Romans 6:13

Rom_6:13

Neither yield ye yourselves as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God.

Yielding

Yielding is an image carried over from the world of matter into the world of mind. In every case of yielding you have pressure meeting with resistance and overcoming it. Note then--

I. The pressure. There are many kinds of pressure. When your shoe pinches you it presses upon one small point only, but the kindly pressure of the air is upon every part of your body. And such is Heavens gentle pressure upon your soul. God presses us through--

1. The experiences of life. These Romans before their yielding were great pleasure seekers, and Paul asks what they had gained by it all. The answer is, nothing but shame and death (verses 21, 23). They were like their own Caesar, who, when at the height of his glory, asked, And is this all? Chrysostom tells us that the pressure of disgust at heathen pleasures brought him to the yielding point, and that many young men in his day had the same experience. And life is the same in every age. At a Jewish wedding the priest places an empty wineglass on the floor, and the bridegroom, setting his heel open it, splinters it into fragments. The strange custom is meant to remind the newly married pair that their earthly happiness is just as fragile. If so, we must ask whether there is no cup for mortals that call never be broken. Thus life puts upon us a strong pressure which should make us yield unto God.

2. His law. This Epistle is full of this pressure. It says, You are under Gods law and you ought to obey it. But you are ever breaking it. What, then, are you to do? Escape from its terrors there is none but by yielding. The law drives the law breaker into the open arms of the Law fulfiller.

3. His love. Paul has very great faith in the power of this pressure. He states all the facts of Christs life and death, and shows how they all reveal Gods kindness to sinners. He does everything to win attention to Christs redeeming love, for he knows how it can bring the soul up to the bending temperature. Often the quietest and gentlest influences conquer resistance that defies all other pressure. Arctic explorers frozen in amid blocks of ice would fain set themselves free by main force, but in vain. But the sun at length smiles upon the stubborn snow mountain, and grim winter lets go his hold and quietly yields. Thus the resistance of our frozen hearts is melted away by Divine love.

4. In pressing a man towards Christ the Holy Spirit often unites these three and other kinds of pressure.

II. Mans resistance.

1. There is a resistance called vis inertia, i.e., the power of doing nothing. That rock which came thundering down the hill, and now blocks the highway by its dead weight, overcomes all the pressure one hundred men can bring to bear upon it. And some offer a rock-like resistance to God. Their habits are all against God, and they wont consider whether their habits should be changed. Habit is the Latin word habet; it has them. They are slaves with a wish to be free.

2. But others resist of set purpose. The murderers of Stephen were of this class. Some do this who are outwardly respectable; theirs is resistance without violence. Others do not care to hide their resistance. I hated the gospel, one confessed, and my soul hissed against it as cold water hisses when it meets fire. The resisting, defying power of mans will is awful. Milton in Paradise Lost makes this the explanation of Satans character. I have read that the physician who attended a dying nobleman, famed for his genius and godlessness, one day overheard him saying, Shall I yield? Shall I pray? The physician held in his breath for the answer, as the dying man was not aware that anyone was within earshot. After a pause, the dying poet said, firmly, No, no weakness! Ah! there it is; yielding seems weakness to the unhumbled heart. Think of it--a weakness to yield to God and Christ, to eternal truth and mercy!

III. The yielding point. That point is reached when mans resistance gives way under Gods pressure.

1. The Christian life begins with an act of yielding. The Christian does not yield as the defeated soldier yields to his foe who slays him, but with the consent of all that is within him, as one alive from the dead. Often a small thing, as it seems to us, makes the happy day that fixes the choice on the Saviour. The turning points of life are like the water partings of great rivers, where a raindrops destiny is often decided by a breath of wind. While the gentlest touch may make the pressure greater than the resistance, there must be a yielding in every case, and it must be a yielding of the whole man for the whole life. A rich Australian in his youth was a poor plough boy. A free passage was offered to him. By faith in that offer he left his native land, crossed the deep, began life anew, and so became a rich landowner. That offer was to him a faithful saying and worthy of acceptation, but his belief of it did him no good till he had yielded himself to it in every possible way.

2. The Christian life from beginning to end is a yielding. The Roman Christians had yielded in conversion, and Paul wishes them to rise to the highest life, and his message to them is still, Yield. They are the best Christians who are best at yielding and who are always, in the yielding mood.

3. The passage (verses 12-23) is full of military images. The last verse means, The soldiers wages--the rations--of sin is death, it is not merely a punishment in the future. And the exact meaning of our text is, offer yourselves as volunteers unto God, and all your faculties of mind and body as soldiers weapons in the cause of holiness. When war breaks out many an officer who might enjoy every luxury at home, who is even an heir to a peerage, offers to serve his country on the battlefield. He offers himself by an act of the will, and the spirit of that act is carried into his whole service. His heart is stirred to its depths by soldierly ambition. Rome was a city of soldiers, and every Roman would thoroughly understand the apostle when he urged them to be the courageous and devoted soldiers of Christ. You see, then, that this yielding is not an abject, spiritless, lazy thing. It is the beginning of a life of great energy. Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead. Have you ever spent an hour with the convalescent, alive from the dead? Did you ever see such zest in the work and enjoyments of life? Well, that should be the spirit of those who have devoted themselves to the service of their God. Almost every verse in this chapter testifies to the apostles anxiety that they would be whole-hearted in the service of Christ. When Moshesh, the chief of the Basutos, received the missionaries, he advised his chiefs to have one foot in the Church and the other out. But one chief became an earnest Christian, and said to Moshesh, I put only one foot in the Church at first, as you advised me, but the love of Christ soon drew in my whole body. The apostle counsels each Roman convert to give his whole soul and body. For he who does not yield everything really yields nothing. The true yielder moves together when he moves at all. Calvin chose for his seal and motto a hand holding a heart on fire, with the words, I give thee all. I keep back nothing. The apostle (verse 19) pleads with them to serve Christ now as they used to serve Satan. (J. Wells, M. A.)

Yield unto God

I. The duty itself.

1. In general it implies, that whatever we possess, all that we are, or have, or can do, should be consecrated to God, and devoted to His service and honour. The being which we have is derived from Him; every blessing which we enjoy is the fruit of His bounty; every talent with which we are distinguished was freely bestowed by Him. To Him, therefore, they ought to be entirely surrendered, and in the advancement of His glory at all times employed.

2. More particularly, we must yield to God our immortal souls, with all the intellectual powers which they possess.

(1) We must dedicate our understanding to the Father of Lights, to be illuminated by Him with saving knowledge, to be employed in contemplating His nature and perfection; above all, to know Jesus, and Him crucified, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

(2) We must dedicate our will to that holy rule of resignation which David expressed when he said, Here I am, let the Lord do unto me what seemeth good in His sight, and which Davids Lord expressed in circumstances infinitely more trying, Father, not My will, but Thine be done.

(3) We must consecrate our memories to be treasures of Divine truth, our affections to the pursuit of those things which are above, our senses to the salutary discipline of self-denial, and our members as instruments of holiness to God.

3. All our possessions and enjoyments must be devoted to God.

II. For what purposes we are thus to yield ourselves unto God.

1. We are to yield ourselves to God, to do whatsoever He commands; in all instances of duty, to give a prompt and cheerful obedience to His authority.

2. We must yield ourselves to God not only to do but to suffer His will. We are already in the hand of God, by our essential dependence; let us likewise be so by our own consent and choice. This is the true balm of life. It is this that softens adversity, and alleviates the load of sorrow. In this we unite the noblest duty which we can perform, and the most precious benefit which we can reap.

3. We must yield ourselves to God, to be disposed of by His providence, as to our lot and condition in the world.

4. As we must be resigned to the will of God with respect to our outward lot, so we must be satisfied with His disposal, as to the measure of spiritual gifts which He is pleased to bestow on us. Should He make us but as the foot, we must be as well contented as if He had made us the hand or the head, and rejoice that we are found qualified for being even the least honourable member in Christs mystical body.

III. The manner in which we ought to perform this duty of yielding ourselves unto God.

1. Before we can perform this duty in an acceptable manner, it is necessary that we have just views both of God and of ourselves. We must yield ourselves to God like condemned rebels, who cast themselves on the mercy of their sovereign. Yet, while sensible of our miserable state, we must also have a view of those riches of mercy which are open to the chief of sinners.

2. We must yield ourselves unto God with serious, attentive, and awakened minds. We must remember that yielding ourselves to God will involve in it the renouncing of many favourite engagements, the performing of many difficult duties, and the mortifying of many desires, which hitherto, perhaps, it has been the whole plan of our lives to gratify.

3. In yielding ourselves unto God, our hearts must be humbled with deep repentance, for having so long gone astray from Him and His service.

4. We must yield ourselves unto God without any secret reserve or limitation, imploring that He may take the full possession of our hearts, and cast out of them whatever opposeth or exalteth itself against Him.

5. All this must be done with an explicit regard to the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom alone we have access to the Father.

IV. Enforce the exhortation by some motives and arguments.

1. Need I represent to you the necessity of this duty? Can you withdraw yourselves from being the property of God as His creatures? Can you evade the dispensations of His providence, or snatch from Him those issues of life and death which are, uncontrollably in His hands?

2. Consider the reasonableness of this duty. If there is reasonableness in acknowledging our debts, and in being thankful for our benefits; if there is reasonableness in submitting to be guided by unerring wisdom, and to be disposed of by infinite goodness; it is that we should yield ourselves to that God who made us, who preserves and hath redeemed us, and hath pledged His faithfulness to conduct all those to happiness who put their confidence in Him.

3. And this leads me to the last argument which I shall use for enforcing this exhortation, which is the advantage with which it will be attended. At the same time that we yield ourselves to God, He gives Himself to us in all the fulness of His grace. (R. Walker.)

Yielding the members as instruments

I. Yield. Present: allusion to entrance on military service.

II. Yield what? Your members. The whole man, more especially the bodily members, which are the organs of internal principles.

III. What as? Instruments--weapons, arms. The members are weapons used on one side or the other of the conflict between sin and righteousness; employed in the service of one or other of two masters or sovereigns. The body is an arsenal of arms or a warehouse of tools for good or evil. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Yielding unto God

The word yield in Luk_2:22 means present, and so it does in Act_23:23-24, and in Eph_5:27. Yielding, then, is to present ourselves to God as His servants, His property, wholly consecrated to Him. Consider--

I. The reasons why it is our duty to yield ourselves unto God. Because--

1. He is absolute sovereign, and we must do His will. It is obviously, therefore, the greatest folly and danger to have a will opposed to Him in any respect.

2. He is of infinite excellence. He not only must and will rule, but He ought to rule. Who should possess supreme power but that Being who is wise, generous, patient, faithful, true, and infinitely so beyond all His creatures?

3. He has absolute right to rule. For whom ought all our faculties and powers to be employed but for Him who is their Maker? To what can we trace our blessings but to His bounty? He made these faculties and the objects around us so exactly suited to our wants.

4. He has redeemed us. Far less benefit than this bestowed by a fellow creature would make us yield ourselves as debtors to him all our lives.

5. Our best interests in time and in eternity are involved in this step. To refuse to obey this command is to refuse to be enriched by His bounty, to be preserved by His care, to taste of His love, and to enjoy His glory.

II. The extent of this command. It does not mean that you are to submit your power, though you must do that. God will not suffer any of His creatures eventually to persevere in opposition to Him; and therefore we are now, before that moment of compulsion comes, called to submit.

1. It is His revealed will that each sinner who hears the gospel should believe on His Son, look for sanctification of his nature through the work of the Holy Spirit, depend on Him to bring him to everlasting happiness, and come to an unreserved obedience to the whole of His law who is our rightful Lord.

2. But this is not all. The passage obviously means, Present yourselves a living sacrifice to God. While it requires us to resign ourselves absolutely to the whole will of God, it calls upon us to give Him all our faculties, and to devote our affections to Him. He has planted in us the powers of fear, of hope, of desire, of delight, of love: it is His will that all these affections, especially the master affection, love, should be occupied chiefly with Him; we are to love Him supremely, and all the rest will follow. He who yields himself to God, yields all his property, his influence, his time, whatever he possesses, for it is Gods. (Baptist Noel, M. A.)

Yielding to God

I. The precept. To yield implies that two persons have been opposed one to the other, and that now one submits to the other. This submission may be a willing or unwilling, unreserved or reserved, permanent or temporary.

1. As between man and God, to yield implies that there is a great gulf which sin has caused to exist between man and God. There is no love to God in mans natural heart. Hence the unrest and misery of so many men. They are not at peace with God.

2. Into the midst of this moral chaos God has descended, and in the person of His Son has opened a way by which the sinner may be received back to God. And hence the language of God to the sinner is, Be ye reconciled. Yield yourselves unto God.

3. This submission must be accompanied by heartfelt sorrow for, and a determination to forsake sin, and faith in Christ.

4. It must be a willing submission. There must be no reserve, no condition, no hanging back.

5. It must be a permanent submission, not only for the present, but for the future, for time and for eternity.

II. Why it should be obeyed. Yield because--

1. It is your duty. There is in the hearts of Englishmen a strong feeling of the principle of duty. That famous signal--England expects every man to do his duty, rings through the hearts of thousands when they hear it. And it is that which carries the Englishman wherever his country calls him. But, alas! there may be a sense of duty as regards man, and no such sense as regards God. But still remember that it is your duty.

(1) God is your Creator. Why were you called into being? Go and ask yon tiny insect and yon blade of grass, which, if they could speak would say, For God. And for what is the most wonderful of Gods creatures except to obey Him?

(2) God is your king. Satan exercises a mighty power, but his is an usurped dominion.

(3) God is your benefactor. Whence your life, health, comforts? Whence the forbearance, the goodness through the mercy of God to you?

(4) If you are not yielding yourselves unto God you are yielding yourself to some false god. It is impossible that man can serve two masters.

2. It is our life.

(1) Forgiveness is life. As long as a man has unforgiven sin upon his conscience, that man is dead in the sight of God. There is free and unconditional forgiveness promised to all who believe in the Saviour.

(2) The new birth is life. Have you ever thirsted for this life? It is told us of the wounded upon the field of Waterloo, that what they longed for during that terrible night, was not the relief which surgical aid could afford, not an escape from that bloody field, but simply water to quench their burning thirst. Have you, beneath a sense of sin, a sense of your wounds thirsted for the water of life? Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.

