Fragmenta in epistulam ad Romanos

As if the world were ignorant of Christ’s divinity, he proclaims it. And why does he appropriate what is common? Because many, both those who saw the Lord and those who did not, believed, but Paul is called from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” And he also has something more than the other apostles: for those around Peter, James, and John, the Lord himself called and had as disciples, but he did not immediately make or name them apostles, whereas he both called Paul and at once brought him into the apostolate. And that the gospel is proclaimed by the will of the Father. He said “of his prophets” because there are also prophets of the idols, distinguishing by his own voice both prophets from prophets and gospel from gospels: for there are many gospels, but mortal and temporary, whereas the gospel of Christ promises the enjoyment of eternal goods in the holy scriptures. Therefore, the prophets are his and of no other god, but of the Father of Christ. And “holy” is not said simply, but—since many are called, but few are chosen; for not all persevered in the calling—so that he might not cast the holy things to the dogs. According to the heretics: if Christ is Lord, and God is our Father, then the Father will also be a slave of Christ; for as the Son is, so also is the Father. But this is not the case: for he said “our Father” to show grace, and “Lord Jesus” so that they, thinking highly as if they themselves were sons of God, might not cast down the glory of the Son, or raise themselves above their nature. He called God “Father” because he judges no one, and the Son “Lord” because he himself is the judge.

He says “father” to show his care for us; and he calls the son “lord,” that we may know that by the goodness of God we are called sons, while Jesus himself, as true God by nature, is our lord. And again, since many were hastening to Rome for some human reason, he both displays his longing and shows that this man is pious by the addition. It is implied that the Romans yearn for him, perhaps because the faith of the Romans had something more, becoming an encouragement to all those under them. That God is truly God, while the idols to which they prostrated themselves are falsely called gods. He does not mention such indecency simply, but because he heard that in Rome there is also a fellowship of males. 215 1,32–2,1 He calls “righteousness of God” his just retribution, which he renders to each according to merit. So he says this: even if men from their natural understanding know that those who transgress ought to be punished by God, nevertheless they do not desist from the worst deeds, and the terrible thing is that they even take pleasure in those who do them. So “righteousness of God” he says is this very thing, that those who do such things are worthy of death, or simply his justice, or the commandments, or the Mosaic law; for thus it clearly and sternly commands, judging those who do such things worthy of death. Therefore you are without excuse, O man, every one who judges; for in that you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you do the same things as the one you judge. He indicated through “storing up” that the sins gathered one by one become an addition of punishment through the judge’s forbearance for those who are incurably sick.

He is not accusing God of passion when he says that God becomes angry, but he uses human custom to speak about God’s judgment, which in the present life is hidden and escapes notice, being stored up for the time of judgment. God wisely arranges this too, not according to the order of justice, because the impious do not perceive even when they fare well, nor do the just, when they experience the terrors of life, change their manner of piety—something which some, being ignorant, are scandalized and say that all things are without providence, thinking that God does not oversee human affairs. But when the appointed time of recompense comes, then the light of God’s just judgment is revealed and shines forth, each receiving according to the worth of what he has lived. Therefore he taught that the day of wrath is an image, that now is not the time of punishment, nor of wrath, nor of God’s just judgment. 2:8–9 Just as what is done from contentiousness is unpardonable, so also is that of the one who fully accomplishes evil compared with the one who merely works at it; for one may work at it while struggling but being defeated, whereas fully accomplishing it belongs to the diligent practice of evil. For evil he defined condemnation, not simply but for those who fully accomplish it; for good he defined glory, not only for those who fully accomplish it, so that through both God’s goodness may be shown—that he condemns not simply those who work at evil but those who fully accomplish it, and that he honors those who simply work at good. And here he well says “Jew” first, then “Greek”; for those nearer to the master are deemed worthy of both reproofs and honors beyond the others.

