---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 693 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/693/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 693. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/693/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 693. Romans · 10 of 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/693/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/693/#p-N

[¶0] if any man have not the Spirit of Christ--Again, this does not mean "the disposition or mind of Christ," but the Holy Ghost; here called "the Spirit of Christ," just as He is called "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (see on [Ro 8:2]). It is as "the Spirit of Christ" that the Holy Ghost takes possession of believers, introducing into them all the gracious, dove-like disposition which dwelt in Him ([Mt 3:16]; [Joh 3:34]). Now if any man's heart be void, not of such dispositions, but of the blessed Author of them, "the Spirit of Christ."

[¶1] he is none of his--even though intellectually convinced of the truth of Christianity, and in a general sense influence by its spirit. Sharp, solemn statement this!

[¶2] 10-11. And if Christ be in you--by His indwelling Spirit in virtue of which we have one life with him.

[¶3] the body--"the body indeed."

[¶4] is dead because of--"by reason of"

[¶5] sin; but the spirit is life because--or, "by reason"

[¶6] of righteousness--The word "indeed," which the original requires, is of the nature of a concession--"I grant you that the body is dead ... and so far redemption is incomplete, but," &c.; that is, "If Christ be in you by His indwelling Spirit, though your 'bodies' have to pass through the stage of 'death' in consequence of the first Adam's 'sin,' your spirit is instinct with new and undying 'life,' brought in by the 'righteousness' of the second Adam" [Tholuck, Meyer, and Alford in part, but only Hodge entirely].

[¶7] 12-13. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh--"Once we were sold under sin ([Ro 7:14]); but now that we have been set free from that hard master and become servants to Righteousness ([Ro 6:22]), we owe nothing to the flesh, we disown its unrighteous claims and are deaf to its imperious demands." Glorious sentiment!

[¶8] 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, they, &c.--"these are sons of God." Hitherto the apostle has spoken of the Spirit simply as a power through which believers mortify sin: now he speaks of Him as a gracious, loving Guide, whose "leading"--enjoyed by all in whom is the Spirit of God's dear Son--shows that they also are "sons of God."

[¶9] 15. For, &c.--"For ye received not (at the time of your conversion) the spirit of bondage," that is, "The spirit ye received was not a spirit of bondage."

[¶10] again--gendering.

[¶11] to fear--as under the law which "worketh wrath," that is, "Such was your condition before ye believed, living in legal bondage, haunted with incessant forebodings under a sense of unpardoned sin. But it was not to perpetuate that wretched state that ye received the Spirit."

[¶12] but ye have received--"ye received."

[¶13] the spirit of adoption, whereby--rather, "wherein."

[¶14] we cry, Abba, Father--The word "cry" is emphatic, expressing the spontaneousness, the strength, and the exuberance of the final emotions. In [Ga 4:6] this cry is said to proceed from the Spirit in us, drawing forth the filial exclamation in our hearts. Here, it is said to proceed from our own hearts under the vitalizing energy of the Spirit, as the very element of the new life in believers (compare [Mt 10:19], ; and see on [Ro 8:4]). "Abba" is the Syro-Chaldaic word for "Father"; and the Greek word for that is added, not surely to tell the reader that both mean the same thing, but for the same reason which drew both words from the lips of Christ Himself during his agony in the garden ([Mr 14:36]). He, doubtless, loved to utter His Father's name in both the accustomed forms; beginning with His cherished mother tongue, and adding that of the learned. In this view the use of both words here has a charming simplicity and warmth.

[¶15] 16. The Spirit itself--It should be "Himself" (see on [Ro 8:26]).

[¶16] beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children--"are children"

[¶17] of God--The testimony of our own spirit is borne in that cry of conscious sonship, "Abba, Father"; but we are not therein alone; for the Holy Ghost within us, yea, even in that very cry which it is His to draw forth, sets His own distinct seal to ours; and thus, "in the mouth of two witnesses" the thing is established. The apostle had before called us "sons of God," referring to our adoption; here the word changes to "children," referring to our new birth. The one expresses the dignity to which we are admitted; the other the new life which we receive. The latter is more suitable here; because a son by adoption might not be heir of the property, whereas a son by birth certainly is, and this is what the apostle is now coming to.

[¶18] 17. And if children, then heirs--"heirs also."

[¶19] heirs of God--of our Father's kingdom.

[¶20] and joint-heirs with Christ--as the "First-born among many brethren" ([Ro 8:29]), and as "Heir of all things" ([He 1:2]).

[¶21] if so be that we suffer--"provided we be suffering with Him."

[¶22] that we may be also glorified together--with Him. This necessity of conformity to Christ in suffering in order to participate in His glory, is taught alike by Christ Himself and by His apostles ([Joh 12:24-26]; [Mt 16:24], ; [2Ti 2:12]).

[¶23] 18. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us--that is, "True, we must suffer with Christ, if we would partake of His glory; but what of that? For if such sufferings are set over against the coming glory, they sink into insignificance."

[¶24] 19-22. For, &c.--"The apostle, fired with the thought of the future glory of the saints, pours forth this splendid passage, in which he represents the whole creation groaning under its present degradation, and looking and longing for the revelation of this glory as the end and consummation of its existence" [Hodge].

[¶25] the earnest expectation--(compare [Php 1:20]).

[¶26] of the creature--rather, "the creation."

[¶27] waiteth for the manifestation--"is waiting for the revelation"

[¶28] of the sons of God--that is, "for the redemption of their bodies" from the grave ([Ro 8:23]), which will reveal their sonship, now hidden (compare [Lu 20:36]; [Re 21:7]).

[¶29] 23. And not only they, but ourselves also--or "not only [so], but even we ourselves"--that is, besides the inanimate creation.

[¶30] which have the first-fruits of the Spirit--or, "the Spirit as the first-fruits" of our full redemption (compare [2Co 1:22]), moulding the heart to a heavenly frame and attempering it to its future element.

[¶31] even we ourselves--though we have so much of heaven already within us.

[¶32] groan within ourselves--under this "body of sin and death," and under the manifold "vanity and vexation of spirit" that are written upon every object and every pursuit and every enjoyment under the sun.

[¶33] waiting for the--manifestation of our

[¶34] adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body--from the grave: "not (be it observed) the deliverance of ourselves from the body, but the redemption of the body itself from the grave" [Bengel].

[¶35] 24. For we are saved by hope--rather, "For in hope we are saved"; that is, it is more a salvation in hope than as yet in actual possession.

[¶36] but hope that is seen is not hope--for the very meaning of hope is, the expectation that something now future will become present.

[¶37] for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?--the latter ending when the other comes.

[¶38] 25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it--that is, then, patient waiting for it is our fitting attitude.

[¶39] 26-27. Likewise the Spirit also, &c.--or, "But after the like manner doth the Spirit also help.

[¶40] our infirmities--rather (according to the true reading), "our infirmity"; not merely the one infirmity here specified, but the general weakness of the spiritual life in its present state, of which one example is here given.

[¶41] for we know not what we should pray for as we ought--It is not the proper matter of prayer that believers are at so much loss about, for the fullest directions are given them on this head: but to ask for the right things "as they ought" is the difficulty. This arises partly from the dimness of our spiritual vision in the present veiled state, while we have to "walk by faith, not by sight" (see on [1Co 13:9] and [2Co 5:7]), and the large admixture of the ideas and feelings which spring from the fleeting objects of sense that there is in the very best views and affections of our renewed nature; partly also from the necessary imperfection of all human language as a vehicle for expressing the subtle spiritual feelings of the heart. In these circumstances, how can it be but that much uncertainty should surround all our spiritual exercises, and that in our nearest approaches and in the freest outpourings of our hearts to our Father in heaven, doubts should spring up within us whether our frame of mind in such exercises is altogether befitting and well pleasing to God? Nor do these anxieties subside, but rather deepen, with the depth and ripeness of our spiritual experience.

[¶42] but the Spirit itself--rather, "Himself." (See end of [Ro 8:27]).

[¶43] maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered--that is, which cannot be expressed in articulate language. Sublime and affecting ideas, for which we are indebted to this passage alone! "As we struggle to express in articulate language the desires of our hearts and find that our deepest emotions are the most inexpressible, we 'groan' under this felt inability. But not in vain are these groanings. For 'the Spirit Himself' is in them, giving to the emotions which He Himself has kindled the only language of which they are capable; so that though on our part they are the fruit of impotence to utter what we feel, they are at the same time the intercession of the Spirit Himself in our behalf."

[¶44] 28. And--or, "Moreover," or "Now"; noting a transition to a new particular.