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generation from pleasure; according to which the death of condemnation necessarily followed for all as a debt; so that the same death, in Adam on account of sin, is the condemnation of nature; but in Christ on account of righteousness, is the condemnation of sin. For he who suffers on account of sin, unto the condemnation of nature, justly endures death; but he who does not suffer on account of sin, as one granting a favor to nature by economy unto the condemnation of sin, willingly accepts the death which is for sin, for its destruction.

Therefore, just as through Adam, who established through disobedience the law of generation according to pleasure, and the death of nature condemned on account of it, all who from Adam received their being according to the law of generation from pleasure, had necessarily, even if unwilling, joined in potentiality to their 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 willingly accepted the use of the death of nature condemned on account of it, for the condemnation of sin alone; all who from Christ are reborn by will in the Spirit through the bath of regeneration, and through grace have put off the former generation of Adam according to pleasure, and have kept the grace of sinlessness in baptism, and the power of mystical adoption as sons in the Spirit, undiminished and undefiled through the law of the evangelical commandments, fittingly have the use of death being activated for the condemnation of sin, having received the time to condemn sin in the flesh; generally, by nature through grace because of the great mystery of the incarnation, the very time from the incarnation of the Word; and specifically, in action by grace, the time from which each received the grace of adoption as sons through baptism; according to which, being activated by the commandments according to the will, having only the generation in the Spirit, they endure through many sufferings the use of death brought upon them for the condemnation of sin.

For no longer on account of sin, does one who is baptized, and has kept his baptism strengthened by the commandments, pay death as a debt for sin; but for the condemnation of sin he accepts its use, mystically sending him on to the divine and unending life (637); if indeed for the sake of truth and righteousness, the saints have courageously completed the course of the present life through many sufferings, having liberated in themselves nature from the condemnation of death due to sin; and having made the weapon of death for the destruction of nature into one for the destruction of sin, according to Jesus, the pioneer of their salvation. For if sin had death as a weapon for the destruction of nature in those who practice it according to Adam; how much more in those who practice righteousness through faith in Christ will nature have death as a weapon for the destruction of sin.

Therefore, since the mystery of the incarnation has come to pass, and the incarnate God has entirely removed, in those born of the Spirit according to him, the generation of the law of nature according to pleasure, 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 its beginning of being condemned through sufferings from the faithful and those who have known the truth, and have put off generation according to pleasure through baptism; for these he called the house of God, as the most divine apostle Paul testifies, saying, but Christ over his house, whose house we are. And he himself makes this clear in the following words, Peter, the chief of the apostles, saying; But if first from us; it began, clearly

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ἐξ ἡδονῆς γένεσιν· καθ᾿ ἥν ἀναγκαίως τοῖς πᾶσιν ὡς χρέος ὁ τῆς κατακρίσεως παρείπετο θάνατος· ὥστε τόν αὐτόν θάνατον, ἐν μέν τῷ Ἀδάμ διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν κατάκρισιν ὑπάρχειν τῆς φύσεως· ἐν δέ τῷ Χριστῷ διά τήν δικαιοσύνην κατάκρισιν ὑπάρχειν τῆς ἁμαρτίας. Ὁ γάρ πάσχων δι᾿ ἁμαρτίαν εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς φύσεως, δικαίως ὑπομένει τόν θάνατον· ὁ δέ μή πάσχων δι᾿ ἁμαρτίαν, ὡς χάριν μᾶλλον κατ᾿ οἰκονομίαν τῇ φύσει διδούς εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, τόν διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν εἰς τήν αὐτῆς ἀναίρεσιν θέλων καταδέχεται θάνατον.

Οὐκοῦν ὥσπερ διά τόν Ἀδάμ τόν ὑποστήσαντα διά τῆς παρακοῆς τόν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν τῆς γενέσεως νόμον, καί τόν δι᾿ αὐτόν κατακριθέντα τῆς φύσεως θάνατον, πάντες οἱ ἐκ τοῦ Ἀδάμ τό εἶναι λαβόντες κατά τόν ἐξ ἡδονῆς τῆς γενέσεως νόμον, εἶχον ἀναγκαίως, καί μή βουλόμενοι, συνεζευγμένον κατά δύναμιν τῇ γενέσει καί τόν κατακριθέντα τῆς φύσεως θάνατον· καί ἦν καιρός τοῦ κατακρίνεσθαι τήν φύσιν ὑπό τῆς ἁμαρτίας, ἐφ᾿ ὅσον ἐκράτει τῆς φύσεως ὁ τῆς καθ᾿ ἡδονήν τῆς γενέσεως νόμος· οὕτως διά τόν Χριστόν, τόν παντελῶς ἀφελόμενον τῆς φύσεως τόν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν τῆς γενέσεως νόμον, καί τοῦ δι᾿ αὐτόν κατακριθέντος τῆς φύσεως θανάτου τήν χρῆσιν, εἰς μόνον τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν βουλήσει καταδεξάμενον· πάντες οἱ ἀπό Χριστοῦ κατά θέλησιν πνεύματι διά λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας ἀναγεννηθέντες, καί τήν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν προτέραν τοῦ Ἀδάμ διά τῆς χάριτος ἀποθέμενοι γένεσιν, καί τήν ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι χάριν τῆς ἀναμαρτησίας, καί τῆς ἐν πνεύματι μυστικῆς υἱοθεσίας τήν δύναμιν ἀμείωτόν τε καί ἄχραντον διά τοῦ νόμου τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν φυλάξαντες ἐντολῶν, εἰκότως εἰς τήν τῆς ἁμαρτίας κατάκρισιν ἔχουσι τήν τοῦ θανάτου χρῆσιν ἐνεργουμένην, καιρόν λαβόντες κατακρίνειν ἐν τῇ σαρκί τήν ἁμαρτίαν· γενικῶς μέν κατά φύσιν χάριτι διά τό μέγα μυστήριον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, αὐτόν τόν ἀπό τῆς τοῦ Λόγου σαρκώσεως χρόνον· ἰδικῶς δέ κατ᾿ ἐνέργειαν χάριτι, τόν ἀφ᾿ οὗ διά τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἔλαβεν ἕκαστος τήν χάριν τῆς υἱοθεσίας· καθ᾿ ἥν ἐνεργουμένην ταῖς ἐντολαῖς γνωμικῶς μόνην τήν ἐν πνεύματι γένεσιν ἔχοντες, διά πολλῶν παθημάτων εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὑπομένουσι τήν τοῦ θανάτου χρῆσιν αὐτοῖς ἐπαγομένην.

Οὐ γάρ ἔτι δι᾿ ἁμαρτίαν, ὁ βαπτισθείς, καί φυλάξας τό βάπτισμα ταῖς ἐντολαῖς κρατυνόμενον, ὡς χρέος ὑπέρ ἁμαρτίας καταβάλλεται τόν θάνατον· ἀλλ᾿ εἰς κατάκρισιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας τήν αὐτοῦ καταδέχεται χρῆσιν, πρός τήν θείαν καί ἀτελεύτητον ζωήν (637) μυστικῶς αὐτόν παραπέμπουσαν· εἴπερ ἀληθείας ἕνεκεν καί δικαιοσύνης, διά πολλῶν παθημάτων γενναίως τόν τῆς παρούσης ζωῆς πεπληρώκασι δρόμον οἱ ἅγιοι, τῆς διά τήν ἁμαρτίαν κατακρίσεως του θανάτου τήν φύσιν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς ἐλευθερώσαντες· καί τό πρός ἀναίρεσιν τῆς φύσεως ὅπλον τοῦ θανάτου, πρός ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας, κατά τόν ἀρχηγόν τῆς ἑαυτῶν σωτηρίας Ἰησοῦν, ποιησάμενοι. Εἰ γάρ ἡ ἁμαρτία πρός ἀναίρεσιν φύσεως, ὅπλον ἐν τοῖς αὐτήν κατά τόν Ἀδάμ ἐνεργοῦσιν εἶχεν τόν θάνατον· πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἐν τοῖς ἐνεργοῦσι τήν διά πίστεως ἐν Χριστῶ δικαιοσύνην, ὅπλον ἕξει τόν θάνατον πρός ἀναίρεσιν τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἡ φύσις.

Οὐκοῦν ἀφ᾿ οὗ γέγονε το μυστήριον τῆς ἐνανθρωπήσεως, καί ἐξεῖλε πάμπαν ὁ σαρκωθείς Θεός ἐν τοῖς κατ᾿ αὐτόν πνεύματι γεννωμένοις, τήν τοῦ καθ᾿ ἡδονήν νόμου τῆς φύσεως γένεσιν, Καιρός, ὡς ἔφην, γέγονε τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τό κρῖμα ἀπό τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ· τουτέστι, κατακριθῆναι τήν ἁμαρτίαν, τήν τοῦ κατακρίνεσθαι διά παθημάτων λαβοῦσαν ἀρχήν ἀπό τῶν πιστῶν καί ἐπεγνωκότων τήν ἀλήθειαν, καί τήν καθ᾿ ἡδονήν διά τοῦ βαπτίσματος γένεσιν ἀποθεμένων· τούτους γάρ ἐκέλεσεν οἶκον Θεοῦ, καθώς μαρτυρεῖ φάσκων ὁ θειότατος ἀπόστολος Παῦλος, Χριστός δέ ἐπί τόν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, οὗ ὁ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς. Καί αὐτός δέ διά τοῦ ἑξῆς λόγου παρίστησι λέγων Πέτρος, ἡ κορυφή τῶν ἀποστόλων· Εἰ δέ πρῶτον ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν· ἤρξατο δηλονότι