one with him, that he dwells in our hearts, that he lives in us and we in him, that we are changed into his image, and that he is formed in us. This union is spoken of as resembling the union of the head with the other parts of the body, and the foundation with the superstructure. This union does not result solely from Jesus Christ having taken upon him, by his incarnation, the human nature. For if in this alone our union with him consisted, unbelievers would be as much united with him as believers. The union of believers with Jesus Christ is a spiritual and mystical union; and as one with him, by him they are represented. He represents them in the act of making satisfaction to the Father, taking their sins upon him, and enduring the punishment they deserved; for it was in their place, as their head and mediator, that he presented to God that great and solemn sacrifice which has obtained for them heavenly glory. He represents them in the act of his resurrection, for as the head he has received for them of his Father life and immortality. He represents them in his intercession in their name ; and also in his exaltation on his throne. The spiritual life which they derive from him consists in present grace and future glory. In grace there are three degrees. The first is peace with God; the second is holiness, comprehending all that constitutes their duty; and the third is hope, which like an anchor of the soul enters into that within the vail. In glory there are also three degrees; the resurrection of the bodies of believers; their elevation to heaven; and the eternal enjoyment of the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world.

Paul enjoins on Titus to affirm constantly the great

truths he had been declaring, in order that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. Those doctrines alone, which in the opinion of many make void the law, and give a license to sinagainst which, since the days of the Apostle, the same objections have been repeated which in this chapter Paul combats those doctrines are the means which the Holy Spirit employs for the conversion of sinners, and for producing effects entirely the opposite in their hearts. The Bible teaches us that the plan of salvation, which delivers man from sin and from death by the death of the Son of God, which had its origin in eternity in the counsels of God, both as to the choice of its objects, and the manner in which they are justified and sanctified, and as to its consummation in glory, is founded wholly in grace. "By the grace of God," says Paul, "I am what I am." "Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

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CHAPTER VII.

In the preceding chapter the Apostle had answered the chief objection against the doctrine of justification by faith without works. He had proved that, by union with Christ in his death and resurrection, believers who are thereby justified are also sanctified; he had exhibited and enforced the motives to holiness furnished by the consideration of that union; he had, moreover, affirmed that sin shall not have dominion over them; for this specific reason, that they are not under the law, but under grace. To the import of this declaration, he now reverts both to explain its meaning and to state the ground of deliverance from the law. This, again, rendered it proper to vindicate the holiness of the law, as well as to demonstrate its use in convincing of sin ; while at the same time he proves that all its light and all its authority, so far from being sufficient to subdue sin, on the contrary, only tend by the strictness of its precepts, and the awful nature of its sanctions, the more to excite and bring into action the corruptions of the human heart.

Paul next proceeds plainly to show what might be inferred from the preceding chapter. Although he had there described believers as dead to the guilt of sin, he had, notwithstanding, by his earnest exhortations to watchfulness and holiness, clearly intimated that they

were still exposed to its seductions. He now exhibits this fact by relating his own experience since he became dead to the law and was united to Christ. By thus describing his inward conflict with sin, and showing how far short he came of the demands of the law, he proves the necessity of being dead to the law as a covenant, since, in the highest attainments of grace during this mortal life, the old nature, which he calls flesh, still remains in believers. At the same time he represents himself as delighting in the law of God, as hating sin, and looking forward with confidence to future deliverance from its power. In this manner he illustrates not only the believer's real character, but the important fact that the obedience of the most eminent Christian, which is always imperfect, cannot have the smallest influence in procuring his justification. He had proved that men cannot be justified by their works in their natural state. He now shows by a reference to himself, that as little can they be justified by their works in their regenerated state. And thus he confirms his assertion in the 3d chapter, that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified. He might have described more generally the incessant combat between the old and new natures in the believer; but he does this more practically, as well as more efficiently, by laying open the secrets of his own heart, and exhibiting it in his own person.

V. 1.-Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Brethren. Some have erroneously supposed that, by employing the term brethren, the Apostle was now addressing himself exclusively to the Jews who belonged to the church at Rome. He is here, as in other

parts of the Epistle, addressing the whole church; all its members, whether Jews or Gentiles, being equally concerned in the doctrine he was inculcating. It is evident, besides, that he continues in the following chapters to address the same persons to whom he had been writing from the commencement of the Epistle. They are the same of whom he had affirmed, in the preceding chapter, verse 14th, that they were not under the law, which is the proposition he here illustrates. Brethren is an appellation whereby Paul designates all Christians, Gentiles as well as Jews, and by which, in the 10th chapter, he distinguishes them from the unbelieving Jews.

Know ye not.-There is much force in this interrogation, and it is one usual with Paul, when he is affirming what is in itself sufficiently clear, as in chap. vi. 16; 1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19. He here appeals to the personal knowledge of those to whom he wrote. For I speak to them that know law. This parenthesis appears to imply, that, as they were acquainted with the nature of law, they must in the sequel be convinced of the truth of the explanations he was about to bring under their notice; and in this manner he bespeaks their particular attention.

The law hath dominion over a man.-Man here is not man as distinguished from woman, but man including both men and women, denoting the species. This first assertion is not confined to the law of marriage, by which the Apostle afterwards illustrates his subject, but extends to the whole law, namely, the law of God in all its parts. As long as he liveth.-The words in the original, as far as respects the phraseology, are capable of being rendered, either as long as he liveth,

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