ask concerning the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. “The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”

1. It is a Divine implantation. “The Spirit of life” is undoubtedly “the Holy Spirit,” who is the Author of spiritual life in the soul. “When He cometh, He shall convince the world of sin.” Until He speaks inwardly, the mind seems unaware of the presence and power of the law of sin and death. It is also His gracious office to attract the soul to a vital union with Christ. Under the blessed light which He kindles around and within the heart, the redemption of Christ appears in its true aspect as most full, glorious, and adapted to save.

2. As the other is a law of Sin and death, this is one of obedience and life. Self-love now seeks its gratification in pleasing God and doing His will.

3. Observe throughout that it is in Christ Jesus. To those who receive Him, He gives the privilege to become the sons of God. The Cross of Christ slays the enmity of the heart.

IV. This law sets free from the other. If it be established as the governing principle the other cannot be. They are in their own nature opposites. Self-love is gratified in the one case, in opposition to the claims of God and the well-being of others; in the other, by obedience and devotion to the supreme law of our being, love to God and man. Conclusion:

1. The adaptation of the religion of Christ to man.

2. We discover where true freedom and true happiness are found.

3. What we all need, and what the world needs, is to be delivered from the law of sin and death by the working in us of this ennobling force. What a glorious object of pursuit! How well worth all self-sacrifice! (H. Wilkes, D. D.)

Believers are freed through the law of the Spirit of life

I. The deliverance obtained--

1. By nature we are all (chaps. 6, 7) in spiritual bondage. We are “sold under sin,” and so necessarily are under death (Romans 5:12). The law of sin and the law of death are one and the same principle disclosing itself in different manifestations and degrees. Poisonous fruit is sap worked up, legitimately developed.

2. This evil principle drives man from God.

3. From this evil principle believers are made free. Not from death, though its sting is taken away; nor even from sin perfectly. But over against death faith sees the resurrection placed, and over against sin the unblemished perfection of the redeemed.

II. The agency whereby this deliverance is accomplished. Law counteracting law.

1. The term “law” may mean--

2. The latter is the signification here.

III. The sphere within which this agency is so efficiently operative. Like laws of nature, it works within certain limits. Iron, not glass, will conduct electricity. Dews, droughts, hurricanes are conditioned by varied zones of atmospheric circumstances; so outside the region of “being in Christ Jesus” the law of the Spirit of life does not effect its hallowing results upon our souls. Within that radius, however, its might is sovereign. It frees believers. Conclusion: Note--

1. The urgent importance of ascertaining which of these laws is supreme in our soul. If not conscious of resistance to the law of sin, we are under its sway. We may even be troubled about the commission of certain sins, and give heed to certain duties, and yet be in utter servitude to it (Ezekiel 33:31).

2. The great need of asking the promised Spirit (Matthew 7:11 : Luke 10:13). Regeneration, sanctification only obtainable through His power.

3. The duty of consciously living in this freedom, not confusing liberty with license (Luke 1:74-75). Carefulness against presumption and despondency alike is indispensable (Ephesians 6:11-13).

4. The strong consolation of knowing that ultimate perfection can be calculated upon with all the certainty of a result of “law.” Given the reign of the law of the Spirit of life in a soul, then amid and in spite of all conflicts the beauty of the renewed life will be patent and increase (Psalms 138:8; Hebrews 12:23; Heb_13:21). (J. Gage, B. D.)

The law of the Spirit frees from the law of sin

Note--

1. The Spirit frees from the law of sin. In reference to this you may consider Him either essentially as He is God, or personally. As it is the Son’s proper act to free from the guilt, so it is the Spirit’s proper act to free from the power of sin, it belonging to the Son to do all without and to the Spirit to do all within. That which God once said in reference to the building of the temple--“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit”--is applicable here.

2. This is done by the Spirit of life. This refers either to the Spirit as He is a living Spirit, or refers to the time when the Spirit quickens and thus regenerates, or to the method of regeneration itself. The Spirit who renews, when He renews, by renewing, brings sin under.

