Bible Commentary

Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 7. Because ] The reason of the radical difference of the two “minds” is now further shewn by a description of the essential condition of the “mind of the flesh.” the carnal mind … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:7”

For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. 6. For ] The reference of this “for” is not clear at first sight. Probably the sequence of thought is that the difference of carnal and spiritual preferences is profoundly real; for the former involves death, the latter, life … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:6”

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. 5. they that are ] This “ being after the flesh” is the state of which “ walking after the flesh” is the exhibition and proof. St Paul here, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:5”

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 4. that the righteousness of the law, &c.] Here is the (for us) Final Cause of the Atonement. Both as a satisfaction of the Law as regards God, and as the manifestation and pledge … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:4”

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 3. what the law could not do ] Lit. the Impossible of the Law. What was this? The answer lies in … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:3”

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 2. For the law, &c.] What is this law? We take it to be a phrase by way of paradox, meaning the institute, or procedure, of the Gospel of Grace. Cp. “the law … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 8:2”

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. 25. I thank God ] Here first light is let in; the light of hope. The “redemption of the body” shall come. “He who raised up Christ” … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:25”

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 24. O wretched man, &c.] Lit. Miserable man [am] I. The adjective indicates a state of suffering; the pain of the inner conflict as felt by the regenerate “mind [38] .” [38] In Lord Selborne’s Book of Praise will … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:24”

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. 23. I see ] The true Self contemplates, as it were, the perverting element, the Alter Ego, the flesh. Such conscious contemplation surely befits the … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:23”

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 22. I delight in ] Lit. I delight with. The Law, as the will of God, is quasi-personified, and the regenerate soul “rejoices with it ” in its delight in holiness and truth. The Law’s loves and hatreds are those also of the … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 7:22”