8

became an occasion for sins, since we were doing the opposite of its prohibitions. Ro+m 7,6 But now, he says, all things have changed; for we have become dead to this life, in which we were held as if by some necessity to live according to the law. Whence we have no communion of life with it for the future; for having been renewed by the power of the Spirit and having become other men instead of what we were, and having passed from the present life into an incorruptible life, we endure no annoyance from sins. Therefore we do not need laws and writings that teach us 126 abstinence from evil; for these can be useful to those who are established in the oldness of this life, not to those renewed by the Spirit and become incorruptible, for whom there is no longer need of laws because they are not even susceptible to sinning. Thus he says our things are better than theirs and that the things according to Christ have a much greater benefit than those of the ones being trained under the law. Ro+m 7,7 Perceiving from "the passions of sins which were through the law," and from "but the law came in, that the trespass might abound," and from many other things which he had said in the preceding parts, that a certain slander was growing against the law as if it were the cause and producer of sins, he turns to the argument concerning these things. and he begins the objection saying thus: What shall we say then? Is the law sin? But then, he says, is it not shown from our words that the law is indeed evil and productive of sin? May it not be! But I did not know sin except through the law. On the contrary, I would not have even known the sin, the practice of which one ought to shun, if there were not a law that instructs us by the distinction of the good and the worse what things we must do and from what we must abstain. So that the law became for us the cause of hatred for sin, which both pointed it out and commanded to avoid it. And making what was said clearer, he added: For I would not have known desire if the law had not said: You shall not desire. It happens that we desire many things in the present life, not only of foods and drinks and marital relations but also of glory and money. But of the things for which we have an innate desire, we would never have considered any of these to be evil, if the law did not teach us from which things, when we desire them, it is proper to abstain. Just as therefore each of the irrational creatures inevitably hastens to fulfill its own desire, since indeed nothing pulls it to the contrary by which it will be brought into conflict with its own appetite. Then he uses the things concerning Adam as an example for greater clarity of what is being said; for the commandment made to him concerning the plant was also a law, and the things concerning him contributed to the confirmation of the arguments concerning the law. Ro+m 7,8 He uses the things concerning Adam as an example, since he too, when the plants were set forth in paradise, was able to partake of them all without fear 127, if some law concerning abstinence had not happened to be given to him, and it was not a sin to wish to eat of that one along with the rest. But when he received the commandment to abstain from eating of the plant, a certain desire for partaking of the fruit was in him, as is likely, but he was nevertheless hindered by the commandment, considering it to be a sin to eat of the forbidden things. From this, sin gained an entrance, with the commandment restraining the eating, but Adam not wishing to look to the trustworthiness of the commandment, but having been persuaded by the words of the plotter, and having become wholly of the desire to eat. And not only did an occasion for sin arise from this, but indeed we also learned this, that it was not fitting for us to follow desires by deceit, but by discerning what one must do, to abstain from the other things, by not abiding in which, we are clearly sinning. So that not only in that respect did sin gain entrance through the commandment, in that we partook of the plant, but also because, while learning from this not to follow all desires simply, we sin, the things of

