Gennadius of Constantinople's Roman Commentary in English

Gennadius of Constantinople in this reveals his soteriology that salvation is given by a sinner believing and then asking God to save them, with the two conditions of believing and verbally confessing.

Thank you to Karl Staab for Pauluskommentare aus der griechischen Kirche.

Thank you to Brother Don Nesbitt, the Lord's bloodhound for sounding the alarm about Robert Breaker. His youtube handle is @w46try7.

“The Syrian group (Antiochan Fathers) is plainly a group of Bible-believing, Bible-preaching people who were first called “Christians” at Antioch and were the first to send out missionaries with the gospel (Acts 13:1–5). Any “neutral approach” which refuses to give precedence to THIS type of text (in order to appear scholarly) must ignore the facts of church history while searching for the “original manuscripts.”“ – Dr. Peter S. Ruckman, The Christian’s Handbook of Manuscript Evidence, Chapter 6

These are all from https://archive.org/details/MN41481ucmf_2

"But the righteousness which is of faith, he says, speaks on this wise,that is, concerning the righteousness of faith he speaks in this manner: For what follows is also from Moses: Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? or, Who shall descend into the deep? For the word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart, which was spoken to the people by Moses, who taught them that without their having contributed anything at all by their own effort, God deemed them worthy to receive the ordinances of the Law, and that they ought not on this account to disbelieve the greatness of the gift, but should rather lay claim all the more to virtue; for Say not in your heart means: it is not possible for you either to think such a thing or to say it, since God has anticipated you with the giving of the Law. "Just as that was spoken to them concerning the giving of the Law back then," he says, "so this applies to us now concerning the grace through Christ; for he himself added that is three times to the sayings of Moses, signifying by this something of this sort: that this is equivalent to it being said to us that we must not doubt either the Savior’s descent from heaven or His ascent again from the dead, but having believed with a whole heart, to confess the grace also with the tongue; for to us who do this, salvation through justification will be attained. For, as is his habit, he distinguished unto righteousness and unto salvation, attributing the former to the faith of the heart, and the latter to the confession of the mouth, each corresponding appropriately to the other." - Gennadius of Constantinople, Romans 10:6-10

"Scripture," he says, "states that those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But it is not possible for anyone at all to call upon Him without having first believed; and it is again impossible to believe without having first heard what is to be believed; and indeed, it is further impossible to hear without someone preaching; and how, in turn, is it possible to preach without having been sent for this purpose? Therefore, sending must precede preaching, preaching must precede hearing, hearing must precede faith, and faith must precede calling upon [Him]; for the latter cannot come about if the former do not exist. If, then, the matter needed to proceed in this way, in this way it has indeed advanced, and no one can level any reproach at what has been done by God; for having appointed heralds, He sent them out to proclaim the message to all, so that to them applies that word of Scripture: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" - Gennadius of Constantinople, Romans Romans 10:14–15

Romans Chapter 1

Romans 1:5–7ª

For our nature had been alienated from God through disobedience; and by not keeping the virtue which the Law enjoined, but being instructed even unto old age yet becoming none the better, we reasonably provoked the Lawgiver, learning thoroughly what one ought to do and not do so that not even a pretext of ignorance was left to us, yet doing least of all what was necessary, and most of all what was unlawful, so as to become guilty not only of neglect of good deeds but also of the commission of evil deeds, and to owe punishment for both: for the things we embraced and the things from which we abstained. Of this enmity, therefore, he says, and of the punishment resulting from it, it is granted to you also, O Romans, along with all men, to receive deliverance, and to partake of the peace of which divine grace has now deemed the human race worthy. He therefore prays for them: first, the grace of God,for through this all who have believed have enjoyed salvation; then peace, through which he intimates to all the attainment of virtue; for he who embraces the evangelical conduct of life is at peace with God, being eager to serve Him in all things.

Romans 1:7ᵇ

For God, the Master of all, showed forth to us a wondrous adoption as sons. What kind of adoption? That which was revealed through Jesus Christ our Lord. For by the name of "Father" He indicated the gift of adoption, and by the mention of the "Lord Jesus Christ" He presented the One in Whom first and through Whom first it took place. And by "adoption" he means the restoration of our nature unto immortality and incorruption; for such men are worthy to be called sons of God, partaking themselves, so far as is possible, of the Father’s impassibility. And this we have received by being united through faith even from now to the Firstfruits; for He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition. And this [middle wall], I think, was the mortality of the body and the passibility of the flesh, by which, being borne down toward sin, we were walled off from intimacy with God. But now it is no longer so, he says; for He raised up our fallen nature in Christ and seated us at His right hand in the heavenly places.

Romans 1:8

Therefore he does not say "through Jesus Christ" as though through some subordinate servant, but because thanksgiving is due to God especially on account of the Master Christ, and the wondrous dispensation accomplished through Him which saved our race, which also captured us alive for life through faith in Him alongside the rest. And he wins them over, conciliating them as much as possible through these words, lest they should think either that he had passed some judgment against them, or that he had set about writing to them in order to criticize Peter's tradition, and then, taking offense at this, shun the reading of it and be deprived of the benefit of the epistle. Having begun, therefore, from thanksgiving and faith, praising them because their faith is genuine and firm and they all steadfastly cling to it together, and having adequately dignified and elevated them both through the word "proclaimed" (which he used very appropriately in view of the preeminence of the city) and through the addition of "in the whole world," he immediately passes to the commendation of his own person.

Romans 1:9

He called the spirit his own, since he was not speaking of the hypostasis of the Spirit, but the grace of the Spirit given to him for the preaching of the gospel, by whose cooperation he, being deemed worthy, was able to accomplish the work of the apostleship.

Romans 1:10–12

He says these things suspecting that the hearer might take offense at the statement and, as it were, confront him: "What are you saying? You are eager to impart some spiritual gift to us? For what is lacking in Peter’s teaching? Do you find fault at all with his teachings, as though you were someone great, as though a greater apostle than he, as though having conversed more than he with the Master Christ and been loved by Him more than he?" Suspecting these things, therefore, first of all in stating within himself the purpose of his coming, he sufficiently checked the suspicion of arrogance; then, by adding the word "some" [gift], and saying not "give" but "impart" (for this latter is surely far more modest than the former); and again he remedied it by saying, "that you may be established"; for he says, "I have been eager not as though preaching to you something new beyond Peter, but to confirm you in the very things you have received." And dispelling such a suspicion still further, he says: That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. "I said," he says, "that I desire to see you, and that I wish to impart to you some spiritual gift for your confirmation, knowing that the gain resulting from this is mutual, since you will not receive comfort from me any more than I from you."

Romans 1:13–15

Saying, "My presence among you would be my gain; for those of the Gentiles who are brought to the gospel through me clearly increase my riches. I would not, therefore, have voluntarily neglected my own benefit, nor willingly submitted to so great a loss; for it would make no sense that one who eagerly pursues each of the other nations for the sake of this gain should despise you, unless held back by great necessity. And not only for this reason, but also because I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise; so, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I was not put forward as apostle of some and not of others, but was commanded to preach Christ simply to all; so that, paying a debt rather than granting a favor in coming to each, I would not have stayed away from you either, had it been possible." And having now shaken off the accusation regarding his delay by these numerous and noble reasonings, and even before these having sufficiently conciliated them and removed the slander attaching to him as being arrogant, he brings the preface to a conclusion.

Romans 1:16–17

Those warring against the Christian proclamation ridiculed it, mocking it as disgraceful; for [they said] that nothing was more ridiculous than a message proclaiming that the Son was seized and done away with by Jews, denying neither the Cross nor His death, yet asserting in turn not only that He Himself was raised from the dead, but also had ascended into heaven as Lord of all, and that all the rest of mankind would rise from the dead, and all the other things which the Apostles preached. Sneering at and mocking these things, they thought to silence the Apostles. Bearing in mind, therefore, this reputation of the Apostles, the blessed Paul begins the discourse concerning the doctrine in this way: For I am not ashamed of the gospel. And this is customary for him: often, without stating the objection beforehand, to make his beginning from the very refutation of it; and unless one attentively fixes his mind on the apostolic words, he will go astray from their meaning without easily perceiving it. Such a case, for instance, is: Not as though the word of God has taken none effect; but this we shall explain when, God willing, we come to it; for now let us return to the text at hand. For meeting the argument of his opponents which they regarded as strongest, he began the commendation of his own teaching by overthrowing it: For I am not ashamed of the gospel; which means: "Why then must my eagerness run out toward all men? Someone might say, 'Let the paltriness of your preaching check you.'" "Nay, rather, this is the very thing that arouses and strengthens me more; for that which seems weak in the evangelical word,this most of all demonstrates the power of God." In what way? For it is the power of God, he says, unto salvation to everyone who believes. It saves all of you who believe it to be true, and of this the Jew stands in need before all others,he who boasts of possessing more godliness than the Greeks on account of the written Law. But how does it save? For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith. By "righteousness" he means sinlessness; by "of God," that which is from divine grace; by "is revealed," that in due season on the day of the resurrection this will be made known; by "from faith," that it is not from the works of the Law, but from believing in the resurrection of Christ; and by "unto faith," believing not concerning Him alone, but from His resurrection believing also concerning ourselves that we shall rise. What then is the total meaning of the passage? That our gospel is something exceedingly great and truly wondrous, if one attentively considers its power; for all men, whom neither the natural law profited nor the written Law added to the natural, it saves through faith in Christ; for whoever has been fully assured concerning the resurrection from the dead, that he himself also will partake in it by obeying Him according to the promise of the Savior Himself, is within salvation. And this, he says, God declared long ago through the prophet Habakkuk: The just shall live by faith. And he appended this testimony both to establish the credibility of his own word, and especially to refute the contentious rivalry of the Jews ostensibly on behalf of the Law. "Such in power, then," he says, "is our gospel." And very elegantly he set out to commend it from its power because of its present hiddenness, as if someone were to say concerning a grain of wheat: "What is now seen is nothing more than a grain; but if you perceive its potential power, you will find it to be a root, a stalk, an ear, and wheat, multiplying itself manifold; and what is more wondrous, before it falls into the earth and dies, none of these things happen; but once buried and having perished in the earth, it produces just as I said."

Romans 1:18ª (Transition)

Up to this point having, as it were, skirmished beforehand in commendation of the gospel, presenting it assertively rather than demonstratively, and declaring it to be salvific equally to all, both Jews and Greeks, he now proceeds to the examination: first of Hellenism, and after this of Judaism,that is, both of the natural law and of the written Law. By natural law I do not mean that of irrational animals, but the natural power of the soul to discern by reason what ought to be done. However, he examines the natural law before the written Law because the natural law is broader,for it is common to all,while the written is narrower, belonging to the Jews alone. Reasonably, therefore, he first examines that law which holds all under its sway, and having shown both Greeks and Jews to be liable to punishment (for they knowingly transgressed what was fitting), he established that the only remaining salvation through faith in Christ is unquestionably necessary for them.

Romans 1:18ᵇ

It is acknowledged by all, he says, that punishments and rewards will be rendered to each in due time according to the deeds done in this life. Well did he say "is revealed," as meaning that God is already indignant at these things now, but bears with them out of longsuffering, and will then make His indignation manifest by punishment. And the addition of "from heaven" greatly increased fear in the hearer, for it indicated that the Judge is inescapable; and this is reasonably acknowledged among Greeks, because among Greeks too the belief is held without doubt that there will be a judgment of all.

Romans 1:18ᶜ–19

For since these are the two most comprehensive categories of sins,offense toward God and offense toward one's neighbor,he sets down both: the former as greater, calling it ungodliness (asebeia) toward God, and the second, calling it unrighteousness (adikia) toward one's neighbor. Then he also establishes that our whole race will justly come under judgment, having said, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; for it is not possible for them to take refuge in ignorance. Knowingly, at any rate, they corrupt the truth so far as in them lies. And having divided the sins, he examines first the one toward God, and says that the knowledge of God was clear and manifest to them, God having revealed Himself to them.

Romans 1:20ª

For that God is powerful and eternal, and moreover Creator and Provider, and all other attributes that belong to Him, is invisible to all created beings. Yet through His all-wise creation He granted us to perceive these things with the mind in the creation of this world; for having created the world, He constructed it so intelligently that, in being altered and transformed, it teaches that it was made by God, who is truly eternal and unchangeable; and in holding together even amidst continuous motions and not being destroyed by them, it cries aloud that its Maker is powerful. And He created us with such a nature, bestowing intellect and reason upon us, so that by following the teaching provided by this world, we might be able to understand and perceive His invisible attributes. For if we have learned from its turnings and alterations that it is created, it is clear that, being created, it was made by One who is entirely uncreated and immutable, who, through the transcendence of His power, does not allow the elements to perish even amidst such great fluctuation as they clash with one another for our benefit, but still sustains them subsisting and indestructible.

Romans 1:20ᵇ

"So that they are without excuse" he says instead of: this excludes their defense, turns away the tongue, stops the mouth, restrains, and causes silence. And he spoke in the causal manner according to his proper idiom; for it is customary with the Apostle to state the outcomes of things as though they were the causes of things. For God did not initially deem men worthy of the knowledge of Himself in order that they might have no defense whatever, but He made it manifest among them for their profit, that they might have what is His and enjoy His providential care. But since they insulted the divine gift through their own indifference, it naturally followed that, having fallen from what was proper, they were deprived of all excuse.

Romans 1:21–23

That they knew God exists is therefore clear; hence it is not for this that they will undergo punishment, but because they did not use this knowledge properly,for this they will be punished. For each one glorified Him as God, and whatever he supposed to be God, this he worshipped, regarding it as supreme. But they pursued the matter mistakenly and foolishly; for abandoning the path provided by God toward the knowledge of Himself and cutting out their own path, they ran aground upon the utmost madness, acquiring the superfluity of their supposed wisdom as an addition of folly, dragging divine worship down as far as reptiles and lifeless things; so that their delusion concerning God refutes them by the fact that the knowledge of God was within them, and at the same time strips them of all pardon. The sense of they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful is this: "neither were thankful," because they did not acknowledge Him as the Cause and Dispenser of all good things to them; and "glorified Him not," because they did not hold that conception of God which they ought to have held. Having known Him, at any rate, from the teaching through this world as invisible, eternal, incorruptible, and almighty, they did not abide by these truths, nor did they preserve such a conception of Him, but changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. By "likeness of an image" he means the image itself, just as by "likeness of flesh" he means the flesh itself; wherefore, greatly aggravating the charge in his discourse, he added this very phrase: "of corruptible man," that is, of decaying flesh; since sculpted images are representations of this part of man alone, and certainly not of the soul. He then went through their error generically, yet parading it by name, saying: of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Such also is that saying of the Psalm: They changed His glory into the likeness of a calf that eats grass; for here too "likeness of a calf" means the calf itself. Which calf he means, he made clear by saying: They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molten image.

Romans 1:24–27

The Apostle, having sufficiently shown that knowledge of God was given to men by God through the skillful creation of this world and through the fitting constitution of their nature for learning these things, but that those who received it corrupted it within themselves by carnal reasonings and did not use it properly, now logically describes how many and what kind of absurdities were caused for them by their falling away from the true knowledge of God. The Master God, he says, was harmed not at all by their ignorance, but being without need and possessing a nature,how should one say?,most blessed by nature, He remains continually in this state; but they themselves were glued to every form of vice, being overcome to such a degree by delusion and darkened by ignorance of God, as to be carried away even into unnatural passions, stumbling like blind men upon whatever they happened to meet, and reasonably so; for if it is impossible for those deprived of physical light not to stumble over what is before their feet, it is far more impossible for those who have deprived themselves of that blessed Light to live uprightly and without sin. Showing that this very thing was brought upon them as a penalty for their transgression against God: that even before the punishment inflicted for sins, the very act of sinning is, to the prudent, the most grievous punishment.

Romans 1:28

He does not mean, therefore, that God plunged them into these abominable audacious deeds; for God is the cause of none of these things to men,God forbid! For how could He be, who is indignant and threatened Gehenna on account of them? But Scripture is accustomed to speak of God’s permission and abandonment in this way, as in: You have turned our steps away from Your path, and The Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Why have You made us err from Your ways, O Lord, and hardened our heart from fearing You?, and Lead us not into temptation. He means, therefore, that when they departed He withdrew, and when they abandoned Him He abandoned them, so that the cause of this counterfeit life was their reprobate conception concerning God.

Romans 1:29–32

And having encompassed all their sins toward one another together under this single designation of "unrighteousness," he enumerates them one by one in the following words. And by "malice" (ponēria) he means that affliction which is brought upon someone by deliberate design; by "covetousness" (pleonexia), the harm done out of the desire for more; by "wickedness" (kakia), the eagerness to harm one’s neighbor; by "envy" (phthonos), grudge at the good fortunes of one’s neighbor; by "murder" (phonos), the impulse carried to the point of killing; by "strife" (eris), blameworthy contentious rivalry; by "deceit" (dolos), plots and schemes aimed at the ruin of brethren; by "malignity" (kakoētheia), perversity of character; by "whispering" (psithurismos), muttering slander under one's breath against those present; by "backbiting" (katalalia), defamation brought up against those who are absent; by "God-haters" (theostygeis), not those hated by God,for it is not his purpose to show that now,but those who hate God; by "insolent" (hybristai), the audacious and abusive; by "proud" (hyperēphanoi), those puffed up over what they possess against those who do not possess; by "boasters" (alazones), those boasting of things they do not have as though they had them; by "inventors of evil things," those devising new evils on top of the old evils; by "disobedient to parents," those ungrateful even toward parents; by "foolish" (asynetoi), those devoid of conscience,for nothing is more senseless than such people; by "covenant-breakers" (asynthetoi), those who do not abide by covenants they have made with others; by "without natural affection" (astorgoi), the cruel and unloving; by "implacable" (aspondoi), the irreconcilable and grudge-bearing; by "unmerciful" (aneleēmones), the unbending and unyielding toward mercy.

Romans Chapter 2

Romans 2:1

"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are that judge," he says, meaning: the one deemed worthy of a nature capable of discerning what ought to be done. Why is such a man without excuse? For wherein you judge another, he says, you condemn yourself; for you that judge do the same things.

Romans 2:2–5

What was stated above is taught to me here: for having said that we are condemned by our own judgment in the things wherein we stumble, here again, in like manner to the foregoing, since the judgment of God is acknowledged and indubitable among all, he adds: We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who commit such things. And having laid this down as unquestionable, he then addresses them with words of sharper rebuke in what follows: "Since it is clear to all of us," he says, "that an incorruptible judgment awaits, do you expect, O man, when you stumble knowingly and stand convicted by yourself, that you will escape punishment, but that you yourself will be taken away guiltless in the very things which you condemn in others? And do you think that God, the true Judge, exercises not even as much regard for justice as you do, but because He does not bring punishment upon you on the spot, granting time for repentance, will you abuse this for an increase of evil? And will you make God’s longsuffering toward you an occasion for all impiety? Know clearly, therefore, that after your hardness you treasure up unto yourself wrath." All of this resembles that saying of the Psalmist: These things you did, and I kept silence; you thought wickedly that I was altogether such a one as yourself; but I will reprove you, and set your sins in order before your face. Now he said "treasure up" by a metaphor taken from those who keep their treasures in secret and increase them little by little with additions. By "day of wrath" he means the time of punishment. "And you therefore," he says, "by the multitude of your sins stored away as in secret, will bring punishment upon yourself at the coming judgment." And he called it the day of "revelation" because all things that are completely hidden are then to be brought into the open before all; and "righteous judgment," because while in this life just judgment is injured in many ways,either through the ignorance of those who judge or through some other fleshly pretext,there, the verdict is rendered purely, justly, and splendidly, as is fitting for a divine judgment. Thus by these words he resumed that theme: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven, encompassing through the beginning and the end their accusation of ungodliness and unrighteousness by the dread of punishment.

Romans Chapter 3

Romans 3:19–20

To this end, he says, the Law was profitable: it made sin known to us, not only by forbidding the doing of improper acts, but also by punishing those who disobey it; for had not punishment been inflicted upon the offenses, we would not have recognized what kind of thing sin is. And having through all these things demonstrated very accurately that all are under sin, he finally brings this forward, showing the completeness of his discourse.

Romans 3:22

"Unto all," he says, meaning the Jews, as having had from their own household and from themselves the Author of salvation; "and upon all," he says, meaning the Gentiles, as grace was extended from the Jews unto them also; nevertheless, he stated that both these and those partake of grace, not indiscriminately, but "those who believe"; and again, that grace is justly common to all.

Romans Chapter 4

Romans 4:1

The statement contains a transposition (hyperbaton); for the natural order would be structured somewhat like this: "What shall we say then that Abraham our father as pertaining to the flesh has found?" Let us go back, he says, to the founder of our race according to the flesh, whom God, having chosen him out of all nations, blessed, and promised that through him He would transmit the gifts of the blessing to those descended from him; for it is clear that however it was with him, so it will be with our affairs as well.

Romans Chapter 5

Romans 5:12–14

Of this life of ours in this world, he says, which admits of both sinning and dying and on this account stands in need of Law (which appropriately points out and forbids sin), Adam was the first beginner, since he was both the first to be made and the first to transgress. All those, therefore, born from him in succession died, naturally inheriting the nature of their forefather; but of those who died, some were subjected to death because of the things in which they themselves also transgressed, while others were subjected solely through the condemnation of Adam, as is the lot of infants. For this reason he now says: Death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned, saying "all" instead of "many," just as in the subsequent words: For if through the offense of one the many died, where he says "the many" instead of "all." And now: Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned; for how could those who are not yet capable of action or discerning choice be accountable for an offense? The words For until the law sin was in the world mean this: the blessed Paul often speaks to us from the perspective of our condition in Christ, as though after the manifestation of the Savior it is no longer the old but the new state that holds sway. In the old state, since we were carnal and subject to passions, the giving of the Law was necessary, checking the impulses of our nature toward sin by the threats of punishments; but having become new and righteous in Christ,that is, no longer admitting of the decay brought by sin,the Law is entirely superfluous. Therefore he says: The law is not made for a righteous man, and You are not under the law, and You are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, and If you be led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. By the words For until the law sin was in the world he therefore means this: so long as we were of a carnal and passible nature, and on that account needing to be under law, we were dominated by sin, which exercised citizenship in the whole world; but when the Law is abolished because we, having become spiritual, have passed over unto justification in Christ, sin is abolished along with it; for it is no longer imputed where there is no law. The whole sense of this passage, to put it in summary, is this: grace in Christ grants to all of us who firmly believe in it to boast. And on this account, it is not unfitting but exceedingly reasonable that He should be the beginner for us of immortal and righteous life, just as Adam was previously the beginner for us of corruptible and passible life; for if, when he stumbled and was condemned to death, all of us who came after him from him shared in it,some by sinning further through transgression, and others solely through kinship with his penalty, how is it not undeniable that the Master Christ, having lived in accordance with our human nature, having succeeded, and having obtained the better portion after the resurrection from the dead, (for on this account, he says, God has highly exalted Him), [should grant] to those united to Him through faith and deemed worthy of the indwelling of the Spirit (who first raised Him from the dead) to share with Him in undefiled life, having become spiritual instead of carnal? "But," he says, "death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," which means: in the same way that death reigned when Adam transgressed, so it reigned over those who came from him after him, both those who sinned and those who did not sin alike. And "until Moses" is the same as "until the Law"; for here he does not mean Moses individually as a man, but the institution, naming the Law after the Lawgiver. So also in the Epistle to the Corinthians: When Moses is read, that is, the Law given through Moses. Who is the figure of Him that was to come. In the things concerning Adam, he says, what was to happen afterward was prefigured and sketched out,namely, the things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ; for it was fitting, perhaps, that the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Since, then, the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven, those who are earthy must conform to the earthy one, and those who are heavenly to the heavenly One; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly, being led up consistently from the lower things to the higher.

Romans 5:16

For one sin, he says, was the cause of condemnation for all, and all who followed in succession paid the penalty for that sin; but grace took away not that sin alone, but also many other sins heavier than that one, committed by those who came after, rendering our nature completely unfallen and righteous from that point forward.

Romans 5:17

Having sufficiently demonstrated by comparison the superabundance of grace, he then concludes syllogistically and establishes the thesis he is striving for, saying: For if by one man's offense death reigned by one, and so forth. For here he used the conjunction [εἰ, "if"] instead of "therefore": "If, therefore," he says, "both by one man’s offense and through one offense death reigned, then much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace unto righteousness in the one Christ, as has been shown, reign in immortal life."

Romans 5:20

"Moreover the law entered," he says, "that the offense might abound." This resembles that saying in Galatians: The law was added because of transgressions. For he used "that" (hina) here too according to his usual idiom, since it indicates the result/consequence. For when a law was given to all those after Adam, he says, or rather even to Adam himself, the offense abounded; for the more numerous the commandments, the more numerous the offenses as they are transgressed. And when sin grew to a multitude through transgressions, the grace that abolishes it naturally appeared exceedingly immense.

Romans 5:21

"So that," he says, "it is indisputable that just as sin established its dominion in death and through death, so also grace, offering to all justification in Christ, shall have an unending reign in life everlasting."

Romans Chapter 6

Romans 6:1–2

Having spoken the preceding words to establish the doctrine concerning the grace in Christ, he foresaw an objection arising from them; and having posed this as from an opponent, he provides a most powerful refutation of it, saying: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. "Will you then say from what I have said," he asks, "that we ought to sin all the more, and thereby make grace greater and more abundant, if indeed its nature increases in proportion to the multitude of our sins?" This closely resembles that passage: as some affirm that we say, Let us do evil, that good may come. "God forbid," he says. For the time being he rejects the assertion with horror as impious to every reasoning mind, and after this he exposes its absurdity with indisputable arguments, saying: How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? "The carnal and unbelieving might say this," he says, "but for us who have once died to sin, it is among the entirely impossible things to come alive to it again."

Romans 6:3–4

"You surely know this," he says, "that we declare Christ's baptism to be a type of His death and resurrection. Those of us, therefore, who have received this by faith have clearly received it upon these hopes: that just as Christ was raised from the dead unto glorious adoption as Son,for this is what he means by through the glory of the Father, so we too, having shared in His death through baptism, might be partakers of that immortal, unaging, and all-blessed life."

