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to show by comparison the greatness of the things through Christ, and he speaks thus. Ro+m 7,14 The spiritual instead of being able to benefit and instruct the soul in what is necessary, but the carnal instead of mortal and for this reason having a great propensity for sinning; for this is what it means to be sold under sin, since the sale certainly 131 makes the one sold a slave, placed under the necessity of service, just as we also through mortality have been brought into a readiness for sinning. For he wants to say that the law is good; for it instructs the soul what it ought to love and what it ought to turn away from, and to prefer the will of the divine laws above all things. But no benefit comes to me from this for being freed from sin; for being mortal by nature and having received through this a great ease for sinning, I am not able to be freed from stumbling, even if I should instruct my soul ten thousand times through the law in what is proper. Ro+m 7,17-18 And this, he says, shows the usefulness of the law, from the fact that I am pleased with none of the things that are done; for I confess them to be wrong, even if I do them ten thousand times, because I have been taught this by the law. And the power of sin is shown to hold sway over me so through mortality that even unwillingly I am often carried away to the practice of wrong things. and the same thing again; for I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, good does not dwell. For I know, he says, that as far as it depends on the flesh, which has a mortal nature, nothing that contributes to virtue can be done; for mortality prepares us to desire only present things, and from the concern for these things sins are rather born, but it is in no way possible to achieve virtue to the highest degree without despising present things, desiring immortal things with a better reasoning. Ro+m 7,19 Insisting on the same things; for I do not do the good that I want, he says, but the evil that I do not want, that I practice. But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For here also he says the same thing, that with my soul I choose the good, being instructed by the law in what is necessary, but I often do not what I want, but rather what I do not want; for I want what is in accordance with the divine laws, but I do the opposite of the good things which I both know and want, so that from this the power of sin is shown, which it has acquired over me through mortality, if indeed it is able to drag me to its own practice even against my will. For the phrase 'it is not I who do it' above and here means 'against my will'. Through all these things, from 'for we know that the law is spiritual', he wants to say that the law is good, instructing the soul in what is necessary, and for this reason is very useful, but I, having received through mortality a great 132 ease for sinning, am not able to be freed from stumbling through the teaching of reason; for the law has great power in the instruction of the soul, and this is clear from the fact that we have an accurate distinction between good and evil; we have never, at least, cast off this knowledge because of the multitude of sins, but on the contrary, even when stumbling countless times, we have not been without the knowledge, at least, of the worthlessness of sin. However, it has not been able to take away our sinning, since mortality has created for us a great ease for it, but even if through its own teaching it produces a great disposition for what is proper, unwillingly and as we know not, we are often carried away into the practice of wrong things. Ro+m 7,21 It must be read with a division: 'So I find the law for me who wants to do good', then next: 'that for me evil is present'; for each of them has its own complete and perfected meaning, the one saying 'for me who wants' according to the soul, and the other 'that for me evil is present' according to the flesh. For he says that according to the soul the law is useful, instructing it to desire the good, but to turn away from the

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κατὰ παράθεσιν φανῆναι τῶν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ μέγεθος καί φησιν οὕτως. Ro+m 7,14 Τὸ πνευματικὸς ἀντὶ τοῦ ὠφελεῖν καὶ παιδεύειν ἃ δεῖ δυνά μενος τὴν ψυχήν, τὸ δὲ σαρκικὸς ἀντὶ τοῦ θνητὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πολλὴν περὶ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ἔχων ῥοπήν· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει τὸ πεπρα μένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἐπειδήπερ ἡ πρᾶσις δοῦλον πάντως 131 ποιεῖ τὸν πεπραμένον ὑπὸ τὸν τῆς ὑπηρεσίας καθεστάμενον ἀνάγκην , ὡς ἂν οὕτω καὶ ἡμῶν διὰ τῆς θνητότητος εἰς τὴν τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν ἑτοιμότητα καταστάντων. βούλεται γὰρ εἰπεῖν ὅτι καλὸς μὲν ὁ νόμος· παιδεύει γὰρ τὴν ψυχήν , τίνα μὲν ἀγαπᾶν, τίνα δὲ ἀποστρέφεσθαι προσήκει, καὶ τὸ πάντων προτιμᾶν τῶν θείων νόμων τὸ βούλημα. ὄφελος δὲ ἐμοὶ πρὸς τὸ ἀπηλλάχθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐντεῦθεν οὐ γίγνεται· θνητὸς γὰρ ὢν τὴν φύσιν καὶ πολλὴν διὰ τούτου περὶ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν τὴν εὐκολίαν δεξάμενος, ἀπηλλάχθαι τοῦ πταίειν οὐ δύναμαι, κἂν μυριάκις ἃ προσήκει διὰ τοῦ νόμου παιδεύωμαι τὴν ψυχήν. Ro+m 7,17-18 Καὶ τοῦτο μὲν νόμου, φησί, τὸ χρήσιμον δείκνυται, ἀφ' ὧν οὐδενὶ τῶν πραττομένων ἀρέσκομαι· ὁμολογῶ γὰρ ἄτοπα εἶναι, κἂν μυριάκις αὐτὰ διαπράττωμαι, τῷ πεπαιδεῦσθαι τοῦτο ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου. φαίνεται δὲ ἡ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἰσχὺς οὕτω μου διὰ τὴν θνητότητα κρατοῦσα ὡς καὶ ἄκοντα πολλάκις ἐπὶ τὴν τῶν ἀτόπων καταφέρεσθαι πρᾶξιν. καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πάλιν· οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοί, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, τὸ ἀγαθόν. καὶ γὰρ ἐπίσταμαι, φησίν, ὅτι ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ σαρκὶ θνητὴν ἐχούσῃ τὴν φύσιν, οὐδὲν τῶν εἰς ἀρετὴν συντελούντων πραχθῆναι δύναται· ἡ μὲν γὰρ θνητότης τῶν παρόντων ἐφίεσθαι μόνον ἡμᾶς παρασκευάζει, ἐκ δὲ τῆς περὶ ταῦτα σπουδῆς ἁμαρτήματα τίκτεται μᾶλλον, κατορθῶσαι δὲ ἀρετὴν εἰς ἄκρον οὐδαμῶς οἷόν τε μὴ τῶν παρόντων ὑπερορῶντα, κρείττονι λογισμῷ ἀθανάτων ἐφιέμενον πραγμάτων. Ro+m 7,19 Ἐπιμένων τοῖς αὐτοῖς· οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω ποιῶ, φησίν , ἀγα θόν, ἀλλ' ὃ οὐ θέλω κακὸν τοῦτο πράσσω. εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία. τὸ γὰρ αὐτὸ κἀνταῦθα λέγει, ὅτι τῇ μὲν ψυχῇ αἱροῦμαι τὸ καλὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ νόμου παιδευόμενος ἃ δεῖ, ποιῶ δὲ οὐχ ἃ βούλομαι πολλάκις, ἀλλὰ ἃ μὴ βούλομαι μᾶλλον· βούλομαι μὲν γὰρ τὰ τοῖς θείοις νόμοις ἀκόλουθα, πράττω δὲ τἀναντία ὧν ἐπίσταμαί τε καὶ βούλομαι καλῶν , ὡς ἐντεῦθεν τῆς ἁμαρτίας φαίνεσθαι τὴν ἰσχὺν ἣν κατ' ἐμοῦ διὰ τῆς θνητότητος ἐπεκτήσατο, εἴπερ δὴ καὶ παρὰ γνώμην ἐπὶ τὴν οἰκείαν με καθέλκειν δύναται πρᾶξιν. τὸ γὰρ οὐκ ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι ἀνωτέρω κἀνταῦθα λέγει τὸ παρὰ γνώμην. διὰ πάντων δὲ τούτων ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν, βούλεται εἰπεῖν, ὅτι καλὸς μὲν ὁ νόμος παιδεύων ἃ δεῖ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τούτου γε ἕνεκεν σφόδρα χρήσιμος, ἐγὼ δὲ διὰ τῆς θνητότητος πολλὴν περὶ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν τὴν 132 εὐκολίαν δεξάμενος, ἀπηλλάχθαι τοῦ πταίειν διὰ τῆς τοῦ λόγου διδασκα λίας οὐ δύναμαι· πολλὴν μὲν γὰρ ἔχει τὴν ἰσχὺν ὁ νόμος ἐν τῇ τῆς ψυχῆς διδασκαλίᾳ, καὶ τοῦτο δῆλον ἐξ ὧν ἀκριβὴς ἔγκειται ἡμῖν ἥ τε τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ τοῦ κακοῦ διάκρισις· οὐδὲ πώποτε γοῦν ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τὸ εἰδέναι τοῦτο ἀπεβάλλομεν, τοὐναντίον δὲ καὶ μυρία πταίοντες τοῦ γοῦν εἰδέναι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν φαυλότητα ἐκτὸς οὐ γεγόναμεν. οὐ μὴν ἀφελεῖν ἡμῶν τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν δεδύνηται τῆς θνητότητος πολλὴν τούτου τὴν εὐκολίαν ἡμῖν ἐργασαμένης, ἀλλὰ κἂν σφόδρα διὰ τῆς οἰκείας διδασκαλίας πολλὴν τοῦ προσήκοντος ἐνερ γάσηται τὴν διάθεσιν, ἄκοντες καὶ ὡς οὐκ ἴσμεν, πολλάκις εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀτόπων ὑποφερόμεθα πρᾶξιν. Ro+m 7,21 Κατὰ διαίρεσιν ἀναγνωστέον· εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον ἐμοὶ τῷ θέλοντι ποιεῖν τὸ καλόν, εἶτα ἑξῆς· ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται· ἕκαστον γὰρ αὐτῶν ἰδίᾳ τελείαν καὶ ἀπηρτισ μένην ἔχει τὴν ἔννοιαν, τὸ μὲν τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ κατὰ τὴν ψυχὴν λέγοντος, τὸ δὲ ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται κατὰ τὴν σάρκα. λέγει γὰρ ὅτι κατὰ μὲν τὴν ψυχὴν χρήσιμος ὁ νόμος, παιδεύων αὐτὴν ἐφίεσθαι τοῦ καλοῦ, ἀποστρέφεσθαι δὲ τὸ