3. It is your death if you refuse to yield (Mat_25:30; Mat_25:41; Mat_25:46).

III. There are many ways in which it may be met.

1. By obedience. But you may ask, How am I to do it? Just as the Lord Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, Stretch forth thy hand, and the man stretched it forth and it was whole; so, in the same way, if a sinner present feels guilty and helpless, and hears the word of command, and makes the effort, praying for the Divine assistance, seeking to obey the precept, that man will find the needed help afforded him. Just as when Peter was sinking beneath the waves, and cried out, Lord, save me, and the Lord caught the sinking apostle, do you say, from the bottom of your heart, now, at this moment, Lord, save me; and in the effort you shall find that God does save you.

2. By a refusal, We will not have this Man to reign over us. I love pleasure; I dislike self-denial and religious efforts. Now, I would not deny that there are such things as the pleasures of sin; but remember they are for a season only. Afterwards, there is the worm that dieth not, etc. But I doubt whether you do find that those pleasures of sin satisfy you. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And though there may be the noisy laugh, and the outward appearance of indifference, yet I believe that no one can hear Gods word and remain in indifference, without some qualms of conscience, some dread of eternity. Oh, then, beware how you say, I will not yield. See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, etc.

3. By attempting a compromise; by delay, for example. You wish for time. Now, there is no such thing as neutrality in religion. There may be neutrality as between states; between man and man; but there is no such thing as neutrality in the case of mans service to God. He that is not with Me, is against Me. Besides, if you now despise the mercy of God, and use the promise of mercy as an excuse for continuance in sin, what right have you to expect that God will continue to show mercy? You may say, Was there not mercy for that man who entered the vineyard at the eleventh hour, and for the thief upon the cross? Their case was altogether different from yours. The instance of a delayed repentance is very different from the case of a late repentance. They had not had the invitation and warning before as you have. Besides, how do you know that at any future time you will be one whir more willing? The chances are, humanly speaking, that you will be less willing. It is told of one who gained his livelihood by searching the nests which were built in the cliff, that upon being let down from the summit, he gained a footing on a jutting crag beneath. He suddenly let go the rope by which he had descended. His position was most critical. The rope was swaying backwards and forwards in the air, and each time it came less near to him than before. He saw his danger; he saw the necessity of instant decision. He must either seek to grasp it by jumping from his crag, or it may be lost forever. There was no time; it must be done at once. He did it. He sprang from his crag; he seized upon the rope, and he was saved. And so, if you are conscious that at this moment you are an unsaved sinner, you have but one course open to you. It is that you now yield yourself to God. Behold, now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. (Emilius Bayley, B. D.)

Yielding to God

I. Yield. Free enlistment to God as our lawful sovereign. No forced service: a willing heart the best sacrifice (2Co_9:7). Willingness of spirit and weakness of flesh accepted (Mar_14:38). The work done not so much regarded as the will to do it.

II. Yourselves. Not merely your estate. The whole man (1Th_5:23). The Macedonians first gave themselves, then their substance (2Co_8:5). Self surrender the fruit of love. Loves language is Psa_116:16. The heart is mans citadel. That surrendered the whole man yields. All our offerings worthless without ourselves (Pro_23:26). Ananias gave his goods, not himself. To yield ourselves wholly to God is the conquest of His grace. Christs people a free will offering in the day of His power (Psa_110:3). The means of effecting it, the constraining power of His love (2Co_5:14).

III. Unto God.

1. Your rightful sovereign.

2. The best of masters.

3. Your Father through Christ. Not to yield ourselves to God is to yield ourselves to sin. (T. Robinson, D. D.)

Yielding to God

In 1845 Hugh Miller, as he tells us in his First Impressions of England, visited Olney, the home of the poet Cowper. It was then a Babel of blackguards. He thought that all the bad-looking fellows in England had been drawn together there. Two prize fighters, named Bendigo and Caunt, were about to fight for the championship and three hundred guineas. After ninety-three rounds Bendigo beat. Hugh Miller saw him after the fight standing at the door of a whisky shop, with his face all bruised. What would Hugh have said if anyone had prophesied that that battered pugilist should be born again in his old age, and become an earnest student of the Bible, and worker for Christ? The idea of that man taking to the Bible! Not very likely. Like Sarah, he might have laughed at the prophecy. The scene changes. Thirty years have passed, and Bendigo is now about sixty years of age, and is in gaol for the twenty-seventh time. One Sabbath he hears in prison an address on David and Goliath. Bendigo listened, as the subject was just in his line. He understood it all: Goliath was just another Caunt. He forgot where he was, so interested was he; and at the close bawled out, Bravo, Im glad the little un won. He kept thinking about it in his cell, and decided that somebody must have helped the little one to kill the big giant. Next Sabbath the sermon was on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He fancied that the name of the third was Bendigo and said to himself, If one Bendigo may be saved, why not another? The subject for the following day was The Twelve Fishermen; again he was thoroughly interested, as he was a keen fisher himself. The next sermon was about the seven hundred left-handed men in the twentieth chapter of Judges; once more he is all ear, being himself a left-handed man. The Bible seemed to him a very strange book; it was all written for himself! Upon getting out of gaol he found his old companions waiting for him; but he declared that he would never enter another public house. He went to a mission meeting; and that very night, on his way home, he fell on his knees in the snow, and yielded himself to the Saviour. He had been in twenty-one matched fights, and had not been beaten in one; but, said he, when I came to the Cross of Christ, I was quite beat at the first round. He was then doing his desperate utmost to master the A B C, that be might be able to read Gods blessed book; and he wound up, the reporter said, by declaring, If God could save Bendy, He could save anybody. (J. Wells, M. A.)

Surrender to God

The apostle has just warned his readers not to surrender their limbs and bodily organs to sin as the conquered surrender their weapons to the conqueror. Now he is pressing upon them to whom they should surrender, not only their limbs and organs, but their whole being, their very selves. We notice that such surrender--

I. Fulfils the supreme duty of life. It is surrender--

1. To the rightful Sovereign of the soul.

2. To the loving Father.

3. To the sacrificial Redeemer, and therefore--

4. To the absolute Proprietor of the soul. So that whatever, other duties a man discharges if this surrender is neglected, or defied, he is unloyal, unfilial, a moral felon.

II. Realises the highest satisfaction of life. A man may yield labour, time, money to God, and find no satisfaction; but if he yields his very self, the needle has found the magnet, the river has reached the ocean, and there is rest. Why? Because in that surrender--

1. The self contradictions of human hearts are harmonised. The harp of human nature is then in the hand of the Infinite Harpist.

2. The intellect becomes the docile scholar of the True Teacher. Speak Lord, for Thy servant heareth.

3. Conscience has accepted the Perfect Guide.

III. Ensures the noblest usefulness of life. It was this that made Paul what he was. All things answer their highest ends just as they are completely within the realm of law, i.e., just as they are most completely surrendered to God. Conclusion: To those who surrender themselves to God--

1. The enigma of duty is solved.

2. The secret of peace is found.

3. The way to usefulness is discovered. (U. R. Thomas.)

Surrender must be complete

It is related in Roman history, that when the people of Collatia stipulated about their surrender to the authority and protection of Rome the question was asked, Do you deliver up yourselves, the Collatine people, your city, your fields, your water, your bounds, your temples, your utensils, all things that are yours, both human and Divine, into the hands of the people of Rome? And on their replying, We deliver up all, they were received. (J. Harris.)