Why then do we hold onto something superfluous? For we have already accused both Jews and Greeks, and so forth. The expression is elliptical; for after "why then do we hold onto something superfluous," it was necessary to add the righteousness that comes from faith, which he says later as he proceeds: the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Why then do we hold onto something superfluous? The righteousness that comes from faith; for we have already accused both Jews and Greeks. And how did he accuse? By refuting the Greeks for corrupting natural knowledge, in the passage where he said: "for God revealed to them." For his invisible attributes are perceived from the creation of the world through his works, and because, having known God, they did not glorify or thank him as God; and by showing that the Jews transgressed the law—through the words: "you who boast in the law, do you not dishonor God through transgression of the law?"—and also that where nature was weak in some, and where both nature and law were weak in others, he accordingly introduces the grace of the gospel and says: what do we have from grace that is superfluous and exceptional? Faith, which through Jesus Christ is productive of righteousness. Nowhere does he say that all were impious, but that they sinned—the commonality of sin, not of impiety. And the one who is deficient, having something lacking, seeks what is missing; the Jews had the law, but they lacked the perfection of grace. For God endured, in order to show his own righteousness. For if he had intervened, he would have utterly destroyed; and if he had destroyed, there would have been no one saved.

Since he tolerated even the addition of sins, he showed that he tolerated it not only to free them from sins, but also to justify them beforehand. Therefore, having permitted them to sin, he granted complete forgiveness. We call God just either as one who repays or as one who bestows righteousness. Thus, that by which I am justified is the righteousness of God, since it is not from my own works, but from the grace of the one who justifies. Circumcision was given for these three reasons: to be a sign of faith, an indicator of the Abrahamic lineage, and a symbol and enigma of a pure and temperate way of life; so it was not given as productive of righteousness, but as a seal and sign of the righteousness from Abraham’s faith. He says that the righteous will be heirs of the world, because when the impious are removed from the midst and handed over to punishment on the day of judgment, the righteous will have the entire remaining world renewed, and both the heavenly and earthly goods will be theirs. “Before whom he believed”: instead of “in the presence of the one he believed,” that is, God. “Contrary to the hope of his own nature, in the hope of the power of the one who promised.” And “your seed will be thus” not only in multitude, but also in splendor. 4. Having said “he was strengthened,” he shows that faith is accomplished with much effort, strength of soul, and toil. How was he strengthened? By giving glory to God, he says, that is, by not investigating how this is possible, but by immediately believing and blessing the benefactor.

God, as already having given what he promised. Do you see how he distinguishes even here, placing "many" in the case of sin and righteousness—for not all before the law sinned, nor did all in grace act righteously; for many are called, but few are chosen—but in the case of bodily death and bodily resurrection, "all" and "all." Since when we are baptized we confess to have died to the world and to renounce sin and the devil. To live in newness is to begin some new and fresh life, having put off the old life in sins; for regeneration promises a polity of some new and fresh life. 6:6–7 Those living according to the old man have a body of sin, lying before the devil for his plots; but those according to the new man, our Lord Jesus, have a body of righteousness, since they are members of the Lord. Therefore, when the devil incites men to sin, having been defeated through Christ and the flesh of the Word having been nailed to the cross, the evil one has been cast out, and now those who wish are free; for he who has died according to the word of baptism has died to the world and has been justified and has been released from punishment, having been freed from sin. The law that commands not to sin did not provide for erring, but through allowing indulgence to the passions. Therefore, providing an occasion for the passions was not the purpose of the law, but what happened was that of the economy it was then given.

I mean that eating and drinking was activated in our members—for desire is also stirred in those who fast—but it is not activated to bear fruit for death. Thus Moses is written as a ministry of death, because the law weighed heavily, and what it wished it did not accomplish, while what it did not wish it procured. 7:7–8 The law is not evil, he says, nor is it sin, but it was able to make sin known, yet unable to remove it, and it provided an occasion for its increase. And why is this, he says? To show the magnitude of sin, so that it might also demonstrate the excess of grace. Thus, he says, sin was so strong that through the very things that forbade it, it prevailed all the more and grew stronger; just as a flame that has just begun is extinguished by the slightest thing, but when it has been kindled further, even water that extinguishes it only makes it burn more, so sin, having taken hold of the whole world and devoured everyone, the law exposed it, but was unable to quench it. Because it cannot condemn one who has sinned in ignorance, but the law, once given and having revealed sin, gave power to sin. This is not an accusation against the law, but a reproach of the negligence of those who do not observe it. And just as without law sin is dead, so also when the law is observed, sin is dead. By law he means the Mosaic law, and by commandment he means the one given to Adam in paradise—holy because it taught what is necessary, just because it rightly passed sentence on transgressors, and good because it prepares life for those who observe it.

