Origen, Commentary on Romans — Book 1
Latin source: J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologia Graeca 14 (Rufinus's Latin version of Origen's Commentarii in Epistulam ad Romanos ). This English translation is in the public domain.
PREFACE OF RUFINUS (to Heraclius, on Origen's Exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans)
While I was minded, borne along in a small boat, to hug the shore of a calm coastline and to gather little fishes out of the pools of the Greeks, you compel me, brother Heraclius, to loose sail for the deep; and, laying aside the work I had in hand of translating the Homilies of the aged Adamantius, you urge that we should unfold in our own tongue those fifteen volumes of his in which he discussed Paul's Epistle to the Romans — in which, while he pursues the Apostle's meaning, he is carried off into so deep a sea that there is great fear for one who follows him thither, lest by the vastness of the thoughts he be overwhelmed as by the monstrous swell of the waves. And then you fail to see this also, that my breath is too slight to fill so magnificent a trumpet of speech as his. But beyond all the difficulties is this, that the books themselves have been tampered with. For in nearly everyone's libraries a certain number of volumes are missing from the body of the work itself (by what mischance is quite uncertain); and to supply these, and to give an unbroken sequence to the work in Latin, is not within my powers, but rather — as you believe, who make this demand — a matter perhaps of a divine gift. You add moreover, that nothing may be wanting to my labors, that I should abridge this whole body of fifteen volumes, which in Greek ran out to some forty thousand lines or more, and compress it, if it can be done, to half its extent. Hard commands enough, and laid upon me as though by one who has no wish to know the weight of this work. Yet I shall set my hand to it, if perchance by the breath of your prayers what seem to me, as a man, impossible may be made possible. But now, if you think fit, let us hear Origen himself, and how he directs the preface of the work he has undertaken to his Lord.
PREFACE OF ORIGEN
That this Epistle written to the Romans is thought more difficult to understand than the other Epistles of the apostle Paul seems to me to happen for two reasons. One, that he sometimes uses expressions that are confused and less than explicit; the other, that he raises very many questions in it, and especially those upon which heretics are accustomed to lean in order to build up the claim that the cause of each person's deeds ought not to be referred to purpose but to a difference of nature; and from a few phrases of this Epistle they attempt to overturn the meaning of the whole of Scripture, which teaches that freedom of choice has been granted by God to man. On which account, first praying to God, who teaches man knowledge, and who gives through the Spirit the word of wisdom, and who enlightens every man coming into this world, that he may deign to make us worthy to understand parables, and obscure sayings, and the words of the wise and their riddles, we shall then at last take up the beginning of an exposition of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, prefacing these things which are usually observed by the studious: that the Apostle appears in this Epistle to have been more perfect than in the others. For indeed, when he wrote the first to the Corinthians, he was in truth in great advances; yet he says something about himself as though wavering, when he says: But I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become reprobate. But also, writing to the Philippians, he shows that there was still something less in himself of that perfection which he afterwards attained, when he says that he is being conformed to the death of Christ, if by any means he may attain to the resurrection which is from the dead. For he would not say "if by any means," if the matter then already seemed to him beyond doubt. But also in what follows in the same Epistle he shows these same things, when he says: Not that I have already obtained, or am already perfect; but I follow after, that I may lay hold of that in which I also have been laid hold of by Christ. Brethren, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. But if anyone thinks this was said out of humility, let him see in what follows how great things he recalls concerning his own advances, when he says: But one thing, forgetting indeed those things which are behind, and stretching myself forward to those things which are ahead, according to my purpose I follow after, to the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ Jesus; and after this he says: Whoever therefore of us are perfect, let us be of this mind. In which he shows that perfection is twofold: one, which lies in the fulfilling of the virtues, according to which he says that he is not perfect; and another, when a person so advances that he cannot fall away, nor look backward, according to which he was saying: Whoever therefore of us are perfect, let us be of this mind. How then will it be shown that he wrote the second to the Corinthians as one already more perfect than the first? From those things, without doubt, which are recorded as written in it, when he says: We suffer tribulation, but we are not straitened; we are perplexed (aporoumetha), but we are not utterly at a loss (exaporoumetha); we suffer persecution, but we are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we do not perish; always carrying about the death of Jesus in our body, that the life of Jesus also may be made manifest in our body. He therefore who always carried about the death of Jesus in his body — in him assuredly the flesh never lusted against the spirit, but was subject to it, inasmuch as it had been mortified after the likeness of the death of Christ. But if someone should say to us that these things do not seem probable, because there was not much time between the first Epistle and the second, one can also know it more evidently from this, that in the first Epistle he casts out the man who had been polluted by the crime of incest, and hands him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord, whereas in the second he now calls him back and associates him with the members of the Church. Which assuredly he would not do, unless with the passage of time he had perceived in him worthy fruits of repentance, and that his flesh had already undergone the destruction which the Apostle had appointed — dead, that is, to sin and to vices, so that at last he might live to God. Since therefore there was so great a span of time in which the incestuous sinner recovered the salvation of his spirit by a praiseworthy destruction of the flesh, how is it not to be thought that the Apostle by a far swifter course attained what is perfect? But let that have been his advance in those Epistles: how much more sublime and eminent he is when writing to the Romans, let us gather from the words of the Epistle itself, in which he says: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. Does he seem to have spoken with the same sublimity of mind when he said: I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, when I have preached to others, I myself should become reprobate, as when here he says: that in all these things we are more than conquerors; and: For I am certain that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, and the rest which he listed, shall be able to separate us from the love of God? These things, then, having been grasped by us, so far as we could, concerning his understanding, which is already more perfect in this Epistle, we shall also not absurdly give this further reminder, that he appears to write this Epistle from Corinth — both by many other indications, but more evidently from the fact that he says: And I commend to you Phoebe our sister, a minister of the Church which is at Cenchreae. For Cenchreae is the name of a place near Corinth, indeed the port of Corinth itself. And from this, therefore, it appears to have been written from Corinth, and from the fact that he says: Gaius my host greets you: concerning which Gaius he makes mention when writing to the Corinthians, saying: I thank my God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius. A similar indication is then given where he says: Erastus the treasurer of the city greets you: concerning which Erastus, when writing the second Epistle to Timothy, he said: Erastus remained at Corinth. From all of which there seem to be gathered most certain indications that it was written from Corinth. This indeed contributes not a little to the difficulty of understanding, that many things about the Law of Moses are woven together in this same Epistle: about the calling of the Gentiles, about Israel according to the flesh, and about the Israel which is not according to the flesh, about the circumcision of the flesh and of the heart, about the spiritual law and the law of the letter, about the law of the flesh and the law of the members, about the law of the mind and the law of sin, about the inner and the outer man — of which it may suffice to have mentioned each one in advance; for in these the contents of the Epistle seem to be held. Now then, as far as the Lord deigns to open the way for us, let us hasten as quickly as we can to the exposition of it. The first question seems to arise for us concerning the name of Paul himself: why he who is called Saul in the Acts of the Apostles is now called Paul. We find in the divine Scriptures that the names of certain of the ancients were changed, so that from Abram he was called Abraham, from Sarai Sarah, and from Jacob Israel. In the Gospels too, from Simon came Peter, and the sons of Zebedee were named sons of thunder. But we read that these things were done at God's command; nowhere, however, do we find that any such thing was done in Paul's case. On which matter it has seemed to some that the Apostle took to himself the name of the proconsul Paulus, whom he had subjected to the faith of Christ in Cyprus, so that, just as kings are accustomed to be named — for example, "Parthicus" from the Parthians they have conquered, and "Gothicus" from the Goths — so also the Apostle, having subdued Paulus, was called Paul. Which we for our part do not think should be altogether dismissed. Nevertheless, because no such custom is detected in the divine Scriptures, let us rather seek a solution from those things which are in our own examples. We find, therefore, in the Scriptures that some used two names, and others even three: as Solomon, who was also Jedidiah; Zedekiah, who was also Joachim; Uzziah, who was also Azariah; and very many others in the books of Kings or of Judges you will find called by two names. But neither indeed do the Gospels reject this same custom. For Matthew himself relates concerning himself that, when Jesus was passing by, he found a certain man sitting at the tax-booth, Matthew by name. But Luke says concerning the same man that, when Jesus was passing by, he saw a certain publican named Levi, and said to him: Follow me. But the same Matthew also, in the catalogue of the apostles, says after many others: Matthew the publican, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, and Simon the Canaanite. But Mark relates thus: Matthew the publican, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus. This same man, whom Matthew set down as Lebbaeus, Mark set down as Thaddaeus. But Luke set it down thus: Matthew, Thomas, James, and Jude the son of James. Therefore the same man whom Matthew called Lebbaeus, and Mark Thaddaeus, Luke wrote of as Jude the son of James. And it is certain that the evangelists did not err in the names of the apostles; but because it was the custom of the Hebrews to use two or three names, each one set down different appellations of one and the same man. According to this custom, therefore, it seems to us that Paul too used a double name; and that so long as he ministered properly to his own nation, he was called Saul, which also seemed more native to the designation of his homeland; but that he was called Paul when he writes laws and precepts for the Greeks and the Gentiles. For this very thing which Scripture says: But Saul, who is also Paul, evidently does not show that the name of Paul was then first imposed upon him, but indicates that it belonged to his older appellation. These things, omitted by the author of the work himself, we have, I think, not inappropriately set down in advance, since the beginning of the discussion seemed to demand it. The rest we shall now pursue from the body of the expositions, with such brevity as we can.
BOOK ONE
[§1] Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ. We have already spoken concerning Paul. Let us now inquire why he is called a servant, who elsewhere writes: For you have not received the spirit of servitude again in fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, in which we cry: Abba, Father ; and again: And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying: Abba, Father. And so he is now no longer a servant, but a son. How then, when he says even to those to whom he was preaching that a man is now no longer a servant but a son, does he himself profess to be a servant? Whether we suppose this to be said according to that humility which the Lord taught, saying: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart , we shall not go astray. For by this the truth of the freedom in Paul is not injured. For he himself also says: For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all. He serves Christ, therefore, not in the spirit of servitude, but in the spirit of adoption, because the servitude of Christ is nobler than all freedom. Or whether he declares it as an imitator of him who had said: Behold, I am in the midst of you, not as one reclining at table, but as one who serves ; and of him who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant , so that, just as to those who are under the law he became himself under the law, and to those who are without the law he became himself without the law, so also he himself, for the sake of those who are still servants and not yet led through the spirit of adoption into the freedom of sons, might become a servant — this will not appear contrary to reason. To this may also be added the fact that the same Apostle, writing to the Corinthians, and giving precepts concerning marriage or chastity, inserts as it were under another heading certain things about freedom and servitude, saying: Were you called as a servant? Care nothing for it: but even if you can become free, rather make use of it. For he who was called in the Lord as a servant is the Lord's freedman: likewise also he who was called free is the servant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become the servants of men. These things certainly seem to some to have been inserted contrary to reason. For why, in precepts about marriage or chastity, is a mention of servitude and freedom taken up? But we understand Paul's meaning thus, that he calls a servant the man who is bound by the conjugal condition: because the woman does not have power over her own body, but her husband; and the man does not have power over his own body, but his wife. On account of which he also says in other places concerning them, that a brother or a sister is not made subject to servitude in such matters — meaning, that is, that in other matters he knew them to be subject to servitude. There is, then, a servant who is called, who, being placed in wedlock, comes to Christ, to whom it is said: Were you called as a servant? Let it not concern you: but even if you can become free, rather make use of it ; because among spouses the freedom of continence in the one begets for the other a peril to chastity. For they ought not, except by consent, to be free for prayer for a time, and again they must return to the same, lest Satan tempt them because of their incontinence. He, therefore, who has been called a servant by reason of the bond of marriage, is the Lord's freedman. For a freedman is neither wholly free nor wholly a servant. If in the other virtues he has been free, if he has held to the freedom of faith, of patience, of mercy, of justice, he is called the Lord's freedman, inasmuch as he is free by reason of the virtues of his soul, and a servant by reason of conjugal necessity. But free is he who, without a wife, through the purity of continence, comes to Christ — who nevertheless becomes the servant of Christ, since he wholly serves the virtues. Paul therefore, as some relate, was called along with a wife; concerning whom he says, writing to the Philippians: I ask you also, true yokefellow, help them : he, since he was made free from her by consent, names himself the servant of Christ. But if, as it seems to others, he was without a wife, nonetheless he who was called free is the servant of Christ. And what is it to be a servant of Christ, except to be a servant of the word of God, of wisdom, of justice, of truth, and of absolutely all the virtues, all of which Christ is? But let us also, if it seems good, add this in this place: that just as the knowledge which is now given to the saints is given through a glass and in an enigma , and prophecy, and the rest of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, so also the freedom which is now bestowed upon the saints is not yet full freedom, but as it were through a glass, and in an enigma ; and therefore the saints say that they are servants, in comparison with that freedom which is granted face to face. For who, being placed in the flesh, can attain complete freedom, so that he no longer serves the flesh in anything? Just as neither can anyone placed in the body have the adoption of sons wholly. And would that at least this could be obtained in the life of mortals, that a man might become wholly a servant of Christ: and not of flesh, not of blood, not of vainglory, not of desire, not of avarice, not of anger, not of envy; but that he might serve Christ alone, that is, all the virtues together. So much concerning that which is written: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ.
[§2] Called an apostle. This name, that is, called , since it pertains to all who believe in Christ, can seem general; but each one, according to that which God foresaw and chose in him, is called either an apostle, or a prophet, or a teacher, or free from a wife, or a servant in a marriage; and according to the diversity of grace there is fulfilled that which is written: Many are called, but few are chosen. Yet it must be known that it is possible for someone to be a called apostle, or a called prophet, or a called teacher, and, if he neglects the grace of his calling, to fall away from it: just as also Judas, who was called an apostle, and, neglecting the grace of his calling, from an apostle became a betrayer. He was indeed a called apostle, but he was not a chosen apostle. Moreover that prophet also who in the third book of Kingdoms is reported to have prophesied concerning Jeroboam was a called prophet; but whether he was also chosen, do you yourself examine, since indeed, having been forbidden to eat bread in Israel, he ate, and was slain by a lion. There are also many called teachers throughout all the Churches of God, and called ministers; but I do not know which among these are chosen teachers and chosen ministers. So too I think that there are some indeed called to suffer for Christ, yet not chosen; that is, called martyrs, but not chosen martyrs: such as those who, after the contests of tortures and of prisons, did not persevere to the end in the endurance of confession. There is also a called virgin, but not a chosen virgin; namely, one who has not been holy in body and spirit. And there is a called shepherd, but not a chosen shepherd, who indeed presides over the flock, and uses its milk, and is clothed with its wool; but does not seek out the weak, and does not gather the lame, and hems in the strong with labor. So too there is a called abstinent, but not a chosen abstinent, namely one who fasts with a sad face, and disfigures his countenance that he may please men. But through each of the grades of graces likewise you will find many indeed called, but few chosen.
