Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

That a fuller knowledge of things may be had, their beginnings must first be inquired into; for then the reason of a matter can more easily be made clear, if its origin be learned: since when we have shown the manner and reason of the giving of the epistle, what we say can appear true. It is agreed, then, that in the times of the apostles the Jews, because they lived under Roman rule, dwelt at Rome: of whom those who had believed handed on to the Romans that, professing Christ, they should keep the Law: but the Romans, having heard the fame of the powers of Christ, were ready to believe, as being prudent men; nor undeservedly prudent, who, having been badly led at first, were straightway corrected and continued in it.

Those, then, from among the Jews, as may be understood, believing in Christ, did not accept that God is of God, thinking this to be adverse to the one God; wherefore he denies that they had attained the spiritual grace of God, and that on this account confirmation was lacking to them. These are they who had also subverted the Galatians, so that they withdrew from the tradition of the apostles: with whom the Apostle is therefore angry, because, though well taught, they had easily been led astray. But with the Romans he ought not to have been angry, but rather to praise their faith; because, seeing no signs of miracles, nor any of the apostles, they had received the faith of Christ, albeit in Jewish rite, in words rather than in understanding; for the mystery of the cross of Christ had not been expounded to them.

For this reason, when certain persons arrived who had rightly believed, questions arose about eating and not eating flesh; and whether the hope that is in Christ sufficed, or whether the Law also should be kept. He writes to the Romans, therefore, in four ways, arguing from the beginning the human race by natural reason; for these are the head of all nations, that in them the rest and all the Gentiles may learn. The first way is that by which he shows what he is, and what he was, and whose he is, by which he also strikes at the heresies. The second way is that by which he charges that by reason of nature they did not subject themselves to the one God, and what dishonorable and shameful things they did to one another, being for this despised by God; that believers may rejoice. The third way is that they scorned the Law given; whence he sets the Jews before the Greeks.

The fourth way is that by which he teaches that the Jews had strayed from the Law and the promise of God in the matter of Christ, and had become like the Gentiles; that both might need the mercy of God, not hoping for salvation through the Law, but through the faith of Christ Jesus.

Hence it is that with all diligence he brings it about that he take them away from the Law; because the Law and the prophets were until John: and that he establish them solely in the faith of Christ, and, as it were against the Law, vindicates the Gospel, not destroying the Law, but preferring Christianity. For he asserts that Christ was so promised, that when he was preached the Law should cease: not the whole of it, because an abbreviation of the Law was made, which would give salvation in compendious form; for many things were handed down to the ancients on account of the hardness of their hearts, so as to be a burden, which the mercy of God abbreviated through Christ, by the remission of past sins being given.

He is therefore ungrateful for the mercy of God who wishes to be under the Law; for Moses had said: Thus in fear shall you make the sons of Israel act; so that wherever they turned they would have the Law, that they might not be entirely without anxiety. Therefore, that he might teach that the hope of life and salvation is to be placed in Christ without the Law, and teach that he himself is Lord of all, thus he begins:

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.

Among our forefathers names were composed according to some reason, as Isaac on account of laughter, and Jacob on account of the heel; so also this man was named Saul on account of restlessness: but after he believed, he calls himself Paul instead of Saul, that is, changed. And because Saul, according to the sense mentioned above, is interpreted as restlessness or temptation, here, when he came to the faith of Christ, he calls himself Paul, that is, as it were made quiet, humble, or small out of a tempter; because our faith is peace. For whereas before he had brought temptations upon the servants of God out of the restlessness of Judaism, afterward he himself suffered temptations for the sake of the hope which before, out of love of Judaism, he had denied. Now by professing himself a servant of Christ Jesus, he shows that he has been stripped of the Law.

And therefore he set down both, that is, of Jesus Christ: that he might signify both the person of God and of man; because in both he is Lord, as also the apostle Peter testifies, saying: This, he says, is the Lord of all. Because therefore he is both Lord and God, David saying: For the Lord himself is God; which the heresies deny. For to Marcion, out of hatred of the Law, it seems that Christ and his body are denied, while he professes Jesus; but to the Jews and to Photinus, out of zeal for the Law, it seems to deny Jesus is God. For whenever he says either Jesus or Christ, sometimes he signifies God, sometimes man, as in this place among other things: And one, he says, Lord Jesus, through whom are all things, which certainly pertains to the Son of God, according as he is God. And in another place: But Jesus, he says, advanced in age and wisdom, which certainly befits man. Called an apostle.

Because he has known God and confesses it, having been made a fit servant, he shows himself promoted, saying: Called an apostle, that is, sent by the Lord to carry out his affairs. By this he shows that this man has merit with God, who serves not the Law but Christ; for the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath. Set apart unto the Gospel of God. The Gospel of God is the good news of God, by which sinners are called to pardon: but the Apostle, since in Judaism he held the place of a teacher, being a pharisee, therefore says he was set apart from the preaching of Judaism unto the Gospel of God; that, dissembling the Law, he might preach Christ, who would justify believers in himself, which the Law could not do.

But this is not against the Law, but for the Law; for the Law itself says this will be, the prophet Isaiah saying: There shall come out of Sion one who shall snatch away and turn back the captivity from Jacob; and this shall be my covenant to them, when I shall have taken away their sins. Therefore if the Law of God was given through Moses, and the preaching is of the new Law of God; what is it that makes a difference, that he says himself transferred from the Law which God gave, into the Gospel of God? This is so, as when one advances from the second degree to the first, and from good to better. For the Law was given by God for the correction of discipline; but the Gospel of God is that through which the mystery of God is manifested, which lay hidden from the ages in God: which is Christ.

To which all who are invited receive double gifts; for they receive the remission of sins, and become sons of God: so that now they cannot die a second death. Hence it is that the Lord in the Gospel says: This is, he says, eternal life, that they may know thee, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ.

Which he had promised before.

That he might prove that the hope of faith in Christ is settled and whole, he first says that his Gospel was promised by God: and that from this he might teach him to be a fit surety of life, he shows testimony given to him before he came, the apostle Peter attesting the same thing: For neither is there any other name given, he says, under heaven, in which we must be saved.

Through his prophets.

That he might more clearly signify that the coming of Christ was salvific, he also showed the persons through whom he had marked the promise: so that from these it might be seen how true and magnificent the promise is. For no one announces a cheap matter with great forerunners.

In the holy Scriptures.

He added this to the sum of the true testimony, that he might create greater confidence in believers, and commend the Law; for the Scriptures are holy, which also condemn vices: and there is contained in them the sacrament of the one God, and of the incarnation of the Son of God for human salvation, with the witnesses of signs and wonders.

Concerning his Son.

It was fitting that, since God was promising his own Son to the world, he should promise him through illustrious men; that from these it might be known how most powerful he was who was being preached, so that he might insert into the holy Scriptures that his coming would be, and that what was preached by the holy Scriptures could not seem false.

Who was made to him of the seed of David according to the flesh.

He says that he who was the Son of God according to the Holy Spirit, that is, according to God (since God is spirit, and without doubt is holy), was made according to the flesh the Son of God from the seed of David, according to that: And the Word was made flesh; so that now Christ Jesus is one Son of God and of man, so that as he is true God, he might also be true man: but he will not be true unless he be of flesh and soul; that he be perfect. For he who was from eternity the Son of God was unknown to the creature: but wishing to be manifested for human salvation, he had to become visible and corporeal; because he wished both to be known through power, and to wash man from sins in the flesh, death having been overcome.

And therefore he is made of the seed of David, that as according to God he was born king before the ages, so also according to the flesh he might receive the royal dignity from a king's stock, being made by the working of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin, that is, born: so that, reverence being reserved to him, from this he might be known to be beyond man; because he differed from the nativity of human law, as had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah: Behold a virgin shall conceive in the womb, so that, when this appeared as a new thing, and worthy of praise, a certain providence of God concerning the visitation of the human race might be recognized as future.

Who was predestined the Son of God in power according to the spirit of sanctification by the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Saying Son of God, he signified God the Father; but by adding the spirit of sanctification, he showed the mystery of the Trinity.

This one, then, who was incarnate—what he was, lay hidden; then he was predestined, according to the spirit of sanctification, to be manifested in power as Son of God, when he rose from the dead, as it is written in the eighty-fourth psalm: Truth has sprung up from the earth. For all ambiguity and diffidence was trodden down and crushed by his resurrection; since, even while he was still placed upon the cross, the centurion, seeing the great works, confesses him the Son of God. For the disciples also doubted at his death, Cleophas saying at Emmaus: We were hoping that it was he who was to begin to set Israel free. And the Lord himself says: When you shall have lifted up the Son of man, then you shall know that I am he; and again: When I shall be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things to myself, that is, then I shall be known to be the Lord of all.

He did not say, however, from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but from the resurrection of the dead; because the resurrection of Christ granted a general resurrection. For this seems the greater power and victory in Christ, that he worked dead with that power with which he had worked also living. By this it appeared he had mocked death, that he might redeem us; whence he calls him our Lord.

Through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all nations for his name's sake.

After the resurrection, the Son of God having been manifested in power, gave grace, justifying sinners, and named apostles, of whom he here says himself to be a companion; that the apostleship, together with grace, might be a gift of God, not as the apostles of the Jews are.

From God the Father, therefore, through Christ the Lord, they received this power, that in the Lord's stead by signs they might make the Lord's teaching acceptable; that the power which the faithless Jews envied in the Savior, seeing this in his servants admired by the crowds, they might be the more grievously tormented. For the power is a witness of the teaching, so that, because what is preached is incredible to the world, it might be made credible by deeds. He calls the apostles sent, therefore, that they might preach the faith to all nations, that they might obey and be saved; that the gift of God might be seen granted not now to the Jews alone, but also to all nations: and that this is the will of God, that in Christ and through Christ he might have mercy on all, his vicars preaching—this is: For his name's sake; as he says elsewhere: For whom we perform an embassy.

Among whom you also are called of Jesus Christ.

That is, while we perform an embassy among all nations for the name of Jesus Christ, among whom you also are called; because the gift of God has been sent to all, so that when they hear that they are called among the rest, they might know that they ought not to act under the Law, since without the law of Moses the other nations received the law of Christ.

To all who are at Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.

Although he writes to the Romans, he yet signifies that he writes to those who are in the charity of God. Who are these, but those who rightly think concerning the Son of God? These are the saints, and are said to be called; for those acting under the Law understand Christ wrongly: and they do an injury to God the Father, when they doubt whether the perfect hope of salvation is in Christ. Therefore they are not saints, nor are they said to be called.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

He says grace and peace to be with those who believe rightly. Grace, because they have been absolved from sins: peace indeed, because they have been reconciled to the Creator from being enemies, as the Lord says: Into whatever house you enter, and they receive you, say: Peace to this house. And that he might teach that without Christ there is no peace and no hope, he added that grace and peace are not only from God the Father, but also from Christ Jesus. He says God our Father on account of origin, because from him are all things; but Christ the Lord, because by his blood, having been redeemed, we have been made sons of God.

First indeed I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is proclaimed in the whole world.

Having finished the preface, before all things he testifies this to be his joy, as being the Apostle of the nations, that whereas the Romans reigned in the world, they had subjected themselves to the Christian faith, which to the wise of the world seems humble and foolish. Although there were many things, then, for which he might rejoice in Romania (for they were memorable for learning and eager for good work, and more zealous for acting well than for speaking, which is not far from divine religion), yet he says he rejoices first in this, that their faith was running in every place; although not according to the rule of the truth handed down by its authors, yet because that which was of the one God, with the name of Christ interposed, they had begun to venerate, he congratulates them, knowing them able to make progress. By this he also shows his charity toward them, when he rejoices together in their good beginning, and exhorts them to progress.

Because their faith was not yet complete; because from him is all fatherhood. But because the whole arrangement of our salvation is indeed from God, but through Christ, not through the Law, nor through any prophet, he says he gives thanks indeed to God, but through Christ, because the fame of their faith was the advancement of many; that he might refer this very thing to the providence of God through Christ. For either those who had believed rejoiced, strengthened; or the rest, because they saw their leaders made believers: or certainly those who had not believed could believe by their example. For an inferior easily does what he has seen done by one who came before.

For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit, in the Gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.

That he might persuade them of his charity, he gives God as a witness, whom he serves, to whom he also makes prayer for them, serving not in the Law, but in the Gospel of his Son, that is, not in what Moses the servant handed down, but in what the most beloved Son taught; for as much as a servant differs from a master, so much does the gospel differ from the Law: not because the Law is bad, but because the Gospel is better. He serves God, therefore, in the Gospel of his Son, that he may show it to be the will of God that men believe in Christ.

Whom I serve.

How? In my spirit, he says, not in circumcision made by hand, nor in new moons and sabbath, and distinction of foods; but in spirit, that is, in mind. Because God is spirit, he ought to be served rather in spirit and soul; for whoever is served in the mind, is served out of faith. This the Lord also declared to the Samaritan woman, who thought that God wished to be worshiped on the mountain, saying: The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father also seeks such to worship him. God is spirit. Therefore those who worship ought to worship in spirit and truth; and it is not the place that commends the prayer, but the devout mind. This is, to worship in truth in spirit, God who is spirit, and Christ, the one from whom are all things, and the one through whom are all things. These worshipers the Father seeks.

He begs, therefore, to be mindful of them in his prayers, that he might sow charity in them; for he makes them desire him. For who would not love him whom he hears to be mindful of him? For if from those who had not been sent, they had willingly received teaching under the name of Christ, with adulterated words; how much more from him whom they knew to be an apostle, and whose words power accompanied, would they desire to hear!

Beseeching, if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you.

He shows the sense of his prayer for them; for he says he asks God that he might come to the City for their advancement with God's will, whose gift he preaches. For then advancement is present, if what must be done is done with the will of God.

He prays, therefore, that from whatever cause an occasion might now be given, by which he might come to the City; because he was occupied preaching to others: thus reckoning the journey prosperous, if it should come by God's will; because the will of God is provident. A prosperous journey, then, is not to undergo the labor of a journey in vain. This he asks God to fulfill, calling them to his grace. He speaks with an eagerness of mind; for he desires them, knowing it profits both them and himself, as he says elsewhere: What is our joy and crown? Is it not you, at the coming of the Lord? For the fruit of the Apostle is more abundant, if he gains many. Besides, it is a greater joy if the powerful of the world be converted to God, since the more grievous enemies are, the more necessary the reconciled.

So an occasion was given to his will, that he was compelled to appeal to Caesar, and was directed from another cause to the city of Rome, by God's will; that he might fulfill the purpose of his will. Finally, when he was in shipwreck, the Lord stood by him saying: Fear not, Paul, for as you have testified of me at Jerusalem, so also at Rome.

For I desire to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual grace, to the strengthening of you. This confirmation requires three persons: God assenting, the Apostle administering, the people receiving. Now, then, he shows the wish of his desire, with what vow he was toward them; for when he says: That I may impart to you some spiritual grace, he signifies that they had attained a carnal sense; because under the name of Christ they had not attained those things which Christ had taught, but those things which had been handed down by the Jews.

But that he desired to come the sooner, that he might draw them away from this tradition, and hand over to them the spiritual gift, that he might gain them for God, making them partakers of spiritual grace, that they might be perfect in their profession and their faith.

Hence it is to be understood that above he did not praise their faith, but their readiness and their wish concerning Christ; for professing themselves Christians, they were acting under the Law simply, as had been handed down to them. For the mercy of God was given to this end, that the Law should cease, which I have often already said; because God, taking counsel for human weakness, having added faith alone to the natural law, decreed to save the human race.

What is it, then, that while he corrects them by writings, and draws them away from the carnal sense, he says his presence to be necessary, that he might minister to them spiritual grace; since the things which he writes are spiritual: unless it be for this reason, that things said in one way are often twisted to another, as is done by heretics? Therefore he desires that, being present, he might hand over to them the evangelical teaching in the sense in which he writes it; lest under the authority of his letter the error not be taken away, but confirmed: since being present he might persuade by power what he could not persuade by words, so that it might profit them more when it had been entered into.

That is, that I may be comforted together in you, through that which is mutual, your faith and mine.

He says he will be comforted together with them, if they lay hold of spiritual things; because although he rejoices together in their faith, he yet grieves that they were not receiving the right faith. This affection the Apostle had, that he grieved over the vices of others as his own. And so, he says, let us be comforted through one and the same faith, so that then the consolation may be one, if they were made of one faith in Christ; so that the administration of spiritual grace, the Apostle evangelizing, might produce this effect.

Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that I have often proposed to come to you, and have been hindered until now.

He shows his purpose and his vow, which indeed he does not doubt they know through those brethren who from Jerusalem or the neighboring cities came to the City for the sake of their religion, as Aquila and Priscilla, informing the Romans of his vow.

For since he often wished to come, and was hindered, it came about that he wrote an epistle; lest, being long detained in bad practice, they might not easily be corrected. And he calls them brethren, not only because they had been reborn; but also because there were among them, though few, who thought rightly. Whence he said: Called to be saints. What, then, is meant by, Called to be saints? For if they are already saints, how are they called, so that they may be sanctified? But this pertains to the foreknowledge of God, because those whom God knows will be saints, are already saints with him, and remain called.

He says, nevertheless, that he was hindered up to the time of the writing of the epistle, by God certainly, who, knowing them still unprepared, directed the Apostle to other cities, which were already capable of receiving the truth; although they acted under the name of the Savior, they were hindered by carnal vices; lest they be already worthy to learn spiritual things. Finally, when they once wished to go into Bithynia, Paul and Silas were hindered by the Holy Spirit: why, unless he knew that the disposition was still lacking? But among the Corinthians the Apostle is admonished, the Lord saying: Speak, and hold not your peace; because I have much people in this city. He does not, then, say he was hindered idly, but he also distinguished the causes of the delays, and exhorted these that they might prepare themselves; so that, hearing that spiritual grace was to be ministered to them, they might make themselves worthy, abstaining from carnal vices, to receive it.

That I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the nations.

For the common benefit he declares himself desirous of coming to them, that they too might obtain the salvation of spiritual grace, having a settled profession of their faith; that he might have here the fruit before God of his ministry, by which he stirs them to the right faith, by the example of the other nations: for one becomes readier for a thing handed down to him, if he sees many agreeing to it.

I am a debtor to Greeks and to Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise.

He says he is a debtor to these whom he mentions, because he has been sent for this, that he might preach to all: by which he also signifies all are debtors; for to confess God the Creator, from whom are all things, and through whom are all things, is both due honor, and the salvation of the confessor.

He set down Greeks, then, as Gentiles, but those who are called Romans, either by nation or by adoption: but Barbarians those who are not Romans, whose race is opposed, and who are Gentiles. But he called wise those who, being instructed in worldly reasonings, are called wise in the age; while they are either observers of the stars, or study measurements, or numbers, or the art of grammar, rhetoric, or music. To all these he shows that these things profit nothing, nor are they truly wise, unless they believe in Christ: but he called foolish those who, following simplicity, are unskilled in these things. To all these he testifies that he has been sent to preach. But of the Jews he was silent, because he is the teacher of the Gentiles. And so he professes himself a debtor; because he has received teaching for this, that he might hand it on: and when he hands it on, he gains.

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you also that are at Rome.

Although he says he has been sent to preach to all nations, he yet asserts himself ready to hand over the Gospel of the grace of God to the Romans, among whom is the head and seat of the Roman kingdom. For it pertains to the benefit or repose of the members, if the head be not disturbed. Therefore he desires the peace of the Romans, that Satan may not boast much, and that he may have more abundant fruits of his work.

For I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes.

By this saying he touches those from whom they had received a faith not correct, yet whom the power commended the teaching of the apostles; so that, because what was preached seemed incredible, the signs and wonders done by the apostles might serve as testimony, that there should be no distrust of the things said by them, in whom such power was present (for no one doubts that words yield to power, and so, because no wonders of theirs had been seen, their preaching was without the power of God), and therefore he says he is not ashamed of the Gospel of God, but that they are ashamed; because what they had handed down came into reproach, and was confirmed by no testimony, and disagreed from apostolic teaching. It is therefore the power of God which invites to faith, and gives salvation to every believer, while it grants sins and justifies; that he might not be able to be held by the second death, being sealed with the mystery of the cross.

For the preaching of the cross of Christ is the token of death overcome, the apostle John saying: For this the Son of God came, that he might destroy the works of the devil, that every believer might not be held by death; because he has the sign that death has been conquered.

To the Jew first, and to the Greek.

That is, to this one who is of the race of Abraham, and to this one who is of the Gentiles; for in Greek he signifies the Gentile: but in Jew, him who was of the race of Abraham. For Jews began to be so called from the time of Judas Maccabeus, who in the matter of disaster resisted the sacrileges of the nations, and by confidence in God gathered the people, and defended his own race. He was, however, of the sons of Aaron. Although, then, he sets the Jew before, for the sake of the fathers, yet he says that he likewise also has need of the gift of the Gospel of Christ. If, then, even the Jew is not justified except through the faith of Christ Jesus; what need is there to be under the Law?

For the justice of God is revealed therein from faith unto faith.

He says this, because in him who believes, whether he be Jew or Greek, the justice of God is revealed. He calls it the justice of God, because he freely justifies the ungodly through faith, without the works of the Law, as he says elsewhere: That I may be found in him, not having my own justice which is of the Law, but that which is of faith. The justice which is from God, in faith, this very justice he says is revealed in the Gospel; while he grants to man the faith by which he is justified. For the truth and justice of God are shown in him, while he believes and confesses: it is the justice of God, because what he promised, he gave. Therefore, believing this to have been attained, which God had promised through his prophets, he proves God just, and his justice is a witness.

From faith unto faith.

What else is "from faith unto faith," but that the faithfulness of God is in this, that he has promised concerning himself; and the faith of man, who believes the one promising; so that from the faith of God promising, unto the faith of man believing, the justice of God is revealed? For in the believer God appears just: but in him who does not believe, he seems unjust; for he who does not believe that God has given what he promised denies that God is truthful. He speaks this against the Jews, who deny that this is the Christ whom God promised.

As it is written: But the just man lives by faith.

Therefore he turns to the example of the prophet Habakkuk, that he might declare that of old it was shown that the just man lives by faith, not by the Law, that is, that man is not justified before God through the Law, but through faith: for the life that is by faith is not this present one, but the future; because the just man lives by faith, but before God.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven upon all ungodliness and injustice of those men who hold back the truth of God in injustice. For as in him who believes, the justice of God is revealed, as I have mentioned above; so also in him who does not believe, ungodliness and injustice are revealed. For from the very fabric of heaven God appears angered at them; for this reason he made such beautiful stars, that from them how great and how admirable is their Creator might be recognized, and he alone worshiped.

Whence it is written in the psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands.

Through the natural law, therefore, he makes the human race guilty; for they were able to apprehend this through the law of nature, the fabric of the world testifying that God alone the Creator is to be loved, which Moses handed down in writing: but they became ungodly by not worshiping the Creator, and injustice appears in them, while, seeing, they dissemble from the truth, not confessing the one God.

Because that which is known of God is manifest in them.

The knowledge of God is manifest from the fabric of the world; for that God, who by nature is invisible, might also be known even by visible things, a work was made by him, so that it might manifest the Maker by its visibility, so that through the certain the uncertain might be known: and by this that which is impossible to others might be believed—that he is the God of all, who made this work. For God manifested it to them, that is, he made a work, through which he might be known through faith.

For the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. It is the same sense, which he repeats; that he might teach more absolutely that, whereas the power and majesty of God cannot in themselves be seen by the eyes of the creature, they are clearly seen, being understood by the work of the world.

By this manner, then, he makes guilty those who lived without law, both of nature and of Moses; for by the habit of sinning they overwhelmed the law of nature, forgetting the memory of it: but the law which had been given for reformation they were unwilling to perceive, so that they might become liable to condemnation in a twofold way. His eternal power also and divinity, so that they are without excuse. That impiety might be altogether without excuse, he added also that the power of God and his eternal divinity were known by men, and that they had become dulled by a certain stupor toward honoring God, whom, since they were not ignorant that he existed and worked for their benefit; for that those things which are produced for human uses in the course of the revolving year, he had decreed, no one doubts. His eternal power, then, is Christ, through whom he instituted the things which were not, and they remain in him.

Even if his person was not long ago recognized, yet his works are manifest: but his divinity

because in the work decreed for it the elements of things endure. So that they are without excuse. For in many ways is he who is convicted guilty unable to be excused.

Because when they had known God, they did not glorify him as God, nor give thanks. To such a degree did they not fail to know, that they confessed there was one principle from which all things derived their beginning, heavenly, earthly and infernal: and that this one is he who decreed by nature to all things their properties and functions; and knowing this they did not give thanks. He speaks of those who came before, in order to correct those present and to come. But they became vain in their thoughts. They became vain; for seeing the world fitted together with wonderful adornment by him whom they had known to be its maker, they dissembled. And their foolish heart was darkened. A cloud of error covered their heart, because when they ought the more to have honored the creator from the beautiful things which he made, they were made dull, and, abandoning him, said that these visible things alone sufficed for them for worship.

For while professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. For they think themselves wise, because they suppose that they have investigated physical laws, examining the courses of the stars and the qualities of the elements, while despising the lord of these things; therefore they are fools; since if these things are worthy of praise, how much more their creator! Yet, having suffered shame, they are wont to use a wretched excuse for neglecting God, saying that through these one can go to God, just as one comes to a king through his companions. Come now, is anyone so mad, or so forgetful of his own salvation, as to claim for a companion the honor of the king; when concerning this matter, if any should even be found discussing it, they would rightly be condemned as guilty of treason against majesty? And these men do not consider themselves guilty, who bestow the honor of God’s name upon a creature, and, forsaking the Lord, worship fellow-servants; as though there were something more reserved for God.

For indeed men go to a king through tribunes or companions for this reason: because the king is, after all, a man, and does not know to whom he should entrust the commonwealth. But to God, from whom certainly nothing is hidden (for he knows the merits of all), one does not need an intercessor in order to gain his favor, but only a devoted mind. For wherever such a one shall have spoken to him, he will answer him.

changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man.

Thus was their heart blinded, that the majesty of the invisible God, whom they had recognized from these works, they changed—not into that of men, but, what is worse and an inexcusable crime, into the likeness of men; so that God should be called by them under the form of corruptible man, that is, the image of man: so that those whom they do not dare to grant this name while alive, they receive the images of the dead into the glory of God. What dullness, what folly, to call these men wise unto their own condemnation, among whom the image can do more than the truth; and the dead are preferred to the living! For departing from the living God, they favor the dead, among whose number they themselves are, as it is written in the Wisdom of Solomon: A mortal fashions a dead thing with wicked hands.

And of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

By adding these he heaped up the punishment of their dullness, so that they might be of this sort beyond folly and vanity. For thus did they diminish the majesty and glory of God, that they gave the honor of the likeness of God to things which are least and small; for the Babylonians were the first to call God the figment of a certain Belus, once a dead man, who is said to have exercised dominion over them. They also worshipped the serpent, the dragon, which Daniel, man of God, killed, whose likeness they possess. But the Egyptians worshipped a four-footed beast which they called Apis, in the likeness of a cow; which evil Jeroboam imitated, setting up calves in Samaria, to which the Jews sacrificed; and birds, because the pagans held the Coracina sacred. Yet of all these things which I have mentioned, the Egyptians worshipped images, and other things which it is not now necessary to mention.

These things were done by those who esteemed themselves wise in the world; for

because, knowing the invisible God, they did not honor him by doing these things, neither could they be wise in the things which are visible. For it is difficult that one who is prudent in greater matters should not be wise in lesser ones.

Wherefore God gave them up to the desires of their heart, unto uncleanness, that they might dishonor their bodies with insults among themselves.

Since, he says, to the injury of God the creator they deified figments and likenesses of things, they were handed over to be mocked; and handed over not so that they would do what they did not wish, but that they might complete what they desired. And this is the goodness of God; for whereas it would have been fitting for them to be subjected so as to do what they did not want and be tormented—since even a good thing, if done against the will, is bitter and evil—these men, on the other hand, turning themselves away from God, were handed over to the devil. To hand over, however, is to permit, not to incite or send in; so that what they had conceived in their desires they might, with the devil’s help, fulfill in deed: for they could not have had a good thought of this kind.

They were, therefore, handed over unto uncleanness, that they might dishonor their bodies with insults among themselves.

Though he is recalling past matters, he also signifies the evils of the present time; for even now men are handed over so that they dishonor their bodies with insults. For even now there exist men of that origin who are said to dishonor one another’s bodies mutually. Although the thought of the crime is in the soul, the bodies are said to be dishonored; why is this, unless because the stain of the body is a sign of the sin of the soul? For when the body is contaminated, no one doubts that it is the sin of the soul.

Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.

Amen. They changed the truth of God into a lie: that is, the name of God, who is true, they gave to those who are not gods.

For taking from stones and wood, or other metals, what they are, they give to them what they are not, and this is to change the true into the false. For they are no longer called stone or wood, but God: this is to serve the creature rather than the Creator. For they do not deny God, but serve the creature: by which they are not excused, but rather accused more, because, knowing him, they do not honor God.

Who is blessed for ever.

Amen; that is, truly. For God says: blessed for ever; because God abides; but to the gods of the nations he gives honor for a time, out of impiety; therefore it is not true. But in God truth abides. This blessing he assigns elsewhere to the Son of God, saying among other things: And of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Either both belong to Christ; or he said the same things of the Son as he did of the Father.

For this cause God gave them up to shameful passions. For their women changed the natural use into that use which is against nature. He testifies that these things came upon the human race because God was angered on account of idolatry, so that woman sought woman for use with a shameful desire. Some interpret this otherwise, not perceiving the force of the statement. For what is it to change the natural use into that use which is against nature, except, the granted use being set aside, to use it otherwise, so that one and the same part of the body of each, between persons of the same sex mutually, offers itself for use otherwise than was granted? For if that is the part of the body which they suppose, how did they change the use of nature, since they do not have that kind of use given by nature?

He had already said above that they were handed over to uncleanness, but had not shown the character of the uncleanness itself, in place of which he now declares:

likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their desires one toward another, men with men working that which is shameful.

Now he has made clear how what he said above concerning women ought to be understood. But when he added: And likewise also the men, saying, they burned in desire for one another; he plainly showed the sin of the women. For he did not say of men that they changed the natural use into another mutually; because that kind of use is not permitted to this part, but he said it of women. And what wonder, since even today such women are found; that just as that was invented by men, so this too was invented by women?

Moreover, women accuse each other, and men likewise

it is clear, therefore, that those who had already changed the truth of God into a lie, also changed the natural use into that use by which they are dishonored, made guilty of the second death. Since indeed Satan cannot give another law—for he has nothing—he turns things granted and lawful into another order, so that, while they are done otherwise than they were granted, they become sin.

And receiving in themselves the recompense which was fitting for their error.

He says this recompense is the punishment for having despised God, that is, shamefulness and contamination; for this is the first cause of this sin. For what is worse, what more base than this sin? Since indeed idolatry is a most impious and most grave crime, so too its recompense is horrifying and a most foul passion.

as they did not approve of having God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate sense, to do those things which are not fitting.

On account of the errors of images they were handed over to do shameful things mutually, as has already been said. And because they reckoned there would be no punishment for these things, judging God unconcerned, and thereby to be disregarded. Hence it is added, that being made ever more and more dull, they became more ready to commit every evil; so that, doing deeds which they did not doubt displeased men, they believed God would not avenge them. Now he enumerates all the evils which were added to them; so that, converted even in this way to natural understanding, they might understand that these things came upon them because God was angered.

Filled, he says, with all iniquity.

Here he has spoken summarily, and then adds the members of iniquity: malice, fornication, avarice, wickedness, full of envy, murder, contention, deceit, malignity, whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, contumelious, proud, haughty, inventors of evil things. He called malice the head of iniquity, and he set fornication and avarice as its work. This fornication includes adultery within itself; for had he said adultery, he would have seemed to excuse fornication, as the Roman laws do: therefore he set down the lesser, so that the greater could not be believed unpunished.

Then he added wickedness, whose disposition begets envy and murders, contention and deceit.

After these he added malignity, which begets whisperings and detractions; and since these things cannot but displease God, he says: hateful to God; and because they do not please men either: contumelious, he says, proud, haughty, inventors—that is, authors—of evil things. Not, therefore, always evil. But these men, having become imitators of their father the devil, invented the evil of idolatry, through which all vices have been born in the world, and the greatest ruin. For the devil, whom Scripture testifies to have sinned from the beginning, although he strives after tyrannical presumption, nevertheless did not dare to declare this, that he say: I am God. Indeed, among other things he said to the Lord: All these things have been delivered to me. He does not say: They are from me; or, they are mine. And in the book of Job he asks that power be given to him. Wherefore these men are worse, who ascribe deity not only to elements, but even to figments.

Disobedient to parents.

With what great insolence were they seized, that they did not even recognize their parents, whom they had as authors of their birth, and who rejoiced that they had been born: yet they despised those through whom they had come to exist! This is to be without understanding, without love, but of God; for there was love of the flesh in them toward these. These men, knowing the justice of God through the law of nature (for they knew that these things displeased God, but were unwilling to lay it to heart. Since those who do such things are worthy of death), knew the justice of God to such a degree that they do not deny that all these things which they do are worthy of punishment and death. And not only they who do them, but also they who consent to those who do them. For assent is participation.

Who, having known the justice of God, did not understand, that they who do such things are worthy of death: and not only do they do them, but also consent to those who do them.

All these evils are the body of sins, to whose power those enslaved to it are made subject, so that they do things worthy of punishment. For this cause of evils began from the Sodomites' offense against God, as has been said above, and extended its branches into nearly every part of the world, proclaiming the wrath of God, idolatry being the cause—which is the first part of error and impiety—which he condemns first; so that when this has been corrected, the vices of morals also might easily be corrected. For when the seed of malice has been removed, the fruits of wickedness will wither; for a tree does not give fruit whose roots have been cut off.

For this reason Moses too recorded the deeds of Sodom and Gomorrah, and did not pass over the destruction in silence, so as to instill fear so that this thing might be avoided. This vice and contamination of a dishonored life, therefore, is not admitted by one who ponders God in his mind.

There are some who do not think themselves guilty, if they do not do what is evil, yet consent to those who do.

But to consent is, when one is able to rebuke and yet keeps silent; or, hearing these tales, flatters. For a filthy and malicious man, knowing that what he does is not unknown, and that he is by no means avoided but is even held in honor, glories perhaps in being such a man: nor can he be confounded in these matters when he sees himself favored, and indulged by those who are not such; and it is so, that they provide fuel for the crimes of others: therefore it is fitting that they be held guilty of an equal crime. There are again others, who not only do evils, but also consent to those who do them; so that they not only do them, but also consent to such things.

Twofold, therefore, is the wickedness of these: for those are not as evil who do such things and yet contradict those who do them; for, knowing them to be wicked, they do not avenge them; but the former are so most wicked, who both do and consent to those who do, that they do not even fear God; but, desiring evils to increase, they therefore by no means avenge them, so as to persuade that they are not to be shunned.

Wherefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, who judge.

