12

evil, but it is in no way able to remove our facility for sinning, which was born from mortality. Ro+m 7,22-23 For I delight exceedingly in the laws of God, he says, in my soul, both praising them and holding them in high regard, but sin, acting against the will of the soul through all, so to speak, of the members, draws me over to its own action. and he said well "in the members," since sin is manifold, having a nature to be practiced through all the members; for some things we sin through the eyes, others through the tongue, and others in other ways. And here it is worth wondering at those who were perplexed as to whether the apostle means to speak of three or four laws, when the meaning is clear and absolute; for instead of saying 133 sin, he said "the law of sin," saying nothing different, but employing a certain idiom peculiar to him. Thus also in the preceding passages he says: "through the law of faith," and a little after: "For the law of the Spirit of life," instead of saying "the Spirit of life"; for since every law has its own purpose, in each case he adds the name "of the law" in order to state the purpose of the matter about which he might be speaking, meaning the matter itself and not something else. Ro+m 7,25 For with my soul, he says, I choose the things that seem good to the law of God, but by mortality I am drawn down to sin; but we have been delivered from all these things and have been placed outside of all punishment, we who through faith in Christ have come to be outside of mortality and of living according to it. For "according to the flesh" he says this instead of "to live as mortals," just as "to live according to the law" also follows; for to mortals and to those who are susceptible to the inclination toward the worse, the law is necessary to restrain from the worse, but for those who have become immortal and unchangeable, it has necessarily become superfluous. Ro+m 8,2 The apostle says that the resurrection happens by participation in the Spirit; for, he says, "it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body," as though He then holds us in incorruptibility and unchangeability. He therefore calls it the Spirit of life, as providing that immortal life which we will then obtain. The Spirit, therefore, he says, which was given to us in the hope of immortality, the enjoyment of which faith in Christ has provided for us, has delivered me from both death and sin. But it is clear that he makes his demonstration of the things provided to us through Christ from future things, when the outcome will take hold in reality, since freedom from death will also come to us then, not only by being raised, but also by being deemed worthy of immortal life. And then we are delivered from sin, then having become unchangeable by the grace of the Spirit, we are not susceptible to sin; for in the present life it is manifest that we are both mortal and lie under the vexation of sin134.

Ro+m 8,3-4 The law, therefore, he says, although it benefits the soul, yet appeared weak for the accomplishment of virtue, since mortality acted against it and worked much vexation of sin in us; but the Son of God, having come in this mortal nature which is subject to sins, for no other reason than to take away its sin, he abolished the authority that sin seemed to have in it, taking away its mortality, and abolishing with it also the vexation of sin, so that henceforth the purpose and will of the law might be fulfilled in us who have been delivered from mortality and are established in immortality; for what the law was not strong enough to do in us, when we were still mortal by nature, although it spoke very much about the need not to sin, this has come to us in the removal of mortality, being unable to endure any vexation of sin, once we have become immortal by nature. Ro+m 8,5-6 From this point on he says at greater length that for mortals, sinning certainly follows,

