but in the latter not only we derive the vigor and nourishment of life from Christ, but we also pass
from our own to his nature. The Apostle, however, meant to express nothing else but the efficacy
of the death of Christ, which manifests itself in putting to death our flesh, and also the efficacy of
his resurrection, in renewing within us a spiritual nature.^187
6.That our old man, etc. The old man, as the Old Testament is so called with reference to the
New; for he begins to be old, when he is by degrees destroyed by a commencing regeneration. But
what he means is the whole nature which we bring from the womb, and which is so incapable of
the kingdom of God, that it must so far die as we are renewed to real life. This old man, he says,
is fastened to the cross of Christ, for by its power he is slain: and he expressly referred to the cross,
that he might more distinctly show, that we cannot be otherwise put to death than by partaking of
his death. For I do not agree with those who think that he used the word crucified, rather than dead,
because he still lives, and is in some respects vigorous. It is indeed a correct sentiment, but not
suitable to this passage. The body of sin, which he afterwards mentions, does not mean flesh and
bones, but the corrupted mass; for man, left to his own nature, is a mass made up of sin.^188
He points out the end for which this destruction is effected, when he says, so that we may no
longer serve sin. It hence follows, that as long as we are children of Adam, and nothing more than
men, we are in bondage to sin, that we can do nothing else but sin; but that being grafted in Christ,
we are delivered from this miserable thraldom; not that we immediately cease entirely to sin, but
that we become at last victorious in the contest.
Romans 6:7-11
(^187) The word μ , is rendered insititii by Calvin, and the same by Erasmus, Pareus, and Hammond. The Vulgate has
“complantati — planted together; Beza, “cum eo plantati coaluimus — being planted with him we grow together;” Doddridge,
“grow together;” and Macknight, “planted together.” The word properly means either to grow together, or to be born together;
and never means to graft. It is only found here; and it is applied by the Septuagint, in Zechariah 11:2, to a forest growing
together. The verb μ is once used in Luke 8:7, and refers to the thorns which sprang up with the corn. It occurs as a participle
in the same sense in the Wisdom of Solomon, 13:13. It appears from Wolfius that the word is used by Greek authors in a sense
not strictly literal, to express congeniality, conjoining, union, as the sameness of disposition, or the joining together of a
dismembered limb, or, as Grotius says, the union of friendship. It might be so taken here, and the verse might be thus rendered,
—
For if we have been united (or, connected) by a similarity to his death, we shall certainly be also united by a similarity to
his resurrection.
The genitive case here may be regarded as that of the object, as the love of God means sometimes love to God. Evidently
the truth intended to be conveyed is, that as the Christian’s death to sin bears likeness to Christ’s death, so his rising to a spiritual
life is certain to bear a similar likeness to Christ’s resurrection. Then in the following verses this is more fully explained.
“The Apostle,” says Beza, “uses the future tense, ‘we shall be,’ because we are not as yet wholly dead, or wholly risen, but
are daily emerging.” But the future here, as Stuart remarks, may be considered as expressing what is to follow the death previously
mentioned, or as designating an obligation, as in Matthew 4:10; Luke 3:10, 12, 14; or a certainty as to the result. — Ed.
(^188) It is thought by Pareus and others, that “body” is here assigned to “sin,” in allusion to the crucifixion that is mentioned, as
a body in that case is fixed to the cross, and that it means the whole congeries, or, as Calvin calls it, the whole mass of sins, such
as pride, passion, lust, etc. But the reason for using the word “body,” is more probably this, because he called innate sin, man
— “the old man;” and what properly belongs to man is a body. The “body of sin” is a Hebraism, and signifies a sinful body. It
has no special reference to the material body, as Origen thought. The “man” here is to be taken in a spiritual sense, as one who
has a mind, reason, and affections: therefore the body which belongs to him must be of the same character: it is the whole of
what appertains to “the old man,” as he is corrupt and sinful, the whole of what is earthly, wicked, and depraved in him. It is the
sinful body of the old man. — Ed.