I. To what extent and to what persons this condition applies.
1. The terms of the text include Jews and Gentiles. The Jews were spiritually dead notwithstanding the ordinance of circumcision; the Gentiles in their uncircumcision. The great error of Judaism as the rabbis made it was to mistake religious ordinances for religion; equally fatal is the same error in its pseudo-Christian shape.
2. It is clear that this state is not predicated of heathen and profligates only; it is the normal condition in which men are born, and in which they live and die without grace. This is clear from Col_1:13; Mat_21:1-46; Mat_22:1-46; Joh_6:53-63; 1Jn_3:14.
3. Whatever privileges of pious parentage, godly training, gospel ministrations, etc., we may have been favoured, over and above these we “must be born again.”
II. Some of the particulars involved in this condition. In death is implied--
1. Deprivation--there is something lost. We do not say that a stone is dead, it never lived. Hence the view of a stone on the highway excites no emotion or sympathy; but how different with regard to a dead bird, much more a dead man or a dead friend. Once there was spiritual life in man. He was made a living soul; now he is dead in trespasses and sins, having lost it. And yet how strange that the spectacle of this most terrible of deaths scarcely moves us.
2. Corruption. Life has its degrees:vegetable, animal, rational, but in death there are no degrees; all the dead are equally corrupt. There are differences in the sight of man, comparing man with man; there are some better characters than others, of more natural virtue, and society owes them reverence; but society was not our maker and is not our judge. This reflection should humble us. “Who maketh thee to differ from another?”
3. Helplessness. “A living dog is better than a dead lion,” who is as incapable as his own shadow. The dead soul is equally helpless; without foreign aid it must lie like the tree where it has fallen. Spiritual life must be communicated before the soul can move.
4. Resurrection. The decayed vegetable dies, but to be reproduced in another form. Every falling leaf that strews the earth in autumn with the silent evidences of the fall of man, seems to catch a whisper from the breeze, “Thou shalt rise again.” So when man dies the principle of his existence is not destroyed but withdrawn. But, alas for the soul that has lain in the death of sin before the body has reached the grave; that shall indeed rise again, but “to shame and everlasting contempt.” (J. B. Owen, M. A.)
The dead soul
The dead, as insusceptible as their kindred dust, cannot be won back to the activities of life. No voice reaches them, no spectacle arouses them, no terror seizes them. The analogies of death in souls spiritually dead are full of painful truth. They are insensible to the attractions and momentousness of Divine and eternal realities. They are not touched by that which is tender in Divine love nor awed by that which is terrible in Divine law. Alienation from God ever produces spiritual callousness. With an eye to discern sensible beauty in the marvels of creation and the triumphs of art, there is no perception of the grander beauties of holiness, no apprehension of the character and glory of the Almighty. With an ear to hear and a taste to appreciate the rich harmonies of sound, and the eloquence of human tongues, there is no ear to hear the voice of God or the whisperings of His gracious Spirit, the only true and saving Teacher of men. With a heart that can feel for the woes and miseries of our fellow-creatures, and that can cherish kindness towards them, there is no conscious love to God, and no cheerful response to His claims. The mind may be acute, the disposition amiable, the character virtuous, and yet the soul be dead, alien from God, and blind to its own greatest needs. (J. Spence, D. D.)
The transition from death to life
The physical order is a descent from life to death; the spiritual order an ascent from death to life.
I. The natural condition of humanity is one of spiritual death. Man is in a condition of--
1. Spiritual insensibility. The dead know nothing, appreciate nothing; nor does the sinner of the things of God.
2. Moral corruption. “And the uncircumcision of your flesh.” Death unbinds the forces that brace up the body in life, and leaves it a prey to the power of corruption.
3. Condemnation.
(1) The Divine ordinances record an indictment against the transgressor.
(a) Handwriting. The primary reference is to the Jews, who might be said to have signed the contract when they bound themselves, by a curse, to observe all the enactments of the law (Deu_27:14-26.
(b) Ordinances, though referring primarily to the Mosaic ordinances, include all forms of positive decrees in which moral or social principles are embodied or religious duties defined. Man everywhere is under law, written or unwritten; and he is morally obligated to obey it.
(2) The Divine ordinances are hostile towards the transgressor. “Which was contrary to us.” We are often painfully reminded of our broken bond, as the debtor is often reminded of his undischarged obligation.
II. The believer is raised into a condition of spiritual life.
1. This life begins in the consciousness of liberty. “Having forgiven you all trespasses.”
2. It implies a freedom from all condemnation.
III. The transition of the soul from death to life is a Divine work.
1. God only can raise the dead.
2. He does so by a blessed union with Christ.
3. Which issues in immortal life. (G. Barlow.)
Quickened.
Characteristics of the new life
I. Spontaneity. Life is neither mechanical nor forced, but proceeds from the principle of vitality within. When man by grace begins to live anew, what was formerly a burden, if it received any attention at all, becomes a pleasure. Commandments which were grievous are now joyous, and the newborn energy finds its spontaneous manifestation in loving loyalty to God’s will.
II. Assimilation. Life is nourished by that which may seem foreign to its nature. The rose can draw beauty and fragrance from pestilent manure, juices of the soil, radiance of sunshine and showers from heaven. So the new life derives strength even from trial and the bread of sorrow. All things work together for its good, notexcepting the entanglements of the flesh and the cares of the world.
III. Growth. All life grows, and the Christian who does not has an unhealthy life. His privilege is to be like a tree (Psa_1:3).
IV. Aspiration. Life everywhere seeks to reach the perfection of its nature. Spiritual life comes from above and seeks to rise to the level of its source. It cannot rest satisfied with the world, but puts forth its tendrils Godwards.
V. Individuality. No two plants, blades of grass, animals, men, areexactly alike. God loves variety in grace as well as nature. So some Christians are intellectual, some emotional, some practical; yet all are one in Christ. (J. Spence, D. D.)
The great deliverance
I. The miserable condition of our nature.
1. All the children of Adam are reckoned as dead.
(1) Because Divine grace, the soul, as it were, of the soul, being withdrawn, a polluting mass of deadly vices succeeded in their room.
(2) Because they lie under the sentence of eternal death (Eph_2:3).
2. The causes of this death are--
(1) Actual transgressions of the Divine law--“The wages of sin is death,” “The soul that sinneth it shall die.”
(a) This is the death of grace inasmuch as sin by its impurity dissolves the gracious union of the soul to God in which our life consists (Isa_59:2).
(b) The death of hell (Rom_2:9).
(2) The uncircumcision of your flesh, i.e., original sin, which is derived by carnal propagation and renders the very soul, as it were, carnal (Deu_10:16; Jer_9:25). Every natural man is dead in this his native corruption.
(a) The understanding, which is the eye of the soul, is darkened and blinded as to spiritual things (1Co_2:14), and rushes into errors and deceivings (Gal_5:20).
(b) The will is depraved, its good desires weak, its unlawful desires strong (Gen_6:5; Rom_3:1-31.).
(c) The inferior powers of the soul are disordered, so that they refuse to obey the law of the mind (Rom_7:23). Hence the affections control, and are not controlled by reason.
3. Lessons:
(1) Since every man in a state of nature is dead, it is not in the power of free will, by its own strength, to prepare for conversion, even as a dead man cannot dispose himself for his resurrection (Lam_5:21).
(2) No man can dispose himself to any motion to quicken himself unless his mind be formed to the life of grace by God. For as every natural operation supposes a natural power, so every spiritual motion a spiritual power (Eze_11:19).
(3) Since the cause of death is sin, the; madness of men is discovered who administer that deadly poison to the soul and are guilty of its murder.
II. The Deliverer; God in Christ, by Christ, and with Christ. God alone could impart animal life to this earth; He alone, therefore, can impart spiritual life to carnal men, which is a greater work than creation (Eph_2:10). Hence we may learn--
1. The eternal love of God the Father. We shudder to touch the dead bodies of our friends; but God is not only ready to touch but to embrace and restore our dead souls. This should inflame us with love to Him.
2. The infinite guilt of sin which could not be acquitted, and we justified but by the death and resurrection of Christ. This should excite our hatred and avoidance of sin.
III. The deliverance.
1. The forgiveness of our trespasses. In this it is to be noticed that it is--
(1) Gratuitous,
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Ϛ, being derived from grace itself. It is gratuitous on our part, for we are absolved without any price paid by ourselves; but on the part of Christ we are redeemed with the price of His precious blood (Rom_3:24), and indeed either a gratuitous remission or none at all must be admitted. As to ourselves, we are not able to pay, since the debt is infinite; nor can we blot out our sins by suffering, because no suffering of the guilty is deletive of sin.
(2) Universal--“All trespasses.” For it does not accord with Divine majesty and goodness to remit some of our debts and require the rest from us. Because--
(a) The blood of Christ being received as a ransom, it would be unjust not to remit all, since that outweighs all.
(b) To forgive is an act of paternal love and cannot dwell with enmity; but enmity remains with unremitted sin, and those who admit a partial remission make God at once reconciled and hostile.
(c) Unless we reckon on full remission, remission is vain; for its end is life eternal, which a partial remission cannot yield the hope of, because death is the wages of even one sin (Jer_33:8; Mic_7:19; 1Jn_1:9).
2. Hence we derive these corollaries--
(1) To forgive sins is the property of God alone; for who can forgive another his debt while the will of the creditor is not yet understood (Isa_43:25).
(2) As universal remission is granted on God’s part there ought to be a universal detestation of it on ours.
(3) Troubled consciences may be sustained, for though sin be not destroyed upon faith it is forgiven. (Bishop Davenant.)
The Holy Spirit is the quickener
The same shower blesses various lands in different degrees, according to their respective susceptibilities. It makes the grass to spring up in the mead, the grain to vegetate in the field, the shrub to grow on the plain, and the flowers to blossom in thegarden; and these are garnished with every hue of loveliness--the lily and the violet, the rose and the daisy:all these worketh the same Spirit that renews the face of the earth. The influences of the Holy Spirit, descending on the moral soil, produce “blessing in variety”--convictions in the guilty, illumination in the ignorant, holiness in the defiled, strength in the feeble, and comfort in the distressed. As the Spirit of holiness, He imparts a pure taste; as the Spirit of glory, He throws a radiance over the character; as the Spirit of life, He revives religion; as the Spirit of truth, He gives transparency to the conduct; as the Spirit of prayer, He melts the soul into devotion; and, as the Spirit of grace, He imbues with benevolence, and covers the face of the earth with the works of faith and labours of love. (T. W. Jenkyn, D. D.)