[§3] Set apart for the Gospel of God. In Paul […] not the general calling alone to the apostolate is designated, but also the election immediately following according to God's foreknowledge, through this that he is said to be set apart for the Gospel of God ; just as elsewhere he himself says of himself: But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother's womb, that he might reveal his Son in me. Which nevertheless the heretics turn into a calumny, saying that he was set apart from […] In the third place this must be examined: Set apart for the Gospel of God (Rom. 1, 1): and in the Epistle to the Galatians the Apostle declares these things about himself (Galat. 1, 15): But when it pleased him, who set me apart from my mother's womb, that he might reveal his Son in me. But these words those who do not understand foreknowledge so interpret as though predetermination were the cause why the things foreknown come to pass; and for this reason they introduce certain people as saved by their nature and condition. Some from those words take away from us freedom of choice, and they use also these words of the psalm: Sinners are estranged from the womb (Psal. lvii, 4, 5), by which [they argue that Paul was set apart] together with his mother's womb, for this reason, that the goodness of nature was in him; just as, on the contrary, concerning those who are of an evil nature it is said in the Psalms that sinners are set apart from the womb. But we say that neither was Paul chosen by chance or by a difference of nature, but that he gave the causes of his election in himself to him who knows all things before they come to pass; nor are the sinners who are separated from the belly separated by the injustice of the judge, and it is permissible to meet [the objection] with a question; for it is written: Sinners are estranged from the womb, they have gone astray from the belly of their mother, they have spoken false things: their fury is according to the likeness of the serpent. And we shall ask of those who take those words as plain, whether the sinners who are estranged from the womb, as soon as they came forth from the maternal womb, went astray, and were led away from the way of salvation by some act of their own. But how did sinners estranged from the womb go astray from their mother's belly, and speak false things? For they will not show that these, as soon as they were born, uttered a true and full voice, bringing forth something false. But if we look at those things which are said about predetermination in this Epistle which we are expounding, we shall be able — once those things are demolished by which simpler folk are drawn over to the opinion of him who accuses the divine teaching of injustice — to answer concerning him who destines from the mother's womb, and who sets apart Paul, the servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, for the Gospel of God. These are the words (Rom. viii, 28, following): We know that to those who love him all things work together for good, to those who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew, these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he himself might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, these he also called: and those whom he called, these he also justified: and those whom he justified, these he also glorified. Let us therefore attend to the sequence of the statements. God justifies those whom he first called: but he did not justify those whom he did not call: and he calls before the calling those predestined, whom he would not have called unless he had predestined them; nor is predestination itself the beginning of their justification and calling. For if this were the beginning of the things which follow, doubtless those would prevail who introduce the absurd doctrine of nature: but before predestination there is foreknowledge: For those whom , he says, he foreknew, these he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. God therefore, who looked ahead upon the sequence of things to come, and knew the inclination of our freedom, and the impulse and affection of some toward piety following upon this inclination, and that these would give themselves wholly to virtue, foreknew them: knowing indeed things present, but foreknowing things future; and those whom he thus foreknew as about to be conformed to the image of his Son, he predestined. The Son of God, therefore, is the image of the invisible God, and the image of this one is that which is called the image of the Son of God, which we judge to be that human soul which the Son of God assumed, made an image through the power of the image of God. And to this — which we hold to be the image of the image of the Son of God — God predestined those to become conformed whom through his foreknowledge concerning them he predestined. Therefore God's foreknowledge is not to be reckoned the cause of things to come: but because it was going to be according to the proper impulses and affections of the doer, therefore he foreknew it, who knows all things before their coming to be (Dan. xiii, 42); some he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, others he saw as estranged. But if to these things someone objects, whether it can happen that those things not be which God foreknew would be such: we shall answer that it cannot happen that they do not come to pass; but not for this reason, because it cannot happen that they do not come to pass, is it necessary that they not come to pass, or that they come to pass. For they happen by no means out of necessity, but it can also happen that they do not happen. But this topic concerning things that are able to happen requires acuteness and clear-sightedness of reason and understanding, so that one who has wiped clean the eye of his mind, having attained the subtlety of the demonstrations, may be able to understand how even in the smallest matters there is no hindrance—
Finally, see at once in what follows what the divine word says about these. For it is written: Sinners are estranged from the womb, they have gone astray from the belly, they have spoken false things (Ps. 57, 4). If we understand how, as soon as they come forth from their mother's belly, sinners have gone astray or have spoken false things, we understand equally that the just are set apart from the belly. Therefore, as to Paul's being called both "separated unto the Gospel" and separated from his mother's womb, he who is not ignorant of the mind saw in him the causes and the merits for which he ought to be separated unto this. For he foresaw that he would labor in the Gospel more abundantly than all the rest; that in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in perils of robbers, perils of rivers, perils of the sea, he would preach the Gospel of Christ, knowing that woe would be to him if he did not preach the Gospel; and that he would chastise his body and bring it into subjection, lest by chance, when he had preached to others, he himself should become a castaway. Foreseeing therefore these things in him from his mother's womb, and many others like them, Jesus for their sake separated him unto the Gospel. For if, as the heretics suppose, he had been chosen either by the uncertainty of chance or by the prerogative of a better nature, he would surely never have feared that, if he held the reins of his body more loosely, it might come about that he should be made a castaway, or that woe would be his if he ceased to preach the Gospel. Finally, he himself, discoursing more fully in what follows, says that whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son (Rom. 8, 29), plainly showing that those whom God foreknew would be such as to conform themselves to Christ in his sufferings, these same he also predestinated to be conformable and like to his image and to his glory. Therefore God's foreknowledge goes first, by which are known those who will have labors and virtues in themselves, and so predestination follows; nor again, however, is foreknowledge to be thought the cause of predestination. For that which among men is weighed as merit from each one's past deeds, this among God is judged from things future; and he is exceedingly impious who does not so believe God in this, that what we see in things past, he sees in things to come. Separated , he says, unto the Gospel of God . In other places of Scripture they say it is the Gospel of Christ, as the evangelist Mark also writes: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as it is written in Isaias the prophet (Marc. 1, 1-2). But since Christ is the Word, and in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (Joan. 1, 1), it is one and the same thing to say "the Gospel of God" and "the Gospel of Christ" — or because the Lord himself says that I and the Father are one (Joan. 10, 30); and again he says to the Father: All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them (Joan. 17, 10). Therefore the Gospel of the Father is also the Gospel of the Son. But Paul also says: My Gospel, which I preach among the Gentiles (cf. Rom. 2, 16; Gal. 2, 2); which perhaps he says as a co-heir of Christ, and as one who is a co-heir in the Gospel, since elsewhere too he says that the Gospel belongs to very many, as to the Galatians: But if our Gospel also be veiled (II Cor. 4, 3); ours , that is, of all of us who are co-heirs of Christ. But also according to this, that he himself is its preacher, Paul rightly says the Gospel is his own. Which he had promised before by his prophets in the holy Scriptures . Whether the Gospel promised by God through the prophetic Scriptures ought to be taken simply, or by way of distinction from that other Gospel which John in the Apocalypse calls eternal (Apoc. 14, 6) — which is then to be revealed when the shadow has passed away and the truth has come, and when death has been swallowed up and eternity restored — consider you also, you who read. To which eternal Gospel those eternal years too will seem to correspond, of which the Prophet says: And I had the eternal years in mind (Ps. 76, 6). And to it can be joined also that book of life in which the names of the saints are said to be written; and likewise those books which in Daniel, when the judgment sat, were opened (Dan. 7, 10); or those which in the prophet Ezechiel are said to be written within and without (Ezech. 2, 9) — all of which are recorded as written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God (cf. II Cor. 3, 3). Concerning these matters, although it may seem hazardous to commit discourse to paper, nevertheless the sayings of the wise and their riddles are not to be passed over idly, but are to be contemplated with a very fine edge of mind, so far as the subject allows, as though through some mirror: lest perchance he who, the Word made flesh, appeared to those set in the flesh — as the Apostle says, that he was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, appeared to angels (I Tim. 3, 16) — lest, I say, in this that he appeared to angels, he appeared to them without a Gospel; even as not to us men either, to whom he says he was sent to preach the Gospel to the poor, to release the captives unto remission, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord (Luc. 4, 18-19). If therefore, when he appeared to us men, he did not appear without a Gospel, the consequence seems to show that neither did he appear to the angelic order without a Gospel — that one, perhaps, which we have shown above to be the eternal Gospel mentioned by John. But whether some such thing was done by him also among the remaining heavenly orders, appearing to them in that form in which each several one exists, and announcing peace, since indeed through the blood of his cross he made peace not only for the things that are on earth, but also for the things that are in heaven (Coloss. 1, 20) — this too do you examine with yourself. Which he promised by his prophets in the holy Scriptures . What things were foretold by the prophets concerning Christ, these are to be understood as foretold concerning the Gospel also, although the evangelist Mark seems to make a distinction between Christ and the Gospel, when he says: Whosoever shall leave father and mother , etc., for my sake, or for the Gospel's sake (Marc. 10, 29). And even if the promises of the Gospel are to be sought properly, you will find them abundantly in the prophets, as is that saying: The Lord shall give the word to them that preach the Gospel with great power (Ps. 67, 12); and: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of good things (Isa. 52, 7; Rom. 10, 15). To this also looks the saying: Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world (Ps. 18, 5); and: His word runneth swiftly (Ps. 147, 15); and also: Behold, I send many shepherds, and many hunters, and they shall take them upon every mountain and upon every hill (Jer. 16, 16). Through Jeremias there is promised concerning the Gospel that which Paul now says, namely that God promised through his prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning his Son.
