Bible Commentaries
Romans 6

Verses 1-39

XV

SALVATION IN US

Romans 6:1-8:39.

We have considered hitherto in this letter what salvation has done for us in redemption, justification and adoption. We have now before us in Romans 6:1-8:39 what salvation does in us in regeneration and sanctification of our souls, and in the resurrection and glorification of our bodies.

Two questions properly introduce this section. In Romans 3:21 he says, "But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets." In view of this, in Romans 6:1 he asks, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" The meaning is this: Does salvation by grace through faith in a debt-paying substitute encourage to more sin, because the sinner does not himself pay the penalty, and thus by more sin give greater scope to superabounding grace? Or, does imputation of the penalty of sin in a substitute make void the law to the sinner personally? Or does God’s justification of the sinner, through faith, instead of his personal obedience, turn loose a defiled criminal on society eager to commit more crime because his future offenses, like his past offenses, will be charged to the substitute? These are pertinent questions of practical importance and if, indeed, this be the legitimate result of the gospel plan of salvation, it is worthy of rejection by all who love justice.

While we have already considered this matter somewhat, let us restate a reply embodying the substance of this section. The reply is in substance as follows: Whom God justifies them he also regenerates and sanctifies in soul and raises and glorifies in body. In the first element of regeneration – the application of the blood of Christ by the Holy Spirit – the sinner is cleansed from the defilement of sin. See Psalms 51:2; Psalms 51:7; Ezekiel 36:25; Titus 3:5, first clause. "The washing of regeneration," Ephesians 5:26; "born of water," John 3:5, all of which is set forth in the type of the red heifer, Hebrews 9:13-14, an Old Testament teaching for ignorance of which Christ condemned Nicodemus, John 3:10. See also Revelation 7:14; Revelation 22:14, revised version. So that the justified man is not turned loose a defiled criminal on society.

In the second element of regeneration the justified sinner is delivered from the love of sin by his renewed nature, Psalms 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26; John 3:3; John 3:5-6, "born from above . . . born of the Spirit;" Titus 3:5, second clause, "and renewing of the Holy Spirit." So that the regenerate man has the spirit of obedience, Ezekiel 36:27; Tutus Romans 2:11-14; Romans 3:8. And while the obedience of the regenerate is imperfect, yet through sanctification, when it is consummated, the regenerate in soul is qualified to perfect obedience, Philippians 1:6; Philippians 3:12-14; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18. And when the body is raised and glorified then this justified sinner has become personally, in soul and body, as holy and obedient as Jesus himself, 1 John 3:2; Psalms 17:15, all of which is pictorially set forth in our baptism, Romans 6:4-5; Colossians 2:12. So that faith not only does not make void the law to us personally, but is the only way by which we shall be made able to keep the law personally, and not only does not encourage to sin, but furnishes the only motives by which practically we cease from sin.

The doctrine of baptism as bearing upon this point set forth in Romans 6:1-11 is this: A justified and regenerate man is commanded to be baptized. Baptism symbolizes the burial of a dead man – dead to his old life – his cleansing from the sins of the old life, and this resurrection to a new life. Christ died on the cross for our sins once for all. Being dead he was buried, raised to a new life and exalted to a royal and priestly throne. All this, in the beginning of his public ministry, was prefigured in his own baptism. As he died for our sins, paying the law penalty, so we in regeneration become dead to law claims because we died to sin in his death. Being dead to the old life, we should be buried. This is represented in our baptism: "Buried in baptism." But in regeneration we are not only slain, but made alive, or quickened. The living should not abide in the grave, therefore in our baptism there is also a symbol of our resurrection. But regeneration not only slays and makes alive, but cleanses, therefore in our baptism we are symbolically cleansed from sin, as was said to Paul, "Arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins." So that not only both elements of regeneration, cleansing and renewal of soul are set forth pictorially in our baptism, but also the coming resurrection and glorification of our bodies.

In Romans 6:7 we have this language: "For he that hath died is justified from sin." That means that there are two ways in which one can satisfy the law and meet all of its claims. He can either do it by perfectly obeying the law, or he can do it by meeting the penalty of the law. Therefore it says, "He that hath died is justified from sin." It is just like an ordinary debt. If one pays the debt he is justified from the claim. If a man commits an offense and the law decision is that he suffer the penalty of two years in the penitentiary, and he serves the two years in the penitentiary, he is justified in the eyes of the law. The law can’t take him up and try him again. While the disobedience of the law is not justified in obedience, he has paid the full penalty. Now to make the application of that: Christ died for our sins; we died in his death, just as we died in Adam and came under condemnation for it. Now when we die with Christ, that death on the cross justifies us from sin. That is what it means.

