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transgression. And again, The Law works wrath. Since all these things seemed to bring slander against the Law, as if correcting the suspicion arising from them, he counters and says: What then? Is the Law sin? By no means! Before the argument, he forbade it, winning over the hearer and healing the one who was taking offense. “But I did not know sin, except through the Law; for I would not have known covetousness, unless the Law had said, You shall not covet.” And if he seems to have used stronger language against the Law, do not be surprised; for Paul is addressing what is urgent. And what was urgent, listen: the Jews were vehemently contentious against grace, preferring the Law over it, and because of the Law they were insolent towards grace; the aim for Paul, therefore, was to show, as is also true, that the Law was in no way able to destroy the sin of men; but that through it sin became even more tyrannical; but that grace by itself wiped it out, so that they might leave the Law and come to grace; and this being the aim, see how subtly he constructs it. For I did not know sin, he says, except through the Law; and he means intensified sin, since it existed even before the Law. And again, I would not have known covetousness, unless the Law had said: You shall not covet. Again speaking of intensified 95.493 and vehement covetousness. For the Law was not given for this purpose, to inflame desire, but to extinguish it, even if it turned out the opposite. The reason was that sin reigned, and the Law was not able to restrain it. But grace did this; for it both destroyed it, and filled us with the divine Spirit, so that we might easily overcome it. “But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all manner of covetousness.” Because it prevailed; because there was not yet grace, through which it is also destroyed. “For without the Law sin was dead.” That is, not so well-known, nor convicted. For even those before the Law knew that they were sinning. But they learned it more accurately after the giving of the Law; for this reason they were also liable to greater accusation. “For I was alive without the Law once.” He runs back to the time before the Law, taking up the person of all humanity, showing that even in that time sin was prevailing. And from all this he constructs one point, the great beneficence of grace. “But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” The commandment did not bring sin into existence when it was not, but revealed it when it was hidden; which is also a praise of the Law. Since before this they sinned without perceiving it, but when this came, even if they gained nothing else, they at least learned accurately that they were sinning. “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to be death.” He did not say, “it became death,” but “was found to be,” indicating the new and paradoxical nature of the absurdity. “For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. So that the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means!” See how everywhere he mentions sin, absolving the Law from blame and all accusation; wherefore he also adds, So that the Law is holy. “But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.” He calls sin the devil, the father and inventor of sin, death itself, which has been abolished by the coming of Christ alone. And he himself taught this before, saying, Who will deliver me 95.496 from the body of this death, adding: But thanks be to my God through Jesus Christ. The devil, being wicked, was able to remain hidden; but through his plot against man, and especially through the Law given for salvation, by this his kingdom was made to be shown openly. “For we know that the Law is spiritual.” So that the hearer may not be disturbed, hearing that through the commandment sin took opportunity, and that when it came sin revived, and that through it sin deceived and killed; so that no one hearing such things, the Law of

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παράπτωμα. Καὶ πάλιν, Ὁ νόμος ὀργὴν κατεργάζεται. Ἐπειδὴ ταῦτα πάντα ἐδόκει διαβολὴν φέρειν τῷ νόμῳ, ὡς διορθούμενος τὴν ἐκ τούτων ὑπόνοιαν, ἀντιτίθησι καί φησιν· Τί οὖν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; Μὴ γένοιτο! Πρὸ τῆς κατασκευῆς ἀπηγόρευσεν, τὸν ἀκροατὴν οἰκειούμενος, καὶ σκανδαλιζόμενον θεραπεύων. «Ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔγνων, εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου· τήν τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν, εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν. Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις.» Εἰ καὶ σφοδρότερον κεχρῆσθαι δοκεῖ κατὰ τοῦ νόμου, μὴ θαυμάσῃς· πρὸς γὰρ τὸ κατεπεῖγον ὁ Παῦλος ἐνίσταται. Τί δὲ ἦν κατεπεῖγον, ἄκουε· Ἰουδαῖοι σφόδρα ἐφιλονείκουν τῇ χάριτι, τὸν νόμον προκρίνοντες αὐτῆς, καὶ δι' ἐκεῖνον εἰς αὐτὴν ἐνύβριζον· σκοπὸς οὖν τῷ Παύλῳ δεῖξαι, ὥσπερ καὶ ἀληθὲς, τὸν μὲν νόμον μηδαμῶς δυνηθέντα τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀφανίσαι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν· ἀλλὰ δι' αὐτοῦ μάλιστα τυραννοῦσαν αὐτήν· τὴν δὲ χάριν δι' ἑαυτῆς ἐξαλείψασαν, ἵνα τὸν μὲν νόμον ἀφῶσιν, ἐπὶ δὲ τὴν χάριν ἔλθωσιν· τούτου δὲ ὄντος τοῦ σκοποῦ, ὅρα πῶς λεπτῶς αὐτὸ κατασκευάζει. Τὴν ἁμαρτίαν γὰρ οὐκ ἔγνων, φησὶν, εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου· ἁμαρτίαν δὲ τὴν ἐπιτεταμένην φησὶν, ἐπεὶ καὶ πρὸ νόμου ἦν. Καὶ πάλιν, Τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν, εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις. Πάλιν τὴν ἐπι 95.493 τεταμένην λέγων ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ σφόδρα. Οὐδὲ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο δέδοται νόμος, ἵνα ἀνάψῃ τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα κατασβέσῃ, εἰ καὶ εἰς τοὐναντίον ἐξέβη. Τὸ δὲ αἴτιον, τὸ βασιλεύειν ἦν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, καὶ μὴ δύνασθαι τὸν νόμον κρατεῖν αὐτῆς. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐποίησεν ἡ χάρις· καὶ γὰρ κατέλυσεν αὐτὴν, καὶ Πνεύματος ἡμᾶς ἐνέπλησεν θείου, ὥστε εὐχερῶς αὐτῆς περιγενέσθαι. «Ἀφορμὴν δὲ λαβοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς, κατειργάσατο ἐν ἐμοὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν.» Ἐπειδὴ κρατί· ἐπειδὴ οὔπω ἦν χάρις, δι' ἧς καὶ ἀναιρεῖται. «Χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου ἁμαρτία νεκρά.» Τουτέστιν, οὐχ οὕτως γνωρίμην, οὐδὲ ἐλεγχομένην. Ἤδεσαν γὰρ καὶ οἱ πρὸ τοῦ νόμου, ὅτι ἡμάρτανον. Ἀκριβέστερον δὲ ἔμαθον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου δόσιν· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ πλείονος ἦσαν κατηγορίας ὑπεύθυνοι. «Ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ.» Ἀνατρέχει ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ νόμου χρόνον, τὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἀναλαμβάνων πρόσωπον, δεικνὺς καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκείνῳ τῷ χρόνῳ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κρατοῦσαν. Ἓν δὲ ἐκ πάντων κατασκευάζει, τὴν πολλὴν εὐεργεσίαν τῆς χάριτος. «Ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον.» Οὐ μὴ οὖσαν ἂν ὑπεστήσατο τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἡ ἐντολὴ, ἀλλὰ κρυπτομένην ἔδειξεν· ὅπερ καὶ ἔπαινός ἐστι τοῦ νόμου. Εἴ γε πρὸ τούτου μὲν ἀνεπαισθήτως ἡμάρτανον, τούτου δὲ ἐλθόντος, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἐκαρποῦντο, ἀλλ' οὖν ἀκριβῶς ἐμάνθανον ὅτι ἡμάρτανον. «Καὶ εὑρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν, αὐτὴ εἰς θάνατον.» Οὐκ εἶπεν, γέγονε θάνατος, ἀλλ' εὑρέθη, τὸ καινὸν καὶ παράδοξον τῆς ἀτοπίας δηλῶν. «Ἡ γὰρ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησέ με, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἀπέκτεινεν. Ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος, καὶ ἡ ἐντολὴ ἁγία καὶ δικαία καὶ ἀγαθή· τὸ οὖν ἀγαθὸν ἐμοὶ ἐγένετο θάνατος; Μὴ γένοιτο.» Ὅρα πῶς πανταχοῦ τῆς ἁμαρτίας μέμνηται, τὸν νόμον ἐγκλημάτων ἀπαλλάττων καὶ κατηγορίας ἁπάσης· διὸ καὶ ἐπάγει, Ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος ἅγιος. «Ἀλλὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἵνα φανῇ ἁμαρτία, διὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μοι κατεργαζομένη θάνατον, ἵνα γίνηται καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλὸς ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς.» Ἁμαρτίαν τὸν διάβολόν φησιν, τὸν πατέρα καὶ εὑρέτην τῆς ἁμαρτίας, αὐτὸν τὸν θάνατον, ὃς διὰ μόνης τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας κατήργηται. Καὶ τοῦτο ἔμπροσθεν αὐτὸς ἐδίδαξεν, εἰπὼν τὸ, Τίς με 95.496 ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου, ἐπαγαγών· Χάρις δὲ τῷ Θεῷ μου διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Πονηρὸς ὢν ὁ διάβολος, λανθάνειν ἠδύνατο· διὰ δὲ τῆς εἰς ἄνθρωπον ἐπιβουλῆς, καὶ μάλιστα διὰ τοῦ εἰς σωτηρίαν δοθέντος νόμου, παρὰ τούτου φανερὰν ἐποίει δείκνυσθαι τὴν βασιλείαν. «Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν.» Ἵνα μὴ θορυβηθῇ ὁ ἀκροατὴς, ἀκούων, ὅτι διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν ἔλαβεν, καὶ ὅτι ἐλθούσης αὐτῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν, καὶ ὅτι δι' αὐτῆς ἐξηπάτησεν καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν· ἵνα μή τις τῶν τοιούτων ἀκούων, τὸν νόμον τῶν