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was subjected, not willingly.” It is as if he were saying: The creation has become corruptible. And for whose sake? For your sake, man. For since your body has become mortal and subject to suffering, the earth also received a curse, and brought forth thorns and thistles. But that heaven, growing old with the earth, will later be changed for a better end, hear the Prophet saying concerning the heavens: They will perish, but you remain, and like a robe you will roll them up, and they will be changed. “But because of him who subjected it in hope; that creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.” Even if creation has become corruptible, he says, on my account, yet it has not been wronged at all. For it will be incorruptible again on my account; for this is the meaning of, 'in hope'. But when he says it was subjected not willingly, he says this not to show that it has a will of its own, but so that you may learn that the whole thing came about by the providence of Christ, not that this was its own achievement. “Into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. That is, for the sake of freedom. “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning and travailing in pain together until now.” See how he shames the hearer, all but saying, 'Do not become worse than creation by being content with present things.' For not only must one not cling to them, but one must groan at the delay of our departure from here. For if creation does this, how much more is it right for you to show this, you who are honored with reason “And not only they, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we ourselves groan inwardly.” Having already tasted the things to come, we are eager to see their fulfillment. For if the firstfruit is so great, that through it 95.508 we are both delivered from sins, and attain righteousness and sanctification, consider how great the fulfillment is. “waiting for our adoption.” Lest he give a handle to the heretics, by seeming to slander present things by saying, we groan, he says, 'I say these things, not accusing present things, but longing for the things to come.' For this is the meaning of, waiting for our adoption. “the redemption of our body.” That is, the perfected glory; for then grace will be secure, when your body is also freed from death and its countless sufferings. It is the solution to an objection, as if someone were to say to him: You cry up and down that we have become sons, and now you place it in the realm of hope. What then does he say now? Our affairs are in a state of uncertainty, until our last breath. For many who were sons have become dogs and captives. But if we end with good hope, then the gift is unshakeable and clearer and greater, no longer fearing the change that comes from sin and death. “For in hope we were saved.” What he says is something like this: One must not seek everything from this life, but also hope. For this is the only gift we have brought to God, to believe Him who promised things to come; and by this way alone we were saved. If then we lose this, we have lost the entirety of our contribution. And he says these things so that we might not seek everything here, and betray our nobility, that which comes from faith. “But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he also hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” If you are going to seek everything here, he says, what need is there of hope? What then is hope? To be confident in things to come. This alone God asks of you, he says, that you too may have something to contribute to your own salvation. And since it was small and of little worth, see how he also exalts it, saying that it is patience, by which he signified toils and labors, even if the things of hope are not so. As if he were saying: Just as God crowns the one who toils and endures hardship and suffers countless things, so too the one who hopes. For the name of patience is one of sweat and much endurance. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.” He shows that even for this light task, we receive much assistance for our patience. It is as if he were saying: The one thing becomes yours, that of patience; but the other, that of the Spirit's provision, anointing for hope, and through it again lightening the labor. 95.509 “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought.”

