A renewed application of the subject just discussed. The reign of sin; the reign of grace. I. THE REIGN OF SIN.

1. The self yielded to sin. Man's higher self - reason, conscience, and will - should dominate over the "soul" and the "flesh," the mere passions and lusts; man's spirit should be king. But the true self has been discrowned, and the lower self - the lusts - has gained the mastery. And in this false mastery of the flesh, sin reigns. Oh, degradation! we are led in chains, and sin lords it over us!

2. The members yielded to unrighteousness. Man's lower nature should be the instrument of the higher, for the working of all that is just and good. In Paul's philosophy of human nature the "body" is synonymous with all the active life; and is not the activity of our whole life to be used subordinately to the dictates of the enlightened will? But the activity of life is yielded to the usurping power of sin, instrumental to unrighteousness.

II. THE REIGN OF GRACE.

1. The self yielded to God. Man is not an irresponsible ruler of his own nature; his sovereignty is delegated by God. And only in absolute devotion to God does he realize a true self-conquest. God claims again possession of the spirit which has been torn from him by the power of sin. The claim is one of authority; but the authority is the authority of love.

2. The members yielded to righteousness. God requires the homage of the heart; he also requires the service of the life. Only through the heart can the life be rightly swayed. "Not under law." A resurrection, and a resurrection-power. Yes, because he lives, we may live also! But the appropriation of this power is of man: "Present yourselves." Here is the marvellous gift of human freedom, which may be a freedom unto death; but there is the boundless power of love and life! Therefore choose life, that thou mayest live! - T.F.L.

(a Lenten sermon): — There are different states of "sin." There is sin latent, and fully manifest; there is sin you are striving to subdue, and sin dominant. It is concerning this last state that we have this promise — "Sin shall not lord it over you." And there is a state beyond this when the sin is so conquered that it is actually changed into grace. A besetting sin, a characterising virtue; strong passions, ardent love; fear, humility; credulity, faith; weakness, leaning on the strong. Consider —

I. HOW THE STATE OF DOMINEERING SIN IS FORMED.

1. We must never forget that it is in sin's nature to grow. Weeds very generally grow faster than flowers. And this is the process. First, an empty space; a life unfenced; no sense of danger; no watch; no self-distrust; no trust in God. Under such conditions "sin," in some form or other, must come in and get stronger and stronger and stronger, till it over-crops and over-shadows the whole moral being of the man.

2. Sin has a strange power of hiding itself, partly because Satan can "turn himself into an angel of light," and trace everything in forms of beautiful colours, and partly because "sin" warps the judgment and dims the eye. And still more it hardens the heart and sears the conscience.

II. HOW IT IS TO BE OVERCOME. I will suppose the case of one who has been conscious of the growth of some "sin" in his own heart, and who is very desirous of getting rid of it. What should you do?

1. Thank God that you have this consciousness and desire. It is a proof that the Holy Spirit has not left you.

2. Claim this as the ground of your argument with God: "Lord, Thou hast showed me my sin, and made it hateful. Now, Lord, complete Thine own work."

3. Having said this to God, attend to the little things. Listen for the still small voices, and act out at once every conviction and any better desire which God has given you.

4. Next, have some definite work in hand which is for God's service and Christ's sake. Impart what you feel and what you know. By warming another's heart, you best warm your own. A work for Christ is a great antagonism to a domineering sin.

5. Then take care of the first signs of declension from what you now begin to do. Remember that in your heart there is a great danger of a reaction taking place.

6. Do not be discouraged by your feeling and the returning of besetting sins. A religious life is a campaign; and in that campaign some battles will be victories, and others defeats. The great principle is how to rally after defeat.

7. Be very careful to encourage the habit of silent prayer at the critical moment, when you know that you are getting into danger, when you feel the enemy is strong.

8. Remember that spiritual life is in Christ. He is the life, and nothing lives but as it is in union with Him. Then, as He says, "Because I live, ye shall live also."

9. There must be the constant inward breathing of the Holy Spirit in you. He must prompt, guide, strengthen, give both the will and the power. The only way to get rid of any "sin" is to put God in His right place.

(J. Vaughan, M. A.)

I. THE EVIL WHICH WE ARE ENCOURAGED TO RESIST. The dominion of sin. St. Paul represents sin as a mighty usurper, exercising absolute dominion over the sinner, taking the heart for his throne, and the members for his slaves (Romans 5:20, 21; Romans 6:12, 20). By a successful stratagem sin obtained the supremacy over our first father; and his posterity, while they remain in their natural state, have never been able to break the yoke (1 John 5:19). This dreadful dominion of sin is promoted —

1. By ignorance of God's will. In some countries this is almost total; in ours it is partial, and in a great measure wilful (Romans 1:28; John 3:19).

