Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. I. ITS PRESENT LIMIT. 1. It is associated with a moral cause as its explanation. The death of the body, apart from the gospel, could be accounted for only by causes such as a physician could furnish. Its great lesson would, however, thus be lost. To the heathen death was a gloomy necessity, and its only lesson was that men should seize the joys of the passing hour. The gospel associates death with sin, and its removal with the removal of sin. It is intended as a witness for God that sin is an evil thing. 2. Death in the case of believers is limited to the body. There are three classes of death. Spiritual death, which has ceased to exist in the believer. "To be spiritually minded is life." Eternal death, which has been abolished by Christ. "He that believeth on Me shall never die." Bodily death, from which believers are not exempt; but it is limited to the lowest part of our nature. The body is indeed dead, but the spirit is life. 3. Death in this limited dominion is associated with the believer's welfare. Why does Paul say, "because of sin"? Is it that there is some remainder of condemnation for sin which is still to be executed on the believer himself? If so, how can it be said, "There is now no condemnation"? If it be in wrath, why does the apostle say, "All things are yours, whether life or death"? "The body is dead because of sin," in mercy. It shall work good. It shall be a process of refinement, a furnace for gold. Let the captive of sin be redeemed, and the hand of death shall take off his prison dress, and he shall be clothed upon with his house which is from heaven. 4. Death, thus confined to a narrowed dominion, and even then made subservient to our good, is altogether subservient to the higher power which occupies the centre of our being. Death has been forced out of the metropolis of his empire, and now "the spirit is life because of righteousness."(1) As its cause, when righteousness works and produces this life, viz., "the righteousness of faith." "He that believeth in Him hath everlasting life."(2) As its end. "That, being made free from sin, we might have our fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." (P. Strutt.) Parallel Verses KJV: And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. |
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