For in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you do the same things which you judge. Since he has shown that one who does evil things and one who consents to those doing them are both worthy of death, lest perhaps he who does them himself, but does not consent to those doing them, should think he might excuse himself, he teaches that such a one will be inexcusable. For it is not just that this be granted him with impunity; because by hypocrisy he shows himself not such, when he is found to be worse. For he deceives, so that, while deserving punishment, he appears worthy of honor.

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who do such things.

That is, we are not ignorant of God’s judgment concerning these things in truth, when we ourselves judge concerning them.

For if it displeases us, how much more God, who is more just and jealous for his own work! In truth, then, when he says God will judge concerning these things, he strikes terror; so that, whereas these faithless men say he is unconcerned, this one says he will judge the wicked according to truth, that is, will render most truly according to the measure of each one, and will not spare.

But do you think this, O man, who judge those who do such things, and do them yourself; that you will escape the judgment of God?

That is, do you suppose, because the power of judging concerning evils and debaucheries has been given to you, though you do the same things, and there is no one at present to judge you, that you will escape the judgment of God? Not at all; for if you have escaped the judgment of God in the world, because all this power and judgment is from him, in the future you will not escape.

For God himself will judge, in whose presence flattery and acceptance of persons ceases. Or indeed, if it seems just to someone that such a one should be immune from punishment, let him say so. But if it is just that he should not escape, let him believe that God will judge; so that what he judges to be just may also be true, and be fulfilled, and let him confess that God, the founder of the world, providently and carefully requires the merits of his work.

For if he made it and neglects it, he is called a bad craftsman; because by that neglect he shows that he did not make well what he made; but since it cannot be denied that he made good things (for it is unworthy and improbable that one who is good should have made evils), it is necessary that he be said to take care of them; because it would be his reproach and accusation, if he were represented as neglectful of the good things made by himself: since indeed by his nod and providence life itself is sustained through the ministry of the elements, as the Lord himself says: Who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust. He, therefore, who provides care, does he not act to preserve what he has made, so as to reward those who love him, and condemn those who despise him?

Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, and patience, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

He says this, so that one may not now think himself to have escaped, if the goodness of God suffers him to sin long: nor should he think his patience to be despised, as though not caring for human affairs: but let him understand that it is therefore overlooked by him, because the judgment of God is not promised to come in this life, so that in the life to come that man will repent that he did not believe in the judging God: for placed in punishment without the fruit of repentance, he will repent; because he did not believe the judgment of God which he now sees to be true. For it is necessary that he be corrected more severely, indeed tormented with everlasting punishments, whom the longsuffering of patience did not correct. He speaks most severely, knowing that a malicious mind cannot easily be recalled from vices except by fear.

But according to your hardness, and impenitent heart, you treasure up to yourself wrath in the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works. Hoping for impunity for his sins, he not only remains hardened and unconvertible and intractable, but sins still more bitterly, secure that there will be no future vengeance, having an impenitent heart, not knowing that he is gathering wrath for himself against the day of wrath. It is necessary indeed that he be punished with a more savage punishment, indeed tormented with everlasting flames, who by the long patience of God not only would not amend himself, but even, adding to his contempt, has heaped up sins. It is a day of wrath for sinners, in which they are punished; therefore it is wrath to them, because they feel the punishment in the day of the revelation of the just judgment of God.

For it will be revealed, that is, it will be recognized, what is now denied to be future; and therefore when it is shown, what is not believed to exist is revealed. For it is shown to those who deny it, what is manifest to believers; so that they may confess, even unwillingly, the just judgment of God, when he shall render to every man according to his works. Will they not confess that these things happen justly, when they see evils avenged upon one another?

To those who, according to patience in good work, seek glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life.

Since he has proclaimed the judgment of God to be just, he now declares what shall be the future for the good: he means those who, knowing the patience of God to be prolonged partly for correction, partly for greater vengeance upon those who do not correct themselves, repenting of their former deeds, conduct themselves well, relying on the confidence of faith; lest, remaining long here, they suffer the loss of the promised life. He will give them, therefore, glory and honor. And lest this should seem not very great in comparison with the present life, because here too men are seen to be glorious and honored, he added: And incorruption; so that from this another glory and another honor might be understood, when incorruption shall accompany it at the same time.

For in the present life honor or glory is frequently lost; because he who gives is corruptible, and what is given, and he who receives; but in the day of God's judgment honor and glory, now incorruptible, will be given, so that they may be wholly eternal: for the very substance will be glorified, by a certain transformation of merits. Those, therefore, seek eternal life who are not only of good profession, but also of good life.

But to those who are of contention, and who do not believe the truth, but obey iniquity, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, that is, repeated anguish.

Distrusting the future judgment of God through Christ, and thereby despising even his patience, they strive to render it void, though it is true and stable. But they believe iniquity; for it is iniquity to deny what God has foretold will come. He set, therefore, three other things fitting for unbelief, saying: Wrath and indignation, and anguish. For wrath is not for him who judges, but for him who is judged, when he becomes guilty. For God is said to be angry, so that he may be believed to avenge; for the nature of God is immune from these passions. And that he may be believed not only to be angry, but also to avenge, he added: And indignation; indignation is that by which, adding it to wrath, he signifies that God will avenge his own injury.

Anguishes, however, are those by which one, bound by the sentence, will be tormented in punishment.

Upon every soul of man that works evil.

In this work he signifies not only deeds, but also profession of infidelity. For he speaks of the unbeliever; and therefore he said “upon the soul,” so that you may understand a spiritual punishment, not a corporal one; because the soul will be constrained by invisible punishments. The Jew first, and the Greek. He always places the Jew first because of the prerogative of the fathers, so that he might either be crowned first, or condemned first; because the believer is more honorable on account of Abraham, but the unbeliever is to be treated more severely; because he has refused the gift promised to the fathers.

But glory and honor and peace to every one that works good, to the Jew first, and to the Greek.

As he set forth three penal things for unbelievers, so also three magnificent things for the faithful, that they may have double honor, as sons of God; glory being for the transformation; but peace, because those who live well will be at rest in the future, disturbed by no perturbation; since indeed every man abstaining from contrary things has peace before the judge.

For there is no acceptance of persons with God. Since he has shown that neither the Jew nor the Greek is despised by God, provided he believe in Christ, but that the justice of faith is accepted for both; so again he shows that unbelievers are equally guilty, because circumcision without faith will harm more, and uncircumcision will profit through faith: and thereby he teaches that God is not a respecter of persons. For he does not follow the prerogative of race, so as to accept an unbeliever for the sake of the fathers, or reject a believer on account of the unworthiness of his parents; but rewards or condemns each one according to his own merit.

For as many as have sinned without law, will also perish without law. How can one sin without law, since we are all together subject to the natural law? But he speaks of the law of Moses, to which the Jews are liable, while they do not believe: and likewise the Gentiles, but already long ago; because they were unwilling to join themselves to it. Unbelieving Gentiles, therefore, become guilty on a double count; because they neither agreed to the law given through Moses, nor received the grace of Christ; therefore it is fitting that they perish. So then, just as one who sins without law will perish; so also one who without law has kept the law will be justified. For one who keeps justice naturally is a keeper of the law. For if the law is not laid down for the just, but for the unjust; he who does not sin is a friend of the law.

Only faith is lacking to him, through which he may be made perfect; for it will profit him nothing before God to abstain from contrary things, unless he has received faith in God, so that he may be just through both; because that is the justice of time, this of eternity.

And as many as have sinned in the law, will be judged by the law.

Since the Jews have the law, in which salvation was promised to them; not believing, or not receiving the promise, they will be judged by the law, under which they lived. For that very law, accusing them, they will pay the penalties: for the case of the Jews before their own selves is nearly heavier than that of the Gentiles. For as believers are preferred, so also, when they distrust, they are found worse: for one who has lost what he had displeases more than one who could not obtain what he did not hope for. For the latter did not enter into the palace, the former was cast out.

For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. He says this, because those are not just who hear the law, but those who believe in Christ, whom that same law promised: and this is to do the law. But everyone does not do the law who does not believe the law; while he does not receive him to whom the law bears witness. But he who does not seem to be in the law; because he is uncircumcised in the flesh, yet believes in Christ, is said to have done the law. And he who says he is in the law, that is, the Jew, becomes a hearer of the law, not a doer; because he does not believe in Christ, written of in the law, as Philip said to Nathanael: We have found Jesus, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write.

For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature those things that are of the law. He calls Christians “Gentiles” elsewhere: For I speak to you, Gentiles; because being uncircumcised, they observe neither new moons nor sabbath nor law of foods, and under the guidance of nature they believe in God and Christ, that is, in the Father and the Son; for this is to keep the law, to recognize the God of the law. For the first part of wisdom is this, to fear God the Father, from whom are all things: and the Lord Jesus his Son, through whom are all things. Nature itself, therefore, by its own judgment recognizes its creator, not through the law, but through the reason of nature; for the work perceives the maker in itself.

These, not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts.

The sense is the same; for while, under nature's guidance, they believe, they show the work of the law, not by the letter, but by conscience. Now the work of the law is faith, which, in addition to their words, they exhibit to God, by natural judgment showing that they themselves are a law to themselves; because they willingly do what the law commands, so as to believe in Christ.

Their conscience bearing witness to them.

By the interior witness of their own conscience they believe, because they are conscious to themselves that what they believe is fitting to them: for it is fitting for a creature to believe and venerate its creator; nor is it absurd for a servant to recognize his lord.

their thoughts between themselves mutually accusing, or also defending one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Since he said that unbelieving Jews would be judged by the law (for the law will accuse them, which promised to them the Christ whom, when he came, they refused to receive), but the Gentiles, who indeed do not have the law, will be judged by their conscience, if they are unwilling to believe. First indeed the believing Gentiles will be the accusers of the unbelieving Gentiles; just as to unbelieving Jews the Lord says of his disciples: They shall be your judges; because the faithlessness of the Jews will be judged by the faith of the apostles, who, although they were of the same people, believed while the others disbelieved.

Then the Gentiles will be accused by their own thoughts, if, though touched, they refuse to believe the faith and power of the creator; or if, from some stupor, they do not consider so as to believe the words and deeds of the Lord, defending themselves by conscience in the day of judgment, because they did not think they ought to believe; and let him be judged not as malicious, but as ignorant: yet not without punishment in the future; because it is not permissible to be ignorant of this. For he signifies the Gentiles under a double aspect, both believing and unbelieving; for above he speaks of Gentiles who believe: then afterward he adds also concerning those Gentiles who do not believe; so that just as believers are praised through their own conscience, so unbelievers are accused through their own conscience.

For although one who did not believe may seem to himself by no means guilty—because he could not treat the matter within himself—he is nevertheless convicted by reason; because he did not persuade himself that this was true, which he had seen confirmed both by the testimonies of miracles, and followed by many.

I think this can also be understood thus, if it be believed that the whole question was spoken concerning believing Gentiles

because he says: What have I to do to judge them that are without? And, He that believeth not, he says, is already judged. And, The wicked shall not rise again in judgment. For those sinning without law will also perish without law; and thereby they will not be able to stand before the tribunal of Christ, and to give account; because, rising again, they will be led to hell. For those whom he says are accused or defended by their own mutual thoughts in the day of God's judgment are the Christians who dissent from catholic truth, thinking differently about Christ, or about the sense of the law in the tradition of the Church, whether Cataphrygians, or Novatianists, or Donatists, or other heretics.

The thoughts of these will mutually accuse one another in the day of judgment; if someone understood that the catholic doctrine was true, and, in order not to seem changed, refused to follow it, blushing to depart from what he had long held, he will be accused by his own thought in the day of judgment. For two thoughts in a man will mutually accuse each other, the good and the evil. The good accuses the evil, because it contradicted the truth; the evil in turn accuses the good, because it did not follow what it perceived: and by this, he who thought, perceiving that the catholic Church was good and true, and yet remained in heresy or schism, is constituted guilty. But the thoughts of him will mutually defend each other, who always thought this, believing that what he followed was useful. For he will say: I always in my thoughts believed this to be useful, which I followed: this was my faith.

This man will have a lighter case, although he ought to be corrected; because he will not be accused by his own conscience in the day of judgment. In this way the secrets of men will be judged in the day of God's judgment through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But if you are called a Jew.

The surname of Jew belongs to them because it comes from the prerogative of the fathers, so that they are called Israelites. And yet, if we wish to comprehend the whole matter pertaining to this cause, we ought to notice that the surname of the Jews is signified by a threefold origin. First, because they are sons of Abraham, who by the merit of his faith was made father of all nations. Then on account of Jacob, who, for the increase of the grace of faith, was called Israel; for the dignity begun in the father is ennobled in the sons. Third, not so much on account of Judah, but on account of Christ; because he arose from Judah according to the flesh, they are named Jews; because in Judah was signified what was to come in Christ. For it was said: Judah shall be your leader; and, Judah, your brothers shall praise you.

Which praise given to Judah is not shown to belong to him, but to Christ, whom all daily praise, those whom he deigned to call his brothers.

For he himself said to the women: Go, and tell my brothers, that I go before you into Galilee. For who does not praise him by whose kindness he lives? The Apostle, therefore, under this signification—which is later in number, but more perfect in merit—wished the whole to be comprehended: which the Jews, not understanding, defend as the name for themselves of the carnal Judah.

rest in the law, and glory in God, and know his will, and approve the more useful things, being instructed by the law.

He does not want it to seem very great, if a Jew believes; since indeed he is instructed by the law; but it is very dangerous if he does not believe; for he has the law as his guide. But the merit of the fathers makes the believer preferred; for although someone may flourish by himself, he is nevertheless put to shame in his own kin.

are confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having the form of knowledge and of truth in the law. These things are true; for this is the teaching of the law, to instruct the ignorant, and to subject the profane to God: or, from the worship of idols, to call the impious by the promise made through the law to the confidence of a better hope. Rightly, therefore, does the teacher of the law glory in these things, because he hands down the form of truth. But if he does not receive him whom the law promised, he glories in vain about the law, to which he does injury, while he despises Christ, promised in the law; and he will no longer be an instructor of the foolish, nor a teacher of infants, nor a light of those who are in darkness; but a guide of all these unto perdition.

You therefore who teach another, do not teach yourself.

This is: you who accuse the Gentiles of being without Law and God, do not accuse yourself; for while distrusting Christ promised in the Law, you are found in the same things you accuse.

You who preach that one must not steal, do steal; for you do what you preach ought not to be done.

For while you steal away the faith of Christ through a bad interpretation, you deny our Christ promised in the Law. You who say one must not commit adultery, commit adultery. You adulterate the Law, moreover, when you take away the truth of Christ and put a lie in its place. Whence in another place he says: Adulterators of the word of God.

You who abhor idols, commit sacrilege: you are sacrilegious, when you deny Christ, whom the Law and the prophetic word signify as God; for Isaiah says

Because God is in you, and there is no God besides you. For you are God, and we did not know it: God of Israel, the Savior. Did the Jews say this of God the Father: For you are God, and we did not know it, when the whole Law proclaims the authority of God the Father, from whom are all things? But because the Son of God always indeed appeared, yet it was hidden who he was; when after the resurrection he is recognized, it is said to him in confession: For you are God, and we did not know it. And he who was thought in the Law to be only an Angel, and the leader of the host of the Lord—when he is understood to be the Son of God, it is said to him with thanksgiving: For you are God, and we did not know it.

By this therefore he signifies that he himself was the one who had indeed appeared to the patriarchs as God, and was afterward incarnate, but had not been understood by all.

You who glory in the Law, through transgression of the Law dishonor God.

You are a transgressor of the Law when you pass over the sense of the Law, which is about the incarnation and divinity of Christ; and you dishonor God when you do not accept the testimony he gave concerning his Son. For he himself said: This is my beloved Son.

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written. Isaiah the prophet said this, that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, when they did not perceive that the Jews had been handed over to them because of their own faults, but gave glories to their idols, as though the God of the Jews had been conquered in the Jews. So also in the time of the apostles the name of God was blasphemed in Christ, because the Jews, by denying Christ as God, blasphemed the Father also, as the Lord says: He who receives me, does not receive me, but him who sent me. And therefore it was blasphemed among the Gentiles, because the Jews strove to persuade the believing Gentiles that Christ should not be believed to be God; so that the blasphemy of the Gentiles proceeded from the Jews or from the authors like Photinus.

Circumcision indeed profits, if you keep the Law.

One might say on the contrary: If circumcision profits, why is it set aside? But it profits only if you keep the Law. Circumcision, then, must be kept; and in order that it may profit, the Law must be observed. What then forbade what is shown to profit, if the Law be kept? It seems, therefore, wrongly forbidden, what does not displease in itself, but is said to be made void through another's negligence. But if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. This is what he says, that if the Law has not been kept, the Jew becomes a Gentile. But he put circumcision for the race of Abraham, because circumcision is from Abraham; for he could not build up what he had destroyed.

He says this to teach that it then profits to be of the race of Abraham, if the Law be kept, that is, if belief is given to Christ, who was promised to Abraham; for those justified by faith also have their own merit, and are exalted by the honor of the Fathers. For all salvation in the Law is from Christ. He, then, keeps the Law who believes in Christ; but if he does not believe, he is a transgressor of the Law, because he does not receive Christ, whom the Law foretold as coming for justification, which the Law itself could not give; and it will profit him nothing to be called a son of Abraham, because he is according to merit a son of Abraham who follows faith, through which Abraham stood forth worthy of God. Whence he says: Your circumcision has become uncircumcision, that is, you have become like a Gentile, not believing in him who in the sign of circumcision was promised to Abraham as a son.

If therefore the uncircumcision keep the justices of the Law, shall not its uncircumcision be reckoned as circumcision?

The justice of the Law is the Christian faith, as he says in another place: Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness to everyone who believes. Therefore it is manifest that if a Gentile believes in Christ, he becomes a son of Abraham, who is the father of faith.

he who is by nature uncircumcised, but fulfills the Law, shall judge you, who by the letter and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law. The Gentile believing in Christ, led by nature alone, condemns the Jew, to whom the Law had promised Christ, and who, when he came, refused to believe in him. How great, then, is the glory the Gentile deserves, who by nature alone understood the Author, as Peter the apostle says: But you killed the Author of life (Actor. Iii, 15); all the more is the Jew to be punished, who neither by nature nor by the Law recognized Christ as the Author.

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God. It is not obscure that he denies circumcision of the flesh has praise with God (for Abraham was not justified because he was circumcised; but he was justified because he believed, and afterward was circumcised!), but that circumcision of the heart is praiseworthy with God. For to circumcise the heart, with error cut away, is to acknowledge the Creator. And because circumcision of the heart was to come, Moses first said: You shall circumcise the hardness of your heart. And Jeremiah likewise: Circumcise the foreskin of your heart.

This he said to the Jews who followed idols; for there is a veil around the heart, which one who is converted to God circumcises: because faith removes the cloud of error, and grants perfect knowledge of God in the mystery of the Trinity, which had been unknown from the ages. Of this circumcision, then, the praise is from God, hidden from men; for it is the merit of the heart that God looks upon, not of the flesh. For the praise of the Jews is from men; for they glory in the circumcision of the flesh, that it is from the Fathers. Whence among other things he says: And their glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things; that is, who think circumcision of the flesh to be glory. For he who glories in the flesh minds earthly things; but he who glories in the spirit, his praise is from God; for he is believed in by the spirit, not the flesh.

What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?

Much in every way. First indeed, because the oracles of God were entrusted to them. Although there are many things which pertain to the honor and merit of the seed of Abraham, yet he mentions only this openly, that it is of the greatest praise to them that they were judged worthy to receive the Law, by which they might learn to distinguish right from wrong; so that after this the other things, whatever they are, might be understood first. Since, however, he shows that testimony of race profits nothing to carnal Jews, that is, unbelievers, lest he seem to have treated ill of all—that is, believers as well—he teaches that it is very useful to believing Jews that they are sons of Abraham.

For to these the oracles of God were entrusted, while they receive the Law, which had grown obsolete through the sins of men, as though sin could go unpunished with God, restored by the merit of the Fathers, and are called the people of God. Egypt too is struck with various plagues on account of the wrongs done to them; they are fed with heavenly bread; they are a terror to all nations, as Rahab the harlot testifies; to them also Christ the Savior was promised for sanctification. Therefore he says it is very useful to the Jews in every way, because they are sons of Abraham; for they are set before the Gentiles, but only those who believe.

For what if some of them did not believe? Shall their unbelief make void the faith of God? God forbid. He does not say that, because some of the Jews refused to believe what God promised to the sons of Abraham, therefore the rest of the Jews will be prejudged, lest they be deemed worthy to receive what God has promised to the faithful; since the promise was made in such a way that it would profit those who believe. Therefore God, not indignant on account of their perfidy, that is, of the Jews, will give to the rest who believe eternal life, which he promised would come through faith in Christ; for those who did not believe made themselves unworthy, without prejudice to the rest. By these words he commends the believing Jews; because it is no harm to them that many of them refused to believe.

For God is true, but every man a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged. To confirm what he had said above, that God is faithful in his promise, and every man a liar, he added a prophetic example from the fiftieth psalm, by which he marked both that God is justified by his own words, and man is a liar by reason of unbelief. Both are read in the Book of Psalms, that God is just and true, and every man a liar. He calls man a liar when he does not believe what God has promised; for by denying that what was promised will be given, he is a liar; and while he himself is a liar, for many reasons he pronounces God a liar, when he does not believe his promises. Therefore he calls every man a liar who is distrustful of the promises of God.

This, however, pertains especially to the Jews, whose case the Apostle treats in this passage, who, seeing Christ, denied that he was the one whom God promised; and by this they are pronounced liars: but God is true, who sent Christ, as he promised; and thus he overcomes when he is judged, because he will give what he is denied to be about to give: for when he is not believed, he is judged a liar. But he, when he gives what he is judged not to be about to give, overcomes, showing himself true, and the other a liar, who does not believe his words. For he will see the Son of God in majesty, whom he denies; he will see also the resurrection of the flesh, and will know that perfidy has been overcome by the promise and truth of God.

For Christ too, when he was judged, conquered: for he was unjustly killed, and made the devil guilty, whom he had already overcome by not sinning, so that being defeated a second time he might lose those he held.

But if our injustice commends the justice of God, what shall we say?

Is God unjust who inflicts wrath (I speak according to man)? God forbid. This the Apostle says according to the sense of the prophet David: David, when he had sinned in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, knowing that a promise cannot be given to sinners, prays that the justification of the words of God may overcome the judgment by which those who sin are judged; and that he might reform the penitent, sanctifying him, so as to give him what he promised to give to the just. And so he added: But if our injustice commends the justice of God, that is, if, because we are sinners, God is justified; he would be unjust, if he punished. For if our injustice profited him, without doubt he would have been unjust if he condemned sinners; because our injustice makes God just, if, while we sin, he gives us what he promised to the saints.

Because although we are sinners, yet we are reformed through penitence; so that no longer as sinners, but as those washed clean, we may merit to receive the promise. This, then, is not the sense in the words of the prophet David, when he says: Against you only have I sinned, and done evil before you; that you may be justified in your words, and may overcome when you are judged, which is asserted by the depraved interpretation of malevolent men; as though the sins of men and evil deeds profited the justification of God, and through our evils he might appear good, and our injustice show him just. Since therefore God is not unjust when he inflicts wrath, he is now not justified by our sins: because if he were justified by our sins, he would be unjust if he punished; but because he is not unjust when he punishes, it is manifest that our injustice does not commend the justice of God. But if it did commend it, he would not punish, because he is just.

And so he added: I speak, he says, according to man.

God forbid—that is, far be it that God should be called unjust; for this belongs to man, who is known both to err, and to be deceived, and to deceive. But God remains unchangeable, nor can he not love what he has made. Otherwise how shall God judge this world? It is true that it would not have been just for God to judge the world, if its sins profited it; so that by his nod, while sinners obtain pardon, God would seem good; and if they did not sin, he would not seem just; for if they do not sin, having no one to forgive, he will not be good.

For if the truth of God has abounded through my lie, unto his glory, why am I still judged as a sinner?

It is manifest that if the lie of men profits the glory of God, so that he alone may appear true, those who sin are not to be called sinners; because they will seem to sin not by will, but by his impulse: which be far from it.

why not, as we are blasphemed, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come?

Now he opens up the reason why he discusses these things carefully and with reverence. For this was objected by perverse men, as though this were the meaning of those who preach the remission of sins, that they should do evil, and good should come, that is, that they should sin, so that by forgiving them God might seem good, according to what was said above: this he calls blasphemy, and rejects it from the sense of divine teaching.

For the faith does not teach that one ought to sin, since it proclaims that God will judge; but it counsels those who fail, that having recovered salvation, living under the law of God, they should no longer sin.

And so he added: Whose condemnation is just

that is, the condemnation of these men who out of jealous envy interpret this of us, as was said above, is just. For the Jews used to boast of this, that they might accuse the apostolic teaching, saying that when they preach the remission of sins, they provide kindling for sin; so that men, feeling secure about remission, might sin readily: whereas it is agreed that after receiving the faith it is dangerous to sin, and this is preached to believers.

What then?

Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have charged that Jews and Greeks are all under sin. This is: why do we still delay, speaking further? For we have shown, having given the reasons, that both Jews and Greeks alike are all guilty, and that therefore it is in vain to keep the law.

First he showed that the Greeks are guilty according to the law of nature, and that moreover they did not receive the Law of Moses; wherefore their case is the worst and most grievous. Then he shows also that the Jews are guilty, who seem to live under the law of God, and might rightly defend for themselves the dignity of the merit of the Fathers, especially from this, that they despised the promise of the Fathers, bringing the grace of God to nothing. To confirm this matter he added a prophetic example from the thirteenth psalm, saying:

As it is written, that there is not anyone just He began from injustice to enumerate their evil works, and to add in part worse ones; so that he might make it manifest that in these there appears no hope, unless they implore the mercy of Christ, who forgives sins.

Then he added: There is none that understands.

It is true, that if he took pains to understand, he would not be unjust.

There is none that seeks God.

Nor is this hidden, because if he understood what would profit him, he would seek God: and not like Asa king of Judah, who after many benefits of God was so depraved that, suffering an infirmity of the feet, with the prophet present, he did not seek God. All have turned aside, together they have become unprofitable. No one doubts that all who do not seek God incline themselves to seek help from vanity; but an idol is vanity; therefore they become unprofitable. There is none that does good, there is not so much as one. Because, having neglected God, they became unprofitable, they certainly cannot do good; for being already depraved they advance to worse.

Their throat is an open sepulcher.

Already given over to evils, they wished to devour the good, if it could be done; so that as a sepulcher lies open to receive corpses, so their throat lies open against the good.

With their tongues they acted deceitfully.

Those who had become accustomed to such evil works, in what they spoke, were in deceit. The venom of asps is under their lips. He says this, because words of such men are traps. For they speak to this end, that they might deceive; so that just as venom is poured out through the lips of a serpent, so also through their lips deceit and circumventions.

Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.

It is manifest that the wicked always set forth curses and bitterness against the good, breaking out into reproach and detraction against them.

Their feet are swift to shed blood.

He said this of the killing of the prophets, whom they killed unwearyingly, slow to good, swift to parricide.

Destruction and unhappiness are in their ways.

Since they were swift to do evil, he declares their journey or step to be troubled and unhappy. And the way of peace they have not known.

The way of peace is smooth and untroubled; for every good life is tranquil, and modest actions are themselves peaceful, and by these one goes to God. They, then, unwilling to know these things, chose the way of tribulations, by which one goes into gehenna.

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Since such men are without sense, they do not have the fear of God: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, says Solomon. And he did not say that they do not have the fear of God, but: There is, he says, no fear of God before their eyes. For seeing their own works to be so wicked, and not shrinking from them, they are said not to have the fear of God before their eyes. All these the prophet Jeremiah also signifies, saying among other things: Then all rose up against the prophet of the Lord, wishing to kill him. And it follows: But all the people did not permit it.

By "all" he means all, but the wicked ones; and by "these all" the good ones. For when he says: All have turned aside, he does not signify the whole people entirely, but this part of the people, as the aforementioned prophet also relates: In which all the wicked hid themselves. For there are always two peoples in one people. This, then, is the people whom the Lord rebukes under the name of Jerusalem, saying: Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets. And in another place: An evil and adulterous generation, and: A generation of vipers. Of such the prophet Isaiah also complains, saying: Woe to a sinful nation, a most wicked seed! For through evil will, while they produce evil fruits, they are a most wicked seed. And that if they were willing, they could be converted, the voice of the Apostle proves in another Epistle, saying: We too were once by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are in the law.

It is manifest that the Law rebukes those who, first, did not believe their leader Moses, nor the prophets, their own parents, whom they persecuted and killed, nor the apostles, their kinsmen according to the flesh, whose blood they shed, ever impious and rebellious against God; so that they are condemned by the law whose authority they thought could be despised. For just as there is one cause of all evils in evil, so also of all good things. In these, then, the evil of all like men is proved. These things pertain to the confusion of the Jews, who bore witness for themselves and their parents out of the law.

That every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may become subject to God.

He says this, because with the Jews bound in sins, the whole world becomes subject to God.

For no one doubts that the pagans are overwhelmed by crimes and impieties, and by this the whole world is prostrated before God, so that it may be able to come to pardon; because the whole world consisted of Jews and Gentiles, from whom the faithful are set apart. When, therefore, he proves that the Jews, who received the law from God, and to whom the promise was made, are liable to sins, there is no doubt that all the Greeks are guilty of death. Wherefore: Let every mouth be stopped, he says, and let the whole world become subject to God; since all, proved guilty, need the mercy of God, both Jews and also Greeks.

Because indeed by the works of the Law no flesh shall be justified before him. He does not therefore assert that men are least justified before God because they did not keep the law of righteousness in its precepts; but because they refused to believe the sacrament of the mystery of God, which is in Christ.

For by this God decreed to justify man, not through the law, because the law justifies for a time, not before God. Therefore those keeping the law in time are just, but not before God; because the faith by which men are justified before God is not in them. For faith is greater than the law; because the law pertains to us, faith to God. Therefore the law has temporal justice, faith eternal. For in saying all flesh he signified every man, as the prophet Isaiah also says: And all flesh shall see the salvation of God; that is, every man shall see the Christ of God, in whom the salvation of all is contained. And they are signified by flesh, because they are liable to sins. For just as righteousness makes men spiritual, so also sins make them carnal; so that man receives his name from his act. For through the law is the knowledge of sin; through faith, however, its abolition; therefore faith is to be followed.

What is this law, through which he says sin has become known, and known how?

For we see that the ancients were not ignorant of sin; for Joseph too was sent into prison, though by calumny; and the cupbearer and the baker of Pharaoh, because of sin. How then were sins hidden? There is indeed a threefold law: so that the first part is concerning the sacrament of the divinity of God; the second is that which agrees with the natural law, which forbids sin; the third is of deeds, that is, of the sabbath, the new moon, circumcision. This, then, is the natural law, which through Moses, partly reformed, partly having its authority confirmed in restraining vices, made sin known; not that it was hidden, as I said: but it showed that the sins which are committed will not go unpunished before God; lest perchance someone, escaping for a time, might think he had mocked the law. This is what the law showed.

But now, without the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, having testimony from the law and the prophets.

It is clear that the righteousness of God appeared without the Law, but without the law of the sabbath, and circumcision, and the new moon, and vengeance; not, however, without the sacrament of the divinity of God: since the righteousness of God is from the sacrament of God. For when the righteousness of God pardoned those whom the law held guilty, it certainly did this without the law; because to those whom the law was about to punish, it granted this sin. And lest this be thought perhaps done against the law, he added that the righteousness of God has testimony from the Law and the prophets, that is, that the Law itself from another part had once said this would come; because he was going to come who would save men: which was not granted to the law, that it should forgive sins.

Therefore it is called the righteousness of God, which seems to be mercy; because it has its origin from the promise: and when the promise of God is repaid, it is called the righteousness of God. For it is righteousness, because what was promised was repaid: and when it receives those fleeing to it, it is called righteousness; because not to receive one who flees for refuge is iniquity.

But the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ.

What else is "through faith of Jesus Christ," except that this very righteousness of God is the manifestation of Christ? For through faith in the preaching of Jesus Christ the gift long since promised by God is recognized, or received.

Unto all, or upon all, who believe

that is, upon all Jews and Greeks who believe the righteousness of the true God.

For there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and lack the glory of God. Because he had said that the righteousness of God is upon all Jews and Greeks, to prove this he added: For all, he says, have sinned. This is to be taken generally, so that both Jews and Greeks are understood; whence he says: There is no distinction; here he includes all, even the priests, that he might show that the law profits nothing without faith. For the law was given in such a way that there might be faith in the law, which hoped for a future salvation. Wherefore the death of Christ profited all, because he taught here in this world both what is to be believed and what is to be observed, and he snatched all from hell.

Justified freely by his grace.

They are justified freely, because doing nothing, nor rendering any return, they are justified by faith alone as a gift of God.

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

He testifies that the grace of God is in Christ; because by the will of God we have been redeemed by Christ; that being sent forth, we might be justified, as he also says to the Galatians: Christ redeemed us, offering himself for us. For he allowed himself to the raging devil, but not unforeseen. The devil, thinking he could retain Christ, took him as it were: but because he could not bear his power, he lost all whom he held, together with him.

Whom God set forth as a propitiator through faith.

He says this because in Christ God set forth, that is, arranged, that he would be propitious to the human race, if they believe.

In his blood.

Therefore "in his blood," because by his death we have been freed; so that he might both manifest him as dead, and condemn death by his passion.

For the showing forth of his righteousness, that is, that he might make plain his promise, by which he would free us from sins, as he had promised before; which when he fulfilled, he showed himself just.

Because of the passing over of former sins, in the patience of God. Knowing his own purpose of kindness, by which he determined to come to the aid of sinners, both those who are among the living, and those who were held in hell; he waited very long for both, making void the sentence by which it seemed just that all be condemned; that he might show us that he had of old decreed to free the human race through Christ, as he promised through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: I will be merciful to their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more. And lest perchance this gift might seem promised to the Jews alone, through Isaiah he says: My house shall be called a house of prayer among all nations. For although the promise was made to Judaism, yet God, foreknowing that the impious Jews would reject his gift, promised to admit the Gentiles to receive his grace, by whose emulation the impious Jews would be sent into wrath and tormented.

At this present time

that is, our time, in which God gave what he had promised long ago to give, at the time when he gave it. That he might be just, justifying him who is of the faith of Jesus Christ. He rightly says, that he might be just, he gave what he promised; and this he promised: to justify those believing in Christ. He also says in Habakkuk: But the just man lives by faith; that having faith in God and in Christ, he may be just.

Where then is your boasting?

It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Having rendered his reasoning, he speaks to those who act under the law, that they boast without cause, flattering themselves about the law, and because of what race they are of Abraham, seeing that man is not justified before God, except by faith.

For we reckon that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. He says the Gentile man is to be held for certain, that he is justified by believing, doing no works of the law, that is, without circumcision, or new moons, or veneration of the sabbath.

Is he the God of the Jews only?

Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Without doubt the God of all is one. Nor can the Jews alone claim for themselves that their God is not also the God of the Gentiles; since they read that from one Adam is the origin of all, and that no stranger willing to approach the law was to be forbidden. Finally, some went out with them into the wilderness from among the Egyptians, whom they were commanded to receive, only that they be circumcised, and equally eat the unleavened bread or the passover with them; and moreover that Cornelius, a Gentile not judaizing, received the gift of God, and that he was justified is proved by divine testimony.

Since indeed God is one, who justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. By "circumcision" he signifies the Jews, in that they were justified by the faith of the promise, believing this to be the Christ whom God had promised in the law. By "uncircumcision," moreover, he signifies the Gentiles justified before God through faith in Christ. For both Gentiles and Jews he justified in no other way than as believers; for because the God of all is one, he justified all by one reasoning. What then does the circumcision of the flesh profit, or what does the uncircumcision harm, when nothing but faith gives dignity and merit?

Do we then make void the law through faith?

God forbid: but we establish the law. The law is by no means made void through faith, but is fulfilled; for its standing is confirmed, when faith testifies that what it said would come, has indeed come. This is on account of the Jews, who think faith in Christ is hostile to the law, not knowing the sense of the law. He does not, therefore, make void the law, when he now teaches that it ought to cease; because he asserts that it was rightly given in its own time, but ought no longer to be acted upon. For in the very law it is said that at the time of the fulfilling of the promise the law ought to cease; for the angel Gabriel showed to Daniel the prophet, who desired to know this thing, saying among other things that at the coming of Christ the anointing, that is, the royal unction, which is understood as power, would cease.

And judgment, he says, shall be no more, which is the law, and my sacrifice shall be taken away.

Therefore, he says, "mine," that it might be known the old offering would cease. Opening up this meaning, the Savior says: The law and the prophets were until John. And because, with the Law of Moses ceasing, God was going to give better precepts, Jeremiah the prophet sang, saying: Behold the days shall come, says the Lord, and I will complete for the house of Israel, and for the house of Judah, a new covenant, not according to what I gave to their fathers. This, indeed, to those who received the coming Christ from the promise. Therefore the Savior says: I have not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill. And because the house of God was to be not only in Jerusalem alone, but also in other places, Zechariah the prophet says: I will set Jerusalem among all nations: which is the Church.

What then shall we say Abraham our father found according to the flesh?

After showing that no one can be justified before God by works of the law, he added that Abraham also could not have merited anything according to the flesh. By "flesh" he signified circumcision, because Abraham sought nothing through circumcision. For he was justified before he was circumcised.

For if Abraham was justified by works of the Law, he has glory, but not before God. This is a statement of the proposer's view. For Abraham was justified by faith, which no one doubts; therefore he has glory before God. But because those who keep the law, whether of Moses or the natural law, are justified for the present, so that they are not guilty in the present judgment; therefore he says: If Abraham was justified by works of the law, he does not have glory before God; because he who does, he says, the law, shall live by it, that is, he shall not die as guilty: yet he will not have merit from this before God, but by reason of faith.

For what does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness. He shows that Abraham did not have glory with God because he was circumcised, or because he abstained from iniquity; but because he believed God, and thereupon was justified, being about to obtain the reward of his praise in the future.

Now to him who works, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.

It is declared absolutely of him who is subject to the law of works, that is, to Moses, or to the natural law, that merit is not reckoned to reward, so that he may have glory with God. For he is a debtor to do the law, because necessity has been imposed by the law; that, whether he will or not, he does the law, lest he be condemned, as he says elsewhere: But those who despise it bring condemnation upon themselves; for at present they are guilty. But to believe or not to believe belongs to the will. For no one can be compelled to that which is not manifest, but is invited; since it is not extorted, but persuaded. Wherefore he who assents is to be rewarded, just as Abraham also, who believed what he did not see.

But to him who does not work, that is, to him who is liable to sins; who does not do what the law commands.

But to him who believes in him who justifies the impious, his faith is reckoned unto righteousness. He says this, because without the works of the law, to the impious who believes—that is, to the gentile—in Christ, his faith is reckoned unto righteousness, just as also to Abraham. How then do the Jews think themselves justified through the works of the law by Abraham's justification, when they see that Abraham was justified not through the works of the law, but by faith alone? Therefore the law is not needed, when the impious is justified with God by faith alone.

According to the purpose of the grace of God.

Thus he says it was decreed by God, that with the law ceasing, the grace of God should require faith alone for salvation.

Even as David also says.

He confirms this very point by the example of the prophet. The blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works. He calls blessed those concerning whom God has ordained this, that without labor and any observance, they should be justified with God by faith alone. He proclaims, therefore, the blessedness of the time in which Christ was born, as the Lord himself says: Many righteous men and prophets desired to see the things which you see, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them.

Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin Clearly blessed are they to whom, without labor or any work, iniquities are forgiven, and sins are covered, no works of penance being required of them, but only that they believe. Blessed also is this man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin. To remit, and to cover, and not to impute, is one reasoning, and one meaning; for all these things are obtained and bestowed in one and the same way.

But to some it seems that there is a threefold reasoning in these sayings

because the prophet used different words, and because he descends from the plural number to the singular. For when he wishes to enumerate, in the abundance of God's grace, the diverse names of sin by the various words for offenses, he speaks more broadly; yet the words are of one form and meaning; for when he covers, he also remits; and when he remits, he also does not impute. For he speaks more fully to the praise of God's grace, in order to amplify it. He made three degrees on account of the variety of offenses: of which the first degree is iniquity or impiety, when the Creator is not acknowledged; the second, in the works of grave sins; the third, of light ones; yet all of these are blotted out in baptism. By these three degrees he signified the whole body of sin.

But how can it pertain to the person of penitents, when he says: Blessed are they whose sins are covered; since it is agreed that penitents obtain the remission of sins by labor and groaning? Or how does it agree with martyrdom, what he says: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin; since we know that the glory of martyrdom is obtained by sufferings and afflictions?

But the prophet, foreseeing the happy time at the coming of the Savior, calls blessed those to whom, without labor or any work, through the washing, sins are remitted, and covered, and not imputed. Yet the Apostle, on account of the fullness of the times, and because there is more grace in the apostles than there was in the prophets, proclaims greater things which you obtain from the gift of baptism; because he professes that not only do we receive remission of sins, but that we are justified, and made sons of God; so that this blessedness has perfect security and glory as well.

Does this blessedness then remain in circumcision only, or also in uncircumcision?

That is, was this blessedness of Abraham granted only to his sons, or also to those who are uncircumcised? For if at that time the gentiles were not forbidden to approach the law and the promise of Abraham, how could it be that at the time of Christ those coming to grace should be forbidden; when God has fully aroused grace?

For we say, that is, if we speak according to the sense of the law, that faith was reckoned to Abraham unto righteousness. He begins from the origin, so as to exclude every evasion of quibbling; because he who is excluded from the very beginning has no ground from which to raise a question.

How then was it reckoned?

When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had in uncircumcision; that he might be the father of all believers through uncircumcision; that it might be reckoned to them also unto righteousness. Abraham, while in uncircumcision, believed God. What did he believe? That he would have a seed, that is, a son, in whom all nations would be justified through faith in uncircumcision, just as Abraham also was justified. For he received circumcision as a sign of the righteousness of faith: for believing that he would have a son, he received a sign of the thing which he believed; so that it might be seen that he was justified by believing. Circumcision therefore has no dignity in itself, but is only a sign.

This sign the sons of Abraham received for this reason, that they might be known to be his sons, who, believing God, had received this sign; so that they might be rivals of their father's faith, and might believe in Jesus, who was promised to Abraham, in whose figure Isaac was born. For it is not in Isaac that all nations are blessed, but in Christ: For there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved, says the apostle Peter.

that he might be the father of circumcision, not only of those who are of the circumcision, but also of those who follow the steps of the faith which was in uncircumcision in our father Abraham. This he says, because Abraham, by believing, was made the first father of circumcision, but of the heart, not only of those who are of his descent, but also of those who likewise believe from among the gentiles. For according to the flesh he is the father of the Jews, but according to faith he is the father of all believers.

For the promise to Abraham or to his seed, that he should be heir of the world, was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. It is clear that neither had the Law yet been given, nor was circumcision yet in existence, when the promise was already made to Abraham who believed, and to his seed, which is Christ, who was to wash away the sins of men. Whence John the Baptist says: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sin of the world. Therefore he became heir of the world not by the merit of the law observed, but of faith: and heir of the world is heir of the earth, which he obtained in his sons; but Christ is heir of the nations, as David sings: And I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession; for we shall die and live with him.

For if those who are of the law are heirs, that is, if those who are of the law, or under the law, are heirs by the law, faith is made void, the promise is abolished. It is clear that if the inheritance is from the law, the promise which was made by faith to Abraham comes to nothing. But the promise was not made through the Law, but the inheritance through the righteousness of faith; for the Apostle shows what evil there is in hoping for an inheritance from the law.

For the law works wrath. In order to show fully that man cannot be justified before God through the law, nor could the promise be made through the law: The law, he says, works wrath; for it was given for this purpose, that it might make those who transgress guilty. But faith is a gift of the mercy of God, so that those who have been made guilty through the law may obtain pardon; therefore faith works joy. Nor does he speak against the law, but he sets faith before it; because those who could not be saved through the law are saved by the grace of God through faith. Therefore the law is not wrath, but it works wrath for the sinner, that is, punishment; while it does not pardon, but avenges. For punishment is generated through wrath, and wrath is born of sin; and therefore he wishes the law to be left behind, so that recourse may be had to faith, which pardons offenses, so that it may save.

For where there is no law, neither is there transgression. He says this, because, once the guilty have been removed from the power of the law, pardon having been given, there is no transgression; for those who had been sinners through the transgression of the law are justified. For the law of works ceases, that is, the observance of sabbaths, new moons, circumcision, the distinction of foods, the observance of a dead animal, or of the blood of a weasel.

Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be sure to all the seed. The promise cannot be sure to all the seed, that is, to every man of every nation, unless it be of faith; because the origin of the promise is of faith, not of the law; for those who are under the law are guilty: but the promise cannot be given to the guilty; and therefore they must first be purified by faith, so that they may become worthy to be called sons of God, and the promise may be sure. For if they call themselves sons of God while they are guilty, that is, under the law, it is not sure; because the sons of God are free from sin. If therefore those who are under the law must be delivered from under the law, in order to merit receiving the promise, how much more those who are not under the law!

It is therefore not expedient that one should put himself under the law, in order that he might find a shortcut to the healing of the wound. Not to him only who is of the law, but also to him who is of the faith of Abraham. This is what he said above: To all the seed, both of the Jews, who indeed came from the law, and of the gentiles, who follow the faith of Abraham, which he had as a gentile, so that he might be righteous. For Abraham believed without the law, and therefore he is joined the more to the gentiles; so that the promise might be sure to them, who believe in him in whom he himself believed.

Who is the father of us all, as it is written: For I have made you a father of many nations.

He confirmed by the example of the Law that Abraham is the father of all, but of those who believe: and thus that the promise is sure, if for the sake of faith one departs from the law; because the promise of the kingdom of heaven is allotted to the righteous, not to sinners. And those who are under the law are under sin; because all have sinned, and no one can both be under the law and obtain grace, as he also says to the Galatians: You are severed from Christ, you who are justified in the law, you have fallen from grace.

Before him whom he believed, God.

In order to teach that there is one God of all, he addresses the gentiles, saying that Abraham believed God himself, and was justified before him, in whom the gentiles also believe; that they may be justified, so that there is no distance between Jew and Greek in faith; because with circumcision and uncircumcision set aside, they become one in Christ; because Abraham also, in uncircumcision, believed, and was justified.

Who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.

By this saying he invites the gentiles to the faith of Abraham; because when he was in uncircumcision, believing God—whose faith is now proclaimed in Christ—he was given life together with his wife. For though they were of exhausted age, being elders they grew young again; so that he did not distrust that he would have a son from Sarah, whom he knew to be barren, and in whom the natural flow of the woman had already ceased; that through these things they might not concern themselves either with uncircumcision or with circumcision, but be ready with regard to faith, secure because they believe in him who gives life to the dead, and there is no other who has this power: and when he wills a thing to be that is not, at once by his will it comes into being.

Therefore Abraham, when he was not yet a father, was called the father of many nations, and he believed, secure of the power of God. But that God who is the Father of Christ might be believed to be the same as he in whom Abraham believed, such a sign was given in Zachariah and Elisabeth, when the promise was rendered in the world at the coming of Christ, like that which had been given in Abraham and Sarah, when the promise was sealed; so that in a similar manner bodies dead through old age might generate holy John, just as Isaac too had been born.

Who against hope believed in hope.

It is clear that while Abraham had no hope of begetting, he believed God, having faith to beget against hope, but knowing that God is able to do all things.

That he might become the father of many nations, according to what was said: So shall your seed be. This is in Genesis; for showing him the stars of heaven he said: So shall your seed be, which he, believing, was justified. For he believed what seems impossible to the world, since it does not fall within the order of nature, that old men should be able to beget, and that their seed should be multiplied in such abundance that it cannot be numbered. Therefore faith is precious, because against what one knows or sees, one believes it will come to be: with this hope one consoles oneself, because it is God who promises; of whom it is right to think more than human weakness can grasp.

he was not weakened in faith: nor did he consider his own body now dead, when he was almost a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God: being fully assured that what he had promised, he was able also to perform; and therefore it was accounted to him unto righteousness. He proclaims Abraham worthy of this praise; because though he knew he could not do it, he strengthened his weakness by faith; so that he believed he could do through God what he knew could not be done by the ordinances of the world. Of great merit therefore is he before God, who, against his own knowledge, believed God, not doubting that he was able—inasmuch as he is God—to do what he knows cannot be done according to the order of the world.

For he holds it as certain that God is beyond the order of the world; for no one is to be said to be within that which he created. Therefore such a one is to be rewarded by God, because he attributes more to his Author than he himself understands. This indeed would be of no worth, if all thought alike; but the faith of believers is commended by the unbelief of many before God. He exhorts the gentiles, therefore, to this firmness of faith, that they may receive the promise and grace of God without any hesitation, secure by the example of Abraham, that thereby the praise of the believer increases, if what is incredible, and seems foolish to the world, is believed; because the more impossible a thing is thought to be which is believed, the more honorable will the believer be: and yet it would truly be foolish to believe this, if it were said to happen without God.

And therefore the faith of Abraham is so much the more praiseworthy than the faith of others, because it was not attracted by any wonders of signs. Since, moreover, the world is governed by a fixed law and power, and is ruled in a manner defined by God: but men, out of love of the flesh, being zealous about reason, have neglected God, its maker; God, in order to remove this error, and to show himself the Lord of all, wished it to be proclaimed that he could and did do this, which is impossible to the world; that those who believed this, while those who, puffed up by the reason of the world, neglected God were condemned, might be saved, being set apart, given over to the lordship of God.

Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was reckoned to him unto righteousness: but also for our sake, to whom it shall be reckoned, who believe in him who raised up Jesus Christ our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification. He says that a form was given in Abraham to Jews and gentiles, that after his example we should believe in God, and in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit, and righteousness might be reckoned to us. Although what is now believed differs, yet faith has one and the same gift. This therefore we obtain, that we believe: for by believing that Christ is the Son of God, we are adopted by God as sons; for he could give nothing more to believers than that they should be called sons of God, the unbelieving being disowned. For we are called the sons of God, but they are not worthy to be called even servants.

Out of his infinite magnificence God has given this to those who love him, which is worthy of his majesty, not what men deserve

because in a gift the loftiness of the giver rather than of the receiver is to be considered, and from this he receives more praise, when he bestows great gifts upon the little through Christ, who suffered himself to be slain for our sake; that he might, granting pardon, snatch us from the second death, that is, from the punishment of hell: and he rose again, that through the joy of triumph over death overcome he might grant us the grace of justification, that we might be worthy to be called sons of God.

For before the passion, those who were baptized received only the remission of sins, out of zeal for which Satan slew the Savior: but after the resurrection, both those who had been baptized before, and those who were baptized afterward, were all justified through the form of faith of the Trinity that was given, and, having received the Holy Spirit, which is the sign of believers, that they are the sons of God. And that it might contribute to the fullness of our justification, rising again he gave authority to his precepts; that by rivaling their merits we might increase ourselves, through which, having obtained glory, we might appear resplendent in the kingdom of God, with this confidence, that being justified we cannot be held by death. For with the passion of the Savior, death, which formerly ruled as the cause of sin, does not dare to hold those whom he has justified.

Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is faith that makes us have peace with God, not the law: for faith reconciles us to God, taking away the sins which had made us enemies of God. And because the Lord Jesus is the minister of this grace, through him we have been made at peace with God: for faith is greater than the law; for the law is on our account, faith is of God: and the law pertains to present discipline, but faith to perpetual salvation. But he who does not think of Christ as he ought will not be able to attain to the rewards of faith; because he does not hold the truth of faith.

Through whom also we have access by faith into this grace, in which we stand, and we glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.

It is clear that through Christ we have access to the grace of God; for he is the arbiter between God and men, who, raising us up by his teaching, made us hope for the gift of God's grace, standing in his faith. Therefore we stand, because previously we lay prostrate: but believing, we have been raised up, glorying in the hope of the glory which God has promised to us.

not only so, but we glory also in our tribulations.

Since through tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God, he therefore teaches that we should glory in these also. Tribulation added to hope makes an increase of reward; for tribulation is an indicator of hope firmly held, which bears witness for the crown. Whence the Lord says: Blessed shall you be when they persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you for the sake of the righteousness of God. Rejoice and exult; for behold, your reward is abundant in heaven. For to despise present things, and things that give delight, and not to yield in affliction because of hope of things to come, is of great merit before God. Therefore one must glory in tribulations; because he believes he will receive so much the more, the stronger he shall have shown himself to be in tribulation.

Knowing that tribulation works patience. This is what it means for tribulation to work patience, if the tribulation itself does not suffer any disturbance of weakness or doubt.

But patience, proof.

It is clear that patience, if it be such as we have said, will be seen to be firm proof.

And proof, hope.

Hope is said, not undeservedly, to be in him who is seen to be proved; for he shall be known worthy, about to receive reward in the kingdom of God.

hope does not confound; because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Hope does not confound, while we are judged foolish and dull by the unbelieving, believing things that lack worldly reason; for we have the Holy Spirit given to us as the pledge of the love of God.

For it is the Holy Spirit, given to the apostles and to us, that proves the promise of God to be faithful; who granted that the unlearned should speak in various tongues with interpretations, to confirm hope, and to commend also the love of God in us; that, because it is impossible for those who are dear to be deceived, he might make us secure concerning the promise: for it is God who promised; and he promised it to those whom he wishes to hold dear; for human words are not able to establish the reasoning of our faith, except by the testimony of miracles, which, though silent, cry out, and are approved as reasonable to the confusion of the wise of this world: who with boldness of words fight against heavenly things with earthly weapons, and against spiritual things with carnal ones; and are not ashamed to call themselves wise.

For as the disreputable origin of a foreigner is in a strange land; so also the truth of our faith is a stranger on earth: and because its nature cannot be explained by words, it is commended by the testimony of virtue, which is a greater thing.

For to what purpose did Christ, when we were yet sinners, die for the ungodly according to the time appointed? For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; for perhaps someone might dare to die for a good man? If for unbelievers and enemies of God Christ gave himself to death for a time—for he died for a time, since he rose again on the third day—how much more, when we believe in him, will he fortify us with his help? For he died for us for this purpose, that he might acquire for us both life and glory. Therefore if he died for enemies, it must be understood how much more he will bestow upon friends. Among men, therefore, that is, according to time, he seemed to die; for in the underworld he was, for the salvation of souls, judging the irreverent and wicked spirits.

Times exist in the world, where the sun rises and sets, and the moon waxes and wanes, and day and night do not remain in their state: for a thing which is subject to time and to age is always mutable. To this time, therefore, Christ died, when he departed from the body. But where there is no time and no age, there he was found not only alive, but victorious. Hence he wished to commend the affection of the Savior toward us, when he says: Scarcely for a righteous man will one die: but Christ died for the ungodly. For if for a righteous man scarcely anyone dies, how can it happen that anyone should die for the ungodly? And if for a good man perhaps someone might dare to die, or perhaps might not dare, since he signifies that both are difficult; how much more difficult it may seem, that someone should dare to die for the impieties of many.

For if someone might dare to die for a righteous or good man, perhaps moved by a certain pity, or by affection for his good works: but for the ungodly, not only is there lacking anything that would persuade one to die; but even anything that would provoke to tears. But Christ died for the impieties of the people, and as yet not for his own; that he might make credible all the things which the world distrusts. He made, therefore, two degrees, of the righteous, and of the good: although even the righteous is to be called good; yet he set forth the very kinds, signifying the righteous by exercise, but the good by nature, who might be called innocent by simplicity. Whence, although a righteous man is of better merit, as far as this passage is concerned, than a good man; yet for a good man, he says, perhaps someone might dare to die; because, since the cause of innocence is more pitiable, he signifies that someone might perhaps be compelled to this.

Finally, parents wish to die for good children, not to mention wives for good husbands.

For if we wished to set forth the good and the righteous, sometimes we find the righteous to be better; sometimes the good is to be preferred. For if, according to the law of God, he who is righteous is better than the good, but than him who has not yet labored with himself to enlarge himself in good things; for by exercise the righteous man will improve the good of his own nature. But if the righteous man be according to the world, the good man is preferred to him for his innocence, because righteousness of this sort is not without severity. And so every nature is good, but righteousness is the fitting fruit of the law of God for nature; therefore righteousness is goodness, whence the righteous are always called also good.

Yet the good are not always called righteous

because they are not called good on account of works, but on account of innocence: for righteousness is perfect goodness, when it fulfills in work the goods of its own nature.

But God commends his love toward us.

Thus he commends his love, in that, while we were still his enemies, he was well-disposed toward us, and sent one who would save us; when certainly we did not deserve it.

Since therefore, when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, much more, being now justified in his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. He says this, because if, for sinners, God allowed his Son to be slain, what will he do for the justified, except save them from wrath, that is, render them safe from the deception of the devil; so that they may be secure in the day of judgment, when vengeance begins to lay waste the unfaithful? For since the goodness of God wishes no one to perish, he gave a death most worthy; that to those who understood God's grace toward them, he might add dignity and glory, while to the ungrateful he might heap up punishment. The ungrateful are those who, when God calls, disagree, refusing the grace of God, so that they may remain in their purpose of error and malice.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. It is clear that if, in order to reconcile us to himself, God gave over his Son to death, how much more shall he make the reconciled safe by his life? For he who profits his enemies certainly could not fail to love his friends. For if the death of the Savior profited us while we were still ungodly, how much more, being now justified, shall his life profit us, when he rises from the dead? For as his death rescued us from the devil, so his life will free us from the day of God's judgment.

not only so, but we also glory in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

He teaches that thanks are to be given to God not only for the salvation and security received, but also that we should glory through Christ Jesus in God, who has deigned to call us, from being ungodly and enemies, his friends; that we may rejoice that we have obtained all benefits through Christ: that because through him we have known God, glorying in him, we may render to him honor equal to God the Father, God himself proclaiming as a fit witness for himself: That they may honor, he says, the Son, as they honor the Father. After, therefore, the providence of God the Father, and the gift which he gave through Christ, so that he might make the person of the Son pleasing to us, because through one Christ we have been redeemed by one God the Father, he added:

Therefore, as through one man sin entered into this world, and through sin death; so death passed upon all men, in whom all sinned. Since above he showed the grace of God given through Christ according to the order of truth; now he declares the very order of one God the Father, through one Christ his Son; that since Adam alone—that is, Eve, for she too is Adam—sinned in all, so the one Christ, the Son of God, conquered sin in all. And because he shows the purpose of God's grace toward the human race; that he might show the very beginnings of sin, he began from Adam, who sinned first; that he might teach that the providence of one God restored through one what had been fallen and drawn into death through one. This one, therefore, is he through whom, being saved, we owe that reverence which we owe to God the Father, by his own will.

For he says the same thing elsewhere: He who serves Christ in these things pleases God; although it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. If, therefore, he says that God alone is to be served, and yet commands that Christ be served, then Christ is within the unity of God, and not a different or another God; since, when the law says that God alone is to be served, it is proclaimed that one who serves Christ in common pleases God. Therefore, as through one man sin entered this world, and through sin death, so also through the one Christ, damnation and the death of sin were done away, and eternal life granted, which he declares further below.

In whom, that is, in Adam, all have sinned.

Therefore he said, "in whom," though speaking of the woman, because he referred not to the individual, but to the kind. It is clear, therefore, that in Adam all sinned as it were in a mass; for he himself, being corrupted by sin, all those whom he begot were born under sin. From him, therefore, all are sinners, because we all exist from him himself; for he lost the benefit of God, when he transgressed, being made unworthy to eat of the tree of life, so that he might die. But death is the dissolution of the body, when the soul is separated from the body.

There is also another death, which is called the second, in hell, which we suffer not for the sin of Adam, but which is acquired, on the occasion of his sin, by one's own sins: from which the good are immune, only insofar as they were in hell, but in the upper part, as it were in freedom, since they could not ascend to the heavens; for they were held by the sentence given in Adam, which bond, in the decrees, was blotted out by the death of Christ. But the sentence of the decree was, that the body of the one man should be dissolved upon the earth: while the soul, held by the bonds of hell, should suffer exile.

For until the law, sin was in this world: but sin was not imputed, when there was no law. He says that all sinned in Adam, as I have recalled above, and that until the law was given, sin was not imputed; for men thought that they sinned before God with impunity, but not before men. For the natural law had not become altogether numb; because they were not ignorant that what they did not wish to suffer, they ought not do to others. For sin was not so far unknown among men, that when Laban, his father-in-law, sought his idols with Jacob and it was found with whom the theft had been made, he judged it worthy of death: and Joseph, although through calumny, nevertheless as a guilty man was shut up in prison: and the baker and the cupbearer of Pharaoh likewise suffered for their offense: and Moses, having slain the Egyptian, was terrified by the law. How then was sin not imputed, when there was no law?

Or how was it avenged, unless the law were known?

The natural law always exists, nor was it ever unknown; but it was thought to have authority only for a time, and not to make men guilty before God as well. For it was not known that God would judge the human race, and on this account sin was not imputed, as though sin were not known to God, men asserting that God was uncareful. But when the law was given through Moses, it was made manifest that God cares for human affairs, and that it would not go unpunished for those who, doing evil, for whatever reason escape in the present. For if indeed among themselves, with justice or nature as teacher, they judged sins not to go unavenged; how much more ought they not to have been ignorant that God, whom they knew to be the maker of the world, would require an account of these things?

Since indeed Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned to perish by fire, a fact which oblivion indeed had covered; but Moses, in order to confirm that God would be judge, made it manifest by writing. But when, God being passed over, men began to receive fictions in honor of God, being depraved in mind, they trampled upon the part of the natural law which is first. For the natural law has three parts, of which this is the first: that the Creator, once recognized, should be honored, and that his glory and majesty should not be attributed to any of the creatures: the second part is moral, that is, that one should live well, modesty governing; for it befits a man having knowledge of the Creator to restrain his life by law, lest the recognition be rendered vain: the third part is teachable, that the knowledge of God the Creator, and an example of morals, should be handed down to others; that they may learn how merit is reckoned before the Creator.

This is true and Christian prudence.

But death reigned from Adam to Moses.

Since sin was not imputed before the law was given through Moses, as I have said; by this very impunity of usurpation death reigned, knowing them to be devoted to itself. Death reigned, then, in the security of its own dominion both over those who escaped for a time, and over those who even here paid the penalties for their evil deeds. For it saw that all were its own; because he who commits sin is the servant of sin: thinking indeed that it would go unpunished, they sinned all the more: yet being more prone to those sins which the world nourished as though lawful. At which Satan rejoiced, secure that, on account of Adam's cause, he held man, abandoned by God, in his possession.

Death, then, reigned over those who sinned after the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is the type of the one to come: which we shall show below. And so it is manifest that death did not reign over all, because not all sinned after the likeness of the transgression of Adam, that is, not all, in contempt of God, sinned. But who are they who sinned in contempt of God, except those who, neglecting the Creator, served the creature, setting up for themselves gods whom they might worship, to the injury of God? For this reason the devil rejoiced over these, because he saw them made his own imitators. For Terah too, the father of Abraham, and Nahor and Laban claimed their own gods for themselves. And the sin of Adam is not far from idolatry; for he transgressed, thinking that man would become God. For he judged that what the devil persuaded would profit him more than what God commanded, setting up the devil in the place of God; whence he also became subject to the devil.

Likewise these also, God being transgressed, while they serve the creature, sin in a similar way, not the same way

because likeness is wont to have something unlike. Nor indeed can it be said that those who received the precept of not eating from the tree, as Adam did, and who sinned, sinned not by transgressing God but under the natural law. For whoever understood, whether by tradition or by natural indication, and venerated God, giving to none else the honor of his name and majesty; if he sinned, since it is impossible not to sin, he sinned under God, not against God, whom he perceived as judge: and therefore over such as these death did not reign. But over those, as I have said, it reigned who served the devil under the guise of idols. Because the law had not yet been promulgated with authority, they could not foresee God as judge.

For the greatest part of the world did not know that God would be judge: but very few are those over whom death did not reign; and over those over whom it did reign, after that death, which is called the first, they were set apart by the second unto future punishment and perdition. But over those over whom it did not reign, because they did not sin after the likeness of Adam's transgression, they were reserved in hope for the coming of the Savior in the free place: as it is read of Abraham, that although he was among those below, yet he was set apart by a great interval; so that there was a huge chasm between the just and sinners. If there was a huge chasm between the just and sinners, how much more between the impious, so that there might be refreshment for the just, and heat for sinners, and burning for the impious; so that before the judgment it might not be hidden what each one deserved?

And by this death reigned over them, because it saw that the works of its own subtlety had profited toward their punishment as enemies.

For it was not hidden from him that man was made for this purpose in the world, that he might proclaim the rule of the one God, which Satan had transgressed.

And as if in the Greek it were not said so guardedly; for thus it is said to be written, that death reigned even over those who did not sin after the likeness of Adam's transgression. For the whole seems to be comprehended here, so that because death, that is, dissolution, was brought about through the envy of the devil, he says that death reigned even over those who did not sin, for they die, which is what Satan wished. But if this were true, it ought not to have been said: Death reigned from Adam to Moses; if from the beginning to the end it reigns over all. Or perhaps he made degrees, so that it reigned from Adam to Moses, and from Moses to Christ, and from Christ to the end; so that to what use this expression would serve, since even so it is not shown to have been said.

For he said: From Adam death reigned unto Moses, because the Law had not been manifested, so that, the Law having been given, men might live under its authority, knowing what they should beware of, lest death reign over them. Therefore he who observed before the Law, nature being his guide, what the Law afterward commanded, can it be said that death reigned over him? For see what is written concerning him: Sin, he says, was not imputed, when there was no Law; and he added: But death reigned from Adam to Moses; namely, at that time when there was no Law: and it is fitting that, because death reigned before the Law was given, it should be said to have reigned over those who sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, as we have recalled above.

For just as after the Law was given, those who served idols or fornication, despising the lawgiver, death reigned over them; so also before the Law those who preserved the sense of the Law beforehand, honoring its author, over them death certainly did not reign: for this reason it is said to have reigned, because the knowledge of the one God had vanished from the earth. Finally, the Law thus began when given: I am, he says, the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage: you shall have no other gods before me; and you shall not make yourself an idol, nor any likeness. The Law, therefore, was given so that death might not reign; that, former sins being abolished, the human race might obey the one God. Whence in another place the same Apostle says: Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it. By which saying he shows that even now death reigns, if the Law is despised.

For what is the reign of death, except when its will is done, while it commands, unto the destruction of the one obeying, of whose command idolatry is the chief will?

And yet it is thus prescribed to us from the Greek codices, as though they themselves did not differ from one another; which the zeal of contention brings about. For since one cannot use his own authority to gain victory, he adulterates the words of the law; so that he may assert his own meaning as though it were the words of the law, so that it may seem that authority, not reason, prescribes. It is established, moreover, that certain Latin codices were long ago translated from the ancient Greek codices, which the simplicity of the times preserved uncorrupted and approves: but after men began, minds departing from concord, and heretics disturbing them with questions, to be twisted about, many things were changed to suit human sense; so that what seemed good to man was contained in the letters: whence even the Greeks themselves have different codices.

But I judge this to be true, when both reason and history and authority are observed: for even today in the Latin codices, they are found reproved, as they are set down by the ancients, Tertullian, Victorinus and Cyprian.

First, then, in Judea the reign of death began to be destroyed

because God is known in Judea: but now it is destroyed daily among all nations, while for the most part sons of the devil become sons of God. And so death did not reign over all, but over those who sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, as I have recalled above. But Adam is therefore the type of the one to come, because even then, in mystery, God had decreed to amend through the one Christ what through the one Adam had been sin, as it is said in the Apocalypse of John the Apostle: The Lamb, he says, who was slain from the foundation of the world. Finally he added:

But not as the offense, so also is the gift.

For because he said that the one Adam was the type of the one Christ; lest it be thought that he had signified the cause of Adam to be such as Christ's is also; therefore he says: But not as the offense, so also is the gift; because Adam is the type of Christ only in this, that as one man sinned, one man amended.

For if by the offense of the one many died, much more has the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man Jesus Christ abounded unto many: that is, if by the offense of the one many died, imitating his transgression; the grace of God and the gift have abounded still more unto many who take refuge in him. For more attain grace than have died by the offense of Adam. Whence it is manifest that he did not signify this death which is common to all; because absolutely all die, and yet not all attain grace: nor is it signified that death reigned over all, but over those who died by the offense of Adam, whom he says sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression.

These are they of whom he says that by the offense of the one many died, but that the grace of God abounded unto more

because both in those who are said to have died by the offense of Adam, sinning similarly, and in those who did not sin in this likeness of Adam's transgression, the grace of God abounded: but by the paternal sin, by God's sentence, they were among those below; the grace of God abounded in the descent of the Savior, giving pardon to all, when they were lifted up to heaven with him in triumph.

not as through one sin, so also the gift: for the judgment indeed from one man was unto condemnation, but the gift from many offenses is unto justification.

It is clearly different, because by the one sin of Adam those were condemned who sinned after the likeness of his transgression: but the grace of God through Christ has justified men not from one offense, but from many, giving them remission of sins.

This he says to the magnificence of the piety of God and of Christ; that, though by the offense of Adam many are held by the second death in the lower hell, yet the gift of God's grace, when it would have been just for them to be punished, not only pardons them, but justifies them.

For if by the offense of the one death reigned through the one, much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift and of righteousness reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. It must be noted that the meaning is one, and differs in nothing: for he says that death reigned, not that it reigns; because those who understood the judgment of God through the Law were removed from its dominion. But it reigned, because without the manifestation of the law, the fear of God was not upon the earth.

The prior meaning, then, is this: that

because death reigned from Adam to Moses over those who sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; much more shall grace reign, by the abundance of the gift of God, unto life through the one Jesus Christ. For if death reigned, why should not grace reign all the more, which justifies far more than those over whom death reigned: how much more is grace to be believed to reign, which confers life through Christ?

Therefore as by the offense of one, condemnation came upon all men; so also by the righteousness of one, justification of life came upon all men: that is, as by the offense of the one all who sinned similarly merited condemnation, so also in the righteousness of the one all who believe shall be justified. But if any think this condemnation to be general, they must in like manner accept the justification also to be general.

But this is not true

because not all believe.

For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners; so also by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Whom above he called all, here he signifies as more and many; for more followed the offense of Adam by transgressing, not all: and many shall be made righteous through faith in Christ, not all. Therefore death did not reign over those who did not sin after the likeness of Adam's transgression.

But the Law entered in besides, that the offense might abound.

It may be said to the contrary: Then it was not necessary for the Law to be given, lest sins should increase; for if before the Law sin is less, there was no need of law. Clearly the Law was necessary, to show that sins, which were believed to be committed with impunity, are imputed before God; that for the rest they might know what they ought to avoid.

Whence the prophet Isaiah says: The Law, he says, was given for a help: so that, since certain seeds of righteousness had in a manner been implanted in nature itself, the Law was added, by whose authority and teaching the natural disposition might advance toward producing the fruit of righteousness. For just as a birth perishes unless it has nourishments by which the offspring may grow; so also the natural disposition to righteousness, unless it has something to look to and venerate, does not easily advance, but sickens, and yields to the sins that come upon it. For it is oppressed by the habit of sinning, so that it does not grow into fruit, and by this it is extinguished. Providently, then, the Law was given for a help, as the prophet testifies: but the people, following their old habit, multiplied sins.

For by the very practice they began to sin more than they had sinned before: and thus it came about that, the Law being given, sins were not diminished, but abounded: for the Apostle shows what came about by the giving of the Law, not what the Law itself did. But how did sins grow by the fault of the Law, which threatened, that one should not sin: yet it is said to have entered in so that sin might abound? It is true, because it entered as though about to profit, and with humility: but afterward it began to dominate those whom it had commanded not to sin, and they sinned. For the law began to show the abundance of sins; since what it had forbidden was done more than had been done before.

Thus, then, the Law was given in this way, that the offense might abound; for the Apostle, commending faith, through which indeed sins are blotted out, said that the law had brought it about that sin abounded, as I have said above; because it was not given so that sins might be abolished, but so that they might abound: while it both showed sinners before the law, and held all guilty after the law.

But where sin abounded, grace abounded still more.

It is manifest, that while sin abounded, grace abounded still more: while the gift of God comes by promise, and covers the sins of all; so that the envy of the devil might grieve that it had profited nothing. For because, when the law had been given for human benefit, the devil brought it about, by persuading to unlawful things, that he might invert it; so that what had been given to profit, might turn to the contrary, while the commandments were despised, so that not benefit from the Law, but judgment unto vengeance, might proceed: then the just and merciful God, in order to empty out that glory which the devil had sought from man triumphed over, decreed that his Son should come, who would forgive all sins; so that greater joy might arise from the gift of grace, than had been the grief from sin.

For the joy of the gift of God profits also those over whom Satan could not triumph; therefore grace abounded still more over the sin which Satan persuaded.

That as sin reigned unto death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sin reigned, seeing its own work advance in those sinning unto death, in which it gloried; in a similar way grace also reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord; so that as sin, begun through Adam, reigned, so also grace reigns through Christ. But grace reigns through righteousness in this way, if, remission of sins having been received, we follow righteousness; so that grace, seeing that it has fruit in the good whom it has redeemed, may reign unto eternal life, knowing that we shall be eternal. Grace, then, abounds still more, because sin reigned for a time, but grace reigns forever. For it is the kingdom of God, grace reigning, just as it was the kingdom of the devil, sin reigning.

Yet he refers everything to Christ, so that all grace of God may be learned from Christ.

He therefore responds to the prior meaning, saying:

What then shall we say?

Shall we remain in sin, that grace may abound? By no means. That is, must we always sin, so that the gift of God may abound, covering our sins; so that always hoping for remission of sins, because God is merciful, we may prefer the grace of Christ? By no means indeed. For God has had mercy on us through Christ for this reason, that henceforth not sinning, we may make both merit ours, and cause the grace of God to reign in us. For he takes away the reign of the grace of God, and hands himself over to sin, who returns again to the old man, that is, to the manner of his past life.

For two reasons we have received mercy; that both the kingdom of the devil might be excluded, and the rule of God might be proclaimed to those who were ignorant of it, dignity having been sought for us by this very means.

For we who have died to sin, how shall we still live in it? He says this, since, living to sin, we were dead before God; for he who sins lives to sin, as he who does not sin lives to God. For when the grace of God through Christ came upon us, and regenerated us through faith by the spiritual washing, we began to live to God, but to be dead to sin, which is the devil; this indeed is to die to sin, to be liberated from sin, and to become a servant of God.

Therefore, being now dead to sin, let us not return to our former evils; lest we again live to sin, and, dying to God, having lost our dignity, incur the punishment which we have escaped.

Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

He says this, that we may know that we who are baptized ought no longer to sin; because when we are baptized, we die together with Christ. This is to be baptized into his death; for there all our sins die, so that, renewed, death having been laid aside, we may seem to rise again to life, reborn: so that as Christ, dead to sin, rose again, so also we may have through baptism the hope of resurrection.

Baptism, then, is the death of sin, so that another birth may follow, which, the fabric of the body remaining, renews man in mind, the age-old habit of all evil deeds being buried.

For we were buried with him through baptism into death; that as Christ rose from the dead through the power of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. Saying this, he also signifies this, which is first; that Christ raised his own body from the dead, for he himself is the power of God the Father, as he says: Destroy this temple, and I will raise it up in three days. But this, he says, he spoke of the temple of his body; and that he rose again into a new life, which now knows not how to die. It is called new, because it was given by Christ, which is the Christian discipline. But we, baptized, were buried together with Christ that henceforth we might follow this life, in which Christ rose again.

Baptism, then, is the pledge and image of resurrection; so that, now remaining in the precepts of Christ, we may not turn back again to former things.

For he who dies, no longer sins: for death is the end of sin. For it is celebrated through water for this reason, that as water washes away the filth of the body; so also we may believe ourselves to be spiritually cleansed and renewed by baptism from every sin; so that what is incorporeal may be invisibly washed.

For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Then he says we can happily rise again, if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, that is, if in baptism, laying aside all vices, translated into a new life, we henceforth do not sin: by which we shall be also like his resurrection; for likeness of death will secure a like resurrection.

Which John the Apostle recalls in his epistle, saying: We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him

that is, we shall rise immortal and glorious. Nor indeed will this likeness be such that there is no distance at all; for he will be like in the glory of the body, not in the nature of divinity.

Knowing this, that our old man was crucified together with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer serve sin.

He weaves together and repeats many things, to teach the baptized that they ought no longer to sin: especially lest they return to idolatry; for this is the gravest crime, and the head of the whole error; lest they lose the grace received from God through Christ. He calls, then, past deeds the old man; because as the new man is spoken of through faith and a pure life, so also the old man through faithlessness and evil deeds.

These deeds he calls crucified, that is, dead; so that the body of sin, which is all crimes, may be destroyed.

For he calls all sins together the body, which he says is destroyed by a good life and catholic faith.

But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live together with him.

It is manifest that these, who have crucified the flesh, that is, the world with its vices and its lusts, die to the world, and die together with Christ, and are conformed also to eternal and saving life; so that they may deserve to be made like the glory of Christ. But the flesh, that is, the body, is thus crucified, if its desires be trampled underfoot, which, sin remaining in it, are engendered from the transgression begun by the first man: for in the flesh the devil is crucified; for it is he who deceives through the flesh.

The flesh, then, is understood sometimes as the world

that is, the elements, sometimes indeed as the body of man, or the soul itself following bodily vices.

Knowing that Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more, death shall no longer have dominion over him. For in that he died to sin, he died once; but in that he lives, he lives to God. He shows the security of eternity in the resurrection of the Savior: to which it comes to pass if there be zeal for a better life. For he who lives to God by doing well, truly lives here; because he has eternal life.

So also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He speaks thus, to teach that one cannot die to sin and live to God otherwise than by all hope being in Christ: whom he calls our Lord, so that nothing of the Law may avail toward attaining salvation in the age to come, since one lives to God in no other way than through Christ.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey its lusts.

The body is mortal by reason of the transgression of Adam, but through faith in Christ it is believed it will be immortal. But that one may come to this promise, he says that sin must not be obeyed; lest it reign in our mortal body: but it reigns while it commands. But if it does not reign, this body will not seem to be mortal, because it is in the hope of eternity.

He did not call the body mortal on account of dissolution, but on account of the punishment of gehenna; so that he is called mortal who is to be sent into gehenna; because those who obey sin do not escape the second death of hell, from which the Savior has delivered those who believe in him. In calling the body mortal, therefore, he signified the whole man; because those who obey sin are called mortal: For the soul, he says, that sins, it shall die, that is, the whole man, for no one shall be judged without a body.

Neither present your members as weapons of iniquity to sin.

He shows that the devil attacks us with our own weapons; for occasion is given to him through our sins; so that, God abandoning us, having received the power, he mocks and mortifies us. Therefore we ought to keep our members from every work of iniquity, so that our enemy, found unarmed, may be subjected.

And he did not say: Present your bodies, but your members; for it is through the ministering members that error is committed, not through the whole body.

But present yourselves to God, as those alive from the dead.

He signifies death as ignorance and unbelief together with an evil life; because life is to know God through Christ. For since no one takes the origin of life without a parent, but all things have arisen from God unto life through Christ; therefore he who does not know that God through Christ is the parent of all is not said to have life, that is, he is held as though he were not: for he denies his very self to be, while he thinks himself to be without God as parent. And so ignorance and a shameful life is death; these vices acquire for a man that death, not this death which is common to all, but the death of gehenna, as I have recalled above; so that the knowledge of God the parent, and a holy manner of life, is life, not this life which is subject to setting, but that of the age to come, which is called eternal.

Wherefore, present yourselves to God, he says, whom knowing you have advanced unto salvation; that, renouncing a dishonorable life, you might be alive from the dead.

And your members as weapons of righteousness to God.

He wishes our manner of life to be governed with such moderation, that our deeds, advancing the righteousness of God, not worldly righteousness (because the righteousness of the world is without the faith of Christ, without which there is not life, but death), we present as weapons to him for our defense: to whom, when we present weapons through good works, we make ourselves worthy to be aided by him; because the righteousness of God despises the unworthy. For where the righteousness of God is, there the Holy Spirit dwells, to aid our weakness; for just as we present weapons to sin when we act badly, so also to righteousness, when we conduct ourselves rightly, keeping our members from all baseness.

For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the Law, but under grace. If we walk according to the precepts which he gives, he says that sin cannot have dominion over us; for it has dominion over those who sin.

For if we do not walk as he commands, we are under the Law: but if we do not sin, we are not under the Law, but under grace. But if we sin, we are turned again under the Law, and sin will begin to have dominion over us; because he who commits sin is the servant of sin: and it is necessary that he be under the Law, so long as he does not receive remission; for sin, by the authority of the Law, makes the sinner guilty: and by this, whoever has received remission, and keeps himself so as not to sin henceforth, over him neither will sin have dominion, nor is he under the Law. For the authority of the Law ceases with regard to him who has been freed from sin; for those whom the law holds guilty have been handed over to it by sin. Whoever, then, has been stripped of sins, cannot be under the Law.

What then?

Shall we sin, because we are not under the Law, but under grace?

By no means.

Since the Law is from God, and on this account, lest by chance an objection be raised, he proposed it to himself: If the Law is from God, he says, why should we not be under the Law?

This he clears up, and teaches that by the will of God, who is the author of the Law, we have been freed by Christ from under the law; for although the Law was rightly given (for it was given, both to show as guilty before God those who sinned before the Law; and to be a fear, so that henceforth one should not sin), yet because the human race, by the weakness of its own infirmity, could not restrain itself from sins, having been made liable to the death of hell; God, moved by the piety of his clemency, by which he always succors the human race, provided through Christ by what means a remedy might now be given to those in despair; so that, remission of sins having been received, snatched from the Law which held them liable, and relieved and restored, God helping through faith, they might resist the vices by which they had previously been subdued; and therefore we have not sinned as though despising the Law of God, but we have followed the very providence of God through Christ.

Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as servants for obedience, you are the servants of him whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Now lest, professing one thing, we do another, and while we are called servants of God, we be found by our deeds servants of the devil, he forewarns and declares that we are the servants of him whose will we also fulfill by our works; and that it profits little to confess God as Lord, and by one's actions to serve the devil: for God long ago noted this, and accuses, saying: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And the Lord says in the Gospel: No one can serve two masters. And in the law it is said: God is not mocked.

But thanks be to God, that whereas you were the servants of sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine into which you were delivered.

But believing in Christ, we have been made servants of righteousness. For we are called the servants of him whom we obey.

And because it is just to obey Christ (for he himself is righteousness, and what he commands is just), therefore he says that we have been made servants of righteousness from the heart, not from the law; from the will, not from fear: so that our profession may be brought forth by the judgment of the mind. For we were led to faith by nature, not by law, in which form of doctrine we have been made by the command of God, who fashioned nature. For we have it in nature, that we should know by whom, and through whom, and in whom we were created. The form of doctrine, then, is that into which the creator has delivered us naturally, that is, what he said above: They are a law unto themselves; while they see that what they believe belongs to their nature; so that what the law and the prophets proclaimed to the Jews concerning Christ, this the gentiles trust from the heart.

Hence he gives thanks to the Lord, because when we were servants of sin, we obeyed from the heart, believing in Christ; so that we might serve God, not through the law of Moses, but through the law of nature.

I speak in a human way because of the weakness of your flesh.

While he recalls the weakness of the flesh, he signifies that he demands less of man than is fitting with regard to the worship of God. Finally it is added below: For as you presented your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity, unto iniquity; so now present your members to serve righteousness, unto sanctification.

That he might take away from us the occasion of fear in approaching the faith, because it might seem to us as though unbearable and harsh, he commanded us to serve God by that same measure by which we had previously served the devil: although certainly God ought to be served more willingly than the devil, since indeed here salvation, there damnation is wrought; yet the spiritual physician does not demand more of us, lest, while we should flee the precepts as though heavy, weighing our own infirmity, we should remain in death. Whence the Lord says: Take, he says, my yoke upon you ... for it is easy, and my burden is light.

For when you were servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit therefore did you have then in those things of which you now are ashamed? For the end of those things is death. It is clear that whoever is free from God is a servant of sin; for while he sins, he withdraws from God, and comes under sin.

Such then are the fruits of sin, in which, being converted and learning the good life, we are put to shame, because we formerly lived shamefully: and not only this, but also the opinion of the pagans is shameful and foul, especially that which was found in Phrygia, in which, unless a filthy man is present, the sacrament is mute, and religion grows torpid! Behold, a liberty full of stains, and bound with foulness, whose work has a shameful wage: Whose end is death: he called “end” the outcome of life and of deeds, to which either death or life succeeds. But in this place death is twofold, for one passes from death to death.

But now, being freed from sin, and made servants to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end indeed eternal life.

That is, if, having received remission of sins, we shall have become emulators of good deeds, we shall acquire holiness, and we shall have as the end, that is, the outcome, life everlasting; for from this death, which he called “the end,” we shall pass over to the life which is without end.

For the wages of sin is death. He calls the earnings of sin death, because death comes through sin: and by this, those who abstain thereafter from sins receive as their wage eternal life; because those who do not sin are strangers to the second death.

But the grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For just as those who follow sin acquire death; so also those who follow the grace of God, that is, the faith of Christ, which forgives sins, shall have eternal life; that they may rejoice to be dissolved for a time, knowing that they shall obtain this life, which is free from all weariness, and has no succession. Which the holy Simeon, longing for it, asked that he might be dissolved hence; that he might go in peace, that is, into the life which suffers no disquiet. And this gift, given to us by God through Christ, he testifies to be from our Lord; so that we might give thanks to God the Father through no other than through His Son.

Do you not know, brethren, for I speak to those who know the law.

In order to strengthen their minds in divine doctrine, he uses the example of human law; that once again through earthly things he might persuade them of heavenly things, just as God is also known from the creation of the world; because, since all things are of one author, although the things are diverse, yet in some part they are similar to one another. The Romans then know the law; for they are not barbarians: but they grasped natural justice partly from themselves, partly from the Greeks: for laws were brought to the Romans from Athens, just as to the Greeks from the Hebrews. For before Moses the Law was not hidden; but there was no order, nor authority. Speaking then to those who are not ignorant of the law, he says: For the Law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.

It is not hidden that the whole life of man is under the law of nature, which was given to the world: this Law is general. But now he sets forth another, a special one (although it too is general, but since it is not received by all, it becomes special) by which he wishes to prove his assertion; for he wishes to hand down the truth by degrees. He says therefore:

For the woman who is under a husband is bound by the law to her husband while he lives. This law is of the Gospel, not from Moses, nor from earthly justice. Having learned something, then, under the guidance of nature, and something from the law of Moses, they were made perfect through the Gospel of Christ.

By the following example, then, he persuades more openly that Christianity has been stripped from the law of works, but not from every law; nor is it any longer expedient to be under the law, lest, returning under the law, one make void the grace of God; because the grace of God has freed man from the law, that he might serve God in spirit, that is, in mind. For just as a woman, when her husband is dead, is freed from the law of her husband, but not from the law of nature: so also those who by the grace of God have been freed from the law, by which they were held as guilty; so that it might be dead to them, so that being joined to Christianity they might not be adulterers. For if the law lives among them, they are adulterers, and it will profit them nothing to be called Christians, because they will be liable to vengeance.

Nor indeed will he be an adulterer of the law, but of the Gospel, who, the law being dead, being joined to the Gospel, afterward returns to the law; for the law is said to be dead when the one whom it held guilty is unknown to it, the authority of the law having ceased.

But if her husband should die, she is freed from the law of her husband; so that she is not an adulteress if she is joined to another husband.

Those removed from the Law, having received remission of sins, and joined to the Gospel, are not adulterers of the Law; because it is dead to them. But if, while keeping the Law, they think they can also approach the Gospel, they will be guilty and adulterers; because they joined themselves to the faith while the law was still living, and they will be adulterers in both.

Therefore, my brethren, you also have been put to death to the Law through the body of Christ.

Since our Savior allowed his body to be crucified by the devil, knowing it to be for us and against him; therefore he says we have been made safe through the body of Christ. For to die to the law is to live to God; because the Law has dominion over sinners. Whoever, then, has his sins forgiven, dies to the Law, that is, is freed from the Law. Thus we obtain this benefit through the body of Christ; for our Savior, by handing over his body, conquered death, and condemned sin. For in him the devil sinned, when he killed him though innocent, one who knew sin not at all; for while he tried to charge the man on account of sin, he was found guilty in him whom he accused. Hence it came about that all who believe in Christ are rescued from the law, sin having been taken away; because sin, which is the devil, having been conquered through the body of Christ, has no authority over those who belong to him by whom he was conquered.

For while he did not sin and was killed as though guilty, he conquered sin by sin, that is, he condemned the devil by his own sin, which he committed against him: and he blotted out the handwriting that had been decreed against Adam's sin; when he rose from the dead, giving this form to those who believe in him, so that they cannot be held by the second death. And by this we have died to the Law through the body of Christ; for whoever has not died to the Law is guilty; and whoever is guilty cannot escape the second death.

That you may belong to another, who rose from the dead, that we may bear fruit to God.

This he says, because we have died to the Law for this reason, that henceforth we may be servants of Christ alone: and this will be to bear fruit to God. For he is acquired to God who remains in his grace, worthy of the promised resurrection.

For when we were in the flesh. Although he is in the flesh, for he is in the body, he denies that he is in the flesh; because he who follows something forbidden by the law is here said to be in the flesh. Therefore, "to be in the flesh" is understood in many ways: for every unbeliever is in the flesh, that is, carnal; and a Christian living under the law is in the flesh; and whoever hopes in something from men is in the flesh; and whoever understands Christ wrongly is in the flesh; and if any Christian leads a luxurious life, he is in the flesh.

In this place, however, we shall understand "to be in the flesh" thus, that before faith we were in the flesh; for we were living under sin

that is, following carnal senses, we were subject to vices and sins. Now the sense of the flesh is not to believe spiritual things, that is, that a virgin bore a child without union with a man, and that man is born again of water and the Holy Spirit, and that the soul, once loosed from the union of the flesh, rises again in the flesh. Distrustful of these things, one is in the flesh; hence: The vices of sins, he says, which are shown by the Law, were working in our members, that they might bear fruit unto death. It is clear that whoever does not believe acts under sin, and is dragged captive to commit vices; so that death may profit by it unto the second death: for death makes gain then, when sin is committed.

He says, however, that vices work in the members, not in the body, lest there be occasion for those who treat the body badly; because in evil speech the tongue is accused, and in theft the hand is caught, and in dissembling the ears are rebuked, and so with the rest, which, although they proceed from the heart, as the Lord attests in the Gospel, are yet completed in works by the ministry of the members. This discussion touches the Jews, and those who are called Christians and wish to live under the Law; that, learning that they are carnal, they may withdraw from the Law. Yet he says that the vices of sins, which have dominion over those acting in the flesh, are shown through the Law, not made by the Law; for the Law is an indicator of sin, not its begetter, making sinners guilty.

But now we are released from the Law of death, in which we were held.

We are released from the Law, when we have received remission of sins; for it no longer has power over us, for it has dominion over the unbelieving and the sinners. Now the Law is called the Law of death because it punishes the guilty; it puts sinners to death: it is not, therefore, evil, but just. For although what is inflicted by the Law is an evil for those who suffer it, yet it is not evil, because it justly inflicts wrath. Thus it is not evil for sinners, but just, but for the good it is spiritual. For who would doubt that it is spiritual to forbid sinning? But because this could not save man by forgiving sins, the law of faith was given, which would free believers from the dominion of the Law; that those whom the Law held guilty unto death might be able to restore themselves unto life. For the Law is death to those for whom, on account of sin, it works wrath.

So that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

Here he is thought to touch upon the law, which indeed he makes inferior in comparison with the law of faith; yet he does not judge it to be an enemy. For he says that we have been rescued from the law of death for this reason, that we might serve the law of faith, which has conferred upon us saving help, which the old law could not; lest we seem to disparage the benefit of grace by serving the old law. The old law is not the name of a crime, but of a time or age; for it has grown old, because it has ceased.

But the law of the spirit is itself the law of faith

because faith is in the soul, and is not learned by works, but is believed by the heart: and the mind itself understands that what it believes belongs to its own nature, and it is not seen with the eyes, or touched with the hands: and the gifts which are hoped for are not visible, nor earthly, but spiritual. The old law, then, was formed on tablets of stone; but the law of the spirit is written spiritually on tablets of the heart, so that it may be eternal: but the letter of the old law is consumed by age. There is also another interpretation of the law of the spirit; namely, that since the earlier law restrained from evil deeds, this one, since it says that one ought not to sin even in the heart, is called the law of the spirit; that it may make the whole man spiritual.

What then shall we say?

Is the Law sin? God forbid.

Since he calls this the law of death, and rejoices that we have been rescued from it, and denies that one serves God in it; lest he be thought to assert that it is unjust, he clears this when he says: God forbid.

But I had not known sin, but by the Law.

Therefore the Law is not sin, but the indicator of sin; for it shows both the sins that were hidden, and that they would not go unpunished before God. This being learned, man became guilty; and therefore he does not seem to give thanks to the Law. For who would gladly regard one who announces that punishment is imminent for him? But he gives thanks to the law of faith; because he who was made guilty through the law of Moses has been reconciled to God through the law of faith: although that too is just and good; for to show imminent danger is indeed good. But he gives thanks more to the one through whom, rescued from danger, he lives.

For I had not known concupiscence, unless the Law had said in Exodus: You shall not covet. He did not distinguish this concupiscence from sin, but conflated it, signifying this, that although there was not even a suspicion that this was not permitted before God; "I recognized," he says, "that it was sin." Under his own person, he treats, as it were, a general case. The Law, then, forbids concupiscence, which was not thought to be sin because it is a delight. For the case seemed simple, to desire something of a neighbor's, but the Law revealed this to be sin: for to worldly men nothing seems so exalted and pleasant as pleasure.

But sin, having taken occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of concupiscence.

Saying "all manner of concupiscence," he signifies all sins.

For above he mentions concupiscence according to the Law, to which now, adding the other vices, he said that all concupiscence was wrought in man by the impulse of the devil, whom he signifies in "sin"; so that the Law, which had been given to profit man, might work to his contrary. For the devil, seeing help provided for man through the Law, whom he was rejoicing to have in his condition both on account of Adam's sin and on account of his own, understood that a thing had been done against him. For whomever he saw made subject to the Law, he took for certain to have been removed from his dominion; for man had come to know how he might escape the punishment of hell. Hence he burned with wrath against man, that he might invert the Law for him; so that by committing forbidden things, he might again offend God, and fall again under the power of the devil.

He began not to command, but subtly to deceive; since, the Law having been given, the devil lost his dominion, knowing that man henceforth belonged to the judgment of God.

For without the Law sin was dead. This is to be understood in a twofold way, so that you know both that the devil is signified in "sin," and this very thing which is called sin. For the devil is said to have been dead; because he ceased from deluding man before the Law, but was, as it were, at rest; for he was secure in his possession of him. But he said that sin was dead; because it was thought that it was not imputed before God: therefore among men it was dead, as though one sinned with impunity. For sin was not hidden, as I said above: but it was not known that God would judge it. And when the Law was given, it is clear that sin came to life again. Why did it come to life again, unless because it had lived before, and afterward, through the negligence of men, was reckoned dead, while it was living? For it was thought that sin was not imputed, when it was imputed.

Living, then, it was held for dead.

But I was alive without the Law once.

What is "without the Law," since the Law always existed, as I noted above, unless it means that man lived without the fear of God, secure that God was not going to judge human acts. But when the commandment came, sin revived. He said sin revived so as to signify that it had lived before: but afterward, through the negligence of men, it was reckoned dead, while it lived, just as false rumor is wont to arise concerning strangers. This, then, signifies that in the beginning it was not hidden that sin was imputed before God, that is, it had lived: but when the habit of sinning had blotted this out, it was reckoned dead; so that the crime was thought to perish with the person. But when the Law was given, or reformed, it revived among those among whom it had been reckoned dead; for they began to know that sin was imputed.

I died.

Man dies, because he sees himself guilty before God, whereas before he thought he would not be liable on account of the things which he sinned. And the commandment, which was ordained unto life, was found to be unto death for me. It is true, because the Law was given unto life: but when it made man guilty not only for the past, but also for future sin, the Law given unto life became unto death: but, as I said, unto him who sins; for to the obedient it profits unto life.

For sin, having taken occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. Understand the devil in "sin" in this place, who is the author of sin.

He found occasion here through the law, how he might satisfy his cruelty by the death of man; so that, since the Law had threatened sinners, man, always committing forbidden things at his instigation, having offended God, would incur the vengeance of the Law; so that he would be condemned by that which had been given to profit him. For because the Law was given against his will, he burned with envy against man, that he might further stain him with vicious pleasures, lest he escape his hands.

So then the Law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.

So that no suspicion of opposition might remain concerning the Law, he so commends it, that he pronounces it not only just, but also holy and good. For that the Law is understood by "commandment" the gospel word attests. For he says: If you wish to come to life, keep the commandments.

Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid.

Truly, God forbid; for how could it come about that what is proven to be good should be understood as death?

But sin, that it might appear sin, worked death in me by that which is good. He says that the devil took occasion through what is good in order to work evil upon man, while he seduces him unto death; because, so that the things which were done wickedly before the Law might be proven to be sins by the enticement of desire, and be avoided thereafter, the Law was given, made manifest in writing. Then Satan was inflamed, indeed through what is good; for he saw provision made for man, and he persuaded him to unlawful things; so that death might come to him instead of life from the Law. This indeed must be ascribed to human negligence, which so weakened the vigor of its own nature by desire of sinning, that it could not repress the suggestions of the adversary.

Yet the enemy, whom he signifies in "sin," that he might appear to be an enemy, took occasion through the Law to work death for man. For while he persuaded him to unlawful things, he appears to be an enemy. Although even before the Law he procured death for man, except for the first cause of Adam, yet after the Law he devised greater punishments for him in hell, where the second death is. For it is a lesser crime to have sinned before the Law was made manifest, than after the Law.

That sin, by the commandment, might become sinful above measure.

What is "above measure"; as though a measure were given to transgressors, since it is not lawful to sin at all? But these are the words of God, saying: The sins of the Amorites are not yet complete. By this he shows that there is a certain measure of sins, which, when sinners have filled it, they are judged unworthy of life at all; just as also Pharaoh, because he had filled this measure, the powers and signs of God were shown against him, through which the rest, being terrified, might exercise themselves for the profit of life, so that life might be learned from a dead man.

But this is another measure which the Apostle treats; for, to show that sin was greater under the Law than it had been before the Law, he signifies that beyond this measure of sins a greater measure grew after the Law by the envy and cunning of Satan; so that the providence of God might become contrary to man, though man ought least of all to sin with the fear of the Law present. Therefore God, in order to conquer the envy of the devil, and to make good his providence toward man, changed the order, sending the Savior Christ, who might both conquer the devil, and confirm God's decrees concerning man.

For we know that the Law is spiritual. Since he speaks to those who know the Law, he therefore says: We know that the Law is spiritual; for they would not have placed themselves under the Law, unless they recognized it to be spiritual.

He calls the Law of Moses spiritual, which was given on tablets: which, because it forbids sinning, is spiritual; since it forbids the worship of visible and carnal things. These things pertain to the commendation of the Law, lest it be thought by anyone perhaps deserving of blame; because it exercised severity against sinners.

But I am carnal, sold under sin.

He calls man carnal, while he sins. Sold under sin. This is to be understood as: to be sold under sin, deriving one's origin from Adam who first sinned, and by one's own transgression being made subject to sin, as the prophet Isaiah says: You were sold, he says, for your sins: for Adam sold himself first, and by this all his seed is made subject to sin. Wherefore man is weak for keeping the precepts of the law, unless he be fortified by divine aid; hence it is that he says: The Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin; that is, the Law is firm and just, and without fault: but man is fragile, and subjected to the paternal, or his own, transgression; so that he cannot use his own power to obey the Law.

Therefore recourse must be had to the mercy of God, that he may escape the severity of the Law, and, unburdened of his sins, may thereafter, by God's favor, resist the enemy. For what is it to be subject to sin, except to have a body corrupted by the vice of the soul, into which sin inserts itself, and drives man as a captive to sins, that he may do its will? Hence the Lord among other things says: The devil comes, and takes away that which was sown in their heart, lest they be saved. Whence the same Apostle in another epistle says: We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places, which are known to be the satellites of Satan. For before man's transgression, before he had enslaved himself to death, they had no power to approach the interior of man, and insert adverse thoughts. Hence it was through his cunning that he beguiled man in conversation through the serpent.

But after he had beguiled him and subjugated him, he received power over him, to assault the inner man, joining himself to his mind; so that he cannot recognize what is his own in thought, and what is the other's, unless he look to the law.

For that which I do, I understand not. He does not understand what he does, because he sees that he knows one thing through the Law, and does another. For not what I will, that do I: but what I hate, that I do. Being subject to sin, he does indeed what he does not will.

If then what I hate, that I do, I consent unto the Law.

He proves that the Law forbids rightly, when he confesses that he does this unwillingly which the law forbids: and he says that what the Law commands belongs to his own nature; because he calls what he does outside of it hateful to himself.

Now then it is no longer I that work it, but sin that dwells in me.

Since by the law he sees that what he does is forbidden, and consents that it ought not to be done, and by this that there is something else, by whose impulse he declares these things to be done, that is, sin. He always names it sin, since it is known to be the devil with his angels; because had the first man not sinned, these things would not have come to pass: and by this it is sin that does all these things.

For I know that there does not dwell in me, that is, in my flesh, good.

He does not say, as it seems to some, that the flesh is evil: but that what dwells in the flesh is not good, but sin. How does sin dwell in the flesh, since it is not a substance, but a transgression of the good? Because the body of the first man was corrupted by sin so that it could be dissolved: this very corruption of sin, by the condition of the offense, remains in the body, holding the force of the divine sentence given against Adam, which is the sign of the devil, at whose instigation he sinned. Through that, then, which remains as the cause of the deed, sin is said to dwell in the flesh, to which the devil comes, as to his own law, and remains, as it were, sin in sin; because the flesh is already of sin, so as to deceive man by evil suggestions; lest man do what the law commands.

For to will is present with me. He asserts the things which the Law commands to be so good, that he says they naturally please him, and he wishes to do them. But how to perform that which is good I find not. And so it is pleasing what is commanded by the Law, and there is the will to do it: but that it may be fulfilled, power and strength are lacking; because he is so pressed by the power of sin, that he cannot go where he wills, nor is he able to resist; because another is the master of his power. For man is already weighed down by the habit of sinning, and succumbs more easily to sin than to the law, which he knows teaches good things; and even if he wishes to do good things, habit presses upon him, the enemy assisting.

For not the good that I will, do I: but the evil which I will not, that I do. He often repeats, in order to make clear.

This, then, is what was said above, that, as a captive, he is compelled by the aforementioned causes to do that which sin wills.

Now if I do that which I will not, it is no longer I that work it, but sin that dwells in me.

This is what he already mentioned above, that, pressed and subjugated by sin, he accomplishes not his own will, but that of sin. Is it, because he says that man sins unwillingly, that he ought to seem free from crime; because he does this, which he does not will, pressed by the force of power? Not at all; for by his own fault and negligence these things were begun. For because he handed himself over to sin by his own consent, sin has dominion over him by right; for it first persuades, so that it may afterward dominate the one it has conquered.

But the Apostle, in order to give preference to the grace of God, sets forth these things concerning from how great evils he has freed man, or what destruction he draws from Adam, but what benefits he has obtained through Christ; so that he might demonstrate what even the Law could not help.

I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me.

He asserts that the Law of Moses gives consent to his own will against the sin which dwells in the flesh, which compels one to do something else than what man and the Law will.

For I delight in the Law of God according to the inward man. He says that the mind is delighted with the things which are handed down by the Law: this is the inward man; because sin does not dwell in the soul, but in the flesh, which is of the origin of the flesh of sin, and by transmission all flesh becomes flesh of sin.

For if the soul too were from transmission, and sin dwelt in it too; for the soul of Adam sinned more than the body: but the sin of the soul corrupted the body. In the flesh, then, sin dwells, as at the doors of the soul; so that it may not permit it to go where it wills. But if it dwelt in the soul, man would never recognize himself: but now he recognizes himself, and delights together with the law of God.

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

He mentions two laws, of which he professes that he sees one in his members, that is, in the outward man, which is the flesh or body. This is the adverse law, this one warring against the mind, dragging it captive into the condition of sin; lest it, going further, find an advocate.

The other is the law of the mind, which is the law of Moses, or natural law, which is in the soul.

This is pressed by the violence of sin, indeed by its own negligence, because in loving vices, it subjects itself to sin, so that it may be held captive by habit itself; for habit dominates man. He names, indeed, four laws: the first the spiritual law, which is also natural, which was reformed by Moses, and set in authority, is itself the Law of God: then the law of the mind, agreeing with the Law of God: third, the law of sin, which he says dwells in the members from the transgression of the first man: fourth indeed that which is seen in the members, while it suggests evil things, and withdraws. But these seem to be four repeated laws, whereas they are two, that is, good and evil.

