The apostle never tires of contrasting the Sinaitic with the gospel dispensation, to the exaltation of the latter. He thinks of the former as a thraldom. "We were holden," that is, cribbed, confined by the Law.

I. AN ESSENTIAL TO DELIVERANCE FROM Law.

1. Death must have intervened. Death is the great liberator, exhausting the penalty of the Law, and giving quittance from its captivity. The wife is released from spousal obligations by the death of her husband, and is free, therefore, to enter into a new covenant.

2. The death of Christ affords the necessary liberation. Prior to full obedience and reception of the utmost penalty of Mosaism, a fresh dispensation had been like adultery; but when the Law had been fulfilled to its extreme requirement, the death of the victim abrogated the authority of the Law.

3. The death of Christ is spiritually enacted in his followers. They repeat in essence his crucifixion of sin. His atonement is realized in their heart, and their baptism is the outward emblem of release by death and burial from a covenant of works. "He died unto sin once, but liveth unto God." Henceforth with Christians "the terrors of law and of death can have nothing to do."

II. THE EXCELLENCE OF THE NEW CONDITION. We are not set free to please ourselves, but belong to him "who died for us and rose again." We enter into a fresh service.

1. The fact that it is new is a guarantee of improvement. Not everything new is better than the old. Man frequently retrogrades by his changes of custom. But when the alteration is a direct consequence of Divine intervention, there must be an advance. We cannot conceive of God taking a backward step.

2. The new service has the dewy freshness of youth about it. The resurrection-life is an awakening out of sleep, with the vigour of a glad new morning. The Christian sloughs off the old skin, to be attired in a vesture of beauty, and, like the winged butterfly emerging from the chrysalis state, he enters into an enlarged sphere of existence with corresponding capacities.

3. Voluntary service is substituted for compulsion. "Live and do" takes the place of "Do and live." The heart has been won to God, to obedience and holiness, and "love's labour is light." The renewed spirit delights to exert itself in loving activity. Gratitude is a sweeter and stronger motive than authority.

4. Rules are exchanged for principles. Not the definite limiting letter governs the service, but a code of action which leaves much to be ascertained and applied by the enlightened judgment. It is the obedience of the instructed manhood, not the strict and rigid enforcement of precepts on children in their pupilage. The Law lay as a burden on men's souls; the gospel is a "reasonable service," clarifying the vision and guiding men as "with the eye" of God. We serve not to gain heaven, but because Christ has opened to us the kingdom of heaven. As pilgrims relieved of a heavy load, we journey joyously to the city of the King. A bird must sing, and a Christian must serve. - S.R.A.

We often know that we are ill without knowing precisely what is the matter with us, and this was the case with the large mass of human beings in the pre-Christian world; and, therefore, first of all, God opened the eyes of men to see what their case really was. Nature and conscience did something in this way for the heathen nations. The law of Moses did a great deal more for the Jews. By the law was a knowledge of sin. The law was the lantern burning with a bright moral light, and revealing the dark and unlovely forms which human life had assumed during long centuries, under the impetus and the operation of sin. But the law only discovered to the patient his real condition; it did not, it could not, cure him. It only made his misery the more intense by making it more intelligent. It made the moral demand for a real remedy greater than ever, but it did not supply that for which it made men crave.

(Canon Liddon.)

The term, denoting the soft parts of the body, which are the usual seat of agreeable or painful sensations, is applied in Biblical language to the whole natural man, in so far as he is yet under the dominion of the love of pleasure or the fear of pain, that is to say, of the tendency to self-satisfaction. The natural complacency of the ego with itself — such is the idea of the word in the moral sense in which it is so often used in Scripture.

(Prof. Godet.)

Though the sun is not only necessary for the light, but for the healthy condition of our globe, yet its bright beams are the occasion of unhealthy effluvia arising from many substances. The fault, however, lies not in the sun, but in the inward corrupt state of the substances in question. So the law, intended to produce beneficial results, became, owing to the depraved condition of man's heart, the innocent occasion of sin.

