John Wesley

For when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness.

“When ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness - In all reason, therefore, ye ought now to be free from unrighteousness; to be as uniform and zealous in serving God as ye were in serving the devil.”

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Death - Temporal, spiritual, and eternal. Is the due wages of sin; but eternal life is the gift of God - The difference is remarkable. Evil works merit the reward they receive: good works do not.”

Do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives?

“I speak to them that know the law - To the Jews chiefly here. As long - So long, and no longer.”

Therefore, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order…

“Thus ye also - Are now as free from the Mosaic law as an husband is, when his wife is dead. By the body of Christ - Offered up; that is, by the merits of his death, that law expiring with him.”

For when we lived according to the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, bearing fruit for death.

“When ye were in the flesh - Carnally minded, in a state of nature; before we believed in Christ. Our sins which were by the law - Accidentally occasioned, or irritated thereby.”

What then shall we say? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed, I would not have been mindful of sin if not for the law.

“Is the law sin - Sinful in itself, or a promoter of sin. I had not known lust - That is, evil desire.”

But sin, seizing its opportunity through the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

“But sin - My inbred corruption. Taking occasion by the commandment - Forbidding, but not subduing it, was only fretted, and wrought in me so much the more all manner of evil desire.”

Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

“Came - In its spiritual meaning, to my heart, with the power of God. Sin revived, and I died - My inbred sin took fire, and all my virtue and strength died away; and I then saw myself to be dead in sin, and liable…”

So I discovered that the very commandment that was meant to bring life actually brought death.

“The commandment which was intended for life - Doubtless it was originally intended by God as a grand means of preserving and increasing spiritual life, and leading to life everlasting.”

So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

“The commandment - That is, every branch of the law. Is holy, and just, and good - It springs from, and partakes of, the holy nature of God; it is every way just and right in itself; it is designed wholly for the good of…”

Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not!

“But it was sin, which was made death to me, inasmuch as it wrought death in me even by that which is good - By the good law.”

In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

“It is no more I that can properly be said to do it, but rather sin that dwelleth in me - That makes, as it were, another person, and tyrannizes over me.”

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

“Wretched man that I am - The struggle is now come to the height; and the man, finding there is no help in himself, begins almost unawares to pray, Who shall deliver me?”

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, as…

“If it could, God needed not to have sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh - We with our sinful flesh were devoted to death.”

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things…

“But they who are after the Spirit - Who are under his guidance. Mind the things of the Spirit - Think of, relish, love things invisible, eternal; the things which the Spirit hath revealed, which he works in us, moves us to, and promises to…”

You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.

“In the Spirit - Under his government. If any man have not the Spirit of Christ - Dwelling and governing in him. He is none of his - He is not a member of Christ; not a Christian; not in a state of salvation.”

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

“The deeds of the flesh - Not only evil actions, but evil desires, tempers, thoughts. If ye mortify - Kill, destroy these. Ye shall live - The life of faith more abundantly here, and hereafter the life of glory.”

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

“For ye - Who are real Christians. Have not received the spirit of bondage - The Holy Ghost was not properly a spirit of bondage, even in the time of the Old Testament.”

And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.

“Joint heirs - That we may know it is a great inheritance which God will give us for he hath given a great one to his Son. If we suffer with him - Willingly and cheerfully, for righteousness' sake.”

I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.

“For I reckon - This verse gives the reason why he but now mentioned sufferings and glory. When that glory "shall be revealed in us," then the sons of God will be revealed also.”

The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.

“Of the creation - Of all visible creatures, believers excepted, who are spoken of apart; each kind, according as it is capable.”

For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

“The creation was made subject to vanity - Abuse, misery, and corruption. By him who subjected it - Namely, God, Gen. iii, 17, v, 29. Adam only made it liable to the sentence which God pronounced; yet not without hope.”

that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

“The creation itself shall be delivered - Destruction is not deliverance: therefore whatsoever is destroyed, or ceases to be, is not delivered at all. Will, then, any part of the creation be destroyed? Into the glorious liberty - The excellent state wherein they were created.”

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.

“For the whole creation groaneth together - With joint groans, as it were with one voice. And travaileth - Literally, is in the pains of childbirth, to be delivered of the burden of the curse.”

Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

“So at the general resurrection, when the body itself is redeemed from death, the sons of God shall be publicly owned by him in the great assembly of men and angels. The redemption of our body - From corruption to glory and immortality.”