Know ye not, &c.— In the foregoing chapter, the Apostle shews the converted Christians the obligations that they were under to a life of holiness, and the advantages which they enjoyed for that purpose, now that they were taken into the kingdom of God. From this verse to chap. Romans 8:11 he addresses himself upon the same subject to both Jews and Gentiles, but particularly to the Jew. The Gentile had nothing to oppose to the Gospel: a man just emerged from the darkness and impurity of an idolatrous state, wanted no arguments to convince him of the necessity of a fartherdispensationforhisinstruction,justification,andsanctification;andasforwhat any of the philosophers had taught, he found all that, and indeed every moral truth which human reason can discover, transcribed and incorporatedinto the Gospel, with the addition of a surprising degree of light, utterly beyond the unassisted reach of human reason. But the Jewish Christian, either from his own prejudices, or the suggestions of his unbelieving countrymen, might be diverted from the due improvement of the Gospel. It might be suggested, "You cannot own the Gospel as a rule of life and sanctification, or put yourself under it, without renouncingthe law; which is in effect to renounce your allegiance to God, whose authority hath established it, and obliges you to adhere to it. Besides, you do not want the Gospel; the law is in all points holy, just, and true, and we acknowledge and esteem it as such:—What occasion have we for the Gospel?"—To confirm the unbelieving Jews against such suggestions, is the particular design of the Apostle in this chapter. The Jews rested in their law, as sufficient both for justification and sanctification.—Thatit was insufficient for justification, St.Paul has already shewn: that it is insufficient for sanctification, he proves in this place; and introduces his discourse by shewing that the Jew is now discharged from his obligations to the law, as peculiar to himself, and at liberty to come under another and much happier constitution, even that of the Gospel in Christ Jesus; chap, Romans 7:1-4. In the 5th verse he gives a general description of the state of a Jew in servitude to sin, considered as under mere law. In Romans 7:6 he gives a summary account of the state of a Christian or believing Jew, and the advantages that he enjoys under the Gospel. Upon the 5th verse he comments from Romans 7:7 to the end of the chapter; and upon Romans 7:6 in chap. Romans 8:1-11. I. Commenting upon Romans 7:5, he shews, First, that the law reached to all the branches and latent principles of sin; Romans 7:7.-Secondly, that it subjected the sinner to death (Romans 7:8-12.) without the benefit of pardon.—Thirdly, the reason why the Jew was put under it, Romans 7:13.—Fourthly, he proves that the law, considered as a rule of action, though it was spiritual, holy, just, and good in itself, and though the Jews owned and approved it as such, yet was insufficient for sanctification, or for freeing a man from the power of lust and sin; because the prevalency of sensual appetite does not wholly extinguish reason, or silence conscience; and therefore a man's reason and conscience might own and approve the law as good, just, and holy, and yet his passions might reign within him, and keep him in servitude to them, while the law supplied no power to deliver him from them; Romans 7:14-24. It is only the grace and favour of God in Christ, which supplies that power; Romans 7:25.—II. Commenting upon the 6th verse of chap. 7: the Apostle affirms, First, that under the Gospel, and by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, the Jew was whollydelivered from the condemnation of the law, chap. Romans 8:1.—Secondly, that the power of the Spirit of God to invigorate and renew our minds, and to free us from the dominion of sin, attends the Gospel dispensation; chap. Romans 8:2-4. But, thirdly, whereas it might, through mistake, be supposed, that this sanctifying principle, the Spirit of God, would work without any care or thought on their part; or whereas it might be objected, that notwithstanding this life-giving Spirit, many who professed the Gospel were wicked men; either to prevent this mistake, or to obviate this objection, the Apostle shews, that no constitution would save those from the power of sin, or from condemnation, who wilfullychoose to remain under its dominion.—According to the immutable nature of things, such must perish, as well under the Gospel, as under the law itself; chap. 8: Romans 7:4-11. The reader should carefully remember, that it is the state of a Jew in the flesh (Romans 7:5.) enslaved to sin by the force of sensual appetite, and yet sensible of hisunhappy condition, upon which the Apostle discourses, and by which he proves the insufficiency of mere law for sanctification in the chapter before us.
The law hath dominion, &c.— The law is to be understood as the nominative case to liveth. The law hath dominion over a man so long as it lives or subsists. So Amos 8:14. The manner [the idolatrous institutions] of Beersheba liveth. Antigone, in her noble speech to king Creon, comparing laws made at pleasure by men, with the eternal obligations of truth and right, says,
Not now, nor yesterday, but evermore, the laws Unwritten live, and none when published first can tell. SOPHOCL. ANTIG. .50: 465.
When the laws are duly executed, they are said vigere, to be in a healthy flourishing state; when not executed, to sleep.—Thus Juvenal, Ubi nunc lex Julia?—Dormis. Where is now the Julian law?—Thou sleepest. The Apostle, Hebrews 8:13 describes the first covenant or constitution as labouring under the infirmities and decays of old age, and ready to vanish away, or die, as men do; James 4.