For the law of the mind is itself the spiritual law, or that of Moses, which is called the law of God: but the law of sin is the same as that which he says is seen in the members, which contradicts the law of our mind.

Wretched man that I am!

Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. He calls man wretched, because he is born under sin. Is not man truly wretched, who has succeeded to this inheritance of transgression, having sin as an enemy with him, through which Satan has access to him? For Adam fashioned steps, by which the despoiler ascends to his children, had not the most merciful Lord, moved by mercy, given his grace through Christ; so that the human race, relieved and having received remission of sins, might thereafter be able to come to its senses, sin being repressed and condemned.

For, unburdened of evils and purified, one is able to resist the adversary, power having been received against him, while he is helped by God. Here he introduces, as it were, a third law, that of faith, more powerful, which he also calls grace: which nevertheless takes its origin from the spiritual law; because through this man is set free, so that, since Moses gave the law, and the Lord also gave it, they may be called two; yet one is to be understood, as far as sense and providence are concerned. For the one is the initiator of salvation, the other the consummator. But I do not mean that part of the law which concerns new moons and circumcision and foods; but that which pertains to the sacrament of God and to discipline. By the grace of God, then, through Christ, man is set free from the body of this death.

He calls this death that which he showed above to be found in the destruction of man through sin, in hell, which is called the second: but the body of death is all sins together; for many are one body, individual sins being, as it were, members found under one author, from which man, rescued by the grace of God through baptism, has escaped the aforementioned death. For he would not, while placed in a body of flesh, say that he had been rescued from that very thing: but he meant this body which he signifies above to be destroyed through baptism and the observance of the Law. For also when he says: From the body of death, he shows that there is another body which is not of death.

Therefore I myself with the mind serve the Law of God. When he says the Law of God, he signifies both the law of Moses and that of Christ. But with the flesh, the law of sin. I myself, that is, who have been set free from the body of death. He is in the body; how has he been freed from the body of death, unless because he has been freed from all evils? For remission of sins takes away all sins. Freed, then, from the body of death by the grace of God through Christ, with the mind or soul I serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin, that is, of the devil, who through the flesh subject to him introduces evil suggestions to the soul. Since, therefore, man is twofold, converted in flesh and in mind, he said that he serves the Law of God with the mind; because the mind is devoted to God, and, its power having been recovered, it can resist sin, which works through the flesh.

For because the flesh is corrupted, and subjected to death, which was made in such a way that it would not die through the fellowship and union of the soul; it has received desires, the burden of which, as it were, it transfers to the mind, so that the mind too is weighed down. But what repels that? The death of the grace of God.

With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin, as has been said.

For now the soul is free, and having been recalled into a good habit, with the help of the Holy Spirit it can despise evil suggestions; for authority has been restored to it, whereby it may dare to resist the enemy. For he who is now no longer liable can by no means be tracked down against his will. But since the flesh has no judgment, nor is capable of discerning (for it is a brute nature), it cannot close the entrance to the enemy so that, when he comes, he does not enter and suggest things contrary to the soul; and on this account he says: With the flesh I serve the law of sin. For since one man consists of flesh and soul, from that part by which he understands, he serves God; from the other, by which he is dull, he serves the law of sin.

But if man had persevered in that in which he was made, the enemy would have no power to approach his flesh and whisper things contrary to the soul. But since the whole man was by no means restored by the grace of Christ to his original state, the sentence given against Adam stood in the way; for it was unjust to dissolve a sentence rightly pronounced. Therefore, with the sentence remaining, a remedy was found by the providence of God, so that salvation might be restored to man, which he had lost by his own fault; so that man, now healed, might believe that his adversary, conquered by the power of Christ, would not dare—now that the sentence of the first death had been pierced through—to hold man for himself, once the race of Adam had been reunited, lest, remaining wholly immortal, he should be restored to the condition of his first origin.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh.

This is true, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, serving carefully the law of God. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed me from the law of sin and death. He brings security to man through the grace of God, so that he need not be anxious about the suggestions of the devil, provided he despises them; for they will not harm man in regard to the second death; because the law of faith, that is, the spirit, has freed man from the second death, sin having been condemned: nor does it now harm man that sin dwells in the flesh, provided he resists it, mindful of God's help; but he is even to be crowned who represses the counsels of the sin remaining in the flesh; for it is a great skill to avoid the ambushes of a domestic enemy.

The law of the spirit of life, then, is the law of faith itself: for the law of Moses too is spiritual

because it forbids sin; yet it is not a law of life, because it cannot forgive the sins of those liable to death, so as to give life to those about to die. But this law, because it both does not wish sin and calls back from death, is called the law of the spirit of life, consisting not of the letter but of the spirit; because it is believed with the heart, and that which is believed is spirit. This Law therefore, in Christ Jesus, that is, through faith in Christ, frees the believer from the law of sin and death. The law of sin is that which he says dwells in the members, which strives to persuade contrary things: but the law of death is the law of Moses, because it puts sinners to death.

For also in another epistle he says among other things concerning the authority of the Law: If the ministration of death, engraved on stones, was in glory.

It is therefore not to be wondered at if the law is called both spiritual and a law of death; since the Gospel too is in the same way. For he says elsewhere among other things: To some the odor of life unto life, to others the odor of death unto death. For those whom the report of virtues, or the sight or hearing of deeds accomplished, drew to faith, to them the Gospel was an odor of life; but to those whose perception the deed done inflamed to contradiction, the preaching of faith was an odor of death. Faith, then, though one, produces diversity in men; just as the sun, though one, melts wax but hardens clay. According to the disposition, then, with which each has smelled the faith, so also will it profit him. But perhaps it is said: If faith produces the same effect as the Law, why is it not also itself in part called a law of death, since it puts to death those who do not believe? But it is not so.

For faith is given that it may justify those who flee to it, so that it may forgive those whom the Law holds guilty; so that those acting under faith may be free from sin: for those acting under the law are liable. Those, then, who do not obey the faith are not killed by the faith, but by the Law; because, not coming to the faith, they are held guilty by the Law: and therefore all who with an evil mind smell the words of faith remain in death.

Let us now see what the difference is when it is said "spiritual law" and "law of the spirit." The difference is this: it is called spiritual law

because it gives precepts by which one may not sin, because he who does not sin is called spiritual; a rival of the higher things, that is, the heavenly. But it is called the law of the spirit because God, whose faith it is, is spirit. There, then, are words; here, the reality: there, the things that are of God; here, God Himself.

For what was impossible for the Law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh out of sin. He says this to make the baptized secure, because they have been freed from sin. What was impossible, he says, for the Law. Impossible for whom? Impossible, that is, for us, to fulfill the command of the Law; because we were subject to sin.

On this account God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

This is the likeness of the flesh: because although it is the same flesh as ours, it was not formed and born in the womb in the same manner as our flesh. For it was sanctified in the womb, and born without sin, and He Himself did not sin in it. For this reason the virginal womb was chosen for the Lord's birth, so that the flesh of the Lord might differ from our flesh in holiness; for it is alike in cause, not in the quality of the substance of sin. Therefore he called it "like" because, though of the same substance of flesh, it did not have the same nativity; because the Lord's body was not subject to sin. For the flesh of the Lord was purified by the Holy Spirit, so that He might be born in such a body as Adam had before sin—yet the sentence given upon Adam still stood alone against it.

God, therefore, having sent Christ, condemned sin out of sin, that is, He condemned sin by its own sin.

For when Christ is crucified by sin—that is, by Satan—he sinned a sin in the flesh of the Savior's body: by this deed God condemned sin in the flesh, there indeed where he sinned, just as also in another epistle he says: Triumphing over them in Himself; that is, in Christ. For it is customary to say of anyone condemned: On what charge was he condemned? The answer is given, say, for homicide. So also sin was condemned in the flesh, that is, in the sin which it committed in the flesh. Satan, therefore, having been made guilty by this sin, lost dominion over the souls he had held, so that he no longer dares to hold in the second death those now marked with the sign of the cross, by which he was conquered.

For this reason the Apostle treats these things for our security.

That the justification of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

Therefore he says sin was condemned, that the justification of the Law given by Moses might be fulfilled in us; for having been removed from the condition of the Law, we have become friends of it, since the justified are friends of the Law. But how is the justification of the Law fulfilled in us, except when remission of all sins is granted, so that, sins having been taken away, one may appear justified, serving with the mind the law of God? This is not to walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit; so that the devotion of the mind, which is the spirit, does not consent to the desire of sin; because through the flesh it sows the soul's concupiscences, in which sin dwells. But if sin has been condemned by the Savior, how does it dwell?

It has been condemned by the Savior, and condemned in a threefold manner. First, He condemned sin by not sinning, dissenting from sin. Then, on the cross, sin—because it sinned—is said to have been condemned. Whence the authority as it were of sin was taken away from it, by which it detained men in hell on account of Adam's transgression; so that henceforth in those who bear the sign of the cross it dares not detain them. Thirdly, He condemned sin when He made transgressions void, remission of sins having been granted. For whereas the sinner was to be condemned because of the sin committed, He, forgiving him, condemned the sin in him. So if we too, by the Savior's example, do not sin, we condemn sin.

For they that are according to the flesh mind the things of the flesh. He says this, because he who obeys the suggestion that is effected through the flesh, minds the things of the flesh.

For that seems pleasant to him which follows, seeking, against what is right, the practice and opinion of the error of the flesh; for in the flesh worldly error is marked in every respect. But they that are according to the spirit, mind the things of the spirit. It is clear that he who restrains himself from the desires of the flesh lives according to the law of the mind; for that seems to him worth knowing which agrees with the Law.

For the wisdom of the flesh is death. The wisdom of the flesh is sin, which begets death. It is called wisdom, though the thing is foolish, because to worldly men errors conceived from visible things, whether in feeling or in act, contrary to the law of God, seem wisdom: especially because all their industry and cunning consists in this, that they may sin. For they seem to themselves wise if they attend to this more diligently; whereas nothing is more foolish than to sin.

There is also another wisdom of the flesh, which, inflated by worldly reasonings, denies that anything can happen that lacks a worldly explanation.

Hence it derides the Virgin's childbearing, the resurrection of the flesh. But the wisdom of the spirit is life and peace. Truly this is wisdom, which acquires life and peace; for, following spiritual things, having despised the enticements of the present life, it will have eternal life with peace, that is, without disquiet; where there is no disturbance and no punishment.

Because the wisdom of the flesh is hostile to God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. He did not call the flesh hostile, but the wisdom of the flesh; that is, not the substance, but either evil deeds, or thought, or assertion born of error. The wisdom of the flesh, then, is first of all the disputation about the stars invented by men, and then delight in visible things.

These are hostile to God

because they equate to what He made the Lord of the elements and the maker of the world, asserting that nothing can come to be beyond what the order of the world contains. For this reason they deny that God made the Virgin bring forth, or that the bodies of the dead will rise; because, they say, it is foolish for God to do more than man understands. O wise men of the world, who think that God ought not to act otherwise than the creature made by Him acts—as if He Himself were to be thought like His creatures! So blinded are they that they do not see what an insult they do to God.

For the work which He deigned to do to be proclaimed to His praise, they, disparaging it, assert to be incredible and foolish: and therefore this wisdom of the flesh cannot be subject to the law of God; for they sharpen their zeal to this end, that they may fight against the deeds of God.

For they that are in the flesh cannot please God. The wise of the world are in the flesh, because they pursue the wisdom of the world, through which they resist the law of God. For whatever is against the law of God is carnal, because it is of the world; for the whole world is flesh: for everything visible is reckoned to the flesh; for they are akin to the flesh, indeed elements of the flesh. Therefore he who obeys worldly things is in the flesh. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

Those placed in the flesh are said not to be in the flesh, if, agreeing with the apostle John, they do not love worldly things; for a man's disposition, as it were, fashions his own nature, so that he is called that which he inclines toward. If so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. He speaks ambiguously for this reason, because, having been led to the Law, they were not yet of perfect faith; but he saw in them the hope of perfection. Whence sometimes he speaks to them as though perfect, sometimes as though about to become perfect—that is, sometimes he praises, sometimes he admonishes—so that if they conduct themselves according to what has been said above, in keeping with the law of nature, they are said to be in the spirit; because the Spirit of God cannot dwell in one who follows carnal things. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.

What he called above the Spirit of God, he now calls the Spirit of Christ, because all things of the Father are the Son's.

He says this, then, because whoever is subject to the above-mentioned errors does not belong to Christ; for he does not have His Spirit, which he had received in order to be a son of God. For the Holy Spirit forsakes a man for two reasons: either when he has the mind of the flesh, or its deeds. Therefore, through these admonitions, he exhorts to good conduct; for although men are raised up by the goodness of God, yet those called sons of God are burdened, unless they live accordingly, lest they seem unworthy of the name granted to them.

the body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of justification.

He asserts that the body is dead because of sin in those whom the Holy Spirit has forsaken, and that the death dealing of their passion does not reach to this, that is, to the Spirit. For the Spirit of God knows not how to sin; He is given for justification, that by His help He may justify. Therefore, because He knows not how to sin, He is life; for He cannot die, because death comes through sin: and so the sinner will harm himself, not the Spirit whom he has received. For the Spirit, who wills to justify, will not be the cause. For this is the sign of justification in a man, that through what dwells in him he appears justified as a son of God; for the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in a feigned man, nor in a body subjected to sins, as Solomon says: but if anyone lives again after the flesh, forsaken by the Holy Spirit, he shall die in his injustice.

Saying "body," he signifies the whole man dead

because of sin, just as also by the prophet, under the term "soul," the whole man is signified, as it were the whole by a part; for he says: The soul that sins, it shall die. Is this without the body? Here he put "body" for the whole man; there, "soul." And another prophet, by saying "flesh," signified the whole man; for he says: All flesh shall see the salvation of God. And since the Holy Spirit is given to the baptized, it is also said to be the spirit itself. Therefore he called the rest of man's makeup "body" in comparison to it, because the soul, when it sins, is called "flesh"; for it is called that which it follows, as I have already often said.

In like manner also the Lord, when in His passion He wished His divinity to be understood as by no means fearful, but the sorrow to be that of a man, said: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak; that in the spirit He might signify God, but in the flesh, man.

But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you; He that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies

because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you. He treats the same sense in the same manner; for he said "bodies," by which he signifies men. And because above he said the body dies the second death because of sin, here again he has promised that mortal bodies will be quickened because of a good life, that is, the whole man.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

It is right and clear that we ought not to comply with the invention of Adam, who acted carnally, who, first sinning, left death to us by title of inheritance: but we ought to serve the law of Christ, who redeemed us from the aforesaid death by a spiritual reckoning; to Him we are debtors, who, when we were defiled by carnal vices, washed us clean by the laver of the Spirit, justified us, and made us sons of God. For formerly, placed in the flesh, we lived, by Adam's example, subject to sins: but now, freed, we owe obedience to the Redeemer. Which obedience indeed profits Him nothing, who lacks nothing: but it wins for us eternal life; for He so loves us that He accounts to Himself what profits us.

For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die. Nothing is more true, for if we live according to Adam, we shall die; for Adam, transgressing, sold himself to sin, reckoned to the flesh.

For every sin is flesh; for since outward vices and transgressions arise from the senses, that is, from hearing, sight, touch, smell, or taste, they are reckoned to the flesh. For every thought that looks outward runs into transgression; for even the first man's sin arose from without. To live according to the flesh, then, is death; for every act of the flesh is outside the Law. But if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. The body wills to be governed by the law of the soul; whence he shows that if, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the acts and counsels of the flesh, which are contrived by the powers of this world instigating them, are repressed, so that they do not receive power to act, life is granted.

For they are said to be mortified if they cease: for they are not, if they cease; because sin is not, if it is not done.

For whosoever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. He says these are led by the Spirit of God in whose acts the counsels of the princes and powers of this world are not seen: but in whose acts they are seen, they are not sons of God, but of the devil; because he who is born of God does not sin, says the apostle John. For this is what proves the children of God and of the devil. Whence the Lord, to the Jews, because they were acting wickedly and plotting parricide, said: You are of your father the devil.

For you have not received again the spirit of bondage in fear.

He says this, because, the Holy Spirit having been received, we are stripped of the fear of evil deeds; so that henceforth we do nothing of the sort that we should fear again. For before, we were under fear, because, the Law having been given, all were made guilty. He therefore called the Law the spirit of fear; because it placed men in fear on account of sin. But the law of faith, which is signified in the spirit of adoption, is the law of security; because it delivers us from fear while it forgives sins, and thereby has made us secure: and it is called the spirit not of fear according to this reasoning. But you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

By the grace of God, freed from fear, we have received the spirit of adoption of sons; that, considering what we were, and what we have obtained by the gift of God, we may order our life with great diligence; lest the name of God the Father suffer injury in us, and we, as ingrates, fall back into all those things which we have escaped. For we have obtained such grace that we dare say to God: Abba, that is, Father! And therefore he admonishes us lest the confidence received turn into rashness; for if to this word, whereby we say, Abba, Father, we show a life unlike it, we do injury to God, calling Him Father. For this reason, by His goodness He has granted us this which is above our nature; that what by our substance we are unworthy of, we may merit by our works.

The Spirit Himself gives testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God.

When we act well, and thereby the Holy Spirit Himself remaining in us, to this voice and to our mind, whereby we cry in prayer, Abba

that is, Father, the Spirit of God gives testimony, while He remains in us, that we do not say Abba, Father, in vain. For let us show a life worthy of this word; and this is the testimony of sons, if in them, through the Spirit, the paternal mark is seen.

if sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

Since God the Father can in no way be said to have died, while Christ His Son is said to have died on account of the incarnation, how is it that he who died is said to be heir of the ever-living one; since heirs are surely never of anyone but the dead? But this reasoning is of humanity, not of divinity.

For with God, what among us is called inheritance is a gift of the father transferred to obedient sons; so that the living may be heir of the living by his own merit, not by the necessity of the deceased. Whence the Lord too, in the Gospel, signified—by a reasoning no more human than divine—that he divided living substance to living heirs, though in a parable; for a parable is not composed on an absurd basis. That He might therefore make us ready to obey God the Father, He exhorts by this hope, saying that we shall be heirs of God, and joint heirs of Christ; that, since the hope of the reward is great, we might be so much the more inclined toward the things of God, setting aside care for worldly things. But what it is to be a joint heir of the Son of God, we are taught by the apostle John; for among other things he says: We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him.

If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.

How we can become joint heirs of Christ he declares, saying: If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. Let us see, then, what it is to suffer with Him. To suffer with Him is to bear persecutions on account of the hope of future things, and to crucify the flesh with its vices and concupiscences, that is, to despise the pleasures and pomps of the world. For when all these things have become dead as far as a man is concerned, he crucifies the world, believing in the life of the future age, in which he hopes to become a joint heir of Christ.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.

This exhortation pertains to the foregoing, by which he shows that the things which can be inflicted here by the faithless are small, in comparison with the reward decreed for the future age. For this reason he bids us be ready for all exiles, because great rewards have been promised for these things; so that in tribulation the soul may console itself, and grow by hope. For we know that some, indeed many, for the sake of present gains, which will profit them only a little, undergo how harsh and hard labors, and yet, since life itself is fragile and uncertain, cannot arrive at the things toward which they strive. Do not sailors, for the sake of such gains, entrust themselves to storms and tempests so great, though they know that in these death is before their eyes more than life? And soldiers, from hope of present reward, when victory is uncertain, do not hesitate to rise against the sword.

How much more, then, must one suffer for Christ, whose benefits toward us have even been prolonged: who promises for small things magnificent ones, for earthly things heavenly ones, and for temporal things perpetual rewards with glory! We are said to suffer for Christ, though what we suffer profits not Him, but ourselves: but because He seeks an occasion of rewarding us, He enjoins this; for as a good and lavish giver seeks a reason how he may give either to the unworthy or to the modest. Finally, that these very exiles might be endured, He Himself supplies the strength.

For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God.

Since he said that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the coming glory, he added that the creature awaits this, that the number of the sons of God, destined for life, may be completed; that then at last even the creature itself may be able to be freed from the bondage of corruption, and to cease from vice.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly. The creature, placed under the power of the Lord and Creator, was not of its own accord subject to vanity; for it will not profit the creature itself that it was made subject, but us. In what, then, is it subject to vanity, except that the things it generates are perishable? For it works so as to produce corruptible fruits: corruption itself, then, is the vanity; for all things that are born in the world are weak, perishable, and corruptible, and thereby vain.

For they are vain, because they cannot keep their state: for all things, deformed by their flux, always return into themselves, confounded into their nature. Solomon too says this of these things, that all these things are vanity. Nor does David disagree with these, saying: Nevertheless every man living is altogether vanity. For is not eating and drinking, and caring for the things of the world, vanity? And yet this very vanity is of profit; for it profits men born into the world, that through these things, exercised in their bodies, they may learn the mystery of the Creator. For in comparison with eternal things they are vain; for in themselves they are good, since indeed they are necessary.

But for him who made it subject in hope.

What that hope is, he immediately added, saying: Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God. Since the creature cannot contradict its Maker, on His account it has been made subject, not without hope.

For, placed in labor, it has this comfort, that it will have rest, when all those whom God knows will believe shall have believed; on account of whom it was also made subject.

For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth until now. To travail is to be in pain. This is the sense: that every creature groans and suffers pain through daily toil, up until now. "Until now" signifies "as long as it is being read." For the elements themselves perform their tasks with anxious care; for both sun and moon fulfill, not without labor, the spaces appointed to them, and the spirit of animals is straitened with great groaning to render their services; for we see them groaning, forced unwillingly to labor. All these things, then, await rest, that they may be freed from servile work. But if this were a servitude that profited them toward earning merit with God, the creature would rejoice, not grieve: but because it was made subject to the bondage of corruption on our account, it grieves.

For it sees its works perish daily; for its work daily arises and sets. Rightly, then, does that grieve whose operation pertains not to eternity, but to corruption. As far, then, as it is given to understand, they are sufficiently concerned for our salvation, knowing that they will benefit toward their liberation the sooner, if only we recognize their Author more quickly. Knowing these things, then, let us show ourselves worthy with all care and diligence, that we may also be an example to others, moved not only by our own compassion, but also on account of that creature which, day and night, suffering injuries, groans; for we are wont to be more zealously watchful in the causes of others.

not only it, but ourselves also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of our body.

After the worldly creature, he added that we too await this, and groan to God, that we may all, destined for life, be freed from here

because to Christians this world is a sea. For as the sea is stirred by adverse storms, rises up, and makes a tempest for those sailing, so too the age, moved by the conspiracy of the faithless, disturbs the minds of the faithful: and the enemy does this with such variety that it is unknown which thing should be avoided first. For if power ceases to be against us, he stirs up the minds of private persons: if these too are restrained, he kindles a fire through household members; and if this too is checked, by his art he makes discord even among brothers themselves; so that the house, battered on four sides, may fall in ruin from some quarter.

On this account Christians must flee from here with one resolve; for they ought to follow the example of holy Simeon, who, knowing that war is waged here against the faithless, asked to be dismissed in peace. This is what each of us, praying for all, prays: that the kingdom of God may come; for then will be the liberation of our body, that is, of all Christians: for by "body" he signified all, because we are members one of another. The Apostle indeed, like a man of God, judges well of us, saying that we groan, that we may be freed hence, as Simeon too groaned: but I see that we are held by the delight of the world. Through what has been said above, then, he shows how great a force the creature suffers on our account; since when even we, whom its service profits, and who have the Spirit of God as helper, groan, that we may be freed hence, that we may obtain the promised rewards.

How much more, then, does the creature groan, which has neither the Holy Spirit as helper, nor labors in its own cause: with this added, that it sees the things it produces by its labor, which ought to serve as food for the servants of God, unlawfully sacrificed to idols! Whence it grieves the more, and desires to be freed the sooner, knowing that this serves to the injury of the Creator.

For we are saved by hope. He says this, because by hoping for what God has promised in Christ, we have earned merit for ourselves, that we may be freed. We are freed, then, in hope; because nothing else will come to pass than what we believe. But hope that is seen is not hope. It is clear that that is not hope which is seen, but that which is not seen: and thereby believers are to be rewarded; because they hope for what they do not see.

For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?

But if we hope for that which we see not, we wait for it with patience.

There is no doubt that those things are hoped for which are not seen; for future things are awaited. This waiting is patience, which merits much from God; so that, from day to day awaiting, one may desire the kingdom of God to come, and not doubt because it delays.

Likewise also the Spirit helps our infirmity in prayer.

Since above he mentioned that we groan and pray for liberation, and, placed in grief, we wish either that things said to be far off should happen soon, or that they should be removed quickly, by which we might attain to merit; and we seem to pray with a weak prayer, since the effect is denied to it. For weak is he who asks against reason: and thereby he shows this weakness to be helped by the Holy Spirit given to us.

He helps, moreover, because He does not permit to happen those things which are either asked before they ought to be asked, or which are contrary. For what we should pray for as we ought, we know not. He declared that the infirmity of our prayer signifies ignorance; for we are deceived, thinking that what we ask will profit us, when it does not profit us. Finally, to the same Apostle praying a third time that temptations, since they were frequent, might cease from him, it was said by the Lord: My grace is sufficient for thee; for power is made perfect in weakness, that is, one lays up merit in this way, when he is found patient in tribulations. He learned, then, that what he was asking was against himself. There is also sometimes a proud and foolish petition, such as was that of the two apostles James and John, to whom, asking incongruous and immense things, it was said: You know not what you ask. But the Spirit Himself asketh for us with groanings unspeakable.

The Spirit of the Lord is said to ask for us, not in human speech, but according to His own nature.

For since what is of God speaks to God, it is necessary that He speak in the manner in which He speaks of whom He is. For no one speaks with his fellow citizen in a foreign tongue. For the Spirit given to us pours Himself over our prayers, so as to cover, by His own movement, our inexperience and lack of foresight; and asks for us from God those things which will profit us.

But he that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth; because he asketh for the saints according to God.

It is clear that to God, to whom nothing is silent or hidden, the prayer of all spirits is known; how much more that of the Holy Spirit, who is indeed of the same substance, and speaks not by the impulse of air, nor as angels, nor as the rest of creatures, but as befits His divinity!

He speaks, then, to God, when He seems to us to be silent; because He both sees, though not seen, and asks those things which He knows please God, and profit us. Then indeed the same Spirit intercedes for us, when He knows that we ask contrary things through ignorance, not through arrogance.

we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to His purpose, are called to be saints.

This he says, because those who love God, even if they have prayed unskillfully, it will not harm them; because God, knowing the purpose of their heart and their ignorance, does not impute to them the things they ask which are adverse; but grants those things which are to be given to those who love God. Whence the Lord too says: Your Father, He says, knows what you have need of, before you ask Him.

Those, then, are called according to purpose whom God foreknew, as believers, would be fit for Himself; so that, before they believed, they were known.

For whom he foreknew. Those whom he foreknew would be devoted to him, these he elected to receive the promised rewards; so that those who seem to believe, and do not remain in the faith they began, may be denied to be elect of God; because those whom God elects remain with him. For there is one who is elected for a time, as Saul and Judas; not from foreknowledge, but from present righteousness. To be made conformable to the image of his Son. He says this because they are predestined for the future age for this purpose, that they may become like the Son of God, which I have already mentioned above. That he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Rightly the firstborn, who before all creation was not made, but born; after whose example God deigned to adopt men as sons to himself. Christ is also firstborn in regeneration. He is also firstborn from the dead, whose nature is not known. And firstborn ascending into heaven after his victory.

Therefore in all things the firstborn is called our brother, because he deigned to be born a man; but he is Lord, because he is our God, as the prophet Jeremiah says: This is our God, and no other is accounted beside him.

Moreover whom he predestined, these he also called.

To call is to help one who is thinking about the faith, or to prick him whom he knows will listen. And whom he called, these he also justified: and whom he justified, these he also magnified. He says this as before, that those whom God foreknew as fit for himself, these believing remain, because it cannot happen otherwise, except that whom God foreknew, these he also justified: and by this also magnified them, that they might become like the Son of God. As for the rest whom God did not foreknow, he has no concern for them in this grace, because he did not foreknow that they would be fit.

But if they believe, they may be elected for a time

because they seem good, lest righteousness seem despised, they do not remain so as to be magnified, as also Judas Iscariot, or those seventy-two who, though elected, after suffering scandal withdrew from the Savior.

What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us, who is against us? It is manifest, that with God bearing witness for us, who is there who would dare to accuse us, when he himself who is judge foreknew us beforehand, and judged us fit?

He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. Thus he exhorts us to be secure for the sake of faith; that he might show that God, as one foreknowing, before we became believers out of the impious, delivered up his own Son to death for us. How has he not also with him given us all things? He says that God long ago decreed that believers in Christ should be rewarded.

For if he has bestowed on us what is greater and foremost, namely that he delivered up his own true and most beloved Son for us while we were still impious, why should it not be believed that he will do what is lesser for us who now believe in him? For already the rewards are prepared for believers; for it is less for him to give us all things with him, than to deliver him to death for our sake.

Who shall accuse against the elect of God?

It is plain that no one dares nor is able to call into question the judgment and foreknowledge of God concerning us. For who is there who could disapprove what God approves, since no one is equal to God? God who justifies. This is from the prophet Isaiah, which he here sets forth as his own, as it were; because there is no other who can find fault with what God approves. Or lest perhaps God himself should accuse us: but he who justifies cannot accuse.

who shall condemn?

Christ who died, nay rather who also rose again, and is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. He says that God, because he justifies us, does not accuse us: and that Christ cannot condemn us; because he loves us with such affection that he died for us, and rising again, always pleads our cause with the Father. His petition cannot be despised; because he is at the right hand of God, that is, in the honor which God is; so that, secure concerning God the Father, and Christ his Son who is to judge, we may rejoice in his faith. Hence is that which he says to the apostle Peter: Behold, Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.

In this way, then, the Savior intercedes for us; for knowing the shamelessness and the loftiness of our adversary, when he rouses himself against us, if we do not consent to him, the Savior intercedes for us; lest he presume anything violently against us, so that his insolence may be restrained. Yet for this reason the Son is said to intercede, though he himself does all things, and is equal to God the Father; and because one God is spoken of, lest the Father and Son be thought singular, or a mere union, Scripture speaks thus for the distinction of persons; so that it both hands down the Son as not unequal, and gives preference to the Father, because he is Father, and because from him are all things.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

That is, who will be able to turn us away from the love of Christ, who has bestowed on us benefits so great and innumerable? Tribulation? But it does not do so, because no torments overcome the love of firm Christians. For the love of one who loves is more stirred up, if he be forbidden to love him whose benefits he has felt; for while they think themselves being sown into merit against him, they stir up the remembered benefits.

Or distress?

Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or the sword (as it is written, that for your sake we are put to death all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter)? But in all these we overcome because of him who loved us. This is written in Psalm forty-three. It is manifest, then, that all these things which he enumerates—destructions, tribulations, pressures, and death—cannot be brought into comparison with the love of Christ, which he has sown in us. For we have benefits from him much greater than all these things which seem adverse. For if we die for him, which seems the more grievous of these, he too died for us: but he died so as to profit us; whereas our death does not profit him, but us. For we lose temporal life, that eternal life may be repaid to us. And what wonder is it if servants die for a good Lord, when the Lord has died for servants, and for evil ones?

Therefore benefits conquer, and exhort the soul to persevere for the sake of him who loved us.

For I am persuaded that neither death. This confidence is from the promise of Christ, by which he promised to help in tribulation the faith devoted to him. Nor life, nor angel, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. These are all the things which are brought against us for our seduction by the devil, which he therefore recalls, in order to fortify us; so that if they should come, confident of hope and of the help of Christ, armed with faith, we may resist them. For what if death should be inflicted? Is it not the greatest gain to find an occasion by which one may sooner go into the promised kingdom?

Nor, if the present life be furnished with promised dignity, should it turn us away from the hope of the benefit of Christ, whom we know will profit us not only in the future but also in the present. Nor indeed, if an angel show himself to us to seduce us, suborned by the deceits of his father the devil, should he prevail against us; since we know that nothing is to be preferred to Christ, the Angel of great counsel. Nor, if some power be worked by anyone, as is said to have been worked by Simon Magus, who is said to have flown up into the air, to scandalize the people of Christ, should it lessen our faith, knowing that the Savior, received up with a serving cloud, ascended above all the heavens. Nor, if he show himself to us in height, of which the apostle John says: Or do you not know the height of Satan?

Should it draw us away from devotion to the Lord Jesus, whom we know descended from heaven, to unite earthly things with spiritual.

Nor, if by the illusion by which he meditates to seduce, he show us a depth to be marveled at with horror, by which, terrified, we might perhaps yield to him: not even so is it fitting that we should break faith with Christ, whom we know descended into the depth of the earth for our sake, and by suffering death set free the human race. Nor, if he should promise us things to come, as he promised to Eve, shall we give assent to him, being set apart from Christ, whom we believe and know to be God in virtue and nature.

Nor, if by the art and subtlety of his cunning he should fashion for an hour some other creature, as Jannes and Mambres fashioned before Pharaoh, is it fitting that by these things he should call us back from the true Creator God, whom we do not fail to know founded creation through Christ his Son, existing forever. To some it seems he spoke of another creature meaning idols; but this is not true, because he ought to have meant this, which Satan seems to fashion under the guise of a wondrous seduction. For which of the faithful would be seduced to these things, from which he has withdrawn, the error having been made manifest? But he meditates and fashions these things, by which he might seduce even the elect. Nothing, then, is able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus: for God showed his love to us in Christ, in delivering him up for us.

I speak the truth in Christ Jesus, I do not lie, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart; for I myself was wishing to be anathema from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites. Since above he seems to speak against the Jews, who think they are justified by the Law, now, in order to show his wish and affection toward them, he says that he speaks with his conscience as witness, in Christ Jesus and in the Holy Spirit, so that faith might not be withheld from him as though he were their enemy. Therefore he gives Christ and the Holy Spirit as witnesses, from whom nothing is hidden; and whose testimony cannot be rejected, who thus bear witness to the Apostle, while commending him by the power of the signs which they wrought through him.

For because so great is the protection of Christ, and it shows such special love toward the human race, and by his condescension glorious and immortal rewards have been promised: therefore he grieves for his own race according to the flesh; because by their unbelief they have deprived themselves of this perpetual and saving benefit. Therefore, he says, "I was wishing," not "I wish"; because he knows it cannot happen that so honorable a member, with no preceding fault, should be cut off from the Christian body; yet he shows his affection and love for his own race.

Whose is the adoption of sons.

He proves that he grieves justly, when he proclaims the glory of their race; because those once adopted as sons have made void the affection and grace of God the Father. He added further, to make others also grieve for these, saying:

the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. He enumerates such great praises of the nobility and dignity of the race of the Jews and of the promises, so as to strike everyone with sorrow for them; because, by not receiving the Savior, they lost the prerogative of the Fathers and the merit of the promise, becoming worse than the Gentiles, whom they had formerly abominated because they were without God; for it is a more grievous evil to have lost dignity than never to have had it.