[§5] Who is the Son, according to the flesh indeed, from the seed of David. He was made, without doubt, according to the flesh that which before he was not. But according to the Spirit he was before, and there was not a time when he was not. For it must be observed that he does not say: Who was predestined the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of sanctification; but, Who was destined the Son of God. And let no one think that we are examining this expression more curiously than the matter allows. For although in the Latin copies "predestined" is customarily found, nevertheless according to what the truth of the interpretation holds, "destined" is written, not "predestined." For he who is is destined, but he who is not yet is predestined, as are those of whom the Apostle says: But whom he foreknew, them he also predestined. Therefore those who are not yet can be foreknown and predestined; but he who is, and always is, is not predestined, but destined. Let these things be said by us on account of those who speak impiety against the only-begotten Son of God, and, being ignorant of the difference between "destined" and "predestined," suppose that he is to be numbered among those who, since they did not exist before, were predestined that they should exist — he who was never predestined to be the Son, but always was and is, just as the Father also is. He therefore who always is, is destined, as we have said, not predestined; but he who is predestined was not yet at the time when he was being predestined, but began from time. The Apostle therefore uses a necessary distinction, saying that he who is from the seed of David according to the flesh was made; but him whom he names the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of sanctification, destined. And indeed, when he had said "Son of God," he added not superfluously, "in power," indicating by this that he is Son in substance according to the Spirit of sanctification. For Christ is called the power of God and the wisdom of God, who is also called the breath of the power of God, and the purest emanation of the glory of the Almighty, and the brightness of eternal light, and the image of the goodness of God. But the question is raised: if that which is born of the seed of David is according to the flesh, but that which is destined in power according to the Spirit of sanctification is the Son of God and is in the substance of God, how is it to be understood concerning the soul of Jesus, which here is by no means named along with the flesh and the Spirit of sanctification or the substance of the divine power — the soul concerning which the Savior himself says elsewhere that my soul is sorrowful even unto death; and: Now is my soul troubled; the soul which he also laid down of himself, indeed which descended even to hell, concerning which it is also said: You will not abandon my soul in hell. For it is certain that this was not begotten from the seed of David. For he says that what was made from the seed of David is according to the flesh. Since therefore it seems to be reckoned neither in that which is according to the flesh, nor in that wherein the Son of God is destined in power according to the Spirit of sanctification, I think that the Apostle employs his customary usage in this place also, knowing that the soul is always midway between the spirit and the flesh, and either joins itself to the flesh and becomes one with the flesh, or associates itself with the spirit and is one with the spirit — from which, if indeed it be with the flesh, men become carnal; but if with the spirit, spiritual. And for that reason he does not name it separately, but only the flesh, or the spirit; for he knows that the soul necessarily cleaves to one of these, as also in those to whom he says: But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit; and: He who joins himself to a harlot is one body (here calling the flesh or the body a harlot), but he who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit. So therefore also now, knowing concerning the soul of Jesus that, being associated with the Lord and cleaving to him, it has been made one Spirit of sanctification with him, he did not name it separately, lest he should dissolve Jesus: For what God has joined together, let not man separate. But he is called the Spirit of sanctification according to this, that he furnishes holiness to all, as also is written elsewhere concerning him: Who was made for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. But certain persons meet us, raising most bitter questions: how Christ can be seen to descend from the seed of David, since it is agreed that he was not born from Joseph, into whom the line of the generation descending from David is brought down. Although it is troublesome to meet these objections according to the reasoning of the letter, nevertheless it is answered by our people that Mary, who, having been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit, was without doubt joined according to the law to a man of her own tribe and kindred. And although it is said to her by the angel that Elizabeth also, your kinswoman, will herself likewise bear a son in her old age (and Elizabeth is said to be of the daughters of Aaron), nevertheless it is affirmed by our people that the name of kinship can suitably be applied not only to those of the same tribe, but also to all who are of the race of Israel, in relation to one another, as also the same Apostle says of all together: Who are my kinsmen according to the flesh. These things indeed, and others like them, are answered; but how valid they are against the assertions of those who press us from the testimonies of the Scriptures, do you who read judge for yourself. To us, however, these things seem rather to be understood according to the spiritual or allegorical reasoning, according to which it is no obstacle even that Joseph is called the father of Christ, though he is in no way his father; because in the generations also it is reported by Matthew that Josaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Ozias; but in the fourth book of Kings it is written that Joram begot Ochozias, and Ochozias begot Joas, and Joas begot Amasias, and Amasias begot Azarias — the very one who is sometimes named Ozias; and Azarias begot Joatham. This Ozias therefore, who is also Azarias, although in the fourth book of Kings he is said to be the son of Amasias, is written by Matthew as the son of Joram, three generations in between being passed over. The discussion of this matter, it is certain, rests not upon the history, but upon the spiritual understanding; which is not now to be knocked at by us in passing, for it will be touched upon in its own place. Meanwhile it suffices for us to answer those who oppose us, that just as Jesus is said to be the son of Joseph, from whom he was not begotten, and Ozias begotten from Joram, from whom he was not begotten, so also Christ can be understood as from the seed of David according to the flesh, so that whatever reasoning or assertion they have brought forward regarding Joram and regarding Joseph, this we say must be accepted regarding David also.
[§6] From the resurrection of the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord. In what way indeed he who is said according to the flesh to have been made of the seed of David is Son of God from the resurrection of the dead, it is not difficult to perceive for one who has read that which is written: For it was fitting that he through whom are all things, and in whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, should perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. Now the end of Christ's sufferings is the resurrection; and because after the resurrection he dies no more, death shall no longer have dominion over him ; and again it is said that, even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no longer , and therefore all that is in Christ is now already Son of God. But in what way this too is to be referred to him who was destined Son of God in power — this constrains our understanding, save that through the indissoluble unity of the Word and the flesh all things that belong to the flesh are ascribed also to the Word, just as the things that belong to the Word are also predicated of the flesh. But "Jesus" and "Christ" and "Lord" we find often referred to both natures alike, as in that passage: One Lord of ours, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things ; and: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty. Christ, then, is called the first-fruits, or the firstborn, from the dead. But we must inquire whether he alone is firstborn or first-fruits from the dead, and has none who share with him also in that primacy of first-fruits — those concerning whom the Apostle says that he raised us up together with Christ, and made us sit together in the heavenly places. Perhaps, then, these also whom he says were raised up with Christ, and sit with him in the heavenly places, are themselves firstborn, or first-fruits from the dead, just as those also were who are said to have risen with him, when the tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints appeared and entered into the city of the saints. And of such as these perhaps the Apostle says that there is that Church of the first-fruits which he records as enrolled in the heavens.
[§7] Through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all the nations for his name. He says that through Christ he received grace and apostleship, inasmuch as Christ is the mediator of God and men . Grace and apostleship : grace is to be referred to endurance in labors; apostleship to the authority of preaching, since Christ himself is called an apostle , that is, one sent by the Father, seeing that he says he was sent to preach the gospel to the poor . Because, therefore, what is his own he gives also to his disciples. Grace is said to be poured out upon his lips . He gives to his apostles also grace, laboring with which they may say: I have labored more abundantly than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God with me. And because it was said of him: Having therefore Christ, the High Priest and Apostle of our confession , he grants to his disciples the dignity of apostleship, so that they too are made apostles of God. For the nations, which were strangers to the covenant of God and to the manner of life of Israel , could not have believed the Gospel except through the grace which had been given to the apostles, through which, as the apostles preach, the nations are said to obey unto faith; and into all the earth the sound of their grace concerning the name of Christ is recorded to have gone forth , so that it reached even those who are at Rome, to whom the Apostle says: Among whom are you also, the called of Jesus Christ. Paul is called an apostle by calling , and the Romans are indeed called, yet not apostles, but called saints , unto the obedience of faith. But concerning the diversity of those who are called we have already spoken above.
[§8] To all who are at Rome, beloved of God, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. This blessing of peace and grace, which the apostle Paul gives to the beloved of God to whom he writes, I think is not less than was the blessing of Noah upon Shem and upon Japheth, which was fulfilled through the Spirit toward those who were blessed; and likewise that in which Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek, and Jacob by his father Isaac, and the twelve patriarchs who are blessed by their father Israel; or the blessing of Moses, with which he blessed the twelve tribes of Israel. I do not, then, judge this blessing of the Apostle, with which he blessed the Churches of Christ, inferior to all these. For he too says of himself: For I think that I also have the Spirit of God. In the Spirit of God, therefore, the Apostle writes, and in the Spirit he blesses. Through that same Spirit, then, those who are blessed by the Apostle receive the blessings — if, that is, they are found worthy for his blessing to come upon them. Otherwise that will happen which is written: If there be there a son of peace, your peace shall come upon him; but if not, your peace shall return to you. What is written, therefore, concerning peace will hold also for grace, since he joins grace together with peace. Yet it must be known that this custom of writing is not preserved by the Apostle toward all the Churches. For to the Corinthians indeed, in the first and second epistles, and to the Galatians, and to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians, he writes in like manner. But to the Colossians he says, Grace to you and peace from God our Father , and does not add, and our Lord Jesus Christ . To the Thessalonians the first epistle has thus: Grace to you and peace , and nothing further. But in the second: Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. To Timothy, the first and the second: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Lord. But to Titus: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father, and Christ Jesus our Savior. And although an observation of this kind may seem overly curious, nevertheless one who believes that nothing in the divine Scriptures is idle will judge that even these differences and diversities are not empty.
[§9] First indeed I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is announced in the whole world. Since, when writing to certain people, the Apostle says that he gives thanks for them all, as also now to the Romans; but when writing to others he does indeed give thanks, yet does not add, for all — if you observe carefully you will find that where he says that he gives thanks for all, he does not press upon them any grave faults or reproaches; but where he censures or convicts certain persons, he does not add to the thanksgiving that he gives thanks for all, as in the letters to the Corinthians or to the Colossians. To the Galatians, however, he does not set down any thanksgiving at all, since he marvels that they are so quickly transferred from him who called them to another Gospel. The first utterance, therefore, begins from thanksgiving. And to give thanks to God is to offer the sacrifice of praise; and for this reason he adds, Through Jesus Christ, as through the great High Priest. For he who wishes to offer a sacrifice to God must know that he ought to offer it through the hands of the high priest. But this too, that he said, To my God, is not to be taken idly. For this utterance can belong to none but the saints, whose God he is called, as the God of Abraham, or of Isaac, or of Jacob. He cannot call the Lord his God whose God is the belly, or whose God is avarice, or whose God is the glory of the age and the pomp of the world, or the power of perishable things. For whatever anyone worships above all else, that is his God. But let us see for what the Apostle gives thanks to his God. Because, he says, your faith is announced in the whole world. If we take "in the whole world" simply, this seems to designate that in many places of the world — that is, of this earth — the faith and religion of those who are at Rome is proclaimed. But if, as in some passages, in this place too "world" designates that which consists of heaven and earth and all things that are in them, then this also can be understood: that the powers, of whom it is said that they have joy over one sinner doing penance, much more rejoice also over the conversion and faith of the Romans, since those angels announce it to them who ascend and descend to the Son of man. For they too marvel at the conversion of the Gentiles, and that the sound of the apostles of Christ Jesus has gone out into all the earth. Finally, beholding also their contests in this world, they rejoice, as the Apostle says: For we are made a spectacle to this world, and to angels, and to men. Yet it can also be understood thus: that this faith which the Romans have is the very same, and not another, than that which is announced and believed in the whole world, by which it is preached not only on earth but also in the heavens: because Jesus made peace through his blood not only for the things which are on earth, but also for those which are in heaven; and at his name bend the knee not only things earthly, but also heavenly and infernal. And this is for faith to be preached in the whole world, through which the whole world may be made subject to God. It must certainly be observed that to this which he said, first indeed, he did not render, for instance, so as to say: But secondly; but it is as we said before concerning less finished forms of expression — unless perhaps it seems to be rendered where he says: But I would not have you ignorant, brethren.
[§10] For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit, in the Gospel of his Son. God is a witness to his saints, because they too are witnesses of God, according to what the prophet says: You shall be my witnesses, and I am a witness, says the Lord. But the Savior also says to the disciples: You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Samaria, and in all the ends of the earth, according to that which is written: He who shall confess in me, I also will confess in him before my Father. But let us see what it is that he says, whom I serve in my spirit. To serve in the spirit seems to me to be like — indeed, something even greater than — to worship in the spirit, as the Lord himself said to the Samaritan woman: The hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. But Paul not only worships in the spirit, but also devotedly serves in the spirit. For one can worship even without affection; but devoted service belongs to him whom affection binds fast. The Apostle therefore devotedly serves God, not in the body, nor in the soul, but in the better part of himself, that is, in the spirit. For he indicates that these three are in man when writing to the Thessalonians, when he says: That your whole body, and soul, and spirit may be preserved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Daniel says: Praise the Lord, you spirits and souls of the just. The Apostle therefore everywhere prefers the spirit, and rejects the flesh or the things which are of the flesh. Finally he praises the spirit of the law itself; but the letter he spurns as though it were flesh, when he says: The letter kills, but the spirit gives life. And also when he says: For in that wherein the law was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh — by the flesh of the law he means, without doubt, the letter of the law. For through the letter the law was made weak, so that it could not be fulfilled. For who could fulfill even what is written concerning the Sabbath: You shall not move from your place on the day of the Sabbath (for how could it come about that anyone should not move at all from his place on the day of the Sabbath?), or the laws concerning leprosy arising in the warp, or in a wall, or in a skin, and a thousand other things in which, according to the letter as according to the flesh, the law was made weak? For this reason therefore the Apostle says that the law is spiritual. He, then, who understands the law to be spiritual, this man serves God in the spirit. Whence he says elsewhere: For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die — that is, according to the letter which kills; but if by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live. It must indeed be asked whether the ancient fathers also, the patriarchs or the prophets, who were themselves also perfect, are to be believed to have served God in the spirit; for Abraham too desired to see the day of the Lord, and saw it, and rejoiced; and Moses and Elijah appeared in glory speaking with Jesus on the mountain. In which it is shown that the Law and the Prophets are in harmony with the Gospels, and shine forth in the same glory of spiritual sight and understanding. 11. How without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, beseeching that if by any means at length at some time I may have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come to you. In that he says that without ceasing he prays for those to whom he writes, mindful of his own command he fulfills in deed what he enjoins in word. But since he says that he beseeches that if by any means at length at some time he may have a prosperous journey, so that by the will of God he may come to the Romans, it must be considered that the apostle of God, setting out for a holy work, that is, the work of the Gospel, waits until by his entreaties he may obtain not only that his journey be made prosperous, but that it be made prosperous by the will of God. Whence much more must prosperity of journey be sought from God by us, who have not so great a consciousness either of the work or of merit, when we plan to do anything. Yet I think that the Apostle wished this too to be understood: that prosperity of a journey is not always accomplished by the will of God. Finally, Balaam too had a prosperous journey in going to Balak, that he might curse the people of Israel; but that prosperity was not from the divine will. And many in the affairs of the age enjoy prosperous successes, and exult in their prosperities; but such prosperity is not from the will of God, unless the work of our journey be such as the Apostle here designates.
[§12] For I long, he says, to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, to be comforted together in you by that faith which is mutually ours, both yours and mine. First of all we ought to learn that it is an apostolic work to long for the brethren, yet for no other cause than either that we may confer upon them something of a spiritual gift if we are able, or, if we are not able, that we ourselves may receive from them. For without this, the desire of going about among the brethren is not commendable. But in that he says, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, he seems to indicate that there is something which is indeed a gift, yet not spiritual. For the gift of faith is without doubt spiritual, and the gift of wisdom, and of knowledge, and of virginity likewise. But where he says, speaking of marriage and virginity: But each one has his own gift from God, one after this manner, another after that; he calls marriage indeed a gift, since, as it is written, a wife is fitted to her husband by God; yet this gift is not spiritual. Many other things too may be called gifts of God, such as riches and bodily strength, such as comeliness of form, such as an earthly kingdom. For these also are given by God, as Daniel too says: For it is he who makes kings and changes them; but these are not spiritual gifts. Blessed therefore are those to whom the Apostle wishes to impart spiritual grace for the confirming of their faith, that they may no longer be little ones, nor be carried about with every wind of doctrine. And when this is done by Paul, he himself also receives consolation, seeing his own work firm and stable; and those are consoled who are made partakers of the apostolic grace.
[§13] But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that I have often purposed to come to you (and have been hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise I am a debtor: so, as much as in me lies, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you also who are at Rome. There is indeed a hyperbaton in this passage; there is also a defect of expression. But the hyperbaton we may render in this way: But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that I have often purposed to come to you, that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among the other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise, and have been hindered until now. The defect of expression, however, will be supplied in this manner. In the place where he says: And among the other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise, there seems to be lacking "to whom," so that what follows may be read thus, to whom I am a debtor; and the sequence would be of this kind: Just as I have fruit among the other nations, Greeks and barbarians, wise and unwise, to whom I am a debtor, so, as much as in me lies, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you also who are at Rome. For never among any nation have I been ashamed to preach the Gospel, because the power of God is in it unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first, and to the Greek; because in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, which before lay hidden and veiled in the Law. And it is revealed in those who come from the faith of the Old Testament to the new faith of the Gospel, as it is also said in the prophet, that the righteous man, even if he is still under the Law, believing God and his servant Moses, lives by faith; and when he comes to the Gospel, he is directed from the faith of the Law into the faith of Christ, and thus he advances from faith to faith. Let these things be said so far as pertains to the sequence of the Apostle's own words. But now let us inquire into what belongs to the understanding. In saying, that I have often purposed to come to you, he shows the charity which he had toward the Romans. But in that he added, and have been hindered until now, if indeed he be thought to have been hindered by God, it is shown by this that even this is a care to God, whither each of the apostles ought or ought not to go, and that by a certain dispensation he permits the word of God to be preached to some and forbids it to others, as he also says elsewhere: And when we attempted to go into Bithynia, the Spirit of Jesus forbade us; and in the Gospels it is said by the Savior: To you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to others in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear. But if the words, I have been hindered until now, be referred to him of whom he himself says elsewhere, that Satan hindered us, he fittingly shows that he strives without ceasing in his prayers, that, the hindrances of Satan being overcome, his journey may be made prosperous in the will of God to see those who are at Rome. For he longs, and does not cease to beseech in his prayers, that he may gain some fruit from them, as from the other nations. Whence Paul, as one desirous of great riches, longs to gather in revenues from many rational possessions. He gathers fruits from the Greeks, he gathers from the barbarians, he gathers from the wise, he collects something even from the unwise, while to some, as to the perfect, he speaks wisdom, and to others, as to the unwise, he says that he knows nothing else save Christ Jesus, and him crucified; while some he teaches from the Law and the Prophets, and others he persuades by signs and mighty works. But Paul brings forth all these fruits because, as a good branch, he abides in the true vine, which is Christ, whom the Father the husbandman more frequently prunes, and therefore he brings forth much fruit. And he prunes him in labors, in tribulations, in persecutions. For there are other branches which indeed abide in the vine, but bear no fruit, and are dry. Of these are they who in name indeed abide in Christ, but in works and deeds are found unfruitful and dry; who are said to be cut off by the Father, and cast into the fire. For as the first man Adam was a kind of vine, and the root of the human race, which brought forth some fruitful branches indeed, such as Seth, Enos, Enoch, and the rest down to Noah; but others unfruitful and useless, such as Cain, and all the stock which was begotten from him: so also in Christ, who is the last Adam, there are certain fruitful branches, bearing fruit as in the true vine; but certain dry ones, to be cut off by the Father the husbandman. But this also is to be observed, that the Apostle names the fruit of good things in the singular number, as also elsewhere: But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace; whereas the works of the flesh which he reproaches he sets forth in the plural. But if anyone should object what is written in the Psalm, You shall eat the labors of your fruits, spoken both in a good sense and in the plural; it must be known that, just as he who was trading in many pearls, finding one precious one, sold all and bought that one; so a man, beginning from many fruits, ought to press on toward the one fruit of perfection. Now we must inquire how the Apostle is a debtor to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and the unwise. For what had he received from them, whereby he should become their debtor? I think that he was made a debtor to the various nations for this reason, that he received through the grace of the Holy Spirit to speak in the tongues of all nations, as he himself also says: I speak with tongues more than you all. Since therefore one receives the knowledge of tongues not for himself, but for those to whom he must preach, he is made a debtor to all those whose language he has received the knowledge of from God. And to the wise he is made a debtor through this, that he received the wisdom hidden in a mystery, which he might speak to the perfect and the wise. But how also to the unwise? In that he received the grace of patience and of long-suffering. For it belongs to the highest patience to bear the impulses of the unwise. And most gracefully he added in what follows: So, as much as in me lies, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you also. He testifies that he is ready, who also says elsewhere: If I do this willingly, I have a reward. For one is ready to speak to the prudent. But concerning the unwise, we must understand that which he says: But if unwillingly, a dispensation is entrusted to me; and: Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.
[§14] For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Many reproaches indeed arose against the Gospel at the beginning of its preaching; but Paul had learned patience from the prophets, who say: Do not be overcome by their reproaches, and do not give way before their revilings; and he knew that he preached the Gospel not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, but in the power of the Spirit. Therefore, defining what the Gospel is, he declares: For it is, he says, the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. In saying, it is the power of God unto salvation, he seems to show that there is, as it were, some power of God which is not unto salvation but unto destruction. For he knows that it is written also in the prophet: And the caterpillar, my great power; and again in the Psalms he says: In your power destroy them; and therefore here he says: the power of God unto salvation. We must therefore consider whether perhaps on account of these differences in the powers of God a right hand and a left hand are spoken of in God, so that the power unto salvation is called his right hand, and the power by which he destroys is called his left. But this too must be noted, whether perhaps, since Christ is called the power of God, and the Gospel is the power of God, Christ ought to be understood also as the Gospel, just as he is understood as many other things as well; and perhaps what is called the eternal Gospel should be taken as spoken of him. To everyone, he says, who believes, to the Jew first and to the Greek. The Greeks originally reckoned the whole race of men under two designations, that is, calling each man either a Greek or a barbarian; and their distinction was such that everyone who was not a Greek was held to be a barbarian. But Paul employs a far truer distinction, naming the Jews first, and afterwards the Greeks, and last of all the barbarians. For since the Greeks, because they themselves made use of laws, called all the rest barbarians as living without laws, the Jews are deservedly preferred by the Apostle even to the Greeks themselves, because they both began to live by laws before them, and their laws were promulgated by God and not by men.
[§15] For the justice of God is revealed from faith unto faith. The justice of God is revealed in the Gospel through the fact that no one is excluded from salvation, whether he come as Jew, or Greek, or barbarian. For the Savior says equally to all: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened. But concerning from faith unto faith we have already said above that the former people also was in faith, because it had believed God and Moses his servant, and from that faith it has now passed over to the faith of the Gospel. But as to what he says from the testimony of the prophet Habakkuk, that the just man lives by my faith: either he is understood who is under the Law, that he should believe the Gospels also, or he who is in the Gospels, that he should believe the Law also and the Prophets. For the one without the other does not possess the integrity of life.
