Theodore of Heraclea, Fragments on the Epistle to the Romans

but having become immortal, we are rid of this, so that by comparison the things of Christ appear to be far superior to the law, since the one was not able to take away death, and it was altogether necessary for sin to hold sway in us, even if the soul were taught what is right ten thousand times; but Christ took away death and with death destroyed the vexation of sin that was in us. He began, then, from "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," to explain the greatness of the things provided to us through Christ, along with many others, showing their superiority by comparison with the law. But since he turned to the resolution of the questions that arise, having made a defense for them, as has been shown more clearly to us in what has gone before, and indeed also for saying that the law is productive of sin, he necessarily showed its usefulness; and this we have made clearer in what has just been interpreted. Again, speaking by comparison with the law of the greatness of the things through Christ, he returns to the argument of the first questions and to showing how Christ became the cause of the greatest goods for us; for which reason he also wishes to show here through many things, that sinning follows mortality, but having become immortal we are rid of this. Therefore he says: "For those who are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh," and what follows. He means this, that those who are mortal by nature necessarily endure the greatest 135 vexation of sinning; for what immortal thing could a mortal nature plan? And if there is any virtue in us, this is not of the flesh but of the mind of the soul, whenever it becomes superior to present things. But those who have already partaken of the Spirit have a better way of thinking than these, having become immortal by nature and rid of all vexation from worse things; for this is what he means by "peace," since in what went before he said there is a war among those who are mortal by nature, with sin acting against the will of the soul, here saying "peace" means that the vexation of sin has been taken away.

Ro+m 8,9 But you, he says, are not in the flesh, he clearly indicates that he is not here discussing our nature—for he was not writing this to Romans who had become outside of the flesh, but he speaks of the vexation of sin that is in us from mortality, so that the greatness of the things through Christ might appear, who took away our death so that we might be rid of the entire war of sin. For this reason he says that you are not in the flesh, that is, you have become outside the sentence of death, but in the Spirit; for you have already been established in the promise of immortality. And what is the proof of this? If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. We have also shown in what went before that he says the resurrection happens by participation in the Spirit, making us then immortal and unchangeable by divine grace; but since they were fulfilling a type of those things at baptism, and for this very reason they received a partial working of the Spirit as a kind of pledge of things to come. In order to have an unshakable opinion also about those things, he said well: If indeed you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you. It is clear that the promise concerning the resurrection is true, the enjoyment of which it is hoped that participation in the Spirit will bring to you; for it is not possible for those who have received the pledge of those things not to also receive the rest. That the believers had the Spirit was beyond doubt from the signs that once followed for the confirmation of what was said.

Ro+m 8,14 It is clear, then, that such people will live the blessed life with their own father 136.

Ro+m 8,15 He has rendered "again" as referring to "of slavery." It should be read thus: "For you did not receive a spirit," then, after a pause, one must add: "of slavery again to fear." For he speaks about those under the law also in the epistle to the Galatians, that "one, from Mount Sinai, bears children for slavery," slaves those under the law by comparison with the things of the age to come

