Chapter VII.
1. Know you not brethren ( for I speak to them that know the law ) how that the law hath dominion over a man, as long as he liveth ? You well know, says he, you I mean who have been brought up in the law, that the law has its authority over those who are yet alive; and he adduces an example also in accordance with this proposition. 2. For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband, so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is made to cease from the law of her husband. And then he shows this yet more clearly : 3. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she is called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man . The law, says he, calls her an adulteress, not who after the death of her husband is united to another, but, who while her husband is yet alive, joins herself to any one else, for such an one it orders to be punished as insolently rebelling against the law of matrimony; it is evident, therefore, that when her husband has brought his life to an end, the widow not illegally, but with the distinct permission of the law, may marry another. Nor indeed was the holy apostle ignorant, that the law gave permission to the living also to dissolve a marriage when it should be no longer agreeable, but he was mindful of our Lord's assertion, which declared that Moses gave them that law on account of the hardness of the heart of the Jews, but that the law of nature had added no such terms, for one man, says he, and one woman did God make, establishing the law concerning marriage in their very creation: wherefore leaving this unnoticed, he passed on to the law as regarded the dead, and subjoins, 4. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead . It would have been indeed in strict consistency with the example adduced, to have said, "the law is dead," that is, has ceased, but in consideration of |481 the spiritual weakness of the Jews, for they greatly exalted the law, and from a desire not to afford an opportunity of finding fault with it to the heretics who denounced the Old Testament, he avoids saying that the law had ceased, but declares that we have become dead to the law by baptism which saveth us, and then rising again have been united, to Him who hath Himself risen from the dead, that is Christ. And as he had called the faith which is in the Lord a marriage and union, in strict keeping herewith does be show the fruits also arising from marriage, that we should bring forth fruit unto God , says he. What then is this fruit-bearing? That our members become the instruments of righteousness. And most aptly does he show that the law itself leads us to be joined to Christ, for it forbade not, says he, a woman to be married to a second husband after the death of the first. And then he goes on to point out the difference. 5. For when we were in the flesh , that is, under the polity of the law, for the legislative ordinances concerning the flesh, as of foods and drinks, of leprosy, and such like, are what he here calls the flesh; the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members . He says not "in" the law but by the law, for it does not itself bring about sin, but it condemns sin, while that, which was good, sin uses for evil; neither indeed do our members themselves bring about sin, but only by our members has the inclination of the soul to the worse brought its operations to effect. And what then springs from hence? To bring forth fruit unto death .
In these words he has taught us that before the coming of (the covenant of) grace, while we were living under the polity of the law, the attacks of sin to which we were subjected were the more powerful, in that the law showed indeed what ought to be done, but offered no help to do it. 6. But now we are made to cease from the law . He still continues in the same cautious mode of expression, and says not, "the law is made to cease," but we are made to cease from the law , that is, it is inoperative as regards ourselves, we are no longer under its polity. And how are we made to cease from it? Being dead to that wherewith we had been held . For when we were subjects of the law we came to baptism, and dying with Christ, and with Him rising again, we were united to our Lawgiver, and no longer need the polity of the law, for we have received the very grace itself of the Spirit, as what follows proves, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter . He here puts the spirit in opposition to letter , and the new against the old , that by the word letter he might point out the law, and by the old its having come to a conclusion. For indeed by Jeremiah (xxxi. 31, 32) God says, "I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt so that the difference was shown even by the prophet; and on the appearance of the new covenant, the old must yield. Having thus spoken, and foreseeing as one honoured with the gifts of the Spirit, that some of the heretics would understand this in derogation of the old covenant, and conceive that the old law came from some other than the one same God, the holy apostle necessarily states the objections and subjoins the answers to them. 7. What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? |482
He had in the former parts of this epistle laid down many positions, which might have given an opportunity of finding fault with the law, to such as were desirous of speaking evil of it, unless he had offered the present solution of such questions, (as) "the law entered in between that the offence might abound;" and "the law worketh wrath;" and "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight;" and the like; wherefore, for the resolution of these very things he proposes the objection. And first he shows that the interrogation is profane, and adds the expression of disavowal, God forbid , and then he teaches the utility of the law. Nay but I should not have been aware of what was sin, but by the law . Not only, says he, is the law not the teacher of sin, God forbid, but on the contrary it is the condemner of sin, for I should not have known what was evil, unless it had shown me. For I should not have known that lust was, except the law had said Thou shall not lust . The words I should not have been aware , and I should not have known , are not here indicative of a total ignorance, but mean this, that I received from the law a knowledge more complete than the mere discrimination of nature. 8. But sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence . In every way he endeavours to show that it was free from blame, for having said that by the imposition of the law sins had been increased, lest any one should suppose that the law had been the cause, he most seasonably sets forth its way, that sin making use of the imposition of the law as a mean for battle, beat down the weaker powers of judgment. For without the law sin were dead , for where there is no law pointing out what should be done, and forbidding What should not be done, sin has no place. And he makes this evident by an example; 9. For I was alive without the law once , for Adam before his transgression had no fear of death, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died . For when God had imposed the commandment respecting the trees, immediately the devil came to the woman in the serpent, and uttered those deceitful speeches, and she being enticed, and beholding the beauty of the fruit, was overcome by desire and broke the commandment. And with Adam she immediately received the sentence, for he also had shared in that food.
10. And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death . In every way he vindicates the law, and the commandment, but proves the evil of sin; for the commandment, says he, was the minister of life, but the turning aside to evil begot death, wherefore he most properly says, found, to show that the intention of the law, and the end brought about by sin, were widely different things. 11. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me . The same thing he had said before, only in different words. 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just and good . It is the Mosaic which he here speaks of as the law, and that given to Adam as the commandment . And the reason why he honours the latter with the greater praises, is that it commonly meets with the greater censures. For they who live in idle ease, and will not undergo the labours of virtue, cry out even against God Himself, for imposing this commandment. For if He were ignorant, say they, of what would happen, how can He be God who foreknows not the future? but if while foreseeing the transgression, He yet imposed the commandment, Himself is the cause of the |483 transgression! But such should be aware, that the power of discriminating between good and its opposite is the property of those that are gifted with reason, for the nature of the irrational creatures possesses no such faculty of distinguishment of these things; for the wolf is ravenous, and the lion feasts on its prey while scarce dead, and bears and leopards follow in the same train; and they have no sense of sin, nor a conscience to be pricked at what has been done; while men, though no one be present at their actions, are ashamed and afraid on account of what they have dared to commit, for conscience supplies the accusation. How then were it possible that they who possess such a nature, should yet live without any law at all? Wherefore God enjoined the commandment, that man might thereby learn to understand his own nature, and to fear his Lawgiver. And well indeed may we perceive the loving-kindness of that Lawgiver, for He enjoined, not some law which was difficult of observation, but one which could have been easily kept. He allowed to him the enjoyment of all the trees, of one alone He forbade him the use; not that He grudged him that one, for how could He do so, who had already given him power over all? but in order to teach him the terms of submission, and to render him well-affected towards his Creator, and afford a mean for the exercise of his rational faculties. And if then, by not keeping the commandment he came under sentence of death, this can be no cause for blame to the Lawgiver, but to him who transgressed the law. For so neither, when a physician orders his patient to abstain from cold drinks, does he do this because he invidiously grudges them to him, but in order to bring about his health; and if he not observing the injunction will take water, he draws the injury on himself, but the physician is free from blame altogether. But indeed the Lord God has treated with every possible consideration and kindness, both Adam himself and all his race, and, to pass by all other, and come at once to the noblest instance, for him, and his race, the only-begotten Word became incarnate, and put an end to the power of death, which from him had received its beginning, and promised the resurrection, and prepared the kingdom of heaven: so that He both foreknew his transgression, and made ready before-hand the mean of remedy to follow; wherefore the holy apostle calls the commandment holy, just, and good; holy , as teaching what we ought to do; just , as rightly pronouncing judgment on the transgressors; good , as appointing life to such as observed it. And then again he states the objection that might arise, 13. Did then that which is good become death unto me ? and again according to his wont he denies it, God forbid, and shows us the cause of these evils, but sin, that it might appear to be (indeed) sin, in its working death to me by that which is good . There is an obscurity here, arising from the extreme brevity made use of; what he means is this, that by that which is good , to wit the law and commandment, sin is made apparent to me , namely, as being bad and evil; and how is it so made apparent? by its working unto death , for from the fruit I know the tree, and seeing death I hate its parent; but of all this is the law the teacher; it is not then the |484 law, which thus instructs, that is evil, but sin, which brings death; and it is the inclination of our own free will to the worse, that is the author of sin. That sin might by the commandment become exceeding sinful . For though nature points out sin, its excessive turpitude the law has more clearly manifested. The expression that it might become is incomplete, the word "apparent" being understood, for so also we explained it in the preceding sentence, "but sin, that it might be seen to be sin indeed by its working out death to me by that which is good, that sin might by the commandment become exceeding sinful," that is, that it might become by the commandment " apparent" that sin is exceeding sinful, that is evil. And then, like some skilful painter, he portrays the contest between nature and sin. 14. For we know that the law is spiritual . Again be crowns the law with praise, for what can be more holy than this designation? for it was written, says he, by divine inspiration, being a partaker of this grace the blessed Moses indited the law. But I am carnal, sold under sin . He brings before us the man who lived before the coming (of the covenant) of grace, beset by his passions, for by carnal he means one who had not yet received the spiritual help (offered in that new covenant, see verse 5 ad fin. and ch. vi. 14 ad fin. &c.); but the sold under sin we shall understand by comparing it with that passage of the prophet, (Isaiah 1. 1,) "For your iniquities have you sold yourselves." And the same thing does he here say, I have delivered myself up to sin, and sold myself to it. |608
15. For that which I do I know not : for he who is overcome by pleasure, and indeed he also who is intoxicated by the passion of anger, has no clear perception of sin, but after such passion has subsided receives a knowledge of the evil. For what I would that I do not, but what I hate that I do . This is the perfection of the law, to point out what is evil and implant a hatred of it in the soul. The words what I would not and what I hate do not denote compulsion, but weakness; for we sin not because driven thereto by some necessity or force, but being beguiled by pleasure we fall into those things which yet we cannot but hate and denounce as wicked. 16. If then I do that which I would not, I content unto the law that it is good . For the very hatred I have for sin, I have received from the law, wherefore I bear testimony to the law, and acknowledge its excellence. 17. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me . This needs elucidation somewhat more at length. The body then after the transgression of the commandment becoming mortal received passions and appetites, since by these it is that our present state of existence is carried on. For thus it needs desire, not only for the provision thereby of food, but for the procreation of children also, and for agriculture's sake, and the various other arts, none of which could exist were desire altogether wanting. Thus it also contributes to our perseverance in well-doing, for nothing but such an affection for and desire of virtue could qualify us to bear its attendant difficulties. And so also does it work within us the Divine love.