Romans 6:5

The likeness of His death. He means His very death, just as in the expressions in the likeness of sinful flesh and being made in the likeness of men, or else the baptism in the Jordan which prefigured the mystery of His resurrection. Well did he use the word planted together (symphytoi), illustrating the certainty of the matter by the metaphor of plants; for what is planted together obviously grows up together and rises together. Therefore, it is manifest that since we died with Christ, we shall also be raised with Him.

Romans 6:6–7

By old man he means the corruptible and passible man, since decay corrupts whatever it overtakes. And by body of sin he means that which no longer remains sinless, but admits sin. This, then, is abolished, he says; that is, it is rendered inactive toward sin. Wherefore he did not simply say that the body is abolished, but the body of sin; for this body, being corruptible now, will put on incorruption, and being mortal now, will put on immortality, the Master Christ transforming the body of our humiliation to conform to the body of His glory. For he that is dead, he says, is freed from sin. What is it that he is saying? Stumbling belongs to those who live this present life, since being under law also belongs to them; but neither of these belongs to the departed. For the Law does not converse with the dead man,for how could it address one who does not even hear?,and sin does not disturb such a person. To the one who has died, therefore, he says, there is nothing in common with sin, nor does sin have any claim against him; for he is no longer subject to committing transgression.

Romans 6:8–11

"Therefore," he says, "just as Christ died, we also die; and just as Christ lives, we also shall live. It is fitting, then, for you to look unto Him. And just as it is impossible for Him, having died once unto sin and then risen unto God, to die again, so you also ought, using most righteous reasoning, to order your own life henceforth in the life according to Christ, as having passed over in hope unto this life from the former."

Romans 6:12–14

Having overturned the objection on the basis of what took place in Christ, and having shown that they must no longer sin in any way, since after baptism they are no longer carnal ,though these things we possess for now by faith alone and not by actual experience; for we have not yet become impassible or immortal, the reality itself being reserved by an ineffable plan for the time of the general resurrection, he offers them advice that is both moderate and practicable. For he did not say, "Do not sin at all",for that belongs to an impassible and immortal nature,but Let not sin reign in your mortal body; that is, do not allow sin to possess undisputed dominion over you now as in former times, nor consent to do what is commanded by it in the lusts of our body like slaves, yielding your members to it like bodyguards for the cooperation of unrighteousness; but fleeing from it and deeming it to be hostile and at war with you, take refuge in God, and prepare yourselves as immortals for Him unto the accomplishment of righteousness. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. "For if you are eager," he says, "to live in this way, being convinced and firmly assured concerning grace, you will never be captured by sin." Why? Because the Law ratifies sin, whereas you no longer belong to the life under the Law, but to that under grace. You will not, therefore, be dominated by sin unto death, as when sin, inflamed by the Law, held dominion over our race. Having brought his counsel to completion up to this point, he takes up another objection that surfaces against him: for having said, Sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace, he knew that the carnal man would readily seize upon this and misuse grace as a license for sins. Foreseeing this, therefore, he raises the opponent’s argument against himself and speaks as follows.

Romans 6:15ª–16

"For this has not escaped you," he says, "that it is fitting for you to abide by your own confessions, and that a person demonstrates by his deeds that one to be his master whose commands he chooses to obey, whether this be sin or righteousness." For the expression whether of sin... or of obedience unto righteousness, spoken somewhat obscurely, means this: whether obedience to sin, or to righteousness.

Romans 6:17–18

"Thanks be to God," he says, "because you have now exchanged the slavery of sin, choosing righteousness instead, and accepting it as your master in place of the former, whose form of doctrine you received and embraced from the soul, according to which you must strictly live henceforth. I have resorted to such terms and used examples drawn from human customs because the weakness of your flesh toward virtue compelled me."

Romans 6:19–20

For as you have yielded your members, he says, and so forth. For here too he used the connective particle [γάρ] instead of "therefore" (toinyn). "You ought therefore," he says, "just as previously you surrendered yourselves entirely to lawlessness for the working of all uncleanness, so now, or even much more, having completely abstained from those things, eagerly to pursue the holiness of righteousness. For you surely know that time," he says, "when you were subject to the commands of sin, how you had nothing in common with righteousness."

Romans 6:21–23

"And yet I would gladly inquire of you now: for what purpose did you so eagerly perform that 'fine' slavery to sin, and what was the fruit of this great devotion to you? Was it not corruption, uncleanness, death, and things full of all shame? Are present matters also of this sort?" he asks. "Or do they differ by just some small, trivial degree, and not rather by the whole and entire measure? For having taken God in exchange for sin, and resolved to do what is pleasing to Him, you reap sanctification,that is, sinlessness,and from this it will be yours to abide immortal."

Romans Chapter 7

Romans 7:1–4

"Come now," he says, "let us establish this very point from the Law as well. Do you not know accurately, being learned in the Law, that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; therefore, while he is alive, if she goes to another man she will be judged an adulteress; but if he dies, she is loosed from the law and may live with whom she pleases, escaping the charge of adultery. Is it not, then, brethren, something similar in your case? For by believing you have become part of the body of Christ; and He, having died to the Law, came to life again from the dead unto another life. Therefore, being one in Him, you also have died to the Law, and through the resurrection you too will bear fruit in like manner with Him."

Romans 7:5

Sacred Scripture uses the name "flesh" in two ways: sometimes naming nature itself in this way, as in the Savior's post-resurrection words to His disciples: A spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have; and sometimes not nature itself, but its passible state, as in this very passage before us. For he did not say when we were in the flesh as though we are now without physical flesh, but as having passed over unto immortality and impassibility in Christ; for often, as I noted previously, he addresses us from the perspective of what we believe in Christ as if it were already present. He says, therefore, that while we were still in our former carnal life, the passions in our members worked toward sin through the law, that is, being enacted by us, they were imputed to us as sin because of the Law; and being wounded by this, we were inevitably handed over to death. For by these three, reinforced by one another, our nature was subdued: sin gaining strength through the Law, death reigning through sin, and the Law necessarily lying upon those who are mortal and therefore prone to sin. Thus the Law brought about sin, sin begot death, and death, rendering nature slippery toward sin through its passibility, placed it in need of laws.

Romans 7:6

"Now, however," he says, "we are delivered from the law that held us, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." We ought therefore henceforth to conduct our lives as those who have become immortal and spiritual, and no longer serve as those who are still corruptible, growing old, and therefore constrained by law. He contrasted the Spirit with the letter, and newness with oldness, showing by the very words the vast difference between the realities.

Romans 7:7

For I had not known lust, he says, except the law had said, You shall not covet. He does not mean that the commandment implanted the nature of desire in me when I did not possess it,for desire belongs to our nature, but that had not the Law instructed me by its prohibition, I would not have known that lust is blameworthy and evil.

Romans 7:8ª

"Had not the Law taught me through prohibition," he says, "I would not have known that lust is blameworthy and base, but now I have learned this through the commandment; for as this commandment measured out the desire inherent in my nature, and did not leave its use unrestrained but bounded and encompassed it with fixed limits, sin, taking occasion through it,that is, obtaining strength and assistance, and then tripping me up toward excess, made every forbidden desire active in me unto sin." For in the phrase wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, the word "forbidden" is to be understood.

Romans 7:8ᵇ–11

For without the law, he says, sin was dead; for the Law, by forbidding an action, constitutes it sinful, so that had I practiced it without the Law having previously commanded me to abstain from it, I would not have been guilty of transgression. For where no law is, there is no transgression; for sin is not imputed when there is no law. For I was alive without the law once. He uses "I" here to mean "man," speaking concerning Adam. But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. Me, at any rate,man who had life before the Law,the incoming commandment deprived of this life through sin, previously dead, reviving. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. And I suffered something cruel and truly pitiable, being harmed by a benefit and losing life by the very aid given to me for life! For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. For having an occasion through the commandment, accursed sin, becoming stronger by my own weapon, deceived me through this very thing and slaughtered me. He speaks of sin as alive, subsisting, and outwitting man according to the custom of divine Scripture; for thus the blessed David also introduces righteousness, personifying it and saying: Righteousness shall go before Him; and Solomon likewise personifies Wisdom; and altogether such an idiom is frequent in the divine oracles.

Romans 7:12

Wherefore, he says, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. The conjunction is simply thrown in here, and he called the same thing both "law" and "commandment." He called the commandment "holy" as leading away from sin, separating and setting one apart from evil; "just" as justly rewarding those who obey and punishing those who disobey; and "good" as guiding toward the good and given through the goodness of God. "The Law, therefore, is not sin," he says, "seeing that it makes evil known to me and restrains me from doing it, but on the contrary is holy, just, and good."

Romans 7:13

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin. "I will not, then," he says, "blame the good for my evil, but I accuse sin, and I hate it, and never willingly would I make a truce with it." That sin might appear, he says, working death in me by that which is good; for by harming me through what is good, through this very means it revealed what its own nature truly is. That sin, he says, by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. This is phrased elliptically, for the word "manifest" is missing from the sense, so that it means: "that sin might become manifest through the commandment as being exceedingly sinful." For through the Law, he says, it is exposed what a great and immense evil sin is; for when it tripped me up by deceit, it turned against me as my slayer that very [commandment] which urged me to guard against sin and had been given as an ally.

Romans 7:14

Further defending the Law and clearing it of blame, he says: "I know this, that the law is spiritual, that is to say, perfect, lacking nothing, and demanding exact virtue fitting for immortals. But what am I to do, clothed with mortal, corruptible flesh subject to many passions, surrendered as it were unto transgressions?" For sold under sin he says instead of "as one who has been sold." And this too is a scriptural idiom: often to state something without the adverb of comparison; such as our God is a consuming fire. It resembles what was said earlier, you were the servants of sin, and that word in the Prophet: To which of my creditors have I sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have you sold yourselves, and that saying in the Holy Gospels by our Savior: Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin; for truly, by whatever a man is overcome, to that he is enslaved.

Romans 7:15

Since he said sold under sin, and thereby placed sin in the position of a mistress and himself in that of a slave, he consistently follows up with: For that which I do I know not. For this is proper to household slaves: not to be masters of their own will, but to serve the commands of their master. "Often, at any rate," he says, "I commit something that I did not choose myself." For by "I know not" he does not mean that he is in ignorance,for how could it be possible for someone to be ignorant of what he is doing, or how could such a thing ever be imputed to him as a fault?, but I know not is like that saying of the Savior in the Gospels: I know you not; depart from Me; meaning: "I often do something without endorsing it, neither rejoicing in it nor taking pleasure in it by deliberate purpose, nor, in short, obeying myself, but another." And that this is so, he says, is clear: For what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I; that is: "the things which I myself wish for myself, none of these do I perform, but I do the opposite, things which I hate and would never wish upon myself." Through such expressions he says he transgresses that law of the Savior, which is natural and encompasses all things: Whatever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Romans 7:16

"If then," he says, "I do that which I myself do not desire, by this I acknowledge that the Law is good; for those deeds which the Law rebukes and forbids me, I myself have already condemned in advance, even if I pursue them in my actions."

Romans 7:17–20

Through all these words he expresses what was said by the Master in the Holy Gospels: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak; for he blames the corruptibility and passibility of the flesh for the transgression. For I know, he says, that in my flesh dwells no good thing,that is, it does not possess impassibility, nor perfection, nor self-sufficiency, nor sinlessness; wherefore he often calls it sinful flesh, and body of sin, and body of death. "I choose the good with my mind and am prepared for it according to my soul, but to achieve it in deeds through the flesh I do not find; but while I am eager and struggle to do the good, I am brought under by the flesh to do what I did not intend. Such an act, therefore, I reasonably consider not my own, but alien."

Romans 7:21

"Therefore," he says, "from these things the Law is also shown to desire things in harmony with my will concerning what is good, since evil is clearly seen to be the same thing to both,to me and to the Law."

Romans 7:22–23

For I delight, he says, in the law of God after the inward man, and so forth. Here too he used "for" (gar) instead of "therefore" (toinyn); for he wished to make a summary of all that he had said previously from the point where he said, We know that the law is spiritual. "With the Law of God, then," he says, "I delight according to the inward man,naming thereby the rational faculty within us,and I rejoice and am glad in its precepts; but I see another law, that of my own members, marshaled against this law, violently tearing me away to itself and treating me like a captive; for what the former commands and what it bids me cling to, the latter forces me to abstain from. By law of sin in my members he means the impulse and intent of the passible flesh, since it is proper to every law to command its subjects what seems good to it. "I therefore obey," he says, "not that law in which I rejoice, but that in which I do not rejoice; for I do not do what I wish, but what I do not wish I do; and the law of my members prevails over the divine law in me, and struggling against it I am not strong enough to hold out. For being instructed through the divine Law to do this or that, and again not to do this or that, I have the knowledge of virtue measured out to me; but being prevented by the flesh from enacting it, I am not granted help by the Law; rather, the unmeasured law of my members departs having captured me as a spoil of war."

Romans 7:24–25ª

He did not say "evil man" or "wicked man," but wretched man. For having previously narrated and shown him as looking toward the good with his mind, yet dragged down toward evil by the passion of the flesh, he fittingly called him "wretched" as pitiable, rather than "wicked" as hateful. And most admirably did he utter the word "who?", indicating by the perplexity the difficulty of the matter: "Who then is so great," he asks, "as to deliver me from the tyranny of the body, dragged down by which into sin I am put to death?" For by body of death he means the cause of death, naming it from its end result. Having sufficiently indicated the distress and demonstrated the magnitude of the plight, he brings forward the Benefactor with thanksgiving and praise, declaring: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord; saying this: thanks be to the man-befriending God who bestowed immortality, incorruption, and impassibility upon us through the dispensation in our Lord Jesus, who cried out to us with a loud proclamation: Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Romans Chapter 8

Romans 7:25ᵇ–8:2

Having rendered fitting praise to the Benefactor, he holds to the subject at hand: "I myself then am a servant of both God and sin, and through the passibility of the flesh sin divides me against God." And having demonstrated the insufficiency of those under the Law for justification, he introduces the perfection of grace, saying: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, and so forth. "For behold now," he says, "the grace through Christ has liberated us from this condemnation; for being transferred into an impassible and immortal life through the gift of the Spirit, and becoming wholly spiritual throughout, we are delivered both from sin and from the death that came through it."

Romans 8:3–4

That justification, he says, which the Law, while enjoining it, was powerless to achieve in us through our flesh, God granted to us in Christ; for having sent His own Son, who had the same flesh as ours,passible and capable of admitting sin ,for by likeness of sinful flesh he means flesh capable of sinning, just as being made in the likeness of men means having become man, God, then, having sent His own Son in this flesh for sin,that is, in order to conquer sin, condemned sin in the flesh, sentencing sin within that flesh, while keeping the flesh entirely untouched and unconquered by it. Or alternatively: concerning sin He condemned sin in the flesh means that because His flesh was sinless and therefore not subject to death, God condemned sin in it concerning sin, because sin had unjustly cast the Master’s flesh into death; and through the resurrection from the dead He transformed that flesh unto impassibility, and so henceforth the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in us who are united to Him through faith and have become spiritual instead of carnal. Such also is what he said in Pisidian Antioch: By Him everyone that believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Romans 8:5–6

"Just as those who are corruptible must necessarily have a corruptible mindset," he says, "so those who are incorruptible naturally have an incorruptible mindset, each possessing a manner of thinking corresponding to their proper nature. For to be carnally minded, he says, is death,that is, procuring death and provoking God unto punishment. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace,that is, bestowing immortality and friendship with God."

Romans 8:7–8

"For it is impossible," he says, "for the will of the flesh ever to concur and embrace friendship with the wills of God which are made known to us through the Law; for the Law proclaims impassibility, whereas the flesh is passible. Therefore it is not possible for those entangled in the mind of the flesh and sharing in this nature to please God; for they are distant from Him to the extent that they are near to the flesh, and they are as far from virtue as immortality is from mortality."

Romans 8:9ª

"But you," he says, "have passed over from mortality into immortality, having become spiritual instead of carnal." And holding an indisputable proof of this statement: if so be, he says, that the Spirit of God dwells in you. For at that time, in addition to the gift of adoption, they also received other gifts for working miracles, the Spirit assuring them through these also concerning things as yet unseen. "That you have therefore crossed over to spiritual life from carnal life," he says, "the indwelling grace of the Spirit abundantly shows."

Romans 8:9ᵇ–10

Now if any man, he says, have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. Just as we who are from Adam are said to belong to Adam because we share his nature, so those who are deemed worthy of union with Christ are said to belong to Christ through partaking of the one Spirit. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. "If then Christ is recognized in you," he says, "by your sharing His Spirit, in the same way that the body has no share in immortality because of sin, so again the spirit is far from death because of righteousness." By "spirit" he designated the spiritual body, naming the participant from that which is participated in, just as in the Gospels He says: That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Romans 8:11

"Moreover, there is no need to dispute about this," he says: "that for those who have been deemed worthy to become temples of the Spirit and have thereby shared in Christ, it naturally follows that for this very reason they will share with Him also in the resurrection from the dead unto immortal life."

Romans 8:12–13

Having contended throughout all this and shown that they no longer belong to Adam,that is, to the passible and under-the-Law life,but belong to Christ,that is, are spiritual and undefiled, summarizing what was spoken at greater length previously, he introduces a clear and brief admonition, saying that they must not henceforth surrender themselves to the passions of the flesh. Why? For if you live after the flesh, he says, you shall die; for of such a life, he says, corruption is the end. But if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live; "if, however," he says, "you are eager to live according to the grace of the Spirit dwelling in you, keeping yourselves inactive toward such deeds of the body, you will obtain immortality."

Romans 8:14

For those who are steered by the Spirit of God,that is, the spiritual and not the merely psychic,truly confirm for themselves that they are sons of God. He said this by way of contrast with those under the Law, who were themselves also called sons of God because of God's special care for them compared to other men: for Scripture says: You spoke in vision to your sons, and Israel is my firstborn son, and I said, You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. In contrast to them, then, he said of those in Christ: these are the sons of God.

Romans 8:15

For the present grace is not like the former, even though the Law too was given by the grace of God. And this the Evangelist John also says: grace for grace, meaning that the grace of Christ was given to us in place of the grace given through Moses. The gift of the present grace is therefore not similar to that of the Law, but surpasses it by far and immeasurably, by as much as a father's relation to his genuine sons is greater than a master's favor toward slaves. Back then, at any rate, when transgressing, through fear of death we were all our lifetime subject to bondage; but now that Christ has abolished death through His own death, we have been delivered from that most grievous dread, and being deemed worthy of renewal, we are able truthfully to call God "Father."

Romans 8:16–17ª

"We possess a trustworthy pledge of so great a grace," he says; "for that spiritual gift of which we partook upon the hope of this adoption confirms our expectation, being made sure by the trustworthiness of the Spirit from whom it comes." For by the Spirit Itself he means the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit; and by our spirit, the grace given to us by Him, which he is accustomed to call the personal possession of those who receive it, as in when you are gathered together, and my spirit, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For just as the sun is the actual body of the sun,yet the ray coming from it is also called "sun" homonymously with the whole; thus we say of places that some have sun and others are sunless, not as though the hypostasis of the sun departed from its own place, but because the radiance from it strikes some places while in others it is blocked off by obstacles, so too divine Scripture speaks of the grace of the Holy Spirit homonymously with the One from whom it proceeds. On this account it also says in the Holy Gospels: For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified; the Evangelist signifying by the "glory" of Jesus His resurrection from the dead and His ascension into heaven; and naming as "Holy Spirit" not the hypostasis of the Holy Spirit,for He always was and is,but the spiritual gift from the Holy Spirit, which descended from heaven upon the disciples of the Lord ten days after the Ascension, and on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection. But to return to the text: If children, he says, then heirs. Now surely, if our being children of God is clear and indisputable, it is also surely clear that we are heirs of the Father’s goods; for with the former, this too is necessarily affirmed: heirs of God; therefore, having the same Father inscribed for us as Christ, and having been deemed worthy to be called unto the same adoption with Him, we shall also partake with Him in the same inheritance.

Romans 8:17ᵇ–18

Having touched a little earlier upon the comparison with the old things, and having made known the superiority of grace through setting them side by side, and then, lest it be doubted by the disciples because of its greatness, having confirmed it by participation in the Holy Spirit, he proceeds consistently to exhortation, and urges them to shrink from no danger for the sake of such blessings, his teaching on these matters being exceedingly useful and necessary, especially since many conflicts were brought against the disciples at the beginnings of the preaching. "Those, therefore, who desire the glory through Christ," he says, "must, like Him, stand firm against the temptations endured for its sake; for fellowship in sufferings will also produce fellowship in recompense. I, at any rate," he says, "reflecting and setting all the afflictions of the present age against the good things promised to us in Christ, find them to be small and nothing at all."

Romans 8:19

"So great is the abundance of the glory to be revealed in us," he says, "that even the earnest expectation of the creation,that is, its waiting from afar,plainly waits for the manifestation of the sons of God." He called it the "manifestation of the sons of God" because for now our life is hid with Christ in God. The whole meaning, however, is this: we humans are often accustomed, after the outcomes of events, to recall clearly in our memories what was previously obscure to us. For example: someone is discovered to have done something good, or again something bad; immediately we step forward and say: "Why, from afar he appeared to be such, and showed it by his bearing, and from this statement I recognized right away who he was!" And in general, taking such indications from former things in light of the present deed, we confirm the later things to ourselves from the earlier. Something of this sort the Evangelist also says concerning the disciples of the Lord: that they did not understand the things dispensed concerning Him at first; but when He rose from the dead, then they knew that these things were written of Him, and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said. Here too, then, the blessed Paul, having received by spiritual grace the knowledge of the dispensation in Christ, and knowing that it had been determined by God from above, and that He chose us before the foundation of the world, teaches what was previously hidden: for he says that the very constitution of creation proclaims in advance the gospel that has now shone forth, and is clearly and plainly awaiting the revelation of the sons of God, since He did not truly create all the sons of men in vain.

Romans 8:20

By vanity he means this transient and corruptible life of ours; "for why," he asks, "was creation so strained in service to corruptible things, were it not upon such hopes and expectations, God having ordained that it should act thus?" And he said not willingly by personification. This idiom is frequent in divinely inspired Scripture,I mean attributing both voices and characters to inanimate things, as indeed in the Fourth Book of Kingdoms: Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying: The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give your daughter to my son for a wife. And also in Judges: Jotham the son of Gideon (who is also Jerubbaal) said to the men of Shechem: The trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us. And in general, as I said, divine Scripture is full of such figures. It is according to this idiom, then, that the Apostle also said not willingly. Or perhaps he said it on account of the angels, so that what is said of the whole creation is spoken from its superior part.

Romans 8:21

"Creation holds out now, however," he says, "as one that will itself also share in the enjoyment of our liberty; for it will then cease serving corruption,that is, it will neither serve us as being any longer corruptible, and it will be freed from its own corruption; for we know how much alteration and decay the creation of the elements now undergoes, and indeed we know that even the angels do not yet possess immutability by nature, not only from those who fell away and on this account tumbled from heaven, but also from what Paul said concerning them as being capable of sin: for though we, he says, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

Romans 8:22

"Well known to all," he says, "is the nature of creation groaning together with us for now, and as it were pressing forward and preparing itself in advance for the universal regeneration."

Romans 8:23–24

"Why do I say these things concerning creation?" he says. "Nay, we ourselves, the crown of creation, for whose sake and with whom all things are renewed, having received the firstfruits of the Spirit, have conceived so great a longing for future blessings that we are distressed at the delay and do not easily bear the postponement, but long to receive the whole even now. And explaining adoption, he says: we desire the redemption of our body,that is, that our body should finally be liberated from corruption, sin, and death. And since in the earlier words he cried out thanksgiving as though already delivered from mortality, here again, as not yet having attained this but still longing to attain it, he adds: For we are saved by hope; our salvation, he says, is still held in hope."

Romans 8:26

"Our nature," he says, "is weak, and of itself despairs of living again; while the promised blessings are great and divine, and such as cannot even be grasped by the mind, nor ever entered into the heart of man; but nevertheless, toward believing such magnificent things, we have no small assistance from the Spirit; for these blessings transcend asking, and are things concerning which we do not even know how to pray as we ought,that is to say, things beyond human intellect and prayer, these things the given grace of the Spirit ineffably procures for us, and the firstfruit gives us courage concerning the whole. For just as marriage pledges which betrothed give to one another guarantee the subsequent union, and when brought forward compel the fulfillment of the covenants upon which they were given, so, I think, the firstfruits of the Spirit,that is, the partial gift of the Spirit, which is the earnest of our inheritance,confirms to us the universal grace to be given in due season. We ought therefore not to shrink from labors on its behalf. And he used intercedes metaphorically, from the way our human needs are accomplished through entreaties to one another."

Romans 8:27

By the word searches he signified not ignorance, but God's exact knowledge of our state; since we too deem worthy of search and deeper inquiry those things which we wish to learn accurately. Similar to this is that passage: The Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God; and in the prophet Zephaniah: In that day, says the Lord, I will search Jerusalem with candles. "God, therefore," he says, "who clearly knows all the affairs of men, is not ignorant of the purpose of our spirit, but knows that according to His will for which He gave it,for this is what according to God means,it makes its intercession to Him, so that those whom He loves may obtain complete holiness,that is, that through the resurrection they may pass over into an immortal, impassible, and wholly imperishable life. And knowing this, He will also fulfill the gift."

Romans 8:28

"Moreover, this too has been universally agreed among us," he says, "that God does not forsake those who love Him, but causes all things happening around them to work together for good, inasmuch as He has called them according to their good purpose." From this point, indeed, he also began to prepare in advance his defense regarding the rejection of the Jews.

Romans 8:29

Conformed to the image of His Son, he says, meaning to the sonship of His body. Wherefore he also added: that He might be the firstborn; for even if He imparted adoption to others, He thereby deprived the Son of nothing; for even so He retains preeminence over all, holding the advantage among the brethren as firstborn.

Romans 8:31–32

"Since God is for us, then," he says, "shall we fear anyone at all in the world? And will He who gave His own Son so unsparingly for us be petty toward us concerning the rest? Are not all things secondary to God compared to His love for us?" It is opportune to observe here that while saying here that the Son was delivered up for us by the Father, Paul says in Ephesians that the Son did this of Himself: for Christ, he says, loved us, and gave Himself for us,teaching us what other truth than that the will of the Father and of the Son for the salvation of man is one?

Romans 8:33–34ª

"Let those who wish, therefore, bring charges and accuse us,for they have no power to harm us at all, since God's verdict is aligned with us and for us," He means that it is possible for no one to take away from us those things which God has already graciously bestowed upon us. Therefore, since God has chosen us for the enjoyment of future blessings, it is not possible for our election to be overturned by anyone; nor, since He provides the things we hope for,and before all else that true justification in which we shall be established, no longer capable of sinning,will there be anyone able to effect a change against us. Hence it is not right to fear persecutors; for they can in no way take from us those good things which we hope will belong to us in the coming age. Therefore he mentioned election and justification: through "election" meaning that we are already set apart for this from now, and through "justification" indicating our being in actual enjoyment of them then, calling the incapacity to admit sin "justification",for this is true justification, and from this signifying the permanence of the things given to us; for not sinning, we shall remain forever in what has been given, wherefore he said that it cannot be overturned by anyone.

Romans 8:34ᵇ

He proceeds again to the proof of what was said before, saying: It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, and so forth. For he did not add this to resolve a future objection raised against him by some, as certain people thought, since no such objection naturally arose from what he had previously said, as we found in the case of the other objections; for who would ever suggest to Paul that while God the Father justifies us, Christ the Son will not allow it? Surely not a single person! The Apostle, therefore, was not going to struggle in vain and shadowbox against an argument that no one raised. Rather, to confirm and further establish the love of God for mankind, as we said before, was exceedingly necessary for him. For this reason he added to the foregoing: It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. "Is there anything lacking? What more do you need henceforth?" he asks. "Could you suspect any change? The matter is completed, it has reached its consummation, nothing is lacking for our salvation. Christ died, or rather has been raised and honored with the highest place before God, and He Himself brings to effect the grace that comes to us; that is, by the very fact He is clearly calling us to Himself, and the Firstfruits will receive the whole, and the rest of the body will be united to the Head; for having accomplished the dispensation on our behalf and been exalted, He will draw us also to Himself according to His own promise: For when I am lifted up, He says, then will I draw all men unto Myself. And here too he framed the matter through the word intercedes for our full assurance, just as we said shortly before regarding the Spirit."

Romans 8:35

Having magnified the love of God toward us, he then details the gratitude which we ought to have toward so great a Benefactor, saying that none of the terrible things among men ought to separate us from the love of Christ.

Romans 8:36–37

Since he brought forward the words spoken by the prophet David concerning the steadfast stand of the Maccabees for the Law, he added: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors. "For what wondrous thing shall we accomplish if we show devotion to God equal only to the ancients, when we have received not an equal, but a far greater grace?" And since he declared the resolve of his own mind, lest he seem to have spoken out of arrogance, he added: through Him that loved us; meaning that we have the power to overcome these things overwhelmingly not of ourselves, but through Him that loved us.

Romans 8:38–39

By death, then, he means all hardships, since the end of all such things is death; and by life, all luxurious and pleasant things, since the end of all such things again is life. By angels and principalities and powers he means the invisible essences, which are addressed by these different names appropriately according to the ministries they serve: "angels" because they announce (exangellein) the things of God to men; "principalities" (archai) because they rule (archein) cities or nations over which they are appointed; and "powers" (dynameis) because they were created mighty (dynatas) for the service of God, for Scripture says: Bless the Lord, all you His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments. By things present, he means comprehensively all things of this present time; by things to come, likewise all things anticipated; by height and depth, heavenly things and subterranean things. And he also added nor any other creature, showing the transcendence of his love for God, and that for its sake he is ready to do battle with both things that exist and things that do not exist. Moreover, by nor things to come he made it accurately clear that he loves God not for some external reason, nor in the hope of any rewards, but cherishing the very loving of God in itself and judging it to be most desirable on its own account. "None of the things previously enumerated, therefore," he says, "shall separate us from the love of God, on account of His ineffable affection for us, which He demonstrated through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Romans Chapter 9

Romans 9:1–5

Having thus strengthened them through all these things firmly to believe the gospel and unhesitatingly accept all trials for its sake, he wishes to answer an objection raised against him, and a very vigorous one. For since in the preceding chapters he cast out the Law and established grace in many ways (and especially from the Law itself), and declared that true sons of God are those of grace, whom God foreknew long ago and has now called, he knew that the Jew would immediately resist this and cast that well-worn objection before him: for those of the Jews warring against the Apostles and the preaching claimed that one of two things must necessarily follow: either the gospel is false, or God is a liar. "For if what you preach is true," they say, "God is a liar, having made void in actual deeds His own promises to our fathers concerning us; for He promised Abraham to transmit the blessings to his seed, but now, before us, He has accepted unclean and alien men, the Gentiles. If, then, the fulfillment of those promises is your preaching, as you say, it is evident that God lied to our fathers. But if it is not pious to say this of God, then you and the word you speak are false." Continuously throwing this argument at the Apostles, they caused them no small trouble and commotion; for by deceiving the hearts of the simple through such persuasive talk, they deprived them of salvation and stirred up unbearable persecutions against the Apostles. This objection of theirs, then, Saint Paul now wishes to refute, showing both that the message of the gospel is true and that God did not lie. But intending to demonstrate this, he wishes to turn the accusation back upon them, proving that their rejection is due neither to God being a liar nor to the gospel being false, but to their own wickedness and unbelief toward God. In order that in doing this he might not seem to do so out of contentiousness and hatred toward them, but because the truth of the matter is indeed so, he corrects his discourse in advance; and foreseeing what would secretly arise from it and present itself to the hearer, he begins in this way: I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, and so forth. Anathema means that which is set apart,whether for good (as unto God) or for evil (as separated from God). This is determined from the context. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, and so forth. Having set forth in the preceding chapters the transcendence of God's grace in Christ and his own zeal and steadfastness for it, he now recalls former times when beyond measure he persecuted the church of God and wasted it, being exceedingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers; and he says: "This very I, who am now ready to endure anything whatever for the sake of the gospel, was formerly hostile to it from an opposing mindset to such a degree as even to boast in being alienated from God and in having no communion whatever with Him! And I was disposed in this way," he says, "looking to my kinship according to the flesh with the Jews, and supposing, since they are Israelites, that the preaching was false because it opposed the divine promises concerning them, condemning the Law, admitting the Gentiles without it, and casting away those whose is the adoption, that is, those who were the elect, and whom God made renowned through the continual miracles wrought around them, and who were the inheritors of the covenants, and to whom God deemed worthy to give the Law, and to whom alone out of all nations He revealed how to offer fitting worship to Him, whom the promises encompassed, whose are the fathers (the close friends of God), and greatest of all, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Formerly, then, I was so disposed; but now, having been deemed worthy to be called through grace and having realized that this is truly that very promise made by God to the fathers, I have condemned myself for my former conduct, and am held fast by unbearable sorrow and continual anguish, considering for whose sake and against whom I was fighting, and how I was striving to separate and alienate myself from Christ, having preferred my deceived kinship according to the flesh with the Jews." Hence, because he knew that what he was saying was not easy for the hearer to accept (both because of the extremity of the change and because it concerned an invisible inner mindset and choice), he asserts in advance that he does not speak falsehoods, and invokes Christ as witness that his words have their truth from Him and His cooperation. "My conscience also bears me witness in the things spoken," he says, having reached this mindset through spiritual grace. Having said, For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, he added according to the flesh. Divine Scripture knows two births for us: one mortal, which it calls carnal; and the second from the resurrection of the dead, immortal, which it says is spiritual: for they were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. God is our Creator in both births: You have formed me, Scripture says, and laid Your hand upon me. Nevertheless, it calls those of the former birth "sons of men," and those of the second birth "sons of God." Wishing, therefore, to make clear that they did not share in divine kinship with him, having disbelieved in Christ and in the birth now revealed in Him, the Apostle added according to the flesh. This is the accurate interpretation of the passage set forth above; but nothing prevents us from mentioning the opinion held by others. Others asserted, then, that Paul said I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart not because he had persecuted the church of God and wished to be accursed from Christ, but on account of the rejection of the Jews, his kinsmen according to the flesh, for whose sake he even wished this very thing: to be accursed from Christ. In response to this, I will not insist on the point that his statement refers not to a present but to a past attitude,though he did say "I used to wish" (ēuchomēn), not "I wish" (euchomai), for indifference to the exchange of tenses is common in Scripture; but this I say: it was not plausible that Paul,who gladly accepted suffering all things for the love of Christ,should despise Christ as a worthless thing for the sake of the Jews, and so prefer the salvation of the Jews ahead of his own intimacy with Christ as even to wish to be torn away from Christ! But [the opponent] says: "I say this very thing: he knew that the salvation of the Jews was pleasing to Christ, and therefore he preferred what was dear to Christ above his own good." Well then: surely he also knew that his own salvation was dear to Christ, for it is impossible to say otherwise! In the very manner, therefore, by which he sought to serve Him, he would have provoked Him; and while trying to please Him, he would have grieved Him; for that some should be saved while others are lost is least of all pleasing to Christ. "Nay, but he was convinced," [the opponent] says, "that Christ, accepting such a noble intent, would not destroy him, and for this reason he wished to be accursed from Christ." But this is even more objectionable than the former view, if he feigned embracing a punishment out of devotion to Christ which he already knew would never happen! For being confident that he would not suffer it, he would have feigned his devotion with dissimulation through such pretended suffering!

Romans 9:6–9

Having demonstrated by his former mindset that he does not now proclaim grace in Christ overturning the ordinances of the Law out of strife against the Jews, but because he was firmly convinced that what is preached is true, he now grapples directly with the objection, habitually making his beginning from its immediate demolition: for he says: Not as though the word of God has taken none effect. "To such an extent was I formerly opposed to Christ on behalf of what I thought were God's promises concerning my kinsmen according to the flesh, for which I continually grieve; yet it is not possible to say, because these reject the gospel, that the word of God,meaning the promise of God,has been proven false. Why? For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. For not because all are descended from Israel, he says, are they all truly Israel,that is, if they do not share in his piety toward God, nor do they share in the reality signified by the name, even if they boast of succession from him according to the flesh." And making this argument clearer still in the next words: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children. "For if this were not so," he says, "all the seed of Abraham must necessarily be reckoned to him in the status of children. But surely this is not the case; for the divine oracle says to him: In Isaac shall your seed be called. And what else does this show than that the promises do not simply follow carnal descent? At any rate, Ishmael born of Hagar, and those born afterward of Keturah, were themselves no less the seed of Abraham. Yet God did not on this account accept them all equally with Isaac; rather, He rejected them, but preferred Isaac because he was born to him according to God's promise; for that he begot Isaac through a promise, he says, Scripture clearly testifies, saying: At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. Is it not therefore proven indisputably from this that the matters of grace are not enslaved to, nor do they follow, carnal kinship?"

Romans 9:10–13

Since the contentious Jew was likely to advance the persons of the mothers and say that it was not possible for children of a bondwoman to inherit with those of a freewoman, or to cite certain deeds of the children, and thereby imagine he had made a point, he refutes this as well, saying: And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac. "The circumstances concerning Isaac and his wife Rebecca are in agreement with those concerning Abraham," he says, "and the same conclusion is established again from these; for here you have no difference of mothers, nor of times, nor of deeds, nor can you blame any such things; for Esau and Jacob had one father and one mother, and both came from a single cohabitation. Nevertheless, though such was their situation, the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. And that this turned out so in actual historical reality, Scripture testifies many years later through the prophet Malachi: Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. He cited this passage wishing to show that God's judgment is just, since their lives later turned out to be consistent with His foreknowledge concerning them. Moreover, if the blessings must follow carnal descent, and Scripture promised natural seed to Abraham, then above all Ishmael should have enjoyed the same and equal rights with Isaac. But if this was not possible because one was of a bondwoman and the other of a freewoman,even though this made no difference among the sons of Jacob, where sons of bondwomen were placed in equal rank with those of freewomen, yet even if such a thing was not possible in the case of Ishmael, those born of Keturah at least ought to have shared equally; and if not even this was admissible,because the child of Sarah alone and his descendants ought to receive the promises,how was Esau, born of Isaac, set aside? Does anyone still doubt, then, that God is not enslaved to physical necessity, and that the whole matter is not of works, but of Him that calls?"