3. It is the law of the Spirit by which this is done. Here is law against law, the power and efficacy of the Spirit against the power and efficacy of sin (Ephesians 3:20). The law of sin has a moral and a physical power; and so with the Spirit. He hath His moral power, as He doth persuade, command, etc.; and He hath His physical power, as He doth strongly, efficaciously incline and impel the sinner to such and such gracious acts; yea, as He doth effectually change his heart, make him a new creature, dispossess sin of its regency, and bring him under the government of Christ. And herein the law of the Spirit is above the law of sin. Set corrupt nature never so high, yet it is but a finite thing, and so hath but a finite power; but the Spirit is an infinite being, and puts forth an infinite power. For the better opening of the truth in hand, note--

I. The necessity, sufficiency, efficacy of the power of the Spirit in freeing men from the power of sin.

1. The necessity of the power of the Spirit. Omnipotency itself is requisite thereunto; that is the strong man which keeps the palace till Christ, through the Spirit (which is stronger than it), comes upon it and overcomes it. The power of nature can never conquer the power of sin, for nature’s greatest strength is on sin’s side. That the power of the Spirit is thus necessary if you consider that--

When there is a party within a kingdom ready to fall in with the foreign force that comes to depose the tyrant, he may with more facility be vanquished; but if all the people unanimously stick to him, then the conquest is the more difficult. Christ said, “The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in Me”; so the poor sinner may say, “The sin-subduing Spirit comes, but He finds nothing in me to close with Him.”

2. Its sufficiency. As Christ is able to save to the utmost from sin’s guilt, so the Spirit also is able to save to the utmost from sin’s power. God once said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Now, as that grace is sufficient to bear up under the heaviest afflictions, so this grace is sufficient to bring down the strongest corruptions. Who is sufficient for these things? Why He, and none but He, who hath infinite power.

3. Its efficacy.

II. In what ways the Holy Spirit doth exert his power.

1. He effectually works upon the understanding, that being the leading faculty.

2. He then proceeds to the will.

3. In acting on the affections, He disengages them from sin, and sets them directly against it, and so freeing the sinner from the love of sin.

Application:

1. Let such who desire this mercy betake themselves to the Spirit for it.

2. Let such who are made free from this law of sin own the Spirit of life as the author of their freedom, and ascribe the glory of it to Him.

3. Greatly to love and honour the Spirit.

4. As you have found the law of the Spirit in your first conversion, so you should live under the law of the Spirit in your whole conversation.

5. Set law against law--the law of the Spirit against the law of sin. (T. Jacomb, D. D.)

The believer’s freedom from the law of sin

I. The leading terms of the text.

1. By the “Spirit of life” we are here to understand the Holy Ghost. Men are spiritually dead; the animal and intellectual life remains; but the spiritual life--the life which connects man with, and qualifies him for the enjoyment of God--was extinguished by the fall, and can only be restored by the “Spirit of life.” And hence we are said to be “born again” of the Spirit. And as it is His office to restore spiritual life, so He maintains it. All “good” comes from Him and depends on Him.

2. He is called “the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Because--

II. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. By this we are to understand the gospel, applied by the Spirit’s power to the hearts of men. The gospel is often called a law--“The perfect law of liberty”; “The isles shall wait for His law”; “The law of Messiah shall go forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.” What law ever went forth from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth but the gospel?

1. A law is an enactment or command issuing from supreme authority, fully published and made known, and enforced by sanctions of reward to the obedient, or of punishment against the disobedient. This constitutes, when it is published or made known, the rule of action, the standard of character, and the ground of decision and judgment; this is law in general. The gospel answers to this general definition in every particular.

2. But why is it called the Spirit’s law? Because it is the instrument by which the Spirit most efficiently operates upon the understanding, the will, the conscience, and the character of the man. By, and with it, he operates with the force and the authority of a law, overcoming and reducing and governing the mind. The power that accomplishes the great work of regeneration is the power of the Spirit; but the instrument He employs is the “Word of truth.”

III. The law of sin and of death.

1. By this some understand the moral law considered in its application to fallen man, as the covenant of works. This law, when given to man innocent and holy, in the possession of Divine and spiritual life, was well adapted to his case. But when man became a transgressor, then that which “was ordained unto life” began to operate unto death. It is the “law of sin” to all the unconverted, its very object being to “make sin appear exceeding sinful.” By the law is the knowledge of sin. Let a man apply it to his own character, and it will prove, to the conviction of his conscience, that he is a sinner; and, of course, wherever it proves sin it pronounces the sentence of death. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”

2. But others understand (and the general scope of St. Paul’s argument is favourable to the opinion) the sinning principle in the nature of fallen man. Wherever this principle of unsubdued enmity to God and holiness exists in the heart, it will manifest itself in outward acts of sin. And these acts become habits, by repetition; and thus sin becomes master. There his law is “a law of death.” Wherever there is sin in the root, there is death in the fruit; “the end of these things is death.” “Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

IV. The law of the Spirit of life makes us free from the law of sin and death.”

1. This is true of the law of sin and death, understood as the covenant of works, the broken moral law. It is in reference to this that the apostle seems to be speaking in ver.

