William Huntington

XVI. - The Royalist and the Rebel, or, the Son of Peace in Perpetual War.

"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," Rom. vii. 18

THIS chapter has been, and still is, a sad stumbling block in the way of some persons, who boast of ability to perform whatever the law of God requires; they talk, not only of a will which the apostle had, but of a power of their own, which is what he had not. The intention of the Holy Ghost in this chapter, is to encourage those who are partakers of the divine nature to go on in a perpetual war with the flesh without discouragement; and likewise it is intended to forestall the market of those boasters who have nothing to set forth but their own sufficiency, and to prove all to be carnal who pretend to any confidence in the flesh. To evade, therefore, the light and force of this chapter, some of these proud doers insist upon it that Paul is here speaking of what he himself was when in an unconverted state: but it is not likely that he should then "delight in the law of God after the inner man," when there was no such man in him; or that "the law in his members should war against the law of his mind," when he was alive without any law at all. Others conjecture that he is speaking in the person of some other man, who is in an unregenerate state: but, if this was the case, Paul could not call the man whom he personated himself, as he has done here: "So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." But these things need not be wondered at, since we read so much of hard hearts, seared consciences, and souls past feeling. Every soul that is engaged in this war has two natures in him, or else there can be no war at all; "he is a company of two armies," Song vi. 13, having a love to God and a spirit that lusts to envy; a fighting faith and the resistance of unbelief; a good principle and a bias to evil; the grace of patience and a natural peevishness. Where this war is not seen there is no light, and where this war is not felt there is no life. Flesh and blood must needs boast and triumph, because there is no grace to subdue it. "That king walks boldly against whom there is no rising up;" and that king is sin, which shews itself plain enough in pride, falsehood, and self-righteousness. And sure I am that a man need no worse sins than these to reign in his mortal body, for either of them is sufficient to exclude him from the kingdom of God. But the apostle advanced what he knew to be true; "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." This

Knowledge was not in theory, it was not head knowledge, nor did he learn it at the feet of Gamaliel; for in his natural state "he was alive without the law; and sin was dead," and lay still, and, as touching the righteousness of the law, he thought he was blameless; and he lived, after the most strict sect of the Jewish religion, a pharisee of the pharisees. This was Paul's state of fleshly perfection; and this is all the fleshly perfection that is to be found in the world now. That which stripped Paul of this delusive covering, and expectation of life from the law of works, was the spiritual and powerful entrance of the law into his heart, "then his sin revived, and he died;" before this "he was alive, and sin was dead:" it was this which made that strange turn in affairs with Paul. Then, as soon as sin revived and he died, the Holy Spirit quickened his soul to a life of faith; and the grace of God waged war with Paul's reviving sin; and it carried that war on as long as Paul lived in this world. The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. "I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." Paul was illuminated, so that he could see the law of the Spirit, and the other law too; "I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind." It is a law that calls for obedience, it wants to be "obeyed in the lusts thereof;" it is a law that calls continually, more or less, for gratification; and it is not only a law that calls for obedience, but it is a law that has some power to enforce its commands; "it brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." I not only see it, but I am quickened to feel it. "We that have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves; groan, being burdened." He not only saw it, and felt it, but his soul was influenced to hate it. "What hate that do I." Yea, he viewed it as the source of all his misery. "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank my God through Jesus Christ."

But what are we to understand by the word flesh in my text? Not this body strictly so called, for there were many good things in that. He loved God; and "he that loveth dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him." He lived; "yet not he, but Christ lived in him: his body was the temple of the Holy Ghost." He had the first fruits of the Spirit; yea, "the life also of Jesus as manifest in his mortal flesh," 2 Cor. iv. 11. He had the mysteries of God in him; yea, the fullness of the blessings of the gospel of peace, the greatest gifts, and every needful grace, dwelt richly in him. He had "all this glorious treasure in his earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power might be of God, and not of him." He had a new heart, and the law of God written upon the fleshly tables of it. He had the fear of God planted in him, and the strength of God was made perfect in his weakness; therefore by flesh he cannot mean this human body.

Moreover, the body often shares in the joys of the spirit; and the very countenance of the body will proclaim the health of the soul. If the soul is lively, happy, and joyful, the eye watches Providence, the ear hears the gospel with pleasure, the feet go cheerfully to the house of God, and the hands are willing to work, and ready to communicate: yea, "the members of the body" (which in a state of nature "were instruments of righteousness unto sin"), through grace, "are yielded as instruments of righteousness unto God," Rom. vi. 13. But, "when the soul is chastened for sin, the beauty of the body consumes like a moth" under the rod; and, when it is in a starving condition, the body feels it, and complains, "My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God," Psalm lxxxiv. 2. Besides, "the Lord is the saviour of the body" as well as the soul; therefore this body cannot be what the apostle calls flesh in my text. James makes a distinction between the members of the body and sin that works in them. "From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence � even of your lusts, that war in your members?" James, iv. 1.

This evil principle goes by various names in scripture. It is called the evil imagination. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," Gen. vi. 5. Peter calls it "fleshly lusts, which war against the soul." James calls it lusts which war in the members. But Christ calls it, as our apostle doth, flesh; "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," John, iii. 6. By which the Lord doth not mean that every person who is born into this world is nothing but flesh, for that is not the truth: a man is born with a spirit as well as a body; he comes into this world with a reasonable soul as well as a body of flesh; nor doth he mean that every one who is born again is nothing but spirit, for that is not matter of fact; because a man who is born again still retains a body of flesh and blood, and even that very body itself is called "the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells in him."

And it should be remarked that the Lord, in the above passage, is not speaking of a person, but of a thing; not of a man, strictly considered, but of a principle in man; of the effect of a natural birth, and of the effect of a spiritual birth; and it is clear that the words are not spoken in the masculine gender, but in the neuter. He doth not say he or him; but that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. To be short, the Saviour shews that all the elect, as well as others, come into this world with nothing in them, either in body or in soul, but sin; "that nothing clean can come out of an unclean thing;" and therefore that all who see the kingdom of God must be born again; and, when they are born again, that a new principle of grace is produced in them, under the operations of the Holy Ghost; and that even then both these principles which I have been speaking of, that of the flesh which is flesh, and that of the Spirit, which is spirit, will be found and remain in that very renewed man as long as he is in this world. Now for a man to refuse to gratify that which is born of the flesh, Christ calls "a denying of himself;" and to bear the opposition and war between the flesh and the spirit, "is taking up his cross daily;" which war is the worst part of the cross, for we have that when we have no other; and all others would sit easy, were we free from that. To be led by the Spirit, and influenced by his grace, the Lord calls a coming after him. "He that will come after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me; and where I am there shall also my servant be."

Paul calls this fleshly principle a law in his members, the other the law of his mind: the former the old man, the latter the new man. Peter calls the former fleshly lusts, the latter "the hidden man of the heart." James calls the one "lusts in the members," the other "the wisdom that is from above, which is peaceable, pure, easy to be entreated, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." But, when Paul would make the matter quite plain, he calls the one sin and the other grace. "Sin shall not have dominion over you; Grace shall reign:" and then he shews us at large both the one and the other. "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings," Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. This is what Paul calls the flesh, and the works of it, in all which "dwells no good thing." The new man is that which is born of the Spirit, and is described as the fruit of him thus: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," Gal. v. 22, 23. And then follows what the Lord calls a denying self, and taking up the cross; "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections (passions) and lusts." Here the apostle calls the above evil works flesh again, as he doth in my text; and, by virtue of an union with Christ, and the sharp exercise of a daily cross, the flesh, with its lusts and passions, are crucified; and by the blessed Spirit they are mortified; "If ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." Thus, and thus only, it is that "the old man is put off;" but not finally, so as for us to be perfect in the flesh, or perfectly free from him: no; only with respect to our not appearing in him, living in him, walking in him, or gratifying of him. "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man," Eph. iv. 22. "In times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience; among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others," Eph. ii. 2, 3. This, saith Paul, was our former conversation; but now put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and walk in him; yea, put on the new man, and "put off, as concerning the former conversation, the old man with his deeds; which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts." But it is one thing to deny self daily, and another thing to destroy self utterly, by free-will and human power; which indeed are the principal parts of self, and are commanded to be put off and denied; for it was free-will that cast Jonah into the sea, and it was human power that brought poor Peter to burst forth into cursing and swearing. It is one thing to put off the old man, and another thing to cast him out of the heart for good and all; but to dress him up and make him perfect must be the master-piece of all human performances; which wretched work is all labour in vain; "for flesh and blood," as before described, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption;" for "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," and will never be better; and "that which is born of the Spirit is spirit," and will ever continue the same. Now for Paul's will.

"For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not." But how came Paul to be so willing to do good? Why, "the Lord hath made him willing in the day of his power." But what power was that? the power of his wrath, or the power of his arm? I answer, that which captivates the will above all other power is the power of God's love displayed in the death of Christ for us; and then the love of Christ in condescending to lay down his life for us: this dying love, operating upon the miserable soul of an awakened sinner, leads him at once to a godly sorrow, and true repentance, which makes him sincerely, yea thankfully, willing to yield the obedience of faith. Son, go work to-day in my vineyard; but he answered and said, "I will not; but afterwards he repented and went, and did the will of his Father." Thus God influences the poor sinner's will; and he must not only give him inclination, but motion also, or else he will never go. "God works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure;" for, when he has made a poor sinner willing to choose the better part, that helpless sinner stands stock-still till a fresh power be communicated, for he can go no further (and he knows it) until God is pleased to influence him to act: both these, the will and the power, are of God; and sometimes we can find the one when we cannot feel the other.

David sets his heart upon building a house for God, and is determined to do it; and the prophet tells him to do it, for God as with him. Here was David's will, and he did well that it as in his heart; and God promised to build him a sure house, yet God works not in him to do, "but says he shall not build it, but his son shall." David drew the plan of it, and made provision for the building of it; then bid his son to do it, and told the elders of Israel to assist him in it; and this was doing all that David could or might do.

Abraham's will was to kill Isaac, and the will passed for the deed. The poor widow too, she was willing to enrich the treasury; but, having only two mites, it went but a little way in supporting the service of God and the priesthood. Some are willing to entertain a poor brother in the faith; but, when all comes to all, they can afford no more than a cup of cold water towards it; and such shall in no wise lose their reward; "for, if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not." Where nothing can be had the king must lose his right.

Mary was determined in her heart to perfume and to anoint the Lord's body after his death; but, being fearful that she should not be able to perform it, she came to him before he was dead and did it. The Lord said, "She hath done what she could, she is come beforehand," not after my death, "to anoint me to the burial;" not after, as a funeral rite. And it was well taken. "Why trouble ye the woman? She hath wrought a good work upon me." And, if the apostles had known the inward workings of her mind, and the melting love of her soul, they would not have worried the poor creature as they did about the waste or cost of the ointment. What can be wasted upon the Heir of all things? Or what is three hundred pence, or three hundred thousand million pounds, when compared to the dying love of Christ in the heart?

The apostles were willing to go with Christ both to prison and to death; "and they all said they would do it," Mark, xiv. 31; but the Lord did not work in them to do, and therefore they all forsook him and fled; and they were willing to watch with him, but could not; and they were so vexed with themselves, and so ashamed on account of it, when he asked them, "What, could ye not watch with me one hour?" that "they wist not what to answer him," Mark, xiv. 40. "Their spirit was willing, but their flesh was weak." Thus to will was present with Paul. "I would do good; but, when I would do good, evil is present with me."

"And how to perform that which is good I find not." Paul could not do except "God worked in him to do." Paul felt his need of divine strength; "I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me." Paul's performances were not the works of the flesh, nor dead works; "I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was in me." His were "the works of faith" and he wanted faith in exercise. He calls his labours "the labours of love," and tells us that "the love of Christ constrained him." His was "service in the newness of the Spirit," and he wanted the Spirit's assistance, influence, and operations. How could he speak without a door of utterance given to him? How could he pray unless the Spirit helped his infirmities? How could his ministry prosper if God did not give testimony to the word of his grace? And these things he did not always find powerfully with him. Paul knew that the excellency of the power was of God, and not of him. This wind blows when and where it listeth; and, unless it doth blow, the spices cannot flow out. The Spirit bestows his various gifts severally as he will, and works them in all who have them; and then he works in and upon them when he pleaseth. Paul went sometimes bound in the Spirit, and at other times he had no rest because he found not Titus; at Rome he wanted a door of utterance; and again, his preaching was in much fear and trembling; so that how to perform that which was good he found not, because evil was present with him. His will was for good, and he with his mind served the law of God; and, after the inner man, he delighted in it: but in his flesh he found nothing good, it hindered him; "The good I would I do not;" but the contrary, the "evil I hate, that do I:" yea, I am often straitened by this adversary, and held like a prisoner, contrary to my will; "the law in my members wars against the law of my mind, and brings me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." But, if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me; which never shall be imputed to me, it having been imputed to Christ; for my old man was crucified with him, therefore I thank my God through Jesus Christ.

This old man, or the flesh, or this body of death, hath occasioned spots in some of the brightest characters, and blots in the escutcheons of many who have borne celestial crowns in their arms. It is impossible to assert all the gratifications that this old man calls for, or to set forth the various branches of obedience that this law in the members requires. He works at different times, in every member of the body, and in every faculty of the soul; and is sure, if not put off, to work by every appetite and desire that is common to human nature, so as to allure, draw away, and entice, the poor soul beyond the bounds that God hath prescribed.

In Noah excess of wine was the deception by which the devil and this base old man overcame him, who had but just before overcome and condemned the world, and become heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

It was this old man that worked distrust in the mind of the father of us all, which put him upon denying his wife. It was this old man that influenced Isaac's inordinate affection to love the cunning hunter more than the plain man who dwelt in the tent, even to bestow the blessing contrary to the revealed will of God; he being biassed thereunto, not by the love of God, but by a love "to savoury meat made of venison." This old man is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and these lusts war against the soul.

When "this wayfaring man came unto David" for an entertainment, there was not one ewe in all the Lord's fold that David had the rule over; not one in all his own house, nor one in all the house of "Saul his master, for God had given them all unto David," 2 Sam. xii. 8. No, not one in a virgin state that was disengaged, in all his realm, which was sufficient "to dress for this wayfaring man that was come unto him;" nothing would do for this old man but "the poor man's ewe lamb, which was all that he had, and which ate of his meat, drank of his cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter: this must be dressed for the wayfaring man that was come unto David," 2 Sam. xii. 4.

O how was the king of Israel enraged at this man! "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." And this prophecy is true in the best sense; for David's old man, as well as ours, was crucified with David's son, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin; yea, and David himself died in his covenant head; for "Christ was crucified for the transgressions that were under the first testament," as well as for them "who are called to receive the eternal inheritance," under the new. We are crucified with Christ.

The man that hath done this thing shall restore the lamb four-fold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. Ah David; But "thou art the man;" And thou must restore ten-fold. "Behold! I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house; and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun," 2 Sam. xii. 11. "And the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward." Thus the king restored the lamb tenfold, besides the violence offered to his daughter Tamer, which in all made it "good measure, pressed down, shook together, and running over; for with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."

This old man hath for many years been a potent and tyrannical monarch. "Sin hath reigned unto death," Rom. v. 21. "But better is a poor and wise child, than this old and foolish king, who knoweth not to be admonished; for out of prison he cometh to reign: whereas, also, he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor," Eccles. iv. 13, 14. There is no "poor and wise child" in this world but what is plagued with "this old and foolish king; for, though he was condemned in Christ's flesh, yea crucified, dead and buried; yet, so sure as "Christ was taken from prison and from judgment," even so sure "this old king comes out of his prison to reign;" and that not only over all the human race, the elect not excluded, while in a state of nature, but even after he is subdued, and in a great measure confined by all conquering grace; yet, as Paul allows, he seems at times to break loose. "I find a 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: O wretched man that I am!" But our blessing and happiness lie in his imprisonment: he is not at liberty, but a prisoner in every real believer; so that it is out of prison he cometh to reign; whereas he that is born in his kingdom becometh poor. The poor and wise child, that is born again, born an heir of God's kingdom, who is made a king and a priest unto God, "becometh poor;" poor in soul, a dependant upon the divine bounty of heaven; and blessed are such. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."