Romans 9:14–21

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. While making his defense that God had not broken His promises, he sensed this objection emerging from the defense itself, and he moves in the interim to its refutation, leaving the former topic suspended for a moment. And he does this exceedingly wisely and intelligently: for if this inquiry fell into the hearer’s mind from his words, he knew he would speak the rest of the pending defense in vain; for the hearer would not be able to pay attention to what was said, the doubt blocking his reasoning and not allowing him to understand what he heard. Lest this should happen, therefore, he first resolves the arising perplexity, and then returns to the topic at hand and resumes the defense: What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. "In this way, then," he says, "we are instructed from Scripture that God makes the elections of men according to His own purpose, and not from works or carnal kinship. Since this is shown to be so, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous? God forbid!" And having first rejected the blasphemous thought, he collects other passages of divinely inspired Scripture of equal force to those set forth before, and advancing them all together as from the opponent and adding his conclusion to them, he made one most powerful refutation of them all. He says, then: For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Then the deduction: So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. And again: The scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Then again the deduction: Therefore has He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens. Having set down these sayings as if put forward against him by the opponent, he receives the objection: You will say then unto me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will? "Surely then," he says, "you will say to us this seemingly strong argument, as you think, based on these passages: Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?" Then he makes a very prompt and incisive reply to this, seizing the opponent's own words and overturning him by them: Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? "You ask me," he says, "Who has resisted His will? I tell you that you, before all others, are the one answering back against God! For you certainly consider yourself to be someone, and would never accept being nobody. And in contradicting and disputing with God, how have you not resisted Him? You are caught, therefore, by your own words, and by the very things you deny you confess your resistance, and you have become your own accuser before me! For you ask who has resisted; but who are you yourself? If you admit that you are nobody, I concede to you that God blames men without reason; but if you are someone, even if you deny it ten thousand times,for nature will certainly not conform to your words,God is demonstrated to be just, and carries off the victory first of all from you!" But what I have marveled at in some on this passage, I wish to relate: Certain people, having attempted to interpret this part of the epistle and then falling short, did not hesitate to fabricate their own perplexity as if it were Saint Paul’s! For they asserted that he did not say, Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? by way of resolving the problems raised by opponents, but as rebuking and reproaching them, all but confirming the accusation brought against God by them. For [they think] if he does not give an account of the matter, but muzzles the objector merely by putting forward God's sovereign authority, he is clearly convicted of agreeing with the opponent's argument: that God governs human affairs not justly, but by sheer arbitrary authority, and that it is fitting for men to accept in silence whatever their lot may be, being like vessels shaped by potters, not disputing against the Creator who made them base and then blames them because they are base. These interpreters, if nothing else, ought at least to have realized that if the Apostle knew he was unable to answer these propositions, he would not have raised them in the first place ,for he was surely capable of omitting them,nor would he himself provide his opponents with handles for tearing down his own preaching, as though he chose to establish their arguments rather than his own; for not even the most foolish of all men would do this! But this is not so. Rather, having confidence in Christ and advocating for the truth, he leaves no pretext to opponents for slandering the pious doctrine; but just as with all the other objections, so also of this one he made a most powerful demolition; and having stitched up the mouths of the blasphemers right well, he adds to this another point drawn from an example well-suited to the matter, further overthrowing their mindset and establishing the pious teaching: Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? "In this way, then," he says, "you have been clearly convicted by yourself of being wicked by your own choice; for resisting, you accuse God and say: Why does He yet find fault? But if you wish to learn at all how you would not dispute against the Modeler if you had been molded evil by nature, as you say, consider those things which truly receive their constitution by nature, either for base use or for noble use, and are devoid of rational mind and choice: how each of them is content with what it has become, and does not demand an account of its creation as you do of the Creator! The potter, shaping clay vessels, creates each of his works according to his power as he pleases, and fashions different vessels from the same lump, and no objection is raised against him by the things he makes. In that case, the potter would not reasonably blame a vessel made for dishonorable use, nor would he praise the one suited for honorable use; since there is no manner of objection, base or noble, from them toward him, each having received a natural constitution for the purpose for which it was made. But in the case of humans, the same argument no longer holds, since they were made with free will and mastery over their choice, and are able to cleanse themselves, if they wish, so as to become vessels useful and holy to their Master, and for this reason they are justly either punished or rewarded for the deeds done according to their will." Having said these things in reply to Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?, he then explains the purpose of the scriptural passages set forth above, in the first of which (to Moses) God is shown to be merciful, while in the second (to Pharaoh) He is shown to be punishing and severe. Having drawn together the sense of these passages, he examines it in light of what happened to the Egyptians and the Israelites, saying: What if God, willing to show His wrath, and so forth.

Romans 9:22–28

What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand unto glory. The statement is obscure because of its brevity; for he means that it was very well said both to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and to Pharaoh: For this very purpose have I raised you up, that I might show My power in you. For wishing, he says, to make known to all men His own power wherewith He punishes those worthy of wrath and has mercy upon those He pities, He brought about the events concerning the Egyptians and the Israelites, setting forth this general instruction of His righteous judgment to the world: that although Pharaoh and his people were all-wicked and impious and deserving to undergo the ultimate penalty, He postponed their punishment out of longsuffering and allowed him to be exalted against His own people; but when they had become conspicuous and notorious through excessive cruelty, He destroyed them manifestly and splendidly, and having had mercy on the race of the Israelites, He delivered them en masse, making them glorious by His benefactions. This, then, is the meaning of the apostolic text; but it requires the completion of "Why do you yet complain?", so that the whole means: "If God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, and to make known the riches of His glory on vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,do you bring an accusation against this?" Having completed what pertained to this present objection up to this point, he returns to the resolution of the main inquiry, making his return from the parenthesis continuous with the earlier theme: for having said which He had prepared beforehand unto glory (spoken of those coming out of Egypt), he immediately joined to it: even us, whom He has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles; so that now likewise, he says, by His righteous judgment and foreknowledge, God has called those of us from among the Jews who ran to Him, leaving behind those who did not wish to come. And what has happened in our case is nothing new or different compared to what occurred before. And holding to the same theme, he further shows from the Prophets that this very thing was foretold many times; and first he sets down the voice of Hosea concerning this, through which both the casting out of some Israelites into captivity, the reconciliation of others out of captivity, and the calling of the Gentiles were prefigured together. Then after this [he cites] Isaiah crying aloud that almost the whole of Israel except for a few would fall away; and the Apostle speaks thus: As He says also in Hosea, and so forth.

Romans 9:29–31

"What then," he asks, "is the reason for such an exchange of situations? And how is it that those who were concerned with righteousness have not attained it, and though living by the Law and instructed by it concerning righteousness, have not arrived at it?"

Romans 9:32–33

By stumblingstone he means the Master Christ, since those who do not accept the dispensation concerning Him have stumbled against Him, and through unbelief have fallen from the justification given by grace to men through Him.

Romans Chapter 10

Romans 10:1–3

"These things, at any rate," he says, "I said concerning them not wishing to reproach them or trample upon them, but compelled by the truth itself; since for my part, I have such goodwill toward them as to pray for their salvation." And demonstrating the reasonableness of this attitude of his, he added: For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God. "I am conscious of it," he says, "and testify that they have taken up the fight against the gospel out of a divine zeal,for I myself was once one of them,; yet a zeal devoid of true knowledge; for not understanding the magnitude of righteousness, that men can obtain it only by divine grace, they foolishly strive to establish their own notions and to attain justification through their own works, opposing that which is now given to us by God in Christ."

Romans 10:4

For Christ fulfills the aim of the Law, bestowing justification through faith in Him upon all who approach Him.

Romans 10:5

Demonstrating the generosity of grace by comparison with the Law, he notes: "Moses says that no one is justified in the Law until he has fulfilled all the commandments of the Law."

Romans 10:6–10

But the righteousness which is of faith, he says, speaks on this wise,that is, concerning the righteousness of faith he speaks in this manner: For what follows is also from Moses: Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? or, Who shall descend into the deep? For the word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart, which was spoken to the people by Moses, who taught them that without their having contributed anything at all by their own effort, God deemed them worthy to receive the ordinances of the Law, and that they ought not on this account to disbelieve the greatness of the gift, but should rather lay claim all the more to virtue; for Say not in your heart means: it is not possible for you either to think such a thing or to say it, since God has anticipated you with the giving of the Law. "Just as that was spoken to them concerning the giving of the Law back then," he says, "so this applies to us now concerning the grace through Christ; for he himself added that is three times to the sayings of Moses, signifying by this something of this sort: that this is equivalent to it being said to us that we must not doubt either the Savior’s descent from heaven or His ascent again from the dead, but having believed with a whole heart, to confess the grace also with the tongue; for to us who do this, salvation through justification will be attained. For, as is his habit, he distinguished unto righteousness and unto salvation, attributing the former to the faith of the heart, and the latter to the confession of the mouth, each corresponding appropriately to the other."

Romans 10:14–15

"Scripture," he says, "states that those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But it is not possible for anyone at all to call upon Him without having first believed; and it is again impossible to believe without having first heard what is to be believed; and indeed, it is further impossible to hear without someone preaching; and how, in turn, is it possible to preach without having been sent for this purpose? Therefore, sending must precede preaching, preaching must precede hearing, hearing must precede faith, and faith must precede calling upon [Him]; for the latter cannot come about if the former do not exist. If, then, the matter needed to proceed in this way, in this way it has indeed advanced, and no one can level any reproach at what has been done by God; for having appointed heralds, He sent them out to proclaim the message to all, so that to them applies that word of Scripture: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

Romans 10:16–17

He wishes to say by this: let no one marvel if some fight against the gospel and do not obey those who preach peace and good things; for Isaiah also foretold this very thing long ago. And having quoted his cry: Lord, who has believed our report?, he establishes from this as well that what he said earlier was sound: And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? For he says: So then faith comes by hearing. This expresses what we stated a little while ago: that the one who is to believe must first hear the teaching concerning that which is to be believed. And hearing by the word of God means: the teaching, however, comes to the teachers through divine operation.

Romans 10:18

"Did God then appoint apostles and reveal to them what they should preach," he asks, "but they grew negligent, and so the failure to hear the preaching became the cause of unbelief for those who did not believe?" "It is not possible to say this either," he says; "for concerning them David's saying is all the more true: Their sound went into all the earth."

Romans 10:19–21

"Did the calling of the Gentiles, then," he asks, "scandalize Israel because it was unknown to them, as though introduced as an innovation now?" And yet from the beginning and from ancient times they were taught this beforehand: Moses threatening them in advance that if they were ungrateful, the Gentiles would be preferred; and Isaiah speaking to them again later in a more reproving and explicit manner: concerning the Gentiles: I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after Me; and concerning [the Jews] themselves: All day long I have stretched forth My hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.

Romans Chapter 11

Romans 11:1–2ª

"Perhaps, then," he says, "someone might say that by these words you are plainly crying aloud nothing other than that God has cast away His own people. But I do not say this,I who am myself a genuine Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not therefore cast away His people whom He foreknew; by the addition of whom He foreknew indicating that the others are not even God’s people, even if they claim the same forefather according to the flesh."

Romans 11:2ᵇ–3

And at the same time, from this Scripture he demonstrates that in former times as well many of them were rejected. Furthermore, the phrase "in Elijah" is said instead of: "through Elijah" [or "in the section concerning Elijah"].

Romans 11:4–5

Nothing new, therefore, he says, has happened in the present case either, since a remnant has now also been chosen by grace out of our entire race. For just as at that time, according to the scriptural account, not a single one would have been saved had God not reserved for Himself the seven thousand,that is, had divine grace not preserved them in their pious disposition,so I think it is now as well.

Romans 11:6

The Apostle did not set these things down in this manner out of a desire to talk idly, but being eager to demonstrate that the Law is entirely incompatible with grace, and that both of these can never coincide simultaneously, but of necessity one must give way to the other.

Romans 11:7

"God, therefore," he says, "did not cast away the people whom He foreknew." What then is it that I mean? That what Israel seeks after, now that it is present, it does not receive; but those whom God chose, these have obtained it. But the entire remainder fell ill with a most grievous insensibility and numbness of heart; which very thing one may learn that they suffered often in former times from the Scripture of Isaiah; for it says: God gave them a spirit of stupor.

Romans 11:8

The expression God gave them a spirit of stupor is similar to: God gave them over to a reprobate mind. And by "spirit of stupor" he means an exceedingly heavy/hardened moral choice that stands in need of repentance and amendment.

Romans 11:11

Having sufficiently brought down and subdued the party of the Jews who were puffed up in vain and behaving arrogantly toward the Gentiles on account of the Law, and having shown that their rejection was entirely their own fault and not that of the proclamation, lest either they themselves should completely despair of their own case or the believers should despair of them as being totally lost, he added this: "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall?" That is: Do I say that their sin is entirely incurable? For here too he uses "that" (hina) according to his customary idiom [of result]. God forbid! For on the contrary, when they stumbled the Gentiles were called, so that, provoked thereby to emulation toward them, they might not remain forever in their fall.

Romans 11:12

"Consider, therefore," he says, "what manner of people they once were, and how great a gain it will be to the common good when they all are added, seeing that their fall and diminishing became the cause of wealth to all the nations in the world." God, I think, loved them so greatly that on their account He granted salvation to the Gentiles, so that, provoked to jealousy by this at least, they might return to the knowledge of the truth.

Romans 11:13–14

By "flesh" he means his kinsmen according to the flesh, as also the prophet Hosea says: My flesh is of them. "For know this," he says, "O Gentiles",he is speaking to believers from among the Gentiles, "inasmuch as I was ordained apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify to the best of my ability the ministry entrusted to me, knowing God’s purpose and thereby myself working for the salvation of my fellow countrymen; for perhaps moved to emulation by this, they will run to the faith."

Romans 11:16

By "firstfruits" he means the Master Christ, as having come from them according to the flesh and having initiated adoption through the resurrection; by "root," Abraham, as firstfather of the whole race; and by "lump" and "branches," the entire people.

Romans 11:19–21

Here too "that" (hina) signifies, as is customary, the result. For he says: "You will say, boasting, 'They were broken off so that I might be grafted in.' Therefore, discerning also the cause both of their excision and of your own elevation, be reverent, be sober-minded, and fear."

Romans 11:22–23

"Having, therefore," he says, "in the events concerning you and the Jew the demonstration of God’s righteous judgment, cling to goodness that God may cling to you; since if you are dragged down into unbelief, similar treatment to that of the Jew will attend you." Then again, he indicates that good hopes are kindled for their benefit, if only they should be willing; for "they also," he says, "if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in," and so forth. God, he says, neither bears a grudge, nor is He unable to recall unto salvation those who desire to be saved.

Romans 11:25

Having admonished the believers from the Gentiles to be modest and forbidden them to be arrogant over the Jews, he reveals to them a mystical word that until then had been kept secret from all: "For that you may not," he says, "delude yourselves by imagining something great and wonderful about yourselves, as though you were wiser than the rest, learn in brief a most awe-inspiring, ineffable mystery of God, which reveals His providence concerning all: because the Israelites, except for the election,for this is what 'in part' means,were hardened and rejected salvation, God transferred it to you; yet once all of you have been brought in, grace will in turn embrace all of them as well."

Romans 11:26

When the removal and remission of their sins takes place, their salvation is clear and indisputable.

Romans 11:28–29

For even if now, he says, you were brought in instead because they stumbled at the gospel, yet for the fathers' sake they too are beloved. And surely all the gifts of God must be unfailing and sure.

Romans 11:30–32

The passage before us is stated concisely and for this reason obscurely; it is therefore necessary to clarify it. "For to see that I say nothing unbelievable," he says, "look also at your own case: when you were disobedient long ago, God showed mercy to them; now, conversely, when they have disobeyed, you have obtained mercy. Just as your past disobedience did not shut you out from present salvation, in the same way, I suppose, their present disobedience will not stand in the way of their salvation in due time; for it is impossible that the loving-kindness of God should be overcome by human contradiction, but even if all resist, He will display His own mercy toward all. Therefore: God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. This is similar to: Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. For God did not make them disobedient; rather, He gave salvific commandments and hedged our nature about with them for protection, but when they transgressed, this resulted; nor did He give the commandments in order to show mercy to them after they disobeyed, but it turned out this way on account of their disobedience. Of this same type are all the other similar phrases previously discussed, such as: Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in,for some of Israel were not hardened in order that the Gentiles might be saved, but when they were hardened, that followed, and They have not believed your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy, and all such expressions uttered in a causal form without having a causal meaning.

Romans 11:33–36

Peering into the ineffable and incomprehensible plenitude of His loving-kindness, and pondering how wisely and in due season He continues to work out our salvation, then, struck with awe and wholly absorbed in wonder, he cried out this great exclamation from the depths of his soul. By "depth of riches," therefore, he means the abundant, lavish, and incomprehensible nature of His goodness; by "wisdom," that He governs our affairs wisely and intelligently; by "knowledge," that having the most precise foreknowledge concerning each matter, He suffers no impairment from ignorance in administering our affairs, dispensing all things as is fitting and when is fitting; and by "His ways are past finding out," that the course of His decreed, approved, and multifaceted dispensations is untraceable and hidden. To all these things he adduces a harmonious testimony from the Scripture of Isaiah, showing that He is incomprehensible in all things and in need of nothing: For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? And further teaching that we men receive all good things from Him as a gift of grace and not as a repayment, he adds: Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? Because from Him all things had their initial creation, and through Him their continuation, and unto Him their renewal: To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans Chapter 12

Romans 12:1

Having concluded the entire doctrinal discourse, he transitions from here to moral instruction; and through his general counsel concerning duties, he shows our difference compared to those under the Law, which he also demonstrated at length in his doctrinal arguments. "Since therefore, O brethren," he says, "the multitude of God’s compassions toward us is boundless, this I entreat and implore: that we consecrate and offer our entire selves to God in place of every sacrifice; for this sacrifice is not offered unto death as under the Law, but unto life, cultivating holiness; and indeed such an offering pleases and delights God far more than the former, in proportion as an offering of rational beings is more precious than that of irrational animals."

Romans 12:2

The present life, he says, is transient and corruptible, and having no share in stability, it changes in many ways. Do not, therefore, transfer your own life into its form, just as the nature of liquids molds itself to the vessels into which it is poured. But rather, being conformed to that spiritual and intellectual pattern unto which you were renewed, perform that approved good, acceptable, and perfect will of God concerning you.

Romans 12:3ª

"For I say," he says, "through the grace given unto me",meaning: having received the authority to teach concerning these things from divine grace, "to every man that is among you",that is, whoever among you may be considered greatest, "not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think",most admirably he termed pride a madness (paraphrosunē), "but to think soberly"; I exhort you rather to maintain a modest mindset, for sobriety (sōphrosunē) is precisely this. He says these things on account of those who were puffing themselves up against the brethren because of the spiritual gifts supplied to them at that time for working miracles; for God gave you His gift, he says, not that you might hate one another, nor that divine things should become an occasion of warfare for you, but for concord, friendship, and the common salvation of all.

Romans 12:3ᵇ

"None of you," he says, "has anything of his own; but both he who is deemed worthy of a greater gift and he who is deemed worthy of a lesser have manifestly received it from God, who, knowing accurately the faith of each, makes the distribution of these gifts in proportion to it."

Romans 12:4–9ª

It would be fitting, therefore, he says, for each one of us,having the same relation to Christ that members have to a body,to use the gift given to him for the benefit of the whole, and to contribute his share in whatever state he finds himself; seeing that if the whole body is properly sustained, he too will share in the gain proportionally, but if it is in a bad state, he himself will be profited nothing in his own solitary part. The phrase according to the proportion of faith, however, does not apply to prophecy alone, but is common to all the clauses that follow, and all things have their reference to it. By the gift of "ministry" (diakonia) he means the aptitude present in some for ministering to those in need; by "teaching," absolute and systematic counsel; by "exhortation," instruction tailored to a particular occasion that has arisen. By "simplicity" he means generosity and ungrudging liberality; and by "cheerfulness" he means a disposition eager for mercy, showing pity with joy. Then he adds the crowning head of these, through which they might succeed in all of them: Let love be without dissimulation. For if, he says, you possess the treasure of love pure and genuine, I know well that you will also use your gifts properly.

Romans 12:9ᵇ

One advising them to abstain from evil and exhorting them to cleave to the good could not have used better terms for both: for as regards fleeing from evil, abhorrence (stugēsis) is the extreme; and as regards possessing the good, nothing is more effective than "cleaving" (kollēsis) and indivisible union.

Romans 12:10

"Hold your love toward the brethren," he says, "with family affection (storgē),that is, fervent and abundant, so as to deem them worthy of more honor even than yourselves."

Romans 12:11–12

"Perform your noble deeds," he says, "without any hesitation, with boiling zeal, as fulfilling service to the Lord; and rejoicing in expectation of the hoped-for reward on their behalf, for the sake of which you are rightly bound to bear with patience the afflictions brought upon you. By no means lose heart in the face of God’s longsuffering concerning these trials, but without distraction call upon Him in all things and at all times."

Romans 12:13–14

"Distributing to the necessity of saints." Making the affairs of the saints your own, he says, and providing for their needs as if they were common to you all; by "saints," moreover, he designates believers as having been called unto sanctification. "I desire," he says, "humanity to abound in you to such an extent that you extend the pardon of friends even to those who war against you."

Romans 12:15–16

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice," meaning: it is noble for you to be free from envy. "Weep with them that weep": it is unrighteous to gloat over the misfortunes of others. Or rather, in both he urged not merely this, but something far greater: for sharing another's joy goes far beyond not envying, and suffering with another so as to share in his weeping goes far beyond not gloating. "Be of the same mind one toward another," he says, "not adopting a haughty attitude against your neighbors, but rather condescending and accommodating yourselves to your fellows."

Romans 12:17

Since the divine law forbids retaliating with like evils against the wicked, yet to many men provoked by anger amidst injustices this seems folly, and abandoning peaceful restraint as unmanly, they are led into striving for greater harm; he admonishes them not to act thus, nor to yield to their own wrathful reasonings as if they were superior to the divine ordinance, but to obey the Law, bidding farewell to such passions. "Do not think," he says, "that it is fitting for you to be good to some, but evil to others; rather, be evil to no one, and good to all."

Romans 12:18

Well did he add "if it be possible"; for there are times when my neighbor fights against me even when I do not wish for peace with him. Measuring his counsel according to what is feasible in the matter, he therefore says: "I desire the disposition of your own mind to be sound, even if certain others should be diseased."

Romans 12:19

That he might lead them more readily into obedience to his counsel, he adds these words, saying: "If you abstain from contention, the vengeance will be far more effective, for God will punish on your behalf those who have wronged you."

Romans 12:20–21

"Since therefore," he says, "He who will exact justice on your behalf is far more powerful, give up imitating the wicked man through equal retaliation; for in this way you either absolve him of the charge or subject yourself alongside him. Rather, be eager to do good to him to the best of your ability; for it will come about in this way that he, being revealed as unjust toward you his benefactor, will incur the ultimate punishment." Having run alongside the passion of the wronged man up to this point and, by the expectation of greater retribution, having restrained him from immediate retaliation and persuaded him to do good, he then introduces the perfection of his admonition, as to one whose wrath has now subsided and who is capable of understanding what is said, and says: "If you, therefore," he says, "do not retaliate, but rather do good, it is evident that God will avenge the wronged party on your behalf, and you must not disbelieve the Scripture that says this; yet I desire good deeds to be shown toward your enemy with such a noble disposition; for to outdo the wicked in wickedness and to practice beneficence for the harm of those toward whom it is directed is a proof of defeat, not of victory. See to it, then, that you are not swept away and overcome by evil, but always show yourself superior to it through the alliance of the good." Having spoken these things to believers concerning concord toward one another and toward all,for it is fitting for those who possess hope in Christ to be such,he passes on again to another topic.

Romans Chapter 13

Romans 13:1ª

At the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when men were held fast by their ancestral customs, the gospel was naturally difficult to receive, especially since it promised things beyond human comprehension and was, moreover, proclaimed by unlearned, poor, and illiterate men. For this reason there was at that time a lavish supply of spiritual gifts, constraining the human race to abandon the older ways and learn the teachings of the Apostles. Becoming possessed by the Spirit and seeing the things proclaimed almost as present realities through the power given them by the Spirit to work signs, they naturally treated present things with contempt and laughed at the vanity of the present age, disdaining wealth, disdaining glory, disdaining power, and looking down even upon kingship itself as differing nothing from a dream or a shadow. From this attitude the situation was liable to advance into seditions and civil strife among them, as they gradually came to consider it superfluous after the coming of Christ to remain still within the patterns of the former civic order, and, since divine grace received all on equal terms, [thought it unfitting] that they should still endure the inequality of the present life; especially since such a view seemed to be confirmed for them even from this very epistle, for throughout the epistle he counseled them that they ought no longer to live according to the flesh, as having passed over to Christ, but according to the Spirit: For you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Foreseeing this, therefore, the blessed Paul reasonably provides the fitting instruction to them concerning this matter also, and says: Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. And first, he made the precept comprehensive and common to all; next, he did not say "to those who exercise authority" [the persons], but "to the authorities" [the office], so that from the office he might teach that those holding the office are to be honored, and that the institution itself should not be insulted because of the personal unworthiness of any who happen to use a good thing wickedly.

Romans 13:1ᵇ

For if there is no authority, he says, apart from the will of God, one must be clearly persuaded that those which exist have been ordained by Him.

Romans 13:2–3

"Why, tell me," he says, "do you rebel at all against the magistrate? You are virtuous and hate wickedness: therefore you ought to expect praise from authority, not fear; for God gave authority as your collaborator in what is good."

Romans 13:4–5

"If, on the other hand, you incline toward vice," he says, "and are a lover of what is base, you are rightly troubled and afraid; for you surrender yourself liable to punishment before him who has authority from God to punish evil men." In this statement, however, he also counseled those in authority themselves what sort of persons they ought to be. From every side, therefore, he says, yielding and submitting to them appears necessary; for even apart from the fear of punishment from rulers, I think, we are punished by our own conscience whenever we do improper deeds.

Romans 13:6

"Furthermore," he says, "even the paying of taxes is sufficient to lead you to submit to them; for this too, I think, is the greatest proof that they are ministers of the divine decree, constantly attending to this very service." In all these things, however, he echoes what was said by the Savior to the Jews in the Gospels: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. Wherefore, skillfully gathering up his previous statements toward this purpose, he adds: Render therefore to all their dues, and so forth.

Romans 13:7–8

Tribute (phoros) and custom (telos) are indeed the same thing. Certainly, in the preceding clause he said they pay "tribute",For for this cause pay ye tribute also, but now he distinguished them, either intending to say that whether one wishes to call such a thing tribute or custom, it is fitting for you to pay it by all means; or designating by the one the contribution of money to the public treasury, and by the other the specific revenues to landowners. "Fear to whom fear," as to those in magistracies; "honor to whom honor," as to friends and neighbors in general. Owe no man anything, but to love one another. He does not mean by this that one should fail to pay love, but rather: continually pay to one another this debt alone,love,as an inescapable obligation; for having paid each of your other debts, you are free of liability after the discharge; but with love this is not so: one must always pay it, and yet always remain in debt.