[§16] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and iniquity of men, who hold back the truth in iniquity: because what is known of God is manifest in them. For God has manifested it to them. Concerning the wrath of God we have spoken more fully in other places; nevertheless a few things will be said in the present passage as well. Now then, the wrath of God is said to be revealed not against some part, but against all ungodliness and iniquity; and yet not against all men, but against those alone who hold back the truth of God in iniquity: they do hold it, indeed, but they hold it in injustice. To these he also says that what is known of God is manifest, showing that there is something of God which is known, and something of him which is unknown. He says, then, that the wrath of God is revealed to those who hold back the truth in iniquity. Things that are revealed are brought forth from what is obscure and hidden into knowledge. Since therefore here too the wrath of God is said to be revealed from heaven not to those ignorant of the truth, but to those holding it, though holding it badly, it seems that he says the reason and knowledge of the wrath of God is made manifest to those to whom the truth is known, although they hold it back in iniquity. And this indeed, as is made clear from what follows, is understood to be said of the wise of this world, and the learned, or the philosophers, who, when they had come to know the truth and justice of God, did not glorify him as God or give thanks, but became vain in their thoughts, turning to idols; and saying that they were wise, they became fools, because they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents. In these men the Apostle also shows this, that whatever came to the wise of this age concerning the knowledge of the truth came by God's revealing it; but while they either pursue empty glory, or flatter ancient errors, or are held in check by fear of rulers, they become the judges of their own condemnation; by them the truth which they had known through God's revelation is either covered over because freedom is shut out, or denied through the iniquity of their deeds. Thus, then, the wrath of God sometimes seems to be called that very power by which he presides over the ministers of punishments, and which inflicts torments upon sinners; as I think is signified in what is recounted, that the wrath of God had moved David to order Joab to number the people. But his ministers and associates are also signified, in that it is said: He sent upon them the wrath of his fury, tribulation, and wrath through evil angels. Sometimes, too, the goads of our own conscience, which avenge and punish us when we transgress, are called wrath, as the same Apostle says: You store up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath; and elsewhere: Their thoughts among themselves accusing or even defending them, in the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men. But the affliction of tribulation or of temptation is likewise named the wrath of God, as Job also says: But the wrath of the Lord is in my body. Yet why is the wrath now said to be revealed from heaven? Perhaps to distinguish it from another wrath which is not from heaven, such as that: The fury of dragons is their wine, and the fury of serpents is incurable. Or perhaps because those very men against whom the discourse is directed are said to sin not in ignorance but in knowledge of the truth, and therefore the punishment is directed against them from heaven: for it is from there that the minister of punishments receives his authority. Or certainly, because the spiritual forces of wickedness against which our contest is are said to be in the heavenly places, it follows that the wrath of God is said to be hurled from heaven against those who are overcome by them: as if we should say that fiery darts are brandished against them from there, and that from there they receive the wounds by which they run into sins. But those who are wholly without any share in the truth, as having nothing in common with heaven and light, endure the wrath either of their own vices and passions, or of the demons to whom they have willingly subjected themselves. Against all ungodliness and iniquity of men, who hold back the truth in iniquity. Ungodliness is to sin against God; iniquity, against men. Therefore those who hold back the truth in iniquity sin both against God and against men. And men are to be believed to have recognized this truth by natural reasonings implanted in the soul by God; to which so much prudence has been granted that they might recognize what is known of God — that is, what can be known about God by inference from creation — recognizing his invisible things from those which can be seen. On this understanding the judgment of God will be just even toward those who, before the coming of Christ, when they could have known God, turned aside from his worship and diverted themselves to the adoration of images of men and of animals. For, to speak briefly and with the whole definition gathered into one, to adore anyone other than the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, is the crime of ungodliness. Because what is known of God is manifest in them; for God has manifested it to them. We have already said above that what is known of God is that which they can attain from the order and reasons of this world, as the Apostle himself indicates from what follows, saying that his invisible things are contemplated through the things that have been made. But what is unknown of God is to be understood as the account of his substance or nature; and what its proper character is, I think lies hidden not only from us men, but from every creature: or if at some time there shall be so great an advance of rational nature that it can arrive at this knowledge also, it belongs to God to know. For something of this sort seems to me to be hoped for from those things which are said by the Savior, that no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him. For he would not have added, And to whom the Son wills to reveal him, unless he knew that there are some to whom he wills to reveal him.
[§17] For his invisible things, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, and also his eternal power and divinity; so that they are inexcusable, because when they had known God, they did not magnify him as God, nor give thanks; but they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. For saying that they were wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents. Almost every one of these points has already been discussed above. For we said that these things, although they pertain to all human beings in whom there is natural reason, nevertheless look chiefly to the wise men of this world and to those who are named philosophers, whose particular discipline it is to examine the creatures of the world and all the things that have been made in it, and through the things that are seen to gather by reasoning the things that are not seen. Yet it must be known that the invisible things which he here names, he speaks of concerning created things; about which the same Apostle also writes in another place: that all things were made through him, that is, through Jesus Christ, whether the things that are in heaven or the things that are on earth, visible and invisible. And therefore, besides those things which he called invisible, he adds: And his eternal power and divinity. Therefore the power of God, which is eternal, and the divinity, which is no less eternal, is recognized from inferences drawn from the creature. Power is that by which he governs all things; divinity that by which he fills the universe. From this, then, they are made inexcusable: because, although they came to know God when God made himself manifest, they did not worship him as is worthy, nor give thanks; but through the vanity of their own thoughts, while they sought forms and images in God, they lost the image of God within themselves, and those who seemed to boast of themselves in the light of wisdom were rolled down into the deep darkness of folly. For what is so foul, so obscure, and so shrouded in darkness, as to turn the glory of God into a bodily and corruptible likeness of the human form — as is the custom of those who venerate idols — and to make the eminence of the divine majesty equal with birds and four-footed beasts and serpents?
[§18] For which causes God most justly indeed delivered them up, in the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, so that they might dishonor their own bodies among themselves: who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Although each of these points seems to be explained consistently according to the faith of the Church — namely, that for the foregoing causes of their faults, those who hold down in iniquity the truth which they know by God's revealing are by right and desert abandoned by God, and that through this abandonment they are handed over to the desires of their own heart, whose heart's desires were these, that they should afflict their own bodies with uncleanness and dishonor among themselves; and that with whatever judgment they used toward the veneration of the divinity, while they drag down the glory of the incorruptible God to base and unworthy forms of men or of animals, with such a turn also they should be dealt with toward themselves, so that men endowed with reason live after the manner of irrational beasts — nevertheless let us ask those who deny that the good God is also a just judge, what they answer concerning the things the Apostle says, that God handed them over, in the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, so that they should dishonor their own bodies. For in this it will seem that not only their reasoning, which is utterly excluded, but our own reply as well is hemmed in. For how will it be just that one who is handed over — even though he be handed over on account of sins — should nevertheless be handed over to lusts, and handed over for this purpose, that he should afflict his own body with uncleannesses and lusts? For just as it cannot be imputed to a man who, for example's sake, is delivered to darkness for punishment, that he is in obscurity; and one who is delivered to fire cannot be blamed for the very fact that he burns; so to those who are handed over to desires and uncleannesses that they may dishonor their own bodies, it will not seem worthily imputed if, being placed among desires and uncleannesses, they stain their bodies with dishonor. Marcion, therefore, and all who have sprouted from his school like the brood of serpents, will not dare to touch the solutions of these matters even with the tip of a finger: seeing that on account of questions of this kind they cast away the Old Instrument, wherever perchance they had read anything of the sort in it. But what did it profit them, when they are none the less choked by similar questions in the New Instrument? We, however, who confess one God, good and just, of the Law and the Prophets and the Gospels, the Father of Christ, use the same explanations both in the New and in the Old Testament, calling upon him who placed in Sion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, that he himself may open to us, through his Holy Spirit, the stumbling and offense of the apostolic reading, by which doubting minds seem to be made to stumble. Frequently we find in the Scriptures, and it has often been discussed by us, that man is said to be spirit and body and soul. But when it is said that the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, without doubt the soul is set in the middle, which either acquiesces in the desires of the spirit or is inclined to the concupiscences of the flesh: and if indeed it joins itself to the flesh, it is made one body with it in its lust and concupiscences; but if it associates itself with the spirit, it will be one spirit with it. And so at length, concerning those whose souls had joined themselves wholly with the flesh, the Lord says in the Scriptures: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh; but concerning those whose soul had been allied to the spirit, the Apostle says: But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. There are besides (as we find in many places of Scripture) certain angels who are also the promoters and helpers of either side, or of either way. For the devil favors the flesh lusting against the spirit, and his angels, and all the spiritual wickednesses in the heavenly places, and all those against whom men have their wrestling, the principalities, and powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world. But on the contrary, the spirit contending against the flesh, and striving to call back to itself the human soul which is in the middle, is favored and helped by the good angels, all those of whom the Lord says, that their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven; and of whom the Apostle says to the Hebrews: Are they not all ministering spirits, sent for ministry on account of those who receive the inheritance of salvation? The Lord himself also favors it, seeing that he even lays down his own life for his sheep. But on either side of this favor the rule of discipline is preserved. For the matter is not conducted by force, nor is the soul bent to one side or the other by necessity; otherwise neither fault nor virtue could be ascribed to it, nor would the choice of good deserve a reward, nor the turning away from evil deserve punishment: rather, the freedom of its own choice is preserved for it in all things, so that it may itself incline to whichever it wills, as it is written: Behold, I have set before your face life and death, fire and water. Life, therefore, is Christ, and death is the last enemy, who is the devil. The soul therefore has it in its own choice, if it wills, to choose life, Christ, or to turn aside into death, the devil. But if the soul, recognizing God, has not embraced Christ its life, nor magnified him as God, nor given thanks, but has become vain in its thoughts, and has changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents, and in all these things has turned aside to the flesh and to those who favor the desires of the flesh: it will without doubt be left behind and abandoned by those who by their favor were inspiring it to be joined to the spirit; and they will yield it up, or hand it over, to the desires of its own heart, by which it is allied to the flesh and clings to it. For they will not call it back, while it resists and struggles against them, to those things which it shuns and rejects. If the image of this matter still seems obscure, we shall render it clearer and plainer by some such illustration as this. Let us suppose that there is a certain dwelling, in which the soul lives together with the body and the spirit as with two counselors; and that before the doors of this dwelling there stands piety, and with it all the virtues; and on the other side impiety, and all the forms of luxuries and lusts, and that they await the soul's nod as to which of the two choirs waiting before the doors it desires to have brought in to itself, and which to have driven away. Will it not be the case that, if obeying the spirit and using the better counselor it calls to itself the choir of piety and chastity, that other one will depart, scorned and rejected? But if, using the counsels of the flesh, it brings in to itself the troop of impiety and lust, that whole company of holiness and piety, to which the soul preferred the council of evils, will withdraw with just indignation, leaving it to the desires of its own heart, so that it may afflict its own body with ignominy and dishonor within itself — it who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and, bringing in to itself the prince of impiety and unbelief, worships and serves the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. But for what causes the human soul undergoes so precarious a condition of so great a hazard, it is not the place of the present passage to discuss. It belongs, then, to those who are enslaved to idols to dishonor their own bodies; and it belongs to those who have forsaken the Creator to worship the creature. But we, who worship and adore no creature, but the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit — as we do not err in worship, so let us not sin even in our acts and manner of life; nor let us imitate those who dishonor their own bodies among themselves: but looking to what the Apostle says: Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? and again: That your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit — let us keep our bodies, as members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit, in all holiness and purity, so that they may become worthy not only of the entrances of angels, but also of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and of the abiding of the Father and the Son, who says of him who remains in his commandments: I and the Father will come, and will make our abode with him.
