When they speak great swelling words of vanity Propose their vain and false doctrine in a lofty style, or affect sublime strains of language, which are often void of any real meaning; they allure through the lusts of the flesh By allowing their hearers to live in lewd courses, or to gratify some unholy desires under pretence of Christian liberty, 2 Peter 2:10; 2 Peter 2:19; those Who, as Christians; were clean escaped from the spirit, customs, and company of them that live in error That is, in sin. In other words, they bring back again to their former sensuality, and other vices, those who, having been converted, had entirely forsaken their former evil ways and wicked companions. While they promise them liberty From needless restraints and scruples, and from the bondage of the law; they themselves are the servants of corruption Slaves to their own lusts, to sin, the vilest of all kinds of bondage; for of whom Or what; a man is overcome, of the same thing he is brought into bondage Becomes a perfect slave to it. The apostle seems here to allude to the ancient custom of making those slaves who were conquered or taken in battle. It was one of the Stoical paradoxes, that the wise man is the only free man, and that all wicked men are slaves. This maxim the apostle adopts, and supports it in a sound sense by the above unanswerable argument. Hence our Lord said to the Jews, who boasted of their freedom, (John 8:34,)
Whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin. Of the slavery in which every carnal man lives, St. Paul has given us a lively picture, Romans 6:16-20.