,

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death followed, so that the same death was a condemnation of nature in Adam on account of sin, but in Christ on account of righteousness it was a condemnation of sin; for he who suffers on account of sin for the condemnation of nature justly endures death, but he who does not suffer on account of sin, as one who rather gives grace to nature according to the economy, willingly accepts death for the condemnation of sin, the death on account of sin for its own destruction.

Therefore, just as through Adam, who through disobedience established the law of generation according to pleasure and the death of nature condemned on account of it, all those who received their being from Adam according to the law of generation from pleasure necessarily had, even unwillingly, joined potentially to their (14C_212> generation also the condemned death of nature, and it was a time for nature to be condemned by sin, as long as the law of generation according to pleasure held sway over nature, so through Christ, who completely removed from nature the law of generation according to pleasure and who willingly accepted the use of the death of nature condemned on account of it for the sole condemnation of sin, all those from Christ who according to the will are reborn in the Spirit through the bath of regeneration and have put off through grace the former generation of Adam according to pleasure and have preserved the grace of sinlessness in baptism and the power of mystical adoption in the Spirit undiminished and undefiled through the law of the evangelical commandments, rightly have the use of death activated for the condemnation of sin, having received a time to condemn sin in the flesh, generally indeed by nature through grace because of the great mystery of the incarnation,(15) the very time from the incarnation of the Word, and specifically in actuality through grace, the time from which each one received the grace of adoption through baptism; according to which, being activated by the commandments, they have by their own will only the generation in the Spirit, through many sufferings for the condemnation of sin they endure the use of death being brought upon them.

For one who has been baptized and has kept his baptism, strengthened by the commandments, no longer pays death as a debt for sin, but he accepts its use for the condemnation of sin, which mystically sends him on to the divine and unending life, if indeed for the sake of truth and righteousness the saints have courageously completed the course of the present life through many sufferings, having freed nature in themselves from the condemnation of death on account of sin and having made the weapon of death (14C_214> for the destruction of nature into a weapon for the destruction of sin, according to the author of their salvation, Jesus; for if sin had death as a weapon for the destruction of nature in those who enact it according to Adam, much more will nature have death as a weapon for the destruction of sin in those who enact righteousness through faith in Christ.

Therefore, from the time that the mystery of the incarnation occurred and the incarnate God utterly removed the generation of nature according to the law of pleasure in those born according to him in the Spirit, the time, as I said, has come for judgment to begin from the house of God, that is, for sin to be condemned, which received the beginning of its condemnation through sufferings from the faithful who have known the truth and have put off generation according to pleasure through baptism. For he called these the house of God, as the most divine apostle Paul testifies, saying: But Christ over His house, whose house we are. And Peter, the chief of the apostles, himself makes this clear in the following words, saying: but if it began first with us, that is, the judgment, what will be the end of those who do not obey the Gospel of God, as if he said: if

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παρείπετο θάνατος, ὥστε τὸν αὐτὸν θάνατον ἐν μὲν τῷ Ἀδὰμ διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατάκρισιν ὑπάρχειν τῆς φύσεως, ἐν δὲ τῷ Χριστῷ διὰ τὴν δικαιοσύνην κατάκρισιν ὑπάρχειν τῆς ἁμαρτίας· ὁ γὰρ πάσχων δι᾽ ἁμαρτίαν εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς φύσεως δικαίως ὑπομένει τὸν θάνατον, ὁ δὲ μὴ πάσχων δι᾽ ἁμαρτίαν, ὡς χάριν μᾶλλον κατ᾽ οἰκονομίαν τῇ φύσει διδούς, εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὸν διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν εἰς τὴν αὐτῆς ἀναίρεσιν θέλων καταδέχεται θάνατον.

Οὐκοῦν, ὥσπερ διὰ τὸν Ἀδάμ, τὸν ὑποστήσαντα διὰ τῆς παρακοῆς τὸν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν τῆς γενέσεως νόμον καὶ τὸν δι᾽ αὐτὸν κατακριθέντα τῆς φύσεως θάνατον, πάντες οἱ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδὰμ τὸ εἶναι λαβόντες κατὰ τὸν ἐξ ἡδονῆς τῆς γενέσεως νόμον εἶχον ἀναγκαίως, καὶ μὴ βουλόμενοι, συνεζευγμένον κατὰ δύναμιν τῇ (14Γ_212> γενέσει καὶ τὸν κατακριθέντα τῆς φύσεως θάνατον, καὶ ἦν καιρὸς τοῦ κατακρίνεσθαι τὴν φύσιν ὑπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐφ᾽ ὅσον ἐκράτει τῆς φύσεως ὁ τῆς καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν τῆς γενέσεως νόμος, οὕτως διὰ τὸν Χριστόν, τὸν παντελῶς ἀφελόμενον τῆς φύσεως τὸν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν τῆς γενέσεως νόμον καὶ τοῦ δι᾽ αὐτὸν κατακριθέντος τῆς φύσεως θανάτου τὴν χρῆσιν εἰς μόνην τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν βουλήσει καταδεξάμενον, πάντες οἱ ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ κατὰ θέλησιν Πνεύματι διὰ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας ἀναγεννηθέντες καὶ τὴν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν προτέραν τοῦ Ἀδὰμ διὰ τῆς χάριτος ἀποθέμενοι γένεσιν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι χάριν τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας καὶ τῆς ἐν Πνεύματι μυστικῆς υἱοθεσίας τὴν δύναμιν ἀμείωτόν τε καὶ ἄχραντον διὰ τοῦ νόμου τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν φυλάξαντες ἐντολῶν εἰκότως εἰς τὴν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν ἔχουσι τὴν τοῦ θανάτου χρῆσιν ἐνεργουμένην, καιρὸν λαβόντες κατακρίνειν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, γενικῶς μὲν κατὰ φύσιν χάριτι διὰ τὸ μέγα μυστήριον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως(15) αὐτὸν τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως χρόνον, ἰδικῶς δὲ κατ᾽ ἐνέργειαν χάριτι τὸν ἀφ᾽ οὗ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔλαβεν ἕκαστος τὴν χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας· καθ᾽ ἣν ἐνεργουμένην ταῖς ἐντολαῖς γνωμικῶς μόνην τὴν ἐν Πνεύματι γένεσιν ἔχοντες, διὰ πολλῶν παθημάτων εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομένουσι τὴν τοῦ θανάτου χρῆσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγομένην.

Οὐ γὰρ ἔτι δι᾽ ἁμαρτίαν ὁ βαπτισθεὶς καὶ φυλάξας τὸ βάπτισμα ταῖς ἐντολαῖς κρατυνόμενον ὡς χρέος ὑπὲρ ἁμαρτίας καταβάλλεται τὸν θάνατον, ἀλλ᾽ εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τὴν αὐτοῦ καταδέχεται χρῆσιν, πρὸς τὴν θείαν καὶ ἀτελεύτητον ζωὴν μυστικῶς αὐτὸν παραπέμπουσαν, εἴπερ ἀληθείας ἕνεκεν καὶ δικαιοσύνης διὰ πολλῶν παθημάτων γενναίως τὸν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς πεπληρώκασι δρόμον οἱ ἅγιοι, τῆς διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν κατακρίσεως τοῦ θανάτου τὴν φύσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐλευθερώσαντες καὶ τὸ πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς φύσεως ὅπλον τοῦ θανάτου (14Γ_214> πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατὰ τὸν ἀρχηγὸν τῆς αὐτῶν σωτηρίας Ἰησοῦν ποιησάμενοι· εἰ γὰρ ἡ ἁμαρτία πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν φύσεως ὅπλον ἐν τοῖς αὐτὴν κατὰ τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἐνεργοῦσιν εἶχεν τὸν θάνατον, πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἐνεργοῦσι τὴν διὰ πίστεως ἐν Χριστῷ δικαιοσύνην ὅπλον ἕξει τὸν θάνατον πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ φύσις.

Οὐκοῦν, ἀφ᾽ οὗ γέγονε τὸ μυστήριον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως καὶ ἐξεῖλε πάμπαν ὁ σαρκωθεὶς Θεὸς ἐν τοῖς κατ᾽ αὐτὸν Πνεύματι γεννωμένοις τὴν τοῦ καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν νόμου τῆς φύσεως γένεσιν, καιρός, ὡς ἔφην, γέγονε τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τὸ κρίμα ἀπὸ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ, τουτέστι κατακριθῆναι τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, τὴν τοῦ κατακρίνεσθαι διὰ παθημάτων λαβοῦσαν ἀρχὴν ἀπὸ τῶν πιστῶν καὶ ἐπεγνωκότων τὴν ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὴν καθ᾽ ἡδονὴν διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος γένεσιν ἀποθεμένων. Τούτους γὰρ ἐκάλεσεν οἶκον Θεοῦ, καθὼς μαρτυρεῖ φάσκων ὁ θειότατος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος· Χριστὸς δὲ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ διὰ τοῦ ἑξῆς λόγου παρίστησι λέγων Πέτρος ἡ κορυφὴ τῶν ἀποστόλων· εἰ δὲ πρῶτον ἀφ᾽ ἡμῶν ἤρξατο, δηλονότι τὸ κρίμα, τί τὸ τέλος τῶν ἀπειθούντων τῷ τοῦ Θεοῦ Εὐαγγελίῳ, ὡσανεὶ ἔλεγεν· εἰ