2. By our corrupt passions and sensual propensities, which will be gratified, though health, reputation, yea, life itself, are at stake (Job 15:16; Isaiah 5:18).

3. By the worldly interests of men, to which they readily give the decided preference, when they happen to clash with their duty to God. Thus, for the sake of the world, the guests invited to the gospel feast, with one consent, desired to be excused; and the rich man departed from Jesus full of sorrow.

4. By the powerful temptations of Satan.

5. By the countenance and example of the multitude. Sinners readily follow the multitude to do evil. The broad road that leads to destruction is thronged with travellers.

II. THE MEANS AFFORDED FOR OUR ENCOURAGEMENT IN RESISTING SIN: "for ye are not under the law, but under grace."

1. Grace is here opposed to the law, and signifies the gospel (John 1:17; 2 Corinthians 6:1; Acts 14:3).

2. The law was a system of just, but awful severity, and God had wise and holy designs in the establishment of it (Romans 5:20). It was introduced among the Jews, not that they might be justified by it, but that, by discovering how far they fell short of the obedience it required, they might be more deeply impressed with a sense of their abounding sins; and thus it became a schoolmaster to lead them to Christ (Galatians 3:24), and that so, where sin had abounded, grace might much more abound (Romans 5:20).

3. Now, believers in Christ are "not under the law"; they are "dead to the law" (Romans 7:4); they are "delivered from the law" (Romans 7:6). By these expressions we are not to suppose that they are discharged from obedience (1 Corinthians 21); but they are no longer under the law considered as a covenant, the terms of which are, "the man that doeth them" (all and everyone perfectly) "shall live in them" (Galatians 3:12). Christ hath fulfilled all righteousness for His people (Romans 10:4). Being accounted righteous through faith in Christ, they are redeemed from the curse of the law (Romans 8:1, 2).

4. Christians possess greater advantages for the destruction of sin than those under the law.(1) While the law justly demanded obedience, it afforded no aid for the performance of it. Nor could it encourage anyone to hope for pardon in case of disobedience. The case is now altered. We are not called to "Mount Sinai" to hear the terrible threatenings of the law; but we are come to "Mount Sion," where grace and mercy are published.(2) The law included the substance of all the holy precepts now contained in the New Testament; but in the gospel they are expanded and full blown, and appear in all the beauty of holiness.(3) There is a more abundant measure of the Holy Spirit poured out upon the people of God, by which they not only attain a clearer knowledge of His will, but a larger degree of His gracious assistance in overcoming sin (Hebrews 8:10).(4) All grace is treasured up in Jesus for the use of His people; and of this fulness they may receive, daily, grace for grace (John 1:16; Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9).(5) The love of Christ is another grand assistant in our victory over sin. Love is the most strong and generous of all the passions, and the hardest service becomes easy when this prevails (2 Corinthians 5:14).(6) The grace of the gospel affords yet further aid in this great conflict by the cheering views it presents of everlasting glory (Romans 8:31; 1 Corinthians 15:55; 1 John 3:3). Conclusion:

1. Who can behold the general dominion of sin over the world without the deepest concern (Jeremiah 9:1).

2. Having learned that no means are effectual to stop the progress of sin but those afforded by the gospel of grace, let this serve to render the gospel more precious.

3. This subject effectually refutes that vile slander which is so unjustly cast on the doctrines of grace, that they are conducive to sin and unfriendly to holiness.

(G. Burder.)

We have here —

I. A PECULIAR POSITION. "Ye are not under the law."

1. We no longer dread the curse of the law which those who are under the law may well do. The careless try to shake off the thought, but still more or less it disturbs them; but when once awakened the dread of punishment fills them with terror. Now believers have no such fear, for our sin was laid upon Jesus, who "hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us."

2. We no longer drudge in unwilling obedience, seeking to reach a certain point of merit. The man under the law who is awakened labours as men who tug at the oar to escape from a tempest. But, alas! he has no power to attain even to his own ideal. His servile works are ill done, and fail to yield him peace. Now Christ has fulfilled the law for us, and we rest in that finished work. We now obey out of love, and delight in the law after the inner man.

3. We are no longer uncertain as to the continuance of Divine love. Under the law no man's standing can be secure, since by, a single sin he may forfeit his position. But the merit of Christ is always a constant and abiding quantity; if, therefore, we rest thereon, our foundation is always secure. "If, when we were enemies," etc.