Romans 13:11

"And most of all," he says, "let the shortness of the present age exhort you toward the good and the equitable; for the time of the resurrection is at the doors and all but arrived, and each day we draw nearer to the consummation."

Romans 13:12

By "night" he means our mortal state, as ignorance of God holds sway over those in it; and by "day" he means that undefiled life in Christ, as those deemed worthy of it are illuminated by the Holy and Blessed Trinity.

Romans Chapter 14

Romans 14:1–4

He passes on again to another topic, which was indeed the main occasion for his writing the epistle to the Romans. He knew that contentious rivalry was arising between those coming to faith from the Jews and those believing from the Gentiles concerning certain specific observances of the Law, such as regarding the observance of days, differences of foods, and other such things,the Jews observing them, but the Gentiles abstaining from them and not keeping them; but rather reproaching the Jews for their zeal about such matters, and eating in front of them to provoke them, so that irreconcilable enmity was developing between them from this practice, and being suspiciously disposed toward one another, they were outraging the preeminent mark of our calling in Christ, namely love. Correcting them therefore concerning these things also, since the Gentile element in Rome was greater and stronger than that from the Jews, he reasonably begins his discourse with them: Him that is weak in the faith receive ye. Most shame-inducing and true was his entrance upon the subject: for he very properly termed the Jew "weak," as being still held fast to legal customs through weakness of reasoning; and by this means he sufficiently shamed the Gentile into obeying his counsel; for who is so inhuman as to neglect forgiving a weak man and instead trample upon him, and when he ought to help, adds instead to his misfortune? His previous teaching also made this admonition necessary for him; for he had demonstrated in every way that the Law and the entire way of life under it had been abolished by grace in Christ. He recognized, naturally, that the Gentile would become more burdensome to the Jew and that their mutual rivalry would be intensified unless he addressed them fittingly about this. Not to doubtful disputations. For one believes that he may eat all things; another, who is weak, eats herbs, and so forth. "Being mature in faith in Christ," he says, "do not force those who are not yet capable of partaking of all things faithfully and without hesitation; but do you hold fast to the better path, while receiving those who imagine that they are harmed by food or benefited by observance,that is, make them your own, cherish them, and do not turn away from them. To put it briefly: let not the one who eats despise him who eats not as though he were superior, nor let him who eats not pass judgment on him who eats as though he were transgressing." And revealing both the reasonableness and justice of his exhortation: For God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? For if God received him, how is it not audacious for you, and how is it free from peril, to condemn a servant belonging to another? And since each party would put forward the claim of caring for the other, he says: To his own master he stands or falls. "Your pretext for battle is completely superfluous," he says; "for whether he stands or not, you run no risk in either case, neither toward loss nor toward gain." Having said this to cut away the pretext for their contention, lest they should be led to despair of one another’s salvation, he adds: Yea, he shall be holden up; for God is able to make him stand.

Romans 14:6

"For both this man and that man," he says, "aim at one goal: honor toward God; for he who observes the day thinks he is fulfilling the Law of God, and he who is indifferent about these matters holds every day in equal honor as made by God."

Romans 14:9

[He speaks here also] concerning those who through bodily hardship are dead to passions and living in Christ.

Romans 14:10–11

"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?" He resumed again the argument from the beginning, and by the addition of "brother" he showed the absurdity of what was happening all the more. Having thus summarized the matter, he brings in the remembrance of the Judgment, making them more sober by fear of it: For we shall all stand, he says, before the judgment seat of Christ. As if saying: "Christ is the Judge, and another time has been appointed for judgment. Why do you force yourself forward? Why do you shove aside the Judge? Why do you snatch beforehand what does not belong to you? You were not appointed to judge others, but you were commanded to be anxious about how you will defend yourself when judged." And he brings in a scriptural testimony of Isaiah, confirming again his discourse on the Judgment: As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and so forth. By this statement, too, the complete equality of honor of the Son with the Father is clearly established; for Isaiah declared that it was spoken from the person of God in this way: I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow. The prophet having spoken it thus, Paul received it as applying to the Master Christ,which he would never have done had he not known that Christ is true God just as the Father is. Having reminded them of the Judgment and thereby checked their conceits and made them more modest, he concludes: So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Romans 14:13–18

Putting aside, therefore, strife and rivalry toward one another, let us resolve this rather within ourselves: to live together with one another in love, as is fitting for brothers toward brothers; taking care not to become the cause of grief or any harm at all, even in the smallest degree, to fellow believers. And since this word was directed toward those of Gentile origin, lest they should think he was saying this to them because he himself did not possess as much knowledge as was necessary about such things, he added: I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, and so forth.

Romans 14:14

"I know, and am persuaded," he says, "by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself." "To me, therefore," he says, "who have firmly believed in Christ, it is manifest that distinguishing about such things belongs to the immature; for all things are clean, partaking of the blessing from above."

Romans 14:15–17

Most admirably did he analyze the matter: first, by the paltriness and baseness of the pretext, saying because of meat; then, by the person against whom the sin is committed, saying your brother; then, by the very outcome of the transgression, expressly calling it destruction; fourth, by the One to whom this audacious act is referred: for whom, he says, Christ died; fifth, that it causes piety to be blasphemed; sixth, that we did not come to faith in Christ for the enjoyment of these or suchlike things, but to partake of righteousness,that is, sinlessness,and peace, and joy; for offense comes from sin, sorrow comes from offense, and condemnation comes from sorrow. When sin is removed, its consequences are banished; and when righteousness is introduced in its place, peace and joy are naturally brought in with it. And in the Holy Ghost indicates the Author of so many good things: for regenerated unto adoption by the grace of the Holy Spirit,that is, raised up unto an incorruptible, impassible, and immortal nature, we are delivered from our former evils and established within the Kingdom of God.

Romans 14:18–20

"He therefore who in these things is subject to Christ," he says, "and is eager to display such conduct of life, such a man is both pleasing to God and approved of men."

Romans 14:21–22ª

"It is good," he says, "neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine," and so forth. "What then? Shall I deny my own faith on his account?" someone might say. To such a one he adds: "I do not command you to depart from the faith," he says; "on the contrary, I urge you to hold fast to it. But what do I say, and what do I counsel? Do not stumble your brother by this, but sparing him, be content with God alone as witness of the faith you hold; for in this way it is possible both for you not to forfeit your faith and for him not to be neglected."

Romans 14:22ᵇ–23

This is the most accurate and consummate counsel concerning virtue: that one should not do those things for which he is condemned by his own conscience. If, however, he says, someone doubts whether the eating is permitted, and yet partakes as though it were forbidden, he stands most clearly condemned of transgression by his own self.

Romans Chapter 15

Romans 15:1–2

He says that enjoying perfect grace in Christ has been granted by God. It is necessary, however, that those who are weak among you be borne with by those who are stronger, and that you take thought for what is profitable to the whole, and not each look only to his own interests.

Romans 15:3

Be imitators of Christ in these things, he says, who disregarded His own advantage to such an extent that the scriptural word from David applies exceedingly to Him: The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. This has a twofold meaning: for it is spoken by the Son toward the Father and God; and it can be said either as the Only-Begotten making His own the blasphemy directed by men against His own Father, or as Him taking upon Himself the punishment of the men who blasphemed God for the things they blasphemed against Him.

Romans 15:4

"For I think," he says, "that the deeds and choices of the ancients were not committed to Scripture in vain, but so that we too might be profited by them, the knowledge of them having been transmitted down to us, and might not grow numb before the tribulations brought upon us for the sake of the things hoped for."

Romans 15:5–6

He calls Him the "God of patience and consolation" as the One who grants patience and consolation, just as He is called the God of mercy and God of compassions. And grant you to be like-minded toward one another according to Christ Jesus means: no longer divided according to the old customs of your fathers, but united according to the Heavenly Man. And the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ means: God who, because He called us to adoption through the resurrection from the dead, confirmed this by first accomplishing it in His Son, our Lord Jesus. When he says God grant you to be like-minded... that you may with one mind glorify God, he was not speaking of two different Gods, but in the second instance he used the same noun instead of a pronoun. For it would have been clearer if stated thus: "May God grant you to be like-minded, that you may with one mind glorify Him"; but instead of "Him," he put "God." And this is a scriptural idiom, as in: The Lord rained from the Lord,that is, from Himself; and God created man; in the image of God created He him,that is, in His own image. And: The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord, and Thy righteousness is like the great mountains of God, and all other such expressions.

Romans 15:7

It was fitting, therefore, that you should extend to one another the very condescension which you enjoyed from Christ, having been received into the glory given to Him by God.

Romans 15:8–9

"The Master Christ having served the purpose of the circumcision," he says,that is, having fulfilled the whole Law to all precision (for he that is circumcised, he says, is a debtor to do the whole law), did not allow God's promises to the fathers to fall to the ground; but it having been promised to them that in thy seed shall all the nations be blessed, He, being born from them according to the flesh and made under the law, and having been manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, received all who ran to Him, both of Jews and Greeks, and through faith in Him deemed them worthy of justification; so that it is fitting for the Gentiles continually to praise God for His unspeakable loving-kindness toward them, through which, when they were alienated and strangers from the covenants of promise, He adopted them.

Romans 15:13

"Now the God of hope," he says, meaning: He who granted us the hope of future blessings, supply you with so much grace of the Holy Spirit that, being superabundantly assured concerning the hope believed in, you may lack none of the things that cause peace and joy. Having admonished them very clearly that they should not incur mutual hatred for the sake of no worthy matter (I mean the observance of such legal rituals), he completes this chapter. And by recapitulation, in different words, he brings in his preface: for he summarizes the same thought in these words also, both conciliating and praising them, and defending himself: that he did not write this epistle to them by way of finding fault or accusing them of anything, but out of necessity fulfilling a duty incumbent upon him; and that he had by no means delayed his arrival to them until now out of indolence,prudently having begun from these things and concluding the epistle with them; for nothing is so capable of making hearers more attentive as a loving bond with the speaker and being disposed toward him not suspiciously, but favorably. For this reason he added:

Romans 15:15–16

In three ways he works out his excuse: by saying that the matter was "in part" and an act of "boldness"; and by having dared it not for the sake of teaching, but of "putting them in remembrance"; and by the care being appropriate and fitting for him, divine grace having appointed him for this very task. Furthermore, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost means: bringing spiritual sanctity pure and unmixed with Jewish observances; for this is dear and acceptable to God, since God Himself is a Spirit.

Romans 15:17–19ª

"Therefore I may also boast," he says, "in the things pertaining to God, through the grace given to me toward this end through Christ; for may I never become so reckless as to attribute to myself achievements of Christ that were not accomplished through me." At any rate, I have proclaimed the gospel to many, and brought many to faith in Christ, being empowered for all wonder-working by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:19ᵇ–22

"Going round in a circuit, therefore," he says, "from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel," and Christ, through my labors and sweats, has called nearly all the people there unto salvation. "And this too was a matter of great ambition for me," he says: "not to follow upon others and instruct those who had already heard concerning Christ, but to take the lead myself and go to those to whom no one else had come before." And one could see being fulfilled in these things accomplished by me that scriptural word: To whom He was not spoken of, they shall see, and so forth. "This reasoning," he says, "and the aim of such zeal hindered me from coming to you until now; for I knew that Peter had come to you as teacher, whereas among the people here there was hitherto no one who had handed down the things concerning Christ."

Romans 15:23–27

"But having a great desire," he says, "these many years to come unto you, whensoever I take my journey into Spain." One must supply here: "I will come to you"; for this was omitted by ellipse (aposiopēsis). And if first I be somewhat filled with your company means: filled as much as is possible.

Romans 15:28–29

"When I arrive among you," he says, "I will both have and impart to you much comfort of the gospel according to Christ, our gospel in Christ being worthy of myriad praises and myriad eulogies"; for this is equivalent to: That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Or by fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ he foretells his own bonds and sufferings, with which he was in fact sent on his way. Indeed, he says also to the Thessalonians: Our entrance in unto you was not in vain; but even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi.

Romans 15:30–32

"Respecting our kinship in Christ," he says, "by which all we believers have been joined into one spiritual body, so that through love we look upon our neighbors as other selves, make earnest prayers for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea, and so forth." By these words he indicated that he foresaw many dangers for himself in Jerusalem, and that even so he did not shrink from the work of God.

Romans Chapter 16

Romans 16:17–20

Again he admonishes them to hold fast strictly to the traditions of Peter, guarding against Jewish myth-making; of whom he admirably said that they serve not Christ, but their own belly, because they virtually define piety by the observance of meats. "It is not fitting for you, therefore," he says, "who are renowned for your uprightness concerning the faith, either to deprive yourselves of your good fame by being led astray, or to blunt our joy over your high esteem. I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil; meaning: I want you to recognize what is opposed to the good and to be wise in doing good, but to be guileless, without villainy, and simply unlearned in evil." "Having Himself made reconciliation with us in Christ," he says, "He guides our life, putting every obstacle out of the way."

Romans 16:25–27

"Glory, therefore," he says, "be to God always for all things, who, being able, will confirm you in the gospel proclaimed concerning Jesus Christ; which until now was hidden from all, but has now been revealed and manifested, the prophecies spoken concerning it having received their fulfillment by divine command; by believing which all the nations were deemed worthy of the knowledge of the only and true God."