of all just as also of the olive tree, but not one choice just as in the case of the wild and the cultivated; calling wild that which is alienated and useless to the master, and cultivated that which is fruit-bearing. And he calls grafting the being grafted into the faith of Abraham, whom he names the root; and he says the grafting provides life. Ro+m11,28-29 But it is stated elliptically, which is why it is also unconnected. He means it thus, so that from the comparison with you the Jews are proven to be enemies of God, since you from the gentiles believed, but those who ought to have believed before all had their hearts hardened and according to this reasoning are enemies of God, but beloved on account of the fathers, in whose honor he will show kindness to their descendants, and he will consider beloved those who have believed and have shown a way of life that is able to save. Ro+m12,2 The present state of the world urges man toward luxury and pleasures, which form if anyone denies, he will also transfer himself to an altered and foreign way of life. As one having become a new man, he is transformed from one thing into another. Ro+m12,4-8 Having said before that God measures the measure of faith, by the following example he both defends the giver and persuades one not to be grieved, if someone should have a lesser gift. For just as an insignificant part of the body is useful to the whole, both the great and the small are joined into one body; for it is an inference from what was said before that we are members of one another. The phrase 'having various gifts' is in place of 'however, having various gifts.' He who shares, in simplicity, this is what the Lord says: to everyone who asks of you, give, not seeking whether it is good or bad and to whom you are giving, since this exactness often prevents us from giving to those to whom we ought to give, as suspicion often leads us astray. 224 Ro+m13,1 It is right to be subject to kings who persist in the service of God's will, unless perhaps a cause for persecutions is at hand; for he taught beforehand about enduring all things for the sake of the faith, saying: who shall separate us from the love of Christ? and the rest. For he who does not permit submission either to angels or to principalities for transgression, how could he advise obedience to human authorities who compel one to depart from God? But perhaps someone might say: if kingdoms are established by God, how is it that they sometimes even campaign against the godly? To whom it must be said that, even if the cause of persecutions seems very grievous to the many, yet one must consider how useful it is for them; for God does not simply allow such things, but so that both the virtues of the just may shine forth and the evils of the rulers may be shown. And what is greatest, then also those who feign the appearance of piety are proven to be impious, and the genuine lovers of piety, finding as it were the material for gaining good repute in the time of persecutions, will show the fruit of virtuous contest. So also God said to Job: Do you think I have dealt with you in any other way than that you might be shown to be just? Ro+m13,9 Since love is such a thing, it reasonably bears many advantages in itself; for he who loves does not commit adultery, does not murder, does not do any other of the forbidden things, so that he who has love has thus fulfilled the law all at once through love. Ro+m13,11 Fulfill, he says, the work of love, knowing that the time is urgent and demands virtue. Now our salvation is nearer than when we believed, that is, now that we have learned the more beneficial of the works, it has however become easier to be saved than when we were still being instructed in the word of faith; for we did not have an accurate grasp of what must be done at the same time as we believed in Christ, but now we have learned accurately. Ro+m14,4 The servant of Christ whom Christ has received is a stranger to the law. Who then are you to judge from the law one who is a stranger to the law? 225 Ro+m14,14 Through him, that is, through God. Ro+m15, Not as if shunning the fellowship of the other apostles, but as judging it rapacious and unjust to snatch away the glory of others’ works.

