Romans 5:i, 2 sums up in two verses the results of redemption which we now enjoy. 1. Peace with God; 2. We stand in grace; 3.Hope of glory. It is a halting-place, to sum up results. Since Christ's death and resurrection have just been mentioned, it is fitting that the entire result for us of redemption should just at this point be briefly stated.

It is natural, therefore, that in what follows we should have further unfoldings of what this grace has brought us into. This we get in chaps. 6:, 7:, and 8:

Hence, to be in Christ, as well as justification from sins by the blood, is "the grace in which we stand."

We stand, therefore, justified from what we have done (Rom. 4:), and justified also from what we are as of Adam. (Rom. 6:) The latter is by death with Christ. "I am crucified with Christ." This is the way Paul became dead-dead to the law and to sin. He does not say his old nature was crucified, but "I am crucified with Christ." That is, he, as existing in the flesh, had come to an end by the cross. He was now in Christ risen. Hence, "our old man is crucified with Him," in Rom 6:, does not say that the old nature was crucified. That would be a defective statement. But we, as existing in the old nature (in the flesh), have by the cross come to an end. We belong now to Him that was to come (Rom. 5:), of whom Adam was the figure. We were of Adam, and had an evil nature, and were in an evil condition :we are now of Christ, and have a new nature, and are in a new condition in Him.

We were in Adam by life :we are in Christ by life. Thus, the latter part of Rom. 5:is introductory to 6:and 7:It is one topic. Redemption and life are the subject, not the indwelling of the Spirit. "Alive unto God in Christ Jesus" is plain.

I am in Christ, then, by redemption-by life. But the reception of the Spirit does not redeem me. The sealing of the Spirit owns me as already redeemed as to the soul, and becomes the pledge of redemption as to the body.

But if I must receive the Spirit to be "in Christ," then redemption stopped short of putting me "in Christ," and there is no such thing as life in Christ, for the indwelling of the Spirit does not give me life. E.S.L.