Matthew Poole and continuators on Romans 7

1 KNow ye not brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man , as long as he liveth?

By the Law here he means the Law of Wedlock, or the Law of Moses about that matter, as appears by the instance given in the next verse.

The word Man here is common to both Sexes, and may be applyed to either, for both are subject to the aforementioned Law.

The Apostle having shewed in the former Chapter how Believers are freed from the Dominion of Sin. He proceeds in this Chapter, to declare, that they are free also from the Yoak of the Mosaical Law, because that was dead to them, and they to it. This he illustrates, and proceeds by the familiar Allegory of a Husband and his Wife: Look as a Wife is free from her Husband when he is dead, and may then marry another, and be no Adultress; So Believers are dead to the Law, and are free to be Married to another, even to Christ, that is raised from the dead, that upon their happy Marriage, they may bring forth fruit unto God.

2. For the woman which hath an husband, is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth: but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the Law of her husband .

He here exemplifyes and illustrates the foregoing assertion.

See a parallel place, 1 Cor. 7.39. This is the general rule, yet there is an exception in the case of Fornication or Desertion. vid, Mat. 5.32. 1 Cor. 7.15.

From the obligation of the Law of marriage.

4 Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ ; that ye should be married to another, even to him that is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God .

i. e. Ye are taken off from all hopes of Justification by it, and from your confidence in obedience to it. Gal. 2.19. The Opposition seems to require that he should have said The Law is dead to us. But these two Phrases are much the same. Q. What Law doth he mean? A. Not only the Ceremonial, but the Moral Law, for in that he instanceth, v. 7. the moral Law is in force still, Christ came to confirm, and not to destroy it: But Believers are freed from the malediction, from the rigid exaction, and from the irritation thereof. Of this last he speaks, v. 8, 9. and from it we are freed but in part.

i. e. By the Sacrifice of Christs Body upon the Cross; thereby he delivered us from the Law, in the sence before mentioned.

i. e. Fruits of Holiness and good Works to the Glory and Praise of God.

Marginal references: Chap. 8. [illegible: 1 letter] Gal. 5.18.; Or, th[illegible: 2 letters] y[illegible: 1 letter] may be to [illegible: 3 letters] ther.; Gal. 5.2[illegible: 1 letter]

5. For when we were in the flesh , the motions of sins which were by the law , did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death .

q. d. For bringing forth of which Fruit unto God, we have now better helps than formerly we had; or we are in much better Circumstances than formerly we were: And so he proceeds to shew how our present State doth differ from the former.

i. e. In our Carnal Fleshly State, before we were Regenerated, or under the Carnal Paedagogy of the Law; for in the next Verse he speaks of our being now delivered from the Law.

i. e. The corrupt Inclinations to Sin, which are drawn forth by the Law, as ill Vapours are raised out of a Dunghil by the Sun, or which are irritated by the Law; of which by and by.

vid. c. 6. 13.16.

i. e. Such ill Fruit as ends in Death, c. 6.21.

Marginal references: Gr. [illegible: 1 word]

6. But now we are delivered from the law , that being dead, wherein we were held ; that we should serve in * newness of spirit , and not in the oldness of the letter .

i. e. Being brought out of our Fleshly State.

See the Notes on ver. 4.

The Relative is not in the Greek Text, but it is well supplyed to fill up the Sence. The Antecedent must be either Sin or the Law; by both of these we were held or detained whilst Unregenerate: But now neither of these have any Power to hold us with. Some read it, He being dead, the Old Man of which he spake in the foregoing Chapter.

i. e. That we should serve God or Jesus Christ our New Husband in true Holiness, which is wrought in us by the renewing of the Spirit; or serve him in a new Spiritual manner.

i. e. Not in an outward and ceremonial manner, according to the Letter of the Law; which Service or way of Worship, is now Antiquated, and grown out of date. The word Oldness insinuates the abolishing thereof, because of insufficiency, Heb. 8.13.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] d[illegible: 2 letters]d to [illegible: 1 word] Chap. [illegible: 1 letter]

7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid . Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law : for I had not known lust , except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet .

Here is another Anticipation of an Objection, which might arise from what the Apostle had said; ver. 5. That Sin was powerful in us by the Law. Some might Object and say, That the Law then was Sin, i. e. That it was the cause of it, and a factor for it. To this he Answers, by his usual Note of Detestation, God forbid.

i. e. I had not known it so clearly and effectually; so as to humble and drive me to Christ. For otherwise, Nature it self teacheth a difference of good and evil in many things. He adds this as a Reason why the Law cannot be the cause of Sin, because it discovers and reproves Sin; it detects and damns it; and that it so doth, he proves from his own Experience.

i. e. I had not known it to be Sin. By Lust here some understand, that concupiscence, which the Schoolmen call unform'd concupiscence, which hath not the consent of the Will: For the concupiscence to which we Consent, the Heathens themselves know to be Sinful; but that which hath not the Consent of the Will, or the first motions to Sin, they held to be no Sin; as neither did the Pharisees, amongst whom Paul lived; nor do the Papists to this very day. Some by Lust do understand original Sin, which is the Fountain from whence all particular Lusts do flow; the [illegible: 1 word] Furnace from which all sinful Motions, as so many Sparks do continually Arise: This is called Lust likewise, in Iam. 1.14. and this is forbidden in every Commandment; for where any of Sin is prohibited, there the Root also is prohibited; but more particularly it is forbidden in the Tenth Commandment.

Some understand the Law in general; but the Article us'd in the Greek seems to restrain it to a particular Precept. Besides, they are the very words of the Tenth Commandment. But, Why doth he not mention the Objects that are specified in that Commandment; as Thy Neighbours House, Wife, &c? The Answer is, That that was not Material; for the Apostle speaking of inward Concupiscence; which without the Law is latent and undiscovered; it was enough to name the sin it self, seeing the Objects about which it is Conversant, are of all sorts, and can hardly be numbred.

Marginal references: Chap. 3.20.; [illegible: 1 paragraph]; [illegible: 1 word]. 20. [illegible: 1 span]. 5. [illegible: 1 span]. 20.[illegible: 1 letter]

8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment , wrought in me all manner of concupiscence , for without the law sin was dead .

i. e. The Corruption of our Nature, the depraved Bent and Byas of the Soul, called before Lust.

i. e. Being stirr'd up or drawn forth by the Prohibition of the Law. The Law did not properly give occasion, but sin took it. The Law (as before) is not the cause of sin, tho' by accident it is the occasion of it. In a Dropsy, it is not the Drink that is to be blamed for increasing the Disease, but the ill habit of Body. Such is the depravedness of Man's Nature, that the things which are Forbidden, are the more desired: The more the Law would damn up the Torrent of sinful Lusts, the higher do they swell. The Law was given to restrain sin, but through our Corruption it falls out contrarily. The Law inhibiting Sin, and not giving Power to avoid it: Our impetuous Lusts take occasion or advantage from thence, the more eagerly to pursue it.

i. e. Inordinate Affections, and Inclinations of all sorts.

i. e. Without the knowledge of the Law.

i. e. Comparatively dead. Sin hath not so much Power, either to Terrify the Conscience, or to stir up inordinate Affections; it is like a sleepy Lyon that stirs not.

Marginal references: C[illegible: 2 letters]p. 4.15. [illegible: 1 word] 5.20.; Or, receiving [illegible: 1 word].; 1 Cor. 15.[illegible: 1 letter]

9. For I was alive without the law once ; but when the commandment came , sin reviv'd , and I di[illegible: 2 letters] .

q. d. Take me if you please for an Instance. Before I knew the Law aright, and understood the divine and spiritual Meaning of it; or whilst the Law stood afar off, and was not brought home to my Conscience. I was alive, that is▪ in my own Conceit. I thought my self in as good condition as any Man living. My Conscience never gave me any Trouble. So it was with me once, or heretofore, when I was a Pharisee, or in an unregenerate State.

i. e. When it came nearer to my Conscience; when I came to know and understand the Spiritual meaning and extent of it, that it condemned sinful Lusts, Affections, and Inclinations.

i. e. Its Sinfulness & Guilt appear'd; & I had a lively Sense thereof imprinted upon my Soul: Or my Corruptions began to gather▪ Head, and seem'd, as it were, to receive new Vigor and Life.

i. e. In my own Opinion and Feeling. I felt my Conscience deadly wounded. I was convinced I was in a State of Death and Damnation. I lost the Confidence I formerly had of my Good Estate.

10. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death .

q. d. So it came to pass, that the Commandment which was ordain'd to be a Rule of Life; and if I could [illegible: 1 letter]ave kept it, a Means of Life also, chap. 10.5. Gal. 3.12. [illegible: 1 letter] found it to be to me (through my Corruption and Transgression) an occasion of Death; it bound me over to Punishment, and so by Accident it tendeth to Death. Some by Life and Death, here do understand Peace and Perturbation of Spirit.

Marginal references: Lev. 18.5. Ezek. 20.11, 13, 21.

11. For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me , and by it slew me .

See the Notes on ver. 8.

i. e. Seduced and drew me aside, Heb. 3.13. Iames 1.14.

i. e. It drove me into Despair, or delivered me over to Death and Damnation, and made me Obnoxious thereunto.

12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good .

And so the Objection ver. 7. was a groundless Objection; for though the Law were the occasion of Sin, or were made advantage of by Sin, as ver. 8. yet it was not the Cause of it, that on all hands is acknowledg'd to be Holy, &c.

The Law in all the Branches of it.

Particularly the Preceptive part of the Law, and every particular Precept.

The three Epithets here given the Law of God, may be thus distinguished: 'Tis Holy in respect of the Ceremonial Part; 'tis Iust in respect of the Judicial Part; and Good in respect of the Moral Part of it. Or else the Law is Holy, as it teacheth us our Duty unto God: Iust, as it sheweth us our Duty to our Neighbour. Good, in regard of the Effect and End; as it works Goodness in the Observer thereof, and is Conducive to his temporal and eternal Good,

Marginal references: 1 Tim. 1.8.

13. Was then that which is good, made death unto me? God forbid . But sin that it might appear sin, working death in me, by that which is good ; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful .

Another Anticipation. The Apostle denyes, that the Holy Law was in its own nature deadly, or the cause of Death to him; the Fault was not in the Law, but in his own depraved Nature: But the plain Case is this that follows.

That Sin, that so it might appear every way like it self, wrought Death in him▪ by occasion of that Law, which, yet its self is Holy, Iust, and Good.

So as hereupon Sin, which in the time of his Ignorance an Unregeneracy, seem'd not worthy of any Notice, appear'd to be exceeding Foul and Sinful. Sin is so Evil, that he can't call it by a worse Name than its own. Hierome thinketh, That the Apostle here commits a Solecisme, by joyning an Adjective of the Masculine Gender, with a Substantive of the Feminine: But Beza and Erasmus have observed, That this is usual in the Attick Dialect. See the like, chap. 1.20. Some read Sinner for Sinful, and make the Apostle to speak of Sin, as of a certain Person; & therefore all along, the Context, Sin, is said to Work, to be Dead, to Revive, to Deceive, to Kill, &c. which is properly attributed to Persons, and not to things.

14. For we know that the law is spiritual : but I am carnal , sold under sin .

He goes on to clear the Law, and excuse it, giving it another Commendation, that it is Spiritual. i. e. It requires such Obedience as is not only outward, but Inward and Spiritual: It forbids Spiritual as well as Fleshly Sins. Read Christ's Exposition of it▪ in the fifth of St. Matthew.

i. e. In Part, because of the Remainders of Sin, and of the Flesh, that are still in me; in respect of which, those who are Regenerated, are said to be Carnal. Compare 1 Cor. 1.2. with 1 Cor. 3.1.

He did not Actively sell himself to sin, or to commit sin, which is said of A[illegible: 1 letter]ab. 1 King. 21.20, 25. and of the Idolatrous Israelites, 2 King. 17.17. He was not Sins Servant or Slave▪ but many times he was Sins Captive against his Will, vid. ver. 23. Against his Will and Consent, he was still subject to the violent Lusts and Assaults of Sin, and not able wholly to free himself▪ Though he alwayes made stout Resistance, yet many times he was overcome. Hitherto the Apostle hath spoken of the Power of the Law and Sin, in unregenerate Persons; even as he himself had Experienc'd, whilst he was yet in such a State. But now he cometh to speak of himself, as he then was; and to declare what Power the Remainders of Sinful Flesh had still in him, though Regenerated; and in part Renewed. That the following part of this Chapter is to be Apply'd to a Regenerate Person, is evident, Because the Apostle (speaking of himself in the former Verses) useth the Praeter perfect Tense, or speaketh of that which was Past; but here he changeth the Tense, and speaketh of the Present Time. From the seventh verse to the fourteenth, he tells us how it had been with him formerly; and then from the fourteenth verse to the End, he relates how it was with him now; I was so and so, I am thus and thus. The changing of the Tense and Time doth plainly argue a Change in the Person. They that list to be farther satisfied in this Point, may find it fully Discussed in our own Language, by Mr. Anthony Burgess, in his Excellent Discourse of Original Sin, Part 4. c. 3. and by Dr. Willet, in his Hexalta in Locum; and they that understand the Latine Tongue, may find it Argued pro and con, in Synops[illegible: 1 letter]. Critic. &c. and by Aug. lib. 1. Retractat. c. 23. lib. 5. contra Iulian. c. 11.

15. For that which I do , I allow not : for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I .

i. e. What I do contrary to the Command of God.

In the Greek 'tis, I know not. q. d. Many times I am surpriz'd and overtaken, not knowing or considering what I do: Or when he sayes I know not, his meaning is (as our Translation renders it) I allow or approve not. So the word is used, Mat. 7.23. & alibi. q. d. Even now in my Converted and Regenerate State, I am many times greatly Divided, and feel a Strife or Combate in my self; so that the good I would do upon the Motions of God's Spirit in me, I do not; and the Evil that I hate, and am utterly averse to; so far as I am Regenerated, that I do. See a parallel Place, Gal. 5.17.

He doth not speak here so much of outward Actions, as of inward Motions and Affections: He doth not speak of gross Sins, as Drunkenness, Vncleanness, &c. but of such Infirmities, as flow from the polluted Nature; and from which we can never be throughly Cleansed in this Life.

Marginal references: Gr. knew not

16. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good .

This very thing is an Argument, that the Law is such as I have before Asserted, ver. 12, 14. This shews my Consent to the Holiness and Goodness of the Law: I Vote with it, and for it, as the only Rule of Right, or Righteousness.

17. Now then, it is no more I that do it , but sin that dwelleth in me .

i. e. It is not I as Spiritual or Renewed, 'tis not my whole self, but 'tis Sin that dwelleth in me.

That inhabits in me as a troublesome Inmate, that I can't get rid of; that will not out, so long as the House stands; as the fretting Leprosy in the Walls of a House, would not out, till the House it self were Demolished. It is such an Inhabitant, as is never from Home; it is not in us as a Stranger for a Season, but it makes its constant Abode with us.

Marginal references: Or, no longer I.

18. For I know, that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing : for to will is present with me , but how to perform that which is good, I find not .

i. e. In my Fleshly Part, or my Nature in and of its self.

No Goodness at all, or no spiritual Good.

i. e. I can, so long and so far as I follow the Motions of God's Spirit, Will that which is good; but how to perform the good, that I would, I find no Power or Might at least to perform it, in that manner that I desire.

The meaning is, not that he never did the Good he desired; but it often so fell out, he began many good things, but he could not go thorough stitch with them.

Marginal references: Gen. 6.5. and 8.21.; Or, good dwelleth not.; Or, lyeth by me.

20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me .

These two Verses are a Repetition of what he had said, ver. 15, 17. Every New Man is two Men; There is in him an I, and an I. The Apostle in his unregenerate State, could make no such Distinction was now he doth.

21. I find then a law , that when I would do good, evil is present with me .

This Verse hath greatly vexed Interpreters. The Apostle speaking simply and abstractedly of a Law; The Question is, What Law he mean[illegible: 1 letter]? Some take the word improperly, for a Decree or Condition, which was imposed upon him, and to which he was necessarily subject; that when he would do good, evil should be present with him. Others by Law, here do understand the Law of Sin; of which he speaks afterwards, ver. 23, 25. Sin is like a Law, and so Powerful and Imperious, in its Commands and Dictates; that we have much ado, the best of us, to resist it, and shake off its Yoke. q. d. I find by sad Expeence, such a forcible Power in Sin, That when I would do good, I am hindered, and can't do it so freely and fully as I desire. Others by Law, here do understand the Law of God: And those that so understand it, have given no less, than Eight Interpretations, to make the Grammatical Connexion; the best is of those that say the Preposition [non-Latin text not transcribed] is understood, a frequent Ellipsis in the Greek Tongue (vid. Iames 1.25.) and then the Sence is this; I find that when according to the Law or Command of God, I would do good, evil is present with me.

Another Periphrasis of Original Sin, of which there are many in this Chapter. Just now it was the Sin that dwelleth in us, and here it is the Evil that is present with us: It inheres and adheres, or hangs upon us continually. It is Adjacent, so the Greek Word signifies, and alwayes at hand; we carry it about with us at all times, and into all Places; whither soever we go, it follows us; or as it is here in our doing of Good, it is a very great Impediment to us.

22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man .

This shews yet more expresly that the Apostle speaketh in the Person of a Regenerate Man, or of himself as Regenerate. Certainly to delight in the Law of God is an inseparable property of such a one, vid[illegible: 1 letter] Psal 1.2. and 119.77.111.

i. e. The New Man or Regenerate Part within me: This is called the Hidden Man of the Heart, vid. Chap. 2.29. 2 Cor. 4.16. 1 Pet. 3.4.

Marginal references: Or, I delight with.; Eph. 3.16. Col. 3.9, 10.

23. 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 .

i. e. A Law quite different from the Law of God mentioned in the foregoing Verse. By the Law in the Members understand natural Corruption, which like a Law Commandeth and Inclineth by sensual rewards and punishments; and by the Law in the mind understand a principle of Grace, which as a Law, as well as the other commanding and inclining to that which is good. The Law in the members, and the Law in the mind, is the same that is called Flesh and Spirit, Gal. 5.17. These two Laws and Principles, are in all regenerate persons, and are directly contrary to one another: hence there is continual warring and combating betwixt them, as is exprest in both these places, as also in Iames 4.1. 1 Pet. 2.11.

i. e. Drawing and hurrying me to the commission of Sin, against my will and consent. He pursues the metaphor, the Flesh doth not only War in the regenerate, but many times it overcomes and hath success. vid. v. 15.

i. e. to its self. The antecedent is put in the room of the relative, see Gen. 9.16. and alibi. the Law in the members, and the Law of Sin, in the members, is the same.

24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death !

The word signifies one wearied out with continual combates.

It is not the voice of one desponding or doubting, but of one breathing and panting after deliverance; the like pathetical exclamations are frequent. vid. Psal. 55.6. One calls this verse, Gemi[illegible: 1 letter]us Sanctorum, the Groan of the Godly.

Or from this Body of Death, or by an Hebraisme from this dead Body. This carcass of Sin to which I am inseparably fastned, as noysom every whit to my Soul, as a dead carcass to my Senses. This is another circumlocution, or denomination of Original Sin. chap. 6▪6. 'tis called the Body of Sin, and here the Body of death: It tends and binds over to death.

Marginal references: Or, this bo[illegible: 2 letters] of death.

25. I thank God , through Jesus Christ our Lord: So then , with the mind I my self serve the Law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin .

Who hath already delivered me from the slavery and dominion of Sin. So that though it war against me, I still resist it, and by the strength of Christ, do frequently overcome it. 1 Cor. 15.57.

This is the conclusion the Apostle maketh of this experimental discourse.

q. d. So far as I am renewed, I yeild Obedience to the Law of God; and so far as I am unregenerate, I obey the dictates and Suggestions of the Law of Sin. Object. No man can serve two contrary Masters. A. The Apostle did not serve these two in the same part, or the same renewed faculty; nor did he do it at the same time ordinarily; and for the most part he served the Law of God, though sometimes through the power of Temptation and in-dwelling corruption, he was enforced against his Will to serve the Law of Sin.