Meanwhile he says of the Savior: Who is over all, God blessed forever.

Amen. For when no mention is made of the Father's name, and the discourse is about Christ, it cannot be deferred that he should be called God. For Scripture frequently, on account of the profession of one God, when speaking of God the Father, and joining the Son to God, calls the Father God, and calls the Son Lord. But if anyone does not think this was said of Christ: "Who is God," let him assign a person of whom it was said; for no mention of God the Father is made in this passage. But what wonder is it, if in this passage he should speak openly of Christ as God over all, of whom he confirmed this same sense in another epistle with such words, saying: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth? These are all the things over which Christ is God.

For there is nothing, apart from these, such that Christ is not God over all things; nor can any creature bend the knee, except to God. Finally the apostle John, when unknowingly he wished to worship an angel as God, heard from him: Do not do that, for I am your fellow servant. Worship, he says, God. Nor indeed would the Lord permit himself to be worshiped, unless because he is God: otherwise, he must be said to have usurped and sinned, which is far from the truth; since he himself, rebuking the devil, showed that the Lord God is to be worshiped, and that he alone is to be served. Nothing therefore is prejudiced against God the Father, when Christ is worshiped as God; because since it is said that God alone is to be served, Christ also is served. For he says elsewhere: He who in this serves Christ, is pleasing to God. What then remains, except that the Father is God, and the Son is God; and yet each is believed to be one God?

For whether one worships the Father, or the Son, he is said to worship one God; and whether he serves the Father, or the Son, service is rendered to one God. There is therefore no distinction; because he who worships the Son, worships the Father also; and he who serves the Father, serves the Son also. And so that he might teach that this confession of deity is without flattery, he set at the conclusion, Amen, that is, "true"; so as to show Christ, God over all, truly blessed forever.

But it is not that the word of God has failed.

The word of God has not failed, of him saying: In Isaac shall your seed be called, that is, this came to pass which God said would happen; so that those should not be called the seed of Abraham who were his sons according to the flesh, but those who have received the faith by which Isaac was born, reformed in the time of Christ, no longer special, but general; so that what Abraham believed concerning Isaac, these might believe concerning God and Christ; because the Son of God was born to redeem the salvation of the human race.

Nor are all who are of Israel, these are Israelites; nor because they are the seed of Abraham, are all sons: but, in Isaac shall your seed be called.

This is what he wants understood, that not all are thereby worthy because they are sons of Abraham; but those are worthy who are the sons of promise, that is, whom God foreknows will receive his promise, whether of Jews or of Gentiles; for these are worthy to be called Israelites, that is, seeing God, who believe. For as regards Isaac, all these are indeed sons of Abraham; because the whole lineage of the Jewish race is from Abraham through Isaac. But because, as I have said, they are truly sons of Abraham who follow the promise which was made in Isaac: and therefore the rest are not to be called sons of Abraham; for Abraham believing received Isaac on account of faith, because he believed God.

In which the mystery of the future faith is designated; that those should be brothers of Isaac who had the same faith in which Isaac was born

because Isaac was born as a type of the Savior from promise, so that whoever believes that Christ Jesus was promised to Abraham, he is a son of Abraham, and truly a brother of Isaac. It was said therefore to Abraham, that in your seed all nations shall be blessed; which certainly did not happen in Isaac, but in him who was promised to Abraham in Isaac, who is Christ, in whom all believing nations are blessed. The rest of the Jews, then, are sons of the flesh, since they are deprived of the promise: nor can they be reckoned as of the merit of Abraham, who do not follow the faith by which Abraham was found worthy.

That is, not those who are sons of the flesh, these are sons of God: but those who are sons of promise are reckoned as the seed. It is plain that those who are sons of the flesh cannot be called sons of God; for these are born of the concupiscence of the flesh; but those, on the other hand, are born spiritually of faith, according to what was promised to Abraham; so that these should be reckoned to be the seed, who should believe.

For this is the word of promise: At this time I will come, and Sara shall have a son. This is found in Genesis, prefigured in Christ, so that the future Christ was promised as son of Abraham, in whom the word of promise would be fulfilled, so that in Christ all the nations of the earth might be blessed. For when the promise was made to Abraham, and he heard: In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Christ indeed was promised to him from the lineage of Isaac, in whom we see this fulfilled.

not only this, that is, Sarah, but Rebecca also having conceived by one act with Isaac our father.

He therefore says not only that Sarah, in a type, gave birth to Isaac, but that Rebecca also, wife of Isaac, did so. But the case is different in Isaac, and different in Jacob and Esau; because Isaac was born as a figure of the Savior, but Jacob and Esau hold the type of the two peoples, that is, of believers and unbelievers; so that, though they are of one origin, they are yet different. For in individuals a race also is signified, so that these are said to be of one race who are of one cause in faith, or in unbelief. For one is signified in many, not by lineage of flesh, but by common cause; for from Esau some must be called sons of Jacob, and from Jacob some must be reckoned sons of Esau.

For it is not because Jacob is praised, that all born of him are rightly to be called his sons; nor because Esau is disliked, that all from his origin are reprobate; since we see that from Jacob's lineage some are born faithless, and from Esau's, some are faithful and dear to God. For that many from Jacob are faithless is not in doubt; for all the Jews, whether unbelieving or believing, have their origin from him; and that there are good and faithful ones from Esau, Job proves, who is of the sons of Esau, fifth from Abraham, that is, grandson of Esau.

For when they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or evil; that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calls, it was said that the elder should serve the younger, as it is written: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. This is found in Malachi. He demands the foreknowledge of God in these matters, because nothing else can happen than what God knows will happen. For knowing what each of them would be, he said: This one shall be worthy, who shall be lesser; and the one who is greater shall be unworthy. He elected one by foreknowledge, and rejected the other; and in him whom he elected, the purpose of God remains; because nothing else can happen than what he knew, and purposed concerning him, that he should be worthy of salvation; and in him whom he rejected, the purpose remains in like manner, which he had purposed concerning him; because he would be unworthy.

This as one foreknowing, not as one who is a respecter of persons; for he condemns no one before he sins, nor crowns anyone before he conquers. This pertains to the case of the Jews, who defend for themselves the prerogative of being sons of Abraham: but the Apostle consoles himself; because, having said that he had continual sorrow of heart on account of their unbelief, whose was the adoption of sons, and the establishment of the law, and of whom Christ the Savior came, as he himself also says: Because salvation is from the Jews; having treated of the Law, he finds that not all who are of Israel are going to believe; nor because they are called sons of Abraham, are all to be called sons of Abraham, as I have mentioned above. He lessens his sorrow, therefore, finding it once predicted, that not all would believe; so that he grieves only for those who labor in unbelief through envy. Yet they can believe, which he opens up from what follows.

Yet one need not grieve much over the unbelieving already foretold

because they are not predestined to life; for the foreknowledge of God has of old decreed that these should not be saved. For who would mourn one who is already accounted dead? But when the Gentiles enter in, who before were without God, and receive the salvation which they had lost, sorrow is aroused; but again, because they themselves are the cause of their own perdition, it is put to rest. God, therefore, foreknowing that they would be of evil will, did not count them among the good; although the Savior says to those seventy-two disciples, whom he had chosen in a second rank, who afterward withdrew from him: Your names are written in heaven. But this on account of righteousness, because this is just; that each should be answered according to his merit.

For because they were good, they were chosen for ministry; and their names were written in heaven on account of righteousness, as I said; but according to foreknowledge they were in the number of the evil. For God judges from righteousness, not from foreknowledge. Whence he also said to Moses: If anyone has sinned before me, I will blot him out of my book, so that according to the righteousness of the judge he is then seen to be blotted out, when he sins: but according to foreknowledge he never was in the book of life. Hence also the apostle John says of such: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would surely have remained with us. There is no respect of persons in the foreknowledge of God; for foreknowledge is that by which it is determined what each one's future will shall be, in which he is going to remain, by which he is either condemned or crowned.

Finally, those whom he knows will remain in good, are often previously evil: and those whom he knows will remain evil, are sometimes previously good.

Whence the complaint ceases; because God is no respecter of persons. For both Saul and Judas Iscariot were formerly good, Scripture saying of Saul: He was a good man, and there was none better than he among the sons of Israel; and of Judas Iscariot the apostle Peter says: Who obtained the lot of this ministry, that is, of the apostolate, in doing signs and wonders. How then could he have obtained the saving ministry by lot, unless he had been good? For in the lot of God there was a worthy judgment that he was worthy at the time when he was chosen, like those seventy-two whom I mentioned above. Hence it is that Judas too, after committing the entire crime of evil, moved by repentance, ended his life with a noose.

For it is not possible for all good to be utterly blotted out in someone; since nature cannot be changed, but the will can: yet not in all respects; for something remains in nature which may serve as testimony to the Creator.

What then shall we say?

Is there unrighteousness with God? Far be it. Because he loves one, and hates the other, he adds: Is there unrighteousness with God? Not at all, but God is just; for he knows what he does, and his judgment is not to be called into question. This is found in the prophet Malachi: Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. He now says this concerning judgment; for before he spoke concerning foreknowledge, that the elder should serve the younger, just as also from foreknowledge he condemned Pharaoh, knowing that he would not amend; but he chose the apostle Paul while persecuting, foreknowing indeed that he would become good.

This one, therefore, he anticipated before the time, because he was necessary; and he condemned Pharaoh before the future judgment, so that he might be believed to be about to judge.

For he says to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy: and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Therefore, "I will have mercy," he says, on him whom I will have mercy on, that is, I will have mercy on him whom I foreknew that I would give mercy to, knowing that he would turn and remain with me: And I will show mercy to him to whom I will show mercy, that is, I will give mercy to him whom I foreknew would return to me with an upright heart after his error.

This is to give to him to whom it is to be given: and not to give to him to whom it is not to be given; that he may call him whom he knows will obey: But to call is not to fight, but to prick toward the reception of faith.

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.

Rightly, because what is asked ought to be, not in the will of the one asking, but in the judgment of the one giving. Whether it should be given must be weighed by the judgment of the giver; for Saul sinning, when he sought pardon, did not receive it: but on the contrary David, sinning and asking to be forgiven, obtained pardon.

From this, certainly, the judgment of God's giving and not giving must be followed

because he does not judge unjustly, who wills all to be saved, while righteousness stands firm; for the examiner of the heart knows the one asking, whether he asks with this mind, that he may deserve to receive. And although it is dangerous to discern the judgment of God; yet on account of those who doubt, so that their mind may be able to obtain a remedy, lest they think the judgment of God unjust, saying: He calls one, and neglects the other; thinking thereby that the damned can be excused, let us prove this rather by facts than by words; for where there are examples of things done, no one dares to complain, nor to offer any excuse.

There were two, David and Saul; let us examine the histories, how each of them is found after the judgment of God; so that if Saul, after not receiving mercy, is proved to have acted well, we should judge the judgment of God unjust, which is far from true: or if David, having received mercy, is found to have despised God, whether he remained in that state in which he obtained mercy, and, to use a summary, each suffered the necessity of the kingdom. And how great was the necessity of David, that his own son wished to deprive him of the kingdom! In which necessity, weeping, barefoot, he made his journey; so that the king and leader of the people of God fled, so humbled that he did not even answer to the face when his own servant cursed him; so that through patience he might make God propitious to himself, through whom he believed the kingdom would be preserved for him.

Saul, however, was not found in such necessity

because civil war is a greater evil than external; moreover, bearing that he was not heard once or twice, though he was unworthy, he did not persist in prayer, so as to gain merit for himself, by which he might be worthy: but impatient, and indignant at the judgment of God, he sought help from idols which he had before condemned as of no importance. Behold, it is manifest, even to the unwilling, that the judgment of the foreknowledge of God is just.

For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: For this very purpose I have kept you, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Other copies have it thus: For this I raised you up, that I might show my power in you.

Whether "I kept" or "I raised up," the meaning is one; for he says this, that though Pharaoh, which was a name of kings among the Egyptians, just as among the Romans kings are called Augustus: this Pharaoh, then, being guilty of such great evils that he was unworthy of life; so persevered in his evils, and did not wish to correct himself; thinking either that he lived by merit, or that God, whom he often reckoned could be deceived, was powerless to render vengeance, hears from God: For this I have kept you, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth; so that in this the other nations might learn that there is no other God besides this one, who was the God of the Jews, and became the God of the Christians; although those too were Christians, and we are now Jews on account of Judah, from whom Christ is according to the flesh; because the ancient Jews, hoping for the future Christ the redeemer, were Christians; for Rahab the harlot says to the spies sent by Jesus, son of Nun, who was formerly called Auxes: We have heard here of the mighty works and the plagues which were done in Egypt by your God, and we are very much terrified; for they fear because of you.

For this, then, Pharaoh was kept, so that many signs and plagues might be shown against him, as one already dead. But he is said to have been "raised up," because, though he was dead before God, he received a little time so that he might seem to live; so that in his punishment and various kind of torment even to death, all who were without God, terrified with fear, might confess with the greatest admiration that this alone is God, from whom these acts of vengeance come. In this manner also the ancient physicians, in men deserving of death, or those who had incurred a sentence of death, would look into how they might benefit the living, by exposing what lay hidden in the man; that they might learn the causes of the sickness from these, and the punishment of the dying might profit the health of the living.

Therefore he has mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardens. You say then to me. He speaks in the person of one objecting, who as it were thinks that God, righteousness being neglected, is gracious to someone; so as to accept one of two equals, and reject the other, that is, to prick one, that he may believe: and harden the other, that he may not believe. To whom indeed he responds with authority, righteousness being nonetheless preserved, from the foreknowledge mentioned above, saying:

Why then does he still find fault?

For who resists his will? First he says that no one can resist him; for he is most powerful above all. Then, that God is the parent of all, and therefore wishes evil to no one; for what he has made, he wishes to remain whole.

Nor is it fitting for him to be unjust, whose benevolence appears so great that he not only made to exist those things which were not; but even gave to them eternal life and glory, so that his work might have some likeness to his majesty. He, therefore, who is so provident and good, should not be doubted to be just.

O man, who are you that would reply to God!

Great, he says, is the unworthiness and presumption, that man should answer God in adverse matters, the unjust to the just, the evil to the good, the unskilled to the perfect, the weak to the mightiest, the corruptible to the incorrupt, the mortal to the immortal, the wicked servant to the master, the creature to the maker. Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, Why have you made me thus? This is from the prophet Isaiah, which he here sets down as though his own, by which he shows that the work cannot complain against its maker; for it is in the power of the maker to fashion the creature as he wills.

Or does not the potter have power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel indeed to honor, and another to dishonor?

It is manifest that some vessels are made for honor, which are needed for honorable uses: and others for dishonor, which serve as kitchen tools; yet they are of one substance, but differ in the will of the maker as to honor. So also God, since we are all of one and the same lump in substance, and all sinners, has mercy on one, and disregards another, not without justice. In the potter there is only will: but in God will together with justice; for he knows on whom he ought to have mercy, as I have mentioned above.

What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?

The sense itself is, that by the will and longsuffering of God, which is patience, the unbelieving are prepared for punishment; for having been long awaited, they refused to be converted. Therefore they were awaited, so that they might perish without excuse. For God knew that these would not believe.

that he might show the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy, which he prepared unto glory. The patience and longsuffering of God is itself that which, just as it prepares the wicked for destruction, so also prepares the good for the crown; for the good are those in whom is the hope of faith. For he bears with all, knowing the outcome of each; and by this his patience is that which prepares for glory those who are corrected from evil, or who persevere in good. But the riches of glory are the manifold dignity prepared for believers.

But those who become evil from good, and persist in the evil they have begun, he prepares for destruction.

But this is to make manifest his power in much patience; because it is reckoned as though he were not about to avenge, since he dissembles for a long time: when he begins to avenge, his power will appear; for since he could avenge at once, he bore long, so that the faithless might not be able to complain when they are condemned. But to prepare each one is to foreknow what is to come.

Whom he has also called, us, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles.

Those whom he called, he prepared for glory, whether those who were near, or those who were far off, knowing they would remain in the faith.

As he says in Hosea: I will call that which is not my people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved.

And it shall be, in the place where it shall be said, You are not my people; there they shall be called sons of the living God.

It is clear that this was foretold concerning the Gentiles, who formerly were not the people of God: but afterward, to the reproach of the Jews, receiving mercy, they were called the people of God; and those who before were not beloved, the Jews being cast off, were adopted as sons, and were beloved; so that in the place where they were not called the people of God, there they might be called sons of the living God. For before, they were nowhere called sons of God, except in Judea, that is, at Jerusalem, where the house of God was, as he says in the seventy-fifth Psalm: God is known in Judea. But afterward, in the prophecy of Zechariah: I will make, he says, Jerusalem in all nations; because they were to be sons of God everywhere, and the house of God in all places, which is the Church.

Hence the Lord says to the Jews: Because the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

But Isaiah cries out for Israel.

He says this, because Isaiah cries out for those who believe in Christ. For they are truly Israelites, as the Lord says to Nathanael: Behold truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile.

If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved.

The Jews falling away from the merit and promise of the fathers, while they do not receive it, these are the remnant, who by believing persist in the faith of the promise made to the fathers, having been made faithful; for they fall away from the Law, hence they do not believe in him whom the Law alone promised to be sufficient for salvation. Therefore they must necessarily be reckoned apostates, who, while they do not receive Christ, are guilty of violating the Law. Therefore, out of the greatest multitude, he says that only the believers are saved, whom God foreknew.

For a word finishing and cutting short in equity; because the Lord will make a shortened word upon the earth.

He promises that these will be saved, whom he calls the remnant through the word, which the Lord, justly defining, has shortened upon the earth; for it is fitting that the creature attain salvation in the name alone of the Lord the Creator, that is, through faith; because, with all the new moons, and the sabbath, circumcision, and the law of foods, and the offerings of cattle taken away, faith alone has been established for salvation. This is shortened from the Law; because that which is in faith is held in the Law as, so to speak, the principal thing of the Law, the Savior saying: For Moses wrote of me. Therefore, the Law being shortened, the remnant of the Jews are saved; but the rest cannot be saved, because they are spurned through the definition of God, by which he decreed to save the human race.

as Isaiah foretold: Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah.

This seed, which alone out of all was left and reserved for the reformation of the human race, is Christ, and his teaching, as he himself says: The seed is the word of God. This, then, promised to us of old, with the things that were a burden of the Law removed, he left for our redemption; so that, remission of sins being given, we might not be punished by the Law, as Sodom perished. He says, then, that the Savior was left to us for the support of life, which the Law could not provide, whom God decreed from the beginning should be born; who, because he alone was found without sin, having overcome the enemy of the human race, might blot out the sins of all. This also is contained in the Apocalypse of John: For no one, he says, was found worthy, either in heaven or on earth, to open the book and its seals; except the Savior, who conquered death.

This, then, is the seed which God reserved, promised of old, that it might then bear fruit, when the sins of all, both Jews and Gentiles, had been filled up. But its fruit is the forgiveness of sins; for unless Christ had been reserved (whom he therefore calls seed, because through him the human race has been repaired), the progeny of Abraham would have perished; because they were overwhelmed with sins, and the Law could not profit them. Therefore he teaches that he is to be followed, who brought the support of life.

What then shall we say?

That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, have apprehended righteousness; but the righteousness which is of faith. Since there is a righteousness in the Law, which was entrusted to the world, which forbids sinning; therefore he says the Gentiles apprehended not this righteousness, which is known to be taught by nature, but that righteousness which is of the faith of Christ; for to God this is true and abiding righteousness, if it be acknowledged. For what is so righteous as to know God the Father, from whom are all things, and Christ his Son, through whom are all things? This, then, is the first righteousness, to acknowledge the Creator, then to keep what he has commanded. The Gentiles, then, who before did not seek righteousness, that is, the Law, which bore witness to the Creator, upon Christ's coming, found a righteousness superabounding, more than that of the scribes and Pharisees.

For those who then did not follow the lesser thing, afterward apprehended the greater; but the Jews, placed in the Law, who ought rather to have advanced, became worse.

But Israel, following after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.

The perfection of the Law is faith, which the Gentiles laid hold of, and thus seem to fulfill the whole Law. But the Jews, while through envy they do not believe the Savior, vindicating the righteousness which is commanded in the Law, that is, the sabbath, circumcision, did not attain to the Law, that is, did not perfect the Law: and those who do not perfect the Law are guilty according to the Law. For he fulfills the Law who from the law of Moses arrives at the faith of Christ.

Why?

Because not by faith, but as it were by works: For despising faith, which, as I have said, is the perfection of the Law, they said they were justified by the works of the Law, that is, through the sabbath, new moons, circumcision, forgetful of the Scripture which says, the just lives by faith. But it is called the righteousness of the Law for this reason, because by the just judgment of God these things were given to the Jews on account of the hardness of their hearts; so that if perhaps someone had trodden upon a dead weasel, or touched some carrion, or if a shrewmouse had fallen into a vessel, he was said to be unclean: observing this with great anxiety, they fell into uncleanness from whatever cause. But if the blood of a weasel had stained the pavement, it was not to be expiated with slight care, and one had to abstain from better foods. But the sabbath and circumcision had their own proper righteousness in their own time; because they were given in a figure.

This the Lord shows through the prophet Ezekiel, saying among other things: Therefore I gave them precepts that were not good; because they were irreverent and faithless. But at the coming of Christ, because he was about to give the gift of salvation, he foretells through Jeremiah, saying: I will give them a new testament, not such as I gave to their fathers. This testament he calls the Law, into which they did not enter, as I mentioned above. For when the Jews who had believed wished to impose this burden of observance on the Gentiles who had believed, then the apostle Peter said: Why do you put a yoke upon the neck of the brethren, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? For from the time of Christ the indulgence promised in the Law was given; for the prophet Isaiah says: There shall come out of Zion he who delivers, and turns away impiety from Jacob.

And this is my testament to them, when I shall have taken away their sins

that is, the new testament promised by God in Christ.

They stumbled at the stone of stumbling, as it is written: Behold, I lay in Sion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.

This is found in Isaiah. It is established by the testimony of many that Christ is signified in the rock or the stone; for the prophet Daniel calls this the stone which, cut out from the mountain without hands, struck and broke in pieces all kingdoms, and filled the whole earth, which is evidently said of Christ. And in the Law, the rock from which the waters flowed is called Christ: But the rock, he says, was Christ. And the apostle Peter, among other things, says to the Jews: This is the stone which was rejected by you builders. The stumbling-block, then, placed in Zion is Christ.

But Zion is a height, or the very city of Jerusalem, which not undeservedly, on account of the knowledge of God, is called lofty, in which the Savior, set forth by God his Father as a preacher, became a stumbling-block to the Jews, while he preached himself to be the Son of God, born of the Holy Spirit of a woman. But through his body they suffered scandal, and said: Is not his mother and his brethren with us? How then does this man say: Because I came down from heaven? For they would not compare his words with his deeds, so that they might in like manner recognize that it was not absurd for him to say he had descended from heaven; as if the body operated, and not God hidden within, yet revealing himself by his works in the body. This rock, then, is a scandal and stumbling-block to the Jews: which rock is understood without doubt to be the body of the Savior.

This was cut out without hands, because it was made without a man, of the Holy Spirit, from a virgin.

Brethren, the desire indeed of my heart, and prayer, is made to God for them unto salvation; for I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

Since he wishes to take them away from the Law, believing that it is a veil to the Jews; lest he should seem to do this out of hatred of Judaism, he shows his affection toward them, and gives much credit to the Law: but he teaches that the time for keeping the Law is now past; and by this he testifies that he wishes to provide for them, if only they would listen to him, and would prove that he is not their enemy; since he also bears them witness of their nobility and paternal tradition.

For being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.

By "ignorance" he says they did not believe in Christ, having indeed a zeal for God, but not knowing his will and counsel, they acted against God, whom they professed to defend. He speaks of those who did not receive Christ out of malice and envy, but through error. To whom also the apostle Peter says: I know, brethren, that through ignorance you did this evil, as did also your rulers; for not knowing that this was the Christ whom God had promised, they said another was to be expected. Preferring to this their own righteousnesses, which they had from the Law, which is the righteousness of God in faith. For he himself is righteousness, because what God had promised, he fulfilled in himself.

For Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness to everyone that believes. He says this, because he who believes in Christ has the perfection of the Law.

For since no one was justified by the Law, because no one fulfilled the Law, except one who hoped in the promised Christ; faith has been established, which yields the perfection of the Law; so that, all else set aside, faith might satisfy for the whole Law and the prophets.

For Moses writes concerning the righteousness which is of the Law, that the man who does these things shall live in them. He says this, because the righteousness of the law of Moses did not make those guilty for a time, if it was kept, that is, they lived by doing the Law; for they were debtors. This is stated in Numbers and in Leviticus.

But the righteousness which is of faith speaks thus: Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven?

This is said in Deuteronomy, which the Apostle here interprets of Christ, saying: This is to bring Christ down. Or, Who shall descend into the abyss? That is, to bring Christ back from the dead.

This is the Apostle's own point. And so he says this righteousness is of faith, if one does not doubt concerning the hope of God, which is in Christ; lest, being distrustful, one should say: Who could ascend into heaven? For he suffered for this reason, that, the powers below being despoiled by the Father's might, death being conquered, rising again with the souls delivered, he might ascend into heaven. For everyone who, on seeing the Savior among the dead, hoped for salvation from him, was freed, the apostle Peter bearing witness to this; for he says that he was preached also to the dead. Whoever, then, does not doubt these things in his heart has been justified by faith. But being justified by the Law is brought about by fear; for one fears the Law, because he sees it inflicting punishment on sinners.

Therefore the righteousness of the Law is not great, nor does it lay up merit with God, but only for the present: but faith, though foolishness to unbelievers, has its reward with God, in whom what is not seen is hoped for.

But what does the Scripture say?

The word is near, in your mouth, and in your heart. This is written in Deuteronomy, because that which is told us, that we should believe, is not far from our mind or mouth; for although it is not seen with the eyes, yet what we believe does not disagree with the nature of souls and the manner of speech. For in nature itself there are, as it were, seeds implanted, which, cultivated by hearing and will, bear the fruit of the testimony of the Creator.

This is the word of faith which we preach. He says that no work of the Law, but faith alone, is to be given in the cause of Christ.

Because if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him, you shall be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Whatever he spoke above, here he made manifest, that this is the rule of faith, to believe that Jesus is Lord, and not to be ashamed to profess that God, bringing him back from the dead, led him into heaven with his body, whence he had come to be incarnate; lest he fall under the sentence of the Gospel which says: Many, it says, of the rulers believed in Jesus, but did not confess it openly because of the Jews. For they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.

For the Scripture says through Isaiah: Everyone who believes in him shall not be confounded.

For when the examination of all things has begun to take place on the day of judgment, and all false inventions or teachings are brought to confusion, then those who believe in Christ will exult, seeing that it is manifested to all that what they believed is true, and what was thought foolish is wise. For among the rest they will see themselves alone glorious and wise, who had been reckoned contemptible and foolish. For there is the true approbation, where there is reward and condemnation.

For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek. Generally he says that all are either confounded on account of their distrust, or are exalted on account of their belief; because without Christ there is no salvation with God, indeed there is punishment, or death. For neither can the Jews be commended by the prerogative of the Fathers; nor can the legislation, since they did not receive the merit and promise of the Fathers.

But the Gentiles have no testimony by which they might be commended even according to the flesh, unless they believe in Christ.

For the same is Lord of all, rich unto all who call upon him. It is manifest that this pertains to all, whether Jews or Greeks; because without calling upon the Lord Christ no one lives before God. Since, then, he is the Lord of all, the apostle Peter agreeing and saying: This, he says, is the Lord of all; yet he is rich only in those who call upon him, because they will receive the reward. But to the faithless he is not rich; because they are not partakers of his goods; for they will not receive what they did not believe he would give.

And yet he did not say God is rich to believers, but to those who call upon him; so that after one has believed, the mind should not cease to ask for that which it has always been taught by God to ask, as it is recorded in the Gospel according to Luke, on account of the adversary, because he is subtle and crafty, that one must always pray: but to believers alone remission of sins is given. But it follows that one devoted to prayer be freed from evil, and be able to obtain what God has promised to those who watch with the whole heart.

For whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This is said in Micah. For that God himself, who was seen by Moses, says: My name is Lord.

This is the Son of God, who therefore is called both Angel and God; that he might not be thought to be him from whom are all things, but rather him through whom are all things; so that it pertains to this, that he is called God, in that the Father and the Son are one; but he is called Angel for this reason, that he was sent by the Father as a messenger of the promised salvation. And he is said to be sent for this reason, that he might not be believed to be the Father himself, but begotten of him. And therefore whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. In this sense also Moses spoke: Whoever, he says, shall not hear that prophet, shall be exterminated from the people. If he himself is the Lord of all, he himself is called upon by his servants. And because this is true, he adds:

How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed?

Surely the Jews themselves do not believe in Christ, whom he called Lord.

This follows from what I said above, that one must first believe, in order to have confidence to ask. Or how shall they believe him whom they have not heard? It is clear that he cannot be believed, to whom obedience is denied. But how shall they hear without a preacher? Nor is this obscure; because he who resists the preacher does not receive its author.

Or how shall they preach, unless they be sent?

Nor does this admit of question; because they will not be true apostles unless they are sent by Christ, nor will they be able to preach without an author; for no signs of powers bear witness to these men. As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, that preach good things! This the prophet Nahum says (Nahum 1:15).

By "feet" he signifies the coming of the apostles going about the world, and preaching that the kingdom of God draws near; for their coming enlightened men, showing the way by which one goes in peace to God, which John the Baptist first had come to prepare. This is the peace to which those who believe in Christ hasten. At last holy Simeon, since there is discord in the world, rejoicing at the birth of the Savior: Now, he says, Lord, dismiss your servant in peace; because the kingdom of God is peace. For with all discord cut off, all will bend the knee to the one God. Finally, Jerusalem the heavenly city is interpreted "vision of peace," which is our mother.

But not all obey the gospel.

This is true, because although the world is illumined by the splendor of the Lord's teaching, yet there are those who resist, who call the light darkness.

For the eye of the mind of these is so blunted by error that they do not even receive the splendor of the true light. Whom the Gospel accuses, saying: The light shines in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. For Isaiah says: Lord, who has believed our report? That is, who has believed what we have heard from you, and speak? He confirmed by prophetic example that the Jews are the contradictors of gospel truth. For the Law rebukes the Jews; because as it was among the ancients, so it is now. For this number he does not touch, who does not receive the faith.

So then faith comes by hearing, but hearing by the word of Christ.

It is manifest that unless something is said, it can neither be heard nor believed. But I say: Have they not heard? That is, they heard, and were unwilling to believe. For although faith is by hearing, yet there are those who, hearing, do not believe.

For they hear, and do not understand; because their heart is blinded by ill will. And indeed their sound went out into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. To this extent he testifies that the preaching of God has been heard by the Jews, that he even declares the world to have been filled with the divine announcement; for the very fabric of the world proclaims the Creator. For what the Psalmist said of creation, the Apostle says of the evangelists, because everywhere it has been heard, and the preaching of Christ's name has reached to every place. For where the presence of a man preaching has been lacking, yet the sound and the report has arrived, just as the report of the mighty deeds done in Egypt had reached all nations, as the harlot Rahab testifies.

For if it reached every place, the Jews could not fail to have heard the apostolic preaching; so that none of them is excused from the charge of unbelief.

But I say: Did not Israel know?

That is, did he not know? Because by the aforesaid testimonies he charges the race of Israel with the cause of unbelief, seeming to complain with sorrow concerning all Israelites: he does not deny that Israel knew and attained what had been promised to him in the Law: but he means him who is Israel more in spirit than in flesh, whom also God had foreknown would believe. For all heard, and not all believed; therefore: Moses first says, in the song of Deuteronomy: I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no nation, by a foolish nation I will anger you.

These are the words of one indignant, on account of which the Jews were always found distrustful: and he assigns one generation and cause to all their evils; while he rebukes those present, at the same time he touches more those to come, to whom this pertains. For the condemnation of all these is one, if they remain in unbelief. Jealousy, then, was born to them out of envy, while they see the nation, which formerly, because it was without God, was brute in sense, calling God its own, who had been the God of the Jews; and that the gift promised to them had been attained by this nation, through which, suffering zeal, they were stretched out with wrath, that they might pay the wages of their malice and unbelief. For no thing so consumes a man as zeal, which God has therefore appointed as the avenger of unbelief, because it is a grave sin.

For those who are always sent into wrath are tormented, when they hear that the Law and the prophets pertain to us, who believe in Christ.

Isaiah is bold, and says: I was made manifest to them that did not seek me, and I was found by them that did not ask after me.

Since above he used the words of Moses concerning the exclusion of the Jews, he added also to this the example of the prophet Isaiah; that from its continuation he might more openly teach that God, the Jews being expelled, freely offered grace to the Gentiles, to the reproach and death of the Jews. For this the prophet Isaiah testifies in the person of Christ.

But to Israel he says: All day long have I stretched out my hands to a people not believing, and contradicting.

Here "Israel" is carnal, that is, the sons of Abraham, but not according to faith; for the true and spiritual Israel is he who, by believing, sees God.

"All day long" signifies "always"; for they were always rebuked.

Therefore those who would not believe are rebuked; that they might know that they themselves are the cause of their own perdition. This can also be understood of the Savior, who, with hands stretched out on the cross, accuses the sin of those killing him. For that reason cries out the wicked crime of the Jews above, that Isaiah dared to say of those who had been enemies of God, showing that these would be friends: and that those who were called Israelites, because they were disobedient, were as enemies to be cast off.

I say then: Has God cast away his inheritance?

God forbid. Since he showed the people of Israel to be unbelieving, then, lest he should be thought to have called all Israel distrustful, he shows that God has not cast away his inheritance, which he foreknew, that is, the sons of Abraham, whom he knew would be faithful to him. For he would not promise them the kingdom, if he knew none of them would believe. The inheritance of the Lord, then, according to the Law, are the sons of Abraham, but those who believe.

For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. By his own example he teaches that a part of Israel is saved, which God foreknew would be saved, or can still be saved: and a part of Israel is destined for perdition on account of continual unbelief.

God has not cast away his people, which he foreknew.

This is what the Savior says: Father, those whom you gave me, I have kept, and none of them has perished, except the son of perdition. So also, of these whom God foreknew would believe, none of them has been cast off from the promise; because it has come to pass just as God foreknew it would.

Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars: and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what says the divine answer to him?

I have left me seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee before Baal.

These things are plain; for they show not only that Elijah remained, who, devoted to God, did not worship idols: but also many, who remained in the faith of God, just as also, of the Jews, not a few believed. History also agrees with this matter; because many were hidden in caves on account of Ahab king of Samaria, and Jezebel his wife, who, believing the false prophets, persecuted the prophets of God, and exhorted the people to idolatry.

So then at this present time also, a remnant according to the election of grace has been saved.

This is: so, he says, even now these have remained in the promise of the Law, many having fallen away, whom God foreknew before. For those who received Christ as promised in the Law, these stood in the Law: but those who did not receive him fell away from the Law.

Therefore the believers are called the remnant, that is, those remaining in the Law.

But if by grace, then it is no more of works.

It is manifest that grace is the gift of God, not a reward owed to works, but granted by a gratuitous account, with mercy intervening. Otherwise grace is no more grace. This is true, because if it is a reward, it is not grace: but because it is not a reward, without doubt it is grace; because to give pardon to sinners is nothing other than grace: and to those who do not seek it, but it is offered to them, that they may believe. Grace, then, is twofold, because this befits God, who abounds in mercy; that he both seeks, and freely tends to those he cares for.

What then?

That which Israel sought, this he has not obtained; but the election has obtained it.

These carnal Israelites are those who, thinking to be justified by the works of the Law, did not attain to be righteous by faith before God. Wherefore, since all are guilty by the Law

because cursed is every one who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them. But those who believed they were justified by faith, obtained the election, that being justified they might become the sons of God, mindful of the Scripture which says: For the just lives by faith, that is, not by the Law.

But the rest were blinded, as it is written; this is read as subjoined in Isaiah: God gave them a spirit of compunction, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this present day. And David says: Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling-block, and a retribution unto them. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.

He curses the table of the wicked for this reason, because there the innocent are wont to be deceived; for they are called to the banquet by guile, that they may be destroyed. For thus also Ammon the son of David was deceived by his brother Absalom, and the wicked Holofernes thought he could deceive holy Judith through a banquet (Judith xii, 1), and at the table of the wicked Herod the malicious raged against the head of John the prophet. There is one meaning in the two prophets concerning men of this kind, who from the beginning of the faith were found resisting and hostile to the good. But some of them were amended and corrected, though late; while others, remaining in obstinacy, did not escape the severity of the sentence, bent forever, that is, blinded; so that they can no longer look upon the way of truth (which in their malevolence they had spurned, turning aside from it) and come to the grace of salvation.

For he who, having understood, refused to believe, ought to obtain what he wills; namely, that he can no longer receive faith and be saved. The above examples of the prophets, therefore, contain a twofold meaning; for they were decreed and written in two ways. Two kinds of men, indeed, are contained here. One is that which, on account of its own malevolence, is blinded forever, so that it may not be saved; for they are of the worst will, to such a degree that, though understanding, they say they do not know what they hear. So they said of the Savior: What is this that he says? We know not what he speaks. Why do you listen to him? He has a devil, and is mad. But the other part, which is truly Israel, contradicted them: These are not the words of one that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

While, then, they envied the Savior, they did not wish to seem to understand what they heard; so that, since they seemed not understood by the lawyers and Pharisees, he might be thought to speak absurd things, and things outside the Law, which thing could turn others away from the faith as well. Hence they hear from the Savior: You have the key of knowledge, and you neither enter yourselves, nor allow others to enter. For who, among the unwilling, but somewhat more serious lawyers and Pharisees, would not follow their counsel and judgment, seeing they were regarded as defenders of the Law? So they said to those who are truly Israelites: Has any of the rulers believed in him?—so that they might seem justly not to have believed, if they had made many companions in their conspiracy; because what is defended by few is wont to seem unproved. Therefore they were blinded, that they might no longer be able to believe and be saved.

In their own will, then, they were assisted; so that, since knowing the truth they called it false, thereafter they would no longer understand what is true, so that what they wished to be true, namely the false, they would hold as true. The other kind is that which, while pursuing the righteousnesses of the Law, does not receive the righteousness of Christ; and by this it does this not any longer through the envy of an evil will, but through error, zealously emulating the tradition of the Fathers, are blinded for a time; because they ought to have learned from the great works of Christ that he could not deceive, whose so magnificent power appears in the deeds accomplished, and to compare his preaching with the new testament promised through the prophets, and thence to profess that this is he who was promised; instead they were found neglecting God and assenting to men.

Therefore they are blinded, so that, mingling themselves with the promise of the Gentiles out of that very emulation, while they envy the Gentiles, they may return to the faith of God.

I say then: Have they so stumbled that they should fall?

God forbid. This means what I mentioned above, that they did not so lose faith that they should never believe again, that is, they were not blinded on account of their wickedness in such a way that they could not be healed, as we read the devil fell, when the prophet Isaiah says: How is Lucifer fallen from heaven?—signifying a fall and apostasy. He does not therefore say that these stumbled so as to fall, but that they were dulled for a time because of their offense. But through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, that they may provoke them to emulation. This is what he said, because through their sin salvation was given to the Gentiles.

For because the Jews refused the gift of God, it was transferred to the Gentiles; that the Jews, kindled by the emulation of zeal, might be converted to Christ, being zealous for the promise of the Fathers.

Now if their offense be the riches of the world, and their diminishing be the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness!

It is manifest that if their offense profited the world, since through their loss it has more good men (for the Gentiles are far more numerous than the Jews); and their diminishing, which is the loss of the promise, is the riches of the Gentiles, through that which they gained, namely eternal life; how much more their fulness! It is clear that the world will be richer in good men if those also who were blinded should be converted; for the world will be saved in great part. By "world" he means men, as it is said of the Savior: Behold, the whole world is gone after him.

For I say to you Gentiles, as long indeed as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. He shows the Gentiles with what affection he loves the Jews: for he honors his ministry, by which he is apostle of the Gentiles, if by taking care on account of the affection of his own race he also gains the Jews to the faith. For it will be an honoring, if he gains also to life those to whom he was not sent: for it will be a great glory to the Fathers, if he finds brothers who had perished.

For if the loss of them be the reconciliation of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

This he says, because if, the Jews not believing, the Gentiles were reconciled to God, to the increase of the world in regard to the faith of Christ; what will be, in this respect, and how great, the fulness of salvation, if the Jews should be received into the faith of Christ, except that the world should be quickened from the dead in men? Since, then, there is progress, he says that effort must be made that they may believe; because, once roused, the dulling of a sin that has been compensated by time is removed, that they may recover the free choice of their own will.

Now if the firstfruit be holy, so is the lump also.

It is manifest, since what is of one substance is one; and for this reason the firstfruit cannot be holy while the lump is unclean; for the firstfruit is of the lump. And thereby he shows that those cannot be said unworthy of the faith whose fathers have already attained the faith; for if a part of the Jews believed, why should it not be said that the other part also can believe?

if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Having changed the words, he repeats the same thing, that he may commend the meaning by two examples. But if some of the branches be broken off—that is, if some of them did not believe—being cut off from the promise. But you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and fatness of the olive tree. This signifies that, many of the Jews not believing, the Gentiles were grafted in through faith into the hope of the promise, to the grief of the Jews; but not according to the law of husbandry, since a good graft is inserted into a not-good tree; for these, though they were in an evil root, were grafted into a good tree. Therefore he says the wild olive is grafted in, that the graft may bear the fruit of the root, being made its partner.

Boast not against the branches—that is, do not rejoice in their unbelief; for it displeases God if anyone should exult in the evils of another, as Solomon says.

For they were not cast off for the sake of the Gentiles, that they should rejoice; but because they did not believe, they gave occasion for preaching to the Gentiles.

But if you boast, you do not bear the root, but the root bears you.

That is, if you exalt yourself over those into whose root you have been grafted, you insult the race which received you, that from a bad state you might become good; nor will you stand, if you destroy that by which you stand.

You will say then: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

He speaks in the person of the Gentile believer; for he thinks it something to exult over concerning the fall of the doubting Jews, saying: Their rejection made room for the Gentiles. But they were not rejected by God so that the Gentiles might enter; rather they made themselves reprobate, spurning the gift of God; whence also they gave occasion to the Gentiles for salvation. This exultation he wishes to be checked, that one may rather rejoice with the salvation, not insult over the sickness; for he is easily deceived who rejoices in others' evils.

Well—that is, rightly do you say, that by the breaking off of the branches you were grafted in; but they were broken off through unbelief

that is, not on your account, but by their own fault; because, they doubting, you were called unto salvation to provoke them to emulation. Therefore you ought to give thanks for the gift of God through Christ, not insult them; but also to pray, if their evil conferred salvation upon you, that they too may return to their origin. Then will you please God, who has had mercy upon you; for he called you for this purpose, that through your emulation he might bring them back also to grace.

But you stand by faith.

Because the Jews fell through unbelief, he says these stand by faith; for whereas before they lay because of unbelief, by believing they began to stand. Be not highminded, but fear. That is, do not be proud, but beware lest you also stumble.

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you. It is true, because if he blinded those who were worthy through the prerogative of the Fathers, to whom the promise was made that they should be adopted as sons of God, on account of their unbelief; what will he do to these, if they doubt, or if they exalt themselves, who were raised up by no such commendation, since, having no merit of dignity, they were nevertheless honored?

Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them indeed which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off.

He testifies that God is good to the Gentiles; because though they followed idols, certainly worthy of death, he waited for them in his patience, and, though they did not even yet seek him, called them of his own accord, and forgave them their sins. But to the Jews he is severe; for he blinded them because they spurned the gift of God. Yet he means here those Jews who, on account of their malevolence, were blinded forever; hence also he says they fell: but of the others whom he mentioned above, that they stumbled but did not fall; because he shows them blinded for a time; and thereby God was severe toward those who, as apostates, were blinded forever.

they also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.

He shows the righteousness of God does not remain in severity toward those whom he blinded for a time; because he did not cut them off in such a way that he cannot graft them in again, if they should convert,—he who said through the prophet: If they return to me, I will replant them; so that, knowing this, Gentile Christians may not insult the Jews, being certain that the mercy of God is reserved for them as for those who have fallen.

For if you were cut off from the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! Let us take the olive as the faith by which Abraham was justified; but the wild olive, since its nature is wild and unfruitful, we understand as signifying unbelief; and thereby, if those who were always enemies of God, being converted into the faith of Abraham, are grafted in, though they are not of his origin; how much more shall the Jews, if after their unbelief they believe, be restored to their paternal nature, grafted again into their own promise!

For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in: and so all Israel shall be saved. It is not obscure that a dulling unto a time of blindness was given to those Jews who, being zealous for the Law, did not see that the gift promised by God, which was preached by Christ, had come. For they were blinded by zeal, thinking the law of works should never cease; hence they were zealous for the Sabbath.

By this offense they were partly dulled, so that they might be tormented for their unbelief, seeing the Gentiles professing with joy that they had obtained the promise of Abraham: yet, once the fulness of the Gentiles is admitted, the mist should be wiped away from the eyes of their mind, that they may be able to believe; so that, removing the spirit of compunction from their hearts, which afforded them blindness, he might restore to them the free choice of the will; because their unbelief was not from malevolence but from error, that they might be corrected, that afterwards they might be saved.

As it is written.

To prove the gift reserved for them by God, he sets down the example of the prophet Isaiah among what follows: that by this grace, by which believing Jews were freed, he might teach that we too can be freed; because it was not exhausted, but always abounds. He says then:

There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

The reasoning of this example always holds, so long as there are those who believe. For it is the Lord Jesus who was promised to come from heaven for the deliverance of humankind; he himself daily forgives sins to those who turn to him: nor does he immediately condemn those who do not believe, but waits, knowing they can advance to the knowledge of God.

As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes.

Because of unbelief they are enemies of the Gospel, so that their error and offense might open the way for the Gentiles to enter into faith before the time, as I mentioned above; for first the word of God had to be preached everywhere to all the Jews, then finally it was fitting also for the Gentiles to believe. But because they did not believe, the kingdom, taken away from them, was given to the Gentiles. So he forewarns that these should not be insulted, whose offense benefited the Gentiles; for one is to be insulted whose sin harmed others. For one should not rejoice in their unbelief but grieve, if they delay to be converted; so that as the Gentiles rejoiced at their sin, because they were saved, so let them rejoice at their conversion; for by their occasion the Gentiles received the grace of God the more quickly.

But as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

Although the Jews sinned gravely by rejecting the gift of God, and are worthy of death; yet because they are sons of good men, by whose prerogative and merit they received very many benefits from God, having returned to the faith they will be received with joy; for in them the love of God is aroused by the memory of the Fathers.

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. This is true, because the grace of God in baptism does not require a groan, or lamentation, or any work; but only a profession from the heart. For it is not that because they had sinned gravely in not receiving the promise of God, and because things that are gravely sinned pertain to pardon only through weeping and groaning, one should therefore think they could no longer receive mercy, because they were not seen to grieve; he shows that this is not required at the beginning of faith; for the gift of God freely gives forgiveness of sins in baptism.

For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: even so have these also now not believed, through your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy. He mentions the unbelief of the Gentiles, so that by this very shame they might not boast, insulting the Jews who had not believed; but rather delight to recognize the promise of God. For because you Gentiles, he says, when the oracles of God were given credit along with these, were resisters: but now you have received mercy, not by your own merit, but to the reproach of these; why should not these rather, being converted, receive mercy, who before lived in the Law of God, and to whom the promise was made?

For God has concluded all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. The Gentiles, moreover, from ancient times were engaged in impiety and ignorance, being without God, as it were: for which reason the Law was made manifest in letters, by which the headlong might be reined in. And since through the cunning of the adversary sins began to be heaped up, so that through the prohibition man might be made more guilty; God, in the clemency of his goodness, always providing for man, so that both what was sin without the Law and what was sin in the Law might be blotted out, decreed this: that he would establish faith alone, through which the sins of all might be abolished; so that, since there was no hope for all men through the Law, they might be saved by the mercy of God. This is to have concluded all in unbelief, that the decreed gift might then come from God when all were laboring under unbelief; that the grace of the gift might be most pleasing.

Therefore let no one boast; for it is a wretched thing for one to be proud to whom he is unknown.

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! He testifies with all praise of thanksgiving that God is exalted and immense in the riches of his wisdom and knowledge; for his counsel and judgment are incomprehensible. For, knowing from the beginning the ways of life and works of men—since neither can the human race be saved by justice's severity alone, nor arrive at the profit of merits by mercy alone—he decreed at each time what should be preached; yet permitting each one before that his own judgment, since by the guidance of nature itself, justice is known. And because the authority of natural justice had grown numb through the habit of transgressing, the Law was given, that the human race might be restrained by the terror of the manifested Law.

But because, not restraining themselves, they were held guilty by the Law, mercy was preached, which would save those who fled to it, but would blind for a time those who refused it, inviting the Gentiles to their promise, whom before they refused to follow the righteousness of God given through Moses; that while envying these their salvation, by that very zeal they might reform themselves to the origin of the Savior's root promised in the Law. This is the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, who by manifold providence acquired both Jews and Gentiles unto life.

For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him? This is found written in Isaiah. It is manifest that God alone is he who knows all counsels, and that he alone is he who needs no one; because all things are from him: and thereby his counsel is neither comprehended nor measured by anyone; because the lower cannot know the sense of the higher. So then it seemed impossible to the believing Jews that it could be the counsel and will of God for the redemption of the Gentiles: in like manner it also seemed to the Gentiles arduous and unbelievable that the Jews, who did not believe, could be converted; or that, believing, they could be received, so as to be saved. Among other things this is the counsel of God, which was hidden and could not be comprehended.

For of him, and through him, and in him, are all things: to whom be glory. He declared the reason why the mind and counsel of God cannot be searched out: For of him, he says, and through him, and in him, are all things: to whom be glory. By this saying he disclosed the meaning that was hidden from the world; for since God is the creator of all things (for he made those things which were not, that they might be), therefore all things are of him. And since they are from him, they began to be through his Son, who is indeed of the same substance, whose work is the work of the Father. Since, then, he himself works through the Son, all things are through him. And since the things which are of God, are through God: after being reborn in the Holy Spirit, they are in him, all things are in him, because the Holy Spirit also is of God the Father; whence too he knows the things which are in God.

Therefore also the Father is in the Holy Spirit; because what is of the Father as God, cannot be other than what God the Father is. And thereby to him be glory, because of him, and through him, and in him, are all things. Therefore the things which, of him, and through him, and in him, began to be, that they might exist, cannot know his sense and counsel. But he himself knows all things; because in him are all things. He has laid open the mystery of God, which he said above ought not to be unknown to them.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind; that you may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. He exhorts them by the mercy of God, by which humankind is saved. For after treating of the Law and of faith, he exhorts the nature of the Jewish and Gentile people to lead a good life; for by this hope of faith is obtained. This is therefore an admonition, that they be mindful that they have received mercy, and be watchful concerning obedience to him by whom it was given to them, through whom, being ungodly, they were freely justified; knowing this to be a living, holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, if we keep our bodies uncontaminated, unlike those of the world, who devote themselves to pleasures. This is the will of God, even your sanctification.

For bodies subjected to sins are held not living but dead; for they are under the despair of promised life. To this end, indeed, we are cleansed by the gift of God from sins; that thereafter, leading an undefiled life, we may provoke the love of God towards us, not making the work of his grace void. For among the ancients an offered victim was slain for this reason, to signify that men, because of sin, were subject to death. But now, since men have been purified through the gift of God, and freed from the second death, they ought to offer a living sacrifice, that it may be a sign of eternal life. For it is not, as then, that bodies are sacrificed for bodies; but now not bodies, but the vices of the body must be destroyed. But that we may be able to have the effect of our service, keeping righteousness, let us guard our modesty; for modesty profits nothing, nor can it seem reasonable, if righteousness is neglected.

This will be to be conformed to spiritual things, renewed in spirit and faith, to know what is pleasing to God, and that nothing else is good and perfect.

For I say, through the grace which is given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. He shows plainly that we ought to be so wise as not to go beyond the bounds of righteousness, so that it may not be useful to us alone, but also harm no one. For this is prudence, to profit others rather than to harm; and to be content with the lot which God has measured, and with the merit of each one's faith; and not to claim for oneself what one sees is not granted to oneself; this is, not to think more highly, because the whole cannot be granted to one. Nor, indeed, if someone lives a good life, ought he on that account also to claim for himself prudence in teaching; or, because he has skill in the Law, should he claim for himself the services of the Levites.

He exhorts, therefore, and teaches by the grace given to him. This grace is understood as skill in the discipline of the Lord, through which he hands down that humility and righteousness must be pursued.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. By the example of the body he teaches that we cannot, individually, do everything; because we are members one of another, so that one does not need the other on his own: and thereby that we ought to take care of one another, and one not oppose another; for we have need of each other's services by turns. This will be to love Christ, if the members exhort one another mutually, that they may fulfil the measure by which the body may be perfect in Christ.

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

Now he enumerates the offices themselves assigned to members according to merit of faith; so that, when one member sees that a certain office is assigned to itself, it may not clamor against another to whom it sees another thing entrusted, but rejoice with it, that the body of the Church may be perfect. Whether prophecy, according to the proportion of faith. He begins with prophecy, which is the first proof that our faith is reasonable. For indeed, believers, having received the Spirit, prophesied. This, then, is given according to the measure of the recipient, that is, as much as the cause for which it is given requires.

Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering.

In providing for the service of the brotherhood, the minister is made firm to the degree that he believes he ought to serve; lest, laboring in service beyond his faith, he be wearied in vain; for that follows for each which he strives after from the heart.

Or he that teaches, on teaching.

Likewise he says the teacher is assisted in teaching; so that to the extent his faith is for teaching, to that extent he is inspired for handing down heavenly discipline.

Or he that exhorts, on exhortation.

And this one likewise, in that very thing to which he is inclined, is prepared by the help of the Spirit; that he may have grace while he stirs up. For he stirs up the brethren to good, or unbelievers to faith.

He that gives, let him do it with simplicity. To this one he says that helps are always supplied, procured by the Spirit, that he who gives with simplicity might not lack, as Solomon says: He who gives to the poor shall not want. Therefore this one gives simply, who does not do it in pretense so that praise may be given him by men; but that he may obtain from God merit for this very thing.

He that rules, with diligence. He who undertakes the care of ruling over the brethren, receives, according to his faith, vigilance and authority; that he may prosper in that in which he is diligent, having fruit in those over whom he is set.

He that shows mercy, with cheerfulness. This one too, according to his own disposition, who shows mercy with a joyful mind, not as though it were extorted from an unwilling giver, is founded and strengthened by God; that in this matter he may suffer no weakness, knowing what was said by Solomon: While you have the occasion, do good. But this is to be understood in many ways; for mercy, under one name, is manifold. For if above he said: He that gives, with simplicity—what need was there to repeat it, unless because under the one name of mercy he signified many good works? For to forgive sinners is mercy; and to bring help to one placed in some necessity or oppressed is mercy; and to clothe the naked, and to break bread to the hungry, and to gather up an abandoned infant, and to cover a corpse, and to do other things, is mercy.

Therefore, if he has done these things unwearyingly and without disgust, he will have the reward for this work both in the present and in the future. All mercy, then, ought to be done both simply and with joy; that simplicity may exclude hypocrisy, while joy testifies to a trial supported by hope of the future.

Let love be without dissimulation.

To this mind, which meditates so as to love the brother because it knows this pleases God the Author; that it may not do this in flattery of the present life, the Spirit comes to help; that because it seeks this with a devoted mind, it may be able to fulfill it in acts of service. For it is added, said by the Lord: A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.

Abhorring that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good, kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.

It is no great thing, he says, to avoid evil unless one cleaves to the good; for the former comes from fear, the latter from love: nor is one said to be kind, nor to hold brotherly love, if they do not go before one another in mutual services.

Not slothful in business.

This is what the prophet Jeremiah says, that cursed is he who does the works of the Lord negligently. For the slothful in divine conversation is without hope; therefore he added: Fervent in spirit. That is, so that in the exercise of the divine work, or of the Law, he not be lukewarm, as is said in the Apocalypse of John: Because you are lukewarm, he says, I will vomit you out of my mouth; for daily meditation removes drowsiness, and makes one watchful. Now the works of the Lord are those which he commands to be done for the benefit of the Church, that is, of the brethren.

Serving the time.

In the Greek it stands thus: Serving God; which does not even fit the place. For what need was there to place this sum of all devotion, when he mentions each individual member which pertains to the duties and services of God? For in all these things which he enumerates, full service is shown to the Lord. For what it is to serve the time, he explains elsewhere, when he says: Redeeming the time, because the days are evil; that you may know how you ought to answer every man. But since he had said: Fervent in spirit—lest they take this in such a way as to thrust in the words of religion indiscriminately and importunely in a hostile time, by which they might perchance stir up scandal, he immediately added: Serving the time, so that modestly and with propriety, at fitting places and to fitting persons, and at a fitting time, they might speak the faith of religion.

For there are some, even in this time when there is peace, who so dread the words of God, that on hearing them they blaspheme with great anger the way of Christ. For he himself also served the time, when he did what he did not wish; for unwillingly he circumcised Timothy, and having shaved his head and been purified according to the Law, he went up into the temple, to lull the madness of the Jews.

Rejoicing in hope.

After he said: Serving the time, he added: Rejoicing in hope; so that if perhaps, on account of the iniquity of the time, it is not permitted to speak openly of the faith, but one must be in fear, he may rejoice in hope; because this sadness gives birth to joy.

Patient in tribulation.

This is to rejoice in hope, to be patient in tribulation; for out of the joy of hope he endures tribulation, knowing that far greater things are promised for these.

Continuing instant in prayer.

Prayer is very necessary; for in order that tribulation may be endured, one must persevere in prayers.

Distributing to the necessity of the saints.

It is manifest that he who wants his prayers heard must be a rival of the life of the saints; for in imitating, one shares in common; so that this is to be mindful and to share in common, to imitate their acts: and if they need funds, one must share with them, as he says in another place: Now concerning the collection which is being made for the saints; and to the Galatians: That we should remember the poor.

Given to hospitality.

An imitator and lover of the saints pursues hospitality, following the examples of holy Abraham and Lot the just man.

Bless them which persecute you, bless, and curse not.

That he may make Christians in all things new, he wishes to remove them also from this custom, which is common to all, lest, provoked by an angry mind, they be quick first to curse; but rather, anger conquered, that they may bless, and it may be to the credit of the Lord's discipline.

Rejoice with them that rejoice, and weep with them that weep.

This is what he says in another place: If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it: and if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it. For when someone is faithfully consoled in need, it raises his spirit, and lays up merit for oneself with God; because one loves a member of the body of Christ: and if one grieves with an unbeliever, it provokes him the more to the progress of the Lord's discipline.

Being of the same mind one toward another.

This is what has been said, that one ought to sympathize in a brother's tribulation, as he also says in another epistle: Considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens.

Mind not high things.

To be high-minded is pride; for the devil too, when he was high-minded, apostatized. Lest there be elation in the mind, and someone, presuming perhaps upon the soundness of his own conduct, not sympathize with his brother, but reproach him as a sinner, this is pride, which, when it sets itself before, gives offense. Which the Lord also indicates, saying: Cast out first the beam out of your own eye, and then you shall see to cast out the mote out of your brother's eye. For this elation itself is sin: even if he is not a sinner, which is impossible; he becomes a sinner while he is proud. So Solomon says: God resists the proud.

But agreeing with the humble.

That is, laying aside pride, let him make another's cause his own, and his own as though another's; that he may have grace with God, because he who has exalted himself shall be humbled.

Be not wise in your own conceits.

This is written in the prophet Isaiah, which he here sets forth as though it were his own; that righteousness may be held in common, not that one man be righteous to himself, while others are unrighteous.

Rendering to no man evil for evil.

This is what the Lord says: Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of God. For the commandment in the Law was: You shall love your neighbor, and you shall hate your enemy. This, so far as it appears, is righteousness: but that the righteousness of Christians may abound, they are taught not to return evil for evil; that they may be perfect, and for this a reward may be rendered to them in the judgment of God. For he seems to surpass righteousness itself, when he who is not the imitator of heavenly righteousness does not do what is lawful in order that he may be better. Therefore the righteousness of the world, granted to him by God, makes him innocent: but the heavenly righteousness makes him perfect, that he may have merit before God.

Providing for good things not only before God, but also before all men.

To provide is to have future good things before the eyes; so that those things which can be done may be conducted in such a way that, after they have been done, they do not fall into blame, but rather bring praise, whether before God or before men. Lest anyone should suppose that, because things lawful before God are not displeasing, therefore it need not be cared for if they be a scandal to a brother; he forewarns of this, that what ought to be done is that which is neither displeasing to God nor a scandal to a brother. For even though it be lawful, if it scandalizes a brother, it does not please God; because God bids us be zealous for salvation. Thus, then, good things are provided for before God and men, if the things that are lawful are so done that they do not cause scandal.

If it be possible, as much as is in you, having peace with all men.

He wills all to be peaceable who keep the divine righteousness. Let each see to it, if anyone has spurned this peace, so as to be an enemy to such a man, whether because he does not wish perhaps to be reproved by him, or envies his good deeds; that which pertains to him nonetheless does not set him at variance with those who act rightly. For he is unpeaceable who, having disregarded the will of the Law, follows his own right; although David says: With those who hated peace I was peaceable. But this was a matter of necessity because of the power of persons, that he who is so puffed up by pride as to despise the commandments of the Law might be overcome even by acts of humble deference. It can happen that, out of fear of God too, one may show himself peaceable to him who hates peace.

For when one is unwilling to render recompense for evils, he is peaceable—that is, to overcome evil with good, so that he who is not overcome by the commandments of the Law may at least be overcome by acts of deference. Therefore, "if it be possible," he says, "as much as is in you"; that we who act well may be seen to have peace. Now if he be not a lover of peace, you nevertheless wish to be peaceable, so far as it concerns you. But if someone is irreverent and blasphemous, and you cannot have peace with him, it certainly shall not be charged to you; because the apostle John did not even permit those who deny that Christ came in the flesh to be greeted. We, then, are ready, if it be possible, to have peace with all: but if others resist, it will become impossible, not from our side—provided, however, that the complaint be set aside from us. For he who injures no one plainly appears to be peaceable.

Not defending yourselves, dearly beloved, but give place unto wrath.

That the covenants of peace may be kept, he advises that anger be set aside, especially since sin is wont to occur through anger, when someone, moved by fury, demands more than the cause of the offense requires: or he brings harm upon himself, if he wishes to pursue graver sins with an incompetent vengeance; for he makes weak the one whom he could have had corrected and sound. Whence also Solomon says: Be not overly righteous; for there is one, he says, who perishes in his own righteousness. For wishing to respond to every single offense, in seeking vengeance he can find death both for himself and for the one whom he afflicts with blows; for men are apt to sin in inflicting punishments.

But he not only forbids fitting vengeance regarding subjects, but also regarding equals and superiors—that is, concerning a brother perhaps sinning against us, let us not seek to be avenged, but let us forgive, reserving it to God's judgment; lest, while we are held fast by anger, the enemy find an opening in which to suggest and persuade what is against us. For it is written. That he may persuade more forcefully, he confirms this by the example of the Law, saying: For it is written, in Proverbs, Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord. So that, if what he teaches is by no means done by us, it shows that God has been despised by us. Thus, then, one profits in a twofold way, if vengeance is left to God; because both in overcoming wrath he becomes perfect, and he will be avenged by God's judgment.

If your enemy is hungry, feed him: if he thirsts, give him drink; for in doing this, you shall heap coals of fire upon his head.

He shows that mere vengeance is not to be reserved to God, but that kindnesses are also to be given to enemies; that we may truly show that we do not hold them as enemies by our own deserts, whom, in order that they may cease from enmity, we strive to overcome by acts of kindness. And if they persist in enmity through the impiety of their mind, our services will profit them unto punishment: or else, being pricked by the earnestness of our services, like dead coals they will revive. Therefore, in order to make us so perfect that we win not only ourselves but others to life, the Lord through Solomon forbids returning like for like to enemies; indeed, he exhorts us to provoke them to friendship by kindness.

Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This is the Apostle's interpretation, exhorting that we not return recompense to enemies, as has been said. For it will profit us much, if we yield to malice; for he overcomes evil who for a time seems to be overcome by it. For thus the Savior overcame evil, in that he did not resist; for malice works against itself, and while it is overcome, it thinks it overcomes. For this is what the enemy aims at, to draw us away from our purpose, seeking occasion for how we may sin. Therefore, if provoked by him, we do not return the recompense to him, we overcome him in good; for this reason we do not resist, that we may preserve the good, setting aside strict justice; because justice compels one to repay.

Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; for there is no power but from God.

Since he had commanded that the law of heavenly righteousness be followed, lest he should seem to disregard this present one, he commends it: indeed, since unless this one has been observed, that one cannot be kept; for this is, as it were, a tutor, which instructs little ones, that they may be able to follow the way of the higher righteousness. For mercy cannot be imputed to anyone unless he has had justice. Therefore, to confirm the right and the fear of the natural law, he attests that God is its author; and that those who administer it hold God's ordination. Therefore he added: But those things that are, are ordained of God: so that no one may think they are to be despised as human contrivances; for they see that divine right is entrusted to human authorities. He, then, is subject to power who restrains himself, out of fear of God, from those things which it forbids.

Therefore he who resists the power, resists the ordinance of God. This is against those who are strong through power, or who believe they cannot be caught by anyone, and through this think they can mock the law; he shows to these that it is God's law, and that they will not escape the judgment of God, they who for a time escape by some device. And they that resist purchase to themselves damnation. It is manifest, because each one shall be either justified or condemned by his own works. For those who, hearing the Law, sin, are inexcusable.

For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. He calls these rulers kings, who are established for the correction of life and for the restraining of adversities, bearing the image of God, so that others may be under one. Do you wish, then, not to fear the power? Do good, and you shall have praise from it. Praise from power arises then, when one is found innocent.

For he is the minister of God to you for good. It is manifest that rulers were given for this reason, that evil might not be done. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain. That is, he therefore threatens, so that if he is despised, he may take vengeance. For he is the minister of God, an avenger to execute wrath upon him who does evil. Since God has established a future judgment, and wishes no one to perish, he has ordained rulers in this age; so that, with terror interposed, they may serve as tutors for all, instructing them what to observe, lest they fall into the punishment of the future judgment.

Wherefore you must needs be subject, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.

He rightly says that men ought to be subject not only because of wrath, that is, present retribution—for wrath brings forth vengeance—but also because of the future judgment; since if they escape here, punishment awaits them there, where, conscience itself accusing, they will be punished.

For for this cause pay you tribute also; for they are God's ministers, serving unto this very thing. Hence he says that tributes, or what are called fiscal dues, be paid, so that they may render subjection, by which they know they are not free, but act under a power that is from God; for they are subject to their prince, who acts in the place of God, just as they are subject to God, as Daniel the prophet says: For the kingdom is God's, he says, and he will give it to whom he wishes. Whence also the Lord: Render, he says, unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's. To him, therefore, they are to be subject as to God, of which subjection this is the proof, when they pay him tribute.

Render therefore to all their dues.

He wishes dues to be rendered by all; for the powerful too are debtors to the lesser, that they may answer to their merits. To whom tribute is due, tribute; to whom custom, custom. First he bids that those things which are owed to the royal power be paid; because in these there is a greater cause or necessity. To whom fear, fear. Fear is to be shown to power, because fear restrains sin: then also to a parent, or to an earthly lord; that he may render thanks in a Christian son or servant. To whom honor, honor. This honor can also apply to those who seem exalted in the world; so that, seeing the humility of the servants of Christ, they may praise rather than blame evangelical discipline.

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another.

He wishes us to have peace, if it be possible, with all, but love with the brethren, and this too, honor being preserved. He calls them debtors for this reason; because to a man who is worthy of honor, whether present or future, it is fitting and owed that one bow before him. For he to whom one bows is he from whom he received honor: therefore he is called a debtor. For if you do not do this to your prince, you are proud; for one is to be honored either for merit or for age.

For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. He who loves his neighbor fulfills the Law given by Moses; for it is the commandment of the new law also to love enemies. For you shall not commit adultery, you shall not kill, you shall not steal, you shall not covet. Moses received this in writing from God for the reformation of the natural law. And if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying: You shall love your neighbor as yourself; this is written in Leviticus. Therefore, with the aforesaid commandments remaining, he signifies that the Law is fulfilled in love, as he said: as if there were other commandments, which he now passed over in silence; nevertheless, love suffices for all commandments. For if humankind had loved one another from the beginning, there would be no iniquity on earth; for the beginning of injustice is discord. Therefore the love of iniquity is iniquity; because what is evil to evil is good to good.

Love works no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the Law.

It works no evil, because love is good, and that which is the perfection of the Law cannot sin. Through the words of the Law he wishes to arrive at the evangelical sense. Therefore he recalls what is highest in the Law; that he may join the Gospel to it, showing that the meaning is of one Author. But because in the time of Christ it was fitting to add something, he commanded that not only neighbors but enemies be loved. Whence it is added: Love is the fulfilling of the Law: so that righteousness is to love one's neighbor, but full and perfect righteousness is also to love enemies. But to love an enemy—what else is it than to wish that he cease from hatred, and to seek nothing harsh against him?

This is to love him, to wish for him those things through which he may have God propitious to him: this is heavenly righteousness, this makes men like unto God the Father, who bestows his yearly gifts even upon those who do not worship him. For the Lord too, set upon the cross, prays for his enemies; that he might demonstrate the fullness of the righteousness which he had taught.

that, knowing the time, that it is now the hour for us to rise out of sleep.

He says it is time that we should advance toward merit. That is, to rise from sleep, to work good as though in daytime, that is, openly; for unlawful things are done at night, that is, in hiding. For being now set in manifestation, that is, in the knowledge of God, recognizing what we ought to follow, we ought to take pains that, living purely, we may come to the promised reward, sleep being shaken off, that is, ignorance or negligence.

