Commentary on Romans

Commentary on Romans

continued

Chapter V.

1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2. By whom now we have access, by faith, into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Faith then has given us remission of sins, and made us blameless and just by the regeneration of the baptismal font, and it is incumbent on you to preserve the peace thus effected. For the only-begotten by His incarnation has reconciled you, while you were in hostility with Him, and sin it was that produced this hostility, righteousness therefore it must be which will maintain the peace commenced; and this then we are in every way bound to pursue by the consideration of the hopes held out, and the glory promised by God to be given to us. For the recompense of our labours he calls not payment, but glory, to show the excess of our reward. And as they had at that time to endure many troubles, being beaten, tortured, and subjected to a thousand kinds of death, he most fitly brings forward the sources of consolation connected with these things, 3. And not only so, but we even glory in tribulations. He has displayed brightly his own insuperable magnanimity, for it is not, we patiently endure afflictions, which he says, but we even rejoice in afflictions; we are exalted, he exclaims, and take pride to ourselves, as fellow-sharers with the Lord of sufferings;

but this he says not openly, because they alone could so feel, who with himself had arrived at completeness in the faith; the rest he encourages by what should come hereafter. 4. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience proof, and proof hope. 5. And hope maketh not ashamed. When misfortunes surround a man, and he bears their attack nobly, he is thereby shown to stand his proof, and leans on the hope of the future; and this is not a fallacious hope, but one based on truth; which is what he means by maketh not ashamed, they who hope, and then are disappointed, being confounded and ashamed. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, which we received through baptism, has kindled the love of God within us. And he then sets forth the causes of this love. 6. For when we were yet without strength, in time Christ died for the ungodly. 7. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. For we reflect, that when we were yet transgressors, and suffering under the infection of impiety, the Lord Christ endured that death, which was inflicted on our behalf; and hence we learn the depth of His loving-mercy, for for a just man it might be, that some might face death, but He, through the excess of His love, welcomed the death which was in behalf of sinners; as he also goes on to say, 8. But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God then makes manifest the greatness of His love towards us, in the death of Christ having been undergone, not for such as had been just, but for such as were yet transgressors. For we now have been justified by faith in Him, but, when He undertook that death for us, we were still subject to every kind of sin;

the words, in time, mean, at the fit time, in due time, and this he says also in his epistle to the Galatians, (iv. 4, 5. "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." 9. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, shall we be saved from wrath through Him. Having encountered that accursed (see Gal. iii. 13) death for the ungodly and transgressors, it is evident that He will free from the future punishment those, that believe in Him; for that future (eternal) punishment is what he here calls wrath. 10. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God, by the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved in His life. If while we were antagonists, and enemies, He thought fit to treat us with so great consideration, as to give up His Son to die for us, how is it possible, now that reconciliation has been effected, that we should not share in everlasting life? And here again he calls the Lord Christ, the Son, who, the same, is both God and man; it must be evident therefore, I apprehend, even to the most determined heretics, as to which nature His passion took place.

11. And not only so, but we joy also in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the reconciliation. For not only do we expect immortal life, but even as to the present existence, glory in having been brought near unto God, while we reflect upon the things concerning the Lord Christ, who, being our mediator, has effected peace. From hence he proceeds to explain the mystery of the dispensation, and show the reasons of the incarnation, 12. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned. The Lord God having formed Adam, and dignified him with reason, imposed on him one single law for the exercise of those rational faculties; for indeed it was not meet that one who had received reason, and possessed the power of discriminating between good and its opposite, should live without any law at all. He, having been beguiled, transgressed the command. But, from the first, the lawgiver had to the command affixed the threat of retribution, and thus, falling under the sentence of death, he so begot Cain, Seth, and the rest. All therefore, as having sprung from him, inherited a mortal nature. Now such a nature has need of many things, food, and drink, and clothing, and houses, and various arts, and the use of these oftentimes excites the passions into excess, and excess begets sin; and therefore the holy apostle says, that Adam having sinned, and become mortal through that sin, both descended to his race, for death came upon all men, in that all have sinned, for not on account of our first father's transgression, but for his own, each receives the sentence of death. 13. For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned (such) where there is no law. He accuses not, as some suppose, those who lived before the law, but all alike; for the until the law means, not until the commencement of, but until the end of, the law; that is, while the law reigned sin had power, for where there is no law, neither can there be transgression.

14. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the type of Him that would come after. By Moses he means the law, as we also find in the Gospels (Luke xvi. 29,) "They have Moses and the prophets; and so also the holy apostle speaks in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (iii. 15,) " But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their hearts," that is, the law. Death then, says he, reigned from Adam until the manifestation of the Saviour, for then the law received its end, "for the law," says he, "and the prophets, prophesied until John; but from the days of John the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. (Matt. xi. 12, 13. And death, moreover, reigned over those also, who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, for although they had not transgressed that particular commandment, they had nevertheless ventured on other sins. And he calls Adam the type of Christ, for the latter he designates as Him that would come after, on this account, that as Adam first, by his sin, became subject to the sentence of death, and thus the whole race followed their first parent, so the Lord Christ, having fulfilled the most perfect righteousness, destroyed the power of death, and first rising from the dead shall restore the whole race of man to life.

And as he had called Adam the type of Christ, he shows the pre-eminence (of the latter.) 15. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. And how then is this? For if through the offence of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. As regards punishment, says he, the Lord God preserved the strict law of justice, and Adam, having sinned, and been given over to death, the whole race followed him; how much more right then that, as regards God's loving-mercy, justice should also be preserved, and all men share in the resurrection of our Lord Christ! He here calls the Lord Christ a man, to show clearly the type in Adam, that as there by one man (came) death, so here by one man the dissolution of death. 16. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. The munificence of grace, says he, goes beyond the limits of justice, for then, one having sinned, the whole race received punishment, but now, all mankind having been unholy, and transgressors, it has brought, not punishment but, the free gift of life.

17. For if by one man's offences death reigned by one; much more they which receive the fulness of grace, and of the gift, and of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. If the transgression of one man established the dominion of death, it is evident that they, which enjoy the plenteous gifts of God, shall be conquerors over death, and share with Christ in the imperishable kingdom and life eternal.18. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. Doubt not, says he, concerning what I have said, while looking to Adam; for if those things be true, as indeed they are true, and when he had sinned the whole race received the sentence of death; it is plain, that the righteousness of the Saviour gains life to all men. And again he puts the same thing in another form, varying his phrase, and again and again re-stating it, in order the more clearly to open the mystery of the dispensation. 19. For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. With great nicety does he here, in the case of those under Adam, and that of those under grace, adopt the word many, for indeed among the former we find some, who were superior to the grosser sins, as Abe1, and Enoch, and Noah, and Melchisedek, and the patriarchs, and even those who became illustrious under the law; and after (the covenant of) grace there are many who embrace a sinful life.

