The Christian in Romans 7 by Arthur W. Pink In this chapter, the apostle does two things. First, he shows what is not and what is the law's relation to the believer. Judicially, the believer is emancipated from the curse or penalty of the law. Chapter 7 verses 1 to 6. Morally, the believer is under bonds to obey the law, verses 22 and 25. Secondly, he guards against a false inference being drawn from what he had taught in chapter 6. In 6.1.11, he sets forth the believer's identification with Christ as dead to sin, verses 2, 7, and so on. Then, from verse 11 onwards, he shows the effect destruction have upon the believer's walk. In chapter 7, he follows the same order of thought. In 7.1-6 he treats of the believer's identification with Christ as dead to the law. See verses 4-6. Then from verse 7 onwards he describes the experiences of the Christian. Thus, the first half of Romans 6 and the first half of Romans 7 deal with the believer's standing, whereas the second half of each chapter treats of the believer's state. But with this difference, the second half of Romans 6 reveals what our state ought to be, whereas the second half of Romans 7 verses 13 to 25 shows what her state actually is. The controversy which has raged over Roman 7 is largely the fruitage of the perfectionism of Wesley and his followers. That brethren whom we have caused to respect should have adopted this error in a modified form only shows how widespread today is the spirit of Laodiceanism. To talk of getting out of Romans 7 into Romans 8 is excuseless folly. Romans 7 and both apply with undiminished force and pertinence to every believer on earth today. The second half of Romans 7 describes the conflict of the two natures in the child of God. It simply sets forth in detail what is summarized in Galatians 5.17. Romans 7.14.15.18.19.20.21 are now true of every believer on earth. Every Christian falls far, far short of the standards set before him. We mean God's standard, not of the so-called victorious life teachers. If any Christian reader is ready to say that Romans 7.19 does not describe his life, we say in all kindness that he is sadly deceived. We do not mean by this that every Christian breaks the laws of man, or that he is an overt transgressor of the laws of God. But we do mean that his life is far, far below the level of the life our Savior lived here on earth. We do mean that there is much of the flesh still evident in every Christian, not the least in those who make such loud boastings of their spiritual attainments. We do mean that every Christian has urgent need to daily pray for the forgiveness of his daily sins. Luke 11.4 For in many things we all stumble. James 3.2 Revised Version And what follows, we shall confine ourselves to the last two verses of Romans 7, in which we read, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. This is the language of a regenerate soul, and it sums up the contents of the verses immediately preceding. The unregenerate man is wretched indeed, but he is a stranger to the wretchedness here expressed, for he knows nothing of the experience which evokes this wail. The whole context is devoted to a description of the conflict between the two natures and the child of God. I delight in the law of God after the inward man, verse 22, is true of none but born-again persons. But the one thus delighting discovers another law in his members. This reference must not be limited to his physical members, but is to be understood as including all the various parts of his carnal personality. This other law is also at work in the memory, the imagination, the will, the heart, and so on. This other law, says the apostle, warred against the law of his mind, the new nature, and not only so, it brought him into captivity to the law of sin. Verse 23. To what extent he was brought into captivity is not defined, but brought into captivity he was, as is every believer. The wandering of the mind when reading God's Word, the issuing from the heart, Mark 7.21, of evil thoughts when we are engaged in prayer, the horrid images which sometimes come before us in the sleep state, to name no others, are so many examples of being brought into captivity to the law of sin. If the evil principle of our nature prevails in exciting one evil thought, it has taken us captive. So far it has conquered, and so far are we defeated and made a prisoner. " Robert Haldane It is the consciousness of this warring within him, and this being brought into captivity to sin, which causes a believer to exclaim, O wretched man that I am! This is a cry brought about by a deep realization of indwelling sin. It is a confession of one who knows that in this natural man there dwells no good thing. It is a mournful plaint of one who has discovered something of the horrible sink of iniquity which is in his own heart. It is the groan of a divinely enlightened man who now hates himself, his natural self, and longs for deliverance. This moan, O wretched man that I am, expresses the normal experience of the Christian, and any Christian who does not so moan is in an abnormal and unhealthy state spiritually. The man who does not utter this cry daily is either so out of communion with Christ, or so ignorant of the teaching of Scripture, or so deceived about his actual condition that he knows not the corruptions of his own heart and the abject failure of his own life. The one who bows to the solemn and searching teaching of God's word, the one who there learns the awful wreckage which sin has wrought in the human constitution, the one who sees the exalted standard of holiness which God has set before us, cannot fail to discover what a vile wretch he is. If he is given to behold how far short he falls of attaining to God's standard, if, in the light of the divine sanctuary, he discovers how little he resembles a Christ of God, then will he find this language most suited to express his godly sorrow. If God reveals to him the coldness of his love, the pride of his heart, the wanderings of his mind, the evil that defiles his godliest acts, he will cry, O wretched man that I am! If he is conscious of his ingratitude, of how little he appreciates God's daily mercies, if he marks the absence of that deep and genuine fervor which ought ever to characterize his praise and worship, of that one who is glorious in holiness, if he recognizes that sinful spirit of rebellion which so often causes him to murmur, or at least chafe, against the dispensations of God in his daily life, if he attempts to tabulate not only the sins of commission, but the sins of omission, of which he is daily guilty, he will indeed cry, O wretched man that I am! Nor is it only the