The proper measure of desire then is an auxiliary to good, but its disorder brings forth intemperance, in that it leads us to lay snares against the marriage-bed of others, and to covet what does not belong to us, and to steal, and to break open tombs (in order to spoil the dead), and to commit manslaughter, and become guilty of other the like crimes; wherefore has the God of all added side by side to it (an uncalculating) impetuosity, that the latter might repress the extravagance of the others, |609 while itself also needing a check on its own excesses. As then we dilate with what is too cold, that which is hot, and again correct what is too cold by what is hot, even so has God our Creator, by implanting in us these two passions directly opposed to each other, taught us to check each reciprocally by the other. For over them He has placed the mind, like a charioteer over his horses, and imposed the yoke of submission on them, enjoining both to bear it evenly together; if then it happen that desire springs forward beyond the line, He bids her goad up impetuosity, that this rushing onward may again bring the yoke straight; and, if that admit the overworkings of its own temper, again in its turn He orders desire to be pressed forward, that it may correct the excess of impetuosity. The mind then, if watchful and prudent, thus keeps under and directs them, while if negligent, and letting the reins go, she becomes the means of her horses breaking away, and is herself dragged onward, and with them falls into pits and down precipices. This then is what the holy apostle means by now it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me , by sin intending the enslavement of the mind, and the usurpation of the passions; and he then doeth it not, for he hates what is done, but this usurpation of the passions is the author of the action.18. For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing . He speaks of the dominion of the passions, which the mortality of the body introduced, and the indolence of the mind has strengthened. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not , for, as regards a willingness towards that which is good, this I have received from the teaching of the law, but at the same time, as regards action I am impotent from want of further help. 19. For the good that I would I do not, but the evil that I would not, that I do . 20. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me .
He makes the same assertion, only in a clearer manner. 21. I find then the law with me in wishing to do what is right ,—here we must put a stop,— ( and yet ) that evil is present to me . Again he has stated this obscurely through brevity: what he means is, that the law appears to me to be good, for I approve all that it recommends, as being right and excellent; and in unison with it I also love all good, and hate its opposite; but nevertheless evil is ever at hand with me, that is, sin, by reason of my possessing a mortal body, one subject to passions and appetites, as well as through the indolence and weakness of the soul. And thence he proceeds to describe more clearly the conflict between the mind and the passions. 22. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man . By the inward man he means the mind. 23. But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members . By the law of sin he means sin itself, and this works within me by the passions of the body leaping about at pleasure, while the soul is unable to restrain them, in consequence of the sluggishness fallen into at first by her; she having cast off her own freedom, and allowed herself to be subjected to them; |610 while yet not the less does she, even though thus obeying them, hate that servitude, and approve that (the law) which condemns it. Having thus laid down all this, in order to show us what we were before receiving grace (through the new covenant), and what we have become since that grace; and personating, as it were, the character of those besieged by sin before grace appeared; he now, as one in the midst of his enemies, taken captive and compelled to obey, while perceiving help from no other quarter, groans bitterly, and cries out, proving that the law could not succour him, and says, 24. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank my God through Jesus Christ our Lord . He calls it a body of death , as being bom subject to death; that is, mortal, for the soul is immortal. Christ alone, says he, has freed us from this bitter bondage, by putting an end to death, and promising us immortality, and that life which is without either labour or pain, and apart from warfare and sin; the full enjoyment whereof we shall receive in the existence to come; while in the present we are blessed with the grace of the thrice holy Spirit, and thereby not only do we set ourselves against the passions, but by the possession of such an Helper are enabled to triumph over them. And then he brings forward the resolution of all that had been said, So then I myself, the same person, with the mind serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin .