3. Man is in a condition of condemnation.—(1) The Divine ordinances record an indictment against the transgressor. “The handwriting of ordinances that was against us” (ver. 14). A handwriting imports what any one writes with his own hand, and is usually applied to a note of hand, a bond, or obligation, as having the signature of the debtor or contracting party. The primary reference in the terms used 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 (Deut. xxvii. 14–26). Ordinances, though referring primarily to the Mosaic ordinances, includes all forms of positive decrees (ordinances) 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. That law has been universally violated, and its ordinances and sanctions are against us. We are involved in legal condemnation; we owe to God what we can never pay. (2) The Divine ordinances are hostile towards the transgressor. “Which was contrary to us” (ver. 14). We are often painfully reminded of our broken bond, as the debtor is often distressingly reminded of his undischarged obligation. Our peace is disturbed, our conscience troubled, our prospects darkened. The sense of condemnation pursues us in every part of life and haunts us with visions of terrible vengeance to come.
II. That the believer is raised into a condition of spiritual life.—1. Spiritual life begins in the consciousness of liberty. “Having forgiven you all trespasses” (ver. 13). Sin enthrals the soul in an intolerable bondage and smites it with a deathly blow. There is no return to life until liberty is bestowed. Forgiveness confers that liberty. Pardon is the point at which spiritual life begins. The sense of liberty is the first glad thrill in the soul of a new and nobler life. The pardon is ample; it is all-comprehensive—having forgiven you all trespasses. Every legal barrier is removed. All guilt is cancelled. Every stain is purged away. Every vestige of corruption disappears. The Divine mercy triumphs in the prompt, generous, loving, full forgiveness of sins.
2. Spiritual life implies a freedom from all condemnation.—(1) The indictment recorded in the Divine ordinances is cancelled and abolished. “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (ver. 14). Every assurance is given to the trembling believer that his guilt is pardoned, and his condemnation removed. The handwriting is blotted out—as it were, cross-strokes are drawn through it; and that all suspicion it may again become legible, may be allayed, it is added, “and took it out of the way”; it is entirely removed. But lest, haply, it should again be found and produced, it is declared—it is destroyed, torn, nailed to the cross, and so made utterly useless ever to witness anything against the believer. “Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held” (Rom. vii. 6). The handwriting against us is removed and destroyed by the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. There we behold the cancelled sentence torn and rent by the very nails that pierced the sacred body of the world’s Redeemer. (2) Freedom from condemnation is effected by the cross. “His cross.” Much as the doctrine of salvation through the vicarious sufferings of Christ may be misunderstood and despised, it is the only method by which pardon can be bestowed, condemnation removed, and spiritual life imparted. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”
III. That the transition of the soul from death to spiritual life is a Divine work.—“You hath He quickened together with Him” (ver. 13). God only can raise the dead. He who first fashioned us in His own image, who raised from the dead Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, rescues man from the gloomy domain of spiritual death, and inspires him with a new and holier life. It is a life of blessed union with the Divine. Its activities are spontaneous and Godward in their tendencies. It has the power of growth and endless development. Its aspirations are the purest and noblest. It is intensely individual. It is the movement of the Divine in the sphere of the human, not defacing or destroying the human, but exalting and perfecting its worthiest traits.
Lessons.—1. All men are dead in sin. 2. Law condemns but cannot deliver. 3. Pardon of sin is the gateway of spiritual life. 4. Pardon is obtained only by looking to the cross.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES.
Ver. 13. Death and Spiritual Life.
- Man by sin is spiritually dead and disabled from exercising spiritual acts.
- Man is quickened into spiritual life by virtue of the resurrection of Christ.
- Spiritual life is obtainable only by the pardon of sin.
Ver. 14. The Handwriting of Ordinances.
- Describes our condemnation.
- Must be cancelled in order to pardon.
- Cancelled by the sufferings on the cross.
- Is blotted out against us when we accept the Crucified.