ON

INDWELLING SIN

IN

BELIEVERS.

CHAPTER I.

The Nature of indwelling sin in believers treated of by the Apostle, Rom. vii. 21. Illustrated.

It is of the remainders of indwelling sin in persons after their conversion to God, with its power, efficacy, and effects, that we intend to treat. This also is the great design of the apostle to manifest and evince, in chap. vii. of the Epistle to the Romans. Many indeed are the contests about the principal scope of the apostle in that chapter, and in what state the person is, under the law or under grace, whose condition he therein expresses, I shall not at present enter into that dispute, but take that for granted which may be undeniably proved and evinced; namely, that it is the condition of a regenerate person with respect to the remaining power of indwelling sin, which is there proposed and exemplified, by and in the person of the apostle himself.

In that discourse, therefore, of his, shall the foundation be laid of what we have to offer upon this subject. Not that I shall proceed in an exposition of his revelation of his truth, as it relates to the conT text, but only make use of what is delivered by him as occasion shall offer. And here first occurreth that which he affirms, ver. 21. "I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me." There are four things observable in these words. First, The appellation he gives to indwelling sin, whereby he expresseth its power and efficacy; it is a law. For that which he terms a law in this verse, he calls in the foregoing, "sin that dwelleth in him.”

Secondly, The way whereby he came to the discovery of this law; not absolutely, and in its own nature, but in himself he found it: "I find a law.”

Thirdly, The frame of his soul and inward man with this law of sin, and under its discovery: "He would do good."

Fourthly, The state and activity of this law when the soul is in that frame; when it would do good, "it is present with him."

For what ends and pur

poses we shall show afterwards.

The first thing observable is the appellation here used by the apostle, he calls indwelling sin a law: It is a law.

In its

A law is taken either properly, for a directive rule, or improperly, for an operative effective principle, which seems to have the force of a law. first sense, it is a moral rule which directs and commands, and various ways moves and regulates the mind and the will, as to the things which it requires or forbids.

This is evidently the general nature

and work of a law. Some things it commands, some things it forbids, with rewards and penalties, which move and impel men to do the one, and avoid the other. Hence, in a secondary sense, an inward principle, that moves and inclines constantly to any actions, is called a law. The principle that is in the nature of every thing, moving and carrying it towards its own end and rest, is called the law of nature. In this respect every inward principle, that inclineth and urgeth to operations or actings suitable to itself, is a law: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." The powerful and effectual working of the Spirit and grace of Christ in the hearts of believers, is called the "law of the Spirit of life." And for this reason does the apostle here call indwelling sin a law. It is a powerful and effectual indwelling principle, inclining and pressing to actions agreeable and suitable to its nature. This and no other is the intention of the apostle in this expression. For although that term, a law, may sometimes intend a state and condition, and if here so used, the meaning of the words should be, I find that this is my condition, this is the state of things with me, that when I would do good evil is present with me,' which makes no great alteration in the principal intention of the passage; yet properly it can denote nothing here, but the chief subject treated of. For although the name of a law be variously used by the apostle in this chapter, yet when it relates to sin, it is no where applied by him to the condition of the person, but only to express either the nature or the power of sin itself. So verse 23. "I

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see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity unto the law of sin which is in my members." That which he here calls the law of his mind, from the principal subject and seat of it, is in itself no other but the "law of the Spirit of life," which is in Christ Jesus. Or the effectual power of the Spirit of grace, as was said. But the law, as applied to sin, has a double sense: for as in the first place, “I see a law in my members," it denotes the being and nature of sin; so in the latter, "leading into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members," it signifies its power and efficacy. And both these are comprised in the same name singly used, ver. 20. “Now, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me." Now that which we observe from this name, or term of a law attributed to sin is, that there is an exceeding efficacy and power in the remainder of indwelling sin in believers, with a constant working towards evil.

Thus it is in believers; it is a law even in them, though not to them. Though its rule be broken, its strength weakened and impaired, its root mortified, yet it is a law still of great force and efficacy. There, where it is least felt, it is most powerful. Carnal men, in reference to spiritual and moral duties, are nothing but this law, they do nothing but from it, and by it. It is in them a ruling and prevailing principle of all moral actions, with reference to a supernatural and eternal end. I shall not consider it in them in whom it hath most power, but in them in whom its power is chiefly discovered and discerned, that is, in believers; in the others only in

order to the farther conviction and manifestation thereof.

Secondly, The apostle proposeth the way whereby he discovered this law in himself; EYRISKO, ARA TON NOMON, I find then, or therefore, a law. found it; it had been told him there was such a law,

it had been preached to him. that there was a law of sin.

He

This convinced him But it is one thing for

It is

But

a man to know in general that there is a law of sin, and another thing for a man to have an experience of the power of this law of sin in himself. preached to all; all men own that the Scriptures acknowledge it, as being declared therein; but there are few that know it in themselves. We should else have more complaints of it, and more contendings against it, and less fruits of it in the world. this is what the apostle affirms; not that the doctrine of it had been preached to him, but that he found it by experience in himself. "I find a law;" I have experience of its power and efficacy. For a man to find his sickness, and danger thereon from its effects, is another thing than to hear a discourse about a disease from its causes. And this experience is the great preservative of all divine truths in the soul, This it is to know a thing indeed, in reality, to know it for ourselves; when as we are taught it from the word, so we find it in ourselves. Hence we obr

serve,

It hath a self

Further, Believers have experience of the power and efficacy of indwelling sin. They find it in themselves, they find it as a law. evidencing efficacy to them that are alive to discern it; they that find not its power, are under its domi