6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
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. [1] 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.
1 - 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.
Knowing this - We all knowing this. All Christians are supposed to know this. This is a new illustration drawn from the fact that by his crucifixion our corrupt nature has been crucified also, or put to death; and that thus we should be free from the servitude of sin.
Our old man - This expression occurs also in Ephesians 4:22, "That ye put offthe old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." Colossians 3:9, "lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds." From these passages it is evident that Paul uses the expression to denote our sinful and corrupt nature; the passions and evil propensities that exist before the heart is renewed. It refers to the love of sin, the indulgence of sinful propensities, in opposition to the new disposition which exists after the soul is converted, and which is called "the new man."
Is crucified - Is put to death, as if on a cross. In this expression there is a personification of the corrupt propensities of our nature represented as "our old man," our native disposition, etc. The figure is here carried out, and this old man, this corrupt nature, is represented as having been put to death in an agonizing and torturing manner. The pains of crucifixion were perhaps the most torturing of any that the human frame could bear. Death in this manner was most lingering and distressing. And the apostle here by the expression "is crucified" doubtless refers to the painful and protracted struggle which everyone goes through when his evil propensities are subdued; when his corrupt nature is slain; and when, a converted sinner, he gives himself up to God. Sin dies within him, and he becomes dead to the world, and to sin; "for as by the cross death is most lingering and severe, so that corrupt nature is not subdued but by anguish." (Grotius.) All who have been born again can enter into this description. They remember "the wormwood and the gall." They remember the anguish of conviction; the struggle of corrupt passion for the ascendency; the dying convulsions of sin in the heart; the long and lingering conflict before it was subdued, and the soul became submissive to God. Nothing will better express this than the lingering agony of crucifixion: and the argument of the apostle is, that as sin has produced such an effect, and as the Christian is now free from its embrace and its power, he will live to God.
With him - The word "with" σύν sun here is joined to the verb "is crucified" and means "is crucified as he was."
That the body of sin - This expression doubtless means the same as that which he had just used, "our old man," But why the term "body" is used, has been a subject in which interpreters have not been agreed. Some say that it is a Hebraism, denoting mere intensity or emphasis. Some that it means the same as flesh, that is, denoting our sinful propensities and lusts. Grotius thinks that the term "body" is elegantly attributed to sin, because the body of man is made up of many members joined together compactly, and sin also consists of numerous vices and evil propensities joined compactly, as it were, in one body. But the expression is evidently merely another form of conveying the idea contained in the phrase "our old man" - a personification of sin as if it had a living form, and as if it had been put to death on a cross. It refers to the moral destruction of the power of sin in the heart by the gospel, and not to any physical change in the nature or faculties of the soul; compare Colossians 2:11.
Might be destroyed - Might be put to death; might become inoperative and powerless. Sin becomes enervated, weakened, and finally annihilated, by the work of the Cross.
We should not serve - Should not be the slave of sin δουλεύειν douleuein. That we should not be subject to its control. The sense is, that before this we were slaves of sin (compare Romans 6:17,) but that now we are made free from this bondage, because the moral death of sin has freed us from it.
Sin - Sin is here personified as a master that had dominion over us, but is now dead.
