For when we were in the flesh
This respects not their being under the legal dispensation, the
Mosaic economy; which lay greatly in meats and drinks, and divers
washings, and carnal ordinances, such as regarded the flesh
chiefly; so their meats and drinks concerned the body; their
ablutions and washings sanctified to the purifying of the flesh;
their circumcision was outward in the flesh; the several rituals
of the law consisted in outward things, though typical of
internal and spiritual ones; hence those that trusted in them
trusted in the flesh: but to be "in the flesh" stands opposed, (
Romans 7:8
Romans 7:9 ) ;
to a being "in the spirit"; whereas there were many under that
legal and carnal dispensation who were in the spirit, and had the
Spirit of God, as David and others; besides, the apostle must be
thought to use the phrase in such a sense, as to include all the
persons he is speaking of and writing to, who were both Jews and
Gentiles, for of such the church at Rome consisted; and the sense
is this, "for when we", Jews and Gentiles, who are now believers
in Christ, "were" formerly, before our conversion to, and faith
in Christ, "in the flesh", that is, in a corrupt, carnal, and
unregenerate state and condition; in which sense the word "flesh"
is frequently used in the next chapter: now not all such who have
flesh, sin, or corrupt nature in them, must be reckoned to be in
the flesh, for there is a difference between flesh being in
persons, from which none are free in this life, and their being
in the flesh; nor all such who commit sin, or do carnal things at
times, for there is not a just man that doth good and sinneth
not; but such who are as they were born, without any alteration
made in them by the Spirit and grace of God; who have nothing but
flesh in them, no fear of God, nor love to and faith in Christ,
nor any experience of the work of the Spirit of God upon their
souls; no true sight and sense of sin, nor any spiritual
knowledge of salvation by Christ; in whom flesh is the governing
principle, whose minds and principles are carnal, and their
conversation wholly so; yea, persons may be in the flesh, in an
unregenerate state, who may abstain from the grosser immoralities
of life, and even make a profession of religion: now such these
had been the apostle is speaking of and to, and tells how it was
with them when in this state;
the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our
members
to bring forth fruit unto death:
by "the motions of sin" are meant, the evil passions and
affections of the mind, the lusts of the heart, sinful desires,
evil thoughts, the imaginations of the thoughts of the heart, the
first motions of the mind to sin: these "were by the law"; not as
the efficient cause of them, that neither produces nor encourages
them; it is holy, just, and good, requires truth in the inward
parts, and not only forbids the outward acts of sin, but even
covetous desires, and lustful thoughts: no, these inward motions
of sin arise from a corrupt heart and nature; are encouraged and
cherished by the old man that dwells there; and men are enticed
by Satan to a compliance with them. Some think that the meaning
of the phrase is, that these secret lusts of the heart are made
known by the law, as in ( Romans 7:7 ) , so they
are, but not whilst a man is in the flesh, or in an unregenerate
state, but when he comes to be wrought upon powerfully by the
Spirit of God, who makes use of the law to such a purpose: but
the true sense of it is, that these motions of sin are irritated,
provoked, and increased, through the law's prohibition of them;
which is not to be charged as a fault on the law, but to be
imputed to the depravity and corruption of man; who is like to
one in a burning fever, very desirous of drink, who the more it
is forbid, the more eager is he of it; or like a mighty torrent
of water, which rises, rages, flows, and overflows, the more any
methods are taken to stop its current; or like a filthy dunghill,
which when the sun strikes powerfully on it, it exhales and draws
out its filthy stench; which nauseous smell is not to be imputed
to the pure rays of the sun, but to the filthiness of the
dunghill: these motions of sin are said to "work in our members";
in the members of our bodies, which these sinful affections of
the soul make use of to put them into action, and so they bring
forth fruit; very evil fruit indeed, for nothing else can be
expected from such an evil tree as the corrupt nature of man is:
and this fruit is "unto death": deadly fruit, worthy of death,
and would issue in eternal death, if grace did not prevent: the
rise, beginning, motion, progress, and issue of sin, are most
exactly and beautifully described, agreeably to this account
here, by the Apostle James, ( James
1:13-15 ) .