4. We are no longer afraid of the last great day. Judgment is a terrible word to those who are hoping to save themselves, for their doings are sure to be found wanting. But judgment has no terror in it to a believer, "Bold shall I stand in that great day," etc.

5. We have no slavish dread of God. The soul under the law stands as the Israelites did, far off from the mountain, with a bound set between themselves and the glory of God. But we have access with boldness to the throne of grace, and we delight to avail ourselves of it. "Perfect love has cast out fear." "Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty," etc.

II. A SPECIAL ASSURANCE. "Sin shall not have dominion over you."

1. This is a very needful assurance.(1) All around us we see sin's operations and deadly results; and we cry in alarm, "It will surely drag me down one of these days," but the dread fear is removed by the assurance, "Sin shall not have dominion over you."(2) Alas, the evil assails ourselves, and we are apt to be cast down. Here the sweet assurance cheers us "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."(3) Sometimes sin forces its way into our souls and rouses our inward evil to an awful degree. Readers of the "Holy War" will remember how Diabolus besieged Mansoul after it had been occupied by Immanuel. After many battles and cunning plots the enemy entered into the city, filled all the streets with the yells of his followers, and polluted the whole place; but yet he could not take the castle, which held out for Immanuel. So sin may vex you and thrust itself upon you, but it cannot become your heart's lord.(4) Sometimes sin prevails, and we are forced in anguish to confess that we have fallen beneath its power. Still a temporary defeat is not sufficient to effect a total subjugation. Though the believer fall he shall rise again.(5) There are times when we feel greatly our danger; our feet have almost gone, our steps have well-nigh slipped; then how sweetly doth this assurance come, "The Lord is able to keep you from falling."

2. This assurance secures us from the danger of being under the absolute sway of sin. What is meant by this?(1) There are men who live in sin, and yet they do not appear to know it; but you shall be instructed, so that when you sin you shall be well aware of it.(2) Many men live in gross sin and are not ashamed, they are at ease in it; but God has so changed your nature by His grace that when you sin you shall be like a fish on dry land, you shall be out of your element, and long to get into a right state again.(3) An ungodly man loves sin, but as for you, you shall hate yourself to think you ever consented to its solicitations.

3. This assurance is confirmed by the context — "Sin shall not have dominion over you," because you are dead to it by virtue of your union to Christ. Besides, you live in Christ in newness of life by reason of His living in you. You are bound for victory and you shall have it.

III. A REMARKABLE REASON. "For ye are not under the law, but under grace." Those who are under the law must always be under the dominion of sin, because —

1. The law condemns immediately upon transgression, and affords no hope and no encouragement. It is not so with those who are under grace, for they are freely forgiven. The amazing love of God when shed abroad in the heart creates a desire for better things, and what the law could not do grace accomplishes.

2. The law drives to despair, and because there is no hope the sinner will often plunge into iniquity. The child of God saith, "God, for Christ's sake, hath cast my sins behind His back, and I am saved. Now, for the love I bear His name, I will serve Him with all my might."

3. The law rouses the opposition of the heart. There are many things which people never think of doing till they are forbidden. Lock up a closet and say to your children, "Never enter that closet, nor even look into the keyhole," and they who have never wanted to look into the dingy old corner before now pine to inspect it. Law, by reason of our unruly nature, creates sin. But when we are under grace we love God for His love to us, and labour to please Him in all things.

4. The law affords no actual help. All it does is to say, "Thou shalt," and "Thou shalt not"; but grace brings the Holy Spirit into the soul to work in us holy affections and a hatred of sin, and hence what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, grace accomplishes for us by its own almighty power.

5. The law inspires no love, and love after all is the fulfilling of the law. Law is hard and cold, like the two tables of Moses. Look at the legalist; he is a bondslave, and nothing more. But grace fires a man with love to God and enthusiasm for holiness. The most pleasing service in the world is that which is done from motives of affection and not for wages.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

I shall use the text as —

I. A TEST. Has sin dominion over you? If so; then you are not a believer. Try your own selves by this test. You may be under the dominion of sin, while successfully resisting some forms of it; but if there be but one sin that usurps authority, then sin has dominion over you. Satan does not send to all men the same temptations. The sin is adapted to the constitution.

1. Some are under the dominion of sin in the form of anger. Those who have a quick, hot temper, are like the small pot that quickly boils over and scalds terribly. There are others whose temper is rather slower in coming up, but when it has once risen it will last long, and make them sulky and unforgiving. Now if any man says, "My temper is so bad that I cannot curb it," that temper has got dominion over him, and, according to my text, he is not a Christian. If the grace of God does not help us to bridle that lion that is within us, what has it done for us?

