Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Romans
Book: Romans
Chapter: 7
Overview:
Believers are united to
Christ, that they may bring forth
Fruit unto
God.
(1-6) The use and excellence of the
Law.
(7-13)
The spiritual conflicts between corruption and
Grace in a
believer.
(14-25)
1-6 So long as a
Man continues under the
Law as a
Covenant, and
seeks
Justification By his own obedience, he continues the
Slave
of
Sin in some form. Nothing but the
Spirit of
Life in
Christ
Jesus, can make any sinner free from the
Law of
Sin and
Death.
Believers are delivered from that power of the
Law, which
condemns for the sins committed
By them. And they are delivered
from that power of the
Law which stirs up and provokes the
Sin
that dwells in them. Understand this not of the
Law as a rule,
but as a
Covenant of
Works. In profession and privilege, we are
under a
Covenant of
Grace, and not under a
Covenant of
Works;
under the
Gospel of
Christ, not under the
Law of
Moses. The
difference is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being
married to a new
Husband. The second
Marriage is to
Christ.
By
Death we are freed from obligation to the
Law as a
Covenant, as
the
Wife is from her
Vows to her
Husband. In our believing
powerfully and effectually, we are dead to the
Law, and have
No
more to do with it than the dead servant, who is freed from his
master, has to do with his master's
Yoke. The
Day of our
believing, is the
Day of being united to the
Lord Jesus. We
enter upon a
Life of dependence
On him, and duty to him. Good
Works are from union with
Christ; as the fruitfulness of the
Vine is the product of its being united to its roots; there is
No Fruit to
God, till we are united to
Christ. The
Law, and the
greatest efforts of one under the
Law, still in the
Flesh, under
the power of corrupt principles, cannot set the
Heart right with
regard to the
Love of
God, overcome worldly lusts, or give
Truth
and sincerity in the inward parts, or any thing that comes
By
the special sanctifying influences of the Holy
Spirit. Nothing
more than a formal obedience to the outward
Letter of any
precept, can be performed
By us, without the renewing,
new-creating
Grace of the new
Covenant.
7-13 There is
No way of coming to that knowledge of
Sin, which
is necessary to
Repentance, and therefore to peace and
Pardon,
but
By trying our hearts and lives
By the
Law. In his own case
the
Apostle would not have known the sinfulness of his thoughts,
motives, and actions, but
By the
Law. That perfect standard
showed how wrong his
Heart and
Life were, proving his sins to be
more numerous than he had before thought, but it did not contain
any provision of
Mercy or
Grace for his relief. He is ignorant
of human nature and the perverseness of his own
Heart, who does
not perceive in himself a readiness to fancy there is something
desirable in what is out of reach. We may perceive this in our
children, though self-
Love makes us
Blind to it in ourselves.
The more humble and spiritual any
Christian is, the more clearly
will he perceive that the
Apostle describes the true believer,
from his first convictions of
Sin to his greatest progress in
Grace, during this present imperfect state. St.
Paul was once a
Pharisee, ignorant of the spirituality of the
Law, having some
correctness of character, without knowing his inward depravity.
When the commandment came to his
Conscience By the convictions
of the Holy
Spirit, and he saw what it demanded, he found his
sinful mind rise against it. He felt at the same time the evil
of
Sin, his own sinful state, that he was unable to fulfil the
Law, and was like a criminal when condemned. But though the evil
principle in the human
Heart produces sinful motions, and the
more
By taking occasion of the commandment; yet the
Law is holy,
and the commandment holy, just, and good. It is not favourable
to
Sin, which it pursues into the
Heart, and discovers and
reproves in the inward motions thereof. Nothing is
So good but a
corrupt and vicious nature will pervert it. The same heat that
softens
Wax, hardens
Clay.
Food or medicine when taken wrong,
may cause
Death, though its nature is to nourish or to heal. The
Law may cause
Death through
Man's depravity, but
Sin is the
Poison that brings
Death. Not the
Law, but
Sin discovered
By the
Law, was made
Death to the
Apostle. The ruinous nature of
Sin,
and the sinfulness of the human
Heart, are here clearly shown.
14-17 Compared with the holy rule of conduct in the
Law of
God,
the
Apostle found himself
So very far short of
Perfection, that
he seemed to be
Carnal; like a
Man who is sold against his will
to a hated master, from whom he cannot set himself at liberty. A
real
Christian unwillingly serves this hated master, yet cannot
shake off the galling
Chain, till his powerful and gracious
Friend above, rescues him. The remaining evil of his
Heart is a
real and humbling hinderance to his serving
God as angels do and
the spirits of just made perfect. This strong language was the
result of St.
