on the earth by the Word, but before the law and the coming of the commandment it lived, being dead. <And here someone has rendered the natural law, saying thus, that even if sin, taking occasion through the commandment, deceived and for this reason killed, nonetheless the truth must be confessed, and the law written in the heart by God must be accepted as holy, and the commandment must be praised as good and from a good God.> 40 vii 13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death in me through what is good; so that sin might become exceedingly sinful through the commandment. If someone should object to what has been said, saying 'Did the holy law then become death to man, for when the commandment came, sin came to life and the man died?' he will hear that not that which is good became death, but it was necessary for sin to be revealed how great an evil it is; for when the good visits the soul, the evil is revealed; and if anyone sins after this, the commandment is found producing death, the one that pointed out the evil and the commandment that pointed out what must be shunned is a cause of death, and sin, not simply sin but exceedingly sinful, this, slipping in through the holy commandment and working death in us. 41 vii 14 For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. A question arises from the whole preceding passage, how Paul, in saying these things, does not seem to contradict his own words, he who says 'you were bought with a price' and 'Christ redeemed us' and 'it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me'; unless perhaps we should say that the passage employs different personifications, and the passages are configured to different qualities of persons, where the wicked do things other than their own prior intention. But the present discourse is fitting to be said by those who have learned the things concerning the law, that it is divine, and see that its commandments are good, but nonetheless, as sold under sin and being of the flesh, they do not know how, they fall under sin. 42 vii 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. it is fitting to say these words of those who have wrestled against desires but have fallen through weakness of reason, and of those who are at times overcome by anger and by fear and do what they do not want and what they hate; and when, having been defeated by a sense of pride, we are overcome by what seems to be good but is not in fact true, we agree with the law that it is good, but we do what is according to pleasure. 43 vii 22, 23 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being; but I see another law in my members, waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which is in my members. Paul sets forth the present discourse concerning those who have not yet strengthened their disposition toward what is best; Just as, then, a soldier, having overcome enemies, leads them captive, so in the aforesaid persons is the law in their members, waging war against the law of their mind and making the wretched soul captive and leading it to the law of sin in the members of the body. 44 vii 24, 25 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. As if reproaching human weakness that drags around and distracts the reason and calls it to contrary things, he says 'Wretched man that I am'; and as one delivered through divine assistance from the body named the body of death for the aforesaid reasons, he adds the words 'I thank God through Jesus Christ.' 45 viii 3, 4 For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. rather the powerlessness of the

ἐπὶ τῆ γῆ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, πρὸ δὲ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔζη νεκρὰ οὖσα. <κἀνταῦθα δέ τις νόμον τὸν φυσικὸν ἀπέδωκεν οὕτω λέγων, ὡς εἰ καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησε καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπέκτεινεν, οὐδὲν ἧττον τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὁμολογητέον, καὶ τὸν ἐγγεγραμμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ νόμον ὡς ἅγιον ἀποδεκτέον, καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν ὡς ἀγαθὴν καὶ ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ ἐπαινετέον.