Verses I, 2. "If you be risen," means: whereas, you are risen with Christ. In this verse the Apostle draws his moral conclusion from their spiritual resurrection out of the grave of sin, of which their emersion from the waters of baptism was a type. It is this: that they should bestow their entire care and affections, and all their thoughts, on the things of heaven. "Where Christ is sitting on the right hand,'' &c. These words simply mean, that whereas Christ, as God, is equal to the Father; as man, he holds the most honorable place in heaven, being next to God in honor and glory, which is expressed by the Scripture, in accommodation to human conceptions, in the words— "Sits at the right hand of God."

Verse 3. In the foregoing verses, the Apostle made two assertions—-viz., that the heavenly things were to be cared for, and the earthly, undervalued. He now assigns a reason for both. The immersion practiced in baptism was a type of their burial, and consequently death to sin and the passions, which it effected at the same time, after the model of Christ's death and burial. They, therefore, should have no more connection with "the things upon the earth," i.e., either the "elements of this world," or the vices of the earth, which he enumerates (verse 5), or perhaps both, than the living have with the dead. —Secondly, the emersion from the waters of baptism was a type of their spiritual life and resurrection, which it also effected, after the model of Christ's resurrection from the grave; hence, they should mind the things of heaven. But this spiritual life received by them in baptism is "hidden" from the eyes of worldlings "with Christ in God;" it shall, however, be manifested when Christ shall come to judge the world. How calculated are not these words of the Apostle to stimulate us to labor and suffer for eternal life, and have our thoughts fixed on heaven! We are called to eternal life; to the things that are above: our final resting-place, our country is heaven, we are enrolled, as citizens of heaven, where our fellow-citizens are waiting for us. Why, then, keep our thoughts fixed on this earth, this place of passage!—why, mere travelers, centre our affections on this inn, in which Ave are for a short time to reside, during the time that we are tending towards the lasting habitation, reserved for us in the vast and magnificent palaces of the King of Glory? "O Israel! how great is the house of God, and how vast the place of his possessions."—(Baruch, 3:24). How frequently in our passage through life, during our sojourn in this land of banishment, should we not look forward to our lasting home, our true country in eternity, to which every moment brings us nearer, and how earnestly should we not labor to secure it!

Verse 4. Christ is both the efficient—the meritorious—the exemplary—and the final cause of our life of grace here, and of glory hereafter, and when he shall come to judge the world, then we shall appear glorious like him. "Your life." In Greek, our life. The Vulgate is, however, supported by many manuscripts and Fathers, among the rest, by Saint Chrysostom.

Verse 5. In order to appear one day thus glorious, "mortify your members which are upon earth," "In his Epistle to the Romans, the Apostle calls all sins taken collectively, the "body of sin" (6:6), and verse 11 of the preceding chapter of this Epistle, "the body (of the sins) of the flesh," as also "the old man,"" because as man, or the body of man, consists of different members; so, is the body of sin made up of different kinds of sin, as of so many members. He calls them "upon the earth," because they fix our desires on the earth, and withdraw us more from God. To the same he refers in verse 2 :—"Not the things that are on the earth." "Uncleanness," all kinds of unclean acts ; "lust," every kind of abominable passion; "avarice." There is the same diversity of opinion regarding the meaning of this word here as in the Epistle to the Ephesians (chap. 5 verse 6).

Verse 6. See chapter 5, verse 6, to the Ephesians.

Verse 7. "Walked," and "lived," differ in this, that the former refers to acts; the latter, to the habitual commission of such sins.

Verse 8. "But now lay you also away;" lay aside the following sins of lesser enormity, as well as the preceding more grievous ones; or "also," may mean, lay aside these other sins in which you also lived. Both meanings are united in the Paraphrase "Blasphemy," here means, insulting and opprobrious language towards our neighbor. "Blasphemy," strictly speaking, which is committed against God, is a most grievous crime, and would nave been classed with the preceding.

Verse 9. Lay aside all lying in your words, all frauds and circumvention in your dealings with each other. "Stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds." In the Greek, απεκδυσαμενοι, having stripped yourselves., &c., which may mean, cast away the foregoing vices which are members of the old man of sin whom you have put away at your baptism; or, as in Paraphrase, it may be the commencement of a new sentence, thus:—In a word, I exhort you to put off the old man with his acts.

Verse 10. "And putting on the new." There is the same diversity in the Greek in this as well as in the preceding verse— "And having put on the new." "Who is renewed into knowledge," i.e., which new man receives a new existence, after the image of God, his Creator; for, as man was naturally created after the likeness and image of God, which consisted in his intellect and will; so, in his second birth, or creation by grace, he is formed after the image and likeness of God, which image of grace consists in sanctity and justice.—(Ephes. 4:24). For the meaning of "old man" and "new man," and "putting on" the one, and "putting off" the other. —(See Ephesians 4:22-25)