Having observed in his mind the war waged against the soul through the body and the man being taken captive by it, he seeks a refuge of salvation and looks about for the one who will deliver him, so that he may transform the body of death itself into a body of life. Then, as the deliverer is found and is ready for the grace of salvation, he sends up the fitting thanksgiving to God through Jesus Christ, through whom it was granted to him to be rescued from the enemy. He does not say simply or pray to be delivered from the body, but from the death that has seized the body through the sin of death; for he wants his own body to be a body of life, not a body of death nor a body of sin. "Spirit of Christ" he called the gifts of the new covenant. Some say it is the spirit of slavery of the evil one, but it is not; for here he calls the law the spirit of slavery and those under the law slaves; therefore, as if being punished, if they erred, they were afraid, which is a sign of slavery. But to be permitted to call God Father through the purity of life gives hopes of adoption.

He promises; and the same Spirit is that which has been active upon both peoples, that of slavery and of adoption, according to what is beneficial and fitting in accordance with the worth of both. "Karadokia" (eager expectation) is the intense watchfulness for what is hoped for, so called from the one who, while expecting, perhaps also inclines his head and strains his eyes, as if about to see at once what is expected. Or, concerning the image of the Son, instead of the Holy Spirit: for just as the Son is an exact image of the Father, so also is the Spirit of the Son. Therefore, those who, having been deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit, live spiritually, these are conformed to the Spirit, which is the image of the Son. Through these things he shows the boundless love which Christ has for us; for he was not content to die for us, but also intercedes with the Father for us. And it is clear that he intercedes for those things which he also did when he was among men in the flesh; for he asked the Father, saying, "I wish that where I am, they also may be." The Savior intercedes before this. He does not, however, instruct the Father as if he were ignorant of our affairs, nor as if he were unwilling; for what the Father wills, the Son also wills. What, then, is the purpose of the intercession and the petition? The word cuts off the future impiety of Sabellius, teaching that, even if the essence of the Trinity is one, yet the hypostasis is not one; for through the petition, the one asking and the one being asked are shown to be different; for it is not improper that the Son should ask and the Father grant, so that a fitting order may be preserved in both persons.

Or would it not be absurd, if the Son, knowing the Father's intention, were to anticipate the Father's gift and, snatching it away, bestow the grace? Thus, indeed, all things were created through the Son, but by the will of the Father, so that throughout the consistency and propriety regarding both persons might be preserved. Therefore, the discourse teaches us the distinct order of Father and Son; and if you consider Christ in the flesh as the one making the request, the discourse will appear much more coherent to you. Having brilliantly shown God's disposition toward us and the love of His Son, it accordingly teaches what kind of people the grateful ought to be toward their benefactor, so that not even the most terrible things can separate us from Christ. 222 9:20–21 Some consider this to be a solution, especially Asterius the Cappadocian, who thinks thus: You who argue against me, how do you argue? Is it not from the authority that accords with your opinion? Do you not answer God, wishing to show that God does not compel and make people righteous? For authority remains with humans. But such an understanding is not reasonable, for it adds: The creation will not say to the creator, "Why did you make me this way?" This, however, is not the statement of one showing that we are in authority, but rather the opposite. What, then, is the meaning? This is said by way of abundance, not as a solution that has been set forth. And what is "by way of abundance"? But first of all, who are you? For suppose we had no opinion and were not self-determined; would God not have the authority to do as He wished? But a potter molds some vessels for honor and others for dishonor, and does God not have the authority that the potter has, so as to honor whom He wishes and punish whom He desires?

Having said this by way of surplus, he then makes the resolution. He calls "indication of wrath" that which, being patient with men, he permits them through free will to do what they wish; and "vessels of wrath prepared for destruction" he calls those men who are under the sentence of death. Some others, however, for the phrase "if God, wishing to display his wrath" and so forth, supplied the phrase "what do you know?" understood as an ellipsis from outside. And "with great patience" he used instead of "after great patience" he brought forth the wrath. Christ is not as a part of the law, but as the beginning of another life. Therefore he is called the end of the law, as having become the end of the law, that is, having brought it to an end. So the law has an end for two reasons: because he made use of it and because he brought it to an end. And "to every believer" means not only to a Jew but also to a Greek, not because the end of the law was already only for a Jew. Having mentioned the cultivated olive and the wild olive, he showed that there is one nature of all, just as of the olive, but not one choice, as in the case of the wild and the cultivated; calling "wild" that which is alienated and useless to the master, and "cultivated" that which is fruitful. And he calls "grafting" the being grafted into the faith of Abraham, whom he calls the root; and he says that the grafting provides life. 11:28–29 But it is said elliptically, for which reason it is also asyndetic.

Thus he wishes that, by comparison with you, the Jews are proven to be enemies of God, since you who are from the nations believed, while those who ought before all to have believed had their hearts hardened, and according to this reasoning they are enemies of God, but beloved on account of the fathers, for whose honor he will show kindness to their descendants, and will consider as beloved those who have believed and exhibited a way of life capable of saving. The present state of the world incites man to luxury and pleasures; if one renounces this condition and transfers himself to a different and foreign way of life, he is transformed as a new man from one state to another. 12:4–8 Having said beforehand that God measures the measure of faith, by the following example he both defends the giver and persuades not to be grieved if someone has a lesser gift. For just as a cheap part of a body is useful to the whole, both the great and the small are completed into one body; for this is a consequence of what preceded, that we are members of one another. "Having different gifts" instead of "having, of course, different gifts." The one who gives in simplicity, that is what the Lord says: give to everyone who asks you, not inquiring whether it is good or evil nor to whom you give, since this precision often prevents us from giving to those to whom it should be given, as suspicion in us often errs. It is worthy to submit to kings who persist in the service of God's will, unless there is a pretext of persecutions in the midst; for concerning enduring everything for the sake of faith, he taught beforehand, saying:

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? And so forth. For he who does not permit submission even to angels or to authorities for the sake of lawlessness, how would he urge obedience to human authorities when they compel by force to abandon God? But perhaps someone might say: if kingdoms are established by God, how do they sometimes even march against the pious? To these it must be said that, even if the matter of persecutions seems most grievous to many, one must consider how beneficial they are; for God does not permit such things simply, but so that both the virtues of the righteous may shine and the vices of those in power may be revealed. And most importantly, then those who feign the guise of piety while being impious are exposed, and the genuine lovers of piety, as if finding material for distinction in the time of persecutions, will show the fruit of virtuous struggle. Thus indeed God said to Job: Do you think I have dealt with you otherwise, than that you might appear righteous? Such then being love, it naturally contains many advantages within itself; for he who loves does not commit adultery, does not murder, does nothing else that is forbidden, so that he who has love has thus completely fulfilled the law through love. Fulfill, he says, the work of love, knowing that the time presses and demands virtue. Now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed, that is, now that we have learned the more beneficial of works, yet it has become easier to be saved than when we were still being catechized in the word of faith; for we did not have precise comprehension of what must be done at the same time as we believed in Christ, but now we have known precisely.

The servant of Christ whom Christ has taken to himself is a stranger to the law. Who then are you to judge from the law one who is a stranger to the law? Through him, that is through God. 15. Not as one deprecating communion with the other apostles, but as judging it grasping and unjust to snatch away the glory of others' works. That is, to use prudence so as not to be wronged by others, and integrity so as not to plot against others.