The Law's Role in Revealing Sin and Death
The goodness embedded in the law, meant to guide life, paradoxically becomes a catalyst for death—since sin lacks definition apart from the law, and condemnation requires its boundary, yet it is through the law that sin’s guilt and punishment are formally established. Do not confuse the initial death of sin with its final demise; there is a profound distinction between sin lying inert without the law’s demand and sin being put to death through the Spirit’s mortification of our earthly nature; thus, the lifeless state of sin in each scenario produces vastly different outcomes in spiritual vitality, and they cannot be equated by any measure of lived experience. Indeed, sin remains deadly as long as our bodily impulses remain un subdued by the divine word, and even before the law was given, sin held sway over humanity. Yet someone might object: even if sin seizes the commandment as an occasion to deceive and destroy, we must still affirm the truth and embrace the law inscribed on the heart by God as holy, and honor the command as good, flowing from the God of goodness. So, has this good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, in order to be exposed as sin through the very good that works death in me, so that through the commandment sin might be revealed as utterly sinful. If someone objects, saying, 'Perhaps the holy law has become death to humanity?'—know this: when the commandment arrived, sin sprang back to life and the person died—let them understand that it was not the good that turned into death, but that sin must be made manifest in its true evilness; for when the good dwells in the soul, evil is unveiled, and if one then sins, it becomes clear that the commandment, which identified evil and warned against it, serves as the occasion of death, and sin—not merely sin, but sin in its most aggravated form—enters through the holy command and brings about our destruction. We acknowledge that the law is spiritual, yet I remain fleshly, enslaved to sin. A question emerges from all this: how can Paul say these things without appearing to contradict himself when he declares we were bought with a price, Christ redeemed us, and yet I no longer live, but Christ lives in me? Unless we allow that the Word assumes different persons, and the passages are tailored to distinct personal realities, in which the foolish act contrary to their original intent. This discourse is fitting for those who have come to know the law as divine and see its commands as good, yet, as those still enslaved to sin and governed by the flesh, they do not know how to resist and thus fall into transgression. For what I do, I do not understand; for what I wish to do, I do not do, but what I detest, that I perform. These words suit those who have weakened toward passion due to feeble reasoning, and those who, at times, are overcome by anger and fear and act against their will and their deepest aversions; but when, having been defeated by intellectual pride, we are conquered by what appears good but is not true, we endorse the law in word while doing what pleases us. For I delight in God’s law according to the inner self, yet I perceive another law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and leading me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my flesh. In those who have not yet fortified themselves toward virtue, Paul outlines this present reality: just as a soldier who has taken captive enemies leads them away, so in these individuals, the law in their members opposes the law of their mind, enslaves the miserable soul, and drives it toward the law of sin residing in the bodily members. Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. As one who weakens the human frailty that drags and distracts reason and incites opposition, he cries, 'Wretched man that I am'; and as one delivered by divine aid from the body named the body of death for these very reasons, he adds, 'I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ.' For what the law could not accomplish—because it was weakened by the flesh—
Greek
ἀναφέρεται. <περιίσταται τοίνυν τὸ ζωοποιὸν ἀγαθόν, ἡ τοῦ νόμου πρόσταξις, εἰς θανάτου πρόφασιν· ἧς γὰρ ἄνευ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν οὐχ οἷόν τε ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι, οὐδὲ καταδικάζειν θανάτῳ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, διὰ ταύτης δή που καὶ τὸ τῆς πονηρίας ἔγκλημα καὶ τὸ τῆς κολάσεως ἐπιτίμιον συνίσταται>. μὴ νομίσῃς δὲ παραπλήσιόν τι ἔχειν τὸν θάνατον τὸν πρῶτον τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ δευτέρῳ ταύτης θανάτῳ· ὡς γὰρ πολλὴ διαφορὰ ὅτε νεκρὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία χωρὶς νόμου καὶ ὅτε νεκρὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία νεκρωθέντων τῶν μελῶν τῶν ἐπὶ γῆ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, οὕτως καὶ τῆς καθ' ἑκατέραν νεκρότητα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ζωῆς πολλή τις ἂν εἴη καὶ οὐ συγκριτικὴ ἡ ἑτέρα τῇ ἑτέρᾳ διαφορὰ τοῦ ζῇν· δῆλον γὰρ ὅτι ἡ νεκρὰ ἁμαρτία ζῇ ὅτε μήπω νεκροῦται τὰ μέλη τὰ ἐπὶ τῆ γῆ ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου, πρὸ δὲ τοῦ νόμου καὶ τοῦ ἐλθεῖν τὴν ἐντολὴν ἔζη νεκρὰ οὖσα. <κἀνταῦθα δέ τις νόμον τὸν φυσικὸν ἀπέδωκεν οὕτω λέγων, ὡς εἰ καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία ἀφορμὴν λαβοῦσα διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς ἐξηπάτησε καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπέκτεινεν, οὐδὲν ἧττον τὴν ἀλήθειαν ὁμολογητέον, καὶ τὸν ἐγγεγραμμένον τῇ καρδίᾳ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ νόμον ὡς ἅγιον ἀποδεκτέον, καὶ τὴν ἐντολὴν ὡς ἀγαθὴν καὶ ἐξ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ ἐπαινετέον.> 40 vii 13 τὸ οὖν ἀγαθὸν ἐμοὶ γέγονε θάνατος; μὴ γένοιτο· ἀλλὰ ἡ ἁμαρτία, ἵνα φανῇ ἁμαρτία διὰ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ μοι κατεργαζομένη θάνατον· ἵνα γένηται καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλὸς ἡ ἁμαρτία διὰ τῆς ἐντολῆς. εἴ τις πρὸς τὰ εἰρημένα ἀνθυποφέρει λέγων Μή ποτε ὁ ἅγιος νόμος γέγονεν εἰς θάνατον τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ, ἐλθού η γὰρ τῆ ἐντολῆ ἀνέζη εν ἡ ἁμαρτία ὁ δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἀπέθανεν; ἀκούσεται ὅτι οὐ τὸ ἀγαθὸν γέγονε θάνατος, ἀλλ' ἔδει τὴν ἁμαρτίαν φανῆναι ἡλίκον ἐστὶ κακόν· ὅτε γὰρ ἐπιδημεῖ τὸ ἀγαθὸν τῇ ψυχῇ, φανεροῦται τὸ κακόν· καὶ ἐάν τις μετὰ τοῦτο ἁμαρτῇ, εὑρίσκεται τὸν θάνατον ποιοῦσα ἡ ἐντολὴ ἡ ὑποδείξασα τὸ κακὸν καὶ ἡ ὑποδείξασα τὸ φευκτέον ἐντολὴ θανάτου πρόξενος, καὶ ἡ ἁμαρτία, οὐχ ἁπλῶς ἁμαρτία ἀλλὰ καθ' ὑπερβολὴν ἁμαρτωλός, αὕτη διὰ τῆς ἁγίας ἐντολῆς παρεισδύνουσα καὶ τὸν θάνατον ἡμῖν κατεργαζομένη. 41 vii 14 οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ὁ νόμος πνευματικός ἐστιν· ἐγὼ δὲ σαρκικός εἰμι, πεπραμένος ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. ζήτημα ἀνακύπτει ἀπὸ πάσης τῆς προκειμένης περικοπῆς πῶς ταῦτα λέγων ὁ Παῦλος οὐ δοκεῖ ἐναντιοῦσθαι τοῖς ἰδίοις λόγοις ὁ λέγων τιμῆ ἠγορά θητε καὶ Χρι τὸ ἡμᾶ ἐξηγόρα εν καὶ ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγὼ ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χρι τό · εἰ μή που εἴπωμεν ὅτι προσωποποιίας ἔχει διαφόρους ὁ λόγος, καὶ συσχηματί ζονται αἱ περικοπαὶ πρὸς διαφόρους ποιότητας προσώπων, ἔνθα οἱ φαῦλοι ἄλλα πράττουσι παρὰ τὴν προηγουμένην ἑαυτῶν πρόθεσιν. ὁ δὲ παρὼν λόγος ἁρμόζει λέγεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν μεμαθηκότων τὰ περὶ τοῦ νόμου ὅτι θεῖός ἐστι, καὶ βλεπόντων αὐτοῦ τὰ προστάγματα ὅτι εἰσὶ καλά, οὐδὲν δὲ ἧττον ὡς πεπρα μένοι ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν καὶ σαρκικοὶ ὄντες, οὐ γινώσκουσι πῶς, ἐμπίπτουσιν ὑπὸ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν. 42 vii 15 ὃ γὰρ κατεργάζομαι οὐ γινώσκω· οὐ γὰρ ὃ θέλω τοῦτο πράσσω, ἀλλ' ὃ μισῶ τοῦτο ποιῶ. ἁρμόζει τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα λέγειν τοῖς παλαίσασι πρὸς τὰς ἐπιθυμίας διὰ δὲ ἀσθένειαν λογισμοῦ πεσοῦσι, καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ θυμοῦ ἔσθ' ὅτε νικωμένοις καὶ ὑπὸ φόβου καὶ πράττουσιν ἃ μὴ θέλουσι καὶ ἃ μισοῦσιν· ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ λόγου ἐπάρσεως ἡττηθέντες νικηθῶμεν ἐκ τοῦ δοκοῦντος εἶναι ἀγαθοῦ οὐ μὴν ἀληθοῦς, ύμφαμεν τῷ νόμῳ ὅτι καλὸ ποιοῦμεν δὲ τὸ καθ' ἡδονήν. 43 vii 22, 23 συνήδομαι γὰρ τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον· βλέπω δὲ ἕτερον νόμον ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου ἀντιστρατευόμενον τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοός μου καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζοντά με τῷ νόμῳ τῆς ἁμαρτίας τῷ ὄντι ἐν τοῖς μέλεσί μου. ἐν τοῖς μηδέπω κρατύνασι τὴν ἕξιν ἐπὶ τὰ βέλτιστα διαγράφει ὁ Παῦλος τὸν παρόντα λόγον· ὥσπερ τοίνυν στρατιώτης κρατήσας πολεμίων αἰχμαλώτους ἄγει, οὕτως ἐν τοῖς προειρημένοις προσώποις ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς μέλεσιν αὐτῶν νόμος ἀντιστρατευόμενος τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ νοὸς αὐτῶν καὶ αἰχμαλωτίζων τὴν ταλαίπωρον ψυχὴν καὶ ἄγων ἐπὶ τὸν τῆς ἁμαρτίας νόμον ἐν τοῖς σωματικοῖς μέλεσιν. 44 vii 24, 25 ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος· τίς με ῥύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ θανάτου τούτου; εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν. ὡς κακίζων τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην ἀσθένειαν τὴν περιέλκουσαν καὶ περισπῶσαν τὸν λογισμὸν καὶ προκαλουμένην ἐπὶ τὰ ἐναντία λέγει τὸ ταλαίπωρος ἐγὼ ἄνθρωπος· καὶ ὡς διὰ ἐπικουρίας θείας ῥυσθεὶς τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ὀνομασθέντος σώματος θανάτου διὰ τὰς προειρημένας αἰτίας, ἐπάγει τὸ εὐχαριστῶ τῷ θεῷ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. 45 viii 3, 4 τὸ γὰρ ἀδύνατον τοῦ νόμου, ἐν ᾧ ἠσθένει διὰ τῆς σαρκός,
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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