THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION.

Join the Christian Community Here!

Romans 5:1-8:39

 THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION.

Apostle presents the gospel as ‘the power of God unto salvation,’ setting forth how God’s power becomes efficient in men, as the result of gratuitous justification. Death is shown to be connected with Sin, and Life with Righteousness.

Chap. 5 treats of the immediate result of justification, peace with God (Rom_5:1-11) enforced by the parallel and contrast between the relations to the first and second Adam (Rom_5:12-21). Chaps. 6-7 treat of the moral results of justification; namely, sanctification. Stated more generally: chap. 5 treats of the effect upon the feeling (peace); chaps. 6-8 upon the will (holiness). As, however, the Apostle has shown the need of justification by faith from the guilt of all, so he proves the need of sanctification by the gospel method from the failure of the law to sanctify (chaps, 6, 7), before passing to the positive statements of chap. 8 (There is therefore good ground for the view which regards chaps. Rom_3:21-25. as treating of justification, and chaps. 6-8 of sanctification.) But the course of thought is not that of a formal treatise; the letter follows to a great extent the order of Christian experience, taking up difficulties as they are presented in the Christian life. Even the parallel and contrast between Adam and Christ, in chap. Rom_5:12-21, is not an exception; for thus the connection between sin and death, and righteousness and life is set forth in its most extended form; grace is shown to abound, and the gratuitous nature of justification enforced for the comfort of the believer. Moreover this apparent digression is but a more pronounced example of what occurs in well-nigh every section of the Epistle. Chap. 6 takes up an objection, which constantly recurs: will not this abounding grace allow men to continue in sin? Paul answers, that Christians have a fellowship of life with Christ, are dead to sin and dedicated to God. Moreover, they are thus freed from the law (chap. Rom_7:1-6). This thought suggests another objection (as constantly recurring as the previous one); will not freedom from the law lead to continued sin? The Apostle, in reply, defends the spirituality of the law (chap. Rom_7:7-12), but shows that it is not the power of God unto salvation (chap. Rom_7:13-25). In the experience he portrays, the prominent distinction is between law and grace, not sin and grace. This part of the Epistle, so far from being adapted for Jewish readers only, or for that age alone, is the part which touches our experience most closely. The antithesis between law and grace is one constantly felt; the Christian is in constant danger from legalism; and few have learned to sympathize with the joyous utterances of chap. 8 without having proved in their own case that the law as a means of sanctification leads to wretchedness (chap. Rom_7:24), quite as truly as it fails to justify. Chap. 8 presents the work of the Spirit over against the failure of the law, showing the happy condition of the justified man, in the freedom of the new life, the consciousness of adoption and the assurance of future glory.



Romans 6:1-11

1. Fellowship in the Death of Christ involves a New Life.
The objection with which the discussion opens, which has been repeatedly urged against the doctrine of justification by faith, shows conclusively what Paul meant by that doctrine, namely, that God accounts men righteous when they believe in Christ. Otherwise the objection would not have been raised, nor the subsequent discussion necessary. But this discussion shows that the Apostle used the terms ‘death’ and ‘life’ in the widest sense. We do not continue in sin, he argues, that grace may abound (Rom_6:1-2), for our baptism indicated fellowship with Christ, and this fellowship is dying to sin and living to God (Rom_6:3-11). The section is not so much an argument as an appeal to Christian experience. The error it opposes is extirpated by a vital and growing knowledge of the saving power of Christ in the gospel.



Romans 6:1-8:39

3. Moral Results of Justification; those Justified by Faith live a New Life in the Spirit.
The gospel is the power of God unto salvation; through it the will is affected, and thus is accomplished morally what the law could not do, namely, the sanctification of those born sinners. But just here the greatest objection is raised to the doctrine of free salvation; and with this objection the Apostle begins his discussion: —
 I. The gospel method of grace does not lead to sin but to holiness; chap. 6
(1.) Because of what is necessarily involved in the new life (Rom_6:1-11); (2.) those who partake of this              new life are dead to sin and dedicated to God (Rom_6:12-23).
II. The relation of Christians to the law: it is in itself just and good, but powerless to sanctify; chap. 7
(1.) Believers are freed from the law (Rom_7:1-6), but (2.) this does not prove that the law is sin; for, as it has been proven that it cannot justify, it now appears that though holy it cannot make sinners holy (Rom_7:7-25).
III. The sanctifying work of the Spirit, the free life in the Spirit over against the life in the flesh; chap. 8 (see further analysis there).



Romans 6:8

Vow if we died with Christ. That this is the fact has been already stated, forming the underlying thought of Rom_6:3-6.
We believe, etc. The argument is plain, but the exact force of live with him is doubtful. It seems best to accept a primary reference to sanctification, to ethical fellowship with Christ. To this some add the thought of eternal life, others apply the phrase to this exclusively.