(C. Neil, M. A.)

Observe here three things in sin which tend to make men miserable.

1. Its reigning power. Wherever sin reigns in the heart, it will prevail in the life; and how miserable must that man be whose heart is in love, in league with sin?

2. Its condemning power. This ariseth from man's disobedience; the curse must follow the offence (1 Corinthians 15:26).

3. Its irritating power. And this is what our apostle refers to in our text. By this I understand that evil propensity of heart which takes occasion to sin from everything it meets with: every object which is presented, even the pure and holy law of God, through the evil temper of our hearts, is liable to be so abused as to excite us to sin. Learn hence —

I. THAT THEY WHO ARE IN THE FLESH CANNOT PLEASE GOD.

1. Let us inquire into the meaning of this expression.(1) Some tell us that we are to understand a man's being under the government of a carnal law, viz., the old dispensation. But surely all who were under that old testament were not unable to please God (Hebrews 11).(2) The term is sometimes taken in a good sense, as in Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21, 22.(3) At other times it is used in a bad sense, as in chap. Romans 8:5, etc., where the apostle fully explains himself.(4) The term is taken for man, and whatsoever is in him, both good and evil. In this sense our Lord uses the term (Matthew 16:17; John 1:13; John 3:5, 6). Our apostle (Galatians 5:13, 16, 17) uses the term in the same sense as in our text, as if it were synonymous with sin. By these passages it fully appears that flesh is put for the corruption of our nature (Psalm 51:5).

2. If it be asked why they who are in the flesh cannot please God, I answer, because they are in the flesh. To say that men are in the flesh, is to say much more than that flesh is in them. We read of the flesh lusting against the spirit in the same person, and the spirit against the flesh; but how dreadful must be the condition of that man who is all flesh, all sin! yet such is the description which the searcher of hearts gives a man as a fallen creature (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 53:2, 3). How, then, can such an one please God? They have no heart to fear, love, or serve Him. And as they who are in the flesh cannot please God; so neither can God be pleased with them (Psalm 5:4, 5; Psalm 7:11). If God be holy, He must necessarily hate sin and sinners. As they are in a state of sin, they are under the curse; and as their temper is suited to their state, they must be hateful in His sight (Habakkuk 1:13; Proverbs 15:8; Proverbs 21:27; Ecclesiastes 7:29; Jeremiah 2:21).

II. THAT THE TRUE CAUSE OF ALL SIN IS IN OURSELVES, as may fully appear by the motions of sin in our members.

1. So long as a man is in a state of sin. the motions of sin will powerfully work in all the members of the body, and in all the faculties of the soul. I know that some conclude that sin is only seated in the body, and they have invented a variety of methods in order to eradicate sin out of the body; but when they have done all, still the heart remains as bad as ever. "The works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:20, 21) are principally seated in the soul. What the soul conceives, the body executes.

2. Now if these motions of sin work in our members, what can be the reason why they are so little lamented? because men love them; nor can we wonder at it, if we consider that these motions are a part of the old man, which is corrupt with its affections and lusts. These things are unlamented, because they are no more burdensome; for if a man be dead in sin he will have no sensations, and consequently will have no spiritual complaints.

III. THAT EVEN THE HOLY LAW OF GOD, WHICH PROHIBITS SIN, AND CONDEMNS FOR IT, CAN NEVER HELP THEM, BUT RATHER PROVOKES THEM TO SIN. "The motions of sins which were by the law." Not effected, but occasioned by the law. Not that the law gives any just occasion to sin (vers. 8, 11).

1. The law, as commanding perfect obedience, and not giving any supply of grace, will have this tendency (ver. 9).

2. The law, as prohibiting men from evil, hath much the same tendency. It is but like a very weak dam, in the way of a mighty current; it seems to stop its course for a moment till it gain greater strength, by reason of a greater quantity of water, then it rushes forward and bears down all before it.

3. The law, as condemning men for sin, hath sometimes this tendency (Jeremiah 2:25). "I shall perish forever, I will therefore say to my soul, Take thy fill of sin. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

IV. THAT "THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH."

(J. Stafford.)

