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he might think to be the cause of these evils, he not only frees it from accusation, but even weaves a very great encomium for it, saying: We know that the law is spiritual; and having called it spiritual, he shows it to be a teacher of virtue and an enemy of vice. For this is what the law also did, admonishing, frightening, punishing, correcting, counseling on matters of virtue, but it was not able to destroy sin. Rightly so; for this was the work of grace alone. “But I am of the flesh, sold under sin.” For after death, he says, the crowd of passions also entered. For when the body became mortal, it also received desire and anger and grief, and all the other things. “For what I am working out, I do not know.” The phrase, I do not know, instead of, he says, I am darkened, and I am carried away, and enduring insolence, I do not know how I am tripped up, which we also are accustomed to say: I do not know how so-and-so came and carried it away; not putting forward ignorance, but showing some deception. “For what I want, this I do not do, but what I hate, this I do. But if what I do not want, this I do, I agree with the law that it is good. But now it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.” To will what is good, and to hate what is evil, belongs to a perfected knowledge; from which it is clear that he also said, I do not want, not doing away with free will, nor introducing some violent necessity, but not praising the things that are done. What then is, I do not want? instead of, I do not praise, which I do not approve of. “For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good thing; for to will is present with me.” He does not slander the body, but he showed the prevalence of sin, again wishing to signify the greatness of the gift given through grace. “But how to perform that which is good I find not.” Again saying, I find not, not ignorance, he says, 95.497 but a certain insolence, and a plot of sin. “For the good that I would, I do not do; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that which I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwells in me.” An elaboration of what has been said. “I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” After, what is good, one must connect the advocate, and thus the meaning becomes clear, saying: I find the law advocating for me who wants to do good; but that evil is present with me, even if sin, he says, presses on, stirring up to evil. “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.” See, how he describes the battle of the natural law and sin, and the victory of sin; for the phrase, bringing me into captivity, has shown this. And he called sin a law, not because of its own worth, but because of the obedience of those who obey it. Just as he calls mammon lord, and the belly God, not because of their own worth, but because of the great slavery of those subjected to them. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” After dramatizing the violence of sin, he comes to the lament. Who shall deliver me? But immediately he brings in the hope of salvation given in the midst of so many evils; and this is grace. But when you hear him saying, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? do not think that he is accusing the flesh. For he did not say body of sin, but body of death, that is, the mortal body, the one overcome by death

CHAP. VIII. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” What he says is something like this

