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The punishment foreordained against the impious and unjust is near; it is necessary to run to righteousness from faith, so that you may escape the expected evils. And he rightly said that the wrath of God is revealed; for in the present age it is covered, as God is long-suffering and does not punish immediately, so that he might not close off the time for repentance, so that either having repented they might be saved or having despised it they might have no excuse for a defense. Ro+m 1,25 But as we were saying, they exchanged the truth for the lie, and thus God is the true God, but they falsely called the idols gods. Therefore, they invested the idols with the truth of God. But see again that "they exchanged" means that they altered in kind the things that can truly be said and thought of God, investing the lie, that is, the idols, with them.Ro+m 1,26 And here, therefore, "he handed over" is instead of "he allowed" each to be carried along to whatever they wished, as having made the will not compulsory but free to incline to what it wants. Therefore, since, if he had hindered it, it would not have happened, Scripture is accustomed to apparently bring the cause to the one who did not hinder. And here by dishonor he means licentiousness.

Ro+m 2,2 And by judgment he means the tribunal and court of God, and as if confirming the condemnation of the impious he added, is according to truth 116. Ro+m 2,12 And lest he seem to accuse them out of hostility, in the wording he has again made a distinction, placing destruction on those who sin without the law, and being judged by the law on those under the law. Ro+m 2,16 And the judgment of these, he says, will be at that time when it will also be for those living according to the law, there being one time at which God examines the affairs of all men through Christ according to my gospel, so that he may say: just as I myself continue to proclaim, that there will be a time of judgment, and it is necessary for those who have believed in Christ to escape that punishment. Ro+m 2,17 "But if you are called a Jew" should not be read as a question, as some have supposed, but as a declaration, so that he might say: not being a Jew truly and in secret, but only being called one and being boastful as a body. Ro+m 2, By "form" he means not the prefiguration, but the very substance and the knowledge and the truth, as in "who, being in the form of God". Ro+m 2,29 In the spirit, not the Holy; for he is not speaking about those who live rightly in grace, but throughout he posits those outside who do the things of the law, and shows them to be better than those under the law who transgress. And all things agree suitably with his own purpose, having the intention to show both Greeks as transgressors of the natural law and Jews of both the natural and the positive, so that through all things he might establish that all are in need of grace. And he says "in spirit" instead of "by intention," as in the book of Numbers God says that "all who provoked me shall not see the land, but my servant Caleb, because another spirit was in him and he has followed me," and so on, clearly calling the intention "spirit," and the prophet: "by a spirit of fornication they have gone astray," so that he might say: "they had a fornicating intention"117.

Ro+m 3,9 So that he might say: come now, after the refutation of those, of our own...

we will show the magnitude. Ro+m 3,12 He used the testimony not as something spoken prophetically, but as fitting to what had been demonstrated because David speaks these things comprehensively concerning those who have sinned. Just as we also to this day have used testimonies in ecclesiastical discourses, as they are able to fit by their meaning what is said by us; for that psalm was not spoken by David concerning all men. And it is clear from what he says: "Will not all the workers of iniquity know, who eat up my people as they eat bread?" But whom was he about to name

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ἐγγὺς ἡ κόλασις ἡ κατὰ τῶν ἀσεβῶν καὶ ἀδίκων προωρισμένη, ἀναγκαῖον προσδραμεῖν τῇ ἐκ πίστεως δικαιοσύνῃ, ἵνα ἐκφύγῃς τὰ προσδοκώμενα χαλεπά. καλῶς δὲ εἶπεν τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι· ἐν γὰρ τῷ νῦν αἰῶνι καλύπτεται ἀνεξικακοῦντος θεοῦ καὶ μὴ παραχρῆμα τιμωρουμένου, ἵνα μὴ ἀποκλείσῃ τῆς μετανοίας καιρόν, ἵνα ἢ μεταγνόντες σωθῶσιν ἢ κατα φρονήσαντες ἀπολογίας μὴ σχῶσι πρόφασιν. Ro+m 1,25 Ἀλλ' ὅπερ ἐλέγομεν, μετήλλαξαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἐν τῷ ψεύδει, καὶ οὕτως ὁ μὲν θεὸς ἀληθινός ἐστι θεός, τὰ δὲ εἴδωλα ψευδῶς ἐκάλεσαν θεούς. τὴν οὖν ἀλήθειαν τοῦ θεοῦ περιέθηκαν τοῖς εἰδώλοις. ὅρα δὲ πάλιν τὸ μετήλλαξαν σημαίνειν ὅτι κατὰ εἴδη κατήλλαξαν τὰ ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ θεοῦ λέγεσθαι καὶ νοεῖσθαι δυνάμενα περιθέντες τῷ ψεύδει τοῦτ' ἔστι τοῖς εἰδώλοις.Ro+m 1,26Καὶ ἐνταῦθα οὖν παρέδωκεν ἀντὶ τοῦ συνεχώρησέν ἐστιν ἐφ' ἅπερ ἕκαστος ἐβούλοντο φέρεσθαι, ὡς οὐκ ἀναγκαστικὴν ἀλλ' ἐλευθέραν ποιήσας τὴν προαίρεσιν ἐφ' ἣν βούλεται ῥέπειν. ἐπεὶ οὖν, εἰ ἐκώλυσεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐγένετο, τὴν αἰτίαν δῆθεν ἐπὶ τὸν μὴ κωλύσαντα φέρειν εἴωθεν ἡ γραφή. ἀτιμίαν δὲ ὧδε τὴν ἀκολασίαν φησίν.