Having thus shewn us, from what took place through Adam, the reasons for the divine incarnation, he brings forward the objection which might arise, and offers a solution. The objection is with regard to the law, which was given in the interim between Adam and the appearance of the Saviour; wherefore the holy apostle says, 20. But the law came in between, that the offence might abound. He means not, by that it might, that such was its object; but uses the words according to his familiar mode of expression. But what he is shewing is, that neither in time past did God leave men neglected, but gave the law to the Jews, and by their means showed forth the light of religion on the rest of the nations also. And aptly has he put intervened, in that Christ was the end of the promise made to the patriarch; for "in thy seed," says He, "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," and the law intervened between Abraham and Christ. And it taught the more clearly how evil a thing sin was, while yet it was incompetent to put a stop thereto, but only the more increased it, seeing that, in proportion as more commandments were given, so many the more became the violations of them. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. It invalidated not, says he, the mercy of God, but rather displayed the vastness of His loving-kindness. 21.

That as sin had reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord. Here he finishes the argument, shewing that as sin, begetting death, had reigned in our mortal bodies, exciting the passions to excess; so grace, conveying to believers the justification which is of faith, has her dominion also, one not coeval with that of sin, but eternal and endless; for the former reigns over our bodies, but at their death ceases from her power, "for he who is dead," according to the holy apostle, "is freed from sin; while, after the resurrection, our bodies having become imperishable, and immortal, grace will reign in them, sin having no longer any place; for when the passions have ceased, there will be no room for sin. And then again he proposes another objection arising from the subject, and with ease resolves it.

Chapter VI.

1. What shall we say then? shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. By the reprobation of this, he shows its inconsistency, but the question itself be put down, because of what had been just before said, "Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Nor is he contented with this bare condemnatory disavowal, but proceeds to treat the subject in another way also:—2. How shall we, that have died to sin, live any longer therein? And how have we died thereto? 3. Know you not, brethren, that as many of us as have been baptized into Jesus Christ have been baptized into His death? Thou hast renounced sin, and hast become dead to it, and buried with Christ; how is it possible then that thou shouldst admit this same sin? 4. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. The very sacrament of baptism has taught thee to fly from sin, for baptism carries in it the representation of our Lord's death, for in that thou hast communicated both in the death and in the resurrection of Christ. It becomes thee therefore to lead a new life, as it were, and one suited to Him in whose resurrection thou hast partaken. The divinity of Christ is what he here calls the glory of the Father, for thus also in another epistle he speaks, (Eph.

2 i. 17,) "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory . . . . . and the Lord in the gospels (John ii. 19,) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. Nay, and if heretics will not receive this interpretation, neither so can they injure the glory of the Only-begotten, for, even granting that it was the Father who raised Him up, as man it was that He raised Him, for as man it was that He also endured the passion. 5. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Since he had called baptism, which places us in a state of salvation, a type of death, by this change of name He plainly points out the resurrection, for whatever is distinctly planted springs up again. 6. Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him, that the body might be rendered inoperative as regards sin, so as that we should no longer serve sin. Not our nature, but our evil inclination, is what He here calls the old man, and this he says has been put to death in baptism, that the body may be idle as regards sin, for this it is which He means by that the body might be made to cease from sin, so that it should in no wise serve sin. And this He shows more plainly by another similitude:—7.

3 For he that is dead is freed from sin. For who ever yet saw one that was dead either invading the marriage-bed of another, or imbruing his hands in bloodshed, or committing any other of the catalogue of iniquities? 8. For if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him. It becomes us, therefore, also, having been buried with Christ, to be dead indeed unto sin, but to await the resurrection. 9. Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dieth no more: death hath no more dominion over him. 10. For in that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Amply, by these words, has he proved his wish to make believers abstain from sin. Once, says he, Christ died; and that He should a second time die were impossible, for He now possesses an immortal body. On this account, therefore, we all also enjoy one baptism; expect not then any second forgiveness by (means of any second) baptism. He has indeed well said that He died unto sin, for He was not subject to death, inasmuch as He had done no sin, but received death for our sin. 11. And thus indeed reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ. And do you, therefore, display your bodies dead to the inworking of sin, but embrace the life which is after Christ, by which you shall obtain the life eternal.

4 To this advice it behoves us all to take heed, flying from the snares of sin, and calling to our aid Christ who has saved us; for, if called, He will appear, and extend to us His own strength: in conjunction with whom, to the Father, with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong glory and majesty, now and for ever, unto endless ages. Amen.

Book III.

1 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. A reign differs from a tyranny in this, that a tyranny is exercised over those who unwillingly submit to it; a reign, over subjects who are consenting thereto. He exhorts us therefore no longer to agree to the government of sin, for the Lord in His incarnation has overthrown its reign; and as one legislating for mere mortals, and such as possess a body liable to passions, he enjoins things consistent with their infirmities, and says, not Let not sin tyrannize, but, let it not reign; for the former is its own property, the latter rests on our will; the motions and tumult of the passions being engendered in us by nature, while the performance of what are forbidden depends on our own volition. And he shows, moreover, the short duration of the warfare by denominating the body mortal, in that when it has undergone the termination of death the attack of the passions ceases likewise. He exhorts us then, not to put a stop to the tyranny of sin, but, not to obey it when intemperately inflaming the desires of the body. 13. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Having spoken of a reign, in strict keeping herewith, he mentions its artillery also, and teaches us the way of victory, for the weapons which sin uses against us are our own members. But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead.

2 And, indeed, just before he had said the very same thing— "And so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ; that is, ye have been buried with Christ, and have risen again with Him, wherefore ye are dead to sin, and aspire to another life. And your members, as instruments of righteousness, unto God. He shows that the body is not evil, but the work of a God of goodness, for it is competent to serve God, if well and properly governed by the soul; wherefore it is the inclination of our own free will to the worse that offers the members for weapons, as it were, to sin; and again the love arising from our knowledge of good, which prepares the members to obey the divine laws. For thus the tongue of the musician, when he is in the right mind, offers up fitting melody to the God of all, but when he is drunken and disordered, madly sends forth the horrid sounds of impiety; and thus also it is both adorned by the words of truth, and disgraced by falsehoods; and thus the eye likewise can look abroad both modestly and lasciviously, both savagely and benevolently; and thus also the hand both kills and pities; and, in short, all the members of the body become the instruments of holiness when the Spirit is so minded, and of sin, on the reverse, when it has embraced the governance of sin.

3 But in another way also does the holy apostle demonstrate the easiness of the victory: 14. For sin shall no longer have dominion over you, says he. For nature no longer fights singly, but has for her assistant the grace of the Spirit; for this he adds, for ye are not under the law, but under grace. He shows that before the coming of (the covenant of) grace, the law taught only what was to be done, but afforded no help to those under it, while (the covenant of) grace, in addition to the imposition of duties, extends assistance also, on which account the legislative constitution of grace is also more complete than the law, as removing the impediments by this succour. And here again he answers an objection arising. 15. What then, shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? He notes this objection because of the gainsayers, and first reprobates it, pointing out its absurdity, and says, God forbid, and then more at length demonstrates the contrary. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Whomsoever ye choose to submit yourselves unto, his commands you are bound to comply with, for it is not possible at the same time to obey two lords, but righteousness and sin are diametrically opposed to each other; and this also the Lord says in the holy gospels, (Matt.

4 vi. 24,) "No man can serve two masters." 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. He both points out the change in themselves, and exhibits the joy arising therefrom, giving praise to God; for ye were, says he, the servants of sin, but by your own voluntary choice you have shaken off its sovereignty, and embraced the divine polity. 18. Having then been freed from sin, ye were made servants of righteousness. Ye have cast away the slavery of sin, and taken upon you the yoke of righteousness; it is not possible therefore that bearing the latter you should yield to the commands of the former. 19. I speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh. I suit my exhortations to your nature, for I am well aware of the passions which contend in a mortal body. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness, unto holiness. By this also be shows that it is not the (natural, see ver. 13,) body that deserves reprobation, but the disposition that leads it astray. And he demands indeed from us nothing impossible, but that what we did give to sin, the same we should afford to righteousness; and to the former we subjected ourselves while it enjoined iniquity, the latter, if we obey it, will bring us to holiness. 20.

5 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness, for ye fulfilled its precepts only, while as to the laws of righteousness ye received not them at all. And then again, in another way, he exhibits the difference. 21. What fruit had ye then from those things? Tell me yourselves the gains of sin; or rather it were idle to ask, for in silence you confess its injury, for ye are covered with shame, as he adds, whereof ye are now ashamed; for although any one be barefaced indeed, he yet cannot but experience shame, when his enjoyment is over. And he subjoins, in addition to this, the greater and more bitter fruit of sin —for the end of those things is death. Death, he means not the present, which is merely temporal, but that which is eternal. 22. But now having been freed from sin, and made servants of God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. In these words he opposes God to sin, holiness to shame, and life everlasting to everlasting death. 23. For the wages of sin is death. As (according to the metaphor throughout adopted, be had said that) it formerly reigned, and now tyrannizes, and he had called its weapons our own badly-disposed members, consistently also does he denominate the reward wages, for so he was in the habit of naming the pay of soldiers; as in the epistle to the Corinthians, he says, (1 Cor.

6 ix. 7,) "Who goeth a warfare at any time on his own wages? But the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here he says, not reward, but free gift, for eternal life is the gift of God; for though any one should carry through the highest virtue, still those eternal blessings could not justly be weighed as a requital for such present labours. Having said these things to them that lived under (the covenant of) grace, respecting the obligation lying on them to avoid sin, he again turns his discourse to the comparison between the (covenant of) law and grace, and shows the strength of the latter and the weakness of the former, and teaches that on the entrance of the one, the other ceased.

Chapter VII.

1. Know you not brethren (for I speak to them that know the law) how that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth? You well know, says he, you I mean who have been brought up in the law, that the law has its authority over those who are yet alive; and he adduces an example also in accordance with this proposition. 2. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is made to cease from the law of her husband. And then he shows this yet more clearly: 3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. The law, says he, calls her an adulteress, not who after the death of her husband is united to another, but, who while her husband is yet alive, joins herself to any one else, for such an one it orders to be punished as insolently rebelling against the law of matrimony; it is evident, therefore, that when her husband has brought his life to an end, the widow not illegally, but with the distinct permission of the law, may marry another.

2 Nor indeed was the holy apostle ignorant, that the law gave permission to the living also to dissolve a marriage when it should be no longer agreeable, but he was mindful of our Lord's assertion, which declared that Moses gave them that law on account of the hardness of the heart of the Jews, but that the law of nature had added no such terms, for one man, says he, and one woman did God make, establishing the law concerning marriage in their very creation: wherefore leaving this unnoticed, he passed on to the law as regarded the dead, and subjoins, 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead. It would have been indeed in strict consistency with the example adduced, to have said, "the law is dead," that is, has ceased, but in consideration of the spiritual weakness of the Jews, for they greatly exalted the law, and from a desire not to afford an opportunity of finding fault with it to the heretics who denounced the Old Testament, he avoids saying that the law had ceased, but declares that we have become dead to the law by baptism which saveth us, and then rising again have been united, to Him who hath Himself risen from the dead, that is Christ.

3 And as he had called the faith which is in the Lord a marriage and union, in strict keeping herewith does be show the fruits also arising from marriage, that we should bring forth fruit unto God, says he. What then is this fruit-bearing? That our members become the instruments of righteousness. And most aptly does he show that the law itself leads us to be joined to Christ, for it forbade not, says he, a woman to be married to a second husband after the death of the first. And then he goes on to point out the difference. 5. For when we were in the flesh, that is, under the polity of the law, for the legislative ordinances concerning the flesh, as of foods and drinks, of leprosy, and such like, are what he here calls the flesh; the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members. He says not "in" the law but by the law, for it does not itself bring about sin, but it condemns sin, while that, which was good, sin uses for evil; neither indeed do our members themselves bring about sin, but only by our members has the inclination of the soul to the worse brought its operations to effect. And what then springs from hence? To bring forth fruit unto death.

4 In these words he has taught us that before the coming of (the covenant of) grace, while we were living under the polity of the law, the attacks of sin to which we were subjected were the more powerful, in that the law showed indeed what ought to be done, but offered no help to do it. 6. But now we are made to cease from the law. He still continues in the same cautious mode of expression, and says not, "the law is made to cease," but we are made to cease from the law, that is, it is inoperative as regards ourselves, we are no longer under its polity. And how are we made to cease from it? Being dead to that wherewith we had been held. For when we were subjects of the law we came to baptism, and dying with Christ, and with Him rising again, we were united to our Lawgiver, and no longer need the polity of the law, for we have received the very grace itself of the Spirit, as what follows proves, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. He here puts the spirit in opposition to letter, and the new against the old, that by the word letter he might point out the law, and by the old its having come to a conclusion.