1. Before they were “in Christ,” they were condemned by the law for having broken it. But no sooner did they put their souls, by penitence and faith, into the Saviour’s bands, than all the mass of transgressions and guilt which rested upon them was removed. And now “there is no condemnation,” they are “made free from” the condemnatory demands of the moral law, from the curse of the covenant of works.

2. But true believers are delivered from the sinning principle which contaminates our fallen nature. “Sin shall have no dominion over you.”

V. Practical inferences. The salvation of Christ is--

1. Of indispensable necessity. It is, in fact, “the one thing needful”; “our souls without it die.”

2. A present salvation. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free.”

3. That connected with satisfactory evidence of its existence. St. Paul does not speak as if he were at all doubtful; as if it were a business of mere conjecture or probability, of inference or anticipation. He had a consciousness of his freedom.

4. A personal affair. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free. (Jabez Bunting, D. D.)

Freedom from law achieved by law

We see this principle at work in the material world. A higher law comes into play and overrides ordinary law. Thus dynamic law subjugates mechanical force, as in the steam engine; chemical law, in turn, annihilates dynamic force; and intellectual power is superior to vital law, and moral to intellectual. The lower laws take effect upon the lower natures. The mechanical law of gravitation affects stones; but let a higher law of affinity come into operation, and those stones will be transformed into other combinations, such as gases, which will be above the laws of gravitation, and will form food for plants, etc. Mechanical law, however applied, cannot convert stones into bread. Chemical law can. If you mechanically pound ice or melt it, you can get nothing but water; but chemistry transforms it into power, and gas, and food. In the text the apostle is presenting to us in the kingdom of grace what is taking place in the kingdom of nature--law conquering law--e.g., a human body subject to chemical law ferments, putrefies, decays; but the vital law holds all these in check. It is only when the higher vital law is gone that the lower law reigns. (Percy Strutt.)

The two laws

I. What is meant by “law.”

1. Law is an authoritative code framed by a master for the regulation of his servants. But when we speak of the laws of nature, we denote the process by which events invariably follow each other. The law which accountable creatures are hound to obey is one thing; the law, in virtue of which creatures are always found to make the same exhibition in the same circumstances, is another.

2. It is not difficult, however, to perceive how the same term came to be applied to things so distinct. For law, in the first sense of it, is not applicable to a single command which may never be repeated. True, like all the others, it is obeyed, because of that general law by which the servant is bound to fulfil the will of his master; yet it does not attain the rank of such a denomination unless the thing enjoined be habitual. Thus the order that doors shall be shut, or that none shall be missing after a particular hour, or that Sabbath shall be observed, may be characterised as the laws of the family--not the random orders of the current day. Now this common circumstance of uniformity has extended the application of the term “law.” Should you drop a piece of heavy matter, nothing is more certain nor more constant than its descent--just as if constrained so to do by the authority of a universal enactment on the subject, and hence the law of gravitation. Or, if light be made to fall on a polished surface, nothing more mathematically sure than the path by which it will be given back again to the eye of the beholder, and hence in optics the law of reflection. Or if a substance float upon the water, nothing more invariably accurate than that the quantity of fluid displaced is equal in weight to that of the body which is supported; and all this from a law in hydrostatics. But the difference lies just here. The one kind of law is framed by a living master for the obedience of living subjects, and may be called juridical law. The other is framed by a living master also, for it is God who worketh all in all; but obedience is rendered by the force of those natural principles wherewith the things in question operate in that one way which is agreeable to their nature. This kind of law would by philosophers be called physical law.

II. In which of these two senses shall we understand “law” in the text. To determine this, we shall begin with the consideration of--

1. The law of sin and death. It is quite obvious that this is not a law enacted in the way of jurisprudence. It is neither more nor less than the sinful tendency of our constitution. It is called a law because, like the laws of gravitation or electricity, it has the property of a moving force, inasmuch as it incessantly aims after the establishment of its own mastery. Death comes as regularly and as surely in the train of our captivity to sin as the fruit of any tree, or the produce of any husbandry, does by the laws of the vegetable kingdom.

2. The law of the Spirit of life just expresses the tendency and the result of an operative principle in the mind that has force enough to arrest the operation of the law of sin and death. The affection of the old man meets with a new affection to combat and to overmatch it. If the originating principle of sin be shortly described as the love of the creature, the originating principle of the spiritual life might also be briefly described as the love of the Creator. These two appetites are in a state of unceasing hostility. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.