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ὑπετάγη, οὐχ ἑκοῦσα.» Ὅμοιον ὡς εἰ λέγοι· Φθαρτὴ γέγονεν ἡ κτίσις. Καὶ τίνος χάριν; ∆ιὰ σὲ τὸν ἄνθρωπον. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τὸ σῶμά σου γέγονε θνητὸν καὶ παθητὸν, καὶ ἡ γῆ κατάραν ἐδέξατο, καὶ ἤνεγκεν ἀκάνθας καὶ τριβόλους. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ οὐρανὸς μετὰ τῆς γῆς παλαιούμενος, πρὸς τὴν ἀμείνω λῆξιν ὕστερον μεταστήσεται, ἄκουσον τῷ Προφήτῃ λέγοντι περὶ τῶν οὐρανῶν· Αὐτοὶ ἀπολοῦνται, σὺ δὲ διαμένεις, καὶ ὥσπερ περιβόλαιον ἑλίξεις αὐτοὺς, καὶ ἀλλαγήσονται. «Ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὑποτάξαντα ἐπ' ἐλπίδι· ὅτι καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ κτίσις ἐλευθερωθήσεται ἀπὸ τῆς δουλείας τῆς φθορᾶς.» Εἰ καὶ φθαρτὴ γέγονεν ἡ κτίσις, φησὶ, δι' ἐμὲ, ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἠδίκηται. Καὶ γὰρ ἄφθαρτος ἔσται δι' ἐμὲ πάλιν· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν τὸ, ἐπ' ἐλπίδι. Ὅταν δὲ οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ὑπετάγη, οὐχ ἵνα κυρίαν γνώμης δείξῃ οὖσαν, τοῦτο λέγει, ἀλλ' ἵνα μάθῃς, ὅτι τῆς Χριστοῦ κηδεμονίας τὸ πᾶν ἐγένετο, οὐχὶ ἐκείνης κατόρθωμα τοῦτο. «Εἰς τὴν ἐλευθερίαν τῆς δόξης τῶν τέκνων τοῦ Θεοῦ. Τουτέστι, διὰ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν. «Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι πᾶσα ἡ κτίσις συστενάζει καὶ συνωδίνει ἄχρι τοῦ νῦν.» Ὅρα πῶς ἐντρέπει τὸν ἀκροατὴν, μονονουχὶ λέγων, Μὴ γένῃ τῆς κτίσεως χείρων, τοῖς παροῦσιν ἐμφιλοχωρήσας. Οὐ γὰρ μόνον αὐτῶν ἀντέχεσθαι οὐ δεῖ, ἀλλὰ στενάζειν ἐπὶ τῇ μελλήσει τῆς ἐντεῦθεν ἀποδημίας. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ κτίσις τοῦτο ποιεῖ, πολλῷ μᾶλλον σὲ [ἢ] δίκαιον ὄντα τοῦτο ἐπιδείκνυσθαι, τὸν λόγῳ τετιμημένον «Οὐ μόνον δὲ, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὴν ἀπαρχὴν τοῦ πνεύματος ἔχοντες, ἡμεῖς καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς στενάζομεν.» Τῶν μελλόντων ἤδη γευσάμενοι, τούτων τὸ τέλος ἰδεῖν σπεύδομεν. Εἰ γὰρ ἀπαρχὴ τοσαύτη, ὡς δι' αὐ 95.508 τῆς καὶ ἁμαρτημάτων ἀπαλλαγῆναι, καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἐπιτυχεῖν καὶ ἁγιασμοῦ, ἐννόησον ἡλίκον τὸ τέλος. «Υἱοθεσίαν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι.» Ἵνα μὴ τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς δῷ λαβὴν, δόξας τὰ παρόντα διαβάλλειν διὰ τοῦ λέγειν, στενάζομεν, φησὶν, ὅτι ταῦτα λέγω, οὐ τῶν παρόντων κατηγορῶν, ἀλλὰ τῶν