Let us consider the persons described by the apostle in respect of —

I. THEIR FORMER STATE.

1. "When we were in the flesh"; i.e. —(1) Under the carnal ordinances of the Mosaic law (Galatians 3:3; Galatians 4:1-3), which could not make him that did the service perfect as to his conscience (see Hebrews 7:18, 19; Hebrews 9:6-10; Hebrews 10:1-4).(2) Under the law as a covenant of works.(3) Not in Christ (Romans 8:1, 2), and therefore not justified.(4) Not in the Spirit, and therefore unrenewed and carnal (Romans 8:5-8; John 3:5-7).

2. While in this state "the motions of sins" — desires after unlawful things, inordinate desires after lawful things, dispositions contrary to the mind of Christ — these which are manifested and irritated "by the law" as well as prohibited and condemned, "did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death"; such fruit as would have issued in eternal death, if God, in His mercy, had not interposed. The law forbids sin, and condemns to death for it, but does not deliver it.

II. THEIR NEW OR CHRISTIAN STATE.

1. "But now we are delivered from the law," etc. —(1) From the ceremonial law. This kept the people employed in external things, and so hindered spiritual worship and service.(2) From the moral law, as a covenant of works or means of justification, but not as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, or a rule of life when we are brought to Him.

2. This implies —(1) Pardon and freedom from guilt, condemnation, and wrath.(2) Confidence towards God and peace with Him.(3) Gratitude and love to Him, causing us to desire and to endeavour to obey Him.(4) Union and communion with Him.

3. The ground of our deliverance, "that being dead wherein we were held." The law is spoken of figuratively, as a person to whom we were in subjection, as a wife to her husband, during his life; but the abrogation of the covenant, which is, as it were, its death, releases us from its authority, so far as that it cannot condemn us, if we are united to Christ.

III. THE END FOR WHICH THEY WERE BROUGHT INTO THIS STATE. That we might "serve"; worship (Matthew 4:10), obey (Romans 6:16), and promote God's cause (John 12:26). To serve "in the oldness of the letter," is to serve merely in the strength of our natural powers. But we must serve in the strength of grace.

1. The former is to serve in a mere external way, regarding only the exterior of Divine worship and the letter of the law. We must worship God in the spirit (Philippians 3:3; John 4:23, 24), inwardly, and by His Spirit; and must regard chiefly the spiritual meaning of His laws (Romans 2:28, 29).

2. The former is to serve in a legal righteousness, unpardoned, unchanged. We must serve in an evangelical righteousness (Philippians 3:9).

3. The former is to serve in unbelief, and in a spirit of bondage. This in faith, and in a spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5) and a hope of immortality.

4. The former is to serve from fear of God, and from fear of death and hell: this, from love to God as a Father, and in consequence of His love to us.

5. The former is to serve with reluctance, finding His service a drudgery; this, with delight, finding it perfect freedom.

6. The former is to be scanty, inconstant, mercenary, and selfish in our services: this is, to be abundant, unwearied, generous, and disinterested.

(Jos. Benson.)

I. UNDER THE LAW.

1. Enslaved by sinful dispositions.

2. Exposed to death.

3. Serving in the letter.

II. UNDER GRACE.

1. Free.

2. Quickened by the Spirit.

3. Serving in newness of life.

(J. Lyth, D. D.)

1. The great design of the gospel is to make men holy, in order to their becoming happy.

2. To this end Christ lived and died, "that He might redeem unto Himself a peculiar people." "If, therefore, the Son make us free, then shall we be free indeed." Of this freedom my text speaks. The nature and extent of this privilege will appear when viewed in contrast with our state of sin (ver. 5), the misery of which consists in the reigning, the condemning, and the irritating power of sin. Now "from all these things we are delivered; from the reigning power by the law of the spirit of life in Jesus Christ; from its condemning power by the obedience and death of Christ; from its irritating power in some good measure already, and we shall ere long obtain a perfect and everlasting deliverance."

3. Now the end of our being thus delivered is that our obedience should bear some good proportion to our new state, principles, and privileges. "As ye have received a new spirit out of Christ's fulness, let it be your daily labour and pursuit not only to observe the outward letter requiring external obedience to God, but in a spiritual manner" (Romans 2:29). Learn, hence —

I. THAT DELIVERANCE OUT OF THE STATE OF NATURE, FROM UNDER THE POWER OF SIN, AND THE RIGOUR OF THE LAW, IS AN UNSPEAKABLE BLESSING.

1. Herein is freedom from the law of death. It is a law of death, as it commands obedience, but gives no strength for obedience; as it curseth for disobedience, yet, through the corruption of our nature, becomes the occasion of sin, and so brings upon the sinner condemnation.

2. When does this commence? Although the purpose was from everlasting, and takes its rise from the free love of the Father, yet the actual bestowment of this privilege is upon believing: when by the Spirit of grace they become dead to the law by the body of Christ.

II. THAT DELIVERANCE FROM THE LAW IS A POWERFUL MOTIVE, AND A SPECIAL MEANS OF GOSPEL OBEDIENCE, IN ALL THEM THAT BELIEVE.

1. It is a powerful motive.(1) In general, all our deliverances, whether from sin, from dangers, or from death, are to be viewed as fresh obligations to serve the Lord. This is the grand argument constantly used in the Divine word. The goodness of God should lead to repentance. Distinguishing mercies are special claims of God for new obedience (Exodus 20:2, 3; John 8:14; Ezra 9:13, 14; Psalm 103:1-4, 116).(2) But what shall we say of that great special mercy, which is the glory of the gospel (Romans 8:32; John 3:16; Romans 12:1). Our obedience unto God is never more pleasing to Him than when it flows from this noble principle.

2. It is a special means of gospel obedience.(1) As it removes all hindrances. How can the soul act for God, that is dead in trespasses and sin? It must first live before it can act; but this deliverance includes in it spiritual life. The soul, in its natural state, is not only dead in its moral powers, but also in law, being under the curse; how then can it do anything truly pleasing, or acceptable unto God? Can such an one love God? rather is his heart full of enmity against Him.(2) As it qualifies the soul for spiritual services. It may be said of every natural man, that he has no heart suited to the duties of religion (Deuteronomy 29:4). But in order to prepare them for His service the Lord promises a new heart and a new spirit, etc. (Ezekiel 36:25-27).(3) As it animates to all evangelical obedience. It is not only the life, but also the spring of action (2 Corinthians 5:14).

III. THAT TO SERVE GOD, IN NEWNESS OF SPIRIT, AND NOT IN THE OLDNESS OF THE LETTER, IS THE DISTINGUISHING PRIVILEGE OF THOSE WHO ARE DELIVERED FROM THE LAW.

1. They serve God. They not only profess themselves to be His servants, but they do serve Him. It is their delight so to do, and they are grieved when they are taken off from His service. They serve Him in the duties of public and social worship, in their secret devotions, in their daily callings; they serve Him always and at all times; in their afflictions, by a cheerful submission; in their enjoyments, by improving them to His glory (1 Corinthians 10:3).

2. They serve God, not in the oldness of the letter. What the letter of the law is may be learnt by consulting the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharisees of old (Matthew 5.), together with the antidote given us by Christ Himself. We may also find much the same doctrine maintained by the Church of Rome. But why blame the Pharisees and Papists? Alas! how often have we condemned their sin, and yet have been guilty of the same folly!

3. They serve Him in newness of spirit, or with a new spirit. They cannot satisfy themselves merely with external service, lip labour, or a lifeless profession. They well know that God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must do it in spirit and in truth; that their worship must not only be real, in opposition to hypocrisy, but spiritual, in opposition to all that is carnal and corrupt. In a word, it must be suited to their new state (Philippians 3:3).

IV. THAT NEW OBEDIENCE, OR TRUE HOLINESS, IS THE WORK OF GOD'S FREE SPIRIT. "I will put My Spirit within you."

(J. Stafford.)

I. ITS NATURE. Discharge from the law (R.V.).

1. The law "holds" —

(1)As a master does his slaves — taking every precaution against their escape.

(2)As justice does condemned criminals in the stone walls of a prison.

(3)As death does its victims in the security of the grave.

2. The believer's freedom from the law, therefore, is —

(1)Liberty from bondage.

(2)Immunity from punishment.

(3)Life from the dead.

II. ITS MEANS. The death of one party or the other.

1. The A.V. represents the law as dead, which expresses an important truth. The law as a covenant is abrogated for one thing, and all its demands are exhausted for another. As a venomous reptile is sometimes killed by leaving its sting in the victim it has stung to death, so the law, in executing its vengeance on Jesus our substitute, died. Christ rendered it all the obedience it could demand by His life, and expiated all the offences it condemned by His death. Consequently, being dead, it has no hold on the believer.(1) The dead master has no hold on his slave. "If, therefore, the Son shall make you free," etc.(2) Justice, dead in a sense by the satisfaction of all its claims, has no hold on its once condemned criminal.(3) Death, being now abolished by the death of Christ, and swallowed up in victory, its victims are free.

2. The R.V. represents the believer as dead — another important truth.(1) The master has no hold on a dead slave.(2) Justice has no hold on a dead criminal. And so the believer, by dying with Christ, enters into freedom from both bondage and condemnation. But —(3) Christ's death was followed, and inevitably, by resurrection, and therefore by union with Him the believer is dead to death.

III. ITS EFFECTS. "That we should serve." Liberty is not licence. We are discharged from the law as a covenant, but not as a rule of life. Our liberty is transference to another Master, whose service is perfect freedom and whose law is the "perfect law of liberty." So, then, the believer serves —

1. Not in the oldness of the letter. There is a way of literal conformity to all the precepts of the law which is consistent with breaking every one of them. We may have no idols of wood and stone, and yet worship self, wealth, etc. We may not actually take a man's life, but we may murder his interests and reputation. We may commit adultery in thought as well as in deed, etc.

2. But in the newness of the spirit.

(1)By the help of the Spirit who makes all things new.

(2)By new motives.

(3)In a new way.

(J. W. Burn.)

I. NEWNESS OF SPIRIT implies such principles, dispositions, and views, as the Spirit of God implants in hearts which He renews. Serving in the spirit is a service of filial obedience to Him who gave Himself for us, as constrained by His love, and in the enjoyment of all the privileges of the grace of the new covenant. Believers have thus, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, become capable of serving God with that new and Divine nature of which they partake, according to the spiritual meaning of the law, as His children, with cordial affection and gratitude. It is the service not of the hireling but of the son; not of the slave but of the friend; not with the view of being saved by the keeping of the law, but of rendering grateful obedience to their almighty Deliverer.

II. THE OLDNESS OF THE LETTER respects such service as the law, by its light, authority, and terror, can procure from one who is under it, and seeking life by it, without the Spirit of God and His sanctifying grace and influence. Much outward conformity to the law may in this way be attained from the pride of self-righteousness, without any principle better than that of a selfish, slavish, mercenary, carnal disposition, influenced only by fear of punishment and hope of reward. Serving, then, in the oldness of the letter, is serving in a cold, constrained, and wholly external manner. Such service is essentially defective, proceeding from a carnal, unrenewed heart, destitute of holiness. In this way Paul describes himself (Philippians 3) as having formerly served, when he had confidence in the "flesh," as he there designates such outward service. Serving in newness of spirit and in oldness of the letter are here contrasted, as not only different, but as incompatible the one with the other.

(R. Haldane.)

1. According to the spirit of the law which is love.

2. With their spirit, instead of an outward formal service.

3. From a new and spiritual nature created in them.

4. By the grace of the Holy Spirit who dwells within (Romans 8:1, 2, 9, 11).

5. With new means and in new ways.

(T. Robinson, D. D.)

In the heroic days when Xerxes led his army in Greece, there was a remarkable contrast between the way in which the Persian soldiers and the Grecian warriors were urged to combat. The unwilling hosts of Persia were driven to the conflict by blows and stripes from their officers; they were either mercenaries or cowards, and they feared close contact with their opponents. They were driven to their duty as beasts are, with rods and goads. On the other side the armies of Greece were small, but each man was a patriot and a hero, and hence when they marched to the conflict it was with quick and joyous step, with a martial song upon their lips, and when they neared the foe they rushed upon his ranks with an enthusiasm and a fury which nothing could withstand. No whips were needed for the Spartan men at arms — like high-mettled chargers they would have resented the touch thereof; they were drawn to battle by the cords of a man, and by the bands of patriotic love they were bound to hold their posts at all hazards. "Spartans," would their leaders say, "your fathers disdained to number the Persians with the dogs of their flock, and will you be their slaves? Say ye, is it not better to die as free men than to live as slaves? What if your foes be many, yet one lion can tear in pieces a far-reaching flock of sheep. Use well your weapons this day! Avenge your slaughtered sires, and till the courts of Shushan with confusion and lamentation!" Such were the many arguments which drew the Lacedaemonians and Athenians to the fight — not the whips so fit for beasts, nor the cords so suitable for cattle. This illustration may set forth the difference between the world's service of bondage, and the Christian's religion of love: the worldling is flogged to his duty under fear, and terror, and dread, but the Christian man is touched by motives which appeal to his highest nature; he is affected by motives so dignified as to be worthy of the sons of God; he is not driven as a beast, he is moved as a man.

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

Paul, RomansRomeBondage, Bound, Captive, Ceased, Clear, Code, Dead, Delivered, Died, Discharged, Formal, Free, Held, Hold, Instead, Law, Letter, Newness, Oldness, Power, Released, Render, Seeing, Servants, Serve, Service, Spirit, Spiritual, Wherein, Written1. No law has power over a man longer than he lives.
4. But we are dead to the law.
7. Yet is not the law sin;
12. but holy, just and good;
16. as I acknowledge, who am grieved because I cannot keep it.

Romans 7:6

     3203   Holy Spirit, and assurance
     3230   Holy Spirit, and regeneration
     3236   Holy Spirit, and Scripture
     3251   Holy Spirit, filling with
     4018   life, spiritual
     5110   Paul, teaching of
     5507   rope and cord
     7028   church, life of
     7160   servants of the Lord
     7422   ritual

Romans 7:1-6

     6661   freedom, and law

Romans 7:4-6

     5381   law, letter and spirit
     6617   atonement, in NT

Romans 7:4-12

     6139   deadness, spiritual

Romans 7:5-6

     6166   flesh, sinful nature

Advent Lessons
Westminster Abbey, First Sunday in Advent, 1873. Romans vii. 22-25. "I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 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. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." This is the first Sunday in Advent. To-day we have prayed that God would give us grace to put away the works …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

July 24. "The Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in Us" (Rom. vii. 4).
"The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom. vii. 4). In our earlier experiences we know the Holy Ghost only at a distance, in things that happen in a providential direction, or in the Word alone, but after awhile we receive Him as an inward Guest, and He dwells in our very midst, and He speaks to us in the innermost chambers of our being. But then the external working of His power does not cease, but it only increases, and seems the more glorious. The Power that dwells within us …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Original and the Actual Relation of Man to Law.
ROMANS vii. 10.--"The commandment which, was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." The reader of St. Paul's Epistles is struck with the seemingly disparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. In one place, he tells his reader that "the law entered that the offence might abound;" in another, that "the law worketh wrath;" in another, that "sin shall not have dominion" over the believer because he is "not under the law;" in another, that Christians "are become dead to the law;" in …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

Sin is Spiritual Slavery
John viii. 34.--"Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." The word [Greek: doulos] which is translated "servant," in the text, literally signifies a slave; and the thought which our Lord actually conveyed to those who heard Him is, "Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin." The apostle Peter, in that second Epistle of his which is so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled sensuality upon the human will, …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

The Impotence of the Law.
HEBREWS vii. 19.--"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God." It is the aim of the Epistle to the Hebrews, to teach the insufficiency of the Jewish Dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of God and the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the Gospel Dispensation to do this. Hence, the writer of this Epistle endeavors with special effort to make the Hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much esteemed religion, …
William G.T. Shedd—Sermons to the Natural Man

The Fainting Warrior
Now, humble Christians are often the dupes of a very foolish error. They look up to certain advanced saints and able ministers, and they say, "Surely, such men as these do not suffer as I do; they do not contend with the same evil passions as those which vex and trouble me." Ah! if they knew the heard of those men, if they could read their inward conflicts, they would soon discover that the nearer a man lives to God, the more intensely has he to mourn over his own evil heart, and the more his Master …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

Thou Shalt not Commit Adultery.
In this Commandment too a good work is commanded, which includes much and drives away much vice; it is called purity, or chastity, of which much is written and preached, and it is well known to every one, only that it is not as carefully observed and practised as other works which are not commanded. So ready are we to do what is not commanded and to leave undone what is commanded. We see that the world is full of shameful works of unchastity, indecent words, tales and ditties, temptation to which …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

"O Wretched Man that I Am!"
"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24, 25). You know the wonderful place that this text has in the wonderful epistle to the Romans. It stands here at the end of the seventh chapter as the gateway into the eighth. In the first sixteen verses of the eighth chapter the name of the Holy Spirit is found sixteen times; you have there the description and promise of the life that a child of God can live in the …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

How Christ is to be Made Use of as Our Life, in Case of Heartlessness and Fainting through Discouragements.
There is another evil and distemper which believers are subject to, and that is a case of fainting through manifold discouragements, which make them so heartless that they can do nothing; yea, and to sit up, as if they were dead. The question then is, how such a soul shall make use of Christ as in the end it may be freed from that fit of fainting, and win over those discouragements: for satisfaction to which we shall, 1. Name some of those discouragements which occasion this. 2. Show what Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Of the Corruption of Nature and the Efficacy of Divine Grace
O Lord my God, who hast created me after thine own image and similitude, grant me this grace, which Thou hast shown to be so great and so necessary for salvation, that I may conquer my wicked nature, which draweth me to sin and to perdition. For I feel in my flesh the law of sin, contradicting the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the obedience of sensuality in many things; nor can I resist its passions, unless Thy most holy grace assist me, fervently poured into my heart. 2. There …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

The Positive Side
What is the relation of the Law (the Ten Commandments) to Christians? In our previous chapter we pointed out how that three radically different answers have been returned to this question. The first, that sinners become saints by obeying the Law. This is Legalism pure and simple. It is heresy of the most dangerous kind. All who really believe and act on it as the ground of their acceptance by God, will perish eternally. Second, others say that the Law is not binding on Christians because it has been …
Arthur W. Pink—The Law and the Saint

Carey's Last Days
1830-1834 The college and mission stripped of all their funds--Failure of the six firms for sixteen millions--Carey's official income reduced from L1560 to L600--His Thoughts and Appeal published in England--His vigour at seventy--Last revision of the Bengali Bible--Final edition of the Bengali New Testament--Carey rejoices in the reforms of Lord William Bentinck's Government--In the emancipation of the slaves--Carey sketched by his younger contemporaries--His latest letters and last message to Christendom--Visits …
George Smith—The Life of William Carey

His Freedom from Sin.
THE first impression which we receive from the life of Jesus is that of perfect innocency and sinlessness in the midst of a sinful world. He, and he alone, carried the spotless purity of childhood untarnished through his youth and manhood. Hence the lamb and the dove are his appropriate symbols. He was, indeed, tempted as we are; but he never yielded to temptation.[21]21 His sinlessness was at first only the relative sinlessness of Adam before the fall; which implies the necessity of trial and temptation, …
Philip Schaff—The Person of Christ