Surrender must be unconditional

At the battle of Fort Donelson, when ready for the final assault, General Buckner, the Confederate commander, proposed an armistice to settle terms of capitulation. Grant wanted no armistice. He knew his advantage, and replied, No terms but unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon incomparably superior to their own, the Tusculans were threatened with vengeance by the marching of Camillus, at the head of a considerable army, towards their country. Conscious of their inability to cope with such an adversary, they adopted the following method of appeasing him:--They declined to make resistance, set open their gates, and applied themselves quietly to their proper business, resolving to submit since they found it impossible to contend. Camillus, on entering their city, was struck with their prudence, and spake as follows: You only, of all people, have found out the true method of abating the Roman fury; and your submission has proved your best defence. Upon these terms we can no more find it in our hearts to injure you, than, upon other considerations, you could have found power to oppose us. Thus the chief inducement for a sinner to submit to God is a persuasion that He is not inexorable, but that there is forgiveness with Him through Jesus Christ.

Self-devotion a Christian duty

I. The state of those here addressed.

1. As the apostle did not speak to disembodied spirits, or to persons literally raised he must refer to a spiritual resurrection. Nor does he speak of such as have escaped great dangers, or been recovered from great afflictions, although these may, in a sense, be said to be alive from the dead. But he speaks of a resurrection from a death of sin to a life of righteousness. This death is alluded to in Col_2:13; Eph_2:1.

2. To be alive from this death includes repentance unto life (Act_11:18); living faith, whereby the just live (Heb_10:38); justification of life (Rom_5:18); regeneration; the being risen with Christ, even from temporal death, and to eternal life, as it respects a title to, meetness for, expectation, prospect, and anticipation of it.

II. The exhortation given to them.

1. Yield yourselves, exhibit, present, place as a sacrifice at the altar. That which we are to present is not merely our prayers, praises, alms, duties, but ourselves, our persons, souls and bodies, to God, who does not want ours but us, that we may belong to Him, may be appropriated to Him only. Thus St. Paul (Act_27:23).

2. But how are we to present ourselves to God? As subjects to a king; as servants to a master (verse 16); as soldiers to their general--hence the word used for instruments denotes, properly, military weapons; as children to a father; as a wife to a husband; as a mans field or house may be said to be at his disposal, to be cultivated or employed as he pleases.

3. Thus we are to yield or present, to God all our members, faculties, talents, time: we should consider they may be instruments and weapons of unrighteousness, employed in the service of sin, fighting for it, and for its master, Satan, against God; or they may be instruments and weapons of righteousness, employed in the promotion of piety and virtue for Gods service and glory, fighting His battles, and opposing the designs of our spiritual enemies.

III. Motives enforcing the exhortation.

1. Justice and reason; we are Gods by creation, preservation, redemption.

2. Gratitude to God for His inestimable mercies.

3. Love to man.

4. And even self-interest requires it. (J. Benson.)

Alternating between amendment and relapse

Lady Montagu, in one of her letters, describes in her own peculiar way a stormy passage which she had just made across the Bristol Channel. She tells of a lady on the steamer whose fears were divided between being lost herself and losing her smuggled headdress. She had bought a fine point-lace cap which she was contriving to conceal from the custom house officers. When the wind grew high and the little vessel creaked, she fell very heartily to her prayers, and thought wholly of her soul. When it seemed to abate she returned to the worldly care of her headdress. This easy transition from her soul to her headdress, and the alternate agonies that both gave her, made it hard to determine which she thought of greatest value. This, we fear, is a little picture of many lives as they cross the channel between the two eternities--alternating from amendment to relapse; driven now by some sudden calamity to think of the soul, but with every lull in the dark providence falling back to caress some smuggled habit from the land of sin.

Surrender of the soul to God

Horace Bushnell was a teacher in Yale College at a time of religious awakening there; and although not an atheist, not an infidel, was greatly disturbed by doctrinal unrest. He was settling his opinions; he was passing through that tumultuous period known in the experience of most diligent inquirers, in which he could raise more questions than he could answer. The pupils under him were profoundly affected by the religious movement in the college. His great manliness, his benevolence, his social feeling, caused him extreme pain in view of the fact that he seemed to stand in the way of the religious reformation of his own scholars. He paced up and down his room, meditating on his personal duty, and finally came to this proposition: I have no doubt that there is a distinction between right and wrong. I feel sure on that one point; am I willing to act according to my belief? I have perfect confidence that there is a distinction between right and wrong; am I willing to throw myself over the line between the wrong and the right, towards the side of the right, and hereafter consecrate myself irrevocably, utterly, affectionately, to the following of the best religious light I possess? He knelt down. He consecrated himself to the performance of all duty known to him. He rose with a forehead white, and the light of a star in his soul. Were all his doubts dissipated at an instants notice? Not at all. But they were like the mighty pines on the mountain tops after the lightning had smitten them. They do not fall, but they cease to grow. They are no longer trees; they are timber. He went on and on, until he came to be a prince with God, one of the leaders of religious discussion, one of the most spiritually-minded of theologians. I do not accept all his speculations; but the element in him that strikes all men who once fairly see it is his spirituality. It strikes even those of a faith opposed to his. I think that our friends in the Liberal school in theology revere the memory of Horace Bushnell for his sermons on the new life as well as for his philanthropic efforts. But the central thing in him, the pillar of fire which led him into the promised land, was surrender to God, or to what he knew to be duty, and to the whole of it. At the instant of irreversible, affectionate surrender, at the instant of that adjustment of the lenses of his soul, God flashed through him. (J. Cook.)

Gospel service

I. As those who are alive from the dead. This cuts up legalism by the roots. To work legally is to work for life; to work evangelically is to work from life. You are not here called upon to enter the service of God, as those who have life to win; but to enter the service of God, as those who are already alive--as those who can count upon heaven as their own. In this expression there are three distinct suggestions all regarding that new gospel service upon which we enter at the moment of our release from the sentence and state of death.

1. The hopefulness of such a service. The same work that, out of Christ, would have been vain for all the purposes of acceptance, is no longer vain in the Lord. The same labour that would have been fruitless may now be fruitful of such spiritual sacrifices as are acceptable to God through Christ. The same offerings which would have been rejected as an equivalent for the wages of a servant may now be rejoiced over and minister complacency to the spirit of our heavenly Father, when rendered as the attentions of His reconciled children.

2. The principle of such a service--gratitude to Him who had received us. Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price, etc. It is just yielding up to Him in service that which He has conferred upon us by donation. It is turning to its bidden use the instrument He has put into our hands.

3. The power for the service. The faith which receives Christ receives power along with Him to become one of Gods children. The instant of our believing is the instant of our new birth. The same faith which reconciles is also the faith which regenerates; and you, in yielding yourselves to the service of God, will be upheld by the influences which descend on the prayer of faith.

II. And your members as the instruments of righteousness unto God. How naturally the apostle descends from the high principle to the plain work of obedience! To yield yourselves unto God is a brief expression of that act by which you submit your person and bind over all your performances to His will. To yield your members as the instruments of righteousness unto God is, in the language of the lawyers, like an extension of the brief. Did you at one time put forth your hand to depredation or violence--now let it be the instrument of service to your neighbour and honest labour for your families. Did your feet carry you to the haunts of profligacy--now let them carry you to the house of prayer and of holy companionship. Did your tongue utter forth evil speakings--let it now be the organ of charity and peace, and let the salt of grace season its various communications. Did your eyes go abroad in quest of foolishness--let the steadfast covenant now be made with them that they may be turned away from every intruding evil. Did you give your ears to the corrupting jest, or to the refined converse that is impregnated with every charm but that of Christianity--let them now be given up to the lessons of eternal wisdom, and to the accents of those who fear the Lord and talk often together of His name. In this way you turn your members into so many instruments of righteousness. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

Christians serving God as those that are alive from the dead

As, then, Lazarus, or the son of the poor widow of Nain, or the saints which arose after the crucifixion of Christ, must have conceived, and felt, and acted, under impressions peculiarly their own; so those who are spiritually alive from the dead, who are quickened by the Divine Spirit, have conceptions, and feelings, and impressions, which distinguish them from the rest of mankind; we may observe, then--

I. Christians, as those that are alive from the dead, are to yield themselves unto God, with lively perceptions of the things which are not seen and eternal. Had the earthly house of your tabernacle been dissolved, and your spirits permitted to take their flight to an eternal world, and for a season to dwell there; with what vivid perceptions of Divine things should you afterwards have yielded yourselves unto God! Oh, how subduing would be the visions of heaven! And are not you Christians alive from the dead? Has not God quickened you? Has He not given you that faith which is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen? Is not your conversation in heaven? Have you not obtained affecting, realising views of an eternal world? Calculating everything by the standard of God manifest in the flesh, God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, living, and dying, and rising, and ascending, and interceding for men, what impressions do you receive? What an overwhelming evil does sin appear, what an importance attaches to the soul, and to heaven, and eternity, and holiness, and everything connected with the inheritance of the saints in light! By enlightening your understandings, God has given you an impulse, a new nature, and has awakened your consciences, and engaged your affections, and made obedience, and zeal, and devotedness delightful. Then quench not the heavenly light, counteract not the heavenly impulse, resist not the Divine nature, but yield yourselves unto God, by dying unto sin, by living unto God, by glorifying God with your bodies, and with your spirits which are Gods.

II. Christians, as those that are alive from the dead, are to yield themselves unto God, under a sense of Divine favour and with sentiments of gratitude and joy. If you are alive from the dead, it is all gain and no loss. How much do you owe to God and Christ, and the riches of His grace! You were earthly, sensual, devilish; now you are pure, peaceable, without partiality, and without hypocrisy; full of mercy and of good fruits. You were children of the wicked one; now you are children of God. Once you were condemned; now there is no condemnation to you. You are now the children of God, and the inheritance is yours. You have nothing, however, in all this that you have not received. All is of grace, When you can determine what you owe to God, and to Christ, and His grace; then you have ascertained your obligations to God in being alive from the dead. Oh, what an impelling, absorbing gratitude, should influence your hearts, and souls, your thoughts, your words, and works.

III. Christians, as those that are alive from the dead, are to yield themselves unto God that they may be instrumental in convincing others of the reality of things not seen. You are designed to live a life so spiritual, so holy, so heavenly, a life which so marks your connection with eternity, that you may, by that, testify to your brethren, and save their souls alive; this will be no less efficacious than miracles, and signs, and wonders. Your own personal salvation is not the only thing connected with religion which you are to care about, and to promote. Higher aims are to be yours; for you are designed for higher and nobler purposes. You are to show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into the marvellous light of the gospel. You are to be to the Lord for a name; for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (M. Jackson.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. By our members seem to be meant, not merely the several parts of our bodily frame eye. tongue, hand, foot, etc. but generally all the parts or constituents of our present human nature, which sin may use as its instruments, but which ought to be devoted to God. (cf. Col_3:5) Many commentators would translate opla "weapons" rather than "instruments," on the ground that St. Paul usually uses the word in this sense; (Rom_13:12 2Co_6:7 2Co_10:4 Eph_6:11, Eph_6:13) and also that oqwnia in ver. 22, taken in the sense of the pay of a soldier, (as in Luk_3:14 1Co_9:7) is supposed to imply that the apostle has had all along the idea of warfare in view. The second of these reasons really proves nothing. Whatever the meaning of oqawnia in ver. 23, it is too far removed from the passage before us to be taken in any connection with it. Neither is the first reason at all cogent. Opla bears the sense of instruments as well as of weapons, and may more suitably bear it here. When St. Paul elsewhere speaks of armour, it is the armour of light, or of righteousness, which we are told to take up, and to put on, in order to fight against our spiritual enemies. Such a conception is inapplicable to our own members, which we have already, which we may use either for good or evil, and which require the protection of heavenly armour rather than being themselves armour; and we certainly could not be told to take them up or put them on. We may, in the next place, observe that the two clauses of this verse are differently expressed in two respects.

(1) It is our members only that we are forbidden to yield to sin; but ourselves, with our members, we are bidden to yield to God. For few of the persons addressed, if even any, could be supposed, deliberately and of choice, to offer their whole being to the service of sin as such; they were only liable to succumb to sin, in this or that way, through soliciting lusts. But the regenerate Christian offers and presents his whole serf to God, and desires to be his entirely.

(2) In the first clause we find the present imperative, paristanete ; but in the second the aorist imperative, parasthsate . The distinction between the two tenses in the imperative is thus expressed in Matthiae"s "Greek Grammar:" "that the aorist designates an action passing by, and considered abstractedly in its completion, but the present a continued and frequently repeated action." Our giving ourselves to God is something done once for all; our yielding our members as instruments of sin is a succession of acts of yielding.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unrighteousness

Righteousness. Rom 6:13; Rom 6:16; Rom 6:18; Rom 6:19; Rom 6:20 (See Scofield "Rom 10:10").

