INTRODUCTION TO ROMANS 8 As the former chapter shows that sanctified ones are not free from the being of sin in them, which is a ground of general complaint and uneasiness; this chapter shows, that justified ones are freed from the guilt of sin, and secure from punishment for it; and have the utmos... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS THEREFORE NOW, NO CONDEMNATION,.... The apostle having discoursed largely in the preceding chapter, concerning the struggle and combat believers feel within themselves, and opened the true causes and reasons of the saints' grievances and complaints, and what gives them the greatest uneasine... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS,.... These words are of difficult interpretation. They may be understood of the Gospel revealing and declaring deliverance from the law of Moses; wherefore there can be "no condemnation", Romans 8:1, by it. The Gospel may be designed by "the law of t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHAT THE LAW COULD NOT DO,.... This is not to be understood of "the law of the mind", in opposition to "the law of sin", which indeed is very feeble and impotent; man had a power originally of obeying the divine commands, but through sin he has lost his strength and power; and even a renewed min... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US,.... By the righteousness of the law, is not meant the righteousness of the ceremonial law, though that was fulfilled by Christ; but of the moral law, which requires holiness of nature, righteousness of life, and death in case of disobedienc... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY THAT ARE AFTER THE FLESH,.... By flesh is meant the corruption of nature; and they may be said to be "after" it, not all that have flesh in them, for the best of saints have it in them; regenerating grace does not remove it from them; there is a difference between being in and after the fle... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR TO BE CARNALLY MINDED IS DEATH,.... The phrase the apostle here uses, includes the best part of corrupt man; the mind, the understanding, the judgment, the will, the affections, the thoughts, the reason, and reasonings of man; and may be rendered, "the wisdom", or "prudence of the flesh"; so cal... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE CARNAL MIND IS ENMITY AGAINST GOD,.... These words contain a reason why the issue of carnal mindedness is death; because the carnal mind, the wisdom of the flesh, is not only an enemy, but enmity itself against God: against his being; it reasons against it; it wishes he was not; it forms... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEN THEY THAT ARE IN THE FLESH,.... They that are in the flesh are the same who are said to be after it, Romans 8:5, and are there described. Such CANNOT PLEASE GOD; men, whilst unregenerate, and as such, cannot please God; for though the persons of God's elect are wellpleasing to him always, a... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT YE ARE NOT IN THE FLESH, BUT IN THE SPIRIT,.... That is, ye are not carnal, but spiritual men; or ye are not in a state of unregeneracy, but in a state of grace: the reason proving this is, IF SO BE, or "seeing" THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELL IN YOU; the inhabitation of the Spirit is a distingui... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF CHRIST BE IN YOU,.... Not as he is in the whole world, and in all his creatures, or circumscriptively, and to the exclusion of himself elsewhere; for his person is above in heaven, his blood is within the vail, his righteousness is upon his people, and his Spirit and grace are in them; and so... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THE SPIRIT OF HIM THAT RAISED UP JESUS FROM THE DEAD,.... These words are not to be understood as they are by some, of the continued work of sanctification in the heart by the Spirit of God; for regeneration, and not sanctification, is signified by quickening, which quickening occurs when the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, BRETHREN, WE ARE DEBTORS,.... The appellation, "brethren", is not used, because they were so by nation or by blood, though many in the church at Rome were Jews; nor merely in a free familiar way of speaking; but rather on account of church membership, and especially because they were in t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR IF YE LIVE AFTER THE FLESH, YE SHALL DIE,.... Such persons are dead, whilst they live, and shall die a second or an eternal death, if grace prevent not. It may be asked, whether one that has received the grace of God in truth, can live after the flesh; flesh, or corrupt nature, though still in s... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD,.... Not by the spirit of the world, or of the devil, or by their own spirits: the act of leading ascribed to the Spirit is either in allusion to the leading of blind persons, or such who are in the dark; or rather to the leading of children and teaching t... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AGAIN TO FEAR,.... By "the spirit of bondage" is meant, not the Spirit of God: for this is just the reverse of his character, who is a "free Spirit", or רוח נדיבה, "a Spirit of liberty"; and is contrary to his work and office, which is to show a soul it... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPIRIT ITSELF BEARETH WITNESS,.... The thing which the Spirit of God witnesses to is, THAT WE ARE THE SONS OF GOD; which supposes the case in some sense doubtful and uncertain, at least that it is called in question; not by others, though it sometimes is, as by Satan, which need not seem strang... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF CHILDREN, THEN HEIRS,.... Children, whether natural or adopted, are heirs to their parents, and according to the Roman laws, which some think the apostle here respects, whether male or female; but according to the Jewish laws c, females did not inherit only in case of want of male issue; for... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I RECKON, THAT THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME,.... By "this present time" may be meant, the then present age, in which the apostle lived; which was an age in which the people of God suffered much, as was foretold by Christ, and which was necessary for the confirmation of the Gospel; for gra... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE EARNEST EXPECTATION OF THE CREATURE,.... Some by the creature understand the universe, all created beings animate and inanimate, which having suffered much by the sin of man, are introduced by a rhetorical figure, as waiting for deliverance and a restoration to their paradisiacal estate; but... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE CREATURE WAS MADE SUBJECT TO VANITY,.... This designs the vanity and emptiness of the minds of the Gentiles, who were without God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, without the law and Gospel, and grace of God; also the vain conceits they had of themselves, of their wisdom, knowledge, learning... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THE CREATURE ITSELF ALSO,.... The phrase in hope, which stands in our version, at the end of the preceding verse, should be placed in the beginning of this, and be read in connection with Romans 8:19 being a parenthesis, thus: "the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifest... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE KNOW THAT THE WHOLE CREATION GROANETH,.... As a woman with child, ready to bring forth: for it is added, AND TRAVAILETH IN PAIN TOGETHER UNTIL NOW; regeneration is owing to the grace of God, which is compared to "seed", of which men are born again; the means of conveying it is the Gospel, an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND NOT ONLY THEY, BUT OURSELVES ALSO,.... Not only they Gentiles, but we Jews likewise: WHICH HAVE THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THE SPIRIT: meaning either the apostles, who were all Jews, and who most of them received the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit on the day of "Pentecost", which was the day of the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WE ARE SAVED BY HOPE,.... We who have received the firstfruits, who were in a lost perishing condition, and by nature no better than others, than the Gentiles, are saved by sin and wrath to come by Christ, with a spiritual and everlasting salvation. They were already saved in the preparations an... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF WE HOPE FOR THAT WE SEE NOT,.... Whether it be the hour of death, or the second coming of Christ, or the resurrection of the dead, and eternal glory; all which are unseen by us, and to be hoped for: THEN DO WE WITH PATIENCE WAIT FOR IT; as that which is certain and real, as something valuabl... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKEWISE THE SPIRIT ALSO HELPETH OUR INFIRMITIES,.... The Spirit of God which dwells in us, by whom we are led, who is the spirit of adoption to us, who has witnessed to our spirits, that we are the children of God, whose firstfruits we have received, over and above, and besides what he has done for... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT SEARCHETH THE HEARTS,.... This is peculiar to God, and a "periphrasis" of him; angels, neither good nor bad, can search into the hearts of men; one man cannot know the heart of another, nor any man fully know his own; this is the prerogative of God: and HE KNOWETH WHAT IS THE MIND OF TH... [ Continue Reading ]
And we know that all things work together for good,.... There is a temporal good, and a spiritual good, and an eternal one. Temporal good is what the men of the world are seeking after, and generally have the greatest share of, and the saints the least; and yet they have as much as is needful for th... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHOM HE DID FOREKNOW,.... The foreknowledge of God here, does not intend his prescience of all things future; by which he foreknows and foretells things to come, and which distinguishes him from all other gods; and is so called, not with respect to himself, with whom all things are present, but... [ Continue Reading ]
MOREOVER, WHOM HE DID PREDESTINATE,.... Not to sufferings, which are not expressed nor designed, but to grace and glory after mentioned. This predestination is of particular persons, who, in consequence of it, are called, justified, and glorified; it is the effect of divine grace, and entirely owing... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE THEN SAY TO THESE THINGS? C, Either to these afflictions, shall we murmur and repine at them? no, since they work together for our good, and are not to be compared with our future glory, which is certain for if we suffer with, and for Christ, we shall be glorified together: or to these... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT SPARED NOT HIS OWN SON,.... It is said that God spared not the angels that sinned, nor the old world, which was full of violence, nor Sodom and Gomorrah, whose wickedness was great, nor the Egyptians and their firstborn, refusing to let Israel go, nor the Israelites themselves, when they tra... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL LAY ANYTHING TO THE CHARGE OF GOD'S ELECT?.... The elect of God are a certain select number of persons, whom he has so loved, as of his sovereign good will and pleasure, to choose in Christ before the foundation of the world, unto eternal life and salvation, by certain ways and means of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS HE THAT CONDEMNETH,.... That is, the elect of God: all mankind are deserving of condemnation, and are under the sentence of it, as in Adam; some are foreordained to condemnation; all in final impenitence and unbelief, are condemned already; and the whole world of the ungodly will be condemned... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST?.... By "the love of Christ" is not meant the saints' love to Christ, but his love to them; he is indeed the object of their love, and so strong is their love to him, that it can never be destroyed; for though there may be an abatement in the fervour of... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IT IS WRITTEN, FOR THY SAKE WE ARE KILLED,.... This passage is a citation out of Psalms 44:22; and the meaning is, that for the sake of God, and his pure worship, Old Testament saints were frequently put to death, or exposed to the persecutions of men, which often issued in death; as New Testamen... [ Continue Reading ]
NAY, IN ALL THESE THINGS,.... The former words being inserted in a parenthesis, these are an answer to the question in Romans 8:35, "what shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation?" c. "nay", it shall not, nor any of the other things mentioned: "in all these things" afflictions, d... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I AM PERSUADED,.... These words with the following, express the strong persuasion, and full assurance of faith the apostle had, that nothing whatever could separate him and the rest of God's people, from his love towards them in Christ Jesus. This persuasion not only regards himself, but others;... [ Continue Reading ]
NOR HEIGHT, NOR DEPTH,.... Neither heaven, earth, nor hell, nor any of the inhabitants of either, or anything in either; no high or low place, to be cast down from the one, or into the other; nor the height of honour and prosperity, or the depth of meanness and adversity; nor the height of power, or... [ Continue Reading ]