Ro+m 2,2 Κρίμα δὲ λέγει τὸ κριτήριον καὶ δικαστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ὡς βεβαιῶν τὴν τῶν ἀσεβῶν κατάκρισιν ἐπήγαγε τὸ κατὰ ἀλήθειάν ἐστιν 116. Ro+m 2,12 Καὶ ἵνα μὴ δόξῃ κατηγορεῖν αὐτῶν δι' ἀπέχθειαν, ἐν τῇ λέξει τὸ ἀνὰ πάλιν πεποίηκεν, τὴν μὲν ἀπώλειαν ἐπὶ τῶν ἀνόμως ἁμαρτανόντων θείς, τὸ διὰ νόμου κριθῆναι ἐπὶ τῶν ἐν νόμῳ. Ro+m 2,16 Ἡ δὲ τούτων, φησί, διάγνωσις τότε ἔσται ὅτε καὶ τῶν κατὰ νόμον βιούντων, ἑνὸς ὄντος τοῦ καιροῦ καθὸν τὰ πάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐξετάζει θεὸς διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ κατὰ τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου, ἵνα εἴπῃ· καθὼς καὶ αὐτὸ κηρύττων διατελῶ, ὅτι ἔσται κρίσεως καιρός, καὶ δεῖ πιστεύσαντας Χριστῷ τὴν τιμωρίαν ἐκφυγεῖν ἐκείνην. Ro+m 2,17 Οὐ κατ' ἐρώτησιν, ὥς τινες ὑπέλαβον, ἀναγνωστέον τὸ εἰ δὲ σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ἐπονομάζῃ, ἀλλὰ κατ' ἀπόφασιν, ἵνα εἴπῃ· μὴ ὢν ἀληθῶς καὶ ἐν κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, ἀλλὰ λεγόμενος μόνον καὶ ὡς σῶμα ἀλαζονευόμενος. Ro+m 2, Μόρφωσιν λέγει οὐ τὴν προτύπωσιν, ἀλλ' αὐτὴν τὴν ὑπόστασιν καὶ τὴν γνῶσιν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὡς τὸ ὃς ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ ὑπάρχων. Ro+m 2,29 Τῷ πνεύματι, οὐ τῷ ἁγίῳ· οὐ γὰρ περὶ τῶν ἐν τῇ χάριτι κατορθούντων διαλέγεται, ἀλλ' ὑποτίθεται δι' ὅλου τοὺς ἔξω τὰ τοῦ νόμου ποιοῦντας, καὶ δείκνυσι κρείττονας τῶν ἐν τῷ νόμῳ παραβαινόν των. συνᾴδει δὲ ἅπαντα καταλλήλως τῷ οἰκείῳ σκοπῷ, πρόθεσιν ἔχων καὶ τοῦ φυσικοῦ νόμου Ἕλληνας δεῖξαι παραβάτας καὶ Ἰουδαίους πρὸς τῷ φυσικῷ καὶ τοῦ θετοῦ, ἵνα διὰ πάντων στήσῃ τὸ τῆς χάριτος χρῄζειν ἅπαντας. λέγει δὲ τὸ ἐν πνεύματι ἀντὶ τοῦ τῇ προθέσει, ὡς ἐν τῇ τῷν Ἀριθμῶν βίβλῳ φησὶν ὁ θεὸς ὅτι πάντες οἱ παρ οξύναντές με οὐκ ὄψονται τὴν γῆν, ὁ δὲ παῖς μου Χάλεβ, ὅτι ἐγενήθη πνεῦμα ἕτερον ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπηκολούθησέ μοι καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς, φανερῶς πνεῦμα τὴν πρόθεσιν εἰπών, καὶ ὁ προφήτης· πνεύματι πορνείας ἐπλανήθησαν, ἵνα εἴπῃ· πρόθεσιν ἔσχον πορνικήν117.

Ro+m 3,9 Ἵνα εἴπῃ· ἄγε τοίνυν, μετὰ τὸν ἐκείνων ἔλεγχον τῶν ἡμετέρων τὸ

μέγεθος δείξομεν. Ro+m 3,12 Τῇ μαρτυρίᾳ οὐχ ὡς προφητικῶς εἰρημένῃ ἐχρήσατο, ἀλλ' ὡς ἁρμοζούσῃ τοῖς ἀποδεδειγμένοις τῷ περιληπτικῶς περὶ ἐπταικότων λέγειν αὐτὰ τὸν ∆αυίδ. ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἄχρι τῆς δεῦρο ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησιαστικαῖς διαλέξεσι μαρτυρίαις συγκεχρήμεθα, ὡς ἂν ἁρμόζειν δυναμέναις ἀπὸ τῆς διανοίας τοῖς παρ' ἡμῶν λεγομένοις· ὁ γὰρ ψαλμὸς ἐκεῖνος οὐ περὶ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἴρηται τῷ ∆αυίδ. καὶ δῆλον ἐξ ὧν φησιν· οὐχὶ γνώσονται πάντες οἱ ἐργαζόμενοι τὴν ἀνομίαν, οἱ ἐσθίοντες τὸν λαόν μου ἐν βρώσει ἄρτου; τίνα δὲ ἔμελλεν ὀνομάζειν