πάντων ὥσπερ καὶ τῆς ἐλαίας, οὐ μία δὲ προαίρεσις ὥσπερ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀγρίου καὶ ἡμέρου· ἄγριον καλῶν τὸ ἀπηλλοτριωμένον καὶ ἄχρηστον τῷ δεσπότῃ, ἥμερον δὲ τὸ καρποφόρον. ἐγκεντρισμὸν δὲ καλεῖ τὸ ἐγκεντρισθῆναι ἐν τῇ πίστει τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ὃν ῥίζαν ὀνομάζει· τὸν δὲ ἐγκεντρισμόν φησι παρέχειν ζωήν. Ro+m11,28-29 Πλὴν ἐλλειπῶς εἴρηται, διὸ καὶ ἀσύνδετόν ἐστιν. οὕτως οὖν θέλει, ὥστε ἐκ τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς συγκρίσεως ἐχθροὶ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐλέγχονται εἶναι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, ἐπειδὴ ὑμεῖς μὲν οἱ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἐπιστεύσατε, οἱ δὲ ὀφείλοντες πρὸ πάντων πιστεῦσαι ἐπωρώθησαν τὴν καρδίαν καὶ κατὰ μὲν τοῦτον τὸν λόγον ἐχθροί εἰσι τοῦ θεοῦ, ἀγαπητοὶ δὲ διὰ τοὺς πατέρας, ὧν εἰς τιμὴν φιλανθρωπεύσεται πρὸς τοὺς ἀπογόνους αὐτῶν, καὶ ἀγαπητοὺς ἡγήσεται πιστεύσαντας καὶ πολιτείαν ἐνδειξαμένους δυναμένην σῶσαι. Ro+m12,2 Ἡ παροῦσα τοῦ κόσμου κατάστασις εἰς τρυφὰς καὶ ἡδονὰς προτρέπεται τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ὅπερ ἐάν τις ἀρνήσηται σχῆμα, καὶ εἰς παρηλλαγμένην ἑαυτὸν καὶ ξένην πολιτείαν μεταστήσει. ὡς καινὸς ἄνθρωπος γεγονὼς ἐξ ἄλλου εἰς ἄλλον μεταμορφοῦται. Ro+m12,4-8 Προειρηκὼς ὅτι ὁ θεὸς μετρεῖ τὸ μέτρον τῆς πίστεως, τῷ ἑπομένῳ ὑποδείγματι καὶ ἀπολογεῖται ὑπὲρ τοῦ διδόντος καὶ μὴ λυπεῖσθαι πείθει, εἴ τις ἔλαττον ἔχοι τὸ χάρισμα. οἷον γὰρ ἂν ἦεν σώματι εὐτελὲς μέρος, χρήσιμόν ἐστι παντί, καὶ τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρὸν εἰς ἓν ἀπαρτίζεται σῶμα· ἐπαγωγὴ γάρ ἐστι τοῦ πρὸ τούτου ὅτι ἀλλήλων ἐσμὲν μέλη. τὸ ἔχοντες χαρίσματα διάφορα ἀντὶ τοῦ ἔχοντος μέντοι χαρίσματα διάφορα. ὁ μεταδιδοὺς ἐν ἁπλότητι, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὅ φησιν ὁ κύριος· παντὶ τῷ αἰτοῦντί σε δίδου, μὴ ζητῶν εἴτε καλὸν εἴτε κακὸν καὶ τίνι δίδως, ἐπεὶ ἡ ἀκρίβεια αὕτη πολλάκις οἷς χρὴ δοθῆναι κωλύει ἡμᾶς διδόναι, τῆς ὑποψίας ἐν ἡμῖν σφαλλομένης πολλάκις. 224 Ro+m13,1 Ἄξιον τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν ὑποτάσσεσθαι προσκαρτεροῦσι τῇ λειτουργίᾳ τῆς βουλήσεως τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰ μήπου ὑπόθεσίς ἐστι διωγμῶν ἐν μέσῳ· περὶ γὰρ τοῦ διὰ τὴν πίστιν ὑπομένειν πάντα προλαβὼν ἐδίδαξεν εἰπών· τίς ἡμᾶς χωρίσει ἀπὸ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Χριστοῦ; καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ὁ γὰρ μήτε ἀγγέλοις μήτε ἀρχαῖς ὑποτάσσεσθαι πρὸς παρανομίαν συγχωρῶν, πῶς ἐν ταῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ἐξουσίαις ὑπακούειν παραινοίη βιαζομέναις ἀποστῆσαι θεοῦ. ἀλλ' ἴσως ἂν εἴποι τις· εἰ ὑπὸ θεοῦ βασιλεῖαι καθίστανται, πῶς ἐνίοτε καὶ κατὰ θεοσεβῶν στρατεύονται; πρὸς οὓς ῥητέον ὅτι, εἰ καὶ βαρυτάτη δοκεῖ τοῖς πολλοῖς ἡ τῶν διωγμῶν ὑπόθεσις, ἀλλ' ὅσον αὐτοῖς τὸ χρήσιμον διαλογιστέον· οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς τὰ τοιαῦτα συγχωρεῖ ὁ θεός, ἀλλ' ἵνα καὶ τῶν δικαίων ἀρεταὶ λάμψωσι καὶ τῶν κρατούντων κακίαι δειχθῶσιν. τὸ δὲ μέγιστον, τότε καὶ οἱ ὑποκρινόμενοι τῆς εὐσεβείας τὸ σχῆμα δυσσεβεῖς ὄντες ἐλέγχονται, καὶ οἱ γνήσιοι τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐρασταί, ὥσπερ ὕλην εὑρόντες εὐδοκιμήσεως τὸν τῶν διωγμῶν καιρόν, δείξουσι τῆς ἐναρέτου ἀθλήσεως τὸν καρπόν. οὕτω γοῦν καὶ πρὸς τὸν Ἰὼβ ὁ θεὸς ἔφη· οἴει γάρ με ἄλλως σοι κεχρηματικέναι, ἢ ἵνα ἀναφανῇς δίκαιος. Ro+m13,9 Τοιαύτη τοίνυν οὖσα τις ἡ ἀγάπη, εἰκότως πολλὰ φέρει ἐν ἑαυτῇ τὰ πλεονεκτήματα· ὁ γὰρ ἀγαπῶν οὐ μοιχεύει, οὐ φονεύει, οὐχ ἕτερόν τι τῶν ἀπηγορευμένων ποιεῖ, ὥστε ὁ ἔχων ἀγάπην οὕτως ἀθρόως διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης τὸν νόμον ἐπλήρωσεν. Ro+m13,11 Πληροῦτε, φησί, τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης ἔργον, εἰδότες τὸν καιρὸν κατεπείγοντα καὶ ἀρετὴν ἀπαιτοῦντα. νῦν ἐγγύτερον ἡμῶν ἡ σωτηρία ἢ ὅτε ἐπιστεύσαμεν, τοῦτ' ἔστι νῦν ὅτε ἔγνωμεν τῶν ἔργων τὰ ὠφελιμώτερα, κοῦφον ὅμως γέγονε τὸ σωθῆναι ἤπερ ὅτε κατηχούμεθα ἔτι τὸν τῆς πίστεως λόγον· οὐ γὰρ ἅμα τῷ πιστεῦσαι εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν ἀκριβῆ τῶν πρακτέων κατάληψιν εἴχομεν, ἀλλὰ νῦν ἀκριβῶς ἔγνωμεν. Ro+m14,4 Ὁ οἰκέτης Χριστοῦ ὃν προσελάβετο ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλότριός ἐστι τοῦ νόμου. τίς οὖν εἶ κρίνων ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τὸν τοῦ νόμου ἀλλότριον; 225 Ro+m14,14 ∆ι' αὐτοῦ, τοῦτ' ἔστι τοῦ θεοῦ. Ro+m15, Οὐχ ὡς ἀπευχόμενος τῶν λοιπῶν ἀποστόλων τὴν κοινωνίαν, ἀλλ' ὡς πλεονεκτικὸν καὶ ἄδικον κρίνων τὴν τῶν ἀλλοτρίων ἔργων δόξαν ὑφαρπάζειν.