Fragments on Romans

Commentary on Romans 1§1

1Regarding Romans 1:2, being set apart and dedicated to the gospel, just as the law says in a distinction and a separation, that which is separated from the sacrifices to God and to the priests. Regarding Romans 1:3-4, he became a son in the flesh, sharing our human nature, and through the Spirit and power, the Son is revealed as God, rising from the dead, so that we too might become children of God, receiving adoption and the redemption of our bodies, as the apostle himself said. Regarding Romans 1:5-7, so that he might show that even the Romans, being of the Gentiles among all those inhabiting the inhabited world, justly receive the proclamation of the apostleship.

Regarding Romans 1:8, they call God, those who approach him uniquely and above all others, the prophets of old, but now the apostles; this shows that there is no thanking God without Christ. He rejoices, using an angelic disposition, for the holding fast of the faith of Christ in Rome; for joy occurs in heaven also over one sinner after he thinks repentance, and he rejoices with his co-apostle Peter, having been so strong through grace. Regarding Romans 1:11-12, he teaches indeed, lighting up those not yet knowing, but he exhorts those already enlightened, gladdening them with the word of wisdom, as he himself says, dividing: whether the teacher, in teaching, or the one exhorting, in exhortation. And he says that he himself will be exhorted together with the Romans, sharing in their exhortation through love, while at the same time being not even himself above the need for the benefit of the word; for the word is an exhortation even to the speaker. Through this, he instructs the teachers not to think highly of themselves if they should teach, but to know that they do not teach their own things even if they teach, and to be persuaded that they do not only benefit but are also benefited; for the progress of the gospel and the support of those preaching.

Regarding Romans 1:13, the fruit of those having believed the word is the benefit of those hearing; and the Lord says that the apostles have been appointed to make much fruit. Indeed, few men are a church that has borne all fruit.

Regarding Romans 1:16-17, even if in the greatest of cities, he says, it is necessary to be mocked by the foolish while preaching the saving cross, I will not shrink back; for if the Son of God bore the shame of the cross instead of us, how is it not incongruous for us to be shamed by the Lord's passion for our sake? And instead of that which is by works not [...]

Faith and the Witness of Creation§2

2He was not granting the life of righteousness through faith, which is sincere and life-giving. And the prophet has said: 'from faith to faith' (Rom 1:17). For 'if you believe,' he says, 'Moses, you would have believed in me.' He teaches how much the gospel and the faith through it free from evils, and having gone through the evils both among the Gentiles and among the Jews, after this he proceeds to bring a word concerning faith, teaching that the presence of Christ had to come about.

And so he discourses about the fall of the Jews, and the last part leads to exhortations; but he begins from the word concerning the Gentiles and says how they unworthily transgressed the law written in nature by the Creator (Rom 1:18), as both the name of God and His reverence were brought into the things of God's creation. Then he also interprets how: for if the visible creation is sufficient to show the invisible, but men, leaving this, made the creatures into gods, they seized the truth of God in unrighteousness (Rom 1:19, 21), from which it is necessary to know God, having been led astray.

Not being the essence of this working, as he says: it is through the incorruptible, invisible, only wise God (Rom 1:20), but these energies, being invisible in nature and never becoming manifest to anything, are instead indicated through the creation. Therefore, it is a fantasy of something not being as it it is, and of nothing being, regarding God, of the likenesses of those worshipped by these things. From the thoughtlessness of their own mind and darkness, I have brought into their own souls (Rom 1:21, 32).

There again is the uncaused of God and the caused of man, and the justice of the coming judgment. For they do these things, not being ignorant that with God the Judge it is a punishment worthy of it; for they are manifest, not being ignorant of such a thing when they judge, and they are overtaken by death, those doing such things. When even the wicked, having the knowledge of the good, appear and use it, when they are not enticed by pleasures, they testify to the creation of God that it is good; which also the Preacher, having examined, says, that God made man upright (Eccl 7:29); and...

Leaders and Followers in Evil§3

3They themselves sought many calculations. Regarding men, some are leaders toward evil, others are followers of evil, and both are wicked: the one who begins and the one who assists. But to do the thing of approving evil is a worse thing, according to the saying: if you saw a thief, you would run to him. For the one doing it, drinking in the passion, is defeated by the deed; but the one approving, being outside the passion yet using wickedness, runs to the evil. Therefore, not only do they do it, but they also approve, which is an accusation, as if they were both doing it.

Regarding the one discussing about God, he says that He will render according to his works, according to what is said in the Psalmist (Rom 2:1); and the Savior says this about Him, asserting: then He will render to each according to his practice (Rom 2:1). When therefore that which has been confessed to be God appears to be the Son, fellowship of nature is shown and true sonship. Well again, he says here, first to the Jew and second to the Greek (Rom 2:10): for those closer to the Master and to the honors are honored above the others and enjoy the honors above the others (Rom 2:10).

But not the perfect justification according to Christ (Rom 2:13); for concerning that, when he says: no flesh shall be justified by works of law (Rom 2:13). If even the hearing of the law is lacking, as he says, the nations (Rom 2:14), but if according to natural reason he fulfills the purposes of the law, he has the law in nature (Rom 2:14). For men alone sit as judges of visible things, but God makes judgment of the hidden things (Rom 2:16); for man, he says, will look at the face, but God at the heart (Rom 2:16); so that as Christ judges, God is to be the Judge.

Let God's word be confessed, he says, as firm and true everywhere (Rom 3:3), and let men be reproved as unstable and lying (Rom 3:3), so that God may overcome with benefits beyond the value of men, freely bestowing from himself. And when he judges against all flesh according to what is written indisputably, it is either that He has provided all things according to His own goodness and beyond the value of men, or the...