The next point is the argument from the meaning of the declaration that he that is dead is justified from sin. That argument is presented in Romans 6:12-13, and the reason for it is given in Romans 6:14. Let us look at those verses. If we be dead to sin we should not let sin reign in our mortal body that we should obey the lusts thereof. Neither present our members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present ourselves unto God as alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness unto God. The reason assigned is, "For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under law, but under grace." In other words, "It is true that you didn’t pay that law claim, but your substitute paid it, and that puts you from under the law of condemnation. Now if you set out to pay, you set out to pay unto grace. The spirit of obedience in you is not of fear, but of love to him that died for you." That is what is called being under grace in a matter of obedience and not under law.

What is the force of the question, "Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace?" In other words, "Because my obedience is not a condition of my salvation, shall I therefore sin?" That is the thought, and his argument against that is this: "God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" If a man presents himself unto grace as the principle of obedience, then it is not a life and death matter, but it is a matter of love and gratitude. It is on a different principle entirely. And in a very elaborate way he continues the argument down to verse Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Let us now explain the contrast in Romans 6:23 and give the argument. Here he contrasts two things, (1) the wages. This is a matter of law – wages. (2) Over against that stands gift – free gift. That is not a matter of wages. The wages of sin is death – that is the penalty – but now the free gift is eternal life. It is impossible to put his meaning any plainer than these words put it: "Are you expecting to be saved on the ground of earning your salvation as wages, or are you expecting to be saved through the free gift of God unto eternal life?" That is the thought.

Let us see the force of the illustration in Romans 7:2: "For the woman that hath a husband is bound by law to the husband while he liveth; but if the husband die, she is discharged from the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband liveth, she be joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if the husband die, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be joined to another man." The force of that as an illustration of the married life is: "What God hath joined together let not man put asunder." The obligation of a wife to a husband, and their fidelity to each other, is a matter of law growing out of the relation that holds them together. So long as a husband lives and a wife lives, neither one of them can be free to marry except in a certain case, and that exception is discussed elsewhere. He is just discussing the general principles here. Now apply that illustration: "The law holds you to absolute fidelity in obedience just as the law holds the woman bound to her husband, and the husband to his wife. If you died with Christ, you are dead to that law, and therefore you can enter into another relation. You are espoused to Christ. The law that binds you now is the law of that espousal to Christ, and that is the law of freedom; not like the other, it is a matter of grace." That is the force of that statement.

Then in Romans 7:7, "Is the law sin?" That is an important question and he answers it. Some things in connection with it have already been answered, and in answering it particularly I will take the following position:

(1) The law is not sin. It is holy, it is just, it is good. What, then, is the relation of the law to sin? He says here that it gives the knowledge of sin: "I had not known sin except through the law." If people were living according to different standards, every man being a judge in his own case, what A would think to be right B would think to be wrong, and vice versa. People would think conflicting things, and as long as a man held himself to be Judge of what was right and what was wrong he would not feel that he was a sinner. So the real standard, not a sliding scale, is put down among all the varying ideas of right and wrong. What is the object? It is to reveal the lack of conformity to the law: "I had not known sin, except through the law."

(2) The second reason is that it provokes to sin. He says, "Sin, finding occasion, through the commandment beguiled me, and through it slew me." If children were forbidden to climb telephone poles they would all desire to climb them, and they would never think of it if they were not forbidden. So that law was designed to show just what inherent nature will bring out. A snake is very pretty at certain times, and one may think that the enmity between him and the human race is hardly justifiable, but let him give a snake the opportunity to develop just what is in him, and then he will have a different opinion. Who would have supposed that it was in human nature to do the things done in the French Revolution? Man is a good sort of creature; he would not impale a body on a bayonet; he would not burn a woman at the stake; he would not put their fingers in a thumbscrew; he would not put a man on the rack and torture him; but nobody knows the evil that is in human nature until it has a chance to show what is in it.

(3) The law brings all that out; hence, one object of the law is to make sin appear to be sin, and to be exceeding sinful – to make it seem what it is, and not just a peccadillo, or a misdemeanor, but an exceedingly vile, ghastly, and hateful thing.

(4) Then the object of the law is to work death: "Sin, taking occasion by the law, beguiled and slew me." The death there referred to is the death in one’s own mind. It means conviction that one is lost – that is the death he is talking about. For he explains immediately, where he says, "I was alive apart from the law once," that is, he felt like he was all right, but when the commandment came he saw that he was a dead man – under condemnation of death. And that is one of the works of the Holy Spirit bringing about conviction, making a man see that he is a sinner, making him feel that he is a sinner, that he is exceeding sinful.

And we may distrust any kind of preaching that is dry-eyed, that has no godly sorrow, that has no repentance. If one thinks that he is a very little sinner, then a very little Saviour is needed. We depreciate our Saviour just to the extent that we extenuate our sin.

The next passage is also of real importance, (Romans 7:15-25). There is only one important question on it: "Is the experience there related the experience of a converted man, or of an unconverted man?" If one wants to see how men dissent on it, let him read his commentaries.

Let us see some of the points: "That which I do I know not [the word "know" is used in the sense of approve]; for not what I would, that do I practice; but what I hate, that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me . . . For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practice. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Now is that a saved or an unsaved man? Our Methodist brethren tell us that that is the experience of an unsaved man; that we don’t get to conversion until we come to Romans 8. I say that there we strike sanctification. The point is this: If the mind of the flesh – the carnal mind – is enmity against God, if it is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be, then how can that mind, "delight in the law of God in the inward man?" How can he approve that which is good? From Romans 7:16 to the end of Romans 7 he discusses a certain imperfection attending the regenerate state. The experience of every regenerate man will corroborate this: "I know a certain thing is right. I am ashamed to say I didn’t do it; I know a certain thing is wrong, and I approve the law that makes it wrong, and I am ashamed to say I have done that very thing." And if there is one thing that disturbs the Christian and troubles him, it is to find a law in his members warring against the law of his mind. That is expressed here: "Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?" That expression of Paul’s has been (and I think rightly) supposed to refer to an ancient penalty inflicted on a man that had committed a certain offense. He was chained to a dead body, and he had to carry that dead body with him everywhere he went. He alive, that body dead, he would want a pure atmosphere to inhale, and that body would be exhaling the stench of corruption. It was a miserable condition: "Who will deliver me from this body of death?"

One of the great French preachers preached on that subject before Louis XIV. We find a reference to it in Strong’s Systematic Theology. He was talking about the two l’s; "that which I approve I do not; that which I would not do that I do." And the French preacher was pointing out the two men in a man, and how they fought against each other, and the king interrupted him in his sermon and said, "Ah, I know those two men." The preacher pointed at him and said, "Sire, it is somewhat to know them, but, your majesty, one or the other of them must die." It isn’t enough just to know them; one or the other of them is going ultimately to triumph. What is the meaning of Romans 8:4: "That the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit"? Here is the fulfilment in us. It is not imputed righteousness that is being discussed here; that is justification. But it is the object of regeneration and sanctification to make a personal righteousness. The object of regeneration and sanctification is that in us the law might be fulfilled as well as for us in the death of Christ. That is the meaning of the passage, and it is one of the profoundest gratifications to me that my salvation does not stop at justification. I am glad to think that the law has no claims on me, but I could not be happy, being only justified and loving sin. I not only want to be delivered from sin but from the love of sin in regeneration, and the dominion of sin in sanctification.

The apostle describes the two minds in Romans 8:5-8: "For they that are after the flesh mind the things of the flesh." Here flesh does not mean the body. The flesh does not mean the tissues and the blood. That would constitute only a physical man. What he means by the flesh is the carnal mind. Now he is discussing the two. He continues: "But they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit." There are the two minds: "For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: because the mind of the flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be; they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is just like trying to wash away the soul’s sins in water.

We might take the sinner up and hold him under Niagara Falls and let it pour on him for ten thousand years and we could never wash away the soul’s sins. It was impossible for the blood of bullocks to take away sin. It is impossible for the water of baptism to take away sin. This carnal mind cannot be made into a Christian. We can whitewash it, and there are many preachers that do that sort of business. It may be outwardly beautiful, like a tomb, but inwardly it is full of rottenness and dead men’s bones.

QUESTIONS

1. What has been considered in this letter hitherto?

2. What now before us in Romans 6:1-8-39?

3. What two questions properly introduce this section, and what their meaning?

4. What of the significance of these questions?

5. What is the reply to them embodying the substance of this section?

6. What is the doctrine of baptism bearing upon this point set forth in Romans 6:1-11?

7. What is the meaning of Romans 6:7: "He that hath died is justified from sin"?

8. What is the argument based upon that statement?

9. What is the force of the question, "Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace"?

10. What is the contrast and argument in Romans 6:23?

11. What is the illustration in Romans 7:2, and what the force of it?

12. In the law sin? If not, what its relation to sin?

13. Expound the passage, Romans 7:15-25.

14. What is the meaning and application of Romans 8:4?

15. How does the apostle describe the two minds, and what the teaching?

XVI

SALVATION IN US (CONTINUED)

Romans 6:1-8:39

In this chapter we continue the discussion of salvation in us, or regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. Regeneration is a change of mind. The carnal mind cannot be made into a Christian, hence there must be a change. Is the change simply using the old mind, but modifying it, or is it a change like this: A woman put her baby in the cradle at night and the next morning there was another baby in the cradle which she called the changeling? That was not any imitation of the baby that was in there before. Just so we waste our time if we try to make a Christian out of the carnal mind. We can’t do it. That is why regeneration is called a creation, which is to make something out of nothing – not out of a material having already existed.

What Paul is expressing here is that we may take the fallen nature of man which he has inherited from Adam and commence an educational process in the cradle, and continue it up to the adult stage and get a very respectable church member, but not a saved person.

Education has no creative power at all. He may be very proper in his behavior; he may pay the preacher; he may go to Sunday school; he may do everything in the world that will enable him to appear to be a Christian, and yet not be a Christian. There must be a breaking up of the fallow ground. As Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except ye be born from above, ye cannot even see the kingdom of heaven."

The conclusion reached by the apostle in this argument is in Romans 8:11: "If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Now the question, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, this evil mind this evil body? It comes through Christ, but it is Christ working through the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that made Christ’s body alive; it is the Holy Spirit that will make our bodies alive at the resurrection; it is the Holy Spirit that will glorify these bodies and when they come out they will be spiritual bodies and not carnal bodies.

There is a test presented in verse Romans 8:14: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God." Who are God’s children? Those that have the Spirit – those that are led by the Spirit. We are regenerated by the Spirit, and under the guidance of that Spirit we turn away from sin. If we fall we try to fall toward heaven, and get up and try again. There is a sense of wanting to get nearer and nearer to God. We want to know whether we are Christians. Here is the test: We are led by the Spirit of God.

That brings us to the word "adoption." What is adoption? Etymologically it is that legal process by which one, not a member of a family naturally, is legally made a member of it and an heir. There are three kinds of adoption which the apostle discusses in this letter:

1. National adoption, Romans 9:4: "My kinsman according to the flesh who are Israelites, whose is the adoption." Many times in the Old Testament Israel is called God’s son, the nation as a nation being his particular people.

2. The adoption of the soul of the justified man, Romans 8:15: "Ye received the spirit of adoption."

3. The adoption of our bodies when they are redeemed from the grave and glorified, Romans 8:23: "Waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

The fact of our adoption is certified to us in Romans 8:15-16: "For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God." That is a matter of our subjective experience. As in the case of justification there must be a difference of time between the fact of our justification and our realization of its privileges, so there must be and indeed often is a difference in time between the fact of our adoption and our realization in experience that we are adopted. The cry, "Abba, Father," means that in our experience a filial feeling toward God comes into the heart. Antecedent to this when we thought of God he seemed to us to be distant and dreadful, but when through the Holy Spirit given unto us came this conscious realization that God is a Father, it drove out all fear.

We do not feel ourselves under bondage to law, but we have the sense in our hearts of being God’s children, and as a little child readily approaches a parent in expectation of either help or comfort, we have this feeling toward our heavenly Father. It is one of the sweetest experiences of the Christian life. There is no distinction of meaning between the spirit of adoption and the Spirit’s bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, or if there is a distinction it is not appreciable in our consciousness, since it is the Spirit that bestows that filial feeling.

As an illustration of this filial feeling in the heart I cite a story of the west well-known to our boys. While two children, a little boy and his sister, were playing, the boy was stolen by the Indians and reared among them until he caught the spirit of an Indian and gloried in the Indian life. Finally he became chief of the tribe. In a war between his tribe and the white people, he was captured and it was discovered that he was not an Indian but a white man. Finally the proof accumulated as to who were his parents, yet he refused to acknowledge them. With the sullenness of a captured Indian he pined away for the wigwams and the freedom of his Indian life. Every effort to make him realize that he was a white man failed until his sister, then a grown woman, brought the toys with which the two were playing when the boy was stolen. As he looked at them his memory awakened and he stretched out his hands and claimed them as his and said, "Where is my mother?" Now here in him was a consciousness of filial feeling towards his parents from whom he had been so long alienated. Analogous to this very impression is our experience that God is our Father.

