of truth by the spirit in the prophets and by the word of Christ in the apostles, is in many places confused also by its phrasing and is not spoken as with a single sequence; so that the unworthy may not find, to the judgment of their own soul, the things that are profitably hidden from them. And this is in many places the reason for the whole scripture seeming to have no syntax nor sequence; and especially, as we have said before, the prophetic and the apostolic; and especially of the apostolic, the epistle to the Romans, in which matters concerning the law are named in different ways, and applied to different things; so that Paul seems not to hold in the writing of the epistle to the purpose he has set before him.> 37 vii 7 What then shall we say? Is the law sin? By no means! But I would not have known sin except through the law; for I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, "You shall not covet." Here we understand law not only as that of Moses which forbids desire, but also the natural law; for desire as a passion is sown naturally in us, and the law concerning it, and sin took opportunity not through the written commandment alone, but also through the natural one. And Adam knew this even before the law of Moses. 38 vii 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. Not in Paul alone but in every soul, when sin came into being, all desire warred against the race; for it is impossible for a human soul not to fall under passions, even if through diligence it later becomes, as it were, in a state of passionlessness. Here Paul calls all desire passionate and sinful (which the law forbids, teaching "You shall not covet"), which is an irrational appetite that arises from an impulse exceeding reason, by which we love life, as desiring the good of this neutral and indifferent life, attached to wealth and glory and women and the other desires, according to the will of sin, which makes us reach out as for a good <for> everything desired by us. For desire becomes an illusion of the good. 39 vii 8-11 For apart from the law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin came to life, and I died, and the commandment that was unto life was found for me to be unto death; for sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. For then it might be said of such a one that this person lives without law; for referring to this state Paul and every person will say, "I was once alive apart from the law," since he was once without law where, as he himself says, "circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Israel, a Hebrew of Hebrews"; for a child still in an irrational state cannot live under law. For every person was alive apart from the law once, when he was a child; <when there was no rebuke; for ignorance is not subject to punishment;> and to every person the commandment once came; but when, or when he completed his reason, and has understood the commandment ordering such things, and forbidding such things? But as soon as the commandment came at its first moment, wickedness comes into being, or, as Paul named it, sin which was formerly dead comes to life; and since it is not in the nature of sin and the inner man to live at the same time, for this reason when the commandment came, sin comes to life but the soul dies, according to "the soul that sins shall itself die." For the "I" refers to the soul and to the inner man. <The life-giving good, then, the precept of the law, is turned into an occasion for death; for without it, it is not possible for sin to be sin, nor to condemn man to death, but through it, surely, both the charge of wickedness and the penalty of punishment are established>. But do not think that the first death of sin has anything similar to its second death; for just as there is a great difference when sin is dead without law and when sin is dead because the members on earth have been put to death by the Word, so also there would be a great and incomparable difference between the life corresponding to each death of sin; for it is clear that dead sin is alive when the members that are

