Delight in the law of God, and delight in desire.
But I have died. What does it mean: I have died? I have become a transgressor, and the commandment that was found to be unto life was found for me unto death. See that the law is praised, the commandment which was for life. For what kind of life is it not to covet? O sweet life! Sweet indeed is the pleasure of covetousness: it is true, and men would not follow it unless it were sweet. The theater, the spectacle, the wanton prostitute, the most shameful song, these are sweet to covetousness; sweet indeed, pleasant, delightful: but: The unjust have told me of their delights, but not as your law, O Lord. They are pleasant, sweet, delightful; but hear better: The unjust have told me of their delights, but not as your law, O Lord. Happy the soul that is delighted by such pleasures, where no foulness stains, and which is purified by the serenity of truth. But he who delights in the law of God, and delights in such a way that he overcomes all pleasures of wantonness, should not attribute this pleasure to himself: The Lord will give sweetness. What should I say? Lord, give me that sweetness, or that one? You are sweet, Lord, and in your sweetness teach me your statutes. In your sweetness teach me, and you teach me. Then I learn so that I may act, if you teach me in your sweetness. Otherwise, as long as iniquity flatters and is sweet, truth is bitter. In your sweetness teach me: that truth may be sweet, and by your sweetness iniquity may be despised. Truth is much better and sweeter, but sweet bread is for the healthy. What is better and more excellent than heavenly bread? But it does not dull the teeth of iniquity. For Scripture says: As sour grapes are harmful to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes; so is iniquity to those who use it. What does it profit you to praise the bread, if you live badly? What you praise you do not eat. When therefore you hear the word, when you hear the word of justice and truth, and you praise it; it is much more praiseworthy if you act. Therefore do what you praise. Or will you say: I want to, but I cannot? Why cannot you? Because there is no health. Whence did you lose health, unless by sinning you offended the Creator? Therefore, so that you may eat the bread you praise with sweetness, that is, with health, say to Him: I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you. Therefore, he says: The commandment which was found to be unto life was found to be unto death. For he was previously unknown to himself as a sinner, and has become manifest as a transgressor. Behold, it was found unto death when it was unto life.
The proud man slain by his own sword.
But, taking occasion, sin deceived me through the commandment, and by it killed me. Thus it happened first in paradise: Sin deceived me, he said, taking occasion through the commandment. See the serpent whispering to the woman. He asked her what God had said: she replied: God told us: From every tree which is in the paradise, you shall eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat. For if you eat from it, you will die by death. This is the commandment of God. The serpent, however, said: No, you will not die by death. For God knew that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods. Therefore, taking occasion, sin deceived me through the commandment, and by it killed me. The enemy killed you with the sword you carried; he conquered you with your own weapons, he destroyed you with your own arms. Take up the commandment: know that it is a weapon, not by which you are killed, but by which the enemy is killed by you. But do not presume on your own strength. See little David against Goliath, see the small against the large; but relying on the name of the Lord. You come to me, he says, with shield and spear; I come in the name of the Almighty Lord. Thus, thus; no other way: in no way else is the enemy laid low. He who presumes on his own strength is laid low before he even fights.
The Apostle is again and again the most evident praiser of the law.
Nevertheless, see, beloved, see again and again that the apostle Paul is the most open praiser of the divine law against the madness of the Manicheans; see what he adds: "Therefore, the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." Could it be praised more abundantly? A little earlier, with that phrase he said: "God forbid!" he defended it from crime, he did not praise it. It is one thing to defend from an alleged crime, another to proclaim with due praise. The alleged crime was: "What shall we say then? Is the law sin?" The defense, "God forbid!" The truth is defended with one word; because the authority of the Apostle defending it is great. Why defend it long? It suffices. "God forbid!" Or do you want, he says, to receive proof of Christ who speaks in me? Now, however: "Therefore, the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good."
The same argument is treated.
What, then, is good become death to me? By no means! Because death is not good. But sin, that it might appear as sin, worked death in me through what is good. Death is not the law, but sin is death. He had already said: Without the law, sin is dead. Where I reminded you, saying: It is dead, it lies hidden, it does not appear. Now see how truly it is said thus: Sin, he says, that it might appear as sin. He did not say: That it might be, because it was even when it did not appear. Sin, that it might appear as sin. What is it: That it might appear as sin? Because I did not know covetousness, unless the law said: You shall not covet. He does not say: I did not have covetousness; but: I did not know covetousness. So also here he does not say: That it might be sin; but: That it might appear as sin, it worked death in me through what is good. What death? That sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. Note well: exceedingly sinful. Why exceedingly? Because now there is also transgression. For where there is no law, there is no transgression.
Sin derived from the first man.
Therefore, see, brothers, see the human race flowing from the first death of that first man. For indeed: Sin entered into this world through the first man, and through sin, death, and thus it passed into all men. It passed; pay attention to the word you have heard; consider, see what "passed" means. It passed: hence even a little one is guilty; has not yet committed sin, but has inherited it. For that sin did not remain at the source, but has passed; not into this or that person, but has passed into all men. The first sinner, the first transgressor, begot sinners subject to death. The Savior came from the Virgin to heal. For He came not in the way that you came; for He was not from the concupiscence of man and woman, not from that bond of concupiscence. "The Holy Spirit," He says, "will come upon you." This was said to the Virgin, said to the fervent faith, not to the burning concupiscence of the flesh: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." How could one who had such a shadow be burning with the heat of lust? Therefore, since He did not come to you in the way you came, He frees you. Where did He find you? Sold under sin, lying in the death of the first man, dragging the sin of the first man, having guilt before you could have will. Behold where He found you, when He found you as a little one. But you have outgrown the age of a little one: behold you have grown, you have added many sins to the original sin; you received the law, you became a transgressor. But do not be anxious: where sin abounded, grace abounded more. Converted to the Lord, etc.