Our old man is crucified with him - This seems to be a farther extension of the same metaphor. When a seed is planted in the earth, it appears as if the whole body of it perished. All seeds, as they are commonly termed, are composed of two parts; the germ, which contains the rudiments of the future plant; and the lobes, or body of the seed, which by their decomposition in the ground, become the first nourishment to the extremely fine and delicate roots of the embryo plant, and support it till it is capable of deriving grosser nourishment from the common soil. The body dies that the germ may live. Parables cannot go on all fours; and in metaphors or figures, there is always some one (or more) remarkable property by which the doctrine intended is illustrated. To apply this to the purpose in hand: how is the principle of life which Jesus Christ has implanted in us to be brought into full effect, vigor, and usefulness? By the destruction of the body of sin, our old man, our wicked, corrupt, and fleshly self, is to be crucified; to be as truly slain as Christ was crucified; that our souls may as truly be raised from a death of sin to a life of righteousness, as the body of Christ was raised from the grave, and afterwards ascended to the right hand of God. But how does this part of the metaphor apply to Jesus Christ? Plainly and forcibly. Jesus Christ took on him a body; a body in the likeness of sinful flesh, Romans 8:3; and gave up that body to death; through which death alone an atonement was made for sin, and the way laid open for the vivifying Spirit, to have the fullest access to, and the most powerful operation in, the human heart. Here, the body of Christ dies that he may be a quickening Spirit to mankind. Our body of sin is destroyed by this quickening Spirit, that henceforth we should live unto Him who died and rose again. Thus the metaphor, in all its leading senses, is complete, and applies most forcibly to the subject in question. We find that παλαιος ανθρωπος, the old man, used here, and in Ephesians 4:22, and Colossians 3:9, is the same as the flesh with its affections and lusts, Galatians 5:24; and the body of the sins of the flesh, Colossians 2:11; and the very same which the Jewish writers term אדם הקדמוני, Adam hakkadmoni, the old Adam; and which they interpret by יצר הרע yetsar hara, "evil concupiscence," the same which we mean by indwelling sin, or the infection of our nature, in consequence of the fall. From all which we may learn that the design of God is to counterwork and destroy the very spirit and soul of sin, that we shall no longer serve it, δουλευειν, no longer be its slaves. Nor shall it any more be capable of performing its essential functions than a dead body can perform the functions of natural life.
Knowing this, that our (h) old man is crucified with (i) [him], that the (k) body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not (l) serve sin.
(h) Our entire nature, as we are conceived and born into this world with sin, is called "old", partly by comparing that old Adam with Christ, and partly also in respect of the deformed state of our corrupt nature, which we change with a new.
(i) Our corrupt nature is regarded as belonging to Christ, not because of what he has done, but by imputation.
(k) That wickedness which remains in us.
(l) The end of sanctification which we aim at, and will at length come to, that is, when God will be all in all.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,.... By the old man is meant the corruption of nature; called a man, because natural to men; it lives and dwells in them; it has spread itself over the whole man; it rules and governs in men; and consists of various parts and members, as a man does: it is called "old", because it is the poison of the old serpent, with which man was infected by him from the beginning; it is derived from the first man that ever was; it is as old as the man is, in whom it is, and is likewise called so, with respect to its duration and continuance; and in opposition to, and contradistinction from, the new man, or principle of grace: it is called "ours", because continual to us; it is in our nature, it cleaves to us, and abides in us. This name the apostle took from his countrymen the Jews, who were wont to call the vitiosity of nature hereby; so R. Aba on that passage, "the firstborn said to the younger, our father is old", Genesis 19:31, asks, what is the meaning of this, "our father is old?" this, answers he, is the evil imagination, or corruption of nature, which is called "old", according to Ecclesiastes 4:13; and is said to be old, , "because it is born with the man" (o); or as the reason is elsewhere given (p), because it is joined to him from his birth, to his old age: this, they say (q), is with a man as soon as he is born, from the hour of his birth, as soon as ever he comes into the world. Now this is said to be "crucified with him"; that is, with Christ, when he was crucified: the Jews (r) have a notion that the evil imagination, or corruption of nature, , will not be made to cease, or be abolished out of the world, till the King Messiah comes, and by him it is abolished: this is so crucified by the death, and at the cross of Christ, as that it cannot exert its damning power over believers; and is so crucified by the Spirit and grace of Christ in them, as that it cannot reign over them, or exercise its domineering power over them; wherefore they are dead unto it, and that to them, and therefore cannot live in it; which is done,
that the body of sin might be destroyed: by "the body of sin" is meant sin itself, which consists, as a body does, of various members; and also the power and strength of it, which the Jews (s) call , "the power of the evil imagination"; this is crucified with Christ, and nailed to his cross by his sacrifice and satisfaction, that its damning power might be destroyed, abolished, and done away: and it is crucified by the Spirit and grace of Christ, that its governing power might be took away, and that itself be subdued, weakened, and laid under restraints, and its members and deeds mortified:
that henceforth we should not serve sin; not that it should not be in us, for as yet, neither by virtue of the sacrifice of Christ, nor by the power of his grace, is sin as to its being removed from the people of God: but that we should not serve it, make provision for it, indulge it and obey it, in the lusts thereof.