[§19] "Therefore God handed them over to passions of dishonor. For even their women exchanged the natural use for that use which is outside nature. And in like manner the males also, having abandoned the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, males working shamefulness with males, and receiving in themselves the wage which was due for their error. And as they did not approve of holding God in their knowledge, God handed them over to a reprobate mind, so that they do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all iniquity, malice, fornication, wickedness, avarice; full of envy, murders, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, detractors, hateful to God, insolent, proud, puffed up, inventors of evils, disobedient to parents, senseless, disorderly; without natural affection, without covenant, without mercy. And these, though they had come to know the justice of God, did not understand that those who do such things are worthy of death; and not only those who do them, but also those who consent to those who do them. Therefore you are inexcusable, O every man who judges; for in that wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you do the same things which you judge." This is the third time that we find set down by the Apostle: "God handed them over." And for the first handing-over he gave the causes, namely, "Because, when they had known God, they did not glorify him as God, nor give thanks; but they became empty in their thoughts, and their senseless heart was darkened. For saying that they were wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents." "Therefore," he says, "God handed them over, in the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, so that they should treat their own bodies with dishonor among themselves." The cause of the second handing-over he seems to put forward when he says that "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator." "Therefore," he says, "God handed them over to passions of dishonor." Yet this second handing-over seems to be liable to graver outrages. "For their women," he says, "exchanged the natural use for that use which is outside nature. In like manner the males also, having abandoned the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, males working shamefulness with males, and receiving in themselves the wage which was due for their error." He seems also to give the causes of the third handing-over when he says: "And as they did not approve of holding God in their knowledge, God handed them over to a reprobate mind, so that they do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all iniquity, malice," and the rest of the crimes which he goes on to enumerate. But these distinctions among the causes do not seem to me to correspond sufficiently to the offenses which are subjoined to each one of them. For how is he who serves the creature handed over to fouler outrages more than he who exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents? Or how are those who did not approve of holding God in their knowledge handed over, beyond both of these, to what is as it were a whole swarm of evils? Hence it seems to me rather that all these causes, which are set before the several handings-over, are to be heaped together into one, and again the kinds of handing-over into one, so that (for the sake of argument) we should speak thus: Since indeed men exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents; and since they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, nor did they approve of holding God in their knowledge: on account of all these things God handed them over, in the desires of their heart, to uncleanness, so that they should treat their bodies with dishonor; and he handed them over to passions of dishonor, so that their women exchanged the natural use for that which is outside nature; and in like manner the males also, having abandoned the natural use of the woman, were inflamed in their desire for one another, males working shamefulness with males. But he also handed them over to a reprobate mind, so that they do those things which are not fitting, because they were filled with all iniquity, malice, wickedness and avarice, and were full of envy, murders, strife, deceit, and the other evils which are written; and because, when they had come to know the justice of God, they did not understand that this is what it is — that those who do such things are worthy of death, not only those who do them, but also those who consent to those who do them. And therefore, for all these evils they will be inexcusable, so long as they both judge and condemn others for the very crimes which they themselves commit. For a man pronounces sentence upon himself when he punishes another for the things which he himself commits. But I think that what was said above concerning the manner of the handing-over is sufficient — how God is said to hand over those whose deeds and whose mind, turning aside from him and indulging in vices, he abhors and abandons; and I consider it superfluous to repeat the same things. There are, however, two things which I judge to be indicated in this passage, of which the one seems to be signified by means of the other. For it is certain that, if God has handed anyone over either to the desires of his own heart, or to passions of dishonor, or to a reprobate mind, at once, as in the worst and reprobate soil, that whole harvest of crimes springs up in him who is handed over. And again, if anyone, though he has known God, does not glorify him as God nor give thanks, but is such a man as the apostolic discourse has described point by point, there is no doubt that a soul of this kind has been abandoned by God and handed over. For it is not possible that God should have his dwelling together with these evils, or that these evils should proceed from the place where God dwells. But since in these three the Apostle seems to have enumerated all the kinds of impiety — both of those who worship idols, and of those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, and also of those who did not approve of holding God in their knowledge — and since under the first of these headings the pagans generally are designated, and under the second their wise men and philosophers: I think that under this third are indicated the heretics, who either deny God the Creator, or utter various blasphemies against the Most High. Therefore, if each one of those whom we have said above to err in the worship of the Godhead is designated by such titles of evils, let us who seem to be in the Church and to hold the right faith examine ourselves, and weigh with all circumspection whether perhaps, separated from these men only by the name of the true worship, we may be associated with them in the very same deeds and acts. For it is certain that he who (for example) is filled with iniquity, malice, wickedness, avarice, has not approved of holding God in his knowledge, and is of the number of those whom God handed over to a reprobate mind. And again, those whose women, or whose males, having abandoned the natural use, are inflamed toward that use which is against nature — it is certain that they are of the number of those who serve the creature rather than the Creator, and whom God handed over to passions of dishonor. And likewise, if any treat their bodies with dishonor in uncleanness, they are of those who exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of man; except that he who is already a believer defiles the temple of God by a graver sacrilege than the man still profane defiles the temple of idols. Nor indeed should this apostolic saying be passed over, in which, when he says that "they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of man," he is to be understood not only as reproving those who worship idols, but also as refuting the Anthropomorphites, who, though placed within the Church, say that the bodily image of man is the image of God — being ignorant of what is written in Genesis, that man was made to the image of God: and what is to be thought concerning that man is expounded by the Apostle when he says: "Putting off the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, who is created according to God." Do you hear that he calls the new man the one created according to God? And this same new man he elsewhere calls the interior man; but this corruptible one, whose image he here rejects, he names the exterior, when he says: "For even if our man who is without is corrupted, yet he who is within is renewed." And that those who go astray concerning the image of God may know his meaning still more plainly, let them hear whom the Apostle says to be the man who is created to the image of God, when he writes to the Colossians in this manner: "Do not lie," he says, "stripping yourselves of the old man with his deeds, and putting on the new, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him." From which he evidently shows that the interior man, who is renewed through knowledge, is himself created to the image of God. But those who say that the exterior man, that is, the bodily and corruptible one, is to the image of God, are associated by the Apostle with those "who exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of the image of corruptible man." Truly it was fitting that not even these things should be omitted in the explanation of the apostolic discourse, so that in this chapter of the Apostle, as also in very many others, the Anthropomorphites — that is, those who say that the bodily image of man is the image of God — might recognize themselves to have been convicted and refuted. But let us now conclude with these things the contents of the first volume.