ἀληθείας τῷ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις πνεύματι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις Χριστοῦ λόγῳ, πολλαχοῦ καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς φράσεως συγχεῖται καὶ οὐχ ὡς ὑπὸ μίαν λέγεται ἀκολουθίαν· ἵνα μὴ καὶ ἀνάξιοι εἰς κρίμα τῆς ἑαυτῶν ψυχῆς εὕρωσι τὰ συμφερόντως αὐτοῖς ἀποκεκρυμμένα. καὶ τοῦτο πολλαχοῦ αἴτιόν ἐστι τοῦ δοκεῖν μὴ ἔχειν σύνταξιν μηδὲ ἀκολουθίαν τὴν ὅλην γραφήν· καὶ μάλιστα, ὡς προείπομεν, τὴν προφη τικὴν καὶ τὴν ἀποστολικήν· καὶ μάλιστα τῆς ἀποστολικῆς τὴν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους ἐπιστολήν, ἐν ᾗ τὰ περὶ νόμου διαφόρως ὀνομάζεται, καὶ ἐπὶ διαφόρων πραγμάτων κείμενα· ὥστε δοκεῖν ὅτι οὐκ ἔχεται ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ γραφῇ τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τοῦ προκειμένου αὐτῷ σκοποῦ.> 37 vii 7 τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; μὴ γένοιτο· ἀλλὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔγνων εἰ μὴ διὰ νόμου· τήν τε γὰρ ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις. νόμον ὧδε νοοῦμεν οὐ μόνον τὸν Μωσέως τὸν κωλύοντα τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν φυσικόν· ἐνέσπαρται γὰρ ἡμῖν φυσικῶς ἡ ἐπιθυμία ὡς πάθος, καὶ ὁ περὶ ταύτην νόμος, καὶ ἔλαβεν ἀφορμὴν ἡ ἁμαρτία οὐ διὰ τῆ γραπτῆς μόνης ἐντολῆ, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς φυσικῆς. καὶ ὁ Ἀδὰμ δὲ ᾔδει τοῦτο καὶ πρὸ τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου. 38 vii 8 ἀφορμὴν δὲ λαβοῦσα ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς κατειργάσατο ἐν ἐμοὶ πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν. οὐκ ἐν Παύλῳ μόνῳ ἀλλ' ἐν πάσῃ ψυχῇ, ὅτε ἡ ἁμαρτία ὑπέστη, πᾶσα ἐπιθυμία κατεπολέμει τὸ γένος· ἀμήχανον γὰρ ἀνθρωπίνην ψυχὴν μὴ ὑπο πεσεῖν πάθεσι, κἂν ἐξ ἐπιμελείας ὕστερον οἱονεὶ ἐν ἀπαθείᾳ γένηται. ὧδε δὲ ὁ Παῦλος πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν λέγει παθητικὴν καὶ ἁμαρτωλόν (ἣν ὁ νόμος ἀπαγορεύει διδάσκων τὸ Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις), ἥτις ἐστὶν ὄρεξις ἄλογος γινομένη κατὰ ὁρμὴν πλεονάζουσαν παρὰ λόγον, καθ' ἣν φιλοζωοῦμεν, ὡς ἀγαθοῦ ὀρεγόμενοι τῆς μέσης καὶ ἀδιαφόρου ζωῆς, προσκείμενοι πλούτῳ καὶ δόξῃ καὶ γυναιξὶ καὶ ταῖς λοιπαῖς ἐπιθυμίαις, κατὰ τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας βούλημα ποιούσης ἡμᾶς ἐκτείνεσθαι ὡς ἐπὶ ἀγαθὸν <ἐπὶ> πᾶν τὸ ὑφ' ἡμῶν ἐπιθυ μούμενον. φαντασία γὰρ ἀγαθοῦ ἡ ἐπιθυμία γίνεται. 39 vii 8-11 χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου ἁμαρτία νεκρά. ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ· ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον, καὶ εὑρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν αὕτη εἰς θάνατον· ἡ γὰρ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησέν με καὶ δι' αὐτῆς ἀπέκτεινεν. τότε γὰρ καὶ λέγοιτ' ἂν περὶ τοῦ τοιούτου ὅτι οὗτος ζῇ χωρὶς νόμου· ἐπὶ ταύτην γὰρ τὴν κατάστασιν ἀναφέρων ὁ Παῦλος καὶ πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ἐρεῖ, ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ, ἐπεὶ ποτὲ ἦν χωρὶς νόμου ὅπου, καθὼς αὐτός φησι, περιτομῇ ὀκταήμερο, ἐκ γένου Ἰραήλ, Ἑβραῖο ἐξ Ἑβραίων· οὐ γὰρ δύναταιτὸ ἔτι ἄλογον ἔχον κατάστασιν παιδίον ζῇν ὑπὸ νόμον. πᾶς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἔζη χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ, ὅτε παιδίον ἦν· <ὅτε οὐκ ἦν ἐπιτίμησις· ἄγνοια γὰρ κολάσει οὐχ ὑπόκειται·> καὶ παντὶ ἀνθρώπῳ ἦλθέν ποτε ἡ ἐντολή· πότε δὲ ἢ ὅτε συνεπλήρωσε τὸν λόγον, καὶ νενόηκε τὴν ἐντολὴν προστάττουσαν μὲν τὰ τοιάδε, ἀπαγορεύουσαν δὲ τὰ τοιάδε; ἅμα δὲ τῷ ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν κατὰ τὸν πρῶτον αὐτῆς καιρὸν ὑφίσταται ἡ κακία, ἤ, ὡς ὁ Παῦλος ὠνόμασεν, ἀναζῇ ἡ ἁμαρτία τέως οὖσα νεκρά· ἐπεὶ δὲ μὴ πέφυκεν ἅμα ζῇν ἁμαρτία καὶ ὁ ἔω ἄνθρωπο, διὰ τοῦτο ἐλθούσης τῆς ἐντολῆς ἡ μὲν ἁμαρτία ἀναζῇ ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἀποθνήσκει, κατὰ τὸ ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουα αὐτὴ ἀποθανεῖται. τὸ γὰρ ἐγὼ ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν ἔω ἄνθρωπον ἀναφέρεται. <περιίσταται τοίνυν τὸ ζωοποιὸν ἀγαθόν, ἡ τοῦ νόμου πρόσταξις, εἰς θανάτου πρόφασιν· ἧς γὰρ ἄνευ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐχ οἷόν τε ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι, οὐδὲ καταδικάζειν θανάτῳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, διὰ ταύτης δή που καὶ τὸ τῆς πονηρίας ἔγκλημα καὶ τὸ τῆς κολάσεως ἐπιτίμιον συνίσταται>. μὴ νομίσῃς δὲ παραπλήσιόν τι ἔχειν τὸν θάνατον τὸν πρῶτον τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ δευτέρῳ ταύτης θανάτῳ· ὡς γὰρ πολλὴ διαφορὰ ὅτε νεκρὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία χωρὶς νόμου καὶ ὅτε νεκρὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία νεκρωθέντων τῶν μελῶν τῶν ἐπὶ γῆ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, οὕτως καὶ τῆς καθ' ἑκατέραν νεκρότητα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ζωῆς πολλή τις ἂν εἴη καὶ οὐ συγκριτικὴ ἡ ἑτέρα τῇ ἑτέρᾳ διαφορὰ τοῦ ζῇν· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἡ νεκρὰ ἁμαρτία ζῇ ὅτε μήπω νεκροῦται τὰ μέλη τὰ