5 For indeed by Jeremiah (xxxi. 31, 32) God says, "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt so that the difference was shown even by the prophet; and on the appearance of the new covenant, the old must yield. Having thus spoken, and foreseeing as one honoured with the gifts of the Spirit, that some of the heretics would understand this in derogation of the old covenant, and conceive that the old law came from some other than the one same God, the holy apostle necessarily states the objections and subjoins the answers to them. 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? 6 He had in the former parts of this epistle laid down many positions, which might have given an opportunity of finding fault with the law, to such as were desirous of speaking evil of it, unless he had offered the present solution of such questions, (as) "the law entered in between that the offence might abound; and "the law worketh wrath; and "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; and the like; wherefore, for the resolution of these very things he proposes the objection. And first he shows that the interrogation is profane, and adds the expression of disavowal, God forbid, and then he teaches the utility of the law. Nay but I should not have been aware of what was sin, but by the law. Not only, says he, is the law not the teacher of sin, God forbid, but on the contrary it is the condemner of sin, for I should not have known what was evil, unless it had shown me. For I should not have known that lust was, except the law had said Thou shall not lust. The words I should not have been aware, and I should not have known, are not here indicative of a total ignorance, but mean this, that I received from the law a knowledge more complete than the mere discrimination of nature. 8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.

7 In every way he endeavours to show that it was free from blame, for having said that by the imposition of the law sins had been increased, lest any one should suppose that the law had been the cause, he most seasonably sets forth its way, that sin making use of the imposition of the law as a mean for battle, beat down the weaker powers of judgment. For without the law sin were dead, for where there is no law pointing out what should be done, and forbidding What should not be done, sin has no place. And he makes this evident by an example; 9. For I was alive without the law once, for Adam before his transgression had no fear of death, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. For when God had imposed the commandment respecting the trees, immediately the devil came to the woman in the serpent, and uttered those deceitful speeches, and she being enticed, and beholding the beauty of the fruit, was overcome by desire and broke the commandment. And with Adam she immediately received the sentence, for he also had shared in that food.

8 10. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. In every way he vindicates the law, and the commandment, but proves the evil of sin; for the commandment, says he, was the minister of life, but the turning aside to evil begot death, wherefore he most properly says, found, to show that the intention of the law, and the end brought about by sin, were widely different things. 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. The same thing he had said before, only in different words. 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good. It is the Mosaic which he here speaks of as the law, and that given to Adam as the commandment. And the reason why he honours the latter with the greater praises, is that it commonly meets with the greater censures. For they who live in idle ease, and will not undergo the labours of virtue, cry out even against God Himself, for imposing this commandment. For if He were ignorant, say they, of what would happen, how can He be God who foreknows not the future? but if while foreseeing the transgression, He yet imposed the commandment, Himself is the cause of the transgression! But such should be aware, that the power of discriminating between good and its opposite is the property of those that are gifted with reason, for the nature of the irrational creatures possesses no such faculty of distinguishment of these things;

9 for the wolf is ravenous, and the lion feasts on its prey while scarce dead, and bears and leopards follow in the same train; and they have no sense of sin, nor a conscience to be pricked at what has been done; while men, though no one be present at their actions, are ashamed and afraid on account of what they have dared to commit, for conscience supplies the accusation. How then were it possible that they who possess such a nature, should yet live without any law at all? Wherefore God enjoined the commandment, that man might thereby learn to understand his own nature, and to fear his Lawgiver. And well indeed may we perceive the loving-kindness of that Lawgiver, for He enjoined, not some law which was difficult of observation, but one which could have been easily kept. He allowed to him the enjoyment of all the trees, of one alone He forbade him the use; not that He grudged him that one, for how could He do so, who had already given him power over all? but in order to teach him the terms of submission, and to render him well-affected towards his Creator, and afford a mean for the exercise of his rational faculties. And if then, by not keeping the commandment he came under sentence of death, this can be no cause for blame to the Lawgiver, but to him who transgressed the law.

10 For so neither, when a physician orders his patient to abstain from cold drinks, does he do this because he invidiously grudges them to him, but in order to bring about his health; and if he not observing the injunction will take water, he draws the injury on himself, but the physician is free from blame altogether. But indeed the Lord God has treated with every possible consideration and kindness, both Adam himself and all his race, and, to pass by all other, and come at once to the noblest instance, for him, and his race, the only-begotten Word became incarnate, and put an end to the power of death, which from him had received its beginning, and promised the resurrection, and prepared the kingdom of heaven: so that He both foreknew his transgression, and made ready before-hand the mean of remedy to follow; wherefore the holy apostle calls the commandment holy, just, and good; holy, as teaching what we ought to do; just, as rightly pronouncing judgment on the transgressors; good, as appointing life to such as observed it. And then again he states the objection that might arise, 13. Did then that which is good become death unto me? and again according to his wont he denies it, God forbid, and shows us the cause of these evils, but sin, that it might appear to be (indeed) sin, in its working death to me by that which is good. There is an obscurity here, arising from the extreme brevity made use of;

11 what he means is this, that by that which is good, to wit the law and commandment, sin is made apparent to me, namely, as being bad and evil; and how is it so made apparent? by its working unto death, for from the fruit I know the tree, and seeing death I hate its parent; but of all this is the law the teacher; it is not then the law, which thus instructs, that is evil, but sin, which brings death; and it is the inclination of our own free will to the worse, that is the author of sin. That sin might by the commandment become exceeding sinful. For though nature points out sin, its excessive turpitude the law has more clearly manifested. The expression that it might become is incomplete, the word "apparent" being understood, for so also we explained it in the preceding sentence, "but sin, that it might be seen to be sin indeed by its working out death to me by that which is good, that sin might by the commandment become exceeding sinful," that is, that it might become by the commandment " apparent" that sin is exceeding sinful, that is evil. And then, like some skilful painter, he portrays the contest between nature and sin. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual. Again be crowns the law with praise, for what can be more holy than this designation? for it was written, says he, by divine inspiration, being a partaker of this grace the blessed Moses indited the law.

12 But I am carnal, sold under sin. He brings before us the man who lived before the coming (of the covenant) of grace, beset by his passions, for by carnal he means one who had not yet received the spiritual help (offered in that new covenant, see verse 5 ad fin. and ch. vi. 14 ad fin. &c.); but the sold under sin we shall understand by comparing it with that passage of the prophet, (Isaiah 1. 1,) "For your iniquities have you sold yourselves. And the same thing does he here say, I have delivered myself up to sin, and sold myself to it. 13 15. For that which I do I know not: for he who is overcome by pleasure, and indeed he also who is intoxicated by the passion of anger, has no clear perception of sin, but after such passion has subsided receives a knowledge of the evil. For what I would that I do not, but what I hate that I do. This is the perfection of the law, to point out what is evil and implant a hatred of it in the soul. The words what I would not and what I hate do not denote compulsion, but weakness; for we sin not because driven thereto by some necessity or force, but being beguiled by pleasure we fall into those things which yet we cannot but hate and denounce as wicked. 16. If then I do that which I would not, I content unto the law that it is good. For the very hatred I have for sin, I have received from the law, wherefore I bear testimony to the law, and acknowledge its excellence. 17. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. This needs elucidation somewhat more at length. The body then after the transgression of the commandment becoming mortal received passions and appetites, since by these it is that our present state of existence is carried on. For thus it needs desire, not only for the provision thereby of food, but for the procreation of children also, and for agriculture's sake, and the various other arts, none of which could exist were desire altogether wanting. Thus it also contributes to our perseverance in well-doing, for nothing but such an affection for and desire of virtue could qualify us to bear its attendant difficulties. And so also does it work within us the Divine love.

14 The proper measure of desire then is an auxiliary to good, but its disorder brings forth intemperance, in that it leads us to lay snares against the marriage-bed of others, and to covet what does not belong to us, and to steal, and to break open tombs (in order to spoil the dead), and to commit manslaughter, and become guilty of other the like crimes; wherefore has the God of all added side by side to it (an uncalculating) impetuosity, that the latter might repress the extravagance of the others, while itself also needing a check on its own excesses. As then we dilate with what is too cold, that which is hot, and again correct what is too cold by what is hot, even so has God our Creator, by implanting in us these two passions directly opposed to each other, taught us to check each reciprocally by the other. For over them He has placed the mind, like a charioteer over his horses, and imposed the yoke of submission on them, enjoining both to bear it evenly together; if then it happen that desire springs forward beyond the line, He bids her goad up impetuosity, that this rushing onward may again bring the yoke straight; and, if that admit the overworkings of its own temper, again in its turn He orders desire to be pressed forward, that it may correct the excess of impetuosity.

15 The mind then, if watchful and prudent, thus keeps under and directs them, while if negligent, and letting the reins go, she becomes the means of her horses breaking away, and is herself dragged onward, and with them falls into pits and down precipices. This then is what the holy apostle means by now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, by sin intending the enslavement of the mind, and the usurpation of the passions; and he then doeth it not, for he hates what is done, but this usurpation of the passions is the author of the action.18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. He speaks of the dominion of the passions, which the mortality of the body introduced, and the indolence of the mind has strengthened. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not, for, as regards a willingness towards that which is good, this I have received from the teaching of the law, but at the same time, as regards action I am impotent from want of further help. 19. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do. 20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

16 He makes the same assertion, only in a clearer manner. 21. I find then the law with me in wishing to do what is right,—here we must put a stop,— (and yet) that evil is present to me. Again he has stated this obscurely through brevity: what he means is, that the law appears to me to be good, for I approve all that it recommends, as being right and excellent; and in unison with it I also love all good, and hate its opposite; but nevertheless evil is ever at hand with me, that is, sin, by reason of my possessing a mortal body, one subject to passions and appetites, as well as through the indolence and weakness of the soul. And thence he proceeds to describe more clearly the conflict between the mind and the passions. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man. By the inward man he means the mind. 23. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. By the law of sin he means sin itself, and this works within me by the passions of the body leaping about at pleasure, while the soul is unable to restrain them, in consequence of the sluggishness fallen into at first by her; she having cast off her own freedom, and allowed herself to be subjected to them;

17 while yet not the less does she, even though thus obeying them, hate that servitude, and approve that (the law) which condemns it. Having thus laid down all this, in order to show us what we were before receiving grace (through the new covenant), and what we have become since that grace; and personating, as it were, the character of those besieged by sin before grace appeared; he now, as one in the midst of his enemies, taken captive and compelled to obey, while perceiving help from no other quarter, groans bitterly, and cries out, proving that the law could not succour him, and says, 24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He calls it a body of death, as being bom subject to death; that is, mortal, for the soul is immortal. Christ alone, says he, has freed us from this bitter bondage, by putting an end to death, and promising us immortality, and that life which is without either labour or pain, and apart from warfare and sin; the full enjoyment whereof we shall receive in the existence to come; while in the present we are blessed with the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, and thereby not only do we set ourselves against the passions, but by the possession of such an Helper are enabled to triumph over them.

18 And then he brings forward the resolution of all that had been said, So then I myself, the same person, with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Chapter VIII.

1. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: for our passions can no longer get the mastery over us without our own consent, now that we have received the grace of the Spirit of God. 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. As he had just before called sin "the law of sin," so now does be call the life-giving Spirit, the law of the spirit of life. His grace, says he, by faith in Christ has bestowed on you a double freedom; for not only has it overthrown the power of sin, but put an end also to the tyranny of death, and he shows how He has thus overthrown it 3. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. The law then was not evil, but good, though impotent; and that weakness arose from its injunctions being given to those encumbered with a mortal nature, for now by the thrice-holy baptism we have received the pledge of immortality. God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful fleshy and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. He says not in the likeness of flesh, but in the likeness of sinful flesh, for He received actually the human nature, but human sin he received not;

2 wherefore that which He thus assumed, he calls not the likeness of flesh, but the likeness of sinful flesh, because though He had the same nature with ourselves, He yet had not the same character or disposition. He means, then, that the law having been unable to bring to effect its own design, by reason of the weakness of those beneath its covenant, possessing as they did a mortal nature, and one obnoxious to infirmities and passions; the only-begotten Word of God, becoming incarnate, by that human flesh overthrew sin, in having fulfilled all righteousness, and admitted no taint of sin; and by enduring the death of sinners, as though Himself a sinner, manifested the injustice of sin, in that it delivered up to death a body over which death had no just claim. And this then both overthrew it and put an end to death; for in thus submitting to death through the unjust sentence of sin, while not at all obnoxious to it, in that He never committed sin, did He become the price of redemption of those justly subjected unto death, as one free among the dead: for so he also teaches in what follows, 4. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For He has paid, says he, our debt, and fulfilled that which the law aimed at: and what then was this? to render them righteous that had received that law.

