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own bosom , is represented as bewailing his melancholy situation in the most pathetic terms . A more moving and affecting scene can scarcely be conceived . This slave of his passions feels a consciousness of his folly , and
regrets it , for he is not a hardened sinner \ yet , alas \ his habits of indulgence prevail . Perhaps he boldly resolves , but the next temptation breaks his resolution , and produces fresh occasion for sorrow and remorse .
The inquiry is , does the apostle speak of himself or of some other man ? The leading features of the character he draws with so masterly a hand will furnish the repl y * that it is not applicable to himself * as a pious and faithful disciple and apostle of Christ , nor indeed to anv truly virtuous Christian .
He adopts the figure of speech of personify ' ing another , to give as Tittle offence as possible to the strenuous advocates of the Jewish law , in the society at Rome to whom he writes .
* ' We know that the law is spiritual , ' * that it enjoins moral duties , and forbids vices of every kind . Thus the apostle vindicates the law with respect to its injunctions ; but , says he , " 1 am carnal , sold under sin . For that which
1 do , 1 allow not ; for what 1 would , that doi not ; but what I hate , that I do . If then I do that which I would not , I consent unto the law that it is good . Now then it is no more I that do it , but sin that dwelleth in me . For I know that in me , that is in my flesh , dwelleth no good thing : for to
will is present with me , but how to perform that which is good , I find not . For the good that I would , I do not , but the evil which I would not , that I do . Now if I do that which I would not , it is no more I that do it , but sin that dwelleth in me . I find then a law that when 1 would do
good , evil is present with me- For I delight in the law of God after the inward man , but 1 see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind , and bringing- me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members .
The phrase "to be sold under sin , " seems of similar import to what is said of Ahab , one of the most licentious , cruel , idolatrous kings that ever sat on the throne of Israel - " There was none like unto Ahab , which did sell himself to < bo wickedness in the sight of
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the Lord . " l Kings xxi . Zb . * Can Paul possibly mean himself by the description he gives , and which is now presented to the reader ? Can he be said " to have been alive without the law once , " who was born of Jewish parents , and educated in the principles
of the law from his earliest youth ? Besides , was the pure , the virtuous apostle , who had so complete a mastery over his sensual appetites , " carnal , sold under sin , " quite a slave to this tyrant ? Could he who was continually engaged in promoting the honour of
God , the Christian cause , and the holiness and happiness of his fellowcreatures both by his instructions and example , could he justly declare of himself , " the good that I would 1 do not , but the evil which 1 would not , that I do" ? It is not applicable to even
Saul the persecutor , before he became Paul the apostle of Jesus Christ ; for he was a sincerely pious , though prejudiced and mistaken young -man . * ' He had a zeal for God , but not according to knowledge . " He acted
agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience , but alas ! that conscience being unenlightened and erroneous , misled him . " He verily thought with himself , that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth . " It is indeed much
to be lamented , that any one should so mistake the nature of religion , as to suppose it compatible with acts of cruelty and inhumanity , yea even to enjoin these deeds of blood . As this young Jew however was sincere , and
followed the guidance of his perverted judgment , the description he gives in the passage under consideration , can - not be applicable to him , even before his conversion to Christianity , much less after he had enlisted under the
* Good Mr . Henry indeed ^ whose Exposition in general may be read to advantage if read with a discriminating judgment , makes a curious distinction betweeu the two plirases . u Even there where there is spiritual life , there are remainders of carnal
affections , and a man may be so far sold under sin . He does noi sell himself to work wickedness as Ahab did , but he was sold by Ad&m wlien he sinned and feH , sold , as a pt > or slave that ddth his muster ' s will against his own will , sold under 9 &i } because conceived in iniquity and horii in sin . " Henry ' s Exposition on Horn . vii . rer . 14 ,
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G $ 0 Biblical Criticism . —Character drawn by Paul , Rom . vii .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1818, page 630, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2481/page/30/
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