For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. It is manifest that those who, after the washing, live well and are zealous for charity are not far from the merit of the promised resurrection. For a Christian's good life is a sign of future salvation.

The night is far spent, but the day is at hand.

He signified by night the old man, who has been renewed through baptism. He says this has gone before, as though it were night, but that the day has drawn near, by whose light the truth has appeared to us; that we may know what we ought to do. For before, not knowing Christ, we were in darkness: but when we learned, light arose in us; for we passed from the false to the true.

Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

The works of darkness are the carnal life, which is driven by worldly enticements: this is worthy of darkness, as the Lord says: Take him away; and binding him hand and foot, cast him into outer darkness. But to put on the armor of light is good deeds done; because just as evil acts are ascribed to darkness, since they are done in secret by those who act wickedly: so also those who act well, act openly; because they are not ashamed, but rejoice. Good acts, then, are the armor of light, fighting against darkness, which are the vices of the flesh.

Let us walk honestly, as in the day.

It is true; that since sin is not committed publicly, we should act as one acts publicly; for nothing is so public as truth. Not in rioting and drunkenness. Riotings are luxurious feasts, which are held either by contribution of all, or are usually offered in turn by companions; so that no one there is ashamed to say or do anything dishonest; because each one presumes that the feast is his own. For men are usually restrained by shame at another's table; but here they gather for this purpose, that shameful things be done there with abundance of wine, and diverse pleasures of lust be incited. Therefore he bids such feasts to be avoided.

Not in chambering and wantonness.

After the luxurious feast and drunkenness he adds what follows, that is, shameless intercourse; for this is the fruit of that lasciviousness.

Not in strife and envying.

He rightly advises restraint from these; because all strife and zeal breeds enmity, which he calls darkness; because they cannot attain to the reward of light.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh in its lusts.

He forbids provision for the flesh, that is, pleasure; so that everything which is forbidden by the Law may not be desired, or if desired, may at least be overcome. For these are the works of the flesh; so that, being stripped of these, men may put on the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, being renewed through Christ, may keep themselves from these evils. For he puts on Christ who separates himself from all error and disgrace; lest he be found at the marriage feast without the new garment, and be shamefully cast out and delivered into darkness: otherwise, they have not put on the Lord Jesus Christ, upon whose new garment they put old rags; for having stripped off the old man, one must remain in newness of life.

Him that is weak in the faith receive, not to doubtful disputations.

Since there were among the Romans those from the Jews who had received the name of Christ, with the Law mixed in, as I mentioned at the beginning of the epistle; therefore it seemed to some that forbidden meat ought not to be eaten: while to others, who followed Christ without the Law, it seemed lawful, against the Law, to eat. And through this very thing disputes arose between them, which the Apostle, zealous for concord and salvation, removes by a divine argument, showing that it profits nothing before God to eat, nor does it harm to abstain from eating. He calls him weak who, because the Jews were forbidden, fears to eat. He therefore wishes this man to be left to his own judgment, lest, having suffered scandal, he depart from charity—which is, as it were, the mother of souls—with disturbance of mind; since Christians ought to be peaceable and quiet.

For one believes that he may eat all things. This man, on the confidence of Scripture, does not doubt that all things that have been given for human use are to be eaten. For he reads in Genesis that all things which God created are very good; therefore nothing is to be rejected, since neither Enoch, who first pleased God: nor Noah, who alone was found righteous in the flood: nor Abraham, that friend of God, nor Isaac, nor Jacob, righteous men and friends of God, among whom was also Lot, nor the other righteous men, are read to have abstained from these things.

Another, who is weak, eats herbs.

Since he thinks this, that this man eats herbs: therefore he is not to be persuaded to eat meat, lest he eat with scruple, and seem to sin; because he does not keep his own resolve.

Let not him that eats despise him that eats not; and let not him which eats not judge him that eats.

Because it is a matter of will to eat, or not to eat; and for this reason a question ought not to be made of this. For all things were made for this, that they might be subject to the will; because they have been made subject to human dominion.

For God has received him. He is received by God, when he is called to grace.

Who are you that judges another man's servant?

To his own master he stands or falls. It is manifest that a servant ought not to judge the will of a fellow servant, to whom the law has not been given in this matter; for God is the judge, whose servant he is, with what conscience he eats or does not eat.

Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand.

He shall stand, he says, to his own master, for this reason: that neither if he eats will he be guilty, nor if he does not eat will he be at fault—provided, however, he does this out of devotion, not avoiding this as though it were contrary.

For one man esteems one day above another. That is, it pleases some to eat only on interspersed days. For there are some who have decided that meat is not to be eaten on Wednesday; there are those who abstain on the Sabbath; there are again those who eat from Easter until Pentecost.

Another esteems every day alike.

This man esteems every day alike, who never eats. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind: that is, let each be left to his own judgment.

He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord. It is true, that he who is always abstaining thinks that he pleases God thereby. And he that eats, eats unto the Lord. He eats unto the Lord; because he gives thanks to the Creator. And he that eats not, to the Lord he eats not, and gives thanks to God. He gives thanks, in that he confesses that it is God's creature, and created good; but that he himself abstains from it, not that he condemns it.

For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. One would live to himself, if he did not act under the Law: but he who is governed by the rein of the Law does not indeed live to himself, but to God who gave the Law, that he might live according to His will. And he who dies, in like manner dies to God, by whose judgment he shall be either crowned or condemned.

For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. The meaning is the same. Whether we live therefore, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. It is true that all of us belong to the Lord, as servants under the condition and dominion of the Redeemer, and each one is dealt with according to his merit.

For to this end Christ both died and rose, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Through Christ the Lord the creature was made, which through sin was alienated from its Author and made a captive: which God the Father, lest his work should perish, sent his Son from the heavens to the earth, and taught what to do so as to escape the hands of the pirates. For this reason he also suffered himself to be slain by his enemies; that, descending to the lower regions, since he, being innocent, had been slain, he might make sin guilty; that he might strip from those whom it held at the lower regions. Since therefore he showed to the living the way of salvation, and offered himself for them, and freed the dead from hell, he has dominion both over the living and over the dead; for from those who were lost he has again reformed them unto himself as servants.

But you, why do you judge your brother in not eating?

Or you, why do you despise your brother in eating? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He teaches that one ought not to judge in this matter; both because it is not contained in the Law, and moreover, since we ought to await God as judge.

For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. This is written in Isaiah; because every tongue shall confess to God in the faith of Christ. For since he, having been slain, rose again, and is to be judge, he rightly says: As I live, says the Lord; and not only I live, but I am also about to judge, and my enemies shall be stupefied at me, and shall bow the knee, recognizing me as God of God.

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

Since, he says, we are each to render account for ourselves, let us not, in this matter which has been written above, condemn one another.

Let us not therefore judge one another any more, that is, knowing this, let us cease from discord.

But judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. He counsels that judgment be made concerning what profits, what can also be defended by the authority of the law: but let no scandal be caused, for any brother, by one eating or not eating meat.

I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself.

It is manifest that, by the benefit of the Savior, all things are clean, who, rescuing men from under the yoke of the Law and justifying them, restored the state of pristine liberty; so that they are worthy to use the whole of creation, just as the ancient saints did. But those who are still under the Law, it is not lawful for them to use or eat what the Law forbids; because they despise the indulgence given. For things are not unclean according to their nature, but when they are eaten contrary to the edict, they are unclean. Finally, in the Law it says: They shall be unclean unto you.

But to him that esteems anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

Whether one who from a Jew has become a Christian, or a believing Gentile, thinks something of this sort ought to be avoided, he is the one whom he calls weak above; for by doubting he is weak. To such a one, that which he thinks not to be eaten is unclean: and because he does this not through superstition, but through fear, he is to be left to his own judgment.

But if your brother be grieved because of food, now you walk not according to charity.

In another epistle he says: Food for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God shall destroy both it and them. Because it is not by food that anyone pleases or displeases God; therefore he advises that charity be pursued, by which God deigned to free us; for thus he says: But God, being rich in mercy, for the great charity wherewith he loved us, had mercy upon us. He therefore who is mindful of this benefit cultivates it, and prefers nothing to it: but he passes over even the greatest things, which he knows will not secure the promise before God.

Destroy not with your food him for whom Christ died.

How much the salvation of a brother is worth, is known from the death of Christ. Therefore, he who knows how much it costs ought to confirm him, not scandalize him; that from a frivolous matter he cause him a scruple: and he begin to hesitate whether meat is to be eaten or not, who perhaps ate simply, secure in his conscience. But indeed, when controversies arise, he will begin, through disturbance, to sin against God's creature, and it will be to the injury of the Creator, which will contribute to the perdition of the one who doubts.

Let not then our good be evil spoken of.

That is, the doctrine of the Lord, since it is good and salutary, ought not to be blasphemed on account of a frivolous matter; but it is blasphemed, when doubt is cast upon God's creature. This can also be understood thus: that our good be blasphemed, because he who has good works, if he be reproved in some other very small matter, obscures that good of his, and the good in him begins to be blasphemed on account of his evil, as it is written in Ezekiel: The righteousness of the righteous shall not profit, if he shall have erred. It is like the case of one who has some blemish, perhaps, prominent on his forehead, or a bruised nose; by which his appearance is disfigured. Therefore he advises pursuing those things that do not take away favor from one's other good qualities.

For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink. It is manifest that no one pleases or displeases God by food. But righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. He says that those enter the kingdom of God who follow righteousness, but having the Christian peace, which the Lord gave, saying: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you; from which arises joy in the Holy Spirit. But disputation has not joy, but wrath; therefore the Holy Spirit does not look upon it there, because he rejoices only in the peaceable. For just as he grieves because of us, so also he rejoices in us.

For he that in this serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. Since Christ redeemed us, therefore he says: He who in this serves Christ, as redeemer, is acceptable to God. Why? Because it was he who sent Christ, that he might redeem the human race, as the Lord himself says: He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him. He therefore who pleases God is approved of men. How? For he has received the gift, through which he may appear worthy of God.

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

Since disputation breeds discord, therefore, that we may be able to be peaceable, he teaches us to set aside the intention of eating or not eating. But he exhorts to follow the way of edification, that with peace we may confer together those things by which we may edify one another, turning away from those things which are fruitless and rather contrary. For conferring together can profit, for it stirs up the mind; provided, however, the zeal for winning the argument be set aside: for this is what breeds strife.

Destroy not the work of God for food.

Man is the work of God through creation, and again he is the work of God, when he is reformed through regeneration. And food is the work of God, but man is not for food, but food for man: therefore there is a great difference; therefore, he says, do not destroy this work of God, which is most excellent, for the sake of that which is most lowly. This is to be zealous for a brother's salvation, not to be concerned about food, so as to grieve a brother. For he makes God's benefit void, who provokes a brother, freed from sin, back again to sin through disputation, dissolving in him the works of Christ, which he wrought in order to free man from sin.

All things indeed are clean.

It is true and manifest that all things are clean: since it is read in Genesis that all that God made is very good; But it is evil to the man who eats with offense. Since therefore all things are by nature good and clean, yet to those who doubt they become unclean: and it shall be a stumbling block to him who, though he doubts, nevertheless eats with an unclean conscience; because he does what he thinks useless to himself: therefore no one ought to be contradicted as to what he follows in this matter.

It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine. Whereas the matter concerned only meat, he added drink also; that he might comfort those who abstain from these, through the fact that it is lawful both to eat meat and drink wine. Lest they be grieved by those who make use of these things, he gave them the solace of breathing room; that they might rest content in their own will, and that disputation, through which discord arises, might cease. For since it is not hidden that it is good to eat meat and drink wine: and, on the other hand, they learn that not eating meat and not drinking wine is also good, no one contends. For the creature was given for the use of those who wish it; yet no necessity has been imposed either on the willing or on the unwilling.

Nor anything whereby your brother stumbles, or is offended, or is made weak.

He says the same, that no question ought to be made for a brother who has fixed a weak resolve for himself with regard to eating; lest, disturbed, he stumble, not knowing what to hold.

Have you faith?

Have it to yourself before God. That is, you who sit secure, because God's creature is good; there is no need for you to judge another; because it is more important that you have peace with a brother; for this is useful before God. For in food there is profit of the flesh, but in peace there is profit of both flesh and soul: and for this reason one must cease from disputation of this kind; that each may remain in the purpose of his own heart.

Happy is he that condemns not himself in that thing which he allows.

He judges that each person is to be condemned by his own judgment, who does what he says he ought not to do: and that man is happy who does nothing other than what he approves as useful to himself.

he that doubts is damned if he eat. It is true, that he who judges that a thing ought not to be eaten, and eats, is condemned; for he condemns himself, when he does that which he asserts to be useless to himself. Because he eats not of faith. He certainly does not eat of faith, who denies that it should be eaten, and eats.

For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. He rightly calls that sin which is done otherwise than what has been approved. Since the Romans had been instructed in the law, as I mentioned at the beginning of the epistle: but when there came those who believed more correctly, questions arose about eating meat and not eating it; and that part which said it might be eaten and should not be reproved seemed the better; because all things are very clean: he calls weak those who denied that it should be eaten, whether from Jews or from Gentiles, and that they be left to their own purpose of heart. For it neither harms one not to eat, nor profits one before God to eat; lest, bound by whatever reasoning, they should nevertheless sin by eating with scruple.

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.

He rightly says, we ought; because it is fitting for teachers to strengthen the weak, and to instruct the unlearned with gentleness; lest, being provoked, while they wish to contend, so as not to seem humble, they advance to worse.

not to please ourselves.

That is, not to claim what profits and pleases us, but also what profits a brother; because we ought to have care for one another. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good, unto edification. Now he has distinguished his own point: for he admonishes these, that being zealous for charity, they please their neighbors in what is useful. This is edification, as he says elsewhere: I, he says, in all things please all men.

For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written: The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me. He says that the Savior pleased not himself, but God the Father; because he says: For I came not down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me, the Father. And because, when he said these things, he was slain by the contradicting Jews as though a sinner, the Psalmist makes words in his person to God the Father, saying: The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me; that is: While I was doing thy will, they said that I was sinning against thee, who, by not receiving him whom thou didst send, reproached thee: because the Jews, when they sinned against God by not receiving Christ whom he sent, moreover also killed him as one sinning against God. Thus the sins of those sinning against God fell upon Christ; for the innocent one is slain by sinners as a blasphemer, as it is written in the Gospel.

For whatsoever things were written, were written for our instruction; that through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. It is manifest that whatsoever things were written, were written for our discipline; that from that very exhortation we might advance to hope, not distrusting the promises, if they still delay.

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be of one mind toward one another according to Jesus Christ; that with one mind and one mouth you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As one sent for salvation, the Apostle follows the people with a good wish, praying that God grant them one sense of wisdom according to Jesus Christ; that they may have wisdom according to the teaching of Christ.

For then will they be able to preserve love, following the example of the Lord who says: Greater love than this hath no man, than that he lay down his life for his friends and brothers; and so with one mouth, with one confession, to praise God the Father in Christ, if they shall have exhorted one another according to the sense of Christ; that all things which he made through Christ may praise God without ceasing, and that after the fall into error he deigned again through the same to raise up and reform them, giving a twofold benefit, mercy and knowledge.

Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God.

Thus we were received by Christ, when he took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses; that by this example we might confirm one another's infirmities through patience, so that the name of honor of God assumed upon us should not be made void; for we are called sons of God through the grace of Christ.

For I say that Christ Jesus was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers. He commends the origin of the Jews; for in circumcision he signifies the sons of Abraham, to whom Christ, being sent, ministered the grace promised to the fathers. Whence the Savior says: For I am, he says, in the midst of you, not that I might be ministered unto, but that I might minister; that the truth in the promise made to the fathers might be proved. For the circumcision of the flesh was given to Abraham as a figure of the circumcision of the heart, which afterward the prophet signified would come, saying: Circumcise the hardness of your heart. Christ is the minister, that is, the preacher, of this circumcision that was promised in words.

Then to the apostles, that they, being circumcised in the flesh, might minister the circumcision of the heart, he says thus: As thou hast sent me into this world, so have I also sent them into this world. Now the circumcision of the heart is this: the cloud of error being taken away, to acknowledge God the Creator Father, and his Son Christ, through whom he created all things, that the truth of God might be fulfilled. For he had promised that he would give mercy, and had promised it to the fathers of the Jews; for he had said to Abraham: In thy seed shall all nations be blessed. And to David he said: Of the fruit of thy womb will I set upon thy throne, and: A star shall rise out of Jacob.

that the Gentiles might honor God for his mercy.

For since to these there was no promise, being as it were unworthy, they were received unto salvation by mercy alone; that by confession they might honor God; because the unbelieving dishonor him.

As it is written: For this cause will I confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing to thy name.

He proves it by a prophetic example; for it is written in the seventeenth psalm that the Gentiles are to be admitted to the grace of God for obtaining salvation. For it is the voice of Christ, by which he foretold that his preaching among the Gentiles would bear the fruit of the confession of God's mystery; therefore the Son gives thanks to the Father from this on account of the obedience of the Gentiles. Whence in the Gospel he says: I confess to thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to little ones; for so it was well pleasing before thee. This confession therefore is of the one God in the Trinity, from which arises joy; that after the confession of the truth he might joyfully sing forth the mercy and gift of God.

again he says: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people—this is in the Song of Deuteronomy.

And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify him, all ye peoples. This, in the hundred and sixteenth psalm, shows that God had of old decreed, through the intervention of his mercy, to make Jews and Gentiles of one accord; that the Gentiles, having obtained grace, might become partners of the Jews, who themselves also had of old been called God's people by his gift. But now the Jews are noble; these, however, are ignoble, ennobled by mercy; that all together might rejoice in the recognition of the truth, and with the Gentiles praising, all peoples might magnify God, the twelve tribes together with the one God, who increased the number of his people by joining the Gentiles. In fact, when the Jews disputed with the apostle Peter concerning Cornelius, an account having been given to them, they acquiesced, magnifying the Lord, saying: Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

again Isaiah says: There shall be a root of Jesse; and he that shall rise up to reign over the Gentiles, in him shall the Gentiles hope.

That he might create greater confidence for the Gentiles and unshaken hope, he confirms with many testimonies that this was God's decree, that all nations should be blessed in Christ; lest the insolence of unbelieving Jews should sadden and make doubtful the souls of the believing Gentiles, as if they promised themselves hope in vain, because faith was said to be received by the Jews from the God of Abraham, so that by that very joy and security they might grow. Why, however, is Christ said to be of the root of Jesse, and not of the root of Boaz, a just man, or of the root of Obed?

But because he is called son of David on account of the kingdom; that as he was born of God to be King, so too he might have his origin from David the king according to the flesh; therefore the root of Jesse is the tree of David, which brought forth fruit through a branch, which is the Virgin Mary, who bore Christ.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing; that you may abound in hope and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of love, filled with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another. These are words of exhortation; for by praise he urges them on to a better understanding and life. For he who sees himself praised takes pains to labor that the things said of him might be true. Therefore he did not say that they should teach one another, but admonish; for that is wont to be admonished which, although it is known, sometimes escapes the mind. The rest is not obscure, so as to need explanation.

But I have written to you, brethren, somewhat boldly, in part, as it were putting you in remembrance

because of the grace that is given me from God, that I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit. He signifies that he did not write rashly, saying that authority was given him through the grace of God, so that he dares to write to all the Gentiles, admonishing and confirming their resolve in Christ; that he might show his own solicitude in the ministry of the Gospel, as a teacher of the Gentiles, and that their sacrifice might be able to become acceptable for the sake of sanctification in the Holy Spirit. For whatever is offered with integral faith and a sober mind is purified by the Holy Spirit.

I have therefore glory in Christ Jesus toward God.

For I dare not speak of any of those things which Christ worketh not by me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Spirit. He says he has glory with God through Christ Jesus; for by believing and serving Christ Jesus with a pure conscience, he has made merit for himself before God the Father, so much so that he says nothing is lacking, which Christ did not work through him for the exhortation of the Gentiles, giving signs and wonders by his hands, so that power might commend his preaching.

Hence it is that he shows himself to have glory in Christ toward God; for serving Christ he has glory toward God, so far that he does not have any lack of divine power that was not granted to him by God: but he professes that he has obtained all things, since he was found a fit steward, which things would profit toward the conversion of the Gentiles through the power of signs. This profits him in this, that he might prove himself to have been no less able than the other apostles who had been with the Lord: nor that God worked any less among the Gentiles in miracles; that by this very thing they might grow, seeing that they had obtained this grace, which the Jews had obtained, who claim for themselves the prerogative of the fathers.

So that from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of God, and of his Son Christ.

Yet so have I preached this gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation. Not without cause does he say he strives to preach there where Christ has not been named; for knowing that the pseudo-apostles were handing on Christ otherwise than they ought (for they went about for this purpose, that under the name of Christ they might enslave the people to other doctrines, which afterward it was of the greatest labor to correct), for this reason he wished to forestall them, so as to hand on to hearers the words of inviolate preaching, and so that the whole surface, laid out in an unbroken line, might have the strength of an unimpaired foundation.

And since he was given as a teacher to the Gentiles, it was fitting that he should carefully see to this, that he teach where Christ had not been announced; and that he might establish his own authority, and have the full fruit of his labors from the things which he had planted. Hence it is that the Church occupied all places; for heresies afterward, with subtle malice, strove under the name of Christ to corrupt the sense of the Law and the faith. This he warns of by the testimony of the Law, saying:

But as it is written: They to whom it was not announced concerning him shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand: it is found in Isaiah.

That therefore this understanding might be true and inviolable concerning the true Son of God, he says he always hastened to imbue the Gentiles with evangelical truth:

For which cause also I was much hindered from coming to you.

But now having no more place in these regions, and having a great desire these many years past to come unto you, whensoever I shall begin to journey into Spain, I hope to see you, and to be brought on my way thither by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. This he mentions at the head of the epistle, saying: Because oftentimes, he says, I purposed to come to you, and was hindered until now. Now he completes it, showing for what reason he was hindered; that though wishing to come, he did something else that was pressing, namely to exclude the wicked contrivances of the pseudo-apostles: and finally, after he preached everywhere round about, he says he now has leisure to come to Rome, which he had long desired. As for the Romans, since they had been brought under the Law, in the meantime he corrects them by letter.

But as for those who had not yet heard the preaching, he says it is more useful for them to be taught by his presence: that being founded in right faith, they would with difficulty receive anything else. Yet he promised to come at the time when he was to go to Spain; because there Christ had not been preached, so that he might occupy their minds; and because it was difficult for the pseudo-apostles to journey to them, therefore it was no trouble if he went there rather later.

But now I shall go to Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints.

For Macedonia and Achaia have determined to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints that are at Jerusalem. He says he will first go to minister to the saints at Jerusalem: by which fact he wishes the Romans to know that such works are to be zealously pursued: for they who live by mercy, and have been justified before God, ought to serve it.

For they are their debtors; for if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they ought also to minister to them in carnal things. Since indeed he calls them debtors of the believing Jews; that as they have been made partakers of their spiritual things, so also these might share in the bodily necessities of those; that rejoicing, the believing Jews might praise together the providence of God for their salvation, through their ministry. For these, giving themselves wholly to divine service, caring for nothing worldly, offered an example of good conduct to believers. In fact, the Apostle wants us to be so humane toward mercy, that he calls us debtors also as regards the bestowing of alms, and the practice of good works with cheerfulness of heart: because he who hopes for mercy from God ought to be merciful; that he may prove that he rightly hopes for this: because if man has mercy, how much more God! For this is the recompense or reward, that those who receive mercy should show mercy.

Whence the Lord says: Blessed are the merciful; for God will have mercy on them.

When therefore I shall have accomplished this, and shall have assigned to them this fruit, I will go on by you into Spain.

And I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the abundance of the blessing of Christ. Being certain, therefore, of the disposition and grace of God, he promised that he would come in the abundance of blessing which he preaches of Christ. Now this blessing is the power of signs, by which they were confirmed.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Holy Spirit, that you help me in your prayers for me to God, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers that are in Judea. Then he asks to be helped by prayers, that he might escape the hands of the unbelieving Jews: not because he himself deserves less, but he follows the order that prayer be made by the Church for its ruler. For many very small ones, when gathered together in unity, become great; and it is impossible that the prayers of many should not obtain their request. If therefore they themselves also are eager to see the Apostle, let them pray the more earnestly; that thence, once he is delivered, they may be able to receive him with the joy of love.

That the ministry of my gifts also may be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem; that I may come to you with joy, by the will of Jesus Christ, and may be refreshed with you.

He says this too must be prayed for, that the ministry of his gifts may be acceptable to the saints in Jerusalem, and shows that he does all things according to the will of God; that because his mind is devoted to bringing gifts, he wishes also that their mind should correspond to his by God's judgment; that, once their charity toward him is understood, they may give thanks to God with one accord together with him. For it is a great advantage to him whose ministry, having made them glad, they pursue with praises of God.

Now the God of peace be with you all.

Amen. The God of peace is Christ, who says: My peace I give unto you, my peace I leave with you, whom he wishes to be with these, knowing that the Lord said: Behold I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world. He wishes them, therefore, to be such that the Lord Christ Jesus may be with them, who, all discord of human error having been cut away, gave and showed what is true; that in that very truth they might remain peaceable.

I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a minister of the church

that is at Cenchreae: that you receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints; and that you assist her in whatsoever business she shall have need of you: for she also hath assisted many, and myself also. He commends Phoebe, who is coming, a common sister, that is, from the Law: and that he may deservedly commend her, he says she is a minister of the church at Cenchreae; and because she has been of assistance to many, he says she is worthily to be helped for the sake of her journey. And that he might persuade them to receive her without interruption and to assist her in need, if she should arrive, he also testifies that she assisted him himself; that as much as her person is higher than the others, so much the more he might show through charity that this duty of obedience should be rendered to her.

Salute Prisca and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not I only give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles: and their household church. These were of the Jews, who, believing, became companions of the labor of the Apostle; who believed so rightly that they themselves also exhorted others to right faith. Indeed Apollos, although he had been trained in the Scriptures, was nevertheless more carefully instructed in the way of the Lord by these: therefore he calls them companions of his labor, but in Christ Jesus; for they were his fellow-workers in the gospel of God. Aquila is the husband of Priscilla, who evidently did not come to Rome idly; for they were more inclined in devotion to God: for as a confirmation to the Romans, all those whom he salutes are understood to be from among these.

Whence he says that not only he himself, but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks to these, touching also the Romans, that they should obey these, whom they hear are laboring for the profit of the Gentiles for the exhortation of faith in Christ. These he praises so much, that they did not refuse to suffer dangers for him; for they did not disdain to undergo the enmities both of the Jews and of the false brethren, provided they might assist the Apostle by services and by love. False brethren were those who, believing in Christ, nevertheless said the Law must be kept, thinking Christ not sufficient for the full effect of salvation: which the Apostle destroyed, and therefore he also suffered persecutions from these. He also salutes their household and servants, whom he calls a church; because they were disciples of holy men as concerning the faith.

Salute Epaenetus my beloved, who is the first-fruits of Asia in Christ.

He does not pass over the present dignity of this Epaenetus; that he might show that men of rank also believe, and invite the leading men of the Romans to faith, or at least that they might grow in humility.

Salute Mary, who has bestowed much labor on you.

He reminds them by the name of Mary, whom we understand to have labored the more diligently for their exhortation, that they might give her thanks.

Salute Andronicus and Junia my kinsmen and fellow-captives, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me.

These are kinsmen both according to the flesh and according to the spirit, just as the angel also said to Mary: Behold Elizabeth thy kinswoman; whom also he declares with his own testimony to have obeyed the earlier apostles, and to have suffered along with him equal captivity for the sake of the faith; and therefore these are to be honored the more fully.

Salute Amplias, my beloved in Christ.

He salutes this one as a friend, but a friend in the Lord; yet not one who took part in his labor or captivity.

Salute Urbanus our helper in Christ.

He says not only that this one is his own helper, but that he was also the companion of others in the exhortation of belief. And Stachys my beloved. Although he calls this Stachys beloved, yet he places him under Urbanus, a sharer of the evangelical work.

Salute Apelles approved in Christ.

He salutes this Apelles not as his friend or partner in the work, but because he was tested by trials, and found faithful in Christ.

Salute them that are of the household of Aristobulus.

This Aristobulus is understood to have been a gatherer together of the brethren in Christ: whose deed he approves in this, that he designates those whom he was gathering together as worthy of his salutation.

Salute Herodion my kinsman.

This one, whom he calls only kinsman, he shows to be devoted in the love of rebirth; yet he did not designate his vigilance.

Salute them that are of the household of Narcissus, who are in the Lord.

This Narcissus is said at that time to have been a presbyter, as is read in other copies. And since he was not present, you see for what reason he salutes as saints those who were of his household. Now this Narcissus the presbyter was performing the office of a traveler abroad, confirming believers by exhortations; and since the Apostle did not know the merits of those who were with him, he said thus: Salute them who are of the household of Narcissus, in the Lord; that is, those whom you know to be worthy of my salutation among these, who have placed their hope in the Lord, salute them in my name.

Salute Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who labor in the Lord.

He declares these to be worthy of one honor in Christ.

Salute Persis the dearly beloved, who has labored much in the Lord.

This one seems to be set before those mentioned above; because she labored much in the Lord. This labor consists in exhortation, and in the ministry of the saints, and in tribulation, and in want for Christ's sake; because they abandoned their houses, being put to flight, and were a reproach to the unfaithful.

Salute Rufus elect in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

He therefore placed this Rufus before his mother on account of the election of the administration of the grace of God, in which a woman has no place; for he was elect, that is, promoted by the Lord to carry out his affairs. Yet he had so holy a mother that the Apostle also called her his own mother.

Salute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren that are with them.

He salutes these together; because he knew them to be of one accord in Christ, that is, joined in Christian friendship. He salutes together also the brethren who were with them, whose names he has omitted.

Salute Philologus, and Julia, and Nereus, and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints that are with them.

All these are understood to have been of one accord, whom for this reason he salutes together, whose merit is discerned from those who were together with them; for he calls them saints, that he might seem to salute them deservedly.

Salute one another with a holy kiss.

To all to whom he writes, and whom he names, he orders that they salute one another with a holy kiss, that is, in the peace of Christ, not in the desire of the flesh, but in the Holy Spirit; that the kisses might be religious, not carnal.

All the churches of Christ salute you.

By this it is understood that there is spoken of a "church" which is not of Christ. Whence David also calls the conspiracy of the wicked "the church of them that do evil". He therefore says that the churches of all those places salute them, so that they might grow in faith. This therefore he referred to the preceding sense; that he might show that it is Christ in whom salvation is, and that this is he whose people the faithful are, and by whose nod all creation lives. For he is the author of life, as the apostle Peter says, not the Law, in which some of them thought they ought to hope.

Now I beseech you, brethren, to mark them who make dissensions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them.

For they that are such serve not Christ our Lord, but their own belly; and by pleasant speeches and good words seduce the hearts of the innocent. For your obedience is made known in every place. At this point he breaks out concerning the persons of the pseudo-apostles, whom throughout the whole epistle he had warned to be avoided, as also now: but without making it manifest he suppressed their teaching. For these were compelling believers to Judaize, so that they might empty out for them God's benefit toward them, as I mentioned above; for having composed words about genealogy, they fitted treatises to themselves for the commendation of their own teaching, by which they might deceive the hearts of the simple.

For your obedience, he says, is made known in every place. This is what he says at the beginning of the epistle, that your faith is proclaimed in the whole world; this signifies that he is confident of their obedience. For it would have been incredible that they, after knowing the truth, should subject themselves to a foolish thing, as though prudent men.

I rejoice therefore in you.

This sense too is from the earlier part of the epistle; for he rejoices because the Romans, who appear to hold empire, subjected themselves to the Christian faith.

But I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

Here "wise unto good" means one who does good works: "simple concerning evil," however, are those who are ignorant of evil works, that is, who do not know the use of malice.

the God of peace crush Satan under your feet shortly; that is, briefly.

He says this about his own coming, because his coming would crush the devil on account of the fact that these were about to receive spiritual grace; a thing which Satan envies, because he wishes men to remain in error; the rest of them differ, though they be of one profession.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

The grace that he promised them at his coming, he now wishes to be with them already; for if they deserve to receive it, it is already with them in hope.

Timothy my work-fellow saluteth you, and Lucius, and Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.

Timothy is the sharer of his labors, as it were a co-bishop, who governed the church with great solicitude, placed under the hatred of the Jews to such a degree, that in the beginning he was circumcised on account of the Jews' offense; because, since his mother was a Jewess, he could not be a teacher uncircumcised. But he calls the others kinsmen, partly by descent, partly for the sake of the faith.

I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.

Tertius by name, not in number: this is the scribe of the epistle, to whom he granted, in his own name, to salute the Roman people, to whom he writes; that they should salute the others whom he names. For at that time there were still rulers of churches in only a few places.

Gaius mine host, and of the whole church, saluteth you.

This is the Gaius, I think, to whom the apostle John writes, rejoicing in his love, which he showed toward the brotherhood, furnishing them with necessary supplies. And whereas above he says: All the churches of Christ salute you; now he repeats, saying: All the churches salute you, which I do not think was repeated idly; for so great and so tractable a man put nothing superfluous. But since he says "all the churches of Christ salute you," that is, all the saints, as he says in another place: But they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh; now he added that these also salute, who are followers; that he might signify a blessed people of the church, because in every church there are two peoples. He might also have named the churches of two provinces, so that first he had mentioned all the churches of one place, then of another, or certainly of Jews and Gentiles.

Erastus the treasurer of the city saluteth you, and Quartus a brother.

The treasurer of the city is like an administrator, who, under the dictate of justice, governed the city, especially in the moderation of prices. He enumerates all these by name in the salutation of the Romans, so that they might know what sort and how many rejoiced together in their good undertaking.

Now to him

that is able to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith, known only to the wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. He gives glory to God the Father, from whom are all things; that he might deign, since he is able, to complete what the Romans have begun, confirming their souls in faith unto the profit of the gospel, and the revelation of the mystery hidden from ages, but now made manifest through Christ, or in Christ.

For the mystery which always lay hidden in God has been declared in the times of Christ; because God is not solitary, since there is with him from eternity the Paraclete also, in which truth he decreed that all creation should be saved through knowledge. The truth of this mystery indeed had been designated by the prophets through certain figures, known only to the wise God: of whose grace he willed the Gentiles to be partakers, though it had lain hidden from mankind. He alone therefore is wise; because from him is all wisdom, as Solomon says: All wisdom is from the Lord God, and has been with him always. This wisdom is Christ, because he is from him, and was always with him, through whom to himself be glory forever and ever. Amen. Therefore nothing is complete without Christ; because through him are all things: he, when he is acknowledged, gives to God the Father praise through himself; because it is understood through Christ, as it were through his wisdom, in which he made those who believe safe.

Glory therefore to the Father through the Son

that is, glory to both in the Holy Spirit; because each is in one glory.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

In the conclusion he sets forth Christ, through whom we were made, and again reformed by his grace, that it may cling to our minds; for if we are mindful of his benefits, he will always protect us, as he said: And behold, he says, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world. Amen.