Faith vs Law in Abraham§4

4And it is not to have provided to man those things which do not belong to him. Not in opposition to the law, but according to the addition of good and the free gift of God, so that we might no longer be judged by human righteousness which is altogether convicted, but might be perfected by the righteousness from God (Rom 3:21); and this is the one who rests through the faith of Christ, passing into all the believing ones and to all.

Abraham demonstrates faith by the pattern according to Abraham (Rom 4:1), not given to those in law and circumcision only for justification but also to those in uncircumcision; for Abraham indeed was justified not from works—for his boasting was not bright, being imperfect and unable to stand before God, by which righteousness limping, it is not able to have a boast—but from faith is the justification of our father Abraham. But he calls him father according to the flesh of the Israelites, those having become sons according to the Spirit of God; to whom Christ, having been made like them in the fleshly generation, made them like himself through the spiritual generation through grace.

God did not ordain the promise to Abraham and to his seed by law, but having justified him by faith (Rom 4:13). And the promise given to Abraham was, as we have learned from Moses, the one saying: I will give to you and to your seed all this land. For which reason, that the promise might be a world of inheritance, the apostle says, a promise of land. And in the letter to the Corinthians, bringing to us, the heirs of Abraham in the Spirit, all of us, he says, whether it be a world, whether existing, or about to be. And it is evident to those reading the things of Moses, that Abraham did not hold such a promise upon these having received the commands of the law; and indeed Paul in the present matters also gives the reason, through which God did not give the promise upon law, but upon faith.

For the Lord raises up his own temple (Rom 4:24); and the Father raised him up from the dead, just as he worked all things through the Son, so also this he worked.

The Mediator and the Glory of Hope§5

5The inseparable Son of the Father, being brought near to himself, and through the faith that sanctifies grace, has become the cause of our being brought to God, and the cause of reconciling those who were divided through his mediation; being one with the Father in divinity, and having been joined to us according to humanity, so that whoever is brought near according to the human, he brings that one to God according to the divine.

Having said that we stand upon the advancing grace of God, he leads through faith the things concerning hope, as demonstrated by the writing in Hebrews, that hope is the substance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1). And he says that we glory in the hope of the glory of God, expecting the divine glory to be made manifest, of which Moses is a type, Christ is the truth, and we are the likeness. The cause of such glory to be attributed to us is the present grace.

For just as an artisan, dwelling in us, the Holy Spirit brings joy now and shapes us into the likeness of Christ through hidden inner workings, until it is announced and accomplished when he shines according to the appearance of the Savior, of which John says: 'Brothers, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him' (1 John 3:2).

The greatness of the certainty of hope is for those already glorying as they are for those about to come; for glorying occurs upon a good thing existing certainly. And this was the blessed glorying which the prophet Jeremiah introduces, saying let him not glory, saying, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him in this glory, the one glorying, to understand and to know the Lord, and the following things (Jeremiah 9:23-24).

And not because labors and tribulations follow, for this reason do we blunt the boasting regarding the good things that are to come; rather, we boast even more by this, knowing the patience of the labors as a partner of the enjoyment of the good things.

For through tribulation patience is established, and he who has endured is proven, and having been proven before God, hopes to receive those things from God. And he who has hoped in God will not be put to shame; for He is well-pleased in those hoping in His mercy. Thus, tribulation becomes a partner of the expected good things, having been established as a guide toward the hope.

And He shows the hope to be secure, becoming something upon the God who loved us, and the gift of the Spirit is the proof of that love; for the one pouring out the Spirit pours out love upon us. And He poured out it previously upon the hearts, since the Spirit also previously dwelt in the hearts, just as the Savior Himself says that it remains with you and will be with you. This is the old voice of Moses being made true in you: 'This is your boasting and this is your God' (Rom 5:11).

For how would anyone not rejoice and boast, even if he is hindered by ten thousand enemies, being honored by the friendship of God, through which even if we are not at all envied, we are not influenced by those against us. Let no one hearing these things be vexed at the apostle, saying as if this is in the law, to forbid the things that kill and to make known the bad and the good things of matters; even the Lord, distinguishing the bad and the good in His own words, would seem to be working out the same thing against those not following the way; for the difference is great and much, the law being in words only and giving no power toward righteousness, but upon [...]

The Work of the Spirit vs the Law§6

6As the universe abandons the practice of those hearing, our Lord Jesus Christ, through the gift of the Spirit, works the salvation of those under himself, acting as a creator who makes us from the beginning, transforming and regulating us to receive and dwell in the divine inspiration; he uses words for exhortation to prepare us fitly, shaping us with a spirit that provides, not by leaving things to us. For if we were judged again, we would be unable to obey, and the knowledge of sin would be among us rather than from us; rather, preparing us as vessels for the Spirit, he relaxes our compassion toward the world and loosens fleshly bonds while increasing our indwelling of the Spirit.

Thus the law is sharp for punishment and the Spirit is non-vengeful; the one seeks the uprightness of men toward justice, the other provides from himself. For the law follows the one, bringing punitive consequences to the commanding one when he is not obeyed, but the Spirit, having power for the correction of those who believe, even if the first ones receive the creation from him with weakness, does not immediately recognize or punish, but preserves the man being educated by the salvation from himself, just as Paul said Satan would deliver one to destruction of the flesh so that the spirit might be saved (1 Corinthians 5:5). For the Spirit of the Lord endures until the presence of Christ, until the time of the present creation expires, the standing of judgment where he casts away the uncorrectable and finds the rest fit for eternal life.

Therefore the apostle also says elsewhere that God is the one working in you, both to will and to work according to his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), not cutting off our autonomy, but explaining the power from God toward virtue. And the Savior, having risen, breathed in the Holy Spirit, and therefore, dwelling in us, commanded us not to worry about what we shall speak, saying, 'It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you' (John 16:13).

Already the prophetic word, defining the new covenant in the gift of the Spirit, says, explaining the divine toward Israel in discourse: 'And this covenant is for them from me,' he said, 'and my Spirit is upon you, and the words which I have given into your mouth shall not depart from your mouth or from the seed of your mate,' says the Lord, 'from now and unto the age' (Isaiah 59:21). And these things are through Isaiah. But through Jeremiah, God promising the new covenant says: 'This is the covenant which I will make with them in those days,' he says, 'giving my laws into their hearts, and upon...'

The Law, Knowledge, and the Spirit§7

7I will write them upon their mind, and no longer shall each one teach his neighbor, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know me from the least to the greatest of them, that I will be propitiatory toward their sins; this is done by promising the energy of the Spirit in these, through which also a propitiation is made by God, the lifting up of the thoughts of sin according to the law, while the spiritual unselfishness allows the propitiation to enter. And indeed, through Ezekiel, He promises to give a new heart and a new spirit for the fulfillment of our own wills.

Thus, the apostle rightly defines the life according to Christ in the things presented, saying that not in the letter is the power of sin against us made weak (Rom 7,8), since the Spirit does not come for the sake of its knowledge and its condemnation through this, but for the removal of sin and the energy of righteousness, which is not human but divine, just as it was said in the beginning that the righteousness of God is being revealed through the gospel. For those who have not heard the law, the knowledge of this approaches them, just as it was previously said that the Gentiles, not having the law, do the things of the law by nature, showing the work of the law written in their own hearts (Rom 2:15); but for those under the law, the letter of the law and the natural meaning stir up the thoughts, being convicted by the teacher so that they might be able to discern the good and the bad for themselves.

So understand this for me, he says, lest the law had been placed first, as now it is not possible for those who are still infants to understand, and there is no condemnation there (Rom 7,10); for ignorance is not subject to punishment. After these things, behold the commandment coming; there sin is astonished against us, the knowledge having come and the anger no longer dismissing itself against those things happening. In this way, sin indeed lives, gaining power and strength, but the man dies, being judged according to knowledge, and the command of the law, which gives life, stands around as a pretext for death; for without it, it is not possible for sin to be sin, nor to condemn man with death, because of this, the guilt of wickedness and the penalty of punishment are established.

All, he says, creation waits for us, and the time when we shall be seen in the glory due to us, as if nothing were more brilliant than the glory that will be about us (Rom 8). But creation falls to the sons of God, being God's possession; for the slave follows the free, and the possession is subject to the son because of his nobility. And the appropriation toward the Father subjects the slave to the sons. It is evident, then, that having grace, the sons are of God.

The Glory of Creation and the Sorrow of the Elect§8

8Because of the transformation of the Spirit, as he has previously stated, we have grace in having the ruling principle in creation, receiving the glory of the true Son; so that it is not beyond glory that such a great and such a creation should be subjected to men, who appear small in creation.

He has unloosed the elect from all accusations, and justification has pre-ordained the condemnation (Rom 8:33-34); so that neither a condemning law, nor the rulers of this age, holding man by sin and drawing him through sin into the slavery of death, shall still be strong against us. But the terror of the law ceases, being overcome by the grace of Christ, and the wickedness of the rulers of this age is weakened by the goodness of Him who was slaughtered for us and voluntarily gave Himself up by the good pleasure of God and Father, even though a resurrection came upon Him, concealing death, and we no longer see Christ having died, but living and sitting at the Father's side, and interceding for men according to the human, through which also He was joined to men, uniting what was divided.

From the hoped-for good things, both extremes have proceeded (Rom 9:1-5): the contention regarding love and the lamentation regarding those who have fallen away. For those being benefited love, but those failing in the benefits lament appropriately. He says, intensifying with divine testimony, that he does not speak only in word but also in disposition and truth, that he has the greatest sorrow continually present for his kinsmen. Let no one disbelieve, he says, if I lament concerning the adversaries and persecutors, nor let it be considered paradoxical if I desired to suffer the greatest things on their behalf, being handed over unto death by Christ.

For how is it not a pity that they hear men—those who are near them, even their own people—who have been called sons of God from the beginning, and have been glorified with glory from God in the world, and have received the covenant concerning bodily laws previously, and now have the second one having come regarding spiritual things in their hands, and those chosen for the worship of God and the promises of future good things, the fathers of the saints and God-loving ones, those homogeneous with the flesh of the Lord, these being cast off and despised and having fallen now into the greatest shame and lowliness. But therefore, even if what happened concerning them is worthy of lamentation, it is worthy to bless the God who thus judged, the Master over all, to whom all blessing is justly returned from all and upon all. And indeed, even regarding the most holy judgments, neither because the due justice of those being judged will appear manifest, nor because they are being turned away from Him by their prior intimacy with God, [...]

Divine Mercy and Justice§9

9Regarding foreknowledge. Romans 9:14: What then shall we say? Is there injustice with God? May it never be! For He says to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Rom 9:15). Therefore, it is not of the one running or of the one willing, but of the God who shows mercy (Rom 9:16). No one should suppose, he says, that those things which do not belong to the logic of justice are to have injustice in God, but rather, those things being administered according to the administration of mercy, have injustice in God; for God is faithful and there is no injustice in Him, nor is it unrighteous to show mercy to those whom He may seem to show mercy to, and others not, whom He may not wish to show mercy to.

For he has said, he says, through Moses, and has made known the manner of mercy, not by the counter-measurement of human standards, but according to the wisdom of God which encompasses it, so that it is not of our works that mercy is shown, but of God who has mercy by sovereign authority. For it is stated that to judge is to show mercy, and each man becomes the cause of himself regarding the responses he is obligated to, reaping that which he sows, according to the Apostle. But for those given out of mercy, God is the cause, knowing with wisdom and administering to whom He must and must not.

And this is not in vain; for nothing is in vain or irrational on the part of God, but each thing is pre-ordained by wonderful words, just as He has made known concerning Pharaoh; for the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, so that I might show My power in you, and so that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth' (Ex 9:16). Behold, the not showing mercy to Pharaoh. It has been shown that it happens through the benefit of the whole cosmos, so that all, perceiving the judgment against the impious as much as possible, are seized with fear and wonder toward Him who has judged these things and has done them.

So also, God foreknowing the impiety of Pharaoh, because of this He has also made him exist, and He handed over his kingdom, so that the judgment against him [...]

The Justice of Mercy and Hardness§10

10He says that a just and powerful judgment, contributing to the common benefit of the world, is unmerciful toward the one being judged—since indeed it is unmerciful—and is a judgment of mercy toward the one who has not acted mercifully. Pharaoh, through the Israelites, has shown that mercy is nothing other than all harshness. Therefore, he has taken away the mercy of the one who did not provide this to others, just as the Savior says regarding the opposites, concerning those who surrender and being surrendered; he acts justly according to the equality of judgment and the retribution of righteousness, but not to show mercy to the sinner is no longer guarding the equal standard regarding other sinners who were shown mercy.

Therefore the apostle proceeds again: 'So then, whom he wishes to show mercy, whom he wishes to harden' (Romans 9:18), and the following. For he who, he says, does not attain equality toward other sinners, but instead of being shown mercy, or toward a transition of wickedness, is called to suffer the opposite and is handed over to be hardened, how could he still justly receive the reproach from God, seeing that he does not attain equality with those being shown mercy?

For neither is Pharaoh hardened, nor is anyone else among those falling into judgment able to resist or to be the cause of the hardness of the one being hardened. This is clearly evident also, but where he says: 'O man, even for your sake, seek the divine mystical reason for this inequality.'

For indeed, it is said beforehand that the not showing mercy to the sinner is outside of injustice, being a matter of providential wisdom, not of judicial retribution.

The limits of human inquiry§11

The Stone and the End of the Law§12

12The stated word lies scattered within the prophecies of Isaiah (Rom 9:33), not as it is now said by the apostle, being gathered together. For concerning the beginning of the book it has been written regarding the Lord according to the edition which Aquila agreed with and the apostolic one: 'He himself is your fear and he himself is your trembling, and he will be for sanctification and for a stone of stumbling, a solid stone of offense (Isa 8:14). And after much it is, that behold, I lay in the foundations of Zion a precious stone, an elect cornerstone, honorable, and he who believes will never be ashamed (Isa 28:16).'

And it is possible for those having accurately received each side of the word to understand clearly the one spoken simply in the other, the one in the other being interpreted as the Lord according to the divine decree.

For Christ is the end of the law for justification (Rom 10:4). For not being justified, he says, a man in the law, but having believed in Christ he is justified, just as it has been preached in Antioch of Pisidia saying: 'Let it be known to you, brothers, that through this to you the forgiveness of sins is announced, and from all things from which you were not able to be saved in the law, in this everyone who believes is justified (Acts 13:38-39).'

If therefore that which was strived for by the law, but because of human weakness was not perfected, this Christ provides to those believing, imparting of the holy righteousness; the end of the law is Christ, and toward Christ the law was preparing, showing this one to be both the fullness of himself and the salvation of men.

The Jewish Rejection and the Gentile Mission§13

13Romans 10:14-15 says that the salvation of the Lord's calling is for all men, but the previously mentioned strife of the Jews deprived them of the universal grace, having a private unfitness for the common good, because of which the apostleship, the preaching, the hearing, the faith, and the calling stood not toward them, but toward the nations.

Just as light, being common to all by nature, becomes foreign to those darkening themselves, and the sun shines not for the blind nor rises, nor does the one who has cried out speak to the deaf, so indeed the ones sent and preaching do nothing toward the Jews; for it is a prerequisite that they are unable to hear, as if they had fallen into deafness toward the divine preachings, whence they were deprived of salvation by not calling upon Him, just as it was revealed in the prophet: 'For there is not,' he says, 'one who calls upon your name and remembers to take hold of you, because you turned your face away from us.'

This also is sufficient testimony even against the Jews; for it is evident that the Christ whom they do not call upon, they do not hold fast to. He is the one who turned His face from them, from whom He indeed said: 'You shall not see my face from now until you say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'

But he does not prove the fault of the Jews, as I said being previously advanced in the present, but rather the mystery of the economy concerning them is the cause of their not calling upon the Lord, namely that the apostles were sent not to them but to the nations, just as the Lordly command has: 'Having gone, make disciples of all nations.' And the apostles did not transgress the command by starting toward the Jews first and later turning to the nations when they were expelled by them, but the Overseer knew to whom the preaching was to end, those of the former who were not receiving it graciously.

Nor does the apostle now say anything contrary to what he previously practiced, while conversing with the Jews, asserting that the apostleship was not sent to them, but according to the determination and the foreknowledge of God is given to the Gentiles; the aim being rather that the apostles would walk toward the persecution of Israel, just as Moses walked toward Pharaoh: for God knew that they would not believe and had said previously, 'I know that you will not persuade Pharaoh' (Exodus 7:1). And there, too, the end of Pharaoh's opposition was the showing of the signs for the benefit of the world; but here, the end of the Jews' unbelief became the movement of the apostles toward the Gentiles according to that word of Paul: 'It was necessary for you first to have the word of the Lord spoken, but since you cast it aside and do not judge yourselves worthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles' (Acts 18:6). For thus the Lord has commanded us. This, therefore, was the command, and toward the Gentiles was the apostleship.

From this, Israel stood in the former rank of the Gentiles so as not to call upon the Lord. It is not possible, therefore, for them to call upon Him, he says, because they did not believe. And they were not able to believe, having an unsuitability, even after hearing, just as the Lord was conversing with them in a concealed manner, and showing that there was only a little among them capable of hearing, saying: 'Let him who has ears to hear, hear' (Matthew 13:9).

And being present with them, having the transition from them, he had an aim, saying: 'O perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I endure you?' (Matthew 15:24). And because they were unable to hear him and to believe, he said: 'You do not believe, that you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me' (John 10:26-27).

And he spoke to them as to strangers rather than to insiders, not so as to cause belief—for he knew that they would not believe—but so that they, being unpersuadable, might become those who did not believe. For if I had not come and spoken to them, he says, I would not have had sin; nor even the brief opportunity which they had toward being able [...]

The hearing of the Gospel§14

14He saw a slight opportunity to be persuaded, through which the apostles, having believed, become a rebuke of their unbelief, judging the twelve tribes of Israel upon twelve thrones. Regarding the purpose and the end, the Lord was not sent to the Jews; for he would not have failed by coming for this, and likewise neither did the apostles.

And because of this, Paul says, as if no one had been sent to them nor preached; how shall they hear without preaching? and how shall they preach if they are not sent? And the fact that they do not call upon the Lord fixed the matter from not having been sent to them as God's judgment, showing rather nothing of the judgment, but only himself remembering the economy; as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those preaching peace', those preaching good things (Rom 10:15).

For it is evident, he says, also from the prophecy, that it is not without those preaching, who indeed release a voice like something beautiful and extraordinary as from a mountain, who preach the peace of God and the good things, pleasing the ear with beauty and quieting the hearing with greatness; for as he says, how beautiful are the feet of those preaching the sound of peace upon the mountains, as preaching good things. Thus is the interpretation of the Romans.

It is so much, he says, the extent of their foolishness and their turning away from God, that looking truly according to the divine word, they neither see nor hear; for the divine proclamation has been proclaimed throughout the whole world, nothing less than the Lord of the apostles as the creation has cried out to the Maker according to the saying of the Psalm, and they were not able to hear or understand anything more. But they suppose, he says, irrationally, as if the Gospel in the Gentiles were something foreign and without agreement (Rom 10:19); for it is not to say that this was kept silent from them or not foretold.

Immediately, indeed, the Lawgiver Moses says that God will repay the foolish nations with equality to those who preferred them, because they themselves, by worshipping foolish idols, have treated God as a non-God; and just as they considered the non-God to be God instead of the true God, so God will honor the non-nation as a nation instead of the nation that was previously with Him, calling the non-existent things as if they existed, in order to nullify the existing things. And the zeal which was stirred up in them through their association with demons will bring them forward to the nations through His own power which He has joined to them.

The continued word of Isaiah the prophet was understood by the Apostle through private knowledge; for the version of the seventy has a spirit of stupor, whereas the version of Aquila has a clearer transmission, but the version of Symmachus has strength. Then it proceeds: and it blinds their eyes, so that those seeing the hidden things and remaining beyond the ignorance of the prophetic words, appear to them as if they were a sealed book and as if they were unreadable writings. For the ambiguity, as if sealing the prophetic book and making reading unnecessary for those reading, makes it as if anyone were unable even to read. The ones having followed Christ had their minds opened to the understanding of the Scriptures, as the Gospel says, and the ones of those having followed, having heard, were led into knowledge, just as the eunuch was by Philip; but the others, in not happening to receive enlightenment, seem to be blind and deaf. For the Apostle also joined the matter of the deafness of the ears, having understood from another part of the prophecy 'they will hear with their ears and not understand'; for not understanding is equal to not hearing, according to what is written: 'let him who has ears hear.' And it is also said regarding those who heard heavily.

The absence of the enlightening Spirit gives place to a spirit of stupor and insensibility, constantly increasing ignorances and darkening them; for God does not work evil, because 'out of the mouth of the Lord neither evil things nor good things shall come forth,' but the house desolate of divine power allows evil spirits to dwell within, as the Savior has said. And thus, he who did not give the spirit of enlightenment gave a spirit of stupor.

From the Scriptures, the abandonment that has occurred must be sought, not until the end that this might be thought to surround the promises toward Israel in falsehood. But now the unpardonable transgression and fall speaks of a total, unyielding overthrow, with which nothing good is still to be expected. Shall we then, he asks, say that they have stumbled in a way worthy...

The Meaning of Falling and the Remnant§15

15Is it an irrecoverable fall? Far from it; for they did not undergo the passion upon their own destruction, so that the event might be a corpse and a ruin, but upon the salvation of the Gentiles, so that they might be called envious of these things. Thus, the established error is a slip deserving forgiveness due to existing ignorance.

Let us not pay much attention to the difference of names, but to the demonstration of realities; and what Paul presents through the words, having taken them, let us not prevent the words from meaning something else. Immediately, does not the one falling not rise again? It declares the sense of 'to fall' not as an unrecoverable state, as in 'my enemy does not rejoice over me, because I have fallen and I shall rise' (Psalm 30:1), but 'to fall' declares a certain time of misfortune.

Rather, it is worthy to seek the matter: would Paul disagree with the prophet, saying: 'The house of Israel has fallen, and it shall no longer add to rising' (Isaiah 10:22)? Otherwise the prophet himself would seem to disagree with himself in the following, saying other good things and the end: 'And I will plant them upon their own land, and they shall never again be uprooted from the land which I gave them, says the Lord' (Isaiah 11:12; 66:9).

But the prophet Isaiah clearly solves the question: the remnant of the people that shall be saved, and Israel being called by a wholly different name; for he says the remaining ones shall be removed like a grape-fragment in a cluster, to be filled with the good things from God, dividing them toward the people: 'Behold, those serving me shall eat, but you shall hunger' (Isaiah 63:8), and the following. After much such opposition he says: 'For your name shall be left as an oath to my chosen ones, but you the Lord will lift up' (Isaiah 49:26); and to those serving me another name shall be called, as the blessed shall be blessed in God having been made certain, and the one swearing in the land shall swear in God having been made certain. And these foreign things are according to the Aquila edition, to which the Jews pay attention. Therefore it is necessary also for them to confess that there shall be a change of those who are to be saved from among them into another mind and polity, as it is true to say concerning them, either that they are not Israel, or truly these are Israel of the Israel being destroyed according to the flesh. The prophet has spoken of the one being destroyed, but the apostle of the one being saved, separating him from the one according to the flesh.

And if, as he says, the saved ones are from Israel (Rom 11:16), those who have become partakers of sanctification toward salvation, God has received these as a firstfruit of the nation (Rom 11:16), and has sanctified the whole remainder through the one received, according to the gift given unto the whole world—for we know that the mass of dough is sanctified through the firstfruit (Rom 11:16)—this, however, is a proof that the nation has not fallen entirely, unlike the Canaanite nations devoted to destruction, of whom even one impious was saved because of the universal vote of God against them, and like Sodom which was handed over to the fire, from which even the race of the righteous stranger did not deserve salvation except through the grace toward him; but of Israel, we see many being saved. Let us not, however, count them together with the Canaanites and Sodoms, nor count them among the unclean, of whom the firstfruit is holy.

But regarding those being grafted in instead of those who were cut off (Rom 11:21), he says, let it not be a cause of any pride, but let there be fear; for let it be considered that they were grafted in according to grace through faith (Rom 11:21). Those were shoots from the nature of the root, and yet through unbelief they have been cut off. But there is much in between that is according to grace and that which is according to nature. If even nature did not grant those who disobey to stability, how much more shall those of the addition benefit, unless they appear worthy of the grace that has been given? Again, upon these, those who revile the flesh should remember how much the generation according to the flesh has a deviation, even if it is preserved through unbelief.

When even the branches of the olive tree according to nature remain in destruction through unbelief (Rom 11:24), and those of the wild olive tree are being grafted in from being contrary to nature into the good olive tree, how are those who bring in both salvation and destruction from nature not ashamed? (Rom 11:24)

For you do not ignore, he says, the thing unrevealed by the providence of God, which is unknown because of the present unbelief of Israel (Rom 11:25): that until the entrance of all the foreknown ones of the Gentiles, an insensibility seizes Israel (Rom 11:25), but after this, the remnant of the nation, he who has truly followed Israel, shall be saved. For the preaching of the gospel to you, brothers, had to come through their alienation (Rom 11:28), and because of this they were alienated; but let Israel also be kept among the survivors as one belonging to their fathers.

The Unfathomable Wisdom and Will of God§16

16Having been chosen by God and preserved by His unchanging grace, which He extended to the fathers, it is settled. One marvels at the manifold wisdom and unsearchable to men; He judges and acts concerning us (Rom 11:33-36). This is a depth, saying according to the ancient scripture which says: 'Your judgments are a great abyss'; this is because the unreachable is as the ungraspable things of the depths; and the ways according to the administration of energy are such that it is not for man to understand, just as even the footprints of one walking through the sea are not seen, as also the Psalmist says: 'In the sea is your way, and your paths in many waters, and your footprints shall not be known' (Ps 77:19).

For the human mind does not leave behind any grasp of the divine judgments, because of the manifold and much and by no means single-form kind, the divine wisdom being offered to each of the things appropriately and by imposition, teaching indeed manifold things, saying the wisdom of God. And the 14th Psalm also said according to: 'And your thoughts concerning us cannot be set forth.' Therefore it is no wonder that men stumble in the words concerning providence, for according to Isaiah the mind of God is unknown to everyone; for no one has indeed shared His scheme. This is concerning men, but He also passes over the other creation as He is Creator.

To test you, He says, the differing things; what is the will of God, the good and pleasing and perfect (Rom 12:2). This is according to the prophet the law written in the heart; for the heart being placed toward God in a god-like leisure becomes knowing of the differing things and of the good things and of the wills of God, remaining pleasing only to those in whom God is pleased. The will of the good Father, being implanted with goodness, He wills and hastens all to do good, as the one constructing us toward the likeness of His own Father as a good son. He says, 'Overcome your enemies and do good, and you shall be sons of the Most High, because He is kind toward the ungrateful and the evil.' This is truly the perfect and pleasing will of God.

