1, 2.) that they are planted together in the likeness of the death of Christ. (verse 5.) That their old man is crucified with him, the body of sin being destroyed, so that thenceforth they do not serve sin: that being dead with Christ, they are freed from sin (verses 6, 7.) That they are dead unto sin, and alive unto God (verse 11.) That sin hath no more dominion over them, who are not under the law, but under grace; but that these being free from sin, are become the servants of righteousness, verses 14, 18.
4. The very least which can be implied in these words, is, that the persons spoken of therein, namely, all real Christians or believers in Christ, are made free from outward sin. And the same freedom which St. Paul here expresses in such variety of phrases, St. Peter expresses in that one (1 Pet. iv. 1, 2.) He that hath suffered in the flesh, hath ceased from sin,—that he no longer should live—to the desires of men, but to the will of God. For this ceasing from sin, if it be interpreted in the lowest sense, as regarding only the outward behaviour, must denote the ceasing from the outward act, from any outward transgression of the law.
5. But most express are the well known words of St. John, in the third chapter of his first epistle, verse the eighth, &c. He that committeth sin is of the devil: for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the
