again." Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." To reconcile these, and similar passages, with those that ascribe his resurrection to the Father, it must be observed, that if the principle be regarded by which our Lord was raised up, it is to be referred to that divine power which belongs in common to the Father and the Son. The Son was raised equally by his own power as by that of his Father, because he possessed the divine as well as the human nature. But as in the work of redemption the Father acts as the Sovereign ruler, it is He who has received the satisfaction, and who having received it, has given to the Son its just recompense in raising him from the dead. His resurrection, then, in this view, took place by the decree of the Eternal Father, pronounced from his judgment throne.

Even so we also should walk in newness of life.—It is the purpose of our rising with Christ, that we also, by the glory or power of the Father, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, should walk in newness of life. The resurrection of Christ was the effect of the power of God, not in the ordinary way of nature, but of a supernatural exertion of power. In the same manner, believers are raised to walk in newness of life. It is thus, that when Paul, Eph. i. 20, exalts the supernatural virtue of grace by which we are converted, he compares it to the exceeding greatness of that power by which Christ was raised from the dead. This shows the force of the Apostle's answer to the objection he is combating. Believers are dead to the guilt of sin, and, if so, the ground of their separation from God being removed, his Almighty power is engaged and exerted to cause them to walk with their risen Lord in that new life which they derive from him.

again." "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." To reconcile these, and similar passages, with those that ascribe his resurrection to the Father, it must be observed, that if the principle be regarded by which our Lord was raised up, it is to be referred to that divine power which belongs in common to the Father and the Son. The Son was raised equally by his own power as by that of his Father, because he possessed the divine as well as the human But as in the work of redemption the Father acts as the Sovereign ruler, it is He who has received the satisfaction, and who having received it, has given to the Son its just recompense in raising him from the dead. His resurrection, then, in this view, took place by the decree of the Eternal Father, pronounced from his judgment throne.

nature.

Even so we also should walk in newness of life.—It is the purpose of our rising with Christ, that we also, by the glory or power of the Father, 2 Cor. xiii. 4, should walk in newness of life. The resurrection of Christ was the effect of the power of God, not in the ordinary way of nature, but of a supernatural exertion of power. In the same manner, believers are raised to walk in newness of life. It is thus, that when Paul, Eph. i. 20, exalts the supernatural virtue of grace by which we are converted, he compares it to the exceeding greatness of that power by which Christ was raised from the dead. This shows the force of the Apostle's answer to the objection he is combating. Believers are dead to the guilt of sin, and, if so, the ground of their separation from God being removed, his Almighty power is engaged and exerted to cause them to walk with their risen Lord in that new life which they derive from him.

It was, then, the purpose of Christ's death that his people should become dead to sin, and alive unto righteousness. "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness," 1 Pet. ii. 24. On this same ground, when viewing it simply as a motive, Paul reminds believers that since they are dead with Christ, they should set their affections on things above, and not on things on the earth, assuring them that when he who is their life shall appear, then shall they also appear with him in glory, Col. iii. 4. And again he declares, "If we be dead with him, we shall also live with him," 2 Tim. ii. 11.

Dr Macknight is greatly mistaken when he applies what is said in this verse to the new life, which does not take place till after the resurrection of the body. This destroys the whole force of the Apostle's reasoning, who is showing that believers cannot continue in sin, not only as they are dead to sin, but as they are risen with Christ, thus receiving a new and supernatural life, for the purpose of walking in obedience to God.

V. 5.-For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection :

For if.-The conditional statement is here evidently founded on what is premised. The Apostle does not pass to a new argument to prove that we are dead with Christ; but having asserted the burial of the Christian with Christ in baptism, he goes on to show that his resurrection with him is equally implied. If we have been buried with Christ so we shall rise with him. Planted together.The word in the original, when it refers to trees, designates planting them in the same

place or bed. It signifies the closest union of any kind as being incorporated, growing together, joined with, united. The meaning then is, that as in baptism we have been exhibited as one with Christ in his death, so in due time we shall be conformed to him in the likeness of his resurrection.

We shall be.The use here of the future tense has caused much perplexity respecting the connexion of this verse with the preceding, and contrary to its obvious meaning, the present time has been substituted. But while the proper force of the future time is preserved, the two verses stand closely connected. Both a spiritual and a literal resurrection are referred to in the emblem of baptism; but, in the preceding verse, the former only is brought into view, as being that which served the Apostle's immediate purpose. In this verse, in employing the future tense, he refers to the literal resurrection hereafter, as being inseparably connected with what he had just advanced concerning walking in newness of life; and thus he unfolds the whole mystery included in dying and rising with Christ, both in this world and the world to come. Believers have already been raised spiritually with Christ to walk with him on earth in newness of life, and with equal certainty they shall be raised to live with Him in heaven. This meaning is confirmed by what is said afterwards in the 8th and 9th verses. How powerful is this consideration, if viewed as a motive to the believer to walk in this world with his risen Lord in new

ness of life. "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure," 1 John, iii. 3.