2. The propensity of others is to murmur. I know some who grumble at everything. Trade is always bad with them, and as for their meals — instead of being thankful to God they are perpetually finding fault. Their very garments are never to their minds. The weather never suits them. Now if any man murmurs, he may be a Christian needing to be purged of this defilement, but if you say, "I cannot help murmuring," then it has got dominion over you. You must wage war against it, for if you are a child of God this sin shall not have dominion over you.

3. With others the reigning sin is covetousness. I do not say that they should be indifferent to business, but why so penurious? "Covetousness is idolatry." Of course you may fall into fits of covetousness and yet be Christians, but if you are habitually covetous then your covetousness has got dominion over you, and according to the text you cannot be a child of God. Do then as the good man did who had resolved to give a pound to some good cause, and the devil tempted him not to do it. Said he, "I will give two now." The devil said, "Nay, you will be ruining yourself." Said he, "I will give four." Another temptation came, and he said, "I will give eight; and if the devil does not leave off tempting me I do not know to what lengths I shall go, but I will he master of him somehow." Do anything rather than let the golden call run over you.

4. Perhaps the sin of pride may be in the ascendant. Now, I do not say that you are no Christian because you occasionally forget the lowliness and modesty that become you, but I do say that if you tell me that you cannot help being proud, then pride is your master and Christ is not.

5. The dominant sin of many is sloth. Is there any reigning sin in your hearts? Never mind what it is. Then Christ cannot be in your soul, for "When He comes, He comes to reign."

II. A PROMISE. It does not say that sin shall not dwell in you. In the holiest there is enough sin to destroy if it were not for the grace of God, which restrains its deadly operation. Nor are you told that you shall never fall into sin. Need I mention such as David? The security is that "sin shall not have dominion over you." The fair and lovely dove may fall into the mire, but the mire has not any dominion over it; but let the swine go there, and it rolls in it, for the mire has dominion over its nature. Notice —

1. A few of the general reasons for the promise. Sin cannot get confirmed dominion over the child of God because —(1) God hath promised that it shall not.(2) You belong to Christ, and He bought you at such a price that He will never lose you.(3) The Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you.(4) The Spirit has begun a good work in you, and it is His rule never to leave His work unfinished.(5) There is in every Christian a new nature which cannot die and which cannot sin — "a well of water springing up into everlasting life," "a living, incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth forever." Now, if this seed be incorruptible, then sin cannot corrupt it; if it abideth forever, then sin cannot expel it.(6) Your will is not the slave of sin. You sin, but if you could you never would sin. The bent and bias of your mind are towards righteousness. Now, if such be the case, sin can never get dominion over your whole nature, for the sovereignty of all your manhood lies with Him who possesses the mastery of your will and your affections. You know how Bunyan represents Feeble-mind in the cave of Giant Slaygood. The giant had picked him up on the road, and taken him home to devour him at his leisure; but Feeble-mind said he had one comfort, for he had heard that the giant could never pick the bones of any man who was brought there against his will.

2. The reason given in the text — "For ye are not under the law, but under grace." There are two principles in the world that are supposed to promote holiness — law and grace.(1) It is a popular notion that if you tell men their duty, prove the authority of the lawgiver, and show the penalty of wrong-doing — this wilt give a just bias to their inclination, and help to keep their conduct right. All history goes to shew that this is without proof. Those who are under the law are always under sin. The moment we are commanded not to do a thing, such is our perverse disposition, we try to do it. Even the terrible penalties of hell have failed to inspire fear or promote holiness. When was there ever so much sheep stealing, and theft, and highway robbery, and forgery, as when men were hanged for these things?(2) There is another principle, however, which is a main instigator to righteousness — the principle of grace and faith. Grace does not say to a man, "You must do this or you shall be punished," but it says this, "God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you; you are saved; heaven is yours; now, for the love you bear to God, who has done this for you, what will you do for Him?" A constraining power, strong as death, has availed to consecrate the lives of those who have felt the sacred spell.

III. AN ENCOURAGEMENT.

1. There are not a few who are strangers to the holy jealousy which keeps a watch over the heart and a guard upon the lips, lest they should sin. Cultivate this jealousy; be very watchful, and let the text animate you.

2. There are some who are consciously very weak. Be encouraged. Sin shall no more get dominion over the weak than over the strong. The spark shall not be quenched, nor the bruised reed broken.

3. There are those who are fighting with some great sin. Put this cool water to your lips and be refreshed. You shall conquer yet; fight on!

4. There are those who have been lately converted. Your chains are broken, but there are some links that are left hanging, and sometimes they will catch hold of a nail, and you will think you are tied up again. But if you have given your heart to Christ you shall yet be helped.