> 40 vii 13 τὸ οὖν ἀγαθὸν ἐμοὶ γέγονε θάνατος; μὴ γένοιτο· ἀλλὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἵνα φανῇ ἁμαρτία διὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μοι κατεργαζομένη θάνατον· ἵνα γένηται καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλὸς ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς. εἴ τις πρὸς τὰ εἰρημένα ἀνθυποφέρει λέγων Μή ποτε ὁ ἅγιος νόμος γέγονεν εἰς θάνατον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἐλθούη γὰρ τῆ ἐντολῆ ἀνέζηεν ἡ ἁμαρτία ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἀπέθανεν; ἀκούσεται ὅτι οὐ τὸ ἀγαθὸν γέγονε θάνατος, ἀλλ' ἔδει τὴν ἁμαρτίαν φανῆναι ἡλίκον ἐστὶ κακόν· ὅτε γὰρ ἐπιδημεῖ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῇ ψυχῇ, φανεροῦται τὸ κακόν· καὶ ἐάν τις μετὰ τοῦτο ἁμαρτῇ, εὑρίσκεται τὸν θάνατον ποιοῦσα ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ὑποδείξασα τὸ κακὸν καὶ ἡ ὑποδείξασα τὸ φευκτέον ἐντολὴ θανάτου πρόξενος, καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἁμαρτία ἀλλὰ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλός, αὕτη διὰ τῆς ἁγίας ἐντολῆς παρεισδύνουσα καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἡμῖν κατεργαζομένη. 41 vii 14 οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν· ἐγὼ δὲ σαρκικός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. ζήτημα ἀνακύπτει ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς προκειμένης περικοπῆς πῶς ταῦτα λέγων ὁ Παῦλος οὐ δοκεῖ ἐναντιοῦσθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις ὁ λέγων τιμῆ ἠγοράθητε καὶ Χριτὸ ἡμᾶ ἐξηγόραεν καὶ ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριτό· εἰ μή που εἴπωμεν ὅτι προσωποποιίας ἔχει διαφόρους ὁ λόγος, καὶ συσχηματί ζονται αἱ περικοπαὶ πρὸς διαφόρους ποιότητας προσώπων, ἔνθα οἱ φαῦλοι ἄλλα πράττουσι παρὰ τὴν προηγουμένην ἑαυτῶν πρόθεσιν. ὁ δὲ παρὼν λόγος ἁρμόζει λέγεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν μεμαθηκότων τὰ περὶ τοῦ νόμου ὅτι θεῖός ἐστι, καὶ βλεπόντων αὐτοῦ τὰ προστάγματα ὅτι εἰσὶ καλά, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον ὡς πεπρα μένοι ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ σαρκικοὶ ὄντες, οὐ γινώσκουσι πῶς, ἐμπίπτουσιν ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. 42 vii 15 ὃ γὰρ κατεργάζομαι οὐ γινώσκω· οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω τοῦτο πράσσω, ἀλλ' ὃ μισῶ τοῦτο ποιῶ. ἁρμόζει τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα λέγειν τοῖς παλαίσασι πρὸς τὰς ἐπιθυμίας διὰ δὲ ἀσθένειαν λογισμοῦ πεσοῦσι, καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ θυμοῦ ἔσθ' ὅτε νικωμένοις καὶ ὑπὸ φόβου καὶ πράττουσιν ἃ μὴ θέλουσι καὶ ἃ μισοῦσιν· ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ λόγου ἐπάρσεως ἡττηθέντες νικηθῶμεν ἐκ τοῦ δοκοῦντος εἶναι ἀγαθοῦ οὐ μὴν ἀληθοῦς, ύμφαμεν τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι καλὸ ποιοῦμεν δὲ τὸ καθ' ἡδονήν. 43 vii 22, 23 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. ἐν τοῖς μηδέπω κρατύνασι τὴν ἕξιν ἐπὶ τὰ βέλτιστα διαγράφει ὁ Παῦλος τὸν παρόντα λόγον· ὥσπερ τοίνυν στρατιώτης κρατήσας πολεμίων αἰχμαλώτους ἄγει, οὕτως ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις προσώποις ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν αὐτῶν νόμος ἀντιστρατευόμενος τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζων τὴν ταλαίπωρον ψυχὴν καὶ ἄγων ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νόμον ἐν τοῖς σωματικοῖς μέλεσιν. 44 vii 24, 25 ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος· τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν. ὡς κακίζων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν τὴν περιέλκουσαν καὶ περισπῶσαν τὸν λογισμὸν καὶ προκαλουμένην ἐπὶ τὰ ἐναντία λέγει τὸ ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος· καὶ ὡς διὰ ἐπικουρίας θείας ῥυσθεὶς τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ὀνομασθέντος σώματος θανάτου διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας, ἐπάγει τὸ εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. 45 viii 3, 4 τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός, ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἑαυτοῦ υἱὸν πέμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματι σαρκὸς ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ ἁμαρτίας κατέκρινε τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἐν τῇ σαρκί, ἵνα τὸ δικαίωμα τοῦ νόμου πληρωθῇ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς μὴ κατὰ σάρκα περιπατοῦσιν ἀλλὰ κατὰ πνεῦμα. μᾶλλον τὸ ἀδύνατον τοῦ