3 If then the dispensation of Christ Jesus has brought to effect the intention of the law, the law deserves not blame, but praise. 4 And having thus touched upon the subject of righteousness, he goes on to an exhortation to it, and having said, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, adds, 5. For they that are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit; and in like manner in another place, (Gal. v. 25,) "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit," meaning here by the Spirit, the grace of the Spirit, and teaching that he who follows it, both thinks and does the things agreeable thereto, and he that is enslaved to the flesh, that is, to the passions of the body, has deprived himself of his freedom. 6. For the inclination of the flesh is death. He says not the flesh, but the inclination of the flesh, that is, the breaking forth of the passions, for the recompense of sinners is death; but the inclination of the Spirit is life and peace, for he who lives after the Spirit gains peace with God; 7. Because the inclination of the flesh is enmity against God. Again he condemns the inclination of the flesh, that is, the tyranny of the passions which he declares are at variance with God. For they are not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be; for how is it possible that he who has admitted the tyranny of the passions, should embrace the service of God, while yet choosing to serve sin? 8.

5 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. He does not bid us go out of the body, but be freed from the inclination of the flesh, as is shown by what follows: 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. For it is evident that they who received these his instructions were not devoid of the body itself, but what he means is, that they were conquerors over the fleshly passions, and enjoyed the grace of the thrice-holy Spirit resident within them; and so in a similar sense does our Lord say that His disciples are "not of the world," (John xv. 19,) not that they came from elsewhere, but that they were dead to the world. 6 Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. As he had said if so be that, which implies an alternative, he aptly subjoins that he who is wanting in this grace, has no fellowship with Christ And as this was enough to warn and alarm them that received this Epistle, he proceeds again to re-assure them, 10. And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, with regard to sin, but the spirit is life, as regards righteousness. He makes clear what had been ambiguous, and shows that it was not the mere flesh itself that he is condemning, but sin; for he bids the body be dead to sin, that is not to commit sin; and the soul is what he here speaks of as the spirit, in its having become already spiritual; here he enjoins to follow after righteousness, whose exceedingly desirable fruit is life. 11. But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He invigorates them by hope of the future, and inspires them with willing readiness, sufficient for present contests; for ere long, says be, your bodies will be immortal, and superior to the passions that now molest them; and this will He do, the same, the (rod of all, who now so liberally bestows on us the earnest of the Spirit.

7 And He has given us also a pledge of this resurrection, in the resurrection of Christ. And he teaches by all this, the unity of nature in the Godhead, for he calls the thrice-holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son; not that, as the infamous heretics say, He was created of the Father by the Son, but that He is of one substance with the Father and the Son, and proceeds from the Father, according to the teaching of the gospels. His grace it is, that is extended by Christ to such as are worthy. And he continues showing how we ought to triumph over the fleshly passions. 12. Therefore we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, for having received salvation of Christ Jesus, and been made partakers of the grace of the Spirit, to Him we owe the debt of service. 13. For if ye live after the flesh ye shall die; after the flesh, that is, following the passions of the flesh: the death he means is that which is eternal; but if ye through the Spirit do put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. This superiority has (the covenant of) grace over (that of) the law, that the latter points out what is right; the former has the grace of the Spirit in addition, as an helpmate.

8 And here indeed the holy apostle, foreseeing the corruptions of Marcion, Valentine, and Manes, uses the greatest accuracy of expression in his instructions, saying not, put to death the body, but the deeds of the body, that is, the desires of the flesh, the burstings forth of the passions, for ye have for an assistant the grace of the Spirit, and the fruit of victory is life. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, for they who live under the Spirit obtain the privilege of adoption; and here he strikes at the Jews, teaching them not to think too highly of themselves, forasmuch as that they also had been called sons, for they are wanting in the glory of the thrice-holy Spirit, being aliens from grace. 9 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption. Again, he compares (the covenants of) grace and the law, and calls the institutions of the latter, bondage, while at the same time showing that it was written by the grace of the Spirit. Not, therefore, the thrice-holy Spirit itself does he here call the spirit of bondage, but the imposition of the law as effected by that holy Spirit; for had be by the spirit of bondage meant the thrice- holy Spirit itself, then truly must there have been another Spirit, of adoption; but not so is it, for the thrice-holy Spirit is One, while different and varying are His gifts; "for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit and so forth. And having shown that in truth we have received the privilege of adoption, he subjoins, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

10 For when we offer up to the Lord the prayer of the initiated, we are bidden to address Him as our Father, and we say, "Our Father which art in heaven and he has added the word, Abba, to point out the confidence wherewith we call upon Him, for so little children, using the greater boldness towards their parents, in that they have not as yet a clear knowledge of the difference between them and themselves, the oftener and oftener go on lisping out the same word towards them; and so in like manner we, by reason of His unspeakable kindness, and immeasurable goodness, call the Maker of all our Father, as we are commanded, while yet we are unconscious how great is the difference between Him and ourselves, not understanding our own selves clearly, and of His nature being altogether ignorant. 16. For the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. By the Spirit he means the Holy Ghost himself, by our spirit, the grace (or spirit of adoption) given to us, for both are here expressed by the same common word, and what he means is, that we put forth this prayer, (thus claiming sonship therein) as led by the teaching of the Spirit, and in so doing then we cannot be blameworthy, in that we do it according to the divine law. 17. And if children, then heirs.

11 Nor was it enough that we should have been freed from bondage and enjoyed the grace of liberty, but moreover have we been blessed with the privilege of the adoption; nay, and not only are we called sons, but heirs also of God, and joint heirs with Christ, for so he subjoins, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. Since not every son becomes the heir of his father, well has the holy apostle joined the heirship with the sonship; and since frequently even a servant receives some portion from his master, and yet is not left an equal partner with the child itself, it was necessary, in order to point out the ineffable magnitude of the divine love, that he should subjoin, joint heirs with Christ,—if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For not all who have been blessed by baptism, which places us in a state of salvation, will enjoy these good things, but they, who in addition thereto, have undergone their share of suffering with their Saviour. And this he subjoins not without a distinct object, but for the support of those to whom his letters were addressed; for they were subjected to the attacks of temptations of all sorts, being beaten, tortured, and imprisoned, and exposed to a thousand kinds of death; wherefore he sends them comforting words, supporting them by the future, and exhorting them to bear the present with fortitude. 18.

12 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to he compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The crowns exceed the contests; the reward cannot be put in the same scale with the afflictions; small is the affliction, but vast the looked for gain; wherefore he calls the things thus hoped for, not payment, but glory. 19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Perceive ye not, says he, the heaven, the earth, the sea, the air, the sun, the moon, the whole visible creation, and besides these, such as are invisible—angels, archangels, powers, dominions, principalities? all these are waiting for your full perfection. 20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Corruption is what he here speaks of as vanity, for so he teaches presently, "because that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. And he declares that the whole visible creation had obtained a mortal nature, because the Maker of all had foreseen Adam's transgression, and the sentence of death, which would be passed on him. For neither was it fit nor right, that what was created for him should possess an incorruption, and yet himself, for whose sake all these were made, be mortal, and a prey to passions and sufferings; but the rather, by the resurrection receiving immortality, they in like manner inherit incorruption.

13 Wherefore he says that the visible creation waits for such a change of things, for it was made changeable not of its own accord, but in submission to the decree of the Creator, and beholding the care exhibited in our behalf has a hope of such change, that itself also, the creation, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption; to which mutability of the universe the holy David also witnesses, when, mentioning the heaven and the earth he adds, (Ps. cii. 26,) "they shall perish, but Thou remain." 21. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For when these latter appear such as now they are called, and in their immortality are manifested to be the sons of God, the former also will obtain a total release from corruption. And all this he says, not meaning that the visible creation really was gifted with reason, but by a prosopopoeia, as was common with the prophets, so that one represents the pines as groaning, and another the woods as rejoicing, and the mountains leaping, and the rivers exulting.

14 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Here he includes the invisible creation also, for the whole creation, says he. But for the clearer understanding of the passage, I must bring to remembrance what the gospels state, for there the Lord declared, (Luke xv. 10. that "even the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner that repenteth; if then they joy over penitent sinners, then must they also of a truth be cast down on beholding our transgressions. 23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first- fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves. And what wonder if creation is so affected on our account? for even ourselves who have already received many pledges of the future, and above all others the grace of the Spirit, groan in our longings after freedom; as what follows shows that he means, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. He had said, indeed, that we have received the spirit of adoption; but without infringement thereof, he here shows us more precisely that now we have obtained the name, but then shall be made partakers of the full reality, when our bodies shall have been released from corruption, and have put on immortality; while by the word first- fruits, he points out that in the future life, we shall receive a far larger measure of the grace of the Spirit;

15 since if what is now offered is called first-fruits, and earnest, manifest is it that that shall far exceed it in greatness. 24. For we are saved by hope, for not yet have we attained unto the resurrection, but having received the promise are comforted by our hopes; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, how doth he yet hope for? 25. But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Be not cast down, says he, while looking on (present) distresses, for we have brought you no false promises, in that we said you must yet awhile wait, ere you should enjoy these good things, but good things thus expected are not seen with the bodily eyes, since if seen they would cease to be expected, while if expected, we should be content in confidence to wait for them, and never throw away the anchor of hope. And he shows that in addition to all this, there is also another source of help given, 26. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, we have a sufficient assistance in the grace of the Spirit, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Ask not, says he, to be delivered from affliction, for ye know not what is profitable to you, as does God your Governor. Resign yourselves into His hands, who holds the helm of all things;

16 for He, though you should ask nothing, but groan only as moved by the Spirit dwelling in you, wisely orders every thing relating to you, and will grant that which shall prove to your advantage; as he subjoins, 27. For He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because it maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. By the Spirit here he means not the Holy Ghost himself, but the grace given to the faithful: for stirred up by this we pray the more earnestly, and with sighings inexpressible by words implore God our Saviour. And this the holy apostle writes from what himself had experienced, for he himself not once only or twice, but even thrice, had besought release from his own trials, and beseeching had failed of obtaining his prayer; for he heard in reply, (2 Con xii. 8, 9,) " My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness," and having learned this, he welcomed what he had before sought to be delivered from, and says, " most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

17 28. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called in accordance with (their own) disposition. They work not together with all, but with those that love Him, nor simply work with them, but work with them for good, for if any ask for what would not be profitable to him, he fails of his petition, because it is to his advantage not to gain it. And with the fittest accuracy of expression does he join the disposition with the call, for the call is not irrespective, but to those who possess this disposition; wherefore He said to the apostle in Corinth, (Acts xviii. 9,10,) "speak and hold not thy peace, for I have much people in this city and forbade him to preach the word in Mysia (ch. xvi. 6, 7); and as to Asia, at first restrained, and afterwards commanded him to do it; wherefore he also said to him in Jerusalem, (ch. xxii. 18,) "make haste and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony; and wherefore he here also says, to those that are called in accordance with (their own) disposition, agreeably to what follows. 39. For whom He had foreknown, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren; for He did not irrespectively predestine, but predestined in his foreknowledge of them.

18 And speaking with the strictest accuracy of expression, he says not conformed to His Son, but to the image of His Son; and this he has even more plainly put in the Epistle to the Philippians (ch. iii. 20), where, having said that "our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ," he adds, "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be conformed to His glorious body. For our body will not be made to resemble His divinity, but His glorified body,—and so here also he calls those who now obtained the privilege of the call conformed to the image of His Son, that is, to the body of His Son; for the divine nature being invisible, and the body visible, by the body as an image (or shadow) is He adored; that He might be the first-born among many brethren; and this the truth of the doctrine testifies, for it is as man that He is called the first-born, as God being the Only-begotten, seeing that as God He has not brethren, but as man designates as brethren them which believe. Of these He is the firstborn, being yet no other than the Only-begotten; but He, the same, both Only-begotten and firstborn. 30. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. Those whose (suitable) disposition he had foreknown, those in the beginning He predestinated; and predestinating, also called;

19 and calling, justified by baptism; and justifying, glorified by designating them sons, and endowing them with the grace of the Holy Spirit. But let no one say that such foreknowledge is the cause of these things; for foreknowledge made them not such as they are, but God as God, foresaw from of old all that would be. For so neither if seeing a violent horse seizing the bit in its teeth, and not heeding its rider, I should predict that nearing a precipice it would fall over it, and the event were to happen as I said, should I have cast the horse down that precipice, but merely have foretold what was itself about to take place, while using the evidence of the fierceness of the horse himself as my guide. But (and so likewise) the God of all, from of old knows all things as God, not that He imposes on any one a necessity for his establishment in virtue, or on another for his performance of vice; for if He exercised force towards either, He could not with justice praise and reward the former, or adjudge punishment to the latter. If then God be just, as indeed He is just, He exhorts indeed to what is right, and denounces its opposite; He approves the doers of good, and avenges Himself on those who from their own will embrace wickedness. 31. What shall we then say to these things? If God he for us, who can be against us?

20 Having God as our ally, shall we be afraid of men? He comprehends all things at once under the word who; whether kings, or generals, or people, or their leaders; the whole world at once. And then he brings forward the crowning blessing of blessings. 32. He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? He has given us the greater, and shall He not give also the less? His own Son has He bestowed, and will He deprive us of what we have gained? But here we must remember, that the Person of the Son is (but) one; for the human nature was delivered up in our behalf by the divinity; for (so) "the bread," says He, (John vi. 31,) "that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world; and (ch. x. 18,) "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34. Who is he (then) that condemneth? Having said that while God helps, who can injure us? he adds, that God, having rendered us justified, who can condemn? Christ it is that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is ever at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. What more than all this seek ye?

21 in our behalf the Lord Christ died, and having risen again sits by the Father; nor even thus has He ceased His care for us, but pointing to the first-fruits which He took from us, and showing its immaculate purity to the Father, by it He asks for salvation to ourselves. And this indeed he says as regards the humanity, for as God He asks not, but (Himself) grants. Nay, and even if the heretics should declare, that so the Son does as regards His divinity, neither so could they prove His glory to be the less. For let us suppose two kings to be equal in honour, and to have the same authority, and when some deputy or general has offended against both, the one of these having earliest received the prayer of the culprit to beg of the partner of his kingdom to admit him to reconciliation, does this at all diminish the dignity, of him that makes this request? By no means. But in the present case we cannot grant even so much as this, for whatsoever seems good to the Son, pleases the Father also, and the will of both is the same. The passage therefore is figuratively expressed by the apostle, through his desire to set forth the greatness of (Christ's) zeal and watchfulness for us. 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? 36. As it is written (Ps.

22 xliv. 22,) For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. The witness adduced is exactly correspondent to the subject in hand, for it was spoken in the persons of those who had the same object, for the thrice-holy Spirit wrote this psalm by the inspired David, concerning the admirable Maccabees. 37. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Opposing the love which God bears us to all these things, we rise superior to afflictions; for we reckon that it were most absurd for our Lord Christ to have undergone death for sinners, and yet ourselves not most readily to embrace martyrdom for Him. 38. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other such creation, could be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Having weighed the whole creation at once against the love of God, and added to such as are visible, such as are perceptible only by the mind—angels, and powers, and dominions; and to the present, hoped for, blessings; as well as threatened punishments also; for by depth, as I apprehend, he signifies hell, and by height the kingdom (of heaven); and moreover everlasting life and eternal death; and seeing that even then this scale is lightest in the reckoning, he seeks for somewhat else to be cast in;

23 and finding nothing, he frames into his account another such and as varied an universe; and neither so does he find all these together fit to be weighed against the love of God. For it behoves us, says he, not to love Him on account of His promises of blessings, but to desire them on His. For (so) neither if a man be sincerely well affected towards one who is rich, does he love him for the abundance of his wealth; but from his very affection towards him, loves also the possessions belonging to him; and in like manner the holy apostle declares, I would not choose to inherit the kingdom of heaven, and all visible and invisible creation, and as many such again twice or thrice multiplied, apart from the love of God; but rather were any one to lay before me present and future distresses, present and eternal death, and the most protracted punishment in hell, together with the love of Him, readily and welcomely would I choose these in preference to the former splendid and glorious and unspeakable objects, devoid of love to Him. Which therefore that ourselves may also possess, let us both pray and strive, so that following in the footsteps of the apostles, we may be made sharers thereby in the (eternal) habitations of the apostles, through the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ; with whom, to the Father, together with the thrice-holy Spirit, belong glory and majesty, now and ever, unto endless ages. Amen.

Book IV.

That the incarnation of our God and Saviour both was necessary, and was productive of unspeakable blessings to believers, the holy apostle has clearly shown. For he has proved the Jews to be obnoxious to the greater condemnation by reason of the imposition of the law, and all others to be transgressors of the law of nature; and having set forth the threat of punishment, he has subjoined the gifts of the grace in the gospel (covenant), and pointed out the salvation offered through faith; while, at the same time, lest the Jews should be offended, imagining the law censured; or the heretics, hostile to the ancient covenant, gain an opportunity of accusation against the law by the comparison thus instituted, he has necessarily exhibited the usefulness of the law, and honoured it with many praises. And as, again, the Jews, bringing forward the patriarch Abraham, and the promises made by God to him, endeavoured to prove that the preaching of the apostles, being extended to the Gentiles beyond the divine promise, was contrary to these, he is constrained to treat of these objections also; and most wisely does he answer them, by adducing scripture testimonies, and ancient examples, applicable to the case, and demonstrating plainly the truth of the divine promises. Being about then to denounce the infidelity of the Jews, he first displays the love he bore them, and says,

Chapter IX.

1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost. He proves that what he was about to say should be free from all falsehood, and dignified with perfect truth, for be calls the grace of the Holy Spirit to witness with his conscience; in every way persuading them not to disbelieve his account. 2. That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. The composition of the sentence is incomplete, for it should have been added that the continual sorrow was caused by the rejection, or infidelity of the Jews; but through caution he omits these distinct words, and is content to teach in the sequel that he so meant. For thus he speaks: 3. For I could pray to be myself anathema from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. The word anathema has two significations, for that which is consecrated to God is called an anathema, and that which is separated from Him has the same name, and this second meaning the holy apostle has taught us in the Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor. xvi. 22), "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema"—the first being explained even by common custom, for so we designate whatever is offered to God an anathema—and the God of all things Himself, in commanding the town of Jericho to be made an anathema (Joshua vi. 17).

2 Here then the blessed apostle uses it in its second meaning, to manifest the feelings he entertained towards his brother Jews, and he says not I could desire, but I could pray to be separated from Christ, provided that they who are my kindred in the flesh, being united to Him, should reap salvation; and most aptly does he introduce the "even I myself" recalling to their recollection what he had just before stated of his love to Christ, and as it were saying, that I, whom "neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other such creation, could separate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus," would gladly be alienated from Him, for the sake of the salvation of the Jews. But it is evident that he speaks not this as preferring them to the Saviour, but as indicating his love and anxiety for them, being most desirous that all should submit themselves, and joyfully receive the saving gospel. And to persuade them of the truth of what he says, he points out both their former high descent and eminence, and the riches of the divine gifts conferred on them, and says, 4. Who are Israelites? For most celebrated was this name, imposed by God Himself on their forefather, (Gen. xxxv. 10) and transmitted as an heirloom to his descendants; To whom pertaineth the adoption. And this name also they had obtained, for "Israel," says he, "is My son, my firstborn" (Exod iv. 22);

3 And the glory, for they had been illustrious through miracles; And the covenants, not the old only, but the new also had He promised to bestow on them, "for I will make," says He, "a new covenant with the house of Israel, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers" (Jer. xxxi. 31, 32), but this they themselves were not willing to accept; And the giving of the law, for to them had He given the Mosaic law; And the service of God, for, honouring them above other nations, to them He had taught the ritual ministrations of the law; And the promises, both those made by God to their fathers and those promulged by the prophets. 4 (To be continued.)