sin Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom 6:13. Μηδὲ παριστάνετε) neither yield ye. The first aor. παραστήσατε, which occurs presently, has greater force than this present.—τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν· ἑαυτοὺς καὶ τὰ μέλη, your members; yourselves and your members) First, the character of the Christian is brought under consideration; secondly, His actions and duties. Man, who is dead in sin, could not, with propriety, be said to yield HIMSELF [Sistere seipsum, to present himself] to sin: but the man, who is alive, may yield [present] himself to God.—ὄπλα, arms) [instruments] a figurative expression, derived from war, as wages, Rom 6:23.—ἀδικίας, of unrighteousness) which is opposed to the righteous will of God.—τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, to sin) Sin is here considered as a tyrant.—παραστήσατε [yield] present) as to a king.—ἐκ νεκρῶν, from the dead) The Christian is alive from the dead. He had been dead, he is now alive. Comp. Eph 5:14, note, Rev 3:1-3. Sleep, too, in these passages, is the image of death.—δικαιοσύνης, of righteousness) The antithetic word is ἀδικίας, of unrighteousness.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vv. 13. After speaking of the body in general, the apostle in Rom 6:13 a mentions the members in particular. Philippi, who, with Calvin, has understood the body in Rom 6:12, not of the body properly so called, but of the body and soul united (in so far as the latter is not under the influence of the Holy Spirit), gives also to the word members, Rom 6:13, a moral as well as physical sense. It is not only the eyes, hands, feet, tongue, etc., but also the heart, will, understanding. There could be nothing more arbitrary than this extension to the soul of the meaning of the words body and members. The members of the body correspond to the various lusts, Rom 6:12, and are the particular instruments of their gratification. The term ὅπλα may be translated by arms or by instruments. Meyer insists strongly on the first meaning, the only one, according to him, used in the New Testament (comp. 2Co 6:7; 2Co 10:4). But we doubt much whether this observation applies to Rom 13:12 (see on the passage); and the meaning: instrument, seems to us much more suitable here, as there is no reference to war, but to the gratification of lusts.— The present imperative παριστάνετε, present, yield, like the βασιλεύετω of Rom 6:12, denotes the continuance of an actual state. With the negative μή, it therefore signifies: cease from yielding, as you have done till now. The verb παριστάνειν signifies: to present in order to put at the disposal of. The word ἀδικία, unrighteousness, here embraces all acts contrary to moral obligation in general. — It may be doubted whether the dative τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, to sin, depends on the verb yield, or on the substantive instrument. Perhaps it should be connected with both at once. — Rom 6:12-13 a have expounded the notion of the sanctification of the body from a negative point of view. Rom 6:13 b expounds it positively. It is the same gradation as we have from 5a to 5b, and from Rom 6:7 to Rom 6:8.

The apostle here uses the aorist παραστήσατε instead of the present παριστάνετε, Rom 6:13 a Critics are not agreed as to the meaning and intention of this form. Meyer takes this imperative aorist as indicating the instantaneousness with which the consecration of the body should be carried out. Fritzsche finds in it the notion of the continual repetition of the acts in which this consecration takes effect. Philippi thinks that this form expresses the idea of a consecration accomplished once for all. As the aorist strictly denotes the passing into action, the imperative aorist strongly calls upon the individual to accomplish without delay the act indicated by the verb (almost the meaning indicated by Meyer). The difference between this aorist imperative and the present imperatives preceding is therefore this: the latter were an exhortation not to continue the old state; the former insists on an immediate transition to the new state (comp. Hofmann, p. 246). This change should affect not the body only, but the whole person: yield yourselves. The consecration of the body and of the members is included in that of the person. The as which follows does not signify: as if (ὡσεί, Alex. reading), but: as being really (ὡς, Byz. reading).

The expression dead has been understood here in two ways. Some, like Philippi, have found in it the notion of spiritual death, in which the sinner still lies, comp. Eph 2:1; Eph 2:5. The apostle is thought to be contrasting the old state of estrangement from God, in which the Romans formerly were, with their present state of life in God. Others, on the contrary, like Meyer, starting from the comparison between Rom 6:2; Rom 6:11, think that the subject in question is the death to sin consummated by faith in Christ. The apostle is thought to be contrasting the state of the body’s inactivity at the time when the believer is only experimentally dead with Christ (Rom 6:6-7), with his new activity from the time that he receives a new life (Rom 6:8-10), through experimental acquaintance with the Lord’s resurrection, This second meaning is obviously forced; the first, simpler in itself, also agrees better with the contrast between the believer’s new and old state (Rom 6:12-13 a). The term δικαιοσύνη, righteousness, in contrast to ἀδικία, iniquity, can only denote here moral righteousness, the fulfilment of all human obligations.

The dative Θεῷ, to God, does not depend probably on the understood verb yield, since it would have been useless in this case to repeat this clause already expressed in the previous line. It must therefore be connected with the expression ὅπλα δικαιοσὑνης, instruments of righteousness for God. All those works of righteousness which God could not execute Himself here below without constant miraculous interventions, He accomplishes by believers, who eagerly lend their bodies and members to Him as instruments for this end.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rom_6:13

Neither yield ye your members, etc. Do not permit sin to reign in you, nor yield your powers as its instruments. Neither yield, μηδὲ παριστάνετε. The word means to place by, to present (as an offering), Luk_2:22; Rom_12:1; to give up to the power or service of, Rom_6:16, Rom_6:19, etc. Your members, either literally, members of the body, the eye, ear, hand, etc., or figuratively, your powers, whether of mind or body. The choice between the literal and figurative interpretation depends on the view taken of the preceding verse. If there σῶμα (body) be understood literally, then your members can only mean the members of the body; but if mortal body is there a periphrase for you, then your members must mean your faculties. The μέλη (members) are the parts of which the σῶμα consists; and therefore if the σῶμα stands for the whole person, the members must include all our powers, mental as well as corporeal. In Rom_7:5, Paul says that sin did work in our members; and in Rom_6:23, he speaks of a law in his members. In neither of those cases is the reference exclusively to the body. As instruments of unrighteousness. That is, instruments which unrighteousness uses, or which are employed to effect unrighteousness. The word ὅπλα is generic; it is used in the general sense of instruments, for the tackle of a ship, the tools of an artisan, though most frequently for weapons. On account of this general usage, and of Pauls own use of the word in Rom_13:12, armor of light, (2Co_6:7, armor of righteousness, and 2Co_10:4, the weapons of our warfare,) many prefer the restricted sense in this place. Our members are regarded as weapons which sin uses to regain its dominion, or the predominance of unrighteousness. The context, however, does not favor the assumption of this allusion to a strife; and therefore the general sense of instruments, or implements, is more in keeping with the rest of the passage. But yield yourselves unto God; ἀλλὰ παραστήσατε, but on the contrary, present yourselves, i.e., give yourselves up to God, not only your several powers, but your very selves, a dedication which of necessity involves that of each separate faculty. In the first clause of the verse the present tense, παριστάνετε is used; here it is the first aorist, present yourselves once for all. As alive from the dead, i.e., as those who having been dead, are now alive. Having been quickened by the power of God, raised from the death of sin and all its dreadful consequences, they were bound to live unto God. Who, having been restored to life, would desire to return to the loathsomeness of the grave? And, i.e., and especially, your members (i.e., παριστάνετε, present your members) as instruments of righteousness to God. Present all your powers to God, to be employed by him as implements of righteousness; that is, instruments by which righteousness may be effected.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your mind and all the powers of it.

To sin, as to a Lord or tyrant.

As instruments to commit wickedness withall.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto Sin, but yield yourselves--this is the great surrender.

unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and--as the fruit of this.

your members--till now prostituted to sin.

instruments of righteousness unto God--But what if indwelling sin should prove too strong for us? The reply is: But it will not.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. Neither yield ye your members] Do not yield to temptation. It is no sin to be tempted, the sin lies in yielding. While the sin exists only in Satan's solicitation, it is the devil's sin, not ours: when we yield, we make the devil's sin our own: then we ENTER INTO temptation. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Satan himself cannot force you to sin: till he wins over your will, he cannot bring you into subjection. You may be tempted; but yield not to the temptation.

Yield yourselves unto God] Let God have your wills; keep them ever on his side; there they are safe, and there they will be active. Satan cannot force the will, and God will not. Indeed it would cease to be will were it forced by either: it is essential to its being that it be free.

And your members as instruments, c.] Let soul and body be employed in the service of your Maker let him have your hearts; and with them, your heads, your hands, your feet. Think and devise what is pure; speak what is true, and to the use of edifying; work that which is just and good; and walk steadily in the way that leads to everlasting felicity. Be holy within and holy without.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Nor present your members, etc. When once sin has obtained dominion in our soul, all our faculties are continually applied to its service. He therefore describes here the reign of sin by what follows it, that he might more clearly show what must be done by us, if we would shake off its yoke. But he borrows a similitude from the military office, when he calls our members weapons or arms (arma); as though he said, “As the soldier has ever his arms ready, that he may use them whenever he is ordered by his general, and as he never uses them but at his command; so Christians ought to regard all their faculties to be the weapons of the spiritual warfare: if then they employ any of their members in the indulgence of depravity, they are in the service of sin. But they have made the oath of soldiers to God and to Christ, and by this they are held bound: it hence behoves them to be far away from any intercourse with the camps of sin.” — Those may also here see by what right they proudly lay claim to the Christian name, who have all their members, as though they were the prostitutes of Satan, prepared to commit every kind of abomination.

On the other hand, he now bids us to present ourselves wholly to God, so that restraining our minds and hearts from all wanderings into which the lusts of the flesh may draw us, we may regard the will of God alone, being ready to receive his commands, and prepared to execute his orders; and that our members also may be devoted and consecrated to his will, so that all the faculties both of our souls and of our bodies may aspire after nothing but his glory. The reason for this is also added — that the Lord, having destroyed our former life, has not in vain created us for another, which ought to be accompanied with suitable actions.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) Instruments.—Rather, as margin, arms, or weapons which sin is to wield. The same military metaphor is kept up in Rom_6:23, “the wages of sin” (your pay as soldiers of sin) “is death.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. your members] your limbs; the bodily organs and their constitution. The words thus = “your body,” (see Rom_12:1,) only with the suggestion of its varied powers for good or evil. See on Rom_6:6 (on “the body.” Cp. Col_3:5).

instruments] Lit., weapons. The word in classical Gr. has very various references, but N. T. usage makes it best here to keep the military reference. The will is regarded as at war, whether for or against holiness.

unto sin] Connect these words with “yield;” q. d., “Do not put them as weapons into the hand of sin to use for unrighteousness.” So below, “Put them into the hand of God as weapons to use for righteousness.”

yourselves] This word was not used in the previous clause, and here emphasizes the cordial allegiance resulting from justification.

as those that are alive, &c.] Rather better, who were dead and are alive. The facts both of death and life are emphatic in the Gr.—The reference is to acceptance in Him who “was delivered because of our offences and raised again because of our justification” (Rom_4:25). In Him the believer has, as it were, suffered expiatory death and passed into “newness of life.” This seems to be the reference proper to this context, rather than a reference to the spiritual death-state of unrenewed man. (Eph_2:1.)

righteousness] Here, of course, in the sense of active good; not, as so often before, in that of “righteousness in the eye of the law.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither yield ye your members,.... The apostle more fully explains what he means by obeying sin in the lusts thereof; a presenting, or making use of the "members, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin": by their "members" he means the several powers and faculties of the soul, and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "your souls"; or the several parts of the body, or both; by "yielding", or presenting of them, is designed the employment of them in the service of sin,

as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: that is, as means of performing unrighteous actions, in obedience to sin, or the corruption of nature with its lusts: the word translated "instruments", signifies "arms" or "weapons": so the ancients (w) formerly reckoned weapons the members of soldiers; and here the apostle calls the members weapons, which he would not have the saints use in favour of sin, an enemy and a tyrant; for that would be unrighteous in itself, and injurious to God and themselves: says he,

but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead: that is, present themselves soul and body to God, give up and devote themselves to him, and to his service, and yield a cheerful obedience to him; considering themselves as under great obligation so to do, inasmuch as they are freed from condemnation and death, by the righteousness of Christ; and quickened, when dead in trespasses and sins, by his Spirit and grace; and therefore should yield

your members, their whole selves,

as instruments, or weapons

of righteousness unto God; by fighting against sin, revenging all disobedience, and fulfilling obedience to the commands of God: the same is here meant, as is by putting on "the armour of light" Rom 13:12, and wearing and making use of "the armour of righteousness, on the right hand and the left", Co2 6:7.

(w) Alexander ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 12. p. 18.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Ver. 13. Unto sin] As Satan’s general, who hath his trenches, 2Co 10:4; his commanders, as here, and his fighting soldiers, 1Pe 2:11; his weapons, as here.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither yield ye your members - Do not give up, or devote, or employ your members, etc. The word “members” here refers to the members of the body - the hands, feet, tongue, etc. It is a specification of what in Rom 6:12 is included under the general term “body;” see Rom 7:5, Rom 7:23; 1Co 6:15; 1Co 12:12, 1Co 12:18, 1Co 12:20.

As instruments - This word ὁπλα hopla properly signifies “arms;” or implements of war; but it also denotes an instrument of any kind which we use for defense or aid. Here it means that we should not devote our members - our hands, tongue, etc., as if under the direction of sinful passions and corrupt desires, to accomplish purposes of iniquity. We should not make the members of our bodies the slaves of sin reigning within us.

Unto sin - In the service of sin; to work iniquity.

But yield yourselves ... - Give or devote yourselves to God.

That are alive - Rom 6:11.

And your members ... - Christians should devote every member of the body to God and to his service. Their tongue should be consecrated to his praise, and to the office of truth, and kindness, and benevolence; their hands should be employed in useful labor for him and his cause; their feet should be swift in his service, and should not go in the paths of iniquity; their eyes should contemplate his works to excite thanksgiving and praise; their ears should not be employed to listen to words of deceit, or songs of dangerous and licentious tendency, or to persuasion that would lead astray, but should be open to catch the voice of God as he utters his will in the Book of truth, or as he speaks in the gale, the zephyr, the rolling thunder, the ocean, or in the great events of his providence. He speaks to us every day, and we should hear him; he spreads his glories before us, and we should survey them to praise him; he commands, and our hands, and heart, and feet should obey.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He fitly compares our bodily members to tools that artificers work, or weapons that soldiers fight withal; for as those, so these, may be used well or ill: e.g. With the hand one man giveth an alms, another stealeth; with the tongue one man blesseth, another curseth. By members here we are not only to understand the parts of the body, as the hands, eyes, ears, &c.; but also the faculties of the soul, as the understanding, will, affections, &c. These bear some proportion to the bodily members, as the understanding to the eye, &c. All of them must be employed by us as weapons to fight, not under the command of Satan for sin, but under the command of God for righteousness.

As those that are alive from the dead: these words contain a reason why we should not serve sin and Satan, but bequeath and dedicate ourselves to the service of God, because we are endued with a spiritual life, after a spiritual death; or because we have received so great a benefit as to be raised in Christ from the death and power of sin.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Members as instruments—Our limbs, all the parts and organs of our body, the false king, Sin, would devote as instruments to execute the behests of the lusts.

Unto God—The true king. Instruments of righteousness—Instead of lusts. Augustine well says: “Does anger rise? Refuse to give for it your tongue to cursing or your hand to striking. That irrational rage would cease to rise did not sin exist in the members. Abolish its power; let it not have weapons with which it can war against you. It will learn not to rise when it ceases to be allowed arms.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither present your members to sin - To corrupt nature, a mere tyrant. But to God - Your lawful King.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As if the apostle had said, "Sin, which has such a kingly and commanding power, will be calling upon you to give up the members of your bodies, and the faculties of your souls, as instruments or weapons for its service: but yield not your consents thereto, turn a deaf ear to the voice of sin, and hearken to the call of God, who commands you to yield yoursleves unto him, and your members as instruments for his service."

Here note, 1. A negative exhortation, Yield not your members as as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Let not sin or Satan have an eye, an ear, a tongue, a foot, a hand, nay, not so much as a little finger devoted to their service, how strongly soever they may solicit and move for it.

Note, 2. A positive injunction, But yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

Learn hence, That Christians ought not to suffer any members of their body to be employed in the service of sin, but to yield them all up unto God, in obedience to his will. Here are two opposite masters, God and sin; the one a tyrant and usurper, the other a rightful lord and master. And here also are two opposite employments: unrighteousness, by which is meant all sin, whereby we deal unrighteously with God, our neighbour, and ourselves; and righteousness, whereby we give to God, to others, and ourselves, their respective dues.

Now the apostle calls loudly upon us to render unto God the things that are God’s; to yield every member of the body to him, and employ it for him; for the members of the body were all created by him, and redeemed for him, and shall be glorified with him.

O let us then take heed of abusing any members of our body; let us not employ so much as a little finger or hair of our heads in the service of sin: for it is the Lord’s: And let every one take heed of dishonouring God with his bodily members, lest he provoke God to deny him the comfortable use of the members of his body. When Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the prophet of God, he presently lost the use of his hand.

Oh! how suddenly can God wither an hand or arm, that is stretched out to do mischief? ’tis a righteous thing for God to smite an abused eye with blindness, an abused ear with deafness, an abused foot with lameness, a swearing or forwswearing tongue with paralytic deadness.

Lord, how justly mayest thou recal thy favours, when we fight against thee with them? Yielding the members of our bodies as weapons of unrighteousness unto sin!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. “Neither permit ye your members arms of unrighteousness unto sin”; as in that case you will necessarily backslide and go headlong to hell. Justification is a transition experience, destined either to go on into holiness, consummated by the execution of the “old man,” or by yielding your members as “arms of unrighteousness,” go back into sin and down to hell. “But present yourselves unto God as alive from the dead, and your members as arms of righteousness unto God.” This is an important appeal for entire consecration, which is the human side of sanctification. How pertinent this fervent exhortation after his vivid description of entire sanctification by the crucifixion of the “old man” and the destruction of the “body of sin.” The Jew presented the offering to God by laying it on the altar which sanctified the gift. He had nothing to do with the work of sanctification. That was effected by mere contact with God’s altar. But he must bring the offering and put it on the altar; even so the crucifying of old Adam is not your work, thank God. For you could never do it; but it is the work of Him who hung the heavens upon naught, and flung the stars glittering over the skies; so hurry up and make the consecration. Time is flying and eternity is coming. Consecrate at once and make the reckoning. Then the louder you shout, the sooner the walls of Jericho will fall.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

neither present your members unto sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God .

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. Neither yield ye your members. The organs and appetites of the body must not be turned over to sin to use as instruments of unrighteousness. These have all been consecrated to God, by our rising to a new life, and we, as alive with the divine life, living to God, should use them all as instruments of righteousness unto God; i. e., as means of glorifying him and doing his will.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

13. μηδὲ παριστάνετε, do not continue to lend. παραστήσατε make a surrender once for all; cf. Moulton, p. 125. Cf. Rom 12:1.

τῷ θεῷ, for GOD’s use.

ἐκ νεκρῶν ζ., as men that are alive after being dead.

τὰ μέλη, the component parts of the body. ὅπλα, instruments, tools (not merely for war); cf. Rom 13:12; 2Co 6:7.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] Hortatory inferences from ver. 11: from μή to τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, negative, answering to νεκροὺς τῇ ἁμ.,—then positive, answering to ζῶντας τῷ θεῷ.

13.] Nor render (see reff.;—as a soldier renders his service to his sovereign, or a servant to his master) your members (more particular than ‘your bodies;’ the individual members being instruments of different lusts and sins) as instruments (or, ‘weapons,’ as Vulg., most of the Greek expositors, and Luth., Calv., Beza, Tholuck, which latter defends this rendering by Paul’s fondness for military similitudes, and by the occurrence of ὀψώνια below, ver. 23;—but as De W. observes, the comparison here is to servitude rather than soldiership) of unrighteousness to sin; but render (the present imperat. above denotes habit,—the exhortation guards against the recurrence of a devotion of the members to sin: this aorist imperat., on the other hand, as in ch. 12:1, denotes an act of self-devotion to God once for all, not a mere recurrence of the habit) yourselves (not merely your members, but your whole selves, body, soul, and spirit) to God, as alive from having been dead (as in vv. 4 ff. and Eph 2:1-5), and your members as instruments (see above) of righteousness to God (dat. ‘commodi,’ as indeed is τῇ ἁμαρτ. above, the dat. after παριστ. being there left to be supplied, because of τῆ̣ ἁμ. following).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Observe the change of tense: παριστάνετε, ‘go on yielding,’ by the weakness which succumbs to temptation whenever it presses; παραστήσατε, ‘dedicate by one decisive act, one resolute effort.’

ὅπλα: ‘weapons’ (cf. esp. Rom 13:12; 2Co 6:7; 2Co 10:4). ἀδικίας and δικαιοσύνης are gen. qualitatis. For a like military metaphor more fully worked out comp. Eph 6:11-17.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yield [παριστανετε] . Put at the service of; render. Rev., present. Compare Luk 2:22; Act 9:41; Rom 12:1. See on Act 1:3. Members [μελη] . Physical; though some include mental faculties.

Compare Col 3:5, where members is expounded by fornication, uncleanness, etc., the physical being a symbol of the moral, of which it is the instrument.

Instruments [οπλα] . The word is used from the earliest times of tools or instruments generally. In Homer of a ship 's tackle, smith's tools, implements of war, and in the last sense more especially in later Greek. In the New Testament distinctly of instruments of war (Joh 18:3; 2Co 6:7; 2Co 10:4). Here probably with the same meaning, the conception being that of sin and righteousness as respectively rulers of opposing sovereignties (compare reign, ver. 12, and have dominion, ver. 14), and enlisting men in their armies. Hence the exhortation is, do not offer your members as weapons with which the rule of unrighteousness may be maintained, but offer them to God in the service of righteousness. Of unrighteousness [αδικιας] . See on 2Pe 2:13.

Yield [παραστησατε] . Rev., present. The same word as before, but in a different tense. The present tense, be presenting, denotes the daily habit, the giving of the hand, the tongue, etc., to the service of sin as temptation appeals to each. Here the aorist, as in Rom 12:1, denotes an act of self - devotion once for all.

As those that are alive [ως ζωντας] . The best texts read wJsei as if alive. This brings out more clearly the figurative character of the exhortation. 37 From the dead [εκ νεκρων] . Note the preposition out of. See on Luk 16:31.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.