ἀθάνατοι δὲ γεγονότες ἀπηλλάγμεθα τούτου, ὥστε κατὰ παράθεσιν φανῆναι τὰ κατὰ Χριστὸν πλεῖστον ὑπερέχοντα τοῦ νόμου, εἴπερ ἐκεῖνος μὲν ἀφελεῖν τὸν θάνατον οὐκ ἠδύνατο, καὶ ἀνάγκη πᾶσα ἦν κρατεῖν ἐν ἡμῖν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, κἂν μυριάκις ἐπαιδεύετο ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ δέον· ὁ δέ γε Χριστὸς τόν τε θάνατον ἀφεῖλε καὶ τὴν ἐνοῦσαν ἡμῖν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐνόχλησιν συνανεῖλε τῷ θανάτῳ. ἤρξατο μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ δικαιωθέντες οὖν ἐκ πίστεως εἰρήνην ἔχωμεν πρὸς τὸν θεὸν διὰ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, τῶν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρασχεθέντων ἡμῖν ἐξηγεῖσθαι τὸ μέγεθος σὺν πολλοῖς ἑτέροις, παραθέσει τῇ πρὸς τὸν νόμον δείξας αὐτῶν τὴν ὑπεροχήν. ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς τὴν τῶν ἀνακυπτόντων ζητημάτων ἐτράπη λύσιν, ἀπολογησάμενος ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, ὡς τοῖς προκειμένοις δέδεικται ἡμῖν σαφέστερον, καὶ δὴ καὶ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἁμαρτίας ποιητικὸν λέγειν τὸν νόμον, ἔδειξε μὲν αὐτοῦ τὸ χρήσιμον ἀναγκαίως· καὶ τοῦτο δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἀρτίως ἑρμηνευθεῖσι σαφέστερον δεδηλώκαμεν. πάλιν δὲ κατὰ παράθεσιν τοῦ νόμου λέγων τῶν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ μέγεθος, ἐπὶ τὸν τῶν πρώτων ζητημάτων ἀνατρέχει λόγον καὶ τὸ δεικνύναι ὡς μεγίστων ἡμῖν ἀγαθῶν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐγένετο πρόξενος· οὗπερ ἕνεκεν κἀνταῦθα βούλεται διὰ πολλῶν δεικνύναι, ὅτι τῇ μὲν θνητότητι τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν ἕπεται, ἀθάνατοι δὲ γεγονότες ἀπηλλάγμεθα τούτου. διό φησιν· οἱ γὰρ κατὰ σάρκα ὅντες τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς φρονοῦσι καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. τοῦτο λέγει ὅτι οἱ μὲν θνητοὶ τὴν φύσιν ἀναγκαίως πλείστην τοῦ ἁμαρτάνειν τὴν 135 ἐνόχλησιν ὑπομένουσιν· τί γὰρ ἂν καὶ βουλεύσαιτο ἀθάνατον φύσις θνητή; εἰ δὲ καί τίς ἐστιν ἐν ἡμῖν ἀρετή, οὐ τῆς σαρκός ἐστιν αὕτη ἀλλὰ τοῦ φρονήματος τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐπειδὰν ἀνωτέρα γένηται τῶν παρόντων. οἱ μέντοι τοῦ πνεύματος ἤδη μετεσχηκότες κρείττονα τούτων ἔχουσι τὸν λογισμόν, ἀθάνατοι γεγονότες τὴν φύσιν καὶ πάσης τῆς ἀπὸ τῶν χειρόνων ἐνοχλήσεως ἀπηλλαγμένοι· τοῦτο γὰρ λέγει τὸ εἰρήνην, ἐπειδὴ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέροις παρὰ τοῖς τὴν φύσιν θνητοῖς πόλεμον εἶναι ἔφη, τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀντιπραττούσης τῷ βουλήματι τῆς ψυχῆς, εἰρήνην ἐνταῦθα λέγων τὸ ἀφῃρῆσθαι τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν ἐνόχλησιν. Ro+m 8,9 Ὑμεῖς δέ, φησίν, οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκί, σαφῶς δηλοῖ ὅτι μὴ περὶ τῆς φύσεως ἐνταῦθα διαλέγεται τῆς ἡμετέραςοὐ γὰρ ἔξω τῆς σαρκὸς γεγονόσι ταύτην Ῥωμαίοις ἐπέστελλεν, λέγει δὲ τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς θνητότητος ἐνοῦσαν ἡμῖν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐνόχλησιν, ὥστε φανῆναι τῶν διὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὸ μέγεθος ἀφελόντος ἡμῶν τὸν θάνατον ἐπὶ τῷ παντὸς ἀπηλλάχθαι τοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας πολέμου. διὰ τοῦτο λέγει ὅτι οὐκ ἐστὲ ἐν σαρκί, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἔξω τῆς ἀποφάσεως γεγόνατε τοῦ θανάτου, ἀλλ' ἐν πνεύματι· ἐν ἐπαγγελίᾳ γὰρ τῆς ἀθανασίας ἤδη κατέστητε. καὶ τίς ἡ τούτου ἀπόδειξις; εἴπερ πνεῦμα θεοῦ οἰκεῖ ἐν ὑμῖν. ἐδείξαμεν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀνωτέροις ὅτι τὴν ἀνάστασιν τῇ τοῦ πνεύ ματος μετουσίᾳ γίνεσθαί φησιν, ἀθανάτους τε καὶ ἀτρέπτους ἡμᾶς εἶναι τότε τῇ θείᾳ ποιοῦντες χάριτι· ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ τύπον ἐκείνων ἐπὶ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἐπλήρουν, ἐκομίζοντό τε δι' αὐτὸ τοῦτο μερικὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἐνέργειαν ὥσπερ τινα ἀρραβῶνα τῶν μελλόντων. ἐπὶ τὸ καὶ περὶ ἐκείνων ἀναμφίβολον ἔχειν τὴν γνώμην καλῶς εἶπεν· εἴπερ ἔχετε τοῦ θεοῦ πνεῦμα οἰκοῦν ἐν ὑμῖν. δῆλον ὡς ἀληθὴς ἡ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἐπαγγελία ἧς τὴν ἀπόλαυσιν ἡ τοῦ πνεύματος μετουσία περιέσεσθαι ὑμῖν ἐλπίζεται· οὐδὲ γὰρ οἷόν τε τοὺς τὸν ἀρρα βῶνα ἐκείνων ὑποδεξαμένους μὴ καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν κομίσασθαι. ὅτι δὲ πνεῦμα εἶχον οἱ πιστεύοντες, ἀναμφίβολον ἦν ἀπὸ τῶν παρακολου θούντων ποτὲ σημείων εἰς τὴν τῶν λεγομένων πίστωσιν. Ro+m 8,14 ∆ῆλον οὖν ὅτι οἱ τοιοῦτοι τὴν μακαρίαν ζωὴν παρὰ τῷ ἑαυτῶν πατρὶ ζήσονται 136. Ro+m 8,15 Τὸ πάλιν ὡς πρὸς τὸ δουλείας ἀπέδωκεν. ἀναγνωστέον οὖν οὕτως· οὐ γὰρ ἐλάβετε πνεῦμα, εἶτα διαστήσαντα ἐπαγαγεῖν χρή· δουλείας πάλιν εἰς φόβον. περὶ γὰρ τῶν ἐν νόμῳ λέγει καὶ ἐν τῇ πρὸς Γαλάτας ὅτι μία μὲν ἀπὸ ὅρους Σινᾶ εἰς δουλείαν γεννῶσα, δούλους τοὺς ἐν νόμῳ παραθέσει τῶν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος