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Reviewing the statements of verses 16 and 17 in his book on Sanctification, Fraser
writes:--
"What here would strike any mind free from bias is that this `I' on the side of holiness
against sin, is the most prevailing."
The words of verse 22: "I delight in the law of God after the inward man", demand
the presence of the new life, for "the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom. 8: 7).
In verses 7-12 the apostle speaks of his unregenerate days when, in his fancied
security, he could say, "I was alive without the law once". But with verse 14, the tense of
the verb changes from the past to the present. The revelation here of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin is in agreement with the apostle's instructions in other epistles. The
Colossians saints who were "made meet" and were to be presented "holy and without
blame" were taught, nevertheless, the need of mortifying their members on the earth.
The Ephesian saints, while "accepted in the Beloved" and "seated together in the
heavenlies" were, nevertheless, warned against some of the grossest sins of the flesh
(Eph. 5:).
In three ways the language of the apostle in Rom. 7: 14-25 is seen to be the
language of the saint:--
(1)
He "hates" sin.--This no unsaved man can really do.
(2)
He "delights" in the law of God.--All such are "blessed" (Psa. 1: 2).
(3)
"He looks for deliverance to Christ alone through grace."
"Blessed be God", says Romaine, "for the seventh chapter of Romans.
There is a passage in Galatians that covers the whole ground in Rom. 7: and 8:,
and shews where the experiences of Rom. 7: fall short and, how Rom. 8: brings in
completion:--
"Walk in the Spirit (see Rom. 8:) and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh (Rom. 7: 15-23): and
these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would
(Rom. 7: 15-19). But if ye be led of the Spirit (Rom. 8: 14), ye are not under law"
(Gal. 5: 16-18).
As we have said before, the true sequel to Rom. 5: is Rom. 8:, but the ideal often
outruns the experimental. The ideal in the case of Israel at the Exodus was that they
should pass out of Egypt, cross the Red Sea, and within a comparatively short time enter
the land of promise. The actual fact was that they wandered for forty years in the
wilderness. The ideal experience would be for the believer, who is delivered as in
Rom. 5: 12-21, to pass straight on to the sphere of the Spirit and resurrection power
"more than conqueror". The actual experience, however, is that some lean towards the
licence so strongly censured in Rom. 6:, while others, failing to discern that so long as
they possess mortal bodies they still possess that which at any time can be the instrument