(o) Midrash Haneelam in Zohar in Genesis. fol. 68. 1. Vid. Caphtor, fol. 20. 1. (p) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 70. 2. (q) Zohar in Genesis. fol. 102. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 14. 4. (r) Zohar in Exod fol. 94. 4. (s) Ib.
Knowing this, &c.--The apostle now grows more definite and vivid in expressing the sin-destroying efficacy of our union with the crucified Saviour.
that our old man--"our old selves"; that is, "all that we were in our old unregenerate condition, before union with Christ" (compare Colossians 3:9-10; Ephesians 4:22-24; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:24; Galatians 6:14).
is--rather, "was."
crucified with him--in order.
that the body of sin--not a figure for "the mass of sin"; nor the "material body," considered as the seat of sin, which it is not; but (as we judge) for "sin as it dwells in us in our present embodied state, under the law of the fall."
might be destroyed--(in Christ's death)--to the end.
that henceforth we should not serve sin--"be in bondage to sin."
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. The cross of Christ slew our old sinful nature. The gospel was the power that moved us to trample it down, separate from it, and cling to Christ. When this old nature was crucified, we died to sin. Compare Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9.
That the body of sin. Sin is conceived of as a living power, with an organism, reigning over us through out bodily members. Our death to sin destroys this dominion.
For he that is dead is freed from sin. When a slave died he was freed from his master's service; so when one has died to sin, he is no longer the slave of sin, and is freed from his service. His power over the bodily members should be destroyed.
Now if we be dead with Christ, etc. This fact has been established. We have been baptized into his death, and are partakers of it. Then, having died with him, we who have risen with him from the symbolical burial to a new life, shall also live with him.
This is certain because, Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more. He now lives eternally, and we who are in him, having shared his death, must share his eternal life.
He died unto sin once. Once for all. It laid hands on him and slew him, but henceforth it has nought to do with him.
He liveth unto God. Here on earth his godly life was troubled by the contradiction of sinners, but now he lives in holy union with God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, etc. So the Christian, buried and risen with Christ, must be like Christ in life, dead to sin, but living a godly life through Christ.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body. This must not be, and cannot be, if we are really dead to sin. The body must be mortal, and subject to death, but it must not be subject to sin.
Neither yield ye your members. The organs and appetites of the body must not be turned over to sin to use as instruments of unrighteousness. These have all been consecrated to God, by our rising to a new life, and we, as alive with the divine life, living to God, should use them all as instruments of righteousness unto God; i. e., as means of glorifying him and doing his will.
For sin shall not have dominion over you. Hence, has no right to the use of our bodily members. We are dead to sin.
Are not under the law, but under grace. Paul has shown that law revealed sin. Where law exists, and the sinful nature remains, sin will continually manifest itself. But we are under grace. Our sins were forgiven on the ground that we have died to sin, been buried and risen with Christ. Hence, unless we trample all this under foot, there is no room for the dominion of sin.
Our old man - Coeval with our being, and as old as the fall; our evil nature; a strong and beautiful expression for that entire depravity and corruption which by nature spreads itself over the whole man, leaving no part uninfected. This in a believer is crucified with Christ, mortified, gradually killed, by virtue of our union with him. That the body of sin - All evil tempers, words, and actions, which are the "members" of the "old man," Colossians 3:5, might be destroyed.
*More commentary available at chapter level.