14 for sin over you shall not have lordship, for ye are not under law, but under grace.
for the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus did set me free from the law of the sin and of the death;
and if by the Spirit ye are led, ye are not under law.
Let not then the sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its desires;
And before the coming of the faith, under law we were being kept, shut up to the faith about to be revealed,
So, then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;
who did give himself for us, that he might ransom us from all lawlessness, and might purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works;
who also made us sufficient `to be' ministrants of a new covenant, not of letter, but of spirit; for the letter doth kill, and the spirit doth make alive. and if the ministration of the death, in letters, engraved in stones, came in glory, so that the sons of Israel were not able to look stedfastly to the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face -- which was being made useless, how shall the ministration of the Spirit not be more in glory? for if the ministration of the condemnation `is' glory, much more doth the ministration of the righteousness abound in glory;
and if by grace, no more of works, otherwise the grace becometh no more grace; and if of works, it is no more grace, otherwise the work is no more work.
So that, my brethren, ye also were made dead to the law through the body of the Christ, for your becoming another's, who out of the dead was raised up, that we might bear fruit to God; for when we were in the flesh, the passions of the sins, that `are' through the law, were working in our members, to bear fruit to the death; and now we have ceased from the law, that being dead in which we were held, so that we may serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of letter. What, then, shall we say? the law `is' sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said: `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead. And I was alive apart from law once, and the command having come, the sin revived, and I died; and the command that `is' for life, this was found by me for death; for the sin, having received an opportunity, through the command, did deceive me, and through it did slay `me';
What then? shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? let it not be!
Because of this `it is' of faith, that `it may be' according to grace, for the promise being sure to all the seed, not to that which `is' of the law only, but also to that which `is' of the faith of Abraham,
And we have known that as many things as the law saith, to those in the law it doth speak, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may come under judgment to God; wherefore by works of law shall no flesh be declared righteous before Him, for through law is a knowledge of sin.
for the law through Moses was given, the grace and the truth through Jesus Christ did come;
and she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Romans 6
Commentary on Romans 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
The apostle having at large asserted, opened, and proved, the great doctrine of justification by faith, for fear lest any should suck poison out of that sweet flower, and turn that grace of God into wantonness and licentiousness, he, with a like zeal, copiousness of expression, and cogency of argument, presses the absolute necessity of sanctification and a holy life, as the inseparable fruit and companion of justification; for, wherever Jesus Christ is made of God unto any soul righteousness, he is made of God unto that soul sanctification, 1 Co. 1:30. The water and the blood came streaming together out of the pierced side of the dying Jesus. And what God hath thus joined together let not us dare to put asunder.
Rom 6:1-23
The apostle's transition, which joins this discourse with the former, is observable: "What shall we say then? v. 1. What use shall we make of this sweet and comfortable doctrine? Shall we do evil that good may come, as some say we do? ch. 3:8. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we hence take encouragement to sin with so much the more boldness, because the more sin we commit the more will the grace of God be magnified in our pardon? Is this a use to be made of it?' No, it is an abuse, and the apostle startles at the thought of it (v. 2): "God forbid; far be it from us to think such a thought.' He entertains the objection as Christ did the devil's blackest temptation (Mt. 4:10): Get thee hence, Satan. Those opinions that give any countenance to sin, or open a door to practical immoralities, how specious and plausible soever they be rendered, by the pretension of advancing free grace, are to be rejected with the greatest abhorrence; for the truth as it is in Jesus is a truth according to godliness, Tit. 1:1. The apostle is very full in pressing the necessity of holiness in this chapter, which may be reduced to two heads:-His exhortations to holiness, which show the nature of it; and his motives or arguments to enforce those exhortations, which show the necessity of it.