5. Perhaps I address a backslider. Do you now hate your sin? Do you cry unto God for mercy, and rest in the work of Jesus? If so, be of good courage still, you shall be saved.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

1. Man is constituted to obey! Thus constituted, his nature was provided for. Upon his first entrance on the stage of being he was placed under the dominion of holiness. But man severed himself from God. In the first act of disobedience, however, he was obedient to Satan, and at every step in his subsequent history we find him still under his dominion.

2. Man has never been able to free himself from this bondage. Philosophy has not helped him; and our text declares law has not. But we are to consider that which does. Notice —

I. THE ASPECT OF SIN AS A DOMINION.

1. The willing character of it. The consciousness of humanity ever charges itself with voluntary submission to such a dominion. Moreover, the Bible declares that man chooses it.

2. Its deceitful character. Having the "understanding darkened." Satan promised our first parents to be as gods — he meant them to be the opposite.

3. Its gradual character, Like the conquest of a country, step by step new territory is won, and dominion gained in the heart of it,

4. Its cruel character. All its servants are slaves, and are led on to disaster and death. The cruelty of this dominion is seen in the increase of evil desires, and the diminution of pleasures to be derived from them; every desire ultimately ending in dissatisfaction and pain.

II. THE INABILITY OF LAW TO FREE FROM THIS DOMINION.

1. Law manifests sin. "By law comes knowledge of sin." Think of the flame from the volcano revealing cities and plains in the far-off distance. So law enlightens conscience, casts its glare into the innermost recesses of the whited sepulchre, and discovers a dead soul.

2. Law causes disquietude about sin, showing its character and consequences.

3. Law revives the strength of sin (Romans 7:8).

III. THE DELIVERING POWER OF GRACE.

1. The law which condemns sin is satisfied. We are delivered from sin as a curse. Christ bare our transgressions. This curse had dominion over us — made us fear death, judgment, etc.

2. "The law of the Spirit of Life" is imparted to us. "Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Sin may exist, but it cannot reign in the heart of a Christian. (See preceding context.) Christ has promised that this Spirit shall quicken life in us. Let us escape from the slavery of sin, and become the servants of righteousness, and "yield ourselves" unto Christ.

(T. G. Horton.)

I. THEY ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW.

1. The law of which the apostle is speaking is not of man's making, but is the law of God; and is unlike any human law. Note, e.g. —(1) Its universality. Man's laws are confined to particular governments and countries. But the law of God is meant for every creature He has made.(2) The length to which it goes. Human laws lay down rules for the conduct of the outward man, and even then do not take notice of every instance of iniquity. But God's commandment is "exceeding broad." It passes sentence on the very thoughts, and makes no allowances whatever for sin. Sins which we are apt to look upon as small and pardonable are in God's sight without excuse.(3) The sentence which it passes. Human laws make great distinctions between one crime and another. God's law makes no differences, and its sentence is, in every instance, death.

2. The state of those for whom this law was made, This law is made for man. Is man then a fulfiller of this law? It is an awful truth that, so far from being frightened out of any evil practice by knowing that it is forbidden by the law of God, his knowing it to be forbidden makes him feel a greater relish for it, and so much the more desirous to commit it (Romans 7:8).

3. Believers are not under the law. They are not under —(1) The curse and condemnation of the law (Galatians 3:13; Colossians 2:14; Romans 8:33, 34).(2) The law is "the covenant of works" — a dispensation in which he is taught to look for acceptance with God as the consequence of his own merits. The law of God says, "He that doeth these things shall live by them." Now, the Saviour does not say, "Earn but heaven by your works — establish a righteousness of your own, and you shall purchase heaven by it." No; but He says, "I have been your Law fulfiller, and My righteousness is unto all and upon all them that believe."

II. THE BELIEVER IS UNDER GRACE.

1. He is "under" the "grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." He is a man whom the free and undeserved love of his Redeemer has chosen unto life eternal. He is placed under a dispensation in which all he has, and all he hopes to have, are freely given him, "not for works of righteousness which he has done," but as "the gift of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

2. He is under grace, because the grace of the Divine Spirit enters in and dwells in him. His soul is made the temple of the Holy Ghost. It is illuminated, sanctified, and comforted by that glorious inhabitant.

III. THE CONSEQUENCE OF BEING NOT UNDER THE LAW, BUT UNDER GRACE. "Sin shall not have dominion over you," because —

1. "The love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you." A sense of the unspeakable mercy which our Lord has shown us begets such lively feelings of gratitude and love that to delight in that which God abhors becomes a thing impossible. Our heart burns, on the other hand, with holy fervour to render our redeemed life unto the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:15).

2. You are a partaker of a new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17). Sin is not indeed utterly destroyed, but it has no longer the dominion.

(A. Roberts, M. A.)

Wherein lies the force of the reason advanced? What is there in the covenant of grace, as set in contrast with the covenant of works, on which to rest the above declaration? At first sight we might be apt to suppose (arguing from the tendencies and susceptibilities of the human constitution) that men would be more energetic after holiness if left to earn heaven for themselves than if invited to accept it as a gift. But on second thoughts this will not be found so. Look at —

I. THE COVENANT OF WORKS.

1. As it requires perfect obedience without containing any provision for pardon, mediation, or escape, will it not produce despair and even recklessness to fallen beings in whom there is a tendency to sin, and a decay in all the powers of resistance, and who at the best can only give an imperfect obedience, which is of no avail?

2. Such is the constitution of our nature that the prospect of success is indispensable for vigour and exertion. Place me, therefore, under a covenant of works — shut out from me all notices of a Redeemer — read me that, by keeping them, I may insure myself a blessed immortality — and I shall either fold my arms in inactivity or resign myself to my sinfulness, Why mortify imperious desires, why deny craving appetites in the face of a moral certainty that I could not come up to what the law demanded, and that, if I failed, I was irretrievably condemned? No, there must be some provision in the case of failure, else will there never be any effort to obey. There must be room for second thoughts for repentance, otherwise will the law, with all its rewards, be set at nought as unadapted to the beings on whom it is imposed.

II. THE COVENANT OF GRACE.

1. There is an energy of motive of the most powerful character. There is more — immeasurably more — to lead to the hatred of sin and the striving after holiness in the fact that Christ died for me than in a thousand statute books with multiplied enactments and many rewards. Only let this fact seat itself in the soul, and it must excite such love to the Being who bought us with His blood — such abhorrence of the sin which caused that blood to be shed — as will urge a man to exert every power that he may not crucify the Son of God afresh. And as he gathers all his strength to the overcoming of evil, urged by the freeness of salvation as proffered to him — every blessing reminding him of Calvary, every promise being eloquent of the great propitiation — and thus the whole Christian system exciting, in all its workings, recollections which make him shun even the appearance of evil — oh, will he not furnish the strongest practical evidence that St. Paul advanced an argument which made good his proposition when he gave, "Ye are not under the law, but under grace" as his reason for saying, "Sin shall not have dominion over you"?

2. The words are also a promise or prophecy.(1) They point to Divine assistance. They assure us of the aids of the Holy Spirit in the mortification of evil passions, the abandonment of evil pursuits, and in the attainment of holiness and righteousness.(2) Hence the gospel makes victory possible — nay, sure — exciting the spirit and then providing the means of resistance. It does all which the moral combatant can need; so that he who would have succumbed at once, feeling the case to be desperate, had he been brought under the law, girds himself to the task of the resisting of sin because brought under grace.

(H. Melvill, B. D.)

Paul, RomansRomeDominion, Grace, Law, Lordship, Master, Rule, Sin, Subjects1. We may not live in sin;
2. for we are dead unto it;
3. as appears by our baptism.
12. Let not sin reign anymore;
18. because we have yielded ourselves to the service of righteousness;
23. and because death is the wages of sin.

Romans 6:14

     1055   God, grace and mercy
     2414   cross, centrality
     6511   salvation
     6669   grace, and salvation
     8738   evil, victory over

Romans 6:1-14

     2421   gospel, historical foundation
     6661   freedom, and law

Romans 6:1-18

     6028   sin, deliverance from

Romans 6:4-14

     6139   deadness, spiritual

Romans 6:9-14

     5598   victory, over spiritual forces

Romans 6:11-14

     5769   behaviour
     6660   freedom, through Christ
     8255   fruit, spiritual

Romans 6:12-14

     6251   temptation, resisting

Romans 6:12-23

     7449   slavery, spiritual

Romans 6:14-15

     5775   abuse
     8775   libertinism

Romans 6:14-18

     6662   freedom, abuse
     6679   justification, results

May 6. "Reckon Ye Also Yourselves to be Alive unto God" (Rom. vi. 11).
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be alive unto God" (Rom. vi. 11). Death is but for a moment. Life is forevermore. Live, then, ye children of the resurrection, on His glorious life, more and more abundantly, and the fulness of your life will repel the intrusion of self and sin, and overcome evil with good, and your existence will be, not the dreary repression of your own struggling, but the springing tide of Christ's spontaneous overcoming life. Once in a religious meeting a dear brother gave us a most …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

November 11. "Reckon Yourselves Dead, Indeed" (Rom. vi. 11).
"Reckon yourselves dead, indeed" (Rom. vi. 11). Our life from the dead is to be followed up by the habit and attitude henceforth which is the logical outcome of all this. "Reckon yourselves dead indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ, and yield yourselves unto God," not to die over again every day, "but, as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Further His resurrection life is given to fit us for "the fellowship of …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 24. "Sin Shall not have Dominion Over You, for Ye are not under the Law, but under Grace" (Rom. vi. 14).
"Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Rom. vi. 14). The secret of Moses' failures was this: "The law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." And this was why his life work also came short of full realization. He saw but entered not the Promised Land. The founder of the law had to be its victim, and his life and death might demonstrate the inability of the law to lead any man into the Promised Land. The very fact, that it was …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

August 7. "Knowing this that Our Old Man is Crucified" (Rom. vi. 6).
"Knowing this that our old man is crucified" (Rom. vi. 6). It is purely a matter of faith, and faith and sight always differ, so that to your senses it does not seem to be so, but your faith must still reckon it so. This is a very difficult attitude to hold, and only as we thoroughly believe God can we thus reckon upon His Word and His working, but as we do so, faith will convert it into fact, and it will be even so. These two words, "yield" and "reckon," are passwords into the resurrection life. …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Sixth Sunday after Trinity Exhortation to Christian Living.
Text: Romans 6, 3-11. 3 Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Seventh Sunday after Trinity Exhortation to Resist Sin.
Text: Romans 6, 19-23. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness unto sanctification. 20 For when ye were servants of sin, ye were free in regard of righteousness. 21 What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Address on Easter Eve
"We were buried, therefore, with Him through baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of life."--ROM. VI. 4. "I delivered unto you, among the first things, that . . . He was buried."--I COR. XV. 3, 4. St. Paul lays extraordinary and, at first sight, inexplicable stress, on the fact of our Lord's Burial. It is certainly strange that, in the second of these two texts, he mentions it as constituting, along with the …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

Twentieth Day. Holiness and Liberty.
Being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness: now present your members as servants of righteousness unto sanctification. Now being made free from sin, and become servants unto God, ye have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life.'--Rom. vi. 18, 19, 22. 'Our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.'--Gal. ii. 4. 'With freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.'--Gal. v. 1. There is no possession more …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

Love of Religion, a New Nature.
"If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him."--Romans vi. 8. To be dead with Christ, is to hate and turn from sin; and to live with Him, is to have our hearts and minds turned towards God and Heaven. To be dead to sin, is to feel a disgust at it. We know what is meant by disgust. Take, for instance, the case of a sick man, when food of a certain kind is presented to him,--and there is no doubt what is meant by disgust. Consider how certain scents, which are too …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

'The Form of Teaching'
... Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.'--ROMANS vi. 17. There is room for difference of opinion as to what Paul precisely means by 'form' here. The word so rendered appears in English as type, and has a similar variety of meaning. It signifies originally a mark made by pressure or impact; and then, by natural transitions, a mould, or more generally a pattern or example, and then the copy of such an example or pattern, or the cast from such a mould. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Christ's Resurrection an Image of Our New Life.
(Easter Sunday.) Praise and glory be to God, and peace with all who with joyful hearts greet one another with the cry, The Lord is risen! Amen. TEXT: ROM. vi. 4-8. IT is natural, my friends, that the glorious festival of our Saviour's resurrection should attract the thoughts of believers to a far remote time, and that it should make them rejoice to think of the time when they shall be with Him who, after He had risen from the dead, returned to His and our Father,--a joyful prospect, expressed in …
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

Death to Sin through Christ
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."-Romans 6:11. THE connection of this passage will help us to understand its meaning. Near the close of the previous chapter Paul had said, "The law entered that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." He speaks here of …
Charles G. Finney—Sermons on Gospel Themes

Baptism --A Burial
I do not understand Paul to say that if improper persons, such as unbelievers, and hypocrites, and deceivers, are baptized they are baptized into our Lord's death. He says "so many of us," putting himself with the rest of the children of God. He intends such as are entitled to baptism, and come to it with their hearts in a right state. Of them he says, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" He does not even intend to say that those who were …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 27: 1881

The Doctrines of Grace do not Lead to Sin
No sooner is this doctrine set forth in a clear light than men begin to cavil at it. It is the target for all carnal logic to shoot at. Unrenewed minds never did like it, and they never will; it is so humbling to human pride, making so light of the nobility of human nature. That men are to be saved by divine charity, that they must as condemned criminals receive pardon by the exercise of the royal prerogative, or else perish in their sins, is a teaching which they cannot endure. God alone is exalted …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 29: 1883

Christ's Resurrection and Our Newness of Life
The idea that the grace of God should lead us to licentiousness is utterly loathsome to every Christian man. We cannot endure it. The notion that the doctrines of grace give license to sin, comes from the devil, and we scout it with a detestation more deep than words can express. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" On our first entrance upon a Christian profession, we are met by the ordinance of baptism, which teaches the necessity of purification. Baptism is, in its very …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Death and Life in Christ
I. THE FACTS REFERRED TO IN THESE FOUR VERSES CONSTITUE THE GLORIOUS GOSPEL WHICH WE PREACH. 1. The first fact here very clearly indicated is that Jesus died. He who was divine, and therefore immortal, bowed his head to death. He whose human nature was alhed to the omnipotence of his divine nature, was pleased voluntarily to submit himself to the sword of death. He who was pure and perfect, and therefore deserved not death, which is the wages of sin, nevertheless condescended for our sake to yield …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

Alive unto God.
(Sixth Sunday after Trinity.) ROMANS vi. 11. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Every baptised person belongs to God. He is His absolute property, marked with the sign of the great King. As the broad arrow is the mark that certain property belongs to the British Government, so the Cross of Holy Baptism is the sign and pledge that we are God's. Think of that, my brothers, you are not free to choose your own way, your …
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

Servants of Sin.
(Seventh Sunday after Trinity.) ROMANS vi. 20. "The servants of sin." There is no existence in the world so sad as that of a slave; and there is no slavery so hard as that of sin, no taskmaster so bitter as the devil. There was a tyrant in the old times who ordered one of his subjects to make an iron chain of a certain length, in a given time. The man brought the work, and the tyrant bade him make it longer still. And he continued to add link to link, till at length the cruel taskmaster ordered …
H. J. Wilmot-Buxton—The Life of Duty, a Year's Plain Sermons, v. 2

The Parable of the Householder. A Sermon, by Bishop Latimer.
MATTHEW XX.--The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that was an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. This parable is written by the evangelist Matthew in the twentieth chapter, and is very dark and hard to be understood; yea, there is no harder piece of scripture written by any evangelist. Therefore it may well be called hard meat; not meat for mowers nor ignorant people, who are not exercised in the word of God. And yet there is no other diversity …
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

"But if Ye have Bitter Envying and Strife in Your Hearts, Glory Not," &C.
James iii. 14.--"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not," &c. It is a common evil of those who hear the gospel, that they are not delivered up to the mould and frame of religion that is holden out in it, but rather bring religion into a mould of their own invention. It was the special commendation of the Romans, that they obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which they were delivered, (Rom. vi. 17) that they who were once servants, or slaves of sin, had now …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Schleiermacher -- Christ's Resurrection an Image of Our New Life
Friedrich Ernst Daniel Schleiermacher, German theologian and philosopher, was born at Breslau in 1768. He was brought up in a religious home and in 1787 went to the University of Halle, and in 1789 became a Privat-Docent. In 1794 he was ordained and preached successively at Landsberg and Berlin. The literary and philosophical side of his intellect developed itself in sympathy with the Romanticists, but he never lost his passion for religion, a subject on which he published five discurses in 1799. …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

How Christ is to be Made Use Of, in Reference to the Killing and Crucifying of the Old Man.
Having thus shortly pointed out some things in general, serving to the clearing and opening up the way of our use-making of Christ for sanctification, we come now more particularly to the clearing up of this business. In sanctification we must consider, first, The renewing and changing of our nature and frame; and, next, The washing and purging away of our daily contracted spots. The first of these is commonly divided into two parts, viz. 1st, The mortification, killing, and crucifying of the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Evening Prayer for a Family.
O eternal God and most gracious Father, we thine unworthy servants here assembled, do cast down ourselves at the footstool of thy grace, acknowledging that we have inherited our fathers' corruption, and actually in thought, word, and deed, transgressed all thy holy commandments, so that in us naturally there dwelleth nothing that is good; for our hearts are full of secret pride, anger, impatience, dissembling, lying, lust, vanity, profaneness, distrust, too much love of ourselves and the world, too …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Sanctification and Justification.
"Yield your members servants to righteousness unto sanctification." --Rom. vi. 19. Sanctification must remain sanctification. It may not arbitrarily be robbed of its significance, nor be exchanged for something else. It must always signify the making holy of what is unholy or less holy. Care must be taken not to confound sanctification with justification; a common mistake, frequently made by thoughtless Scripture readers. Hence the importance of a thorough understanding of this difference. Being …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

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