μελλόντων ἐφιέμενος. Τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ, υἱοθεσίαν ἀπεκδεχόμενοι. «Τὴν ἀπολύτρωσιν τοῦ σώματος ἡμῶν.» Τουτέστι τὴν ἀπηρτισμένην δόξαν· τότε γὰρ βεβαία ἔσται ἡ χάρις, ὅταν καὶ τὸ σῶμα ὑμῶν ἀπαλλαγῇ θανάτου καὶ τῶν μυρίων παθῶν. Ἔστι δὲ ἀντιπίπτοντος λύσις, ὡς εἴ τις πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγοι· Ἄνω καὶ κάτω βοᾷς ὅτι γεγόναμεν υἱοὶ, καὶ νῦν ἐν ἐλπίσιν αὐτὸ τίθης. Τί οὖν φησι νῦν; Ἐν ἀδήλῳ τὰ ἡμέτερα καθέστηκεν, ἕως ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς. Πολλοὶ γὰρ ὄντες υἱοὶ, γεγόναμεν κύνες καὶ αἰχμάλωτοι. Ἂν δὲ μετὰ χρηστῆς καταλύσωμεν ἐλπίδος, τότε ἀκίνητος ἡ δωρεὰ καὶ σαφεστέρα καὶ μείζων, οὐκέτι τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τοῦ θανάτου δεδοικυῖα μεταβολήν. «Τῇ γὰρ ἐλπίδι ἐσώθημεν.» Ὃ λέγει τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· Οὐ δεῖ πάντα ἐντεῦθεν ζητεῖν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐλπίζειν. Τοῦτο γὰρ μόνον εἰσηνέγκαμεν τῷ Θεῷ τὸ δῶρον, τὸ πιστεῦσαι αὐτῷ τὰ μέλλοντα ἐπαγγειλαμένῳ· καὶ διὰ ταύτης μόνης ἐσώθημεν τῆς ὁδοῦ. Ἂν οὖν ταύτην ἀπολέσωμεν, τὸ πᾶν τῆς ἡμετέρας εἰσφορᾶς ἀπωλέσαμεν. Ταῦτα δέ φησιν, ἵνα μὴ πάντα ἐνταῦθα ζητῶμεν, καὶ τὴν εὐγένειαν ἡμῶν προδῶμεν, τὴν ἀπὸ τῆς πίστεως. «Ἐλπὶς δὲ βλεπομένη, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐλπίς· ὃ γὰρ βλέπει τις τί καὶ ἐλπίζει; Εἰ δὲ ὃ οὐ βλέπομεν, ἐλπίζομεν, δι' ὑπομονῆς ἀπεκδεχόμεθα.» Εἰ πάντα ἐνταῦθα μέλλεις ζητεῖν, φησὶ, τίς χρεία ἐλπίδος; Τί οὖν ἐστιν ἐλπίς; Τὸ τοῖς μέλλουσι θαῤῥεῖν. Τοῦτο αἰτεῖ μόνον παρὰ σοῦ ὁ Θεὸς, φησὶν, ἵνα ἔχῃς τι καὶ αὐτὸς συνεισενεγκεῖν εἰς τὴν σὴν σωτηρίαν. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ μικρὸν ἦν καὶ εὐτελὲς, ὅρα καὶ ὅπως αὐτὸ ὑψοῖ, ὑπομονὴν εἶναι λέγων αὐτὸ, δι' οὗ πόνους καὶ ἱδρῶτας ὑπεσήμανεν, εἰ καὶ οὐχ οὕτως ἔχει τὰ τῆς ἐλπίδος. Ὡς εἰ ἔλεγεν· Ὥσπερ τὸν πονοῦντα καὶ ταλαιπωρούμενον καὶ μυρία πάσχοντα, οὕτω καὶ τὸν ἐλπίζοντα ὁ Θεὸς στεφανοῖ. Τὸ γὰρ τῆς ὑπομονῆς, ἱδρώτων ἐστὶν ὄνομα καὶ καρτερίας πολλῆς. «Ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα συναντιλαμβάνεται τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ ἡμῶν.» ∆είκνυσιν ὅτι καὶ πρὸς τὸ κοῦφον τοῦτο ὑπομονῆς πολλῆς ἐπικουρίας τυγχάνομεν. Ὅμοιον δὲ ὡς εἰ λέγοι· Τὸ μὲν γίνεται σὸν, τὸ τῆς ὑπομονῆς· τὸ δὲ, τῆς τοῦ Πνεύματος χορηγίας εἰς τὴν ἐλπίδα ἐπαλείφοντος, καὶ δι' αὐτῆς πάλιν τὸν πόνον κουφίζοντος. 95.509 «Τὸ γὰρ, τί προσευξόμεθα, καθὸ δεῖ, οὐκ οἴδαμεν.»