Romans 7:9

Verse 9

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And I was once alive without the law — Without the close application of it. I had much life, wisdom, virtue, strength: so I thought.

But when the commandment — That is, the law, a part put for the whole; but this expression particularly intimates its compulsive force, which restrains, enjoins, urges, forbids, threatens.

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 to death eternal.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

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John Wesley

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield. In contrast to George Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley embraced the Arminian doctrines that were dominant in the 18th-century Church of England. Methodism in both forms was a highly successful evangelical movement in the United Kingdom, which encouraged people to experience Jesus Christ personally.Wesley's writing and preachings provided the seeds for both the modern Methodist movement and the Holiness movement, which encompass numerous denominations across the world. In addition, he refined Arminianism with a strong evangelical emphasis on the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith.Wesley was a logical thinker and expressed himself clearly, concisely and forcefully in writing. His written sermons are characterised by spiritual earnestness and simplicity. They are doctrinal but not dogmatic. His Notes on the New Testament (1755) are enlightening. Both the Sermons (about 140) and the Notes are doctrinal standards. Wesley was a fluent, powerful and effective preacher. He usually preached spontaneously and briefly, though occasionally at great length.... Show more

Produced between 1754 and 1765, Wesley's commentary on the whole Bible has stood the test of time.... Show more

Verse 9

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

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