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the contentiousness, which he was eager to put an end to. But he seems to speak at length against the law, not in order to slander it, but in order to relax their tension. For if it is an accusation against the law that sin took occasion through it, this will be found happening in the New Testament as well. For indeed in the New Testament there are countless laws, and concerning many greater matters; and one might see the same thing resulting 60.501 there, not only concerning desire, but simply concerning all wickedness. For if I had not come, He says, and spoken to them, they would not have had sin. Therefore from this sin took its occasion, and the greater punishment. And again Paul, discoursing about grace, says: How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be thought worthy of who has trampled underfoot the Son of God? Therefore even the worse punishment has its occasion from this, from the greater benefit. And he says that the Greeks are for this reason without excuse, because having been honored with reason, and having learned the beauty of creation, and being able from it to be led by the hand to the Creator, they did not use the wisdom of God as they ought. See everywhere how for the wicked the occasions for being punished more greatly come from good things. But surely we will not on this account accuse the benefits of God, but we will admire them all the more, even after this, and we will slander the disposition of those who have used good things for the opposite. Let us do this, therefore, in the case of the law also. But this is easy and straightforward; but the difficult thing is this. How does he say, I had not known desire, unless the law had said, You shall not desire? For if man did not know desire before he received the law, whence came the flood? Whence was Sodom burned? What then does he say? The intensified one. For this reason he did not say, It wrought in me desire, but, All desire, hinting here at its intensity. And what is the gain of the law, he says, if it increased the passion? Nothing, but even much harm; but the blame is not the law's, but of the indifference of those who received it. For sin wrought it, but through the law; but this was not what the law intended, but even the opposite. Sin therefore became stronger, and exceedingly so; but this again is not the fault of the law, but of their ingratitude. For apart from the law sin is dead; that is, not so well known. For indeed those before the law knew that they were sinning, but they learned it more accurately after the giving of the law. For this reason they were also liable to a greater accusation. For it was not the same thing to have nature as an accuser, and along with nature also the law openly proclaiming all things. But I was alive apart from the law once. When, tell me? Before Moses. See how he is eager to show the law, both from what it did and from what it did not do, burdening human nature. For when I was living apart from the law, he says, I was not so condemned. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. This seems to be an accusation of the law; but if one examines it accurately, it will be revealed to be a commendation of it. For it did not create what did not exist, but it showed what was hidden; which is also a praise of the law, if indeed before it they sinned unconsciously, but when it came, even if they gained nothing else, they at least learned this accurately, that they were sinning; which would not be a small thing towards deliverance from wickedness. But if they were not delivered from wickedness, this is nothing against the law that did everything for this purpose, but the whole accusation is against their disposition, which was corrupted beyond all hope. 2. For what was happening was not according to reason, to be harmed through things that help; for which reason he also said: And the commandment, which was for life, was found to be death for me. He did not say, It became death, nor, It brought forth death, but, It was found, thus interpreting the new and paradoxical nature of the absurdity, 60.502 and turning the whole matter upon their head. For if you wish to see its purpose, it led to life, he says, and for this reason it was given; but if death resulted from it, the blame belongs to those who received the commandment, not to that which leads to life. But this very thing more clearly also through what follows

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φιλονεικίαν, ἣν καταλῦσαι ἔσπευδε. ∆οκεῖ δὲ πολὺς κατὰ τοῦ νόμου πνεῖν, οὐχ ἵνα ἐκεῖνον διαβάλῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα τούτων ἐκλύσῃ τὸν τόνον. Εἰ γὰρ ἔγκλημα τοῦ νόμου, τὸ δι' αὐτοῦ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἀφορμὴν λαβεῖν, εὑρεθήσεται καὶ ἐν τῇ Καινῇ τοῦτο συμβαῖνον. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῇ Καινῇ νόμοι μυρίοι, καὶ περὶ πολλῶν μειζόνων πραγμάτων· καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ ἴδοι τις ἂν ἐκβαῖνον 60.501 κἀκεῖ, οὐκ ἐπὶ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας μόνον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πάσης ἁπλῶς κακίας. Εἰ γὰρ μὴ ἦλθον, φησὶ, καὶ ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς, ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ εἶχον. Οὐκοῦν ἐντεῦθεν ἡ ἁμαρτία τὴν ὑπόθεσιν ἔλαβε, καὶ ἡ μείζων κόλασις. Καὶ πάλιν περὶ τῆς χάριτος Παῦλος διαλεγόμενος, φησί· Πόσῳ δοκεῖτε χείρονος ἀξιωθήσεται τιμωρίας ὁ τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καταπατήσας; Οὐκοῦν καὶ ἡ χείρων τιμωρία τὴν ἀφορμὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἔχει ἀπὸ τῆς μείζονος εὐεργεσίας. Καὶ τοὺς Ἕλληνας δέ φησι διὰ τοῦτο ἀναπολογήτους εἶναι, ὅτι καὶ λόγῳ τιμηθέντες, καὶ τῆς κτίσεως τὸ κάλλος καταμαθόντες, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτῆς δυνάμενοι πρὸς τὸν ∆ημιουργὸν χειραγωγηθῆναι, τῇ σοφίᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ εἰς δέον ἐχρήσαντο. Ὅρα πανταχοῦ τοῖς πονηροῖς τὰς ἀφορμὰς τοῦ μειζόνως κολάζεσθαι ἀπὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν γινομένας πραγμάτων. Ἀλλ' οὐ δήπου διὰ τοῦτο κατηγορήσομεν τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ ταύτας μὲν θαυμασόμεθα μειζόνως καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα, τὴν δὲ γνώμην τῶν εἰς τἀναντία τοῖς ἀγαθοῖς κεχρημένων διαβαλοῦμεν. Τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ νόμου ποιῶμεν. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν ῥᾴδιον καὶ εὔκολον· τὸ δὲ ἄπορον ἐκεῖνό ἐστι. Πῶς φησι, Τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν οὐκ ᾔδειν, εἰ μὴ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν· Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις· Εἰ γὰρ οὐκ ᾔδει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν πρὶν ἢ λάβῃ τὸν νόμον ὁ ἄνθρωπος, πόθεν ὁ κατακλυσμὸς γέγονεν; πόθεν τὰ Σόδομα ἐνεπρήσθη; Τί οὖν φησι; Τὴν ἐπιτεταμένην. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἶπε, Κατειργάσατο ἐν ἐμοὶ ἐπιθυμίαν, ἀλλὰ, Πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν, τὸ σφοδρὸν ἐνταῦθα αἰνιττόμενος. Καὶ τί τοῦ νόμου τὸ κέρδος, εἰ τὸ πάθος ηὔξησε, φησίν; Οὐδὲν, ἀλλὰ καὶ πολὺ τὸ βλάβος· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦ νόμου τὸ ἔγκλημα, ἀλλὰ τῆς ῥᾳθυμίας τῶν δεξαμένων. Ἡ γὰρ ἁμαρτία αὐτὸ κατειργάσατο, ἀλλὰ διὰ νόμου· ἀλλ' οὐ τοῦτο τοῦ νόμου σπουδάζοντος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐναντίον. Ἰσχυροτέρα οὖν γέγονεν ἡ ἁμαρτία, καὶ σφόδρα· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τοῦτο ἔγκλημα τοῦ νόμου πάλιν, ἀλλὰ τῆς ἐκείνων ἀγνωμοσύνης. Χωρὶς γὰρ νόμου ἡ ἁμαρτία νεκρά· τουτέστιν, οὐχ οὕτω γνώριμος. Ἤδεσαν μὲν γὰρ καὶ οἱ πρὸ τοῦ νόμου, ὅτι ἡμάρτανον, ἀκριβέστερον δὲ ἔμαθον μετὰ τὴν τοῦ νόμου δόσιν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ μείζονος ἦσαν κατηγορίας ὑπεύθυνοι. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἴσον ἦν φύσιν ἔχειν κατήγορον, καὶ μετὰ τῆς φύσεως καὶ τὸν νόμον φανερῶς διαγορεύοντα ἅπαντα. Ἐγὼ δὲ ἔζων χωρὶς νόμου ποτέ. Πότε, εἰπέ μοι; Πρὸ Μωϋσέως. Ὅρα πῶς δεῖξαι τὸν νόμον σπουδάζει, καὶ ἀφ' ὧν ἐποίησε, καὶ ἀφ' ὧν οὐκ ἐποίησε βαρήσαντα τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην φύσιν. Ὅτε γὰρ χωρὶς νόμου ἔζων, φησὶν, οὐχ οὕτω κατεδικαζόμην. Ἐλθούσης δὲ τῆς ἐντολῆς, ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀνέζησεν, ἐγὼ δὲ ἀπέθανον. Τοῦτο δοκεῖ μὲν εἶναι κατηγορία τοῦ νόμου· εἰ δέ τις ἀκριβῶς ἐξετάσειε, καὶ ἐγκώμιον αὐτοῦ φανεῖται ὄν. Οὐ γὰρ μὴ οὖσαν ὑπεστήσατο, ἀλλὰ κρυπτομένην ἔδειξεν· ὅπερ καὶ ἔπαινός ἐστι τοῦ νόμου, εἴ γε πρὸ τούτου μὲν ἀνεπαισθήτως ἡμάρτανον, τούτου δὲ ἐλθόντος, εἰ καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἐκαρπώσαντο, τοῦτο γοῦν αὐτὸ ἀκριβῶς ἔμαθον, ὅτι ἡμάρτανον· ὅπερ οὐκ ἂν εἴη μικρὸν εἰς κακίας ἀπαλλαγήν. Εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀπηλλάγησαν τῆς κακίας, οὐδὲν τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν πάντα ὑπὲρ τούτου ποιήσαντα νόμον, ἀλλὰ πᾶσα ἡ κατηγορία τῆς ἐκείνων γνώμης ἐστὶ παρ' ἐλπίδα πᾶσαν διαφθαρείσης. ʹ. Οὐδὲ γὰρ κατὰ λόγον ἦν τὸ γινόμενον, τὸ διὰ τῶν ὠφελούντων βλάπτεσθαι· διὸ καὶ ἔλεγε· Καὶ εὑρέθη μοι ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ εἰς ζωὴν, αὕτη εἰς θάνατον. Οὐκ εἶπε, Γέγονε θάνατος, οὐδὲ, Ἔτεκε θάνατον, ἀλλ', Εὑρέθη, τὸ καινὸν καὶ παράδοξον τῆς ἀτοπίας οὕτως ἑρμηνεύων, 60.502 καὶ τὸ πᾶν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων περιτρέπων κεφαλήν. Ἂν γὰρ τὸν σκοπὸν αὐτῆς ἐθέλῃς ἰδεῖν, εἰς ζωὴν ἦγε, φησὶ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐδόθη· εἰ δὲ θάνατος ἐντεῦθεν ἐξέβη, τῶν λαβόντων τὴν ἐντολὴν τὸ ἔγκλημα, οὐ τῆς ἐπὶ τὴν ζωὴν ἀγούσης. Σαφέστερον δὲ αὐτὸ τοῦτο καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς