Wages of sin, gift of life; letter-husband and Spirit's newness
He who said I am the life rules those who have borne such fruits. In that death no one remembers God: whoever has died in it has died to God and lives to death—the same as living to sin.
Our fruit runs toward sanctification; the fruit that shames the one already aware of it is neither ours nor of our nature. That the better belongs to us and the worse does not, the Savior shows: if you were entrusted with what is alien and proved unworthy, what of your own will he give you? Even when we fail to become worthy of the better, sin keeps us from receiving it as ours by nature.
Some say the sanctifying fruit of those enslaved to God is complete purity from sexual pleasure. On that reading, having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness fits those in marriage, while the stronger word but now that you have been freed from sin fits those in chastity. So the person whose final fruit is sanctification through slavery to God was already enslaved to righteousness earlier, yet may still lack that sanctifying fruit because of the word spoken by way of concession.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our LordThe contrast is deliberate: wages for sin, gift for God. God does not pay wages as a debt; he gives a gift. Sin does not give a gift; it pays what is owed. Nor does he simply call the gift 'eternal life,' for that life is incomplete when it is not in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin deals death to the one it rules; God does not bring Christ's enemy, death—God did not make deathIf someone answers with I kill and I make alive and the Lord kills and makes alive, we say God kills sin so that afterward he may make alive the one who has died to sin.
To know the law fully is to know the difference inside it between the oldness of the letter and the newness of the spirit in its meanings. That is perfect knowledge of the law. His example fits tightly: the married woman is bound to the living husband; if he dies she is released. The husband is the law—clearly the letter-law—which can die because it is the oldness of the letter; what grows old and ages nears disappearance. It is even said to die when it no longer truly lives among those who still claim to keep it.
But now we have been released from the law, having died to that which held us, so that we serve in newness of spirit and not in oldness of letterThe Holy Spirit is always new—neither aging nor wearing out—while our inner self is renewed day by day. The oldness of the letter was never new, and our old self was never young: it aged at once, not by the clock but by the thoughts and deeds that made it old.
What then? Is the law sin? 'Law' is one word, but Scripture does not mean one thing by it everywhere. At each place you must ask what 'law' signifies now. The same holds for many other shared names in Scripture that confuse readers who think one sound means one sense wherever it appears. Leaving aside harder cases that need construction and replies, it is enough to shame anyone into admitting that 'law' is laid on several realities.
Greek
εἰπόντι ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ζωή, κυριεύων τῶν τοιούτους καρποὺς ἐνηνοχότων. ἐν ᾧ θανάτῳ οὐκ ἐ τὶν ὁ μνημονεύων θεοῦ· καὶ γὰρ πᾶς ὁ ἐν αὐτῷ τέθνηκεν τῷ θεῷ καὶ ζῇ τῷ θανάτῳ, ὅπερ ταὐτόν ἐστιν τῷ ζῇν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. ἡμέτερος καρπὸς εἰς ἁγιασμόν· οὐχ ἡμέτερος δέ, οὐδὲ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν φύσιν, ὁ φέρων τῷ ἤδη συνησθημένῳ αὐτοῦ αἰσχύνην. ὅτι δὲ ἡμέτερον μὲν τὸ κρεῖττον, οὐ τοιοῦτον δὲ τὸ χεῖρον, δηλοῖ καὶ ὁ σωτὴρ λέγων εἰ τὸ ἀλλότριον ἐπι τεύθητε καὶ οὐκ ἐγένε θε ἄξιοι, τὸ ὑμέτερον τί ὑμῖν δώ ει; κἂν γὰρ μὴ γενώμεθα ἄξιοι τοῦ κρείττονος, ὡς ἡμέτερον αὐτὸ τῇ φύσει οὐ λαμβάνομεν διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. ἐρεῖ δέ τις ἐνταῦθα τὸν εἰς ἁγιασμὸν καρπὸν εἶναι τῶν δεδου λωμένων τῷ θεῷ τὴν παντελῆ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀφροδισίων καθάρευσιν· καί φησιν ὁ τοιοῦτος τοῖς μὲν ἐν γάμῳ ἁρμόζειν τὸ ἐλευθερωθέντες δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐδουλώθητε τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ, τοῖς δὲ ἐν ἁγνείᾳ ὡς μεῖζον τὸ νυνὶ δὲ ἐλευθερω θέντες ἀπὸ τῆς ἁμαρτίας καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· ὥστε τὸν μὲν ἔσχατον καρπὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἁγιασμὸν διὰ τὸ δεδουλῶσθαι τῷ θεῷ δεδουλῶσθαι πολὺ πρότερον τῇ δικαιο σύνῃ μὴ πάντως ἔχειν τὸν καρπὸν αὐτοῦ εἰς ἁγιασμὸν διὰ τὸν κατὰ υγγνώμην λόγον. 