For it was also said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,' even if God was not pleased by this, yet this alone was endured by those being brought up by the pedagogue; for such a practice did not yet possess goodness, but rather a prevention of evil, and the abstaining from evil becomes a progress toward the good. But the good which is pleasing to God is the perfect, that which makes men like Him; 'You shall be perfect,' He says, 'just as your heavenly Father is perfect' (Matt 5:48). To envy a friend and to hate one who does nothing wrong is evil, but to hate an enemy is not evil. Only those who are not perfect abstained from evil; for us, even the good must be practiced toward perfection, namely, to love all people.

The Lord, leading us into such a state, removes all causes of ill-will, so that He might instill divine love toward all people. He knows the haste regarding money that incites against those who are unjust, which stirs up envies because of money, and the abstaining from these things which people do toward one another; and He said, 'Do not store up treasures for yourselves on the earth' regarding the possession of money (Matt 6:19). For in this way, He says, you will not be angry from being cheated, you will not envy, and toward those who envy through abstaining, you will be simple and without malice in mind and loving toward all.

Crushing pride as a frenzy of the mind, he set against this the state of being of sound mind, for no one feeling himself proud would be of sound mind (Rom 12:3). 'Some have prophecy among you,' He says, a most precious gift after the apostles—for God placed in the church first apostles, second prophets—so let him think according to prophecy, knowing the primacy of the apostles, and indeed the deacon, knowing this rule of the ministry, should be in a lower rank, like hands under the head (Rom 12:6).

Again, the teacher should remain under the prophet within the measures of teaching—for second are prophets, and third are teachers—for teachers are the interpreters of the words from prophecy, just like ears hearing and understanding what is seen by the eyes that see and being made manifest; for the prophets seeing, let one exhort those already taught be arranged in the service of teachers. And these indeed are the spiritual things. But let the things concerning the body also be joined, bountiful transfers, and diligent protections; for he who shows mercy brought forth a man-loving mercy in gladness.

Simplicity in Giving and Service§17

17Having said the spiritual things and the things concerning the body, he defines the distribution in simplicity, and, placing simplicity as being the same as the distribution itself. For the one distributing, he says, is in simplicity in the distribution, just as regarding the service, the one serving is in the service.

But generosity is called simplicity by the apostles from the extended hand, as in the Second Letter to the Corinthians: their poverty according to depth abounded into the wealth of their simplicity. Likewise, the protection is defined to be with zeal, and mercy with hilarity, separating it from the distribution.

For the one is for the sake of fellowship with the saints; for upon the simplicity, he says, of the fellowship into them, saying into the saints. Therefore also the generous giving is as an offering to God, and a service to Christ, and a lover of fellowship: for make, he says, friends from the mammon of unrighteousness and the following things. But mercy is for the sake of the needs of whoever they may be; for to everyone, he says, give to the one asking you for the sake of philanthropy.

But it is necessary for hilarity with mercy, since it happens toward the lowly, so that we might not grieve by giving not out of arrogance, but let us rejoice out of philanthropy. If indeed the distributions, protections, and alms also bring rest concerning bodily things, they are nevertheless gifts being accomplished in the power of the Spirit, joining to the order of the feet the holy body of those who serve.

For not only if someone speaks as the words of God, as Peter says, but also if someone serves as from the strength which God supplies; and Paul names the service of the liturgy that fills up the deficiencies of the saints, being called a ministry in many ways, both bodily and spiritual.

Judas the Galilean in the days of the census, as Gamaliel says in the Acts, led a great people after him, preventing them from obeying the Roman command (Rom 13:1) and from being registered, as when Cyrenius was sent into Syria. And from this cause the Romans were standing against those being persuaded by Judas, under the pretext of not serving men but God alone. And they willingly endured all punishments, in anticipation of piety, for the sake of not acknowledging any man as master, and they caused division against those not thinking the same things and not being associated with them. And the Pharisees were those who considered these things contrary, and the Sadducees.

Since, therefore, the sect of Judas became a cause of killings among kinsmen and of rebellion against the rulers to the harm of the nation, it seems to me now that the apostle excludes this imitation, as those who consider not obeying rulers to be piety toward God. Therefore he also makes much discourse about this, exposing the opinion that is erroneous.

Concerning the indifferent, he discourses (Rom 14:1), which makes no difference whether it be done or not done, advising indifference regarding these things, but assuming that which in them belongs to love, to no longer regard the neighbor as indifferent. Every food is indeed indifferent for the sake of purity, being sanctified by the power of Christ. But not all are thus strengthened in faith; as to having no fear of defilement in such things.

Judging over food and brothers§18

18It is no longer a matter of indifference whether one disturbs such a person or not, but one must strive so that one, being forced to eat apart from believing, might mingle the soul, seeing the food as evil while offering it as good. One is standing apart in the faith of Christ, believing that all flesh is sanctified and is nothing idolatrous, as the apostle himself shows in his letter to the Corinthians; another, because of having little faith, still avoids the eating of meat so as not to encounter anything offered to an idol. Let both praise the dispute concerning this matter among themselves, the one guarding against the other forcing him against what seems right to him.

And let neither the one eating more courageously than the one in faith, regarding the weak one in eating as having little faith, despise him; nor let the one guarding against it as unclean judge the one who is indifferent regarding its uncleanness. He began, therefore, from the word toward the strong, regarding the quarrel over foods as a matter of indifference, to return to the weaker ones, but having set before the others the same thing, advising them to send forth a contention over abstaining; for the word became more harmonious and more peaceful toward both by repudiating thus.

