The Complaint of a Sanctified Sinner Answered, Verse 15-17
VERS. 15, 16, 17.
For I allow not that which I doe: for what I would, that doe I not, but what I hate, that doe I.
If I doe then that which I would not, I conſent to the Law, that it is good.
Now then, it is no more I that doe it, but the ſinne that dwelleth in me.
OVr Apoſtle now comes to lay forth the combat betweene the Fleſh and the Spirit, in them that are truely regenerate, giuing inſtance of it in his owne particular, inſiſting in his owne example.
In theſe three Verſes, 15, 16, 17. hee layes before vsus the firſt degree of that combat, as that by ſinne hee was brought to doe that euill hee would not; thereby making knowne an oppoſition betweene the Law of God commanding, and his will conſenting, and ſinne ouer-ruling, and his fleſh obeying. That is the ſumme of them.
Now the Apoſtle hauing ſaid in the Verſe before, that he was ſold vnderunder ſinne, that hee was held vnderunder the power of his owne corruption vnwillingly; in the firſt wordes of the fifteenth Verſe hee proues it by this, that he diſallowed that which he did: thus he reaſons. The things he did, he did not allow; and therefore he was held vnderunder the power of ſinne vnwillingly: I am ſold vnderunder ſinne: for (ſaith hee) I allow not that which I doe. Then hee further confirmes that Propoſition, that hee allowed not that which he did; becauſe his will was to doe that which he did not, and that which hee did, was hatefull vntounto him, and he did it with a lothing and deteſtation: for (ſaith he) What I would, that doe I not, but what I hate, that doe I. And hereupon hee infers two concluſions: one in the 16. Verſe, and the other in the 17. Verſe.