Paul's great advance in
Holiness, and the depth of
his self-abasement and
Hatred of
Sin. If we do not understand
this language, it is because we are
So far beneath him in
Holiness, knowledge of the spirituality of
God's
Law, and the
evil of our own hearts, and
Hatred of moral evil. And many
believers have adopted the
Apostle's language, showing that it
is suitable to their
Deep feelings of abhorrence of
Sin, and
self-abasement. The
Apostle enlarges
On the conflict he daily
maintained with the remainder of his original depravity. He was
frequently led into tempers, words, or actions, which he did not
approve or allow in his renewed judgement and affections.
By
distinguishing his real self, his spiritual part, from the self,
or
Flesh, in which
Sin dwelt, and
By observing that the evil
actions were done, not
By him, but
By Sin dwelling in him, the
Apostle did not mean that men are not accountable for their
sins, but he teaches the evil of their sins,
By showing that
they are all done against reason and
Conscience.
Sin dwelling in
a
Man, does not prove its ruling, or having dominion over him.
If a
Man dwells in a
City, or in a country, still he may not
rule there.
18-22 The more pure and holy the
Heart is, it will have the
more quick feeling as to the
Sin that remains in it. The
believer sees more of the beauty of
Holiness and the excellence
of the
Law. His
Earnest desires to obey, increase as he grows in
Grace. But the whole good
On which his will is fully bent, he
does not do;
Sin ever springing up in him, through remaining
corruption, he often does evil, though against the fixed
determination of his will. The motions of
Sin within grieved the
Apostle. If
By the striving of the
Flesh against the
Spirit, was
meant that he could not do or perform as the
Spirit suggested,
So also,
By the effectual opposition of the
Spirit, he could not
do what the
Flesh prompted him to do. How different this case
from that of those who make themselves easy with regard to the
inward motions of the
Flesh prompting them to evil; who, against
the
Light and warning of
Conscience, go
On, even in outward
practice, to do evil, and thus, with forethought, go
On in the
Road to perdition! For as the believer is under
Grace, and his
will is for the way of
Holiness, he sincerely delights in the
Law of
God, and in the
Holiness which it demands, according to
his inward
Man; that new
Man in him, which after
God is created
in true
Holiness.
23-25 This
Passage does not represent the
Apostle as one that
walked after the
Flesh, but as one that had it greatly at
Heart,
not to walk
So. And if there are those who abuse this
Passage,
as they also do the other Scriptures, to their own
Destruction,
yet serious Christians find cause to
Bless God for having thus
provided for their support and comfort. We are not, because of
the abuse of such as are blinded
By their own lusts, to find
fault with the
Scripture, or any just and
Well warranted
interpretation of it. And
No Man who is not engaged in this
conflict, can clearly understand the meaning of these words, or
rightly
Judge concerning this painful conflict, which led the
Apostle to bemoan himself as a wretched
Man, constrained to what
he abhorred. He could not deliver himself; and this made him the
more fervently thank
God for the way of
Salvation revealed
through
Jesus Christ, which promised him, in the
End,
deliverance from this enemy.
So then, says he, I myself, with my
mind, my prevailing judgement, affections, and purposes, as a
regenerate
Man,
By Divine
Grace, serve and obey the
Law of
God;
but with the
Flesh, the
Carnal nature, the remains of depravity,
I serve the
Law of
Sin, which wars against the
Law of my mind.
Not serving it
So as to live in it, or to allow it, but as
unable to free himself from it, even in his very best state, and
needing to look for help and deliverance out of himself. It is
evident that he thanks
God for
Christ, as our deliverer, as our
Atonement and
Righteousness in himself, and not because of any
Holiness wrought in us. He knew of
No such
Salvation, and
disowned any such title to it. He was willing to act in all
points agreeable to the
Law, in his mind and
Conscience, but was
hindered
By indwelling
Sin, and never attained the
Perfection
the
Law requires. What can be deliverance for a
Man always
sinful, but the free
Grace of
God, as offered in
Christ Jesus?
The power of Divine
Grace, and of the Holy
Spirit, could root
out
Sin from our hearts even in this
Life, if Divine
Wisdom had
not otherwise thought fit. But it is suffered, that Christians
might constantly feel, and understand thoroughly, the wretched
state from which Divine
Grace saves them; might be kept from
trusting in themselves; and might ever
Hold all their
consolation and
Hope, from the rich and free
Grace of
God in
Christ.