backslidden Christian, now convicted, who will mourn thus. The one who is truly in communion with Christ will also emit this throne, and emit it daily and hourly. Yea, the closer he draws to Christ, the more will he discover the corruptions of his old nature, and the more earnestly will he long to be delivered from it. It is not until the sunlight floods a room that the grime and dust are fully revealed. So it is only as we really come into the presence of Him who is the Light, that we are made aware of the filth and wickedness which indwell us and which defile every part of our being. As such a discovery will make each of us cry, O wretched man that I am! But, inquires someone, Does not communion with Christ produce rejoicing rather than mourning? We answer, it produces both. It did with Paul. In verse 22 of our chapter he says, I delight in the law of God. Yet only two verses later he cries, O wretched man that I am. Nor does this passage stand alone. In 2 Corinthians 6 the same apostle says, As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Verse 10. Sorrowful because of his failures, because of his daily sins. rejoicing, because of the grace which still bore with him, and because of the blessed provision which God has made even for the sins of his saints. So again, in Romans 8, 1, after declaring, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, and after saying, The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Verses 16 and 17. The Apostle adds, But ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Verse 23. Similar is the teaching of the Apostle Peter, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. 1 Peter 1.6. Sorrow and groaning, then, are not absent from the highest spirituality. In these days of Laodicean complacency and pride, there is considerable talk and much boasting about communion with Christ. But how little manifestation of it do we behold, where there is no sense of utter unworthiness, where there is no mourning over the total depravity of our nature, where there is no sorrowing over our lack of conformity to Christ, where there is no groaning over being brought into captivity too thin, in short, where there is no crying, O wretched man that I am, it is greatly to be feared that there is no fellowship with Christ at all. When Abraham walked with the Lord, he exclaimed, Behold, now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust in ashes. Genesis 18.27 When Job came face to face with God, he said, Behold, I am vile. Job 40.4 And again, I abhor myself. 42.6 When Isaiah entered the divine presence, he cried, Woe is me, for I am undone. Because I am a man of unclean lips, Isaiah 6, 5. When Daniel had that wondrous vision of Christ, Daniel 10, 5 and 6, he declared, There remain no strength in me, for comeliness was turned in me into corruption, verse 8. And in one of the last epistles by the beloved apostle to the Gentiles we read, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, 1st Timothy 1.15. These utterances proceeded not from unregenerate men, but came from the lips of God's saints. Nor were they the confessions of backslidden believers, rather were they voiced by the most eminent of the Lord's people. Where today shall we find any who are fit to be placed alongside of Abraham, Job, Isaiah, Daniel, and Paul? Where indeed, and yet these were the men who were so unconscious of their vileness and unworthiness, O wretched man that I am! This, then, is the language of a regenerate soul. It is the confession of the normal, undeceived, and undiluted Christian. The substance of it may be found not only in the recorded utterances of Old and New Testament saints, but as well in the writings of the most eminent Christians who have lived during the last five hundred years. Different, indeed, were the confessions and witnesses borne by eminent saints of the past from the ignorant and arrogant boastings of modern Laodiceans. It is refreshing to turn from the present-day biographies to those written long ago. Ponder the following excerpts. John Bradford, of holy memory, who was martyred in the reign of Bloody Queen Mary, in a letter to a fellow prisoner in another penitentiary, subscribed himself thus, quote, the sinful John Bradford, a very painted hypocrite, the most miserable, hard-hearted, and unthankful sinner, John Bradford, in quote 1555 A.D. Godly Rutherford wrote, This body of sin and corruption embitters and poisons our enjoyment. Oh, that I were where I shall sin no more." Samuel Rutherford, 1650 AD Bishop Berkeley wrote, I cannot pray, but I sin. I cannot preach, but I sin. I cannot administer nor receive the Holy Sacrament, but I sin. My very repentance needs to be repented of, and the tears I shed need washing in the blood of Christ. End quote, 1670. Jonathan Edwards, in whose home died that remarkable man, Mr. David Brainerd, the first missionary to the Indians and whose devotion to Christ was witnessed to by all who knew him, and with whom he was intimately acquainted, says in his memoirs of Mr. Brainerd, his religious illuminations, affections, and comfort seemed to a great degree to be attended with evangelical humiliation, consisting in a sense of his own utter insufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness with an answering disposition and frame of heart. How deeply affected was he almost continually with his great defects in religion, with his vast distance from that spirituality and holy frame of mind that become a child of God, with his ignorance, pride, deadness, barrenness. He was not only affected with the remembrance of his former sinfulness before his conversion, but with the sense of his present vileness and pollution. He was not only disposed to think other saints better than he, Yea, to look on himself as the worst and least of saints, but very often as the vilest and worst of mankind. " Jonathan Edwards himself, then, whom few men have been more honored of God either in their spiritual attainments, or in the extent to which God has used him in blessing to others, near the end of his life, wrote thus, quote, When I look into my heart, and take a view of its wickedness, it looks like an abyss infinitely deeper than hell. It appears to me that were it not for free grace, exalted and raised up to the infinite height, to fall the fullness and glory of the great Jehovah, I should appear sunk down in my sins below hell itself, far below the sight of everything. But the eye of sovereign grace, that alone can pierce down to such a depth, and it is affecting to think how ignorant I was when a young Christian, alas if so many older Christians are still ignorant of it, AWP, of the bottomless depths