Concerning the aforementioned things, he forbids judging one another, which no one can in any way divide from God, as he says, 'Why do you look at the mote in your brother's eye?' Matt 7:3, having said beforehand: 'Do not judge, so that you may not be judged' Matt 7:1. For to condemn those who do the greatest things because of small defects which resemble motes and annoy the eye, makes them guilty of the judgment which they themselves bring upon others. Immediately, therefore, their own act of rising up against brothers brings a much greater charge than what they propose, as if an opinion were being compared to a mote.

And that small things are and are not great things that harm, such judgments which the Savior and the apostle forbade, is made clear also from the very name; for we have been called brothers, whom we are forbidden to judge, if they are even our brothers and God's children. But the failings of the children are small and not yet sins, since the one born of God does not sin according to John [1 John], so that the one sinning is not from God nor our brother, even if he is named such. If a brother is named, he says, a fornicator or an idolater or a covetous man or a thief or a drunkard or a robber, do not even eat with such a person. Let us judge, therefore, such a person as not a brother even if he is among us according to the flesh; let us separate him, since he has been separated by the spirit. For what is it to me, he says, to judge those outside? Do you not judge those inside? But God judges those outside. And you cast out the...

Judgment and the Weak Conscience§19

19It is evil among yourselves. But running to him in a peaceful manner, the one judging concerning foods has spoken thus: even if the brother were at fault according to this, he is not obligated to judge. Likewise, he spoke to the one treating with contempt the brother who is not eating, because of a lack of faith. For to treat with contempt the one committing adultery with a man is to threaten the one who shall be saved according to the Psalm; but one should not treat with contempt the one doing something out of excessive piety, so that we might not be treated with contempt by God like those who are convinced of themselves that they are righteous and treat others with contempt. Furthermore, the reasoning for not being extremely angry with one another is this: for all, he says, are under God's judgment, and just as we shall be presented before God as a judge; for it is not the one presented before the judge who judges the one standing present with him, for each must take care of the one giving an account. And let us not judge our neighbor, but let us remember so that we ourselves may not be condemned. It is evident that the Christ's judgment is the judgment seat of God; for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, having given him judgment to perform as a human judge of men according to authority, because he is a son of man. He did not reserve judgment to human nature, since the Son is not man by nature, but is also man by dispensation. Therefore it remains God's, and thus the judgment and the tribunal belongbunal belong to his wisdom and power, of the holy one who was incarnated for man.

I know, he says, through Christ's faith, that through Christ all things are clean, and nothing that enters defiles, but that which goes out from the heart (Rom 14:14). Such also is the opinion concerning the unclean; just as an unclean thought from the heart regarding a harm immediately makes that which is deemed unclean to be common.

Watch out, he says, to bring a stain upon the brother who is being weakened in conscience (Rom 14:15). For he also said this in the letter to the Corinthians, that the weak consciences are being stained by those eating as if eating idols. Do not, he says, make the eating of such things a matter of haste; for if we do this without having reliability toward the grief of the brother, we surpass love by making the eating a pretext for the more necessary thing. For the sake of a trivial food, let not the possession of Christ be lost, he who has become dead to life. He will be lost by being separated from the union and being deprived of love, or even by being compelled to eat unfaithfully. Let us not stir up blasphemy against the faith, by choosing profane eatings because of this. It is sufficient to glorify what is necessary concerning foods. It is not that if we eat, then God reigns in us; for it is not by eating and drinking that the kingdom of God is defined. How...

Christ's non-pleasing of himself§20

20For the kingdom of God is within you in the spirit (Luke 17:21). Christ did not say that he pleased himself as in pleasing men (Rom 15:1), but he shows what is present: for he exhorts us not to choose for ourselves a way of living that would bring us harm, but to abstain for the benefit of the brothers, which happens through not causing grief. This was not granted as a good according to God; therefore, he does not make the annoying ones a pleasure to human feet, as the disciples sought fire from heaven (Luke 9:54) against those who did not receive the Lord, wanting to ask for it, but the divine good was accomplished, sparing the worthy punishment. For if he is God, he does not bring anything that displeases himself—nothing can defile or grieve God, so that we might say he did not please himself. For these things he brought forth not pleasingly: 'Will they not provoke me?' says the Lord (Ex 32:10)—but insofar as he was able to share in the human and to be set toward something with sorrow.

Because of this, he did not please himself by passing away or turning away from the annoying ones, but remained saying: 'O faithless and stray generation, how long shall I be with you?' (Matt 16:4). Besides the Lord, even the ungrateful and the strangers, when he rebukes them, should much more us, who ought to seek forgiveness and be brothers. And having exhorted to please the neighbor, he necessarily added to the good; for this is no longer human-pleasing, since God scattered the bones of those pleasing men, and if he still pleased men, I would not be a slave of Christ; for human-pleasing is doing something for men according to pleasure.

He says to them that his presence will appear through apostolic grace, full of the good things from Christ (Rom 15:24). He makes a portion of remembrance of each well-known person in greeting and salutation (Rom 16:8), which is appropriate to his own doing of love and of speaking in his spirit, showing to us the Philanthropist and having each one remembered by him according to his worth, just as in the old writings there are lists of the generations and a memory according to the worth of each, showing that each is written down by him according to worth in the invisible books of the Spirit.

Which indeed Daniel saw when opening the scroll that was set, upon the ancient of days, that is, upon the eternal God (Dan 7:9). And the angel, foretelling concerning the end, said to him: 'In that time all your people shall be saved who are found written upon the book' (Dan 12:1). But concerning those not worthy, the Lord said through a prophet, 'Let them be blotted out' (Ps 69:5), concerning whom also Paul, having remembered the contrast with the saints, says the following.