its destruction. The eye of the flesh, which is enmity against God, regards it with still more dread, perceiving in it the summons to stand before the tribunal of God. But the believer by the eye of faith, discovers in death what dis sipates the fears of nature, and repels the despair of the flesh. To nature which apprehends its destruction, faith opposes the weakness of death, which cannot prevent the resurrection; and to the condemnation which the flesh apprehends, opposes that life which it discovers under the mask of death. It sees, that though its appearánce be terrific, yet in Christ it has lost its sting. It is like the phantom walking on the sea which approached to the terrified disciples, but it was Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour. If unknown evils be apprehended that may happen in death, the believer remembers that the very hairs of his head are all numbered. Jesus who is with him he knows will not abandon him. He will not permit him to be tempted above what he is able to bear, for "precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil; for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

But the Spirit is life. To the consideration that the body is dead, the Apostle here opposes, as a ground of consolation, that our souls are

life. The life here spoken of is the life of God in the soul; it is the new and eternal life which his Spirit communicates in regeneration. The souls of believers are possessed of this spiritual life, of which the Scriptures inform us when they say that God hath "quickened us together with Christ." "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life." It is life and eternal life already possessed, and the commencement of that glorious life which shall be enjoyed in heaven. It is the blessing which the Lord commands, "even life for evermore." This life, which, being borne down by so many encumbrances here, is still feeble and but imperfectly enjoyed, shall, in the world to come, flourish in full vigour and without any abatement. It is the life of our Lord and Saviour, subsisting in him and derived from him. In him his people shall rise, and live, and live for ever. He himself hath said, "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die."

Because of righteousness.-Here a great difficulty is removed; for it may be said, if our bodies are dead because of sin, how is it that our souls are life, since they are stained with sin, and that it is on account of them that our

bodies are infected with it. The Apostle, in answer, brings into view the righteousness of him who is in us, and shows that it is on account of his righteousness that our souls are life. And this necessarily follows; for if we have such communion with our Lord and Saviour, that we are flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones, that we are his members, and if he and we are one, his righteousness must be ours; for where there is one body, there is one righteousness. On the other hand, through the same union our sins have been transferred to him, as is said by the Prophet Isaiah, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all." And the Apostle Peter says, that he "bore our sins on his own body on the tree;" that is to say, he bore their punishment. "He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." exchange, then, of sin and righteousness has taken place. He has been made sin by imputation, and we also by imputation are made righteousness. Jesus Christ, as being the Surety of the new covenant, has appeared before God for us, and consequently his righteousness is

ours.

An

In the verse before us we have an irrefragable proof of the imputation to us of righteousness, for otherwise it would be a manifest con

tradiction to say that we die on account of our sins, and that we have life on account of our righteousness; for what is sin but the opposite of righteousness? Whoever, then, dies on account of the sin that is in him, cannot obtain life by his own righteousness. Now all men die on account of sin, as the Apostle here teaches; then no man can have life by his own righteousness.

V. 11. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in

you.

The Apostle here obviates a difficulty which might present itself from what he had said in the preceding verse, of the bodies of believers being dead though their souls have life. He now assures them that if the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in them, God will also raise up their bodies, though at present mortal. Thus he sets before them, first the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and next their own resurrection, as being his members; for he deduces their resurrection from his resurrection. Their Head has conquered death and the grave, and they shall overcome with him. Their freedom, then, from death, he rests on the same foundation on which he had already shown that their freedom from sin was secured-on Jesus

Christ, the Surety of God's gracious covenant. From the power of sin they have been freed, it being "condemned" in him; from the power of death they are released by his resurrection. On Jesus Christ, then, the sure foundation, is the whole of our salvation built. In him God is well pleased. Through him the Holy Spirit comes. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the "All in All."

Quicken your mortal bodies. From this it appears that as to their substance the bodies of believers will, in their resurrection, be the same as those that died. "Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."-Job, xix. 26. "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead."-Isa. xxvi. 19. The soul of each man will be reunited to his own body in which he has done good or evil. For as the body is the organ of the soul in this world, so it must participate in the felicity or punishment that shall follow, either as the whole man has remained under the law or has been received into the covenant of grace. But as to the qualities of the bodies of believers, these will be different from what they were here, as the Apostle teaches, 1 Cor. xv. 50. For as in this

VOL. II.