In a vivid way the apostle represents the earth, man’s habitat, as entering sympathetically into man’s longing for his complete restoration to God’s favor through adoption, Romans 8:20-23: "For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body," the meaning of which is that this earth was made for man; to him was given dominion over it, but when he sinned the earth was cursed. In the language of the scripture, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." In Isaiah 55:12-13, we have this vivid imagery following conversion: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all of the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree; and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." In other words, the joy that is in the heart of the Christian constitutes a medium of rose color through which all creation seems to him more beautiful than it was before. The birds sing sweeter, the flowers exhale a sweeter perfume, the stars shine brighter, all of which is a sign, or forecast, of the redemption of the earth from the curse when man’s redemption is complete. This curse as originally pronounced upon the earth was not through any fault of creation, as our text says: "Subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who had subjected it in hope." And very impressive and vivid is the imagery that the groaning of the earth is as travail, waiting to be redeemed from the defilement and scars and crimson stains that have been put upon it through man’s inhumanity to man on account of sin.

Other scriptures very clearly show that this redemption of the earth accompanies the redemption of man. As the earth was cleansed from defilement of sin practiced by the antediluvians through the flood, so at the coming of our Lord and the resurrection of our bodies it will be purged by fire. The language of the apostle Peter upon this subject is very impressive: "For this they wilfully forget that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished; but the heavens that now are and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. . . . But the day of the Lord will come as a thief: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:5-7; 2 Peter 3:10-13). In John’s apocalypse, referring to the restitution of all things after the judgment, he says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more" (Revelation 21:1). This is the day of fire referred to in Malachi 4:1-3: "For, behold, the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace; and all the proud, and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and gambol as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts." This is the day of fire which the apostle Paul says shall try every man’s work: "But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; each man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

In continuation of the theme of this section the apostle further shows the power of the work of salvation in us through the Holy Spirit – the Paraclete. But the Greek word Paraclete needs to be defined. While our Lord was on the earth he was the paraclete, to whom as the paraclete the disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray," and in many examples of his own praying and in many special lessons on prayer he taught the disciples, and they were sad at heart when at the last supper he announced his speedy going away from them, but comforted them with the assurance that he would pray the Father to send them another paraclete – the Holy Spirit, who would teach them to pray acceptably. Prayers not according to the will of God are not answered. We may ask for things, being in doubt as to whether it is God’s will that such things should be granted, but the Holy Spirit is not in doubt. He knows what is according to the will of God, and hence when he moves us intensely to offer prayers those prayers will always be according to God’s will, and so will be answered. Thus while Jesus in heaven makes intercession for us before the mercy seat, the other Paraclete – the Holy Spirit – here on earth makes intercession in us. We are not to understand that the Holy Spirit directly prays for the Christian, but his method of intercession is to prompt us to make the right intercession, and it is in that way that he makes intercession for us. He teaches us how to pray, and what to pray for. That is why great revivals of religion are in connection with these spiritual prayers offered by God’s people. Hence the prophet says, "Thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people till the Spirit is poured out from on high."

The most vivid illustration of the thought is found in the prophecy Zechariah in connection with an event yet in the future, to wit, the salvation of the Jewish nation. The language is,

And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day shall there by a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Meggidon. And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the houses of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. – Zechariah 12:10-13:1.

It is on account of the Spirit’s intercession in us that backsliders are ever reclaimed. As we wander away from God we lose the spirit of prayer, and while we go through with the forms of prayer we are conscious that our prayers do not rise, do not take hold of the throne of God, but when the Spirit comes upon the backslider then his hard heart is melted, the fountain of his tears is unsealed, the spirit of grace and supplication comes upon him, and he is conscious that he is taking hold of the throne of mercy in his prayers.

As an illustration, many Texans have experienced the hardships of a long-continued drought, when the heavens seem to be brass and the earth seems to be iron. When vegetation dies, when dust chokes the traveler on the thoroughfare, and thirst consumes him, suddenly he comes to a well and in it is an old-fashioned pump. He leaps down from his horse, rushes to the pump, but in moving its handle he causes only a dry rattle. The reason is that through very long disuse and heat the valves of the pump have shrunk and hence cannot make suction to draw up the water. In such case water must be poured down the pump until the valves are swollen, and then as the pump handle is worked, suction draws the water as freely as at first. As that pouring the water from above down the dry pump is to its efficacy in bringing water up, so is the Spirit’s intercession in us, causing us to pray successfully and according to the will of God. In that way the two elements of the gospel plan of salvation cooperate to the everlasting security of the believer. At the heaven end of the line Jesus, the first Advocate, or Paraclete, makes intercession for us as High Priest, pleading what his expiation has done for us, while the Holy Spirit, the second Advocate, or Paraclete, works in us an intercession for us here on earth. So that both ends of the line are secure in heaven above and on earth beneath. No backslider has ever been able to work himself into the true spirit of prayerfulness any more than a dry pump can be made to bring up water by working the handle. Whenever he does pray prevailingly, it is when the Spirit works in him the grace of supplication.

QUESTIONS

1. What is regeneration? negatively and positively?

2. What is the real import of what Paul says about it?

3. What is the conclusion reached by Paul in this argument?

4. What is the test presented in Romans 8:14?

5. What is adoption?

6. What are the three kinds of adoption which the apostle discusses in this letter?

7. How is the fact of our adoption certified to us?

8. What is the meaning of the soul’s cry, "Abba, Father"?

9. Is there any distinction between the spirit of adoption and the Spirit’s bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God? If so, what?

10. Illustrate the filial feeling that comes to us when we are saved.

11. In what vivid way does Paul represent the earth, man’s habitat, as entering sympathetically into man’s longing for his complete restoration to God’s favor through adoption?

12. What other scriptures very clearly show this redemption of the earth accompanying the redemption of man?

13. In continuation of the theme of this section, how does the apostle further show the power of the work of salvation in us?

14. Expound and illustrate this passage.

XVII

THE FINAL WORK OF SALVATION IN US

Romans 6:1-8:39

The final work of salvation in us is expressed in Romans 8:23 – the redemption of our body concerning which he adds: "For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." The body is an essential part of the normal man, who was made dual in nature, and even in paradise God had provided for the elimination of the mortality of man’s body, through the continued eating of the tree of life. But the immortality of the body in sin would have been an unspeakable curse to man, and hence God, in expelling man from the garden, said, "Lest he put forth his hand and take of the tree of life and live forever." But when our souls are regenerated the hope enters the heart that the body also will be saved, and we wait patiently for that part of our salvation. While the meaning of a passage in Job is somewhat disputable, the author believes that the common version is correct. It expresses the idea of Job in these words: Oh, that my words wee now written) Oh, that they were inscribed in a book I That with an iron pen and lead They were graven in the rock forever! But as for me, I know that my redeemer liveth, And that he shall stand in the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, Yet in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, And not another: though my reins be consumed within me. – Job 19:23-27.

And the passage is akin to the expression in Psalms 17:15: "I will be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness." This harmonizes with another very striking passage in Job: For there is hope of a tree, If it be cut down, that it will sprout again, And that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old ill the earth, And the stock thereof die in the ground; Yet through the scent of water it will bud, And put forth boughs like a plant. But a man dieth, and is laid low: Yea, mail giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wasteth and drieth up; So man lieth down and riseth not: Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep. Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember met If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare would I wait, Till my release should come. Thou wouldst call, and I would answer thee: Thou wouldst have a desire to the work of thy hands. – Job 14:7-15.

Here Job is deeply impressed with the hope of a tree cut down reviving. There is a resurrection for it, but he Bays, "When a man dies, where is he [that is, as to his soul] and if a man die shall he [as to his body] live again?" Inasmuch as the body was the work of God’s hands and originally intended to be immortal, he expresses the hope that God would hide him in the grave and appoint a set time to remember him there and then desire the work of his hands and call him forth from his long sleep.

The fulness of the salvation in us is the regeneration of the soul, its ultimate sanctification, and the resurrection and glorification of the body. It has ever been impossible to satisfy the cravings of a human heart with the hope of soul salvation only. It is ingrained in the very constitution of our being that we long for the revivification of the body. A bird escaping from its shell to fly with a new life in the air cares nothing for the cast-off shell. A butterfly emerging from the chrysalis state cares nothing for the shell that is left behind. But from the beginning of time, through this ingrained hope of immortality for the body, man has cared for the body shell after the spirit has escaped. It is evidenced in the care for the dead body characteristic of all nations. It is evidenced in the names given to graveyards. They are called cemeteries, that is, sleeping places. It is evident in the sculpture on the tombstones and in the inscriptions thereon, all tending to show that man desires an answer to the question, "If I die, shall I live again?" And the thought being, not with reference to the continuity of existence in his spiritual nature, but in his body. Hence the resurrection of the dead is made in the Christian system, a pivotal doctrine, as we learn from the letter to the Corinthians: that our faith is vain, our preaching is vain, we are yet in our sins, our fathers have perished and God’s apostles are false witnesses, if the dead rise not. That is the conclusion of the doctrine of salvation in us. All the rest of Romans 8 is devoted to a new theme.

THE EVERLASTING SECURITY OF THOSE WHO ARE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

The argument extends from Romans 8:26 to the end of the chapter, and it is perhaps the most remarkable paragraph in inspired literature. It should be memorized by every Christian. Every thought in it has been the theme of consolatory and encouraging preaching.

Let us now consider item by item this argument on the security of the believer:

1. He takes the latitudinal view, from top to bottom. Down here he finds a Christian. Up yonder at the other end of the line is the Advocate. But there is an Advocate here, too. And these Advocates, one here on earth in the depths, and the other yonder in the heights of heaven, are going to see to it that that Christian gets there all right through prayer and faith. If a Christian sins, he must confess it and ask God to forgive him. Sometimes he has not the spirit of prayer and does not feel like asking. But God provides an advocate, the Holy Spirit, that puts into his heart the spirit of grace and supplication. And the Holy Spirit not only shows him what to pray for, but how to pray. That makes things secure at this end of the line. Up yonder the advocate in heaven, Jesus Christ the righteous, takes these petitions that the Spirit inspired on earth and goes before the Father, and pointing to the sufficiency of his shed blood in his death on the cross, secures this salvation from depth to height.

2. The unbroken sweep of the providence of God: "To them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to his purpose."

With Christ on the mediatorial throne in heaven holding in his hand the scepter of universal dominion, constraining everything – beings in heaven above and on the earth beneath and in hell below – to work, not tangentially, but together for good – not evil – to them that love God, in the sweep of this providence all elements and forces of the material world and the spiritual world, are laid under tribute – fire, earth, air, storms and earthquakes, pestilences, good angels and bad, the passions of men, the revolutions in human government – all are made, under the directing power of Jesus our King, to conspire to our good. Fortune and misfortune, good report and evil report, sickness or health, life or death, prosperity or adversity, it is all one – the power of God is over them all. Satan is not permitted to put even the weight of a little finger upon the Christian to worry him except in the direction that God will permit, and that will be overruled for his good.

3. This sweep of providential government under our mediatorial King accords with a linked chain of correlative doctrines reaching from eternity before time to eternity after time. The links of this chain are thus expressed in Romans 8:29-30: "For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Before there was any world, a covenant of grace and mercy was entered into between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the evidences of which covenant are abundant in the New Testament, and the parts to be performed by each person of the God-head are clearly expressed, viz.: The Father’s grace and love in agreeing to send the Son, his covenant obligation to give the Son a seed, his foreknowledge of this seed, his predestination concerning this seed, his justification and adoption of them here in time.

Then the Son’s covenant was the obligation to assume human nature in his incarnation, voluntarily renouncing the glory that he had with the Father before the world was, and in this incarnation of humility to become obedient unto the death of the cross. The consideration held out before him, as a hope set before him, inducing him to endure the shame of the cross, and the reward bestowed upon him because of that obedience, was his resurrection, his glorification, his exaltation to the royal priestly throne and his investment with the right of judgment. And then the Spirit’s covenant-obligations were to apply this work of redemption in calling, convicting, regenerating, sanctifying and raising from the dead the seed promised to the Son, the whole of it showing that the plan of salvation was not an afterthought; that the roots of it in election and predestination are both in eternity before the world was, and the fruits of it are in eternity after the judgment. The believer is asked to consider this chain, test each link, shake it and hear it rattle, connected from eternity to eternity.

Every one that God chose in Christ is drawn by the Spirit to Christ. Every one predestinated is called by the Spirit in time, and justified in time, and will be glorified when the Lord comes.

4. It is impossible for finite beings to say anything against the grounds of this security, because "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Because, "He that spared not his own Son, to deliver him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" Then the challenge is sent to the universe to find anyone who can lay any charge against God’s elect – who in heaven, who among the angels, good or bad, who on the earth? No charge can be brought against a believer because it is God, the Supreme Judge, who has justified him. Justification is the verdict, or declaration, of the supreme court of heaven that in Christ the sinner is acquitted. This decision is rendered once for all, is inexorable and irreversible. It is registered in the book of life, and in the great judgment day that book will be the test book on the throne of the judgment. Whatever may be brought out from all the books that are opened, none of them are decisive and ultimate but one – the book of life – and it is not a docket of cases to be tried on that day, but is a register of judicial decisions already rendered; "and it shall come to pass that whosoever is not found already written in that book shall be cast into the lake of fire." Therefore the thrill excited in the heart by that song which our congregations so often used to sing: When Thou my righteous Judge shall come, To take thy ransomed people home Shall I among them stand? Shall I, who sometimes am afraid to die Be found at thy right hand? 0, can I bear the piercing thought, What if my name should be left out!