Sin not a Mere Negation.
"I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind."--Rom. vii. 23. Dr. Böhl's theory, that sin is a mere loss, default, or lack, is an error almost as critical as Manicheism. This should not be misunderstood. This theory does not deny that the sinner is unholy, nor that he ought to be holy. It says two things: (1) that there is no holiness in the sinner; but--and this indicates the real character of sin--(2) that there ought to be holiness in him. A stone does not hear, nor …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

The Good that I Would I do Not. Rom 7
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John Newton—Olney Hymns

There are Therefore in us Evil Desires, by Consenting not unto which we Live...
20. There are therefore in us evil desires, by consenting not unto which we live not ill: there are in us lusts of sins, by obeying not which we perfect not evil, but by having them do not as yet perfect good. The Apostle shows both, that neither is good here perfected, where evil is so lusted after, nor evil here perfected, whereas such lust is not obeyed. The one forsooth he shows, where he says, "To will is present with me, but to perfect good is not;" [1875] the other, where he says, "Walk in …
St. Augustine—On Continence

Its Source
Let us here review, briefly, the ground which we have already covered. We have seen, first, that "to justify" means to pronounce righteous. It is not a Divine work, but a Divine verdict, the sentence of the Supreme Court, declaring that the one justified stands perfectly conformed to all the requirements of the law. Justification assures the believer that the Judge of all the earth is for him, and not against him: that justice itself is on his side. Second, we dwelt upon the great and seemingly insoluable …
Arthur W. Pink—The Doctrine of Justification

Temptations.
TEMPTATIONS OF SATAN. Satan, even from himself, besides the working of our own lust, doth do us wonderful injury, and hits our souls with many a fiery dart, that we think comes either from ourselves or from heaven and God himself. Satan diligently waiteth to come in at the door, if Careless has left it a little ajar. There is nothing that Satan more desires than to get good men in his sieve to sift them as wheat, that if possible he may leave them nothing but bran; no grace, but the very husk and …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan

Work, for God Works in You
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.'--Phil. 2:12, 13 In our last chapter we saw what salvation is. It is our being God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. It concludes, as one of its chief and essential elements, all that treasury of good works which God afore prepared that we should walk in them. In the light of this thought we get the true and full meaning of to-day's text. Work …
Andrew Murray—Working For God!

Redemption
"Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect."--MATT. V. 48. "Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver from the body of this death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord."--ROM. VII. 24, 25. We have studied the meaning of reconciliation through the Cross. We have said that to be reconciled to God means to cease to be the object of the Wrath of God, that is, His hostility to sin. We can only cease to be the objects of this Divine Wrath by identifying ourselves …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

"Who Walk not after the Flesh, but after the Spirit. "
Rom. viii. 1.--"Who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." It is no wonder that we cannot speak any thing to purpose of this subject, and that you do not bear with fruit, because it is indeed a mystery to our judgments, and a great stranger to our practice. There is so little of the Spirit, both in teachers and those that come to be taught, that we can but speak of it as an unknown thing, and cannot make you to conceive it, in the living notion of it as it is. Only we may say in general,--it …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Impossible with Man, Possible with God
"And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27). Christ had said to the rich young ruler, "Sell all that thou hast . . . and come, follow me." The young man went away sorrowful. Christ then turned to the disciples, and said: "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" The disciples, we read, were greatly astonished, and answered: "If it is so difficult to enter the kingdom, who, then, can be saved?" And Christ gave this blessed …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

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

That all Troubles are to be Endured for the Sake of Eternal Life
"My Son, let not the labours which thou hast undertaken for Me break thee down, nor let tribulations cast thee down in any wise, but let my promise strengthen and comfort thee in every event. I am sufficient to reward thee above all measure and extent. Not long shalt thou labour here, nor always be weighed down with sorrows. Wait yet a little while, and thou shalt see a speedy end of thine evils. An hour shall come when all labour and confusion shall cease. Little and short is all that passeth …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

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