34 vi 23 τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος, τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ ζωὴ αἰώνιος ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. καλὴ ἡ διαφορά, ὀψωνίου μὲν ἐπὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τεταγμένου, χαρίσματος δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ θεοῦ· οὔτε γὰρ ὀψώνια ὡς ὀφειλόμενα δίδωσιν ὁ θεὸς ἀλλὰ χάρισμα, οὐδὲ χάρισμα ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀλλ' ὀφειλόμενα ὀψώνια. τὸ δὲ χάρισμα τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἔταξεν ἁπλῶς ζωὴ αἰώνιος, ἀτελὴς γὰρ αὕτη νοεῖται ὅτε μὴ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐστιν τῷ κυρίῳ ἡμῶν. δηλοῦται δὲ ὅτι ἡ ἁμαρτία τῷ βασιλευομένῳ ὑπ' αὐτῆς δίδωσι τὸν θάνατον, καὶ οὐχ ὁ θεὸς ἐπιφέρει τὸν ἐχθρὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ θάνατον, ὁ γὰρ θεὸ θάνατον οὐκ ἐποίη εν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἐὰν δέ τις πρὸς τοῦτο ἀνθυποίσῃ καὶ τὸ ἐγὼ ἀποκτενῶ καὶ ζῇν ποιή ω καὶ κύριο θανατοῖ καὶ ζωογονεῖ, ἐροῦμεν ὅτι ἀποκτέννει ὁ θεὸς τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἵνα μετὰ τοῦτο ζωοποιήσῃ τὸν ἀποθανόντα τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. 35 vii 1–3 ἢ ἀγνοεῖτε, ἀδελφοί, γινώσκουσι γὰρ νόμον λαλῶ, ὅτι ὁ νόμος κυριεύει τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐφ' ὅσον χρόνον ζῇ; ἡ γὰρ ὕπανδρος γυνὴ τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ δέδεται νόμῳ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός. ἄρα οὖν ζῶντος τοῦ ἀνδρὸς μοιχαλὶς χρηματίσει ἐὰν γένηται ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνήρ, ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν μοιχαλίδα γενομένην ἀνδρὶ ἑτέρῳ. τὸ γινώσκειν τὸν νόμον πάντως οἶδεν τὴν διαφορὰν τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ παλαιότητο τοῦ γράμματο καὶ τῆς ἐνυπαρχούσης τοῖς νοήμασιν αὐτοῦ καινότητο τοῦ πνεύματο · τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ τελείως γινώσκειν τὸν νόμον. ἐπιφέρει δὲ καὶ παράδειγμα, σφόδρα τῷ προκειμένῳ κατάλληλον· ἡ γὰρ ὕπανδρος γυνὴ τῷ ζῶντι ἀνδρὶ δέδεται νόμῳ· ἐὰν δὲ ἀποθάνῃ ὁ ἀνὴρ κατήργηται ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ ἀνδρός· ὁ νόμος ἐστὶν ὁ ἀνήρ· δῆλον δὲ ὅτι ὁ κατὰ τὸ γράμμα· οὗτος γὰρ καὶ τὸ ἀποθνήσκειν ἐπεδέξατο διὰ τὸ εἶναι παλαιότη γράμματο · τὸ δὲ παλαιού μενον καὶ γηρά κον ἐγγὺ ἀφανι μοῦ. λέγεται δὲ καὶ ἀποθνήσκειν καὶ ἐπεὶ μηδὲ παρὰ τοῖς βουλομένοις αὐτὸν φυλάσσειν καὶ οὕτω προαιρουμένοις, ἵν' οὕτως εἴπω, ζῇ. 36 vii 6 νυνὶ δὲ κατηργήθημεν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου, ἀποθανόντες ἐν ᾧ κατειχόμεθα, ὥστε δουλεύειν ἡμᾶς ἐν καινότητι πνεύματος καὶ οὐ παλαιότητι γράμματος. τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα ἀεί ἐστιν ἐν καινότητι, οὔτε παλαιούμενον οὔτε γηρά κον ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον τοῦ ἔ ω ἡμῶν ἀνθρώπου ἀνακαινουμένου ἡμέρᾳ καὶ ἡμέρᾳ· καὶ ἡ παλαιότης δὲ τοῦ γράμματος οὐκ ἔστιν ὅτε καινὴ ἦν, οὐδὲ ὁ παλαιὸ ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπο καινός ποτε ἦν, ὅστις ἅμα τῷ ὑποστῆναι πεπαλαίωται, οὐ χρόνῳ ἀλλὰ τῶν τοιῶνδε νοημάτων καὶ ἔργων παλαιωσάντων αὐτόν. vii 7 <τί οὖν; ὁ νόμος ἁμαρτία; οὐχ ὥσπερ ὄνομα ἕν ἐστι νόμος, οὕτω καὶ εἷς ὁ περὶ νόμου πανταχοῦ τῆς γραφῆς λόγος. διὸ καθ' ἕκαστον χρὴ τόπον αὐτῆς ἐπιμελῶς ἐπιστήσαντα θεωρῆσαι, νῦν μὲν τί σημαίνεται ἐκ τῆς νόμος φωνῆς, νῦν δὲ τί χρὴ τὸ τοιοῦτον ἐννοεῖν. ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἄλλων πλειόνων· ὁμώνυμοι γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ ἄλλων εἰσὶ κατὰ τὴν γραφὴν φωναί, αἵτινες συγχέουσι τοὺς νομίζοντας ὅτι ὡς ὄνομα ἕν ἐστιν οὕτω καὶ τὸ σημαινόμενον ἕν, ὅπου ἂν τοῦτο ὀνομασθῇ. ὅτι δὲ ἡ νόμος φωνὴ οὐκ ἐπὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἀλλ' ἐπὶ πλειόνων τέτακται, τὰ πολλὰ παραλιπόντες καὶ δεόμενα κατασκευῆς, ἔχοντα ἀνθυποφορὰν λύσεως δεομένην, ἐκθησόμεθα τὰ πάνθ' ὁντινοῦν δυσωπῆσαι δυνάμενα, ὡς τῆς νόμος φωνῆς κειμένης ἐπὶ πλειόνων.
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Commentarii in epistulam ad Romanos (catena Greek) (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 14 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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