that not only were we delivered from our former sins, but also for the future

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κακῶν τούτων αἴτιον εἶναι νομίζῃ, οὐ μόνον κατηγορίας αὐτὸν ἀπαλλάττει, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐγκώμιον πλέκει αὐτῷ μέγιστον, λέγων· Οἴδαμεν ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστι, πνευματικὸν δὲ αὐτὸν εἰπὼν, διδάσκαλον ἀρετῆς αὐτὸν δείκνυσιν ὄντα καὶ κακίας πολέμιον. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὅπερ καὶ ὁ νόμος ἐποίει, νουθετῶν, φοβῶν, κολάζων, διορθούμενος, τὰ περὶ ἀρετῆς συμβουλεύων, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐδυνήθη τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀνελεῖν. Εἰκότως· τῆς γὰρ χάριτος μόνης τοῦτο ἔργον ἦν. «Ἐγὼ δὲ σάρκινός εἰμι πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν.» Μετὰ γὰρ θανάτου, φησὶν, καὶ ὁ τῶν παθῶν ἐπεισῆλθεν ὄχλος. Ὅτε γὰρ θνητὸν ἐγένετο τὸ σῶμα, ἐδέξατο καὶ ἐπιθυμίαν καὶ ὀργὴν καὶ λύπην, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα πάντα. «Ὃ γὰρ κατεργάζομαι, οὐ γινώσκω.» Τὸ, οὐ γινώσκω, ἀντὶ τοῦ, σκοτοῦμαι, φησὶν, καὶ συναρπάζομαι, καὶ ἐπήρειαν ὑπομένων, οὐκ οἶδα πῶς ὑποσκελίζομαι, ὅπερ καὶ ἡμεῖς εἰώθαμεν λέγειν· Οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως ὁ δεῖνα ἐλθὼν συνήρπασεν· οὐκ ἄγνοιαν προβαλλόμενοι, ἀλλὰ ἀπάτην τινὰ ἐμφαίνοντες. «Οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω, τοῦτο πράσσω, ἀλλ' ὃ μισῶ, τοῦτο ποιῶ. Εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ θέλω, τοῦτο ποιῶ, σύμφημι τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι καλός. Νυνὶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι αὐτὸ, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία.» Τὸ θέλειν τὸ καλὸν, καὶ μισεῖν τὸ πονηρὸν, γνώσεως ἀπηρτισμένης ἐστίν· ὅθεν δῆλον ὅτι καὶ τὸ, οὐ θέλω, εἴρηκεν, οὐ τὸ αὐτεξούσιον ἀναιρῶν, οὐδὲ ἀνάγκην τινὰ εἰσάγων βιαστικὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸ μὴ ἐπαινεῖν τὰ γινόμενα. Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ, οὐ θέλω; ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐκ ἐπαινῶ, ὃ οὐκ ἀποδέχομαι «Οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι οὐκ οἰκεῖ ἐν ἐμοὶ, τουτέστιν ἐν τῇ σαρκί μου, ἀγαθόν· τὸ γὰρ θέλειν παράκειταί μοι.» Οὐ τὸ σῶμα διαβάλλει, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὑπερέχον τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἔδειξεν, πάλιν τὸ μέγεθος τῆς δωρεᾶς, τῆς διὰ τῆς χάριτος δεδομένης, κατασημᾶναι θέλων. «Τὸ δὲ κατεργάζεσθαι τὸ καλὸν, οὐχ εὑρίσκω.» Πάλιν εἰπὼν, οὐχ εὑρίσκω, οὐκ ἄγνοιαν, φησὶν, 95.497 ἀλλ' ἐπήρειάν τινα, καὶ ἐπιβουλὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. «Οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω, ποιῶ ἀγαθὸν, ἀλλ' ὃ οὐδὲ θέλω κακὸν, τοῦτο πράσσω. Εἰ δὲ ὃ θέλω ἐγὼ, τοῦτο ποιῶ, οὐκέτι ἐγὼ κατεργάζομαι, ἀλλ' ἡ οἰκοῦσα ἐν ἐμοὶ ἁμαρτία.» Ἐπεξεργασία τοῦ εἰρημένου. «Εὑρίσκω ἄρα τὸν νόμον τῷ θέλοντι ἐμοὶ ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν, ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται.» Μετὰ, τὸ καλὸν, συναπτέον τὸ συνήγορον, καὶ οὕτω σαφὴς γίνεται ἡ διάνοια, λέγουσα· Εὑρίσκω τὸν νόμον ἐμοὶ τῷ θέλοντι ποιεῖν τὸ καλὸν συνηγοροῦντα· τὸ δὲ, ὅτι ἐμοὶ τὸ κακὸν παράκειται, εἰ καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία, φησὶν, ἐπίκειται πρὸς τὸ κακὸν παρεγείρουσα. «Συνήδομαι γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον· βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου, καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου.» Ὅρα, πῶς διαγράφει μάχην νόμου φυσικοῦ καὶ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ νίκην τῆς ἁμαρτίας· τὸ γὰρ, αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με, τοῦτο ἐδήλωσεν. Νόμον δὲ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐκάλεσεν, οὐ διὰ τὴν αὐτῆς ἀξίαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ὑπακοὴν τῶν πειθομένων αὐτῇ. Ὥσπερ οὖν κύριον τὸν μαμωνᾶ καλεῖ, καὶ Θεὸν τὴν κοιλίαν, οὐ διὰ τὴν οἰκείαν ἀξίαν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν πολλὴν τῶν ὑποτεταγμένων δουλείαν. Ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος, τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; Χάρις δὲ τῷ Θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν. Ἄρα οὖν αὐτὸς ἐγὼ, τῷ μὲν νοῒ δουλεύω νόμῳ Θεοῦ, τῇ δὲ σαρκὶ, νόμῳ ἁμαρτίας.» Μετὰ τὸ ἐκτραγῳδῆσαι τὴν βίαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκτον ἔρχεται. Τίς με ῥύσεται; ἀλλ' εὐθὺς ἐπάγει τὴν δεδομένην ἐν τοσούτοις κακοῖς σωτηρίας ἐλπίδα· αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ χάρις. Ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσῃς λέγοντας· Τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; μὴ νόμιζε τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτὸν κατηγορεῖν. Οὐδὲ γὰρ εἶπε σῶμα ἁμαρτίας, ἀλλὰ σῶμα θανάτου, τουτέστι, τὸ θνητὸν σῶμα, τὸ χειρωθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θανάτου

ΚΕΦΑΛ. Ηʹ. «Οὐδὲν ἄρα νῦν κατάκριμα τοῖς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ.» Ὃ δὲ λέγει τοιοῦτόν

ἐστιν· ὅτι οὐ τῶν προτέρων ἀπηλλάγημεν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον