Jesus Christ, being made under the law, fulfilled the law: whatsoever the law did or could demand, is fully satisfied and fulfilled by Christ. Learn, 2. That Christ having fulfilled the law in our behalf, whatever can be required of us by the way of punishment is discharged likewise. Learn, 3. That though the righteousness of the law be fulfilled for us by Christ, yet the gospel righteousness must be performed by us ourselves. Christ has answered the demands of the law for us, but will never fulfil the conditions of the gospel for us. We must repent ourselves, obey ourselves, or Christ's obedience will profit us nothing; none can safely or comfortably pretend to an interest in Christ's obedience, either active or passive, but only such who in their course are acted and influenced by the Spirit, and not by the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

Observe here, 1. A difference of persons mentioned; those that are after the flesh, and them that are after the Spirit. 2. A difference of properties belonging to these persons; the one minds the things of the flesh, the other the things of the Spirit. They mind them; that is, they relish and savour them, they lay out their thoughts about them, and let out their endeavours after them. Learn hence, 1. That there are but two sorts of men in the world; some after the flesh, and some after the Spirit. 2. That these two different sorts of men have two different objects, which they savour and relish; namely, the things of the flesh, and the things of the Spirit. 2. That all men discover the true temper of their minds, and the complexion and disposition of their souls, by the respect which they give to either of these objects, by minding the things of the flesh, or the things of the Spirit; that is, by minding them willingly and cheerfully, resolvedly and constantly.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace:

In the former verse we had a description of those that are carnal, and them that

are spiritual. In this verse we have the end of the one, and the issue of the other: the end of the one is death, the issue of the other is spiritual life, joy, and peace. Observe, 1. The end and condition of all carnally-minded persons, so remaining, and still continuing, it is death; always demeritoriously, that which deserves death; and sometimes actually it procures and hastens the sinner's death; but especially it exposeth to an endless and eternal death. Observe, 2. The sweet fruit and joyful issue of spiritual-mindedness: it is life and peace. 1. It is life, it is eternal life initially, and it leads to eternal life ultimately Grace is the first degree of glory, and glory but the highest degree of grace. 2. It is peace; to be spiritually-minded lays the foundation of peace with God, with conscience, with the world; the fruit of righteousness is peace, quietness, and assurance for ever.

7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

By the carnal mind, are meant the rational powers corrupted by our sensitive appetite, or a mind enslaved by sensual lusts. Such a temper of mind is opposite to, yea, enmity against, God and goodness. Learn hence, 1. That carnal persons are no better than enemies unto God: there is a perfect contrariety in their affections, inclinations, and actions, to the will of God. They are called haters of God; not that they hate him as a Creator, but as a law-giver, they hate his holiness, not his goodness. Learn, 2. That whilst men remain carnally-minded, there is no breaking off this enmity between God and them; the carnal mind, whilst such, is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be: not that this impotency and inability will excuse from guilt, because it is not created, but a selfcontracted impotency, not a natural, but a moral impotency, which arises from a perverse disposition of will, is joined with a delight in sin, and a strong aversion from the holy commands of God. Man must thank himself, and not God, for his lame law of God, is occasioned by his natural hand. That he cannot be subject to the enmity and contracted hardness of heart

against God.

8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

To be in the flesh, is not barely to have the flesh in us, but prevailing in us; to be wholly possessed by the flesh, to be drenched and drowned in sin; instead of fighting under Christ's banner against sin, to fight under the banner of corrupt nature against Christ. Such cannot please God; nay, they cannot but displease him, both in their persons and in their actions; for none can please him that are unsuitable and unlike unto him, because all liking is founded in likeness, and all complacency in correspondency. Learn hence, That carnal men neither do nor can please God, because not renewed by God, nor reconciled to him: Such as are in the flesh, cannot please God.

9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.—

Observe, He doth not say, the flesh is not in you, but ye are not in the flesh, so as to be actuated and influenced, guided and governed, misled and carried away, by it. Sincere and serious christians, although they live in the flesh, yet do they not live after the flesh. But ye are in the Spirit: that is, illuminated, inclined, and enabled by the Spirit to do the will of God: And the Spirit of God dwelleth in you, as a spirit of truth to enlighten your understandings, as a spirit of holiness to renew your will and affections, as a spirit of love to inspire the soul with divine and unutterable desires after the favour and grace of God; and the phrase dwelling imports presence and propriety, fellowship and intimacy, operation and activity, residence and constancy of abode.

--Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Observe here, 1. That the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of Christ passively and by way of reception, as being bestowed upon him, and received by him; also actively, and by way of collation, as being bestowed by him, and conveyed from him. Observe, 2. That all sincere christians have the Spirit of Christ; they have him for the blessing of conversion, they have him for the benefit of communion; he dwells in them by his sanctifying impressions, powerful assistances, quickening and comfortable influences; he pours in both the oil of grace, and also the oil of joy and gladness, into their hearts. Observe, 3. There are some that have not the

VOL. II.

Spirit of Christ: such as are carnal and sensual have not the Spirit, such as are censorious and envious have not the Spirit, such as are malicious and revengeful have not the Spirit; such as are implacable, and of an irreconcileable temper of spirit, have not the Spirit of Christ. Observe, 4. That all such as have not the Spirit of Christ, are none of Christ's: they have no spiritual relation to him, they have no special interest in him, and can expect no present consolation or future happiness from him: the proposition is indefinite and without exception. If any man, prince or peasant, rich or poor, bond or free, have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of Christ's.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteous

ness.

If Christ be in you, that is, by his Holy Spirit, the body is dead, that is, still subject to death, because of sin, which will never cease to be in us till we die; but the Spirit is life, that is, will give life to it again, because of righteousness, or of that justification which is unto life. Learn hence, That Christ in believers is a sure pledge and earnest to them of eternal life, both in body and soul. Christ is in believers two ways, 1. Objectively, as the object is in the faculty, or the things we think of, love, and delight in, are in our hearts and minds: thus Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith. 2. Effectively; so Christ is in believers by his Spirit, whose gracious influences produce life in them, and likeness unto him. Learn, 2. That the bodies of believers in whom Christ dwells, are subject to death as well as other men's, and that because of sin both original and actual; sin brought mortality into their natures, death entered the world by sin, and sin goes out of the world by death; they are by Christ delivered from the sting, but not from the stroke of death: Their bodies are dead because of sin. Learn, 3. That believers, though mortal, and subject to death in regard of their bodies; yet they live, and are in a state of immortality, in regard of their souls. The spirit is life; that is, the spirit of the believer is immortal, yet not exclusively, but emphatically; not as if other men's souls did not live after death, but it is a life worse than death; 'tis a special immortality that the believer is partaker of. Learn, 4. The spirit of life because of righteousness. If we understand it of

F

Christ's righteousness, that gives us a right and title to salvation; if of our own inherent righteousness, that is a qualification to fit and prepare for eternal life and salvation: take it in either sense, it teaches us, that without righteousness there can be no hope of eternal life and happiness; we can be neither fit for the employment of heaven, nor for the enjoyment of heaven, without it, Coloss. i. 12.

11 But if the Spirit of him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

three persons in the glorious Trinity: the Father raised him, Acts x. 40. Him God raised up the third day. Christ raised himself, John x. 18. I have power to lay down my life, and to take it up again. The Holy Ghost raised up Christ, 1 Pet. iii. 18. He was put to death in the flesh, but quickencd by the Spirit. Note, 3. A gracious possession, and special inhabitation: He dwelleth in us, in our hearts by his gifts and graces, in our bodies as his living temples: which proves him to be really God, for none but a God possesses a temple; and also to be a distinct person, not an energy or operation, for none but a person can be said to inhabit or dwell; and should teach us to take heed of defiling our bodies by any uncleanness, which are or ought to "For

if

As if the apostle had said, " your body must die, yet it shall live again in the morning of the resurrection, and that by virtue of the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in you, and is the bond of union with him your head; others shall be raised by the power of Christ as their judge, but you shall be raised by virtue of your union with him as your head; They are raised officio Judicis, beneficio Mediatoris." Observe here, An happy resurrection promised, and the condition upon which that promise is made and insured: 1. An happy resurrection promised; the same Holy Spirit of God that raised Christ shall raise you, because the same Spirit dwelleth in you. Learn thence, That the bodies of the saints are the temples of the Holy Ghost, his dwelling-place, living, dying, and dead; if the Holy Spirit dwells in us here, sanctifying our persons, the same Spirit will not forsake our bodies in the grave, but raise them up to glory and happiness. Death dissolves all other unions except that betwixt the believer and the Spirit of Christ: but the grave itself cannot separate them. Observe, 2. The condition upon which this promise is made and insured: If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you. Where note, 1. A blessed relation; the Holy Ghost is called the Spirit of the Father, because the Father is the fountain and original of the Deity, and doth communicate it both to the Son and to the Spirit, to teach us to seek unto the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit, he being the donor and dispenser of it. Note, 2. A glorious operation; the Spirit raised up Jesus from the dead. Where observe, That the holy scriptures ascribe Christ's resurrection to all the

12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.

That is, Secing the holy Spirit dwelleth in us, quickening our souls for the present, and raising our bodies for time to come, furnishing the one with grace here, and fitting the other for glory hereafter therefore we ought to live unto God, and not to the flesh; we are not debtors to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Where note, That the word flesh is not to be taken in a physical, but a moral sense; not in a physical sense, for the body of man; every one is a debtor to his own body, he owes it food and clothing, nourishment and provision. The beast must be fed, though not pampered, lest it kick and throw its rider. But flesh is here to be taken in a moral sense, for sin, for the unregenerate and unsanctified part in man: and then the sense is, that no man owes any thing to the service and satisfaction of his sinful lusts and inordinate desires; none of us owe sin, Satan, or the world, an hour's service; these are not warrantable creditors for any of us to be indebted to. Learn hence, That believers are not indebted, or owe any thing to the flesh, but all to the Spirit; the flesh is a cheater, an usurper, an oppressor; what it calls for, it has no right to demand: but the Spirit is a just creditor, and we are greatly indebted to him, as the author and producer of grace in us, and as he is the preserver and increaser of that grace in us which he has begun. O blessed Spirit! we owe all that we are, and all that we have, to thee, all

that we have in hand, and all that we have in hope; thou hast a right to all, yea, more than all that we can pay thee, so infinitely are we indebted to thee. But for sin and the flesh, we never promised any thing to it, we never got any thing by it, nothing but shame and sorrow from it, and therefore we are not indebted to it. Lord, keep us from being debtors to the most cruel and severe creditors in the world, sin and Satan; for the more we pay to them, the more we run in arrears with thee, to whose justice we must pay the uttermost farthing.

13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Our apostle here adds a farther reason why a christian should not live after the flesh: before an argument was drawn à Debito, now à Damno. He told us in the former verse we owed nothing to the flesh, here he acquaints us what losers we shall be by living to the flesh: If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; which words are a dreadful commination, and severe threatening. In which, observe, 1. The persons threatened; ye, the believing Romans, called to be saints, chap. i. 7. even they are threatened with hell, who were candidates of heaven: he threatens them with death, to keep them from death. Learn thence, That the ministers of God may use arguments drawn from hell-torments to dissuade the holiest and best saints from sin, and to persuade them to duty; If ye live after the flesh, &c. Observe, 2. The threatening itself, Ye shall die. Learn thence, That Almighty God threateneth all those that live after the flesh with nothing less than eternal death and damnation. To live after the flesh, is to have the flesh our governing principle, our work and trade, our scope and end; and to die for living after the flesh, is to undergo a temporal, spiritual, and eternal death; an everlasting banishment from the blessed presence of him in whose presence is fulness of joy: But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. The former words were a threatening to excite our industry; these are a promise to prevent our dejection. In which observe, 1. The act specified, or duty enjoined, and that is mortification: If ye mortify, that is, kill every sin. 'Tis not enough to oppose sin, but we must de

stroy sin; nothing but the destruction of sin must content us. Note also, The continuance of the act, If ye do mortify: though they had already mortified sin, yet they are called upon to proceed in the work: the axe must be daily laid to the root, and the knife must still stick in the throat of sin, till it drops down dead. Mortification must be continual, and it must necessarily be painful; nothing that has life will be put to death without pain and struggling; the longer we delay to mortify sin, the more painful shall we make it to ourselves. Observe, 2. The proper object of this duty, The deeds of the body: by which all sin is to be understood, relating both to the inward and outward man, though the latter only be mentioned, because the body is that which is manifestativum peccati, it is that wherein sin doth especially show and discover itself. Learn hence, Mortification must be universal as well as continual, not one deed, but deeds; not the deeds of the body only, but of the soul also, must be mortified; all evil dispositions, depraved habits, corrupt affections, as well as irregular actions, must be watched against, and the whole body of sin become the object of mortification. Observe, 3. The agents in this work, and they are two: 1. The more principal agent is the Holy Spirit. 2. The less principal is the christian himself. If ye through the Spirit; we can do nothing without him, he will do nothing without

us.

Learn hence, That in mortifying sin the Spirit's assistance and our endeavours must concur: mortification indeed is not the work of nature, yet man must be an agent in it, not in his own but in God's strength; we have brought sin, that rebel, into our own souls, and we must use our own endeavours to cast it out; true, it cannot be done alone by ourselves, but it will never be done without ourselves: we can sin of ourselves, but cannot overcome sin by ourselves; we know how to be slaves, but are unable of ourselves to be conquerors. The believer is principium activum, but the spirit is principium effectivum. Observe, 4. The reward promised to the performers and performance of this duty: Ye shall live; namely, a life of grace and holiness, a life of joy and comfort, a life of glory and happiness. Our life of grace is an evidence and an earnest of the life of glory: grace is glory in the bud, and glory is grace in the fruit. Learn, That a life of grace and comfort on earth, together