5. The ground of this salvation is what Christ does. Spurgeon calls Romans 8:34 the four pillars upon which rests the whole superstructure of salvation. They are: (a) The death of Christ, (b) The resurrection of Christ, (c) The exaltation of Christ to the kingly throne, (d) His intercession as our great High Priest. These four doctrines are strictly correlative – they fit into one another. The soul of the Christian does not at the beginning realize the strength of his salvation. Many a one has simply believed on Christ as a Saviour without ever analyzing in his own mind, or separating from each other in thought, the several things done by Christ in order to his salvation. But as he grows in knowledge of these things, he grows in grace and assurance. It was some time after my own soul was saved before I ever understood fully the power of Christ’s exaltation, or kingly throne, and still longer before I understood the power of his intercession. I got to the comfort of this last thought one day in reading a passage in Hebrews. "Wherefore also he is able to save to the uttermost them that draw near unto God through him, seeing be ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Hebrews 7:25). I had never before seen the difference between salvation in justification and salvation to the uttermost. In the same way we may not realize in our joy of regeneration the power of his continuing that good work in us until the day of Jesus Christ, and the great value of the Spirit’s work in taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. And as we learn each office of Christ, and just what he does in that office, the greater our sense of security. He is prophet, sacrifice, king, priest, leader, and judge.

6. The final argument underlying the security of the believer is presented in Romans 8:35-37, that none can separate us from the love of Christ after our union is established with him. The words here are, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? In all these things we are more than conquerors." The argument is in full accord with the statement of our Lord, John 10:29: "My Father, who hath given them unto me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand." It is further expressed in another passage by the apostle when he says, "I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day." And it is further expressed in the seal of the Holy Spirit. We are sealed "unto the day of redemption."

When I was a schoolboy I was wonderfully stirred by an eloquent sermon preached by J. R. Graves in which he pointed out that fact that by faith we commit our lives to Jesus; that life is hid with Christ in God; that life is sealed with the impression of the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, and then he asked, "Who can pluck that life out of the hands of God?" drawing this vivid picture: "If hell should open her yawning mouth and all of the demons of the pit should issue forth like huge vampires darkening water and land, could they break that seal of God? Could they soar to the heights of heaven? Could they scale its battlements? Could they beat back the angels that guard its walls? Could they penetrate into the presence of the Holy One on his eternal throne, and reach out their demon-claws and pluck our life from the bosom of God where it is hid with Christ in God?"

The pages of religious persecution are very bloody; rack, thumbscrews and fagot have been employed. Confiscation of property, expatriation from country, and bounding pursuit of the exile in foreign lands, exposedness to famine and nakedness and sword and other perils, and yet never has this persecution been able to effect a separation of the believer from his Lord. Roman emperors tried it, Julian the apostate tried it, Ferdinand and Isabella, Charles V, their son, and Philip II, his son, all tried it in their time. The inquisition held its secret court; war, conflagration, and famine wrought their ruin, but the truth prevailed.

All this illustrates the truth that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The Genevan, the German, the English State churches have tried, in emulation of the Romanist union of church and state, to crush out the true spirit" of Christianity. They have been able merely to scatter the fires, to make them burn over a wider territory as it is expressed concerning the decree to scatter the ashes of Wycliffe in the river.

Now upon these arguments, the two intercessors, the sweep of God’s providence, the link chain reaching from eternity to eternity, the impossibility of any being laying a charge against one whom God has justified, the four pillars, the inability of man or devil to separate from Christ – upon these, the apostle reaches this persuasion:

"For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

QUESTIONS

1. What is the final work of salvation in us?

2. What provision did God first make for the immortality of man’s body?

3. What defeated that plan, and how is this immortality finally accomplished?

4. What is Job’s testimony to this hope; What the interpretation of the passage?

5. How is this hope in man evidenced in a singular way?

6. How does Paul elsewhere make the resurrection a pivotal doctrine in the Christian system?

7. Name the six arguments for the security of those who are justified by faith as taught in Romans 8.

8. Explain the argument based on the two intercessors.

9. What is the providential argument, and what does it include?

10. What is the link chain argument, and how many and what links in the chain?

11. In the covenant of grace, what are the parts to be performed by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, respectively?

12. What is the nonchargeable elect argument, and what the book of life cited in this connection?

13. Recite the stanza from the old song given in this connection.

14. What is the ground of this salvation, and what the four-pillar argument?

15. Show how one may not comprehend all this when first converted, and how he may afterwards get great strength from it.

16. What the nonseparation argument, what J. R. Graves’, illustration of it, and how do the persecutions inflicted upon God’s people illustrate a great scripture truth?

17. In view of these arguments, what is Paul’s persuasion?