12

κακόν, τὴν περὶ τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν δὲ ἡμῶν εὐκολίαν οὐδαμῶς δύναται ἀφελεῖν, ἥτις ἀπὸ τῆς θνητότητος ἐνεγένετο. Ro+m 7,22-23 Σφόδρα μὲν γὰρ ἐπὶ τοῖς τοῦ θεοῦ νόμοις ἥδομαι, φησί, τὴν ψυχήν, ἐπαινῶν τε αὐτοὺς καὶ περὶ πολλοῦ ποιούμενος, ἀντιπράττουσα δὲ ἡ ἁμαρτία τῷ βουλήματι τῆς ψυχῆς διὰ πάντων, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τῶν μελῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτῆς μεθέλκει πρᾶξιν. καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν, ἐπειδὴ πολύτροπος ἡ ἁμαρτία, διὰ πάντων ἐπιτηδεύεσθαι φύσιν ἔχουσα τῶν μελῶν· τὰ μὲν γὰρ δι' ὀφθαλμῶν, τὰ δὲ διὰ γλώττης, τὰ δὲ ἑτέρως ἁμαρτάνομεν. θαυμάσαι δὲ ἄξιον ἐνταῦθα τοὺς δια πορήσαντας, πότερον τρεῖς ἢ τέσσαρας νόμους ὁ ἀπόστολος βούλεται λέγειν, δήλης οὔσης καὶ ἀπολύτου τῆς διανοίας· ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὴν 133 ἁμαρτίαν, νόμον εἶπεν ἁμαρτίας, οὐδὲν ἀλλοιότερον λέγων, κατά τι δὲ αὐτῷ οἰκεῖον τεθεικὼς ἰδίωμα. οὕτω καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέρω λέγει· ὁ διὰ νόμου πίστεως, καὶ μετὰ βραχέα δέ· ὁ γὰρ νόμος τοῦ πνεύματος τῆς ζωῆς, ἀντὶ τοῦ εἰπεῖν τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ζωῆς· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ σκοπός ἐστι νόμου παντὸς ἴδιος, ἐφ' ἑκάστου τὸ τοῦ νόμου προστίθησιν ὄνομα, ἵνα εἴπῃ τὸν σκοπὸν τοῦ πράγματος, περὶ οὗπερ ἂν λέγῃ, αὐτὸ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ οὐχ ἕτερον λέγων. Ro+m 7,25 Τῇ μὲν γὰρ ψυχῇ, φησίν, αἱροῦμαι τὰ δοκοῦντα τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὑπὸ δὲ τῆς θνητότητος ἐπὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καθέλκομαι· ἀλλ' ἀπηλλάγμεθα τούτων ἁπάντων καὶ τιμωρίας ἁπάσης κατέστημεν ἐκτὸς οἱ διὰ τῆς ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πίστεως ἔξω γενόμενοι τῆς θνητότητος καὶ τοῦ κατ' αὐτὴν ζῆν. τὸ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα τοῦτο λέγει ἀντὶ τοῦ ὡς θνητοὶ πολιτεύεσθαι, ὡς ἕπεται καὶ τὸ κατὰ νόμον ζῆν· τοῖς γὰρ θνητοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον ῥοπὴν δεχομένοις ἀναγκαῖος ὁ νόμος ἀπείργων τοῦ χείρονος, ἀθανάτοις δὲ καὶ ἀτρέπτοις γεγονόσι περιττὸς ἐξ ἀνάγκης καθέστηκεν. Ro+m 8,2 Τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος μετουσίᾳ τὴν ἀνάστασιν γίγνεσθαι ὁ ἀπόστολός φησιν· σπείρεται γάρ, φησί, σῶμα ψυχικόν, ἐγείρεται σῶμα πνευματικόν, ὡς ἂν αὐτοῦ τότε κρατοῦντος ἡμᾶς ἐν ἀφθαρσίᾳ τε καὶ ἀτρεπτότητι. πνεῦμα οὖν αὐτὸ ζωῆς καλεῖ, ὡς ἂν τῆς ἀθανάτου ζωῆς παρεκτικὸν ἧς τότε τευξόμεθα. τὸ τοίνυν πνεῦμα, φησί, τὸ ἐπ' ἐλπίδι τῆς ἀθανασίας ἡμῖν δεδομένον, οὗ τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ἡ ἐπὶ τὸν Χριστὸν πίστις παρέσχηκεν ἡμῖν, ἀπήλλαξέν με τοῦ τε θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας. δῆλον δὲ ὅτι ἀπὸ τῶν μελλόντων ποιεῖται τὴν ἀπόδειξιν τῶν διὰ Χριστοῦ παρασχεθέντων ἡμῖν, ὅτε ἐπὶ τῶν πραγμάτων τὴν ἔκβασιν λήψεται, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡ τοῦ θανάτου ἐλευθερία τότε ἡμῖν προσγενήσεται, οὐκ ἀνισταμένοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀθανάτου ζωῆς ἀξιουμένοις. τότε δὲ καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀπαλλαττόμεθα, τότε ἄτρεπτοι γεγονότες τῇ τοῦ πνεύματος χάριτι, ἁμαρτεῖν οὐκ ἐπιδεχόμεθα· κατὰ γάρ τοι τὸν παρόντα βίον πρόδηλον ὡς θνητοί τέ ἐσμεν καὶ ὑπὸ τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐνόχλησιν κείμεθα134.

Ro+m 8,3-4 Ὁ μὲν οὖν νόμος, εἰ καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ὠφελεῖ, φησίν, ἀλλὰ τῇ κατορθώσει τῆς ἀρετῆς ἀτονῶν ἐφαίνετο, ἀντιπραττούσης αὐτῷ τῆς θνητότητος καὶ πολλὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ἐνόχλησιν ἡμῖν ἐνεργαζομένης· ὁ δέ γε υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ταύτῃ γεγονὼς τῇ φύσει τῇ θνητῇ καὶ ἁμαρτίαις ὑποκειμένῃ, οὐχ ἑτέρου ἕνεκεν ἀλλ' ἢ ὥστε ἀφελεῖν αὐτῆς τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, ἀνεῖλε τὸ ἐνεῖναι δοκοῦν αὐτῇ κῦρος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἀφελὼν μὲν αὐτῆς τὴν θνητότητα, συνανελὼν δὲ αὐτῇ καὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ἐνόχλησιν, ὡς λοιπὸν τοῦ νόμου τὸν σκοπὸν καὶ τὸ βούλημα ἐν ἡμῖν πληροῦσθαι τοῖς ἀπηλλαγμένοις μὲν τῆς θνητότητος, ἐν ἀθανασίᾳ δὲ καθεστῶσιν· ὃ γὰρ οὐκ ἴσχυσε ποιεῖν ἐν ἡμῖν ὁ νόμος, ὅτε ἔτι θνητοὶ τὴν φύσιν ἦμεν, καίτοιγε πλεῖστα περὶ τοῦ μὴ δεῖν ἁμαρτάνειν διαλεγόμενος, τοῦτο ἡμῖν ἐν τῇ τῆς θνητότητος ἀφαιρέσει προσεγένετο, οὐδεμίαν ἐνόχλησιν ἁμαρτίας δυναμένοις ὑπομένειν, ἐπειδὰν ἅπαξ τὴν φύσιν ἀθάνατοι γενώμεθα. Ro+m 8,5-6 Ἀπεντεῦθεν λοιπὸν διὰ πλειόνων λέγει, ὅτι τοῖς μὲν θνητοῖς τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ἕπεται πάντως,