8

ἁμαρτημάτων ἐγίνετο πρόξενος, ἐπειδὴ ταῖς διαγορεύσεσι τἀναντία διεπραττόμεθα. Ro+m 7,6 Ἀλλὰ πάντα νῦν, φησί, μεταβέβληται· τῷ γὰρ βίῳ τούτῳ νεκροὶ γεγόναμεν, ᾧ δὴ τυγχάνοντες ὥσπερ ὑπό τινος ἀνάγκης κατειχόμεθα εἰς τὸ τῷ νόμῳ πολιτεύεσθαι. ὅθεν οὐδέ ἐστί τις ἡμῖν κοινωνία βίου πρὸς αὐτὸν τοῦ λοιποῦ· ἀνακαινισθέντες γὰρ τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ ἕτεροι μὲν ἀνθ' ἑτέρων γεγονότες, μεταστάντες δὲ εἰς ἄφθαρτον ζωὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ παρόντος βίου, οὐδεμίαν ἁμαρτημάτων ἐνόχλησιν ὑπομένομεν. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ νόμων δεόμεθα καὶ γραμμάτων τῶν διδασκόντων ἡμᾶς 126 τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν ἀποχήν· ταῦτα γὰρ τοῖς ἐν τῇ τοῦ βίου τούτου παλαιότητι καθεστῶσι χρήσιμα εἶναι δύναται, οὐ τοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος ἀνα καινισθεῖσι καὶ γεγονόσιν ἀφθάρτοις, οἷς νόμων οὐκέτι χρεία διὰ τὸ μηδὲ ἁμαρτάνειν ἐπιδέχεσθαι. οὕτω κρείττονα τὰ ἡμέτερα ἐκείνων φησὶ καὶ πολλῷ μείζονα τὰ κατὰ Χριστὸν ὠφέλειαν ἔχοντα τῶν ὑπὸ τῷ νόμῳ παιδαγωγουμένων. Ro+m 7,7 Αἰσθόμενος ἀπό τε τοῦ τὰ παθήματα τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν τὰ διὰ τοῦ νόμου, καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμος δὲ παρεισῆλθεν ἵνα πλεονάσῃ τὸ παράπτωμα, καὶ ἑτέρων πλειόνων ὧν ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέροις εἰρήκει, διαβολήν τινα ἐπιφυομένην τῷ νόμῳ ὡς ἂν αἰτίῳ καὶ ποιητικῷ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, τρέπεται μὲν ἐπὶ τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον. ἄρχεται δὲ τῆς ἀντιθέσεως οὕτως λέγων· τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; ἀλλ' ἆρα, φησί, μὴ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῶν ἡμετέρων δείκνυται ῥημάτων, ὅτι δὴ φαῦλος καὶ ποιητικὸς ἁμαρτίας ὁ νόμος; μὴ γένοιτο· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔγνων εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου. τοὐναντίον οὐδ' ἂν ἔγνων τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἧς ἐκκλίνειν προσήκει τὴν πρᾶξιν, εἰ μὴ νόμος ἦν ὁ τῇ διακρίσει τοῦ τε καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ χείρονος παιδεύων ἡμᾶς ἅ τε ποιεῖν καὶ ὧν ἀπέχεσθαι δεῖ· ὥστε ὁ νόμος ἡμῖν τοῦ μίσους τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐγένετο αἴτιος, ὃς ὑπέδειξέν τε αὐτὴν καὶ ἀποφεύγειν προσέταξεν. καὶ σαφέστερον ποιῶν τὸ εἰρημένον ἐπήγαγεν· τήν τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλε γεν· οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις. πολλῶν ἐπιθυμεῖν ἡμᾶς κατὰ τὸν παρ όντα βίον συμβέβηκεν, οὐ βρωμάτων καὶ πομάτων καὶ γαμικῆς κοινωνίας μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ δόξης καὶ χρημάτων· ὧν δὲ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐνοῦσαν ἔχομεν, τούτων οὐκ ἄν ποτε εἶναί τι φαῦλον ἡγησάμεθα, μὴ νόμου διδάσκοντος ἡμᾶς ὧν ἐπιθυμοῦντας ἀπέχεσθαι προσήκει. ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ τῶν <ἀ>λόγων ἕκαστον ἀπαραιτήτως τὴν οἰκείαν ἐκπληροῦν ἐπι θυμίαν ἐπείγεται, ἅτε δὴ οὐδενὸς αὐτὰ πρὸς τοὐναντίον ἀνθέλκοντος ὑφ' οὗ πρὸς μάχην τῆς οἰκείας ὀρέξεως καταστήσεται. εἶτα ὑποδείγματι κέχρηται τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀδὰμ εἰς μείζονα τοῦ λεγομένου σαφήνειαν· νόμος γὰρ ἦν καὶ ἡ πρὸς ἐκεῖνον ἐντολὴ περὶ τοῦ φυτοῦ γενομένη καὶ συνεβάλλετο τὰ κατ' ἐκεῖνον εἰς σύστασιν τῶν περὶ τοῦ νόμου λόγων. Ro+m 7,8 Ὑποδείγματι κέχρηται τοῖς περὶ τὸν Ἀδάμ, ἐπεὶ κἀκεῖνος προκει μένων ἐπὶ τοῦ παραδείσου τῶν φυτῶν ἀδεῶς ἁπάντων μεταλαμβάνειν 127 ἐδύνατο, εἰ μὴ νόμος αὐτῷ τις περὶ ἀποχῆς ἔτυχε δοθείς, καὶ οὐκ ἦν ἁμάρτημα τὸ μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν βουληθέντα κἀκείνου φαγεῖν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐντολὴν ἐδέξατο ἀποσχέσθαι τοῦ φυτοῦ τῆς βρώσεως, ἐπιθυμία μέν τις ἐνῆν αὐτῷ τῆς μεταλήψεως, ὡς εἰκός, τοῦ καρποῦ, ἐκωλύετο δὲ ὅμως ὑπὸ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἁμάρτημα εἶναι τὸ φαγεῖν τῶν ἀπαγορευθέντων ἡγού μενος. ἐντεῦθεν ἡ ἁμαρτία πάροδον ἔσχεν, τῆς μὲν ἐντολῆς ἐπεχούσης τὴν βρῶσιν, τοῦ δὲ Ἀδὰμ οὐ πρὸς τὴν ἀξιοπιστίαν τῆς ἐντολῆς βουληθέν τος ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ πιστωθέντος μὲν τοῦ ἐπιβούλου τοῖς λόγοις, ὅλου δὲ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας τοῦ φαγεῖν γεγονότος. καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀφορμὴ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐντεῦθεν ἐγένετο, ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἔτι κἀκεῖνο ἐμάθομεν, ὡς οὐκ ἀπάτῃ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις προσῆκεν ἕπεσθαι ἡμᾶς, δοκιμάζοντας δὲ ἃ χρὴ ποιεῖν, τῶν ἑτέρων ἀπέχεσθαι, οἷς οὐκ ἐμμένοντες δῆλοι πάντως ἐσμὲν ἁμαρτάνον τες. ὥστε οὐ κατ' ἐκεῖνο μόνον ἡ ἁμαρτία τὴν πάροδον ἔσχεν διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, καθὸ τοῦ φυτοῦ μετειλήφαμεν, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ὅτι μὴ πάσαις ἕπεσθαι ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις ἁπλῶς ἐντεῦθεν μανθάνοντες ἡμαρτάνομεν, τὰ τῆς