death. 22 But now being made
free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto
sanctification, and the end eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is
death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.

EXHORTATION TO RESIST SIN.

1. The text properly should include several verses preceding. Paul
has not yet concluded the subject of the epistle for last Sunday.
There he urges that since we are baptized into Christ and believe, we
should henceforth walk in a new life; that we are now dead to sin
because we are in Christ, who by his death and resurrection has
conquered and destroyed sin. He illustrates the power of Christ's
death and resurrection by saying: "For sin shall not have dominion
over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace." That is, being
in Christ and possessed of the power of his resurrection--in other
words, having God's grace and the forgiveness of sins--you can now
readily resist sin. Although you may not perfectly fulfill the letter
of the Law in its demands, yet it cannot condemn you as a sinner nor
subject you to God's wrath.

GOOD WORKS NOT FORBIDDEN.

2. Then Paul presents again the question raised by the obstinate
world when it encounters this doctrine. "What then?" he asks, "shall
we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?" It is the
perversity of the world that, when we preach about forgiveness of
sins by pure grace and without merit of man, it should either say we
forbid good works, or else try to draw the conclusion that man may
continue to live in sin and follow his own pleasure; when the fact
is, we should particularly strive to live a life the very reverse of
sinful, that our doctrine may draw people to good works, unto the
praise and honor and glory of God. Our doctrine, rightly apprehended,
does not influence to pride and vice, but to humility and obedience.

3. In affairs of temporal government, whether domestic or civil,
judge or ruler, it is understood that he who asks for pardon
confesses himself guilty, acknowledges his error and promises to
reform--to transgress no more. For instance, when the judge extends
mercy and pardon to the thief deserving of the gallows, the law is
canceled by grace. Suppose now the thief continues in wrong-doing and
boasts, "Now that I am under grace I may do as I please, I have no
law to fear"; who would tolerate him? For though the law is indeed
canceled for him and he receives not merited