of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit. left in my heart." Augustus Toplady, author of The Rock of Ages, wrote thus in his private diary under December 31, 1767, Upon a review of the past year, I desire to confess that my unfaithfulness has been exceeding great, my sins still greater, God's mercy greater than both. And again, my shortcomings and my misdoings, my unbelief and lack of love, would sink me into the lowest hell, was not Jesus my righteousness and my Redeemer. Listen to the words of that godly woman, the wife of the imminent missionary Adoniram Judson. Oh, how I rejoice that I am out of the whirlpool, too gay, too trifling for a missionary's wife. That may be, but after all, gaiety is my lightest sin. It is my coldness of heart, my listlessness, my want of faith, my spiritual inefficiency and inertness, by love of self, the inherent and everyday pampered sinfulness of my nature, that makes me such a mere infant in the cause of Christ, not the attractions of the world." John Newton, writer of that blessed hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. When referring to the expectations Which he cherished at the outset Of his Christian life, wrote thus, But alas, these my golden expectations have been like South Sea dreams. I have lived hitherto a poor sinner, and I believe I shall die one. Have I then gained nothing? Yes, I have gained that which I once would rather have been without, such accumulated proof of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of my heart. As I hope by the Lord's blessing has in some measure taught me to know what I mean when I say, Behold, I am vile. I was ashamed of myself when I began to seek it. I am more ashamed now. James Inglis, editor of Waymarks in the Wilderness, at the close of his life, wrote Mr. J. H. Brooks, quote, As I am brought to take a new view of the end, my life seems so made up of squandered opportunities and so barren of results. that it is sometimes very painful, but grace comes in to meet it all, and he will be glorified in my humiliation also." On which Mr. Brooks remarked, How like him, and how unlike the boastings of those who are glorying in their fancied attainments! One more quotation, this time from a sermon by the late C. H. Spurgeon, said the Prince of Preachers, There are some professing Christians who can speak of themselves in terms of admiration, but from my inmost heart I loathe such speeches more and more every day that I live. Those who talk in such a boastful fashion may be constituted very differently from me. While they are congratulating themselves, I have to lie humbly at the foot of Christ's and marvel that I am saved at all, for I know that I am saved. I have to wonder that I do not believe Christ more, and equally wonder that I am privileged to believe in Him at all, to wonder that I do not love Him more, and equally to wonder that I love Him at all, to wonder that I am not holier, and equally to wonder that I have any desire to be holy at all, considering what a polluted Debased, depraved nature I find still within my soul. Notwithstanding all that divine grace has done in me, if God were ever to allow the fountains of the great deeps of depravity to break up in the best man that lives, he would make as bad a devil as the devil himself is. I care nothing for what these boasters say concerning their own perfections. I feel, sure, that they do not know themselves, or they cannot talk as they often do. There is tender enough in the saint who is nearest to heaven to kindle another hail, if God should but permit a spark to fall upon it. In the very best of men there is an infernal and, well, nigh infinite depth of depravity. Some Christians never seem to find this out. I almost wish that they might do so, for it is a painful discovery for anyone to make, but it has the beneficial effect of making us cease from trusting in ourselves and causing us to glory only in the Lord. " Other testimonies from the lips and pens of men equally pious and eminent might be given, but sufficient have been quoted to show what cause the saints of all ages have had for making their own these words, O rich in man that I am. A few words now on the closing verse of Romans 7. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Who shall deliver me? This is not the language of despair, but of earnest desire for help from without and above himself. That from which the Apostle desired to be delivered is termed the body of this death. This is a figurative expression, for the carnal nature is termed the body of sin and is having members. Romans 7 23 We therefore take the Apostle's meaning to be, Who shall deliver me from this deadly and noxious burden, my sinful self? In the next verse, the Apostle answers his question, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. It should be obvious to any impartial mind that this looks forward to the future. His question was, who shall deliver me? His answer is, Jesus Christ will. How this exposes the error of those who teach a present deliverance from the carnal nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. In his answer, the Apostle says nothing about the Holy Spirit. Instead, he mentions only Jesus Christ, our Lord. It is not by the present work of the Spirit in us that Christians will be delivered from this body of death, but by the yet future coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for us. It is, then, that this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruption shall put on incorruption. But, as though to remove all doubt that this deliverance is future, the apostle concludes by saying, So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. Let every reader note carefully that this comes after he had thanked God that he would be delivered. The last part of verse 25 sums up what he has said in the second part of Romans 7. It describes the Christian's dual life. The new nature serves the law of God. The old nature, to the end of history, will serve the law of sin. That it was so with Paul himself is clear from what he wrote at the close of his life when he termed himself the chief of sinners, 1 Timothy 1.15. That was not the exaggeration of evangelical fervor, still less was it the mock modesty of hypocrisy. It was the assured conviction, the felt experience, the settled consciousness of one who saw deeply into the depths of corruption within himself, and who knew how far, far short, he attained to the standard of holiness which God had set before him. Such too will be the consciousness and confession of every other Christian who is not blinded by conceit. And the outcome of such a consciousness will be to make him long more ardently and thank God more fervently for the promised deliverance of the return of our Saviour and Lord, when he shall change our vile body that it may be fashion-like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. Philippians 3.21. And having done so, He will present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jude 24 Alleluia! What a Savior! It is remarkable that the only other time the word wretched, the only other time in the Greek, too, is found in the New Testament, occurs in Revelation 3.17, where to the Laodiceans Christ says, And knowest not that thou art wretched? Their boast was that they had need of nothing. They were so puffed up with pride, so satisfied with their attainments, that they knew not their wretchedness. And is not this what we witness on every hand today? Is it not evident that we are now living in the Laodicean period of the history of Christendom? Many were conscious of the need, but now they fancy they have received the second blessing, or the baptism of the Spirit, or that they have entered into victory, and fancying this, they fondly imagine that their need has been met. And the proof of this is, they are the very ones who know not that they are wretched. With an air of spiritual superiority, they will tell you that they have got out of Romans 7 into Romans 8. With pitiable complacency, they will say that Romans 7 no longer depicts their experience. With smug satisfaction, they will look down in pity upon the Christian who cries, O wretched man that I am, like the Pharisee in the temple, that will thank God that it is otherwise with them. Poor blinded souls! It is to just such that the Son of God here says, And knowest not that thou art wretched. We say, blinded souls, for mark it is to these Laodiceans that Christ says, Anoint thine eyes with thy salve, that thou mayest C. REVELATION 318 IT IS TO BE OBSERVED THAT IN THE SECOND HALF OF ROMAN VII THE APOSTLE SPEAKS IN THE SINGULAR NUMBER. THIS IS STRIKING AND MOST BLESSED. THE HOLY SPIRIT WOULD INTIMATE TO US THAT THE HIGHEST ATTAINMENTS IN GRACE DO NOT EXEMPT THE CHRISTIAN FROM THE PAINFUL EXPERIENCE THERE DESCRIBE. The Apostle portrays with a master pen, himself sitting for the picture, the spiritual struggles of the child of God. He illustrates, by a reference to his own personal experience, the ceaseless conflict which is waged between the antagonistic natures and the one who has been born again. May God in His mercy so deliver us from the spirit of pride, which now defiles the air of modern Christendom, and grant us such an humbling view of our uncleanness, that we shall join the Apostle in crying with ever deepening fervor, O wretched man that I am! And may God vouchsafe to both writer and reader such a view of their own depravity and unworthiness, that they may indeed grovel in the dust before Him, and there praise Him for His wondrous grace to such hell-deserving sinners. It is time I am reading from Man's Total Depravity by A. W. Paine, Chapter 10, The Ramifications. While endeavoring to present a complete picture of fallen man as he is depicted by the divine pen in the scriptures, it is very difficult to avoid a measure of overlapping as we turn from one aspect or feature to another or to prevent a certain amount of repetition. Yet, seeing that this is the method which the Holy Spirit has largely taken, an apology is scarcely required from those who seek to follow His plan. We have shown in a more or less general way the terrible havoc sin has worked in the human constitution. Now we shall consider it more specifically. Having presented the broad outline, it remains for us to fill in the details. In other words, our immediate task is to ponder and describe the several parts of human depravity as it has vitiated the several sections of our inner man. Though the soul, like the body, is a unit, it also has a number of distinct members or faculties, none of which has been exempted from the debasing effects of man's apostasy from his Maker. debasing effects of apostasy. This is strikingly exemplified in the miracles of Christ. The various bodily disorders which the divine physician healed during his sojourn on earth were not only so many advanced types of the marvels of grace that he performs in the spiritual realm in connection with the redeemed, there were also so many emblematical representations of the moral diseases which affect and afflict the soul of fallen man. The poor leper, covered with nauseous sores, solemnly portrayed the horrible pollutions of the human heart. The man born blind, incapable of seeing the wonders and beauties of God's external works, expresses a sad state of the human mind, which, because of the darkness that is upon it, is unable to discover or receive the things of the Spirit, no matter how simply and plainly they are explained to him. The paralytic's useless limbs showed beforehand the impotence of the will Godward, being totally devoid of any power to turn us to Christ. The woman, lying sick of the fever, experiencing unnatural craving, delirium, and restlessness, depicted the disordered state of our affections. The demon-possessed man, living in the tombs, incapable of being securely bound, crying and cutting himself, typified the various activities of the conscience in the unregenerate. Corruption has invaded every part of man's nature, overspreading the whole of his complex being. His physical disorders spare no members of the body, so even man's spirit has not escaped the ravages of depravity. Yet who is capable of comprehending this in its awful breadth and depth and length and height? It is not simply the inferior powers of the soul which the plague of sin has seized. The contagion has ascended into the higher regions of our persons, polluting the sublimest faculties. This is a part of God's punishment. It is a great mistake to suppose that the divine judgment on man's defection is reserved for the next life. Men are heavily penalized in this world, both outwardly and inwardly, and subject to many adverse providences. outwardly in their bodies, names, estates, relations, and employments, and finally by physical death and dissolution, inwardly by blindness of mind, hardness of heart, turbulent passions, and gnawing of conscience, however little regarded by reason of their stupidity and insensibility. Yet the inward visitations of God's curse are far more dreadful than the outward ones, and are regarded as such by those who truly fear the Lord and see things in His light. Let us consider each in detail. Blindness of Mind The mind is that faculty of the soul by which objects and things are first known and apprehended. In distinguishing the understanding from the mind, the latter is that which weighs, discriminates, and determines, judging between the concepts formed in the former, being the guide of the soul, the selector and rejecter of those notions the mind has received. Both are deranged by sin, for we are told that their minds were blinded, 2 Corinthians 3.14, and their understanding darkened, Ephesians 4.18. The fall has completely shuttered the windows of man's soul, yet he is not aware of it. In fact, he emphatically denies it. Heathen philosophers and medieval scholars both believed that the affections in the lower part of the soul were somewhat defiled, but insisted that the intellectual faculty was pure, saying that reason still directed and advised us to do the best things. It is not strange that blind reason should think it sees, for while it judges everything else, it is at least capable of estimating itself, because of its very nearness to itself. Though a man's eye can see the deformity of his hands or feet, it cannot see the blood-shot that is in itself, unless it has a mirror in which to discern the same. In light manner, even corrupt nature, by its own light, recognizes the disorders in the central part of man, yet it cannot discern the defilement that is in the spirit itself. The mirror of God's Word is required to discover that, and even that mirror is not sufficient. The light of divine grace has to shine within in order to expose and discover the imbecility of the reasoning faculty. Hence Holy Writ throws the main emphasis on the depravity of this highest part of man's being. When the Apostle wanted to show how impure unbelievers are, though they profess to know God, he averred, even their mind and conscience as defiled, Titus 1.15. The least of all suspected those parts as being tainted, especially since they were illumined with some rays of the knowledge of God. Thus, in opposition to their conceit, the superior faculties alone are mentioned and stressed with an even. Await ye in full the testimony of Scripture as on the solemn feature. Whence they knew God traditionally, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1.21.22 that references to the Gentiles after the flood. One of the fearful curses executed on Israel because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord their God and refused to do his commandments was, The Lord shall smite thee with madness and blindness and astonishment of heart. And ye shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness. Deuteronomy 28, 28-29. If all mankind it is said, there is none that understandeth the way of peace they have not known. Romans 3, 11 and 17. There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end of it are the ways of death. Proverbs 14.12 The world by wisdom knew not God. 1 Corinthians 1.21 Despite all their schools, they were ignorant of Him, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. 1 Timothy 1.7 Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2 Timothy 3.7 In the natural, there are two factors which prevent men from seeingâ€"nightfall, unless there is the aid of artificial light, and loss of sight. The one is external, the other internal. So it is in the spiritual. There are an objective and a subjective darkness both on men and in men. The first consists and a lack of those means by which they may be enlightened in the knowledge of God and heavenly things. What the sun is to natural things on the earth, the word is to spiritual things. Psalm 19, 1-4. Romans 10, 10 and 11 Spiritual darkness is on all to whom the gospel is not declared, or by whom it is rejected. It is the mission and work of the Holy Spirit to take away this objective darkness, and until it is done, no one can see or enter the kingdom of God. This he does by sending the gospel into a country, nation, or town. It does not obtain entrance there, nor is it restrained anywhere by accident or by human effort. It is dispensed according to the sovereign will of the Spirit of God. He it is who endows, calls, and sends men forth to preach, determining either by his secret impulses or by the operations of his providence. Acts 16 6-10 Where they shall minister. But it is a subjective darkness on the minds of the unregenerate with its influences and consequences which is here considered. It is not simply ignorance, but a foul disease. He is proud, knowing nothing but About questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, rellings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, 1 Timothy 6, 4 and 5, their minds are not only rebellious, but diseased and corrupt. The distemper of mind could be called an itch after fable, 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4. Scripture calls that contentious wisdom of which the learned of this world are so proud, earthly, sensual, devilish. James 3.15. Both the verse before and the one following show the envy, malice, lying, and deception, though in both the affections and the will are rooted in the understanding. Hence God must give repentance or a change of mind before there can be an acknowledgment of the truth and a recovery from the snare of the devil. 2 Timothy 2.25-26. This darkness of the understanding is the cause of the rebellion in the affections and will. Men seek so inordinately the pleasures of sin, because their minds do not know God, fear strangers to Him, and can have no fellowship with Him, for friendship and fellowship are grounded on knowledge. To have communion with God, knowledge of Him is necessary. Accordingly, the principal thing God does when He gives admittance into the covenant of grace is to teach men to know Him, Jeremiah 31, 33-34. Otherwise, men are restrained from Him through ignorance, Ephesians 4, 17-19. The darkness of the mind is not only the root of all sin, but the cause of most of the corruptions in men's lives. Hence we find that Paul mentions fleshly wisdom as the antithesis of the principle of grace. 2 Corinthians 1.12 For the same reason men are said to be saddest children, and they have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. Jeremiah 4.22 That this is the cause of the greatest part of the wickedness in the world is clear from Isaiah 47 10. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge it has perverted thee. Corrupt reasoning and false judgment are prime motivations of all our sinning. Pride has its chief place in the mind as Colossians 2 18 shows. This darkness is forceful and influential, yes dynamic according to that expression in Colossians 1 13. delivered us from the power of darkness, the word power signifying that which rules. It fuels a mind with enmity against God and all his ways, and turns the wheel in a contrary direction so that instead of the affections being set on things above, They mind earthly things, Philippians 3.19. This is the habitual inclination. The will minds the things of the flesh, Romans 8.5, setting itself to provide sensual objects for the gratification of the body. It fuels the mind with strong prejudices against the spiritual things proposed in the gospel. Those prejudices are called strongholds and imaginations or reasonings, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. 2 Corinthians 10 4 and 5. They are pulled down and destroyed in the day of God's power, when souls are brought into willing subjection to Him. The sins of the mind continue longest, for though the body decays and its lusts wither, those of the mind are as vigorous and active in old age as in youth. As the understanding is the most excellent part of man, so its corruption is worse than that of the other faculties. If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! Matthew 6.23 The effects of this darkness are fearful indeed. Its subjects are made incapable of discerning or receiving spiritual things, so that there is a total inability with respect to God and the ways of pleasing Him. No matter how well endowed intellectually the unregenerate man may be, but the extent of his education and learning, how skillful in connection with natural things, in spiritual manners, he is devoid of intelligence, until he is renewed in the spirit of his mind. As a person who has no sight is unaware of the strongest rays of light directed at him, and cannot form any real ideas of the appearance of things, so the natural man, because of his blindness of mind, is unable to discern the nature of heavenly things. Said Christ to the Jews of this day, If thou hadst known, even thou at least in this thy day, The things which belong unto thy peace, But now they are hid from thine eyes, Luke 19.42, Concealed from their perception as effectually as things which are purposely hidden from prying eyes. Even though one had the desire to discover them, he would search in vain for all eternity unless God was pleased to reveal them as He did to Peter. The spiritual blindness in the mind of the natural man not only disables him to make the first discovery of the things of God even when they are published and set before his eyes as in the word of truth, he cannot discern them. Whatever notions he may form of them are dissonant to their nature, and the thoughts he has of them are the very reverse of what they actually are. They regard the highest wisdom as foolishness, and despise and reject glorious things. Behold, ye despisers, and wander and perish for a work of work in your days. A work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." Acts 13, 41. The preceding verses show that Paul clearly preached Christ and His gospel, and then cautioned his hearers to escape the doom spoken of by the prophet. It is not to bear presentation of the truth which will convince men. Though clearly propounded, it may still be obscure to them. It is hid to them that are lost, and whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not." 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4. Their understandings need to be divinely opened in order to understand the Scriptures. Luke 24, 45. The subjects of this darkness are spiritually insensible and stupid. This prevents them from making a true inspection of their hearts. They see only the outward man, and do not feel the deadly wound within. There is a sea of corruption, but it is unperceived. The holiness, beauty, and rectitude of their nature have departed, but they are quite unconcerned. They are miserable and poor, blind and naked, yet totally unaware of it. Thus the unregenerate go on in a course of rebellion against the Lord, and at the same time conclude that all is well with them. As the goodness of God does not melt them, neither do His severest judgments move them to amend their ways. far from it, there like wicked King Ahaz of whom it is recorded, and in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord. 2 Chronicles 28 and 22. The masses are defiant and unrepentant today when the peace of the whole world is so seriously menaced. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see. Isaiah 26, 11. Space allows us to mention only one other effect of this blindness of the mind. It is termed the vanity of the mind. Ephesians 4, 17. Scripture says useless and fruitless things are vain. In Matthew 15, 9 the word means to no purpose. Hence the idols of the heathen and the rites used in their worship are called vain things. Acts 14.15 1 Samuel 12.21 We read that vain things cannot profit nor deliver. Vanity is synonymous with foolishness, for Proverbs 12.11 states that vain men are one with persons void of understanding. In Jeremiah 4.14, vain things are linked with wickedness, thus they are sinful. Vain men and sons of Belial are synonymous, 2 Chronicles 13.7. This vanity of the mind induces a natural man to pursue shadows and miss the substance, to be engaged with figments instead of realities, to prefer lies to the truth. This vanity leads men to follow the fashions and revel in the pleasures of a vain world. This sinful state of mind is in all sorts of persons, old and young, showing itself in foolish imaginations by which it makes provision for the flesh and its lusts. It appears as a reluctance to think about holy things. When the word is preached, a mind wanders like a butterfly in a garden. It feedeth on foolishness, Proverbs 15, 14, and has an itching curiosity about the affairs of others, blindness of heart. The heart is the center of our moral being, out of which flow the issues of life, Proverbs 4.23 and Matthew 12.35. The nature of the heart is at once indicated by its being designated a stony heart, Ezekiel 11.19. The figure is a very apt one, as a stone is a product of the earth, so it has a property of the earth. Heaviness, a tendency to fall, thus it is with the natural mind. Men's affections are wholly set on the world, and though God made man upright with his head erect, yet the soul is bowed down to the ground. The physical curse pronounced on the serpent is also fulfilled in his seed, for the things on which they feed turn to ashes, so that dust is their meat. Isaiah 65, 25. Sin has so calloused man's heart that, Godward, it is loveless and lifeless, cold and insensible. That is one reason why the moral law was written on tables of stone, to represent emblematically the stupid, unyielding hearts men had, as is clearly implied by the contrast presented in 2 Corinthians 3.3. The heart of the regenerate is also likened to rock, Jeremiah 23.29, and to adamant stone, Zechariah 7.12, which is harder than flint. Those far from righteousness are called stout-hearted, Isaiah 46. 12. And in Isaiah 48, 4, God says, Thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass. This hardness is often ascribed to the neck, stiff necked, a figure of man's obstinacy taken from the refractory oxen which will not accept the yoke. This hardness evidences itself by a complete absence of spiritual sensibility, so that the heart is unmoved by God's goodness, has no awe of His authority and majesty, no fear of His anger and vengeance, a presentation of the joys of heaven, or the horrors of hell makes no impression on it. As a prophet of old lamented, they put far away the evil day, Amos 6, 3, dismissing it from their thoughts as an unwelcome subject. They have no sense of guilt, no consciousness of having offended their Maker, no alarming realization of His impending wrath, but are at ease in their sins. Far from sin being a burden to them, it is their element in delight. Hardness of heart, which was referred to in the preceding chapter, is a perverseness, an obstinacy of fallen man's nature, which makes him resolve to continue in sin, no matter what be the consequences thereof. It renders him unwilling to be rebuked for his folly, and makes him refuse to be reclaimed from it, whatever methods are used in order thereunto. The prophet Ezekiel mentioned this hardness of heart in his day, referring to those who had been forewarned by earlier judgments. and were at that very time under the most solemn rebuke of Providence. God had to say of them, They will not hearken unto me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Ezekiel 3 7 The Lord Jesus said of them, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced. We have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented. Matthew 11.17 The most touching entreaties and winsome reasoning will not move the unregenerate to accept what is absolutely necessary for their present peace and final joy. They are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear, and which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely. Psalm 58.4.5 in Acts 7.57. The hearts of the regenerate are docile and pliable, easily bent to God's will, but the hearts of the wicked are wedded to their lusts and impervious to all appeal. There is such unyielding disposition against heavenly things that they do not respond to the most alarming threatenings and thunderings. They will neither be convinced by the most cogent arguments nor won by the most tempting inducements. They are so addicted to self-pleasing that they cannot be persuaded to take Christ's yoke on them. Zechariah 7 and 11 and 12 states, But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts has sent. They are less susceptible to receive any impressions of holiness, and granted is to be engraved by the tool of the artificer. They scorned, controlled, and refused to be admonished. They are a stubborn and rebellious generation. Psalm 78, 8. Being subject to neither the law nor the gospel, the doctrines of repentance, self-denial, walking with God can find no entrance into their hearts. Disordered affections. Writers disagree as to the scope of the affections. It is a mute point, both theologically and psychologically, whether the desires are included in the affections. In the broadest meaning, the affections may be said to be the sensitive faculty of the soul. As the understanding discerns and judges things, so the affections allure and dispose the soul to or against the objects contemplated. By the affections the soul becomes pleased or displeased with what is known by the bodily senses or contemplated by the mind, and thus it is moved to approve or reject. As distinguished from both the understanding and the affections, we'll execute the final decision of the mind, or the strongest desire of the affections, carrying it into action. Since the affections pertain to the sensitive side of the soul, we are more conscious of their stirrings than we are of the actions of our minds or wills. We shall employ the term in its widest latitude, including the desires, for what the appetites are to the body, the affections are to the soul. Good, when likened to desire, nature to the stomach. It is an empty void, fitted to receive from without, longing for a satisfying object. Its universal language is, Who will show us any good? Psalm 4, 6. Now God Himself is man's chief good, the only one who can afford him real, lasting, and full satisfaction. At the beginning He created him in His own likeness, that as the needle touched by the lodestone ever moves northward, So the soul touched with the divine image should turn the understanding, affections, and will to himself. He also placed the soul in a material body, and in this world, fitting each for the other, providing everything necessary for, and suited to, each part of man's complex being. The desired nature carries a soul's impressions to the creature. originally intended as a means of enjoying God in and by them. The wonders of God's handiwork were meant to be admired, but chiefly as displaying His wisdom. Food was to be eaten and enjoyed, but in order to deepen gratitude for the goodness of the giver, and to supply strength to serve him. But when man apostatized, his understanding, affections, and will were divorced from God, and the exercise of them became directed only by self-love. Originally, the Lord sustained and directed the action of human affections toward Himself. Then He withheld that power and left our first parents on their own footing. In consequence, their desires wandered after forbidden joys. They sought their happiness not in communion with their Maker, but in fellowship with the creature. Like their children ever since, they loved and served the creature more than the Creator. The result was disastrous. They became separated from the Holy One. That was at once evidenced by their attempt to hide from Him. Had their delight been in God as their chief good, the desire for concealment could not have possessed them. As it was with Adam and Eve, so it has been with all their descendants. Many a proverb expresses that general truth. The stream cannot rise higher than the fountain. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles. Like begets like. The parent stock of the human family must send forth scions of its own nature. The hearts and lives of all the unregenerate say to the Almighty, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. Job 21 14 The natural center of unfallen man's soul for both its rest and delight was the one who gave him being. Therefore David said, Return unto thy rest, O my soul. Psalm 116 7 But sin has caused men to draw back from him, departing from the living God. Hebrews 10, 38 and 3, 12. God was not only to be the delightful portion of the one whom he had made in his image, but also the ultimate end of all man's motives and actions. as he aimed to glorify and please him in all things. But man forsook the fountain of living waters, Jeremiah 2.13, the infinite and perpetual spring of comfort and joy, and now the inclinations and lusts of man's nature are wholly removed from God, anything and everything being more agreeable to him than he who is the sum of all excellence. Man makes the things of time and sense his chief good, and the pleasing of himself his supreme end. That is why his affections are termed ungodly lusts. Jude 18 They turn man away from God. Man has no relish for his holiness, no desire for fellowship with him, no wish to retain him in his thoughts. But what has just been pointed out, the aversion of our affections from God is only the negative phase. The positive is the conversion of the affections to other things. Thus God charged Israel, My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water, nor give them any satisfaction. Jeremiah 2.13. All the concern of the natural man is how to live at ease, not how to honor and enjoy God. All his expectations are disappointments, empty vanities. Man is deceived by a vain prospect, and the outcome is vexation of spirit because of frustration. As the love of God shed abroad in the hearts of the redeemed does not seek its own good, 1 Corinthians 13, 5, so self-love does nothing but that. They all look to their own way, every one for his gain, Isaiah 56, 11. Not only are the desires of the unregenerate turned away from God to the creature, but they are greedy, excessive. Thus we read of inordinate affections, Colossians 3, 5, which indicate both excess and irregularity, a spirit of gluttony and unmitigated craving for things contrary to God, a lust after evil things, 1 Corinthians 10, 6. We see here two sins, intemperance and pleasure in unrighteousness. 2 Thessalonians 2.12 The body is esteemed above the soul, for all the efforts of the natural man are directed to make him proficient to fulfill the lusts of the flesh. His immortal spirit is little thought of, and still less cared for. When things go well for him, he says, so thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Luke 12.19. His thoughts do not rise to a higher and future life. He is more concerned with the clothing and adorning of the outward man than with the cultivation of a meek. 3 In quiet spirit, which is of great value in the sight of God, 1 Peter 3.4, earth is preferred before heaven, thinks of time before eternity, though death in the grave may put an end to all he has here much sooner than he imagines, yet his heart is so set on his possessions that he will not be diverted from them. 4 Thus it is that the affections which at the beginning were the servants of reason now occupy the throne. That which is the glory of human nature, elevating it above the beasts of the field, is turned here and there by the rude rabble of our passions. God placed in man an instinct for happiness, so that he could find it in himself. But now that instinct gropes in the dust and snatches at every vanity. The counsels and contrivances of the mind are engaged in the accomplishment of man's carnal desires. Not only have his affections no relish for spiritual things, but they are strongly prejudiced against them. for they run counter to the gratifying of his corrupt nature. His desires are set on more wealth, a more worldly honor and power, more fleshly merriment, and because the gospel contains no promise of such things, it is despised. Because it inculcates holiness, mortifying of the flesh, separation from the world, resisting the devil, the gospel is most unwelcome to him, to turn the affections away from those material and temporal things which they have made their chief good. and to turn them to unseen spiritual and eternal things alienates the carnal mind against the gospel, for it offers nothing attractive to the natural man in place of those idols on which his heart centers. To renounce his own righteousness and be dependent on that of another is equally distasteful to his pride. The affections are alienated from and opposed to not only the holy requirement of the gospel, but also its mystery. That mystery is what the Scriptures term the hidden wisdom of God, which a natural man not only fails to admire and adore, but regards with contempt. He looks on all of its declarations as empty and unintelligible notions. This prejudice has prevailed among the wise and learned of this world in all ages. The wisdom of God seems foolishness to all who are puffed up by pride in their own intelligence, and what seems foolishness to them is despised and scorned. That which is related to faith rather than reason is unpalatable. Not to trust in their own understanding but in the Lord is most difficult for those of towering intellect. to set aside their own ideas, forsake their thoughts, Isaiah 55, 7, and become as little children, and to be told they shall never enter into the kingdom of heaven unless they do all this, is most abhorrent to them. No small part of man's depravity consists in his readiness to embrace anti-God prejudices and to tenaciously adhere to them, with a total lack of power to extricate himself from them. The disorder state of the affections is seen in the fact that the actions of the natural man are regulated far more by his senses than by his reason. His conduct consists, principally, in responding to the clamoring of his desires rather than to the dictates of reason. The tendencies of children swiftly turn to any corrupting diversion, but are slow to respond to any improving exercise. They can scarcely be restrained from the one, they have to be compelled to do the other. That the affections are turned away from God is made clear every time His will crosses our desires. This disease appears to in the objects on which the different affections are placed. Instead of love being set on God, it is centered on the world and dotes on idols. Instead of hatred being directed against sin, it is opposed to holiness. Instead of joy finding its delight in spiritual things, it wastes itself on things which soon pall. Instead of fear being actuated by the displeasure of the Lord, it dreads more the frowns of our fellow men. If there is grief, it is for the thwarting of our pleasures and hopes rather than over our waywardness. If there is pity, it is exercised on self rather than on the sufferings of others.