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of those present, and it is again possible for those who change to attain fellowship from God. 159. Ro+m 11,25 But I will not hesitate, he says, to tell you this also, though it is unclear, so that you do not think that you have most justly despaired of them through ignorance of what will be; for "so that you may not be wise in your own conceits," means "so that you may not consider their despair something wise in yourselves." What is this? That these will not remain completely estranged from piety, but there will be a time when they too will recognize the truth, when people everywhere accept the teaching of piety, and so all Israel will be saved; so that it might mean both those who by nature have kinship with Israel, meaning the Jews, and those who through faith have made themselves worthy of this name, meaning those from the gentiles. Ro+m 11,28 It is fitting, then, for you to know this, that for the sake of the gospel, when they wish to slander it, blaming your coming in and putting this forward as a reasonable pretext, as they think, for not obeying our teachings, I have considered them enemies, as being enemies of the faith; for then I do not refrain from anything that is fitting to say for the refutation of their wickedness, but on account of the kinship with the fathers I have been so eager to value them highly, as not even to shrink from suffering anything that may be necessary for their salvation; for I know precisely that God did not reject them, having changed his mind about the election of the fathers, but they themselves by the depravity of their mind became the agents of their own alienation from God.

Ro+m 12,1 Since he has concluded the dogmatic discourses, he from this point touches on ethical matters, most necessarily making his beginning from an exhortation; for in those it was not difficult for those who wished, after learning, to retain what had been said, but with virtue labor is also yoked, so that one approaches its practice with much hesitation, and in beginning needs much toil for its accomplishment. He therefore lightens the toil of the matter with exhortation, and he made the exhortation most compelling by saying "through the mercies of God;" for since in the dogmatic sections he made the greatest teaching about the love of God for mankind, which he uses toward all people, he necessarily by the reminder of these things persuades them more to care for virtue 160, showing that it is not right for that to become for them a provision for idleness, but on the contrary to contribute the fitting zeal, being ashamed to appear ungrateful toward one so good. And what is the exhortation? To "present your bodies" and so on? He says that it is right for you to set apart your own body for God, to serve his laws, since it is right that what has come from God should not be an instrument of wickedness but of virtue. So he says "to present" means to set apart, taking it metaphorically from those who stand by kings or masters to serve, for whom it always follows to fulfill the necessities of service, as he also said above; "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body," then adding consecutively as if regarding a king: "neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." And he most wonderfully intensified the counsel in every way, not only by saying "to present," but also by calling it a "sacrifice;" for he showed that it was in no way fitting to misuse the service of the body for the contrary, since it was no longer lawful for the sacrifices of irrational animals offered to God according to the law to be given over to the common use of men. And he called this a "living" sacrifice, since the things offered according to the law were dead after the sacrifice, as was likely, but these things were offered to God for this very reason, so that in the

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παρόντων, ἐκείνοις τε πάλιν ἔξεστι μεταβαλλομένοις τῆς παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τυχεῖν οἰκειώσεως 159. Ro+m 11,25 Οὐκ ὀκνήσω δέ, φησίν, ὑμῖν κἀκεῖνο εἰπεῖν, καίτοιγε ἄδηλον ὄν, ὥστε μὴ ἀγνοίᾳ τοῦ ἐσομένου δικαιότατα αὐτῶν ἀπεγνωκέναι νομίζειν ὑμᾶς· τὸ γὰρ ἵνα μὴ ἦτε παρ' ἑαυτοῖς φρόνιμοι, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἵνα μὴ νομίζητε συνετόν τι παρ' ἑαυτοῖς ἔχειν τὴν ἐκείνων ἀπόγνωσιν. τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; ὅτι οὐκ εἰς τὸ παντελὲς ἀλλότριοι τῆς εὐσεβείας οὗτοι μενοῦσιν, ἔσται δὲ καιρὸς καθ' ὃν ἐπιγνώσονται καὶ αὐτοὶ τἀληθές, ἐπειδὰν οἱ πανταχόσε ἄνθρωποι τὸ τῆς εὐσεβείας ὑποδέξωνται μάθημα, καὶ οὕτω πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ σωθήσεται· ἵνα εἴπῃ οἵ τε ἀπὸ τῆς φύσεως τὴν πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ συγγένειαν ἔχοντες, ἀντὶ τοῦ οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ οἱ διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἀξίους ταύτης ἑαυτοὺς τῆς προσηγορίας καταστή σαντες, λέγει δὲ τοὺς ἐξ ἐθνῶν. Ro+m 11,28 Ἐκεῖνο τοίνυν ὑμᾶς εἰδέναι προσήκει, ὅτι ἐγὼ τοῦ μὲν εὐαγγελίου ἕνεκεν , ὅταν αὐτὸ διασύρειν βούλωνται, τὴν ὑμετέραν αἰτιώμενοι πρόσοδον καὶ ταύτην ὡς οἴονται ἀφορμὴν εὔλογον προϊσχόμενοι, τοῦ μὴ πείθεσθαι τοῖς ἡμετέροις διδάγμασιν, ἐχθροὺς αὐτοὺς εἶναι νενόμικα, ἅτε δὴ πολεμίους τῆς πίστεως· τότε γὰρ οὐδενὸς ἀφίσταμαι τῶν ὅσα πρὸς ἔλεγχον τῆς αὐτῶν κακίας εἰπεῖν προσήκει, διὰ δὲ τὴν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας οἰκειότητα οὕτως αὐτοὺς περὶ πολλοῦ ποιεῖσθαι ἐσπούδακα, ὡς μηδὲ πάσχειν ἤν τι δέῃ ὑπὲρ τῆς αὐτῶν σωτηρίας ὀκνεῖν· οἶδα γὰρ ἀκριβῶς ὅτι οὐ θεὸς μεταμεληθεὶς ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν πατέρων ἐκλογῇ τούτους ἀπεποιήσατο, αὐτοὶ δὲ μοχθηρίᾳ γνώμης τῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀλλοτριώσεως ἑαυτοῖς γεγόνασι πρόξενοι.

Ro+m 12,1 Ἐπειδὴ τοὺς δογματικοὺς συνεπέρανε λόγους, τῶν ἠθικῶν ἐντεῦθεν ἅπτεται, ἀναγκαιότατα ἀπὸ παρακλήσεως τὴν ἀρχήν. ποιούμενος· ἐν ἐκείνοις μὲν γὰρ οὐ χαλεπὸν ἦν τοῖς βουλομένοις μετὰ τὴν μάθησιν κατέχειν τὰ εἰρημένα, τῇ δέ γε ἀρετῇ καὶ πόνος συνέζευκται, ὥστε μετὰ πολλοῦ μέν τινα προσιέναι τοῦ ὄκνου τῇ αὐτῆς ἐργασίᾳ, καὶ ἀρχόμενον δὲ πολλοῦ δεῖσθαι καμάτου πρὸς τὴν κατόρθωσιν. ἐπικουφίζει τοίνυν τῇ παρακλήσει τοῦ πράγματος τὸ ἐπίπονον, δυσωπητικωτάτην δὲ εἰργάσατο τὴν παράκλησιν εἰπὼν διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ θεοῦ· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ πλείστην ἐν τοῖς δογματικοῖς περὶ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ φιλανθρωπίας τὴν διδασκαλίαν ἐποιήσατο, ᾗ περὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους χρῆται, ἀναγκαίως τῇ τούτων ὑπομνήσει δυσωπεῖ μᾶλλον αὐτοὺς ἀρετῆς 160 ἐπιμελεῖσθαι, δεικνὺς ὅτι οὐκ ἐφόδιον ῥᾳθυμίας αὐτοῖς ἐκεῖνο γίνεσθαι δίκαιον, τοὐναντίον δὲ πάλιν ἃ προσήκει τὴν σπουδὴν συνεισφέρειν, αἰσχυνομένους τὸ περὶ τὸν οὕτω χρηστὸν ἀγνώμονας φαίνεσθαι. τίς δὲ ἡ παράκλησις, παραστῆσαι τὰ σώματα ὑμῶν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς; λέγει μὲν ὅτι ἀφορίσαι δίκαιον ὑμᾶς τὸ ἑαυτῶν σῶμα τῷ θεῷ, ὑπηρετούμενον αὐτοῦ τοῖς νόμοις, ἐπείπερ δίκαιον τὸ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγονὸς μὴ κακίας ὄργανον εἶναι ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀρετῆς. τὸ μὲν οὖν παραστῆσαι ἀφορίσαι λέγει, ἐκ μεταφορᾶς αὐτὸ λαβὼν τῶν ἢ βασιλεῦσιν ἢ δεσπόταις πρὸς τὸ ὑπηρετεῖν παρεστώτων, οἷς ἕπεται πάντως τὸ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα τῆς ὑπηρεσίας πληροῦν, ὡς καὶ ἀνωτέρω ἔφη· μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω ἡ ἁμαρτία ἐν τῷ θνητῷ ὑμῶν σώματι, εἶτα ὡς ἐπὶ βασιλέως ἀκολούθως ἐπαγαγών· μηδὲ παριστάνετε τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα ἀδικίας τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἀλλὰ παραστήσατε ἑαυτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ὡς ἐκ νεκρῶν ζῶντας, καὶ τὰ μέλη ὑμῶν ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης τῷ θεῷ. θαυμασιώτατα δὲ τὴν συμβουλὴν διὰ πάντων ἐπέτεινεν, οὐ τῷ παραστῆσαι μόνον εἰπεῖν ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ θυσίαν αὐτὸ ὀνομάσαι· ἔδειξεν γὰρ ὡς οὐδενὶ λόγῳ προσῆκεν εἰς τὸ ἐναντίον κατακεχρῆσθαι τῇ τοῦ σώματος ὑπηρεσίᾳ, ἐπείπερ οὐδὲ τὰς προσαγομένας τῷ θεῷ κατὰ νόμον τῶν ἀλόγων θυσίας τῇ κοινῇ χρήσει παραδίδοσθαι τῶν ἀνθρώπων θεμιτὸν ἦν ἔτι. ζῶσαν δὲ ταύτην προσεῖπεν, ἐπειδὴ τὰ μὴν κατὰ νόμον προσκομισθέντα νεκρὰ μετὰ τὴν θυσίαν ἦν ὡς εἰκός, ταῦτα δὲ αὐτοῦ γε τούτου ἕνεκεν θεῷ προσήγετο, ὥστε ἐν τῷ