Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? Ver. 1. _Know ye not, brethren_] Bellarmine saith of his Romans (more true perhaps of these), _Romani sicut non acumina, ita nec imposturas habent._ As they are not very k... [ Continue Reading ]
For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to _her_ husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of _her_ husband. Ver. 2. _She is loosed, &c._] And so at liberty to marry again, though Jerome compare such to the unclean beasts in the ark, and to... [ Continue Reading ]
So then if, while _her_ husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Ver. 3. _So then if_] The sects then are out that say today, that if t... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, _even_ to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Ver. 4. _That we should bring forth fruit_] The ministry of the word, saith one, is the brida... [ Continue Reading ]
For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Ver. 5. _In the flesh_] In our pure naturals. _ The motions of sin_] Those maladies of the soul (παθηματα). _ By the law_] By the irritation of the law. _ Did work_... [ Continue Reading ]
But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not _in_ the oldness of the letter. Ver. 6. _Not in the oldness of the letter_] That is, not in that old kind of life that we lived under subjection to the law, to the irritat... [ Continue Reading ]
What shall we say then? _Is_ the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Ver. 7. _I had not known lust_] Involuntary evil motions. The apostle calleth concupiscence sin, saith Possevine the Jesuit, but w... [ Continue Reading ]
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin _was_ dead. Ver. 8. _By the commandment_] Not commandments. Papists abolishing, or at least destroying, the sense of the second commandment, by making it a member of the first, that they... [ Continue Reading ]
For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Ver. 9. _For I was alive_] As being without sense of sin, and conscience of duty. _ Sin revived_] _sc._ In sense and appearance. _ And I died_] _sc._ In pride and self-justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
And the commandment, which _was ordained_ to life, I found _to be_ unto death. Ver. 10. _Ordained to life_] By life and death understand peace and perturbation.... [ Continue Reading ]
For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew _me_. Ver. 11. _Deceived me_] Irritated my corrupt nature, and made me sin the more, _per accidens, _ as Pharaoh was the worse for a message of dismission.... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore the law _is_ holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Ver. 12. _The commandment_] _Vis legis in mandando et praecipiendo._ The word (εντολη) properly signifieth an affirmative precept.... [ Continue Reading ]
Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. Ver. 13. _Exceeding sinful_] Sin is so evil that it cannot have a worse epithet given it. Paul can cal... [ Continue Reading ]
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. Ver. 14. _Sold under sin_] But yet ill paid of my slavery, and lusting after liberty.... [ Continue Reading ]
For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. Ver. 15. _I allow not_] Gr. ου γινωσκω, I know not, as being preoccupated,Galatians 6:1, wherried and whirled away by sin before I am aware or have time to consider.... [ Continue Reading ]
If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that _it is_ good. Ver. 16. _I consent unto the law_] I vote with it, and for it, as the rule of right; I wish also well to the observance of it, as David did, Psalms 119:45 .... [ Continue Reading ]
Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Ver. 17. _It is no more I_] Mr Bradford, martyr, in a certain letter thus comforteth his friend: At this present, my dear heart in the Lord, you are in a blessed estate, although it seem otherwise to you, or rather to your old Adam;... [ Continue Reading ]
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but _how_ to perform that which is good I find not. Ver. 18. _Dwelleth no good thing_] _Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut sim meus, _ saith Bernard. It was no ill wish of him that desired God to free... [ Continue Reading ]
For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Ver. 19. _For the good, &c._] Nature, like Eve and Job's wife, is always drawing us from God. As the ferryman plies the oar, and eyes the shore homeward, where he would be, yet there comes a gust of wind that carries him... [ Continue Reading ]
Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Ver. 20. _It is no more I_] Every new man is two men. _See Trapp on "_ Rom 7:17 _"_ But sin that dwelleth in me] A scripture ill applied by that female Antinomian; who when her mistress charged her for stealing... [ Continue Reading ]
I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. Ver. 21. _When I would do good_] Something lay at the fountain head, as it were, and stopped him when he would do his duty. But God valueth a man by his desires. _a_ There often cometh a prohibition from Chancery to stay procee... [ Continue Reading ]
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: Ver. 22. _I delight_] Germanicus reigned in the Romans' hearts, but Tiberius in the provinces. So here.... [ Continue Reading ]
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Ver. 23. _A law in my members_] Called the deeds of the body, Romans 8:13, because corruption acteth and uttereth itself by the members of the body. _a_... [ Continue Reading ]
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Ver. 24. _O wretched man_] We must discontentedly be contented to be exercised with sin while we are here. It is so bred in the bone, that till our bones, as Joseph's, be carried out of the Egypt of this world, it will not... [ Continue Reading ]
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Ver. 25. _I thank God, &c._] The Grecians being delivered but from bodily servitude by Flaminius the Roman general, called him their saviour; and so rang out, Saviour,... [ Continue Reading ]